[Greg Williamson]

Originally posted by nyctom:
Dear Mr. Williamson:

Welcome to the often wacky world of Eratosphere. Hope you enjoy your stay.

I just started writing in meter last June, and now, after 6 months of getting the basic iambic meter into my bloodstream, want to start dabbling with both substitution and other meters, including heterometricity. I was most impressed by your kites poem. The meter there positively swoops and soars. When you first started, did you immediately start playing with variations on iambics and other meters? How much substitution do you think a poem can bear before it loses its swing? Are there any kinds of meter you are particularly drawn to or avoid like the proverbial plague? Ditto on metrical substitutions. I am curious because there is a great playfulness to your lines-not just in the what, but in the how.

Looking forward to your response--

Tom


Hi Tom,

Please call me Greg. And please tell me if I'm doing this wrong. I realized I was the only one including the whole previous quote and that that is pretty unwieldy. So I'm trying this new button.

Anyway, as I think back now, I'm sure I played around right away with different meters and styles, but not so much with metrical substitutions. That came more gradually. (At first I just wasn't aware that it was "allowed.") But it's the sort of thing I discuss with my poetry classes relentlessly, no doubt to their rolling eyes. Sometimes we end up encountering a poem where a writer would justify lines through the most inventive of scansions, and, of course, that's not really the point. The music has to justify it, and a lot of that justification depends on the particular poem. So I don't think there are many, or any, airtight rules--to quote James Merrill somewhat out of context, "Whatever plays." But it does have to play. You can't, for instance, sound like Pope or Milton with a lot of anapests, and you can't sound like Swinburne without them.

I should add, though, that I think those shorter-lined, songlike stanzas of the ballad family may more easily accommodate a higher percentage of substitutions. But that's only a practical matter. In theory, I don't see any reason not to put the pedal to the metal and see what kind of music you can make.

Greg

OK, I did it wrong. Blushing. Blushing. How do you reply without the full quote?

Greg