Vowel undersong: Studies of vocalic timbre and chroneme patterning in German lyric poetry [Reprint 2019 ed.] 9783111341804, 9789027979667

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Newton, Vowel Undersong

DE PROPRIETATIBUS LITTERARUM Series Maior 27 edenda curat

C. H. van Schooneveld Indiana

University

Robert P. Newton

Vowel Undersong Studies of Vocalic Timbre and Chroneme Patterning in German Lyric Poetry

Mouton Publishers The Hague • Paris • New York

Publication of this book has been supported in part by the Research Council of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I would also like to express thanks to Fides and Vernon Newton and to Muriel Dreyer for assistance in proof-reading.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Newton, Robert P. Vowel Undersong. (De proprietatibus litterarum. Series maior; 27) Bibliography: p. 1. German language - Versification. 2. German language - Rhythm. I. Title. II. Series. PF3505.N4 831'.009 ISBN 90-279-7966-9

81-1362 AACR2

ISBN 90-279-7966-9 © Copyright 1981 by Mouton Publishers, The Hague. All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by photoprint, microfilm, or any other means - nor transmitted nor translated into a machine language without written permission from the publisher. Typesetting: Passavia Druckerei GmbH Passau. - Printing: Karl Gerike, Berlin. - Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer, Berlin. Printed in Germany

This book is dedicated to Fides, Conrad, Gerrit, Vernon and to the memory of Robin

Aug' um Ohr Was dem Auge dar sich stellet, Sicher glauben wir's zu schauen, Was dem Ohr sich zugesellet, Gibt uns nicht ein gleich Vertrauen. J.W. v.Goethe

abac a b c

b

, , a b c d a b c d

Di D 2 u u u u u - u — a a a o . a d a d

AAAB+ABAB x' x x' x/x' x x' x x' x x' x/x' x x' x x' X x'/x x' X x' X x' X x'/x x' X x' X

aaua:e i

au

i:

au

a o: u: 8 i: i ai au

(2-3)+(2-4)+ (2-3)+(3-4) 1,2(2'/2' + 4') +1,3(1'/10+2,4(l'/2' + 3'/l') Grübelt der Künste Gesetzen nicht nach F.G. Klopstock

Preface

As useful as general discussions of style may be, and who can deny that much has been written about it, I sometimes wish there were more systematic concrete studies of its specific effective features, of the tricks and designs of sound and sense as they guide the hand of the poet or writer and even, indeed before he sits down at his desk, dictate the generic rules of the form he has chosen to follow. As well as showing such practical profit, the present studies aspire to extend the methodology of probing effective features. They try to bring various points of view to bear on some easily circumscribed rhythmic factors of verse style - the patterning of vowel timbres and lengths in the stress points of metric poetry - and they attempt to correlate them with the existing evidence and notions of metrics, psychology, linguistics and interpretation, as these may regard the statistical data brought to light. But the premise of the major part of the study can be stated quite simply: the contrastive lengths of the stressed vowels in a line of poetry must help to control its significantly changing tempi and will, in addition, tend to form an auditory Gestalt, like a rhythmic or tonal phrase of specific character. By means of these "chronemes", elements of tonal structure (in some ways homologous to music) are continuously composed into poetry. In their analysis we shall endeavor always to build on the grounds of what is linguistically and statistically given, with the materials of the psychology of rhythm and, ultimately, intuitions of rhythmic character. The statistics, to be sure, are simple, unglamorous countings and there is little mathematical processing. The average reader will find them easy to deal with. Although conclusions are drawn about the aesthetic effectiveness of certain patterns of rhythm, no pretense is made to developing indices that support critical value judgements. The method of counting occurrent forms and then examining the structure of the frequency hierarchy is related more to the work of the Slavic Formalists than the recent, mathematically sophisticated interests in information theory, literary entropy and the like. It is to be hoped that a study of this kind may illustrate the enduring utility of descriptive statistics, as a guide to points of traditional critical interest and even as a

VIII

Preface

tool for illuminating phenomena previously obscured to our attention. For in this case it is not just a matter of statistics confirming soundly what has seemed intuitively likely from the first, but rather of their affording rather new and useful hints toward the understanding of poetic rhythms - insights which, of course, must find the consent of judgement and sensibility. What we have called the vowel undersong would appear to be one of those happily pervasive stylistic elements which, like meter, participate in the unique form of even a single verse and of every verse and yet which, when appealed to at a higher level of (statistical) generality, grant subtle insight into personal styles and the generic styles of metrical forms. Its usages may be examined both as clues to a veiled but objective system in the form, and as deviations from that system in the poet, while the impressionist critic can reasonably accept its designs as one of the inner expressive pulses in poetry. At the present stage of metrical style study, a tangential point of poetry and exactitude, I think one of Friedrich Schlegel's ironic aphorisms will no longer find general assent, an epigram in which we might today substitute science for philosophy. According to Schlegel: "In what one calls the philosophy of art one of two things is usually lacking; either the philosophy or the art." But undoubtedly some writers will still be inclined, where the pale hosts of number are conjured up, to hurl in desperate defense the poet Klopstock's excommunicatory bolt: Brood not about art's laws! In fact, Klopstock himself ardently broke this commandment, as will always the polytheists of beauty and truth. This book is in its genesis more or less a collection of studies in a sequence which traces the author's own developing thought, and thus from the reader's as well as the author's point of view it becomes progressively more structurally involved. As an initial lure, the Introduction presents various aspects of chroneme patterning in survey fashion. Several chapters follow in Part I which sketch the field of traditional work on vowel patterning and extend it, I hope, by the implementation in some areas of a more systematic approach. The bulk of the investigation, in Part II, makes use of methods developed in Part I and then adds considerably to the repertoire of structural notions, notions applicable to the patterning of stress and word boundary as well as vowel quantity. The final sections compare the behavior of free verse and prose, including newspaper headlines seen as prosodic forms. The study of vowel-quantity patterning may not be possible in some other languages without this contrast, but I think the method of structurally analysing frequency hierarchies for their effective features will prove broadly applicable in research on the phonological aspects of style.

Contents

Introduction

1

Part I The First Voice. Vowel Timbre Echoes in German Verse ..

27

Chapter 1 Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse 1.1 The Vowel 1.2 Vowel sounds as the "spirit" of verse 1.3 Vowels and rhythm 1.4 Methods of vowel study 1.5 Previous investigations 1.6 Assonance and rhythmic movement 1.7 Assonance and word association 1.8 Empirical studies 1.9 Assonant configuration schematism 1.10 The matrix of assonant configuration 1.10.1 Configuration in the stanza matrix 1.11 Frequency distribution of the figures 1.12 Stanzaic line preferences 1.13 Individual poets'preferences 1.14 A model stanza structure of assonant configuration 1.15 Summary Notes

29 29 29 31 33 35 38 39 40 43 50 52 53 57 61 63 65 66

Chapter 2 Interlinear Echoes 2.1 The geometry of assonance 2.2 Terminal assonance 2.3 Parallel and oblique interior assonance 2.4 Schematism of interlinear assonance 2.5 Verse instances of echo types 2.5.2 Parallel configuration 2.5.3 Oblique configuration 2.6 Frequency ranking of interlinear figures 2.6.1 Structuring forces in the frequency hierarchy

73 73 73 74 77 79 82 83 86 86

X

Contents

2.6.2 2.6.3 2.6.4 2.6.5 2.6.6 2.6.7 2.7 2.7.1 2.7.2 2.7.3 2.7.4 Notes

Rankings by stanzaic lines Evocativity and responsivity of points in the stanzaic matrix A model of favored assonant channels Structure of ranking of individual poets Rankings by line in poets Evocativity and responsivity matrices of poets Formal interrelationships of figures within the stanzaic structure Relations of parallelism Relations of chiasmus Relations of augmentation and diminution Structural notation of echo forms in stanzaic framework...

89 91 92 94 98 100 102 104 107 109 110 Ill

Chapter 3 Patterned Tonality 3.1 Tone and mood in poetry 3.2 Tonalism and form 3.3 Phonemic inventories 3.3.1 Summative words (Lynch, Hymes) 3.3.2 Tonal contrast 3.3.3 Tonality structure (Jones) 3.3.4 Sound texture (Taranovski, Ryder, Knauer) 3.4 Positional preference of vowel timbres in free verse 3.4.1 Vowel phoneme distribution in German 3.4.2 Phonemic localization in individual poets Notes

115 115 117 118 118 122 123 124 126 127 129 131

Part II

135

Chroneme Patterning

Chapter 4 The Nature of Vowel Length 4.1 Vowel length as phonemic feature 4.2 Characterization of long and short vowels 4.3 Vowel length and pitch relations 4.4 Kinaesthetic impressions 4.5 Acoustic length of vowels 4.5.1 Ratio of long and short 4.5.2 Phonological factors in vowel length 4.5.3 Position in word 4.5.4 Stress 4.5.5 Subjective perceptions of length 4.5.6 Logical emphasis 4.6 Vowel length and speech tempo

141 141 142 144 145 145 145 146 146 147 148 149 150

Contents

4.7 Summary of distinctions between short and long 4.8 Sound symbolism of length Notes Chapter 5 Problems of Method in Verse Study 5.1 Stressed syllables as basis of analysis 5.2 Verse scansion 5.2.1 Subjectivity of scansion 5.2.2 Principles of scansion 5.3 Statistics in style study 5.3.1 Use of statistics in investigating verse 5.3.2 Negative view of statistical approach 5.3.3 Statistics and the individuation of features 5.3.4 Statistics and their correlation with impressions 5.3.5 Statistics in the study of form 5.3.6 Procedures in this investigation Notes

XI

150 151 152 157 157 161 162 163 164 164 165 166 166 168 168 169

Chapter 6 Chronemes and Stress Points 171 6.1 The eye and the ear 171 6.2 Iambic vs. trochaic metric feet 172 6.3 Vowel distribution by metric genus 178 6.3.1 Onomatopoeia and vowel accommodation 182 6.4 Distribution for total sample 183 6.5 Vowel distribution by stress number 184 6.5.1 The verse-final stress 185 6.5.2 Collocation of rhythmic features and substantial words .. 189 6.5.2.1 Collocation of length and word boundary 191 6.5.3 Second stress 192 6.5.4 Initial stress 194 6.5.5 Dynamics of the initial trochee 196 6.5.6 Dynamics of the initial iamb 197 6.5.7 Penultimate stress and foot 200 6.6 The stanzaic chroneme matrix 201 6.6.1 Positional distribution in free verse 202 6.6.2 The stanza as rhythmic entity 203 205 6.6.3 Table of chroneme matrices 6.6.3.1 Point analysis 208 6.6.3.2 Idiorhythms 210 6.6.4 Model stanzas 211 6.6.5 Length vs. echo matrices 213 Notes 214

XII

Contents

Chapter 7 Ditonic Rhythmemes 7.1 The concept of rhythmemes 7.2 Theditone 7.2.1 Grouping in the sensible present 7.3 Dipody and ditony 7.4 Types of rhythmeme 7.4.1 Accentual or stress rhythmemes 7.4.2 Quantitative rhythmemes 7.5 The rhythmic dynamics of contrastive quantitative transitions 7.6 Non-contrastive transitions 7.7 Frequency of quantitative rhythmemes 7.7.2 Quantitative rhythmemes in irreversible binomials 7.7.2.2 Rhythmemes in nursery rhymes 7.8 Stanzaic matrices of quantitative rhythmemes 7.8.2 Analysis of quantitative rhythmeme matrix 7.9 Point preference vs. transition-type preference 7.10 Features of preference 7.11 Ditone flights 7.11.1 Empirical vs. calculated preferences 7.11.1.1 Parallel verse-beginnings 7.11.2 Verse-end patterning 7.11.2.1 Whole-stanza patterning 7.11.2.2 Whole-verse parallels 7.11.3 Pair-rhyme stanza patterning 7.11.3.1 D r Flight patterns 7.11.4 General preferences for quatrain structure 7.11.5 Stanza patterning as a process 7.11.6 Rhythmeme sequence in following verses 7.12 Patterned word-boundary rhythmemes 7.12.1 WB-Preferences by stanza line 7.12.2 Rhythmeme ensembles 7.13 The rhythmeme as a rhythmological concept Notes

219 219 220 221 222 224 224 225

Chapter 8 Quantitative Verse Configuration 8.1 The Gestalt quality of verse 8.2 Verse gestalt as a basis of preference 8.2.1 Tetrameter configuration 8.2.2 Pentameter configuration 8.3 Designations 8.3.1 Quantitative figures 8.3.2 Structural diagram of transition patterning

269 269 273 274 278 280 281 282

228 231 232 232 234 235 236 237 240 243 244 246 247 249 249 250 252 253 255 257 259 261 262 264 265

Contents

8.4 8.5 8.5.1 8.5.2 8.5.3 8.5.4 8.5.5 8.6 8.6.2 8.6.3 8.6.4 8.7 8.7.1 8.7.3 8.8 8.8.1 8.8.2 8.8.3 8.8.4 8.8.5 8.8.6 8.9 8.9.3 8.9.4 8.10 8.11 8.11.1 8.11.2 8.11.3 8.12 8.12.1 8.13 8.13.1 8.13.1.1 8.13.1.2 8.13.1.3 8.13.2 8.13.3 8.13.4

Empirical distrubutions in the samples Table 8.1: Total trochaic and weighted iambic tetrameter sample Average of ranking in individual samples Point-quantity preferences as effective features in gestalt ranking Selection rules Pattern preference based on total tables Aesthetic principles of pattern preference Pattern preference derived as average rank Hierarchy of average pattern rank Trochaic and iambic patterns Pattern preference in individual poets Configuration preference Average rank displacement as a stylistic feature Average over poets of figure displacements from standard (8.1.A) Summary of preference features Stress-point quantity preference Configuration preference Transition-pattern preference Stress-point quantity + configuration preference Stress-point quantity + transition-pattern preference .. Configuration + transition-pattern preference Figure ranking by stanzaic line as clue to rhythmic character Ranking profiles Functional particularity of gestalten Figure preference determined by stanzaic type The quantitative clausula: [S-L] = [u -] Quantitative devices of rhythmic conclusion Stress mechanisms of conclusion Stanzaic methods of conclusion Preferred following figures Frequent sequences and their rhythms Individual quantitative configurations Alternation pattern: CCC (u - u -), (- u - u) Alternation of elements as rhythm Interaction of CCC pattern and word boundaries Word boundaries by stanzaic line Bisectional pattern: NCN (u u - - ) , ( - - u u) Enclosing pattern: CNC (- u u -), (u - - u) Isotonic pattern: NNN ( ), (u u u u)

XIII

283 290 292 292 294 296 299 301 302 302 303 304 306 307 308 308 308 309 309 309 309 310 312 314 315 317 318 321 323 324 325 329 329 330 331 335 336 338 339

XIV

Contents

8.13.5 8.13.6 8.13.7 8.13.8 8.14 8.14.1 8.14.2 8.14.2.1 8.14.2.2 8.14.3 8.14.3.1 8.14.3.2 8.14.4 8.14.4.1 8.14.4.1.1 8.14.4.2 8.14.4.3 8.14.4.4

Marked-final pattern: N N C ( u), (u u u - ) . . . . Marked-penultimate pattern: N C C ( - - u - ) , (u u - u). Marked-second pattern: CCN ( - u - -), (u - u u) . . Marked-initial pattern: C N N ( - u u u), (u ) Iambic pentameter verse Previous experimental findings Pentameter configuration hierarchy Stylistic features Stylistic transformation in Trakl's figure ranking Transition pattern preferences Features of pattern preference Superordinate patterns Preferred quantitative gestalten Marked 3 ' + 4' pattern: N C N C ( - - u u u u - - u) Rhythmic juncture in German iambic pentameter Marked-extremes pattern: C N N C ( - u u u - ) , ( u u) Alternating pattern: CCCC ( - u - u - ) , (u - u - u ) . . . Marked l ' + 3' pattern: CCCN ( - u - u u, u - u - - ) 8.14.4.5 Marked 2'+ 5' pattern: CCNC (— u — — u, u — u u —) 8.14.4.6 Marked 2' + 3' pattern: CNCN ( - u u u - - u u) 8.14.4.6.1 Restatement of pentameter pattern preference features . 8.15 Iambic pentameter in stanzaic context 8.15.1 Figure preferences by stanzaic line 8.15.2 Quantitative figures and word boundary in pentameter . 8.16 Quantitative configuration in other rhythmic g e n r e s . . . 8.16.1 Free verse 8.16.1.2 Quantitative gestalten in free verse 8.16.2 Vowel quantities in prose 8.16.2.1 Prose poetry 8.16.2.2 Transition types at beginning and end of prose sentences 8.16.2.3 Self-delimiting prose inscriptions 8.16.2.3.1 Total tetrameter inscriptions 8.16.2.3.1.1 Inscriptions versus verse and prose 8.16.2.3.2 T4 inscriptions 8.16.2.3.3 14 inscriptions 8.16.2.3.4 15 and T5 Notes

341 343 345 346 347 347 348 350 351 353 355 358 360 361 361 367 368 369 369 370 371 372 374 374 377 377 378 381 382 384 387 388 390 395 395 396 397

Contents

XV

Appendix Individual Configuration Hierarchies 9.1 Poets and their idiorhythms 9.2 Style features in trochaic tetrameter 9.3 Style features in iambic tetrameter 9.4 Iambic pentameter 9.5 Rhythmic plausibility

401 401 402 403 405 405

Signs and Symbols Bibliography Index

435 437 445

Introduction

Soft went the music the soft air along, While fluent Greek a vowel'd undersong Kept up among the guests, discoursing low At first, for scarcely was the wine at flow; But when the happy vintage touch'd their brains, Louder they talk, and louder come the strains Of powerful instruments: ... Amidst his sensuous vision of the splendor of Lamia's feast, Keats finds occasion to offer this curiously philological remark - in an access of linguistic detachment suddenly hearing, in isolation as it were, the musical patterns of a single class of phonemes. Actually, Keats combines in a perfectly appropriate setting a commonplace appreciation of the Greek language's mellifluous vocalism1 with a notion to which he was personally much attached, that of the melodious patterning of long and short vowels in poetry. I am, of course, indebted to Walter Bate's study The Stylistic Development of Keats for the following pertinent excerpt from a letter of Benjamin Bailey to Lord Houghton, as well as for the reference to our epigraph from Lamia, and thus for the title. According to Bailey's letter: One of Keats's favorite topics of discourse was the principle of melody in verse, upon which he had his own motives, particularly in the management of open & close vowels. ... Keats's theory was that the vowels should be so managed as not to clash with one another so as to mar the melody, - and yet they should be interchanged, like differing notes in music, to prevent monotony. ... I well remember his telling me that, had he studied music, he had some notions of the combinations of sounds, by which he thought he could have done something as original as his poetry.2 Bate suggests that "open" and "close" may here be possibly used as correlates of "short" and "long," and he proceeds then to give examples of verses from Keats in which (through the chain of syllables, both stressed

2

Introduction

and unstressed) the short and the long vowels seem to weave a pattern of contrasts. 3 If Keats indeed so understood these terms, then, and this is the insight germane to our purposes, he was thinking of melody as composed not only of intervals of pitch - however conceived in conjunction with vowel sounds - but also of patterns of relatively changing durations of tone. Interestingly enough, this is an aspect of the immanent, linguistically given verse melody which, from Sievers on, has been almost completely neglected by prosodists and stylists, although it should hardly require mention that musical melodies draw upon contrasts of tonal length for some of their usual effects. It is, furthermore, an aspect with which modern linguistic metrics and its descriptive marking of stress, pitch and juncture types, or even experimental metrics with its difficult "real" data, has not been designed to cope. The German metricist Eduard Sievers was one of the first to investigate in theory and "experiment" the implications of assuming that, in addition to meter and on a different language level from the attempt to mark off isochronic musical measures in verse, there is to be found in poetry a further pervasive musical element, a Sprachmelodie, a melody inhering in the structure of words in sequence, independent of their performance and grounded psychically in the person of the author. 4 In "Uber Sprachmelodisches" (1901), Sievers writes: That the individual [reader] can import into the individual poem or individual passage a personal interpretation and can melodize it accordingly, is well known and conceded; likewise, the fact that he often does so. It is, however, just as certain that the majority of naive readers who react ingenuously to a poem or a passage melodize in approximately the same sense, assuming that they are capable of comprehending at least instinctively the meaning and mood, and are able to a degree to vocally reproduce the impression received. This similarity of reaction, however, points obviously to a similarity of stimulus sensed involuntarily in reading, whose causes must lie outside of the reader and within the thing read. We may thus be convinced that every piece of literature possesses definite, inherent melodic properties which, to be sure, are not symbolized in the orthography but nevertheless are sensed by the reader from the whole, and correspondingly reproduced in the performance. And can it then be doubted that these properties stem from the poet himself, that he himself puts them into his work? 5 Sievers himself was particularly concerned with factors such as a poetic passage's specific pitch level (Tonlage), characteristic pitch intervals (Intervallgrdfiej, and melodic lines (Tonfuhrung), as well as the "use of

Introduction

3

specific entries (Eingänge) ät the beginning and specific cadences at the end of verses," and the question of specific carriers of the melody (stressed or unstressed syllables).6 Sievers speculates that an intuitively, perhaps unconsciously perceived melodic idea in the poet's mind exerts during poetic creation a suggestive or inhibitive effect on the choice of words, word groups and their order, and that these specific words, groupings, and sequences, with their "traditional" emphases and cadences, then exact corresponding melodies from the reader in his spoken rendition. 7 (We will find most of these ideas realized in the poets' use of vowel length.) The musically-inspired thought that the choice of words and their placement in poetry may be prompted only in part by syntax, statement, imaginal drama and verbal gesture, that, in part at least, purely musical motives other than meter - some kind of melody, indwelling in the language - might be decipherable from the text: this fanciful vision has held a lasting fascination for the technical student of poetry. The work of subsequent German scholars often reflects this approach. Russian and Praguean Formalist research (with native American disciples like Henry Lanz and Amos R. Morris) is based on a similar conviction that the verse line is a rhythmic and melodic unit or Gestalt; their research, often statistically based, emphasized patterns of intonation, sound repetition and stress realization, and the relation of the phonic line to syntax, rhythm and meaning. Individual poets and epochs were seen, through the statistical glass, to differ in their rhythmic habits. Modern structural metrics has been increasingly concerned with the complicated interrelationships of pitch, duration and intensity as they constitute metrical stress, and in stress maxima as they fortify or defeat metricality. Such an analysis can indicate, in some cases, how prominence of one or the other stress factor may stem from the imperatives of meter as it organizes a given text, again a case in which the written sequence of words and syllables may dictate some notes of the spoken melody.8 The same is true where contrastive stress of otherwise unemphatic words is required to insure the meter.9 But as we will see in the following chapters, the factor of phonemic "length" has seldom come seriously into consideration for a systematic analysis. One likely reason for its neglect is that a closely allied phonetic approach, the prosody of syllabic quantity, has yielded disappointingly few valid results. Traditional metric theory, faithful to Greek and Latin models, long sought an acceptable criterion for measuring the length of Germanic syllables, rules by which verse could be proven audibly quantitative and thus decently "musical," and by which, incidentally, the celebrated and stately classical meters could be revived. This "quantitative" obsession was the rock on which for centuries German and English metric theory foundered. Although the rules observed were generally based on

4

Introduction

facts of phonetic duration, the length of vowels and vowel plus consonant groups, it has proved very difficult to follow by ear the metering action of these conventional syllabic lengths; and so quantitative metrics, either as a scansional tool or constructive prosody, has properly been discredited.10 But it seems plausible that the one clear perception of oppositional duration which we have in the Germanic languages, the phonemic length of vowels in stressed syllables, should have an instrumental voice in the concerted language of poetry. These functionally contrasting tonal durations,11 not muddled by the following consonants, should be heard not only as semantic but also as rhythmic or melodic differentiae. Once attentive to their opposition, listening more than we look, I think we can recognize them as such, not as a true melody (implying pitch), or what we might call the vowel song (a patterning of timbres), but as the voweled undersong, a truly pervasive agency of design within the poem. 12 Undersong here is used, to be sure, somewhat differently than by Keats in Lamia, for whom the sequence of timbres underlay the words of the song. The phonemic longs and shorts contrast even more rigorously in the German language than they do among English vowels. One theoretician of syllabic quantity in German, Heyse-Lyon, has gone so far as to argue that the syllable lengths of New High German are determined by the lengths of the vowels contained. 13 He may thus be perceiving the same distinction that we do. For surely it seems true that an open syllable containing a long vowel, like a protracted Ja..., creates a more directly sensible impression of duration than does a word such as Jacht, although by classical rules, as well as on the basis of research done by Sievers and Saran, the latter would be treated as equally long by position, that is, by virtue of our ability to extend the syllabic duration through the following consonants. Conversely, a curt and militant Ja\ sounds no whit shorter than its phonemic fellow in Jacht, in spite of the second word's being considered long in toto. Were the distinction not clearly heard, we should not find in rhythmic analysis that vowel lengths are called upon to help explain the tempo of a verse, along with other features such as heavy consonancy, abundant monosyllables and the appearance of single or double thesis. Vowel length would thus seem to be one of the relevant prosodic media through which "the poet's private experience of the rhythms of nature and human process" 14 are made accessible to the reader through the senses. Moreover, there are instances where the contrast of stressed vowel lengths is almost unquestionably expressive, as in Goethe's pointed verse: "Glaube weit, eng der Gedanke." 15 Of rhythmic contrast we can cite a further telling example in Goethe's "Selige Sehnsucht," where an expressive force resides in the purely chro-

Introduction

5

nemic distinction that the stressed vowels of the first verse cited are uniformly long, and the tempo of the whole thus apparently slower and more impressively reflective, while the vowels of the last verse are short and cumulatively intense: Sagt es niemand, nur den Weisen, Weil die Menge gleich verhöhnet, ... ... Und zuletzt des Lichts begierig, Bist du, Schmetterling, verbrannt,16 The governing meter may tend to equalize the real pace of the lines, but the effort required to slow the last one is perceptible, and the tension thus aroused, or the opposite staccato resulting from a failure to retard, are both appropriate to the sense. Naturally, as we shall elaborate in Chapter 4, the question of relative phonetic vowel and syllable length, or acoustic length in measured time, is not a simple lexical matter to be adjudged by Webster or Siebs. For, in brief, the length of vowels will change with the consonant context and word length, while logical and syntactical emphasis will tend to extend the syllable phonetically and acoustically, as will appearance in metrically stressed as opposed to unstressed position. The du in the last verse above is shorter, the -ling longer than we would pronounce them in a non-metrical context. For the finely-nuanced description of an ideal rhythmic performance we might want to distinguish among the various tonal lengths of the long and brevities of the short syllables, just as we note the differing degrees of stress. But here we wish to deal only with patterning of phonemic quantity, and while the pervading length or brevity of the metrical vowels is an effect less patent than stress, it seems at least in the extreme case - all long or all short - to be an openly audible sensation. We can expect that where both quantities are involved in a single verse, the rhythmic contours will not be so immediately plain. However, the traditional sigla of quantitative scansion, the breve (u) = short and the macron (-) = long, viewing of course the stressed vowels only, can be practicably reinstated for this purpose. They can, for example, in the introductory verses from Keats, allow us to compare two lines whose metrical forms are regular and similar, but whose stressed vowel patterns diverge: ( u u) (u u u u - )

While fluent Greek a vowel'd undersong ... But when the happy vintage touch'd their brains.. .17

Both verses experience an underlying pace or intensity change at the end, but in opposite senses and of different degrees. Part of this rhythmic transition can be attributed to the fuller syllables of "touch'd their brains" as

6

Introduction

opposed to "undersong," but the quantitative scheme suggests that in both cases the initial stressed vowels establish an expectancy which the final stress or stresses contravene. A still more rhythmic alternation of quantities appears in the following famous verse of Keats, the first line of the poetic romance Endymion: (u - u - u)

A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

Here we might take occasion to maintain that the scansion only of stressed vowels provides an obviously easier schematic and rhythmically more meaningful device of comparison than does Bate's inclusion of all syllables. Focussing on stressed syllables has often been an instinctive stylistic procedure, but it can easily be justified linguistically, since stress is known to increase one or more factors of audibility - pitch, intensity and length - as well as sharpening the articulation and fullness of vowels.18 With his own analysis, Bate must treat the following lines as instances of unsymmetrical grouping, each slightly variant, rather than as neatly identical figures of symmetrical alternation, as we find them to be. The scansion by Bate (in whose notation a = long and b = short vowel) is followed below by a simplified stress-length scansion; both are based on Bate's reading of the vowels' lengths: All garlanded with carven imag'ries. aalbbba/bbba (- u - u -) Innum'rable of stains and splendid dyes.19 ba\bbba\bbba (- u - u -) Bate can indeed cite instances "in which two or three lines even parallel each other with some closeness,"20 but stress-length scansion would rather differentiate them: With a sweet kernel; to set budding more. bba/aba/bbba (u — u - ) And still more, later flowers for the bees. bba/aba/baba (u ) Until they think warm days will never cease. bba/baa/bbba (u u - u - ) Especially in the latter two verses, the differing proportions of long and short stressed vowels seem inescapable, if not at first the varying rhythmic configuration; but neither auditory impression comes out plainly in Bate's scansion. The quite various syntactical disposition of the lines creates, moreover, an unfortunate disturbance. Naturally, we can best attune our ear for the comparison of length configurations in verses which are rhythmically very much alike. Henry Lanz, in his study on The Physical Basis of Rhyme, has, pursuing Russian

Introduction

7

Formalist method, isolated a number of verses of Shelley with closely congruent metrical profiles. In each line the second and fourth stresses are not strongly realized, and the last foot is spondaic: 21 (x (- u u - (u) u) (u u — (-) - ) ( u (ü) u)

x x x x x x x x x) In charnels and on coffins where black death In terror at the glare of those wild eyes It rose as he approached, and with strong wings

The stress patterns are convincingly repetitive, an impression reinforced by the fact that within each verse stresses one and three are related by proximate vowels, while the two words of the final spondee are also phonemically linked in the last two verses. Yet the quantitative scansions hint at definable contrast, superimposed upon the congruent profiles, to be described at first in terms of differing gradients of rhythmic intensity. The effect of the spondee at the end, especially, is underlined by the like vowellengths in the syllables involved. Due to their length and inevitable caesura, pentameter lines are of a rhythmically looser nature than the stanzaic tetrameter verses of Goethe's "Selige Sehnsucht," a few of which we viewed earlier. In tetrameter lines, often dipodic and with a simpler syntactical form, we may expect to hear more easily the various (sixteen, to be exact) configurations of vowel length that span a verse, and to hear them as comprising an auditory Gestalt. The matrix-context given by a complete stanza allows examination of the figure's function in a larger rhythmic unit and also suggests the figure's expressive value for the whole poetic presentation. In the now entire first stanza of Goethe's poem in praise of "blessed longing" we can look into these possibilities: - u— uuuuu—

Sagt es niemand, nur den Weisen, Weil die Menge gleich verhöhnet, Das Lebend'ge will ich preisen, Das nach Flammentod sich sehnet.

As already noted, the first verse has persistent long stressed vowels and a tone of steadfast command. In verse two only the second stress is changed. The dipode "Weil die Menge," compared with the long-voweled ones preceding, exacts a compensatory intensification of the short vowel in Menge, to maintain stress equivalence,22 and this staccato accent supports expressively the image of Hohn, both that of the Menge and of the poet. Substitution of a word with long vowel clarifies the effect by making this verse identical in pattern with verse one: ( (

) )

Sagt es niemand, nur den Weisen, Weil der Pöbel gleich verhöhnet, ...

8

Introduction

In the original, the transition from long to short vowel, on sequential stresses, anticipates the abruptly enlivened rhythm of the third line, with its three short vowels. But the third verse also ends on a long (necessitated of course by the rhyme) that refers back to the original slower tempo and applies constraint to the dynamic new one, a melodic effect that co-occurs with the sense of "deliberate consideration" in the image. Verse four once more begins ardently, its first short stresses in parallel to line three, but the final dipode resolves to the slow initial tempo, one more adequate to the closing images Tod and sehnet. Every effort at such depiction is, of course, doomed to overstate, as it tries to raise rhythmic velleities to the level of judgable experience. We have undoubtedly passed over a number of metrical and interpretive problems. For one instance, there seem to be schematically unstressed syllables which nevertheless approach the degree of stress of some of the weakly realized metric syllables by force of necessary syntactical structuring: "Das nach Flammentod sich sehnet." And one might feel that the indeterminately long unstressed e of Lebendige is as decisive for the tempo as the preceding short Das, which, though schematically somewhat elevated, is semantically less important. But in reciting the verses it is hard to escape the impression that the vowels of sich, Leb- and nach do not in actual fact, compared with the schematically emphasized vowels however unsemantic, set the tone of inner intensity. Obviously, we must hearken to the actually stressed vowels and not the schematically favored syllables; however, in cases where the distribution of stress is questionable or apparently level, we shall have to assume that the schematically preferred syllable will have more rhythmic relevance than its rival. A certain leveling of stress degrees is apparent in verse two, stanza two of "Selige Sehnsucht": u- u- u uuuu-

In der Liebesnächte Kühlung, Die dich zeugte, wo du zeugtest, Überfällt dich fremde Fühlung, Wenn die stille Kerze leuchtet.

After the runs of short and long stresses in stanza one, the first verse of stanza two gains a balanced lyrical quality from its alternating quantities, neither dynamic nor elevatedly restrained. The latter tone recurs ceremoniously in verse two, which is parallel to the first verse of stanza one, not only in its quantitative configuration but also in respect to junctures and syntactical repetition. Line three comprehends a stressed vocalic figure of enclosure (ü e e Ü). Its rhythmic effect is one of initial fall ( - u), compatible with the surprising advent of an image of "intensity" (überfällt), followed by the rising recovery of feeling (rhythmically u - ) . A broadly synonymous variant with changed quantities sharpens our awareness of

Introduction

9

the pattern when read in the context of the stanza: ( u) Überfiel dich neu' Empfindung. The final verse of stanza two provides a rhythmically more intense background illumination, Wenn die stille Kerze leuchtet, to the slower, majestic Kühlung,/ Die dich zeugte, wo du zeugtest. Quantity configuration is doubtless most obtrusive where it concurs with patterns of assonance or consonance such as we saw in verse 3 above and which we hear in other verses from Goethe's West-Östlicher Divan: 1. u - u -

Und dem Wohlgesang zu Lohne

2. - u - u

Deinem Munde, deiner Brust,

3. - u u -

Dieser sind des Menschen Gl/eder

4. - u — - u—

Eben drum, geliebter Knabe, Bleibe jung und bleibe klug;

5. - u - - - uu - uu uu- -

Leichtgedrückt der Augenlider Eines, die den Stern bewhelmen, Deutet auf den Schelm der Schelmen, Doch das andre schaut so bieder.

6. -

Ihn, der mit der Sonn' entlaufen, Eilt sie irrig einzuholen; Fühlst du nicht ein Liebesschnaufen? Geh nur, lieblichster der Söhne, Tief ins /nnre, schließ die Türen ; 23

uuu— u— uu—

In example 5 we see an enclosing pattern involving the last two stresses of each of the four lines: [au + ie/e + e/e + e/au + ie], This brings out strongly the relationship of the verses' respective second dipodes to one another in the overall ryhthmic structure of the stanza, that is, the fact that they maintain musical relations with one another quite apart from those they have with their own first dipodes. Since these relationships extend to the penultimate stresses they are obviously not only due to the rhyme scheme, and it can be shown statistically that, in general, the respective first dipodes of quatrain verses (or "ditones," as we shall define in Chapter 7) tend to be correlated in parallel, where the compulsion of rhyme plays no role at all.24 Indeed, in the sequential lines of example 6 a pattern takes form in pursuance of which four of the five verses begin with the quantitative transition element (-u), 25 marking the second stressed syllable in each case with the same vowel (l), and the first stress with a number of related vowels

10

Introduction

(i and ü). The poet, for a time, seems caught up in a specific introductory melodic phrase and loath to let it fall. Still, rhythmic awareness of quantity configuration, in poet and reader, goes well beyond these striking specimens marked by better known figures of euphony. Though accustomed to read over them, we can cultivate, once alerted, an ear for the subtle distinction of quantity sequences, as for example in these inverse forms: (u - - u)

Nicht mehr bleibest du umfangen Und dich reißet neu Verlangen Bist du nur ein trüber Gast

as opposed to its partner in alternation: (- u u -)

Keine Ferne macht dich schwierig Überfallt dich fremde Fühlung

or this bisectional pattern: ( - - u u)

Auf zu höherer Begattung

as compared with the other: (u u - - )

Das nach Flammentod sich sehnet

and a long-marked second stress: (u - u u)

Kommst geflogen und gebannt

instead of a short one: (- u - -)

Weil die Menge gleich verhöhnet 26

not to speak of our original contrasting pair (u u u u and

).

In English, with its monosyllables and lack of inflectional endings, we can construct nonsense verses that differ primarily in vowel length pattern, although admittedly the remaining phonemic feature contrasts in the consonants reinforce that pattern. The vowels marked long below are, of course, only relatively so : 27 u— u - uu— uu uu—

He hit the cad and hid the cat He hid the cat and hit the cad He hid the cad and hit the cat He hit the cat and hid the cad

The initial stressed long vowel represents a retarding duration which slows the tempo at the outset, while an initial short allows the pace to pick up more rapidly. The final long quantity, on the other hand, has more power

Introduction

11

to conclude satisfactorily the rhythmic phrase with a certain extended resonance. These impressions correlate with the results of psychological investigations which show that, for the subjective grouping of sounds in sequence, relative intensity has a group-initiating and length a groupconcluding power. 28 In the absence of any direct evidence,29 the best objective demonstration that poets are conscious at some creative level of the rhythmic patterning of stress-quantities, part of what Heusler calls the "melodic skeleton" of the verse, must reside in our ability to show statistically that long and short quantities are not entirely random in their distribution over the stressed syllables, but that they tend to patterns of usage. This necessity lies behind the statistical approach, whose results, in turn, arouse new conjecture. We certainly cannot dismiss the still unresolved stylistic quandary mentioned by C.F.P.Stutterheim, among others, in his discussion of "form elements only brought to light by a scientific analysis by means of the statistical method." For, he says, "the question crops up then, whether they are still linguistically and stylistically relevant, whether an investigation of this kind has not carried us outside the work of art." 30 But in the case of metrically stressed vowels the relation between statistics and emergent qualities of style is unusually close (as is the case with statistics of meter), closer surely than in the counting of words or word lengths, say, or specific phonemes or phonemic distinctive features, or types of syntactical structure. For the parameters to which we here attend, although freely variable (and thus at the poet's expressive disposal), are still only two-valued (thus easily compared and traced); 31 they are positionally determined for the most part, and directly and regularly associated with the meter, which is the most prominent and pervasive form element in the type of discourse under study. It is difficult for their properties to escape attention, since they help to constitute so intimate a part of the aesthetic surface. Furthermore, the basic configurations are limited to the scope of one verse of clearly defined boundaries and form a Gestalt which will be quickly encompassed and perceived, if - we should initially qualify - such a thing can be perceived at all. To take a concrete example from the results of our present investigation: when we are told that trochaic tetrameter verse slightly favors short stressed syllables (50.71% short), especially at the beginning of the line (53.82% short), and that iambic tetrameter prefers long ones (51.71% long overall; 51.56% long at beginning); that, in addition, both types of meter prefer \ong final stresses (trochaic 53.66% long; iambic 53.41 %)32 - these facts correlate with our feeling that trochaic verse is the more brusquely dynamic form 33 and with our knowledge from acoustical measurement of recitations that the verse-end tends to be protracted (see also fn. 28.) Chapter 6 will analyze these phenomena at length.

12

Introduction

Thus one authority, Wolfgang Kayser, feels that iambic verse "carries better," that the course of its movement is more balanced and that it "glides" more smoothly. 34 The stress/length proportions are not the main determining factor, but they are a factor - an unconscious accommodation to rhythmic forces - and one that comes to light only statistically; although, once discerned, we can almost sense the effect directly in many verses. Or we sense its expressive opposite. For a mode of trochaic verse with an abundance of long stresses does appear. In the final tetrameter stanzas in Goethe's Faust, Part II, the invocations of Magna Peccatrix, Mulier Samaritana and Maria Aegyptiaca, this preference for long quantities contributes to the solemn tone of adjuration:

- u— — uuu—

Bei der Liebe, die den Füßen Deines gottverklärten Sohnes Tränen ließ zum Balsam fließen, Trotz des Pharisäerhohnes; .. . 35

A comparison of the statistics for these invocations with those for Goethe's trochaic tetrameter verse generally does help to clarify the immanent tone and does not carry us outside the work. 36 We find, in fact, that the whole body of Hölderlin's trochaic tetrameter verse runs strongly counter to the general tendency toward short vowels in trochaic verse, and perhaps we can speculate that the high pathos in these poems stems in part from the tension between the comparative urgency of trochaic meter in itself (trochaic feet are measurably shorter than iambic) 37 and the unusually marked preference for long-voweled restraint. As our statistics become more structurally refined, they lead us even further into the work, become more aesthetically relevant, more revelatory of specific movement. Perhaps it is the limitation of some studies of vowel patterning and statistics of style that they do not relate sufficiently to structural reference points or principles, determined beforehand. Such relationships may in most cases be more elaborate than we suspect. Metrical studies have, of course, from the very beginning proceeded structurally, but undoubtedly not yet to the limits of efficiency. The tables that follow, based on 2937 trochaic tetrameter verses in ABAB rhyme form from J.Eichendorff, G.Heym, P.Gerhardt, A.Gryphius and F. Hölderlin, show: A. the ranked populations of the sixteen possible verse patterns of long and short stressed vowels; and B. the populations for all patterns as they are distributed in the four quatrain lines. Table A indicates absolute rhythmic preferences, and Table B suggests that, at certain positions in the stanza, certain patterns are more dynamically appropriate than others:

Introduction A. Population Ranking of Stressed Vowel Length Patterns in Trochaic Tetrameter CrossRhymed Quatrains Number of Occurrences

B. Number of Occurrences of Each Pattern in Each of the Four Stanzaic Lines of Trochaic Tetrameter Cross-Rhymed Quatrains Pattern Designation

Pattern

Stanza Lines

1-1 1-2 1-3

uu u u uuuuu- u uu

1. 54 53 45 48

2. 52 41 45 58

3. 52 59 40 58

4. 40 46 52 48

2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4

u— u u u-uu— u u

50 63 39 42

43 44 36 53

49 62 46 37

41 55 34 43

3-1 3-2

-

uuu u uu- u u

32 40 41 51

56 50 49 40

32 44

43 56

32 48

39 41

— uu uu

36 55 33 52

42 42 39 46

51 38 26 50

52 52 47 44

Pattern

224 212 199 198 192

u- uuu — uuuuuuu

190 190 187

- uu- u u-

183 182 181 175 163 161 155 145

u- uu u u- u — uu u - uuu - u- u U - - u u

13

3-3 3^1 4-1 4-2 4-3 4-4

Full comment on such statistical results is given in Chapter !? (sections 1 for A. and 9-10 forB.), but a brief inspection here will make obvious the compelling force for rhythmic preference of a long final stress, a short initial one, and of various symmetries of pattern towards the top of Table A. A random distribution could conceivably produce a slight excess of either long or short at a given metric point, but obviously it could not result in the almost complete division of the table into an upper half with long end and an upper quarter with short beginning. These are systematic biases of distribution based on dynamic rhythmic function. The final long or double long helps to slow and resolve the rhythmic impetus of the verse. The initial short encourages acceleration at the outset (see fn. 28); indeed, a rapid double short dominates. The concluding length sequence (u - ) stands highest, as a group followed by ( - -). Correlative to the former is the clear ¿/¡sp reference of an ( - u) ending sequence. In the preferred clausula, thus, the penultimate (u) announces and accelerates towards the long cadence.38 Nevertheless, the individual verse-patterns are not mere functions of their quantitative filling in specific stresses. That they are also perceived as total Gestalten is illustrated by the differential preferences in the various stanza lines, as presented in Table B. For example, the configurations designated at the left as 1-2, 2-2, 3-1, 3-4 and 4-3, reveal strong and rhyth- 8

14

Introduction

mically determined preferences for one or more of the four quatrain lines.39 The on- verses of the strophe's two rhythmically subordinate units (couplets), verses one and three, tend to 1-2, 2-2 and 3-4, as opposed to their performances in off-verses. More inclined to the off-verses are figures with an initially falling sequence (-u), i.e., 3-1 and 3-2. The figure 4-3, which realizes a strong cadence by contrasting a sudden final short to a protracted series of longs, very saliently favors the last stanzaic line to the penultimate one, where its cadential force would be premature. Thus, although this pattern is the least preferred of all (see bottom of Table A), it is felt to have a clear rhythmic function. Two other very clear cases of powerful rhythmic discrimination exercised by individual stanzaic lines (which are to be understood as constituent phases of an encompassing rhythmic period) are the preference for 2-2 over 3-1 in line one (63 vs. 32 occurrences) and that for the same balanced figure 2-2 over the cadential 4-3 in line three (62 vs. 26). The tables above suggest inherent rhythmic gradients for a specific form per se: trochaic tetrameter quatrain with alternating rhyme. Individual poets, of course, may show different systems of preference, characteristic of their own style. These inherent rhythmic gradients in their most general nature, apart from the preferred positons of whole verse patterns, can be most graphically viewed in a sort of rhythmic "flow-chart," a term rendered not inappropriate when we recall to mind the derivation of Greek rhythmos, "measured motion," from the verb rhein, "to flow." From Table B above we can compute the percentages of shorts or longs at each metrical point in the stanza, and we will then assume that the tendencies made visible actually reveal immanent tempo and pause preferences residing in the metricstanzaic forms as an abstract scheme of rhythm. This scheme represents, in effect, a field of rhythmic vector-forces (accelerant, non-gradient, retarding) with or against which the poet moves in his own rhythmic gestures, evoking thence a more compliantly natural or a more wilfully personal strain. Holderlin, for example, quite contrary to a principle discussed below, tends to a long first stress in line three, thus resolutely refusing to spur his pace at a natural moment for such a move, progressing rather in unhurried elevation to the period's end. Table C below indicates the quantitative tendency for each stress-number in each line of the trochaic tetrameter quatrain with alternating (ABAB) rhymes; long positions are in bold-face: C. Stress Number: Line 1. 2. 3. 4.

1' 53.7% u 50.5% u 54.9% u 51.0%

2' 50.4%53.1% u 51.0% u 50.2% -

3' 52.2% 50.3% 52.7% 52.5%

u u u u

4' 55.0%50.8%55.5%52.5% -

Introduction

15

The total percentage for the whole sample is 50.3% short. Hence, 2 (3') line two (third stress) - is the only indifferent point in the metric scheme. The strong short-biases of 1 (1') and 3 (1') can be said to launch with energy the rhythmic trajectories of the couplet subperiods, while the even stronger long-biases of 1 (4') and 3 (4') capture and suspend the momentum of the on-verse, upon which rest-point follows then the falling phase of the off-verse. The moment of suspension of 3 (4') seems protracted in the longtendency of 4 (1'), where the appearance of retarding length seems to announce by contrast the cadence of the entire stanzaic motion. A perhaps unexpected point is the considerable brevity of 2 (2'). We might invoke here the principle mentioned earlier (fn. 38), of acceleration in a penultimate rhythmic element, to explain this finding, since 2 (2') is actually in the penultimate dipode member of the first couplet subperiod. 40 That such brevity is not to be found in the corresponding member - 4 (2') of the second couplet subperiod is not a contravention but rather a confirmation of the effectiveness of this principle, since at a hierarchically higher rhythmic level, that of the whole stanza period, line four in its entirety is the phase of resolution and thus has the greatest overall tendency to extension. At this level, the whole of line three is penultimate and hence should theoretically show the greatest tendency to shorts, which it does, save for the very long last stress. Percentages of long and short in the four stanza lines run as follows: 1. 50.1% (u), 2. 50.8% (u), 3. 50.8% (u), 4. 50.3% (-). Apparently, this method of phonemic inventory coupled with the metric-stanzaic scheme enables us to penetrate the dynamics of inner form in a manner which probably could not be accomplished, or at least not with the same certainty as to the aspect we are dealing with, by statistical tables of stress-level contours, enjambment and punctuation, syntactical overlay of the stanza, and the like. In a brief lyric, often anthologized for its uniquely Romantic tonal sorcery, the type of insight given by a canon of differential statistics can be neatly shown, and a passage presented in which the metaphor of undersong almost becomes reality, if we think of song as a melody in which the phrases are all demonstrably part of a whole - in this case, demonstrably consistent choices according to a uniform principle. The author of the Wiegenlied, Clemens Brentano, enjoys the praise of critics for the magic of his musical verses. To cite a recent comment, in one of the most celebrated novels devoted to things both German and musical, Doktor Faustus of course, author Thomas Mann describes the DreizehnGesänge of his composer-hero Adrian Leverkühn, thirteen songs which are based on the texts of as many poems by Brentano; and in the person of his portly but knowledgeable narrator Serenus Zeitblom, Mann expresses his

16

Introduction

admiration for "the music which lies in such light slumber in these verses, that the slightest touch from a gifted hand suffices to awaken it." 41 Critic and scholar Wolfgang Kayser describes how in Brentano's Wiegenlied "a magician of rhythm has shaped the line of movement of his poem," a song of "compelling force". 42 1. Singet leise, leise, leise, Singt ein flüsternd Wiegenlied, Von dem Monde lernt die Weise, Der so still am Himmel zieht. 2. Singt ein Lied so süß gelinde, Wie die Quellen auf den Kieseln, Wie die Bienen um die Linde Summen, murmeln, flüstern, rieseln. In his euphonic analysis, Kayser notes the effect of the I and the m sounds, and of the vowels ei, ie, and ii, but he does not specifically outline their patterning. He does, however, point out the resultant resolution and rounding off in the final long vowel ie of the poem's last line, after five short-voweled stresses. A schematic display of the stressed vowels, as practiced by W. Masing in his study of Goethe's lyric, 43 constitutes a simple analytical improvement and allows us to diagram vocalic parallels and patterns - sequence, chiasmus, bracketing and the like: 1.

I

I

1

ie

ü

I

J

e

au

ie

ei

--ie i i - - ie

1 ie

u

i

_ ie

„ u

1 u

ü

ie

i i i i --1

ei

ei

ei

u

L ie

1 ie

o

o

e

i

J i

e

i

J i

=

i

In stanza one we might find significant the number of immediately sequential like stressed vowels. A habit develops of passing from a short to a related long vowel, from Singt to Wiegenlied, from Von to Monde, lernt to Der and Himmel to zieht. The beginning of line three is marked by a clear change of pitch, to lower and back vowels, returning gradually to the tonic high front vowels at the end of line four. Stanza two sets the same tonic note in its first line, and in its last we hear a model progression by the high formant up the scale, and in articulation from back to front, likewise returning to the tonic vowels. Within themselves, lines one and two of stanza two also recur at the end to their initial tones.

