#anapestic tetrameter

[willknightauthor]

A BREATH IN THE DARK

[creatediana]

"Unwell" - a poem in rimas dissolutas written 5/23/2024

[i-scan-your-poems]

full scansion:

◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – I will bitch / about heat. / I will bitch / about cold.  ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – ◡ / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – I will bitch / about sunshine, / and about / growing old. ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – I will bitch / about ev/erything, in/side and out. ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – You will find / there is no/thing I can’t / bitch about. 

metrical form: anapestic tetrameter (a form often used by Dr. Seuss) rhyme scheme: AABB other notes: 1 extra syllable in line 2; otherwise extremely regular.

“When the weather gets cold in a few months you will complain about it then, so enjoy this heat” I will bitch about it now, I will bitch about it then, I will bitch about everything there is ever to bitch about, because guess what, Im a bitch

[i-scan-your-poems]

poem for you to scan if youre accepting them? this one's called "the pillars in pairs"

Through the door of golden pine

Down the creaking stairs,

With pale stone streaking granite gold

Of the pillars in pairs.

On the brick-and-mortar path

Near to sunlit mares

Within the light of the shining sun

‘Round the pillars in pairs.

Over hedges rosy-sweet,

By the grazing hares

Across the golden field of grass,

To the pillars in pairs.

T’wards the silver marble men

Near the statue’s hand,

Before the weeping ravens here,

The pairs of pillars stand.

Scansion:

– / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – Through / the door / of gol/den pine – / ◡ – / ◡ – Down / the crea/king stairs, ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – With pale / stone strea/king gra/nite gold ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – Of the pil/lars in pairs. – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – On / the brick/-and-mor/tar path – / ◡ – / ◡ – Near / to sun/lit mares ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ – Within / the light / of the shi/ning sun ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – ‘Round the pil/lars in pairs. – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – O/ver hed/ges ro/sy-sweet, – / ◡ – / ◡ – By / the gra/zing hares ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – Across / the gol/den field / of grass, ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – To the pil/lars in pairs. – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – T’wards / the sil/ver mar/ble men – / ◡ – / ◡ – Near / the sta/tue’s hand, ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – Before / the wee/ping ra/vens here, ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – The pairs / of pil/lars stand.

Metrical form: Each four-line stanza has the same rhythm, even though each line within the stanza is different: – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – (acephalous iambic tetrameter) – / ◡ – / ◡ – (acephalous iambic trimeter) ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – (iambic tetrameter) ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – OR ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ –

The fourth line of the stanza is underlyingly an iambic trimeter. However, in all but the last stanza, this expected line is replaced with an anapestic dimeter: the same number of syllables, but broken into two feet instead of three.

Rhyme scheme: ABCB DBEB FBGB HIJI

[wumblr]

oh great HR is texting me. they must REALLY be under a hiring freeze lol

[willknightauthor]

THE BEGGAR

[i-scan-your-poems]

scansion:

◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / – – / ◡ ◡ – The most hor/rible thing / I e/ver have seen ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – Was the Je/sus H. Christ / Crucifi/xion Machine – – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – All gears, / wires and springs, /with a sil/very gloss – – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – Made just / to affix / the one guy / to a cross!

metrical form: anapestic tetrameter rhyme scheme: rhyming couplets other notes: In meter, as in style, this poem closely imitates Dr. Seuss. As in Dr. Seuss' poetry, an anapest is sometimes resolved into a spondee.

[creatediana]

"Blank" - a poem written 12/08/2023

[stastrodome]

Milton’s Paradise Lost, condensed and in anapestic tetrameter.

With a heave from the heavens the Devil was home Then he talked to a woman all naked alone “With this Apple, I know, that there’s Eden to lose But I’m thinking of how all the sex will improve”

[0lemat]

The Riddle of the Sphinx

“A ‘Monster,’ you call me?  A monster am I! A lion that riddles and soars through the sky, A creature removed from the land of its birth, And set like a plague, now to ravage the earth.

