“Another Valentine” by Wendy Cope (2011)

This valentine uses the same form, the triolet, to a very different effect. Instead of an unrequited passion, this speaker presents a steady, established relationship. Following rules emerges as a central theme in this work; the speaker claims to write this valentine because “we are obliged” (Line 1) on this holiday to “be romantic” (Line 1). While the poem otherwise reads as straightforward and sincere, Cope undermines her speaker’s attempt to follow rules by breaking the form and altering the triolet’s first line both times it is repeated, in Lines 4 and 7. Again, Cope maximizes the potential uses of form by making a wry joke: even as the speaker professes an unsurprising “old and sure” love (Line 5), unexpected novelty arrives as the predictable form’s repetition instead becomes new and fresh.

“Nine-Line Triolet” by Wendy Cope (1992)

Cope opens up the triolet form by adding a line—a line about cursing the rules. Polysyllabic rhymes and rollicking anapests give this poem the cadence of a drinking song, but the heartbreak in the final goodbye shows the underlying sincerity in the speaker’s sense of loss.

“Triolets in the Argolid” by Rachel Hadas (2005)