Vol.3 (04) - "Meter in English"

“Meter in English”

by Robert Wallace
Part I

Ferrick Gray

Poetically Speaking
Volume 3, Issue 4 (March 20)

 

Prefatory Comments

⠀ This essay is about another essay, namely Meter in English by Robert Wallace. He daringly put forth his ideas for simplifying the study of the structure of poetry. It was written in 1993 and later circulated to several other poets for comment. David Baker included their comments and Wallace's essay in the book Meter in English: A Critical Engagement. As one would expect, there were mixed thoughts. Some were very supportive of Wallace's ideas, and others were very critical. I have not read Baker's compilation, but I have read Wallace's essay. Later, I may read the responses to his essay, but I doubt that any will be able to persuade me to move from what I believe. In short, I believe in all of Wallace's comments and consider his work of prime importance for anyone working in structured verse. I recommend reading this essay! However, I do have a few comments to make, and for the most part, they may seem trivial, but I believe they are worth noting. Essentially, Wallace was proposing that English verse is exclusively or fundamentally iambic, and with this statement, he says, accentual-syllabic is English meter.

Percy Shelley's "Ozymandias"

Ferrick Gray

Poetry Showcase

March 14

⠀⠀ I met a traveller from an antique land,

⠀⠀ Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

⠀⠀ Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

⠀⠀ Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

⠀⠀ And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

⠀⠀ Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

⠀⠀ Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

⠀⠀ The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

⠀⠀ And on the pedestal, these words appear:

⠀⠀ My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

⠀⠀ Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

⠀⠀ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

⠀⠀ Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

⠀⠀ The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Vol.3 (04) - What Would Happen If Everything Were the Same?

What Would Happen If Everything Were the Same?

Ferrick Gray

The Yellowed Page

Volume 3, Issue 4 (March 5)

Prefatory Remarks

⠀ There is no doubt that the appeal of poetry has declined a great deal over the past decades. No one can disagree with this, but what could we say is the cause of this phenomenon?

⠀ At one point, there was a move away from formal verse to what became known as vers libre, or free-verse. For what reasons? I suppose people were thinking that all poetry had become the same. Was it? The answer to this question is partly yes, and no. Yes, formal poetry, in particular the pentameter verse, had reigned supreme for a long time, and no, all forms were not the same.

Vol.3 (03) - What Makes the Poet?

What Makes the Poet?

Ferrick Gray

The Yellowed Page
Volume 3, Issue 3 (February 28)

About the Title

⠀ When first deciding on the title for this expository piece, I wondered which would be more appropriate: the definite article or the indefinite article. Did I want to discuss what makes the poet, or what makes a poet?

⠀ No doubt, some readers would be wondering what difference it makes. I could have used either, but one is far more significant. This choice may seem trivial at first, but using the wrong word can prove detrimental. 

⠀ A poet and the poet could mean the same poet, but the implication of the first is that it could refer to any poet (person) who calls themselves a poet. This is a general description of someone who ventures into the realm of writing poetry, or at least what they call poetry. Naturally, what we call poetry is subject to personal opinion. 

Shakespeare's Sonnet XVII

William Shakespeare's Sonnet XVII

Ferrick Gray
Poetry Showcase
February 27
⠀⠀⠀Who will believe my verse in time to come,
⠀⠀⠀If it were filled with your most high deserts?
⠀⠀⠀Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb
⠀⠀⠀Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts.
⠀⠀⠀If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
⠀⠀⠀And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
⠀⠀⠀The age to come would say 'This poet lies;
⠀⠀⠀Such heavenly touches ne'er touched earthly faces.'
⠀⠀⠀So should my papers, yellowed with their age,
⠀⠀⠀Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue,
⠀⠀⠀And your true rights be termed a poet's rage
⠀⠀⠀And stretched metre of an antique song:
⠀⠀⠀⠀ But were some child of yours alive that time,
⠀⠀⠀⠀ You should live twice, in it, and in my rime.

A Breath of Wind

Kimberley Leighton

Poetry Showcase

February 18

She shimmered turquoise against blue of sky,
Her wings ethereal, joys dust from his star;
Slowly she slips from the hand of love’s lie.

Stillness surrounds, she is unable to fly
Where once she knew heavens kiss from afar;
She shimmered turquoise against blue of sky.

She gave her heart amidst a soulful sigh
With his promise to hold safely each scar,
Slowly she slips from the hand of love’s lie.

The breathless passion of her love leapt high,
Lost in his lyrics and strings of guitar —
She shimmered turquoise against blue of sky.

The inflections of his murmurs felt shy,
The heat of his need left her heart to char —
Slowly she slips from the hand of love’s lie.

Now his silence only sings of goodbye
Like fireflies lit and left in a jar —
She shimmered turquoise against blue of sky,
Slowly she slips from the hand of love’s lie.

Kimberley Leighton

Vol.2 (01) - Dante's "Vita Nuova"

Dante's "Vita Nuova"

Possibly the greatest love poem ever written.

Snippets
Volume 2, Issue 1 (February 14)

The Dual-Language Edition of Dante's Vita Nuova, translated by Anthony Mortimer.

ALMA CLASSICS
ISBN: 978-1-84749-695-9

Prefatory Remarks

⠀ Vita Nuova is a very different work than we may expect from Dante Alighieri, the author of La Commedia. While many consider this work a poem, it is an unusual combination of prose and poetry known as a prosimetrum. The prose sections are written in a manner that suggests Dante does not want to be misinterpreted. In other words, he wants the reader to understand his poems as he meant them, in the same way. As a result, Dante can be a little repetitive in his explanations.