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It's been a while since I've used this tag, and this needs to be seen to be believed:
Bob and Bill See Canada by Alfred Uren, in which a pair of anthropomorphic Nova Scotian rabbits tour the rest of the Dominion, in rhymed verse.
Crashing, hard-rhymed, heavy-metered,* monotonous verse in which the author** lets his form control his content, such as padding out lines to make the rhyme and reciting banal details just because he can get them to rhyme -- both to the detriment of his pacing. He also lets his didactic purpose (educating the childrens about their fine country) control the story, such as it is.
I admit, I seek out bad poetry, but this is more painful than entertaining in its badness. I also admit, I am curious about the reactions of Canadians here to passages describing locations you're familiar with, and not just because I wish to share the pain.
* Not that heavy meter always keeps the author in his meter -- the strong stresses make his irregular lines stand out all the more.
** I hesitate to call him a poet, and I am usually very generous with this title.
---L.
Subject quote from "Sonnet to a Young Married Lady Possessed of a Freehold in the County of Sussex," Hilaire Belloc.
Bob and Bill See Canada by Alfred Uren, in which a pair of anthropomorphic Nova Scotian rabbits tour the rest of the Dominion, in rhymed verse.
Crashing, hard-rhymed, heavy-metered,* monotonous verse in which the author** lets his form control his content, such as padding out lines to make the rhyme and reciting banal details just because he can get them to rhyme -- both to the detriment of his pacing. He also lets his didactic purpose (educating the childrens about their fine country) control the story, such as it is.
I admit, I seek out bad poetry, but this is more painful than entertaining in its badness. I also admit, I am curious about the reactions of Canadians here to passages describing locations you're familiar with, and not just because I wish to share the pain.
* Not that heavy meter always keeps the author in his meter -- the strong stresses make his irregular lines stand out all the more.
** I hesitate to call him a poet, and I am usually very generous with this title.
---L.
Subject quote from "Sonnet to a Young Married Lady Possessed of a Freehold in the County of Sussex," Hilaire Belloc.
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Date: 27 February 2018 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 27 February 2018 10:55 pm (UTC)Thanks. That’s pretty much true for the other cities visited. Not much local color anywhere, aside from recitation of places of interest.
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Date: 28 February 2018 03:41 am (UTC)(Not Canadian, but currently living in Montreal.)
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Date: 1 March 2018 12:49 am (UTC)Not only not good poetry but not good travel writing.
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Date: 1 March 2018 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 March 2018 03:58 am (UTC)Good point! Peter Rabbit is certainly not amused. As you say, :p