[Bards] Poetic Exercise #6

Ulf Gunnarsson ulfie at cox.net
Wed Oct 15 23:46:24 PDT 2003


"Poetry is painting a picture with words."  I don't recall who first
said that.  Maybe it was me.  But much of poetry is about tying pieces
together to form a solid unit.  We use rhythm to define a shape and
rhyme to join the lines.  We use alliteration to highlight and
cross-brace.  Maybe I should have said "Poetry is like constructing a
three dimensional building with words."  Ah, but then it wouldn't have
been as poetic...

Chain verse is rather fun.  The Irish called it "conachlonn", and
Amergin's Invocation of Ireland uses it:

Ailim iath n-erend       I invoke the land of Ireland.
Ermac muir motach        Much-coursed be the sea so fertile
Motach sliab sreatach    Fertile be the mountain fruit-strewn
Sreatach coill ciotach   Fruit-strewn be the woods all showery
Ciotach ab eascach       Showery be the river of waterfalls
etc...

You notice that, except for the opening line, the last word of one line
is the first word of the next.  This gives you a good connection between
each line, as well as providing some rhythm and foreshadowing. It can
get a little boring when spoken aloud, but the technique is a good one
to use for emphasis in other forms.

For this exercise, write a poem about knights using chain verse.  Use
any meter you feel like (if any).  Use at least 5 lines, but no more
than 16 lines.  And, just for fun, make the last word of the last line
the same as the first word of the first line, so that it goes full
circle.

---------
Bold stood the warrior,
Warrior with white belt,
White belt and gold chain,
Chain verse reciting,
Reciting it boldly.
---------

Ulf Gunnarsson





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