As I have said before…If there is anything inaccurate stated about the form being discussed below, any of the forms I have posted before or the poems I have written as examples please let me know so that it can be corrected or an explanation can be given. Thank you very much.
Sapphics
Is a form(s) of poetry developed in ancient Greece. It is said that a lyric poetess from the Isle of Lesbos named Sappho developed this verse form. With her being a lyric poet it should be noted that most likely her poems would have a lyric quality to them…in other words they should sound good when read or sung along with music.
Structure…
Adonic Sapphic (Sapphic stanza)
An Adonic Sapphic gets its name from the andonean line at the end of the stanza.
The form most often used is three hendecasyllabic lines of trochee, trochee, dactyl, trochee, trochee and one adonean (adonic) line of dactyl, trochee.
In the syllabic diagrams below L will represent a long (accented) syllable, S will represent a short (unaccented) syllable and A will represent an anceps (sometimes called a free or irrational syllable as explained in terms).
L S L A L S S L S L A
L S L A L S S L S L A
L S L A L S S L S L A
L S S L A
Aeolic Sapphics
While some people think this is a form of “Sapphic verse”. To the best of my knowledge it is simply a Sapphic poem written in the Greek Aeolic dialect.
Sapphic line
This form is basically the same as the Adonic except there is no adonean line.
The form is three hendecasyllabic lines of trochee, trochee, dactyl, trochee, trochee
L S L A L S S L S L A
L S L A L S S L S L A
L S L A L S S L S L A
There is no set rhyme scheme and there is no set number of stanza’s (strophe) that can be used for this type of poem.
By now you are probably asking, ‘if there are anceps in the form why use hendecasyllabic lines when the foot can change?’ Well read what an anceps is and that will partially answer the question. Also we must remember that Sappho wrote in a dialect of the Greek language and here we are writing this in English. The Sapphic form was determined by quantitative meter (explained below). Sappho did not write in English, Gaelic, German or French she wrote in…Greek.
Modern Sapphic poems are written using three hendecasyllabic lines containing four trochee’s and a dactyl with the dactyl generally being in the center of the line. The Adonic Sapphic adds a fourth line called the adonean or adonic (a dactyl followed by a trochee). If you follow the diagrams above you will be writing a Sapphic…at least as close to one as you can get without writing it in Greek.
Terms…
Anceps
– In Greek and Latin metre, an anceps syllable is a syllable in a metrical line which can be either short or long. An anceps syllable may be called "free" or "irrational" depending on the type of meter being used.
Quantitative metre
– (pay close attention to this) Quantitative metre is verse which is based on a systematic succession of long and short syllables of which take a longer or shorter quantity of time to pronounce regardless of stress. It does not rely on the alternation of heavily stressed or lightly stressed syllables, but rather on the alternation of "long syllables" and "short syllables" according to the time it takes to pronounce the syllable. Here is an example I recently read (I don’t remember where). The word “our” and “at” are both one-syllable words of similar stress. However, the word “our” takes slightly longer to shape in the mouth than the more terse word “at”. With the definition being what it is the word “our” is a "long syllable" and the word “at” is a "short syllable." This way of looking at the metre of verse is different than the more common form of accentual metre which is based on how heavy or light the stress of the syllable is instead of the time it takes to say it. The unit of measure in quantitative verse is the mora.
Mora
– The minimal unit of rhythmic measurement in quantitative verse. It is equivalent to the time it takes to pronounce an ordinary or average short syllable.
Hendecasyllabic
– It basically means 11 syllables. (as I said in #37 there are several types of hendecasyllabic verse. I explained one then and will only explain one here to avoid confusion). As stated in #37 Hendecasyllabic is a quantitative metre. As you read above quantitative metre is based on how long it takes to pronounce a syllable rather than on the stress or accentuation of the syllable…remember that. In Sapphics the most common Hendecasyllabic pattern is trochee, trochee, dactyl, trochee, trochee.
