Trolaan is an interesting form created by Valerie Peterson Brown. It consists of four quatrains (a stanza of four lines), each line having a similar number of syllables. Each line of the quatrain begins with the same letter and the rhyme scheme is abab.
Starting with the second stanza you use the second letter of the first line of the first stanza to start each line of the second stanza.
On the third stanza you will use the second letter on the first line of the second stanza to begin each line of the third stanza.
On the fourth stanza you will use the second letter on the first line of the third stanza to begin each line of the fourth stanza.
I tried to do a schematic, but it’s pretty much impossible without the first word of each stanza. Hopefully you can follow along with my example – it’s not really as bad as it looks!
My example turned out a little darker than I’d intended, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes.
Fallen Angel
Cold wind snaking through the night
Cutting the air with a wicked knife;
Capering snowflakes, like a blight
Cover a world devoid of life.
Obsequious spirits dance and sway,
Oft cast shadows looming near,
Ousting warmth they seek to stay,
Oblivious to the dangers here.
Balefire moon shines high o’er head
Bewitching in its awesome light.
Beguiling ice is swiftly spread
Banishing dreams in a blaze of white.
Abandoned hopes lay scattered ‘round
Adorning landscapes bleak and sere;
Angel lost and gone to ground
Alone, betrayed by life and fear.
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