Good to hear your "voice".

know that I won't wait to start on the starting date. However, it's too soon for even me.
Okay, that's not true.
Our first subject will be
Rhythm vs. Meter.
Think on it.

He has offered to be our sound tech. It seems we shall have help in hearing our exercises as well as just reading them.
Thanks Jess.

You're signed in and ready to go when we get started. Be patient little one. Be patient.

I have a tendency to start a little early out of excitement.
And Loved... don't sweat the big things. Think and like Jess says... talk in clear English and you'll be fine. You can learn much if you won't play so much. Take it a bit seriously and all will be well. You are a fine poet and know it.
What in the world is a wanker?

Welcome.

If any of you have the time and inclination to read the Elf's and my exchange above... you may very well be in trouble. I confess I am soft on critique as I do not want to hurt feelings. This is not what I want in my poetry.
I take very seriously "knock me on my butt". I do not want nor never have wanted watered down criticism (by the way critique and criticism are the same thing). I have always wanted the vodka straight truth about what I produce. I cannot grow with a collection of feel good comments (DO NOT COMMENT, CRITIQUE. NEOPOET IS A WORKSHOP ENVIRONMENT).
My workshop was from the beginning to be a serious look at meter and how it relates to all poetry... free verse and structured.
This will not change, but I will be harsher when difficulties arrive. No one will need Valium when all is said and done, but all will work harder to understand. This is a promise. The objective in the syllabus says that the shop will instill an understanding of meter as it exists in the English language. This also I promise. You will learn.
Get on your toes. I have accepted the Elf's challenge and will honor that commitment. I may not use false language, but I can open up and use the harsher words that I keep to myself.

Tomorrow is the 26th. A good time for Wesley to begin (I always start early).
Our first subject will be Rhythm vs. Meter and why they work together and not against each other.
Think on that.
As I have effectively begun I invite comment on the subject now.

Another thing. Proofread your comments. I want everyone to understand them. If I find typographical errors or grammatical faux pas I will kill you for it. Speak in plain English as the Elf has proposed. Clarity is key. No mistakes. Do not put something out there unless it is EXACTLY what you wanted to say.

Proofread and take a care. I will not tolerate sloppy comments. You are all adults. Write like them.
I challenge one and all to find a typographical error or grammatical sloppiness in what I write. Point it out mercilessly.
That goes for all.
You have signed up. I consider that a contract. No one leaves because I have taken a slight turn in my attitude. The workshop will be informative and fun (whether anyone likes it or not).
See you in your poetry.

Everyone reads what everyone says no matter how long or tedious. We cannot learn if we do not learn from one another.

Perfect Wesley time.

Let's begin at the beginning.

Jane was right, but I'll get there in time.

What is Rhythm? Rhythm is older than speech. Rhythm is what all poetry has for good or ill. The flow of the poem, the music it creates is rhythm. It can move gently through in a pleasing fashion or it can stumble and annoy. Rhythm is what you get when you write.

What is Meter? Meter, simply put, DESCRIBES the rhythm.

This workshop is concerned with the mechanics.

Meter is how we describe the structure of a poem. Meter begins in ancient Greece when the various "modes" were developed. Ionian and Dorian were the two most common. In ancient poetry there were (and are still) long and short sounds. Through the centuries these have developed into a set pattern of modern "modes". But before I get off on a tangent let's lay down some initial ground rules.

To begin:

A single line of poetry is called a verse (I will use this term exclusively henceforth). Each verse is divided into what we refer to as poetic "feet". There are numerous types of feet, but we will restrict ourselves to the four most widely used.

They are Iamb, Trochee, Dactyl and Anapest.

A "foot" is a two or three (in our case) syllable structure. I will begin with Iamb.

Iamb is used in perhaps seventy percent of all English poetry and is the easiest to use. The others grow increasingly more difficult. It consists of two syllables. An unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable.

Example (and I use Advanced Formatting, so the unaccented syllable will not be in bold print while the accented will be in bold print): ta - tum. This is a single foot of Iamb. Unimeter. 

Two together will make a bimeter verse: ta - tum, ta -tum. Three is trimeter.Four is quadmeter. The most common is Pentameter (penta being five in the Greek).