NOTE – DO NOT CONFUSE HENDECASYLLABIC WITH HENDECASYLLABLE. THEY ARE DIFFERENT.
Trochee
– A metrical foot containing two syllables. One long (accented) syllable followed by a short (unaccented) syllable such as in William Blake’s poem “Tyger!, Tyger!” Here is the second stanza of that poem.
“In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?”
Dactyl
– A metrical foot of three syllables, the first of which is long (accented) and the next two are short (unaccented). For example cereal and limerick are dactyls while valedictorian is a double dactyl.
Strophe
– Basically it means stanza.
Adonic
– A line of verse consisting of a dactyl followed by either a trochee or spondee. Some believe the name comes from its use in songs during the Adonia, an ancient festival in honor of Adonis.
Caesura
– Is an audible pause that breaks up a line of verse. Any sort of punctuation which causes a pause in speech, such as a comma, semicolon, or full stop, indicates a caesura.
Note – Many modern poets substitute the quantitative metre (metre based on long and short syllables) of Sapphics with accentual metre that is based on stress and accent. I do not want to do that with this form of poetry. While I cannot write in Greek I can at least attempt to honor Sappho by approximating her verse form as closely as possible.
History…
The Sapphic form without a doubt derives its name from the Greek poetess Sappho who lived around the sixth century B.C. and her poetry was regarded with immense respect then and even to this date. It is said that she invented this form and whether or not that is true will never be known, however it is a fact that she used this form. For hundreds of years after her death Sappho’s poetry and compositional style was copied by many other poets such as Catullus and Horace. After the fall of the Roman empire most of Sappho’s work was lost. Sadly there is only one complete poem known to exist that Sappho wrote called “Hymn to Aphrodite” and there are only a few fragments of some of her other works but from this one poem and these few fragments there was and is an unmistakable style and meter. During the Renaissance there was a new found interest in ancient poetic forms and with the discovery of Sappho’s writings (mostly through the writings of other ancient wordsmiths) her work was revived.
(The following was taken from an encyclopedia “1911encyclopedia.org” to be precise…I liked it so I will share it with you)
“an ancient form of quantitative verse, named after the Aeolian poetess Sappho, who is supposed to have invented it, and who certainly used it with unequalled skill. A sapphic line consists of five equal beats, of which the central one alone is of three syllables, while the others consist of two each. The original Greek Sapphic was of this type. The Sapphic strophe consists of three of these lines followed by an adonic. Horace adopted, and slightly adapted, this form of verse, for some of his most engaging metrical effects. The Greek poets had permitted the caesura to come where it would, but Horace, to give solidity to the form, introduced the practice of usually ending a word on the fifth syllable and the second half of the Sapphic leaping off, as it were, with a long syllable which connects it with the first half. Catullus had used this form in Latin, and afterwards Sapphics were introduced by the pseudo-Seneca into his tragedies. In the middle ages the Sapphic strophe was frequently employed in the Latin hymns, especially by Gregory the Great. Later on, considerable laxity was introduced, and a dactyl was frequently substituted for the first trochee; this quite destroys the true character of the measure. It makes it a more easy metre, however, for those who write modern accentuated verse, although this certainly does not suit English versification very well. English Sapphics were written by the Elizabethan poet, Thomas Campion, and by William Cowper. Swinburne has attempted to create the effect of the ancient Aeolian metre in a daring and brilliant stanza. Sapphics have been written more successfully in German than in any other modern language. The earliest original German poem in the form is said to be an anonymous hymn to St Mary Magdalene, dated 1500. Voss kept strictly to the metrical scheme of the Latin in his famous translation of the Odes of Horace (1806), and among German poets who have cultivated Sapphics are to be mentioned Klopstock, Platen, Hamerling and Geibel.”
It is amazing to me how Sappho has had such a wide ranging effect on writers and poets both past and present. It is even more amazing to me that she has been an inspiration for many famous writers and poets of such as Algernon Swinburne, Amy Lowell, Catullus, and Renée Vivien (Pauline Tarn). In more ancient times there was much more of her work available to be heard. Some of the greatest writers and scholars of her time praised her work but as the centuries past only one complete poem remains to influence modern poetry. That is simply amazing and says a lot about how great she was. Plato referred to her as “the tenth muse”. What an honor that is.
