For a first step in imitation it is well to select a subject akin to the original and follow the author's construction and trend of thought as closely as possible. For instance, there is a sonnet on Milton--write a companion sonnet on Shakespeare or Dante. Match stanzas to Washington with similar stanzas to Lincoln or Cromwell or any other character who can be treated in the same general manner. Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" suggests other elegies in other churchyards.
One may even parody a poem--not broadly, line for line in the American fashion--but in the more delicate Calverley way, which applies the spirit and meter of the poem to a lighter subject. One must imitate before one can originate, but haphazard imitation leads nowhere.
In conclusion it may be said that verse making is no mystic art hidden from the many. It is to be acquired by any one who is willing to work at it steadily and consistently. First, a start in the right direction, and then practice--practice--practice.
Nothing "dashed off" or "turned out," but every composition saved from the wastebasket made--
Correct in construction, Clear in thought, Simple in diction.
A metrical composition is divided into lines, each line containing a definite number of syllables. These syllables are grouped by twos and threes into "feet" which, by their makeup, determine the meter or movement of the line.
Meter in English verse is built up through accent alone, but, though this principle differs entirely from that of the ancients, who depended on the length of the syllable, we still cling to the names with which they distinguished the different feet. It will be discovered that by combining accented and unaccented syllables into groups of two, three and four an immense variety of feet can be produced. In fact the Roman poets made use of about thirty. In English verse we disregard the four-syllabled foot altogether and make use only of the two and three syllabled.
The dash stands for the accented syllable.
An idea of the use of these meters in verse may be gained from the following examples:
u -- | u ---- | u -- | u - | u | ----- "From low | to high | doth dis | solu | tion | climb
u - | u ---- | u - | u - | u -- And sink | from high | to low | along | a scale."