(no subject)

[arielarena]

I have no idea what the poetic meter for the following is. I'm totally fucked on this poem assignment.

One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight,
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other,
One was blind and the other couldn't, see
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man went to see fair play,
A dumb man went to shout "hooray!"
A paralysed donkey passing by,
Kicked the blind man in the eye,
Knocked him through a nine inch wall,
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all,
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
And came and shot the two dead boys,
If you don't believe this story’s true,
Ask the blind man he saw it too!

HELP! I can't tell what foot it is in, where the accents are, anything. I'm trying. I just keep reading it differently, which does not help when attempting to find the meter. Once I figure that out I can worry about writing my actual poem.

Comments

[crudelydrawn.livejournal.com]

Just read it normally and pay attention to which syllables you're stressing and which ones you're not. Make little marks for the stressed oens and different little marks for the unstressed. After you do that, look up different meters online and try to match up the stressing pattern with one of them.

I hope this helps... I'm terrible with poetry but we're working on the same things.

[superri.livejournal.com]

I've tried that. It has just confused me more. Before we started all of this poetic meter crap I could do it so easily, now I overthink it and cannot go back to before when it was just so natural.

[sneeze042.livejournal.com]

One bright day in the middle of the night
It seems to start as a trochee, but switches the other one with two unaccented, one accented. So I see 4 feet. The second line switches back to trochaic tetrameter. It seems there is a lot of trochaic tetrameter, with occasional arrhythm. Email Mrs. Mastriano if you're having trouble.

[superri.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[sneeze042.livejournal.com]

no problemo.

[jdcohen.livejournal.com]

Nail on the head, me boyo! I was going to say as much, but he beat me to it. Kid - don't try to over-analyze the sound of the poem or what have you. Just try to read it normally, as if it were prose - and then it should fall into a rhythm of its own accord.

Or, worse comes to worse, you can try reading it as iambic tetra/pentameter, which will DEFINITELY show you it's NOT iambic.

One BRIGHT day IN the MIDle OF the NIGHT.

--Jeff

[sneeze042.livejournal.com]

I am not a boy.

[jdcohen.livejournal.com]

Yet another example of two trochees, followed by an additional accented syllable.

--Jeff

[preciousrubies.livejournal.com]

tee hee

[superri.livejournal.com]

That's Louise. Louise is a girl.

[jdcohen.livejournal.com]

Everyone's a critic.

--Jeff

[(Anonymous)]

i know that poem hehehe i love it! i'm pretty sure it's "if you don't believe this LIE is true..." not story...at least it sounds better with lie there.

[superri.livejournal.com]

That's the way I learned it (with the "lie" not "story"). I changed my copy to reflect the version I know.

[jesskivage.livejournal.com]

sorry, that above comment is from me..i forgot to sign in :-/