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What are 'soft' and 'hard' syllables?



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Mon Apr 11, 2011 9:11 pm
Matthews says...



So, what do they mean by hard and soft syllables?

· Quatrain stanzas
· 1st and 3rd lines are in iambic tetrameter (eight syllables alternating soft and hard)
· 1st and 3rd lines have an internal rhyme
· 2nd and 4th lines in iambic trimeter (six syllables alternating soft and hard)
· 2nd and 4th lines will rhyme

^^
The above are the instructions for the ballad....but I don't get the syllable thing? Help?
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Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:16 am
Kale says...



Usually hard and soft refer to the actual sound of the syllables. Hard syllables usually have a hard consonant/combination: b, d, g, j, k, p, q, r, t, tch, v, x, or z. Soft syllables have either no consonants or softer consonants/combinations: f, h, l, m, n, s, sh, or th.

In the context of your directions, though, I think they meant stresses since meter deals with stresses.

Stress is the amount of emphasis given to a syllable. Syllables can be stressed or unstressed. For instance, "Whose woods these are I think I know" from Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" has a definite beat due to how it alternates between unstressed and stressed syllables. I bolded the stressed syllables so you could better see the pattern.

Iambic meters are very natural in English, so you shouldn't have too much trouble coming up with an unstressed-stressed pattern.
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Wed May 18, 2011 3:36 pm
Matthews says...



Thanks. You're right, once I started it, the pattern just took off, and I only had to tweak it in a few places. :p
Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
  





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Wed May 18, 2011 5:49 pm
Dynamo says...



Why do I suddenly feel like I'm back in math class?
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Sun Jun 19, 2011 7:11 am
Kibble says...



I'm trying to write in iambic pentameter and this stuff is hard! Reading your poem out loud might help to identify the syllables -- generally I find it's easier to write it and then tweak to fit the unstressed-stressed pattern. If you read some Shakespeare carefully you can see that he sometimes slipped in a random "to" or something to make it work.
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