In the flavor of the “Man From Snowy River” by Andrew Barton Paterson I have set forth the following specifications for what I am calling the “Bush Ballad Meter Sonnet”.
Creator: Lawrence Eberhart, aka on Allpoetry as Lawrencealot.
Syllabic: L1 through L2 alternate 15 and 11 syllable. Lines 13 and 14 each have 15 syllables.
Rhyme pattern: ababcdcdefefgg
Metric: Primarily anapestic and iambic meter.
I guess technically all lines begin with an anapest,
the first 6 long lines then have 2 tertius paeons and 2 iambs’
the short lines have four iambs
the last two have 1 tertius paeon and 4 iambs
but the visual template is easier to understand.
Anapestic foot [da da DUM]
Iambic foot [da DUM]
Tertius paeon foot [ da da da DUM]
My example poem
Dominion (Bush Ballad Meter Sonnet)
When a chieftain comes to power, it’s because he’s acted well
in providing for the welfare of the tribe.
When a politician rises with smooth rhetoric to sell
what’s not really his to give, then it’s a bribe.
When a clique of any dogma with agenda driven goals
should encounter opposition to its plan,
that’s when greed and self-advancement will supplant more lofty roles,
and the powerful will kill because they can.
When a species such as humans has no predators to fear
yet they have the wherewithal to calculate,
it’s perhaps the plan of Gaia (causing some to disappear)
to allow cupidity to turn to hate.
For it’s certain through the ages, those in power decimate;
we can hope for what it’s worth that man awakes before too late.
© Lawrencealot – June 21, 2014
Visual Template
