Double Dactyl...

... a poetic form not attempted on the Dead Good Blog before. I thought it would be fun. I also worried that I might be the only one to run with the theme, but two fellow bloggers have stepped up to the task, so that is gratifying

In case you've not yet read their posts, let me summarise what a double dactyl is. The form was only devised as recently as 1951 by Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal. It has been compared to the limerick (which originated in Ireland in the early 1700s) inasmuch as both are concise and often comedic in content, but the prosodic requirements of the double dactyl are more demanding. By the way, it has nothing to do with pterodactyls.

Hecht and Pascal

First of all it  should comprise a single sentence split over two four-line stanzas. Secondly, the first three lines in each stanza should be a pair of dactyls (dum-di-di dum-di-di) and the fourth line should be a choriamb (dum-di-di-dum). Thirdly the opening line should be a nonsense rhyme (e.g. higgledy piggledy). Fourthly the second line in the first stanza should strictly speaking be a proper noun and the subject of the poem. Fifthly, the second line in the second stanza should strictly speaking be a single double dactylic word (e.g. incontrovertibly). Sixthly, the end words of the two stanzas should rhyme. Simples! 

Examples always help, so I've uncovered two to share with you. In the first, Roger L. Robison metapoetically and quite amusingly nails the double dactyl form thus:

Long-short-short, long-short-short
Dactyls in dimeter
Verse form with choriambs

(Masculine rhyme)

One sentence (two stanzas)
Hexasyllabically
Challenges poets who
Don't have the time.

This second example by Joanna Daniel is rather splendid. I believe she said it was a piece of cake to write:

Clickety clackety

Queen Marie Antionette

"Let them eat cake" she said

When they'd no bread

Due to her callousness

Improvisational

French mob decided then

"Off with her head!"

Okay, I think that's given you the general idea. So let me offer you a trio of double dactyls of my own devising. For the first one, as I've been feeling the influence of all those Greatest Dancer  blogs from the other week, I've penned something in praise of Caroline Rafferty. It's the one I'm most pleased with in that I think it accords one hundred percent with the strictest rules of the form.

Caroline Rafferty

I wasn't too sure what title to give it, as most double dactyl poems don't appear to have one, but I thought it deserved something and so I've simply called it...

Dance Time

Tippety-tappety

Caroline Rafferty

Sweet showgirl prodigy

Danced to the top

Brimming with energy

Indefatigably

Stamped until forty then

Knew when to stop.

For the second, and prompted by Terry Quinn's double dactyl about a Birmingham City player, I've elaborated upon a hoary old joke about Manchester United's first Chinese footballer - "young Lee Sharpe". I'm not quite so happy with this one as it's not really all about Lee Sharpe. But hey.

Young Lee Sharpe

Apologies in advance for any historical inaccuracies or perceived stereotype bias. Again, I've given it a title in deference to the famous Goon song it references...

Milligan Redux

Ying tong yiddle i po

Young Lee Sharpe see him go

China loves how red man

United flow

Growing the brand out East

Exponentially

Warms Glazers' brazen hearts

It's a goon show.

The final one is a political swipe at General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet. When the USA decided to unseat the democratically elected Marxist government of Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973, Pinochet was the right-wing Chilean army general who led the American-backed coup. The overthrow of Allende and all who supported him was swift and brutal. Thousands of people were rounded up and killed. Thousands more fled the country.

Augusto Pinochet crushes democracy in Chile

Chile entered a long and oppressive reign by the military junta and then under Pinochet as President after one-sided elections. Pinochet's rule was decried as fascist with a track record of human rights violations. When he was eventually replaced he came to live in London where he was arrested on charges of corruption and genocide and sent back to Chile to face trial. A thoroughly nasty man, he died of a heart attack in 2006. This final double dactyl is a return to the classic form.

A Right Bastard

Uppity puppety

Augusto Pinochet

Backed by the USA

To lead a coup

Toppled democracy

Unhesitatingly

Ruled Chile brutally

Loved by the few.

And that's your lot. Thanks for reading. Do have a go at home. If you come up with anything you like, feel free to add it in the comment below. S ;-)

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Double Dactyl

Hands up anyone who has heard of Double Dactyls. Mine isn’t. I was hoping it was something to do with prehistoric flying reptiles. But no, apparently it is a form of comedic verse.

Before settling on DDs I had a look at how many different forms of verse there are and for this I am more than happy to give credit to Robert Lee Brewer, from the Writer’s Digest in 2021. He found 168 poetic forms and gives examples of everyone. Sometimes making them up himself. An amazing job.