Introduction

17

The special melodic virtue of the placement of Bienen is the strong confluence created here of an accord with Lied, set at the parallel stress number in verse one, together with a figure of diminution. The latter is formed in concert with Wie, relative to the span of Wie and Kieseln in verse two. Following Wie ... Kieseln, the shortened metric interval Wie ... Bienen comes as a rhythmic acceleration, in perfect accord with but enlivening the moment of regularity which is imposed by the strict parallel (Lied/Bienen). Proceeding to a metrical analysis of Wiegenlied, Kayser, observing the degrees of stress and place of caesura, pronounces the first verse slow, the second somewhat faster, the third - which is strongly dipodic - he calls vibrant or oscillating (schwingend), and the fourth is a repetition of the second's metrical profile. Then, at the end of the third line of stanza two, Kayser finds the rhythm become so urgent (dringlich) that it necessarily enjambs, to be arrested by the "two dark u's" and then finally resolved in the long voweled rieseln. Without doubt, meter, sense-emphasis and syntactical junctures play a dominant role in engendering a rhythmic experience of this sort. Neverthless, it is worth our registering the contributions of the stressed vowel lengths, which we simply abstract from the diagram above:

i r

n

u -

2. r

u -

- u

- u

u u u -

u -

u u

- u

u -

u u u -

We see immediately that at a level of rhythmic hierarchy above the single stress - that is, at the dipode level - more potentially audible parallels (of transition elements) occur in stanza 1 than in 2, and we might conclude thence that the former, be it aesthetically for good or ill, for formal satisfaction or flat monotony, creates a more unified rhythm. Even more far-reaching are the results of a comparison with the statistical data presented in Table B. We confirm that the vowel length configurations of verse two (u u - -), three (u - u -), and four ( - u u - ) in stanza one are all the single most preferred figures, of the sixteen possible ones, for their respective quatrain lines. Separate counts for each verse of a specific stanza form have already enabled us to determine how, within the stanza conceived of as a continuous rhythmic structure with inherent gradients, the different verses will favor different melodic phrases, and thus we can see that in our present stanza three of the four lines have, as it were, danced to the locally most popular tune. The figure in line one (u ) is, to be sure, among the least preferred in its position; here, the desire for repetition has restricted the tonal freedom of the poet. On the grounds of

18

Introduction

other, less simple criteria for preference (for whose discussion space does not here suffice) different dipode quantity sequences [u -/u u/u - / - u], different figure sequences and stanzaic organization could indeed have been generated, but adherence to popular melodic phrasing is an appropriately "naive" principle for a flusternd Wiegenlied. Comparison of other features of patterning would show that the quatrain's cross-section of first stress quantities [u/u/u/-] is the second most frequent form on the relevant trochaic tetrameter list (not shown), and that the pattern of its cross-section of first dipode quantity sequences [u - / u u/ u - / - u], giving the pattern [A/B/A/C] to represent recurrence of one like transition element in lines one and three along with two different types, is the second most popular such pattern for trochaic tetrameter cross-rhymed quatrains. 44 Of course, we would be foolish to believe that these comparisons prove Brentano has, in some sense, approached "optimal" musicality in stanza one of the Wiegenlied. Musicality involves too many other factors and, what is perhaps most crucial of all, some principles of their relative aesthetic potency. A poet's or a poem's personal air may rise from errant rather than public resources and may yet enchant us. We find on the one hand that Georg Trakl, by all acclaim a profoundly euphonious poet, cleaves with astonishing instinct to the scheme of general preferences, while on the other hand Heinrich Heine, with a markedly musical scherzo strain of his own, moves far from the statistical norms. All we can assert is that Brentano has adhered to basic forms, basic because most frequent, and the less potentially expressive for being the more basic. Similarly in pure music, the wonted turn of melodic phrase - habitual in popular song and the routine composer - is in a sense more tunefully natural than the fresh melodic invention of genius, but is hardly to be called more musical. We need go no further than Brentano's second stanza, which, by most criteria applied above, comes off rather badly, but which does not yield in point of musical charm. Its figures in verse one (u — u) and two ( - u — ) both rank in the lower fourth of the preference lists, while the figure in verse three ( — u u) is sixth ranking and that in verse four (u u u - ) is eighth. The first-stress cross section [u/-/-/u] of the quatrain is rated thirteenth of sixteen (tables of first-stress cross sections have not been shown here), and the first-dipode cross section [A/B/C/D], a scheme in which none of the four possible quantitative sequences is repeated, is likewise dispreferred. It is possible that these "irregularities," or lower levels of preference, along with the lack of dipode parallels illustrated in the diagram above, add to the purling, irregular tempo (rieseln) of stanza two compared with stanza one. The consistent feminine rhymes also bring a salient rhythmic change.

Introduction

19

A correlation of the vowel length figures with Kayser's metrical program would point in stanza one's "slow" first verse to the three long vowels, in the "faster" second line to the initiating short-short dipode (the terminal long-long dipode functions to resolve the whole first couplet), and in the "oscillating" third line to an alternation of quantities, like a moment of melodic interlude before the resolution. Of the fourth verse Kayser says only that it parallels the second. Quantity analysis shows a notable difference, and, I think we can add, a rhythmically founded one. Statistically, we have found that a long first stress is relatively preferred at the beginning of a stanza's final line, where it methodically checks the rhythmic impetus and announces the now imminent cadence. The device is singularly strong with a first-stress cross section such as [u/u/u/-], where the accustomed light-footed verse starts are surprised at last by a restraining longvoweled intonation. In stanza two, Kayser's "urgent" verse three could be in part impelled by the drop from a long-long first dipode to a short-short following one. Of all figures in the second stanza of the Wiegenlied, this (— u u) enjoys the highest positional favor, and perhaps it is rather popular in line three, and more so there than in the first two lines, because on the verse level it brings a falling gradient of rhythmic urgency to complete the stanza after the minor resolution of couplet one. This particular preference (for — u u in quatrain verse three of trochaic tetrameter) even asserts itself against the quite strong general tendency for verse three to begin with a short stressed vowel, as a brief reanimating spark touched to the beginning second couplet. (Check in Table C.) Such "counter-preferences" offer proof that verse configurations are perceived as a total Gestalt, and that distributions are not just a function of length-filling at specific points. Analysis like the preceding attempts to add a new element of system to prosodic description. It touches upon matters of tempi and chronemic structure and their relevance for poetic expression, through the dynamism of rhythm. Logically, rhythmic description need contain no expressive allusions, but, following closely as it does the turns of imaginal action, it will surely tend to do so. Still, the least problematic function of any phonemic analysis is to pluck out threads of structural unity and continuity, where no argument is made from pattern to rhythmic effect or from statistical frequency to rhythmic norm or expressive deviation. The analysis of vowel-length figures will help to show the rhythmic linking of stanzas and verses by repetition, as well as cases where patterns are localized at recurrent junctures of a poem. A simple diagram will reveal, for instance, that two contiguous alcaic strophes by Klopstock are in secret communication, share unsuspected unifying forms. Only their respective second verses differ in vowel length pattern, and the important cross-section of stress one is in both the same:

20

Introduction

-u-uu u uu—

Die spätem Sprachen haben des Klangs noch wohl; Doch auch des Silbenmaßes? Statt dessen ist In sie ein böser Geist, mit plumpem Wörtergepolter, der Reim, gefahren:

u _ - - uuu -uu —

Red' ist der Wohlklang, Rede das Silbenmaß; Allein des Reimes schmetternderTrommelschlag, Was der? Was sagt uns sein Gewirbel Lärmend und lärmend mit Gleichgetöne?

u

_

A more public liaison is maintained by the common stanzaic opening on stressed c and by the parallel third-stress eVs found in lines three and four of both stanzas. In a Masing diagram a number of other scattered vocalic stress-parallels are visible. Our confidence in their rhythmic value will increase as we gain conviction of the reality of long-range rhythmic interaction. The more detailed analyses which follow will review problems of the vowel as a leading instrument in the orchestration of poetic language. They will present the findings of specific investigations, in tabular form and with explications, and will apply these results in passing to questions of style and of rhythmic and phonetic expressiveness. To begin with, in Part I, we shall demonstrate through the use of a traditional and probably unquestioned phenomenon of vowel patterning (assonance) that sound repetitions within and between verses can occur in positional correlations that seem derivative from specific rhythmic functions. In these chapters (1-3) the factor under study - vowel timbre echo does not itself have to be proven to exist; only its as yet poorly examined rhythmic ramifications must be investigated. Part II, on the other hand, must systematically make the case for the existence of a more subsurface stylistic phenomenon, beginning with a look at the nature of the prosodie feature of vowel length, touching briefly on problems of scansion and the use of statistics, and proceeding to a correlation of empirical research on the psychology of rhythm with the empirical findings of vowel-length distributions. These rhythmically significant correlations, and later internal evidence in the structure of preference hierarchies, establish the reality of quantitative patterning. Part II investigates various meters and stanzaic forms in a number of poets, and reveals marked generic and personal preferences for specific lengths, transition elements, verse configurations, localizations and stanza structures. One of the most striking findings is the preference for abstract patterns of distribution (alternation, bisection, enclosure, isotony) which is quite independent of the specific vowel lengths involved. Readers interest-

Introduction

21

ed primarily in the quantitative "vowel undersong" may begin with Chapter 4. 1 W.B. Stanford in The Sound of Greek (Univ. of Cal., Berkeley, 1967), p. 63, describes the language as one: "rich in vowels, largely free from awkward consonantal clusters and offensive sibilance and capable of clear articulation together with a flowing continuity. At times the proportion of vowels in a phrase is astonishingly high." The Greeks were themselves conscious, and proud, of the euphony of their language, which was enviously admired by Roman writers and prosodists. 2 Walter Jackson Bate, The Stylistic Development of Keats (New York, 1945), p. 51. 3 However, Bate later adds (p. 56): "From Bailey's discussion of Keats's theory of vowel interplay, Keats himself seems to have laid chief stress on assonance." Another poet, Edith Sitwell, seconds a definition of rhythm as "melody stripped of its pitch," a concept applicable to the sequence of long and short vowels stripped of their timbre; A Poet's Notebook (Boston, 1950), p. 1S3. Miss Sitwell remarks of the English Romantics that: "With ... their more poignant vowel-sense, resulting in a different kind of melodic line, poetry became the sister of musk" (Ibid., p. 185). German Romantic poetry is also known for its marked vowel-sense, evident quite expressly, for example, in the revival of systematic assonant "rhyming." 4 Julius Tenner, "Über Versmelodie," Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und Allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft, VIH (1913), p. 250. 5 Eduard Sievers, "Über Sprachmelodisches in der deutschen Dichtung," Rhythmischmelodische Studien (Heidelberg, 1912), p. 58. 6 Ibid., p. 66. 7 Ibid., pp. 60-61. 8 See Seymour Chatman, A Theory of Meter (The Hague, 1965).The metaphor of "melody" is employed here in full understanding of the disparity between musical melody and the phenomenon here described. Speech melody is carried by impure, unstable tones, and scales only relative pitch intervals. The additional factor of tonal length has usually not been implied in the metaphor. 9 See J.C. Beaver, "Contrastive Stress and Metered Verse," Language and Style, II (1969), pp. 251-71. 10 Some early German prosodists, albeit, did calculate a distinction between the metrical length of words like schaajf vs. schaff, both conventionally "long"; see A. Heusler, Deutsche Versgeschichte (Berlin, 1929), III, p. 75. According to Heusler, other Baroque prosodists were emphatically literal about the metaphor of "length'' in traditional metrical reckoning, asserting that the "long" must be pronounced "mit einem Gedehne und längerer Zeit", while the short "fließe in geschwinder Eile von der Zunge"; Ibid., p. 123. Incidentally, the poet Robert Bridges, who experimented with the composition of quantitative meters in English, testifies to the difficulty of feeling and thinking in quantities; see Paul Fussel, Poetic Meter and Poetic Form (New York, 1965), p. 14. 11 Otto von Essen considers quantity to be the autonomous means of distinction between "long" and "short" vowels (Allgemeine und angewandte Phonetik [Berlin, 1962], p. 147), but even if we consider it a secondary correlate of oppositions such as tense/lax or close/ open, it is still perceived as quantity and corresponds to statistically distinguishable groupings of "long" and "short" average acoustic lengths. Chapter 6 will discuss this problem at length. 12 Laments persist that philologists and "rhetoricians" are reluctant to trust their ears; (Stanford, The Sound of Greek, p. 20, Notes 2 and 3). Certainly, the modern linguist's ear has been sharpened and many "rhetoricians," not only recent ones, have listened very keenly. Still, we may yet hear something new of interest, such as the ordered enchainment

22

13 14 15 16

17

18

19 20

21 22

Introduction of vowel quantities divorced from their qualities. This is especially possible in poetry. Roman Jakobson has remarked that the poetic function of language promotes "the palpability of signs, deepens the fundamental dichotomy of signs and objects," in our case the palpability of phonemic length. The poetic function, asserts Jakobson, also promotes "equivalence" to the "constitutive device" of the speech sequence. Any feature can serve just the same rhythmic function as a like feature; one syllable or stress or pause or word boundary or "prosodie long" or short is assumed to be as good as any other syllable, stress, etc., in that particular place, as long as they are phonetically equivalent in the given aspect. Thus, we could argue, once attuned to the chronemes of vowels, any phonemic long or short will serve the same rhythmic function regardless of the other distinctive features. See: Roman Jakobson, "Closing Statement: Linguistics andPoetics," in Style inLanguage, Thomas A. Sebeok, ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), pp. 356, 358. Franz Saran, Deutsche Verslehre (Munich, 1907), p. 67. Saran says of Heyse-Lyon's theory: "Sonanten- und Silbendauer werden hier verselbigt." Harvey Gross, Sound and Form in Modern Poetry (Ann Arbor, 1964), p. 20. From "Hegire," in "Buch des Sängers," West-Östlicher Divan, in Goethes Werke (Hamburg), II (1949), p. 7. Ibid., p. 18. Eduard Sievers (Rhythmisch-melodische Studien, p. 68) uses verses from Goethe's first Faust-monologue to distinguish what he considers a lyrical tone, which levels the dynamic and melodic intervals of stress and pitch, from a tone of declamatory pathos, with extreme dynamic and melodic fluctuations. Actually a good deal of the difference of tone is traceable to vowel-length differences. The verses are, respectively : "O sähst du, voller Mondenschein," and "Weh ! Steck' ich in dem Kerker noch?" Stressed in the first are predominantly long vowels, while in the second - save for "Weh!" at the beginning - all are short. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the vowel lengths in these and the following examples are assigned by me, on the basis of Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield, 1958). In the word "song," according to Webster (p. xiv) : " . . . British speech has o, but the more general American pronunciation is" (sông). An American can easily imitate the short vowel to hear the effect mentioned. Further: dipthongs have been treated as long (as does Bate, p. 52) due to their loose attachment and actual acoustic length. It is not really necessary to assume that length is phonemic in English or forms two classes. It suffices that we recognize phonetically relative longs and shorts to get some impression of the rhythmic effect. With regard to the perception of pitch-line, Otto von Essen, following Saran and Sievers, advises a listener to hearken to the stresses only, since the theses "usually elude tonal perception" ; op. cit., p. 168. Bertil Malmberg, Phonetics (New York, 1963), p. 80, confirms that stressed syllables are more "sonorous" and "audible." Purely stylistic investigators have often also expressly justified this selectivity, e.g., W. Masing, Sprachliche Musik in Goethes Lyrik (Strassburg, 1910), p. 9. Bate, p. 54. Bate, p. 56. Bate's system of quantitative scansion, with its 2048 possible combinations, would be unmanageable without a computer, even for a single longer poem. The tremendously differentiated results would obscure important relationships which an investigator must grasp by inspection, before the computer can be charged to confirm them. However, once the systematic tendencies are noted, even greater degrees of differentiation can eventually be sought. (Stanford University, 1931), p. 232. According to M. Durand, the law of Bloch asserts that for a short stimulus to produce a physiological response equivalent to a longer one, the former must be proportionately more intense. Durand applies this law to the relation of long and short vowels. See her Voyelles longues et voyelles brèves (Paris, 1946), p. 182, and her source: H. Piéron, "Les

Introduction

23

24 25 26 27

28

29

23

problèmes psychophysiologiques de la perception de temps," Année psychologique, XXIV (1923), pp. 1-26. Werke, II: 1. p. 100; 2. p. 79; 3. p. 100; 4. p. 97; 5. p. 73; 6. p. 99. Critics (Becq de Fouquières, Grammont, Fischli) have long been attentive to such echoes at metrically regular intervals or in corresponding positions, but these echoes have not been heard as part of a more comprehensive scheme. Albert Fischli, for example, mentions an instance in Mörike's poetry of double end assonance (as in example 5, lines 2 and 3 above) extending through four sequential pair-rhymed pentameter lines; Über Klangmittel im Vers-Innern. Aufgezeigt an der Lyrik Eduard Mörikes (Bern, 1921), p. 44. Chapters 1 and 2 of this study will treat such problems of schematism. See Note 43 in this Introduction, and Chapter 7, Section 11. See fn. 38. Goethe, "Selige Sehnsucht," Werke, II, pp. 18-19. Paired monosyllables with final voiced and unvoiced consonant are about as close as we can come to vowels with like articulation but differing lengths. The length of the vowel before the voiced consonant can be somewhat exaggerated ; the vowel before the unvoiced consonant resists this extension, due to the arrest of consonant occlusion (opposition of loose and close nexus). The actual difference in length amounts to some 20% of the longer vowel; see R-M. S. Heffner, General Phonetics (Madison, Wise., 1952), p. 183. Herbert Woodrow, in A Quantitative Study of Rhythm; The Effect ofVariations in Intensity, Rate and Duration (New York, 1909), p. 64, summarizes his findings on the psychological grouping of series of pure sounds as follows : "With an increase in the ratio of the intensity of the louder sound to that of the weaker sound, there is an increase, first rapid and then slow, in the tendency of the more intense sound to begin the group," and "with an increase in the ratio of the duration of the longer sound to that of the shorter sound, there is an increase ... in the tendency of the longer sound to end the group." In poetry the corresponding sounds to be grouped would be syllables or even, conceivably, the series of stressed vowels in isolation. Paradoxically, the short stressed vowel creates a greater impression of intensity, relative to the unstressed vowel following, than does a long vowel, because "with a small difference in the absolute durations of the longer and shorter sounds" - here the short stress and the following thesis - " the effect of intensity is comparatively great" (p. 96). See Chapter section 6.2 for further discussion. Sievers in "Über Sprachmelodisches in der deutschen Dichtung," pp. 58-9, with regard to poets' pre-verbal musical intuitions, cites as autobiographical the statement by Goethe's Wilhelm Meister: "To be sure, Nature has denied me a felicitous voice, but inwardly a secret genius often seems to whisper something rhythmical to me, so that while walking my movements are each musically measured and I seem to perceive at the same time gentle tones, which then accompany some song that, in one way or another, presents itself pleasingly to me." (Goethe, Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre [Weimar, 1895], XXV, p. 66.) Sievers also quotes from a letter of Schiller to Körner (25 May 1792; Fr. Jonas, ed., Schillers Briefe [Stuttgart 1893], III, p. 202) : "The music of a poems is far more often floating in my soul, when I sit down to make it, than the clear conception of its content, about which I am hardly sure." And the view of T.S. Eliot might be adduced: "I know that a poem or a passage of a poem may tend to realize itself first as a particular rhythm before it reaches expression in words, and that this rhythm may bring to birth the idea and the image ..." (On Poetry and Poets [New York, 1957], p. 32). Thus also Paul Valéry (translated from the German in Wolfgang Kayser, Das sprachliche Kunstwerk [Bern, 1948], p. 240) : "Several years ago I was possessed by a certain rhythm which impressed itself on me more and more. It seemed to try to take shape but could do so in no other way than by borrowing syllables and words according to their musical sense." Such introspections by poets cannot be construed to touch specifically on any specific rhythmic or musical factor.

24

Introduction

30 C.F.P. Stutterheim, "Modern Stylistics, II," Lingua, III (1952), p. 52. 31 In German there are only two phonemic vowel lengths but 18 native stressed vowel and diphthong timbres and 20 native consonants (plus consonantal [j]). 32 These figures are for respectively 6677 lines of trochaic tetrameter and 4123 lines of iambic tetrameter, taken from nine poets (Gerhardt, Gryphius, Goethe, Eichendorff, Hölderlin, Heine, Rilke, Heym, Trakl). Some poets show far more extreme distinctions. Rilke's iambic tetrameter begins long 54.5% and ends long 59% (516 verses). Trakl's trochaic tetrameter begins short 58% and ends long 64% (380 verses). Sometimes the percentages shift, but the relative difference remains: Heine's trochaic tetrameter begins short 57.5 % and ends short also, but only by 50% . See Chapter 6 (including Table 6.3) for a full discussion. 33 Paul Goodman intuitively judges: "Any trochaic rhythm is rapid, for the foot is short, and there is a touch of energy at the beginning." The Structure of Literature (Chicago, 1954), p. 187. 34 Kleine deutsche Versschule (Munich, 1957), p. 27. 35 Werke (Hamburg, 1949), III, 362. In the stanza cited the quantity configurations are identical, save for the first dipode of line three, with those of stanza one in "Selige Sehnsucht." (See p. 7). The respective first lines have similar metrical profiles and junctures, and the same tone of ceremonial address. The touch of sudden intensity which we there ascribed to the second (short) stress of line two, here falls on gott- instead of Menge, in both cases helping to discharge the emotive burden of the words by increasing their immanent rhythmic intensity. We could use Kenneth Burke's description of rhythmic "salience" imparting emphasis; Counter-Statement (Los Altos, Calif., 1953), p. 135. 36 Goethe's trochaic tetrameter (1064 verses) shows 52% short stresses, 55% short first stress, 50 % + short final stress. Compare stanza distribution above. His iambic tetrameter (432 verses) reveals 52 % long stresses overall, 54 % long first stresses, 55 % long last stresses. 37 Ada L.F. Snell measured the average length of trochaic and iambic English verse feet as respectively .55 and .69 seconds; "An Objective Study of Syllabic Quantity in English Verse; Part II. Lyric Verse," PMLA, vol. 34 (1919), p. 432. The shortness of trochaic feet is confirmed by Warner Brown, Time in English Verse Rhythm: An Empirical Study of Typical Verses by the Graphic Method (New York, 1908), p. 56. Investigators of the psychology of rhythmic grouping have also noted this fact. See Chapter section 6.2 for complete discussion. 38 A good deal of evidence can be adduced, especially from the forms of prosody, to show that it is a fundamental rhythmic device to precede the conclusion of a period with a moment of acceleration. (See Chapter section 8.11.) I need only mention the requirement of classical hexameter that the fifth dactyl be full, i.e. contain the accelerant moment of a double thesis. In Russian binary verse, which is tetrametric, the most frequent departure from the metrical scheme is the omission of stress on the penultimate foot. This gives added strength to the following, final stress; see B.O. Unbegaun, Russian Versification (Oxford, 1956), p. 20. Roman Jakobson has shown that Slavic trochaic decasyllable verse tends to avoid stress (in the Russian epic form, p. 39) or long accented phonemes (SerboCroatian epic, p. 25) in the penultimate foot. Absence of stress or of long phonemic elements will obviously hurry the pace. See R. Jakobson, "Studies in Comparative Slavic Metrics," Oxford Slavonic Papers, III (Oxford, 1952), pp. 21-66. Incidentally, Jakobson also notes that quantitative fixing of pattern in Indo-European verse seems to move from the rear of the line forward, which is perhaps the inherited tendency leading to almost absolute statistical preeminence of long-end patterns (Jakobson, p. 63). 39 The hyphened designations indicate the two transition elements found in the first and the last dipodes of a tetrameter line. The four possible rhythmic transition elements are:

Introduction

25

1 = [uu] "level rapid"; 2 = [u-] "rising"; 3 = [-u] "falling"; 4 = [ - - ] "level slow." That these are experienced as independent rhythmic entities is demonstrated in Chapter 7, but see also fn. 44 to this Introduction. 40 This is the same metric point discussed in fn. 35 where it was found in two stanzas of Goethe to contain a contrasting short with apparent expressive force. Note also in the Faust stanza over fn. 35 that the short tendency of (10 has been resisted, thus slowing the surge of the lines at the outset, especially at 3 (10 where the rush to the close of the period should begin but does not. Contrarily, 4 (10 is short, thus failing to initiate cadence, a reflection perhaps of the syntactical incompletion of the stanza. 41 Thomas Mann, Doktor Faustus. Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkiihn (Berlin, 1960), p. 199. 42 Kleine deutsche Versschule, pp. 108ff.Also in his Das sprachliche Kunstwerk (Bern, 1948), pp.254 ff. 43 Sprachliche Musik in Goethes Lyrik (Strassburg, 1910), pp. 69ff. 44 The stanza's cross-section of first-stress quantities is read vertically down the initial stresses of the four verses. Table C shows what an important role stress one plays in the dynamic articulation of the stanza, and this will hold true for specifically differing crosssectional patterns, which will try to impose their own articulation on the stanza, resistant to the general scheme. The cross section of the first dipodes is similarly read, resulting in various sequential arrangements of the four possible transition elements: (uu), (u-), (-u) & (—).To check their possible patterning, we ignore the actual quantities and schematize only the event of recurrence and its location. By analogy with a rhyme scheme, the first-dipode pattern [A/B/C/D] would indicate failure to recur, whereas in [A/B/C/B] the same sequence of quantities, whatever it might be, would appear at the head of verses two and four. [A/B/A/B] would be restricted to two types of sequence in alternation. We find significant preferences here just as with the simple horizontal verse-sequences, and they give insight into a structure which is not entirely the same as that revealed by the "flowchart." It is the more static form of interconnection of parts, regardless of the dynamic character of the parts. Thus the first-dipode sequence [-u/—/—/-u] would be sensed as an event of formal symmetry [ABBA], despite the impediment offered to several strong dynamic trends. The number of occurrences of the various patterns possible, for a sample of 768 trochaic tetrameter cross-rhymed quatrains, is as follows (each column is of equal probability): ABBC 77 ABBA 50 AAAA 12 ABAC 74 ABAA 47 ABCB 73 AABB 44 AABC 69 AAAB 42 ABCC 66 ABAB 41 A BCD 58 AABA 34 ABCA 54 ABBB 30 For an elaboration on this phenomenon of "ditone flights," see Chapter section 7.11.

PART I

The First Voice Vowel Timbre Echoes in German Verse

CHAPTER 1

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

Die menschliche Stimme ist gleichsam das Prinzip und Ideal der Instrumentalmusik. Klingt überhaupt eigentlich der Körper oder die Luft? Ist nicht das elastische Fluidum der Vokal, und der Körper der Konsonant - die Luft die Sonne - und die Körper die Planeten jenes die erste Stimme - diese die zweite?1 - Novalis 1.1 The vowel By its very name, the vowel ( < vouel < vocalis1 < vox) is addressed as the "voice" of language, or at least the leading, "melodic" voice, as Novalis suggests. Phoneticians classify it under the functional acoustic aspect of sonancy, as a phoneme sounding without support of others, or, structurally, as the most common although not the only form of syllabic, the element which constitutes the crest, peak, or nucleus of the syllable.3 A general definition of the vowel, especially from the purely phonetic point of view, is not simple nor is it relevant for our purpose, but we might mention at least the definition given by Von Essen, in agreement with G.F.Arnold, that the vowel "is always the bearer of a phonologically relevant prosodic characteristic (accent, chroneme, etc.)". 4 In German both stress and chroneme (the phoneme of length) are phonologically and expressively relevant.

1.2 Vowel sounds as the "spirit" of verse Poets, metricists and phoneticians alike have usually considered the vowels, as the syllabic nuclei, to be of especial significance among the tones of poetry, since they are fairly definite, simple sounds,5 are the "tonebearers" and "strike the ear." 6 The impression has even been received, albeit a mistaken one on the basis of acoustic measurements, that the vowel sound constitutes "the bulk of the syllable in point of duration." 7

30

1.2 Vowel sounds as the "spirit" of verse

Novalis' contrastive image of fluid and body would seem to derive more or less directly from classical commentaries on grammar - like that of Dionysios Thrax (second century B.C.) and the voluminous Institutiones Grammaticae of Priscianus (early sixth century A.D.) - where vowels are termed the soul of speech and consonants the body.8 This metaphor has shown surprising vitality and seems naturally appropriate, suggested by the free-passing breath of the vowels and the greater kinesthetic awareness of the body in the production of consonants, through greater involvement of the articulatory organs. Clemens Brentano, for example, writes of "Des Vokals belebend Wunder/... Und der Konsonanten Hunger" ("The enlivening miracle of the vowel/... And the hunger of the consonants"), 9 which suggests the animating breath of life as opposed to an incorporative function. The same metaphor seems to be in Richard Wagner's mind when that great master (and mountebank) of euphony terms the consonants "the garments of the spirit," and, more organically, compares the consonants with the fleshly covering and the vowels with the interior of the human body, that is, "with the whole inner organism of man's living body which prescribes from out itself the shaping of its outward show as offered to the eye of the beholder." 10 Edith Sitwell, quoting the above passage from Wagner, sees in consonants the "physical identity" of the "spirit" that is in the vowels and finds that the consonants have a shaping effect but do not "effect time as do vowels." 11 That vowels "effect time" is a quite profound insight worth more attention in the study of language. Not only the outward time of speech, the rhythm, is involved, but also the inward time of meaningful sensation, the feelings of acceleration and protraction, of haste and tarrying, of intensity and calm. The way in which a sense of time is created and regulated by vowels will be often touched upon in the investigations that follow. To cite but one more poet: Stéphane Mallarmé abides by the familiar anatomical metaphor, although transmuting spirit into flesh and flesh into bone : "Related to all nature and thus something like the guardian organism of life, the word appears in its vowels and its diphthongs, like flesh; and, in its consonants, like delicate bones to be dissected."12 This image is adopted almost literally by Ernst Jünger in his Lob der Vokale, a hymn to the vowel sounds which is generally too subjective to provide many insights for more systematic study. 13 For example, Jünger asserts that the "language of technology is poor in vowels," although probably the contrary is the case, since it contains many words of Greek and Romance origin with their higher vowel/consonant ratio. 14 Naturally, in any prose, and perhaps particularly in scientific prose, the psychological foregrounding of the vowels, found in poetry, is less likely to occur. But Jünger does suggest correctly, in my opinion, that the greatest barrier to successful

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

31

translation of lyrical poetry lies in the difficulty of reproducing vowel harmonies "which lend to verses their bright and magical wings." 15

1.3 Vowels and rhythm Vowels have not only a tonally "animating" effect in language. Many prosodists and experimental investigators have further assumed that the vowels are of particular and fundamental importance for the study of rhythm and melody in verse, and this not only in languages, like the classical ones, where vowel quantity is one of the prosodie features upon which the systematic organization of meter is based. To be sure, there have been negative views of the vowel's rôle in this respect, and we shall note them here at the outset. One of the classical German writers on metrics and the history of verse, Andreas Heusler, specifically denies any importance for metric analysis of the sequence of vowels, as important as it might be for the phonic form of the verse.16 This seems plausible, if we accept a very strict sense of metric as opposed to rhythmic analysis. But Heusler goes on to say that the Lautform (phonic form) of a verse does properly belong in the realm of Verslehre wherever it may systematically distinguish verse from prose, as is the case with rhyme, and it is just this rhythmically distinctive function which we intend to illustrate. Another German prosodist, Wolfgang Kayser, admits that there is something like a rhythm of vowel-timbres, yet he considers this only a "secondary effect," unimportant for rhythmic analysis.17 But many writers have sensed there was more to it than just this. Among relatively recent prosodists, L. Becq de Fouquières, in his Traité Général de Versification Française, was one of the first to mention the "acoustic pleasure, which we sense without knowing, from hearing a sequence of vowels."18 Woldemar Masing, author of an early study on verbal music in Goethe's lyrics, bases his work on the belief that the "musical character" of syllables does not derive from their subjectively variable accent (under which he specifically includes pitch, duration, and intensity), but rather from their relatively objective "tone colors" (timbres) - "most essentially that of the syllabic vowel as the acoustically most effective and thus musically most easily utilizable of its sounds." 19 In a later investigation of the physical basis of rhyme, Henry Lanz attributes the strong emotional effect of rhyming sounds to the melodic principle, known in music, of recurring to a tonic note. Accordingly, he must assume - and attempt to justify on grounds of the physical nature of speech sounds - that the vowels in language "produce a gentle accompaniment to our speech, which only lacks the unity of a musical phrase in order to

32

1.3 Vowels and rhythm

become a melody. It is a continuous flow of subdued musical sounds, a sort of 'infinite melody' in the Wagnerian sense, which is gently whispered into our ear by the vanishing vowels. In a very precise and not at all metaphorical sense our vowels produce music." 20 Lanz's theory is a useful attempt to explain psychologically the pleasure we take in the repetition of an already stated vowel. In an experimental study of pitch and time relations in English verse, Wilbur L. Schramm asserts that "most of the melody is carried by the vowels" in the verse and by the nasal and liquid consonants. 21 And a more recent and linguistically oriented writer, Kiril Taranovski, reiterates that "only vowels and sonorants contribute to the pure melodiousness of a poetic text," so that "verse becomes more musical when the tonal element is intensified and the consonantal noise diminishes." 22 Paul Guiraud maintains then, on the basis of a phonemic inventory of French contemporary poetry as referred to nineteenth-century prose, that in the phonic system of verse the vocalism is quite demonstrably "more nuanced and more rich." 23 And finally, in discussing experiments with reversed tape-playings of music and speech, a recent information theorist remarks: "The vowels convey a larger part of the aesthetic information than the consonants. The consonants convey the greater part of the semantic information." 24 Aesthetic information, in this context, must refer to the interrelationships of sounds (in respect to pitch, intensity, duration and timbre) and the relationship of sounds to structural parameters such as rhythmic units and compositional junctures. These are the important factors in the study of vowel song and undersong. Note that the "melody" spoken of above is not that of the intonational line of the verse or of other syntactical, logical, or emotive pitch inflections; it is the "melody" of vowel timbres. In a passage intuitively anticipating the relations we shall discover between vowel sequence, verse and stanza, K.M. Wilson remarks: The vowel sequences give us a sense of completeness in themselves; they form a sort of rhythm and design of their own, and make us feel a sensation of cadence at the end of each verse. Alone, without either consonant or meaning, they give us a stanza sense.25 In the long run, I believe the above metaphorical sense of verse "melody," as opposed to the pitch line, will prove to be the more relevant and investigatable one. To be sure, Otto von Essen, on the basis of his own acoustic experiments, has confirmed Sievers' and Saran's findings on the existence of a limited number of basic melodic forms or motifs for the pitch lines of verse, and he notes that many speakers do indeed melodize in approximately the same manner for a given text. Frequent exceptions

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

33

occur, however, and the speaker's personality and interpretation of the text are interfering factors. In general, von Essen concludes that conditions are not favorable for the use of speech melody as an aid to criticism.26 By contrast, the "melody" of timbre sequence is objective (apart from occasional problems of scansion) and seems to give insight into personal styles and rhythmic expressiveness.

1.4 Methods of vowel study In actual practice, the vocalic melody has never been treated as a pervasive articulation. It tends to be drowned out to the prosodist's ear by obtrusive surges of assonance and alliteration, that is, by scattered brilliant motifs welling to the surface of what is, in fact, a continuous tonal stream. 27 Moreover, the most common mode of perception of the obtrusive effect has been as static geometrical form or as mood music in an affective key, not as a moment of rhythmic dynamism. The systematic study of vowel euphony must deal with three basic phenomena : the repetition of like sounds (vowel echo); the contrastivepatterning of different sounds (e.g., chiasmus); and the modulation of tone (i.e., contrasts or runs along some given articulatory dimension). Throughout the recent history of research into poetic euphony, 28 furthermore, two distinct methodological approaches to the study of these phenomena are found - a more metrically oriented investigation of patterns without regard to local saliency (Becq de Fouquieres; Russian Formalist statistical study of stress patterns), as opposed to impressionistic analyses which observe the Spitzerian technique of noting only the notable, that is, only recurrence or contrast brought to awareness by rhythmic or logical emphasis. Among the latter, Heinrich Lutzeler's ground rule is, for example, that "the heard impression is decisive" and "only the obvious counts." 29 There is a place for both levels of compositional analysis, microprosody and macroprosody, although Lutzeler's method is apt to miss a good deal. He finds sounds to be isolated that in reality are closely related by rhythm to nearby ones and explicitly denies a salient sound group in a passage where two sequent lines contain five identical stressed vowels.30 Current systematic studies of the vowel in poetry fall into a few simple categories. In practice often combined, these approaches can be placed in order of increasing complexity and, it is likely, decreasing saliency: 1. Vowel repetition or configuration is presented without any reference to position in the verse. The echoes here are heard as decorative arabesques, tonal color or diffuse rhythmic excitement.

34

1.4 Methods of vowel study

2. Correlation of the echoes to definite positions in the verse line, line sequence or stanza helps to clarify their rhythmic function. 3. Contrasting vowel tones within a line, series of lines or poem are examined as a musical or expressive phenomenon. 4. Statistical inventories of phonemes provide an objective basis for specifying the dominant tonality (in terms of timbres or vowel feature contrasts) of a passage or poem. Since quantitative parallelisms may exercise the same relational functions as do qualitative echoes, methods analogous to all of these can be employed in both phases of our current study. One of the first classifications of figures of sound, comprehensive and systematic, was outlined by Osip Brik in his paper on "Sound Repetitions," 31 an essay exclusively dealing with alliteration and "limited to showing examples and arranging them in groups. 32 Brik's categories were the number of repeated consonants or clusters involved, the order of their recurrence, the number of recurrences and the position of the constituent vowels with regard to the rhythmic units. More recently, David J. Masson has labored on the terminology of sound figuration, not confining himself to either consonants or vowels exclusively, but (unlike Brik) avoiding the rhythmic context. His article on "Vowel and Consonant Patterns in Poetry" names as the two polar types of repetition: "(i) the pure sequence, in which certain sounds are repeated in the same order," as opposed to "(ii) the pure chiasmus, in which the order is exactly reversed." 33 Should the sounds, at their second joint occurrence, be relatively farther apart or closer together, one may speak respectively of loosening or of tightening in the theme. In a bracket there are two perfect thematic members (each consisting of two or more sounds in the same sequence) with one or more of the theme's individual elements intervening as an additional link. The examples below are Masson's: Sequence: Chiasmus: Bracket:

Lärmt bei euren Lumpen (Theme: I + m + b/p) ... dans la rwelle,/ Femme impure! (Theme :/• + «) Wenn er wie die Sommersonnenwende (Theme: w + e + n 4- d; intrusive w, n, en)

In combinations and with "subpatterns" - accepting also articulatory equivalences (allotypes, or "suballiterations" and "subassonances") - the designs may turn quite intricate and reverberate through several lines without apparent regard for the metrical topography. Although Masson is given to the hunt for densely patterned consonantal themes, he cites other passages where related vowels have set the tone, or where the vocalic timbre purportedly falls and rises by design, at least with respect to the pitch of the second formants (i -+a—>e).M To be sure, Masson is very generous

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

35

with "equivalences" in his quest for spell-binding phonetic "charms," uttered perhaps unwittingly by the poets; 35 but even so - there are some striking examples. A later article by the same author broadly elaborates the terminology.36 Such euphonies move in a dimly submarine realm, yet their presence and power cannot be denied. Fixing their forms by system might seem a dispiriting labor, since once our consciousness re-enters the current of thought the vowel figures tend inexorably to drift back down to lower perceptual depths. But ultimately, I think, such close analysis will help reveal the modes - even the laws - of the"happy" phrase's felicitous happening,along with insights into rhythmic gesture. 1.5 Previous investigations Figures posed by only the stressed and assonant vowels strike more immediately upon our consciousness than do the dense, mixed and complex strains unraveled by Masson's lore of tonal analysis. In the classification of stressed, assonant figures, however, development has still not been notably straightforward. As one of the first and most successfully schematic prosodies of sound patterning, L. Becq de Fouquières' Traité Général de Versification Française makes explicit (with examples from Racine and Victor Hugo) the fourteen possible patterns of stressed assonance within a verse containing four tonic vowels. In this exhaustive catalogue of clearly perceptible structures, six figures invoke two like vowels upon various combinations of the stresses (abac, abcb, aabc, abbe, abcc, abca) ; three represent the distributions of two different pairs of like vowels (abab, aabb, abba) ; four others show the possible groupings of three identical vowels (aaab, abbb, abaa, aaba) ; while one, of course, is the case of all like vowels (aaaa). Some of his specimen verses follow : abcb abac

Qui jouait de la flûte au fond du crépuscule Mais que sert d'affecter un superbe discours

abab Déjà même Hippolyte est tout prêt à partir abba Grâces au ciel mes mains ne sont point criminelles abaa Ne m'ont acquis le droit de faillir comme lui aaab La reine touche presque à son terme fatal aaaa Tout m'afflige et me nuit et conspire à me nuire No terminology is suggested by Becq de Fouquières, nor is the rhythmic effect of the varying patterns analysed.37

36

1.5 Previous investigations

Maurice de Grammont also cites hundreds of lines with complicated inner harmonies in Le vers français, ses moyens cfexpression, son harmonie (Paris, 1913).38 In collections of this sort (which, incidentally, do not seem to exist in the English or German prosodie literature), it is considered selfjustifying simply to multiply examples of all the logically possible patterns for a given element - as indeed it is, if it thereby awakens our sense of the significant repeatability of a feature of verse which we have previously deemed a perhaps pretty but mere passing peculiarity of single lines. In the analysis of assonant and vowel-quantitative patterns this sample-collecting method is also usable, as a response-conditioning device like repetition drills of syntactical patterns, to reinforce our awareness of specific euphonic structures which, with respect to the feature in question, we can vary by minimal differences. Henry Lanz is carried into farther regions by his melodic theory and has not been followed. Lanz believes that : "every poem, apart from its meaning, has a characteristic musical appearance, the physical cause of which lies largely (though not exclusively) in the arrangement of overtones associated with individual vowels. The musical value of a verse is a function of that arrangement."39 He analyzes several vowel-pattern examples and even certainly a notable curiosity of his work - musically approximates Edgar Allen Poe's line "Hear the mellow wedding bells" to the leitmotif of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman ; that is, on the basis of an equating of vowel sounds with musical notes, he states that the vowel-tone melody of the former is literally very close to the latter. 40 Walter Jackson Bate provides, primarily from Keats' works, unsystematized examples of assonant figures, as does Fischli for German in his study of Môrike. Bate likes to contrast subsequent textual revisions of the same verse in order to sharpen awareness of the patterns ultimately achieved. Of this method, a type of substitution, good use can also be made if one employs invented substitutes for the purpose of pointed contrast, as was done with Goethe's verse in the Introduction (p. 7). Bate adduces several types of pattern, especially chiasmus on stressed vowels : Some shape of beauty moves away the pall Sweet-shapèd lightnings from the nadir deep or, borrowed from Robert Hillyer and stemming from Coleridge: In Xanadu did Kubla Khan 41

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

37

Here, the problematic nature of assonance among unstressed syllables is neatly manifested. On the one hand, the In-did echo rings clear, due to rhythmic correspondence (both are in initial position in the phrases) and to the shortness of the line, while by contrast the correspondence of the second (reduced vowel) syllables of Xanadu and Kubla is as much rhythmic as it is vocalic. A number of Bate's specimens are thus weakened by unstressed echoes without compensating positional amplification. For the continuous "interweaving" or alternation of two stressed vowels Bate shows: He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed where rests/pleasant and ease/weed are further related by articulatory affinities of the postvocalic consonants (sibilance, dentality, voicing.) A quantitative analysis (or one based on the tense-lax feature opposition if that is preferred) would find the duration sequence of the repeated thematic elements ([E] + [i]) to be of rhythmic import as a "rising" quantitative ditone; see Chapter sections 7.4,5,7. A similar repetition of vocalic themes (a given sequence of vowels) produces a pattern of alternation in the verses that follow, where we may also listen for the rhythmic effect of relatively short and -long vowels. Chapter 7 will argue that short vowels support the rhythmic phase of initiation and long vowels that of conclusion. Quantity sequence is prefixed; timbre theme follows: [—]

Who hath forsaken old and sacred thrones

([e] + [o])

[ - u]

O why did ye not melt and leave my sense

([i] + [e])

[u -]

Nor let the beetles, nor the death moth be

([e] + [i])

In the verse : And on her silver cross soft amethyst42 an alternation of the ([ae] + [i]) theme is heard even though And is in a metrically unstressed syllable and am- in a stressed one, this being due to the subjectively heightened perceptual prominence of the first item in any series where "something" is contrasted with "nothing." The occurrence of caesura after syllable 6 ("cross") also throws the schematically unstressed "soft" into greater prominence as the beginning of the second colon in the verse, thus helping to brighten the chiasmic theme ([i] + [o]). Recently, Ants Oras has been especially active in treating the problems

38

1.6 Assonance and rhythmic movement

of assonance in English, of "geometrical vowel design," within the verse and among verses.43 No current systematic studies of assonant configuration have appeared in German, to the best of my knowledge.44 For French poetry, Paul Guiraud provides instances of assonant and consonant leonine rhyme (respondence of the precaesural and the final stress in a verse) from Paul Valéry, along with statistics for their occurrence.45 1.6 Assonance and rhythmic movement None of the above investigations has proposed a logically articulated and functional morphology of sound configuration, one that is referred to both metrical and strophic position and to inherent rhythmic dynamisms of verse. It is this aspect - in particular the rhythmic movements imparted by vowels and consonantal syllabics - which will prove, I believe, most challenging to further investigation. Naturally, as we have seen, schematic elements are already implicit in much of the work mentioned, very clearly so in Becq de Fouquieres; and authors have long been commenting on the rhythmically unifying or energizing effect of assonance. What needs to be done is to combine these observations. Albert Fischli has, for example, remarked a case where assonant vowels on the dipodes' primary stresses unite the two halves of a tetrameter line: "Herr! Sch/cke was du w/llt." 46 Illustrating what is called the "constitution of individual verses by assonance and alliteration," that is, their unification as a rhythmic member, Ludwig Dietz evidences Georg Trakl's lines: "Anschaut aus blauen Augen / Kristallne Kindheit." 47 Regardless of its metrical placement, assonance will in some way help to form the rhythmic profile of a verse and to identify it as a unit. In an article on "Sound in Poetry" David J. Masson lists as the prosodic functions of sound manipulation in general: 1. Structural emphasis - a rhetorical addition to formally required sound structure; 2. Underpinning - the subtle reinforcement of verse structure (e.g., compensatory line-end assonance); 3. Counterpoising - the arrangement of some sounds in opposition to the verse structure (e.g., imperfect rhyme echoed by internal rhyme). 48 All of these usuages will interact with the other rhythmic forces of the verse, which not only cannot be ignored but which must be taken into account to understand the working of the assonance. The echo of vowels can make a sharp and forceful contribution to the dynamic sense of rhythmic acceleration or retardation. Edith Sitwell, both poet and observer of poetry, conceives that "assonances and dissonances

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

39

put at different places within the lines and mingled with equally skillfully placed internal rhymes, have an immense effect upon rhythm and speed." 49 According to Ants Oras, Marlowe also "saw that echoes could be so arranged as to accelerate the forward movement of the verse, rather than slow it up." Appearing at measured intervals, usually on the second, third, or fifth stress in pentameter verse, like vowels produce "the impression of a steady onward surge." And unbroken waves of vowel sequences, three or four echoes in a row, followed by a different series, can create an "energetic progress," "one uninterrupted rhythmical movement." 50 Liitzeler seems to record just the contrary impression - that "continuous repetition introduces a quality that is slightly rigid into the poem." 51 The paradoxical nature of any heavy rhythmic beat, however, is to appear - as other factors dictate - either urgent and moving or unchanging and intense. The alternation of two echoes, by contrast to simple repetition, can impede the rhythmic current and evoke a "controlled if pathetic dignity." 52 This is accomplished by balanced, symmetrical, and uncrowded grduping, which marks the caesura's position and thus halves the line - while stressing simultaneously, through assonant inner rhyme, the verse's self-contained and end-stopped character. Oras generally works with concepts such as consecutive versus interwoven arrangement, the relative density of echoes and contrasts of phonetic series.53 Apropos of these extended tempo effects, we must not lose sight of the double function of sound repetition. If we view a poetic passage as a largely unchecked and undivided stream of speech, a greater degree of randomly distributed, stressed sound repetition will enhance the over-all rhythmicality and engender sensations, noted above, now of inflexibility and now of dynamism. If we look toward the subordinate rhythmic units and hear their interplay, the position of repetition assumes greater significance, since it guides the movement of rhythmic gesture, which may even retard the general impetus. Liitzeler seems to suggest a similar distinction between rhythmic sound figuration and compository sound figuration, the former producing a symbolic succession of sounds and the latter a symbolic order. 54

1.7 Assonance and word association Without any great elaboration, mention should at least be made of another undoubtedly very important poetic use of assonance: the subliminal association of words that are related or contrasted by meaning, syntax or the thematic context. Fischli mentions instances where components of phrases are thus allied, noun and adjective or verb and adverb, thus

40

1.8 Empirical studies

presumably suggesting, by a primitive but still effective sympathetic magic, that the two concepts have an inner, substantial relationship. 55 Lützeler lists this and some other associational functions of assonance, all of which notions are frequently found in the literature: 1. The creation of secret, "irrational" associations between lexically unrelated words. (Incidentally, this is a notion of the Russian Formalists about the effect of rhyme.) 2. The derivation of mood-value from a like-voweled, weighty Leitwort, which intones thematic sound and meaning. 3. The linking of structurally decisive images or points of composition in a poem. 56 Masson's article on "Sound in Poetry" deals in terms such as rubricating emphasis on images, tagging (a punctuation of syntax or thought by sounds), and correlation (indirect support of argument by related echoes.)57 The same author's "Thematic Analysis of Sounds in Poetry" unravels at great length the details of phonemic patterning in poems by Milton, Donne, Hölderlin, C.F. Meyer and Victor Hugo. 58 Sets of images are traced out which share both affinities of meaning and, on a short term basis, phonemic motifs - groups of phonemes recurring in conjunction. Shared motifs may underline the syntactical structure also. By isolating and cataloguing such themes, Masson can schematically describe the unfolding phonetic score in terms of thematic statement, alternation and recurrence. In practice, the consonants, being the more differentiated class, are the more revelatory, although several passages are marked where a series of isovocalic words join in a basic mood or meaning. 59 Fineness and completeness of detail characterize Masson's work compared with earlier attempts.

