March 2023 Meeting

HIGHTOWN WRITERS’ WRAP-UP FOR 28 MARCH 2023 MEETING

 

 

 

Venue: Peepo

Timeslot: 7 pm till around 9.30 pm

Host: Me (Alex)

Guestlist: Adam, Stuart, Tony H, me

Apologies: Irena; Jayne; Jennie; Kath & Andy; Liz; Marie; Sue

 

 

Hightown Writers’ third official meeting of the year was an unprecedented event: an all-male cast! Yes, that’s right: after years of subjugation, the group’s male percentage has reached a record-breaking high!

 

We had no chairman planned for the evening, though; so, because I had prepared in advance for the following meeting, I took the seat.

 

We started with another free-write, which, as regular readers of this wrap-up will know, is a stream-of-consciousness exercise designed to stimulate creativity. The task produced some rather surreal results, which is a good sign. This led to a conversation about surrealist art, what Picasso’s style classed as (according to Google, it’s “cubism” – you were right, Tony!), Hemingway and a Second World War film entitled Carve Her Name with Pride, which was recommended by Tony, I think, who is a bit of a film buff.

 

Then it was time for the read-outs portion of the evening. Adam went first. His piece was his contribution to Liz’s ‘Hereford characters’ homework task. It had a “working title” of “Helena: from unholiness to sacredness” – which I thought was rather good. The piece was set in 13th-century England and was from a first-person perspective. It focussed on the life of “Helena”, a woman trapped in an arranged marriage. Unfortunately for her, her nearest and dearest was a tyrannical lord. She, however, was a Robin Hood-style character trying to bring an end to her husband’s regime. It was action-packed and contained crisp, concise descriptions.

 

The conversation then moved on to black-and-white films, and Tony recommended Mr Smith Goes to Washington.

 

Just then, I thought I’d better mention my plan to have another Alternative Tuesday, on 11 April. Adam will be attending it; Stuart may be attending it; Marie may be attending it – and I, of course, will be attending it, providing nothing earth-shattering occurs…

 

After that, the read-outs continued. Stuart contributed an untitled Iron Age-themed piece that was a prequel to one of his earlier works. This time, it was from the point of view of “Enid”, who detailed a romantic relationship that she’d had. This led to a brief conversation about psychology, followed by one about the early inhabitants of ‘Britain’. Stuart mentioned that the word Celt actually derives from an ancient Roman word that basically meant “foreigner”. We also learnt from him that the tribal peoples of this island, who inhabited it before the land’s Roman occupation, were, contrary to popular belief, quite sophisticated and had constructed paths – so they were certainly not living in mud huts!

 

After this, I finally decided to read out my comical dialogue about “Deborah”, the long-suffering wife of “Tony” (just a coincidence!), a man of questionable morals. The piece seemed to go down well, so I was quite chuffed!

 

Tony – group member Tony, that is – then completed the read-outs round with “Eternal love”, a piece of prose that was loosely based on Liz’s homework task. It was very well-written and highly imaginative, and was set in mid-1800s London. “Edward”, the tale’s main character, was mourning the premature death of his young wife, so he attempted to resurrect her via a magical potion purchased from a member of London’s Indian community. The piece had a very atmospheric feel to it, and I mentioned that it seemed reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe’s style – which Tony seemed pleased with because he had studied Poe for his English-literature-and-creative-writing degree and has read many of his works. I like The Black Cat…

 

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening – where did the time go!

 

HOMEWORK

 

OK, well, I have three random homework tasks for you all; they are as follows:

 

1. Write a limerick

 

A limerick is written in anapaests. An anapaest is two ‘light’ syllables followed by one ‘heavy’ syllable. The following are all examples of anapaests (one-word anapaests are fairly rare whereas one-word dactyls are quite common):

 

silhouette

far away

at the beach

 

A limerick has three anapaests in lines one, two and four, and four in line three (which is often presented as two lines because of space restrictions):

 

--/--/--/

--/--/--/

--/--/--/--/

--/--/--/

 

A limerick’s rhyme scheme is AABBA because line three has an internal rhyme halfway through it.

