OK, last exercise should've been two instead of one. The first exercise was just a scansion thing. Anyway, this exercise has been interesting. Been given five specific topics. For each topic i have to write a pair of lines in iambic pentameter without caesura or enjambment. Then I have to repeat but this time using caesura and enjambement - while keeping pretty much the same meaning. Here are my efforts...
1. Outside the window.
The blue of sky is filled with clouds of white.
The tweets of birds are drowned by noisy cars.
A fluffy sky. I hear the twitt'ring birds
in avid chat. But no, the cars now roar.
2. What I'd like to eat.
Bring watermelon, mango, juicy fruits!
To quench my thirst and cool my too hot head.
No hunger here. I want the liquid cool
Of juicy fruits. My body craves the cool.
3. A recent dream.
I cannot last remember when I dreamt,
Perhaps it was a month or twelve ago.
No dreams for me. The last was maybe weeks
Or months ago. My poor encumbered mind!
4. Pesky incomplete chores.
The moving out and moving back again.
A trip abroad is also needing work.
There's so much work to do. A holiday
Abroad needs plans. But moving home comes first.
5. What I hate about my body.
I hate my ugly fingers and my toes,
I used to hate my straight and pointed nose.
If only I could change! Then twenty crap,
Crap digits would be gone. My nose would stay.
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I stress Stephen Fry's point that it's not about quality. "It doesn't have to be elegant, sensible, or clever". It's an exercise to stimulate thinking about structure and its effects.
ReplyDeleteI'm not posting these because I think they're any good. More out of a sense of fascination with a process. A fascination that perchance my readers (ha ha) will share.