[Fictionary] Poem results!

Sat Dec 2 23:58:45 EST 2017

First, allow me to introduce you to  Frederick Douglass, a poem by 
Paul Laurence Dunbar which begins:

A hush is over all the teeming lists,
And there is pause, a breath-space in the strife;
A spirit brave has passed beyond the mists
And vapors that obscure the sun of life.

And Ethiopia, with bosom torn,
Laments the passing of her noblest born.

https://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poem/frederick_douglass_20694

(Was the reason there were so few votes, because people recognized 
it? I'd never heard of it before.)

Now let's put it in context -- that is, surrounded by impostors!

A hush is over all the teeming lists,
And there is pause, a breath-space in the strife;
Until a shriek rings out, for through the mists
Emerges Mordagraunt, the dragon-wife.
   -- by David Randall
     1 point from Pierre

A hush is over all the teeming lists,
And there is pause, a breath-space in the strife;
But ever does the squall resume, unbound,
To scatter us like myriad dry leaves.
   -- by Jean-Joseph Cote
     1 point from Ranjit ("for daring not to rhyme")
     2 points from David
     1 point from Hutch ("The only un-rhymed entry. Makes it more 
believable. But a "squall"? While a squall might be fierce 
("unbound"), it is short-lived (not "ever ... resume"ing).")

A hush is over all the teeming lists,
And there is pause, a breath-space in the strife;
Methinks this War will go from swords to fists,
But evenso, where there is Hope there's Life.
   -- by Linda Owens
     2 points from Pierre
    Hutch: "Unless I'm wildly mistooken, the phrase is the other way: 
"where there's life, there's hope". And this rephrasing of Einstein's 
(?) quote about World Wars III and IV doesn't make it for me."

A hush is over all the teeming lists,
And there is pause, a breath-space in the strife;
 From up the mount descend the acrid mists,
The lake o'erturns, the gases threaten life.
   -- by Pierre Abbat
     2 points from Ranjit ("for rare limnic eruption poetry! 
(Actually, I'm no expert - perhaps lake overturning is a common 
sonnet topic...)")
    1 point from Linda ("I have smelt one in my faire towne, or I mean 
the town I used to live in. Very small yet deep lake, very stinky 
smell.")

A hush is over all the teeming lists,
And there is pause, a breath-space in the strife;
A spirit brave has passed beyond the mists
And vapors that obscure the sun of life.
   -- by by Paul Laurence Dunbar
     1 point from David
     2 points from Hutch ("This one, being directly before mine and 
using the same rhymes ("lists/mists" and "strife/life") as mine was 
subconsciously eliminated as soon as I saw it. However, 8 of the 14 
rhyme completions (57%) match one or another of mine, so that's not a 
valid elimination ... and I've eliminated everything else for better 
reasons. So ...")
     1 point from Jean-Joseph
     Pierre: "Rhyme scheme ABCD? Unlikely."

A hush is over all the teeming lists,
And there is pause, a breath-space in the strife;
As o'er the battlefield the wafting mists
Obscure the pain of wounds and loss of life.
   -- by Hutch
     2 points from Linda
     2 points from Jean-Joseph

A hush is over all the teeming lists,
And there is pause, a breath-space in the strife;
I'm really thankful Dramamine exists:
My future husband has an awesome wife.
   -- by (via?) Ranjit Bhatnagar. It was generated by pentametron; the 
full explanation is included at the bottom of this message.
     Hutch: "*LOL* But shouldn't the final line be "My future husband 
WILL have an awesome wife"??? Or is the current wife he is cheating 
on with you really that awesome? :-)"

General comments:
Linda:  I loved this exercise and all answers were fabulous. Must 
look up Mordagraunt
Hutch: This is going to be tough. Very "mist"y place this 
"breath-space in the strife".
Jean-Joseph: Hmm, everybody opted for either "life" or "wife" as the 
rhyme (except for my gambit of no rhyme at all).  No "knife", or 
"rife", or...?  Quite a few outlandish ones, daring anyone to vote 
for them.

THE WINNER:  Hutch! Not only did he bullseye the original poem's 
"obscure", he even threw in that poetic "o'er". (His score is 4+2 -- 
4 points given to him by other voters, plus 2 points from his correct 
guess).  Jean-Joseph's daring unrhyming stanza is close behind, with 
4+1 points.  Have at it, Hutch.

-Jim

At 9:44 PM -0500 11/20/17, Ranjit Bhatnagar wrote:
>
>In honor of nanogenmo 
><<https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017>https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017> 
>I had pentametron 
><<https://twitter.com/pentametron>https://twitter.com/pentametron> 
>generate the poem for me. It also generated all these, which I 
>didn't bother to edit out of COMPUTER-TEXT:
>
>I'M REALLY THANKFUL DRAMAMINE EXISTS
>SHE AIN'T A STRANGER TO THE CITY LIFE
>
>FOND OF APPRECIATING WHAT EXISTS
>APPRECIATE THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE
>
>BILL COSBY IS A PERSON THAT EXISTS
>SONS ARE THE ANCHORS OF A MOTHERS LIFE
>
>I JUST REMEMBERED ASHLEY MOORE EXISTS
>BE THANKFUL FOR THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE
>
>I NEVER KNEW CHINCHILLA CATS EXISTS
>DON'T MAKE A DONKEY OF YOURSELF IN LIFE
>
>I KEEP FORGETTING THIS ACCOUNT EXISTS
>SHE AIN'T A STRANGER TO THE CITY LIFE
>
>GREEK YOGURT IS THE REASON HELL EXISTS
>SHOULD REALLY TRY AND FIND A SOCIAL LIFE
>
>THE ONLY DISNEY MOVIE THAT EXISTS
>ANOTHER EMPTY BOTTLE TAKES A LIFE
>
>REMINDER SUNNY AFTERNOON EXISTS
>ANOTHER BOY WITHOUT A SHARPER KNIFE
>
>GOOD MORNING EVERYONE DESPAIR PERSISTS
>SCHOOL RUINED MY ALREADY RUINED LIFE
>
>SO HAPPY CHEESY GARLIC BREAD EXISTS
>I'M JUST A WEIGHT IN EVERYBODY'S LIFE
>
>APPRECIATE THE DARKNESS THAT EXISTS
>APPRECIATE THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE
>
>THEN I REMEMBERED ALCOHOL EXISTS
>ANOTHER EMPTY BOTTLE TAKES A LIFE
>
>DON'T WORRY INNER BEAUTY STILL EXISTS
>SONS ARE THE ANCHORS OF A MOTHERS LIFE
>
>I DON'T BELIEVE THE HUMAN RACE EXISTS
>TOO DOWN AND FEELING SHITTY WHAT A LIFE
>
>I KEEP FORGETTING HALLOWEEN EXISTS
>NAPS ARE IMPORTANT FOR A HEALTHY LIFE
>
>I'M REALLY HAPPY DRY SHAMPOO EXISTS
>CUTE PEOPLE RUIN MY ENTIRE LIFE
>
>BOYS ARE THE REASON ALCOHOL EXISTS
>PLAYS WITH HER FINGERS WAITING FOR HER WIFE
>
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