I want to put in a word for Campion as composer of songs. He set many of his poems to music. Or maybe he wrote words and music together, I don't know. Anyway they are the rarity: song "lyrics," as we say now, that work every bit as well on the page as when sung, and vice versa. Here's one of my favorites:
So glad to read this thread! I don’t have a natural feel for rhythm or meter (and even pronunciation at times, but that’s a different story) and I have often wandered why I feel so awkward reading the verse of Margaret Wise Brown out kid, who I otherwise adore. “Goodnight Moon” = perfect in every way, I am not blaspheming! But “Sleep Little Angel” or “Love Songs of the Little Bear” - I stumble. I can’t find the rhythm, although contextually her books are very soothing…
I am so used to iambic meter that I had to work a little at reading this one rightly -- but delightful once I "got" it. It is wearying to read/try to sing verse that doesn't do meter well but is constantly fracturing grammar or pronunciation to fit. Didn't Tennyson say that he had no natural facility for meter but had to learn it? And did so brilliantly. I shall have to read more of Campion; I've only encountered a very little of his work in anthologies for lit classes.
By the way, Sally, I recently finished _Works of Mercy_ -- brilliant, beautiful; the ordinary become extraordinary. Thank you!
And yes, I'm constantly putting myself to school in meter. I didn't start out writing with that level of art and care, and at this late date I really have to work hard and deliberately at it, to do more than just respond to my casual ear for rhythms. In fact, I found this treatise beguiling at least in part because these kinds of exercises are precisely what I do myself, and what I have students do whenever I teach classes.
What I really thought of, though I was afraid it would sound too derisive if I used it in my essay, was the whole body of bad children's books written by people who read Dr. Seuss and think, "How hard can it be?" Answer: really hard, especially if when you think of Dr. Seuss, all you think of is that his books have rhyme. Rhyme is clever and fun (and I love rhyming), but all the comic timing is in the meter. A.A. Milne is an even better example, but people tend to have read Dr. Seuss and use him as a model, with often unfortunate results. Those were the books I quietly moved along from our shelves when my kids were growing up, because I couldn't bear to read them aloud.
I usually have no trouble _hearing_ meter/rhythm, but I can't produce it well at all -- one reason I have never tried to seriously write poetry! One thing that really bothers me about much modern music (read "praise songs") is the lack of clear meter -- it seems it is always adding or subtracting syllables for no good reason other than the writer didn't take the time to figure out how to do it well. I _love_ to read poetry, so this is a real cross to bear! I so agree with you about the "lesser" children's books; the ones that try to imitate Dr. Seuss or Milne (oh, how I love Milne!) are ones I didn't want my kids reading a lot either.
I want to put in a word for Campion as composer of songs. He set many of his poems to music. Or maybe he wrote words and music together, I don't know. Anyway they are the rarity: song "lyrics," as we say now, that work every bit as well on the page as when sung, and vice versa. Here's one of my favorites:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgaWy1vbskq_4jOKW49C2UOjLTgNzREdY
Here is the poem:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43872/thrice-toss-these-oaken-ashes
So glad to read this thread! I don’t have a natural feel for rhythm or meter (and even pronunciation at times, but that’s a different story) and I have often wandered why I feel so awkward reading the verse of Margaret Wise Brown out kid, who I otherwise adore. “Goodnight Moon” = perfect in every way, I am not blaspheming! But “Sleep Little Angel” or “Love Songs of the Little Bear” - I stumble. I can’t find the rhythm, although contextually her books are very soothing…
I am so used to iambic meter that I had to work a little at reading this one rightly -- but delightful once I "got" it. It is wearying to read/try to sing verse that doesn't do meter well but is constantly fracturing grammar or pronunciation to fit. Didn't Tennyson say that he had no natural facility for meter but had to learn it? And did so brilliantly. I shall have to read more of Campion; I've only encountered a very little of his work in anthologies for lit classes.
By the way, Sally, I recently finished _Works of Mercy_ -- brilliant, beautiful; the ordinary become extraordinary. Thank you!
Oh (re the novel), thank you so much!
And yes, I'm constantly putting myself to school in meter. I didn't start out writing with that level of art and care, and at this late date I really have to work hard and deliberately at it, to do more than just respond to my casual ear for rhythms. In fact, I found this treatise beguiling at least in part because these kinds of exercises are precisely what I do myself, and what I have students do whenever I teach classes.
What I really thought of, though I was afraid it would sound too derisive if I used it in my essay, was the whole body of bad children's books written by people who read Dr. Seuss and think, "How hard can it be?" Answer: really hard, especially if when you think of Dr. Seuss, all you think of is that his books have rhyme. Rhyme is clever and fun (and I love rhyming), but all the comic timing is in the meter. A.A. Milne is an even better example, but people tend to have read Dr. Seuss and use him as a model, with often unfortunate results. Those were the books I quietly moved along from our shelves when my kids were growing up, because I couldn't bear to read them aloud.
I usually have no trouble _hearing_ meter/rhythm, but I can't produce it well at all -- one reason I have never tried to seriously write poetry! One thing that really bothers me about much modern music (read "praise songs") is the lack of clear meter -- it seems it is always adding or subtracting syllables for no good reason other than the writer didn't take the time to figure out how to do it well. I _love_ to read poetry, so this is a real cross to bear! I so agree with you about the "lesser" children's books; the ones that try to imitate Dr. Seuss or Milne (oh, how I love Milne!) are ones I didn't want my kids reading a lot either.