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Sea Changes: a Narrative Poem in Sprung Pentameter
Sea Changes relates the story of a mismatched pair, but only on the surface. Going below the surface, it deals with the theme of Art vs. Commerce. The protagonists, Wayne Brown and Elaine Brown (not related), come together through mutual need (loneliness and physical attraction), but recognize almost immediately that mutual need is not enough, that they have succeeded only in cheating themselves and each other, and begin to withdraw.
It’s a coming-of-age story, a young person’s story, learning which road not to take, John Smith and Jane Schultz finding their way, but neither the subject of the story nor its theme, however brimming with home-truths, account for its greater its format, a new approach to rhyme.
For instance, while “curiosity” and “city” may satisfy the conventional requirement of a rhyme, “ity” being the rhyming syllables, it is a soft rhyme, not a hard rhyme such as “luminosity” and “curiosity,” or “pity” and “city.” The stress in “curiosity” is on “oss,” and in “city” on “cit.” “Oss” and “cit” are not rhymes, but centuries of usage have inured readers to soft rhymes. Rhyming syllables for “oss” in “curiosity” would be found in “blossom,” “imposter,” “posse,” and “jostle” (among others), each taking “oss” for its root sound. Similarly, rhyming syllables for “city” would be found in “Britain,” “critic,” “grit,” “glitter,” “little,” or “Hitler” (among others), each taking “itt” for its root sound. To take another example, “Elizabeth” is similarly linked to “lizard,” “dizzy,” “business,” “prism,” “Ms.,” “his,” “quiz,” and “risible” among others—and “guard,” to provide yet another example, to “regard,” “disregard,” “regardless,” and “guardian”—not to mention “bard,” “tardy,” “garden,” “Dardanelles,” and so on. To sharpen the if we call such linkages Correspondences, then “Peter” and “sweeter” are rhymes—and “Peter” and “sweetheart” are Correspondences, but not rhymes. Incidentally, “Peter” and “sweeter” are also Correspondences (Correspondences and rhymes).
On a related note, in Sprung Pentameter, each of 5 stresses in each line finds a Correspondence in the neighborhood above or below the same line—and not necessarily at the end of the line. The story was written originally in prose, then blank verse, then free verse, then sprung rhythm, then finally in its current form, Sprung Pentameter, which receives a more thorough explanation in the book itself, in a Note precisely relating the author’s intent. The process, begun in 1979, took 40 years to reach its present state. The following is a
Poems are words bejeweled—and, as jewels feed not the miner, poems feed not the poet, but the ones left behind, the readers of the words, caretakers of the works of Poe and Plath and Berryman, who cared not a dime for Poe and Plath and Berryman in their time, and care less for the Poes, Plaths, and Berrymans living today than the dead of yesterday—but such is the way of the world.
Jewels of the earth break their miners, not their owners, not the wheelers and dealers, the middlebrow middleclass civilians who care so much for art—but less (if at all) for artists—who go to the opera and theater an
It’s a coming-of-age story, a young person’s story, learning which road not to take, John Smith and Jane Schultz finding their way, but neither the subject of the story nor its theme, however brimming with home-truths, account for its greater its format, a new approach to rhyme.
For instance, while “curiosity” and “city” may satisfy the conventional requirement of a rhyme, “ity” being the rhyming syllables, it is a soft rhyme, not a hard rhyme such as “luminosity” and “curiosity,” or “pity” and “city.” The stress in “curiosity” is on “oss,” and in “city” on “cit.” “Oss” and “cit” are not rhymes, but centuries of usage have inured readers to soft rhymes. Rhyming syllables for “oss” in “curiosity” would be found in “blossom,” “imposter,” “posse,” and “jostle” (among others), each taking “oss” for its root sound. Similarly, rhyming syllables for “city” would be found in “Britain,” “critic,” “grit,” “glitter,” “little,” or “Hitler” (among others), each taking “itt” for its root sound. To take another example, “Elizabeth” is similarly linked to “lizard,” “dizzy,” “business,” “prism,” “Ms.,” “his,” “quiz,” and “risible” among others—and “guard,” to provide yet another example, to “regard,” “disregard,” “regardless,” and “guardian”—not to mention “bard,” “tardy,” “garden,” “Dardanelles,” and so on. To sharpen the if we call such linkages Correspondences, then “Peter” and “sweeter” are rhymes—and “Peter” and “sweetheart” are Correspondences, but not rhymes. Incidentally, “Peter” and “sweeter” are also Correspondences (Correspondences and rhymes).
On a related note, in Sprung Pentameter, each of 5 stresses in each line finds a Correspondence in the neighborhood above or below the same line—and not necessarily at the end of the line. The story was written originally in prose, then blank verse, then free verse, then sprung rhythm, then finally in its current form, Sprung Pentameter, which receives a more thorough explanation in the book itself, in a Note precisely relating the author’s intent. The process, begun in 1979, took 40 years to reach its present state. The following is a
Poems are words bejeweled—and, as jewels feed not the miner, poems feed not the poet, but the ones left behind, the readers of the words, caretakers of the works of Poe and Plath and Berryman, who cared not a dime for Poe and Plath and Berryman in their time, and care less for the Poes, Plaths, and Berrymans living today than the dead of yesterday—but such is the way of the world.
Jewels of the earth break their miners, not their owners, not the wheelers and dealers, the middlebrow middleclass civilians who care so much for art—but less (if at all) for artists—who go to the opera and theater an
103 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2024
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