Best Unstressed Poems
Oh my beloved
unlock yourself from my mind
and appear before my eyes
whenever I think about you
so that I can see you
when I long to be near you
When my mind's stream of yearnings
starts pouring out like a waterfall
and flows as a river of romantic verses
that I write only for you
oh! how much I wish
that those words of love
that my muse sprinkles in a blank paper
gather themselves on their own
to sketch an alphabetic portrait of you
so that I could keep gazing
at your charming face
When fate, like a monster, separates us
All I wish is...
To just be the last word
of your most inspiring verse
that you already have in your mind
and yet to write in pen and paper
To just be an unstressed syllable
of your name
whenever and wherever
your name is called out loud
to honour you
To just be the faint flickering light
at the end of the dark tunnel
of your dull dreary days
Date: 01/30/2023
Writing Challenge - B Word Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Constance La France
Categories:
unstressed, love, romantic,
Form:
Free verse
In a small grassy field
With the trees all around
There's a fairy ring ancient and old
And at times you can hear
Perfect echoes of sound --
'Tis the music of ages untold
For the crickets keep time
To a waltz or a reel
And the birds fill that lovely expanse
With the notes to a tune
With a light, airy feel --
In the field where the butterflies dance
(Refrain)
Where the wildflowers bloom
With a sweet perfume
In a rainbow of colours and shades
Where the maids hurry down
From the hill-top town
And the butterflies dance with the maids
Where they splash in the stream
Or they lie and dream
Where the bullfrogs thrum
While the butterflies wing
And the hummingbirds hum
While the merry maids sing
In the field where the butterflies dance
On a winged pirouette
Or a six legged slip
How they dance, and they wheel and they turn!
And their wings flash in time
To a bright Scottish trip
While the lassies turn 'round by the burn
For the crickets keep time
To a waltz or a reel
And the birds fill that lovely expanse
With the notes to a tune
With a light, airy feel --
In the field where the butterflies dance
(Refrain)
Where the wildflowers bloom
With a sweet perfume
In a rainbow of colours and shades
Where the maids hurry down
From the hill-top town
And the butterflies dance with the maids
Where they splash in the stream
Or they lie and dream
Where the bullfrogs thrum
While the butterflies wing
And the hummingbirds hum
While the merry maids sing
In the field where the butterflies dance
Note: I have used some spondee rhythm in the refrain. That is two stressed syllables in a foot. [ / / ] There is some information in the article on Meter and Foot on this site. Lines 2 and 5 in the first verse of the refrain, and 2 in the second are an anapestic foot followed by a spondee foot; (two unstressed syllables followed by three stressed).
Categories:
unstressed, butterfly, dance, girl, happy,
Form:
Rhyme
In my heart I've always loved you
Always thought you good and kind
Though I know you do not know me
Know you're always on my mind
Nights of darkness pass unbroken
By your smile and gentle ways
How I wish that you were present
Here beside me all my days
Light or darkness, rain or shadow
Thoughts of you are light to me
Now I pray that as you read this
Thoughts of me would kindly be
I would be your slave forever
Just to bring a smile or two
Have you walking life beside me
All your blest commands to do
How I hope that you will greet me
Pray you'll see my desp'rate case
Should you not, my heart would founder
Longing for your smiling face
About this poem: It is trochaic, meaning that it starts with a stressed syllable and alternates between a stressed and unstressed the whole way through. The syllable count is 8.7.8.7. Although I wrote this from the viewpoint of a man, it could be read either way.
Categories:
unstressed, love, passion, valentines day,
Form:
Quatrain
Night has come, the fog is slowly wreathing
Crying soft, a form is moving forward
Now she walks through mist, 'tween shadows seething
Past the ancient walls she pushes onward
Mid the shrouded stones she pours her sorrow
Crying soft, a form is moving forward
Now she weeps amid a ruined palace
*Starting when the distant forest trembles
Comfort is not nigh to ease her sorrow
In her hands she bears a broken chalice
She that once was rich is now the poorest
Starting when the distant forest trembles
Deep within the shadows of the forest
Wars were fought that changed her life forever
She that once was rich is now the poorest
How could men her castle cruelly sever?
Night has come, the fog is slowly wreathing
Wars were fought that changed her life forever
Now she walks through mist, 'tween shadows seething
Day is dawning
Light scatters shadows
What hope will morning bring?
