Hi Chris
I'm not saying it SHOULD be 10 monosyllables. Just that it is. In this case
So, no, you're not cheating when you cut out words. The fewer the number
of words the better may well be a good rule as long as it's not taken TOO
seriously. There are other demands.
It's been suggested that _we_ tend to iambic pentameter (de DUM five
times) in our speech -- in UK anyway -- and there seems to be something in
it.
I don't think I had been aware that it was a five beat line till
responding to you just now
I was quite charmed to find it so.
I didnt really complete the thought, slut that I am; but meant that de dum
de dum de dum de dum de dum doesn't seem all that long to me for a first
line; and I'd add that I am unaware of any rule about the length of a
first line
Some lengths may be inappropriate in some cases
I think finally we have to trust our ears and, when we have no rules, draw
the ground beneath us as our great prophet Yogi Bear taught
*
And cliched and hackneyed as it is may I remark how amazing it is that we
have exchanged these message in such short time over such distance
I have an image of you at sea on the Pacific when you may well be ashore
between walls; but I am reasonably certain that you are in Australia or
her waters; and here I am on the concreted North Downs of Surrey UK,
waiting for the gales of unprecedented force that are promised
all this technological achievement
as Steve Jobs said: wow
happy stuff, my friend
L
On Mon, January 2, 2012 12:42, Chris Jones wrote:
> On 2/01/2012 11:21 PM, Lawrence Upton wrote:
>
>> But I am not sure I am in accord with you in *my understanding of "too
>> many words"
> Thanks for that reply. I did not understand the formal aspects, as it
> happens.
>
> Ten monosyllables, that is difficult. I fear i cheat when I try this by
> cutting out words.
>
> best wishes to all for the new year, cj
>
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