Learning the Secrets of English Verse: The Keys to the Treasure Chest

309 Pages·2022·3.61 MB·English

by  David J. Rothman, Susan Delaney Spear

Springer Texts in Education
David J. Rothman
Susan Delaney Spear
Learning the
Secrets of
English Verse
The Keys to the Treasure Chest
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David J. Rothman (cid:129) Susan Delaney Spear
Learning the Secrets
of English Verse
The Keys to the Treasure Chest
123
DavidJ. Rothman SusanDelaney Spear
FormerDirector, Graduate Program FormerAssociate Professor, Departmentof
in Creative Writing English
Western Colorado University ColoradoChristian University
Gunnison, CO,USA Lakewood,CO,USA
ISSN 2366-7672 ISSN 2366-7680 (electronic)
SpringerTexts inEducation
ISBN978-3-030-53095-2 ISBN978-3-030-53096-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53096-9
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Acknowledgments
Gratefulacknowledgmentismadetothefollowingauthorsandpublishers fortheir
kind permission to reprint the following material:
Robert Frost,“ForOnce, Then,Something,”“TheRoadNotTaken,”and “Acquainted withthe
Night,”fromTheCollectedPoems,byRobertFrost©1969HoltRinehartandWinston,Inc.,
publishedbyVintageBooks,extractreproducedbypermissionofTheRandomHouseGroup
Ltd.(UK/Commonwealthprintrights);andfromThePoetryofRobertFrost,editedbyEdward
ConneryLathem,Copyright©1916,1923,1969byHenryHoltandCompany,Copyright©
1944,1951byRobertFrost,PreprintedbypermissionofHenryHoltandCompany,AllRights
Reserved(“ForOnce,Then,Something”and“TheRoadNotTaken,”worldrightsexclusiveof
UK/Commonwealth print rights); and from The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward
ConneryLathem,Copyright©1928,1969byHenryHoltandCompany,Copyright©1956by
Robert Frost, Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company, All Rights Reserved
(“AcquaintedwiththeNight,”worldrightsexclusiveofUK/Commonwealthprintrights).
DanaGioia:“ThirteenWaysofLookingatthePoeticLine.”http://danagioia.com/essays/writing-
and-reading/thirteen-ways-of-thinking-about-the-poetic-line/.Copyright©byDanaGioia.ND.
Reprintedwithpermissionoftheauthor.
Robert Graves: “John Skelton,” from Complete Poems, Vol. I, Ed. Beryl Graves and Dunstan
Ward.Copyright©1995.ReprintedwithpermissionofCarcanetPress,Manchester,UK.
James Hall: “Maybe Dat’s Your Pwoblem Too,” from The Mating Reflex, by James Hall,
Carnegie-Mellon University Press. Copyright © 1980 by James Hall. Reprinted with
permissionoftheauthor.
RobinsonJeffers:“InscriptionforaGravestone,”fromTheCollectedPoetryofRobinsonJeffers,
Volume Two: 1928–1938, by Robinson Jeffers, edited by Tim Hunt. Copyright © 1938 by
Robinson Jeffers. Renewed 1966 by Donnan Jeffers and Garth Jeffers. Reprinted with
permissionofthepublisher.
Rebekah Martindale: Excerpt from “Rhyme Royal in ‘Resolution and Independence,’” unpub-
lishedessay.Copyright©2011byRebekahMartindale.Usedwithpermissionoftheauthor.
W. S. Merwin: “The Long and the Short of It,” from The Shadow of Sirius, by W. S. Merwin.
Copyright©2008byW.S.Merwin.ReprintedwithpermissionofthePermissionsCompany,
LLC on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org, and of The Wylie
Agency,LLC.
MarianneMoore:“TheFish,”fromTheNewCollectedPoemsofMarianneMoore,byMarianne
Moore.Copyright©1918byMarianneMoore,renewed©1921,1924,1935,1951,1967by
MarianneMoore.ReprintedwiththepermissionofScribner,adivisionofSimon&Schuster,
Inc.; of Faber and Faber Ltd; and of the Literary Estate of Marianne C. Moore, David M.
Moore,Esq.,SuccessorExecutor.Allrightsreserved.
v
vi Acknowledgments
OgdenNash:“FahrenheitGesundheit,”fromVersesfrom1929On,byOgdenNash,Little,Brown
andCompany,1959.Copyright©1941byOgdenNash,renewed.Reprintedwithpermission
ofCurtisBrown,Ltd.
DavidJ.Rothman:“TheIcicle,”fromTheBookofCatapults,byDavidJ.Rothman,WhiteViolet
Press.Copyright©2013.Reprintedwithpermissionoftheauthor.
RichardWilbur:“TheLilacs,”fromCollectedPoems1943–2004,byRichardWilbur.Copyright©
