Welcome to Day 8 of #NationalPoetryMonth ~ sorry, but except for 2 days so far, I kind of got stuck on doing poems that relate to the date we are on (Day 2: Couplets; Day 3: Triplets; Day 4: Dodoitsu, a 4-lined poem; Day 5: Pensee, a 5-lined poem; Day 6: Shadorama, a 6-lined poem, etc.). Here we are on Day 8 and guess what? We are doing an 8-line poem. LOL!! Cheers!! Actually, this poem is totally new to me so I’ll be navigating how to write it for the first time, too, just like you.
ADDED after I tried this poem out. HOLY COW!! Don’t despair – I had no idea the can of worms I was opening with this one so in the interest of LEARNING about poetry – I’d love for you to read all of this and even try it but then, if you just want to write something else – go ahead – tomorrow we will return to a more simple poetry form (the 5Ws poem – easy and fun). Sigh . . .
And to make matters worse, I can't seem to change that weird formatting on today's post with that white background. Dang!!
You’re doing
so well, we are going to think a little harder on this one. If you don’t have
time, I suppose you could just do a free-verse 8-line poem, but please label it
as such at the top of your post, but I HOPE y’all will give this a shot!!
Ottava Rima ~ this
poetry form dates back to the 14th century!
The phrase
“Ottava Rima” is used to describe a particular type of stanza in poetry. It
uses eight iambic lines and follows a rhyme scheme
of ABABABCC. We haven’t
even talked about iambic pentameter
or anything, but it flows and you will probably get it just by doing it. The
most important part will be the ending rhyme scheme. You’ll need to spend some
time with that. It doesn’t matter how many words or syllables per line, only
that you try to use iambic pentameter and follow the ending rhyming scheme.
Here is a well-explained 4 min. teaching clip on iambic pentameter.
It’s worth the time. And the bottom line
is, we are all busy. If this is TOO much, then just follow the ending rhyme
scheme. But I’ve been doing this for 13 years and have intentionally kept
things fairly simple. But I do want to challenge those who have been with me
for several years. SO, if you need to simplify it, then go ahead. I just hope
you write a poem today, and that is 8 lines, and better yet, make the ending
rhymes follow the pattern ABABABCC. And the icing on the cake would be to try
to follow iambic pentameter (which you might anyway without even thinking about
it because it flows well.
So, here’s
an example with the ending rhyme scheme emphasized so you can see how it works.
Cheers!!
Here is an
example of one stanza from “Isabella,” by John Keats to show you how it is done
correctly, because clearly – this is OVER my head – at least, it is today. Hope
you fare better than I did so far. Cheers!!
“He knew whose gentle hand was at the latch,
Before the
door had given her to his eyes;
And from her chamber-window he would catch
Her beauty
farther than the falcon spies;
And constant as her vespers would he watch,
Because her
face was turn’d to the same skies;
And with sick longing all the night outwear,
To hear her morning-step upon the stair.”
Image by Vijay Hu from Pixabay
Well,
fiddlesticks!! I CANNOT do this one correctly . . . YET!!
Mine feels so contrived and I have yet to completely comply
to all the various guidelines, BUT .
. . I am learning so much and I will work on it more, later. But for now, I
need to get the info out to all of you to see what you each come up with. SO,
this IS hard. Do not get discouraged. Just write some free verse if you wish
today.
To help us out, I discovered a very cool (free) online tool that helps you check everything, EVEN your iambic pentameter! (<< click this link to find it)
HOLY SMOKES. I am including a photo (from my phone – not great
quality) to show you what it looks like as you use it. You can work right on it
and make changes and as you do, it will reflect how you are progressing. If you
get another rhyming scheme correct, that will show up. If you finally get the
iambic pentameter right, that will show too. SO, maybe the weekend would be
better to work on this one? I don’t know. But here is the link and my example
(NOT DONE WELL, sad to say) of how it works. Cheers!! Hope you can do much
better than I on this one. Sheesh!
When you use this little tool, you need to use the drop down
menu on the right hand side and choose the poetry form you are trying to comply
with and then just paste you poem (as a work in progress) into the left side
and then you can make changes, etc. It’s a very cool tool although it only
works with some random poetry forms, including “ottava rima.” Crazy.
This is what I entered and as you can see, it isn’t completely
correct.
I remember
when I first saw you, A
In a college
snowball fight. B
I doubted we
would ever become two. A
Until the
day I saw your light. B
We were such
babes when everything was new. A
We worked so
hard with all our might. B
And so amid
the love, trials and strife, C
We have
created a beautiful life. C
^^^ pic of my efforts ^^^
PLEASE
REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on
this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without
my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to
someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in the comments of this
blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge. They are the creative
property of the person who writes them. These poems are their original work and
no one may use them without their permission. It is understood that they own
the copyright to them as soon as they create them and especially once they post
them. Thanks so much!
*** Also, if you choose to
post your poems on your own blog or elsewhere on social media ~ that’s awesome.
But PLEASE don’t just copy and paste my daily instructions, but rather post
your poem on your blog or your FB wall or wherever AND LINK BACK TO EACH DAY’S
SPECIFIC BLOG POST for others to come here to read the instructions. I’ve spent
considerable time researching the poetry forms and writing them up to share
with you. Thanks for respecting my work.
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