Sevanthi:
> >abcb has to be a cop-out. This is much the easiest of the quatrain
forms.
>
> I don't think it would be a cop-out if it were used at all well.
K -- give you that "if used well".
> My problem
> is that it's too sing-song, too padded with unnecessary words,
Yup -- it switches BETWEEN not hitting the rhythm, and sing-song. I'd still
like to know where the points it goes off-score are deliberate or not.
> Btw, "Auden-and-water" is too too funny, but I thought that was James
> Fenton? : )
Nah, Fenton is his own man (I was about to say, "has his own voice," but
personfully refrained). Look at "The Skip" for an example of REALLY good
current quatrain writing -- fast, funny, witty, and sharp. Really +does+
use colloquial speech, and manages to do it in abab (pentameter) form.
Robin
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