The first exercise on my Poetry Year course with Sally J. Blackmore was to work on a contemporary take on Old English form, most especially no rhyme but alliteration, stress, caesura and kenning to achieve a poetic effect. Sally said ‘Our modern language in essence is one of iambic pattern. Old English is not – it is all about stress [as opposed to syllabic rhythm]. The usual example to explain this is our word – blackbird. This illustrates a word that is neither iambic (blackbird) nor a trochaic (blackbird) word. It is entirely even – each syllable is one half stress unusual for modern English and a direct link to the Germanic element of the hotchpotch that is our modern tongue.’
Here’s my attempt:
Bathsheba
Butterfly beats || Bathsheba sings
Heavenly melodies || heartache and madness
A-courting her beau || he goes blindly to war
Hanky is twisted || taunted and anxious
Bathsheba weeps || hot tears
Polly Robinson © 2013
08/02/2013 at 12:32
Well done Polly – personally I love rootling about and finding out more about our roots in language and translating that into poetry.
08/02/2013 at 14:16
Thanks Sally, this was a fascinating exercise. As you know, the poem metamorphosed ~ very satisfying
08/02/2013 at 13:07
very interesting.. i find it totally fascinating how language developed and still does.. wondering where it will take us in a few years..
08/02/2013 at 14:16
It’s been intriguing to find out more about the history of poem / form in poetry. I really enjoyed this exercise ~ thanks for the comment Claudia
08/02/2013 at 14:50
You can always be counted on for inspiration or a challenge, perhaps both at once! Merci beaucoup!
08/02/2013 at 15:01
Ha! Lea! Are you going to try your hand at one? Fab
08/02/2013 at 18:00
I like the way it all fits together without rhymes. It’s a really nice style.
09/02/2013 at 00:03
Quite a different sort of poetry for me, I enjoyed creating it ~ thanks Holly
10/02/2013 at 21:28
I reckon you could incorporate elements of this from time to time if you liked writing it…
10/02/2013 at 21:29
Into what m’dear?
09/02/2013 at 00:17
I’m not fully sure I understand but looks and sounds very interesting in your hands. k.
09/02/2013 at 00:21
That’s a cool observation, thanks k
10/02/2013 at 20:31
I could hear a touch of Sylvia Plath about this one
Fabulous 
11/02/2013 at 05:15
Hmmm ~ interesting ~ language-wise?
11/02/2013 at 11:05
Yes – I do think so – if I heard it read by her (I know impossible!) but I could believe it was on of her poems. It is a fabulous poem – one for the next anthology
11/02/2013 at 11:48
Thanks Alex ~ nice to see you think so