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 viii
... discussions of English metre: its aim is not merely to summarise these approaches but also to ascertain the requirements of an adequate metrical theory, and it therefore adumbrates some of the main arguments that follow. The next two ...
... discussions of English metre: its aim is not merely to summarise these approaches but also to ascertain the requirements of an adequate metrical theory, and it therefore adumbrates some of the main arguments that follow. The next two ...
Page 3
... discussions of English poetry, and of assessing what is valuable and what misleading about these traditional accounts. While prosodic approaches of more recent origin, to be discussed in the next chapter, have begun to make themselves ...
... discussions of English poetry, and of assessing what is valuable and what misleading about these traditional accounts. While prosodic approaches of more recent origin, to be discussed in the next chapter, have begun to make themselves ...
Page 8
... discussion, can be introduced here: a line which ends with a syntactic break is end-stopped, and one which does not is run-on (or enjambed). All the lines in (5) are end-stopped; the first line of (6) is run-on. It is also worth ...
... discussion, can be introduced here: a line which ends with a syntactic break is end-stopped, and one which does not is run-on (or enjambed). All the lines in (5) are end-stopped; the first line of (6) is run-on. It is also worth ...
Page 11
... discussions of alternative scansions of a single metrical form. Consider the following lines, in a metre which occurs widely throughout the English tradition (the symbols here indicate the basic metrical scheme, not the actual stress ...
... discussions of alternative scansions of a single metrical form. Consider the following lines, in a metre which occurs widely throughout the English tradition (the symbols here indicate the basic metrical scheme, not the actual stress ...
Page 14
... discuss them fully in 7.6 and 8.6-7. In classical scansion, however, they are presented as completely distinct phenomena, the first involving trochaic substitution, or inversion, and the second involving two substitute feet which have ...
... discuss them fully in 7.6 and 8.6-7. In classical scansion, however, they are presented as completely distinct phenomena, the first involving trochaic substitution, or inversion, and the second involving two substitute feet which have ...
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