POETRY

1. POETRY Poetry and Prose. Sound Patterning. Prosody. Rhymes. Stanza Forms

2. Poetry and Verse Poetry is one of the subcategories of literature along with drama and fiction. In this sense by poetry lyric poetry is meant. Metrical poetry, i.e. verse, differs from prose in that the former is rhythmically organized speech down to the level of syllables, whereas the latter is either orderless or follows ordering patterns other than syllabic principles.

3. Rhythm Prose rhythm may use repetitions, parallels of words, syntactical units, grammar structures, sentence length, semantic structures. Prose rhythm does not follow any preset pattern.

4. Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice(1813)from Chapter 1 IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of agood fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may beon his firstentering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixedin the minds of thesurrounding families, that he is considered asthe rightful property ofsome one or other of their daughters. ``My dear Mr. Bennet,'' said his lady to him one day, ``have you heard thatNetherfield Park is let at last?''

5. Austen cont. Mr. Bennetreplied that he had not. ``But it is,'' returned she; ``for Mrs. Long has justbeen here, andshe told meall about it.'' Mr. Bennet made no answer. ``Do not you want to know who has taken it?'‘cried his wife impatiently. ``You want to tell me, and I have no objection tohearing it.'' This was invitation enough.

6. Austen cont. ``Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfieldis taken by ayoung man of large fortune fromthe north ofEngland; that he came down onMonday in a chaise and four tosee the place, and was so muchdelightedwith it that he agreedwith Mr. Morris immediately; that he is totake Possessionbefore Michaelmas,and some of his servants are to be in thehouse by the end of next week.'' ``What is his name?'' ``Bingley.'' ``Is he married or single?'' ``Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or fivethousand a year. What a fine thingfor our girls!''

7. GenesisKing James Bible 1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2:And the earthwas without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of thedeep. And the Spirit ofGod moved upon the face of the waters. 3:And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4:And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from thedarkness. 5:And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the eveningand the morning were thefirst day.

8. Genesis cont. 6:And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and letit dividethe waters from thewaters. 7:And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under thefirmament from the waterswhich were above the firmament: and it wasso. 8:And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morningwere the second day. 9:And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together untoone place, and let the dry landappear: and it wasso.

9. Genesis cont. 10:And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of thewaters called he Seas: and God sawthat it was good. 11:And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, andthe fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12:And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind,and the tree yielding fruit, whoseseed was in itself, after his kind: and Godsaw that it was good.

10. Verse Rhythm Verse is a patterned succession of syllables: some are strongly emphasized, some are not. Rhythms of poetry, compared with prose rhythms, are stylized and artificial, they fall into patterns that are more repetitive and predictable. Poetic rhythms call attention to themselves.

11. Poetic Rhythm Literature – coded text Poetic rhythm – concentration and intensity Primordial functions of poetry naming possession healing Incantatory rhythms, verse spells, healing charms (an incantation or enchantment is a charm or spell created using words)

12. An Old English medical verse-spellagainst poison This herb is called Stime; it grew on a stone, It resists poison, it fights pain. It is called harsh, it fights against poison. This is the herb that strove against the snake; This has strength against poison, this has strength against infection, This has strength against the foe who fares through the land. (Anglo-Saxon Poetry.Sel. and trans. by R. K. Gordon, rev. ed., London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1954, 93)

13. Verse Rhythm Rhythm is based on orderly repetition. Poetic rhythm is based on the regular alternation of certain syllabic features of the text.

14. SYLLABLE A syllable commonly consists of a vocalic peak, which may be accompanied by a consonantal onset or coda. In some languages, every syllabic peak is indeed a vowel. But other sounds can also form the nucleus of a syllable. In English, this generally happens where a word ends in an unstressed syllable containing a nasal or lateral consonant. CV / CVC / VC /CCV / CCVC / etc. Diphtongs, triphtongs – vowel sequences in which two or three components can be heard but which none the less count as a single vowel BUT one syllable: hire, lyre, flour, cowered two syllables: higher, liar, flower, coward

15. Prosody(from Wikipedia) In poetry, meter (metre in British English) is thebasic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines inverse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe aspecific verse meter, or a certain set of metersalternating in a particular order. The study of meters andforms of versification is known as prosody. (Withinlinguistics, "prosody" is used in a more general sense thatincludes not only poetical meter but also the rhythmicaspects of prose, whether formal or informal, which varyfrom language to language, and sometimes between poetictraditions.)

