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Poesy, Prosody, Essays and Critique

Month: September 2024

  • 1953 Corona Standard Typewriter

    When writing my essays or analyses, I do not draft them on a computer, that process is for later when or if I decide to post the article here. My metrical analyses are always hand written due to the use of the breve and macron. For my initial drafts this process is a lot faster…

  • Shelley’s “Ozymandias”

    Ozymandias I met a traveller from an antique landWho said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand in the desart … Near them, on the sand,Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,Tell that its sculptor well those passions readWhich yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,The hand…

  • The Dos and Don’ts when using Heroic Couplets

    Heroic couplets have been a useful and successful vehicle in formal poetry. They have a uniqueness to them that is pleasing in both a visual and audible sense. The heroic couplet became popular from the influence of the likes of Dryden and Pope. The Heroic Couplet defined: The last point is almost forgotten today, and…

  • The Poet’s Voice

    Ferrick Gray How many times have I said this? Ha! Be yourself, and do not try to be someone else. I mention this in my essay Charging Poetry with Meaning, but I will elaborate further in what follows. There are many people who would like to write poetry. Unfortunately, there are far too many who…

  • What’s this Thing called Meter?

    Ferrick Gray Meter — Something modern poets try to avoid. Music for Composition When we talk of meter in accentual-syllabic verse, it is not something that should be obvious. If it is obvious, then your work will be of little interest. After listening to over-emphasized syllables, it will become dull and boring. When you read…