James Ivan

THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY PALINDROMIC RHYME SCHEME

Jeffrey Dean Morgan speaks a great 3 stanza monologue poem as Negan on AMC TV show “The Walking Dead: Dead City”.
     In this monologue poem, Negan is trying to persuade his frenemy, Maggie, to let go of what happened between them in the past.
      This monologue poem versifies into 3 octaves (8 line stanzas) that each have this palindromic rhyme scheme. x,a,b,c,c,b,a,x.
     Another thing I’ve noticed is that there are more syllables toward the middle of each stanza than there are at the beginning or end. Even that is palindromic. Because you begin with just a couple of syllables, increase the syllables in the middle and then return to just a few syllables at the end.
     If I were to perform this poem, I would emphasize the 2 ideas discussed above: 1) the weird palindromic rhyme scheme and 2) increase in syllable count toward the middle of the stanza.
     Check out the monologue poem BELOW. Then PLEASE feel free to leave a COMMENT, LIKE this blog post, and FOLLOW my blog.

STAR WARS: ANDOR & The Broken Ballad of Kino Loy

Andy Serkis gives a powerful 20 stanza monologue poem as Kino Loy in Star Wars: Andor.
     This monologue poem is interesting because of how the feel of the piece, and the way it reads, dictates the rhyme scheme. This made the monologue difficult to break down.
      In this monologue poem Kino Loy is inspiring his fellow prisoners to fight for their freedom.
      This monologue poem is made up of 20 unbounded Broken ballad quatrains that are written in a,x,a,x rhyme scheme. Each stanza is broken up into a tercet (3 lines) followed by a monostitch (single line). The monostitch line either concludes the current thought like a period at the end of a sentence OR it introduces the next thought. This makes all of the thoughts of the poem feel interconnected.
     If I were to perform this monologue, I would focus on telling the story as if it were set to music. I might also give a short pause/or non-verbal gesture before the monostitch line in each stanza to emphasize the brokenness of the ballad quatrain.
     Check out this great monologue poem BELOW. Then PLEASE feel free to comment your thoughts about it, like this blog post, and follow this blog.

BILLIONS: The Oscillating Sermon Rhyme Of Bobby Axelrod

Damian Lewis gives a great 8 stanza monologue poem as Bobby Axelrod in the TV show “Billions”.
     In this monologue Bobby speaks to U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades, played by Paul Giamatti. Bobby let’s Chuck know that if he goes down, he will find out Chuck’s secret and take Chuck down with him.
     This monologue is 8 tercet stanzas written in abb, cdd, eff, …etc rhyme scheme that oscillates back and forth between front rhymes and end rhymes. This rhyme scheme gives the poem a religious reverent feel like a sermon. The oscillation adds color and sophistication to the poem like when jazz musicians jump on and off the beat to add that something extra special to their melodies.
     If I were to perform this monologue poem, I would speak like I’m quoting the Bible. As is God himself commanded me to find this person’s secret and take him down with me.
     Check out the monologue poem for yourself BELOW. Please don’t hesitate to like, follow, or leave a comment on this blog post.

The Righteous Gemstones Internal Oscillating Couplet Rhyme

At the end of season 3 episode 4 of “The Righteous Gemstones”, Jesse Gemstone, played by Danny McBride, speaks a powerful 18 couplets stanza monologue poem about trust to his son, Pontius, played by Kelton DuMont.
     This monologue poem is written in internal rhymes like some of the poems from my previous blog posts are. But usually in internal rhyme poems we oscillate between ONE line of rhymes and ONE line with NO rhymes. But in this Righteous Gemstones poem we get an oscillation between TWO lines (couplets) with NO rhymes at all and TWO lines (couplets) where each line has it’s own internal rhymes.
     As I’ve told you in previous blog posts, the more you internalize the rhyme scheme, the more intellectual and sophisticated the poem will sound. The oscillation between rhymes and NO rhymes adds even more sophistication and color like jazz musicians who jump on and off beat to add some extra color to their melodies.
      Another thing I noticed is that Jesse Gemstone likes to add -ing to the end of his words. The fact that this poem is done in couplets gives it a musical feel.
     If I were to perform this monologue poem, I would emphasize the musicality of the oscillating couplets and the appending of words ending in -ing or -s, or -ed.
     Check out the monologue poem BELOW, then LIKE, COMMENT ON, and FOLLOW this blog.

INTERNAL STUTTER & RAMBLING OF “THE BEAR”

Below is a monologue poem from season 2 episode 3 of the FX TV show “The Bear”, where the lead character, Carmen, is sharing his thoughts at an Al-Anon support group.
     This monologue is interesting because it’s one long 27 line stanza where each line has an internal rhyme scheme.
     As I told you in my last post where I broke down a monologue poem from the Netflix tv show, “The Lincoln Lawyer”, the more you internalize the rhyme scheme, the more intellectualized the poem will sound.
     But unlike that “The Lincoln Lawyer” poem, the speaker in this “The Bear” poem does not jump on and off beat with the internal rhyme like a jazz musician.
     The speaker in this “The Bear” poem reveals lots of social awkwardness and social anxiety as he stutters his way through line after line of internal rhymes without taking a break.
     The stuttering shows that while this speaker is super intellectual, he also has a lack of confidence and needs extra time to finish his thoughts.
     This speaker just stutters and rambles on until all of his thoughts are spoken. This is a stream of consciousness monologue where the speaker just says whatever comes to mind about a particular subject.
     If I were to perform this monologue poem, I would emphasize the speaker’s flaws, like the lack of confidence and extra time needed to finish his thoughts which is shown by the stuttering. I would just allow my social anxiety to reveal itself more and more as I ramble through each line until a weight was lifted off of my chest.
     Check out this “The Bear” monologue below, then like, comment on, and follow this blog.

