Rhythm in Poetry

Let's get some of the basics of poetry down. Start with rhythm. What is rhythm in poetry? One definition is a musical quality produced by repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables. So much, so unpoetic. Rhythm varies with languages. For instance, Japanese doesn't really have stresses but we're dealing with English and Irish so we're talking stressed syllables.
The metre of a line of poetry is the timing of the rhythm, think metronome, not speed. Think beat. Think hip-hop. The beat there is often very regular. This is called scansion. So if someone says your line doesn't scan, it means there's something off about the rhythm. Of course, it may be delibrate.
A rhythmic line is usually divided into beats or feet. For example an iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.unKNOWN, aLONE, tromBONE

My LOVE is LIKE a RED red ROSE

de-dum de-dum de-dum de-dum

There are 4 feet in this line by Robert Burns.

The QUEEN of HEARTS still MAKing TARTS and I not MAKing HAY

6 iambic feet and an incomplete, stressed syllable at the end in this line from Raglan Road by Patrick Kavanagh. Ending on a stressed syllable is known as a masculine ending. Guess what ending on an unstressed syllable is known as? Guess who called it that? Yes, a man.

But the most common is iambic pentameter. 5 iambs. This is basically a natural speaking rhythm. And with one line in one breath, the most common metre of lines by Shakespeare.

Shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmer's DAY

de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM

There's also trochee. DUM-de.

HUBble BUBble TOIL and TROUble

DUM-de DUM-de DUM-de DUM-de

(from Macbeth) Trochaic Tetrameter.

Irish POets, EARN your TRADE

DUM-de DUM-de DUM-de DUM

(Yeats) a 4 feet line. Trochaic Tetrameter but the final foot is incomplete so it's called catalectic.
but a couple of lines further down he has:

All OUT of SHAPE from TOE to TOP

with an extra syllable at the start of the line. Called anacrusis.
What about this one:

Twas the NIGHT before CHRISTmas and ALL through the HOUSE

An anapest. de-de-DUM. This line is an anapestic tetrameter. This type of rhythm has a light feel to it.
And this one?

FASTer than FAIRies, FASTer than WITCHes

DUM-de-de DUM-de DUM-de-de DUM-de

(Robert Louis Stevenson) a Dactylic foot then an trochaic, repeated. This mimics the rhythm of the train he was writing about.

There are also:

• Spondee – two stressed syllables together
• pyrrhic – two unstressed syllables together (rare, usually used to end dactylic hexameter)

That's enough theory. Next, why do we care about rhythm.

Previously posted on writing.ie

Call for Papers

Past Imperfect, Present Tense: Creative Writing in contemporary Ireland

The Open University is seeking paper submissions for a one-day conference investigating contemporary writing in Ireland/Northern Ireland. Submissions are sought from writers, postgraduate and undergraduate creative writing students, and teachers of creative writing.

Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length. Please send a 300 word abstract to H.Richardson@open.ac.uk
Deadline: 14th May 2011

General enquiries should be sent to L.McEwan@open.ac.uk

They don't say when the conference is though...

Interview with Upstart blogger and writer LA Speedwing

So the elusive and expansive and intrepid blogger and writer LA Speedwing agreed to an interview quid pro quo for mine. 

Welcome to emergingwriter blog, LA.

How did you get involved in upstart?
I read on the writing4all.ie website that they were looking for a writer blogger. I jumped on the occasion and applied.

Why?
I felt it was a sign. Only 6 months ago, I would have never considered the idea of blogging. But with the new year and the need to break up from the Fantasy Novel I was writing, I created my own blog. I set myself to write an entry post every day and I quickly started to enjoy it, so when I saw that position as a blogger writer for Upstart, I thought to myself :"What a great project! Blogging and promoting arts in Ireland? This is it!"
It seemed like a sudden and wonderful opportunity to me.

What did you want to get out of it yourself?
I wanted to contribute in a small way to do something positive and innovative for the Arts. Also I was looking forward to meet with other writers and get to hear their unique experience on writing. Writing comes in so many forms: novels, poetry, playwriting, song writing, screenwriting, radio script writing. It is interesting to know what every artist gets out of it.
Thanks to Upstart, I have discovered a lot of Poets and I must say the world of Underground Poetry is very active and vibrant in Dublin. I was most impressed by it. The experience was an eye opener for me and I certainly hope to discover the other worlds of writing in Ireland.
In fact if song writers, playwriters, novelists are looking to share their works and views with Upstart, they can contact me.