 

Here is an example – the heavy syllables are in bold font:

 

Oh, there once was a lady named Claire, [A]

And she stapled a bat to her hair. [A]

But the bat became cross, then escaped and flew off. [BB]

(But, of course, all of this is quite rare.) [A]

 

NB: The above limerick is not promoting cruelty to animals – it’s merely absurdity!

 

When writing in anapaests, you can ‘subtract’ one or two syllables from the beginning of a line, or you can ‘add’ one or two syllables to the end of one, or you can do both. The following diagrams are examples of this practice:

 

-/--/--/

-/--/--/

-/--/--/--/

-/--/--/

 

-/--/--/-

-/--/--/-

-/--/--/--/-

-/--/--/-

 

/--/--/--

/--/--/--

/--/--/--/--

/--/--/--

 

The final example above is very rare – and if you attempt a limerick with this metre, you’ll soon discover why. In it, the anapaests have been fully ‘reversed’, rendering the limerick dactylic – which is what I call a “reverse limerick”.

 

Here is an example of a limerick’s metre being tinkered with:

 

There once was a lady named Shirley [-/--/--/-]

Whose hair was incredibly curly. [-/--/--/-]

When a stranger asked why, she was heard to reply, [--/--/--/--/]

“I’m addicted to sweets – Curlywurlies.” [--/--/--/-]

 

If you analyse the above limerick’s metre, you’ll see that I’ve subtracted syllables from some lines and added some to others, whilst the third line is written in ‘unadulterated’ anapaests; and this is fine – just don’t add or subtract syllables from the middle of a line!

 

2. Write a fairy-story-with-a-twist

 

This task was first set (not by me!) a few years ago. I don’t know who devised it, but I think it is a good idea. Unfortunately, however, only Geoff, may he rest in peace, and I have attempted it.

 

You are free to interpret this task in any way you choose – I’m expecting some promising results!

 

3. Write a dactylic poem

 

A dactyl is the opposite of an anapaest, and, for some reason, it is my favourite metrical unit in poetry. It has the beat of a waltz, and it is a heavy syllable followed by two light syllables. Unlike anapaests, one-word dactyls are quite common. Here are some examples of them:

 

energy

getaway

frantically

utterly

simpleton

 

And here are some other examples of dactyls:

 

gone to the

out for a

colour by

enter the

 

If all of this seems a little unclear, then just think of the lyrics to the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the sky with diamonds” – I shan’t quote it, though, for fear of copyright infringement!

 

Here is an example:

 

Sitting on cassocks is awfully wonderful –

Comfy and squishy and bouncy and magical.

Reverend Anderson doesn’t much care for it –

Sadly, his manners are almost fanatical.

 

So, if you analyse the above stanza’s metre, you’ll see that it has four dactyls per line:

 

/--/--/--/--

/--/--/--/--

/--/--/--/--

/--/--/--/--

 

However, you can use as many dactyls per line as you wish.

 

As with anapaests, when using dactyls, you can subtract syllables from, or add them to, the beginning of a line, the end of a line, or both – but not from the middle of one! Here are some examples that contain four dactyls (count the heavy syllables) per line:

 

/--/--/--/-

/--/--/--/-

/--/--/--/-

/--/--/--/-

 

/--/--/--/

/--/--/--/

/--/--/--/

/--/--/--/

 

-/--/--/--/-

-/--/--/--/-

-/--/--/--/-

-/--/--/--/-

 

--/--/--/--/

--/--/--/--/

--/--/--/--/

--/--/--/--/

 

In the final example above, you can see that the metre has been completely reversed, rendering the stanza anapaestic – so you can’t do this too often when using dactyls, for obvious reasons.

 

Phew! That was a lot of explaining – I hope you’ve been paying attention!

 

Focus your mind on a bus bound for Telford with

Marmalade lights and some chewing-gum pies.

Someone soon shouts; you respond, not that quickly, “The

Lady with gyroscope ties…”

 

BUT BACK TO OUR STORY…

 

Right then, as I mentioned many paragraphs ago, the next meeting is scheduled for 11 April at 7 pm. I shall be hosting it – and then I’ll take a sabbatical for a while! Just to clarify: all meetings now start at 7 pm, not 7.30 pm; however, if you can’t make it till 7.30 – or later! – we’ll understand. The meeting after the one on 11 April is scheduled for 25 April.

 

Happy writing!!

 

 

Alex