Category: writing
Acrostic ….Adventure…..challenge
Are you familiar with the Acrostic poem? Where you write a word vertically down a page and fit an apposite word or sentence for each line?
Acrostic Style – This is a poem that is constructed in such a way that the first letter of each
line can be compiled together to spell one or more words. They may often be the same as
the title.
This example is particularly clever it begins and ends with Stroud,
by Paul Hansford –
Set among hills in the midst of five valleyS,
This peaceful little market town we inhabiT
Refuses (vociferously!) to be a conformeR.
Once home of the cloth it gave its name tO,
Uphill and down again its streets lead yoU.
Despite its faults it leaves us all charmeD.
Here is a one ended acrostic for adventure.
Adventure
Addictive activity
Voyage into new territory
Extreme excitement
Navigating new pathways
Thrill seeking comes in different colours
Unlimited opportunities
Risk or risk averse there are opportunities to
Experience adventure.
Any one care to try one in the comments section or challenge me to do a different one?
Ticking Clock
Late nights turn quickly to early morning
As I recognise the spark of an idea
Whilst the ticking clock issues no warning
Space between the second hand is falling
Recognising potential could be the reason
Late nights turn quickly to early morning
I will have recognised a new dawning
of ideas, to be pushed in the arena
Whilst the ticking clock issues no warning
Between punctuation and profundities crossing
I do not recognise my tired demeanor
Late nights turn quickly into early mornings
Lack of sleep, causes serious mourning
Tomorrow I will recognise this schema
Whilst the ticking clock issues no warning
Without rhyme or reason need becomes longing
Recognising insomnia and amensia
Late nights turn into early mornings
The ticking clock issues no warning
Written in the Villanelle form.
Anthology Askew Communications
Tomorrow sees the launch of the fourth anthology published by Rheteroric Askew. Its full of short stories, flash fiction and poetry. I have some pieces of flssh fiction in the … Continue reading Anthology Askew Communications
The stresses on words and the rythmn of poetry
The best way to read poetry is aloud.
The choice of words the amount of syllables and the arrangement of lines will dictate the rhythm
The time taken to say the word will depend on the amount of syllables and where the stress lies.
Punctuation affects rhythmn .
Line stops or the running of two lines into the other…also in speech the normal pause for a breath will change the way we read the lines.
We always use natural stress but learning and accent sometimes changes where the stresses go.
With writing one needs to stick to where the natural stresses are in words unless writing a poem in dialect
Where is the natural stress for you in the following words?
Credit credit, controversy, controversy British British ??
Sometimes the stress will change according to the meaning or nature of the word.
Some times circumstances will change circumstances
For example if you took the Dr Seuss Poem Green Eggs and Ham. You might read it so the stresses go like this:
i DO not EAT green EGGS and HAM
If you placed the stresses elsewhere, it might change the meaning of the poem:
I do NOT eat GREEN eggs AND ham.
This might suggest that the character would eat them separately but not together and it would not go with the rest of the poem. If you translated this stress change into sound it might go like this
I do NOT eat GREEN eggs AND ham.
DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da.
In terms of inflection in the first example the line ends on a rising tone in the second on a lowering tone.
American English and British English often put different stresses on words and although there is some commonality there are also distinct differences.
It needs some thought if writing for an international audience. Does it matter ?
What do you think?
Poetry
Poetry
An imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning ,rhythmn and language choices to create an emotional experience.
Meaning and emotion through words
Poetry is innate because of the way we learn language which is through sound and repetition before we can read or write…
Its innate because if the natural rythms within our body.
Poetry greek origin … Closely tied to those roots of our language.
Poetry is designed to be read out loud
In speech we move air through through muscular activity speech is a whole body experience ….so if you read aloud you read and interprete the words,convert to sounds
So when we express ourselves verbally and we want to create a message we use sounds that we vary in pitch and tone…We emphasise whole words or part of words we also use body language to get our meaning across.
Poetry is written but is meant to be read aloud…it uses words in a concentrated fashion to enhance and highlight the rhythmns of speech and meaning.