- *Starting is a sudden motion or spasm caused by being alarmed. -
- The part of this poem that is in Terzanelle form is also Trochaic Pentameter, meaning that it is ten syllables per line and alternating between a stressed and unstressed syllable the whole way through. -
- First place in contest, "Terzanelle Fantasy with a Questionku Chaser".
Categories:
unstressed, grief, lonely, loss, war,
Form:
Terzanelle
When I was young the broom sage grew so tall
It towered over me, fuzzy tickling
Right there in front of momma harvesting
Harvesting just enough sage for a broom
Broom sage to sweep the hearth clean of debris
A hearth white washed with Georgia kaolin
Nothing to cover the dirty black sooted bricks
In summer even the inside was white washed
Taller now towering over the sage
Whose sick sparse shoots reach up to claim sunlight
Purple hues shimmer in breeze, wait for spring
Renewed to live again, again, again
Like sage cut, fashioned into a hearth broom
Life is short, wears away the youthful joy
Soon the end in sight, retired to kindling
Laid down upon the white washed inside brick
Awaiting morn when a spark will ignite.
A roaring fire will spring forth ablaze
While all the family gathers around
Warmed by the hearth of a happy snug home
Written:December 9, 2015
Definition of Blank Verse
Blank verse is a literary device defined as un-rhyming verse written in iambic pentameter. In poetry and prose, it has a consistent meter with 10 syllables in each line (pentameter); where, unstressed syllables are followed by stressed ones and five of which are stressed but do not rhyme. It is also known as un-rhymed iambic pentameter.
•Blank verse poetry has no fixed number of lines.
•Blank verse can be composed in any kind of meter, such as iamb, trochee, spondee and dactyl
I chose this form because I did not want to rhyme..
Categories:
unstressed, earth,
Form:
Blank verse
They wouldn’t let me be White
Oh I wanted to be
Dreams of that Pulitzer haunted me
They said, Sir, you have ten minutes to play
I gave them Milton, Poe and Millay
I stood before that panel
Like I was auditioning for Jesus On judgment day
I belted out those rhymes like Sandburg
Gave them sweet elegant words
I gave them personification and anapest
Gave them Trochee with syllables unstressed
I played those Robert Frost Blues
Those Road less traveled Blues
Those Thomas Hardy
going down on the Titanic Blues-
And they said, Son, You could be the greatest
Since Langston Hughes!
And oh I was out of sight
Switched up / Got Fancy
Moved the stressed syllable
From the middle to the right
But still they wouldn’t let me be White
I had every judge popping their fingers
Moving their heads from left to right
So I took a bow
And smiled up at those lights
I gave them Dickinson, Browning and Keats
Oh I had those White judges on their feet
I played until they saw stars
A judge leaned over and said,
You remind me so much of- What’s his name?
Paul Lawrence Dunbar
I played Eliot I played Cummings
I played Stevens too
I had those White Poets out of their shoes
Oh I lifted them a hundred miles off the ground
But when they came down
They said, You could be the next Sterling Brown
I said, Come on! Get out of town!
I closed that audition with my best Haiku
They said, M.e. Don’t take this wrong we like you
I took a final bow I had performed to their delight
But still they wouldn’t let me be White
Categories:
unstressed, allegory, anxiety, black african
Form:
Quatrain
The musician I never became
Singing the song I wish I wrote
I count the strands of my life
Here I am in a tag of war
Feelings of attraction
Versus stronger feelings of repulsion
Something happened and I responded
Because I no longer play victim of bullying
Or so I think
And they responded
And I was left feeling like the bully
I had planned not to apologise
Why am always the one apologising?
