Lymerick

Nice selection, Yes/No. It seems in Cuba "trova" is more related to music.
In Portuguese, the term "trova" or "quadra" is applied to simple, four verse poems. They are usually innocent, very often children´s play verse, like this one:
"Batatinha quando nasce
Se esparrama pelo chão
Menininha quando dorme
Põe a mão no coração."
Here is a selection if you want to take a look at it:
http://www.juraemprosaeverso.com.br/...rovaspopII.htm
The limerick or limerique is not an usual form in Portuguese, but one poet, who lives for a long time in US, used it in his poetry. I learned about it on this site.

Those quadras are simple like limericks. I can see a rhyme pattern ABCB. Is there an expected meter also, like iambic? It looks like 4 to 8 syllables per line. That meter would be hard for me to hear since I don't know how the language sounds.

I am not sure, I had to look the Portuguese metric up, it´s different of the English one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_(poetry)

It seems similar to English, but with the last syllable accented. Here may be a spoken example of a trova, but I'm not sure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_1EDSpz-fE

They remind me of this nursery rhyme but with less childish content:

Mary had a little lamb.
Its fleece was white as snow
and everywhere that Mary went
the lamb was sure to go.

Here is an attempt to write one with 7 syllables per line (Redondilha maior) in English, accenting the last syllable.

Moon and stars without the sun
Shine and sparkle ever bright.
Sun has set though dawn will come
Riding calmness from the night.

Cute poem. Yes, I think that´s it, Yes/No. And also the theme is fitting. But I don´t know if this form is usual in English poetry.

I think it is a kind of common meter, although in general common meter need not end with an accented syllable, but it often does, and the syllable count could be 8 or 7, sometimes even 6. The restrictions of the trova seem to be tighter than those of English common meter. These four line poems with accented first syllable remind me of spells in English although I am unable to find a good example at the moment.

Thinking about this more this morning, I don't think people writing in English write these quatrains any more. They might write haiku if they want something short or they might write limericks if they want something comical or satirical or they might write short "quotes" or deep thoughts about a sentence long without rhyme. But I don't see people, at least on poetry blogs that I look at that, write rhyming quatrains. This is unusual although Emily Dickinson might have done something like that long ago.

I have to look all this better up. The meter part is the most difficult part of poetry for me and a reason, why I seldom write poems myself. Probably Brazilian poets don´t write them any more either. They are a popular form that possibly dates back to the old Portuguese "canções de amor e amigo" sung by the trobadours:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician-Portuguese_lyric
Some examples of quatrains in English poetry:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/res...etail/quatrain

I like quatrains even better than limericks.

I like both forms, but it seems the quatrain is older and has a more inocent tradition, being often use for children´s verse.
I looked the limerick up. Here is the thread, but I suppose you know all that already:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_(poetry)

I haven't read that article before. I liked the mathematical limerick by Leigh Mercer in that article. Not only did the rhyme and meter have to work, but the equation also. I have looked for other trovas. There is a nice sound to the Brazilian songs that seemed to be associated with "trova". I assume this is more of a romantic form.

As far as I know there are the love songs with the form inherited of the old Portuguese love songs sung by the minstrels and the songs for children. Another popular one:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay_Y_RHSues

Quatrains make simple rhymes for children.

I heard this song yesterday, as a school was celebrating São João nearby. I first thought it was in quatrains:

http://www.kboing.com.br/milene-pavoro/1-1311508/

Sadly the beautiful colored paper balloons had to be forbidden, because of the many accidents they cause today.

It seems like a celebratory song for Saint John based on Google Translate. It does have rhyme on short lines but it might not be broken into sets of four lines.

Here's one I wrote making sure the last syllable was accented and having four lines:

Let us climb these well worn stairs,
Light above and peace throughout.
Heart tells mind, "Don’t worry here.
Love will show us all about."

A song would have three of these with a bridge of some sort.