View Single Post
  #4  
Unread 08-16-2001, 07:48 AM
Carol Taylor Carol Taylor is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Posts: 7,827
Post

I've read these points with interest and wish I had time to test each one. I'm sure I could find exceptions, just because all generalizations are false, including this one. Alan clarified some of Caleb's points, and I'd like to clarify a couple more.

Rule #7 about 5 beats per line refers to pentameter lines only. The Metrical Police don't require you to write in pentameter in the first place. I write in tetrameter most of the time. Even sonnet variations are branching out to other meters. But if you ARE writing in pentameter, make damn sure you have five beats to the line. I prefer to use the term "beats" to denote metrical stress and "stresses" to denote vocal stress, in order to avoid such confusion over how many stresses is too many. Thus you might have more or fewer than five vocal stresses in a five-beat line, employing relative promotion to keep the beat.

On rule #2, some lines without variation are desirable for setting up a pattern. Variations should be, as Alan says, variations, and too many may undermine the pattern or rhythm. But I don't think I agree with the 20% (or any other %) rule of thumb for substitutions that I've heard some people cite, or that you can't mix them skillfully, or that they should necessarily occur near the beginning of a line.

In rule #9 about enjambments, they aren't true enjambments if they occur at the end of the phrase or thought. An enjambment occurs when the phrase or thought carries over into the next line. What Caleb says about awkward line breaks is quite true, though. There should be some logic used, even moreso in free verse, which doesn't have rhyme to tell the reader where the line is supposed to end. I've heard some of the more radical writers (Superfluous Poets?) say they put line breaks in odd places to "startle" the reader or "short-circuit his brain" or "throw a monkey wrench into his mental processes," but I don't read their kind of stuff if I can help it.

Solan, one way to develop your ear is by reading lots of poetry. Another is by having native speakers of English (not necessarily other poets, but good readers) read your work cold and point out any places where they stumble. Then try to analyze why they had the problem, working back from the effect to the cause, and making your own cautious generalizations.

Thank you, Rhina, wherever you are!


Carol
Reply With Quote