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. |
From inside the book
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Page 3
... chapter. To categorise in this way is, of course, to over-simplify and misrepresent a 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 ...
... chapter. To categorise in this way is, of course, to over-simplify and misrepresent a 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 ...
Page 18
... chapters that follow. Tension arises out of the twin tendencies of language, towards variety and towards regularity: the voice, or rather the speech faculty of the human brain, enjoys its freedom to range over a finely gradated scale of ...
... chapters that follow. Tension arises out of the twin tendencies of language, towards variety and towards regularity: the voice, or rather the speech faculty of the human brain, enjoys its freedom to range over a finely gradated scale of ...
Page 19
... chapter, it is a feature of some more recent approaches to metre as well. But there have been many prosodists who have regarded it as axiomatic that rhythm is a phenomenon which occurs in the dimension of time, and yet have found the ...
... chapter, it is a feature of some more recent approaches to metre as well. But there have been many prosodists who have regarded it as axiomatic that rhythm is a phenomenon which occurs in the dimension of time, and yet have found the ...
Page 21
... chapter: •r. Ij. jjd.Id. /. j*|j. J.|d*i. (11) And |trouble |deaf|heav'n with myIbootless Icries I The use of standard musical notation implies a further principle: that the individual syllables, although not classifiable simply into 'long ...
... chapter: •r. Ij. jjd.Id. /. j*|j. J.|d*i. (11) And |trouble |deaf|heav'n with myIbootless Icries I The use of standard musical notation implies a further principle: that the individual syllables, although not classifiable simply into 'long ...
Page 22
... Chapter 3 an examination of the adequacy of an analysis of English speech rhythms which makes stress-timing its basic principle, but there can be no doubt that it is a phenomenon which speakers of the language perceive, and one which ...
... Chapter 3 an examination of the adequacy of an analysis of English speech rhythms which makes stress-timing its basic principle, but there can be no doubt that it is a phenomenon which speakers of the language perceive, and one which ...
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