Now my poem…
Depths of Love
Here, in these stories all knowledge can be found
Within these walls you will find all that’s needed
This library of thought, of feelings, I hold dear
Feelings only for you
What greater knowledge of my heart do you need
Your answers are here in the depths of my soul
Long ago my heart was unlocked by your key
The key to my heart
Come in and read all I think and feel for you
Hear the words as you see me speak of my love
Within this heart it will be known, I love you
You are my true love
Hymn to Aphrodite
By Sappho
Translated by Edwin Marion Cox, 1925
Shimmering-throned immortal Aphrodite,
Daughter of Zeus, Enchantress, I implore thee,
Spare me, O queen, this agony and anguish,
Crush not my spirit
Whenever before thou has hearkened to me--
To my voice calling to thee in the distance,
And heeding, thou hast come, leaving thy father's
Golden dominions,
With chariot yoked to thy fleet-winged coursers,
Fluttering swift pinions over earth's darkness,
And bringing thee through the infinite, gliding
Downwards from heaven,
Then, soon they arrived and thou, blessed goddess,
With divine continence smiling, didst ask me
What new woe had befallen me now and why,
Thus I had called the.
What in my mad heart was my greatest desire,
Who was it now that must feel my allurements,
Who was the fair one that must be persuaded,
Who wronged thee Sappho?
For if now she flees, quickly she shall follow
And if she spurns gifts, soon shall she offer them
Yea, if she knows not love, soon shall she feel it
Even reluctant.
Come then, I pray, grant me surcease from sorrow,
Drive away care, I beseech thee, O goddess
Fulfill for me what I yearn to accomplish,
Be thou my ally.
Note…
there is no translation that can truly attest to the beauty of her writing. As with any poetic translation from one language to another you just can not translate it as it was written and intended to be read. Yes it is possible to do it and do it well but it will never be the same.[/b] _________________ All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are
Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine
These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.
Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:39 am
Love Is
Joined: 30 Dec 2006
Posts: 80
Location: Pacific Northwest
Hi Eire,
Thanks for the poetry and history lessons. I read every word of it. This is actually the first of your poetic form threads that I've read. I can't say I understood all the technical nuances -- a reflection on the student and not the teacher -- but I understood enough of the lesson to appreciate it. I understood the definition of quantitative metre as stated, but not as employed in your poem to maintain a hendecasyllabic line. Again, that only reflects an inexperienced student.
I loved your poem! So romantic!
Your lesson certainly roused my interest in Sappho. Made me wish I can read Greek. "Hymn to Aphrodite" was beautiful! I have a couple of questions:
* In the fourth strophe, last line, "Thus I had called the.", should the last word be "thee" instead of "the"?
* This 1925 translation by Edwin Cox, is this the definitive, most widely used translation of this poem? Are there more recent, good translations of the poem?
Thanks again Eire, and hugs,
LI _________________
You know love is better than a song
Love is where all of us belong
So don't be shy just let your feelings roll on by
Don't wear fear or nobody will know you're there
-- the Cat
Love Is,
First I would like to thank you very much for the reply. It is greatly appreciated.
As far as the word “the” in the last line of the fourth strophe…that was probably a typing error on my part. It should be “thee”.
I will get back with you on a better explanation of employing quantitative metre shortly but first lets look at the different types of metre and a little about what metre is.
Metre (as we are discussing it here) is how verse is laid out in a line. It is basically the ordering principle of poetic lines of verse.
There are four basic types of metre. They are syllabic, quantitative, accentual and the most commonly used in English verse forms…accentual syllabic.
Let's look into each of them.
Syllabic is probably the easiest of them all because it is very simple. Using syllabic metre you have a set number of syllables for each line. That is all there is to it.
