[New-Poetry] from the Writer's Almanac

[TheOldMole]

Well, I claim a back seat to no one when it comes to worthlessness, but 
these are the lines that clunk on my ear a bit:

without qualm, scruple, or further delay

I can scan it as a 4-stress line easily enough:

withOUT// qualm, SCRU//ple, or FUR//ther deLAY

but when I try to get 5 stresses out of it, it comes out more like

withOUT// qualm, SCRU//ple, OR//furTHER// deLAY

And line 6 hits me as

 >too MA//ny HOURS //of UN//needED //durESS,

-- I don't have any problem making "hours" a one-syllable word -- I 
remember we recently talked about an issue like this in regard to the 
question of whole rhyme,

I can scan

uncertain working conditions, and endless stress.

but it feels clunky two me, with extra unstressed syllables in the 
middle that take up too much room.

As I said, I'm no authority here. But if I'd written the poem (if I had 
the wit -- I do like most of the poem), I would have tried to rework 
those lines to make them sound better to my ear.



Chris Lott wrote:
> On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 10:29 AM, TheOldMole <Opus40-01 at opus40.org> wrote:
>> Speaking as the worthless guy, it makes no difference if the lines don't get
>> in the way of your appreciation of the poem, some difference if they do.
>>
>> I wonder, though -- are there any elements of craft that are worth
>> discussing, or is scansion the only worthless one?
>
> Worthless might be putting it too harshly (about elements of craft, it
> is CERTAINLY not applicable to you)... but in practical terms the fact
> that scansion is so personalized makes it rather less valuable, or at
> least moves it into a different-- and honestly more interesting-- area
> of interest.
>
> More importantly, I wasn't as interested in an argument as I was (and
> still am) in simply seeing how different people scan the lines in
> question. I mean, since it was explicitly brought up... If that could
> be done without arguing about right and wrong (that's the worthless
> part), it would be very interesting. Anyone care to share their
> interpretation?
>
> Personally, I think all elements of craft are worth discussing, even
> if sometimes particular claims might be of dubious value.
>
> c
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>

-- 
Tad Richards
Read my NY Writing Careers Examiner column today!
http://www.examiner.com/x-2862-NY-Writing-Careers-Examiner

http://www.opus40.org/tadrichards/
http://opusforty.blogspot.com/