1.8 Empirical studies That compository sound figuration is a generalized process, conscious or not to the poet's mind, becomes compellingly evident to anyone who works in detail with the concrete phenomenon. Isolated studies repeatedly come upon the same devices, and many figures found have an obvious aesthetic validity not logically dependent on their genesis through choice or chance, although we hope eventually to show an element of choice. A random approach to their investigation, however, makes it impossible to prove the latter, to demonstrate functional differentiae or to establish stylistic syndromes. A necessary new step is to frame a schematic notation for the melodic patterning of vowels, in the several forms of verse and stanza, and then to establish relative scheme frequencies, their rhythmic implications and

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

41

positional preferences, as well as affinities for specific vowels at specific points. Statistics, although seeming to lead away from the concrete case, may well lead back to it with insight deepened. In a first and limited assay of these desiderata, we shall restrict ourselves to a single prosodic form and to a sample size adequate to demonstrate in principle that: (1) the configuration of vowel echoes in verse is not the result of purely random distribution; (2) positional preferences are due to the figures' rhythmic consequences; (3) figure preferences are a component of individual style. After further study some of the details here, perhaps some of the principles, may have to be revised. The purpose of a pilot investigation such as this is to show clearly that further efforts are justified and to indicate possible directions of advance. The form chosen here is the trochaic tetrameter quatrain, as written by several German poets. Writers on assonance in English poetry, Bate60 and Oras for example, very often choose stichic pentameter verse. Becq de Fouquieres deals with Alexandrines.61 Fischli and Masing, 62 however, keep to four-foot lines or less, and, initially, this shorter, rhythmically less complex verse should better serve the purpose, proving easier in accounting and interpretation. What follows is actually just one section of a sketch of the anatomy of assonant forms in a single type of meter. It outlines: 1. Dynamic figures of vowel arrangement within a verse - the forms of recurrence of one or two vowels and the kinetic rhythmic effect of the echoes; 2. Formal relationships between verse figures within the stanza - relationships not based on recurrence of actual sounds but on repetition or contrast of forms, the effect of which may also ultimately be considered dynamic as well as formal. Putting the examination of such figures on a purely formal or structural basis, divorced from meaning and even from actual sounds, brings home an obvious truth. Sound repetition is at times melodically intended, at times lexically required, and at times probably random; but, whatever the individual instances or their sums, it is formally bound to occur and to occur rather often. Avoiding recurrence of a vowel in a stanza of ten stresses or more is (for German's eighteen native vowels which can be stressed) more difficult than not; in fact, we shall find that in almost half of the single verses embraced by our count one or more vowels is repeated (a frequency greater than computed probability), while within a couplet more than a single repetition is the rule. Unquestionably this chance component must exist, although writers with a marked sensitivity to sound may well reduce it. And yet, much of what looks like chance on the statistical level could still, with better

42

1.8 Empirical studies

statistics attuned to more complex factors, prove to be the poet's personal musical taste as it chooses among limited solutions. Even now we can show that more than a happy chance is at work. One of the few quantitative studies of the matter stems from a psychologist, B.F. Skinner. In an article analyzing tests of the first five hundred iambic pentameter lines of Swinburne's "Atalanta in Calydon," along with some sonnets of Shakespeare, Skinner invokes the psychological notion of "formal perseveration" to explain his results; that is, the premise that once a speech sound has been emitted the likelihood of its repetition rises for a time.63 (Lanz has given a musical construction to this apparent fact, as a longing to recur to a tonic note.) What Skinner verifies is a proneness greater than chance toward ensuing alliteration upon any stated consonant, this bias holding on through a span of four stressed syllables. The strongest probability is for immediate repetition on the following stress, whence this behavioral proclivity drops off. In the separate case of assonance on a stated vowel, the immediately following stress is not so apt to catch up the tonic note as is the fourth subsequent one (three stresses intervening), while the fifth consecutive stress - which would of course here be metrically parallel - markedly shuns agreement.64 The sixth following stress once again seeks accord. By separate inspection, Skinner confirmed the reticence of the metrically parallel stress. More recent, massive and probably more reliable information stems from Karl Magnuson and David Chisholm. Magnuson has developed a conceptual framework and computer program for calculating the frequency of phoneme repetition (both consonantal and vocalic) in contiguous syllables and at any desired successive interval of syllables from the tonic phoneme. He can thus compare the frequency of phonological equivalence (or "echo," to use our term) which occurs between a stress and the following stress, or second following stress, etc., with the equivalence of sound that is found in metrical-parallel position (i.e., in the same syllabic position in the next verse, or second next verse, etc.)65 Results obtained in such an investigation are thus comparable with Skinner's. Chisholm has applied this program to specifically compare the sound repetitions found in metrical parallel with those occuring between other, non-parallel pairs of syllables in the phonological chains of prose and poetry. Although neither Magnuson nor Chisholm treat consonant and vowel phonemes separately, and only Chisholm distinguishes between stressed and unstressed syllables, the results demonstrate clearly that sound repetitions are referred to the metrical matrix. Chisholm's sample consists of about 950 verses of German iambic pentameter, in which he finds the opposite effect to that reported by Skinner for vowels: "... even when endrhyme is excluded from consideration, the coefficient of equivalence in the

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

43

primary frames [metrically parallel in subsequent verses] is consistently higher than in the secondary frames" [non-metrical matchings of syllables].66 Nothing similar emerges in prose, although both prose and poetry reveal a reticence to echo in the immediately following first and second syllables in the chain. 67 Skinner's findings are based on only two poets, in a different language, so that the disparity between the two studies is at present difficult to evaluate. Evidence that different poets, verse forms and languages may vary in their usage, will not discredit the notion of positional reference of echoes in principle.

1.9 Assonant configuration schematism To deal structurally and statistically with such assonant figures of the individual verse, the notation of Becq de Fouquieres would seem adequate, employing the letters a, b, c, and d to represent the four tonic vowels in a tetrameter line.68 Recurrence of the letter indicates echo of the vowel; in consequence, no assonant "figure" will contain d. We can thus contrive a typology as follows: A. Single Echoes I. Series 1. Odd-stress 2. Even-stress

abac a b c b

II. Sequence 1. Initial 2. Medial 3. Terminal

a a b c abbe a b c c

III. Pausing

a b c a

IV. Periodicity 1. Alternation 2. Bisection 3. Enclosure

B. Double Echoes

C. Repeated Echoes

a b a b a a b b abba

V. Contrast 1. Initial 2. Stress-two 3. Penultimate 4. Terminal

a a a a

VI. Isotony

a a a a

b b a a

b a b a

b a a b

44

1.9 Assonant configuration schematism

Repetitional "practice" of these figures, reading several verses all of the same given form, is one means of discerning each form's rhythmic character. This specific rhythmic character is thought of as inherent, in the sense that it is the rhythmic potential most easily and frequently realized. It will thus outweigh the weaker potentials and control the statistics, although in any given actual verse we may find such elements as meter, word boundaries, syntax, punctuation, conspiring to produce a somewhat different effect. In the following section, five examples of each pattern are cited, and the pattern's postulated "inherent" character is analysed. Reading the examples, in immediate succession, should raise to the foreground of consciousness their common structure of vowel distribution across the metrical stresses. A rhythmic characterization of each structure was, as regards my own procedure, first attempted by intuition based on such comparisons, and was then modified in the light of positional preference lists, compiled to give an objective basis of judgment. The results were as follows : 69 A. Single Echoes I. Series 1. a b a c

Odd-stress Sah ich Berg' und Tal gelichtet Sing' ich so für mich allein Plaudert nicht so laut, ihr Quellen Feder spritzein, Ehr beklecken So war ich in' Hof gekommen - Eichendorff

2. a b c b

Even-stress Nicht so schmerzlich an mein Herz Doch in Waldes grünen Hallen Mancher frische Segler sinkt Grüß' und zieh' mein Geigenspiel Sieh, da brechen tausend Quellen - EichendorfT

Both forms display articulated balance; a feeling of dipodic division, but also of symmetry is evoked. Magnuson has commented on the psychological fact that phonological equivalence in corresponding positions of successive rhythmic members has, in addition to the recognized combinative or unifying function, also a separative effect. The members (in our case dipodes) are felt to be neither continuous nor completely separated but as connected stages.6911 The sense of dipody does not arise so markedly in either the sequences or in pausing. The figure abac rings somewhat brighter, perhaps due to its base on the first stress and syllable of the verse, a position of extra subjective prominence

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

45

to intone the tonic note. The even-stress series (abed) sounds the more resolved of the two, however. This may be because of its linkage of the two stresses which are final and most usually dominant in their respective dipodes. Positional frequency counts show, tentatively, that the odd-stress figure is more common in all quatrain lines but the fourth, suggesting that the even-stress series does indeed impart a moment of balance and resolution appropriate at that final rhythmic stage, while the odd-stress series asks for further resolution. II. Sequence 1. a a b c

2. a b b c

3. a b c c

Initial Allen Zwang hat überwunden Jetzt auch hält auf stummen Hügeln Tauberauschte Blumen schließen Süße Blümlein, die noch schlafen Licht erringend hat umschlossen - Brentano Medial Durch die Nebelwege düster Von der Rinde bis zum Kern Auf der goldnen Locken Fülle Ihr der Tau die Traumflut sammelt Seines Kindes Stimme schallt - Brentano Terminal Und des Traumes schwülen Flügel Erde, dir ist Heil bereitet Freudig in dem blanken Land Lag die Erde einsam schweigend Und der Tränen Flut wird suchen - Brentano

Immediate sequence, what has been called hammer assonance, is accelerating, emphatic, or intensive in some fashion, forms 1 and 3 being dynamically imbalanced. According to a psychological study by Otto Ortmann, "On the Melodic Relativity of Tones," the repetition of any stimulus strengthens its impression on the subject, and, perhaps we may assume, the sooner the repetition (after some period of pause) the greater the reinforcement. In addition, the first and last tones of a melody are said to be especially vivid due to the adjacent pause or silence (lack of sensation). Thus, initial and final sequence should comprehend comparatively intense tones, by virtue of salient sensation and quick reinforcement.70

46

1.9 Assonant configuration schematism

The strength of immediate reinforcement of a phonological stimulus in poetry is apparently displayed in Skinner's finding that alliteration is most probable on an immediately following stress (see p. 42). On the other hand, his study shows assonance most probable on the fourth subsequent stress, which could imply a greater formal perseveration (or tonal memory) for vowels than for consonants, and thus suggest their greater melodic and rhythmic significance. We, too, find assonance is less frequent immediately than subsequently (Table 1.3). Chisholm's figures include unstressed syllables and consonants, and show greater repetition in the fourth subsequent than in any intervening syllable, which would include equivalence on the second subsequent stress.71 The intensiveness and acceleration attributed to these figures can also be seen as a consequence of Magnuson's separative effect of phonological equivalence in parallel positions of successive rhythmic members, in this case in the stressed positions of successive feet. The consequence is to abbreviate the rhythmic span we are attending to, and thus to increase the feeling of rhythmic rapidity. Magnuson also points out that the smaller the rhythmic frame within which a "disturbance" occurs (that is, an echo competing with verse-parallel echoes, which for Magnuson are the primary and dominant frame of reference), the greater is the disturbing echo's tendency to obscure the response activities of larger frames of reference. 713 Thus short range echoes, like the sequences, will tend to drown out longer range ones. If this in fact occurs, if the finer intra- and interlinear harmonies are threatened by the immediate sequences, it would help to explain why they (together with their relatives in group IV and extended sequences in group V) are relatively avoided in frequency of occurrence (see Table 1.1). The initial sequence (a a be) gestures vigorously and then relaxes in the second dipode. A propensity for it in quatrain lines one and four implies that it has initiatory or signalling power, to generate a rhythmic impulse at the outset of the stanza or forcefully to broach the period's cadence in the final verse. The figure of medial sequence (abbe) rises, intensifies and releases; it is progradient between dipodes and tends to internally unify the line by a feeling of substantial continuity rather than of structural symmetry as in the series. This figure is somewhat more frequent in stanzaic lines three and four. Especially in line three a balanced but propulsive inner intension is rhythmically sound. Terminal sequence (a b c c), contingent upon its context and meaning, may resolve firmly or perform the opposite function - mark a climax and demand resolution in the following verse. The latter is perhaps its strongest potential if we can judge from the positional preference lists; for in them the figure is clearly drawn to quatrain lines one and three, the respective on-verses of the stanza's couplet members.

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

III. a b c a

47

Pausing Spannt sie über Rosablanken Wo die starken Geister wohnen Dunkler Raum im Mittelpunkte Ziehn die Hirsche frei und spielen Schmähst du meines Bruders Ehre - Brentano

The figure above is termed pausing by analogy with traditional Pausenreim, a rhyming of first and last words in a metric member (verse, couplet, stanza). To my ear it brings a more tonal than rhythmic resolution, with return of the first note at the end - a principle observed in musical composition for the conclusion of a melody. Self-restraining in comparison with the even-stress series or terminal sequence (other potentially resolving figures), it appears to deplete motion rather than to check it firmly. With respect to the dipode frame, the answering vowel is in retarded position vis-à-vis the evoking one, and comparative frequencies of oblique echoes (Chapter 2) suggest this may have a resolving effect. Like initial sequence, pausing favors quatrain lines one and four. In both positions its presumptive character of melodic resolution would be appropriate. Pausing in line one results in a timely resolution of the first tone of the whole stanzaic period (one of the stanza's most salient tones) at the end of the first rhythmic member (verse), while in line four the last tone of the last member - demonstrably a lingering sound - gains added power by its resolution of a freshly pending tonic note. Skinner's finding (see p. 42) that assonance in his English pentameter sample is most frequent on the fourth subsequent stress suggests a relatively strong component of pausing and of what, in the next chapter, we will define as progradient oblique echo. B. Double Echoes IV. Periodicity 1. a b a b

Alternation Unterm Zorn der dunklen Dornen Kindisch wagt sie nicht zu fragen Aus der Tiefe aufgewiegelt Weil er sich der Kleie mischet Während seinen Segen beiden - Brentano

2. a a b b

Bisection Seit das Weib den Tod geboren Sterne hell von falschem Glänze

48

1.9 Assonant configuration schematism

Höre böse Klingen klirren Eh' du gehest, fromme Tochter Die in Lieb und Andacht wachsen - Brentano 3. a b b a

Enclosure Täglich Hundert Untergehn Rosablanka, was dir drohte Die Verzweiflung reißt ihn nieder Apo sich der Linde nahet Wo die Brut des Fluches wohnt - Brentano

The alternating pattern (ab ab) renders a bouyant singsong intonation, while the double sequence (bisection, a abb) may generally sound percussive. Figures of enclosure (abba), appear to reconcile inner intensity with a strong sense of equilibrium restored. These are, let it be repeated, subjective impressions of rhythmic character, not of expressive meaning. Alternation is most frequent in line three, an added sign that this penultimate rhythmic phase of the quatrain invites an interlude of rhythmic balance. (Other figures uniting the two dipodes are also strong in this position - i . e . , a b a c , a b c b , a b b c . ) Bisection slightly favors line one - akin in this respect to initial and terminal sequence, its morphological releatives and avoids line four, where as a finale it might prove too heavy-handed. Both intensive and resolved, enclosure adapts to all the rhythmic phases. C. Repeated Echoes V. Contrast 1. a b b b

2. a b a a

Initial Aus des Bildes stillen Blicken Schwer vom blanken Nacken wallend Macht ein kunterbunt Gemunkel Will es Gott, so komm ich morgens Und sie pflückt gebückt in Züchten - Brentano Stress-two Kühlt des Traumes schwülen Flügel In dem Schatten will ich sitzen Oft der Fürsten stolze Rosse Fein ist diese Zeit; es schweiget Fels und Tal und Quell empfangt - Brentano

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

3. a a b a

4. a a a b

49

Penultimate Malt sie an mit bunten Farben Brot und Honig aus dem Schöße Ist so mild das Weltgerichte Weil die Feigen sind gereift Denn nicht ferne von den Menschen - Brentano Terminal Gleicht dem Geiste einer Nonne Murmelnd ungeduldig sprudeln Lauter rauschen auch die Bronnen Als sie an des Altars Stufen Winkte mit dem Finger drohend - Brentano

Of the two figures with brisk extended sequences, initial and terminal contrast, the latter allows more satisfying resolution on a change of tone, while the former's marked first stress remains disturbingly orphaned, and its extended terminal sequence does not come to rest. Both are markedly preferred in stanza line two and strongly avoided in line four; they are thus modes of rhythmic continuance, not balance or conclusion. Stress-two and penultimate contrast, combining moments of both alternation and sequence, have pronounced rhythmic profiles which can best be described as, respectively: change, return, and confirmation - and confirmation, change, return. The latter corresponds to the very vital rhythmic formula: element + repeat + change + resolution. The moment of change may be considered to have an energizing effect, either through some device of tempo acceleration or by mere nonfulfillment of an established expectation. Resolution may occur by return to the initially given element, by emphasis or by protraction and slowing of tempo. This sequence of energizing and concluding element, as in the figure of penultimate contrast, seems to be a natural rhythmic order. (See Section 8.13.6.) Penultimate contrast is notably popular in stanzaic line one, where its initial sequence serves to infuse rhythmic spirit for the developing strophe, while the configuration as a whole forms a self-contained rhythmic statement - felicitous for an introductory phrase. A slight predisposition may exist for stress-two contrast in lines two and four, a possible hint at concluding power. Of all the repeated echo figures, it is the strongest one in lines three and four. VI-, a a a a

Isotony Wenn der Metzger Messer wetzet

50

1.10 The matrix of assonant configuration

An dem Dach die Schwalbe raschelt Opfern fromm der goldnen Sonne Will mir nimmer in den Sinn Hundert kunterbunte Wunder - Brentano Isotony is by far the least frequent figure numerically (save in Brentano's highly assonant verse), as we would expect on grounds of probability. The positional preference suggested by such a small sample is hardly reliable, but as it stands, preference is clearly for the first stanzaic line, where a certain freshness of perception after the interstanzaic pause may rescue the figure from threatened sameness - hearing it as new urgence rather than rigidity.

1.10 The matrix of assonant configuration By writing, now, a matrix of such formulae, we get a novel view of the existing vowel relationships within a stanza, qua relationships, void of reference to the real affinities of sound : 72 Goethe - Selige Sehnsucht 1. Sagt es niemand, nur den Weisen, Weil die Menge gleich verhöhnet: Das Lebend'ge will ich preisen Das nach Flammentod sich sehnet. 2. In der Liebesnächte Kühlung, Die dich zeugte, wo zu zeugtest, Überfallt dich fremde Fühlung Wenn die stille Kerze leuchtet. Stanza: Line: 1. 2. 3. 4.

1. abed abac abed a a b c

1. 2. 3. 4.

2. abed a b c b abba abac

By reference to the matrix we can list the echo series, the chains of like vowels in a stanza, designating each of the like vowels in a given series by a line number and the schematic letter assigned to that vowel in the line. The first stanza contains three, the second five such series, in which respectively ten and fifteen of the possible sixteen metric stresses participate. In neither stanza do there occur notable formal parallels of figure, except-

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

51

ing the negative ones constituted by the trivial "figures" a b e d . In this respect Brentano's Wiegenlied stands as an interesting contrast: Brentano - Wiegenlied 1. Singet leise, leise, leise, Singt ein flüsternd Wiegenlied, Von dem Monde lernt die Weise, Der so still am Himmel zieht. 2. Singt ein Lied so süß gelinde, Wie die Quellen auf den Kieseln, Wie die Bienen um die Linde Summen, murmeln, flüstern, rieseln. Stanza : Line: 1. 2. 3. 4.

1. a b a b a b a b

b b c c ed b c

1. 2. 3. 4.

2. a b a b a a a a

c c b b

a a c c

Summing up the series for these two stanzas we find respectively eleven and fourteen echoes, a lesser difference in the comparative resonance. Stanza one leans to medial and terminal sequence, stanza two to pausing and initial sequence, where the verse's first stress sets the dominant tone. Both stanzas create parallels not found in the examples from Goethe; in stanza one they are (— xx) in lines one and two and ( - xx - ) in lines one and four. The two couplets of the second stanza both develop by repetition of a given figure. In the Introduction (pp. 17f.) we noted that the "Wiegenlied" presented more regular chronemic figuration in stanza 1. than in 2., but that the latter was not necessarily less musical. The analysis of vowel timbre response provides the other principle necessary to distinguish two partially independent classes of structural relations created by vowels, the quantitative and the qualitative, both of which have compositional and rhythmic duties. The first stanza interweaves tonal freedom with chronemic control, while in the second a sense of purling chronemic mutation is warped with fixed tonal markers. To effect variations of tempo the chronemes work with inherent kinaesthetic properties, whereas timbre-echoes are, logically, marking signals for relative durations in the more abstract metrical time. With respect to such structural and temporal functions, it is revealing to catalogue the figures of vowel response by their attraction to positions in the stanza, and we shall directly enter the results of a small-scale count. More itemized tallies will undoubtedly turn up other aspects of preference for example, preferred linkage between specific figures in sequent lines, and

52

1.10.1 Configuration in the stanza matrix

preferred interrelation of various lines in the stanza (conceivably lines one and three, or lines one and four in a quatrain.) 73 1.10.1 Configuration in the stanza matrix Parallelisms such as that of lines 1/2 and 3/4 in "Wiegenlied," 2., are no longer "echoes" that involve audible phonic likeness used to set fixed points of form, but are themselves rather of a purely formal nature secondary "spatial" relationships drawn between other primary, senseconstituted ones. 74 This represents a conceptual analogy with a type of procedure in music, the coordination of time segments by like repetition intervals and patterns. Thus, in line one of this stanza, like sounds (vowels heard as the same although their pitch is not strictly fixed) are put into a relationship of temporal sequence to one another ("pausing") which is defined by reference to an independent time scale (the metrically measured verse), and then the identical (pausing) relation of sequence is repeated with a different pair of sounds in the immediately following rhythmic period (line two), so producing two formally coordinate segments whose connection is no longer that of sound per se but of like patterning. The whole process is then itself repeated (couplet two, with the new relation "initial immediate sequence"), producing thus on a higher level two complex segments (the couplets) whose coordinating relationship is the now more general one, "inner repetition of elements." In more complicated stanza patterns, the temporal relationship (echo figure) is repeated at two points of a larger rhythmic structure (stanza or stanza group) whose dynamic interrelationship is other than mere successiveness - viz., beginning and end, or corresponding positions (beginning, middle, end) of coordinate rhythmic units (couplet, triad, stanza, etc.). More detailed analysis along these lines may help to define permissible analogies between music and poetry, whose ostensible kinship has in recent times been seriously questioned. Susanne K. Langer, for example, has suggested that the principle of music, the resolution of dissonance to harmony, is to be found rather in the "suspensions and periodic decisions of propositional sense," and not in euphony or word melody.75 René Wellek would drop the term "musicality," which suggests melody with its fixed pitches and intervals, in favor of "orchestration," which deals with the relational distinctions of sounds (here: pitch, duration, stress, frequency) as opposed to the inherent ones.76 Seymour Chatman, in a discussion primarily concerned with the nature of meter, supports both these arguments : that verse does not have music's vectoral quality of compulsion and resolution, and that there is no true verbal analogue to "melody." 77 These arguments either do not hold, or are not compelling. Regularized

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

53

meter, stanza form and rhyme do indeed create expectations of resolution which arouse a vectoral quality of compulsion; and music (admittedly primitive) can be made with the rhythmic ordering and composition of timbre differences, that is, without a melody. To push the metaphor too far would be obviously misguided, but the two may retain some primordial, kindred tricks of composition. 1.11 Frequency distribution of the figures For my own accounting of the distribution by line of vowel figures, I first chose the assonant trochaic tetrameter quatrains of Clemens Brentano's Romanzen vom Rosenkranz, assuming, not erroneously as it turned out, that a metric form involving systematic assonance would sharpen the poet's ear for all vowel echoes, and that the attunement of each "romance" (all running into hundreds of stanzas) to a given two final vowels would allow the poet better to anticipate those key sounds at rhythmically decisive junctures, clarifying thus the phenomenon of positional resonance. Brentano's first four Romanzen amounted to 1068 verses. Of several other poets, then, about half as many trochaic tetrameter lines were checked (in each case 508). Except in the case of Paul Gerhardt (whose count was for this reason left out of the totals), the only rhyme or assonance schemes accepted were ABAB and ABCB, forms which, compared with A ABB or A B B A, should have similar rhythms. With the main exception /a/ and /a:/, explained below, the open and close articulations of the vowels were not considered equivalent. The assonance recorded was thus quite strict and clear. Naturally, discordant responses between /e/ and /e/, /o/ and /o/, etc., will tighten the web still further. Eventually all the patterns must be tabulated which include such partial echoes (based, for example, on contrasts of closure and rounding), for whatever further rhythmic insights their patterned feature distinctions might offer. This job, and its interpretation, will be far more complicated. Instead of dealing only with the figure a aba, for example, we must add the related forms aab A, a Aba and a A b A, and try to distinguish their effects. In this initial study, I have decided to deal only with echoes where the quality of the vowels involved is very nearly the same, assuming these to have been heard most clearly by the poet and hence to be most obedient to whatever "laws" we may detect correlating vowel figuration to rhythmic function. The inclusion of echoes between /a/ and /a:/ has been based on the feeling that their quality difference is small enough to justify counting them among the clearly audible uninflected echoes. Jethro Bithell finds that "qualitatively there is little difference" between the open and close a-sounds

54

1.11 Frequency distribution of the figures

in German. 78 Likewise, Siebs. Deutsche Hochsprache finds the distinction "sehr gering." 79 Otto von Essen notes a degree of difference in brightness but distinguishes [a] from all other basic vowels by not applying the contrast of open and close. 80 1 have also accepted echoes of/e:/ and /e/, a procedure which is more debatable. My own opinion is that we do less violence to aesthetic perception by allowing /e:/ and /e/ to form a Gestalt within a verse than by trying to divorce them in consciousness and suppress the nascent pattern. With regard to their similarity or degree of it, Siebs recommends avoidance of a too open pronunciation of long a, 81 and Von Essen calls this sound "ein wenig offener als e, aber nicht so offen wie e." 82 William G. Moulton thinks that /e:/ is "an artificial phoneme of recent invention," and judges that "it is probably more or less true to say that /e:/ is commonly used only in the South, but generally replaced by /e/ in the North; and that everywhere /e:/ is more frequent in formal (or humorous mock-formal) speech than in informal speech." 83 In summing the collective figure totals (Table 1.1) Brentano's contribution was reduced by half to bring its weight in line with the other three. The totals given here, undifferentiated by position, are as follows: on the left, the total frequency list for all verses in four poets (excluding Gerhardt), giving the frequency of occurrence of each pattern ranked by decreasing frequency; on the right, similar rankings in the individual poets; beneath each list the percentage of verses checked which contained a vowel repetition. Although the order of pattern preferences radically varies from poet to poet, the percentage of echoing verses remains rather true. Since, however, this percentage range (45%-48%) far exceeds the chance expectancy as I have calculated it (which would be about 28-29%), 84 we can suggest that the poets generally experience a strong force of psychological perseveration, which they nevertheless channel in very individual ways. Mindful that conclusions must still be viewed as tentative, we can remark on several plausible overall tendencies in Table 1.1. In the cumulative total we note, as we would expect, that echoes in which the final stress participates are usually at the top of their respective classes. To be sure, the restless abbb forms a low-ranking exception, whereas the headlong abac forces itself toward the top in opposition to the trend. In order of decreasing participatory strength, the stresses seem to be ranked: 4', 3', 1', 2'. The last stressed vowel is prominent due to finality emphasis and to involvement in the rhyme scheme. (In AABB rhyme 4' participates less than 3'.) With the notable exception of abcc, which links the two most resonant stresses in the line, figures with immediate sequences (recurrence in adjacent stress) rank lower than ones with delayed echoes, a finding related to Skinner's results on assonance in Swinburne's pentameter verse and to Chisholm's on phonological equivalence in German poetry. The extended

Table 1.1. Percentage Frequency of Total Figures (Brentano, Goethe, Eichendorff, Heym) and Frequencies of Individual Poets (2058 lines) Brentano 85

Total:

Goethe 86

One-echo figures: 7.05% 6.97 6.68 6.58 6.07 5.39

a b c aba a b c a b c abb a a b

c c a b e c

8.71 7.49 6.27 5.99 5.52 3.74

a b a b a a b b abba

.94 .94 .47

a a a a a a

b b b b b a

ea ee eb b c a c b c

7.28 7.09 7.09 6.50 5.91 5.71

a a a a a a

bac a b c b c a b c b b c c bbe

a b a b a a abb

a b a b a a b b abba

a a a a a

a a a a a

Double echoes: •O

CO

1.02 .85 .73

1.38 1.18 .59

a b b a a

ba aa b b a a a b

1.57 1.18 .98 .98 .39

Repeated echoes: 1.36 1.19 1.04 .90 .29

a a a a a

a b a b a

b a a b a

a a b b a

1.97 1.22 .84 .56 .47

a b b a a

a b a b a

b b a a a

Percentage of echoing verses: 46%

45%

Eichendorff 87

Heym 88

48% Gerhardt 89

One-echo figures: 8.66 6.88 6.50 6.30 5.91 5.12

aba a b c a b c a a b a b c abb

c c b c a e

7.87 7.48 7.09 6.50 4.92 4.53

a b a b a a b b abba

.79 .79 .59

a a a a a a

b b b b b a

c c b c eb a c ea b c

8.46 7.68 7.09 6.69 6.50 3.94

a b a b a abb a b b a

.98 .20 .00

a a a a a a

bbe a b c bac b c b b c a b c c

Double Echoes: .98 .98 .79

a a b b a b a b abba

Repeated Echoes: 1.57 1.18 .79 .79 .00

a a a a a

b a a b a

a b a b a

a a b b a

1.38 1.38 .98 .79 .20

a a a a a

aba a a b baa b b b a a a

1.38 1.18 .98 .79 .20

a a a a a

b a b a a

Percentage of echoing verses: 46%

45%

46%

a b b a a

a a b b a

56

1.11 Frequency distribution of the figures

sequences (a a ab and abbb) stand the lowest, despite probability likeness with interior contrasts {ab a a and a a b a). If we include the Gerhardt sample, with its rapidly responding pair-rhyme component, the results are even clearer. The quick echo of pair-rhyme seems to discourage further echo with stress 3', so that the figure (ab c c) drops precipitously. With Gerhardt added to the total in Table 1.1, the ranking order remains otherwise the same, but (ab c c) declines to the second rank from the bottom. Then all delayed echoes rank above all immediate echoes, an important insight, if confirmed, into the principles of vowel euphony. The repeated echoes and the double echoes both entail restrictions on two stress choices and hence should be equally probable; yet the double echoes as a group are lower, implying perhaps that the double action of two vowel echoes blurs or complicates the rhythmic function. Comparing data for the individual poets in Table 1.1 we immediately detect large differences in the frequency spread of, say, Goethe contrasted with Brentano or Gerhardt. Although Goethe devises the highest percentage of figured verses, notably of double and repeated echoes, his melodic discrimination - or stereotypy - is less express, hence the sense of spontaneity is greater. 90 While Goethe's most frequent one-echo figure occurs but 27.5% oftener than the least, this interval in Gerhardt reaches 215% and in Brentano 230%, the top figure being more than twice as frequent as the bottom one. The several lists also bespeak a differing sense of rhythmic orientation. Brentano's preferred patterns all embrace stress 4', Goethe's stress 1'; the first reflects a rhythm of perfected gestures, the second one of recurrent surges - on the one hand, the full and formal ceremony of the Romanzen; on the other, the abrupt and pithy impertinence of West-Östlicher Divan: Brentano Doch des Wassers Spiegel mahnet Zu dem frommen Wunsch die Fromme: "Könnte alle Schuld ich zahlen Mit der goldnen Flut der Locken!" Goethe Jedes Leben sie zu führen Wenn man sich nicht selbst vermißt; volles könne man verlieren, Wenn man bliebe, was man ist. A related ear for impulsive movement prompts Gerhardt to respond before the final stress (on 2' or 3'), while Brentano restrains answer till the end. Heym and Gerhardt lean to emphatic sequences, Goethe and Eichen-

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

57

dorff mostly avoid them ; surely this correlates with the more persistently hammering rhythmic styles we sense in the former. Specific figures may fare well or badly. Gerhardt's favorite ( a b b e ) is banished to the lowest rank by Eichendorff, Heym's preference similarly reduced by Gerhardt, although this very pattern (abc c) stands highest in the total ranking. The lowest in the total (a a be) still rises high in Goethe and Gerhardt. Across all the lists, the preferred figures tend to vary, the avoided to stay the same. The generally neglected ones must be the least euphonious, while among the more euphonious figures the choice is strictly personal. A poet's commanding pattern tells us most about his style : the conciliatory melodic resolution of Brentano's pausing, Goethe's and EichendorfFs bright and forward movement (odd-stress series), the climactic decisiveness of Heym's terminal, and the inner compulsion of Gerhardt's medial sequence. Incidentally, the rhythmic and stylistic metaphors used to characterize figures and tendencies here and elsewhere in the study are obviously subjective; but they are also the result of deliberate introspection, not undertaken in haste. The reader is urged to actively check them with his own impressions of the examples listed earlier in Section 1.9 and with his own general notion of the poets' rhythmic styles. In my own experience it has proved helpful to try to correlate statistics with aesthetic surface at all stages of the investigation, since the inspection of numerical tabulations cannot alone guide the progressive search for the next differential category to be examined. Certainly such a correlation must be attempted at the conclusion of each major phase. Subsequent results will, in turn, judge upon the earlier judgments. 1.12 Stanzaic line preferences Melodic proclivities can be discriminated more finely still by booking separately the four stanzaic lines. We make the assumption, which proves unusually fruitful, that preference for position in the stanza reveals afigure's innate dynamism; that is, that the echo configurations will tend to occur most frequently in those phases (lines) of a rhythmic period (stanza) whose form-given dynamism (initiation; progradience; equilibrium or retardation; resolution) most clearly conforms to their own. The methodological validity of this principle, correlating statistics with rhythmic phenomena, is well established in Chapters 6-8. In the following tables accountings are entered for: Table 1.2 - the percentage frequency of response of each stress for each stanza line; Table 1.3 - the percentage frequency of linkage between given pairs of

58

1.12 Stanzaic line preferences

stresses in each line; and Table 1.4 - the percentage frequency of each figure for each line. Percentages are referred to the sample (127, save for Brentano) of each stanzaic line involved. Table 1.2 registers the percentage of times per given line that each stress in the stanza was involved in a verse echo. Stress one of line one, the tonic note for the whole stanza, most often rouses echo in its own verse; stress four of the same line is among the next two internally most responsive tones (responsive within the verse, not beyond it). Thus, in point of both melodic evocation and reply, line one is the most resonant member of the stanza. Table 1.2. Percentage Frequency of Response By Stress and Line (2058 Verses) Quatrain Line Stress V 2' 3' 4'

1. 28.7% 24.8% 26.0% 27.8%

2.

3.

4.

26.9 25.4 27.4 26.6

22.6 22.6 27.9 22.6

23.7 23.6 22.6 25.2

Otto Ortmann has argued from the psychological view that "the first and last tones of a melody ... are projected more vividly upon consciousness than any intermediate tone." 91 Taking the stanza as a melodic structure of phrases, its first and last tones would be l ( l ' ) and 4(4'). Table 1.2 shows the former to be absolutely dominant in the stanza, while the latter is dominant in stress four although low-ranking in the last couplet. The real prominence of 4(4') is guaranteed, of course, by rhyme resolution. Stress one's power of evocation, setting the tonic tone for a later echo, falls off precipitously in the final couplet. Stress two is the least resonant almost throughout, while stress three presents a remarkable strong point in an otherwise weak line three. With the exception of this point - 3(3') all the stresses in the final couplet lose sensitivity (for intraverse response; but not, as another table will show, for interverse echoes). Our computations do not allow us to say what role melodic contrast plays in couplet two, or distant echoes from couplet one. Table 1.3 totals the occurrences of all figures linking the stresses indicated; for example (x - x - ) includes abac, abab, aaab, abaa and aaaa. The assumption is that such a group of figures, being morphologically related may function similarly in certain rhythmic contexts. Quatrain line one prefers an initiatory sequence (x x — ) or a form of pausing (x - - x), line two strongly leans to odd- or even-stress series, line

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

59

Table 1.3. Frequency of Linkage of Given Stresses by Line (2058 Verses) Quatrain Line Linkage x-x- X - X

XX

—

- X X XX X

X

1. 10.49% 9.72 11.86 8.75 11.18 12.05

2.

3.

12.54 11.27 9.33 10.11 9.91 10.11

10.88 10.30 6.03 9.04 10.98 8.75

Total : 4. 7.77 8.94 8.55 8.07 9.04 10.30

10.40 10.06 8.94 8.99 10.28 10.30

three to the former or a terminal sequence (force of climax before the cadence of verse four), and line four to the melodically resolving pause, which is fitting for the period's close. All the linkages with stress one (x x — , x - x - , x — x ) reveal pronounced lability from line to line; (x x — ) is twice as frequent in line one as in line three; (x - x - ) ranks high in two, low in four; (x — x) again prefers the first to the third line of the stanza. That this sort of effect is not simply the result of interaction of stress responsiveness, as found in Table 1.2, emerges from comparative observations such as that - although stress points in line 3(1',2', & 4') all respond to the same degree - the linkage 3(2' + 4') is far more popular than 3(1' + 2r). The notion of a perceptible melodic or rhythmic fitness of certain echoes for certain lines clearly conforms to the fact that the linkages which reach the highest frequencies in one position (11.50% or above) fall to the lowest in some other (8.75% or below). For example, the linkages (x x - - ) and (x - - x), leaders in line one, drop to the bottom of line three, suggesting an effort to avoid the form of a (false) stanza rebeginning in the second couplet and thus to preserve the stanza as rhythmic hierarch, coordinating the couplets. On the general musical principle of melodic recurrence to the tonic note, we might well expect stress one to play a special role in moulding a verse's rhythmic character. From Table 1.3 we learn in addition that a verse's motivity - its power of initiation, progression or resolution - is directly correlated with the promptness of answer to this tonic vowel tone. Remarks already made on the frequency of stress linkages can serve as a general guide to the specific figure distributions over the four quatrain verses, as shown in Table 1.4. Some anomalies, however, are worth noting. Although an initial linkage (x x - - ) ranks higher over-all in line one than a terminal linkage ( — x x), the complete pattern 1 (aab c) does less well than does 1 (a b c c). We must consequently inspect both tables before interpreting the use of figures.

60

1.12 Stanzaic line preferences

Table 1.4. Percentage Frequency of Figures of Vowel Response in Each Line (2058 Verses) Quatrain Line Figure

1.

2.

3.

4.

a a a a a a

7.19% 5.83 6.61 5.25 7.68 7.39

8.07 7.00 4.86 5.72 6.02 6.51

7.58 7.09 3.40 6.61 7.87 5.83

5.05 6.41 6.71 6.51 6.61 7.00

6.97 6.58 5.39 6.07 7.05 6.68

a b a b a a b b abba

.49 1.07 .68

1.07 .87 .68

1.36 .97 .78

1.17 .49 .78

1.02 .85 .73

a a a a

b a a b

.87 1.07 2.23 1.46

1.55 1.26 1.46 1.94

.78 1.07 .78 .58

.39 1.36 .97 .19

.90 1.19 1.36 1.04

a a a a

.49

.19

.29

.19

.29

48.30%

47.23%

45.00%

43.63%

46.04%

bac b c b a b c bbe b c c b c a

b b a a

b a b a

Line-total:

Total

Strong figure-localizations occur in lines 2 (abac), 1 & 4 (a a b c), 1 & 3 1 (aaba) and 2 ( a b b b & a a a b ) . Seen dynamically, the local phrase 2 {abac) strikes a transient balance, but asks continuation; positionalized figures 1 & 4 (a a b c) respectively prime the stanza's motion and announce the cadence; 1 & 3 ( a b c c ) climax the on-verses of the couplets; 1 (a a b a) combines initiation and melodic resolution, two outstanding aspects of line one in the stanza; and 2 (a b b b & a a a b ) incur exciting momentum, a head of rhythm, where it can still be expended in couplet two, while almost disappearing in line four, where this excitement can no longer be laid to rest in the stanza's confines. Notice the gradual decrease of assonant activity through the line-totals, from beginning to end of the stanza. This slight fading of the vowel melody, found also among interlinear echoes in Chapter 2, may be due to several factors: increasing logical constraint, reduced freedom in choice of rhymevowels (which are at this point determined), and reticence to anticipate rhyme vowel resolution. This type of effect is termed "directional interest" by Magnuson and Chisholm. 92 The total figure distribution of Table 1.4 will tend to reveal inherent dynamic preferences of a schematic metric form (trochaic tetrameter quatrains rhymed ABAB) rather than those of specific poets, whose (abcc),

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

61

management of the form may vary quite widely, or of other rhyme schemes or metrical genera. 1.13 Individual poets' preferences In Table 1.5 below, individual tabulations document in detail the strength and rhythmic peculiarities of the poets' personal styles. Results are given in populations, to simplify comparison of poets and positions. Figure occurrences are entered horizontally for the four quatrain lines for each poet. Table 1.5. Individual Positional Figure Populations (in Quatrain Lines 1, 2, 3,4) Figure

Brentano (1068)

Goethe (508)

Eichendorff (508)

Heym (508)

7 9 12 9 8 13 6 6 11 8 5 12 7 7 8 7 7 5 9 9 7 10 10 9

13 14 12 5 9 8 9 7 5 11 6 10 9 5 3 9 9 12 9 5 9 8 6 7

10 11 7 5 7 7 10 12 11 3 3 6 8 7 14 9 11 6 12 11 6 9 4 6

b a c b c b a b c bbe b c c b c a

14 12 14 8 25 32

15 16 6 21 16 13

16 23 7 18 21 20

14 16 13 17 18 28

a b a b a a b b abba

3 1 3

3 1 3

2 2 2

2 1 2

0 2 0

3 1 0

1 1 2

3 2 0

1 1 1

1 2 1

2 2 1

1 0 1

0 2 1

0 1 1

3 1 1 0 0 1

a a a a

b a a b

1 7 9 1

4 1 5 2

4 3 2 2

0 2 4 0

2 0 2 4

3 2 1 3

3 1 1 0

1 2 1 1

1 2 2 1

2 2 1 3

1 0 2 2 2 1 0 0

1 0 3 2

1 2 3 3

1 1 1 2 0 1 2 0

a a a a

1

2

1

2

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

a a a a a a

b b a a

b a b a

Total

131 108 123 119

58 65 57 63

0

63 70 55 48

0

63 54 58 55

The populations can be easily converted into percentage frequencies for comparison with the total sample norms in Table 1.4.93 A comparison of positional frequencies for the figure (a b c b) in Goethe (6.30% 10.24 4.72 4.72) with the sample line-norms (5.83 % 7.00 7.09 6.41) reveals a predilection for the even-stress series figure in line two and its suppression in line three. Initial sequence ( a a b c ) shows in Goethe the same propensity as the norm toward lines one and four, but with even more amplified stylistic interest: Goethe (8.66% 6.30 3.94 9.45), sample norm (6.61 % 4.86 3.40 6.71).

62

1.13 Individual poets'preferences

As an example of how such positionalized counts illuminate the structural dynamisms of the stanza, note how this same figure {a a b c) also gravitates visibly to line one (and four) in Brentano and Heym, although it is these poets' lowest ranked echo form. Terminal sequence (a b c c), although high in both poets, drifts away from line two. Goethe conforms to this practice of motivating the first verse of the stanza and avoiding false climax in the second. Eichendorff, however, often obeys a clearly different dynamism, intoning a reflective balanced phrase in one (aba c), only to then accelerate (a a be) or climax emphatically (a b c c) in line two, in either case begetting a rhythmic tension which is borne over into couplet two. Illustrative examples will show this potential: Aktenstöße nachts verschlingen, Schwatzen nach der Welt Gebrauch, Und das große Tretrad schwingen Wie ein Ochs, das kann ich auch. Soll die Lieb' auf sonn'gen Matten Nicht mehr bau'n ihr prächtig Zelt, Übergolden Wald und Schatten Und die weite, schöne Welt? - 9 4 Table 1.6. Individual Populations of Stress Linkage by Line (Quatrain Lines I, 2, 3, 4 J95 Brentano a. b. c. d. e. f.

X-X- X-X XX -XXXX X X

26 26 26 14 35 52

23 30 16 32 24 24

24 32 14 27 31 28

Goethe 20 24 20 21 23 38

12 13 20 14 12 10

16 19 13 13 11 13

15 9 8 11 12 15

15 11 15 10 14 13

Eichendorff

Heym

17 13 9 12 13 14

13 12 19 13 15 11

20 12 17 11 18 12

16 8 14 9 10 11 5 10 14 7 11 11

16 11 10 12 10 15

13 14 6 17 15 5

8 15 7 11 14 10

Notice in Table 1.6 Brentano's quite extraordinary penchant (19.47%; see fn. 93) for pausing (f.) in line one and his strong localization of figures of sequence (c; d; e). Goethe discriminates the positions of even-stress series (b.) and initial sequence (c.) - these terms being used, as above, to designate any figure containing the linkage in question. For most of the linkages but pausing, Eichendorff senses either a strong local preference or a strong disfavor. One such disfavor, as we have seen, 1 (x x — ) , runs directly counter to the leaning of the other poets. Comparing the individual authors' performance by line (down the columns of the table) we see that Brentano and Goethe disclose the greatest relative numerical differences

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

63

(indicating stereotypy of rhythmic form) in their stanza line one, as opposed to Heym and Eichendorff, who are most selective in line three. Summing the linkages over the stanza for each individual poet, we find Brentano generally electing the stress link (x - - x) over (x x - - ) by a ratio or preference factor of 13.30% :7.12% or 1.87, while Eichendorff chooses (x - x - ) over ( - x x - ) by a factor of 1.61. Heym and Goethe do not distinguish as firmly (resp. 1.32 and 1.24); Goethe again emerges as the least melodically stereotyped of the poets sampled.96 Matrices like Table 1.2 (p. 58), which display the responsivity of stanzaic stress points, can be compiled for the individual poets from Table 1.697 Sensitive points, highs and lows with their responsivity preference factors are: Brentano: 1(4') vs. 2(1'), ratio 1.84; Goethe: 4(1') vs. 3(20, ratio 1.6; Eichendorff: 2(1') vs. 4(30, ratio 1.83; and Heym: 3(3') vs. 3(1% ratio 1.95. By this test, too, Goethe's low stereotypicity is confirmed. The evocative strength of 4(1 ') in Goethe's West-Östlicher Divan might, as an interpretive example, be correlated with the impression we often receive in these poems of an emphatic rhythmic close to the stanza, springing an epigram, a witty turn, a dénouement or forceful conclusion, involving the first word of the last line : Kann wohl sein! So wird gemeinet; Doch ich bin auf andrer Spur : Alles Erdenglück vereinet Find' ich m Suleika nur. 98 1.14 A model stanza structure of assonant configuration It would be interesting, if possible, to project a "model" stanza structure of assonant figures. Some line preferences, however, are not marked enough to allow a single such model. But by comparing Tables 1.3 and 1.4, we can postulate a stanzaic form which should enjoy the highest preference on the basis of both positionalized figures and linkages. Similar "characteristic" stanzas for the poets can be derived from Tables 1.5 and 1.6, and are shown below with the "ideal" stanza for the total sample: Total a b c a abac a b c c a b c a

Brentano a b c a abbe a b c b a a b c

Goethe a a b c a b c b abac a a b c

Eichendorff abac abac abac a a b c

Heym a a b c abac abbe a b c b

The poets share, at most, one line-preference with the total's model stanza.

64

1.14 A model stanza structure of assonant configuration

They also differ from one another. Goethe and Eichendorff prefer the identical second couplet, but in general these schemes hint at considerable differences in melodic set as a factor in stylistic idiosyncrasy. Incidentally, the intimation in the total stanza of preferred rhythmic parallelism between verses one and four, as a structural principle, will be confirmed in our study of chroneme configuration. Other effects found in the chronemic study are reflected here too, for example the forms of balance seen in the third line of three of the poets (Goethe, Eichendorff, Brentano), and in the same poets the emphatic signal at the beginning of the forth line (initial sequence) to announce the imminent close of the period. The following is an invented example of the total's model stanza: a a a a

b c a bac b c c b c a

Nach dem Sonnenuntergänge Tönten keine Vögel mehr, Und vom großen Waldgesange Schwebte nur ein Schweigen her.

Drawing on rhythmic analyses of the specific figures propounded in section 1.9, we would expect to hear the following phases (by verse) in the stanzaic period of the exemplar: 1. A self-restraining rhythmic moment with melodic resolution; 2. "Bright," articulated balance, encouraging further resolution; 3. Emphatic marking of rhythmic climax and demand for resolution; 4. Self-depleting tonal resolution. The rhythmic descriptions of the figures on which the above explication is based were, we will recall, founded on both intuitive responses and on the correlation of the figures' (objective) preferred line-distributions with notions, once more intuitive, as to the rhythmic functions of the four phases (verses) in the stanzaic period. So our explication of the exemplar is in reality partly circular and amounts to the claim that the original analysis of phasal functions was correct, and that the phenomena there perceived are best realized in these specific figures. Should further increase in total sample size rearrange the hierarchies of figure preferences by line, then our descriptions of the figures' rhythmic character must be reconsidered. Schematically compliant, invented stanzas for the individual poetic styles are appended below. In Brentano, Goethe and Eichendorff we might listen for the moments of balance (a b c b, a b a c) in line three and the signal for period-resolution at the beginning of line four (a a b c). The lilting, somewhat sing-song quality of EichendorfFs thrice repeated oddstress series ( a b a c ) is also worth attention:

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

65

Brentano a a a a

bca b b c b c b a b c

Nach dem Sonnenuntergänge Hört man kaum ein Rauschen mehr; Von des Waldes Lustgesange Flutet nur ein Schweigen her. Goethe

a a a a

a b b a

b c a b

c b c c

Doch beim Sonnenuntergänge Singen wenig Vögel mehr; Aus dem herrlich lauten Sange Flutet nur ein Schweigen her. Eichendorff

a a a a

b b b a

a a a b

c c c c

Und beim Sonnenuntergänge Tönten keine Vögel mehr; Aus dem herrlich lauten Sange Flutet nur ein Schweigen her. Heym

a a a a

a b b b

b a b c

c c c b

Doch beim Sonnenuntergänge Tönten keine Vögel mehr; Aus dem luft'gen Lustgesange Ruhig schwebt ein Schweigen her.

1.15 Summary Whatever shifts of detail may be decreed by further data, the basic fact of the matter seems well confirmed, by actual numerical distributions as well as by the finding's rhythmic plausibility. The stressed vowels of a single verse form an entity, a more or less coherent pattern with or without a recurrent element. The trivial pattern (a b c d) is theoretically by far the most probable, but empirically only slightly more common. Positive figures with a repeated vowel appear in almost half the sample verses. These various definable motifs have each a natural rhythmic tenor; their relative prevalence in a single work or a poet's œuvre stems from components of - in decreasing order of sway - (1) personal appeal to the poet, passing or permanent, for general or specific use; (2) conformity with the natural rhythmic phases of a specific stanza form; and (3) conformity with the metrical species of the verse, the number and type of feet. Study of the distribution of these figures thus helps to bring out an artistic personality's own ruling rhythmic gestures, as well as to chart the objectively inherent flow of rhythm in a given prosodie form.

