Page 26 - eMuse Vol.9 No.09

— / — / — / — /
— / — / — / — /
(Repeat this metric pattern for the wole stanza)
If it sounds awkward or like conversation, or just “not right”, the
rhythm (or meter) is probably out . THERE WILL BE DISCORD,
so scan it again and make the necessary changes to match the
rhythm grid . ALWAYS READ ALOUD WHEN CHECKING METER.
I use — with permission — the following line from a play called
“Big Jules” written in iambic tetrameter by Norm Gilbert. They
are preparing to kill Julius Caesar .
The following line has 3 iambic feet, but the first is not light/
heavy, but heavy/light and would sound out like this — (“and”
being the light stress)
/ — — / — / — /
1 and and 2 and 3 and 4
/ —
— /
— /
— /
by Jenny Jeays Sharp -en your dagg- ers one and all .
A.T.C.L. in Art of Speech and Drama (Lon.) When Norm changed to this —
— /
— /
— /
— /
Chapter VI Make sharp your dagg- ers one and all .
/ — — / — / — /
There’s More And 1 and 2 and 3 and 4

To Poetry Not only was the meter corrected and the rhythm, you could hear
the ONOMATOPOEIA (usually pronounced “on-a-matter-pier)
— (meaning you almost hear the sound of the action when
There is more to poetry than meter and rhyme — but these are you say the word). MAKE SHARP — you can certainly hear the
the necessary ingredients to make WORD MUSIC (POETRY) vicious intent .
Some of the other ingredients are — Often meter can be fixed very easily as in the example below —
SPRITUAL ELEMENT — Most poets testify that there is a spiriual — / * — / — — /
(not religious) element involved in their writing poetry and at And ev- ery bod-y would jeer.
time they just watch the words falll onto the paper and wonder
where they came from! Nothing can compare with this experi- * this foot was not amphibrachic, but a mistake as it was nowhere
ence . else in the poem .
Henry Ford (the car manufaturer) said — “Whether you think There is an extra light stress in the second foot, which breaks the regu-
you will succeed or not, you are right”. lar pattern of stresses. This could be put right by changing it to —
Be careful not to block your work — be open to it — from my — / * — / — /
experience, if you think it won’t come, you are right, it won’t. And ev- ery one would jeer.
HONING — get it down first, then hone it by circling the rhyming It is sometimes thought that two lines in the same meter, such as
words and checking that they do rhyme. It’s easy to put down these two lines in iambic trimeter, should be the same length
words like “gain” and “same” as rhyming words, when actually in appearance .
they don’t rhyme at all. They have the same vowel sound —
but different consonants, one a “n” and the other an “m”. They ARE the same length in feet (or number of sounds) so their
appearance is irrelevant .
Once you’ve tidied up the rhyme, you can check the meter.
You can’t always plan to write in a certain meter, but you can — / — / — / — /
identify the meter as the first couple of lines come through. It ov- er-whelms me as I stand
You may have to “feel” for the meter by reading aloud and
emphasising what look to be the heavy stresses. — / — / — / — /
Be-neath a tree so large and grand .
CONTRACTIONS — often help you hone meter, reducing the “I
will” to “I’ll”, “she has” to “she’s”, “they are” to “they’re”, etc., This is iambic tetrameter and is a rhyming couplet, each stanza
reduces the number of beats. Also NOT using contractions at having 2 lines with “end rhyme”.
times, but using two words “I will”, “she has”, “they are” etc.,
increases the number of beats and might put the meter right. a|b
It can be helpful to put a rhythm grid at the top of each page
and check with this later. The Ballad Meter grid would be —
Part VII “Lead Words” next month
26 eMuse September 2020