THE INTERNAL RHYME OF THE LINCOLN LAWYER.

I found a monologue poem from “The Lincoln Lawyer” that has a very interesting internal rhyme scheme. This is a monologue poem where the lead character, Mickey Haller, talks about why it’s so difficult to defend an innocent client. I’m not sure if this monologue poem comes from the book, the movie or the Netflix tv show.
     Internal rhyme scheme is when the words or syllables within a particular line are rhymed. This type of rhyme scheme is always used for super intellectual characters who’ve had alot of formal education.(e.g. doctors, lawyers, scientists, etc).
       For those of you who, like me, love to write poetry, a good point to always remember is: The more you internalize the rhyme scheme, the more intellectualized and educated the poem will sound.
     This monologue poem uses an internal rhyme scheme where 9 couplets are aranged like this: the first line has NO rhymes at all while the second line contains rhymed syllables. This oscillation between rhyming and not rhyming also helps to make the character sound intellectualized and well educated. It’s like when jazz musicians artistically jump on and off beat to add even more color to their music.
       Check out the monologue poem below. Please like, comment on, and follow this blog.

THE COMEDY OF DEADPOOL 2

This is a comical 7 stanza monologue poem from the Marvel movie “DeadPool 2” starring Ryan Reynolds.
     In this monologue DEADPOOL, played by Ryan Reynolds, is humorously trying to talk COLOSSUS, played by Stefan Kapičić, into helping him to save RUSSELL, played by Julian Dennison from CABLE, played by Josh Brolin.
     This humorous monologue poem is written in 7 end-rhymed stanzas of AAB, CCD, EEF, GGH, IIJ, KKL, MMN rhyme scheme which gives it a song like feel.
     If I were to perform this monologue poem, I would speak it in a fast paced, comical, sing-song manner like a court jester and really emphasis the comedy. I may also add in some over the top comical gestures and facial expressions.

You guys make a super cute couple. Yeah. Where was I? Oh, yeah.
Colossus!

Look, I don’t deserve your
friendship or your
help. But this kid does.

And I’m not gonna bail on
him like everyone else. Oh, come on.
Any chance Pigeon Wings is available?

That’s just fine.
That’s fine.
No! You know what?

Doing
the right thing
is sometimes

messy and
fucked up, and
not particularly convenient!

So stay here in
Chateau de Virgin
while we go get our fuck on!

THE WITCHER

I found a short monologue poem from “The Witcher” where Geralt is speaking to Dandelion about the dark side of humanity.   I’m not sure if this monologue is from the “The Witcher” video game or the popular “The Witcher” TV show on NetFlix.
     This short 5 stanza monologue poem has a front-rhymed abb, cdd, eff, ghh, ijj rhyme scheme which gives it a reverent spiritual feel. Almost like a sermon.
     If I were to perform this monologue poem, I would definitely take ’em to church by speaking the words of this poem as if I was giving some sort of testimony on the weakness of the flesh.
      Check out the monologue poem down below and leave a comment about how you would perform this monologue poem.

“People like to invent monsters and
monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves.

When they get blind-drunk,
cheat, steal,
beat their wives,

starve an old woman, when they kill
a trapped fox with an axe or riddle
the last existing unicorn with arrows,

they like to think
that the Bane entering cottages
at daybreak is more monstrous

than they are.
They feel better then.
They find it easier to live.”

MARVEL’S “SECRET INVASION”

The British actor, Richard Dormer, who’s known for his role as Beric in the HBO series “Game Of Thrones”, Does an interesting monologue poem as Agent Prescod in the Marvel miniseries “Secret Invasion”. Agent Prescod uses this monologue poem to explain his conspiracy theory about how the Skrulls are trying to take over the world.
     This monologue poem has a very subtle, barely noticeable front-rhymed rhyme scheme that makes the poem feel more prosaic than poetic.
     Its 9 front-rhymed quatrain stanzas in X,A,X,A X,B,X,B… etc rhyme scheme. There are declarative, imperative, and interrogative sentences all throughout.
      If I were to perform this monologue poem, I would speak each of the 36 lines as its own imperative, declarative or interrogative sentence. I also would NOT give any emphasis to the subtle rhyme pattern as I feel the writer wanted this poem to sound like prose.
     Check out my versification of this awesome monologue poem below and let me know what you think about it.

AGENT PRESCOD

Imagine a world
where information
can’t be trusted. Not
very hard, is it?

News service
says one thing,
website
says another.

Society starts to fray. All
we can turn to
are the people
we care about.

But, what if those
people
weren’t who
we thought they were?

What if
the ones
closest to us,
the ones we’ve trusted our whole lives

were someone else entirely? What if
they weren’t
even human?
Chaos. And that’s only the beginning.

Five global terrorist strikes within
the past year.
Each one claimed by
a different group.

That’s precisely what they want
you to think. Not People.
Skrulls. Look can’t
you see it,

All these groups they’re the same. Skrulls
can
be
anybody, anywhere, at anytime.