( It would be confusing at best to literate an entire poem consisting of purely spondaic feet -it would sound like a drill! Or Incessant hammering! For this reason, the spondee is usually used for emphasis, or to break up another foot such as the anapest.)Īnd the | QUAINT MAZ | es in | the WAN | ton GREEN.

Shall I | comPARE | thee TO | a SUM | mer’s DAY? |ĭOUble, | DOUble, | TOIL and | TROUble - |Įxamples: AMEN // ARCH-FIEND // DARK NIGHT

They brought a woman from the street And made her sit in the stalls By threats By bribes By flattery Obliging her to share a little of her life with actors But I don't understand art Sit still, they said But I don't want to see sad things Sit still, they said And she listened to everything Understanding some things But not others Laughing rarely, and always without knowing why Sometimes suffering disgust Sometimes thoroughly amazed And in the light again, said If that's art I think it is hard work It was beyond me So much beyond my actual life But something troubled her Something gnawed her peace And she came a second time, armoured with friends Sit still, she said And again, she listened to everything This time understanding different things This time untroubled that some things Could not be understood Laughing rarely but now without shame Sometimes suffering disgust Sometimes thoroughly amazed And in the light again said This is art, it is hard work And one friend said, too hard for me And the other said, if you will I will come again Because I found it hard I felt honoured - Howard Barker, from The Bite of the Night

Making sense of poetic scansion