Task 4: Trochees

All of you have managed iambic meter some of the time.

Some of you have managed iambic meter all of the time.

If you are still stuck, it is really important you go back over previous posts, including:

• my posts for Task 2 and Task 3;
  
• the two most successful examples of iambic verse from members of the workshop ('View of an Evening' and 'My Sweet Kitten';
  
• all the other poems and, most importantly of all, MY COMMENTS about them.

And you can now download or listen to a PODCAST lesson here:

You are all perfectly capable of this; it just takes practice and perseverance. As I keep saying, this is not SUPPOSED to be easy. It is supposed to be fiendishly difficult. But all the more reason to ask you to do it.

When you finally get there, think how satisfied you will feel. And, most of all, think what a skilful mastery of language you will have developed. If you can control language to THIS extent, think how much better ALL your writing will be - whether iambic verse, a persuasive speech, or simply an ordinary essay...

* * * *

And now for this week's task...

Well, in addition to reworking, redrafting and revising your previous attempts, until you master that dreaded IAMB, I am going to set you a slightly different exercise which should achieve TWO things:

1. It will teach you ANOTHER type of foot (i.e. the TROCHEE);
2. and, in doing so, it should also reinforce your understanding of the IAMB.

Or at least that is the plan... :)

So, let me introduce you to the TROCHEE.

Where as the iambic foot goes dee-DUM, the trochaic foot goes DUM-dee. (Some of you have used lots of them already by accident - see 'The Hunter', for example.)

Here are some simple words which directly fit a trochaic rhythm:

• English
• Mitchell
• Playground
• Angry
• Boring

Look at how they are ALL words we say with the stress on the FIRST syllable.

This does not mean that trochaic verse has to consist only of two-syllable words (any more than iambic verse does); simply that 5 stressed fall on syllables 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 etc. (i.e. the ODD numbers) and so you need to choose and order your words so they fall in the correct place to fit those stresses.

Here is a line of perfect trochaic pentameter:

People often ask me why I bother.

Let me write it again, with the stresses in capitals:

PEOple OFten ASK me WHY i BOTHer.

See how this fits with the way we say the words anyway, in a way that saying this line IAMBICALLY would not fit, e.g.:

peoPLE ofTEN ask ME why I bothER.

Nobody talks like that!

Now look at this piece of trochaic pentameter:

Monday's never been my favourite day.

What is missing?
The first four feet are perfect trochees:

MONday's NEVer BEEN my FAV'rite...

(because we usually say the word 'favourite' as if it were two syllables and not one).
But look at the last foot:

...day.

It is a stressed syllable, but it lacks the unstressed syllable to make it a complete trochee.

This type of INCOMPLETE foot, often used at the end of a line, is called a catalexis (making it a catalectic foot).

Here's another example of a line of trochaic pentameter ending in a catalectic foot:

English isn't my idea of fun.

Look how the first four syllables are purely trochaic:

ENglish ISn't MY iDEA of...

But, again, the last foot is catalectic, i.e. it has no unstressed syllable:

...FUN.

So, surprise surprise, your task this week is to write:

1. a quatrain (four-line poem)
2. with an abab rhyme scheme (like Task 3)
3. with a trochaic rhythm (i.e. DUM-dee)
4. apart from the final foot in each line, which should be catalectic (i.e. DUM);
5. (leaving it with 9 syllables in total).

AND

6. write the poem AGAIN underneath, but this time with EACH stressed syllable in
CAPITALS, to show how it fits the DUM-dee-DUM-dee-DUM-dee-DUM-dee-DUM
rhythm.

And your topic this week? Yourself. 'A poem about me'. In fact, as your title, simply give it the name of your blogger ID...

Here is my attempt:

Englishguru

Sometimes I feel so misunderstood
(People say this happens to us all)
I don't think that any more I should
Bang my head against this tiresome wall

SOMEtimes I feel SO misUNderSTOOD
(PEOple SAY this HAPpens TO us ALL)
I don't THINK that ANy MORE i SHOULD
BANG my HEAD aGAINST this TIREsome WALL.

Now it is your turn...

Good luck! And feel free to email me if you get impossibly stuck! :)