Well if I stop jumping into conclusions
Then I wouldn't be left feeling this bad
Well if I harden my shells a little
Then I may stop taking things so sensitively and personally
That hasn't worked for me
Changing my character I mean
Changing the sensitive gold in me
That is the ninety percent make of me
A 'nemesis' walked passed me
Like someone that doesn't like me and vice versa
And through I her, I was reminded of a great friend
I will never forget how she made me feel
The laughter we shared
The jokes we exchanged, most of them from her
And I a willing receiver
I always loved when she worked
And I thought, if she was here right now, it would all be jokes and laughter
Relaxed and happy
Unstressed
Unworried
Some people just fill in those empty holes
Of what we are not
And complete our lives
Categories:
unstressed, introspection, relationship,
Form:
Free verse
Iamb, Trochee, Spondee, Pyrrhic. Do those words have meaning for you? If not, you may find it handy as a poet to learn how to employ at least a few of them. They are names for the most common of the two-syllable feet used in classic poetry forms and many rhymed forms of today (there are other metrical feet used for 3 syllables). Poets can practice to become skilled at any one of them, but often poets are drawn to just a few when they write naturally. Iamb is the one that I prefer. When your words rise and fall in an unstressed to stressed rhythmic pattern, you are using iambic meter. Five feet of these unstressed-stressed syllables is called pentameter. That is why a sonnet is written in Iambic Pentameter. The traditonal sonnet writer uses ten syllables which are divided into five feet of unstressed/stressed syllables.
Here is the way Iamb looks if I show just two-syllable examples: de/TEST, un/LOVED, a/ WORD, go/ HOME. It would sound unnatural to say DEtest, UNloved, A word or GO home. The poet chooses his metrical foot and simply goes with the flow! If I choose to write a triolet, I would use Iambic Tetrameter (8 syllables with 4 feet of Iamb). When you consider all the different combinations of feet and meter, there is much to be learned! You can even mix up types of meter or use them unrhymed! To some poets it comes naturally -no textbook required. I have known free verse poets to say, "I just don't 'hear' it." But a few of those poets practiced and practiced; with time I saw them grow!
For those who want to practice poetry
in such a way to make their poems sing,
Iambic meter is one way to go.
Unstressed, then stressed creates a pleasant flow.
So give your words some musicality.
Keep practicing, and then your skills will grow.
Aug. 5, 2018
Categories:
unstressed, writing,
Form:
Free verse
Give me wine, give me poetry
and a hug to shake off these blues;
give me the sunniest and bluest sky:
give me glimpses of an unstressed tomorrow...
without masked faces that cry behind them!
Breathing freely means absolute freedom,
but the loss of it imposes a new norm;
what can distract people from forgetting death,
and stare at the solemn preacher who must harrow
dying souls for their destination of fire or bliss?
What can cheer up folks and make them laugh?
I'm preparing for my departure, lest fate is gracious:
let the laborious life I lived be an example of boldness,
I've held onto my beliefs, I carried no animosity or envy:
all I had was from God, not from the hands of charity!
Give me earthly delights, give me soothing music,
my assigned time could be nearer than I expect:
I have no throne, no crown, no riches in my treasured chest;
I'll leave as naked as I came...humbleness has never left:
how calm must be the exodus from life into death...
without groans, without moans; and with an exemption from debt!
I'll render this transaction to the Almighty with easiness...
no resistance to prevent what He desires: His wish is too intrinsic!
Categories:
unstressed, absence, anxiety, blessing, character,
Form:
Rhyme
As a child, this reoccurring dream haunted.
When I would run from a monster chasing me
Then he'd reach out to grab, I'd fly undaunted.
As time went by, from those dreams seemed free.
Now knowing it was death, I face the red sea
Of course, as you can tell. I have no idea about stressed and unstressed syllables. LOL
Categories:
unstressed, childhood,
Form:
Iambic Pentameter
A good poetry emanates from the heart of the poet, vibrates in its rhythm that resonates in the mind of the reader. The form of poetry has evolved over the years with literary experiments on poetic expressions where the muse weaves tapestry of words. The traditional forms of verse use some kind of rhythmic pattern called meter (meaning ‘measure’ in Greek), a scheme of stressed and unstressed syllables. Each set of such syllables comprises a foot, the building block of meter. The lines of most of English poetry are like garlands that string together the foot, the individual rhythmic unit, the flower. The arrangement of syllables (stressed, unstressed) in these units in lines of a poem may vary, deciding its meter, such as, Iamb (a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable), Pyrrhic (2 unstressed syllables), Spondee (2 stressed syllables), Trochee (a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable), Anapest (2 unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable), and Dactyl (a stressed syllable followed by 2 unstressed syllables). The length of the line is controlled by the number of feet, giving the metric pattern to the poem, such as, monometer (1 foot), dimeter (2 feet), trimeter (3 feet), tetrameter (4 feet), pentameter (5 feet), hexameter (6 feet) etc. In this basic pattern the rhythm is how the words flow with the meter. Rhythm can be created by repetition of words that flow in metric pattern or by breaking up the flow with longer or shorter lines. A poem is indeed like a river that flows with words in lines rippling in rhythmic pattern.