Quantitative metre is not as simple. It uses (depending on what book you read or who you talk to) the length or quantity of time it takes to say the syllable and it is either long or short. One definition states, “Vowels are either short or long. In the word 'tanka', the vowel 'a' is short in the first syllable but long in the second. A syllable is either long or short depending on the kind of vowel it has. A combination of short and long syllables make a foot.” The kind of foot is determined by what combination of long and short syllables that are used. If it is a short syllable followed by a long syllable then it is an Iamb, if it is a long syllable followed by a short syllable then it is Trochee. There are many different kinds of “foot” than can be used to make up a single line or poem for that matter.
Is the metre in my poem absolutely correct…maybe…maybe not…waiting for sunny to get back and take her test
Accentual metre is somewhat like quantitative metre except that it does not consider whether or not the syllable is long or short but rather how much effort goes into saying it or how loud it is said. Accentual metre is often determined by stress which is the amount of effort it takes to say the word or syllable…the loudness or pitch will determine the stress. For example in the word “important” there are three syllables “im-por-tant” in this word the second syllable “por” is accented (stressed) and the other two are unaccented (unstressed). Here we also get into context because the same word can be used but the stress (accent) of the syllables can be different depending on how the word is used. For example the word “record” depending on how it is used can have the stress put on the first syllable or on the second. “did you record the music” “did you listen to the record”.
Accentual syllabic metre is more like quantitative metre and is the most commonly used in English poetic verse forms. The syllables are measured and so are the stresses. Like quantitative metre it divides the poetic line into certain kinds of feet such as iamb (unstressed-stressed), trochee (stressed-unstressed), anapest (unstressed-unstressed-stressed), dactyl (stressed-unstressed-unstressed), spondee (stressed-stressed) and pyrrhic (unstressed-unstressed).
Now that will either help you a little more in understanding or…make you pull your hair out even more.
Now lets look at some different translations of Sappho’s poem. (be sure to read the note at the bottom of this post)
Lets start with two somewhat literal translations…
Translated by Anne Carson 2002 (I believe this is the most accurate I have seen but I don’t know Greek so take that for what it is worth)
Deathless Aphrodite of the spangled mind,
child of Zeus, who twist lures, I beg you
do not break with hard pains,
O lady, my heart
but come here if ever before
you caught my voice far off
and listening left your father's
golden house and came,
yoking your car. And fine birds brought you,
quick sparrows over the black earth
whipping their wings down the sky
through midair---
they arrived. But you, O blessed one,
smiled in your deathless face
and asked what (now again) I have suffered and why
(now again) I am calling out
and what I want to happen most of all
in my crazy heart. Whom should I persuade (now again)
to lead you back into her love? Who, O
Sappho, is wronging you?
For if she flees, soon she will pursue.
If she refuses gifts, rather will she give them.
If she does not love, soon she will love
even unwilling.
Come to me now: loose me from hard
care and all my heart longs
to accomplish, accomplish. You
be my ally.
The second Literal translation is by H. T. Wharton 1895 (This is a translation that is probably the most used or one of the most used)
Immortal Aphrodite of the shimmering thone, daughter of Zeus, weaver of wiles, I pray thee crush not my spirit with anguish and distress, O Queen. But come hither if ever before thou didst hear my voice afar, and hearken, and leaving the golden house of thy father, camest with chariot yoked, and swift birds drew thee, their swift pinions fluttering over the dark earth, from heaven through mid-space. Quickly they arrived; and thou blessed one with immortal countenance smiling didst ask: What now is befallen me and why now I call and what I in my heart's madness, most desire. What fair one now wouldst thou draw to love thee? Who wrongs thee Sappho? For even if she flies she shall soon follow and if she rejects gifts, shall soon offer them and if she loves not shall soon love, however reluctant. Come I pray thee now and release me from cruel cares, and let my heart accomplish all that it desires, and be thou my ally.
This translation by Wharton was used to write the poem below.
