Masculine/Feminine

One more, I think, on (mostly) pentameter resolutions, and then I'll try to move on.

Here's the last major one I know of (the others being variations on the first two):

taTUM taTUM taTUM taTUM taTUMta
TUM taTUM taTUM taTUM taTUM

This is really (for my purposes, anyway) a pentameter resolution from the Augustan Age, as best I can recall.* Shakespeare, for instance, wasn't this persnickety. If a line had a "feminine" ending, so be it. He didn't (as best I recall) have an overwhelming need to "resolve" it with a TUM at the start of the next line. But if that next line rhymed with the "feminine" line, it had to measure out the same way.

taTUM taTUM taTUM taTUM taTUMta
taTUM taTUM taTUM taTUM taTUMta

Milton was the same in his rhymed verse, as far as I know (and both authors in blank verse, as well).

You maybe can see by now these "resolutions" are also opportunities for a softening effect, just as the others I've mentioned can punch things up a little, or even shape them up some.

Next time, a resolution you normally see in shorter lines of verse.

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*(11/7/15) Since I first posted this, I've had an opportunity to test this particular resolution out: it doesn't work, at least in English. Go with Shakespeare and Milton. Pope and every other major poet does it that way, also.

(Re)Solving the prepositional dilemma

The most useful resolution I can think of, besides the one I mentioned two weeks ago, is this one:

taTUM taTUM tata TUMTUM taTUM

or wherever you need to put it in the line.

English has so many prepositional phrases ("in a ... " "at the ..." "to a ..." etc.) that this one comes in very handy.

But, this use also has its demands: the poet will need a strong pair of one-syllable words (better known as "adjective" followed by "noun") to fit the TUMTUM that follows.

And that's just one example.

Keep scanning!

Fundamentals

It's probably important to remember at this point to avoid taking things too seriously, in poetry writing and in life.

Writing poems in meter and rhyme needs to be fun at some point, even when you're not necessarily trying to be funny. 

I just read something on a wiki that points to this. 

"Most people's deepest vocational passions fall within three categories: teaching, healing and creating," it said. 

Is there a better definition for the calling of "poet?" 

I've written before on how relating experience in poetry can teach, how the craft of the poem can heal and how the power of creativity is, well, creative.

Doing good can be enjoyable. In fact, it should be. 

So, go do some: write a poem. 

And, don't be too self-critical, but remember: a poem must work for its audience as well as for the poet.

Resolve it!

If you've been writing strictly iambic lines, please don't be offended by the last post. I was not calling your verse "doggerel."

But it's possible that others might.

It's all about (remember that post, dear readers?) sticking to what you feel is right. And, about making changes in what you're doing only when you feel it's good and proper.

Resolutions are ways to keep your verse interesting to readers. But there are reasons to keep things regular, in some cases.

For instance, I've been looking at verse for hymns pretty closely lately, and most of those I've studied come out in straight "ta-TUMs." They need to do that, I suppose, to fit the requirements of the musical measure: SM, CM, LM, etc.

Also, poems purposely written with a hymn-like feel will likely do the same (think Emily Dickinson, for one).

But perhaps it's nice to know the lines don't need to do that, as long as some simple guidelines are kept in mind.

And there's something you may want to keep in mind as well before those guidelines are approached.

Here it is: a caesura is a slight pause or break in a line of English verse. Shorter verse lines, such as the tetrameter or trimeter, usually leave that little pause at the end (usually alternating with period or semicolon stops).

Those of you who are studying pentameter verse may have noticed the caesura usually falls somewhere in the middle of that line.

I say "somewhere" because those of you who've been scanning pentameter lines probably have noticed that it's (fairly) rare for one of the masters (Shakespeare, Milton, etc.) to split that third foot in the middle with a caesura. So there's naturally some variation in where that little break goes, pentameter-wise.

It's considered a good thing. :)