66

Chapter 1

As quoted earlier, Henry Lanz has used the metaphor of a Wagnerian "endless melody" to describe the flow of vowels in speech. The tonal patterning traced in this chapter is not yet "endless," since it inspires slightly less than half the verses in the poems examined. To fill in the gaps in the orchestration (in the Formalist sense) we will want to investigate the response of vowels from one line to the next and from one metrically significant point in a stanza to a corresponding one perhaps several lines further. This is the topic broached in the next chapter.

Notes 1 Novalis, Fragmente J. (Heidelberg, 1957), p. 359, Frag. 1336: "The human voice is, as it were, the principle and ideal of instrumental music. In general, is it actually the body or the air that resounds? Is not the vowel the elastic fluid and the consonant the body - the air the sun - and the bodies the planets - the former the first voice, and the latter the second ?" 2 Originally in the phrase sonus vocalis, "sound with voice" ; see Eugen Dieth, Vademekum der Phonetik (Bern, 1950), p. 168. 3 Also syllabic are the consonants m, n, I, r, and s as in pst! See Bertil Malmberg, Phonetics (New York, 1963), pp. 64-69; Otto von Essen, Allgemeine und angewandte Phonetik (Berlin, 1962), pp. 71-73. 4 Von Essen, op. cit., p. 72: " . . . ein Vokal (ist) immer Träger eines phonologisch oder expressiv relevanten prosodischen Merkmals (Akzent, Chronem usw.) ..." 5 R.H. Stetson, Motor Phonetics. A Study of Speech Movements in Action, in Archives Néerlandaises de Phonétique Experimentale, 3 (1927), p. 214. 6 Von Essen, op. cit., p. 169 : "Es sind nur die silbenbildenden Vokale, die als Tonträger ins Ohr fallen." 7 Stetson, op. cit., p. 212. Stetson reports the interesting fact that A.G. Bell found, in dealing with the speech of mutes, that vowels are far less important in the communication of meaning than are consonants. With a vague, indeterminate vowel sound substituted for all the vowel sounds, a reading may still be quite comprehensible. This is undoubtedly the reason for the greater stability and regularity of change of consonants in the process of language evolution, but it also may to an extent "free" the vowel for expressive and rhythmic purposes. 8 See W.B. Stanford, The Sound of Greek, pp. 63, 72 fn. 88. 9 Romanzen vom Rosenkranz, 9, Stanza 139. 10 Quoted from Edith Sitwell, A Poet's Notebook (Boston, 1950), pp. 178 f. 11 Ibid., pp. 178f. 12 Les Mots Anglais, Chap. 1, Sect. 2, in Oeuvres Complètes (Paris, 1945), p. 901 : "A toute la nature apparenté et se rapprochant ainsi de l'organisme dépositaire de la vie, le mot présente dans ses voyelles et ses diphthongues, comme une chair; et, dans ses consonnes, comme une ossature délicate à disséquer." 13 Werke (Stuttgart, 1960), p. 13. 14 Ibid., p. 16. 15 Ibid., p. 18. 16 Deutsche Versgeschichte (Berlin, 1929), I, p. 5. 17 Das sprachliche Kunstwerk (Bern, 1948), p. 243. 18 L. Becq de Fouquières, Traité Général de Versification Française (Paris, 1879), p. 243: "plaisir acoustique que nous éprouvons à notre insu à l'audition d'une suite de voyelles." 19 Woldemar Masing, Sprachliche Musik in Goethes Lyrik (Straßburg, 1910) p. 9: "am

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

20

21 22 23

67

wesentlichsten die des Silbenvokals als des akustisch wirksamsten, daher musikalisch am besten verwertbaren unter ihren Lauten." Andreas Heusler has taken the exactly opposite view, that "the melodic skeleton of the sentence" consists of elements of duration, intensity and pitch, without the so-called "clang tint;" Deutsche Versgeschichte, I, 76. Henry Lanz, The Physical Basis of Rime. An Essay on the Aesthetic of Sound (Stanford, 1931), p. 23. This vocalic music is said to be "subdued," presumably by the noise of the consonants. The function of consonants in rhyme and alliteration is called "time-beating" and not melodic (p. 70.) This view would seem to overlook the tonal effects of vowels and liquids as well as modalities imparted by consonants, such as percussiveness, glissando, vibrato,etc. Both W. Masing and Albert Fischli concur that the effect of alliteration is not "melodic;" Fischli, Über Klangmittel im Versinnern (Bern, 1921), p. 5. Wilbur L. Schramm, Approaches to a Science of English Verse, University of Iowa Studies, Series on Aims and Progress of Research, No. 46 (1935), p. 42. Kiril Taranovski, "The Sound Texture of Russian Verse in the Light of Phonemic Distinctive Features," International Journal of Slavic Linguistics and Poetics, ix (The Hague, 1965), 115. Paul Guiraud, Langage et versification d'après T œuvre de Paul Valéry. Étude sur la forme poétique dans ses rapports avec la langue (Paris, 1953), p. 84. But Frank Ryder points out that, on the basis of H. Meier's Sprachstatistik (Hildesheim, 1964) the Vowel/Consonant ratio in German prose is higher than in German poetry. He uses the contrast of V/C ratios and of vowel-feature ratios in various poems to contrast their mood and meaning ; "Vowels and Consonants as Features of Style. Some Poems of Goethe and Klopstock," Linguistics. An International Review, 37 (1967), pp. 89-110. David Chisholm confirms independently the statistically greater V/C ratio in prose and attributes it to Jifi Levy's principle that verse makes more use of the typical sounds of a given language than does prose and suppresses the rarer ones; "Phonological Patterning in German Verse," Computers and the Humanities, 10, p. 8. But the excess of consonants in verse could also be due to its generally shorter and more natively Germanic words with their higher C/V ratio.

24 Abraham Moles, Information Theory and Esthetic Perception (Univ. of Illinois Press, 1966), p. 145. 25 Katherine M. Wilson, Sound and Meaning in English Poetry (London, 1930), p. 274. 26 Essen, pp. 170-76. Saran's Sprachmelodie is a supposedly linguistically inherent pitch or intonational line borne by the vowels as definably pitched tones or chords. His Rhythmik und Melodik der Zueignung Goethes (Halle a.S., 1903) tries to establish pitch values and intervals for the researcher's own performance of a whole poem. Among Formalist contributions see : Boris Eichenbaum, "The Theory of Formal Method," in Russian Formalist Criticism. Four Essays (Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1965), pp. 124 ff.; and Jan Mukarovsky, "The Connection between the Prosodie Line and Word Order in Czech Verse," in Paul L. Garvin, ed., A Prague School Reader on Esthetics, Literary Structure and Style, Publications of the Washington Linguistic Club, 1 (1958), pp. 131-154. Recent developments in structural metrics shed light on the problem of pitch obtrusion in so far as it is determined by the imperatives of ictus, secondary stress or by intonational "morphemes" of general meaning, but do not remove all occasions for subjective pitch assignment; see Seymour Chatman, A Theory of Meter (The Hague, 1965), pp. 60ff., summary on pp. 182-3. 27 Osip Brik was one of the first to insist on the pervasiveness of euphonic relationships in the phonetic texture of poetry - to insist, that is, that poetry is thoroughly "orchestrated" or "instrumented." For Brik, sound repetition was the underlying principle of all poetic language; see Victor Erlich, Russian Formalism (Leiden, 1955), p. 55. More recently, in defining the "aesthetic surface" of sound in poetry, Harvey Gross emphasizes both its primary sense quality and its "unbroken texture of phonetic values and patterns;" Sound and Form in Modern Poetry: A Study of Prosody from Thomas Hardy to Robert Lowell (Univ. Michigan, 1964), p. 20.

68

Chapter 1

28 In earlier periods of history, when vowels played a constitutive rôle in meter or specific verse forms, interest in their use was naturally otherwise directed. In classical prosody the rôle of the vowel turned upon its quantity for metrical measuring, the timbres' presumptive aesthetically varied qualities, and on syllabic positioning - i.e. the problem of hiatus between words, the search for highly vocalic words and the avoidance of adjacent homophonic syllables ; see : N. J. Herescu, "Poétique ancienne et moderne au sujet de l'euphonie," Mélanges de philologie, de littérature et d'histoire ancienne offerts à J. Marouzeau (Paris, 1948), pp. 221-247, especially p. 222. For the modem languages of Europe the quantity and quality of vowels have long been of import in the development of pure rhyme, in the constitution offormally assonant verse and for their purportedly expressive or "symbolic" use e.g. Ernst Jiinger's Lob der Vokale; Ivan Fonagy, Die Metaphern in der Phonetik. Janua Linguarum, Series Minor No. XXV (The Hague, 1963). 29 Heinrich Lützeler, "Die Lautgestaltung in der Lyrik," in Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft, xxix (1935), p. 95 ("Der Höreindruck entscheidet") and p. 96 ("Nur das Auffallende gilt"). 30 Lützeler, pp. 197 and 214. 31 See: Victor Erlich, Russian Formalism: History, Doctrine; Slavistic Printings and Reprintings, IV (s'Gravenhage, 1955), pp. 54-55,190; also René Wellek and Austin Warren, Theory of Literature (New York, 1942), p. 148. 32 Boris Eichenbaum, op. cit., p. 124. 33 The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, XII, 2 (Dec., 1953); reprinted in Seymour Chatman and Samuel R. Levin, eds., Essays on the Language of Literature (New York, 1967), p. 4. 34 Ibid., p. 9. 35 W.B. Stanford mentions the importance of vowels for, and the use of purely vocalic sequences in, the casting of ancient magical spells; The Sound of Greek, p. 82. 36 "Sound Repetition Terms, "Poetics. First International Conference of Works-in-Progress Devoted to Problems of Poetics (Warsaw, 1960), pp. 189-199. 37 (Paris, 1879), pp. 248 ff. 38 See Lanz, op. cit., p. 30. 39 Ibid., p. 27. 40 Ibid., pp. 42-3. 41 Walter Jackson Bate, The Stylistic Development of Keats (New York, 1945), pp. 57, 62 and 58 resp. for above examples. 42 Ibid., all examples on p. 61. 43 "Lyrical Instrumentation in Marlowe: A Step towards Shakespeare," Studies in Shakespeare, A.D. Mathews and C.M. Emery, eds. (Coral Gables, Fla. 1953), pp.74ff. Percy G. Adams gives an unschematic discussion of assonance in Chaucer, which nevertheless points out several interesting procedures, e.g. the binding of couplet lines by run-on assonance, usually with the rhyme word of the preceding line furnishing the tone timbre to be repeated ; and assonance of the penultimate with the final stressed vowel for "greater concluding force ;" see "Chaucer's Assonance," Journal ofEnglish and Germanic Philology, 71 (1972), pp. 535, 538. 44 But Karl Magnuson has given great impetus to the structural study of sound repetition in general. His "Consonant Repetition in the Lyric of Georg Trakl," Germanic Review, 37 (1962), pp. 263-81, relates alliterating consonants to their metrical position in the verse, stanza and poem. He examines repetitions of single sounds, consonant sequences, both contiguous and at varying metrical intervals (pp. 267-8). He is particularly interested in metrical parallelism, the occurrence of like consonants in like stress number of sequent or subsequent verses (pp. 272 ff.), but he does not relate these phenomenologically to rhythmic dynamism. Magnuson's insights are significantly elaborated and his material enormously expanded by use of the computer in his dissertation on Phonological Investigations into the

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

69

Structure of German Verse (Published on demand by University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1966.) Heinz Wetzel discusses Trakl's use of assonance, but an unfortunate skepticism (p. 130) about the perceptibility of sound configuration (à propos Magnuson's work for example) prevents any attempt at systematization ; instead, he dwells on soundsense interactions and the association of concepts through assonance; Klang und Bild in den Dichtungen Georg Trakts (Göttingen, 1972), pp. 108-142. Albert Hellmich's Klang und Erlösung. Das Problem musikalischer Strukturen in der Lyrik Georg Trakts (Salzburg, 1971), pp. 86-106, covers more or less the same expressive, associational, vaguely "musical" ground as Wetzel, which is not to disparage many of their observations. Among somewhat earlier work, Fischli and Masing (fns. 19,20 in this chapter) do not systematize assonant figures either. Lützeler too (fn. 29 this chapter) gives only random examples. Even the more recent and, by its title, promising work of Fritz Lockemann, Das Gedicht und seine Klanggestalt (Emsdetten, 1952), seldom broaches the topic of assonance, nor does it list the item in its index. Typical metrical monographs such as Wilhelm Schuster's Metrische Untersuchungen zu Christian Hofmann von Hofmannswaldau (Kiel, 1913) or Ludwig Dietz's Die lyrische Form Georg Trakts (Salzburg, 1959) touch the subject on occasion but do not suggest the rhythmic possibilities of vowel configuration. An early poetic, C. Beyer's Deutsche Poetik (Stuttgart, 1887), contemporary with Becq de Fouquières, discusses only "free (onomatopoetic)" and "verse-ending" assonance. Later metrical works, such as J. Minor's Neuhochdeutsche Metrik (Straßburg, 1902), Franz Saran's Deutsche Verslehre (München, 1907) and Andreas Heusler's Deutsche Versgeschichte (Berlin, 1925) do not advance beyond this point. Wolfgang Kayer's handy and influential Das sprachliche Kunstwerk (Bern, 1948) seems to barely edge into the notion of a structural and rhythmic function for internal assonance. 45 Langage et versification d'après l'œuvre de Paul Valéry (Paris, 1953), p. 74. Guiraud also discusses numerous examples of vowel echoes between stresses in sequent or subsequent verses, in particular between rhyme words and precaesural stresses (pp. 69-73.) 46 Albert Fischli, Über Klangmittel im Versinnern (Bern, 1921), p. 30. 47 Ludwig Dietz, Die lyrische Form Georg Trakts (Salzburg, 1959), p. 168. 48 David J. Masson, "Sound in Poetry," in Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Alex Preminger, Frank J. Warnke, O.B. Hardison, Jr., eds. (Princeton Univ. Press, 1965), pp. 784-90. 49 Edith Sitwell, A Poet's Notebook (Boston, 1950), p. 189. 50 Ants Oras, "Lyrical Instrumentation in Marlowe," Studies in Shakespeare, A. D. Mathews and C.M. Emery, eds. (Coral Gables, Fla., 1953), pp. 76-77. 51 Lützeler, p. 210: "stete Wiederholung bringt etwas leicht Starres ins Gedicht hinein." 52 Ants Oras, "Surrey's Technique of Phonetic Echoes: A Method and its Background," JEGP, L (1951), 290-91. 53 Oras, "Surrey's Technique," p. 295. 54 Lützeler, p. 210. 55 Fischli, pp. 37-43. 56 Lützeler, pp. 203-207. 57 In: Alex Preminger, ed., Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (Princeton, 1965), pp. 784 ff. 58 Seymour Chatman and Samuel R. Levin, eds., Essays on the Language of Literature (Boston, 1967), pp. 54-68. The poems are : Milton, Paradise Lost, 11,1-26; Donne, Holy Sonnets, vii; Hölderlin, "Hälfte des Lebens;" C.F. Meyer, "Möwenflug;" V. Hugo, "Oceano Nox." 59 Ibid., pp. 64, 66. In Meyer's "Möwenflug" a group of words containing [ei] suggests continuity, likeness and smoothness of the bird's flight. Masson points out that the series is largely in unison with the metrical beat, but might have added that about half of these words appear in one uninterrupted series of alternate stresses, a circumstance which contributes to the circling or gliding effect.

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Chapter 1

60 61 62 63

Walter Bate, The Stylistic Development of Keats (New York, 1945), pp. 52-65. Becq de Fouquieres, pp. 248 ff. Masing, pp. 69 ff. B. F. Skinner, "A Quantitative Estimate of Certain Types of Sound Patterning in Poetry," American Journal of Psychology, 54 (1941), p. 64. 64 Skinner, pp. 73 ff. 65 Phonological Investigations into the Structure of German Verse, Ph. D. diss., University of Michigan, 1966. 66 "Phonological Patterning in German Verse," Computers and the Humanities, 10, p. 13. 67 Ibid., p. 11. 68 Becq de Fouquieres, pp. 248 ff. Few researchers have bothered to systematize their findings. Fischli, who gives many fine examples, uses loose rhyme terminology, or at most distinguishes between "exactly corresponding metrical position" in successive verses and a "freer positioning" (p. 45). Oras, I believe, does not attempt an exact terminology. Magnuson's categorization is based only on the factors of simplicity and complexity of sound and of position repetition; "Consonant Repetition in Iraki's Lyrics," pp. 268-9. 69 The examples offered of this and the following types of echo are adduced only to aid in perception of a rhythmic pattern; hence the burdensome apparatus for giving their individual text locations has been omitted. The Eichendorff verses were found in: Joseph von Eichendorff, Werke und Schriften (Stuttgart [1957]), I, 9-130 passim. The subsequent verses of Brentano were found passim in "Romanzen vom Rosenkranz," Ausgewählte Werke, Max Morris, ed. (Leipzig, n.d.), Vol. iv. 69""Phonological Investigations," pp. 29-30. 70 Psychological Monographs. Psychological Review Publications, XXXV (No. 1), Whole No. 162 (1926), pp. 4-5. 71 "Phonological Patterning in German Verse," p. 11, Table 2. 71'"Phonological Investigations," p. 35. 72 On graphic displays of rhythmic elements, Henry Lanz writes: "This gives to the fleeting and evanescent phenomena of rhythm a stabilized existence for the eye ... By making rhythm accessible to the eye this method helps us to compare different rhythmical effects and to describe them briefly and precisely ... The graphical method also greatly facilitates the statistical study of rhythm," op. cit., p. 216. 73 The Formalist A. Bely analyzed stress-failure patterns "geometrically" for Russian verse by graphically connecting between sequential verses the metric points not realized by stress, thus obtaining spatial "ornaments." In itself this would be only a meaningless, manneristic curiosity, if the patterns traced could not be correlated with rhythmic sensations. In stanzaic as opposed to stichic verse, such "geometry" gains in effectiveness. See: Jiri Levy, "Die Theorie des Verses - ihre mathematischen Aspekte," in Mathematik und Dichtung. Versuche zur Frage einer exakten Literaturwissenschaft, Helmut Kreuzer and Rul Gunzenhäuser, eds. (München, 1965), p. 212. For some of these graphic displays and critical comments on the method, see: V. Zirmunskij, Introduction to Metrics (The Hague, 1966), pp. 40-48. Boris Tomashevsky, in his study on "Iambic Pentameter in Pushkin" (1923), calculated the probability of sequence of like rhythmic variants; see Jiri Levy (above), p. 212. 74 Karl Magnuson, in a study of alliteration in Trakl, has previously suggested the distinguishing of "repetitive sound organization in which the unifying factor has to do mostly with the recurrence of same sounds and that in which unification is achieved through repetition of certain positional relationships in sets of same sounds." "Consonant Repetition in the Lyric of Georg Trakl," Germanic Review, xxxvn (1962), p. 273. 75 Susanne K. Langer, Philosophy in a New Key (New York, 1948), p. 212. 76 R. Wellek and A. Warren, Theory of Literature (New York, 1942), p. 147. 77 A Theory of Meter (The Hague, 1965), pp. 184ff.

Vowel Echo Patterns Within the Verse

71

78 Jethro Bithell, German Pronunciation and Phonology (London, 1952), p. 98. 79 Siebs. Deutsche Hochsprache, Helmut de Boor und Paul Diels, eds. (Berlin, 1958), p. 36. 80 Essen, p. 74. In a recent experimental study of the "Relationship of Vowel Length and Quality in the Perception of German Vowels," Rudolf Weiss has again confirmed that: "for the low a-vowels quality distinction plays a negligible role;" Linguistics, No. 123 (March 1974), p. 70. 81 Siebs. Deutsche Hochsprache, p. 41. 82 Essen, p. 75. 83 The Sounds of English and German (Univ. of Chicago, 1962), p. 68-9. 84 The formula used to calculate chance expectancy of pairing of vowels in a four-stress line was: Probability = 3S2 — 2S3 + S 4 —(S 2 ) 2 , where S 2 = Sum of the squares of the individual vowel probabilities, S 3 = Sum of the cubes, etc. I wish to thank Prof. Hendrik Hameka of the University of Pennsylvania for this calculation. The individual vowel probabilities derive from a frequency table based on a sample of slightly over 10,000 stressed vowels, which I compiled from works in free verse by several German poets. Percentages for the vowels i, e, a, o, u, ö, ü are, respectively, as follows (ä included with e): Long - 6.23; 7.84, 6.38, 5.29, 3.16, 1.91, 3.17; Short - 11.62, 10.72, 13.15, 5.89, 4.74, 1.28,2.14. Diphthongs ei, au, eu: 8.65, 5.85, 2.64. The importance of using inventories of stressed vowels is obvious. 85 Clemens Brentano, Romanzen vom Rosenkranz, 1-4; Ausgewählte Werke, Max Morris, ed. (Leipzig, n.d.), IV, pp. 17-48. Assonant scheme ABAB. 86 Scattered poems of rhyme scheme ABAB in West-Östlicher Divan; Goethes Werke, II (Hamburg, 1959). 87 Werke und Schriften (Stuttgart, [1957]), I; most of the stanzas in rhyme scheme ABAB from pp. 9-130. 88 Dichtungen und Schriften (Hamburg, 1964), I; a large share of the stanzas of form ABAB and ABCB from pp. 521-736. 89 Dichtungen und Schriften (München, 1957); most stanzas of form ABAB and ABAB + AABB between pp. 3-181. 90 Chisholm's study of phonological patterning also reveals Goethe as the least differentiatory, in several respects, of the sampled poets (Schlegel, Goethe, Brentano, Heine, Mörike, Meyer). Goethe shows the least contrast between "even and odd frame equivalences," i.e. frequency of phonemic repetition at subsequent even-numbered syllabic intervals as opposed to odd-numbered intervals. His sound echoes are thus diffused somewhat more evenly. Goethe also has the lowest and narrowest range of sound-repetition frequencies in his poems as a group. This contrasts with our finding that he has the highest percentage of vowel-figured verses. See: Chisholm, p. 19. 91 Ortmann, p. 4. 92 Magnuson, Phonological Investigations, pp.62ff.; Chisholm,"Phonological Patterning," pp. 16ff. 93 For use with population tables 1.5and 1.6 the following percentage frequencies correspond to the indicated population numbers in the tables for Goethe, Eichendorff and Heym: 1 - .79% 5-3.94% 9-7.09% 13-10.24% 17-13.39% 2-1.57% 6-4.72% 10-7.87% 14-11.02% 18-14.17% 3-2.36% 7-5.51% 11-8.66% 15-11.81% 19-14.96% 4-3.15% 8-6.30% 12-9.45% 16-12.60% 2 0 - 15.75% For the Brentano table the percentages are slightly less than half of those given above for the same population numbers. For numbers above 20 the correct percentages for the Brentano sample are: 21-7.87% 2 6 - 9.74% 31-11.61% 52-19.47% 23-8.61% 27-10.11% 3 2 - 11.99% 24-8.99% 28-10.49% 35-13.11% 25 - 9.36% 30 - 11.24% 38 - 14.23%

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Chapter 1

94 Eichendorff, Wenke und Schrifien, I, 87 & 74. 95 See fn. 93 for percentage frequency equivalences to population numbers. 96 Designating the types of linkage by the letters on the left in Table 1.6, the orders of preference (with total percentage frequencies) for the poets are : Brentano - f e b d a c, respectively 13.30%, 10.58, 10.49, 8.80, 8.33, 7.12; Goethe - a c b f e d, resp. 11.22%, 10.83, 10.04, 9.65, 9.25, 9.06; Eichendorff - a e b f c d, resp. 12.01%, 10.24, 9.45, 9.45, 9.25, 7.48; Heym - e d b a c f, resp. 10.63%, 10.43, 10.24, 9.84, 8.27, 8.07. 97 Matrices (like Table 1.2) exhibiting the frequency of participation in figures of vowel response by the individual stress points in stanza lines 1,2, 3,4 (stresses 1', 2', 3', 4') are as follows for the four poets: Brentano - line 1(28.1%, 19.1,25.1,26.2), line 2(19.9%, 23.6, 23.6, 21.3), line 3(24.0%, 25.5,26.6,21.7), line 4(35.2%, 24.0, 30.0, 31.8); Goethe-line 1 (26.8%, 29.1, 26.8, 31.5), line 2(29.1, 30.7,19.7, 26.8), line 3(23.6, 26.0, 27.6, 27.6), line 4 (22.8, 29.9, 28.3, 26.8); Eichendorff - line 1(27.6%, 33.9, 26.0, 21.3), line 2(23.6%, 26.8, 20.5, 22.8), line 3(29.9%, 33.1, 25.2, 18.1), line 4(27.6%, 29.1, 26.8, 18.9); Heym-line 1 (28.3%, 26.0, 16.5, 18.1), line 2(28.3%, 20.5, 26.8, 24.4), line 3(28.3%, 25.2, 32.3, 23.6), line 4(25.2%, 23.6, 25.2, 27.6). 98 Werke, II (Hamburg, 1959), p. 72.

CHAPTER 2

Interlinear Echoes

2.1 The geometry of assonance In so far as it rings an echo - as in the preceding chapter - the individual verse forms an entity to itself and creates a specific moment of rhythm. But a poem is a congregation of rhythmic members, in which the following verses often respond to the preceding ones with answering vowels, and, in pursuit of this antiphony, the later verses may be inspired to intone the sounds they do. Thus a vowel in a verse may stand where it does because of a vowel in another verse. The dynamic structure of couplet or stanza may override the rhythmic phase requirements of the line. Particular interest accrues to this linkage of separate verses since it forms the clearly audible correlate to a similar process we shall detect in the patterning of vowel quantities. A proven "geometry" of assonance within the framework of stanzaic form prepares us to accept the notion of even more elaborate but more subliminal schemes of phonological organization within the structure of a rhythmic period. In actual fact, there are undoubtedly numerous such schemes, weaker and stronger ones, whose unique summation bestows on each stanza its peculiar harmony (or dissonance.) 2.2 Terminal assonance The most obvious device linking verses is terminal assonance, an apparently natural embryonic stage in the development of rhyme for any given language.1 Terminal assonance survives this stage, however, as impure rhyme in much folk-poetry and nursery rhymes, so that we tend to think of it in the German and English realms as an artlessly natural and still effective exploitation of the given sounds of the language, which are after all a compelling physical reality for the naive mind (and the poet's too), and which readily seduce thought into dreamy musical play: Backe, backe Kuchen, Der Bäcker hat gerufen,

74

2.3 Parallel and oblique interior assonance

Wer will guten Kuchen backen, Der muß haben sieben Sachen. Probably all salient sound repetition tends thus inescapably toward an anti-conceptual, hypnotic heightening of the sensory body of language. The consciously artistic practice of terminal assonance, binding many sequent verses in a long tirade on the same end-vowel, is known in French poetry from the tenth to the thirteenth century. A Spanish assonant verse in trochaic tetrameter was brought to Germany by the Romantic poets of the early nineteenth century: In des ernsten Tales Büschen Ist die Nachtigall entschlafen, Mondenschein muß auch verblühen, Wehet schon der Frühe Atem. 2 An unformalized appearance of final vowel correspondences has been noted in Marlowe, where it tends, thus Oras, "to prolong the roll of the line endings" in blank verse.3 The rhythmic effect of this device is clearly related to that of rhyme, although it leaves in the more rhyme-attuned ear a curious feeling of rhythmic incompletion, an unresolved discord promising more to come. Lanz has argued that the identity of consonants after like vowels in rhyme is essential for just this purpose, to mark the end of a rhythmic unit and so to signal that motion - rhythm and melody - has reached an end. 4 We do not know what the rhythmic responses and expectations are for a subject who has never known rhyme but only assonance, much less for the ear accustomed to neither. The apparent rhythmic slackness of terminal assonance, however, may be willingly sought out in periods of post-rhyme style that tend to open forms, and for this reason we find that end-assonance plays a prosodic role again in modern German, French, Russian and English poetry. 5

2.3 Parallel and oblique interior assonance Though not so salient as when in final position, the appearance of vowel echoes on parallel or oblique internal stress points is an obvious rhythmic moment. Once more it is Becq de Fouquières who pioneers with an early and one of the most complete collections of verse-linking figures. According to him, the enchainment of verses by assonance creates "a sort of melody composed of unforeseen echoes, unexpected voices which call and reply to one another from verse to verse." 6

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75

Becq de Fouquieres gives examples of sequential verses in which both the first and last stresses are parallel vocalically, or both the second and last, or the third and last; also verses in which all stresses but the first, second or third correspond, and even some where all verses ring in stresswise unison. His oblique assonance arises when, for example, a third stress is echoed in the following verse's first (or second) stress, or a first is repeated in the following second (or third), etc. A figure of alternation that also involves obliquity is created when two evocative vowels in the same verse both move forward or both are delayed by one or more stress numbers in the next upcoming verse. A crossed oblique assonance, usually called chiasmus, inverts the order of precedence of two thematic vowels as they return in the following verse, while likewise shifting their stress position. But Becq de Fouquieres does not comment on any possible rhythmic correlative of these manipulations. Among German works, Masing's Sprachliche Musik in Goethes Lyrik concentrates on the patterning of assonant vowels in the sequence of end rhymes. Hence, it is mainly concerned with the form of the poem as a whole, showing how like vowels within the row of rhymes (either repeated, inverted in their order of occurrence or interwoven) can link the stanzas or corresponding verses of stanzas to form a tonal progression from beginning to end of the poem. For example, a number of Goethe's short lyrics return in the last stanza to the tonic rhyme vowel of the first, over intervening stanzas which avoid the sound in question. This illustrates the structural principle of resolution by return to a tonic element stated at the outset. Intriguing in Masing's book, but little elaborated, is the notion of a stanzaic matrix of stressed vowels, which - as we attempted to illustrate in Chapter 1 - reveals quite pictorially the more or less discreet liaison of assonance with metrical stress position. Albert Fischli's analysis of Klangmittel im Versinnern is more refined, oriented by metrical geometry and hearkening to imaginal and syntactic correlations. Variant textual readings allow revelatory melodic comparisons. Fischli cites instances of stress parallelism, structurally matched echoes (e.g. at the beginning of alternate verses or of rhymed verses), as well as of metrically oblique assonances (p. 7), double and triple assonance between lines, penultimate/final and other oblique assonance based on the vowel of the end rhyme (pp. 21-3) and parallel chiasmus (p. 15). The merit of this study lies in the concept of tracing, through the progressive variants during the poet's revision of a poem, the vowel redistributions within a group of verses, so that we see how in the course of creation the final set of responses is gradually instilled. Unfortunately, for Fischli too, these echoes are not systematically evaluated but are considered just lesser effects of quite the same nature as rhyme.

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2.3 Parallel and oblique interior assonance

Study of textual changes and variants will undoubtedly become more meaningful when correlated with statistical preferences for specific assonant figures in specific lines. Fischli notes a change made by Mörike from the echo figure (a b c c) to (a b a a) in the first line of "Um Mitternacht" {Bedächtig stieg is altered to Gelassen stieg die Nacht ans Land) and thinks it motivated by a general wish for increased vowel harmony. But the change could have been prompted by the (subconscious) desire for a specific pattern in a specific place. Table 1.5 indicated, for example, that Brentano was especially fond of the figure (a b a a) in the first verse of his quatrains, just where Mörike puts it, and it is conceivable that Mörike shares this or some related predilection. At any event, consideration must be given to such factors, when we analyze a poet's moves in the game of harmonic variants he plays against the competing logic of his message. Lanz, without system, offers scattered examples of vowel patterning (pp. 28-31). Jean Hytier's investigation of Les techniques modernes du vers Francais (Paris, 1923), sometimes mentioned in connection with the problem of assonance in modern poetry, limits itself to defining the possible accords and dissonances of vowels and consonants, primarily in wordterminal position. His systematic "tables" deal only with the sequential relation of vowels to consonants in the accords - with the two accordant vowels, for example, either both standing after consonants in syllabic position, both before consonants, or both varying in this respect. Other positional permutations enter the discussion, some involving multiple vowels and consonants. The general view is of phoneme patterning and distribution, an early look at the phenomena broached in our day by Masson. Ants Oras has tried to perceive the rhythmic consequences of vowel echos. He categorizes several types of phonic bonds between verse lines, without adding much in the way of new insight. Among his groups are: terminal assonance (shown by Oras, for example, to outline an assonant sonnet inserted in non-stanzaic verse);7 parallelism by stress point; and the assonant connection of words "occurring before a strong pause, generally a caesura or the end of a line, bracketing the middle of two lines ..., the middle of a line with its end ... or with the end of the following line ...; the end of a line with the middle of the next line ...; or the end of one line with that of another ...;" in short, the kind of parallel and oblique assonances mentioned by Becq de Fouquieres, Osip Brik and Fischli.8 We see here how such circumstantial descriptions cry out for simplification in a schematic notation. As an early example of internal echoing, Oras recalls Virgil's "habit of connecting the precaesural syllables of two or more consecutive lines by assonance or rhyme." 9 Bate has likewise unearthed some neatly effective stress parallelisms such as:

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77

And diamonded with panes of quaint dev/ce, Innumerable of stains and splendid djes. and a nice instance of chiasmus in parallel: The wakeful bloodhound rose and shook his hide, But his sagacious eye an inmate owns.10 The theme ([o] + [ai]), whose terms recur obliquely, is supplemented by another oblique echo of [e], in "wakeful/sagacious." Paul Guiraud collects specimens of "horizontal" symmetry that connect corresponding syllabic positions in the two hemistichs of a single verse, which creates a kind of structural balance. He also notes a "vertical" syllabic correspondence between the same distichs of following verses, as well as stanzaic assonant "rhyme" patterns vertically down the precaesural stresses of a quatrain, forming enclosing as well as alternating schemes.11 Guiraud remarks: "It is difficult to say in what measure schemes so complex and so pure are sought for; in any case they cannot have passed unperceived and even if they were born of the frequency of such rhymes, they sufficiently attest that one is faced with a conscious and generalized process." 12 But we need not claim such processes are conscious, so long as we can demonstrate that they are not random. That some such processes are generalized, and not stylistic peculiarities, emerges from the finding that most poets observe some specific principles of phonological distribution which can be convincingly related to principles of rhythm. It is, in fact, a methodological advantage that poets are not fully conscious of the processes of vowel harmony, for this allows us to assume that vowel distribution is guided more by the inherent rhythmic dynamism of the metrical form and less by the will to rhetorical decoration.

2.4 Schematism of interlinear assonance The interlinear echo is a phenomenon submitting as readily to statistical treatment as the iniralinear echo, the verse configuration of Chapter 1. But as in the latter case, no useful taxonomy has yet been adopted to facilitate such a procedure. Naturally, the ease with which we can do so will depend on the complications of the metric and stanzaic form to be treated; undoubtedly, however, very basic principles will be suggested by investigating the simple tetrameter quatrain form. To simplify the accounting a further restriction - to echoes between immediately sequential verses - has been imposed here, although the ultimate goal should be to find the comparative statistical relationship of each stress point in the stanza to every other point. Significant deviations from the norm in the frequency of

78

2.4 Schematism of interlinear assonance

communication across such channels will, when related to formal geometry and rhythmic dynamism, suggest the function of these connections. Becq de Fouquieres, who suggested our notation for the intralinear echo, has indeed dealt with parallel and oblique assonance and taken the stress geometry as frame of reference, but he has tried to apply to it his notation for the single verse figure. Two sequential verses which assonate in parallel across their second stresses must hence be written as: a b c d/a' b c ' d ' , and an oblique assonance of the respective stresses one and three would appear as: a b c d / a' b' a d' - formulae which are neither economical nor perspicuous. We gratefully adopted Becq de Fouquieres's verse-figure notation, but propose for the interlinear echo a more easily manipulable and comparable system. In it we will designate each linkage by its two (or more) stress termini and will then prefix the stanzaic line number of the initial verse, thus fixing the echo's position in the stanza frame. Accordingly, if the first configuration formulated above by Becq de Fouquieres as: a b e d / a' b c ' d ' stands in lines one and two of the quatrain, it will be noted as: 1 (2' ¡2'). The parentheses ( ) enclose a figure of response; the slash / denotes an inter linear echo; and the acute accent' stands above the number of the responding stresses. The second of Becq de Fouquieres's figures: a b c d / a' b' a d', starting, say, in line three, would be written: 3(l'/3')- When the lines involved are «/¿sequent, when other verses intervene, we can indicate this by additional slashes, so that a linkage of stress two in line two and stress four in line four is shown as: 2(2'//4'). Or we can specify the two line numbers participating and use but a single slash: 2,4 (2'/4'). When citing examples in which verse and stanza length may vary, a subscript clarifies the number of lines in the stanza and stresses in the lines. The formula: 26 (%/%) describes an echo beginning in the second verse of a six line stanza and linking the third stress of a four-foot verse to the third stress of a three-foot verse, i.e. a penultimate to a final stress, although their stress number is the same. This allows us to keep track of the important relationships between stress points and line extremities, and of the position of lines with regard to the stanza middle and end. The LiedjBienen accord of Brentano's Wiegenlied 2. (p. 17) can now easily be notated as: l(2'//2') and that of sufi/flustem as: l(3'///3'). Slashes, so used, have the merit of graphically suggesting greater or lesser interval-attenuation of the echo's force, but for transparency of reference to the stanzaic matrix (quatrain) we may call the same responses: 1,3 (2720 and 1,4(3730. Echoes at this longer distance, incidentally, may prove to be more structural or formal than purely dynamic, that is, rhythmically impelling or retarding. Nevertheless, if the distribution of vowels into these longer range channels is eventually shown to be greater than chance probability,

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79

we may learn that, analogous to the functioning of quantitative patterns (Chapter section 6.3.1, and in particular p.209), the distant response: 1,4(1' /l') helps to announce the cadence of the stanza, or that a figure like: 1,3(4'/1') works to reanimate the second couplet of a quatrain. Demarcation, albeit, is not so easy to achieve between the more physical urges and fulfillments of dynamic rhythms on the one hand, and on the other the conceptual structures of likeness, contrast and symmetry found in relational forms. The distinction may reside merely in the degree of kinaesthetic immediacy or in the temporal compass of the elements related. 2.5 Verse instances of echo types Even between adjacent verses oblique and parallel assonance enter many combinations, and their rhythmic contributions may seem to resist immediate intuitive understanding. It is here that positional preferences revealed by statistics come to our aid. Three formally exhaustive alternatives are: 1. strict parallelism of stress; 2. response on an earlier stress in the following line; and 3. response in a later stress. The parallel echoes appear to enhance awareness of rhythm as recurrent, selfsame members. They tighten the bonds of static linkage, laying a restrictive, disciplinary hand on rhythmic fancy. The oblique echoes, types 2. and 3. above, which advance or recede against a given rhythmic pace, can be metaphorically said to evoke a sense of acceleration in the first case as opposed to retardation in the second. 2.5.1 The following collection of examples is intended to illustrate all possible parallel and oblique vowel responses. By comparing the three instances of each figure, the reader can disengage the action of the echo configuration per se from the other non-constant rhythmic variables: I. Parallelism: 13 1. (1 '/l') Lauschen in den Dämmerungen Auf der Jungfrau Sang und Harfe ismsam wie das Bild, es fallen Leis' der Linde Blüten 'runter Dann magst du die durst'ge Zunge Bald im kühlen Spiegel laben 2. (2'/2') Freudig stößt er ab die Erde, Hin nach schön'rer Heimat dringend Gibt dein Aug dir Ärgernisse, Reiß es aus, tritt's an die Erde

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2.5 Verse instances of echo types

3. (3'/3')

4. (4'/4')

Willst du deutelnd schärfer treffen, Sprich: Des Teufels Hirngespinste Und dies nennt ihr reines Wissen; Nennt's der Isis Schleier heben Leicht ein dunkler Rab erbittert, Und den bösen Schnabel wetzend Und des Abends Zaubergarten Schwankt vor ihrem Aug' entrollet Herrlich zu kristallner Kugel; Diese trägt sie, frohen Busens Aus des höchsten Himmels Breiten Über ihr vorübereilend Arme sinken, Tritte straucheln, Ist's denn auch ihr Pfad nach Hause

II. Progradience, acceleration: 1. (4'/1') Aber ich muß: fort nach Thüle Suchen auf des Meeres Grund Sprich, o Herr! aufweiche Weise Reißest du mich jetzt zu dir? Und mit süß vertrauten Blicken Sitzt sie auf des Jünglings Bette 2. (3'/1') Und er stellt zum Friedenszeichen Thr den Mond in blauer Höh' Jetzo bin vor Gott ich reine; Soll ein Herr aus mir erstehn Und zertrat mit bittren Tränen Wild sein mühsam Werk mit Füßen 3. (2'/l') Ob dem reinen Glanz des Schnees Leicht ein dunkler Rab erbittert Schwingt die Nacht auf seinen Rücken, Kalt die Nebelfäuste ballend Leise Lüfte hör' ich wehen, Schüchtern kehre zu der Linde 4. (4'/2') Hat sie freudig und allei'ne In ihr eignes Herz gesehn Und sie nimmt die Fackel betend; Ihre Tränen niederflossen Und die Herzen tauchen nieder In untiefen süßen Wahn

Interlinear Echoes

5. (3720

6. (473')

Daß wir nimmer gehen unter, Weil wir streben nur nach oben Unter Helden, Christen, Juden, Daß du triffst die rechte Pforte Und der Engel wollte weichen, Da die Sonne stieg zur See Unser Liebfrau Bettstroh nehme, Mische es mit Venusrosen Seh' ich trauernd niederschleichen Still der Treppen Stei'ngewind Starb mein Heiland doch hieni'eden, Daß ich sein Verdienst erwerbe

III. Resolution, retardation: 1. (1 '/4') Boten auf und nieder steigen Zwischen Erde, zwischen Mond Sterben täglich hundert Geister Aus der Lilith Urgeschlecht Bald steht deines Herzens Rose Nun im sel'gen Himmelsgarten 2. (2'/4') Zu des ew'gen Lichtes Scheinen Ihn der Flügel wieder trägt Und des Waldes dunkle Riesen Drängen sich ums enge Tal Des dir hochgepriesnen Buches Von dem Weib des Erdensohnes 3. (3'/4') Um den Busen will sich Herse Gürtend eine Schlange winden Da sie trug ein groß Gelüsten Nach ausländ'schem Himmelsobste Fand in sich die edlen Steine Dunkel schimmernd ausgelegt 4. (1 '/3') DM bist, Feuerschatten werfend, In der bösen Glwt zerschmolzen Wie vom Taue überfüllet Eine Blume niedersinkt In den goldnen, lieben Morgen, Der auf Turmesspitzen lacht 5. (2'/3') Und empfangen von der Erde Gleicht sie wohl dem Drachenkinde

81

82

2.5 Verse instances of echo types

6. (1 '/2')

Öde, weite Fluten liegen Wo er heute weinend lag Drinnen schawn sich mondumspiegelt Die Gedanken trawrig an Lwzifer, dem stolzen Geiste Diente nun der feste Kern Mondenschein muß auch verblühen Wehet schon der Frühe Atem v411e Stunden einzunehmen Und so lang' zu wiederholen

As examination of the above passages will show, the individual echo configurations often, perhaps most often, do not appear in isolation but as parts of complex figures of sound. Two echoes of different vowels between the same sequential lines will produce relational figures of chiasmus, serial groups, diminution and augmentation of the thematic interval. Such echo-correlations may also have specific preferences in themselves or for position; for example, the chiasmus (3'/4' + 4'/3') seems popular. 14 A single vowel sound, when it appears twice in each of two sequential verses, will itself yield four responses, whose rhythmic sum can be perplexing. But to make systematic progress the responses must first be treated in isolation, in the belief again that their choice of positional occurrence will imply their rhythmic function, and that the structure of their individual preferences in specific poets will afford stylistic insights. 2.5.2 Parallel configuration The static, uniformly delimiting quality of assonant parallelism is another consequence of the separative effect of parallel phonological equivalence, or echo, in general. (See the discussion of series echoes in Chapter 1.) Magnuson claims that: "Parallelism ... points to the separative, not the combinative function in verse." 15 Its stimuli recur at the same intervals as and reinforce the basic tempo of the verse's wave length, rather than urging it on or slackening it. Parallel assonant first stress (1 '/I') is a figure of recapitulation, clearly scoring return to the rhythmic base: Nennen dich den großen Dichter, Wenn dich auf dem Markte zeigest; Gerne hör' ich, wenn du singest, Und ich horche, wenn du schweigest. (Goethe, Werke, II, p. 95.) The listener's ear does not attend to a sense of imminent running out, a

Interlinear Echoes

83

moment of awaited cyclical completion, but rather to the insistently regular rebeginning of time, as it is doled out by the rhythm. The mode is one of forceful propagation, not mature reflection. Too much can result in monotone rigidity, but in appropriate stanzaic situations it may effectively underline the structure, for example by allying co-ordinate members: lines which rhyme; the respective on- or off-verses of a quatrain's couplets; or the first and the last stanzaic line. Higher numbered stress parallels may also link co-ordinate points - e.g. the accords: l,3(2'/2') and l,4(3'/3') in Wiegenlied 2. (p. 16) - but they do not reach the same degree of salience. Parallel assonant second stress (2'/2') in tetrameter verse, a tiradic example of which (by Goethe) was cited in the Introduction (p. 9, no. 6), strikes a rhythmic wave that runs on the dipode level. Shorter crested and less emphatic, due to less subjectively exposed position, it seems less potentially staccato: Wandelt ernsthaft durch die Türe, In der Rechten einen Spaten, Und sie wagt nicht ihn zu grüßen, Also hell und finster war er. (Brentano, Ausgewählte Werke, IV, p. 18.) As we will see in the statistics, both first and second stress parallels are frequently used to join stanzaic lines two and three, and so to statically attach the quatrain's couplets without disturbing the inner equilibrium of either. Parallel penultimate stress (3'/3') in tetrameter is not so frequent a response, but can be useful to effect at once both rhythmic emphasis and a measure of resolution. In the act of heralding the verse's end, it awakens us to the contrast of the vowels in the final (rhyme) stresses. Thus it is the most avoided response between verses one and two in the ABAB rhyme scheme, where it would tend to "rhyme" the first couplet prematurely, at 2(3'), and would create a sense of discord at 2 (4') when no rhyme actually takes place. A tirade on (3') is found in Goethe's "Selige Sehnsucht:" In der Liebesnächte Kühlung, Die dich zeugte, wo du zeugtest, Überfallt dich fremde Fühlung, Wenn die stille Kerze leuchtet. (Werke, II, p.18.) 2.5.3 Oblique configuration Oblique assonances are both more numerous and rhythmically more alive than the parallel ones. By superimposing a shorter or longer span on the

84

2.5 Verse instances of echo types

basic rhythmic interval, they inject a moment of variety into the rule. Fischli, also, opines that a metrically displaced echo (an oblique one) "certainly sounds more pleasant to the ear" than parallel ones.16 Magnuson doesn't think in terms of oblique correspondences but of syllabic intervals between like sounds which are less, equal to or greater than the syllabic length of the given verse form. Verse-parallel sound equivalences are called "positional," and those at a shorter or longer interval are non-positional. Of these latter, the longer ones would always result in oblique echoes in our sense, and the shorter ones would often do so, depending on the length of the frame (interval chosen) and the position in the verse of the point of evocation. Magnuson then conceives of poetry as "a system of alternating tensions and resolutions" and argues that "the degree of tension, in any given moment, is determined by the relative liveliness of non- positional interests." 17 In our terms, the intralinear and the oblique echoes deregularize and enliven the rhythm carried by the verse units; they add tension to it; while the parallel echoes produce no such tensions. The problem of rhythmic action springing from vowel echoes submits to analysis best when we contrast the two extreme antithetical responses: (l'/4') and (4'/l'). The former is a distant pause, the latter a hammering immediate sequence over a rhythmic juncture (line end), akin to the figure of medial sequence within the verse. By analogy with these intralinear configurations, we would expect the responses above to have, respectively, a resolving (or retarding, concluding) versus an accelerating (or progradient, continuative) power. 18 Henry Lanz remarks that in poetic rhythm: "Our emotional response is a function of accelerations and retardations variously distributed within different lines." 19 Vowel figuration will help to release this sort of physical-emotional response, with its consequent diffuse expressive force that is based, probably, on feelings of premature and postponed responses to tonal stimuli. Edith Sitwell observed that vowels "effect time." One way they do so is through these feelings of prematurity and postponement. That the response (4'/l') acts progradiently is implied by the relatively greater popularity of 1 (4'/l') and 3(4'/l') than of 2(4'/l'). This suggests that, within a quatrain matrix, an overlapping assonance can transmit a rhythmic impetus from the on-verse to the off-verse of the couplet, while at the juncture between couplets, where often a major syntactical break and a consequent pause intervenes, such an impulsive, boundary-crossing sequence need not or should not be so frequently employed. On the other hand, the potential melodically resolving function for the couplets of the echo (1 '/4'), although it is easily sensed in isolated samples, remains largely masked in the present frequency tables by the formal side effect of alternating rhyme - since the very frequent progradient 1 (4'/V) has frequent 2(1'/4') as an automatic consequence of the rhyme scheme,

Interlinear Echoes

85

thus elevating 2(l'/4') above 1 or 3(174'). In addition, 3(l'/4') must be forborne, since it would entail the strongly avoided couplet-overlapping sequence 2 (4'/l ')• Progradience appears to take precedence over retardation, probably because rhythmic resolution is also accomplished by rhyme and by lengthening the final verse foot (see Chapter section 6.5.1.) But the resolving function of a metrically retarded echo, although masked for the figure (1 '/I'), emerges in the comparison of the figures 1&3 (1'/ 3'&2'/3') with figures 2 (173'&2'/3'), 20 the former four responses - which are within the couplets - being more common than the latter two - which cross the juncture between the couplets. The greater popularity of the former hints at the power of such configurations to assist in ending a rhythmic period (here the couplet) by retarding its impetus, giving it an inner contractive coherence. Across the couplet boundary this is not needed. Between the two formal extremes of (l'/4') and (4'/l') lie the other oblique ties. Arguing from the more evident nature of the extremes, we can propose that, in general, a moment of rhythmic acceleration or progradience intrudes whenever a sound recurs relatively earlier by position (more "quickly") in a subsequent rhythmic member, so forerunning the dim expectancy of return; while the opposite disposition, a belated arrival, adds a component of retardation or resolution to the vector of motion. Obviously, the metrical profile and rhythmic phrasing of the verse contribute to this resultant, as does the pattern of word boundaries and other factors - the vowel lengths, for example, and consonant echo, the scaling of successive sounds along some phonological dimension (front to back, hight to low), and the like. Computers can theoretically correlate these factors and reveal other features of a mechanics of rhythm. We may eventually distinguish some systematic rhythmic function dependent on the various combinations of dipode beginning and dipode end as the two termini of the response, although the effect of verse position in the stanza complicates the issue. Dipode beginning, in trochaic meter, will often receive the subjective emphasis felt by any initial element in a series and will tend to "initial brevity," a phenomenon found at several levels of language (Chapter section 6.5.4). Dipode end tends to suffer the lengthening of conclusion common to final elements in series (Chapter section 6.5.1). By formal necessity, now, the majority of the progradient figures end on odd stresses (dipode beginning) and most of the retarding ones on even (dipode ending), and we can assume, I think, that the rhythmic energies of progradience and retardation are fed in part by the independent action of the stress positions on which they end and whose force they amplify. To take the most clear-cut instances: (2'¡A1) echos dipode ends, including a still more prominent verse end as final impression, and (3'/l 0 links dipode beginnings, including a verse beginning as final impression. Probably these

86

2.6 Frequency ranking of interlinear figures

figures profit from the dynamics of the points covered. Yet the converse figures (4'/2') and (1 '/3'), although on the "wrong" dipodic positions, still convey feelings of progradience and retardation due to their respective diminution and augmentation of the verse's wave length, their sense of prematurity and postponement. We are thus dealing with two separate effects: the inherent dynamic character of positions in series; and the marking of advance and recession against a given tempo. 2.6 Frequency ranking of interlinear figures In the tables that follow we will study: 1. the order of ranking of the individual parallel and oblique figures in the total sample; 2. their order of ranking within each stanza line; 3. their order of ranking for individual poets; and 4. the summational frequency matrices of echo-activity composed by the sixteen stress points in the tetrameter quatrain - showing separately the power of evocation (frequency of arousing echo response in the following verse) and the power of respondence (frequency of answering a vowel stimulus in the preceding line.) The sample included 612 verses of Brentano (Romanzen vom Rosenkranz, I—III) and 508 each for Goethe, Eichendorff and Heym, using the same texts as for intralinear figures (see fns. 86-88, Chap. 1.) Percentage frequency of occurrence is followed by the figure in question. Frequencies for the fourth line were, of course, based only on the number of fourth verses actually followed by another stanza in whose first verse they could evoke response, a number which varied from poet to poet. By the same token, the calculation of responsivity excludes the first line of poems, which are not preceded. Since (4'/4') was not possible in Brentano's poem, based as it is on controlled assonance, the figure was not included in the tables or in the summations. 2.6.1 Structuring forces in the frequency hierarchy An interesting feature of Table 2.1 is the evidence of grouping in the frequency hierarchy. The stress parallels tend to be grouped low, although not at the bottom. Most of the oblique figures have a frequency comparable to that of their inverse (3/4, 4/3; 4/2, 2/4; 2/3, 3/2; 1/2, 2/1), 22 with the exception of (4/1, 1/4) and (3/1, 1/3). The high standings of (3/4, 4/3) indicate the importance of harmonizing the second dipodes of successive verses, while the low estate of (1/2, 2/1) confirms the positional disadvantage of the first dopode in efforts to accelerate or retard the rhythm. Inverse pairs of medium standing are ones which interconnect the dipodes (4/2, 2/4; 2/3, 3/2). The former, more frequent ones link the dipode endings,

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87

Table 2.1 Frequency Ranking of Total Responses 10.23% 10.18 10.18 10.13 9.80 9.80 9.47 9.23 9.19 8.85 8.85 8.71 8.66 8.29 8.10

3/4 4/3 4/1 3/1 4/2 2/4 1/4

2/2 2/3 3/2 1/1 3/3 1/3 1/2 2/1

•

•

•

=

140% = 1.40 echoes per line. Random probability of any vowel matching is 7.86%. Total random probability of interlinear response is 1.18 echoes per line, excluding 4/4, or 1.26 including it. See individual stressed vowel probabilities in fn. 84, p. 71; these values are 17

used in the calculation: P(i nter i is multiplied by 16.

