Page 1588 - Word Waltz
18th Sep 2021, 6:00 AM in Magical Mystery Cure

Pinkie Pie has, on more than one occasion now, led me down a rabbit hole into the slightly insane world of stressed and un-stressed syllables.

“From one to another, another to one.
A mark of one’s destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.”

Pinkie Pie: Okay, so the first line has 11 syllables and ends with “one.” The second line has 14 syllables and ends with “filled.” So if you’re not keen on rewriting the original lines, we could stick with that.
Twilight Sparkle: Ah, so I come up with two lines that rhyme and have the same syllable count and I’m good, right?
Pinkie Pie: You COULD do that, but I’m not sure it’s really the best approach.
Twilight Sparkle: Hm?
Pinkie Pie: I don’t think this spell is so much a formal poem as it is a flowery statement. The meter’s all over the place, for starters! The first line has an iamb and three anapaests, so you’d think the second one is one iamb and four anapaests. But no, not quite!
Twilight Sparkle: Not… sure that I follow…
Pinkie Pie: The point is, you’ve got a big idea to communicate, so you’re probably better off writing it your own way.
Twilight Sparkle: So… That’s it? After breaking out the deerstalker cap and everything… Your expert poetry advice for me is to just “go freestyle?”
Pinkie Pie: Hey, sometimes you need an expert to tell you these kinds of things!
Twilight Sparkle: Where did you even GET these hats?