Salinye Posted May 3, 2003 Report Posted May 3, 2003 Someone Explain the different types of poetry. AA ABAB etc. In ABAB poetry is it only A & A that rhyme, or does B & B also? It's been so long since I've been part of any writing or English classes that I've forgotten!! HELP! *smiles sheepishly* ~Salinye
Ayshela Posted May 3, 2003 Report Posted May 3, 2003 oh me, oh my.. to fully explain the different types, the syllabic structures, and the different types of rhymes would take quite a bit of time. I may break it into bits and post some of it, but for an immediate answer to your not-at-all-stupid question: rhyme schemes are often described as aabb or abab, etc, to (believe it or not) more *clearly* illustrate which lines rhyme with which. In an aabb structure you have rhymed couplets, where the end word of each two lines rhymes such as a simple verse like this which rhymes again unless amiss and the next two lines would rhyme with each other, etc. In an abab structure alternating lines rhyme, the first and third lines rhyme with each other, the second and fourth with each other. Most simply put, the letters symbolize lines of poetry, and wherever the letters are the same the lines rhyme.
Peredhil Posted May 3, 2003 Report Posted May 3, 2003 The letters indicate similiar rhymes. A - I think I shall never be A - The one with the bathroom key B - I'm always outside the door B - Hoping to avoid soiling the floor. A - Lady named Salinye B - Wandered from Norrath A - A Writer was in her heart to be B - To the Pen she made her path. There are formal structures with fixed schemes, like a sonnet, and free forms that sometimes don't have rhymes at all. Many song writers (some of my favorite Hip-Hop ones to which Wyvern has exposed me) don't rhyme - but let the cadence of the syllables and the alternating speeds of the words make a 'feeling' of rhymes where none are actually to be found. And if someone laughs at a question of what a word means, or how to understand writing, or what other writers have done... They are prolly shouting out their own insecurities with their laughter, and hoping to turn the attention to other's weaknesses... So no one will look at them. Rest assured M'Lady, here at THIS place, you are free to ask any writing questions you desire. Hopefully SOMEONE will be able to answer. If not - think of the glorious journey of learning as we try! Unanswered questions can be a blessing, giving direction and purpose. Enough rambles, sorry, I'm distracted tonight. -Peredhil
Alaeha Posted May 3, 2003 Report Posted May 3, 2003 Well, Couplets (AA) and Quatrains (ABAB/ABBA) seem to be pretty well expressed, so I shall (attempt to) explain poetic "feet", and meter. The most common form of "foot" is the Iamb, which is a pair of syllables where the stress is placed on the second one. An example of an Iamb would be "Today", where the emphasis goes on Day, rather than To. Shakespeare is the most famous example of Iambs. He wrote in Iambic Pentameter. "The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones." A Trochee is the opposite... Two syllables with the emphasis on the second one. Such as "Daily", or "Dang it". I don't know of many people who write in trochees... they're not easy to write in. Can't even think of a good example for you offhand... An Anapest is sort of like an extended Iamb. It's two unemphasized syllables followed by one stressed. I'm rather fond of Anapests myself. I wrote Body Art in a slightly modified Anapestic Tetrameter, for example. Dactyls are to Anapests as Trochees are to Iambs. Or they are to Trochees as Anapests are to Iambs, if you prefer. They are made of One stressed syllable followed by two unstressed. Dactyls are hard to right in for the same reason as trochees... It's hard to end a line in the offbeat. Particularly if you rhyme. The last form of foot is the Spondee. You should never try to write a long line in pure spondees, because a spondee is a foot with two syllables. Both are stressed. It gets ugly. The rest is easier to explain. A line in Bimeter has two feet. A line in Trimeter has three, and Tetrameter four. It goes on like that through Pentameter, Hexameter, Heptameter, Octometer, somethingorotherthatIdon'tremember for nine, and dittostheprevious for ten. But if you're writing lines that long, something's probably wrong with you. I'll stop now and let someone else comment...
Kasmandre Posted May 3, 2003 Report Posted May 3, 2003 The last two would be ninometer and decameter, I believe. But those would be a little too long for most anything, so the point's really moot.
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