O Hero, you see here the Monster you seek, A terror upon the unwise and the weak! So now, by my claw-tip or else by my voice: The Hero can make, in his death, his own choice.

You come for a riddle—an interesting quest: A riddle’s a mirror that’s also a test. It weighs out your wisdom, and seeks for your skill It holds you against my own Monstrous, cruel will.

Turn away now, and you’ll live a safe life Free from your fate filled with ruin and strife. To cross wits with me?  Is to fail and to die— And here you shall perish, or else here shall I.

The answer’s a monster, or else it’s a name— Though not one that’s yet been promoted to fame— I’ll tell you its story, and then you must say What creature it is that thus lives in its day.

In the morning, on four legs, it crawls on the ground And only survives if the monster is found By those who will help it and free it from chains, And teach it to manage and nurture its pains.

Yet when the sun watches from noontime on high, The monster, on two legs, walks under the sky O—Witness its power!  Its glory!  Its woe!— It can strike down its father or strike down a foe.

In the evening, however, the creature goes blind: It feeds its own eyes to its fracturing mind, The monster on three feeble legs greets the night— With barely a remnant of its former might.

Yet over the world stands this monster astride— As feared for its power as loathed for its pride! So, answer me, Wanderer—if you now can! O, what is this monster?”

[i-scan-your-poems]

Scansion:

◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – The heartbeats of animals keep me awake, – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – Pounding together, foretelling a storm; – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – Agonized wailing and thundering hooves, ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – The beasts of the earth crawling out in a swarm. ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – The sweat of the damned runs its hands down my back, ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – Its fingers leave streaks of my fate down my spine; – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – Eyeless ex-lovers are watching from hell, ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – The maggots are hungry, they call me divine. ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – Partake in the feast at my church of decay, – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – Drink of my blood and eat of my flesh; – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – Most would not eat of the fruit still alive, ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – But angels delight in a Eucharist fresh. ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – I offer myself to the heavens above ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – ◡ ◡ – That they may yet return to me my Muppet Love

Metrical form: (◡) – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ –

Acephalous anapestic tetrameter.

Rhyme scheme: ABCB DEFE GHIH JJ, similar to a Shakespearean sonnet.

The heartbeats of animals keep me awake,

Pounding together, foretelling a storm;

Agonized wailing and thundering hooves,

The beasts of the earth crawling out in a swarm.

The sweat of the damned runs its hands down my back,

Its fingers leave streaks of my fate down my spine;

Eyeless ex-lovers are watching from hell,

The maggots are hungry, they call me divine.

Partake in the feast at my church of decay,

Drink of my blood and eat of my flesh;

Most would not eat of the fruit still alive,

But angels delight in a Eucharist fresh.

I offer myself to the heavens above

That they may yet return to me my Muppet Love

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Some Poetry Terminology

Alliteration. Close repetition of consonant sounds, especially initial consonant sounds.

Anapest. Foot consisting of 2 unstressed syllables followed by a stress.

Assonance. Close repetition of vowel sounds.

Blank verse. Unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Caesura. A deliberate rhetorical, grammatical, or rhythmic pause, break, cut, turn, division, or pivot in poetry.

Chapbook. A small book of about 24-50 pages.

Consonance. Close repetition of consonant sounds--anywhere within the words.

Couplet. Stanza of 2 lines; often, a pair of rhymed lines.

Dactyl. Foot consisting of a stress followed by 2 unstressed syllables.

Decasyllable. Line consisting of 10 syllables.

Enjambment. Continuation of sense and rhythmic movement from one line to the next; also called a "run-on" line.

Envoi. A brief ending (usually to a ballade or sestina) no more than 4 lines long; summary.

Epigraph. A short verse, note, or quotation that appears at the beginning of a poem or section; usually presents an idea or theme on which the poem elaborates, or contributes background information not reflected in the poem itself.

Foot. Unit of measure in a metrical line of poetry.

Galleys. First typeset version of a poem, magazine, and/or book/chapbook.

