Accentual Verse

[ellajam]

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.

Now, don't be making fun of my alliteration. It comes out that way and some of it is quite nice sounding. Feel free to point out anything specifically awful, but I won't chuck a line that I like the sound of to eliminate it. If it's not in style I don't mind being the odd man out.

Actually I was making a joke http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliterative_verse

I was alluding to A-S alliterative verse, the last effective use of accentual verse but, yah, I consider alliteration to be the most misused and abused sonic device in poetry which seems to produce endless streams of "nice alliteration" when in actuality "thank god, a poetic device I recognise" is what they mean. Its uses and effects are misunderstood and is almost always best avoided by all but the most advanced writers if possible but that's a discussion for another day.

Well, I tried to follow the explanation of alliterative verse, unsuccessfully. I now get the joke. I think I'll save my last functioning brain cell for something else.

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When done properly in either Anglo-Saxon poetry or using the Irish notion of uaim (with amus -- assonance and uaithne -- consonance), alliteration is not oppressive but necessary. Heaney studied both schools extensively and grew up in the tradition; still, reading Beowulf in one sitting without a fireside and a lot of whiskey can indeed become slightly tedious. The one redeeming feature of most modern attempts at alliterative verse is that at least they run out of steam very quickly.

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PS. Ella, there's nothing wrong with writing with accent rather than perfect meter, it's just that if it's only accentual by accident then a smoothing-over with a meter rule will definitely serve you well

My meager lines are only 5 or 7 syllables long. I was surprised that Erthona found any consistency at all. But he was right. On my own I found only 8 lines that were off, though I'm not a reliable source. I don't know if there's a meter rule tiny enough for this one.