MISS SYLLA BERLES
Miss Berles, Miss Berles
with her tresses and curls
well who can she be
I hear you ask me.
Well she’s the supplier of all those spare syllables
for poets and writers and other individuals
and anyone who
is in desperate need of a syllable or two.
If you find you are short
you can seek her support
if she’s got some in store
she’ll supply you for sure.
But when you use syllables do beware
for if you should use in excess of your share
Miss Berles will get angry very quick
wielding her excess syllables stick
for not only is she the syllable provider
she’s just been appointed the Chief Regulator.
-
Author:
Michael Edwards (
Offline) - Published: November 23rd, 2020 03:37
- Comment from author about the poem: I've been under some pressure to explain the role of Miss Berles - you may have seen the lengthy discussions held by way of comments with Orchi about her and her extended family (more about them at some other time) - well here is a description of her role.
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 56
Offline)
Comments7
So, poets, now you know. You must treat her with utmost respect at all times.
Will try, Michael, will try.
Thought all was resolved last post....Last Post - no surely not!
Kind regards Dave
PS: But must avoid her at all costs if she has now revealed herself as a strict disciplinarian...
as long as you play the game she's a sweety - just keep an eye on those syllables.
I find it quite possible
to miscount my syllables
but it's rather apparent
when the meter is errant
and your readers won't go
where you've buggered the flow.
But i'm courting the position
of more complex composition
which i learned from a bimbo
who threw rules out the window
her metaphors were cryptic
I suspected dyslexic
her spelling atrocious
on correcting - ferocious!
so i decided instead
though i miss her in bed
to compose silly ditties
musing o'er her her ti......
I see you ran out of syllables for the last word - I wonder what it is - could it be tiddlies?
Should have added - love your response dusk and so quickly posted.
Dusk: Take over Master - that was great. (Greater than her t.... ? Only you can know...) I feel a fixation coming on...
Dave
Ha ha - - loved both the verse and the reference to misgivings when syllables go all haywire in writers' hands - -- a smile well earned with this clever ditty dear Michael and D.A.'s response mad me giggle too.
Thanks muchly Fay - err sorry - two syllables in muchly - try again: thanks Fay. That's better. 😉
See, she would not allow ti....
What with her and Fido, it's very strict on 'ere, we know!
Better cal him Fide - It's international save-a-syllable day today. Miss Berles might get cross.
Yes, and call me Ork!
Good Evening Uncle Mike ~ Brian here ! Love the Symmetry of the VISUAL ~ very Poetic ! Anybody can Rhyme but METER (syllable count) is a Black Art and is conspicuous by its absence in much Poetry posted on MPS. Angela & I DO TRY to post Poems that scan & are recitable ~ because we are Performance Poets. Some MPS poets do request assistance in making their Poems scan. I was taught that - for recitability - a Poem should scan. WE learned the hard way by Performing Shakespeare & G and S etc etc. All Performance Poets - Burns - Betjeman - Pam Ayres - Benjamin Zephaniah etc etc compose Poetry that does SCAN !
There are three factors in composing a Poem ~ Stuart Structure - Ronny Rhyme & Silla Berles ~ These three but the greatest of these is SILLA ~ AMEN !
Blessings & Prayers to You & Jeanne
Love Angela Brian & Smokey 💛💛💛
I totally agree about meter although, for me, it's more about rythmic structure than strict syllable count. If it doesn't roll off the tongue and is full of glotal stops then it's not for me. Hopefully most of mine have good metre structure but sometimes it can be down to pronunciation and it's easy to forget that a different pronunciation can alter the rythmic structure. Although I speak RP I DO try to avoid this trap but sometimes it creeps in when someone else reads it..
In fact I prefer rythmic structure over both syllable count and rhyme. Although I do admire Pam Ayres I sometimes find that, in striving to maintain rhyme, she falls into the moon June trap which, for me at least, deflects from her work.
Sorry to admit it but the last line of the first stanza above falls into that trap but I'll sort it out before I add it to my files.
Not quite sure if, in this debate, the discussion revolves just around syllables and their number or includes 'stressed' and 'unstressed' - how they relate to each other. That's my understanding of 'metre'. And I have to tell you I never came to grips with it. Can't identify the difference. But feel, however that I know when a line "swings" and also can count to seven, ten or whatever. Don't understand the rules of grammar either, so can only hope that what passes for poetry and prose for me is acceptable and more or less understandable to others.
Dave
Two lines of poetry can have perfect rythmic structure and yet have a different number of syllables - as you say it's also affected by stress and - as I said above - by accent (not that I have one).
Syllables are so important and not ot be messed around unless you suffer from hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
Andy
My lungs go all weak trying to say that - perhaps I've got Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
Surely that word is sesquipedalian in its nature.
well I bow to the mastery that is Dusk Arising's comment above,
but for my two cents I'll just add that one way to bypass Miss Berles restrictions is to utilise the mind-numbingly endless brilliance that is repetition - of a verse or a word, it matters little, the result is what counts-out - the smooth rhythms in classic's majesty: like our beloved Tyger's and late night Raven's with nothing more than a landing cushion of nevermore's...
alternatively, just sing out your miscounted syllables with the warmth of Cilla's accent and we'll all have a 'lorra lorra laughs',
good write Michael thanks for inspiring my little scribble
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