Friday, March 19, 2010

Versification

I've been thinking a lot about verse lately (as opposed to prose). It's said that stutterers have no problem singing a song they've memorized because the meter is set or at least expected and familiar. That got me thinking whether it might work in reverse, whether "stuttering" could versify even the most mundane and perfunctory, the most "prosaic," as it were...of phrases, instructions, book reviews, etc...by inserting stressed or unstressed nonsense syllables as needed. The result is interesting, to say the least, even if gimmicky:

"Th-This is an immensely skillful, use-
ful, ah and entertaining-gah transla-
tion-nah, provocative of out l-loud
l-laughter sometimes-zah, as well as-zah
the thrill of melodrama-ah, it makes
available to English readers-zah
a work p-previ-ah-[y]ously l-lang-
uishing in the c-category-yah
of the unclima-bah-ble mountain. The
result is-zah immediate-uh and
enriching-gah.--H-Henry Taylor-rah."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Totally relevant, dude.

And this from someone who still has a speech impediment!

tony

A Sinner said...

Well, maybe we can use to create a modern English versified psalter or Bible...

lol, wouldnt that be just awful?!

Anonymous said...

Vatican III in verse.

A Sinner said...

Ha! An apt analogy for how the new verbose style adapted at and after Vatican II is basically just expanded with a bunch of fluff and filler.