Poetry Guide: Ya-Du

The Ya-Du is a Burmese form of poetry which consists of up to three stanzas of five lines. The first four lines of a stanza have four syllables each, but the fifth line can have 5, 7, 9 , or 11 syllables.

The form uses climbing rhyme. The rhyme is required on the fourth, third, and second syllables of both the first three lines and the last three lines.

e.g.:

---A

--A-

-A-B

--B-

-B---

As in a haiku, a ya-du should contain references to the seasons.