The Rhythm of Damp Grass and Nursery Rhymes
The most English poetry is like damp grass. Some of it short
and freshly
cut. Some of it coarse and lank. Damp grass poetry goes
de
bong, de bong, de bong,
de
bong, de bong/ de
bong, de
bong, de bong, de bong,
de
bong; etc. With variation. Sometimes four de
bongs to
a line; sometimes five.
Nursery rhyme poetry
is much more exciting. It is knee jogging
jolly
variations on Bong de, bong de,
bong
de, bong. Or Bong de bong,
Bong
bong de bong/ De bong,
De
bong, De bong de/ Bong
de
bong, De bong, De bong/
De
bong, De bong, De bong
de/ etc
Humpty Dumpty sat on
the
wall
Humpty Dumpty had
a
great
fall.
Jack and Jill went up
the
hill,
To fetch a pail of
water.
Jack fell down, and
broke his
crown,
And Jill came tumbling
after.
Damp grass poetry has a weaker, more monotonous rhythm. The
poetry of
damp grass is brought to your attention by varying this basic,
repetitious,
movement. As when a hand brushes your leg, instead of passing
the cucumber
sandwiches.
Here is some damp grass poetry from Robert Graves:
His woven world drops
back;
and he,
Sans providence, sans
memory,
Unconscious and
directly
driven,
Fades to some dank
sufficient heaven.
The third line brushes the leg, denying it meant to. Nature is
responsible.
Notice the fish swimming in the middle of
sufficient.
(Yes. Say it aloud). This is clever stuff, because the poem is
about a
fish.
But not as clever as nursery rhymes. The poems of Robert
Graves are
carefully preserved in books. Poem aquariums. Nursery rhymes
swim through
wild seas across generations of parents and children.
Understanding poetry by rolling over in clover
Reading poetry should reward you with itself, but not
necessarily with
meaning. A poem in a language you do not know, may reward you
with the
feeling of its words. A poem in a language you thought you
know, may be in
a foreign language to you, and also feel good. People who
write poems do
not always know what they mean, and the simplest of poems can
have multiple
meanings. The following poem illustrates many of these points.
Do you know
what it means?
Ring-a-ring o' roses
A pocket full of posies
A-tishoo. A-tishoo.
We all fall down.
Poems are fields full of flowers that, every now and then,
explode inside
you. Sometimes they explode with meaning, sometimes with the
thrill of the
feel. Take your picnic to the fields, eat it with your
friends, roll in the
clover, and see what happens.