16. Prosodic features of speech: tone stress / beat /accent intonation Chief phonetic correlates: pitch duration loudness Prosody

17. Pitch is widely regarded in English as the most salientdeterminantof prominence. When a syllable ora word is perceived as ‘stressed’ or‘emphasized’, it is pitch height or a change ofpitch, more thanlength or loudness, that islikely to be mainly responsible.

18. Duration The duration of syllables depends on both segment type and the surrounding phonetic context. Duration is also constrained bybiomechanical factors:part of the reason whythe vowel in English bat, forexample, tends tobe relatively long is that the jaw hasto movefurther than in words like bit or bet.

19. Stress / Beat / Accent Stress commonly is a conventional label for the overallprominence of certain syllables relative to others within alinguistic system. In this sense, stress does not correlate simply with loudness,but represents the total effect offactors such as pitch,loudness and duration.

20. Stress in English English, sometimes described as a ‘stress timed’language,makes a relatively large difference between stressed and unstressedsyllables, insuch a way that stressed syllablesare generallymuch longer than unstressed.

21. Accent The term ACCENT is sometimes used loosely to mean stress, referring to prominence in a general way or more specifically to the emphasis placed on certain syllables. The term‘accent’ is also used to refer to relativeprominence within longer utterances.

22. Stress / Accent The terms STRESS and ACCENT in particular are notoriously ambiguous, and it would be misleading to suggest that there are standard definitions.

23. Beat Beat denote stress with metrical relevance, i.e. stressed syllables which count in metrical lines are called beats.

24. English Versification English poetic rhythm is based on the regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. (Duration and pitch are no metre creating features.) Stresses are that of words stresses and marked in dictionaries by ‘ asin synecdoche /sɪ’nɛkdəkɪ/. Scansion is the act of determining and graphically representing the metrical character of a line of verse. Stressed syllables are marked by the symbols / or –. Unstressed syllables /slacks are marked by the symbol X.

25. Scansion When I consider how my light is spent X / X / X / X / X / (Milton) Whose woods these are I think I know X / X / X / X / (Frost) When my mother died I was very young X X / X / X X / X / (Blake)

26. Scansion Down by the salley gardensmy love and I did meet X / X / X / X || X / X / X / (Yeats) ‘||’ is a division marker or bar between repeated units of a line broken into sections by a caesura

27. Rhythm and Metre Rhythm The rhythmic structure of a poem is formed by repeating a basicrhythmical unit of stressed and unstressed syllables Metre Metre grows out of the linguistic rhythms of the words, it is the design formed by the rhythms, it is an abstract pattern. The general metre and the actual rhythm of a specific line are not always identical.

28. Metrical Systems in English1 Accentual/Stressed Metre In accentual/stressed metre the number of accents/stressed syllables is fixed in a line. However the number of unstressed syllables is variable. In order to define the actual form you have to count the number of accents per line.

29. Metrical Systems in English1 Accentual/Stressed Metre Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Alliterative Versification The basic metrical feature of the line is four strong stresses: / / / / The spaces before and between the stress can be occupied by zero, one, two or three syllables, e.g. : X / X X / X X X / /, or X X / X / / X X / X, etc. Each full line is divided into two half-lines (hemistichs) by a Caesura: X X / X X / || X X / X X /

30. Anglo-Saxon Alliterative Versification cont. The distinctive feature of this metrical form is its alliteration. Alliteration is a figure speech, meaning the repetition of consonant or vowel sounds at the beginning of words or stressed syllables. It is a very old device which often help create onomatopoeic effects, i.e. effects imitating sounds. Alliteration is a key organizing principle in Anglo-Saxon verse.

31. Alliteration Alliteration is the principal binding agent of Old English poetry. Two syllables alliterate whenthey begin with the same sound; all vowelsalliterate together, but the consonant clustersst-, sp- and sc- are treated as separate sounds(so st- does not alliterate with s- or sp-).

32. Anglo-Saxon Alliterative Versification cont. Formal requirements: • A long-line is divided into two half-lines. Half-lines are also known as verses or hemistichs • A heavy pause, or cæsura, separates the two half-lines. • Each half-line has two strongly stressed syllables. • The first lift in the second half-line (i.e. the third stress) is always alliterated with either or both stressed syllables in the first half-line. • The second stress in the second half-line, i.e. the fourth stress does not alliterate.