Shimmering-throned immortal Aphrodite,
Daughter of Zeus, Enchantress, I implore thee,
Spare me, O queen, this agony and anguish,
Crush not my spirit
Whenever before thou has hearkened to me
To my voice calling to thee in the distance,
And heeding, thou hast come, leaving thy father's
Golden dominions,
With chariot yoked to thy fleet-winged coursers,
Fluttering swift pinions over earth's darkness,
And bringing thee through the infinite, gliding
Downwards from heaven,
Then, soon they arrived and thou, blessed goddess,
With divine contenance smiling, didst ask me
What new woe had befallen me now and why,
Thus I had called the.
What in my mad heart was my greatest desire,
Who was it now that must feel my allurements,
Who was the fair one that must be persuaded,
Who wronged thee Sappho?
For if now she flees, quickly she shall follow
And if she spurns gifts, soon shall she offer them
Yea, if she knows not love, soon shall she feel it
Even reluctant.
Come then, I pray, grant me surcease from sorrow,
Drive away care, I beseech thee, O goddess
Fulfil for me what I yearn to accomplish,
Be thou my ally.
Translation by Elizabeth Vandiver 1997
Iridescent-throned Aphrodite, deathless
Child of Zeus, wile-weaver, I now implore you,
Don't--I beg you, Lady--with pains and torments
Crush down my spirit,
But before if ever you've heard my pleadings
Then return, as once when you left your father's
Golden house; you yoked to your shining car your
Wing-whirring sparrows;
Skimming down the paths of the sky's bright ether
On they brought you over the earth's black bosom,
Swiftly--then you stood with a sudden brilliance,
Goddess, before me;
Deathless face alight with your smile, you asked me
What I suffered, who was my cause of anguish,
What would ease the pain of my frantic mind, and
Why had I called you
To my side: "And whom should Persuasion summon
Here, to soothe the sting of your passion this time?
Who is now abusing you, Sappho? Who is
Treating you cruelly?
Now she runs away, but she'll soon pursue you;
Gifts she now rejects--soon enough she'll give them;
Now she doesn't love you, but soon her heart will
Burn, though unwilling."
Come to me once more, and abate my torment;
Take the bitter care from my mind, and give me
All I long for; Lady, in all my battles
Fight as my comrade.
Translation by William Hyde Appleton 1893
Throned in splendor, immortal Aphrodite!
Child of Zeus, Enchantress, I implore thee
Slay me not in this distress and anguish,
Lady of beauty.
Hither come as once before thou camest,
When from afar thou heard'st my voice lamenting,
Heard'st and camest, leaving thy glorious father's Palace golden,
Yoking thy chariot. Fair the doves that bore thee;
Swift to the darksome earth their course directing,
Waving their thick wings from the highest heaven
Down through the ether.
Quickly they came. Then thou, O blessed goddess,
All in smiling wreathed thy face immortal,
Bade me tell thee the cause of all my suffering,
Why now I called thee;
What for my maddened heart I most was longing.
"Whom," thou criest, "dost wish that sweet Persuasion
Now win over and lead to thy love, my Sappho?
Who is it wrongs thee?
"For, though now he flies, he soon shall follow,
Soon shall be giving gifts who now rejects them.
Even though now he love not, soon shall he love thee
Even though thou wouldst not."
Come then now, dear goddess, and release me
From my anguish. All my heart's desiring
Grant thou now. Now too again as aforetime,
Be thou my ally.
Translation by Edwin Arnold 1869
Beautiful-throned, immortal Aphrodite,
Daughter of Zeus, beguiler, I implore thee,
Weigh me not down with weariness and anguish
O thou most holy!
Come to me now, if ever thou in kindness
Hearkenedst my words,--and often hast thou hearkened--
Heeding, and coming from the mansions golden
Of thy great Father,
Yoking thy chariot, borne by the most lovely
Consecrated birds, with dusky-tinted pinions,
Waving swift wings from utmost heights of heaven
Through the mid-ether;
Swiftly they vanished, leaving thee, O goddess,
Smiling, with face immortal in its beauty,
Asking why I grieved, and why in utter longing
I had dared call thee;
Asking what I sought, thus hopeless in desiring,
Wildered in brain, and spreading nets of passion
Alas, for whom? and saidst thou, ‘Who has harmed thee?
