Post by jeannerené on Aug 14, 2008 20:09:27 GMT -8
Thank you kw for the following information from Wikipedia ....
Double Dactyl ...
The Double Dactyl was invented by Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal in 1961
A double dactyl is also a verse form, otherwise known as "Higgledy piggledy". Like a limerick, it has a rigid structure and is usually humorous, but the double dactyl is considerably more rigid and difficult to write. There must be two stanzas, each comprising three lines of dactylic dimeter followed by a line with a dactyl and a single accent. The two stanzas have to rhyme on their last line. The first line of the first stanza is repetitive nonsense. The second line of the first stanza is the subject of the poem, a proper noun (usually someone's name). Note that this name must itself be double-dactylic. There is also a requirement for at least one line of the second stanza to be entirely one double dactyl word, for example "va-le-dic-tor-i-an".
Example of Double Dactyl
Example by Theodore L. Drachman:
Small Problem
Higgamus Hoggamus
"Anton Von Leewenhoek
Has a small problem," con-
Fided his wife.
"Microbiology
Doesn't disturb me; his
Microanatomy's
Blighting my life!"
---
Example by Neilson Hayden
Prickly pear prickly pear
Thomas Stearns Eliot
Asked about Pound by a
Friend at the bank,
Answered, "I think him a
Megalomaniac--
Miglior fabbro but
Rather a crank."
***************
More on Dactyl.....
From Wikipedia:
An example of Dactyl ...
The Charge of the Light Brigade
by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
Double Dactyl ...
The Double Dactyl was invented by Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal in 1961
A double dactyl is also a verse form, otherwise known as "Higgledy piggledy". Like a limerick, it has a rigid structure and is usually humorous, but the double dactyl is considerably more rigid and difficult to write. There must be two stanzas, each comprising three lines of dactylic dimeter followed by a line with a dactyl and a single accent. The two stanzas have to rhyme on their last line. The first line of the first stanza is repetitive nonsense. The second line of the first stanza is the subject of the poem, a proper noun (usually someone's name). Note that this name must itself be double-dactylic. There is also a requirement for at least one line of the second stanza to be entirely one double dactyl word, for example "va-le-dic-tor-i-an".
Example of Double Dactyl
Example by Theodore L. Drachman:
Small Problem
Higgamus Hoggamus
"Anton Von Leewenhoek
Has a small problem," con-
Fided his wife.
"Microbiology
Doesn't disturb me; his
Microanatomy's
Blighting my life!"
---
Example by Neilson Hayden
Prickly pear prickly pear
Thomas Stearns Eliot
Asked about Pound by a
Friend at the bank,
Answered, "I think him a
Megalomaniac--
Miglior fabbro but
Rather a crank."
***************
More on Dactyl.....
From Wikipedia:
A dactyl (Gr. δάκτυλος dáktulos, “finger”) is a type of meter in poetry. In quantitative verse, such as Greek or Latin, a dactyl is a long syllable followed by two short syllables, as determined by syllable weight. In accentual verse, such as English, it is a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables -- the opposite is the anapaest (two unstressed followed by a stressed syllable).
The word "poetry" is itself a dactyl, as pointed out in the New York Times Crossword Puzzle (Will Shortz, ed.) for May 31, 2006. A useful mnemonic for remembering this long-short-short pattern is to consider the relative lengths of the three bones of a human finger: beginning at the knuckle, it is one long bone followed by two shorter ones.
An example of dactylic meter is the first line of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Evangeline, which is in dactylic hexameter:
This is the / forest prim- / eval. The / murmuring / pines and the / hemlocks,
The first five feet of the line are dactyls; the sixth a trochee.
A modern example is the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds":
Picture your self in a boat on a river with
tangerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-ii-es.
Written in dactylic tetrameter, the verses of the song have the rhythm of a waltz. The word "skies" takes up a full three beats. Dactyls are the metrical foot of Greek elegiac poetry, which followed a line of dactylic hexameter with dactylic pentameter.
The word "poetry" is itself a dactyl, as pointed out in the New York Times Crossword Puzzle (Will Shortz, ed.) for May 31, 2006. A useful mnemonic for remembering this long-short-short pattern is to consider the relative lengths of the three bones of a human finger: beginning at the knuckle, it is one long bone followed by two shorter ones.
An example of dactylic meter is the first line of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Evangeline, which is in dactylic hexameter:
This is the / forest prim- / eval. The / murmuring / pines and the / hemlocks,
The first five feet of the line are dactyls; the sixth a trochee.
A modern example is the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds":
Picture your self in a boat on a river with
tangerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-ii-es.
Written in dactylic tetrameter, the verses of the song have the rhythm of a waltz. The word "skies" takes up a full three beats. Dactyls are the metrical foot of Greek elegiac poetry, which followed a line of dactylic hexameter with dactylic pentameter.
An example of Dactyl ...
The Charge of the Light Brigade
by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