2004byRichardWilbur.ReprintedwithpermissionofHoughtonMifflinHarcourtPublishing
Company.Allrightsreserved.
WilliamCarlosWilliams:“TheRedWheelbarrow,”fromTheCollectedPoemsofWilliamCarlos
Williams, Volume I, 1909–1934, by William Carlos Williams, edited by Walton Litz and
Christopher MacGowan. Copyright © 1935 by Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted with
permissionofNewDirectionsPublishingCorp.andCarcanetPress,Manchester,UK.
WilliamButlerYeats:“SailingtoByzantium,”fromThePoemsofW.B.Yeats:ANewEdition,
editedbyRichardJ.Finneran.Copyright©1933byMacmillanPublishingCompany,renewed
© 1961 by Georgie Yeats. Reprinted with the permission of A. P. Watt, Ltd. on behalf of
CaitríonaYeats.
Allstudentpoemsinthetextbookarereprintedwithpermissionoftheauthors.All
otherpoemsandexcerptsthatappearinthisbookareeitherinthepublicdomainor
governed by the doctrine offair use.
Contents
Part I Metrical Forms
1 Anglo-Saxon Strong-Stress Alliterative Meter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 The Ballad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3 Stress-Based Imitations of Classical Quantitative Meters:
The Sapphic and the Catullan Hendecasyllable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Interchapter 1: An Explanation of Scansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4 Iambic Tetrameter Couplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5 Blank Verse/Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Interchapter 2: Classical Meters Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6 Triple Meters: Dactyls and Anapests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
7 Free Verse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Interchapter 3: The Battles of Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
8 Nonce Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Interlude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Part II Stanza Forms
9 Couplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
10 Terza Rima. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
11 Quatrains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
12 Quintains, Limericks, and Venus and Adonis Stanzas . . . . . . . . . . 203
13 Rhyme Royal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
14 Ottava Rima . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
15 Spenserian Stanzas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
vii
viii Contents
Coda: The Eugene Onegin Stanza, the Nonce Stanza and an Ending
and a Beginning.. .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 267
Appendix: The Craft of Poetry: A Bibliography of Resources
in English ... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 273
Preface for Teachers
The third requisite on our Poet or Maker is Imitatio, to bee able to convert the
substance or Riches of another Poet, to his owne use...Not as a Creature that
swallowes what it takes in, crude, raw, or indigested; but that feedes with an
Appetite, and hath a Stomacke to concoct, divide, and turn all into nourishment.
Not to imitate servilely, as Horace says, and catch at vices for vertue; but to draw
forth out of the best and choisest flowers, with the Bee, and turn all into Honey...
—Ben Jonson, Discoveries
***
I thought, if I could draw my paines
Through Rimes vexation, I should them allay.
Griefe brought to numbers cannot be so fierce,
For, he tames it, that letters it in verse.
—John Donne, “The Triple Foole”
***
Why did I write? what sin to me unknown
Dipp’d me in ink, my parents’, or my own?
As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame,
I lisp’d in numbers, for the numbers came.
—Alexander Pope, “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot”
***
Thus far, O Friend! did I, not used to make
A present joy the matter of a song,
Pour forth that day my soul in measured strains
That would not be forgotten, and are here
Recorded: to the open fields I told
A prophecy: poetic numbers came
Spontaneously to clothe in priestly robe
ix