Multum in Parvo
Robt and Terese and I, among our other stalwarts, have recently posted trimeters at TDE. I propose to host a workshop on the short line, examining examples from the canon, and liberally illustrating my arguments from my own examples of dimeter and trimeter. Tim Steele, one of our first Lariats, has forcefully argued the centrality of pentameter in English. And he once confided to me that trimeter is useful for “conveying a certain nervous energy.” Never was Tim more wrong. “Easter 1916” conveys more than a certain nervous energy. More like FUCKING MAJESTY! As does “Neither Out Far Nor In Deep:”
The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.
As long as it takes to pass
A ship keeps raising its hull.
The wetter ground like glass
Reflects a standing gull.
The land may vary more;
But whatever the truth may be—
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea.
They cannot look out far.
They cannot look in deep.
But when was that ever a bar
To any watch they keep?
Wasn’t it Trilling who thought Frost’s little masterpiece the most perfect lyric in English? It is inexpressively grave, and I readily employ trimeter for grave subjects:
The Pallbearers
At the prairie cemetary
where the river meets the road
and Murphys come to bury
love in the loam we’ve sowed
my brother lets me carry
the light end of the load.
And for silly subjects:
Dakota Greeting
Frosted sign in a frozen ditch:
“Stranger, welcome to Oakes,
home to hundreds of friendly folks
and one mean son-of-a-bitch.”
Most of you have read Case Notes, which uses trimeter for scary, confessional purposes, and my Last Will and Testament, which manipulates trimeter to the point where it is admissable as a pour-over will in probate court. My point is that I think any meter can be used to express anything. (Exception: Beaton’s bumptious anapests in service of high elegy, which David Anthony and I persuaded him to rewrite as iambics.) It’s just a matter of catching the tune and going with it. A merit of trimeter and dimeter is that you CAN’T flunk Golias’ razor when you employ our shortest lines. And you MUST become an expert rhymer if your rhymes are to fall every 4 to 6 syllables, instead of every 10. I have adjured many beginners at the Sphere to devote themselves to the pentameter until they have it mastered. A conspicuous example of someone profiting from this advice is Macarthur (Andrew) who is now writing fluently in the five banger. But for the next month or so, let’s have some fun with short lines. I shall open Open Mics for dimeter and trimeter. At the beginning of each thread, I shall post some of my own little poems. And I’m happy to workshop both measures over here rather than at the Deep End. Welcome to the Workshop From Hell.
Moore, who is fluent in trimeter and knows Winters and Cunningham cold, could be very helpful in this exercise. yr lariat, Tim
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