Echo)

= 15 £ p^. If (4/4) is included as a term, the summation v= 1

which are potentially extended tones (Chapter sections 6.6.1, 6.5.3) in resolving position with their rhythmic sub-members, and for this reason perhaps especially susceptible to according. Figures (4/1, 1/4; 3/1, 1/3) also interconnect dipodes but have split frequencies. The preferred response in each case is the strongly accelerating one (4/1,3/1). The relatively poor performance of vertical parallels (except between lines two and three, as we shall see) stems, for my rhythmic feeling, from their rigidity; they simply confirm metrical time, and don't create motion in it. Skinner, it will be recalled, also found parallel assonance to be avoided (see p. 42.) These findings, it must be noted, may or may not contradict Magnuson and Chisholm, whose computer counts show stress parallelism more productive of phonological equivalence than frames of reference which are shorter in their syllable intervals than a whole verse line (which is the interval of parallelism.)23 Echoes such as (4/3, 4/1, 3/1, 4/2) would all be caught in their methodological net, and yet are in our count all higher in frequency than the parallels. Magnuson and Chisholm, however, do not distinguish vowels and consonants, and it is possible that their results mask differing behavior on the part of the two sound classes. Table 2.1 (along with 2.3) also indicates that stress points three and four, are key notes that evoke and respond frequently. Henry Lanz has suggested that: "For rhythmical reasons the last accented vowel in a verse line, form-

88

2.6 Frequency ranking of interlinear figures

ing a demarcation line between two rhythmic series, stays prominently in the mind and consequently modifies the perception of the following vowels in the same way in which the first stressed tone in a melody modifies the perception of the next coming tones. In other words ... the last vowel in a verse line acts in a manner similar to that of the keynote in a melodic motion." 2 4 The penultimate stress (3') seems to function similarly, though not as strongly. The evocativity of (4') in Table 2.3 is actually higher than for (3') since it is based on responses at only three points instead of four, (4'/4' being excluded.) Thus in line one, (4') has a specific evocativity of 11.5% per following stress point, while the same figure for (3') is 9.8%. Only in line two is (4')'s specific evocativity lower, but then with a vengeance, for this position in the stanzaic matrix has the lowest value of any (7.9%, the random probability), revealing the unique reticence of 2(4') to extend itself across the couplet boundary. (See Table 2.3 on p. 91.) Both the foregoing study of intralinear figures (p. 54) and the later study of vowel quantities (section 8.5.3) show (4') and, to an extent, (3') to be rhythmically very effective points in the tetrameter line. Of course, in alternating rhymed stanzas any responses instigated by l&2(4'/x') will generate subsequent relations 2&3(x'/4'), so that inverse figures like (3/4, 4/3) will reproduce each other, although occurrences in the second couplet can make a considerable difference, as in the case of (4/1, 1/4). But (2/4,1 ¡4) enjoy this same automatic support, and still do not reach as high as (3/4,4/3), indicating that it is the linking of specific points which is the decisive factor in the ranking. As so often in other features of verse, the ending phase has especial rhythmic significance. The figures (4/3, 3/4) give feelings of acceleration and resolution at the couplet end, a moment of pause at which, perhaps, we sense such movements most clearly. Table 2.1 shows in summation that the verses in our sample are followed by an average of 1.40 assonant responses in the following line, greater than the chance probability of 1.18. Since there are 15 possible response channels (four per evoking point with 4/4 exluded) the specific evocativity of the stess points in the sample is 9. 33% . For individual points in the line the evocativities are: V = 8.96%, 2' = 9.22, 3' = 9.65, 4' = 10.27; recall that the random probability of matching is 7.86%. If we consider the intralinear figures (Table 1.1) as responses on any of three stress points to a stimulus on the fourth, we calculate a specific evocativity of 9.86%, suggesting somewhat greater assonant activity within the line than between lines. Specific evocativities for the different ¿nfralinear verse points are: 1' = 9.89%, 2' = 9.37, 3' = 9.94, 4' = 10.23; here, too, stress points three and four rank highest. We have already cited the maximum mierlinear evocativity for a matrix point, which was 11.5% for 1 (4'), and the minimum 7.9% for 2(4'); for miralinear points the maximum is at l ( l ' ) =

Interlinear Echoes

89

11.5 %, minimum at 4(3') = 8.41 %; variations at both levels (verse point and matrix point) are hence slightly greater between the lines than within them, and perhaps we can conclude from this a more audible and differentiated rhythmic functionality of the echoes between verses. 2.6.2 Rankings by stanzaic lines Table 2.2 displays frequency ranking hierarchies for the figures by individual lines. Table 2.2 Frequency Ranking of Total Responses by Line21 1. 11.8% 11.8 11.6 11.4 11.4 10.5 10.5 9.7 9.4 9.2 9.0 8.8 8.8 8.1 7.3

2. 2/4 4/2 3/4 4/1 4/3 3/1 2/3 3/2 1/4 1/1 1/3 1/2 2/2 2/1 3/3

12.2 11.4 11.2 11.2 10.9 10.5 9.6 8.8 8.8 8.4 8.2 8.2 7.9 7.5 7.3

3. 1/1 2/2 1/4 3/1 3/4 2/4 3/3 4/1 2/1 1/2 2/3 3/2 1/3 4/3 4/2

Frequency of interlinear echoes per line: 149% = 1.49 142% = 1.42 responses per line.

11.4 10.7 10.3 10.1 9.9 9.7 9.4 9.4 9.0 9.0 8.6 8.6 8.4 8.2 7.3

4. 4/1 3/2 1/3 4/3 4/2 3/1 1/4 2/3 2/4 3/3 2/2 3/4 2/1 1/2 1/1

140% = 1.40

12.8 11.1 10.6 9.8 9.8 9.8 9.4 8.7 8.5 8.5 8.3 8.1 7.7 7.2 7.2

4/3 4/2 3/4 4/1 3/3 3/1 2/3 2/2 2/4 1/4 1/2 1/3 2/1 3/2 1/1

121% = 1.21

From the strength of the figures 2&3/4 we deduce that the vowel of the stanza's second rhyme - which will arrive at response point 2(4') - is not seldom unconsciously prompted by chance vowel occurrences in the first line's stress two or three, or that the latter are subsequently revised to harmonize with the former. In any event, anticipation of the second rhyme vowel is relatively common. The existence of such rhythmically inherent but syntactically perhaps invisible ties - as here between 1 (2') and 2 (4') hints at an equally subterranean lexical or semantic interaction between these points which are somehow heard in conjunction. Preferred assonance channels might serve as a guide for interesting associational studies. Verse-one column also points to the importance of progradience (4/2&1&3, 3/1&2) in couplet one, the provision of rhythmic continuity between the stanza's first two verses. To a statistically lesser but structurally

90

2.6 Frequency ranking of interlinear figures

greater extent, progradience also enjoys preference in the second couplet, as shown by the ranking of the same figures in verse-three column. We might recall here that we have assumed progradience is inherent in the stanzaic movement of these couplet phases anyway, with or without the figures, but that the latter are often chosen because they give a helpful assist. Especially when we consider the many other competing rhythmic needs to be answered by a choice of words, it is not the magnitude of the actual frequencies that counts so much as the structure of preferences in the ranking hierarchy, which serves as one etiological pointer to a rhythmic syndrome affecting many features. The column for verse two, recording links at the juncture between the stanza's couplets, finds the parallels 1/1,2/2 and 3/3 rising dramatically in rank - to institute, by symmetrical repetition, a static connection of the couplets. Almost all of the favored responses in column one (those in the top half) have declined in column two, and the disfavored have generally ascended. Particularly notable is the drop in column two of progradient figures like 4/1&2&3 and 3/2, and of retardations like 1&2/3 and 2&3/4, although 3/1 rises in opposition to this tendency. Tables 2.3 and 2.4, however, display matrix points 2(3') and 3(1') as respectively the most evocative and most responsive ones in the stanza, whence the high likelihood of their communication in the figure 2(3/1). (See p. 91.) The verse-three column, as we have seen, strongly arouses progradience (4/1&3&2, 3/2&1), and discourages linking of the first dipodes of the second couplet (1/1, 1/2, 2/1, 2/2). More prominent in line three than elsewhere are 3/2 and 1/3. The frequency list for verse four exhibits the relative weakening of interlinear echo which we would expect over the longer interstanzaic pause. It is followed by 1.21 responses per line, as opposed to the over 1.40 for the other verses. In general, as was the case with intralinear echoes, there is a progressive slackening of activity from beginning to end of the stanza (see line totals at bottom of table.) This same phenomenon of "directional interest" was discussed in the context of Table 1.4 (p. 60) and has to do with increased logical and rhyme-vowel constraints. Yet the disparity of high and low frequencies, the stereotypy, is greater in line four than in the others, and the most evocative points are consistently (3') and especially (4'), evincing strong perseveration into the next stanza of sounds which conclude the preceding one. This stanzaic liaison may stem in part from contingencies of our material - the fact that Brentano preserves constant assonant timbres throughout most of a canto and that many of Heym's stanzas occur in double-quatrain form. Perhaps we would not otherwise find that the figure 4(4/3) is the most active channel in the entire stanza (12.8% evocativity.) Nevertheless, the existence of functioning phonetic ties between stanzas can be no more surprising than their continuity of

Interlinear Echoes

91

thought and association, and is in fact guaranteed by the latter, which is achieved by sequential composition or later revisions and harmonization. 2.6.3 Evocativity and responsivity of points in the stanzaic matrix Tables 2.3 and 2.4 help to make explicit the tendencies sensed in Table 2.2, such as the fact that points 3 (1' & 2'), of all points in the stanza matrix, least frequently provoke accord, while 3 (2' & 3') least frequently complete a harmony. Comparison with Table 1.2 for intralinear participation reveals 2 (1' & 3') to be the most vibrant points, overall, in the stanza, with 3 (2') the most muffled. Musical dispositions of this sort may conceivably be coupled with the syntactical and semantic collocation of the stanza matrix. Comparison should be made with the preferred positional assignments of: a. the parts of speech; b. the syntactic functions; and c. various semantic and logical categories, e.g. concrete images, abstract conceptual words, kinetic versus statal notions, etc. Table 2.3 Line: Stress: 1' 2' 3' 4'# Table 2.4 Line: Stress: 1' 2' 3' 4'*

Evocativity 1. 36.3% 39.1% 39.1% 34.6%

2.

3.

4.

39.7 39.0 39.9 23.6

35.2 35.4 38.0 31.5

32.1 34.0 37.4 33.6

2.

3.

4.

39.1 39.1 38.2 32.8

41.0 35.4 33.1 32.6

36.9 37.5 38.8 27.0

Responsivity 1. 34.5% 35.3% 40.0% 27.7%

* Note: The response (4'/4') has not been included in the total evocativity or responsivity of stress-point 4, since it was not possible in the fixed assonant quatrain forms of the Brentano sample. In alternating rhyme, of course, it tends to be avoided to prevent the impression of false rhyme.

As we have remarked, Tables 2.3 and 2.4 do not contain figure 4/4 in the effects of point {A"), yet it is, in terms of specific (frequency per channel) evocativity and response, the strongest point in the verse. Clearly the prestige of the rhyme gives it this power. All the more interesting is the abysmal failure of this power in 2(4'), at the end of the first couplet. Even 4(4') meets more response over the interstanzaic boundary. One reason for

92

2.6 Frequency ranking of interlinear figures

2(4')'s debility may be to stem a continuous surge into couplet two, but it also reflects concern lest the tension of rhyme expectance - based on the vowel of 2(4') - be too soon aborted by premature recurrence. Other behaviors also discourage the intrusion of 2 (4')'s vowel before its destined resolution in 4(4'). Within line four, for example, coupling with 4(4') is only moderately strong (see Table 1.2), and the reaction of 4 (4') to line three (Table 2.4) is dull by formal necessity, since 2 (4') broadcasts its sound but weakly to line three. Hence, the vowel resolution in the stanza's final (rhyme) word rings with a less dissipated strength than any other accord. This comes out clearly when we sum percentages in tables 2.4 and 1.2, obtaining a minimum 52.2% for 4(4') as against a maximum 66% in 1 (3') and 2(1'). The first rhyme resolution, at 3(4'), reaches 55.2%. Yet the weakly evocative point 2 (4') is at the same time the most strongly responsive when we sum specific responsivities in Tables 2.4 and 1.2. The next most productive point of both inter- and intralinear echoes is 3 (4'), but this is due to mirroring in line two of the very resonant 1(4'); point 3(1'), however, is not thus mechanically reinforced and is next most responsive. These relationships define the dominant melodic features of the stanza as a whole, which are, in summary, that 2 (4') tends to harmonically resolve a vowel of the tonic first verse - thereby exhausting the rhythmic momentum of couplet one - and that couplet two then readily blends the voice of 3 ( 1 t o a preceding tone, but in the mode of subordinate rebeginning (first dipodes parallel) and not of progradient continuation. These devices of transition form, needless to say, an instrumental accompaniment to corresponding syntactical features in the stanza. Finally, the culminating tone of the stanza - 4 (4') - is the one least dulled by pre- emptive early appearance between itself and its inciting tonic tone in 2(4').

2.6.4 A model of favored assonant channels A graphic display of the favored melodic strands can neatly illustrate the shuttling echo between stress points of a cross-rhymed stanza. Schematic stanza I. (p. 93) sketches the sixteen numerically most frequent stress-point linkages, stanza II. the next-ranking thirteen, thus comprising all channels above the mean occurrence (9.4%). Note the paucity of free links (not compelled by rhyme) across the couplet boundary. We see clearly illustrated the failure of parallels to rise above median frequency, save between lines two and three. The dominance of progradience over retardation represents the desire for repetition sooner rather than later, to hasten the pace; that retardation shows the strong ties it does is interesting. Comparison of these diagrams with similar ones for poets and specific works may help to pictorialize those peculiarities of rhythmic movement

Interlinear Echoes

Stress:

1'

Stanza I.

Stanza II.

2'

2'

3'

3'

93

4'

Line: 1

2

^^ P N \

^A

3

4

>/ 10.5-10.9% 11.1-11.8% 12.2-1Z8%

9.4 - 9.6% 9.7 -10.3%

Automatic strong ties due to rhyme compulsion

we sense as the poets' characteristic gestures. In the following diagrams only the top-ranking responses are charted (ranging from 9 to 11 in number) for the four poets included in Table 2.6. Brentono (9)

Goethe (11)

Eichendorff (10)

>

Heym (9)

ix

Brentano's favored lines of echo tend more to conjoin the two couplets than to provide an inner dynamic for either one. Since his assonant ABAB quatrains are for long stretches tuned to the same two vowels, they incline to dissociate into a chain of couplets rather than stanzas, and the linkage between couplets and between stanzas is increased to offset this effect. With Heym, too, who is writing often in a double-quatrain, eight-line stanza, sequent stanzas are bonded with assonance. Quite to the contrary, Goethe stresses the couplets' inner rapport and, with the exception of secondary echoes due to rhyme - 2(1/4), 2(3/4) - forms these members independently of one another. Eichendorff plays a bit more on the internal, non-rhyme vowels than the others do, but he loses the tune in the second couplet. Characteristic in Heym is the strength of 1&2(1/1), a point to be discussed with Table 2.6.

94

2.6 Frequency ranking of interlinear figures

As an heuristic artifice we might conceive the notion of an ideal melodic flow - a chart of the transpositions of the first line's tonic vowels as they follow the channels of least resistance, i.e. most probable resonance. For this construction we maximize in each case the sum of the total frequency of occurrences (as registered in Table 2.2) for the various combinations of four compatible ties between successive lines; that is, the four links chosen between verses have the greatest total frequency of any possible combination of one-to-one linkages between these given lines. What emerges is the following symmetrical pattern, whose implications illuminate other, independent insights:

By inversion, repetition and re-inversion, the lines of tonal transmission lead potentially to a parallel of verses one and four, and of two and three. Other distributions in the study of quantitative and qualitative vowel patterns suggest just such an immanent rhythmic structure of enclosure for the tetrameter quatrain, although, of course, an alternating structure of parallel verses one and three, and two and four, may also be realized. The repetition in line four of features stated in line one, especially when repeated at the beginning of line four, is a trick of introducing the stanzaic cadence. Of this all-important rhythmic moment, Katherine M. Wilson has noted: The principle aids to cadence outside the sense are repetition and contrast. The poet has this option: where the poem runs in a pattern, a sudden contrast will determine or ease the close; where it progresses by contrasts, a return to the opening will help the feeling of finality.25 2.6.5 Structure of ranking of individual poets The structure of frequency ranking offers a tool for the exact stylistic characterization of a poet's personal sense of rhythm, that to a degree physiologically inborn but then with time progressively stylized Sprachmelodie which was divined by different portents by Eduard Sievers. It will be most usefully appraised when it can be compared with the poet's other phonological idiosyncrasies and his typical syntactic and semantic colloca-

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95

tions within the stanza frame. The table below contains frequency hierarchies for the poets studied: Table 2.5 Frequency Ranking of Responses by Poet Brentano 10.8% 10.3 10.2 10.2 10.0 9.9 9.4 9.4 9.4 8.9 8.4 7.9 7.6 7.4 6.7

Goethe 3/4 2/4 4/2 4/3 1/4 4/1 2/1 2/2 2/3 3/1 3/3 1/1 1/3 1/2 3/2

1.36 echoes per line

11.9% 11.9 11.4

11.0 10.8 10.4 9.8 9.6 9.4 9.4 9.4 8.7 8.3 8.3 8.1

3/1 4/1 2/4 4/3 2/2 4/2 3/2 1/2 1/4 3/3 3/4 2/3 1/3 2/1 1/1

1.50 echoes per line

Eichendorff

Heym

11.0% 10.6 10.4 10.2 10.0 9.5 9.1 9.1 9.1 8.9 8.9 8.7 8.5 8.1 8.1

12.6% 12.2 11.8 11.8 10.8 10.6 9.8 9.2 9.2 9.0 9.0 8.8 8.6 8.6 8.2

3/2 1/4 4/1 3/1 2/3 4/2 1/3 2/4 3/3 1/2 2/2 3/4 4/3 1/1 2/1

1.40 echoes per line

3/4 1/1 4/2 4/3 3/1 1/3 4/1 3/2 2/4 2/1 2/3 3/3 1/4 2/2 1/2

1.52 echoes per line

Strangely enough, Brentano's verse, based on an assonant scheme, contains the least total vowel echo, and all the top six figures are tied to point (4'). No other poet has more than three bonds with (4') in the top six. Brentano's conscious attunement to the scheme's tonic vowels suppresses all other accords. (3/4), (4/1) (1 /4), (4/1) (2/4), (4/2)

In dem Busen wohnt der Mahner Alter Sünde, und die Rose Sprich, wie soll ich nur begreifen Deiner Künste tiefe List Frische Rosen reicht ein Engel Unserm Herrn in ihrem Schöße

Three of the figures even have a frequency less than that of random matching of stressed vowels in German (7.86%). But even suppressive control testifies to the fact of control. The hierarchy of rhythmic preferences in Brentano is serving his purpose - focus on the schematic position (4'). Note also the low evocativity of positions (1r) and (3'), which in evoking position (as numerator) are almost all at the bottom, save for their channels to (4'). So, much of the harmonizing is performed by dipode ends. Heym tends in the opposite direction; in his low ranking seven channels, eight of the fourteen points involved are dipode ends, the same figure for Brentano being

96

2.6 Frequency ranking of interlinear figures

only three, while in the high ranking seven nine points are dipode beginnings, Brentano having but five. Heym's emphatic reinforcement of dipode beginnings must contribute to his rhythm a component of impetuosity, while Brentano's verse in this respect underlines the more restful moments of rhythmic release at dipode end. In miralinear echoes also (see Table 1.6 and fn. 96 in Chapter 1) Brentano shows relatively more dipode-end linkages ( - x - x) compared with beginning linkages (x - x - ) than does Heym. Chapter 1 found Goethe also oriented toward verse beginning. The same chthonian current visibly surfaces in Table 2.5, as in Goethe's hierarchy the echoes in /1 and ¡2 rise upward. Goethe shows 80.8% total responses in first dipode as compared with: Heym - 79.0%, Eichendorff - 75.1%, Brentano - 69.8%. Furthermore, Goethe encourages rapid vowel return and relatively discourages postponement, as we see in the ratios of the percentage frequencies of total progradient to total retarding figures: Goethe Heym

1.11 1.07

Eichendorff Brentano

1.02 1.00

The first dipode becomes for Goethe the main locus of melodic fulfillment; ratios for response in first dipode to response in second dipode are: Goethe- 1.17, Eichendorff-1.16, H e y m - 1.08, Brentano- 1.05. My own subjective judgement would be that these dispositions support the quality of rhythmic impudence, the cocky boldness of tone in the poems of the West-Östlicher Divan. The vowels do not hesitate to insist upon themselves and do not seek the restfulness of the verse's end. (a a b c) (2/2), (4/1) (4/1&2) (a a b c)

Dann muß Klang der Gläser tönen Und Rubin des Weins erglänzen: Denn für Liebende, für Trinker Winkt man mit den schönsten Kränzen. ("Elemente," Werke, II, 12.)

All Eichendorff's favored responses, the top eight, are constituted as a formal class by the common trait of obliquely relating the dipodes (first dipode linked to second in following verse, and second to first), while the inferior figures are all dipodic parallels (first to first, second to second). (1 /4), (3/1) (2 / 3), (3 /1) (1/4), (4/1) (2/4), (4/1)

Aus den Fenstern Geigen klingen, Schleift und dreht sich's bunt und laut Läuten kaum die Maienglocken Leise durch den lauen Wind Drauf sie einen Reiter schnelle (a b b c) Senden, der so fröhlich schaut Und den letzten Klang verflogen, Wo im wilden Zug der Wetter

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97

Among the /niralinear echoes Eichendorff also somewhat favored dipodelinking figures; (x - x -), ( — x x), ( - x - x), (x — x) is the order of preference of the top four (see Chapter 1, fn. 96.) A liking for loose and lively harmonies shuns the insistence of intralinear sequence and the rigidity of vertical parallels and near parallels. More than the other poets, Eichendorff exalts the inverse extreme obliques (4/1, 1/4) and banishes to the nether regions penultimate-final accords (4/3, 3/4). We might see this phenomenon as a counter-tendency to EichendorfFs strong dipodism, the tendency of his verses to break rhythmically into halves. Chapter section 8.13.1.2a shows him more likely than either Hölderlin or Goethe to set word-boundary after syllable four, a symptom of the autonomy of the dipode. Oblique assonance is a linking counteractive. Heym's principal idiosyncrasy is the cultivation of (1/1). Although uncommon in other poets (never rising above twelfth rank and more often at the bottom), it is Heym's second highest figure and the most frequent in verses one and two. It is a mode of forceful propagation, in Heym sometimes arising through rhetorical use of anaphora. In point of intralinear repetitions, the most outstanding echo localization in Heym's entire stanza matrix is the linkage configuration: 1 (x x - -). In general, sequences as a group dominate his verse one (which differs in this respect from the other verses), and constitute there the high-point of group domination of a specific line. The other poets studied do not share this taste for immediate sequences. All of these features flow, I think, from an instinct to project an intense, hammering rhythm at the outset of the stanza. The inceptive phase of poetic forms is a position where Expressionist poets typically try to infuse a sense of intensity and irresolution; the conclusion is another vulnerable passage where devices of dissolution are applied.26 The intent is to strike the right mood of exacerbation during those beginning, inchoate moments when the hearer is most keenly aware of form as fitting expression, before it becomes an automated expectance and thus a more purely formal satisfaction independent of its tone. The intent of dissolution at the end is to subvert the calm of formal completion. The symptoms of rhythmic exacerbation cited above belong to the same stylistic syndrome as Heym's diaeretic meter, his rigidifying congruence of verse and sentence and his kinetic images of the world. Another pertinent sign is Heym's high incidence of vowel response, the maximum (1.52 echoes per line) in Table 2.5. The time of poetry, it has been said, is the time of expectation. A student of the psychology of time, P. Fraisse, has concluded that in general we do not experience "time" directly, but only particular rhythms and series of events; so that the feeling for time derives from given rhythms as reference lines and not the converse. What goes on in the rhythms conditions our

98

2.6 Frequency ranking of interlinear figures

current sensations of temporality. 27 Poetry brings images of events in the real world and memories of feelings, and to them applies a "musical" measuring rod (or rods), whence springs the sense of imagined time. Since in a poet like Heym we come to expect more, and more immediate (sequential) repetition of vowel sounds and of rhythmic units rigidly defined, we sense a more present (and inexorable) time, a rhythm of throbbing reverberation. (a a b c), (2/1), (3/4) (2/1) ( a b b c), (2&3/1), (1/3) (3/1&2) (a a be), (1&2/1) ( a b b e ) , (1/2) (a b c c)

Dann begann die große Reise Da wir durch die Himmel zogen, Und der fernsten Sterne Kreise Glänzten an dem dunklen Bogen. Durch die ungebornen Sonnen, Durch der Nebelschwärme Schar, Die noch kaum im Raum geronnen, Reisten wir so manches Jahr.

Oddly enough, this feverish thrill of time impending is not a sensation of freely moving in space but sometimes quite the opposite: a paralysing selfperception. This is more true in Heym's later "visionary" poems in pentameter and hexameter verse. 2.6.6 Rankings by line in poets Table 2.6 (p. 99) gives the population of figures by line for the individual poets. From the row of totals we observe Eichendorff's relatively weak transition by vowel response between successive stanzas; see his column four total compared with others. Eichendorff's stress point 4(4'/x) is the least evocative and his 1 (x/1') the least responsive of all points in the poets surveyed. Linking of verses three and four is likewise muted (column three), while Table 1.5 has already documented that verse figuration in Eichendorff's line three, and most especially line four, diminishes with respect to other poets. The melodic movement of the Eichendorffian stanza is, hence, from a first couplet which is closely integrated and intensified in tonality, to a "free" second couplet, more vagrantly wandering over the scale of timbres, while the next stanza starts on a fresh vocalic theme. Through the rhymescheme the strophic rhythm finally returns home, but the less conventional undercurrent of vocalic song roves toward a Romantic open end ("Fahre zu! Ich mag nicht fragen,/ Wo die Fahrt zu Ende geht!"/ says the poet) and a new beginning. Despite the comparatively weak responses in verse three, however, it is remarkable that Eichendorff's strongest positional preference occurs just there - 3 (4'/1') - a prompt reply that urges the final couplet onward.

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99

Table 2.6 Individual Populations of Interlinear Responses by Stanza Line28 Brentano:

Eichendorff:

Goethe:

Line: Figure:

1.

2.

3.

4.

1.

2.

3.

4.

1.

2.

3.

1/1 1/2 1/3 1/4

6 12 9 19

19 13 14 11 9 17 13 23

10 8 11 6

10 11 14 8

8 13 8 16

12 11 12 12

9 11 6 9

14 14 8 13

16 7 14 16

2/1 2/2 2/3 2/4

14 20 12 21 17 14 16 20

11 9 12 14

12 15 14 13

13 9 6 21

8 13 10 12

11 18 17 12

8 12 11 10

16 13 18 12

3/1 3/2 3/3 3/4

18 11 15 20

11 12 13 18

12 4 10 17

16 11 9 16

12 6 14 19

15 15 11 4

14 15 11 6

4/1 4/2 4/3

9 20 20 12 13 13

8 23 13 17 14 22

19 15 17

12 13 5

17 14 16

9 8 15

Total :

13 14 13 11

211 226 199 194

195 169 197 154

Heym: 4.

1.

2.

3.

4.

0 9 13 9 11 11 8 14

19 22 10 11 17 11 10 15

14 9 15 7

6 11 10 11

6 12 6 16

9 10 14 7

8 8 10 9

10 13 15 15

13 15 14 8

14 9 7 15

8 6 9 8

13 17 9 10

17 13 13 14

13 14 13 9

6 9 9 9

9 13 6 16

18 11 11 14

13 16 11 15

14 6 16 18

15 16 14

9 21 8 14 10 12

5 8 5

18 12 17

7 16 12

15 12 12

9 19 18

202 177 168 129

200 198 184 169

Another example of an egregious structural regularity that challenges interpretation is the behavior of this same figure 4/1 in Brentano, where it is alternately drawn to verses two and four, against the firm musical judgement of the other poets. One factor that would have to be checked in such a case is the interaction of syntax and stanza form, e.g. the relative weight of the circumstance that two of the three Romanzen cantos analyzed use assonant rhyme on [a] in lines two and four, while at the same time functional words such as aber and da may introduce clauses that begin in lines one and three. This would contribute - how much would have to be determined - to the effect observed, i.e. 2&4(4/l), as well as to the less pronounced distribution of 1 /4. But the purely rhythmic point of view offers a plausible explanation, and one could even argue that rhythmic design is really a partial cause behind the frequent choice of aber and da where they are. That would be provenly the case, if they appeared less often in cantos without [a] assonance. If we compare Cantos I and III, both of which have [a] assonance in lines two and four, with Canto V, with no [a] assonance, the number of occurrences of aber and da at the beginning of lines one and three is larger in the former (.10 instances per stanza vs. .066). On the other hand, Cantos IX and XII show little difference (.08), though the former does not use [a] and the latter does. Naturally, in the course of production of an extensive work, the

100

2.6 Frequency ranking of interlinear figures

poet may feel himself slipping into rhythmic clichés which he subsequently studiously avoids. This will not alter our interpretation of the effect of the rhythmic clichés, wherever they do occur. From this interpretive point of view, Brentano's given form - the assonant alternating quatrain - strengthens the ruling hand of the couplet members in the rhythmic hierarchy. As a counter-measure to their threatening autonomy, the dynamically connective voices 2&4(4/l) appear to override their boundaries and bring movement into the too orderly ranks, just as we saw Eichendorff's isolative dipodic rhythm provoke oblique assonances. (Of three poets checked, Eichendorff had the most frequent word-boundary after syllable four in trochaic tetrameter; see Chapter section 8.13.1.2a.) Another effect of 2&4(4/l) would be the coupletencompassing pauses (1&3(1 /4)), and these might cater to the same taste that chose (see Brentano in Table 1.6) paused echoes in single verses (x - -x), especially in the first and last lines of the stanza. "Nur der Welt gehört dies alles," Spricht Biondetta, "aber folge Jetzt mir auch zum eignen Schatze, Den ich selber mir erworben.

(4/1) (1/4)

(4/1) (1/4) (4/1)

(1/4)

Trete in die enge Kammer, Sieh mein Bett von trocknem Moose, Wo ich mit dem Licht erwache, Mit der Schwalbe Gott zu loben. Vor dem Fenster schwebt ein Garten Auf der alten Mauerkrone, Wo zwei süße Nachtigallen Meine Lieder wiederholen. Aber deine Augen fragen, Was das Tüchlein dort verborgen Über meinem Betstuhl halte: Sieh, das Bildnis einer Nonne.

2.6.7 Evocativity and responsitivity matrices of poets The matrices below bring out the differing degrees of stylistic activity of the stanza points in the poets examined. Brentano, for example, inclines to a tonal impulse given at 2(2') and a response made at 3(1') - check the evocativities and responsivities. But these are reactions which Goethe especially tends to avoid. Heym listens far more closely to the vowel in 1&2(1') than does Brentano, Goethe more to 3(2') than any of the others. These comparisons may sharpen our ears for what is "characteristic" sounding in well known verses of a poet. In Goethe's first stanza of "Selige

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101

Sehnsucht" a number of the accords are more typical of the author than of the other writers we have looked at: 1 (4/1&3) 2 (2/2) 3(1 /1&2)

Sagt es niemand, nur den Weisen, Weil die Menge gleich verhöhnet, Das Lebend'ge will ich preisen, Das nach Flammentod sich sehnet.

Figure 1 (4/1&3) testifies to the evocativity of 1 (4') in Goethe, and indeed this matrix point in Goethe is louder than any other fourth stress in any other poet, save 4(4') in Brentano. The other positional figures do not stand out in Table 2.6, but the responsivities of 4(1'& 2'), which answer a call in the above stanza, are generally higher in Goethe than elsewhere. Only Heym is more responsive at 4 (1'), and Goethe's 4 (2') is 5. 5% greater than the nearest competitor (Table 2.7 b below). So a number of characteristic Goethean strings have been plucked. The case is similar in the last two verses of the poem's second stanza: 3 (2&3/1&3) Überfällt dich fremde Fühlung, Wenn die stille Kerze leuchtet.

(abbe) (abac)

The word fällt must be seen as the tonic tone to which the other [s]'s respond, and the evocativity of this matrix point in Goethe (45.7%) is 10.3 percentage points higher, approaching one third, than in runner-up Heym (35.4%). Such harmonies supply the personal timbre to a poet's song, but do not imply per se ineffable "beauties." To distinguish these, whose existence I do not doubt, we must learn more about the proportionate measures of tension against and conformity with inherent rhythmic principles that go to the concoction of a really magic potion. Table 2.7 a Individual Percentage Frequency Evocativity: Line: Stress I'/ 2'l 3'/ 4'/

Matrices

Brentano

1. 30.1 38.6 41.8 27.5 +

Goethe 2. 35.9 49.0 33.3 29.4 +

3. 41.8 30.0 35.3 22.9 +

4. 23.2 36.0 28.7 41.3 +

Eichendorff Line: Stress 1'/ 27

37 47

1. 38.6 46.4 38.6 35.4 +

2. 41.7 31.5 44.9 21.2 +

1. 33.8 38.6 40.9 40.2 +

2. 35.4 33.8 40.2 23.6 +

3. 37.0 45.7 35.4 37.0 +

4. 35.0 41.0 46.0 32.0 +

2. 46.5 39.4 42.5 27.6 +

3. 35.4 35.4 43.3 30.7 +

4. 31.9 26.1 45.4 38.7 +

Heym 3. 25.2 31.5 38.6 37.0 +

4. 42.6 34.7 32.7 17.8 +

1. 44.1 41.7 34.6 37.0 +

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2.7 Formal interrelationships of figures within the stanzaic structure

Compare Brentano's 4(4') = 41.3 + % with Eichendorff's = 17.8 + %. The latter has a less than random (23.6%) probability of picking up the last stressed vowel in a stanza for use in the next one. Yet he is the most likely to repeat the first vowel of line four in the next: 4 (1') = 42.6%, while Brentano here drops to almost half this value. The most radiant point of all is Brentano's 2(2') = 49%, the mutest Heym's 3(1') = 25.2%. All points 4' are marked with + to indicate that if 4'/4' echoes were added the value would increase. Table 2.7b Individual Percentage Frequency Matrices Goethe

Responsivity : Brentano Line: Stress / l ' 12' /y 14'

1. 38.0 29.3 38.0 24.0 +

2. 30.7 35.9 35.3 35.9 +

3. 47.1 39.9 32.0 29.3 +

4. 28.1 29.4 36.6 35.9 +

3. 37.8 31.5 33.8 30.0 +

4. 33.8 40.2 39.4 18.9 +

Eichendorff Line: Stress /V ¡2' 1y ¡4'

1. 27.2 33.7 34.7 31.7 +

2. 45.7 47.2 38.6 27.6 +

1. 40.0 46.0 43.0 25.0 +

2. 45.7 30.0 30.0 35.4 +

3. 31.5 35.4 29.1 37.0 +

4. 43.3 45.7 44.1 22.0 +

2. 44.1 37.8 43.3 32.3 +

3. 47.2 41.7 37.8 29.1 +

4. 44.1 30.0 35.4 29.1 +

Heym

1. 31.1 35.3 44.5 31.1 +

Goethe displays the most responsive first and fourth verses; Eichendorff leads in the second, and Heym in the third. The maximum value is 47.2% (Eich. at 2(2') and 3(1') in Heym), the minimum is 27.2% (Point l ( l ' ) in Eichendorff.) The fact that the difference is not quite as great as in the evocativity table might suggest that evoking is the active process and responding a passive one, but total Tables 2.3 and 2.4 don't make this distinction, nor do the poets separately, although Heym and Brentano do. I think the distinction is illusory, since response must be considered an active behavior, especially where it is positionalized.

2.7 Formal interrelationships

of figures within the stanzaic

structure

Just as vowel figures in the single verses may occasion secondary configurational relationships between lines of the stanza (parallelism, inversion, etc.), so the oblique and vertical echoes likewise can contract purely formal ties with one another and with the rhythmic phases of the strophe. Indeed, within the perspective now acquired, we recognize that many assonant figures which have particularly fascinated investigators - multiple

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103

metric parallels, alternations and chiasmus involving two lines - are of this very double-response type and owe their effect to the rhythmic resultant of the two. Examples drawn from Bate earlier (p. 77) could serve as English illustrations for this interrelationship of responses as can the German examples in Chapter section 2.6.5. Formal relationships between vowel response and the given stanzaic frame will be created by similar oblique or parallel echoes, when they stand in corresponding rhythmic members: 1 (3/3) 3 (3/3)

Mächtig durch die Liebe winden Von der Fessel wir uns los, Und die trunknen Geister schwinden Zu den Sternen frei und groß! - Hölderlin, Hymne an die Liebe

The parallel of parallels - 1 , 2 + 3,4 (3/3) 29 - links the couplets not by the substance of sounds but by a formal repetition, creating a musical unity that underscores its own two-part nature, in contrast to the interwoven alternating rhymes and, incidentally, to the (not italicized) alternating echoes across the second stresses: 1, 3 4- 2, 4 (2/2). (In this formula it is necessary to denote the two lines of which each figure is comprised.) This particular strophe is threaded by three vertical configurations, two alternating and one bisectioning, and we would certainly underestimate the mind's power of formal discernment if we adjudge only the rhyme pattern effective. A yet more complicated, pervasive vertical patterning of vowel lengths will be discovered in Chapter section 7.11 and its greater than random frequency verified statistically. But given the structural consciousness we have found to underlie interlinear assonance, it is not an aberrant hypothesis that the mind marks positions in the verse frame and their tonal contents, compares them, perceives their relations and registers complex harmonies. Simpler strophic structuring is probably not infrequent. A recurrence of retardations sets off the couplets below: 1 (1/2), (2/1) Niemals konnte so mich rühren 2, 4 (3/3) Noch der Liebsten Angesicht, 3(1 /2) Wenn uns Augen süß verführen, (a b c c) Und die Welt voll Glanz und Licht. - Eichendorff, Zeitlieder The strophic response formula for the parallel retardations is: 1+3(1/2). The aesthetic potency of this sort of relationship of relations is that of symmetry, a force whose constructive working in poetic language is statistically established in Chapter section 8.5.5. Here we experience a symmetrical recurrence of like dynamic impulses in the two halves of a strophe. This is the same kind of secondary, purely formal bond (between like forms

104

2.7 Formal interrelationships of figures within the stanzaic structure

of repetition and not like sounds) that is created by the disposition of intralinear figures such as Brentano's consecutive pauses, which we met with in the Introduction: Singt ein Lied so süß geh'nde, Wie die Quellen auf den K/eseln Configuration formula = 1 + 2 (a b c a) In Eichendorff's stanza above, although the interval spanned is the same for both, the relation of assonant [a] in 2,4(3/3) is generically different from the sequential retardations (1/2), being simply a primary parallel echo of like sounds across an intervening line - a type of distant but direct response for which as yet no adequate data has been compiled. A check of assonant parallels between verses 1,3 and 2,4 for 175 stanzas each of Goethe and Eichendorff, however, exposes a less than random (7.86%) frequency, manifesting an active suppression of such links, which we also found of lower rank in successive lines. From the poet's point of view they may sound too rigid and pre-emptive of the rhyme scheme: see the Holderlin stanza on p. 103, "rhyming" on (2'). Goethe Stress: V 1.3 7.43% 2.4 6.29%

2' 4.86 3.43

3' 3.43 3.43

Eichendorff 1' 2' 4.86% 5.14 5.14% 5.14

3' 5.71 3.71

The higher values for (1') in Goethe are due to more extensive use of syntactical anaphora. This avoidance of phonological equivalence in couplet-parallel position is a positive finding, both for the audibility of the recurrence and for its dispreference, at least in these two poets. Finally, Eichendorff has also created in his "Niemals . . . " strophe a metrically regularized chiasmus - 1 (1/2 + 2/7) - whose rhythmic effect will derive from: a. an interrelationship of two responses (successive moments of progradience and retardation, geometrically an "enclosure"), and b. a positional relationship of this configuration to the members of the rhythmic period (first dipodes of first couplet). The total assonant configuration formula for this stanza can be written as a sum whose terms appear in the order in which they are progressively resolved: [1(1/2 + 2/1)] + [1 + 3(1/2)] + [1,3(4/3)] + [2,4(3/3)]. Computer analysis could establish such formulae on a large scale and compare them for co-occurrence of terms and for correlations with metrical and syntactic schemes. 2.7.1 Relations of parallelism The metrically regularized chiasmus just cited (Niemals konnte/Noch der Liebsten) is quite salient, abetted as it is by consonant affinities: [i] + labials

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[m, b], and [D] + nasal and gutterals [n, k, x]. But the general problem of interrelationship and positional correspondence of responses becomes more vexing at a greater distance of echo, and the obvious question as to whether many of them are perceived at all as relations and, if so, what the consequences are for the rhythmic dynamism of the stanza period, will have to await statistical solution. Theoretically, though, there should be no difficulty. Otto Ortmann reports that, with tones appearing in series at the rate of one a second, "inferior" pupils will forget a given tone within seven seconds, while superior ones will recognize it after 21 seconds or more. Probably poets themselves differ in this respect, which would account for the range of frequencies of echo. But even a memory span of seven seconds would permit recognition of echo between the first and last quatrain line, since a tetrameter quatrain lasts about eight seconds in the reading. 30 A closer look at some concrete instances will make this project seem less formidable. If we admit consonant echoes to our deliberations we find another rhythmically based relationship of relations in the Eichendorff quatrain: 1,3 (s3/3 + w/ir4/4). Both the metrically parallel s and the rhyme syllables iihr are simple distant accords like 2,4(3/3), but in conjunction they enter a secondary relationship. Traditionally this would be thought of in more geometrical terms as an alternation of elements occurring in the flow of time. But I think it is better described here as a series of parallels, since the matching pairs are on corresponding metric points and the interval between the two sounds in their original statement and in later recurrence is less than the interval between statement group and recurrence group. An interesting aesthetic query is whether we hear two simple and separate responses of metrically parallel sounds, or some additional rhythmic synthesis arising from the creation of a series of such parallels, an effect perhaps of emphatic repetition, even rigidly so. The question applies both in successive verses (as in Bate's example, p. 77) and at a distance, as in this stanza from Brentano: Wandelt ernsthaft durch die Türe, In der Rechten einen Spaten, Und sie wagt nicht ihn zu grüßen, y41so hell und finster war er. The total vowel configuration formula would be long, comprehending echoes in all but two metric points, and many bonds of [a] and [e]. Resounding through this counterpoint, however, the serial parallel 1 , 4 ( 1 / 1 + 2 / 2 ) composes a formal melodic structure of enclosure embracing the strophe and underscoring the most inherent rhythmic gesture of the quatrain form - recurrence in the fourth verse of features in the first. To be sure, a sense of structural enclosure will be gotten even from the single response

106

2.7 Formal interrelationships of figures within the stanzaic structure

1,4(1/1), which spans decisive points. But the arrival of the second parallel, by its relationship of sequence to the first, seems to express intention and unmoving presence. Though melodically rigid, the device is not without seemliness for the dramatic episode in the stanza. An invented substitution will help us to probe the rhythmic action by experiment. We observe that the verse-figure parallel 1,4 (a a b c) could likewise bring to pass a feeling of formal enclosure and, at the same time, infuse initial intensity in the lines involved, if we wrote or Brentano had written: Wandelt langsam durch die Türe, In der Rechten einen Spaten, Und sie wagt nicht ihn zu grüßen, Denn so hell und finster war er. By comparison this version has, in addition to the features posited, the virtue of melodic novelty, through the gross timbre shift from [a] to [E], so that, while enclosure and intensity are preserved, an enlivening moment of change is also possible. Fischli cites another interesting positional correspondence of echoes in an iambic trimeter stanza of Mörike: Die Sonne kommt, sie scheucht Den Traum hinweg im Nu, Und von den Bergen streicht Ein Schai/er auf mich zu. (In Fischli, op.cit., p.44) Fischli himself italicizes the vowels here marked, the formal correlation: 1,3 + 2,4(1/1). An obvious, metrically regulated alternation of elements takes place, a sort of assonant initial rhyme scheme. Viewing only the vowels marked, this scheme in Mörike might seem to show off almost too importunately the alternating progress of the period, one staged by means of parallel couplets. What is missed by Fischli's marking are the primary responses and formal correlations which superimpose a tension of enclosure on the strophe and thus partially thwart the threat of rigid alternation. These features are the stanza's inner echo 2(2/2) and the outer formal parallel l,4(a a b). With them, all stressed vowels in the stanza have been caught up in symmetrical forms, a perfection - should we think of it as that - which is less likely in the longer tetrameter verse. Yet a very close approach to such a permelodic tetrameter strophe with enclosing pattern of first dipodes [1,4(1/1 + 2/2)] + [2,3 (a a b c)] and an alternating pattern of second dipodes [1,3 + 2,4(3/3)] + [A B A B rhyme] is found in Stefan George's Das Jahr der Seele:

Interlinear Echoes i:

au

Ich weiß du trittst zu mir ins haus

e: e:

ai

0:

Wie jemand der an leid gewöhnt

o: o:

i:

au

Nicht froh ist wo zu spiel und schmaus

ai

OY 0 :

ai

rL

107

I

i

Die saite zwischen säulen dröhnt.

Off-rhyming of [OY] with [ai] - here in 4(3') - is not uncommon in the German lyric. Notice also the alternation of vowels in the initial theses of the verses: (l x ) = (i/i/i/i). 2.7.2 Relations of chiasmus Compared with serial parallels or alternations, the figure of chiasmus performs a more graceful rhythmic turn, the nature of whose special charm however, to my knowledge, has not been phenomenologically scrutinized. The notion of a native rhythmic dynamism in various positional vowel responses goes farther to explain the power of chiasmus than does the statically conceived geometry of "crossing." The gesticulation of chiasmus is most easily followed in a simple verse-figure like ( a b b a ) as in: "Wo die Brut des Fluches wohnt," which co-ordinates a moment of inner thrusting (mediate sequence) with a longer arc of paused completion, an agreeable rise and fall of echo prominence. Heard as a sequence of sounds, two separate tones are posited and then an immediate spontaneous resonance of the second is enriched by a more reflective resolution of the first. The latter, upon completion, is recognized as having been prior and dominant, so that the configuration enjoys a moment of intensity but ultimately subordinates it to the completion of form. The metrical urge is quietly countervailed by a reaching back to the origin; the instincts of impulse and restraint are reconciled. If the figure of chiasmus is not completed within the single verse, the matter of placement becomes decisive. Enclosure results if the theme (a b - - ) is stated at the outset of one rhythmic member and inverted at the closing of a coordinate one, although distance may attenuate its strength. With the statement final in one member and the inversion initial in another, the more immediate progradience of ( - b/b - ) can overpower the resolution of (a - / - a ) . An effective location is on parallel stresses, where the acceleration due to oblique response of (b/b) and the retardation of response (a/a) are more or less in equipoise, and thus the independent forces of interlinear response-dynamics bolster the innate action of chiasmus as interpreted above. This seems, as an impression only, to be a common site. Bate's bloodhound, aroused earlier in this chapter (p. 77), was itself of this species. Fischli gives as an example of parallel crossed assonance the lines from Morike :31

108

2.7 Formal interrelationships of figures within the stanzaic structure

Hat keiner acht mehr auf das Schiff; Das kracht mit eins am Felsenriff. (Fischli, p. 15.) Parallel chiasmus may also be medial or final: In der Hand der Venus sterben, Die jetzt stehn im Garten Gottes (Brentano, p. 238.) Ihren Korb nimmt Rosablanka; Wie von Lieber Hand gezogen (Brentano, p. 39.) Reckoned from the individual response frequencies of (4/3) and (3/4), the final placement should be the most common by a good deal. Its firm resolution on the verse's end would appear to be most rhythmically fitting. A more subtle type of chiasmus energizes the interior sound with the new impulse released at a rhythmic juncture (b/b = 4/1), but avoids the potential neutralization of the pausing elements (a — a) - neutralized, that is, through the accelerating position (a/a) = (3/2) - by delaying the arrival of the final " a " until stress three or four. The echo of " a " can thus return without unbecoming haste, as the meet and due resolution of the figure: Wo die wilden Quellen zielen Nieder von dem Felsenrand (Brentano, p. 74.) Wahrlich, sie ist deine Schwester, Denn die schöne weiße Rose (Brentano, p. 242.) Als sie diesen Frevel singet, Springt sein Blut ihr neu entgegen (Brentano, p. 229.) Recht in Schmerzen sollt' ich wurzeln, t/m im Lichte aufzusprossen. (Brentano, p. 100.) Statistics comprising all possible chiasmic combinations should be most interesting. Correlation frequencies need not necessarily be a function of frequencies of the responses involved; in the study of quantitative figures we will find correlation probabilities far higher than the product of their individual figure probabilities.

