Hudibrastic Verse, Hudibrastic Verse Options

[Arnfinn]

Hi everyone, I thought this maybe of interest.



Hudibrastic Verse

Hudibrastic verse. So called from Samuel Butler’s Hudibras  (1643, 1674, 1678), a mock-heroic satirical poem in octosyllabic couplets. Butler’s wit, exuberance and invention of the poem have made it an outstanding instance of what may be called ‘low satire’.

These lines from Canto 1 give an idea of the tone and manner of Hudibrastic poetry: octosyllabic couplets of twelve lines.

He was in Logick a great Critick,
Profoundly skill’d in Analytick.
He could distinguish, and divide
A Hair twixt South and South-West side:
On either which he would dispute,
Confute, changes hands, and still confute.
He’d undertake to prove by force
Of Argument, a Man’s no horse.
He’d prove a Buzard is no Fowl,
And that a Lord may be an Owl;
A Calf an Alderman, a Goose a Justice,
And Rooks Committee-men and Trustees.

The above written, in the manner of the day, is wry and dry humour. I particularly like the reference to parting ones hair.

I’m usually pretty good at writing satire, but when I started to write a Hudibrastic poem, my mind couldn’t conjure up a satirical subject.
The old brain stalled to a halt?
Anyway I’d thought I’d post this for information of MM poets and writers.


John

[Arnfinn]

Ok Donny,

I live in a beautiful country town in Australia, I've fresh air, moo cows, colourful birds visit the trees in my garden, I make home brew to put a power surge through my ancient brain cells and give me inspiration, I live 10 kilometres from pristine beaches with some of (no the) whitest sand in the world. I Have a wonderful life mate.  :dance: I appreciate my friends, I'm no better than anyone else and no one else is better than I am.

I love writing poetry and writing stories. I love my den, my den is my world, I can be any character I want to be when I hit the Keyboard. I can play music and cry in my beer. I do sometimes, other times I get a lump in my throat or shed a tear or two when I read a poem or story that grips my heart or tugs at my conscience. My dens a turmoil, Cd's, Dvd's, filing cabinets, printers computers, model fishing trawlers, oil paintings, beer posters and photographs.

Behind my desk is an elevated book shelf with close to eighty reference books on subjects, such as grammar, English, poetry, writing, dictionaries, wordfinders.

Yeah, I know I don't spell well, my syllables are off now and again, and my grammar tends to run into me grammar.  :cool:

So now, Don your wondering how the hell ya got mixed up in all this diatribe, ya only  asked me a simple question.  :laugh:

'Mac Flecknoe' is a good example of heroic couplet you said.

I wonder why you chose your specific example.  I am grateful you did not choose a Chaucer.

Donny me old mate. (By the way I hope your feeling a bit better)

The answer is

'Dictionary of
LITERARY TERMS &
LITERARY THEORY'

bY

PENGUIN REFERENCE

This book is the best book in my entire reference library.

The Penguin Books address in USA

Penguin Group (USA) Inc, 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014, USA

No doubt you can obtain a copy on the internet.

Here's another extract from the book to mull over.  :dance:

ae freislighe   In Irish prosody (q.v.), a quatrain (q.v.), of seven-syllable lines, rhyming abab. The poem should end with the same first syllable, line or word with which it begins.

Starting to make your mouth water mate.  :laugh:

And wait theres more! There's seven pages on the history of the sonnet and the correct procedures grammatically when writing the different forms.

So there you are mate. Thats ya answer.

Have a very nice day my friend.


John
 :unclesam: