Tristan Robert Lange

Poet | Mystic | Existential Voice | Human with a haunted halo

Tristan Robert Lange is a poet whose work blends existential depth, gothic imagery, and spiritual subtext. This site is home to their published poems, reflections, and creative journey.

Ghostly Gallop

A dark, textured image showing a sequence of ghostly hoofprints leading toward a hanging bell topped with a skull. Pale smoke curls through the scene, creating a haunting, supernatural atmosphere.
Image: AI-generated using DALL-E and modified by the author; Poetry: written by Tristan Robert Lange, Human-authored.

Structure:

  • 9 lines per stanza.
  • Lines 1–4: A narrative quatrain in iambic pentameter (abcb rhyme).
  • Lines 5–8: Two clipped rhyming couplets (3–5 syllables per line, dd ee rhyme).
  • Line 9: A refrain line that recurs at the close of each stanza, shifting slightly each time.

Flow:

  1. Narrative stride (lines 1–4) — folk-song storytelling cadence.
  2. Hoofbeat strikes (lines 5–8) — clipped violence, abrupt, jarring.
  3. Tolling refrain (line 9) — seals each stanza, evolving across the poem.

Effect:

  • Mimics the rhythm of galloping hooves.
  • Blends the ballad’s rolling song with staccato dread.
  • The refrain becomes a curse, returning stanza after stanza with subtle shifts.

Purpose:

  • Designed for dreadful storytelling.
  • Holds folklore cadence while allowing Gothic subversion.
  • Marries inevitability with interruption — a funeral march fractured by hoofbeats.

Provenance:

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