Alexandra, the reason I don't like "for" in that context is that it makes it sound as though the verse had offended, when I am envisioning an ongoing battle of song versus verse, as in Poe's raven continually croaking "Nevermore" at him.
Marshall, the weird thing about dreams is that you find yourself doing things that you know are wrong, even while you are dreaming, yet you can't stop doing them in the dream except by waking up. The dream is that kind of anxiety dream, and I am not implying that I would enjoy eating nightingale pie. Feeling guilt for a dream is not rational, since one is not morally culpable for what one dreams. But the guilt feels real. In the last stanza, "eating crow" is admitting having done something wrong, even though the infraction never really happened. Though I could make this into tetrameter couplets, I am not very fond of couplets, and I did put a lot of work into making the meter work as double amphibrachs. I think I like the look of it better with short lines, too.
Susan
Last edited by Susan McLean; 12-26-2023 at 03:19 PM.
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