Hi, could you do The Village Blacksmith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow? It was my late grandma's favorite poem, and my first introduction to poetry as a child.
Wonderful suggestion!
β β‘ / β‘ β / β‘ β / β‘ β Under / a sprea/ding chest/nut-tree β‘ β / β‘ β / β‘ β Β Β β The vil/lage smi/thy stands; β‘ β / β‘ β / β‘ β / β‘ β The smith, / a migh/ty man / is he, β‘ β / β‘ β / β‘ β‘ β Β Β With large / and si/newy hands; β‘ β‘ β / β‘ β / β‘ β / β‘ β And the mus/cles of / his braw/ny arms β‘ β / β‘ β / β‘ β Β Β Are strong / as i/ron bands.
Metrical form: each stanza is 3 couplets of tetrameter + trimeter, mostly iambic but with some anapests. This kind of couplet is sometimes called ballad meter, or a looser form of common hymn meter. But it feels pretty different with 3 couplets per stanza! There are also some line-initial trochaic inversions, like in line 1.
Rhyme scheme: ABABCB
Other notes: A friend of mine who is an excellent science writer and video content creator recently wrote a blog post about and in ballad meter. The blog doesn't need my promotion but you guys should read it! And my friend's other stuff!
