Tim, I agree with you. What you've quoted basically reinforces the point that words at line-ends are no stronger than emphasis via substitution. Begs the question: are substitutions or intentionally jerky rhythms heavy-handed? I never play much with the former, being a non-met neanderthal, but I have tried the latter with some very minor successes.

In any case, I think that although poetry has evolved to be much more visual than it was a century ago, it's still very important to pay attention to sounds & schemes. I myself can only muster a few lines of loose iambs before everything crumbles, but my feeling is that it's well worth the effort even for tin-eared folk.

Like Tom, I am interested to see if we will continue to host Non-Met Lariats, especially those like Clive who play on both sides of the met net.

-eaf


[This message has been edited by eaf (edited March 22, 2004).]