HOW TO WRITE a CINQUAIN 
A  cinquain poem has five lines. The word comes from the French  cinq, 
which means five. 
The best-known form of cinquain poetry was created in the early 1900s by 
a poet named Adelaide Crapsey. These cinquains are similar to haiku in 
that the rules for writing them are based on syllables. 
Cinquain poems have the following pattern: 
Line 1 2 syllables 
Line 2 4 syllables 
Line 3 6 syllables 
Line 4 8 syllables 
Line 5 2 syllables 
An alternate version of the cinquain poem, often called a “word cinquain” is 
based on words, instead of syllables. “Word cinquains” have the following 
pattern:  
Line 1 1 word 
Line 2 2 words 
Line 3 3 words 
Line 4 4 words 
Line 5 1 word 
There are no specific rules about writing a cinquain other than that it must 
have five lines and the correct syllable count (or, if writing a word cinquain, 
the correct word count).  

Syllable Cinquain 



Cloud Dreams


Summer Day Dreams

Watching different shapes

Comforted by a watching eye

God’s work



Word Cinquain



ELEPHANT   

Is massive

It trudges along

Makes me feel tiny

Mammal