How to Join	Member's Area	Private Library	Search	Sanctuary		Login
Main Forums	Discussion	Tech Talk	Mature Content	Archives	A home without a wall, Our haven without ends, A circle we all call Our Family of Friends!

Brian James
Member

since 2005-06-26

Posts 147
Winnipeg

0 posted 2006-08-01 03:15 AM

Here it is, folks. Another assignment, a little late in coming. By now my classmates are no doubt outgrowing their school clothes and have made other commitments, but I hope we can all gather 'round for such a rare event as a workshop assignment.

For this particular assignment, I had two ideas, and I see no reason why we can't do both at the same time, or either one or the other. I have both a thematic and a formal assignment requirement, but you're free to only do one of them if the other seems too daunting. No pressure, okay?

Hendecasyllabics

For such a scary word, you'd think it was awfully difficult to do. Whenever I read commentary on this metrical form, for some reason, critics have always thought it was notoriously difficult to use in English.

The hendecasyllable, however, was arguably the precursor to the popular Iambic Pentameter line in English. Its origins are primarily in Italian poetry, such as that of Catullus and Dante. It is technically a spondee, a dactyl, and three trochees, which sounds a lot scarier than it is. Here are a couple of lines of verse for comparison (from Coleridge and Swinburne respectably):

Through woods and dales the sacred river ran
(ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM)

Sweet sad straits in a soft subsiding channel
(TUM TUM TUM-ta-ta TUM-ta TUM-ta TUM-ta)

Read each of these naturally, before you try to consciously scan them.  Swinburne manages to allow the spondee at the start of his line to remain in this case, which gives the truest sense of what hendecasyllabics would have sounded like in their original (latin or italian) usage.

Of course, most modern examples (and most of the same poem by Swinburne) prefer to modify the hendecasyllabic line in a way that is much more accessible in English, and which I personally think sounds a lot better.  It's hard to write in Spondees, and much more natural to write in a falling meter.  For this reason, English poets often replace the opening spondee with a trochee, which is a lot easier.

My favourite example in English of this is Robert Frost's poem "For Once, Then, Something," which makes use of the hendecasyllable in a way that is relatively fluid.  I'll quote it in its entirity, since it's only fifteen lines:

Others taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs
Always wrong to the light, so never seeing
Deeper down in the well than where the water
Give me back in a shining surface picture
Me myself in the summer heaven godlike
Looking out of a wreath of ferns and cloud puffs
Once, when trying with chin against the well curb,
I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture,
Through the picture, a something white, uncertain,
Something more of the depths--and then I lost it.
Water came to rebuke the too clear water.
One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple
Shook whatever it was lay there at the bottom,
Blurred it. blotted it out. What was the whiteness?
Truth? A pebble of quartz? For once, then, something.

This poem might give you some ideas for dealing with the often unusual syntax of the hendecasyllabic line.

Also notice that Frost doesn't use adverbs in this poem, which is interesting since it is probably tempting to do so in a poem that demands a dactyl (since adverbs are often a good match for a dactyl).

If I haven't informed to satisfaction,
And if any of you are feeling doubtful,
Here's a couple of links for easy reading,
Maybe just what you need to get you flowing::

Click right here for some verse of A.C. Swinburne

Or, if Tennyson's what you want, click this one.

I can't find any hendecasyllabics by pipsters, which is a shame! If anyone knows of some, please, tell me.

Edit: I've removed the Skipping Adverbs thing because it seems like the new meter is enough to get everyone interested. I've wanted to do more rhetorical exercises in Workshop to give balance to Nan's rather extensive formal assignments (she's covered most things at least once). But on second thought it appears Workshop is a little more interested in new meters... go figure.

[This message has been edited by Brian James (08-13-2006 05:32 PM).]

Munda
Member Elite

since 1999-10-08

Posts 3544
The Hague, The Netherlands

1 posted 2006-08-01 04:33 PM

Not scare me? Heck, you should have seen me after reading this! LOL

Printing this now to review over the weekend and see how much I can make of it.

Munda
Member Elite

since 1999-10-08

Posts 3544
The Hague, The Netherlands

2 posted 2006-08-06 06:22 AM

So if I understand this correctly: no use of adverbs, but adjectives are ok? And the meter you'd like me to use is: DA-DA-DA-dum-dum-DA-dum-DA-dum-Da-dum, and no rhyming scheme, unless I can't resist it.

Any idea how hard this is going to be for one that writes mainly iambic pentameter and heptameter? ARGH! What have I gotten myself into!

LoveBug

Moderator

Member Elite

since 2000-01-08

Posts 4697

3 posted 2006-08-06 11:07 AM

I might get corrected, but I don't think that you *have* to omit adverbs, it's just an added dimention.. but the rhyme scheme seems right.

Brian James
Member

since 2005-06-26

Posts 147
Winnipeg

4 posted 2006-08-13 05:34 PM

Hey everyone,

I've removed the "theme" suggestion due to unpopularity, and in hopes that more people might try out the new meter without feeling they have some other obligation.

Munda
Member Elite

since 1999-10-08

Posts 3544
The Hague, The Netherlands

5 posted 2006-08-13 06:16 PM

Heya teacher! That's not fair! You invited me over for ducking adverbs and now I'm stuck with a 'hand me a case of syllables!'

I've been struggling with this meter all week, but somehow the Justins in my head keep pushing it away and keep talking iambic rubbish. I guess I'm going to skip this class and will wait for the duck class. Hey, geese might be cool too! Or turkeys! (as long as it isn't a cold one!) I suppose I will play with my crayons some more then. Doc still has three white walls.

Brian James
Member

since 2005-06-26

Posts 147
Winnipeg

6 posted 2006-08-13 06:57 PM

Munda,

I really am sorry. I honestly thought nobody liked that idea or was going for it. I'll be sure to bring it up again sometime.

"To me, the thing that art does for life is to clean it, to strip it to form."
~Robert Frost

stormdancer
Junior Member

since 2007-05-10

Posts 31
state of confustion

7 posted 2007-05-22 12:08 PM

Um....

I've been trying to understand the meter junk, and all this kinda stuff but it will not stick in my brain.

Is it okay just to totally ignore this side of poetry? lol. Cause I do...

Tinsel
Junior Member

since 2007-06-04

Posts 36
UK

8 posted 2007-06-04 02:56 PM

Wow. Does no-one else find words like iambic pentameter, spondee and trochee absoloutely terrifying? I think that "rhyming couplets" is about the extent of my poetry-related vocabulary.

FunnyBones
Junior Member

since 2007-07-04

Posts 13

9 posted 2007-07-04 08:06 PM

The life of a mole indifferent from mine
A blindness contagious reserved for a few
no time to stop for a minute or two
or to feed the birds, in a quiet park

if I were to speak nothing by truth
you'd say I was mad or somewhat uncouth
but if I tell lies and don't hear the cries
the innocent scream then everyones happy
in two simple tries

The death of a mole, a plague to some
an omen to others and others for fun
but what does it matter when all the world scatters
we flee the the corners and crucify scorners

corrections ?

	⇧ top of page ⇧
All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format.