Even though English is not my first language, I think it is one of the most suitable to write poetry. Let's face it, Spanish sounds beautiful, but it is not very musical or rhythmic. English, however, has the advantage that most of its words have no more than two syllables. This feature may come off as trivial at first but if we ponder upon it, we can come to the conclusion that because of this it is way easier to write in classical meters in Shakespeare's language. The classical meters give poems a holistic, harmonious structure that make us perceive them as complete wholes; as finished pieces of art that have been polished to perfection, like this sculpture:
By classical meters I refer to specific patterns into which verses were arranged in Latin and Greek poetry. The basic element we find in classical metrics is the meter, which is usually composed by two syllables. The most renowned meters in ancient literature were the trochaic meter and iambic meter. The trochaic meter consisted in a long syllable followed by a short one, and It was noted as follows: ¯ ˘ (the straight line denotes the long syllable whereas the curved one the short syllable). The iambic meter, however, is the inverse of the trochaic meter and it is thus noted: ˘ ¯, i.e., a short syllable followed by a long one.
You may be wondering what on Earth is that of long and short syllables. This distinction does not exist anymore, but for our luck, English has inherited these two meters from antiquity and has adapted them to its own rules. In English, iambic and trochaic meters are no longer composed by short or long syllables, but stressed or unstressed syllables. The very name of Shakespeare used these two patterns to compose his sonnets. His preferred verse was the iambic pentameter, which consisted in five iambic meters, or, in other words, a total of ten syllables.
The poem I will show you today is composed by 11 iambic hexameters (six iambic meters). I wrote it some months ago in hopes of achieving some degree of formal perfection and meaningfulness. Its topic is, though not conspicuous, the struggle that has ever divided science and religion along the history of mankind.
“I saw a face bereft of life in front of mine
That had been waiting for so long for God to come.
Her lust was left unseen when mortals passed her by,
And Heaven knows not either how she dug her tomb.
No flesh or soul was found up there; no faith or vice
To be redeemed, but dust of stars and empty space
That had been made when man was yet to be devised.
It was absurd to worship such divine a Grace,
When Nature had been proved to be our very God.
But mankind stuck to his revered beliefs and claimed
That life isn’t life until we die and kiss the sod."
- Hyperion