1. Poetic Form Gwendolin Brooks “First Fight, Then Fiddle” (898)
Shuttleworth, Ciara. “Sestina” (881) 
Cummings, E. E. “l(a” (883)
Poetry Conclusion : Poetic Form (877-78)

2. Ballad, Sonnet, Villanelle, Sestina
Poetic Forms
Traditional Poetry
Meter, rhyme, stanza (13:30)
Ballad, Sonnet, Villanelle, Sestina
Blank verse (no rhyme)
Open Form
Free verse
Shape Poem
Meter is a unit of rhythm in poetry, the pattern of the beats. It is also called a foot (or beat).
Free verse: no regular rhythm or rhyme (e.g. some of Whitman’s poems, Emily Dickinson’s and “The Word Plum”

3. First Fight. Then Fiddle.
First fight. Then fiddle. Ply the slipping string A
With feathery sorcery; muzzle the note B
With hurting love; the music that they wrote B
Bewitch, bewilder. Qualify to sing A
Threadwise. Devise no salt, no hempen thing A
For the dear instrument to bear. Devote B
The bow to silks and honey. Be remote B
A while from malice and from murdering. A
But first to arms, to armor. Carry hate C
In front of you and harmony behind. D
Be deaf to music and to beauty blind. D
Win war. Rise bloody, maybe not too late C
For having first to civilize a space E
Wherein to play your violin with grace. E
Ply: To join together, ply with: to give someone substantial amounts of something, such as drinks or other favors, 
hempen (a.)大麻制的,大麻的

4. Muzzle & Thread/Hemp

5. The music that they wrote?
Image source

6. “First Fight, Then Fiddle” Questions
Overall Meaning & Structure: What do it mean: “first fight, then fiddle”? What does “fight” & “fiddle” mean respectively? Why does the poem do it the other way around (reversing the order)? Is either completely rejected?
Form: Petrarchan sonnet –effects (turn?)
Rhyme: masculine rhyme, feminine rhyme
Rhythm & meter: iambic pentameter
Sound: alliteration
Enjambment vs. short lines
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917 ~2000; Chicago) Poem published in 1949

7. “First Fight, Then Fiddle”: Fiddle
sense – plays the music which is sweet, melodious and mesmerizing (feathery sorcery, bewitch, bewilder),
filled with repressed emotions,
detached from cruel reality (malice and murdering)
but not sharp-sounding, coarse but lively tunes.
sound – repetition of melodious & nasal sounds such as [m], [ing], [ind], [sl];
use of enjambment
Why not?
Other’s music.

8. “First Fight, Then Fiddle”: Fight
sense – [But]
One must go to war (arms and armor—to fight and protect oneself), carrying hate in front and harmony behind (as support)
purpose: -- “to civilize a space” where playing music is possible
sound –short one-syllable words
use of short imperatives: “win war. Rise bloody.”
Why not?
Other’s music.

9. You
Used To
Love Me
well.
Well,
you—
me—
to . . .
well . . .
love.
me.
Me,
too,
used . . .
well. . .
you.
Love,
love
me.
You,
Too
Well
used,
used
Love
well.
too.
You!
You Used
to Love
me well.

10. 2 speakers A: You Used To Love Me well. B. Used Love to .
A. You Used me.
Me, too, used you. . .
A. Love me.
B. Used Love well.
Me, too. You! A.
You Used
to Love
me well.

11. Sestina
Sestina: a fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a three-line envoi. (Wikipedia)
Source: Wikipedia

12. Sestina: Questions
1. How many speakers are there in this poem? When does one stop speaking and another begin?
2. What is the role of punctuation in “Sestina”? Can you describe the tones of each stanza?

13. l(a
l(a le af fa ll s) one l iness

14. l(a: Questions
What does the poem mean and how are the meanings conveyed through the image, the words and the shape of the poem?
“A leaf falls. Loneliness.” Why is this one not a poem, but “l(a” is? Is there meter or rhythm in the poem?

15. l(a: loneliness=singleness
the image = a leaf
the words = la, le, fa, af, ll (words falling and reversing), i-ness, I
the shape of the poem = “l”
Regularity (meter) in the falling and multiple meanings of the characters.

16. References
Owens, Clarke W. “Brooks's First Fight. Then Fiddle.” The Explicator 52.4 (Summer 1994): 240.