Derby
01-18-2008, 12:50 PM
Scansion
The UK magazine of the Association of Christian Writers had a letter asking for material to use as the basis of evangelistic songs. I sent some of my poems and one was of interest. But his comment was that my poems generally did not ‘scan’ and so were unsuitable to be set to music. The one he was interested in is below – I am not requesting a critique of this poem – only help to understand what scansion is about.
If
If there should be no God, no Heaven
With no loving Father in the sky
Or if I had not been forgiven
I would not linger, just fade and die
With no loving Father in the sky
With no rock of faith, no healing grace
I would not linger, just fade and die
Then all would be folly and all waste
With no rock of faith, no healing grace
Or if I had not been forgiven
Then all would be folly and all waste
If there should be no God, no Heaven
The correspondent amended the poem [and added a verse] so that it scanned for him, with this result:
If there should be no God, no Heaven,
No loving Father in the sky
Or if I had not been forgiven,
I would not stay, just fade and die.
No loving Father in the sky,
No rock of faith, no healing grace,
I would not stay, just fade and die.
Then all would folly be, and waste.
No rock of faith, no healing grace,
Or if I had not been forgiven,
Then all would folly be, and waste.
If there should be no God, no Heaven.
My observations are that each line now has 8 syllables except the first and last, which perhaps would be difficult to reduce to 8 syllables.
But I think there is more to it than syllable counts.
It seems to also involve metre, rhythm and musical beat, and perhaps more.
Can you rescue me from my ignorance of scanning, I would like to see if I can edit other of my poems or write fresh material that is suitable for setting to music.
The UK magazine of the Association of Christian Writers had a letter asking for material to use as the basis of evangelistic songs. I sent some of my poems and one was of interest. But his comment was that my poems generally did not ‘scan’ and so were unsuitable to be set to music. The one he was interested in is below – I am not requesting a critique of this poem – only help to understand what scansion is about.
If
If there should be no God, no Heaven
With no loving Father in the sky
Or if I had not been forgiven
I would not linger, just fade and die
With no loving Father in the sky
With no rock of faith, no healing grace
I would not linger, just fade and die
Then all would be folly and all waste
With no rock of faith, no healing grace
Or if I had not been forgiven
Then all would be folly and all waste
If there should be no God, no Heaven
The correspondent amended the poem [and added a verse] so that it scanned for him, with this result:
If there should be no God, no Heaven,
No loving Father in the sky
Or if I had not been forgiven,
I would not stay, just fade and die.
No loving Father in the sky,
No rock of faith, no healing grace,
I would not stay, just fade and die.
Then all would folly be, and waste.
No rock of faith, no healing grace,
Or if I had not been forgiven,
Then all would folly be, and waste.
If there should be no God, no Heaven.
My observations are that each line now has 8 syllables except the first and last, which perhaps would be difficult to reduce to 8 syllables.
But I think there is more to it than syllable counts.
It seems to also involve metre, rhythm and musical beat, and perhaps more.
Can you rescue me from my ignorance of scanning, I would like to see if I can edit other of my poems or write fresh material that is suitable for setting to music.