When reading poetry the brain accesses knowledge of language knowledge of sound and your previous experiences of sensations and feelings. In prose and stories choice of language is important but is used differently to poetry. In a story you will get an ebb and flow of language in poetry that ebb and flow needs to be managed. In a story you need to move the story on in poetry you want your message to be savoured.
Devices used by poets. 1.
Poets use a range of musical and figurative devices to achieve their effects. Some of these effects relate to the rhythm and metre ( meter) of the words. In poetry, the meter (or metre) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse.
The study of the rhythm, stress, and pitch (or intonation) of speech is called prosody.
Meter.( Measure)
Meter mimics and heightens the rhythms of our speech, it comes from within the poem, within the words, and is a very powerful tool. Meter is the musical element that involves the stresses of words and the arrangement of those words next to another to create a pattern. This works in the same way that musical composition works. Music is the organisation of sounds and silences – Meter is the organisation of soft and loud sounds (or stressed and unstressed syllables).
There are different tyoes if recognised meter.
The most typical meter used in classical English poetry is ten beats or sounds divided into 5 bars (feet).
In this rhythmn the stresses on words go on the second beat.
di DUM, di DUM ,di DUM, di DUM ,di DUM
Five sets of sounds repeating like a heart beat
and ONE and TWO and THREE and FOUR and FIVE
Here is an example of this rhythmn
He sings a song and makes a dreadful noise
9 words but 10 syllables making 10 stressed sounds as dreadful is a two syllable word.
He sings/a song/and makes/a dread/ful noise.
The syllables of importance are the vowels that sound, in words some vowels sound some vowels are silent.
An easy trick to find the amount if vowel sounds therefore syllables in a word is to put your hand under your chin and say the word aloud.Your mouth will open on every stressed vowel sound(syllable).
Try dreadful, vowel, amazing, friendship.
Amazing friendship on the horizon
Seeing friendship but a life forbidden
Must not look for more, wishing on a star.
Examples of classic 10 syllable meter.
When you are old and grey and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book
W. B. YEATS
The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,
The vapours weep their burthen to the ground
TENNYSON: ‘Tithonus’
Do National quirks put readers off?
I have had reason of late to cogitate about the differences between American English and United Kingdom English. I am sure there are articles out there giving definitive views on the subject. I admit to not having done a search yet. A few incidents have set me wondering if the different word usages and terms become a problem for readers on the different continents. Do they actually turn readers off? I have read lots of books by authors from varying countries and personally I haven’t stopped reading any because of spelling variation or the odd quirk I have had to work out or look up. It has irritated me somewhat that ‘colour’ gets spelt ‘color’ and other words too are spelt differently to my instinctive way of spelling. Although not enough to give up on the story if I am gripped by the character and plot. That is my take, I would be interested to know other’s views. Do you consider the nationality and therefore the likely spelling and word usage when contemplating reading a novel, should writers take all national quirks out of their writing?
The specific incidents that got me thinking were:-
- A beta reader from American did not understand the phrase – It certainly lit my blue touch paper.
- Standing by the bar, I checked out the optics…..in England these are the measurements on bottles of spirits
- I had a conversation with an American friend about my new kitchen and my new granite worktops ……ah countertops, counters in the USA.
- Then there are all the others….garden….yard…..boot…..trunk….etc.
What do you think folks?
Swiping the new typing
Wow Swiping
The new typing
Well not very new
But to me a new view
I like the theory
How to, a query
Slide the finger
Don’t let it linger
IMG it’s not h that VB easy
ß my mind VB and it’s very queasy
My BM will seems thwarted
The sense distorted
Hmm way to go
As that verse shows
I suppose when stuck for inspiration
Swiping can give a new poetry variation
Where the fashion is for the obtuse
Swiping will have lots if use
A whole new verse form
Could become the norm
F you can decipher
It BM might make VB it less kosher
For niw will tap away
Swioing toooo frustrating to play.
Swiping verses unedited !
Apologies to all of you who are expert swipers!
