How to write Alexandrines ...

Alexandrine is the most traditional way to write poetry in French. I think it could be considered as the French counterpart of the Japanese Haiku.
In this Instructable, I would like to teach you how to write them in English.

Step 1 What's an Alexandrine ?

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Technically, an alexandrine is a single verse (line) of poetry, which counts a total of twelve feet (syllables).
In general, they are formed of two hemistiches (half of a verse) of six feet each.
Both hemistiches are separated by a caesura (natural pause).

So, to summarize, a traditional Alexandrine has :
- 12 feet (no more, no less)
- 2 hemistiches of 6 feet each
- a caesura in the middle

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Comments

[Whales]

I thought of an alternative for the third one:

Never seen on Earth, such a beautiful angel

Ok alittle lopsided. but it's my first, really great idea the French had with this. Ils sont belle. (More french for ya)

[Whales]

 Ok worked a better one:

Never such seen on Earth, What a beautiful angel.

[Foaly7]

Excellent. Says the exact same thing, but with the more traditional format.

[frogisamoose]

.Thanks for your instructable How to Write Alexandrines. Very nice and so thorough in a short space. I just joined this forum and yours was one of the first I read. I need to read it again since I am a slow study. I write Haiku and also open verse and "stream of consciousness" pieces. My training was in visual art though. I really like so called postmodern art and writing like that of David Barthelme. Actually, your choice of a user name reflects a "post-modern" outlook. ha ha. My favorite French poet is Arthur Rimbaud. I love the Illuminations though I can't actually read the original French. I recently taught a young friend to write Haiku by doing what I call "jump writing" or mutual writing. That is where you start by composing the first 5 syllables then they do the next 7 then you finish it with the last five. That's for the first 10 haiku then we switch for the next 10 and my friend does the first and last lines and I do the middle seven. We use nature and season words too, that actually helps rather than restricts ones writing. .

[chooseausername]

Thank you for your comment, I'm glad you liked it.

I'm currently planing to write a more detailed version of this same instructable. So if you find something that needs some more details, please tell me =o)

About poetry, it's not my main hobby or a passion. I don't read or write poem quite often ...
Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I generally feel the need to read and lay some strophes by the end of Winter ... Then, Spring is for writing music, and Summer for writing novels ...
Seems my cycle of creativity is synchronized with the cycle of seasons ......... =oP

About Rimbaud, I've read some of his Illuminations and definitively did not like them. Most of his poems that I've read don't make me dream.
However, I definitively like the french version of "Sensation". The translated version sounds less beautiful to my ear, probably because it's not my mother-tongue

=o)

[frogisamoose]

. I see what you mean about the translations. Not so good. But your English seems so very good here. Do you speak/read many languages?. When I read something that is translated I like to have a bi-lingual edition so I can sort of see how it was taken out of the original. This works somewhat but I would much prefer to understand the original. I am currently reading some Haiku doing the same bilingual edition since my knowledge of Japanese is limited to greetings and simple phrases. I also read the work of Pablo Naruda in the same way. May I ask how many novels have you written in the summer? That seems like a daunting task. Do you get inspired about a story and then compose or do you make it all up as you move along? Thanks for the links, I don't care for the translation either..it kind of squeezes the original too hards or rather "beats it up" to get the meaning. The trans of Rimbaud's works that I like are the ones by Louise Varese, she usually doesn't leave out the heart, the fragrance of the original. At least that is how I see it with my limited understanding of your language. I have been reading these poems for over 40 years, plenty of time to have learned French. I am so curious that my energy goes everywhere and only easy things get done. I worked on Japanese for 20 years and still can't speak it well. French would seem even harder because of the pronunciation. I would need a very patient personal tutor. I like your little blue cat. There is a really cool little cartoon on youtube called Simon's Cat that is very short and very funny. Go there and watch if you get a minute and a half....it is worth it. .

[chooseausername]

> Do you speak/read many languages?

I also have some notions of Spanish. I can understand up to 60% of what I read, but I can't chat with someone, because my vocabulary is too much limited ...

I can also read hiragana and say few very useless Japanese sentences.
I tried to learn katakana few month ago, but it was boring and generator of great migraines ...

> May I ask how many novels have you written in the summer? That seems like a daunting task. Do you get inspired about a story and then compose or do you make it all up as you move along?

I actually achieved only 2 novels, and wrote 3 others at more than 50% each (within about 8 years). I've wrote many short stories and started some philosophical essay too ...
Currently, only 1 of the 3 unachieved novels and a philosophical essay are still "work in progress".

I tried my chances with a publisher last year, but failed to seduce one with a novel I really believed in.
Despite the frustration of "seeing my illusions going up in smoke", I've found that, published or not, writing stories is like a need for me : creating a universe, and giving birth and life to some characters is so great !

The inspiration comes quite easily to me. I can quickly build a complete story around a simple idea.
For instance : "it's a man who's bored, and who decide to follow and spy a woman for one week"

From there, I can build various stories :
- entertaining : I could just tell the "everyday" life of this woman witnessed and commented by this man
- thriller : the man could discover the woman murdered someone (what will he do ? will the woman discover she's spied ? will she try to kill him too ?)
- tragedy : he could discover she's very depressed and planning to commit suicide, and he could do his best to save her life ...
etc ...

Once I've selected the most original base, I develop it a little bit more and write it in the form of a very short summary. Then, I develop the the short summary a little bit more (long summary), and finally, I begin to write the first chapter ...
I use the summary as a guide, but I'm free to change things if a better idea comes ...

I have about 20 short summaries stored in my PDA waiting for being developed.
However, having a fertile imagination and writing a lot is not enough ... you need a good style and some readers that will dare to honestly criticize you ...

I wish I could write some novels in English so I could publish them for free on the internet and increase my chances to be read and criticized.

> I am so curious that my energy goes everywhere and only easy things get done.

I understand you ! I'm like that too ... trying to go everywhere at the same time ... and I end up with a long list of "work in progress" ...

You seems to have a real passion for poetry and literature. May I ask you if it's related to your work (teacher, professor, writer) ?

About Simon's Cat, I've watched the two episodes here and here. They are hilarious ! My cat does exactly the same thing to catch my attention !

[Gjdj3]

Nice instructable!