— The Definitive Review —
Ferrick Gray
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
⠀ It would be suitable at this stage to list the ten articles (what I will refer to as maxims) listed by Robert Wallace in his 1993 essay, Meter in English.
⠀ I have written about Dobrée's work before, with his Restoration Comedy (Snippets, Vol. 1, Issue 4). He keeps his study within the restoration period of 1660 to 1720 for both the comedy and tragedy expositions. I have found both of Dobrée's books to be easy reading with a somewhat lighthearted tone. What modern readers will find difficult are the writers he mentions. For many people, the bulk of his references will be unfamiliar and will require more research to understand the significance of what he is writing about.
⠀ 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.
Ferrick Gray
⠀ 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.
⠀ 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.