Diamond poem

A diamond poem, or diamante is a style of poetry that is made up of seven lines. The words form the shape of a diamond. The form was developed by Iris Tiedt in A New Poetry Form: The Diamante (1969).^[1][2]

Style

A diamante poem Diamonte poetry is a poem that makes the shape of a diamond. The poem can be used in two ways, either comparing and contrasting two different subjects, or naming synonyms and antonyms for another subject.

In the poems, the subject is named in one word in the first line. The second line consists of two adjectives describing the subject, and the third line contains three verbs ending in the suffix -ing which are related to the subject. A fourth line then has four nouns, again related to the subject, but only the first two words are related the first subject. The other two words describe the opposite subject the lines then are put in reverse, leading to and relating to either a second subject or a synonym for the first. Remember that you can't use sentences, only single words otherwise the poem won't be in a diamond shape.

Here is the order:

                              Noun
                       Adjective-Adjective
                         Verb-Verb-Verb
                      Noun-Noun/Noun-Noun
                         Verb-Verb-Verb
                       Adjective-Adjective
                              Noun

Remember, it will look more like the following once you use your own words.

Here is a finished example:

                                           Mountain
                                          High, rocky
                                    Flying, looking, killing
                                   Eagle, power, fear, rabbit
                                  Living, moving, making-noise
                                        Deep, beautiful
                                            Valley

1. ^ Tebo, Cindy. "Kalliope Poetry Form Exercise: Diamante". Kallipoe Poetics. http://anitraweb.org/kalliope/diamante.html. Retrieved 2008-06-05. 
2. ^ "A New Poetry Form: The Diamante". Education Resources Information Center. http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ005503&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ005503. Retrieved 2008-06-05.