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Gaellic Heroic Couplet Assignment
| Critical Analysis #2 |
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Gaellic Heroic Couplet Assignment |
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LadySofia Member
since 2000-05-16
Posts 238FL., USA 
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This has been turned in already to my professors, but I wondered, how close did I come to writing a heroic closed couplet in iambic pentameter? an excerpt from: "The Academic Raid" by Amanda Piatt Cloaking dark waning, star twinkling fades, Sleepy eye forbade quills flourishing raids. Goddess of Danu, queen illuming skies, "Awake at sunrise," thou commanding cries, "Spirit of writing", dear Calamus calls, Enlightening these somnifacient halls. "A cry to sunder the stillness |
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| © Copyright 2005 Amanda Piatt - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Not A Poet Member Elite
since 1999-11-03
Posts 3885Oklahoma, USA |
Well, Amanda, you got some right and some wrong. These are all couplets. I don't know about the heroic part though. As for pentameter (5 metric feet per line), L4 qualifies and L3 can be read as such. Only L4 though is iambic or made up of iambic feet. An imabic foot is 2 syllables with the first unstressed and the second stressed. Pete |
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LadySofia Member
since 2000-05-16
Posts 238FL., USA |
Not a Poet, thanks for your moderation on this topic, I appreciate your opinion. I had so much trouble with this, though not in writer's or rhyming block. Although I much enjoyed Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock, and Lysistrata's numerous works, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and so on, using the format turned out to be more difficult. What truly constitutes stressed and unstressed? If I look the word up in the dictionary, will it have a stress mark? I think that is where I had the most trouble here, and unfortunately, I seem to have not grasped the concept properly for my assignment =S It's not that I can change the poem now that I've turned this in and received the double quiz score, but, I wanted to know from the friends I have always felt I had here at Piptalk if I am using a poetic form properly. In a heroic couplet sense, from what I understand, the topic must constitute what heroic is summed up as in literature from what we have learned so far of the western tradition. The characteristics of an epic can help to define the heroic. Epic battles, the arming or cataloging of warriors, or invoking gods or goddesses, and their subsequent interference in the plot, are all seen as the constitution of heroic quality. As this was a mock heroic couplet, it is kind of funny that only two lines seem to fit the iambic pentameter, the lines invoking the goddess. Here I am mocking a heroic Irish raid, invoking an Irish goddess and a fake god named Calamus (which means reed in the Latinate and I used to reference quill in another format), and allowing them to interfere (waking the students, and rousing the halls with enlightenment). Well, at least it was fun! Amanda aka LadySofia "A cry to sunder the stillness The proud heron grieves" |
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Tim Senior Member
since 1999-06-08
Posts 1794 |
I am by no means knowledgeable on the intellectual side of poetry, I will leave that up to the experts. My only suggestion on iambic is to read Shakespeare's sonnets out loud. It is easier to hear it that describe it. Also, not very easy to be iambic with high falutin words (multi-syllable) Wanes cloak of dark as starlight slowly fades, While sleep of eye forbade quill’s flourished raids. Earth’s Queen Danu, illumes far eastern sky, “Awaken thee,” commands her Goddess cry. Calls Calamus, to write results as thus, Doth light the lamp of hall somniferous. |
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LadySofia Member
since 2000-05-16
Posts 238FL., USA |
Wow Tim! Yours turned out much better than mine- it flows strongly, and your flourishes to my poesis somehow do not detract but compliment the original. Luckily, I only needed to write one closed couplet in iambic pentameter. Two wrongs sometimes do make a right, at least, it did in this instance...lol. Perhaps, however, the old maxim practice makes perfect would apply too. [This message has been edited by LadySofia (09-06-2005 10:45 PM).] |
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Amen Junior Member
since 2005-09-13
Posts 28Brooklyn, New York |
I like Tims version. I like Ladies version. Honestly...Your level of rhyming and rhythm is way over my head...Great work ...the both of you. |
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