Entry #558149, added on 03-08-08 @ 6:30 am EST
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| Minute Poetry - A practice in iambic meter | Entry #558149 |
Minute Poetry - an iambic poetry form
As presented in the January 2, 2008 Poetry Newsletter.
The holidays are behind us and we've entered a new year - 2008. Many people have made resolutions, but I find the older I get, the fewer resolutions I make, but I still enjoy trying new things. I think this is how we stay young of heart. With this in mind, I would like to introduce a poetry form. Some of you may be familiar with the form, so it will be a refresher for you.
The form is called Minute Poetry, probably because it consists of 60 total syllables. I could find very little on-line about this form, but I think the form is fascinating and lends itself to the creation of beautiful poems. The Minute Poetry form has a three short stanzas and an easy rhyming scheme.
According to www.shadowpoetry.com, minute poetry has three stanzas and each stanza has a set syllable count of 8-4-4-4 for a total of 60 syllables for the entire poem. The rhyme scheme is couplet rhyming aabb, ccdd, eeff. The rhyming scheme of the Minute Poetry poem would appear as follows:
xxxxxxxa
xxxa
xxxb
xxxb
xxxxxxxc
xxxc
xxxd
xxxd
xxxxxxxe
xxxe
xxxf
xxxf
However, the challenging part of the Minute Poetry form is that it requires iambic meter. I have held withheld this until now, because I didn't want to scare you away. Remember, this is a new year and possibly time to attempt something new and challenging. Iambic meter once terrified me, but the more I learn of it, the greater the challenge becomes (and the more exciting). The Minute Poetry form is a good place to start writing poetry in iambic meter, because of the short eight and four syllable lines.
In as simple terms as possible, iambic meter is counting syllables, except that every-other syllable is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. For instance, with (x) representing an unstressed syllable and (i) representing a stressed syllable, here is how an eight-syllable line would be scanned in iambic meter.
x / x / x / x /
(x) unstressed - (/) stressed
The four syllable lines would scan as:
x / x /
Stressed syllables usually stand out because they have long, rather than short, vowels, or because they have a different pitch or are louder than other syllables.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0903237.html
As an example, I will take a Minute Poetry poem I wrote recently and show the stressed syllables in bold print.
The Wooing
The path that leads to things not shown,
to trails unknown,
and tales untold...
has fate controlled?
Arcane, the shadows called and wooed
from solitude;
with minstrel's strum,
they begged me come.
And dare I follow, once coerced
by winds thus versed...
Or dast I stay
and waste this day?
©Larry Powers
'kansaspoet'
December 2007
Read the lines, one line at a time, aloud and try to distinguish the difference between the syllables in bold (stressed) and the other unstressed syllables. Do they sound sharper or crisper? It takes a while to develop an ear for iambic meter. I found a good way to learn more about iambic meter is to read some of the older classic poems written in iambic - reading them repeatedly, paying attention to sound of the stressed syllables in contrast to the sound of the unstressed syllables.
Iambic meter is not a perfect science. There will be variance in the way words sound and sometimes iambic meter will not be clear cut. Iambic meter is part of the art of poetry, and there are no scientific rules guiding it. Don't let iambic meter intimidate you. Like all things, we will become better with practice.
It's a new year; a time for trying new things. Give it a try – the Minute Poetry form - three short stanzas, an easy rhyme scheme, sixty total syllables, and the beginning of an understanding of iambic meter.
Understanding that iambic meter can be intimidating, here are a few links that may be helpful:
http://www.frostfriends.org/meter.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameter
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_meter.html
http://www.electpress.com/loveandromance/page100.htm
http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xmeter.html
http://anitraweb.org/kalliope/rhythm1.html
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