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This was hard! My highlighter was busy marking stresses, but I lost the count. Is it 4, 3, 3, 4, 3, 4?

Winter overtakes the pleasure garden, overhead brittle remnants of bouyant, twirling vines, a brush of rime crunches underfoot; songbirds flit and hide, mute ushers of spring to come.

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Really beautiful rhythm! I love this!

If you're referring to the rhythm of your passage, I get the folllowing (heavier stresses in caps)

WINter overTAKES the PLEAsure GARden (4),

overHEAD BRIttle REMnants of BOUyant, (4)

TWIRling VINES, (2)

a BRUSH of RIME CRUSHes underFOOT, (4)

SONGbirds FLIT and HIDE, (3)

MUTE USHers of SPRING to COME. (4)

The pleasure garden is so wonderful, so unexpected.

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I have just written the full Yeats poem out in the back of my notebook to read at the train station and other waiting situations - what a brilliant idea - thank you! :)

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So great!! It'll soak into the fabric of you.

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I hope so I can't quite hear anything yet... I find all of your posts so useful. Thanks Nina :)

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Hannah,

I'm so glad!

Nina

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Thank you for taking the time to break it down! When I read it out loud, I tend to flow through 'pleasure', pause before 'of', and swallow 'ushers'. Also didn't realize how many stresses I had on the first syllable. Interesting that the later syllable stress happens in the words overtakes, overhead, underfoot. Quite unconscious.

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Thanks! We learned something new today - just like most grammar rules, the comma splice rule can be broken too :)

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Yes! And here is where the creative comes into creative writing.

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Dec 18, 2022Liked by Nina Schuyler

Thank you, Nina! Those Yeats lines really bring me into that twilit scene! I was will check out the link!!

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Me, too. And I've memorized them, so I hope the rhythm will appear. Actually, in my novel-in-progress, I've made the 4-3-4-3 rhythm appear in a sentence.

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Nice! I know I have heard tell of Garth before, but I can’t remember exactly. Sorry about being in past and future tense at once, but maybe they balance one another somehow?

Your book has arrived. Now I just need to carve out time in which to dwell in it! Merry Hana-Solsti-Kwanzaa-Mas!!

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