Hendecasyllable. Line consisting of 11 syllables.

Hexameter. Line consisting of 6 metrical feet.

Honorarium. A token payment for published work.

Iamb. Foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stress.

Line. Basic unit of a poem; measured in feet if metrical.

Meter. The rhythmic measure of a line.

Octave. Stanza of 8 lines.

Octosyllable. Line consisting of 8 syllables.

Pentameter. Line consisting of 5 metrical feet. For instance, iambic pentameter equals 10 syllables (5 unstressed, 5 stressed).

Quatrain. Stanza of 4 lines.

Quintain. Stanza of 5 lines.

Refrain. A repeated line within a poem, similar to the chorus of a song.

Rhyme. Words that sound alike, especially words that end in the same sound.

Rhythm. The beat and movement of language (rise and fall, repetition and variation, change of pitch, mix of syllables, melody of words).

Septet. Stanza of 7 lines.

Sestet. Stanza of 6 lines.

Spondee. Foot consisting of 2 stressed syllables.

Stanza. Group of lines making up a single unit; like a paragraph in prose.

Strophe. Often used to mean "stanza"; also a stanza of irregular line lengths.

Tercet. Stanza or poem of 3 lines.

Tetrameter. Line consisting of 4 metrical feet.

Trochee. Foot consisting of a stress followed by an unstressed syllable.

Source ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ References for Poets

[beaft]

Is there a special trick to writing in a Seussian style?

A Seussian style is quite easy to ape:

just short easy words, plus a joke or a jape.

Internal rhyme all the time if you can,

but first off, make sure that your sentences scan.

Getting the rhythm correct is an art -

miss just one syllable and the whole damn thing falls apart.

Toss in wacky creatures with muddlesome names,

like Glipperty-Glupper. Or Poffle. Or James.

Remember to use anapestic tetrameter,

And if you can't rhyme, invent words. (Like "calamiter".)

For good measure, add some bizarre made-up places,

And a sprinkle of nonsense. Now you're off to the races!

[metricalscansion]

x x / x x / x x / x /

Have u ev | er had sex | with a phar | oah ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

x x / x x x x / x /

put the | pussy | in a | scarmoph | ogoghs

first line is mainly-anapestic tetrameter, second line is a trochee ('pussy') preceded and followed by dibrachs, resolving into iambs for 'scarmophogoghs'

Have u ever had sex with a pharoah ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh put the pussy in a scarmophogoghs

[whatiwishfanfiction]

New chapter is up!

Preview:

The first place Once-ler tried his luck was the city of North Nitch where the biggest businesses were. It was a city of rainbow, sleek buildings twisted into swirly shapes and blinking lights, filled with the latest technology, including traffic lights with seven colors instead of three. He lost track of how many times he almost got run over in traffic trying to understand what they were supposed to mean.

O'Hare's Business and Innovation Center was the biggest, sleekest, twistiest building where he made an appointment to pitch his product. He rode an elevator up to the hundredth floor at the top of the building where helicopters flew so close to the window it looked like he could touch them. The O'Hares were a famous line of CEOs who ran all the major companies in every country.

Once-ler pulled his guitar from his back, mentally going over the pitch he'd carefully prepared for the team of salesmen. He took a deep breath, and began:

"The great is Thneed… I mean, the Thneed is good," he missed a note, completely forgetting how to sing in anapestic tetrameter.

READ THE REST ON AO3!

Join me as I post an actually finished rewrite of this entire movie! Extra plot twists, foreshadowing, and embellishments, since I did multiple drafts! Nobody ever finished a full rewrite before, so I did it myself.