In the mountains cascades the brook in glee,
water of the foothill river is free,
the feet of banks dancing ripples embrace,
the rhythm of flow wraps the river in grace.
Ripples may come, ripples may go, it flows
to the ocean, placid ocean it goes.
July 19, 2018
(The poem is set in iambic pentameter with rhythmic repetition of words in the last two lines.)
Categories:
unstressed, poems, poetry, river, simile,
Form:
Free verse
< Toaster Strudel - Trochee
I just crave toaster strudel
Piping hot pastry
Cool icing so can doodle
Kellogg's bakery
So get to popping me one
Time to used noodle
Pop tarts boring just no fun
Choose toaster strudel
Meter: 7/5/7/5
Rhyme Scheme: a/b/c/b or a/b/a/b
The meter is trochee, which means alternating stressed and unstressed beats in each line, with each line beginning and ending in a stressed syllable. This is a simple lyrical type little poem, so rhymes will be basic, nothing fancy. The poem itself should give a description of something of interest to the poet and often the meter lends itself to humor, much as a limerick does. There is not a set number of these quatrain type stanzas, but a typical 7/5 Trochee would consist of two quatrains, with the second stanza serving to tie up the idea presented in the first stanza.
Categories:
unstressed, business, childhood, education, fantasy,
Form:
Quatrain
The child was getting tired of being teased
Words flowed from her brother's mouth unfiltered
Had he more vocabulary he'd spew.
She didn't care on that morning if she pleased
She went to the icebox unbewildered
milk threw
We all stood in shock, except her brother
Drenched to the degree of being drowned, whew!
But equal to his cruel out of kilter
words. He's thinking there's ways other to
stir stew
Here in the south sometimes we say of a person that they are stirrer of trouble and we used some different terminology(vocabulary) sometimes.
I used icebox instead because refrigerator would not fit, so going back to my youth when some people still had an icebox.
My understanding of this form is 11 lines. Ten syllables per line except for the 6th line and the 11th line which are suppose to be two one syllable words or a one two syllable word which both syllables are pronounced equally. Really don't understand stressed and unstressed. LOL
Rhyme scheme is : a,b,c,a,b,c d,c,b,d,c
Categories:
unstressed, anger, family,
Form:
Curtal Sonnet
/ un / un / un / Boot shoe boot shoe boot shoe boot
/ un / un / R Dis cus dis cus disc
/ un / un / un / Boot shoe boot shoe boot shoe boot
/ un / un / R Dis cus dis cus brisk
If you speak the English language that is if English is your primary language, place your hand on your chin that is your four fingers..Speak the word, feel your fingers move when there is an accented word or syllable..That will solve the problem of stressed and unstressed syllables..Finally, but this is not always true but mostly..
Finis'
Categories:
unstressed, funny,
Form:
Rhyme
Really? Iambic Pentameter.
Oh well, this is where you really put your foot in it. No! Not your mouth!
Not the hokey kokey either, although its a little like that. More like a builder's
measurements. Iambic pentameter's measurements are five feet long, per line that is.
Of what is this 'foot' you ask? I contain myself, I do not give you the boot anywhere.
It's a fair question. This particular 'foot' measures two syllables. And, yes you're already there – so an iambic pentameter line consists of 10 syllables.
Now we get to the heart of the form. The Iam bit. This Iam gives the rhythm or heartbeat to the poem. It is like a two beat dance. First beat of the duo syllable is light, unstressed and the second is heavier or stressed. So placed to create a natural cadence that echo's our own hearts. This is why the form is mainly used for emotional subjects. There we have the iambic pentameter form.
Your heart doth drip its aqua tears my knight
Let service be your key, pray not for me
Serve I must in another court this day
All so soon I glimpse its citrine soft light
Let your grief tend our summer hallowed tree
Look for me in still pools sanctioned by fae.
Written 3 August for Contest sponsored by Line Gauthier
Reads like Music – Haibun – look Poetry Contest
Categories:
unstressed, word play,
Form:
Free verse