How to write metered poetry, when you can only read 'phonetically'?

Question

I have dyslexia, and when I pronounce words in my head the syllable count and stress doesn't reflect the way the words are pronounced in everyday speech. I think you might describe it as phonetic pronounciation?

For instance, the IPA pronunciation for 'Strength':

/stɹɛŋkθ/, [st̠͡ɹ̠ɛŋkθ], [st̠͡ɹ̠ɛn̪θ]

However I found when I was trying to work out the syllables for this word, I would say (in my head) the word how I learnt to spell it:

stʌ•ɹ̠ɛn•gʌ•θʌ

Which is ~4 syllables, but when I speak the words out loud as part of a line of poetry (with the standard pronunciation) I can't for the life of me hear where the stress falls.

As an example, I tried to write this limerick for a puzzle:

These strings of digits are unique
My first in time and space so to speak
And so, you'll find, is my second
with three 'n' five names are reckoned,
And fourth's the random assignment technique

However I got feedback that it didn't scan, I figured out that my struggles were with the in-head/out-loud pronunciation I described above.

This is the 'fixed' version:

These many strings of digits unique
First made from space and time so to speak
The same for my second
Three 'n' five: names reckoned,
And my fourth has a random technique

But now this version doesn't quite sound right to me either.

Is there a way for me to check the meter, syllables and stress for writing poetry without relying on my (faulty) pronounciation?

Answer 1

Going from the basis in comments that you can't hear the differences in stress when reading your poem out loud, here's what you could do:

1. Make a stress map of how you want your poem to be. For example, in the first line of a limerick you could do:

• da da DA, da da DA, da da DA (this is how the last line of your second sample scans)
• da Da, da da DA, da da DA da ("There once was a man from Nantucket")

etc. Your lines 1, 2, and 5 just all should be the same (possibly dropping the first syllable in some but let's not get into that :D), and then same with 3 and 4.

2. Write your lines based on your stress map, with one poem syllable per stress syllable.

• Look up multi-syllable words in the dictionary and make sure they're placed appropriately
• "Small words" -- conjunctions, prepositions, sometimes pronouns and is/was/etc, should generally be unstressed. If you have an "important word" (a noun, verb, adjective, etc) next to a "small word", make the important word the stressed one.

3. Give your poem to a friend to make sure it scans!

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If we dive into your example:

These many strings of digits unique

First made from space and time so to speak

The same for my second

Three 'n' five: names reckoned,

And my fourth has a random technique

Taking line by line:

These many strings of digits unique

You want it to scan like this:

These man-NY strings of DIG-its u-NIQUE

First problem here is that it's the "man" in "many" that is meant to be stressed, rather than the "ny". So, we can't scan it like that.

So, our brains decide to scan it with "man" stressed, like this:

These MAN-y strings OF digits U-nique

Which also doesn't work because it puts the emphasis on the wrong syllable of "unique". Also, emphasizing "of" when "strings" and "dig" are right there is odd.

Scanning our second line in the same two ways, we either end up emphasizing "from" (which is weird because "made" and "space" are both more important words) or else we emphasize both "and" and "to", which also don't make sense to focus on.

For lines three and four, think about the first three syllables of each:

The same for

Three 'n five

The important words here are "same", "three", and "five". The problem is they're on different syllables on each line. So if we scan the first like this:

The SAME for my SEC-ond

That's fine. But that would make our next line:

Three N five names RECK-oned

Which puts the stress on "N"--the least important part of the line.

Alternatively, if you do:

The same FOR my sec-OND

Three 'n FIVE so reck-ONED

You're both emphasizing "for", and you're putting the stress on the wrong syllable of "second" and "reckoned".

The last line scans correctly.