[Jamestown1630]

"A poet doesn't TRY to make one tongue movement follow another. They just write what feels right to them."

I think a poet chooses WORDS by how they 'feel' - which is a combination of knowledge of the word's meaning, its historical usage, and an intuitive 'je ne sais quois'.

But he puts the words together - arranges them - in ways that sound right to the inner ear. The poet is always 'listening' as he composes.

[mairdie]

Yes, but the Night Before Christmas research shows that there’s a massive difference between what people hear as “right.”

Say the set of words below aloud and feel the difference in your mouth. The first set is what Moore favors over the Henry favored words. Personally, I can’t get my mouth around Moore’s pairs. Noticing that I was moving my mouth six ways to Sunday when reading Moore aloud is how we fell into analyzing phonemes in the first place.

I read aloud everything I write. Rhythm is absolutely crucial in what I write here, as well as what I write for other purposes. Husband often smiles. I wonder if Moore DIDN’T read his work aloud and if Henry did.

Moore Favored Phoneme Pairs in “Saratoga”
T/DH at the
T/F not for
T/S That spoke
Z/W comes we’ll
S/W chance were
Z/T waters to
IY/T we take
D/P and plenteous
S/S fierce soe’er
Z/CH his children

Henry Favored Phoneme Pairs in “Invitation to the Country”

AH/N The nightingale
AH/F The flimsy
AH/S the side
AH/B a bush
AH/K The copses
AH/L the lawn
AH/ the plains
N/AH season of
Z/AO flits o’er
Z/IH gambols in