The Rhythms of English PoetryExamines the way in which poetry in English makes use of rhythm. The author argues that there are three major influences which determine the verse-forms used in any language: the natural rhythm of the spoken language itself; the properties of rhythmic form; and the metrical conventions which have grown up within the literary tradition. He investigates these in order to explain the forms of English verse, and to show how rhythm and metre work as an essential part of the reader's experience of poetry. |
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Page 3
... complex web of arguments; but the survey that follows is intended not as a history of prosodic study, but as an examination of those ways of dealing with metre which have proved most tenacious in their hold on the English literary ...
... complex web of arguments; but the survey that follows is intended not as a history of prosodic study, but as an examination of those ways of dealing with metre which have proved most tenacious in their hold on the English literary ...
Page 9
... complex pattern representing with greater fidelity the actual pronunciation of the words. Most modern defenders of the classical approach would argue that this picture of two levels, partly coinciding, partly conflicting, reflects what ...
... complex pattern representing with greater fidelity the actual pronunciation of the words. Most modern defenders of the classical approach would argue that this picture of two levels, partly coinciding, partly conflicting, reflects what ...
Page 12
... complex and deviant metre would be quite false. The rhythm is bold and strong, with the firm four-beat structure of the ballad or nursery rhyme. Some theorists would argue that such verse is not in the accentual-syllabic tradition in ...
... complex and deviant metre would be quite false. The rhythm is bold and strong, with the firm four-beat structure of the ballad or nursery rhyme. Some theorists would argue that such verse is not in the accentual-syllabic tradition in ...
Page 25
... complex matter than an awareness of temporal relations. That stress-timing, as a perceptual characteristic of language, does enter into the rhythm of spoken English is, as we have seen, demonstrable, but it need not be assumed that this ...
... complex matter than an awareness of temporal relations. That stress-timing, as a perceptual characteristic of language, does enter into the rhythm of spoken English is, as we have seen, demonstrable, but it need not be assumed that this ...
Page 28
... complex subject, and will prepare the ground for arguments later in this study, if we once more pick out two threads from the intricate web that confronts us, though they will be more in the nature of specimens than generalisations. The ...
... complex subject, and will prepare the ground for arguments later in this study, if we once more pick out two threads from the intricate web that confronts us, though they will be more in the nature of specimens than generalisations. The ...
Contents
Rhythm | 57 |
Metre | 145 |
Practice | 283 |
RULES AND SCANSION | 357 |
Bibliography | 363 |
Sources of examples | 376 |
Index | 388 |
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Common terms and phrases
accentual-syllabic verse alternation anapaestic B B B B Ceolred chapter classical approach common metre complex create David Abercrombie deviation discussion distinction double offbeat duple metre duple verse emphasis English metre English verse example falling rhythm five-beat line following line four-beat line four-beat rhythm four-beat verse function iambic pentameter implied offbeat initial inversion initial offbeat language linguistic literary metrical form metrical pattern metrical rules metrical set metrical structure metrical style metrical subordination metrical theory metrist movement nonstresses occur offbeat condition optional pause perceived perception phonetic phonological phrase poem poetic poetry poets promotion pronunciation prosody reader reading rhyme rhythmic form rhythmic structure rhythmic unit scansion semantic sense sequence single offbeat speech rhythms stanza stress contour stress pattern stress-final pairing stress-initial pairing stress-timing stressed and unstressed strong syllable count syntactic break syntax tension tradition triple metre triple rhythm triple verse trochaic trochee underlying rhythm unrealised beat unstressed syllables words