Accentual Verse

[milo]

I received this critique:


Right now, I can see that most lines have three stresses, but they are not regular. Would I have to pick a meter and stick to it or are any three stresses enough to make this work? All I have now is accidental accentual verse, .

Accentual verse was quite popular just 1000 years ago, let's bring it back! Seriously though, it tends to work better if you are singing it with a specific melody, maybe include a bongo!

I have never been a big fan of accentual verse in modern english poetry, line breaks won't provide the regularity through reading to give a true rhythm. Also, it tends to be particularly ineffective with short clipped lines (anything less than 4 beats, really).

Well, I know you're a fan of meter, so you are saying accentual verse is stress count only, not necessarily regular?

Nope, no plans to sing it, even with a bongo to drown me out.

Accentual verse is stress count /per line/ but modern reading has demoted the line break pause to near insignificance. If you were to make an audio of accentual verse I would be hard pressed to recognize it as other than free verse while metric verse (though also demoted in modern reading) would be obvious.

Now, if you are insistent on using archaic, clownish poetic devices, you may as well pack some alliterstion in.