Today, rather than being casual, I challenge you to get rather classically formal, and compose a poem in Sapphics.
These are quatrains whose first three lines have eleven syllables, and
the fourth, just five. There is also a very strict meter that alternates
trochees (a two-syllable foot, with the first syllable stressed, and
the second unstressed) and dactyls (a three-syllable foot, with the
first syllable stressed and the remainder unstressed). The first three
lines consist of two trochees, a dactyl, and two more trochees. The
fourth line is a dactyl, followed by a trochee.
It may be easier to hear the meter than to think about it – try reading this poem in Sapphics aloud to yourself,
and you’ll see what an oracular tone it produces – the stressed
beginnings of the lines produce a feeling of importance, while the
unstressed syllables of the trochees keep the pace measured. Rhyming is
optional, and if you begin to bridle at the strict meter, feel free to
loosen it up!
I have no idea what to do
It doesn't make any sense
this doesn't have a rhyme or reason behind it
oh man, puts head down on desk
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