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
Results 6-10 of 83
Page 14
... reading that remains faithful to the normal pronunciation of English, and a metrical analysis should show this; foot-scansion obscures this fact by seeming to invite some audible manifestation of the ghostly divisions on which it is ...
... reading that remains faithful to the normal pronunciation of English, and a metrical analysis should show this; foot-scansion obscures this fact by seeming to invite some audible manifestation of the ghostly divisions on which it is ...
Page 15
... reader. Foot-prosody is less misleading in handling what it treats as pyrrhic and spondaic substitution, but to analyse ... reading the lines we perceive at these points two different but simultaneous disyllabic patterns. But a more ...
... reader. Foot-prosody is less misleading in handling what it treats as pyrrhic and spondaic substitution, but to analyse ... reading the lines we perceive at these points two different but simultaneous disyllabic patterns. But a more ...
Page 17
... readers perceive. In spite of its inadequacy as a way of analysing English metre, classical prosody has provided some ... reading a metrical line is an onward movement which at times approaches a marked regularity and at times departs ...
... readers perceive. In spite of its inadequacy as a way of analysing English metre, classical prosody has provided some ... reading a metrical line is an onward movement which at times approaches a marked regularity and at times departs ...
Page 20
... reading of it. Most writers in this tradition make use of a further principle, fundamental to Western music from the seventeenth century to the twentieth century, by dividing the line into bars, or measures, of equal duration, and ...
... reading of it. Most writers in this tradition make use of a further principle, fundamental to Western music from the seventeenth century to the twentieth century, by dividing the line into bars, or measures, of equal duration, and ...
Page 26
... readings of prose and verse. There has been no lack of such laboratory work this century, from the early efforts of ... reading of regular verse English speakers do not give identical durations to feet or measures, unless the lines are ...
... readings of prose and verse. There has been no lack of such laboratory work this century, from the early efforts of ... reading of regular verse English speakers do not give identical durations to feet or measures, unless the lines are ...
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