Punctuation Poem?

My poetry guru, the late Topaz MacGonagle of Tay Bridge disaster fame, has a unique way with words. His Scottish doggerel poetic offerings so popular in refined Victorian circles are a fitting tribute to the triumph of rubbish over reality, and I trust they will be included in the Scottish referendum celebrations or commiserations.

I once had a Valentine from OH (one of the few, he was not very good at cards) which was written in Ogham. We had been looking at Ogham stones, and he had found an alphabet and transcribed his message into that. I managed to decipher it.

Ha ha ha!

Although rather...inarticulate?

The poem I was sent went:

U - u- u -
U- u- u-
U- u- u-
U- u- u-

The 'u' is the 'di' and the '-' is the 'dum'.

It didnt follow the iambic pentameter per se but it is still rhythmic with plenty of di dums - and it was an unusual Valentine!

I feel quite sad for the candidates. It's a very open-ended question, and the answers are going to vary so much, therefore will be completely at the mercy of the examiner.

I should have put

The cur few tolls the knell of part ing day .

There are other scanning patterns:-

For instance, dactyls (pom di di pom di di etc) means fingers or toes, and you can hear the hoofbeats in-
"Half a league, half a league, half a league on wards
In to the vall ey of death rode the six hund red"

and the train going over the points in
"Fast er than Fair ies, fast er than witch es,
Bridg es and house es, hedg es and ditch es"

Ah, now I get it Ana - many thanks, I wasn't separating the words at alll but keeping them whole.

The more it snows (Tiddely pom)
The more it goes (Tiddely pom)
On snowing.
And nobody knows (Tiddely pom)
How cold my toes (Tiddely pom)
Are growing.

ying tong , ying tong, ying tong, ying tong. tiddly ey-poo!

The cur (di-pom 1.) few tolls (di-pom 2.) the knell (di-pom 3.) of part (di-pom 4.) -ing day (di-pom 5.) etc.

Elegran - many thanks for the explanation. I'd love to say I've got it now but I can't see where the five beats are in those lines you have put , I have sat here trying to tap it out and either have too many beats or not enough

And I like poetry!

For Holly - iambic pentameter is verse in which each line has five "di-poms" - it goes di-pom di-pom di-pom di-pom di-pom.
Pentameter = five strong beats, iambic =di-pom

Sonnets are written in iambic pentameters (definition of a sonnet = fourteen lines of iambic pentameter), and so are a lot of Shakespeare's plays.

Examples:-
"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day" etc
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" etc
"The quality of mercy is not strained" etc
"To be or not to be, that is the question" etc

petallus Your explanation of this is similar to how people explain the significance of their Turner prize exhibits.

I made it up!

You can say anything when analysing poetry so long as you can justify it.

I could probably several hundred words on a full stop!

Go on, somebody else have a go at a different interpretation.

Probably but very very clever

You made that up didn't you petallus

Please explain how you can have an iambic pentameter without words

What about explaining what 'iambic pentameter' means [thick smiley]

Brilliant piece of interpretation, petallus A+

Luckily, I am able to give a brief summary of the poem which is about four people involved in an intense interpersonal interaction.

In the first verse, one person stands alone opposite the other three who almost seemed to be lined up for inspection or consideration.

Verse two is about the communication which now goes on between our four protagonists and the extra punctuation used here gives a feeling of complicated, only half conscious, almost claustrophic intensity. One person from the line-up of three has now gone over to stand by the original one, a decision obviously having been made.

In verse three, two people stand alone and the feeling of emptiness and loss is shown by the empty space they are now gazing into.

There, you should have all tried a little harder. You'll never get into Cambridge at this rate.

Please explain how you can have an iambic pentameter without words, goldengirl

When i was at school I once had a Valentine in iambic pentameter only - no words! At least there was a rhythm to it. Punctuation doesn't express anything unless you make a face with it ;)

Well worth all those tuition fees!

I like poems with rhymes and beautiful words,
The above codswallop is, i.m.h.o., for the birds.
But then, I don't teach nor an expert am I,
So maybe some deep meaning is passing me by???