I was using my fingers to count out the syllables in a line of my poetry when I began wondering if Shakespeare did the same or did he function by artistic instinct in his writing and in his life? (Yes, there are few lines with eleven syllables, but I thought they sounded better than any ten syllable versions I could invent. Artistic instinct or laziness?)
Life Scan
Did Shakespeare count his feet on his fingers
Or did he just sense when a line should end?
Did he know when to go, when to linger,
When to be a lover and when a friend?
Did his life take the same turns as his sonnets?
We know so little of how he lived his days.
Did each have the mark of art upon it
Or were some wasted in dull common ways?
Did he spend time groaning at the dentist’s
As well as moaning on his beloved’s bed?
Was he kind to every stage apprentice
Or did he curse and kick their butts instead?
Lacking a time machine, we’ll never know –
Was his life a triumph or just so-so?
Life Scan
Did Shakespeare count his feet on his fingers
Or did he just sense when a line should end?
Did he know when to go, when to linger,
When to be a lover and when a friend?
Did his life take the same turns as his sonnets?
We know so little of how he lived his days.
Did each have the mark of art upon it
Or were some wasted in dull common ways?
Did he spend time groaning at the dentist’s
As well as moaning on his beloved’s bed?
Was he kind to every stage apprentice
Or did he curse and kick their butts instead?
Lacking a time machine, we’ll never know –
Was his life a triumph or just so-so?
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