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109

2.7.3 Relations of augmentation and diminution Another genre of correlation requires two different primary echoes or responses between two sets of the same sound, and a logical relation between the two, i.e. "relative difference of recurrence interval." This constitutes the clearest form of the figures of diminution or augmentation, which Masson terms the tightening or loosening of sequence. Actually, though, they will not so distinctly be felt as such, since diminution and augmentation take place whenever any two echoes stand in proximity and differ in their interval of recurrence. The rhythmic effects of this figure must be calculated individually. In Brentano's Wiegenlied 2. (p. 16), the diminishing interval heard in the contrast of 2(1' Wie + 4' Kieseln) with 3(1' Wie + 2'Bienen) is a salient effect because the two echoes are of the same sound but with a large change in the time-lag and an immediate possibility of comparison. A sequence of verse figures such as: Wie die Quellen auf den K/eseln, Oder Wogen auf dem Strande

(a b c a) (a a b c)

could not be felt so strongly as a figure of diminution, although formally it may be considered one. It is, instead, perceived as a paused melodic resolution followed by a strongly initiatory hammer sequence. This characteristic shift of dynamism is present in Brentano's original also. But there it is not perceived extensively, as a sequential replacement of groups, but rather more intensively, as a change of the law controlling the members of a given group - that is, the feeling of rearrangement outweighs that of straight replacement. In general, the effect of diminution and augmentation will depend on position of the elements and will combine direct rhythmic dynamism with (dimly conscious) logical apperception. The terms themselves, along with "loosening" and "tightening," "chiasmus," "parallel" and "oblique," are inspired by a geometrical orientation which should not be confused with rhythmic phenomenology. In these specimens of augmentation: Und mit diesem Lied und Wendung Sind wir wieder bei Hafi'sen - Goethe, Werke, II, 15. Überfällt dich fremde Fühlung, Wenn die stille Kerze leuchtet - Goethe, Werke, II, 18. a feeling of change from the inner intensity of medial sequence to a form of alternate-stress balance is the experienced rhythmic correlative of the linear augmentation; however, the differentiating dynamic responses of

110

restrictive parallels (2/2&3/3), of resolution (3/4) on the one hand, and progradience (2/1) on the other, are unavoidably at work. To simply confirm a figure of augmentation is not sufficient to distinguish the effects. 2.7.4 Structural notation of echo forms in stanzaic framework Having analyzed echo configurations in single verses and responses between separate lines, we are at least in a position to identify all the significant relations, all the potential rhythmic reactions, engaged in by any correlation of two echo-sets in a stanzaic period. Weighing their real aesthetic effectiveness is a different and more difficult matter, to be decided empirically, in part by the statistics of positional frequency. To facilitate this process a notation must be found that is convenient to manipulate. Of course, the general case is not so simple, but the easier instance of two responses between successive lines can be formulated in a way that makes the rhythmic factors immediately and separately visible. The rhythmically significant factors in this case are exclusively the following: a. Metrical position of first stated sound (to be interpreted, of course - as with all the stress points involved - by reference to verse and dipode, couplet and stanza boundaries). b. Metrical interval thence to second stated sound. c. Order of recurrence of stated elements: 1. as given (alternation). 2. inverted (chiasmus). d. Metrical gradient of first response set: 1. progradient. 2. parallel. 3. retarding. e. Metrical gradient of second response set: 1., 2. or 3. as above. f. Ratio of metrical interval between the two stated and the two recurrent elements. (This is already formally determined by the previous factors.) To make these factors more visible, we can give the configuration normally written, say, as (3/4 + 4//) — see the samples of chiasmus cited 3+4 last above - in the form: j-y. In this expression the difference of the numbers in the "numerator" gives factor b. above, while c. is indicated by the increasing (alternation) or decreasing (chiasmus) magnitude of the two numbers as read across the "denominator." Factors d. and e. are easily seen by reading top to bottom on left and right (a "fraction" < 1 = retardation ; > 1 = acceleration; equal to 1 = parallelism), and / . emerges from the fraction formed by the absolute difference of numbers in the

Interlinear Echoes

111

numerator over that in the denominator (1 = scheduled recurrence; < 1 = augmentation; > 1 = diminution). Another notation would designate the relational configuration of two responses as: (A, a + B, b) where A is the stress number of the first tonic vowel, a the stress number of its response in the following line, and B and b the respective numbers for the second response pair. The numerical sign of various arithmetical differences of the four elements will automatically indicate dynamic characteristics of the rhythmic figure and could be used as easy differentiae for studying frequency distributions and the correlation of rhythmic elements. Thus, if (B - A - 2) is negative ("-") the two tonic notes are in immediately sequential stresses in the first line, if null ("0") they are in alternate stresses, if positive (" + ") they are in paused position. The expression: (a - b) indicates existence of a configuration of chiasmus if " + " and alternation if " - " . For the two individual echo responses the expressions (A - a) and (B - b) will give the "obliquity," being parallel if "0", retarded if " - " and accelerated if " + ". Diminution or augmentation of the recurrence interval would be shown by | B - A | - |b - a |, where "0" shows no change,"-" shows augmentation and " + " diminution. For the configuration treated above (3/4 + 4/1), (B - A - 2) = - 1 , thus the tonic notes are in sequence; (a - b) = + 3, thus chiasmus; (A - a) = - 1 , first response retarded; (B - b) = + 3 , second response accelerated; | B - A | - | b - a | = - 2 , thus augmentation of response interval. A schematic formula for the five factors would then b e : ( - ; + ; - ; + ; -). Such formulae could form the classes for frequency computation. Eventually, some such notation, susceptible to ordering and study from various viewpoints, will simplify statistical bookkeeping and the attendant search for hidden rhythmic and melodic predilections.

Notes 1 See Lanz, p. 131, 2 Clemens Brentano, Romanzen vom Rosenkranz, I, Stanza 1. This is one of the virtuoso performances with terminal assonance in German poetry. Rückert, Platen and Heine have used the form. 3 "Lyrical Instrumentation in Marlowe," p. 81. 4 Lanz, pp. 75-77. 5 Ibid., pp. 87-95. 6 Op.cit., p. 254: " . . . une sorte de mélodie, composée d'échos imprévus, voix inattendues qui de vers en vers s'appellent et se répondent." 7 "Lyrical Instrumentation in Marlowe," p. 79-80. 8 "Surrey's Technique of Phonetic Echoes," p. 290. 9 Ibid., p. 302. 10 Bate, p. 65. 11 Langage et Versification d'après f Oeuvre de Paul Valéry (Paris, 1953), p. 75-6.

112

Chapter 2

12 Ibid., p. 76: "Il est difficile de dire dans quelle mesure des schèmes aussi complexes et aussi purs sont recherchés, en tout cas ils n'ont pu passer inaperçus et seraient-ils nés de la fréquence même de telles rimes, ils attestent assez qu'on se trouve en présence d'un procédé conscient et généralise." 13 All following examples of parallel and oblique assonance, with the exception of (4'/4'), are taken from Brentano's Romanzen vom Rosenkranz. (4'/4') is from Goethe's "Paria: Legende." 14 Fischli mentions a propensity of Mörike for (4'/3') in pair-rhyming tetrameter verses, an echo which, together with the vowels in the rhyme stresses, produces the correlation (4'/3' + 4'/4'); op.cit., p. 21. Preference for (3'/4' + 4'/3') seems suggested by our own tables. 15 "Phonological Investigations, " p. 124. 16 Op. cit., p. 45 : "klingt dem Ohr gewiß angenehmer als bei genauer metrischer Korrespondenz der assonierenden Icten." 17 "Phonological Investigations," p. 62. 18 With regard to the term "progradient" (pro + gradi, to step or go forward), it has been suggested in part by the German progredient, indicating the intonational morpheme of level stress. Von Essen interprets the word as meaning "motioning onward" (weiterweisend; Allgemeine und angewandte Phonetik, p. 173. I do not mean to imply with the English cognate anything about pitch juncture). 19 Lanz, p. 173. 20 The symbol & will be used to simplify listing of configurations that include a common element. Thus 1&3 (l'/3'&2'/3') = 1 (l'/3'), 3 (173'), 1 (273') and 3 (273'). Whenever complex or repeated configurations are to be designated, including several responses in conjunction, the symbol + will be used. Thus 1 + 3 (l' + 2'/3') would mean that in line one of a stanza the stresses one and two contain the same vowel, which is echoed in stress three of the following line (two), while in line three (and four) of the same stanza the whole configuration is repeated. If the vowel in the repetition differs from the original keynote, the cipher for line three can be set in italics, viz.: 1 + 5 ( 1 ' + 2'/3'). 21 The percentage frequency rankings here are derived from tables showing the population by line of the individual echo figures. These latter may be of interest in themselves, to indicate by quick comparison how specific figures vary in popularity from line to line in the stanza period, here in lines 1, 2, 3, 4 of the quatrain: Fig

22 23 24 25

26

Pop by Line Fig Pop by Line Fig Pop by Line Fig Pop by Line 49 65 39 34 2/1 43 47 45 36 3/1 56 60 52 46 4/1 61 47 61 46 1/1 47 45 44 39 2/2 47 61 46 41 1/2 52 44 57 34 4/2 63 39 53 52 3/2 56 44 50 44 3/3 39 51 48 46 4/3 61 40 54 60 2/3 1/3 48 42 55 38 1/4 50 60 50 40 2/4 3/4 62 58 46 50 63 56 48 40 4/4 was not possible in Brentano and thus was not summed here. Where no confusion is possible, we will drop for the time being the apparatus of parenthesis and accent in our notation. Chisholm, "Phonological Patterning," p. 13. Lanz, pp. 49-50. Sound and Meaning in English Poetry (London, 1930), p. 139. In musical melody a return to the opening note may occur on the last tone. From the chart above we must empirically conclude that in a poetic period the corresponding point of return to the tone of 1 (1') is not 4 (4') but 4 (1 '), which thus becomes the decisive point for the stanzaic cadence. Chapter section 6.6.3 discusses the cadential signal given by a long vowel quantity at this point. Chapter section 7.11 shows how 4(1') can function as a point of return for 1 (1') within the frame of the ditone flight, while 4(4') may reflect 1 (4'). See Newton, Form in the "Menschheitsdammerung" (The Hague, 1971), p. 242.

Interlinear Echoes

113

27 See C.J. Whitrow, The Natural Philosophy of Time (New York, 1961), pp. 81-2. 28 For lines 1,2 and 3 of Goethe, Eichendorffand Heym the percentage frequency equivalents of populations are as follows: 4 = 3.1% 8 = 6.3% 1 2 = 9.4% 16 = 12.6% 20 = 15.7% 5 = 3.9 9 = 7.1 17 = 13.4 21 = 16.5 13 = 10.2 6 = 4.7 10 = 7.9 14 = 11.0 18 = 14.2 7 = 5.5 11 = 8.7 19 = 15.0 15 = 11.8 For lines 1, 2 and 3 of Brentano the percentage frequencies are: 4 = 2.6% 8 = 5.2% 20 = 13.1% 12 = 7.8% 16 = 10.5% 21 = 13.7 5 = 3.3 9 = 5.9 13 = 8.5 17 = 11.1 6 = 3.9 14 = 9.2 18 = 11.8 10 = 6.5 11 = 7.2 19 = 12.4 7 = 4.6 15 = 9.8 29 The sign + indicates that the figure formulated in the following parentheses occurs in or is based on both verse lines joined by the + sign, assuming a strophic form. The comma separates the verses which are involved in a configuration. Where the verses are sequential it is not necessary by our basic notation; we could just write: 1 +5(3/3). However, when other figures in the same stanza span an interval of several lines, the fuller notation emphasizes the difference. Italicized line numbers signify that the actual vowel implicated in the second occurrence of a repeated figure is of a timbre divergent from the first. 30 Ortmann, p. 21. 31 These lines in "Zauberleuchtturm" were, according to Fischli, revised by Morike from the original version which contained a double rhyme, in our terms a "serial parallel," that without question sounds rhythmically more crude: Hat keiner auf das Schi'ff mehr /icht, Bis es am Felsenriffe krocht.

CHAPTER 3

Patterned Tonality

Our previous discussion has dealt with single or double echoes as elements of the rhythm, arousing vectoral pulses closely keyed to a pervasive positional matrix - the meter and the stanza form. 3.1 Tone and mood in poetry A quite distinct approach to vowel analysis, however, has not cared to dwell on detailed structure but has seized on the relative gross frequency of specific sounds and the expressive or formal results of frequency prominence, regardless of figure or position. In this category belong, of course, traditional efforts to attach expressive meaning to the tonality given a poem or passage by recurrences of a particular vowel, the desire to associate, in linguistic parlance, "phonoaesthetic properties" with judgements about a poem's "affective address." 1 There exists a large and well-known literature on the putative onomatopoeic and symbolic use of sounds,2 along with a widespread readiness on the part of interpreters of poetry to invoke vowel timbres for this purpose. The challenge has been met with varying degrees of seriousness and success. On the purely literary plane, for example, historians and critics at one time had much to say about Rimbaud's famous sonnet on "Voyelles" (1871), which seeks to awaken latent, synaesthetic or lexical associations with the vowel sounds. The sonnet begins: A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu, voyelles, Je dirai quelque jour vos naissances latentes. A, noir corset velu des mouches éclatantes Qui bombillent autour des puanteurs cruelles ,.. .3 Even earlier, Clemens Brentano - in his Romanzen - had developed the conceit of hearing in specific vowels a quality associated with some sonic event in reality :

116

3.1 Tone and mood in poetry

In In In In In

dem dem dem dem dem

A den Schall zu suchen, E der Rede Wonne, I der Stimme Wurzel, O des Tones Odem, U des Mutes Fluchen,..

4

Indeed, the imputation of expressive or aesthetic values to specific vowels is a stylistic commonplace founded in classical antiquity.5 Naturally, modern prosodists and linguists have grasped the problem in a more abstract phonetic manner, and the latter have developed interesting psychological, statistical and comparative tests. A typical practical remark from German critical literature ascribes a tone of "ceremonious seriousness" to the first stanza of Mörike's "Nachtlied", due to the numerous [a]'s in emphatic ictic position. Fischli believes it was in hopes of strengthening this tonic note that Mörike, as the manuscripts show, altered his initial wording from "Bedächtig ..." to "Gelassen stieg die Nacht ans Land." 6 It seems pertinent that a more recent, linguistically technical stylist, Kiril Taranovski, has called /a/ the "optimally compact speech sound" and has discerned in it a quality suggestive of vastness, completeness, greatness, balance, strength and power.7 Wissemann asserts that the medial timbre and tone of /a/ allow it to function as a dark contrast to a bright vowel or a bright to a dark one,8 a fact we might perhaps associate with the impression of "balance", while the feeling of "vastness" and "greatness" may kinaesthetically relate to the maximal lip-opening and buccal cavity size of this vowel. "Completeness" and "strength" could be suggested by compactness. The attribution of "ceremonious seriousness" to a passage dominated by this vowel would, it appears, be compatible with these characterizations although obviously not necessitated by them. The whole problem of the interrelation of specific sounds to the meanings, moods or images with which they co-occur in poetic presentation is a complicated but surely a valid exercise. In spite of relatively limited systematic progress here, a contemporary stylist and linguist can write: "It is rash to deny the existence of universal, or widespread types of sound symbolism." 9 A typical, and the most common, such universal to have been discussed is the hypothesis that high vowels are "smaller" and low vowels "larger". 10 Research may well lead eventually to at least general results of importance, broadly correlating spheres of things or concepts and sounds, or of psychic states and kinaesthetic vocal sensations.11 In my opinion, short and long vowels will also, in good time, be shown to have expressive potentials for, respectively, states of energy and restfulness, excitement and quiet, becoming and being; so far, the prosodic distinction of length has hardly been mentioned in this connection. 11

Patterned Tonality

117

3.2 Tonalism and form Our current interest, however, is not directed toward the possibilities of sound symbolism, but rather to the phenomenon of salient tonality taken as an element of formal structure. A salient tonality may thus effect the unification of a line or passage, the linking of formally related passages, the marking of chief structural points, or may lay the foundation for summative - phonetically and poetically climactic - words. The exercise of formal examination will profit the practical critic more immediately than probing into tonal moods, since it stands apart from the still inconclusive argument over vowel expressiveness.12 In one form of tonal structure, a base tonality modulates through a passage - ascending, say, from low to high vowels, advancing from back to front, or ringing the changes among a group of related vowels. This kind of melodic inflection was met with in the Wiegenlied ("Summen, murmeln, flüstern, rieseln;" see p. 16) and is reported by Ants Oras in Chistopher Marlowe's rhythmic rolling of successive passages dominated each by a given vowel.13 Fischli points out how in Mörike's An eine Äolsharfe the fundamental [a]-tone is cited, briefly dismissed and then ceremoniously recalled : Angelehnt an die Efeuwand Dieser alten Terrasse, Du, einer luftgeborenen Muse Geheimnisvolles Saitenspiel, Fang an Fang wieder an Deine melodische Klage. 14 In the compass of a short passage or poem, as here, tonal modulation can be an active agent of form (one of the most important), bearing the message of recurrence or completion. In the framework of more extensive works, tonal salience can induce the coherence of a part or proclaim important junctures. Often, however, we may not be able to demonstrate organic "purpose". Yet, the striking confirmation of a sound or sounds will remain a fact with form-potential (in arousing expectation, giving points of reference), a fact of which, as in music, we cannot but be aesthetically aware. Lanz quotes several poems where a single vowel or related ones reign sovereign over considerable stretches, only to fade before an upcoming mode that "introduces a new melodic form which is well perceived by the ear." 15 James J. Lynch names these "cumulative phonetic effects." 16 And they are encountered also by Pierre Guiraud in the poetry of Paul Valéry, who, it is claimed on the basis of statistics, systematically searches for

118

3.3 Phonemic inventories

harmony of tone in verse, distich and poem units. In addition, by examining in Valéry all those verses containing the paramount theme words, Guiraud demonstrated that the proximity of such a word increases the likelihood of its constituent sounds' appearing again in the same line.17 This substantiates once more, at least, the reality of phonetic perseveration in speech, especially as regards significant sounds. Heinrich Lutzeler speaks of passages with a "harmonic mixture of bright and dark vowels," and of whole poems "attuned to a fundamental tone" or tonal motif. 18 In a large scale phonemic comparison of sonnets, Dell Hymes has found that syllabic nuclei (which are primarily vowels) are indeed "more sensitive to variation between poems than the consonants," 19 and hence are more characteristic of the individual poem.

3.3 Phonemic inventories In this poetic principle of euphonic "attunement" we find the basis for a recently popular stylistic project, the taking of phonemic inventories. Guiraud, for example, compares the "phonic systems" of three poems by Paul Valéry, compiling statistical figures for whole articulatory categories rather than for separate sounds. There prove to be important differences in the structure of vowel preference, varying by differences of percentage ranging up to a factor of two (thus, 44% acute median vowels in Les Grenades versus 20.5 % in La Dormeuse.) The author attempts to relate these differences to the mood and meaning of the poems in question : the predominance of grave vowels and nasalization in La Dormeuse add to its shadow, languor and silence; La Fileuse relatively stresses acute vowels, which evoke a delicate sadness; whereas Les Grenades derives éclat and a harsher sonority from median acute vowels.20 (Acute and grave correspond to bright and dark.) In a subsequent context, Guiraud establishes that the vowels found in the list of key poetic words (taken as a sub-group for comparison) show relative gains for nasals and diphthongs. 21 3.3.1 Summative words (Lynch, Hymes) Development toward greater structural refinement - phonemics put at the service of form analysis - is found in the work of James Lynch, published the same year as Guiraud's study, and later elaborated and assessed by Dell Hymes. The intention of Lynch's method is to locate words in a poem which are "summative" in point of sound, theme and structure. One attempts : "First, to discover the total effect of the poem's euphony or tonality or musicality, or what Professor Wellek, following the Russian Formalists, calls 'orchestration,' and second, to relate its findings to 'meaning' in such a way that

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it can be seen how the poem's phonemic totality supports and contributes to its prose and poetic statement." 22 Basically, the procedure is to reckon the relative degree of saliency of all phonemes, to define the poem's theme, and then to find a point of intersection in the text, a word which: 1. comprises the most salient phonemes ; 2. strongly implicates the theme of the work; and 3. is situated well toward its end - in concluding position. (Obviously, problems can be anticipated even in the expression of the theme, not to speak of the determination of phonemic salience.) Lynch's quest is rewarded in Keats' sonnet on Homer, in Wordsworth's I wandered lonely as a cloud, and in several other poems. In an exemplary project of constructive development and criticism, Dell Hymes then provided additional data on ten sonnets of Keats and ten of Wordsworth, without claiming to find summative words in them all. Hymes noted that Lynch did not "place his results in a context of other information about the frequency or dominance of sounds, whether in other poems, in other works by the same author, or in the language generally," 23 and, concerned by Herdan's question as to the status of apparent language patterning whether it be choice or chance - Hymes proposed to check the original data on a broader scale. In the process he found further instances of summation as well as key-words, that is, words which combine theme and phonetic motif without standing in concluding position. A crucial step for this experiment is the gauging of saliency - isolating the effective factors and setting up a graded scale. Lynch had reckoned with the factors of overall frequency, metrical stress, syntactic emphasis, accessory prominence rising from repeated utterance in a line or syntactical phrase, and appearance in a rhyme word 24 Hymes supplied the further factors of recurrence in adjacent stressed and unstressed syllables, recurrence thrice in a line if the last occasion is stressed, exact repeating of a word in syntactical parallels, and occurrence of a sound both before and after the same stressed nucleus. A weight of one is assigned to any of these contingencies.25 The nature of the factors settled upon suggests that the list could be extended further still. Indeed, Hymes recognizes that "in principle, any kind of repetition and patterning might contribute to dominance." 26 Perhaps it is not implausible to think that the devices of vowel patterning we have previously schematized are just such an additional element that should be taken into account, if the method is to reflect truly the complex unconscious summations of the ear - and they should be accounted for not only in evaluating salience but also in weighing the "summational" power of a word's position. For example, vowel echoes stretching across provenly strong points of evocation and response - in a trochaic tetrameter ABAB quatrain, say,

120

3.3 Phonemic inventories

the responses 2(1710 or 2(3'/l') - might be held to promote salience, although the sounds stand in different lines. Positional bias is stronger in individual poets than for a prosodic form in general, and undoubtedly gives insight into the poets' own feelings for rhythmic salience, as opposed to the investigator's, so that knowledge of such bias could show specific sounds to have a salience for the poet's ear which we might not otherwise suspect. In Keats' sonnet On First Looking into Chapman's Homer, where the word silent at the beginning of line 14 is found by Lynch to be summative, we could argue that the diphthong /ai / draws its strength not so much from impressive presence throughout the whole poem (Lynch himself notices that this vowel sound is the least important one in the octave),27 but rather from occupying strategic rhythmic summits in the sestet alone, that domain which is best situated to finalize our acoustic impression of the whole poem - whatever else may have been the tone in the octave: Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. Oft of one wide expanse had I been told That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He star'd at the Pacific - and all his men Look'd at each other with a wild surmise Silent, upon a peak in Darien. In the sestet [ai] is in three rhyme words. It also constitutes an immediate sequence of stressed vowels (wild surmise) at line end - whose degree of special appeal at this position statistics could decide - and then moves on to a progradient overlapping sequence (surmise - /Silent; metrically, the response 5/1). In trochaic tetrameter quatrains, for which we have statistical figures, the corresponding response seems to have a strongly continuative and energizing effect. The word like, moreover, holds a strong position as a reanimating response to skies - the positional formula would be 9,11 (5/1) - and forms a paused figure with eyes ( a b e d a). Again, the example of trochaic tetrameter in German prompts us to speculate that, in English pentameter also, the pausing linkage may be a high-ranking figuration, an expectation that is reinforced by Skinner's study of perseveration in Swinburne's pentameter verse (see p. 42).

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Finally, Silent parallels like - 11,14(1/1) - a structurally strong parallel whence new resonance accrues. In addition, one can demonstrate that the -en- group in silent receives support from the metrically important positions of its kindred words Then, when, ken, when and men. It is quite conceivable that, were the frequency-distribution in the octave somewhat different, the diphthong [ai] might well not be the overall most salient vowel, but that it might still evoke a noteworthy summarizing and concluding effect within the given stressed vowel structure of the sestet frame. Naturally, even if we thus argue that the vowels of silent are summative chiefly of the sestet and are vitalized by the added instincts of rhythmic form, they nevertheless do in fact dominate in sound and position the poem's last act, which, for a brief composition, is decisive. We can take a similarly structural view of another of Lynch's objects, Wordsworth's poem I wandered lonely as a cloud: I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A Poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed - and gazed - but little thought What wealth to me the show had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. Let us concede that the vowels [ae] and [ i ] of the final verse ("And dances with the daffodils") may well be summative of the entire poem, but we

122

3.3 Phonemic inventories

must also recognize that, whether or not this fact of distribution be present to some level of integrative comprehension, these two vowels' sheer local profusion in the last four lines suffices to assure a short-term association with the theme, through images such as flash, inward, bliss, fills and of course dances and daffodils (not to speak of that, which, is, and, with and with.) Indeed, the four occurrences of dance in the poem and the two of daffodils, along with the additional rhymes they necessitate, might alone tip the scales toward congruence of statistical salience and theme. Their summative status would then be "rigged" from the first, unlike the silent in Keats' poem; rigged, but of course none the less so although the significance of such summativeness (due to repetition and appearance of thematic words in rhyme position) might be questioned. In this case, however, the reinforcing words in the final lines lend vitality to the notion. Indeed, the peculiarly melodic ending of Wordsworth's poem, with its firm sense of culmination, is owed in considerable degree to vowel figures and their correlations. The configuration in the last line, 6 (a b a b), is the only fully symmetrical one in the poem. The preceding verse, 5 (a b a c), correlates formally to the last in point of odd-stress linkage (x - x -), the only such figurational parallel to be found. The last line brings the replies to responses 3,6(1 /l) and 4,6 (2/2), and the last stanza, exceeding any other, forges the long parallel chain 1, 2, 3, 5(2/2). These features all contribute - since there is no earlier precedent in the work - to a sense of gathering finale or formal culmination in the last stanza and line. Attention paid to rhythmic structures may aid in overcoming the summational method's shortcomings, a number of which are lucidly analyzed by Hymes.28 For example, the summative words usually, but not always, contain consonants which rank among the generally most frequent in the English language; their salience due to high frequency may not rise much above the norm of the language. The other factors of salience devised by Lynch and Hymes (with the exception of appearance in rhyme words and of stressed repetition in a line) likewise do not participate in the unique formal organization of the poem and thus will not help of themselves to identify specific sounds as the essential voices of the poem. The calculus of rhythmic figuration and response, on the other hand, could establish a self-delimiting context 29 other than the general norm of sound distribution in the language, within which the short-term salience of even the normally most frequent sounds would still be quite pronounced and which, in addition, would be formally integrated with and thus characteristic of the poem. 3.3.2 Tonal contrast Analysis of stressed vowel configuration also explains some effects of

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123

contrast as opposed to accumulation, the "giving of prominence to sounds in more limited domains by contrast with other sounds." 30 The then and pleasure of Wordsworth's penultimate verse do not contain vowels of high frequency in the stanza and are isolated in contrast to the cumulative ae's and I'S, but they are brought to consciousness as a tonal contrast by the parallel of figurations: 5,6(x - x -). 3.3.3 Tonality structure (Jones) The analysis of vowel figuration, vowel response and the formal correlation of rhythmic members will, along with features of the work's sound inventory, help to account for the interrelation of the poem's parts in aesthetic consciousness, the question of their simultaneity along with their successiveness.31 For, at each moment of the rhythmic score, we can clearly state which responses are still held pending, which have been currently resolved and which new harmonic appeals are being issued. We will recognize the echoes then momently in the ear and those in abeyance and the linking tensions they arouse, while the effectiveness of the several links, for the poem, poet and form in general, will be statistically attested. The capacity of the memory to establish aesthetic or formal unity is surely abetted by the existence of innate prosodic dynamisms, born of given verse and stanza forms, as well as by recognized sound configurations and their correlations - whose mnemonic efficiency (for the act of perceiving form) is far more comprehensible than that of sound recurrence conceived of as static or as a biased distribution in bulk. We may find, in comparison with stichic verse, that the persistence of sound memory is dependent on the organizing force of larger rhythmic frames of reference such as the couplet and stanza. That a rhythmic grouping of sounds reinforces the memory is common experience, to which in the past the genesis of versified language in the oral epic was ascribed. Rhythmic grouping at higher levels (couplet, stanza) undoubtedly works the same. A short poem constitutes such a rhythmic structure in itself. If a tonal similarity or a clear contrast of the especially vital initial and final domains is created, this relation will be aesthetically perceived, and perceived as form - e.g. as conclusion by a return or reference to the beginning - and not merely felt as salience or summation. That this formal principle of cadence probably operates instinctively in poets (like the principle of paralleling figures in lines one and four of a quatrain - see p. 63 f. and p. 94 - or of repeating the first line of a nursery rhyme in the last) is suggested by L.G. Jones' article on "Tonality Structure in Russian Verse." 32 Jones does not start with a phonemic inventory but with something rather like what we have called a Masing diagram of the stressed vowels in Russian lyric stanzas, which however are analyzed only in respect to their high tonality feature [/i/ and /e/ are high ( + ) , /a/ is

124

3.3 Phonemic inventories

neutral, and /o/ and /u/ are low (—)]. The tonal balance (TB) of each verse and then of each stanza is obtained by addition of signs, and registers the local preponderance of bright or dark vowels. A sort of tonal contour of the poem is charted, the conformation of the high tonality feature. The numerical tonal difference (TD) is then noted between the tonal balances of successive stanzas, a running measure which is a "good indication of tonal 'shift' from one point to another in the structure, a lack of balance from one point to another. It may also occur as an indication of tension." 3 3 Jones finds that, in about one third of the more than twentyfive poems examined, "the first and last stanzas of a poem have the same or very close TD, or sometimes TB values," 3 4 showing a return to a similar level of tonality, or to a similar contrast of tonality between respectively the first and second and the penultimate and final stanzas. The author considers that the phenomenon may be more than just a chance one, and that it is musically plausible as the setting up of and final return to a pattern as a signal of finality.35 Detailed features of patterning are not taken into account. 3.3.4 Sound texture (Taranovski, Ryder, Knauer) Kiril Taranovski's article "The Sound Texture of Russian Verse in the Light of Phonemic Distinctive Features" 3 6 deals chiefly with the local salience of sound-texture contrasts such as dark and bright (Jo/ and /u/ vs. /e/ and / i f ) and stable and unstable (/a/ vs. /u/ and /if), distinctions which he finds to be frequently expressive. Taranovski gives percentage figures for all the stressed vowels in one complete poem, which evidence a reduction in the proportion of /a/ as compared with the statistics for (Russian) literary prose. 37 He then maintains : "This decrease in frequency is obviously due to the fact that the phoneme /a/ does not participate in the opposition of darkness and brightness, which is the chief theme of the poem." As do the above investigations, Frank G. Ryder's "How Rhymed is a Poem?" 3 8 derives from the notions of vowel features and statistical inventorying. Ryder examines the rhymed words only - in Franz Werfel's Schwermut - and finds that the "so-called 'dark' vowels, those with low second formants, do not occur at all, which may be synesthetically surprising in a poem about Schwermut."39 His own synesthetic interpretation is that: "The drastic reduction of phonemic inventory, tightening the horizons of sound itself, images constriction and ineluctability." 40 An interesting feature is Ryder's attempt to estimate the relative proportions of the various vowels in lexically stressed syllables in the German language. Making rough estimates on the basis of F.W. Reading's Häufigkeitswörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (Berlin, 1898), which records the frequency of letters in various types of words and syllables in printed text,

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125

Ryder rounds off the values for i, e, and a at 20% each; o, u and /ai/at 10% each; ¿¿at 3%, /au/at 3%, a 2.5%, 6 1.5% and /DY/ 1.0%41 This count of letters lumps the tense-lax (long-short) pairs together. We will return to this question in a moment and give figures based on an actual count of specifically stressed vowels. Karl Knauer has published an analysis of computer results that were programmed to filter out and display phonemic distributions and possible patterns from the seventy-five sonnets of Baudelaire.42 He has obtained synoptical matrices of the scattering of individual phonemes over the syllabic frameworks of all the poems, by means of which it is possible to survey with ease the density of recurrence in specific verse and poem regions. Knauer checks factors such as /k/-cacophony (the immediate sequence of /k/-sounds that French poetry theoretically avoids), the notable repetition of like vowels in rhymes and in the adjacent rhyme zone, as well as concentrations in the beginning zone. Using vertical statistics based on the syllabic matrix, he finds rather frequent instances where the rhyme zone of one verse contains the vowel to appear in the rhyme of the next verse, a connection like the slightly resolving 3'/4' echo in trochaic tetrameter verse which we found to be the most frequent assonant tie between sequent lines.43 A few cases are also revealed in which the pattern of recurrence intervals of a sound (measured syllabically within a verse) turn out to be numerically symmetrical. Finally, Knauer defines a recurrence index to indicate the tendency of a sound to become more or less frequent in the course of a poem, the now familiar phenomenon of a shift in the tonal spectrum. 44 Nevertheless, the exact graphical calculations of this index would appear to be interesting mathematical exercises rather than a guide to aesthetic realities; for a sound may well become increasingly less frequent in point of the length of recurrence stretches and yet increasingly more salient due to meaning, poetic association and correlation with rhythmic structure. The latter, positional and rhythmic contribution to salience, has already been touched upon in speaking of summative words. Lynch and Hymes, for example, view an appearance in a rhyme word or in syntactical parallel (both implying rather long recurrence stretches) as factors of salience, although otherwise some form of repetition within a line (short recurrence stretch) is necessary to confer that status. And after all, a long recurrence stretch does not prevent a sound within the rhyme scheme from ringing out with greater plangency than the same sound tolled more often but from less resonant sites within the stanza. As already suggested, other dynamic correlations of position have an effect similar in kind to rhyme. Patterns detected by a formalistic mathematical method should always be referred again to live rhythmic and aesthetic experience, a step Knauer

126

3.4 Positional preference of vowel timbres in free verse

fails to take. Jin Levy, on the other hand, adheres to this sound practice in a brief discussion of the tonality of Goethe's Wanderers Nachtlied.45 According to Levy, since the sounds of u and ii are less frequent in the German language than i, e and a, they are of themselves phonetically more striking when heard against this background norm of the language, and since in addition these sounds (u, u) are encountered in the poem "more frequently in conjunction with prominent positions," i.e. verse-beginning and end-rhyme, Levy holds them to be the more expressive components. 46 In my opinion this latter factor, rather than divergence from the language norm, is the more effective one. 3.4 Positional preference of vowel timbres in free verse None of these studies of phonemic inventory and distribution, with the exception of Knauer's, have broached the problem of systematic positional preferences of phonemes within a verse, stanza or poem, as referred to metrical coordinates. Knauer only brings out the fact that in individual short poems a vowel may lean toward a specific syllabic position. This habit of linguists - operating in isolation from real rhythmic tensions to explore only the geographical "domains" and "zones" of the poem, with a sort of aerial survey that overleaps the rolling contours of the land - imposes an unnecessary limitation. Sensibly differentiated statistics, alert to changeable rhythmic nature, will without doubt eventually bring to light preferences for particular vowel phonemes (and consonants) in particular metrical positions in the verse and stanza, as well as for certain vowels in specific configurations of assonance. 462 Such facts will clearly bear on the issues of salience, summation, tone structuration and formal closure. Simply as an example, encouraging to further tests, I can adduce the following table of occurrences of stressed vowels in verse-initial and in verse-final positions, which was compiled for a different study from the free-rhythmic poems of Goethe, Holderlin, Heine and Trakl. The figures indicate the percentage frequency of stressed vowels of the quality shown which were found in these positions in a survey of 2690 free-verse lines of the four poets. Where the line contained only one stressed vowel it was considered initial; the total of end vowels was correspondingly smaller. (See next page: Table 3.1) A propensity of long vowels to intone the verse (53.8%) and of short ones to percussively conclude it (52.3%) is countered by another tendency (note /e/, /o/ and /u/ acting contrary to their length) of the darker vowels to give the initial pitch and the brighter ones to set the final tone. The phoneme /a/ is relatively indifferent to position, being neutral with re-

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Table 3.1 Percentage Frequency of Vowels at Begin and End of Free- Verse Sample (2690 lines)

N /e/ /a:/ M M m lyl M /au/ /3Y/

Long Vowels Begin

End

6.73% 7.51 6.58 6.65 3.35 1.82 3.38 9.67 5.54 2.60 53.8%

5.22% 8.84 6.64 3.95 3.09 1.83 2.68 7.68 5.56 2.24 47.7%

N M N M

/"/

/«/ /*/

Short Vowels Begin

End

10.63% 8.81 12.68 6.06 5.54 .93 1.52 46.2%

13.39% 12.53 13.27 5.67 3.36 1.60 2.46 52.3%

spect to the high tonality feature. Of course, tables of this sort must be read with one eye on the source texts, so that correlations such as that of strong initial /o/ with the exclamation 01 and of strong initial /u/ with und will be seen, although deduction of such influences here does not reverse the direction of the trend, since such syntactic-metrical collocations, as in this instance, often counterbalance one another in length. The poet Hölderlin alone runs against the current, by relatively preferring a short beginning and a long end vowel. But the more general desire for a short vowel in the final stressed syllable is explicable as the reverse of the process which emerges in metrical verse. Whereas in metrical poetry the terminal long vowel helps to resolve the verse as a rhythmic unit (or rather complies with an automatic foot lengthening that has that purpose), in free verse, at least of the non-prosaic kind tested here, the final short gives a dynamic impulse that demands continuation from line to line, a mode of rhythmic transition between verses which is compatible with the form's often elevated and swelling pathos. Following this, the preferred long beginning vowel compels a deliberate and ceremonious approach to the new rhythmic member. Perhaps one explanation for the higher "pitched" vowels at the verse ending is that they also aid in counteracting that natural instinct fo a falling intonation of the speech line which produces verse-end stoppage. 3.4.1 Vowel phoneme distribution in German By including the populations for interior stresses in the verse-sample (not registered in the table above), we gather a total count of 10,066 metrically stressed vowels in German free verse poetry, for which the frequency distribution looks as follows. The first two columns list the percentages

128

3.4 Positional preference of vowel timbres in free verse

of the long and short variants; the third column represents their total; the fourth is a new estimate for prose distribution which I have made from Kaeding's tables; and the fifth is Ryder's estimate mentioned earlier: Table 3.2. Frequency Distribution of Stressed Vowels in German Free Verse and Prose Vowel:

Long:

Short:

Total:

i e a 0 u ö ü /ai/ /au / /OY/

6.23 7.84 6.38 5.29 3.16 1.91 3.17 8.65 5.85 2.64

11.62 10.72 13.15 5.89 4.74 1.28 2.14

17.85 18.56 19.53 11.18 7.90 3.19 5.31 8.65 5.85 2.64

Kaeding: (Newton) 21.8 22.6 18.6 9.05 10.0 1.52 3.15 9.05 3.04 1.28

Kaeding: (Ryder) 20.0 20.0 20.0 10.0 10.0 1.5 3.0 10.0 3.0 1.0

It must be emphasized that the figures based on Kaeding are estimates, adjustments from his tables based on letter frequency, and are probably not very satisfactory. 47 Their purpose is simply to give some comparative notion of what stressed vowel distribution in German prose may be like, the stress in this case being purely lexical. The table hints, for example, that verse may draw more frequently than prose on o, o, u, /au/ and /OY/, all of which are rounded. As we would expect, the poets manifest vocalic idiosyncrasies, as the following table makes clear: Table 3.3. Frequency of Stressed Vowels in Free Verse of Goethe, Heine, Hölderlin and Trakl (resp. 1153, 3198, 2722, 2993 vowels) Goethe 6.76 11.01 5.46 3.04 /o/ 4.27 M 1.39 /0/ 4.77 M /at/ 8.15 / a u / 4.60 /3Y/ 2.43 HI M /a:/

Heine

Holder.

Trakl

7.32 8.29 5.94 5.63 2.56 2.19 3.00 7.60 5.91 2.69

6.79 7.60 7.38 4.96 2.83 1.84 2.42 8.93 4.59 2.83

4.21 6.18 6.15 5.98 3.41 1.84 3.34 9.52 7.28 2.44

HI M N N

/"/

/«/ /v/

Goethe

Heine

Holder.

Trakl

13.18 10.58 10.84 5.38 3.90 0.87 2.86

10.29 10.54 13.32 6.22 4.50 1.78 2.26

11.68 11.78 11.46 6.83 4.70 1.25 2.13

12.13 9.79 15.10 4.74 5.25 0.90 1.74

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129

Trakl has the highest percentages for /a/, /u/ and /au/ (resp. 15.10%, 5.25%, 7.28%) and the next highest for /a:/ and /u/ (6.15%, 3.41%); also the maximum for /ai/ (9.25%). He has the lowest figures for /i/, /e/, /e/ and /Y/. Goethe, on the other hand, employs the most /i/, /e/, /Y/ and /y/ (resp. 13.18%, 11.01%, 2.86%, 4.77%) and actively disprefers /a:/, /a/, /o/. He is second lowest in /o/ and /au/. (The percentages may be compared with the total sample averages in Table 3.2). The vocalic attunement or bias of Trakl is therefore to back and low central vowels, that of Goethe to front and high ones. (The only exceptions to this are the behavior of /i/, which is second highest in Trakl, and /u/, which is highest in Goethe.) Ivan Fönagy would maintain that these biases correspond to a more cheerful or active mood in Goethe's poetry (see fn. 20 this chapter), while Taranovski would interpret the remarkable pervasiveness of /a/ and /a/syllabic diphthongs in Trakl as suggestive of vastness, completeness, balance, strength and power, or - we might think - Trakl's boundlessly resonant and autistically self-enclosed tone. 48 Heine is the leader for /!/ and /0/, second for /e/, all of which are tense front vowels, and leads for /ce/ also. The Fonagyan analysis of "cheerfulness" might be considered for Heine also; certainly we wouldn't want to ascribe this quality to Trakl or Hölderlin. Hölderlin introduces the most /a:/, /oy/, /e/ and /o/ into his work, leaning hence slightly to laxness and lowness. 3.4.2 Phonemic localization in individual poets The stylistic dimension of phoneme localization is brought out in the following tables, which expose frequencies at verse beginning (B), middle (M) and end (E). These localizations are determined in part by vowel length, as we shall see in Chapter section 8.16.1. But vowel timbre does seem to play some role that should be further examined, as we noted in Table 3.1. (See Table 3.4, next page) Goethe sets almost twice as many /e/'s in initial as in final position, but Heine and Hölderlin have two-thirds more final than initial, and Trakl is indifferent. Trakl's strong initial /o/ derives to a considerable degree from the exclamation "O", but not entirely; words like "Tot," "Mond," "oder" are common. Goethe prefers /o/ and /u/ at the end, contrary to the other poets, but just as contrarily he moves /i/, /i/ and /e/ to the beginning. Perhaps the outset of the verse, with its touch of initial energy, is a fitting site to promote the liveliness of the high front vowels. Surveys more closely keyed to the moods of specific poems will be more effective in showing the potentials of vowel localization.

Table 3.4. Phoneme Localization (Percentage Frequencies) a. Goethe: ni /e/ /a:/ /o/ w m Ivi /ai/ /au/

/"/

B 8.71 14.18 4.48 2.24 5.72 1.49 4.23 8.46 4.73 2.99

M 6.20 12.39 5.35 2.54 2.25 1.41 5.63 7.89 4.51 3.38

E 5.29 6.80 6.55 4.28 6.05 1.26 4.53 8.06 4.53 1,01

b. Heine:

B

M

N M /a:/ /o/ M 101 Ivi /ai/ /au/ lOYl

7.79 6.59 7.24 5.93 2.96 2.20 3.84 9.00 6.15 2.74

8.24 7.59 5.20 6.72 2.38 2.31 3.11 8.54 5.85 2.38

B

M

E

7.76 7.99 8.31 4.75 3.24 1.82 2.22 7.83 5.22 3.16

5.77 9.07 6.32 4.40 2.88 2.20 3.02 9.48 4.53 2.34

M

E

4.08 5.67 5.14 4.85 3.60 1.95 3.72 9.16 7.33 2.90

4.28 6.73 8.26 3.67 2.45 1.53 2.14 9.33 7.03 1.68

c. Hòlderlin: N /e/ /a:/ lo/ M Iti M /ai/ /au/ IOYI d. Trakl : N N /a:/ /o/ /u/ IDI lyl /ai/ /au/ /3Y/

6.30 5.48 6.85 5.89 2.05 1.51 2.19 10.27 3.56 2.74 B 4.48 6.95 6.65 11.28 3.86 1.85 3.55 10.66 7.42 2.01

IH /e/ /a/ lol NI

/«/

/*/

E 5.43 11.07 5.76 3.65 2.44 1.99 1.99 4.87 5.76 3.10

B

M

E

14.93 7.21 8.46 5.22 5.22 0.75 1.00

12.11 12.96 11.27 4.23 3.38 0.28 4.22

12.34 11.84 12.85 6.55 3.02 1.51 3.53

B IH M /a/ M Ivi

/«/

/Y /

9.55 7.68 14.38 6.26 4.72 1.21 1.76

B N M /a/ M Ivi

/«/ /Y /

N M N N Ivi

/«/

M

M

E

9.75 10.98 11.99 6.21 4.55 1.88 2.38

11.85 12.73 14.29 6.20 4.21 2.21 2.44

M

E

9.86 11.78 12.88 8.08 7.94 0.82 1.78

11.23 10.36 11.63 6.57 4.51 1.42 2.06

14.29 14.15 9.75 6.04 1.79 1.27 2.61

B

M

E

10.36 8.04 12.67 4.02 4.17 0.77 1.24

11.64 10.05 15.66 5.32 6.09 0.89 1.95

15.14 10.86 16.06 3.98 4.13 1.07 1.68

Patterned Tonality

131

3.5 Summary The preceding chapters have dealt with four levels of relationship between vowels in metrical stanzaic poetry. Briefly outlined, these are: 1. Same sounds in positionally defined relationship of response (both interand intralinearly.) 2. Two such accords in interrelationship with one another - traditionally thought of as alternation or chiasmus, but actually correlations of different rhythmic dynamisms. 3. Two such accords in correlation with structural members of the rhythmic period, at beginning, end or middle of dipode, verse or couplet, etc. 4. Shifts of dominant tonality, sometimes positionally or structurally correlated. Similar relationships can be constituted by vowel lengths, to which we turn in Part II.

Notes 1 S. Chatman and S. R. Levin, "Linguistics in Poetry," in Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (Princeton Univ. Press, 1965), p. 452. 2 A rather comprehensive study is Heinz Wissemann's Untersuchungen zur Onomatopoiie (Heidelberg, 1954). 3 See editor H.J. DeVos's review of interpretations of this poem along with notes on lightsound instruments and compositions in: Ernst Jünger, Lob der Vokale und sizilianischer Brief an den Mann im Mond (Brüssel, no date), pp. 78 ff. 4 Romanzen, 9, Stanzas 140-1. 5 Ivan Fönagy has gathered an historical compilation of the metaphors used by writers on language to describe the comparative qualities of sounds: Die Metaphern in der Phonetik. Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des wissenschaftlichen Denkens (The Hague, 1963). 6 Fischli, p. 11: "feierlich ernst." 7 "The Sound Texture of Russian Verse in the Light of Phonemic Distinctive Features," International Journal of Slavic Linguistics and Poetics, IX (The Hague, 1965), p. 117. Conversely, Taranovski terms the diffuse vowels "instable," betokening "loss of balance, weakness, even distress" (p. 119). The author relates a specific verse in Lermontov's Molitva, containing all stressed /a/'s, to the verse's statement that the poet has "regained his inner balance." 8 Untersuchungen zur Onomatopoiie, p. 147. 9 Dell Hymes, "Phonological Aspects of Style: Some English Sonnets," pp. 109-131 in Style in Language, Thomas A. Sebeok, ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), p. 112. 10 See E. Sapir, "A Study of Phonetic Symbolism," in Selected Writings of Edward Sapir, D. Mandelbaum, ed. (Berkeley, 1949), pp. 66, 72. 11 One can, in any case, hardly dispute the evocative power within a given natural language (based in part on lexical associations) of vowel sounds in conjunction with certain consonants. It is curious that critics and linguists like J.C. Ransom and Dell Hymes have discounted the impression that, in Tennyson's verse on "The murmuring of innumerable bees," the sound is becoming to the sense. A change of images to "murdering" and

132

Chapter 3

"enumerable" is expected to silence the swarm. But to my ear the droning penetrates both replacements and would persist even if we transformed the bees to trees, seas or social teas, or to anything that can suggest a background hum. l i a Ivan Fônagy finds short vowels in "alert (aggressive, joyous)" poems of Petöfi reaching a proportion of 81.7 % vs. 75.0 % in "tranquil or melancholy" ones ; "Le Langage Poétique : Forme et Fonction," in Problèmes du Langage (Paris, 1966), p. 80. See also Section 4.8. 12 Karl Magnuson has already emphasized the structural significance of sound repetition, as opposed to its expressive function - a correctional emphasis which is still appropriate, as we shall see, in this day of phonemic inventories. See Magnuson's "Consonant Repetition in the Lyric of Georg Iraki," Germanic Review, 37 (1962), p. 269. 13 "Lyrical Instrumentation in Marlowe. A Step toward Shakespeare;" Studies in Shakespeare, A.D.Matthews and C.M. Emery, eds. (Coral Gables, Fla., 1953), I, pp.76-77. 14 Fischli, p. 35. 15 Lanz, p. 29. Hellmich, Klang und Erlösung, p. 95, finds an "Aufhellung des Klanges in Verbindung mit der Steigerung der Aussage", in Trakl's "Im Dorf." 16 "The Tonality of Poetry: An Experiment in Method," Word, 9, p.214. 17 Langage et versification d'après l'œuvre de Paul Valéry (Paris, 1953), pp. 87-88. 18 "Die Lautgestaltung in der Lyrik," Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und Allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft, 29 (1935), pp. 214-5. 19 "Phonological Aspects of Style," p. 117. 20 Langage et versification, pp. 89-90. The sound symbolism of Guiraud was called into question by H.H. Hill in a review of Guiraud's book in Language, 31 (1955), p. 251, but has been defended on principle by Dell Hymes ("Phonological Aspects of Style," p. 113), who usefully distinguishes between universal sound-sense relations versus possibly accepted associations in natural languages, as well as between long and short-term appropriateness of sound to sense. Ivan Fônagy has done a study, similar to Guiraud, on "Der Ausdruck als Inhalt; Ansätze zu einer funktionellen Poetik," in Mathematik und Dichtung, Helmut Kreuzer and Rul Gunzenhäuser, eds. (Munich, 1965), pp. 243-74. Fônagy remarks on "harmony of content and sound (Lautung)" in point of bright and dark vowels. With statistics for the relative amounts of these vowels in Sandor Kisfaludy's two books of songs, Desperate Love and Happy Love, Fônagy maintains that a "shift of the average sound distribution in favor of palatal vowels corresponds in poetry to a "cheerful mood" (pp. 244-45). 21 Guiraud, p. 166. 22 "The Tonality of Lyric Poetry: An Experiment in Method," Word, 9 (1953), p. 211. 23 Hymes, "Phonological Aspects of Style," p. 114. 24 Lynch, p. 213. 25 Hymes, p. 117. 26 Hymes, p. 117. 27 Lynch, p. 217. 28 Hymes, pp.128-131. 29 The idea of a delimited context opposed to the norm of the language as a proper background for stylistic consciousness derives from M. Riffaterre's review of Guiraud's Index du Vocabulaire du Symbolisme (Paris, 1953) in Word, 12 (1956), p. 326. See also Hymes, p. 129. 30 Hymes, p. 130. 31 Hymes, p. 131. 32 International Journal of Slavic Linguistics and Poetics, IX (1965), pp. 144-147. 33 Ibid., p. 141. 34 Ibid., p. 144. 35 Ibid., pp. 146-7. 36 International Journal of Slavic Linguistics and Poetics, IX (The Hague, 1965), pp. 114-124.

