#dadlife

[TranquillityBase]

With regard to the question of will something get ruined by adding this or that....maybe? Depends.  

If you look at the scansion of the lines, it's iambic tetrameter in the 1st and 3rd lines of each quatrain, and iambic trimeter in the 2nd and 4th. In each quatrain, lines 1 & 3 have masculine endings, and lines 2 & 4 have feminine endings (an unstressed syllable at the end). So, yes, inserting a word that doesn't fit the meter will throw a wrench in the gears. However, it's certainly possible to change words that don't fit. The other possibilities that I was suggesting like "context" were chosen because they are two syllables and have a stress at the beginning of the word which would match the stress in the word being replaced. 

There's nothing sacred about this metrical pattern -- I pretty much just chose it because I liked it. I'm not opposed to adding more feet to a line or cutting them, but I would need to be consistent. I'd rather not change from iambs to trochees or dactyls, etc. at this point, but adding another stress or doing all masculine or feminine endings...I'm open to any of those discussions.

Dear Geezer,

I suspected as much.

"what's vital and quintessence" sounds good
"what's secret and quintessence" also sounds good
but "what's context and quintessence" sounds wrong.  It sounds to me like the two need to be distinguished.  Thus the additional "what's".

That said, I really think "context" the best of the word choices you suggested.

I myself am not interested in metrical devices.  I understand their value (or try to), but for me, the right words come first.

Damn the dactyls and full speed ahead....

TqB