33. Anglo-Saxon Alliterative Versification cont. Thus there are the following variants: (‘A’ marks an alliterating syllable, ‘X’ marks a non-alliterating syllable) • A A || A X • A X || A X • X A || A X

34. Beowulf Manuscript Beowulf is the conventional title of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines. Its composition by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet is dated between the 8th and the early 11th century. The poem appears in what is today called the Beowulf manuscript or Nowell Codex (British Library MS CottonVitellius A.xv), along with other works. The poem is known only from this single

35. Beowulf Manuscript

36. Examples from Beowulf(translated by Michael Alexander 1. It is a sorrow in spirit for me to say to any man A A || A X 2. Then spoke Beowulf, son of Edgeheow A X || A X 3. A boat with a ringed neck rode in the haven X A || A X

37. Further examples Alliterative stress within polisyllabic word It was not remarkedthen if a man looked X A || A X Vowel alliteration To encompass evil,an enemy from hell X A || A X The ample eavesadorned with gold A A || A X

38. Twentieth century example - Ezra Pound: Canto I(A free translation of the opening of Odyssey 11) We set up mast and sailon thatswart ship, A A || A X Bore sheep aboard her,and our bodies also A A || A X Heavy with weeping, so winds from sternward X A || A X Bore us out onward with bellying canvas, A X || A X Circe's this craft, the trim-coifed goddess. A (?) A || A X

39. Ezra Pound(1885-1972)

40. Significance of Sound Patterning Cohesive and mnemonic function Primordial and bardic poetry was transmitted orally, repetitive formal components bound words together and thus enhanced memorability. The metrical frame creates a musical body for the poem; it may also contribute to a level of sound symbolism, onomatopoeia, onomatopoeic words.

41. Stress-VerseNative Metre / Folk Metre Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye; Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie. When the pie was opened, They all began to sing. Now, wasn't that a dainty dish To set before the King?

42. Sixpence cont. Sing a song of sixpence, / / A pocket full of rye; / / Four and twenty blackbirds / / Baked in a pie. / / Or:

43. Sixpence cont. Sing a song of sixpence, / / / A pocket full of rye; / / (p) Four and twenty blackbirds / / / Baked in a pie. / / (p) (p) = pause

44. Stress-VerseBallad Metre Ballad metreis a form of poetry that alternates lines of four and three beats, often in quatrains, rhymed abab. The anonymous poemSirPatrick Spens demonstrates thiswell. The alternating sequence offour and three stresses is calledcommon measurewhen used forhymns.

45. Sir Patrick Spens The king sits in Dumfermline town. / / / / Drinking the blude-red wine: O / / / 'O whare will I get a skeely skipper, / / / / To sail this new ship of mine?' / / /

46. Dunfermline Palace RuinDunfermline was Scotland’s capital in the 11th century

47. Foot-VerseSyllable-Stress Verse / Accentual-Syllabic Metre After the Norman Conquest, from the 12th century on accentual-syllabic versification started to appear. It went hand in hand with strophic construction and rhyming line endings. Out of stressed and unstressed syllables metrical feet were created after the pattern of ancient Greek and Latin poetry. In accentual syllabic foot-verse both the number of stressed and unstressed syllables are fixed, and also their respectivepositions in the poetic line.

48. Foot VerseStressed / Accentual-Syllabic Metre Ancient Greek and Latin prosody is quantitative, i.e. theregular alternation of syllables is based on their duration.Quantitative versification makes distinction between longand short syllables. A syllable is long if the vowel sound in it is long or if it Isshort but followed by more two or more consonants. A syllable is short if the vowel sound in it is short and Isfollowed by zero or one consonant sound.

49. Accentual-Syllabic Metre / Quantitative Versification English accentual-syllabic foot-verse is sometimes called quantitative.It is, however, is inaccurate. But quantitative versification is based on the ‘quantity’, i.e. the duration of a syllable. Apart from a few technical experiments, duration of syllables is not a metre constitutive principle in English verse. Quantitative versification makes metrical feetusing short and long syllables.

50. Quantitative VersificationMetrical Feet The foot is the basic metrical unit that generates a line ofverse in quantitative versification. The foot is a purely metrical unit; there is no inherent relation to a word or phrase as a unit of meaning or syntax. A foot is composed of syllables, the number of which islimited. The feet are classified first by the number of syllables in thefoot (disyllabic feet have two, trisyllabic three, Andtetrasyllabic four syllables), and by the pattern of vowellengths.