Patterned Tonality 37 38 39 40 41

133

Ibid., p. 122. Word, 19 (1963), pp. 310-321. Ibid., p. 313. Ibid., pp. 317-8. Ibid., p. 313. L.G.Jones gives statistics for Russian stressed vowels, separately for conversation, prose and poetry; op. cit., 131. Taranovski provides somewhat different values for Russian; op. cit., 120. Guiraud's figures for French prose and poetry are not restricted to tonic vowels only; op. cit., p. 83. 42 "Die Analyse von Feinstrukturen im sprachlichen Kunstwerk. Untersuchungen an den Sonetten Baudelaires," pp. 193-210 in Mathematik und Dichtung (Munich, 1965). 43 Ibid., p. 201. 44 Ibid., pp. 202-3. 45 In "Die Theorie des Verses - ihre mathematischen Aspekte," in Mathematik und Dichtung (Munich, 1965), pp. 214-5. 46 Ibid., p. 215. 46 a A limited initial check, comprising all of Georg Trakl's trochaic tetrameter quatrains in Dichtungen and Aus goldenem Kelch, supports this likelihood. There are marked "curiosities" in this, for Trakl's trochaic tetrameter form, almost exhaustive sample: [o] is three times more frequent in verse two than in three; [u] occurs twice as often in verse one as in any other line; [E]'S frequency in verse three is twice that in verse two, etc. Such distributions deserve further attention. 47 F.W.Kaeding, Häufigkeitswörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (Berlin, 1898). The book gives frequency lists for vowels and consonants, broken down variously in Stammsilben, Hauptsilben and Vorsilben, and the frequencies of individual words in the total count. It is thus not easy to cull figures for lexically stressed as opposed to unstressed syllables, and of course impossible to register effects of sentence or syntactical stress. I have tried to subtract from the given totals the occurrences (listed by individual word) of vowels in articles, conjunctions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs and particles, words which are least likely to turn up in sentence-stressed positions. This is a procedural assumption which would not even be approximately true in metrical poetry, where the schematic stress can promote any such word. 48 Taranovski calls /a/ the "optimally compact speech sound" and attributes to it the qualities listed above; Taranovski, p. 117.

PART II

Chroneme Patterning

Chroneme Patterning Viel der Beziehungen sind im Gedichte, wodurch es die Teile, Wie in dem süßen Bund inniger Liebe, vereint. Jene dürfen auf sich mit dem Finger auch weisen; doch geben Öfter (des Schönen Gesetz will es so) Winke sie nur. Schlummert bei den Beziehungen dir dein Auge, so tappest Du im Dunkeln umher, ohne des Dichtenden Schuld. - F.G.Klopstock 1 In the prosody of European languages the echo of vowel timbre has, from classical times, "pointed to itself" dextrously and clearly, as an especially "dulcet bond" of harmony among the many formal relationships of poetry. But the "law of the beautiful," as Klopstock's epigram would have it, has only hinted at other important relations, which is certainly the case with the rhythm of vowel chronemes - appearing now and again as source of a verse's tempo, but never brought to full awareness by poet or prosody. It is a strain of rhythm and a "law", impelled to appeal to statistics for its justification. Indeed, in spite of the perennial curiosity about vocalic mood and figuration, almost vanishing attention has been payed the vowel's phonemic length. Quite to the contrary. Among German prosodists, Wolfgang Kayser expressly denies the importance of vowel length in the "question of rhythm," 2 and Andreas Heusler is even more specific when he writes: "However the New High German tonic syllables are to be judged with respect to their phonetic length and extensibility, this much is clear: for use in verse ritten and rieten, lassen, and lasen, Wonne and wohne can be considered equivalent to each other. In the context of speech our High German root syllables are now longer, now shorter; but there is no dichotomy which must be observed by verse."3 It is true that the distinction of vowel length is not the basis of the metrical system as in Classical verse or in Old Germanic. But this dichotomy is indeed recognized in the rhythm of verse. The first and the last members of the pairs are respectively functionally equivalent as moments of rhythmic duration, while the two members of each pair are not.

138

Chroneme Patterning

Even in the phonemic inventories of more recent times, investigators often fail to distinguish between long and short (close-open, tense-lax), and a recent writer concerned with the question of whether style-effects are random or purposive treats vowel length also as a random matter: "The repetition of i marks in Goethe the enticing temptation of the King of the Elves: Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir! / Gar schöne Spiele spiel ich mit dir ..., whereas in Brockes the sparkling of the water: Du zitternder Schimmer der silbernen Fläche." 4 That the long versus the short vowel accumulations might account for an expressive difference, luring enticement versus sparkling, is not mentioned. Among the more hopeful indications, Dell Hymes has speculated that: "There is no reason to exclude from experimental study any dimension along which sounds can be grouped. Any may turn out to be utilized by one or more poets for particular effect in a particular poem or as a general stylistic trait." 5 Hymes does not, however, specifically mention vowel length among the linguistic series, orders and classes, and the suprasegmental features in question. But Donald Davie theoretically envisions poetry in which: "the sounds are such as to delight the ear and mouth with the various quantities of the vowels," 6 and B.O.Unbegaun remarks of German in particular that: "The gradation in the strength of the stresses combined with the difference in quantity between long and short vowels, a difference unknown in Russian, enriches German prosody and diminishes the rigidity of its scansion." 7 We hope to abundantly demonstrate that this enrichment is not merely a fortuitous accompaniment of the scansion, but a separately scored instrument of verbal music. The only mention I have found of actual statistical distribution of vowel lengths is made in an article by E. and K.Zwirner on New High German vowel quantity, which finds that, in a prose sample, longs and shorts are scattered at random. 8 More patient counting, with a practiced hand on the rhythmic pulse of prose, will surely reverse this decision. (See Chapter sections 8.16.1 and 2 on vowel configuration in free verse and prose.) Jiri Levy has suggested the application of vertical statistics specifically to Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in a cryptic passage declaring : "If the vertical statistics were extended to further linguistic components of the poetic text, we could determine among other things that, for example, a parallel distribution of accents with long vowels occurs in Coleridge's poem (which is natural in an English text), but also with positional longs, i.e. consonant groups (which is not customary in other English poems)." 9 Henry Lanz, source of several fruitful insights into vowel melody, has come the closest to our view when he judges: "The length of vowels still

Chroneme Patterning

139

plays an important part in English speech. Although there are no rules of prosody to determine the sequence and distribution of the long and short vowels, yet there is some evidence that such distribution is not entirely lawless. It is, however, left wholly to the poetic instinct and has never been canonized." 10 No rules or canons, to be sure, but plausible instinctive reactions which, as in the case of timbre patterns, will emerge with deepening fascination through the statistics' clarifying screen. The numerical counts, of course, do not show overwhelming preferences, but we could hardly expect them to do so in the face of numerous other vital forces competing over the choice of words - the forces of logical sense, poetic suggestiveness, traditional metaphor, vowel quality and consonant patterning, metrical profile and syntactical necessity. The figures demonstrate without question, however, that chronemic patterning exists as an additional force in word choice, and we can further profitably assume - as in the previous chapters that the trends of this patterning tell us something about the inherent dynamics of rhythmic forms in general, about the "ideal scheme" which is immanent, as a limiting case, in the verses of a poem. Roman Jakobson has already conceived of such an "ideal scheme," that functions as a limiting impulse, some of whose components are constantly represented while others form only a tendency. According to Jakobson, "naturalistic" investigators allow only the constants, thus insisting on a division of meter into quantitative, syllabic and accentuating forms. But, in actuality, the components of length, stress and word boundaries may participate in all forms of verse, without being the dominant features. We must thus determine a whole "hierarchy of subordinate components," 11 in our case the component of quantity in accentuating verse. In point of purely structural study, the analysis of chroneme patterning as a linguistic state of affairs need only be based on the structure of distribution frequencies and on the feature of vowel length and brevity, used here to define the forms counted. This leads, without any further assumptions about the nature of the elements, to results which are quite interesting in themselves. So far as vowel length is heard as a prosodic feature to be patterned, it matters not how it may be associated with real acoustic length or with the tense-lax, close-open feature distinctions, provided we do not deny the fact of phonologically and phonemically long and short classes. Roman Jakobson has assumed for his study of the Serbo-Croation folk-epic that: "If quantity functions as a prosodic element, it is not the numerous variants of the psychological or acoustic syllable durations which are at play, but the phonological contrast of two correlative values - the typically marked long and the unmarked short." 12 But it will ultimately yield deeper rhythmic insight if we survey the

140

Part II

problem of acoustic and phonetic length in vowels, since final causes (as opposed to formal ones) may thence be suggested for the distributional tendencies found. In addition, a few comments on the problems of stressed-vowel salience, scansion and the use of statistics may be in order, before going on to a study which assumes respectively the clear prominence, frequent determinability and stylistic significance of these factors. Notes 1 From "Der Unschuldige," F.G. Klopstock. Werke (Munich, 1954), p. 122. 2 Das sprachliche Kunstwerk (Bern, 1948), p. 243. Likewise Dietrich Seckel, Hölderlins Sprachrhythmus (Leipzig, 1937), p. 21, who feels that for rhythmic expression "duration [of syllables] as such is not significant." Curiously enough we find that Hölderlin is the poet who in some respects departs most characteristically from the norms of quantitative usage. 3 Deutsche Versgeschichte, I (Berlin, 1925), p. 64. Winfried P. Lehmann claims for modern English also that "all feeling for a contrast between short and long vowels has been lost;" The Development of Germanic Verse Form (Austin, 1956), p. 76. 4 I.N. Herescu, "Style et hasard," in Langue et Parole: Sprach- und literaturstrukturelle Studien, H. Lausberg and W.Babilons, eds., No.4 (Munich, 1963), pp. 13-14. 5 Hymes, p. 130. 6 "The Relation between Syntax and Music in some Modern Poems in English," pp. 203214. in Poetics. First International Conference of Work-in-Progress Devoted to the Problems of Poetics (The Hague, 1961), p. 206. 7 Russian Versification (Oxford, 1956), p. 42. 8 "Phonometrischer Beitrag zur Frage der neuhochdeutschen Quantität," Archiv fur vergleichende Phonetik, I (1937), p . l l l . 9 "Die Theorie des Verses - ihre mathematischen Aspekte," pp. 211-231, in Mathematik und Dichtung, H.Kreuzer and R.Gunzenhäuser, eds. (Munich, 1965), p.226: "Würden wir die vertikale Statistik auf weitere sprachliche Komponenten des dichterischen Textes ausweiten, so könnten wir z.B. feststellen, daß in Coleridges Gedicht eine parallele Verteilung der Akzente mit langen Vokalen (was in einem englischen Text natürlich), aber auch mit Positionslängen, d.h. Konsonantenhäufungen (was in anderen englischen Gedichten nicht üblich ist) u.a. vorkommt." 10 The Physical Basis of Rime, p. 205. 11 Jakobson, "Über den Versbau der serbokroatischen Volksepen," Archives Néerlandaises de phonétique expérimentale, 8-9 (1933), pp. 136-7. 12 Ibid., p. 135.

CHAPTER 4

The Nature of Vowel Length

4.1 Vowel length as phonemic feature We are not obliged to "prove" that phonetic length is continuously audible in verse and hence that it may be wielded for effect by the poet; on the contrary, the obvious rhythmic organization of this feature is one kind of proof of its pervasive audibility.13 But just what it is that is audible is an issue of significance. It is now sometimes disputed that vowel length is phonemic in German. According to Otto von Essen, in comparing open and close articulations of the vowel: "for the intuitive feeling (Sprachgefiihl) of everyone who speaks German as his native tongue the quantity is the autonomous means of distinction,"14 i.e. as opposed to the articulatory distinction of open versus close. But Harry A. Rositzke has maintained that the feature distinction lax vs. tense is the semantically decisive one and that: "the durational distinction is accordingly of no phonemic value." 15 In a contemporary paper David C. Bennet claims that experiments made with pairs of short and long English and German vowels "confirmed the hypothesis that the importance of duration cue is inversely proportional to the distance between the qualities of a given pair of vowels. The results showed in addition that spectral form is in general more important than duration in vowel recognition in both English and German, since it is only when two vowels are very close in quality that the duration cue is more important for discrimination." 16 But even more recent perception experiments throw this view too into doubt. Rudolf Weiß finds: "One thing is certain: one cannot with any validity assert that in regard to the German vowel system quality is a more important factor than length or vice-versa."16a Some phoneticians, of course, have suggested even finer phonological distinctions. Menzerath hears a long, sub-long (unterlang) and a short quantity, 17 while Jethro Bithell recognizes overlong, long, half-long, short and over-short vowels.18 But such extensive gradation is not conceivable as phonemic in German 19 and is not phonologically so clearly based as is the simple contrast

142

4.2 Characterization of long and short vowels

long vs. short, which is founded on a complex of contrastive features, including closure, tension and, most importantly perhaps, inner pitch relationships and manner of juncture with the following sound. 20 With reference to this complex, we note that the diphthong is closely related to the long vowel - and has been counted as such in this study - by its loose nexus, its ability to stand in an open syllable and its range of acoustically measured length. In addition, the table of vowel quality distribution at the end of the preceding chapter (Table 3.1) shows the diphthongs with a distribution (based on rhythmic factors) like the general tendency of the long vowels. The actual acoustic length of vowels is, we shall soon see, directly correlated with the phonetically distinctive "length" classes; otherwise the traditional notion of "duration" would likely not have arisen; but the latter is not absolutely dependent on the former. The distinctive "short" (open, lax) will therefore be sometimes recognized as such, though it be acoustically longer than a contrasted "long," since a contrastive phonetic decision must be capable of absolute disjunctive resolution, in spite of acoustic gradations, if it is to neatly sort out meanings. But such disparities are in the performance, not the norm. For this moment of recognition, the pitch movement within the vowel and the manner of attachment or juncture with the succeeding sound have usually been considered of decisive import. 4.2 Characterization of long and short vowels Marguerite Durand has given a convenient historical resumé of the phonetic analysis of length,21 and the impressions of various investigators are, quite apart from the science of phonetics, interesting for the aesthetic insight they may give into the relation of vowel qualities to tone, rhythm, pitch, immanent dynamism or expressiveness. E. Richter, for example, characterized the short by a quality of nonextensibility,22 whereas M.A. Gemelli opined that longs are vowels in which "numerous typical periods" prevail in comparison with periods of transformation. 23 The psychologist R.H. Stetson seems to see the length of vowels as a physiological, motoric consequence of the force of emission of a syllable, the long representing a case in which the arresting muscles enter into action during the latter part of the sound so that the vowel undergoes a perceptible period of decrease.24 N.S.Trubetzkoy finds that the phenomenological relation of long to short is not that of an element of longer to one of shorter dimension, but rather that of an element provided with dimension to one without, the relation, that is, of a line to a point. 25

The Nature of Vowel Length

143

Saussure assumes that longs have an "intonable cut" or juncture, while shorts do not. 26 Emphasis on this factor of "cut" (Schnitt), attachment (Anschluß) or juncture has indeed been pervasive. Sweet also, in A Primer of Phonetics (1902), had noted that in the case of an open stress (short) the following consonant is articulated with the same impulsion as the preceding syllable, whereas in close stress (long) a new impulsion commences with the intervocalic consonant. Bloomfield's Language (1933) states likewise that in the case of a weak cut (long) a reinforcement of intensity of the following syllable begins with the intervocalic consonant, while with the strong cut (short) the reinforcement begins in the vowel itself. Jespersen finds that in "close contact" (short) the consonant cuts the vowel at the moment of its greatest intensity.27 Forchhammer perceives the accentuation of the long as calm (ruhig) and that of the short as brusk or thrusting (stoßartig).28 Trubetzkoy uses still other dynamic metaphors in describing the vocalic long as experiencing a normal, uninhibited development (ungehemmter Ablauf), opposed to the checking (hemmen) and cutting of the short. 29 August Wilhelm Schlegel had already noticed the "broken o f f ' quality of the short vowel, which he considered unmusical, "for the voice cannot tarry on it but must go on as hastily as possible to the following consonant or consonants." 30 Bithell summarizes this trend of analytical distinction in his German Pronunciation and Phonology (1952) as follows: If the articulation of a vowel is completed - that is, if the off-glide is completed -before the next sound is begun we speak of'loose attachment' (loser Anschluß) and say that the accent of the vowel is 'weakly cut' (schwach geschnitten). If on the contrary the articulation of the vowel is sharply broken off and merged with the on-glide of the next sound ... we speak of'firm attachment' (fester Anschluß) and say that the accent is 'strongly cut' (stark geschnitten). Generally speaking long vowels are weakly cut while short vowels have firm attachment. It follows that, since in computing the length of a vowel we reckon duration from beginning of on-glide to end of offglide, a vowel with loose attachment is longer than a vowel with firm attachment. 31 If, as psychologists have maintained, duration is perceived by the growth (or decrease) of a state of tension, 32 then the differing treatment of the off-glide in long and short may account for the sense of length. Von Essen has verified by acoustic experiment that the transition phase of the short vowel is much shorter and more abrupt than that of the long.33

144

4.3 Vowel length and pitch relations

4.3 Vowel length and pitch relations A somewhat different, and less verified, distinction is advanced by Marguerite Durand on the basis of acoustic experiments with various languages. Her thesis is that not only the intensity of the long shows a greater period of decrease (or transition) with respect to the short, but that also the pitch of the long tends to fall and that of the short to rise. As a matter of fact, she asserts that : In whatever manner we study vocalic quantities : from the point of view of the musical movement, the progression of intensity, the expenditure of air, the evolution of timbre, we arrive at the same conlusion: a long vowel is a vowel which diminishes (se dégrade) during the course of its emission ; a short vowel is a vowel which retains its characteristics or even reinforces them. 34 Of course, Durand points out, in a connected text the phrasal intonation often runs counter to this assumed vowel intonation, and it suffices that the last few vibrations of the vowel show a rise or fall in musical movement to constitute them for the ear as short or long.35 Adalbert Maack, however, comes to different conclusions, in which he is supported by Fischer-Jorgensen.36 In Maack's view, based on measurements from a recording, pitch-rise is characteristic not of short vs. long, but of stressed vowels as opposed to the unstressed : In 73% of all strongly tonic sonants of a German recording the sound-melody rises; (it) falls in 90% of all unstressed sonants. This dependence is interfered with by the sentence melody, which often causes unstressed syllables at the sentence beginning to rise and stressed ones at the sentence end to fall. In addition to this certain sonants seem to have in themselves a tendency to rising or to falling melodic line.37 Thus, of 25 stressed sentence beginnings, 88% rise instead of the average 73% , while at sentence end 69% of the stressed sonants fall as opposed to 29% elsewhere.38 But, with reference to Durand's findings, it is interesting to note in Maack's text that of the 12 rising unstressed sentence beginnings (out of 22 unstressed begins) 75% are short, while of the 10 remaining unstressed begins, the ones that fall, 90 % are long. That pitch obtrusion is one of the most important factors of stress, if not the most important, is now clear, but this would not necessarily affect the phenomenon of Melodieverlauf within the vowel.

The Nature of Vowel Length

145

4.4 Kinaesthetic impressions Undoubtedly, among the perceived distinctions of long and short vowels we should also account the kinaesthetic impressions which are due to varying physiological factors. Among these are the stronger compression of the vocal chords and tension of the tongue in the production of tense vowels (usually long) 39 , and, according to Stetson, a greater "contraction of the chest muscles at the close of the chest pulse" in the case of tense as opposed to lax vowels.40 4.5 Acoustic length of vowels So far we have hardly mentioned the element of actual temporal length as it can be measured with acoustical equipment. This is due to the fact that it does not provide a completely reliable basis for phonemic differentiation. Nevertheless, in general the long vowel also lasts longer for the complete act of production, a fact of potential rhythmic significance. An early empirical study by E.A.Meyer seemed to show that despite variations around the average, the spheres of long and short vowels were clearly separate from one another. The effect of following consonants did not change this fact. 41 E. and K. Zwirner, however, claim that as a group the "long" vowels are indeed statistically longer in duration than the shorts, but that the two distributional curves overlap "not inconsiderably," so that some perceived shorts measure longer than some perceived longs. According to the authors, measurement and statistical processes cannot alone distinguish these properties, which are only accessible to the ear. 42 4.5.1 Ratio of long and short Various ratios of long to short have been suggested. Brücke gave 5:3, Kräuter 3:2 and Vietor 2:1 (the traditional convention). 43 H. A.Rositzke, on the basis of his own measurements, finds a ratio in monosyllables of 2.2 :1 and in disyllables of 2.1 : l. 44 In terms of actual chronometric duration, Wilhelm Appel brackets the short vowels between 8-10 hs (hundredths of a second) and long vowels between 19-25 hs. Diphthongs vary between 13-18 hs. 45 Karl Weitkus gives as average length for short vowels (exluding a) 12.52 sec. , for under-long vowels 24.83 sec. and for long vowels 27.23. Diphthongs are found only in the latter two groups and average around 31 sec. . The under-long and long vowels are most subject to deviation from these averages. At any event, validity of a statistical group distinction in real length is well established. 453

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4.5 Acoustic length of vowels

4.5.2 Phonological factors in vowel length The real, acoustically measurable length is, of course, conditioned by numerous factors other than the phonemic length. E.A.Meyer was probably the first to demonstrate that vowel length was correlated with closure, with the tongue-height in articulation of the vowel, since the time taken to raise the tongue is subtracted from the total duration. The "high" vowels i and u are thus shorter than e and o, and these latter shorter than "low" a. 46 Rositzke places them in the increasing order of length: i, u, e, o, a47 Figures given by Fischer-J 0rgensen indicate that the relationships are not so simple, varying as they do within the two groups of lax and tense vowels and showing dependence on stress; but her results still confirm the height-length correlation in principle.48 If, now, as will be shown in the following chapters, a specific vowel length is preferred in certain rhythmic positions, one could further investigate whether or not the intragroup acoustic length difference just mentioned (conditioned only by the vowel quality) might lead to a further differentiation in the distribution; one could thus possibly check on the question as to whether it is the feature of differing juncture (a phonemic feature), or that of statistically differing tonal length (an acoustic feature), which has caused the rhythmic preference in the first place. If it is the factor of juncture, the vocalic qualities statistically differing in actual length (but of the same phonemic length) should have the same distribution, whereas, if the cause is the more purely musical factor of actual tonal length, varying verse-positional tendencies might be noted within a single phonemic length group. This reckoning will be complicated, of course, by the influence of other statistical correlations between vowel pitch and rhythmic points of rising and falling intonation. 4.5.3 Position in word The real phonetic length is also affected by the nature of the following consonants - for example, a following r lengthens the vowel.49 And a voiced stop adds to the duration more than an unvoiced one (b, d, g vs. p, t,k). 5 0 Even position within word and sentence is significant. Brandstadter reports in a survey of relevant studies for various languages that vowels are longer in open than in closed syllables, longer in monosyllabic than in polysyllabic words, longer in later than earlier word-position, and, due to a "slowing of speech tempo", longer at the end of a syntagm than at its beginning.51 Meyer, Sievers and Jespersen had agreed that the length of the stressed vowel decreased with increasing number of syllables in the word, 52 and Rositzke claims experimental confirmation of this,53 although Maack denies it and further asserts that quantity decreases towards the end of a

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sentence.54 However, the dominant notion seems to be that length tends to decrease at the beginning and increase at the end of a rhythmic unit, a phenomenon explained thus by Jespersen: One may perhaps set up as an important law of quantity that the speaker accelerates the tempo when he is conscious that he must speak a long series of sounds (which should preferably be spoken uninterruptedly). 55 Appel reports quantitative acoustic evidence that the duration of short vowels does in fact increase at the end of speech units, 56 a significant result for our present study. 4.5.4 Stress The additional factors of speaking tempo, mentioned by Jespersen above, of logical affective emphasis, and of mode of address, whether as conversation or recitation, are all important for the vowel length, and are all, in turn, dependent on the behavior of vowels in stressed as against unstressed position. Unquestionably, the prosodic feature of stress is perhaps the most decisive single element, after the contrast tense vs. lax, in determining actual duration. In general, vowels under stress are longer than their unstressed equivalents, the long vowels extending by a larger factor than the short. As a matter of fact, it is mainly the vowel segment which suffers changes of duration and intensity when stress impinges.57 Maack computes a duration-stress factor indicating the ratio by which the individual vowels "stretch" under stress. This factor varies from vowel to vowel and speaker to speaker; for one speaker the average duration-stress factor for longs ranged from 1.21 to 1.53 and for shorts from 1.03 to 1.1958; the latter are thus experimentally confirmed to be less "extensible". And yet, according to Maack, even the unstressed longs exceed in duration the stressed shorts, 59 and there can be unstressed terminal vowels which surpass the length of the tonic vowel in the word. Rositzke claims that the final unaccented schwa "lies intermediate between the durations of the tonic short vowels and long vowels in monosyllables and disyllables." 60 Weitkus, however, finds the schwa the shortest vowel.61 The later figures obtained by Appel show that the range of durations for stressed shorts (8-10 hs) stands considerably above that of unstressed longs (3-4 hs),62 so that stressed vowels as a group dominate the tonal fabric. A concomitant effect of impinging stress is to increase the precision of articulation of sounds, 63 including the timbre and sonority of vowels, another reason for focusing on the metrical lifts in studies of poetic euphony - and it is perhaps in conjunction with the related weakening and

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blurring of the unstressed syllables64 that we lose the sense of their phonological differentiation, 65 and consequently, without doubt, of their chronemically differing rhythmic moments. 4.5.5 Subjective perceptions of length Furthermore, it is not only true that stressed vowels are in fact longer, but also that they are perceived as being longer due to the demonstrated influence of intensity on subjective judgement. 66 Psychologists have found that louder sounds seem longer than quieter ones of objectively the same length; 67 hence, even though the final schwa be objectively longer than the tonic short, it is not necessarily so perceived. The converse is likewise true: comparatively longer sounds seem louder than objectively equally intense shorter ones,68 and this fact is also of considerable rhythmic import, as we shall see. The general law of perception, as employed by Durand for the comparison of long and short vowels, is that: The 'physiological response' ... to an auditory excitation depends on the time of excitation and on this excitation itself; to have comparable conditions it is necessary to augment the excitatory intensity in order to compensate for a diminution of duration and to lower the former for an increase of this duration. For brief durations the matter is simple: for the reaction to be comparable, it is necessary (law of Bloch) to double the intensity when one reduces the duration by half; in other words, the product of the duration times the intensity must remain constant. 69 On this basis, for a comparable sense of stress, the shorter vowel must be more intense than the longer; should the extra intensity not be forthcoming the longer vowel will automatically appear the more stressed, if the context throws the two into contrast. This law implies an equal effectiveness of duration and intensity in producing response (as cues, that is, for a subjective judgement of stress), but more recent work by D.B. Fry, specifically addressed to the vowel-stress problem, indicates that "duration ratio is a more effective cue than intensity ratio," 70 in indicating the subjective stress of vowels. Hence, for a short vowel to match the stress of a long it would have to disproportionately increase its intensity. Long vowels might thus seem to have the advantage in facility of bearing stress since: (1) they are originally longer, and length is a given element of stress; and (2) they are, moreover, more easily extensible and thus (3) able to most effectively render added stress by added length, not to speak of the fact that (4) comparative length produces a subjective impression of intensity, which is a further element of stress. But, of course, this reasoning completely neglects the third important

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stress element, the pitch level of the vowel. And Fry has also found 71 that pitch or frequency differences are even more influential than duration differences in cueing stress, so that short vowels, we might thence argue, could conceivably compete perceptually with long ones by a slight advantage in level of pitch. Here we are brought back to Marguerite Durand's findings, contested as we have seen, that short vowels show in their course a rise as opposed to the longs' fall of pitch. We might tentatively speculate, until the issue of pitch dynamics is resolved, that stress parity can be preserved on the one side (short vowels) by an inherently favored terminal obtrusion of pitch or by an objective and subjective impression of intensity (since, due to the fact that the actual length difference between surrounding unstressed syllables and a stressed short is relatively small, the subjective impression of the latter's intensity difference will be greater than in the comparison of the same unstressed and a much longer stressed long syllable72); while speculating that parity can be maintained on the other, the long-vowel side, by. an easy, and likewise inherently favored extension of its length, compatible even with falling pitch and intensity. This view would furthermore provide an additional reason why the stressed short vowel, as we find to be the case in several contexts, might be favored at the beginning of rhythmic units - namely, since its putative rising pitch would be compatible with the natural phrasal intonation-rise - just as the long is preferred at the end - where its putative falling Melodieverlauf would accord with the intonational cadence. We shall touch on this matter at length in discussing the statistical distributions. 4.5.6 Logical emphasis For stress to effect vowel length implies that any manifestation of spoken emphasis will thus effect it, for example a logical accent or sentence stress,73 or a passing emotion. 74 Even the novelty of an infrequent word may increase its emphasis and thus duration. 75 Conversely, we have it from Trubetzkoy that "in a very large number of languages the quantity differences of the syllabics serve to express differences of intensity." 76 In comparing modes of address, i.e. conversation versus recitation, we hear a contrast of, in the first case, arbitrarly displayed and often purely personal emphasis, as against in the latter the conventionally emphatic forms of elocution or the rhythmical disciplines of recited literature. Here, the consequence of systematized stress should be somewhat regularized vowel lengths. Maack was indeed able to measure, albeit in only one speaker, the greater ratio between stressed and unstressed vowel lengths in conversational language as opposed to the ratio when reading aloud, and attributes the difference to the tendency toward neglect of unstressed syllables in informal speech.77 Verrier had already noticed that in reading poetry:

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One regularizes more or less the duration of the syllables to obtain more simple relationships among them than those of prose. This simplification is accomplished in general to the profit of the accented syllables, whose timbres one can thus bring out better, more clearly and more sonorously than those of the unaccented ones.78 Verrier remarks that we read poetry more slowly than prose in order to prolong the sounds and better evidence their timbre and pitch. 79 One consequence of poetic meter, therefore, is to reduce and simplify the ratios of acoustic vowel length, but another compensatory result is to sensitize the ear to discriminations of sound, hence also to the persistent distinctions of phonemically long and short vowels. I.A.Richards has used the term hyperaesthesia to characterize an increased power of discrimination of sensations aroused by meter. 80 The Russian Formalists might have called this capability of rhythm one aspect of the "foregrounding" or "actualizing" function of poetic language in general, which, being highly "compressed," emphasizes the various relationships of neighboring words. 4.6 Vowel length and speech tempo Finally, in both poetry and in conversation, the tempo of speech will constitute an influence not to be neglected. Trubetzkoy speculated that in recitation, contrasted with "prosaic" speech, one might obey the musical principle that ratios of tone length remain independent of tempi.81 But Jespersen noticed, 82 and Warner Brown confirmed in an "empirical study of typical verses by the graphic method" that the acceleration of tempo generally decreases the ratio of stressed to unstressed length.83 4.7 Summary of distinctions between short and long In general review we can summarize those dynamic features of long and short vowels which may invest each of them with specific rhythmic potentials, with capabilities, that is, for responding to the needs of rhythmic initiation, resolution and the differentiation of energetic modes. The long vowel is felt as a "linear," extensible tonal entity which contains notable periods of a typical character and in which the vocal impulse calmly, uninhibitedly and perceptibly exhausts itself without further inner reinforcement; for the speaker it may be associated with a firmer sense of control in the stronger compression of the vocal cords and the gradual arrest of chest muscles at the close of the pulse. It may thus contain within itself a process of diminishment, resolution and cadence.

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In opposition, the short is "punctual," predominantly felt as a moment of rising transition cut at the peak of intensity, a strong thrust checked by the following consonant into which its reinforced impulse extends. It exists as movement, without inherent restraint. 84 The fact that in addition the long vowels taken as a statistical group represent measurably much longer "tones" than the short vowels means that we can also reasonably correlate their distribution with the known effects of tonal duration in rhythm. And the fact that the distinction of the two groups is at the same time a phonetically contrastive one, not absolutely dependent on real acoustic length, means that the patterning of the two chronemes as such will be pervasively audible even where anomalous actual durations are found. 4.8 Sound symbolism of length The differing character of the two chronemes suggests to us not only varying rhythmic functions but also the possibility of a very general kind of sound symbolism, of intensional force (short) versus durative state or motion (long). Possible expressive difference of the two quantities has indeed been occasionally touched on. Dionysius of Halicarnassus found the short vowels ugly; the longer vowels are the pleasantest to hear and the stronger, because their resonance lasts longer.85 Other writers in the classical languages also praised the superior euphony and harmony of the long vowels.86 Theodor Ziehen "tested" for the affective tone of individual vowels and found that of the fifteen with a positive tone all but one were long, while of the fifteen creating the greatest feelings of displeasure nine were short. He concludes that the long vowels incline to produce positive, the short either neutral or negative feelings. The longs are also said to be more "musical," with a clearer pitch level. Several experimental subjects asserted that short vowels create a feeling that something else is expected. Ziehen ventures the notion that word-formation may sometimes be dictated by these different nuances of affective tone. 87 Ziehen goes on to quote Riemann's views on the effect of tonal timevalues in music. The longer tone has a calming effect, the shorter a stimulating one. A series of short tones is "restless, exciting," of long ones "ceremonious, dignified, indeed, oppressive." (We might recall the stress-length contrastive verses cited in the Introduction: "B/st du Schmetterlmg, verbronnt," versus "Sagt es n/emand, nwr den Wez'sen.") The former may suggest either joy or fear, the latter sadness, respect, etc. It is a matter of touching whole strata of feelings, not specifically significant ones.88

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According to Bate, Keats used long vowels for their effect of sonority, 89 a qualitative correlation which has been repeated in more recent times by George R. Stewart, for whom the longer vowels are "preferred" in point of euphony to the shorter ones.90 Stewart remarks that: "slowness of speech suggests slowness of motion, uncertainty, melancholy," and that speech slowness may be induced by "numerous long vowels, by heavy unstressed syllables and by pauses." Correspondingly, short vowels can suggest "rapidity of movement, action, excitement, exuberance, etc." 91 Ivan Fonagy finds that in prose an acceleration of the rhythm of speech can be manifested in an increased relative frequency of short vowels. "Alert" poems - aggressive or joyous - contain more short vowels in Petofi's works than tranquil or melancholy ones.92 It is worth remarking on that onomatopoetic words in German which represent sudden or violent actions more often than not have short vowels: peng, paff, zack, husch, ratsch, platsch, bum, wums, wupp, ruff, plumps, rabs, schlapp, rums. More continuous actions can make use of a long vowel, as in hui, or of.repetition: husch husch husch. Among the more recent philologists, Forchhammer uses the metaphors ruhig (calm) and stofiartig (thrusting, striking) to describe the dynamics of long versus short vowels; Damourette and Pichou use the terms tendre vs. brusque.93 For Trubetzkoy it is not "duration" (Dauer) but the mode of "enduring" (Dauern) that we hear in the long. 94 Finally, in the most detailed study of phonetic symbolism which, to my knowledge, mentions this point - Edward Sapir's "A Study in Phonetic Symbolism" - the "independent symbolic suggestiveness of quantity differences" of vowels is mentioned as a factor to be eliminated in studying the size symbolism of a versus i sounds. He later seems to imply that a long quantity of vowel may counteract in point of size symbolism the "small" quality of the vowel.95 We will find all of these distinctions of "long" and "short," based on acoustic length, junctural cut, pitch level and change, and expressive quality, to be useful in considering the way vowel length works in the verse rhythm.

Notes 13 A methodological view of Leo Jakubinsky, according to Victor Erlich in Russian Formalism (The Hague, 1955), p. 54. 14 Allgemeine und angewandte Phonetik, p. 147. 15 "High German Vowel Duration," Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, 20 (Cambridge, 1938), p. 199. 16 "Spectral Form and Duration as Cues in the Recognition of English and German Vowels," Language and Speech, 2, Part 2 (April-June, 1968), p. 65.

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16a "Relationship of Vowel Length and Quality in the Perception of German Vowels," Linguistics, no. 123 (March, 1974), p. 70. 17 See Eli Fischer-Jargensen, "Objektive und subjektive Lautdauer deutscher Vokale," Archiv für vergleichende Phonet., 4 (1940), p. 2. 18 German Pronunciation and Phonology (London, 1952), p. 83. 19 See A.M.Manhardt et al., "A Spectrographs Investigation of the Structural Status of Überlänge in German Vowels," Language and Speech, 8 (1965), 214-8, which states that a comparison of results indicates that the presence of a long/overlong contrast as a valid signal element is very doubtful (214). 20 Fischer-Jergensen, "Objektive und subjektive Lautdauer," p. 3. 21 Voyelles longues et voyelles brèves. Essai sur la nature de la quantité vocalique (Paris, 1946), pp. 36ff. See also Adalbert Maack, "Die spezifische Lautdauer deutscher Sonanten," Zeitschrift für Phonetik, 3 (1949), p. 191, for a length-study survey, as well as Fischer-Jergensen, "Neuere Beiträge zum Quantitätsproblem," Acta Linguistica, 2 (1940-41), pp. 175 ff. 22 Elise Richter, "Länge und Kürze,"Archivfur vergleichende Phonetik, 2 (1938), pp. 12-29. According to Otto von Essen, actual acoustic experiments show that, in speech at a normal speed, short vowels cannot successfully be extended while longs permit a significant lengthening; Allgemeine und angewandte Phonetik, pp. 149-150. 23 Durand, p. 36. 24 Durand, p. 37. Based on Stetson, Motor Phonetics, Archives Néerlandaises de Phonétique expérimentale, 3 (1927). 25 Ibid., p. 38. See also Trubetzkoy's "Die Quantität als phonologisches Problem," Actes du 4eme Congrès International de Linguistes, 1936 (Copenhagen, 1938), p. 117. 26 Ibid., p. 40. 27 Durand, p. 159. References to Sweet, Bloomfield and Jespersen. 28 Durand, p. 162. 29 "Die Quantität als phonologisches Problem," p. 120. 30 "Betrachtungen über Metrik", in A.W. Schlegel: Sprache und Poetik (Stuttgart, 1962), p.191. 31 German Pronunciation and Phonology, p. 101. 32 For this notion, Durand refers to Kastenholz's Untersuchungen zur Psychologie der Zeitauffassung; Durand, p. 182. 33 Op.cit., p.149. 34 Op. cit., p. 150 ; "De quelque manière que nous fassions l'étude des quantités vocaliques : au point de vue du mouvement musical, de la marche de l'intensité, de la dépense de l'air, de l'évolution du timbre, nous arrivons a la même conclusion: une voyelle longue est une voyelle qui se dégrade au cours de son émission; une voyelle brève est une voyelle qui garde ses charactéristlques ou même les renforce." 35 Ibid., p. 186. 36 "Objektive und subjektive Lautdauer," p. 4. 37 "Phonometrische Untersuchungen über Beziehungen des Akzents zum Melodieverlauf," Archiv für vergleichende Phonetik, 1,4 (1937), p. 221 ; "In 73 % aller starktonigen Sonanten einer dt. Schallplatte steigt, in 90% aller unbetonten Sonanten fällt die Lautmelodie. Durchkreuzt wird diese Abhängigkeit durch die Satzmelodie, die häufig unbetonte Silben am Satzanfang steigen und starktonige am Satzende fallen läßt. Daneben scheinen gewisse Sonanten an sich eine Tendenz zu steigendem bzw. fallendem Melodieverlauf zu haben." 38 Ibid., p. 217. 39 Fischer-Jargensen, "Neuere Beiträge zum Quantitätsproblem," p. 176. 40 R.H. Stetson, Motor Phonetics. A Study of Speech Movements in Action, in Archives Néerland. de Phonét. Experiment., 3 (1927), p. 215.

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41 "Zur Vokaldauer im Dt.," Nord. Studier, Tillägn. A. Noreen (1904), p. 353. 42 "Phonometrischer Beitrag zur Frage der neuhochdeutschen Quantität," Archiv für vergleichende Phonetik, 1, 2 (1937), p. 109 and 111. For similar observations of the overlap see: Adalbert Maack, "Der Aufbau des empirischen Häufigkeitspolygons der Lautdauer deutscher Sonanten," Zeitschrift für Phonetik, 3 (1949), p.96, and Wilhelm Appel, "Gestaltstudie an deutschen Versen," Zeitschrift für Phonetik, 15 (1962), p.29. 43 Zwirner (see fn. 42), p. 106. 44 "High German Vowel Duration," Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, 20 (1938), p. 199. 45 "Gestaltstudie an dt. Versen", Zeitschr. für Phonetik, 15 (1962), p.29. 45a Experimentelle Untersuchung der Laut- und Silbendauer im deutschen Satz (Bonn, 1931), pp. 20-22. 46 Fischer-Jergensen, "Obj. und subj. Lautdauer," p.5. 47 "High German Vowel Duration," p. 198. 48 "Obj. und subj. Lautdauer," p. 5. 49 Ibid., p. 6. 50 Durand, op.cit., p. 163. 51 Hans Joachim Brandstädter, "Vokaldauer und Positionseinfluß beim Sprachvergleich," Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprache und Kommunikation, 18 (1965), p.417. 52 See Maack, "Spezifische Lautdauer," p. 200, and Otto Jespersen, Lehrbuch der Phonetik (Leipzig, 1904), p. 176. 53 "High German Vowel Duration," pp. 198, 199. 54 "Spezifische Lautdauer," pp.200, resp. 199. 55 Lehrbuch der Phonetik (Leipzig, 1904), p. 175; "Als wichtiges Quantitätsgesetz kann vielleicht aufgestellt werden, daß der Redende das Tempo beschleunigt, wenn er sich bewußt ist, daß er eine lange Lautreihe sprechen soll (die am liebsten 'in einem Zuge' gesprochen werden soll)." 56 Op.cit., p.29. 57 See D.B.Fry, "Duration and Intensity as Physical Correlates of Linguistic Stress," Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 27 (1955), p. 765. 58 "Der Einfluß der Betonung auf die Lautdauer deutscher Sonanten," Zeitschrift für Phonetik, 3 (1949), pp. 345-7. 59 Ibid., p. 345. 60 Op. cit., p. 199. Von Essen mentions the possibility of final schwa being longer than a word's tonic vowel; op. cit., p. 147. 61 Exper. Unters., p. 20. 62 Op. cit., p.29. 63 Von Essen, p. 153. A. W. de Groot attributes this discovery to Scripture; "Der Rhythmus," Neophilologus, 17 (1932), p. 179. 64 Von Essen writes: " . . . m i t einer Verstärkung der Hebungen (geht) gewöhnlich eine Schwächung der Senkungen einher. Damit wird natürlich auch die Vernehmbarkeit und Deutlichkeit der geschwächten Laute geringer, vor allem wird ihre Artikulierung wegen des Energieentzuges nicht mehr so präzise ausgeführt." p. 154. 65 Von Essen, p.147: " . . . phonologische Wertung von Kürze und Länge im Deutschen bezieht sich nur auf akzentuierte Vokale. Bei nicht akzentuierten Vokalen fällt diese Unterscheidung als unwesentlich, weil nicht distinktiv, f o r t . . . " 66 This effect is referred to by numerous authors. Paul Verrier speaks of this as an "illusion d'acoustique," Essai sur les principes de la metrique Anglaise (Paris, 1909), p. 73. FischerJorgensen finds accent to affect objective duration but even more so its subjective perception; "Obj. und subj. Lautdauer," p. 14. Seymour Chatman agrees with this traditional observation; A Theory of Meter (The Hague, 1965), p. 27. 67 See Paul Fraisse, The Psychology of Time (New York, 1963), p. 134.

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68 Herbert Woodrow, A Quantitative Study of Rhythm; The Effect of Variations in Intensity, Rate and Duration (New York, 1909), p. 38. 69 Voyelles longues et voyelles brèves, p. 182; "La 'réponse physiologique' ... à une excitation auditive dépend du temps de l'excitation et de cette excitation elle même; pour avoir des conditions comparables, il faut, pour compenser une diminution de durée, augmenter l'intensité excitatrice et abaisser cette dernière pour un accroissement de cette durée. Pour les faibles durées les choses sont simples : pour que la réaction soit comparable, il faut (loi de Bloch), doubler l'intensité quand on réduit de moitié la durée ; en d'autres termes, le produit de la durée par l'intensité doit rester constant." 70 "Duration and Intensity as Physical Correlates of Linguistic Stress," Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 27 (1955), p. 765. 71 See Chatman, A Theory of Meter (The Hague, 1965), p. 51. 72 Woodrow, A Quantitative Study of Rhythm, p. 96, finds that if the actual intensity and rate of alternative short and long sounds in a series are kept constant and only the relative lengths varied, then the apparent intensity of the longer sound is relatively greater with a smaller difference of absolute duration between the two. 73 J. Minor, Neuhochdeutsche Metrik (Straßburg, 1902), p. 51 ; Jethro Bithell, German Pronunciation and Phonology (London, 1952), p. 85. 74 Paul Verrier, Essai sur les principes de la métrique anglaise (Paris, 1909), 3, p. 325. 75 Adalbert Maack, "Die spezifische Lautdauer deutscher Sonaten," Zeitschrift für Phonetik, 3 (1949), p. 199. 76 N.S.Trubetzkoy, "Die Quantität als phonologisches Problem," p. 118. 77 Adalbert Maack, "Der Einfluß der Betonung auf die Lautdauer deutscher Sonanten," Zeitschrift für Phonetik, 3 (1949), p. 355. 78 Verrier, 3, p. 329 : "On régularise peu ou prou la durée des syllabes pour obtenir entre elles des rapports plus simples que ceux de la prose. Cette simplification se fait en général au profit des syllabes accentuées, dont on peut ainsi mieux faire ressortir le timbre, plus net et plus sonore que celui des inaccentuées." 79 Verrier, 3, p. 330. 80 "Rhythm and Metre," in Harvey Gross, ed., The Structure of Verse. Modem Essays on Prosody (New York, 1966), p. 49. Richards further describes it as a "change in the regime of consciousness," and as a slightly hypnotic state, with heightened vivacity of emotion, suggestibility, limitation of attention and "marked differences in the incidence of belieffeelings." 81 N. Fürst Trubetzkoy, "Die phonologischen Grundlagen der sogenannten 'Quantität' in den verschiedenen Sprachen," Scritti in onore de Alfredo Trombetti (Milan, 1936), p.156. 82 Lehrbuch der Phonetik (Leipzig, 1904), p. 176. 83 Time in English Verse Rhythm ; An empirical study of typical verses by the graphic method (New York, 1908), p. 55. 84 The reduced vowel s, where it occasionally coincides with a schematic stress position, has been treated as short on the basis of its lax and slightly open articulation and its firm attachment to following consonants. Karl Weitkus has found it to have the shortest average length of any vowel; Experimentelle Untersuchung, p. 20. 85 W.B.Stanford, The Sound of Greek (Berkeley, 1967), p. 51. 86 Ibid., p. 68, note 9. 87 Vorlesungen über Ästhetik (Halle/S., 1925), pp. 209-13. 88 Ibid., p. 161. 89 The Stylistic Development of Keats, pp. 86, 116. 90 The Technique of English Verse (New York, 1930), p. 178. 91 Ibid., p. 184. 92 "Le Langage Poétique: Forme et Fonction," Problèmes du Langage (Paris, 1966), p. 80.

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93 See Durand, Voyelles longues et voyelles brèves," pp. 161-2. 94 "Die Quantität als phonologisches Problem," p. 117. 95 Selected Writings of Edward Sapir in Language, Culture and Personality (Univ. of California Press, 1949), pp. 64, 68.

