The Iambic Pentameter of Brainstorming
Modeling is one of the fastest ways to acquire new skills. Even in brainstorming. What would happen, do you think, if your next brainstorming session on, say, what caused the first animals to venture across the Arctic landbridge to the Americas, used poetry as a model?
Poetic meter consists of units known as “feet.” A “foot” is made up of one or two lightly stressed syllables and one heavily stressed syllable. English and American poetry has four basic combinations of “feet.”
The first is called the “iamb” and its pattern is light-heavy, or short-long. This means it’s an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, and it sounds like “da-DUM.” An example of an iamb would be a word such as without, believe or decay, and this kind of meter is called “iambic.”
The opposite of an iamb is known as a “trochee” and it’s called “trochaic meter.” The trochaic foot pattern is heavy-light, or long-short, which means it has one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable, so it goes DUM-da.
The next is an “anapest” with three syllables, and a pattern of light-light-heavy, or short-short-long. The fourth basic foot is called a “dactyl” and it’s known as “dactylic meter.” It’s the opposite of an anapest, having three syllables with a pattern of heavy-light-light, or long-short-short.
Another example of internal poetic structure is the number of feet in each line of poetry. One foot is known as monometer; two as dimeter, three trimeter, four tetrameter, five pentameter, and so on.
There are many others, but my purpose here is more to point out a tool that you can adapt to enhance your brainstorming. Do you see the pattern? What else might it apply to? How many patterns can you twist into your current project? What do the names themselves suggest?
That's it ... now you're away into realms of infinite possibility that never would otherwise have occurred... would they?
Poetic meter consists of units known as “feet.” A “foot” is made up of one or two lightly stressed syllables and one heavily stressed syllable. English and American poetry has four basic combinations of “feet.”
The first is called the “iamb” and its pattern is light-heavy, or short-long. This means it’s an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, and it sounds like “da-DUM.” An example of an iamb would be a word such as without, believe or decay, and this kind of meter is called “iambic.”
The opposite of an iamb is known as a “trochee” and it’s called “trochaic meter.” The trochaic foot pattern is heavy-light, or long-short, which means it has one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable, so it goes DUM-da.
The next is an “anapest” with three syllables, and a pattern of light-light-heavy, or short-short-long. The fourth basic foot is called a “dactyl” and it’s known as “dactylic meter.” It’s the opposite of an anapest, having three syllables with a pattern of heavy-light-light, or long-short-short.
Another example of internal poetic structure is the number of feet in each line of poetry. One foot is known as monometer; two as dimeter, three trimeter, four tetrameter, five pentameter, and so on.
There are many others, but my purpose here is more to point out a tool that you can adapt to enhance your brainstorming. Do you see the pattern? What else might it apply to? How many patterns can you twist into your current project? What do the names themselves suggest?
That's it ... now you're away into realms of infinite possibility that never would otherwise have occurred... would they?
posted by Lyn Devon at 1:12 AM
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