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A DATIA (pronounced "DAY-shya") is a poem that exhibits change in both circumstances
and meter. The technical term for a DATIA is "amphitroiambanaptyl", but that
sounds like something we'd take for a migraine. Writing DATIAs is far more
likely to cause headaches than cure them. There are three basic uses of the DATIA form:
The Characters' or Voices' DATIA
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The poet could use different meters for different characters or voices. The former could be a conversation involving various characters; a Shakespearian play would be the best example. Different voices would involve various people witnessing the same event or giving their views on a common subject. Characters would probably be identified and would interact with each other. Neither might be the case with separate voices.
The Narrator's DATIA
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Like a movie's music track, different meters could frame different moods. Take the typical romance story: lovers meet, dance, fight, break up, meet again, kiss and live happily ever after. The poet might choose to make these associations:
| Plot Point | Rhythm |
| Cooling. | Anapestic |
| Joy. | Dactyllic |
| Turbulence. | Amphibrachic |
| Building excitement. | Trochaic |
| Climax. | Iambic |
The Allegorical DATIA
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As we'll see, the allegorical (aka "historical") DATIA formalizes some general trends in storytelling
and free verse poems, starting with the tendency to "shorten our language" as we
approach the climax, "lengthening" it in the anticlimax. Whereas a curgina involves
free verse linebreaks in metrical work, a DATIA borrows free verse poetry's
use of varying rhythms.
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Classical sonnets will have a "problem" in the octet followed by a turn
(or "volta") towards the "solution" in the sestet. Similarly, a DATIA typically
begins with a "history" and ends with a "result". Instead of a stanza break and
change of tone constituting a volta the DATIA may have as many as three intermediate
steps: a statement of resolve, a buildup and a climax between the history and the
final result. Like the sonnet, then, the DATIA is about change but, unlike the
sonnet, the change is not always a resolution. The circumstances described in a
DATIA may go from good to bad or vice versa.
Stages of the DATIA
History
By "history" we speak of a description of the original circumstances, way of
life, characters, setting, etc. This is the "before" snapshot in the "before and
after" progression of the DATIA. Indeed, the history and result may be the only
two stages in some DATIAs, the original circumstances being used as a foil against
present ones.
Resolve
Once the stage has been set in the history someone or something is going to
come along and transform it. Many DATIA's will include a section detailing the
viewpoint or motivation of that agent of change. Occasionally, as in the case of
well known characters from literature, pop culture or history, the mere mention of
a name can serve to define their resolve.
Buildup
After establishing what things used to be like and, perhaps, having revealed
who or what will change them, we begin the chain of events that produces the
metamorphasis. In the case of a "leave-you-in-the-lurch" poem we might see an
exciting buildup with no climax--just a cutaway to life after those events.
Climax
Here we see the agent of change commit the act that produces the new set
of circumstances. In the case of, say, an unpredicted hurricane we might see
an idyllic scene, a sudden and climactic rush of action and then a calm that
reveals the extent of the disaster. History, climax, result. No resolve and
no buildup--just a cutaway to life after those events.
Result
Like the history, a result should not include any action that brought
about the change. It can, however, have actions facilitated or provoked by
the new circumstances. In a story about the death of a tyrant, for example,
the denouement won't describe the demise but might include the citizenry
exercising newfound freedoms.
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Because any of these stages--especially the three intermediate ones--may be
omitted it would be a misnomer to refer to the above five aspects as "quintessentials".
The DATIA Form
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As the stages of the DATIA address different aspects of the storyline the
rhythms and/or meter length often change in order to best reflect the theme of that section. Indeed,
there must be at least one such metrical switch for the poem to be a DATIA.
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DATIA derives its name from a sample set of rhythms that might be used:
| Rhythm | Stage |
| Dactyllic | History |
| Amphibrachic | Resolve |
| Trochaic | Buildup |
| Iambic | Climax |
| Anapestic | Result |
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There are no hard and fast rules attaching any particular rhythm to any
particular stage but one can predict a few general tendencies:
- The history & result tend to be 3-beat feet (e.g. dactyl, anapest, amphibrach).
- The history & result tend to be in different rhythms (e.g. dactyl vs anapest).
- The climax, if included, tends to be in iamb.
- The buildup tends to be in trochee or iamb (especially if there is no climax).
- DATIAs curginate well, especially if any section is shorter than a quatrain.
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The DATIA form is extremely flexible. Not only can intermediate stages be
dropped but meters can be of different lengths. For example, the history might
be in anapestic tetrameter, followed by an iambic pentameter climax and a dactyllic
trimeter result. In fact, if we read, say, "anapestic", "iambic" and "dactyllic" as
"predominantly anapestic", "predominantly iambic" and "predominantly dactyllic" we
can see free verse DATIAs. Even the spelling of the name is flexible; my guess is
that writers will use capitals only if the work contains all five stages, preferring
a simpler "datia" most of the time.
Sample DATIAs
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Here are the first two strophes from a poem by Didi Menendez that illustrates
the DATIA's trend towards shorter "meter" in free verse:
There are Sunflowers in Italy (translated from the original Spanish)
The sunflowers in Italy
are distant
as the Cuba I never knew
and the poems that you left
when we met
in that marble room.
You wrote your verses
with your veins
cold against the wall.
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The first strophe begins in second paeon (4 beats: de-DUM-de-de) before transitioning into anapests (3 beats: de-de-DUM). Then, as we get to the climax of S2, we see it compressed again into brilliantly syncopated iamb (2 beats: de-DUM).
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Here is an example of a DATIA in curginic format:
Tecumseh (aka "Shooting Star" or "Panther That Crouches In Wait")
You, Canadian? The greatest
American? You fought to be neither,
but nor were you panther
that crouches in wait. You were egret,
your feet in the mud as you stood
above weeds. Both
your fathers would leave you
to war. Brock would say no more
valorous warrior exists.
Sure as apple trees bud, the pleas
of a peacemaker can't be imparted
while even your traplines have
got to be guarded. Time
is gravity, a shooting star descending. Time
is charity; too soon you'll see it ending.
The cities were the bellows of the wind
that blew at Prophetstown,
across the rivers,
over you. Gray wolves surround the egret.
Foxes slink
away, their turn tail coats the colour of your blood.
You'd say: "Sing your death song and then die
like a hero returning home." Yours was the song
of that egret, your life
like a burning poem.
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To appreciate the five stages we need to decurginate this DATIA. Try copying and pasting the above into a text editor and see if you can put this poem into stanzas and identify the meters used.
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When you are done, click here to continue with Part II.
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