What is a Double Dactyl?
“A form of light verse invented and promoted by Paul Pascal, Anthony Hecht, and John Hollander. The double dactyl consists of two quatrains, each with three double-dactyl lines followed by a shorter dactyl-spondee pair. The two spondees rhyme. Additionally, the first line must be a nonsense phrase, the second line a proper or place name, and one other line, usually the sixth, a single double-dactylic word that has never been used before in any other double dactyl”.
(Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/double-dactyl)
That probably hasn’t helped, has it? Perhaps the key is to direct you to the page How to Write a Double Dactyl or give you an example or two from two of our most proficient contributors:
Welcome-o, wilcome-o,
Double Dactylophile!
This is a place where you’ll
Feel quite at ease.
O, how you’ll savour the
Hexasyllabic’lly
Intricate verse and, well,
If not? Hard cheese.
(Matthew Craig-Greene)
Double-o, trouble-o,
Crypto-versologists,
Secretly grappling with
Syllables “hex”.
Clasped in the grasp of their
Dactylomania,
Stronger than cannabis,
Chocolate or sex.
(Sian Lang)
Each Monday we’ll post a new Double Dactyl from one of our many expert Dactylographers. If you feel minded to contribute one of your own for consideration, please email to:
azjackson65@gmail.com
Double Dactyls 