What are your highlights as far as upstart is concerned so far?
I guess that would be the first night we met with the other Upstart volunteers. Also I had a great time meeting with my first three interviewees who were Sarah Maria Griffin, Anne Tannam and Cliff Horseman and the first poetry underground event I went which was the Glor Session in town. That was an exciting time.

And what events/whatever in the underground poetry movement do you recommend?
If you are looking for experimental poetry, then the Tongue Box in the Cobbler Pub is for you. It is happening every last Tuesday on the month.
If you are looking for a bit of a kick then The Glor Sessions is great. They have a weekly night of music and poetry. It is happening every Monday in the basement of the International Bar.
And last but not least, the Brown Bread Mix tape has a lineup of poets, musicians and comedian and every event is blended to the occasion with a theme. It is happening every Wed of the Month in the Stag's head. Those event usually start around 8.00 p.m but you can check their details on Facebook.

You write, yourself, don't you? What do you write?
I do. Because I liked any forms of writing, at first I tried a little bit of everything. The attempts were far from being successful but I gave a go at writing picture books, one act plays, short stories, poetry before I set my heart on writing this Fantasy Novel for young adults I am writing now. It took me nearly two years to come up with the plot and another full year to write/edit it. I am now at the fun part of writing the synopsis. Another completely different writing exercise  but a necessary one.

What is it about?
It is about an outcast sixteen years old teenage girl who runs away from home and discovers that she has an inner ability to connect with the wind. As she faces all sorts of elemental dangers, she learns how to use her gift and embarks on a journey to self discovery.

And next?
Well I would like it to be a trilogy so I would love to write a sequel. If I get lucky, maybe it will happen.
And apart from all that, I would also love to try my hand at a chick lit novel in the distant and blurry future.

Thanks very much LA and good luck! You can read the Upstart blog here

Write A Short Story In A Weekend

Faber Academy's most popular course.

When: Friday 1st –Sunday 3rd July
(So you have to take a day off work, if you work)
Who: Eilis Ni Dhuibhne, Tobias Hill and Carlo Gebler
Where: James Joyce Centre, Dublin
Course cost: €425

Here's Eilis Ni Dhuibhne:

"You know that the short story is a great fictional form, and writers are always taking time out to tell you it's harder to write than a novel. But the short story has a great advantage over the novel, which is: it's short. It can be read in one sitting and it can also be written, or drafted in one sitting – even if some writers rewrite it fifty times.

This intensive three-day course will give you an overview of the history of the short story form, from Gogol's Overcoat to Roddy Doyle's Pram, from Chekhov's Lapdog to Alice Munro's Nettles. It will introduce you to various short story writing techniques, comparing the modernist epiphany story to the older surprise ending story, which is enjoying a bit of a come-back.

The course will involve some preparatory reading, plenty of class discussion, and lots of writing. By the end of the three days you will have written a completely new short story of 2000-3000 words, and you will be so immersed in the short story form that you will go home longing to write more.

Previous experience is not necessary but it is not a disadvantage.

For more information, or to book, click here

I like a bit of Crime, me

Celebrate Dublin’s UNESCO status, featuring a host of Crime Writing talent:

On Wednesday May 11th you are invited to discover exciting contemporary European writers in the intimate surrounds of Dublin’s Sugar Club on Leeson Street. Enter the murky world of crime and murder as writers from Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy and Scotland read and discuss their works. An atmosphere of suspense and intrigue will be created by musicians from Dublin Institute of Technology. Crime journalist and writer, Niamh O’Connor will introduce this exhilarating cast of contemporary crime writing talent. No booking is required.

Want more information? Check out www.dublincityofliterature.ie

Sounds excellent. Personally I'm a huge fan of Wallander, on TV anyway.

9th John Hewitt Spring Festival

This year's Spring Festival takes place on Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th May 2011 at Carnlough’s Londonderry Arms Hotel on the Antrim coast.

Saturday 7th May 2011

11:00am Coffee
11:15am The Great Northern Novel
This year’s contenders in the Great Northern Novel debate are, The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien, Brian Moore’s An Answer from Limbo and All the Colours of the Town by Liam McIlvanney. They are championed by Iggy McGovern (see notes on Sunday’s workshop), Michael Foley (see Saturday’s after-lunch “in conversation”), and Kate Newmann, editor, co-director of Summer Palace Press, and poet (latest collection, I Am A Horse, Arlen House, 2010).
Do feel free to read the novels in advance and to challenge our panellists’ perceptions and presumptions.

