This week brings with it National Simplicity Day in honor of Henry David Thoreau, who was born on July 12, 1817. With that in mind, I wanted to bring you something simple for Poetic Sunday today – the echo verse. Talking about the echo verse reminds me of a song my son used to play on the piano ages ago, when he first started learning, called Hello Mr. Echo

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Poetic Sundays: The Echo Verse

The echo verse is, I think, somewhere in between a poetic device and a form. Certainly, I see it described as both across the many sources I researched. It was popular in the 16th-17th centuries among troubadors, who used it as a call-and-response, where the response echoed part of the end of the question.

So What is an Echo Verse?

An Echo Verse plays with sound, meaning, and repetition. A line ends with a strong or evocative word, and then that word (or something like it) echoes — either right after or as a separate, indented line.

The echo might:

• Repeat the word exactly
• Rhyme or slant rhyme with it
• Twist its meaning with a pun or shift in tone

This echoed word can thus reinforce, answer, or even mock the line before it — like a ghostly voice, an inner thought, or a clever punchline. However it is written, in the end, echo verse invites you to listen closely… and again.

The Echo Verse’s Characteristics

So the echo verse’s elements are that it is:

• stanzaic (or not): Can be written in couplets (two-line stanzas) with each one being a call-and-response, or with stanzas of any length or a full-length single poem. The number of stanzas is flexible.
• syllabic: No strict count, but main lines typically range from 6 to 10 syllables to get the right impact when spoken / sung along with that echo
• repetitive/refrained: The echo occurs at the end of each line — typically, the last syllable (or word) is repeated as a one-word echo on the same or a separate (indented line.) This echoed word often shifts or deepens the meaning of the original line and can serve as a response, emphasis, or pun.
• thematic: Can be playful, devotional, philosophical, or emotional. Echo Verse excels at wordplay and layered meanings, making it ideal for exploring contrasts, doubts, affirmations, or dramatic dialogue.
• aural: Best appreciated aloud, as the echo enhances rhythm, meaning, and resonance.

🎭 How to Write an Echo Verse: Tips on How to Write an Echo Verse

• Choose echo-worthy topics: Choose topics where the idea of an “echo” adds to the meaning (mountains, caves, loneliness, etc.)
• Choose echo-worthy words: Emotional, philosophical, or ambiguous words work well (e.g., grace, truth, fall, hush, fire, light).
• Let the echo shift meaning (or enhance it): Sometimes it affirms, sometimes it questions, sometimes it mocks. Play with how the echo changes or comments on the main line’s meaning
• Vary tone: Echoes can be romantic, ironic, eerie, or even humorous.
• Remember the Key rule: Every main line is followed by an echo of its ending sound or word—no other structural requirements

My Attempts

You can see in my attempts a little bit of everything I mention above – the echoes on the same like/indented and separate/whispered and loud/response and reaffirm/and everything in between that I could include.

First one

The Light We Forgot
A look out my window brings me hope, hope
that life still has the best for us all – all
our wishes and all our dreams, dreams
that left us at morning’s gleam; gleam
that gave us new glimmers of hope – hope
that life still has the best for us all, all
the light we forgot we could see. See
the world not as it is, but as it could be.
~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Second one

Near but Not Close
I called out to my kiddos,
“Kiddos!
Where are you? Can you come here?”
“Here?”
they shouted out, “Why? We are still near.”
“Near?,
Yes, but not close enough for me to cheer!”
“Cheer?
Why? We don’t recall doing anything like that,
that
needs you to be joyful, to celebrate.”
“Wait!
Are you tricking us in stealth?”
“Stealth?
Me? Not at all dearies, just hugs and kisses.”
(messes
to clear, I said in whispered undertones)
(Undertones?
oops!) “We heard that! Chores in disguise!” they moaned,
moaned
but still they came, with giggles that grew,
grew
into a heap of hugs, and in a mess askew!
~Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

A couple more

I step out into the sunshine
Sunshine
that warms my skin,
skin
that glows with warmth within.
~Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Their giggles and their laughter
Her
Smiles and his grins fill every corner
Where
Darkness was, now lit with joy anew.
~Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Recently

On My Blog and Home Front

The posts on my blog since my last Sunday Scribblings:

• Full Circle From Theory to Practice
• Celebrate the Freedom to Say Yes: Powerful Quotes and Books
• 13 Reset Goals for the Year Ahead
• Born in the Middle, Reading all the Way Through
• Stuck in the Middle: 10 Great Books with “Middle” in the Title
• Sunday Scribblings #229: Happy Birthday to City, Country, and Me

And at home, it has been a regular week – celebrating a birthday and enjoying a long weekend at home.

Upcoming

On My Blog and Home Front

Hope to keep posting everyday on my blog. As for at home, no big plans.

This Week’s Celebrations

The Literary and Close-to-it Celebrations

• Literary Birthdays this week: Jeff VanderMeer, Kathy Reichs, V. E. Schwab on July 7th; Erin Morgenstern and Jean de la Fontaine on the 8th; Dean Koontz and Barbara Cartland on the 9th of July; the 10th celebrates Alice Munro, Karen Russell, Marcel Proust, and Seth Godin; Amitav Ghosh, E. B. White, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Min Jin Lee on the 11th; the 12th is for Henry David Thoreau and Pablo Neruda; David Storey and Jane Hamilton on the 13th
• The 10th is National Clerihew Day as well as International Town Criers Day.

Foodie Celebrations

• July 7th is National Strawberry Sundae Day, National Macaroni Day, and most important, also World Chocolate Day
• More delish follows with National Chocolate with Almonds Day, National Blueberry Day, National Freezer Pop Day, and National Ice Cream Sundae Day on the 8th
• The 9th of July is sweet and simple with National Sugar Cookie Day
• Followed by National Piña Colada Day on July 10th
• National Blueberry Muffin Day, National Rainier Cherry Day, Free Slurpee Day, and National Mojito Day wait for us on the 11th of July
• While July 12th is National Pecan Pie Day
• Last, but not the least, it is National French Fry Day on the 13th

Other Celebrations

• I definitely am in love with the July 7th holidays! For it is National Dora Day (another live action Dora movie is coming, y’all), National Father Daughter Take a Walk Day, International Peace & Love Day, as well as National Day of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
• Free your inner child with Be a Kid Again Day on the 8th of July
• And explore more with Barn Day and Call of the Horizon Day on July 9th
• The 10th is National Kitten Day and Don’t Step On A Bee Day!
• I find it kind of weird that the 11th is both World Population Day and Cheer Up the Lonely Day. Given the world population, we shouldn’t have lonely souls but we do. So let us each do our part to reach out to someone who needs a hello, a smile even.
• July 12th is Etch A Sketch Day, New Conversations Day, and Paper Bag Day as well as the aforementioned National Simplicity Day.
• Next up, or to end the week comes Fool’s Paradise Day, International Rock Day, and National Barbershop Music Appreciation Day on the 13th

Related Reads and More

• Check out my clerihew post,
• and learn how to be a kid again with these tips

Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, this was it for this post. As always, appreciate and totally welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions on these scribblings on Sunday! And which of these days in this wonderful week do you plan to celebrate?

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon. And since it is July, also to the Ultimate Blogging Challenge throughout this month.