Our guest contributor this month is aprille, a long-standing Follower of Real Toads. I hand over to her to talk us through her choice of multisyllablic words.
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| © aprille.me Used with Permission |
Higgledy piggledy
IN A HURRY?
Go for the double dactyl
I was asked to make up a word list and the ones that floated into my mind were all 3-syllable words with the stress on the first.
yesterday, crystalized, fanciful, hazardous
And then this jumped up, which form seemed to fit.
Hilary Clinton,
who's now sixty five
Twelve years ago was
the President's wife
We are so used to let our poems glide into the IAMB [ de-dah ] with an occasional side step into the TROCHEE [ dah -de ], that we forget there are other metric feet out there at our disposal.
Today let's play with the DACTYL and if you feel strong, the DOUBLE DACTYL.
Just keep on saying: HIGGLEDY PIGGLEDY, or if you prefer HIGGLETY PIGGLETY.
The dactyl has three feet, [dah -de-de ] whereas the iamb [ de-dah] has only two.
Obviously, the double dactyl has two dactyls.
The verse form by that name usually consists of two stanzas often with the name of a person in it.
I made this up as an easy way to count the syllables of each dactyl, and indicate where the stress should fall:
ONE two three ONE two three
ONE two three ONE two three
ONE two three ONE two three
ONE two three DONE
Just think of it as a Waltz and play about with the dactyls, fitting in what you feel you need..
But don't get too dizzy twirling around.
My attempt:
encyclopedia
so many articles
so much to read there but
so little time
read all the poems by
Emily Dickinson
either you hate them or
think they're sublime
This last one has the requirements:
Proper Noun/Name
one 6 syllable word
No particular rhyme needed.
But put it in by all means.
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| © aprille.me Used with Permission |
Some handy 3-syllable dactyl words you may like to play with:
yesterday
crystalized
fanciful
hazardous
smouldering
fortitude
normal ones:
honest
endeavour
integrity
vanished
bizarre
minaret
theme park
copious
and if you feel like using a 6-syllable one in your first or second stanza, as is sometimes mentioned as a requirement, then maybe one of these would work.
authoritarian
disciplinarian
egalitarian
humanitarian
octogenarian
parliamentarian
totalitarian
utilitarian
unconstitutional
ambassadorial
conspiratorial
entrepreneurial
alphanumerical.
I have also included two of my 'England in the Seventies' [infra structure breaking down] paintings, in case you prefer ekphrastic to form.
The option also remains to use any of the listed words provided in a free verse poem written to a theme of your choice.