Meter

[billy]

''Meter is present in every sentence spoken aloud -- and poetry at its best should be heard as well as seen on a page.''

Leanne made this interesting assertion, in the thread about the no-hopers who don't comment, or do not comment in a manner acceptable to others. (I, personally never post poems, but comment occasionally, and have therefore stored up much treasure.) But --- what about this meter business? Is she right, or, uncharacteristically, talking nonsense? Is not the nature of meter, as some might hold, that it must have a repetitive element to it? Does ordinary speech have that? What would Moliere's 'Bourgeois Gentilhomme have thought? He who boasted after his lesson ''Je parle de la prose!'' (I put that in to frighten off the very people others have done so much to make feel at home...Boo!)

first off, this post is an excellent excample of what taking part is all about, you don't have to post poetry to take part in the site....back on topic...

i can only answer for me. in general, using meter has improved my poetry no end. it flows much better since i learned what an iamb was. doing some of the form exercises that leanne sets not only help me think with better clarity, they also help me check the meter, while it doesn't need to be iambic it needs sto have that thing called rhythm. so da/dum da/dum

could be a da/da dum/dum. it's a balance the even outs those nasty bumps. meter isn't always needed though and like everything else that a craft has, exceptions to the rule exist, do you want the piece to be discordant, do you want to set a mood with a thump, thump, thump,
good free verse doesn't stick to rigid meter and it can be just as good as metered poetry. i think speech does have a metrical slant to it, some countries have it more so than others. i think she made excellent sense in that meter is much more prevalent in good poetry than not.meter is an excellent tool to learn rhythm with. like all trades, it's best to learn how to use all the tools you can so that you can leave out those tools that don't fit the job at hand. most of what i said is probably shite, cos i'm still not up well enough to give a reliable answer where meter is the topic