Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: A Scandal in Bohemia

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Welcome once again to my poetry page!

I hope each week you will read Dr. Watson’s delightful narrative and then be inspired to write a poem related to it in some way. All forms of poetry are permitted, and further down the page there is a selection you might like to consider using over the coming weeks.


This week my featured form is terza rima.

Mr. Holmes was the one to suggest it, although he did worry it might prove “a little difficult for ladies”. So, in exchange, I said he could try knitting a bed jacket and matching nightcap while I wrote the poem. And as soon as I have published this page, I will be popping off to cut him free.

Young Writers gives the following definition:

A terza rima is an Italian form of poetry first used by Dante Alighieri.

A terza rima consists of stanzas of three lines (or tercets) usually in iambic pentameter. It follows an interlocking rhyming scheme, or chain rhyme. This is where the middle of each stanza rhymes with the first and last line of the following stanza. There is no set length to this form, as long as it follows the pattern as follows:

ABA
BCB
CDC
DED

With the last stanza as a couplet rhyming with the middle line of the previous stanza. In this case, EE.

I believe, taking the previous pattern as an example, you can also simply end the poem after DED with one line, E. Both are acceptable and, though iambic pentameter is usual, there is no set rhythm you have to follow. I myself have chosen to use anapaestic dimeter. (More or less.)


Here is my example:

You talk to your friend
As I bring in the tray
Of the humorous end

To someone’s wedding day.
And it brings to my mind
A bright time far away

When a man sweet and kind
Gave his own name to me.
A name that I find

Suits me elegantly.
So although you’re polite
Perhaps you can see

Why I’m distant a mite
And my expression grows sterner.
You haven’t got it quite right.

It’s a true black-mark earner.
My name is not Turner.

As always, this is simply something to consider for the future. Any form of poetry is welcome this week—and every week! Here are a few suggestions for you:

221B verselet, acrostic poetry, clerihew, epigram, haiku, limerick, palindrome poetry, sedoka, sestina, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triolet, tyburn, villanelle


Please leave all your poems inspired by A Scandal in Bohemia in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!

Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Comments

Tongue Twister Poem

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Miss Adler had a dejected adulator.

A dilemma was addressed: a duelling duet developed.

Miss Adler and advocate eluded her adversary.

Addendum: a detective was adjusted to admirer.

Re: Tongue Twister Poem

[debriswoman]

Cleverly set out, and testing whether I am properly awake...
Are you going to write a terza rims, like Mrs Hudson, too?

Re: Tongue Twister Poem

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately dear, Mr Holmes attempted this and I now can't understand a word he is saying.

He does seem to be rather tied up at the moment.

Re: Tongue Twister Poem

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Well done! Just reading it twists the tongue.

Re: Tongue Twister Poem

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

As Dr. Seuss once wrote, "I can't blab such blibber blubber! My tongue isn't made of rubber!"

Not to impugn this delightful alliterative offering as blibber blubber, of course. :D This is delightful- thank you!

[debriswoman]

Nicely done, Mrs Hudson:-)

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. I do try!

Re: Mr Holmes and Miss Adler define romance.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

That is such a lovely poem, thank you for sharing it.

Re: Mr Holmes and Miss Adler define romance.

[vaysh]

A wonderful poem, and to my mind an apt descriptions of both their characters. :)

Re: Mr Holmes and Miss Adler define romance.

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Thanks, this is an excellent libretto.

Re: Mr Holmes and Miss Adler define romance.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Brilliant ^^ I especially enjoyed Miss Adler's half - it was an intriguing look into the mind of a woman we never truly get to know. And those last two lines of Holmes' half are rather poignant.

Re: Mr Holmes and Miss Adler define romance.

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Brilliant- a pair of cynics, one saving face, one brutally honest. A diptych worthy of these two unforgettable characters on a tricky subject. Beautifully done!

Re: Scandal...variation on the sestina

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a brilliant summary.

Re: Scandal...variation on the sestina

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Oh EXCLLENT!!! *standing ovation*

I momentarily considered doing a sestina for this, but not enough words rhyme with the word I wanted most at the end of my refrain, being "woman." :D

Re: Scandal...variation on the sestina

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

*applauds wildly* I must admit I've just been writing out your end words, just so I could work out exactly how you'd structured the poem. I especially liked your many uses of "more": extending it to "paramour" and "l'amour". I thought that was very witty ^^

Tanka

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

A king confounded
This time denied what he wants
An adversary
Unexpectedly clever
Who is always ‘the woman’

Re: Tanka

[debriswoman]

Very nice:-)
The king's character comes across so badly in this tale

Re: Tanka

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Excellent! This beautifully encapsulates the satisfaction derived from seeing Irene pull the wool over the eyes of everyone who has underestimated her :D Thank you for this!

Re: Tanka

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I really like: "A king confounded" ^^ (The sound of the word "confounded" seems to match its meaning so well.)

Re: Terza Rima: best laid plans

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

You are a genius!

Re: Terza Rima: best laid plans

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

This is delightful- story perfectly told and you absolutely made this rhyme scheme your own. Fantastic work!

A Clerihew and a Terza Rima

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Count von Kramm
Said “I'm not what I am,”
Though anyone with half a brain
Knew him to be a Royal pain.

A kinder harness

My dearest Boswell, come once more with me,
For I observed you passing just this morning,
Your vision lowered, hoping not to see

That well-known door with numbers brass adorning.
But just before you turned away, you chanced
A glance my way- I thank you for the warning.

When next you pass my way, I'll have advanced
A tempting scandal worthy of a king.
Though to my music many men have danced,

There is one voice I most desire to sing
My praise, and so this tender trap I spring.

Re: A Clerihew and a Terza Rima

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I don't know why, but "I'm not what I am" makes me laugh so much ^_^

Oh, and you've had a go at the terza rima! ^^ Such a poignant feel to your poem - it's so moving.

I have to say, it does seem incredibly good timing at the beginning of the story - Watson turns up after not seeing Holmes for ages, and is immediately swept up into another adventure. It is almost as though it's been arranged...