Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Higgledy Piggledy

Owing to a discussion early this morning about metrical forms, I was just perusing various wikipedia entries on the subject and came upon this: the "higgledy piggledy". It's an invented verse-form involving double dactyls. (A dactyl is simply a foot of verse that has one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones). Here are the conditions:

1. There are two stanzas. Each stanza is made up of four lines. Each of the first three lines must be double dactyls. The fourth line is a dactyl plus a single accented syllable.

2. The first line must be repetitive nonsense.

3. The second line of the poem MUST introduce the subject via a proper name.

4. One of the lines of the second stanza must contain a single word that is a double dactyl.

5. The final words of each stanza must rhyme.

Of course, I couldn't resist ... So here's my "higgledy piggledy" to my recent obsession: banjo playing ... (with fully annotated commentary of course ...)

Bum-ditty, Bum-ditty*
Gary the Quick-Fingered#
Frailed on his banjo all
Throughout the night.

Edna who loved him but
Hating the twinging twang
Unceremoniously*
Turned off the light.#

*The "bum-ditty" stroke is the basic stroke in clawhammer style banjo -- which is what I'm currently trying to play!
# I wish ...
* That's actually one of Edna's favorite words!
# Nothing of the sort has happened. Edna's been really supportive of my banjo playing!