_____
For convenience, here is the DATIA in curginic form:
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
was gravity
as shooting stars descended. Time
was charity
and at the Thames
it ended.
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 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.
_____
Here is the decurginated DATIA:
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 was gravity as shooting stars descended.
Time was charity and at the Thames it ended.
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 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.
| Stanza | Meter |
| 1 | Anapestic Hexameter |
| 2 | Amphibrachic Tetrameter |
| 3 | Trochaic Hexameter |
| 4 | Iambic Hexameter |
| 5 | Dactyllic Pentameter |
_____
The history uses long lines to reflect its prosey nature. The resolve uses another 3-beat rhythm (i.e. amphibrach) but shortens the lines, making it sound more succinct. As we get to the action it is the rhythm that shortens (i.e. from the 3-beat amphibrach to 2-beat trochee) before the number of feet contract in the climactic iambic pentameter. This contraction of meter (i.e. the feet get shorter and there may be fewer of them per line) as we approach the climax will be a common characteristic of the DATIA. The result returns us to the 3-beat feet of the dactyl, mirroring the history's anapests.
_____
The changes involved in the meters (or predominant rhythm, if free verse) reflect natural changes that we see in any storytelling, be it prose or free verse. It may be an interesting exercise to revisit our favourite short stories or free verse poems to spot this trend done "unconsciously", as opposed to the deliberate, formalized approach of the DATIA.
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