Hi Curtis:
You ask me about rhythm. Well, did you ever see the movie "The Turning Point"? It is about ballet dancers. I am not a fan of the ballet, but the movie combines two of my favorite film genres: backstage brouhaha and 40's woman's weepie. In the film, the young and promising ballerina is told to do the steps again, to count them out. She replies that she never counts. Well then, asks the haughty choreographer, how do you know when and how to move? She replies, I feel the music and I make it fit.
That's pretty much how I feel about the technical stuff. When I started writing in meter a few months ago, I took out all the prosody manuals I could get my hands on--and they confused me more than enlightened me. The best advice I got was from Carol, Alan, Tim, Lilith and Alicia: go with your ear. Trust your ear. Read the acutal poems--listen to how the meter actually works in a real poem. Then go back to the manuals if you want. So when you ask me about rhythm, I throw up my hands and say, well it felt right to me. And don't even ask me about free verse rhythms. LOL.
This is not to say I don't enjoy reading prosody and poetry anaylses. You have a talent for them. And I really should start reading Auden. I only know the Beaux Arts poem, 9/1/39 and "The Unknown Citizen."
I should post some Margaret Atwood prose/poems. They really are wonderful: "Marrying the Hangman," "Bread," "Happy Endings."
Interesting analysis Curtis. I will have to reread it and let it sink in.
Tom
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