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Darren White

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I am Darren, 22 years old. I write poetry in English, which is not my native tongue, not even my second language, but my third. Which is why you most probably will find a lot of crimes against grammar and spelling. Bear with me.

I can write in all sorts of conventional rhyme, but I prefer free verse. A few of my poems in Dutch have been published in an anthology. One of my English poems has been published in the "Love is Love" anthology for the (family of) victims of the Pulse-shooting in Orlando. I have recently (2018) published my first poetry collection "Intrinsic Brightness", availablde on Amazon.

I have translated Arabic poetry into English for Poetry Festivals. I like being Houdini, chained to the original poem and its conventions, yet freeing myself to deliver the best possible poem. I love it.

Darren.

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The best syllable counter?

Blog Posted by Darren White: 11/17/2016 11:35:00 PM

I am at a complete loss...

Which syllable counter in the whole wide woild is the best? I want to have a good chance at placement in certain contests, but what if all syllable counters out there tell me different stories (and they do!)???

So... What one do you all use? What would you recommend me? Thanks!!

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Joanna
Daniel

Date: 11/19/2016 8:11:00 AM

I agree both with Andrea and the Seeker:) there's no perfect syllable counter, for example- the word 'miscreant' has 3 syllables according to howmanysyllables.com, but if the word is 'miscreants', the same counter shows it as 2, now how can one explain that??

Darren White
Date: 11/19/2016 11:51:00 AM

I totally agree it is ridiculous... I am happy with your replies, makes me a little more sure of myself :) <3

Andrea Dietrich
Date: 11/19/2016 10:28:00 AM

It is so ridiculous , isn't it?

Andrea
Dietrich

Date: 11/18/2016 4:57:00 PM

I agree with Seeker, Darren. It is a very natural thing to count syllables. There are always little situations in which a person from one English speaking region will use an extra syllable than another person, but a judge with compassion and intelligence should be able to realize this. There is no one perfect syllable counter. Especially not the one provided us by Soup!! If a judge thinks it is so important, they need to provide the syllable counter's name that they want people to abide by. (also in my opinion, meter is more important than number of syllables. If it sounds well metered, that is what matters).

Darren White
Date: 11/19/2016 12:02:00 AM

Thank you Andrea. Yes, I am planning to do that in the future. I am used to translate and analyse Arabic poetry, and that is very strongly driven by both meter AND number of syllables. That's why I am sometimes uncertain how to approach the syllable vs meter thing in English. Thanks for the reply :)

Brian
Strand

Date: 11/18/2016 3:00:00 AM

One of the problems Darren is that many dialect variation of the English language can vary slightly in regard to prouniciation of certain words .This will sometimes cause difficulty in syllable count contests.Most sponsors would allow for that.My advice is to concentrate on the poetry itself ,its euphony and cadence as these are the key to our artform.Best wishes with your creative endeavours.

Darren White
Date: 11/18/2016 8:11:00 AM

Yes Brian, that is indeed a big problem. One of my other problems is that I am not a native speaker, so sometimes I guess it wrong. But I chose in the endto use common sense, gut feeling, and I checked with Jan's suggestion. Thank you for the help :)

Jan
Allison

Date: 11/18/2016 1:50:00 AM

I use 'how many syllables' as I find it the most accurate BUT there are discrepancies between that one and the poetry soup counter - such as 'couldn't' and 'wouldn't' which on show 1 syllable on one counter and 2 on the other! I write on my poem checked with 'how many syllables' for poems that require a strict syllable count so the sponsor can see it is accurate and hopefully not mark a person down. hope this helps:-) hugs Jan xx

Darren White
Date: 11/18/2016 2:31:00 AM

Thank Jan. That is actually very helpful :)

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The best syllable counter?

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