[Perry Miller]

Originally Posted by Susan McLean

Perry, I too was self-taught when I first started writing in meter. One can intuit a lot about the rules just by reading a lot of metrical poems. But the comments here helped me learn the rules behind those poems, and now if I break one of the rules, I do so intentionally, not inadvertently. One big breakthrough for me was learning how to wrap an unstressed syllable at the end of a line into the next line seamlessly by starting that line on a stressed syllable.

Susan

Oh, I've done that many, many times, Susan. Often, however, if an unstressed syllable comes at the end of a line which constitutes an important phrase, an unstressed syllable can create a needed pause.

My best teachers were the books by Judson Jerome, and I think I've had a good grasp of the subject for thirty or forty years now. If I have any weaknesses as a poet, it is my lack of interest in classic literature. I'm not well read. I spent my life dealing with emotional issues, and poetry helped me process them. But reading the classics, both ancient and modern, didn't interest me. I was too focussed on myself to care about some protagonist in a novel or a myth. The great tales that mankind passes around had nothing to do with me. And so, you'll find my poetry mostly introspective (and self-pitying some have said). I have tremendous envy of poets like Alicia Stallings who can relate her writings to the characters of great literature. I know very little about that stuff.

[Barbara Baig]

Hi Perry,
My absolutely favorite book for understanding beat (the foundation of meter) and stressed and unstressed syllables is How Poetry Works by Philip Davies Roberts, the first two chapters. Roberts was a musician as well as a poet; he has an approach to beat I've not seen anywhere else. This book has helped me a great deal. I hope you'll find it useful.

Barbara