Janice, thanks for all those references. I've pulled out Steele and am rereading the relevant section. There's probably something in Frances Mayes too. And I'm tickled to learn that Leech (whom I know from the terrifying comprehensive grammar Quirk-Greenbaum-Leech-Svartvik) has a book on poetry.
I'm a little chagrined to ask such basic-seeming questions, but the simple fact is that I don't know what esthetic to use in judging syllabics. I'd need to see many more analyses like Alicia's of the Plath poem. And let's remember, among the questions that got this thread started was the question of what forum syllabics belong on--a question that rattles me because I feel unfit to evaluate them. Although I wasn't around when the decision was made to have syllabics put in Nonmet, I feel sure it was made to avoid arguments over which measuring stick should apply, and to give critics a hint by one's choice of board.
For example: Steele opens his discussion with Daryush, and gives her poem "For _______" in full, pointing out that "many readers may hear its lines as iambic trimeters with anapestic substitutions." Then he points out that she's unusual and that "One principle of syllabic verse is that no pattern of accent should establish itself." If one of the chief exemplars of syllabics violates the principle, how is it a principle?
Clearly I have a lot more reading to do. But I've already got basic questions like, Does syllable count create different values concerning line breaks? Does it become okay, or less bad, to break lines on articles (yuck) or prepositions (ick)?
Obviously, we need to see more such poems here if we're to get a feel for them. If I thought we could get enough poems, I'd suggest a Distinguished Guest event. Perhaps we could generate enough if it were run in the way Lee Gurga and Stephen Collington ran the haiku event, as a teaching exercise.
Pardon me for rambling....
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