He starts at A for Abstract and comments:

Apparently, abstract was a term used by Dame Edith Sitwell to describe poems in her book Facade. There are different definitions provided below, but this form of poetry is more about how sounds, rhythms, and textures evoke emotions than about the actual meanings of words. His example is:

My rat-a-tat-tat hat
was smacked and whacked
by Thedulius Jack-a-bat-snat
while holding his gat.

He ends at Z with the Zejel which is a very old Spanish poetic form that is also likely an even older Arabic poetic form with an origination date somewhere between the ninth and eleventh centuries. In fact, Edward Hirsch believes the form was probably invented by Mucaddam ben Muafa, a ninth century Hispano-Muslim poet. The basic rules are the first stanza is a tercet (3 line stanza) with an AAA rhyme scheme. All other stanzas are 4 lines with an XXXA scheme. This is the first stanza of one Brewer created:

Give me a reason to run out
& empty myself of this doubt
That always follows me about

So, what about Double Dactyls. The double dactyl verse form is 8 lines and was invented by Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal in 1951. It goes like this:

Blankety blankety
Blankety blankety
Blankety blankety
Blankety blank

Blankety blankety
Blankety blankety
Blankety blankety
Blankety blank

The first line has to be nonsense – hickory dickory and higgledy piggledy seem to be favourite;
The second line has to be someone’s name
One of the lines in the second stanza has to be a single word
The last lines of the stanzas rhyme.

Before moving on to my attempt I’ve put in an image from an Exhibition in London from 2008 by Nicholas Waplington (the clue’s in his name) entitled Double Dactyl.

I had a go and was hoping to use one of my DGP colleagues’ names but that didn’t work. It was surprisingly difficult to find a Blankety Blankety type name. I was hoping to get away with Pamela de Winning or Kathrine Egg leston-Wirz.

However, I had to use the name below who, of course, plays for Birmingham City FC.

Higgledy-piggledy
Juninho Bacuna
Comes off the bench for Blues
And plays a role

That no one understands
Flabbergasted
When the radio blares
To JB........GOAL!!!!

Thanks for reading, Terry Q

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Double Dactyl - Higgledy Piggledy Acceptability

Double Dactyl poetry. I hope whoever dreamt this discipline up had lots of fun. According to Wikipedia, the inventors were Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal in 1951. I’ve written lots of poems in various forms and in freestyle, but never encountered Double Dactyl until now. I’ve made an effort and enjoyed playing with words, as I always do. I haven’t completely adhered to the strict rules, but some rules lend themselves to be broken. After some non-starters and others not for sharing, I give you my best three.

Floppetty moppetty
Boris de Vaudeville
Thought he could win
With his clown grin

Scary, like The Joker
Hedonistically
Singing and dancing
Off with his head. Next!

Make of this what you will. If you know me, you’ll understand. I don’t intend to offend, by the way.


Dibdabdoo scribbdabdoo
Emily Bronte
When did you get him,
That special one?

Perhaps your brother’s traits
Identifiable
I gave him my heart
Many years ago.

Of course it’s about Heathcliff. My first introduction was the black and white ‘Wuthering Heights’ film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon when I was eleven, or twelve and long before I read the book. Future English Literature classes took me into studying the book, which is a firm favourite of mine and goes way beyond the end of that 1939 film.

Pippitty flippitty
James Callaghan
Thought it was funny
Not easy to count

In pounds, shillings and pence
Decimalisation,
That was the answer,
Totting up money.

I will always be thankful for decimalisation. In 1963, I cried my eyes out while a horrid teacher yelled at me for getting all my ‘money sums’ wrong. Shillings and pence, pounds, shillings and pence, was just a mass of confusion to my seven and a half year old brain. Someone raging at me wasn’t going to magically make me get my sums right. Family friends came to visit one weekend, probably to see the new baby, my sister. Their daughter was a little older than me and we went off to play. I asked her if she could do money sums and felt delighted when she happily showed me. She taught me very well. Everything clicked into place. I was grateful to her and didn’t fear my teacher anymore. I volunteer in the same school. I often go into the very classroom where I spent miserable times. I’m glad things are different for today’s children. All the teachers are lovely, none of them are scary. Perhaps I should ask the children about that. In later years, I worked in an office where everything revolved around money and payments, including wages. By now we were using ‘new money’, decimalisation had taken place a couple of years earlier in 1971. Thank goodness. I couldn’t have done that job in £sd.

Have fun writing Double Dactyls.

Thanks for reading, Pam x

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