Tuition recap
I had my much-anticipated tuition on Thursday, about how to get the metre on the poetry I have been writing. I found that it is all about the feet. It is the feet that set the beat. This should have probably been obvious, but in fact, I have had no tuition on the subject. School finished 60 years ago, and then, poetry was just about the rhyming. Feet are the long or emphasized sounds and these need to be consistent. In the poem we analysed together, my feet were meant to be 4,3,4,3 for each verse. I had written all my poems to sound, and a feel that felt flowing as I read them aloud, but applying the feet rule, I found they were miles out. No wonder the tutor had picked up the lack of metre so easily. When reading them, they flow for me because I know where to emphasise, but for the poor reader reading it cold, it would be difficult.
That was the easy part. The next thing was for me to identify the feet myself. Whilst I found it easy in some parts, in others I found it difficult. I suggested that the tutor identify these for me, but she replied that I needed to learn to do this myself, which I do, but I still need guidance while doing so. I re-suggested that she does one poem for me so that I can refer back to that when necessary and also help me in ascertaining the feet correctly.
It reminded me of an archeological dig I did back in 1978, in England. I was thrust into my square, excavating an old Bronze Age site. The pottery was easy to identify as were the pieces of bronze jewelry I found. What was more difficult were the pieces of flint. I had to repeatedly ask if a bit I was holding was significant or not. It wasn’t until I worked classifying our finds in the museum later, that I finally worked out what a scraper looked like, as opposed to a shard of flint. A bit the wrong way around really. Having that knowledge at the start of the dig would have been way easier for everyone. I wouldn’t have needed to have been such a pest. The flint was a bit like the feet, some pieces were obvious that they were worked, while others could have been.
I spent several hours reworking my sheep poem yesterday, in light of my new knowledge. We had only covered 10 stanzas in our session. I made multiple changes, but as I said above, I am not sure that I identified the feet correctly. I can’t sing or dance. With singing it is impossible for me to recreate the lovely sounds I hear. With dancing, I have difficulty moving my body to the beat. Someone once asked me when I said I couldn’t sing, if I could dance, as according to him, they went hand in hand. I am wondering if my inability to identify feet is connected. The tutor took me by the hand and we walked out the beat several times, but really that didn’t help. I am hoping with practice, it will come naturally for me. When I used to rousie, I had no difficulty following the shearer’s handpiece with my broom, so I did have some timing there when it was in conjunction with someone else. I would never make a drummer though.
Anyway, I now know that every poem will need to be reworked. I am just hoping that in doing so, I don’t spoil the magic of the poems. Words are so special in the way they are connected and I spent a lot of work getting them to where I did. Wish me luck.