Rhythm and Meter (Sound & Sense ch. 12)

 

·         rhythm= any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound

o   in speech: natural rise and fall of language

o   depends on stress, duration, pitch, juncture

ð  not formulaic

·         accented/stressed: given more prominence in pronunciation than other syllables

·         different intended meaning will produce different rhythms

o   rhetorical stresses: used to make intentions clear

·         pauses: esp. important in poetry

o   end-stopped line: end of line corresponds with a natural speech pause

o   run-on line: sense of the line moves on without pause into the next line

o   caesuras: pauses that occur within lines (grammatical or rhetorical)

·         poetic line = basic rhythmic unit in free verse

o   except for lines, no difference between rhythms of free verse and prose

·         prose poem: depends completely on ordinary prose rhythms (has a bunch of poetic elements, so it’s still considered a poem)

·         meter: regular patterns of accent that underlie metrical verse; measurable repetition of accented and unaccented syllables

o   follows patterns as POET arranged them

o   foot: usually one accented syllable + 1-2 unaccented syllables

§  compare syllables within foot

§  ˘ = unstressed;  ́= stressed

§  Iamb: ˘  ́

§  Trochee:  ́ ˘

§  Anapest: ˘ ˘  ́

§  Dactyl:  ́ ˘ ˘

§  Spondee:  ́ ́

o   mono-, di- tri-, tetra-, penta-, hexameter (based on # of feet)

·         stanza: group of lines whose metrical pattern is repeated throughout the poem

·         metrical variations: different from regular

o   substitution: replace regular foot with another foot

o   extrametrical syllables: added to beginnings or endings of lines

o   truncation: omission of unaccented syllable at beginning or ending of line

·         scansion: process of defining metrical form of poem

1.      identify prevailing foot

2.      name # feet/line

3.      describe stanzaic pattern

·         n. usually receives more stress than adj. modifying it; adv. > verb; adj. > adv.

o   except when modifier points to unusual/unexpected condition

·         feet do NOT indicate rhythm

·         rhythm often runs counter to meter

·         deviations from meter are significantà often have meaning

·         expected rhythm (set up by basic meter) v. heard rhythm

·         grammatical and rhetorical pauses

·         Purpose: pleasing, emotional stimulus, heighten awareness, reinforce meaning