[libraryfines]

using "iambic pentameter" to describe solas' speaking style is not completely accurate. iambic pentameter is a specific type of poetic meter that's extremely common in english-language poetry, but it's not a catch-all for any poetic meter.

the "iambic" part of iambic pentameter means it uses iambs as its metrical foot, which is the basic rhythm unit in poetry. iambs are structured as one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. the "pentameter" part means it uses five feet in its meter -- pent meaning five. so a line of iambic pentameter is five iambs, and reads like this:

and-ONE and-TWO and-THREE and-FOUR and-FIVE

or:

shall-I com-PARE thee-TO a-SUM mer's-DAY

pentameter is great for speaking, which is why shakespeare used it so much, but not terribly musical. music is often written in tetrameter (four iambs), or an alternating tetrameter-trimeter (three iambs) combo which is called "ballad meter." (ballad meter is why you can sing most emily dickinson poems to the tune of the pokémon theme song, which is extremely funny but not relevant here.)

"solas meter" isn't in iambic pentameter, and even though it's based on a song it's not in ballad meter either. it does largely use iambs, so folks are on the right track. the structure is usually two lines of iambic tetrameter (four iambs) followed by a third line of iambic pentameter (five iambs) with an extra unstressed syllable tacked on the end:

i-JOUR neyed-DEEP in-TO the-FADE in-AN cient-RUINS and-BAT tle-FIELDS to-SEE the-DREAMS of-LOST ci-VIL i-ZA tions

the tetrameter gives it a nice musical rhythm. "hallelujah" is written in 6/8 and the iambs give you that eighth note-quarter note rhythm here. but what about that third line? the extra unstressed syllable is a "feminine ending," which you can see in the famous soliloquy from hamlet:

to-BE or-NOT to-BE that-IS the-QUES tion

in my opinion, the feminine ending is part of what gives "solas meter" that wistful, soft feeling that weekes is going for. ending on an unstressed syllable takes the wind out of the line's sails a bit. when it's alongside regular iambic meters, it can feel unresolved. ending in a stressed syllable every line can get sing-songy (see previous point about ballad meter, i want to be the very best, etc. etc.), so a feminine ending can make a line more conversational.

"hallelujah" uses this four-four-five meter for verses, although not always perfectly:

now-i-HEARD there-WAS a-SE cret-CHORD that-DA vid-PLAYED and-it-PLEASED the-LORD but-YOU don't-RE ally-CARE for-MU sic-DO ya

there's a couple sneaky anapests in there where iambs should be (and-it-PLEASED and now-i-HEARD are both U-U-S), but i'm not here to tell leonard cohen how to write songs. songwriting is not beholden to the same rigid meter that poetry is because it's intended to be paired with music, and the music is what's driving the rhythm, not the lyrics.

weekes has said they specifically used the k.d. lang version, and lang omits the "now" in the first line so it scans a little better with tetrameter. jeff buckley and brandi carlile did the same in their covers, so it seems there's an impulse when singing to make this line fit the meter more neatly.

now the refrain, which is just "hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah," is not iambic at all. it uses "ionics," which are four-syllable metric feet (iambs are two) that are U-U-S-S. minor ionics are unstressed syllables first, major ionics are stressed syllables first. so we've got minor ionic meter here:

hal-le-LU-JAH, hal-le-LU-JAH hal-le-LU-JAH, hal-le-LU-JAH

"solas meter" uses this ionic meter too:

ev-ery-GREAT-WAR has-its-HER-OES i'm-just-CUR-I-OUS what-kind-YOU'LL-BE

"curious" doesn't quite scan here because it's a dactyl word getting shoehorned into an ionic foot. dactyls are S-U-U -- e.g. "benedict cumberbatch" is a double dactyl. you could try the old-school poetry strategy of just dropping a syllable and going for "cur'ous," but that's a bit much. i'm not gonna tell weekes how to write dialogue any more than i'm going to tell leonard cohen how to write songs!

so in conclusion: "solas meter" is a combination of iambic tetrameter, iambic pentameter with feminine endings, and ionic meter. themoreyouknow.gif

for more on this, check out james frankie thomas' great explanation of poetic meter at the paris review, which specifically goes into the nitty-gritty of "hallelujah."

[this was original posted as a reblog of felassan's great post on the same topic, but i thought it merited its own post]