Wyvern Poetry

[Veroule]

To shorten this debate: cinquain is simply defined as "a five line stanza". The formatting such as syllables, words, rythm, and rhyming are entirely up to the author. This is similar in definition to quatrain. Both stemming from the same Latin roots and having numeric prefixes from French. Also by definition neither is necessarily a poem, since a stanza is a part of a poem. A single "5 line stanza" can be a whole poem, but in more general usage a poem would consist of a series of such cinquains.

Latin, Greek, or at the least a class in etymology should be required for English teachers. I happen to be reasonably versed in etymology and it took me less then a second to look at the word and say this is what it references. The word itself doesn't reference any sort of syllables, words, rythm, or rhyming. For example "iambic pentameter"; which consists of "iambic" adjective form for Latin 'iambus' defining a syllabic pattern, and "pentameter" Latin 'penta' and 'meter' in short 5 and measure. The conjuction of the whole defines a style of line made popular by Shakespeare.

Everything else is popularization, just like the belief that people of old thought the world was flat. Study shows that this idea was introduced by a popular author in the early 1800's and it caught on. Similarly the concepts of syllables, words, rythm, and rhyming within a cinquain would be found to be related to the style of the person that popularized the use of the 5 line stanza. Someone else can research that if they like, but I am quite certain that the careful researcher will find the truth of my statements.