1:00pm Lunch

2:30pm Collective Amnesia and The Age of Absurdity: Michael Foley in conversation
While John Hewitt warned of the dangers of remembering, Michael Foley’s journey into philosophy (The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy, Simon and Schuster, 2010) warns of the dangers in a modern media age of being seduced away from old-fashioned virtues such as effort, aspiration, a willingness to embrace complexity, and a belief in altruism. Pungent, witty, perceptive… like Larkin, only sharper, funnier and more cynical (Irish Times), Michael Foley is a poet (with four Blackstaff collections and his New & Selected due out this year), author of four novels, a former Fortnight columnist and editor of The Honest Ulsterman. In conversation with poet and critic, C.L. Dallat (The Year of Not Dancing, Blackstaff, 2009).
4:00pm Coffee

4:30pm Poetry Reading: Mairide Woods, Moyra Donaldson and Anne-Marie Fyfe
Three Northern poets whose work carries the freight of remembrance in engagement with contemporary concerns: short-story writer and radio-dramatist Mairide Woods, was born in Dublin, grew up in Cushendall and now an Advocacy Executive in the Citizens Information Board in Ireland – Unobserved Moments of Change (Astrolabe, 2011) is her latest collection; Moyra Donaldson was born in Newtownards – her Lagan Press collections include Snakeskin Stilettos, The Horse’s Nest and Miracle Fruit; Anne-Marie Fyfe, born in Cushendall and now living in London, is former Poetry Society chair and winner of Academi Cardiff International Poetry Prize – Understudies: New and Selected Poems is just launched from Seren Books.

6:30pm Drinks Reception
7:00pm Dinner

8:30pm Remembering the Forgotten: Eoin McNamee and Rita Ann Higgins
For poets and novelists the word “remember” is freighted with obligation and compulsion.  Rita Ann Higgins has written honestly and sometimes uncomfortably, about growing up in the South of Ireland, and has won praise for her poetry including Throw in the Vowels: New and Selected Poems (Bloodaxe, 2005) and her memoir, Hurting God (Salmon, 2010) which “conjures a sense of time and place as Higgins takes the measure of remembrance” (Jon Ihle, Sunday Tribune). Eoin McNamee rose to fame through his daring and sensitive explorations of the cultural and psychological motivations of killers in a murderous time. He has gone on to remember, in
Blue Tango and Orchid Blue (Faber, 2010), murders from an age of innocence in 50-or-so-years-back North of Ireland.

Sunday 8th May
10:00am Creative Writing Workshop: Iggy McGovern
Iggy McGovern (b. Coleraine) is Associate Professor of Physics at Trinity College Dublin, a former winner of the Glen Dimplex New Writers Poetry Award, author of two Dedalus collections, The King of Suburbia and Safe House (2010) and a popular creative-writing teacher and facilitator.
12:30pm Lunch

1:30pm Glens of Antrim Literary Bus Tour
1:30pm Depart from Londonderry Arms Hotel
1:45pm Garron Tower ~ Recital - Garron Top
2:00pm Cushendall ~ Recital - The Fairyman
Cushendall Centre ~ Recital - Curfew Town
2:30pm Ossian’s Grave ~ Recital - Ossian’s Grave; Glenaan; and others
Cushendun ~ Recital - Glendun on a wet July day
3:30pm Tea Break
4:15pm Layde Church ~ Recital -The Braes of Layde
5:00pm Return to Londonderry Arms Hotel
Website here

Poem for the Poetry Bus

Nanu is driving the Poetry Bus this week. The theme is Excess. Of Far Too Much. Of Going Over the Edge. See here for other poems.
This one is an insight into my over active imagination.

The Full Experience

As the lights dim, he ambles by,
fumbles in his pocket,
muscles shape his thin shirt,
spicy aftershave,
hair velvet-shorn,
long lean legs, soft leather belt,
and the grace of Fred Astaire.

In another life,
in an other life
I follow him to the foyer.
We scoop five flavours of Ben and Jerry’s
and climb to the projection room.
As the film reels overhead, we sample,
rip off our clothes and make love,
dirty sticky love,
down among the popcorn.

In a life,
in this life
I note him passing,
reach over and squeeze your thigh.
You take my hand,
the music builds, we face the screen.
I prefer the front row for the full experience.