An example:

When I / have fears / that I / may cease / to be   (Keats)

I have separated the feet by slash lines that you may count them and find that the verse is in pentameter. Five feet, each an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable.

This is Iambic Pentameter.

This verse /is meant / to show / you how / it's done.     (me)

Your first assignment is quite simple. Write four lines of Iambic Pentameter (a quatrain). They need not rhyme nor be separated into sections as I have done. We will discuss scansion (you Brits call it parsing) later. Simply show me that you understand what I have discussed in the simplest terms possible.

Then we'll talk.

You even used multi syllabic words and rhyme. Bravo dear. And thank you for your dissertation on "metre".
My spell check doesn't like "metre".

before going on. Kick it in the rear people. Keith... where are you?
Remember, this is the easy part.

I'm (as always) in a hurry. Let's hear it Barbara.

I think it's time to move on.

Trochee is simple enough. Trochaic, like Iamb, is known as duple meter because each foot contains two syllables.

It is simply the opposite of Iamb. From the Greek it is known as "running".

Instead of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable, it is an accented syllable followed by an unaccented one.

Example:

"Round a- / bout the / caul- / dron go;

in the / poi -son'd / en -trails / throw.

Toad, that / un -der / cold stone 

days and / nights has / thir -ty / one

swelt -'red / ve -nom / sleep -ing / got,

boil thou / first i' / th' charmed / pot."    (Shakespeare)

"Think thou first before you write it.

Make it work the oppositic."    (me)

You will notice in Shakespeare's many lines that do not finish. This is known as "catalectic" and is quite common in both Iamb and Trochee. "Toad, that under cold stone". Don't panic. Trochee will do that often and it is wholly acceptable.

Be careful though. Done too easily it will cause an unaccented syllable to begin the next line turning into Iamb. This is known as "Anacrusis". It works, but don't let it control the poem.

Again, the exercise is simple. Four verse of Trochee. A quatrain. It need not rhyme and in this instance terameter (four feet per verse) will be fine. Keep catalectic lines to a minimum. 

Also, the Elf has requested that we mark our entries in the box for this workshop as it would seem we are automaticlly posting to the Stream. 

I tend to stay in the thread, but the Elf wants the examples placed on the Stream and marked. For now let us try it his way. When you have something you think works, post it to the Stream and I will do my level best to find it, but I have been gone so long I'm not sure I can pull it off. I will try. The simplest of experiments leave here and we will go over them.

Trochee is not so hard is it?

Some refer to it as "parsing".

The term is from the Latin for "the act of climbing".

It is the marking of a poem to indicate its metrical structure.

We use it to separate "feet" and mark stresses. There are hundreds of ways to do this. We can use lower case lettering to indicate an unstressed syllable and upper case for a stressed syllable. Here in Advanced Formatting I use unbold lettering for an unstressed syllable and bold for a stressed syllable. Thus:

"Shall I / com-pare / thee to / a sum - / mer's day?"

The back slashes indicate the different feet. Thus this is "scanned" as iambic pentameter. There are five separate feet in the verse.

If our format allowed it we could use accent marks above a stressed syllable and a small "u" above an unstressed syllable.

There are other ways as well. The point is that it allows us to actually mark a poem for "feet", stresses and non stresses. In this workshop it is not necessary to scan your poetry, but it is a good skill to develop for another time. Perhaps a small workshop on nothing but scansion.

Anapest.

Greek for "beaten back".
It is a foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable.
Single words can be anapestic such as "unaware". Beware though that secondary syllables can often steal too much stress changing the meter. It requires the context of a poetic verse.

Phrases can also be anapestic such as "in the house".
However, the same tendency can exist causing an unintentional stress in the second syllable.

Example:
"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house."
Anapest is called triple meter as there are three syllables each foot.
Iamb and anapest work well together, but for the purpose of the workshop I would like everyone to write in strict anapest. A difficult task.

Try a quatrain, but if a poet can produce two verse of anapest that is true anapest I will be thrilled. Post your entries to the Stream as a poem and don't forget to mark the bubble at the bottom that says it's for the workshop. This puts it in "Submissions" and makes it easy to find.

Questions should be posted here.
Good luck.

Somehow I thought Anapest would bring the shop to a crashing halt and yet I have seen a slew of marvelous examples. Who are all of you and what have you done with the others?

