Double dactyls
The rules of the double dactyl are set forth in the classic Jiggery Pokery, ed. Anthony Hecht and John Hollander, Atheneum, 1967. The meter should be obvious from the examples below. The first line is dactylic rhyming nonsense. The second line must be the name of a historic personage. The fourth and eighth lines must rhyme. And the fifth, sixth, or seventh lines must be entirely composed of a single, double-dactylic word. (This means that Teresa's double-dactyl, below, is not strictly legal.)
Cyberpunk humanist,
Kim Stanley Robinson,
Remaking history
In KatmanduFinally concluded that,
Philogenetically,
Modern SF is a
Po-po-mo stew.(--pnh)
Pocketa pocketa
Judy-Lynn Benjamin
Rebuilt the frontlist of
Ballantine Books--Paying respects to our
Scientifictional
Values, but betting on
Eddings and Brooks.(--pnh)
Prickly pear prickly pear
Thomas Stearns Eliot
Asked about Pound by a
Friend at the bank,Answered, "I think him a
Megalomaniac--
Miglior fabbro but
Rather a crank."(--pnh)
Higglety pigglety
Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Fosters poor dunces in
Usage absurd:Listing "antidises-
tablishmentarian"--
Hack lexicographers!
Infamous word!(--tnh)