The Cymose Forethought

The Cymose Forethought is a solemn poetic form concerning the future, originating in The Bamboo of Enlarging. The rules of the form are applied by poets to produce individual poems which can be recited. The poem is divided into a series of tercets and numerous series of quintains. Use of internal rhyme is characteristic of the form. Each line has five feet with a syllable weight pattern of short-long (quantitative iambic pentameter).

• The first part is intended to make an assertion. Certain lines present different views of the same subject. The third line of each tercet must expand the idea of the first line. It has a medial caesura in each line. The rhyme scheme repeating in each stanza is abb.
• The second part is intended to undercut the previous assertion. Certain lines present different views of the same subject. The second line of each quintain must expand the idea of the first line. The rhyme scheme within each stanza is abbab.

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