[Jay Gandhi]

Hello folks;

I am new to writing metered poetry.

How do I make a decision about the stress/un-stress of a monosyllabic word?

This is really causing a lot of problem for me while writing a metered verse.

Can someone help?

[Wintaka]

Jay,

Welcome to Eratosphere!

Yours is a frequently asked question. In general, monosyllabic nouns and verbs are stressed. There is a weaker tendency for adverbs and adjectives to be stressed. Pronouns can go either way. Less important words (e.g. conjunctions, articles, prepositions, et cetera) are usually not accented.

The most reliable indication, though, is to hand your text to a native English speaker without identifying it as a line of poetry and listen to him or her reading it aloud. If no one is handy, listen carefully to someone enunciating that word in a similar context on, say, YouTube.

HTH,

Colin

[Maryann Corbett]

These decisions aren't simple, but you can start with the simple aspects of the answers and move on to the complexities. You might look first at two useful books: Lewis Turco's The Book of Forms and Timothy Steele's All the Fun's in How You Say A Thing.

While articles, prepositions, and pronouns are likely to be unstressed, and nouns and verbs are likely to be stressed, the main truth is that words are stressed or unstressed in verse by contrast with the words they're next to. So in this line--

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art

bright is in unstressed position, while in this one--

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

it takes stress.

There's a lot more one could say, and Turco and Steele and Thomas Cable and probably lots of others have done that. The members here who teach prosody on a regular basis will have things to add, too.

[Rick Mullin]

Hi Jay,

Write the line and read it out loud in a natural voice. You will see where the stresses fall. This is the only rule for writing metrical verse.

The problem is, your natural voice and mine might not be the same. So, all bets are off on rules for writing metrical verse.

Thanks,
Rick

[Simon Hunt]

Just adding that stresses can shift based on the established meter of a poem or the meaning of the sentence, as in this example off the top of my head:

"the REStauRANT" would usually be stressed like so, but "the" might get promoted for emphasis in a sentence like this if you were emphasizing its unique popularity: "jay GANdhi's PLACE is THE new SPOT this YEAR."

I'm just thinking now, Jay, that this is the kind of place and yours the kind of question where we're going to tell you more than you want to know...

Best,

--Simon

[W.F. Lantry]

Jay,

Try scanning this, especially the last line:

I know no magic trees, no balmy boughs,
No silver-ruddy, gold-vermilion fruits.
But, after all, I know a tree that bears
A semblance to the thing I have in mind.
It stands gigantic, with a certain tip
To which all birds come sometime in their time.
But when they go that tip still tips the tree.

It would be easy to cut off the first few lines, but one has to set up the particular rhythm. It's pretty regular. I'm hoping you can hear the common rhythm.

Thanks,

Bill

[Roger Slater]

Here's a rather famous poem that uses only monosyllabic words. I think you'll agree the meter is distinct.

Tychbornes Elegie, written with his owne hand in the Tower before his execution

My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,
My feast of joy is but a dish of paine,
My Crop of corne is but a field of tares,
And al my good is but vaine hope of gaine.
The day is past, and yet I saw no sunne,
And now I live, and now my life is done.

My tale was heard, and yet it was not told,
My fruite is falne, & yet my leaves are greene:
My youth is spent, and yet I am not old,
I saw the world, and yet I was not seene.
My thred is cut, and yet it is not spunne,
And now I live, and now my life is done.

I sought my death, and found it in my wombe,
I lookt for life, and saw it was a shade:
I trod the earth, and knew it was my Tombe,
And now I die, and now I was but made.
My glasse is full, and now my glasse is runne,
And now I live, and now my life is done.

[ross hamilton hill]

Also stress is tied to the overall poem, reading one stanza is different from reading the whole poem, as one develops a rhythm when reading a poem that gathers as the poem precedes. This pacing relates to the narrative, the story the poem is telling and to the emotional meaning, the load a particular word, phrase or sentence carries.
It really comes down to one's 'ear', the ability to hear when something sounds right or wrong. A good method is to recite and record the poem and play it back, often you will hear problems that way. And always say the poem out aloud, never just read it silently, saying it out aloud you may make slight falterings, changes of pitch that will not necessarily happen if you remain silent.

[Michael Cantor]

What Maryann and Ross said. It depends completely on context, on what has come before, on what follows. You can't isolate a word, or even a line, and discuss meter.

[Mary Meriam]

Originally Posted by Wintaka

Less important words (e.g. conjunctions, articles, prepositions, et cetera) are usually not accented.

Colin, I'm afraid I'll never agree with you about this. Every word in a poem is important. Is it really good to focus on making decisions about which words are more or less important? Isn't it better to focus on the rhythm and music and sound of the poem while you're writing it? (rhetorical questions, let's agree to disagree)

Jay, there's no substitute (ha, pun there) for practice. Your ear for meter will develop as you go, especially if you begin by writing in strict meter.