I see no reason not to move on to Dactyl and will do so tomorrow.

I find Anapest and Dactyl far more natural to write in than the other formats. Iamb is perhaps easier because we use it so much, but Anapest and Dactyl have a greater sense of "music" to them.

.

I don't know that this is one of my best workshops as I feel rather out of touch with NeoPoet reality from being gone so very long, but I'm giving it my best.

From the Greek meaning "finger".

As Mark remarked (get it?) Dactyl is the opposite of Anapest. Instead of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed, we begin the poetic foot with a stressed syllable and follow with two unstressed syllables.

"Harmony", "bigamist" and "precipice" are all Dactylic multi syllabic words.

The danger here is that the third syllable in a Dactylic foot has a tendency to suffer a secondary stress which can favor Iamb. Something to watch out for particularly when using multi syllabic words.

My favorite example of Dactyl (a grand poem indeed):

"Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward.
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
'Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!' he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred."

If one will notice, Tennyson's verse seems to positively run away with the rhythm as Dactyl will do.
The impetus can become so powerful that sometimes important words are trampled while relatively simple ones will receive the stress.

To avoid this the poet can do something we have yet to touch upon yet. That is the use of Trochee in the midst of a Dactylic foot. Trochee and Dactyl CAN go hand in hand as Iamb and Anapest will (the opposite is untrue... do not use Trochee with Anapest and vice versa. In short you'll have a ghastly mess).

Since there was such success with Anapest I am going to up the ante a bit and ask that the Dactylic exercises be written as Alexandrines (hexameter... in other words six poetic feet per verse). As I am not by nature a cruel mortal I will ask for only two verse of "Alexandrines".

For the purpose of the workshop, as always, try to limit your verse to true Dactyl without the use of Trochee.
Again, they needn't rhyme. Virgil, Ovid and Juvenal all wrote in Dactyl for the most part as it lends itself very well to "epic poetry".

I'm expecting a great deal of success.

Right now I need the encouragement.

Pyrrhic, Spondee and Amphibrach.

These are seldom deliberately used, but appear regularly in our poetry.

Pyrrhic is known generally as a foot used in a war dance (I don't make this stuff up). It is two unstressed syllables in a separate foot. Usually though English won't let this happen. One or the other tends to grab an accent. I see it often in your examples and it usually creates an iambic form. This is risky as it can utterly destroy an Anapestic or Dactylic format. Beware it.

Spondee is two stressed syllables in a row. This tends to do the same thing. Be careful.

Amphibrach is from the Greek for "short at each end" which describes it perfectly. It consists of a stressed syllable surrounded by two unstressed. This also will tend to lead to another format entirely. Usually Iambic. Watch out.

Gotta go. More later.

I am not very happy with this workshop. I am a better teacher than what I have presented. Still, I have seen some marvelous poetry given to me and that is pleasing.

Whatever monster has hold of me is gripping tightly and it has produced what I consider a very poor workshop. I'm not giving up, but I needed to say how sorry I am to let so many of you down.

This will be my close for now. Those who have participated have shown me they understand the simple concepts presented and I am glad for it more than I can describe.

Thank you for putting up with me as I struggle with this "writer's block".

If any of you are bored, please join me over in "Storytelling in Verse (sempiternal). I am going to write a story in verse if it takes my life and would love for others to attempt the same. If I am alone I will still write and would like your thoughts whatever they may be.
Thank you for sticking with me as I struggle.

Iamb, Trochee, Anapest and Dactyl. You understood. Thank you.

As I have said... I am disappointed in the workshop, but when you are seriously ready to write your sonnet... I am here and anxious to help.

Let me invite you (and everyone else on board) to check out "Storytelling in Verse (sempiternal)". It is an old workshop in which some outrageous things have been done. It has been dormant for more than a year due to my absence, but I am going to write a short story in verse on the workshop and would welcome your critique. You needn't "join", just show up at the end of the incredibly long thread and offer what you will. Perhaps you will be moved to try a story in verse. We're rather informal there... no lists of exercises. Just rough drafts of stories and critique.

Please at the very least check it out.

Rula this especially means you. Come see. Judy is there and Jess (in his way).