O my poor Sappho!
Though now he flies, ere long he shall pursue thee;
Fearing thy gifts, he too in turn shall bring them;
Loveless to-day, to-morrow he shall woo thee,
Though thou shouldst spurn him.’
Thus seek me now, O holy Aphrodite!
Save me from anguish; give me all I ask for,
Gifts at thy hand; and thine shall be the glory,
Sacred protector!
Note…
As you can see by the above translations (and the one posted in the original post) of Sappho’s poem they are not all written exactly the same. As a person takes a word from one language and translates it to another language they have a lot of decisions to make. What did the word mean? What context was that word used in? What emotion was intended? What was the writer thinking? What were they feeling? What was the overall intention of the piece? Was there a message? If so then what was it? All of these questions and more have to go into any translation from one language to another. Even with modern languages it is not a simple easy thing to do…well it is easy to some extent but substitutions have to be made and often words have to be rearranged a little to get as much of the meaning and intentions of the poem across the language boundary as possible. The translation is the easy part. Putting all of the nuances, meaning and intentions of a poem written in one language into another language is the hard part…especially if the original poet is not around to talk to.
Hugs,
Eiregirl _________________ All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are
Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine
These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.
Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:48 am
desert-fish
Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 2777
Location: deleted
Thanx E-girl...It will take some time for me to digest te technicalities, but for now I will say I really like the way it sounds.
Thu Feb 08, 2007 6:10 pm
Sunny
Joined: 18 Jun 2006
Posts: 1571
Location: Massachusetts
Eire,
Thanks for letting me know about this one (I've been asleep at the wheel I guess) and also for all the time and effort you've put into making this so incredibly comprehensive and informative.
Well, I'm late for class and not yet prepared. I've taken a brief look but need time to digest all the info before attempting a sapphic verse of my own. I will say that, despite paying close attention, I'm still tackling "quantitative metre" and Erie, your poem didn't help to clarify.... I need to research... Oh, but hey! What's with the 6 syllables in the 3rd line of your poem? And why the heck is "library" a 2 syllable word (It sure seems and sounds like 3 syllables to me), when "librarian" is a 4 syllable word??? This makes no sense to me!
quote:Originally posted by seansun:
Eire,
Thanks for letting me know about this one (I've been asleep at the wheel I guess) and also for all the time and effort you've put into making this so incredibly comprehensive and informative.
Well, I'm late for class and not yet prepared. I've taken a brief look but need time to digest all the info before attempting a Sapphic verse of my own. I will say that, despite paying close attention, I'm still tackling "quantitative metre" and Erie, your poem didn't help to clarify.... I need to research... Oh, but hey! What's with the 6 syllables in the 3rd line of your poem? And why the heck is "library" a 2 syllable word (It sure seems and sounds like 3 syllables to me), when "librarian" is a 4 syllable word??? This makes no sense to me!
I suspect I'll have more questions once I've looked closer. Thanks again Erie! Sending many hugs your way!
Sunny
Thank you for looking and for the reply
ummm there are not 6 syllables in the third line of my poem...there are 12 and why are there 12...just wanted to see if anyone was paying attention ok…actually I umm well hmmm…I miscounted and out of almost 90 views only one person noticed that and told me. It is funny that nobody else noticed or if they did…they did not say anything.
Library is 3 syllables and I counted it as 3 so I can’t figure out how I miscounted…oh well nobody is perfect.
My poem may not have helped much in clarification of a Sapphic but did Sappho's poem help any? That is one reason I included a translation of it for a comparison to my poem because I know there are faults in my poem (although I did not know about the 12 syllables until I just recounted them) I will be editing it in a few days after you have had time to rip it apart (actually I already have an edited version. I have just been waiting on you…oh and it does not have any 12 syllable lines I just double checked it).
