Task 8: An iambic conversation

Firstly, PLEASE look carefully at ALL the poems from last week's task. It is SO important that you read other people's work and, even more crucially, the COMMENTS I have made. Each comment I write is NOT just for the student I am talking to; it is to teach ALL of you something about the task too.

Some of you have completely cracked IAMBIC VERSE now; some of you are VERY close to cracking it; and some of you still appear to be hitting difficulties.

Let me remind you of some basic rules to check when writing IAMBIC PENTAMETER in particular:

1. Number of syllables: perfect iambic pentameter will have 5 feet (or beats), each consisting of 2 syllables. Therefore, if ANY of your lines of iambic pentameter have more or less than 10 SYLLABLES, there is something wrong.
2. Even and Odd: it is only the EVEN numbered syllables (i.e. 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th) which should be emphasised when writing iambic pentameter; the odd numbered syllables should NOT be stressed (i.e. 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th).
3. Say it out loud: check your poem by reading it out loud; when you do so, DELIBERATELY put exaggerated emphasis on the even-numbered syllables - how does it sound? Do ANY of the words sound really weird? If they do, the chances are something is wrong somewhere.
4. Shuffle along: sometimes, when something is wrong with your iambic rhythm, it can simply be a case of SHUFFLING a word along one syllable in the line (either forward or backward) and then inserting a one-syllable word where there is a GAP.
5. First and last: remember that the FIRST syllable must NOT be stressed; similarly, you must END each line with a STRESSED syllable. If your line starts with a stressed syllable, or ends with an unstressed one, then there is something wrong.

Right, on to this week's task...

Now that you have seen Betrayal, it will come as no surprise that I would like your next task to be based on that play.

I would like you to choose TWO characters from the play (i.e. Jerry and Robert OR Jerry and Emma OR Robert and Emma), and then write an imaginary conversation between the two of them, to take place shortly after the last chronological scene of the play (i.e. in 1977, at some point after Jerry has had that awkward meeting with Robert).

However, your conversation must be written in the form of a SONNET, following all the rules of sonnet-writing:

1. 14 lines
2. Rhyme scheme = ababcdcdefefgg
3. Iambic pentameter throughout

In addition, I would like you to assign the lines alternately to each of your two characters. In other words, Character A will speak Lines 1/3/5/7/9/11/13; whereas Character B will speak Lines 2/4/6/8/10/12/14. In this way, the sonnet will show a conversation between the two of them.

Needless to say, the TOPIC of the conversation is pretty obviously going to be the topic which dominates the play: betrayal.

This is a VERY difficult task. Good luck!

If you want some help finding the right RHYME (as long as you use the site carefully and ONLY use words which still get across the PRECISE meaning you are looking for), try the 'rhyme generator' at www.rhymezone.com.

And if you are stuck finding ANOTHER word to express something you are trying to say, why not use the thesaurus at www.thesaurus.com. If you do this, however, (as with any thesaurus), when you do FIND a word, always check it in a dictionary first, before you use it, to make SURE it means exactly what you want it to.

Here is my attempt:

Emma: At first it seemed our passion would endure.
Jerry: But passion doesn't last, it burns and dies.
Emma: I thought my feeble heart had found its cure.
Jerry: I sought a panacea in your eyes.
Emma: Your love was just a fiction from the start.
Jerry: I loved you. We just wanted different things.
Emma: A vicious way to tear my life apart!
Jerry: How viciously the thwarted lover stings!
Emma: The "thwarted lover"? How are you so cold?
Jerry: Look, neither of us thought that this could last.
Emma: It seems to me you're easily consoled.
Jerry: Just looking to the future, not the past.
Emma: Betrayal charges a pernicious price.
Jerry: Our amorous inferno turned to ice.