Poet Quest 9
Inspiration
Use metaphors for power either being pursued or the self-denial of power. Is the pursuer or denier successful or do they succumb to pitfalls along the way?
Do they achieve their goal of keeping themselves intact or are they ruined either by the corruption of power or another wielding the power against them?
Knowledge
Anapestic Meter - An anapest is a metrical foot beginning with two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. “Anapest” is an anapest.
This is your first metrical foot that has three syllables instead of two.
So, a poem written in anapestic pentameter would have 15 syllables per line.
Written:
dadaDUM or u u /
For example, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ by Clement Clarke Moore:
u u / u u / u u / u u
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the
/
house
Encouragement
If you’re stuck, then search for three-letter words that are anapests like anapest, contradict, unabashed, unimpressed, and interrupt. You can also try three single syllable words like “on the car,” or “from our dog” Many of the words that rhyme with these words will also be anapests!
Feel free to start being less strict on whether a single syllable word is stressed or unstressed. Many single syllable words can be either depending on how they are spoken.
For instance, in ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ Clement Clarke Moore uses the word “all” as a stressed word. “All” can be either stressed or unstressed, depending on prose. When teaching to read the “a” sound, we typically teach them to hold the sound out (creating an unstressed sound.)
Have fun with it! If the majority of your poem is written with the rules intact then single syllable words that could go either way need not get in your way of a well-metered poem.
Challenge
Write two anapestic meter lines. Don’t worry about rhyming them (bonus points if you do, though!)
Then, if you’re up for it, share your favorite (of the two poems you wrote) in the comments or send it to me via carrier pigeon (e-mail) here for feedback.
