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scanning verse

scanning verse. to scan a line means to mark the stressed accents English likes “iambic pentameter” You can find prose sentences in iambic pentameter in The Lord of the Rings or Moby Dick and other novels. Iambic pentameter. metrical terminology comes from Greek poetry

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scanning verse

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  1. scanning verse • to scan a line means to mark the stressed accents • English likes “iambic pentameter” • You can find prose sentences in iambic pentameter in The Lord of the Rings or Moby Dick and other novels

  2. Iambic pentameter • metrical terminology comes from Greek poetry • English meter is syllabic, based on stress-accent (the loudness with which a syllable is pronounced) • An iamb is a unit, or foot, that has one un stressed syllable followed by a stressed one • “pent” is five in Greek • Five iambs make one line (2 x 5 = 10)

  3. A line of verse is a unit • Strong beginning, therefore the first syllable is often stressed rather than the second • Strong middle--look for a pause and verbs • Strong ending--therefore rhymes are common in English

  4. Feminine ending • A line that ends with an eleventh, unstressed syllable is said to be “feminine” (a term used in French poetry” • Example: • To be or not to be, that is the question. • A line that ends on a stress is said to be “masculine” • Masculine lines are more common in English

  5. Usefulness of scanning • Scanning helps you pronounce strange names correctly: • Wilt thou have music? Hark, Apollo plays. • If, Biondello, thou wert come ashore • But sometimes scanning is hard • Obviously the poet does not want dull repetition of a sound pattern, and so, even in very regular verse, will vary the stress. • C. S. Lewis reminds us of this point, and the choriamb

  6. Choriamb • Sometimes a line has a “choriambic” = stress/unstress/unstress/stress • Often this follows a pause or comma: • To be or not to be, [that is the question]. • Notice there are two ways to scan this line • Or the choriamb occurs at the beginning: • [Tarry, Petru]chio, I must go with thee. • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 • Or both places: • [Knock you here , sir?] Why, [sir, what am I?]

  7. Practice Tranio, since for the great desire I had To see fair Padua, nursery of arts, I am arriv’d for fruitful Lombardy, The pleasant garden of great Italy.

  8. Tips • In early Shakespeare, find five stresses • Find two- or three- syllable words whose accent you know. • An affable and courteous gentleman. • In later Shakespeare, there may be only four. • There is more “elision” (blurring together of syllables, or additional syllables sounded quickly)

  9. Tips • Only “regular” (5- stressed) lines appear on exams. • Accents or stresses fall on the even syllables: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 • Just count the syllables and mark stresses on the even numbered ones. • Her name is Katharina Minola. • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 • Sometimes -ed is pronounced.

  10. Acting • A break in the meter is an indication something unusual is happening. • Use pauses to give shape to lines. • Tranio, since for the great desire I had • Tranio, since for the great desire I had (choriambic)

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