05-09-2014, 09:48 AM
Only among formalist poets can it be said that there is a rule of three. In this age of free verse, it should be clear that there are no rules. My effort to find a synthesis between free verse and metered poetry is certainly a legitimate thing for me to do; and since most of the feet in my poetry are iambs, it is fair to say that I am writing in iambic meter. Judson Jerome -- the person I learned more from than anyone else -- estimated that about 40% of the feet in the canon of great poetry are variant feet, and my variant feet come out to about 30% or 35%.
Here is my article on scansion in which I analyze that line by Shakespeare and also analyze Timothy Steele's scansion method: http://www.poemtree.com/articles/Scansion.htm
I owe a lot to Frost for writing "Mowing". He is doing in that poem what I want to do in my own writing, and he shows us that it can work. There are more iambs in that poem than anapests, so it can't be called anapestic pentameter; it is, in fact, iambic pentameter with variants. It turns out, by the way, that there are lines with only ten syllables; and I'm glad of that, because it further proves my point. Frost is showing us that it isn't necessary to be rigid in order to write beautiful poetry. A line with ten syllables will read as more succinct, and such lines are good for making a point. Lines that stretch to 12 or 13 syllables are more languid and good for descriptive purposes. There is an organic quality to our language, and Frost is showing us that.
I looked at "Home Burial" again, and the number of lines that go to 11 syllables are less than I said, perhaps 10%. Even so, Frost is showing us that it isn't necessary to be rigid.
Here is my article on scansion in which I analyze that line by Shakespeare and also analyze Timothy Steele's scansion method: http://www.poemtree.com/articles/Scansion.htm
I owe a lot to Frost for writing "Mowing". He is doing in that poem what I want to do in my own writing, and he shows us that it can work. There are more iambs in that poem than anapests, so it can't be called anapestic pentameter; it is, in fact, iambic pentameter with variants. It turns out, by the way, that there are lines with only ten syllables; and I'm glad of that, because it further proves my point. Frost is showing us that it isn't necessary to be rigid in order to write beautiful poetry. A line with ten syllables will read as more succinct, and such lines are good for making a point. Lines that stretch to 12 or 13 syllables are more languid and good for descriptive purposes. There is an organic quality to our language, and Frost is showing us that.
I looked at "Home Burial" again, and the number of lines that go to 11 syllables are less than I said, perhaps 10%. Even so, Frost is showing us that it isn't necessary to be rigid.