Tetractys
Tetractys from Greek refers to the
number series 1,2,3,4 which Euclid, famous for his geometrical theory, believed
to have mystical significance since the numbers all add up to 10. It was important
as a Pythagorean Symbol.
(1)
Unity, (2) Dyad - Power - Limit/Unlimit, (3) Harmony (4) Kosmos.
The four
rows add up to ten, which was
unity of a higher order (The Dekad).
The Tetractys also represented the
organization of space:
- the first row represented zero- dimensions (a point)
- the second row represented one-dimension (a line of two points)
- the third row represented two dimensions (a plane defined by a triangle of three points)
- the fourth row represented three dimensions (a tetrahedron defined by four points)
The tetractys (τετρακτύς), or tetrad,
is a triangular figure consisting of ten points
arranged in four rows: one, two, three, and four points in each row, which is
the geometrical representation of the fourth triangular number. As a mystical symbol, it was very important to the secret worship
of the Pythagoreans.
As a
new verse form introduced by writer Ray Stebbing, it takes the form of five
lines. Line 1 has one syllable, Line 2 has two, line 3 has three, line 4 has
four and the fifth line has ten. You can also do it the other way up, starting
with the ten syllable line and reducing. You can write a series of them as
verses in a longer poem and if you write a two verse poem with one verse
starting with one syllable and finishing with ten followed by an upside down
one starting with ten and going down to one, you end up with a diamond shape
rather like the shape poems of surrealist poet Guillaume Apollinaire (1880 –
1918) which he called calligrammes, where the shape
and spacing of the words is as important as
the content.
Ray Stebbing said – Its challenge is to express a
complete thought, profound or comic, witty or wise, within the narrow compass
of twenty syllables."
it
may rhyme
or it may
alliterate
but it doesn't have to, free verse is fine
don't
forget
you can too
give your poem
a title, lending more meaning to its theme.
Here are some I made earlier:
Lucky
for Some
Flood
Water
Creeps up banks
Swirling round trees
Turning into muddy
lakes our green fields.
Swans, ducks, geese,
moorhens and coots swim along
Merrily all the
Livelong day
Hear their
Song
24 Hour Broadcasts
News
Non stop
Bad, good, sad.
Information
Overload creates
confusion, baffles brains.
Longing
Oh
To be
Butterfly
So delicate,
Lovely and carefree on
gossamer wing
Dementia
Slip
Sliding
In my mind
Memories lost
Amid drifting cobwebs
of fleeting dreams.
Time and Tide
Jill
Arrives late
Freed from tide
That sweeps and slides
Follows the moon in its
course, ebbs and flows.
