Tag Archives: dactylic

Galloping Denturn

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GALLOPING DENTURN is a poetry form invented by Dennis William Turner, writing on All Poetry as Dennisturner19.

  • It is comprised of two DACTYLIC tetrameter quatrains stating a point of view.
  • This is followed by a stand-alone one, two or three syllable word or phrase. For example: but – unless – but then – although – until, – however etc., Providing the TURN.
  • The concluding two quatrains, in ANAPESTIC tetrameter, make the argument, (emphasised by the change of metre.)

Turner’s Example

Form: Galloping Denturn

Why Bother?

Sometimes, my targets are scarcely attainable;
All that I try to do seems to fall short,
Efforts invested are hardly sustainable,
Work and commitment can all come to nought.
Labour seems pointless with goals unachievable.
Destined for failure, why should I still try?
Thoughts of success can be quite inconceivable.
“Try, try again,” they say. I just say, “Why?”

Although…

There’s a lot to be said for attempting your best
And for pushing and striving that little bit more
And remaining committed when put to the test
And to put in more effort than ever before.
If I DON’T try at all, then I’m doomed from the start
And it’s not a nice thing to be doomed, I confess,
So all negative thoughts should be set well apart
And I’ll give it the best that I can — nothing less!

© Dennis Turner, November 2017

My Attempt

Form: Galloping Denturn

Self-Medication

Ardently I do eschew taking medicine
arguing strongly against such reliance.
Eating correctly provides all my lecithin,
AND all the nutrients known now to science.
Certainly sponsors will vouch with some clarity
championing benefits brand names provide.
Taking their claims as the truth would be charity
Knowing beforehand how many have lied.

However,

With my tendency shown to perhaps skip some meals,
to respond to the TV’s promoting fast food,
and to pay much attention to five dollar deals
well, I might then deduce that my diet’s no good.
And I do take my Bayer’s prescribed for my heart,
and some Anacin, rarely, without too much fuss
since my doc’ says take pills — well then maybe I’ll start
I’m not stupid, you know, just a growing old cuss.

© Lawrencealot, November 2017

A Visual Template:

Snapshot

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This is an invented form created by Mary Boren, aka Meter_Maid on Allpoetry.

It is a poem of 7 lines
It is metrical, requiring several specific metrical feet, to wit:
L1: A pair of spondees
L2-3: Dimetrical dactylic couplet plus a hard beat at the end
L4-5: Anapestic dimeter, not rhyming with each other
L6: Anapestic trimeter, rhyming with L4
L7: Anapest. amphibrach, or iamb, which may, but is not required to rhyme with L5
It is formulaic, requiring a person’s name in either line 2 or 3.
It is themed:
 ” to capture a person’s unguarded moment, breaking stereotypes.”  I’d like to somehow convey that the task is to zoom in on descriptive details that plant a distinct concrete image, preferably an unexpected one.  You could almost say it has a volta at L5, as it catches something a camera would miss.  
It is rhymed with rhyme pattern: xaabzbz, where “z” lines may rhyme or not.

My Example

Just Notions  

Think long, think wrong!
Lawrence R. Eberhart thought
thinking of things he was taught
would most surely reveal
at least one salient fact
he was wrong all along on that deal
looking back.

© Lawrencealot – August 23, 2014

Note: This poem fails to be a Snapshot lacking the apparently candid moment required by the theme.

Try this one:

Neighborly Chat  (Snapshot)

Stop, look, think back.
Shoveling snow from the walk
Jerry MGee stopped to talk
with the girl from next door
he’d forgotten her name,
but remembered her shape from before,
quite a dame.

© Lawrencealot – August 23, 2014

Visual Template

Snapshot
Note: Several options exist for L7.

Romantic Stanza

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Stanzaic:   Any number of quatrains.
Syllabic:    Multiple versions. I have seen 11/11/10/7, but documented here are:
                 the Wordsworth version: 11/11/11/7, and the 11/10/11/7 version.
Meter:     Dactylic, with the final foot being either catalectic or brachycatalectic
                (lacking either one or two syllables).  
Rhyme:    cross rhyme, end-rhyme abab.
Refrain:   The first 7 syllable of line one making up line 4.
Romantic stanza
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Repetitive Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Stanzaic
Description:
Alternating quatrains of basically dactylic meter where lines one and three have eleven syllables, line two has ten, and line four is the first seven syllables of line one.
Attributed to:
Maksim Bahdanovic, stanza so named by Bob Newman
Origin:
Belarus
Schematic:
Rhyme: (Ba)baB
Meter:
Xxx Xxx Xxx Xx
Xxx Xxx Xxx X
Xxx Xxx Xxx Xx
Xxx Xxx X
Starting Point:
With each quatrain, start with the first/last line, since that line establishes your rhymes.
Maksim Bahdanovič (1891-1917) was the greatest lyric poet in the Belarusian language, and one of his best-loved poems is entitled simply Romance. It begins, “Venus, new-risen above us appearing…” The verse form it uses is unusual and quite tricky. There is no standard name for it, so I have chosen to call it the romantic stanza. As an example, here is an alternative version of a well-known poem by Wordsworth: Daffodils
The form was named Romantic Stanza by Bob Newman
 
Example PoemsOut Genesis
Clustering, combining dust aggregates in time
Assembling Hydrogen particles as they must
be a bit weightier so they may start their climb.
Clustering, combining dust.
Billions of our years go by with no life at all.
Galaxies born, made of stars that explode and die.
Pressures of their dying create life’s wherewithal.
Billions of our years go by.
Busting outward from that blast, heavy elements
driven here by cosmic winds let know life commence.
all living things spring from cataclysmic events
bursting outward from that blast.
© Lawrencealot – January 26, 2013
unpublished
Since the specifications contain so much variance, I did the above in formal Dactylic tetramter, and the following in the indicated 11/10/11/7 format.
Neither are exactly the pattern used by the creator’s famous poem.
Our Genesis   (Romantic Stanza – 11/10/11/7 Version)
Clustering, combining dust aggregating
assembling Hydrogen just as it must.
Assembling atoms, Helium’s a-making,
Clustering, combining dust.
Billions of our years gone by with life absent.
Galaxies born, made from stars as they die.
Pressures of their dying create content .
Billions of our years gone by.
Busting outward from that blast, all elements
required for biologic life at last.
All living things sprung from stars’ final events,
bursting outward from that blast.
Visual Template