You're Better at Meter Than You Think
Dan Brown
Frost Conference attendees sometimes tell me they feel unsure of themselves when writing in meter. I tell them it's easier than they think. My aim in this workshop is to make this response plausible. We'll begin with enough of a look at traditional scansion to show how misleading it can be. We'll then look at an approach that's both simpler and more faithful to what the ear actually makes of a metrical line. Armed with this approach, we'll use it to help attendees get a better grip on, and greater confidence in, what they're doing metrically. If the attendees are nice to me, I'll share the single most important thing a poet can do to improve their command of meter. (If they're not, a few dollars will suffice to shake this secret out of me.
