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Ars Poetica

A poem about writing poetry

Tim MargettsAugust 19, 202627 views
Ars Poetica

I break the rules willingly
And snap the chains that fetter
Metre no more grilling me
My lines sound so much better

 

A verse should trip merrily
From tongue to ear with pleasure
But time pokes in warily
And forces me to measure

 

The metre so rudely calls
The patterns don’t come singly
My rebellion truly falls
My soul gives up willingly

 

                       

 

 


I chose to use the ancient Irish form of Ae Freislighe.

A poem about breaking free of the rules was very ironic when confined by such strict rules. (Defined below)

 

  • Quatrain stanzas (4-line stanzas)

  • 7 syllables per line

  • Lines 1 and 3 rhyme together, but they rhyme as three syllables (xxa)

  • Lines 2 and 4 rhyme together as two syllables (xb)

  • The final syllable, word, or line of the entire poem should be the same as at the poem's beginning (the poetic term for this is dunadh)

  • The poem can be as concise as one stanza and scale out as far as a poet wishes to push it

 

Reviews (3)

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Katharine Folkes

8/19/2026

The Words That Got to Me

I break the rules willingly And snap the chains that fetter Metre no more grilling me My lines sound so much better

You are something else, Tim Margetts! I thought, as I started reading your poem, what is he talking about? He's not breaking free. Veddy clevah! And then, you teach us something about a form of Irish poetry. veddy smaht! You add a lot of fun and information to this site through your writings and critiques! Muchas Gracias!!

Tim Margetts

8/19/2026

Thank you, Katharine. Now it's your turn... your choice of three: a Sestina, an Ae Freislighe, or an Ars Poetica. No point in bringing interesting forms to the site if it doesn't encourage my poetic friends to have a bash. xx

Katharine Folkes

8/19/2026

Ars Poetica By the Seat of My Brain Well, when I write, my writing guides the words which fly in from some wondrous magic place all ready to impart their heady thoughts, or not; they race about, in clueless state to see if they can join and make a plot and somehow cause the reader to exclaim how wunderbar, jawohl, der writer iss und find out, right away, der writer’s name! not sure that's what this is but from the ones I read, it might be :)

Tim Margetts

8/19/2026

And yes — it absolutely is an Ars Poetica. In fact, it’s rather wonderfully You! An Ars Poetica doesn’t require a particular form; it’s essentially a poem about the art, process or philosophy of writing poetry. Yours describes your own process perfectly: the words arrive from some mysterious place, mill about cluelessly, hopefully organise themselves into something resembling a plot, and with luck leave the reader thinking the writer is brilliant. So, the big question is… why is this here and not already posted to the site?

Katharine Folkes

8/20/2026

to Tim oh. ha! Maybe I will

Rachelle Allen

8/19/2026

Suggestions / Possible Tweaks

Ah, the irony of it all! I felt the smirk from the very first line! Amusing and fun!

Tim Margetts

8/20/2026

😜

R
Rachel Gosling

8/23/2026

The Words That Got to Me

I break the rules willingly And snap the chains that fetter Metre no more grilling me My lines sound so much better This grabbed me straight away. How many times have I counted syllables in my head? It certainly is a grilling process.

You have the talent to make your poetry look easy and off-the-cuff. I loved the way you took the writer's angst theme, and played with it so cleverly. Good work!

Tim Margetts

8/23/2026

Thank you, Rachel. I am pleased you enjoyed it. I had fun writing it, though it was a challenge to write about breaking the rules of poetic form while staying loyal to one of the more complicated forms I know.