Have fun researching LOL
Quantitative metre...I tried another explanation in my reply to loveis (along with including several different translations of Hymn to Aphrodite)
The most basic explanation I can give is that when you use quantitative metre forget about accent and stress because they play absolutely no part in quantitative meter. Syllables however will play a role. Each syllable will contain at least one vowel and what you have to determine is whether or not that vowel sound is LONG or SHORT. Ok so now you are going to ask, “how do I know what is long or short?”. It is generally accepted that a long syllable is equivalent to two short syllables (it does not have to be exact). Take the example of “our” and “at” and you will see that it takes roughly twice as long to say the word “our” as it does for you to say the word “at”. Now take the example of the word “tanka” and you will notice that the first syllable is short and takes about half as long to pronounce as the second syllable. One thing I use is the term "more terse". A short syllable is "more terse" than a long syllable. Also in quantitative metre you have anceps (basically that is a free syllable that can be either long or short). In Sapphics there are two of them in each line except for the Adonic which has only one.
I hope this helped…if not let me know and I will try to explain it better.
Eiregirl _________________ All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are
Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine
These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.
Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:05 am
Sunny
Joined: 18 Jun 2006
Posts: 1571
Location: Massachusetts
Still researching, but my mistake as well. I meant "6 syllables in the
4th
line of your poem." But I stand by my comment about "library". Merriam Webster's Collegate Dictionary attributes only 2 syllables to "library" and 4 to "librarian". So I was letting line 3 slide on a technicality Back to researching...
quote:Originally posted by seansun:
Still researching, but my mistake as well. I meant "6 syllables in the
4th
line of your poem." But I stand by my comment about "library". Merriam Webster's Collegate Dictionary attributes only 2 syllables to "library" and 4 to "librarian". So I was letting line 3 slide on a technicality Back to researching...
Sunny
Well I guess I counted correctly the first time then but in my dictionaries one says two syllables li-brary and two say three syllables li-brar-y so...if you ever need a two and/or perhaps a three syllable word this is one of those words you can use LOLOL
Score one for sunny...ummm there are a few reasons it has 6 syllables...(1) I forgot how to count. (2) I just loved that line. (3) I forgot how to count. (4) I just love that line. Ummm well that is the best excuse I have but in my final version...the final line is "feelings of my heart"
Eiregirl _________________ All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are
Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine
These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.
Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:24 am
Crindaguitar
Joined: 27 May 2007
Posts: 174
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Oooh - all this technical stuff gives me a headache!
I'll try and digest it all in bits and pieces. I know it will all serve to improve my writing
Thank you very much for visiting and I hope you will enjoy all the information and the poems as well.
If you have any questions at all please feel free to ask and I will do my very best to answer them for you as quickly as I can. Also...if you find any errors or would like to add additional information about any of the forms presented feel free to do make a reply to the appropriate form.
Hugs,
Eiregirl _________________ All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are
Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine
These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Gallery
FAQ
Profile PM's 
I've taken a brief look but need time to digest all the info before attempting a sapphic verse of my own. I will say that, despite paying close attention, I'm still tackling "quantitative metre" and Erie, your poem didn't help to clarify.... I need to research... Oh, but hey! What's with the 6 syllables in the 3rd line of your poem? And why the heck is "library" a 2 syllable word (It sure seems and sounds like 3 syllables to me), when "librarian" is a 4 syllable word??? This makes no sense to me! 
ok…actually I umm well hmmm…I miscounted and out of almost 90 views only one person noticed that and told me. It is funny that nobody else noticed or if they did…they did not say anything.
but in my dictionaries one says two syllables li-brary and two say three syllables li-brar-y so...if you ever need a two and/or perhaps a three syllable word this is one of those words you can use LOLOL
there are a few reasons it has 6 syllables...(1) I forgot how to count. (2) I just loved that line. (3) I forgot how to count. (4) I just love that line. Ummm well that is the best excuse I have but in my final version...the final line is "feelings of my heart"
