The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within, by Stephen Fry
Second paragraph of first chapter:Why not indeed. Here's a list of the most likely possibilities:1 Beat - Monometer
He bangs
The drum.
2 Beats - Dimeter
His drumming noise
Awakes the boys.
3 Beats - Trimeter
His drumming makes a noise.
And wakes the sleeping boys.
4 Beats - Tetrameter
He bangs the drum and makes a noise,
It shakes the roof and wakes the boys.
5 Beats - Pentameter
He bangs the drum and makes a dreadful noise,
It shakes the roof and wakes the sleeping boys.
6 Beats - Hexameter
He bangs the drum and makes the most appalling noise,
It shakes the very roof and wakes the sleeping boys.
7 Beats - Heptameter
He bangs the wretched drum and makes the most appalling noise,
Its racket shakes the very roof and wakes the sleeping boys.
8 Beats - Octameter
He starts to bang the wretched drum and make the most appalling noise,
Its dreadful racket shakes the very roof and wakes the sleeping boys.
An enjoyable book by Stephen Fry about how poetry works and how to write it. There are a lot of exercises inviting the reader to try their own; I did about half of them and then ran out of energy. I'm not as much into poetry as some people, but this was a nice re-introduction to enjoying it. You can get it here.
This was my top unread non-fiction book. Next on that pile is Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos, by M. Mitchell Waldrop.
He bangs
The drum.
2 Beats - Dimeter
His drumming noise
Awakes the boys.
3 Beats - Trimeter
His drumming makes a noise.
And wakes the sleeping boys.
4 Beats - Tetrameter
He bangs the drum and makes a noise,
It shakes the roof and wakes the boys.
5 Beats - Pentameter
He bangs the drum and makes a dreadful noise,
It shakes the roof and wakes the sleeping boys.
6 Beats - Hexameter
He bangs the drum and makes the most appalling noise,
It shakes the very roof and wakes the sleeping boys.
7 Beats - Heptameter
He bangs the wretched drum and makes the most appalling noise,
Its racket shakes the very roof and wakes the sleeping boys.
8 Beats - Octameter
He starts to bang the wretched drum and make the most appalling noise,
Its dreadful racket shakes the very roof and wakes the sleeping boys.
An enjoyable book by Stephen Fry about how poetry works and how to write it. There are a lot of exercises inviting the reader to try their own; I did about half of them and then ran out of energy. I'm not as much into poetry as some people, but this was a nice re-introduction to enjoying it. You can get it here.
This was my top unread non-fiction book. Next on that pile is Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos, by M. Mitchell Waldrop.