#spondiac

[jelanisaeed]

Days Lost

Blink and there it disappears. Lonely, cold memories left with honest recollections of too many affairs Where you wonder whether or not to volunteer.

You take a deep breath and sigh, wondering if you need to call that locksmith. Wondering if you need to change for the fifth time––why are the neighbors playing Aerosmith?

Pause, step back and roll your eyes. Concern yourself only with the goodbyes not with the moments you lost to the pain they gave and needed you to dignify.

It’s their fault for failing with that birdbrain scheme, not yours. Don’t pour acid into the rain, but enjoy your peace and return to the mundane ritual of passing simple regards and stop

only for your pleasure to begin with. Record the days lost on your laptop. Plot only for your next cough drop. Earn your paper and let them eavesdrop.

[writingtipsfromthenovice]

Writing Tip #14

Understanding Meter

Meter is a poetic writing device that we can find in works by authors such as William Shakespeare and one poem by Walt Whitman, among others.  Understanding meter was a bit difficult for me to grasp at the beginning, so now I am going to try and help all of you out in understanding this much used literary device.

A meter is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables used to make a poem flow more steadily, and when you break from a certain set meter you can draw your reader's attention to a certain section.  A foot is when one meter is finished.  In a sentence with four meters in a row, there would be four feet to the line.

A / will represent a stressed syllable and an x will represent an unstressed syllable. 

We have five kinds of meters:

Iambic (x /) (ex.: That time of year thou mayst in me behold) (Five feet)

Trochaic (/ x) (ex.: Tell me not in mournful numbers) (Four feet)

Spondaic (/ /) (ex.: Break, break, break) (1.5 feet)

Anapestic (x x /) (ex.: And the sound of a voice that is still) (Three feet)

Dactylic (/ x x) (ex.: This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlock) (Six feet)

Meter is not always the easiest thing to master, and it is never done on accident, but it is a great practice and good way to impress your teachers and professors. 

Happy writing!!

-The Novice

(Source of meter names and examples: http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/meter.html )