CHAPTER 5

Problems of Method in Verse Study

5.1 Stressed syllables as a basis of analysis Writers on German and English verse are almost always to be found preoccupied with stressed syllables. This seems quite natural to us, although from a purely logical point of view meter could as well be defined as regularized occurrences of unstressed syllables (dips, theses) subject to rules that will insure they remain stress minima. The reason we don't has nothing to do with the nature of meter itself. Our interest in the stresses, rather, is aroused by their clearer perceptibility as sounds and by the message of language, borne mainly in the word stems. In exploring the process of sound patterning and that of sound expressiveness we hearken to stresses first because they are more interesting. Of course, with the computer it is today possible to inspect the contribution of unstressed syllables to sound patterning in a more convenient way; our own good time does not seem lost on a secondary project. Karl Knauer, Karl Magnuson and David Chisholm have recently tread this path with some interesting results.1 The sounds of the theses are indeed found to chime in to the music of verse. However, concentration on the prominent aesthetic surface of the stressed syllables has usually been the instinctive procedure. Even studies based on complete phonemic inventories customarily assign extra weight to the stresses (lifts, arses), and L.J. Jones, in an investigation of "Tonality Structure in Russian Verse," has returned to and justified the traditional concentration on the metrically stressed vowels, a procedure, he says, which: obviates the necessity for any kind of weighting factors at all and eliminates a large number of variables which are difficult to control. ... In any weighting system which would have to be applied as more and more elements of the sound texture were to be analyzed, the metrically stressed vowels would have to be assigned the greatest weighting factor and would thus tend to dominate the sound patterning.2

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Of course, we do run the risk by this selectivity of missing some subtle, cumulative effects like those brought out in Chapter 3. But in a rigorously formal examination of local rhythmic effects, the restriction is warranted where simplification is essential. The choice can be easily justified linguistically, since stress is known to increase one or more factors of audibility - pitch, intensity and length - as well as sharpening the articulation and "fullness" of vowels (Chapter sections 4.5.4-6). Ada Snell detects in English iambic pentameter verse a greater length for the stressed syllables in 90% of the feet measured.3 David Chisholm has discovered that the Vowel/Consonant ratio is lower in his samples of German poetry than in prose, and that most of this statistical difference is found in stressed syllables. He argues that hence: "... the most striking phonological differences between prose and verse are likely to be found in the stressed syllables."4 D.B. Fry has shown that shifts of stress primarily alter the vowel segments of the syllables involved,5 our specific targets, while Wilbur L. Schramm, in an acoustic study of English verse, found the stressed syllables the more intense ones in 76% of the cases, longer in 88/o and different in pitch in 44% 6 These features of salience are indeed what create stress. Phoneticians concur. Otto von Essen, following the advice of Saran and Sievers, advises the listener to hearken to the stresses if he wants to follow the pitch line, since the theses usually elude tonal perception. 7 Bertil Malmberg confirms that stressed syllables are more "sonorous" and "audible." 8 Practical stylistics agree also. Woldemar Masing, a student of Goethe's lyric, thinks theses can hardly have a melodic effect.9 Becq de Fouquieres limits himself to assonance between tonic syllables.10 For Taranovski, stressed vowels in Russian verse play the most important role in organized assonance.11 So - pending a study of patterning on the unstressed syllables - we are probably safe in assuming that most of the rhythmic and melodic life of a verse inhabits its stresses. But what of the opposite case, the syllables which bear no or only tertiary logical, sentence or word stress, but which are thrust into schematically ictic positions? Do they contribute to the prominent aesthetic surface, or do they retain the muted colors of their less audible realm? It has frequently been observed that metrical stress will enhance the vividness of less intense sentence stresses. R. H. Stetson, a psychologist of rhythm, reasons thus: "In case the sound which falls on the accented beat does not have an intensity corresponding to the intensity of the beat, the movement-cycle itself contributes the requisite vividness. This is one of the most common illusions occasioned by rhythm." 12 Metrical elevation will also lengthen the weaker syllables and save them from reckless slurring

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and neglect, their fate in prose or conversation. Jethro Bithell says of this compensatory effect: "In verse ... an unstressed syllable may be saved by the meter from slurring and may be longer than it would be in prose." 13 It is in the very nature of rhythm that it chooses the elements to which we must pay attention. Nevertheless, research must someday focus also on the behavior and patterning of sound in the theses. Vowel echoes and quantitative rhythmic effects are not completely muted in them. Especially when important substantive words reside there - as is often the case in English, but also in German - the unstressed positions play a contributory role in rhythm, which only a search for general principles forces us to neglect. The first group of verses below share a more complex rhythmic and tonal line than the second; they have, generally, monosyllables and some strong words in W (Weak) positions, while the latter fill the W positions with reduced vowels: 1. a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i.

Was blieb dir nun nach so viel Müh' und Plagen Dorthin kehrst du das Schiff aus wildem Branden Weiß nicht, soll ich das Kreuz, die Fahne fassen Nur Waldhorns-Klang will, was er sucht, ihm sagen Nun in der Augen Nacht quoll blühend' Träumen O! Niederknien, erst's Aufblühn ewiger Wunden! Wer sich, die Brust voll Weltlust, naht dem Orte Stets fern und nah bleibt meine Lieb der Süßen Der Schäfer spricht, wenn er frühmorgens weidet - Eichendorff

2. a. b. c. d. e. f.

Darüber alte Brüder sinnend wallen In Flammen alle Farben jauchzend schwingen Als wir die blaue Blume sahen glühen In Eicheswipfeln einen Hort von Greifen Erschüttern mich mit wunderbarer Lust Ein Gotterklungner unermeßner Brand! - Eichendorff

Not only do we have no trouble in reading the former as iambic pentameter; it is a truism of poetic experience that the former type of verse is rhythmically more interesting, due in fact to the independent life of the W positions. But our ability to read the first group metrically means that we are hearing certain syllables more clearly, in a sufficiently regular way, and that the metrical set is doing its work in reducing even strong words in W position save where actual stress inversions take place, as probably initially in 1. e. From the point of view of quantitative vowel figures, perceptual interference is minimized by the general reduction of length difference of

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5.1 Stressed syllables as a basis of analysis

vowels in unstressed syllables. Still, a verse like l.a. with three long W positions (dir, nach, viel) is undoubtedly correspondingly slowed. Assonant figuration, it seems to me, is more likely to incorporate thetic moments than is the quantitative: Traumwandelnd hörst du wie ihr Bronnen quillt. Aus /ipfelzweigen fällt ein Weiheklang. - Trakl We may hear the first two syllables of the first line as a hovering accent (x'x') or as an inversion (x'xv), but the objective parallel echo series remains. With the inversion the resonance of the accords is quite diminished, which is why we have worked with ictic tones alone in Chapters 1-3, but even so there are subtle harmonies. How subtle they can be and still "take place" must be resolved statistically. Do we hear in l.a. above an alternation : was, dir, nach, viel [a, i, a:, i]? Does nur in 1.d. harmonize with sucht ? Unstressed erst's in l.f. with stressed ewiger; voll in l.g. with Orte? Examples are to be had for the looking, but only statistical counts will prove the case. The converse phenomenon, stress failure, weak syllables appearing in metrically strong position, likewise deserves more attention in English and German verse, although it does not play so significant a role here as in Russian metrics. Some positional frequencies of stress failure in German verse are given in Chapter section 8.11.2. Elsewhere I have given counts for several thousand English iambic and trochaic tetrameter verses from which one can deduce occurrences of internal inversion, spondees and pyrrhics, the last representing stress failure. 14 The failure may vary in degree. We have already noted that the metrical set will enhance the articulation of the less substantive words (prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, articles, some adverbs, auxiliary verbs) when they stand in metrically strong (S) position (below in 3'): 3. a. b. c. d. e.

Spatzen lärmen auf den Feldern Schwebt ihr Antlitz durch den Weiler Oft am Brunnen, wenn es dämmert Und sie gleichet einem Schatten Und sie friert in sich gekauert - Trakl

Such words become much more vivid than they are in prose. They have a full vowel quality and quantity with which to participate in figuration. The situation appears different when the reduced vowel [a] comes to rest (usually through the mechanics of inflection) on an S position, as below on 4':

Problems of Method in Verse Study

4. a. b. c. d. e.

161

Hell Grünes blüht und anderes verwest Wie scheint doch alles Werdende so krank! Die Männlein, Weiblein, traurige Gesellen Aus Wolken tauchen schimmernde Alleen Und manchmal rosenfarbene Moscheen - Trakl

In the present study, the [a] in stressed position has been classed with the other lax (short) vowels in the quantitative configuration. H.A. Rositzke has found experimentally that the acoustic length of final unaccented [a] "lies intermediate between the durations of the tonic short vowels and long vowels in monosyllables and disyllables."15 The kinaesthetic stimulation and self-perpetuation of the rhythmic set lend [a] a certain prominence, or at least a dim consciousness that it belongs to the S-class of syllables, without according it full metrical stress.

5.2 Verse scansion The practical exercise of verse scansion and the problem of the perceived vowel configuration (Chapter 8) are directly connected, since the rhythmic profile read will fix the figure heard or recorded for study. In the verses in group 1. above (p. 159) there are several typical scansional decisions to be made. In I.e., for example, we might stress weiß or nicht more strongly, resulting in the differing figures ( - u — u) or (u u - - u). In the context, weiß nicht would be too casual in tone, and in addition nicht parallels with another 2' two lines before: Die Erde seh ich schaudernd süß erblassen, Den Himmel überschwänglich aufgegangen, Da faßt mich alte Liebe, altes Bangen, Weiß nicht, soll ich das Kreuz, die Fahne fassen. An alternative to dominant stress for nicht is a level one for both words (weiß nicht), where nicht, being the last and metrically scheduled stress, enjoys a certain subjective advantage. In situations such as this we have adopted the principle that if a reading is both acceptable and regular it is to be preferred to one that is equally acceptable but irregular. Obvious stress inversions have, naturally, been taken as such. In the same verse one might also choose to elevate soil or ich. I think that after the major juncture the sense of soil surmounts that of ich, which deserves no contrastive emphasis. But, for the constitution of the vowel length figure, it matters not which we choose, since in either case the result

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is: (u u — u). We are not interested in various degrees of stress, but only in local stress maxima, or stress equality plus regular position, as we move through the verse selecting the perceptually strongest syllables. By extension of the above case, we can as a principle always accept the figure produced by the majority of acceptable, different readings. We try to avoid any purely performance instance and approach the verse instance in this fashion, by finding the common denominator of the majority of reasonable performances. There are probably several variations of the stress line conceivable for the phrase Dor thin kehrst du in 1. b., but all will result in the stressed quantitative sequence (u -), so we need not specify a performance. Of course we must make up our minds if we actually want to perform the line. But it will always come out (u - ) in our ear and our statistics. 5.2.1 Subjectivity of scansion The scansion of the large majority of lines, however, is unproblematic. This is particularly true of tetrameter verse, which has less scope for deviation, and more true for trochaic than for iambic verse.16 Very many lines show no rhythmic or melodic complications. Because of its lesser number of monosyllables and its recurrent inflectional endings, German dictates an even more regular verse than English. It has usually been assumed by metrists that their own personal scansions are, in the main, reliable. However subjective this view, presented by most with disarming forthrightness, it is at least not yet demonstrably false; moreover, the one-man procedure is rendered almost inevitable by demonstrable practical limitations. A group scansion, seeking majority decisions by several qualified judges, would be difficult to arrange for a study involving many thousands of verses. It has, however, been attempted. Robert Brauer, who in his own scansions shows himself quite sensitive to gradations of stress, has collected testimonies by investigators who have employed a number of test persons as assistants. These investigators - R.M.Meyer, Friedrich Gropp, A. Lipsky - witness to a high degree of similarity in the stress marking of (German) texts by different subjects. (The uniformity might not be as great in English). A Lipsky writes: There was a high degree of agreement among the markers. ... The agreement is close enough to justify the assumption that the scanning of one individual having a "good ear" would be just as valid for the practical purpose in view as the result obtained by adding marking of several persons... The individual variations are insignificant beside the large differences due to types of rhythm ... One person's scanning of a number of poetical specimens would be almost sure

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to show these typical differences, however it might vary in detail from the scanning of another. 17 Though readers might differ by verse, they would in the mass catch the main personal traits of the poet. Dell Hymes recently faced the problem of metrical variants in a study of dominant sounds in English sonnets, where weighting was dependent on scansion. He reports: I have not found the weighting of sound so sensitive, or permissible metrical alternatives so common, that a different choice, where one has to be made, would alter the dominant ranks in a given sonnet. For two sounds adjacent in rank and slightly different in total weight, an alternative choice might cause them to exchange places, but it does not seem able to make dominant a sound that otherwise was not, or to remove from among the dominant sounds one that otherwise ranked high.18 With the far greater size of the sample in our study the likelihood of a shift on the basis of even several questionable scansions is small. The errors should tend to be self-canceling, unless there is an inherent bias due to specific length preferences for each of the two syllables of a spondaic or possibly inverted foot, a factor which should still be checked. My own impression is that, for example, in the initial and final feet of a tetrameter line, the two syllables of a level-stress foot tend to show the same vowel length. Our study likewise draws its conclusions more from the ranking structure of a hierarchy than from actual frequencies, and the rankings in larger samples will survive numerous changes of individual scansion. This relative lack of sensitivity to single errors, unless they are systematic, is one of the beneficial consequences of large scale samples. It would be even more arbitrary, finally, to leave out all verses in which there is some question of scansion than to include them in some resolved form. Supposing that, for instance, stress inversion or hovering accent (spondee) biased the choice of vowel length in the stress - this is at least conceivable, especially in the first foot - we would then be distorting the count of vowel lengths by foot if we exluded this significant subgroup. 5.2.2 Principles of scansion Our guiding principles in scansion have thus been: 1. Assign stress to the schematic position if it is plausible, even if not compelling. Although the consequent interpretation will not gain unanimous consent from those who read more colloquially or dramatically, it will add to the number of relatively safe verses, those basic readings from which numerous performance instances centrifugally diverge by expressive nuances. This is the "maximization principle" forwarded by Rulon Wells:

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Among the possible interpretations of the ambiguous written record that is given him, he [the interpreter] picks that one (if there is just one) with the most regular meter (in other words one that maximizes the regularity of the meter.)19 2. In dubious cases which do not yield happily to the maximization principle, accept the vowel-length configuration produced by the majority of plausible readings. 3. Where neither principle succeeds, a subjective interpretation has been adopted rather than to abandon the line. 5.3 Statistics

in style

study

One would hope it is no longer necessary to defend the use of statistics in studying style, though we must always be ready to discuss the manner of their employment and our expectations for them in each investigative situation. The hopes pinned on some projects have probably been excessive, but the limitations of statistical method have been too much insisted upon in other quarters, especially by critics who feel a perhaps modest discovery does not warrant so elaborate an apparatus. But it is difficult to predict where each small step will lead, if a concerted movement of research once gets underway. 5.3.1 Use of statistics in investigating verse Statistical methods are perhaps less questioned in the analysis of metrical features, where they have long proven an important tool. We need only recall their application to the investigation of foot substitution and word boundaries in classical hexameter, to the placement of caesura, inversion of stress, frequency of enjambment and masculine versus feminine cadence in iambic pentameter, and to the occurrence of stress failure in Russian binary verse. With reference to study of the last of these phenomena, Jifi Levy has likened the discovery of "vertical statistics" (which are actually employed in all the areas above) to that of the biological microscope, in point of their instrumental import for the respective disciplines.20 Indeed, prosody is historically an inductive, empirical discipline, probing the regularities, tendencies and usages in forms of verse which, at the earliest stages, have sprung up without much conscious reflection on features like those mentioned above. Later, the findings of prosody may be established as prescriptive norms - and not improperly in periods of the perfecting of form, or when metrical manners are lax and a new impulse is wanting. Should new and expressive effects arise, or the whole base of the metrical system be transformed, then prosody, as an inductive lore, must reconsider its rules.

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Recent, very interesting contributions have been made to the formulation of a "generative" metric.21 However, the rules of such metrics are only productive when based on and reproductive of the great variety of real verse instances. They are a codification of behavior observed and must be - and have been - revised when shown not to fit the facts. One case of proposed "predictive" value of the Halle-Keyser generative metric - the (claimed) "asymmetry" of iambic and trochaic verse with respect to initial stress inversion - is an incorrect deduction from the metric's own rules, based on a factual inaccuracy.22 Simple statistical counting, the task of reckoning relative frequency of occurrence, is the obvious way of getting at less clearly visible tendencies. Conceding to this method the very least, it lifts into the light of explicit consciousness features of whose existence a good reader becomes intuitively but only dimly aware, as his mind, at some level, notes relative frequencies and senses expectations aroused by them. 23 At the most, on the other hand, statistics can serve as detective, advocate and judge in the civil courts of literature, but not as a legislator making the laws or justifying them on first aesthetic principles. The use of statistics is probably less generally found fruitful in areas of stylistics other than prosody - for example, in the examination of word frequencies and intervals, phonemic inventories (see Chapter section 3.3 ff.), word and sentence lengths, the distribution of punctuation, syntactical units and grammatical categories in a verse or stanza, and the like. Where such efforts have seemed idle to skeptical critics, it has usually been due to the frustration of trying to correlate statistically salient elements with perceptible aesthetic effects or with meaning. 5.3.2 Negative view of statistical approach Negative criticism of the statistical method has derived variously from misinformation, reasonable caution and even moral indignation. Lutzeler's view, that literary statistics falsely assume each position in a poem has the same intensity of sound, was patently misinformed even at its time (1935)24 and, given the phenomenon of rhyme, could never have been reasonably held. On the metaprosodic level of political morality, Leon Trotsky accused the Russian Formalist critics of ignoring, behind a screen of vertical statistics, what is most critical in literature - its social causes and effects; to which Boris Eichenbaum replied that the formal "literariness of literature" is simply a different object of study than its social significance or consequences; that Formalism and Marxism are mutually irrelevant and not hostile.25 He might also have called attention to the similar case of music, to object to the study of whose harmony, rhythm and composition would be absurd. The dispute was revived again not so very long ago in the attacks of New Left critics in Germany against the Eigenwert of purely

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literary values. Stylistics can, indeed, be related with profit to the sociological status of author, language forms and audience, but it must, like the analysis of music, be based on technical categories, and these are imposed by the genre and work and are not tools of the critic's commitment. 5.3.3 Statistics and the individuation of features Some suspicions are of serious concern. Do statistical studies ignore the individuality of structures, 26 the characteristic use of a device in a particular context, 27 or do they prove insensitive when focused on a single shorter poem or passage? 28 Are they thus useless for practical criticism? The solution to these stalemates is not to drop the method entirely at the level of individual structures but to discriminate the latter still more finely so that the local context can be taken into account. In the present study, for example, vowel patterning is examined not only in a specific metric genus or individual poet, but also - most importantly - in the context of the stanzaic frame. Relative frequency of occurrence is differentiated by line position, by association with a previous or following feature, or by relation to the pattern of the whole stanza. With this increased resolution we begin to see that a given rhythmic form may, by its very nature, serve well in one position and rather poorly in another, that, consequently, even the generally ¿^preferred forms may have a preferred positional function. The disabling assumption that a stylisticum (say a rhythmic element) has but a single value is circumvented as we extend our scope to encompass other possible values. Structural stylistics has been immobilized not by theoretical barriers but by conceptual bewilderment, escape from which must be found in further complication of method. We should not expect or want things to be simple. After all, to the complications of style we owe the, fortunately, ever renascent power of art to surprise us with a new gesture. And yet, despite its novelty, the gesture's seemingly lawful simplicity lifts it above the confused bustle of chance. To see what laws underlie this feeling is the challenge of detailed stylistics. 5.3.4. Statistics and their correlations with impressions A more basic objection to quantitative research stems from the thought that aesthetic perceptions and relative frequencies of linguistic (or other) elements are by nature mutually incommunicate, that between them lies a misty phenomenological chasm like that between human consciousness and the neurocircuity of the brain, and that the charting of the latter can discover no new lands in the former not already known to us. We hear that statistics can, in principle, reveal nothing that is not intuitively obvious, 29 that they do not prove anything but only persuade us to accept the validity of our conscious intuitions, 30 or, oppositely, that statistics notori-

Problems of Method in Verse Study

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ously "reveal" numerically salient "facts" which never surface at all on the daylight level, as perceptible artistic effects. That is the crux of the puzzle. How do we bring together the abstractly derivative realm of bodiless numbers and the directly accessible sphere of meaning and sense perceptions? That such a Platonic marriage is legitimate, beautiful and occasionally even consummated in general delight will not be denied, at least not by those who fear neither numbers nor subjective impressions. But even the sympathetic will not insist that a union at gun's point is a heavenly blessed "chemical wedding." Whether the match is forced or not can only be seen in the repeated fruitfulness of the association. The general view that statistics, mere numbers, can reveal nothing not already fairly obvious in the realm of aesthetic experience, is seriously called into question by the present study. Many concrete rhythmic features whose existence is deduced here from numerical tables and ranking hierarchies are, once noted, immediately compatible with aesthetic intuitions, but they might never have, or at least never did, emerge directly from such intuitions. In effect, something new has been seen through the focusing lens of abstraction. This is not to assert that statistical relations have some perhaps purely intellectual potency to impart form, not contingent on our correlative sense perceptions of rhythm, but only that they may lead our minds and ears together to perceive and apprehend significant forms where before only the arbitrary and powerfully intangible held sway. We can never abandon the heuristic circle as a method, it seems to me, without succumbing either to the spell of our numbers' transfixing "pure inane" or to the temptingly mindless glance of solipsistic sensation. When exploring the boundaries of conscious perception, we do, of course, uncover statistical tendencies, "facts" of number, whose sensory correlative does not lie oblingingly at hand. We should neither assume dogmatically that the numerical bias must issue forth as an "effect" in the realm of semi-consciousness nor, equally mistaken, think that it cannot possibly have touched the senses if it does not strike us very palpably. Too little is understood about the integrative mechanism of perceiving and apperceiving verbal art - about the workings of sense and Gestaltperception, of memory cues and spans and the secret intellection of f o r m to adopt the one or the other extreme position. We may be aware of much more than we know. A naive confidence in sensible form as the categorical imperative of art will, as does an analogous faith in the natural sciences, encourage us to seek "reasons" or conceptual models to explain our findings, without at all binding us to espouse those that do not consort willingly with experience. Stylistics will always remain persuasion and not proof in the uncom-

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5.3 Statistics in style study

promising sense that any empirical science can only demonstrate the effectiveness of its answers and never logically prove them. This is no novel or methodologically intolerable situation, but simply the nature of inductive reasoning. 5.3.5 Statistics in the study of form Undoubtedly the most unproblematic statistical studies will always be the purely formal ones, exhibiting a significant connection between separate things or categories (qualities, quantities, relations) and their position in a spatial or temporal array. There are systematic grounds for this. For, to say that some thing occurs more often "here" than "there" is meaningless if we do not know some other thing, of a different kind (at least to initial appearances), that is also found or takes place "here" instead of "there" - and this is often the sticking point, an independent and not always transparent task that tends to be postponed in some investigations. Thus, to say that words are generally longer in works A, B and C than in X, Y and Z is not meaningful unless we have a very clearly established idea of a possibly related aesthetic quality found mainly in A, B and C, or of the latter's derivation from a coherent common tradition or source, or the like. But such aesthetic qualities (other than those inherent in the long words themselves) are not always easy to define, so that statistical methods incline to drop into the service of ancillary trades like tracing authorship. But in the study of form per se the sensible states of "hereness" and "thereness" are themselves those very "other things" of correlated significance which had first to be found, and thus the analytical burden is lightened. The relation of position to rhythmic and compositional function has often been examined independently, or is more readily accessible to intuition, so that we often encounter a prepared foundation for formal studies. 5.3.6 Procedures in this investigation The present investigation argues against chance as the rival conjecture from the principle of congruity of patterns, from the structure of preference ranking, from the agreement of relative distribution with the expectations of rhythmic intuition, and from some corroborating evidence of phonetics and the psychology of rhythm and perception. Sometimes it is possible to demonstrate a point by citing actual frequencies higher than the calculable probability of the event. Stylistic interpretation of the distributions is far easier against the background of given rhythmic forms than statistical interpretations tend to be in less organized systems. Little mathematical processing is attempted or found necessary for the given purpose. Instead of formulae and indices we will find that "sheer data, usefully arranged, is about as good a kind of statistics as we can get." 31

Problems of Method in Verse Study

169

Refined sampling techniques have not been used since many of the samples were relatively large or exhaustive for the poets in question; in some cases less material has been found than might be wished, but a desired comparison obliged its use - for example, in comparing iambic and trochaic verses for a given poet, where one genus is not so common as the other. The exposition proceeds from the simplest and most general elements (proportions of stressed-vowel lengths) to the more complex (verse patterns and ditone flights), although in point of fact the investigation began at the median level of the verse Gestalt, as the most basic and characteristic unit of quantitative patterning. Notes 1 For Knauer, see Chapter section 3.3.4, p. 125. For Magnuson and Chisholm see Chapter section 1.8, p. 42. 2 International Journal of Slavic Linguistics and Poetics, 9 (The Hague, 1965), p. 128. 3 "An Objective Study of Syllabic Quantity in English Verse," PMLA, 34 (1919), p. 416. 4 "Phonological Patterning in German Verse," p. 8. 5 "Duration and Intensity as Physical Correlates of Linguistic Stress," Journ. Acoustical Society of Am., 27 (1955), p. 765. 6 Cited from Seymour Chatman, A Theory of meter, p. 88. 7 Allgemeine und angewandte Phonetik, pp. 170, 154. 8 Phonetics (New York, 1963), p. 80. 9 Sprachliche Musik in Goethes Lyrik, p. 9. 10 Traité général de versification Française, p. 240. 11 "The Sound Texture of Russian Verse," p. 117, fn. 3. 12 A Motor Theory of Rhythm and Discrete Succession, II, The Psychological Review, 12 (1905), p. 307. G.J.Whitrow declares that the tendency to kinaesthetic stimulation and self-perpetuation in rhythmic sets puts the nervous system into a state of expectancy ready for the appropriate discharge at the right moment; The Natural Philosophy of Time (New York, 1961), pp. 54-5. If at that moment a weak syllable appears it will still profit from the discharge. 13 German Pronunciation and Phonology (London, 1952), p. 85. 14 Newton, "Trochaic and Iambic," Language and Style, VIII (Spring, 1975), pp. 136-7, 150-1. 15 "High German Vowel Duration," Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, 20 (Cambridge, 1938), p. 199. This vowel is called "weak, lax and short" by Siebs, when in its typical position without word stress; Siebs. Deutsche Hochsprache, Helmut de Boor and Paul Diels, eds. (Berlin, 1958), p. 30. Moulton terms it a "very lax mid unrounded vowel," suggesting its relation to the other lax and short vowels; The Sounds of English and German (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1962), p. 67. 16 For the greater regularity of trochaic, see Newton, "Trochaic and Iambic," pp. 136-7, 150-52. 17 See Robert Brauer, Tonbewegung und Erscheinungsformen des sprachlichen Rhythmus. Profile des deutschen Blankverses (Berlin, 1964), p. 6, for other statements by Meyer and Gropp. 18 "Phonological Aspects of Style," in Style in Language (MIT, 1960), p. 117. Individual divergences of performance within a group may be studied in Seymour Chatman's A Theory of Meter (The Hague, 1965), p. 182.

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19 "Nominal and Verbal Style," in T. A.Sebeok, ed., Style in Language (MIT Press, 1960), p. 199. Yvor Winters has vigorously defended the view that in the writing and audible reading of poetry the poet and reader alike should be careful to make the metrical stress and the rhetorical or dramatic stress coincide as far as possible. For Winters, the strong authority of the metrical scheme is essential if occasional variations are to enjoy significant expressive force. See : "The Audible Reading of Poetry," in The Structure of Verse. Modern Essays on Prosody, Harvey Gross, ed. (Greenwich, Conn., 1966), pp. 140, 135. Since we propose an analysis of poetry and not of recitation, we can recall in this connection Roman Jakobson's opinion that the description of verse lines as actually performed is not of primary use in a synchronic or historical analysis of poetry ; "Closing Statement : Linguistics and Poetics," in Style and Language, p. 365. 20 "Die Theorie des Verses: ihre mathematischen Aspekte," in Mathematik und Dichtung, ed. Helmut Kreuzer and Rul Gunzenhäuser (München, 1965), p.225. 21 See Joseph C.Beaver, "Generative Metrics: The Present Outlook," Poetics, No. 12 (1974), pp. 7-48, for a review of the work in this area and a brief bibliography. 22 See Newton, "Trochaic and Iambic," pp. 127-56. 23 Although Dietrich Seckel rejects statistics in his study of Hölderlin, his statement on the purpose of rhythmic analysis applies well to their potential. "The actual problem and the most important task of a scientific analysis of rhythm arises to be sure only when it is a matter of freeing from their twilight the experiences of movement which are imparted to many people in full strength, but unclearly and purely by feeling, and of bringing them into the light of comprehension, credibility and evidence;" Hölderlins Sprachrhythmus (Leipzig, 1937), p. 71. 24 "Die Lautgestaltung in der Lyrik," Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft, 29 (1935), p. 195. 25 See: Russian Formalist Criticism: Four Essays. Translated and with an Introduction by Lee T. Lemon and Marion J. Reis (Lincoln, Nebraska, 1965), pp. 99-100. 26 Seckel, Hölderlins Sprachrhythmus, p. 80. 27 René Wellek, "Closing Statement," in Style in Language, p. 417. 28 Hymes, "Phonological Aspects of Style," p. 115. 29 Rebecca Posner, "The Use and Abuse of Stylistic Statistics," Archivum Linguisticum, 15 (1963), p. 112. See also C.F.P. Stutterheim, "Modern Stylistics," Lingua, 3 (1952-3), p. 52 ff. 30 W.K. Wimsatt, The Prose Style of Samuel Johnson (New Haven, 1941), cited from Seymour Chatman, "Linguistics, Poetics and Interpretation : The Phonemic Dimension," Quart. Journal of Speech, 43 (1957), p. 250. 31 Dell H. Hymes, "Phonological Aspects of Style," p. 115.

CHAPTER 6

Chronemes and Stress Points

ii — u u u— u -ii-

Was dem Auge dar sich stellet, Sicher glaubens wir zu schauen, Was dem Ohr sich zugesellet, Gibt uns nicht ein gleich Vertrauen

6.1 The eye and the ear

Perhaps the eye, confronted with structured hierarchies and guided by graphic schemes, will be more open to the understanding of novel rhythmic forms than the ear. Henry Lanz has also found graphic signs (such as our quantative scansions) useful in the analysis of poetry, since "this gives to the fleeting and evanescent phenomena of rhythm a stabilized existence for the eye. In other words, it helps us to transform certain auditory series into visual series."1 The rather limited faith in opinion voiced by Goethe's quatrain above will also have to serve as justification for the labor over detail undertaken. It is all too true that, in the glare of methodological gauges and cutlery, one's eye could grow blind to the delicate contours of the Muse's body, laid out so gracelessly on the obduction table. However, unless we have hideously miscalculated, she will be awakened again to more conscious life, more beauteous than ever in self-awareness of her rhythmic charms. The general notion to be elaborated throughout this chapter is the same as in part one, where it was demonstrated on a more traditional subject matter. It is that: 1. The distribution in poetry of at least some segmental phonemic features, and their positional repetition, is under the systematic influence of rhythmic vectors inherent in the given prosodic form as well as those innate in the personal rhythmic modes of poets, and that, conversely, 2. Information on their distribution opens to view some facts about general and personal rhythmic forms which we could not so economically discover in any other way.

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6.2 Iambic versus trochaic metric feet

Indeed, they might not even be available through acoustic experiment with the voices of the poets themselves, since some of the latter may lack the sheer physical ability to read aloud in accordance with their own rhythmic intuitions. Such positional influence is already known in the study of syntax to affect stress, pitch and juncture distributions, and, as Part I. showed, vowel qualities and their repetitions. Part II. demonstrates the principle with respect to vowel length. That it also effects consonant features (stops and continuants in particular) I have no doubt, but also no evidence yet gathered. To show conclusively how positional influence is felt by vowel length we must begin not with the individual poets; at this level it would be hard to prove that the distributions derive from personal rhythmic tempi sensed by the poet, since we have as yet no general standard of comparison; instead, we must begin at a level where we already know something specific and definite about tempo and length relationships, at the level of existing rhythmic research into foot, line and stanza. 6.2 Iambic versus trochaic metric feet Thus we know about iambic and trochaic "feet" that the former are measurably longer on the average than the latter. Ada L. F. Snell has found in English verse samples that the iambic foot averages 0.69 seconds in length and the trochaic 0.55, of which the stressed-syllable components occupy respectively 0.48 and 0.35 seconds.2 Earlier, Warner Brown had reported that in English verses iambic feet average in the 70's of centiseconds and trochaic in the 60's.3 At an even prior date (1899), A. S. Hurst and John McKay had already claimed that trochaic feet were shorter than the iambic, judging from experiments that involved finger-tapping correlated with verse-reading - to be sure a rather questionable method. Hurst and McKay's figures show iambic averaging 62.91 centi-seconds and trochaic 60.2.4 On the other hand, R.H. Stetson found in the case of nonsense syllables produced in isolation that the trochaic foot was longer than the iambic (0.61 versus 0.56 sec.). But this might well be due to the fact that in isolated feet the two separate lengthening factors, stress and period-finality, coincide in an iambic foot on the same syllable (the final one) and thus do not add separate components of length, while in trochaic feet they touch different syllables, each adding thus independently to the sum. In successive feet Stetson finds no such difference;5 here the trochaic thesis would be extended under the force of finality-lengthening only in the last foot. And Stetson himself has given, in a study of rhythm and rhyme,

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physiological reasons for the comparative shortening of the trochaic cycle: "It is interesting to note that the unaccented element of the trochee comes at the earlier part of the relaxation phase, where it must intensify the relaxation process, and tend to shorten the total length of the cycle."6 It is also generally found that in trochaic feet the ratio of the stressed to the unstressed syllable is considerably less than in iambic, indeed, that in trochaic feet the ictus is often shorter than the non-ictus. Thus the comparative brevity of trochaic feet is not traceable to proportionate shortening of both elements but to disproportionate shortening of the stressed element. A very early measurement (1871), using a kymograph attached mechanically to the lip of the speaker, was made by Ernst Brücke, who found that in trochaic verse: "The thesis is longer relative to the arsis than in iambic." 7 Hurst and McKay set the ratio of stressed to unstressed element in iambic at 2:1, in trochaic at 1.5:1.8 Warner Brown, working with nonsense syllables, found that the arsis/thesis ratio in trochaic verse was usually less than 1.0 (ranging from 0.46 to 1.04), while customarily more than 2.0 in iambic (range: 2.1 to 2.9).9 Using Ada Snell's average välues for total foot lengths and stressed syllable lengths we can derive arsis/thesis ratios of 1.75 for trochaic feet and 2.3 for iambic feet in English verse.10 Stetson has detected the same distinction in mechanically produced rhythms. 11 Herbert Woodrow conducted a quantitative study which showed, through the systematic variation of length, intensity and interval of sounds, that a beat was perceived as trochaic if the longer sound was only slightly longer than the shorter, other factors (interval and intensity) being equal. 12 He concludes that the slight excess of length is perceived not as length but as added intensity, with a consequent initiatory force, whereas in perceived iambic rhythms the greater difference in length of the second sound asserts its proper role of duration in resolving and finalizing the sound-group. Woodrow sums up: With a small difference in the absolute durations of the longer and shorter sounds the effect of intensity is comparatively great; but as the longer sound is increased more and more, the intensity difference between the two sounds becomes less and less relative to the difference in the duration between the two sounds. When the difference in duration is sufficiently increased, therefore, we find that the trochaic effect of intensity tends to disappear because of the iambic effect of duration, that is, we get trochaic rhythm with small ratios but tend more in the iambic direction with large ratios (the absolute duration of the short sound remaining constant.) 13 Woodrow had already shown that the effect of intensity is group-beginning, that is, that an intense sound tends to be grouped with the sound that

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6.2 Iambic versus trochaic metric feet

follows, while the effect of duration is group-ending. This had been demonstrated even earlier by Bolton. 14 Thus trochaicity is constituted by the apparently greater intensity of one sound - achieved by either actual intensity or slightly greater length while iambicity derives from the considerably greater length of one of the sounds. In iambic feet, of course, the sound of greater length will in addition be perceived as more intense (a well established law of perception) and will thus tend to create a secondary trochaicity - which must be suppressed by considerably increasing the length-ratio in order to reassert the long's group-ending function. Consequently, the long element of the iambic foot must be disproportionately longer. Another dynamic difference between the two metric genera is that the subordinate beat in iambic meter lies closer to, or is perceived as closer to, the following strong beat than is the case in trochaic meter, where the thesis seems relatively farther away from the preceding stronger sound in its own group. This effect is probably derivable in part from the difference in length ratios, where length is the varying factor, since, in iambic, a short element plus an open interval (followed by a second element) results in a shorter total interval from the beginning of the first element to that of the second than does, in trochaic, a longer first element plus the same open interval. Compare: (iambic) , (trochaic) IZ^II. In a study of perception, P. Fraisse points out in addition that, if in groups of two stimuli the second is most intense (iambic), the interval following the group seems lengthened by "the final process coalescing in some way with that of the interval" ; 15 while if the first stimulus is most intense the group-following interval is shortened. This, then, correspondingly reduces or increases the relative length of the interval within the group. R.H. Stetson confirms the phenomenon and explains it physiologically : The short element in the trochee is at some distance from the accented element because it occurs after the pulse of the accent; all the muscle sets have given a heavy beat and some time is required before the mobile sets, though they work continuously, can produce the subordinate beat. The short element of the trochee is heavier (and therefore longer) than the short element of the iamb, because it occurs in a part of the group movement where the muscles as a whole are more or less tense. The short element of the iamb is very light (and therefore very brief) and very near to the accented element, because it occurs before the accented element and is therefore in a part of the group-movement where the tensions are least (poised conditions of the slower muscles just before the beat), and as there is only the relaxation from its own light movement to intervene before the accent, the interval separating it from the accent is very short. 16

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Woodrow's experiments with rhythmic configuration also revealed that: No subject was found, in this investigation of rhythm produced by variations in duration only, who in any case obtained iambic rhythm from any series of sounds, the intervals between the beginnings of which are equal. As long as the intervals between the beginnings of the sounds are equal, the rhythm becomes more and more trochaic with an increase in the ratio of duration of the longer to that of the shorter. 17 In other words, as long as the smallest interval is that between the end of the long and the beginning of the short (instead of vice versa, which would be the iambic relationship) trochaic rhythms can accomodate large ratios of long and short elements. And even where the smaller interval is between the end of the short and beginning of the long (iambic relationship) it is still possible for the group to seem trochaic, that is, for the short to sound more accented than the long due to its initial position and the resultant gift of intensity. Obviously the factors of stress (by initial position, intensity, duration) are more evenly distributed among iambic elements, making it more sensitive to changes of ratio; consequently, to maintain its character, the long in iambic must be quite long and the preceding subordinate beat must be drawn up in greater proximity. The iambic meter is thus in some sense less natural, if we mean by that less easy to propagate mechanically. Robert Macdougall claims: "When the accent is initial, or occurs early in the group, a larger number of elements can be held together in a simple rhythmic structure than can be coordinated if the accent be final or come late in the series."18 And also: "The initial accent gives incomparably greater coordination and perfection to the forms of uttered (produced) rhythm than does the final."19 Hence the initial stress in musical measures. On the other hand, the sensitivity and instability of iambic rhythm probably permits a greater variety of interesting dynamic interrelationships than does trochaic, one reason perhaps that poets in more recent times have preferred it, in particular for dramatic and epic forms. Another reason is the compatibility of iambic metering with the distribution of accents in the phrasing of Germanic languages. Naturalness of propagation may vary with the material, the given relative syllabic lengths and stresses in a language. The dynamic differences outlined above help to clarify the distinction in affective tone between the two meters, about which there is some difference of opinion - including the opinion, cherished by "musical" scanners, that there is no difference at all but an initial upbeat. Hermann Bohm urges this view: that all alternating meter is essentially trochaic, analogous to the placement of beats in a musical measure, and that iambic meter simply

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6.2 Iambic versus trochaic metric feet

adds an Auftakt.20 Heusler agrees in part, pointing out that both types can accomodate in their verses either iambic or trochaic cola (rhythmic units taken in isolation from the overriding scheme). But Heusler admits that, just as in musical rhythm, the upbeat does make some difference: "The contrast of the two classes which can be apprehended lies in the verse beginning: upbeat or not." 21 That the difference extends beyond this point is not implied. More recently Robert Brauer has given new impetus to the notion, adding that single iambic or trochaic feet have no rhythmic status at all, much less any rhythmic peculiarities.22 A new approach to the problem was suggested by the assumptions of the generative metrical theory first laid out by Morris Halle and Samuel Jay Keyser.23 This theory consists of a metrical pattern for a genus of verse (e.g. iambic pentameter, trochaic tetrameter) supplemented by a hierarchy of correspondence rules spelling out the variations permissible in verbally realizing the strong and weak positions in the metrical scheme. The metrical scheme for iambic allows for zero filling of the first slack and the scheme for trochaic permits an optional extrametrical slack at the beginning. The schemes must provide for such realizations, since they in fact occur, but as a consequence it is impossible to distinguish structurally between the two metra; ultimately one must recur to statistical evidence to determine the genus of an individual work. Dudley L. Hascall has dealt directly with the implications of this theory for trochaic meter. He finds that most of the conditions of position realization that apply to iambic meter apply also to trochaic, although he did not discover the common iambic line-beginning (' x x ') in trochaic, nor verses ending with a postmetrical syllable (double thesis in final foot). 24 I have found that these apparent structural differentiae also do not hold, 25 so that at the present the generative theory does not clarify, much less explain the difference between the two meters. Dynamic factors, however, such as those reported on above, do indeed suggest reasons for some of Hascall's findings, such as the apparently greater frequency of stress maxima (a stressed syllable between two less stressed syllables) in trochaic, which can be attributed to the intensity-dependence of trochaic meter, as well as the latter's relative paucity of variant position realizations, that probably stems from trochaic's insistence on regularized beat intervals.26 It seems to me that the musical and generative lines of thought simply overlook the experimental findings here outlined which long ago decided the issue generally. It is true that, in rhythms of language, fluctuations may occur between one metric type and the other, especially in long lines such as those cited by Bohm, and that some passages may seem indeterminate; but that there is no rhythmic difference where the one or the other is formally prescribed seems very unlikely. Many authors, of course, have remarked on phenomenological contrasts,

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Wolfgang Kayser, for example, calls the iambic "softer, more gliding and restrained" (weicher, gleitender und verhaltener) compared with the more "inflexible and rigid" trochee (spröder und starrer)?1 The most conventional metaphor, of course, describes iambic as ascending (or rising) and trochaic as descending (or falling). Otto Jespersen tries to draw from the image itself some linguistic sustenance by saying that iambic, going from thesis to arsis, seems "to move more rapidly" because "there is a universal inclination to hurry up to a summit, but once the top is reached one may linger longer in the descent." Jespersen describes the distinctive features of iambic and trochaic as, respectively, "rapidity, ease of going on from line to line without a break on the one hand, - and on the other slowness, heaviness, a feeling of finality at the end of each line .. ." 28 Ludwig Dietz may have meant this putative slowness and heaviness when he described trochaic meter as "sad" (traurig),29 but Paul Goodman must hear something else when he insists that "any trochaic rhythm is rapid, for the foot is short, and there is a touch of energy at the beginning." 30 Of the same persuasion is R.H. Stetson, for whom trochaic is "buoyant" and iambic "heavy": The characteristic affective tone of the simple rhythm must be due to the type of movement of the unit groups. The short element of the iamb occurs at a point in the general movement-cycle where it acts as a sort of anticipating stimulus and serves to emphasize the accented beat; the contrast, too, between the light short and heavy long element is greater than that of any other group. Perhaps this has something to do with the heavy, definite, final character of the iamb. The short element of the trochee occurs during the earlier part of the relaxation process at a point where it must stimulate this relaxation, and tend to shorten the total group-movement. This may be a clue for the reason of the buoyant, non-final character of the trochee. 31 Warner Brown has noted (a point remarked on by others; see Sec. 4.6) that speeding up the tempo of rhythm generally results in decreasing the ratio of the stressed to the unstressed element,32 so that one might also expect the converse: that the lessened arsis/thesis ratio of trochaic verse will increase its apparent tempo. Indeed, Brown mentions a small, but in his opinion insignificant, measured "tendency to acceleration in trochaic rhythm." 33 Clearly these observers, often at odds (is trochaic fast or slow?), must be talking of different metric features or have quite different examples in mind. For instance, "quickness" might reside in the lesser interval between iambic's thesis and following arsis; but it might be oppositely heard in trochaic's overall shorter foot, its shorter ictus and the quicker relaxation of its stressed beat. "Softness", less rigidity, could inhere in iambic's flexible, less uniform intervals between beginnings of successive stresses

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6.3 Vowel distribution by metric genus

and theses; but "heaviness" might be found instead, in the strongly resolving final character of the long element at the end of the iambic foot. Equally clearly, individual species of trochaic or iambic verse, written by various authors in changing moods, may convey more or less "rapidity" or "heaviness". Here concrete phonological and syntactic circumstances will be decisive. In Woodrow's very important study of meter, the relative length of ictus and non-ictus plays an important role, and it is especially in the variations of this feature, as produced by contrasted syllable lengths, that we may find grounds for the phenomenon of variant dynamisms. Apropos the purported insistence, rigidity, monotony or markedness of trochaic meter, 34 we might point out that the relative shortness of the trochaic foot, and of its stressed as opposed to unstressed element, along with the requirement to maintain equal intervals between their onsets (rigidity, monotony), would all seem to be in opposition to the relationships in natural spoken languages (thus markedness), where unstressed elements will not have comparable length and intervals will not need to be so regularly maintained. Iambic would seem to be closer to conversational language, since its stressed syllables are allowed fuller extension. Furthermore, the role of relative intensity as a group-beginning property requires that this stress component (the others are pitch and duration) be more encouraged in trochaic than in iambic verse, thus lending the quality of insistence. Iambic seems thus more natural as speech, trochaic more natural as metered rhythm. In language now, within the ictic element or syllable itself, it is in turn the nucleus, usually a vowel, which constitutes the most variably extensible segment and thus the one most sensitive to and responsible for these dynamic changes. This brings us to our primary argument that the most general distribution of long and short vowels over metric genera and verse-positions can be causally accountedfor as an accommodation to the basic length relationships required by the dynamics of the different metric forms and positions (understood as extralinguistic forms, producible also by stimuli such as tones, lights, taps, electric shocks, etc.). The inverse corollary is that, where authors or poems modify these general vowel-length distributions, the result, for the reader, is mechanically bound to be a modification in tempo, ductus or dynamic affect departing from the more "naturaV forms of the meter.

6.3 Vowel distribution by metric genus These arguments anticipate the findings of our statistical study that iambic verse prefers a long stressed vowel, overall, and trochaic verse a short one, though the biases are not large (see Tables 6.1 and 6.2). But since

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this relationship is found in a majority of poets studied, it is presumably a causal one, related to the dynamics just outlined. It is significant that this correlation is not found in analogous prose forms that are "quasi-verse", see p. 392-3). For the length ratio of a long-voweled ictic syllable to its partner thesis will, of course, be greater than that of a short-voweled ictus, and thus the statistical vowel biases found in verse correspond to our prior knowledge of those ratios in iambic and trochaic rhythms in general. In addition, the short-voweled ictus contributes to the known shorter length of the trochaic foot as a whole. In order to sense concretely the difference in dynamism, we might compare verse instances which contain those configurations of stressed vowels that differ most between the two meters. Thus, a verse-series of all short stresses ranks in fourth place by frequency in trochaic verse, but falls to fifteenth (of sixteen forms) in iambic. This is the greatest such difference for any configuration. On the other hand, the sequence long-long-short-long ( — u - ) ranks first in iambic and ninth in trochaic, the greatest discrepancy in the other sense. The two higher choices must be very characteristic of their respective metrical genera: Trochaic (u u u u)

Fängt von selber an zu klingen

Iambic

So stehn die Bauern um die Leiche (Rilke)

(— u -)

(Heine)

Reversing the combinations tends to reduce the rhythmic difference between the forms, a reason perhaps for the resulting dispreference. Compared with those above, the trochaic verse below seems somewhat inhibited and the iambic rather strenuously staccato. Trochaic ( - - u - )

Jeden Pfad will ich betreten

(Goethe)

Iambic

Ich denke immer an die Alte

(Heine)

(u u u u)

Of course, our argument is that the two different meters, when firmly established, have quite different dynamics (length and interval relationships), so that in context a change of quantitative sequence in a single verse cannot produce a really alien trochaicity or iambicity. Nevertheless, trochaic verse with a plethora of long vowels, for example in Hölderlin, takes on a character differing from the more typical body of trochaic verse. Deine liebste Blüte regne, Wo du wandelst, auf die Flur, - u — Wo dein Auge weilt, begegne Dir das Lächeln der Natur! -u — - Hölderlin, Einer abwesenden Freundin

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6.3 Vowel distribution by metric genus

Incidentally, the quantitative parallelism of lines 1,3 and 2,4 is a kind of submerged symmetry of rhythm which has remained undetected before. The iambic preference for long vowels shows up most strongly in tetrameter verse, but pentameter shows it also. On rhythmic grounds we would expect that the distinction between iambic and trochaic feet would be lessened at interior points in the longer pentameter verse, especially after the caesura, i.e. frequently in stress three, since in rhythmic reality pentameter allows a looser mixture of foot-types. The total figures for all stress points of all verses comprehended in the study are: Table 6.1 Total Stressed-vowel Lengths by Metrical Genus Trochaic Tetrameter Iambic Tetrameter Iambic Pentameter

50.71 % 51.71 % 50.36 %

Short Long Long

Since sample sizes of the different poets were various, a better indication may be given by the average overall of the individual percentages found in each poet : Table 6.2 Average of Lengths of Individual Samples Trochaic Tetrameter Iambic Tetrameter Iambic Pentameter

50.23 % 51.72 % 50.50 %

Short Long Long

The overall tendency of trochaic to short appears weaker than that of iambic to long, but this is primarily because of the large percentages of long vowels in the final stresses of even trochaic verse. Otherwise the trochaic stress-points are short, the first stress strongly so, the second weakly, the third more strongly again. In iambic verse, the first two stresses are long, contrary to trochaic usage, while the last two stresses show the same clausula sequence of short plus long. The clearest differentiation of the types thus occurs at the outset, in order to establish the metric form. Another contributing reason for trochaic's less prominent bias is that relatively more poets in our sampling seem to write overall long trochaic verse (Gerhardt, Heym, Hölderlin) than write short iambic (Gryphius). This usage in turn probably results from the circumstance that relative syllable length difference (arsis/thesis) is far more crucial for iambs than for trochees. As Woodrow's study showed, trochaic meter is less sensitive than is iambic (given other factors) to length-ratio differences between strong and weak elements. Trochaic verse can therefore better use longvoweled syllables to start its groups (by force of perceived intensity) than iambic can use short-voweled syllables to end its own (by force of length). Fewer poets seem able to resist this mechanical necessity.

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The dynamic nature of long-voweled trochaic verse, this not uncommon subspecies, will be conditioned then by the generic urge of trochaic meter to approximately equalize the length of stressed and non-stressed elements, and to keep them at more equal intervals. In trochaic verse, thus, the appearance of long-voweled stresses tends to force lengthening of the theses, or, alternately, a restraint must be applied to the length of the given long vowels. In the former case the result may be a heavy, staccato, rigidly dragging motion, while the latter case may appear as a forced acceleration. In either case a compulsion of meter against word will be felt, and of course in both forms the long stresses also receive double subjective stress - that of beginning a group and that of relative length. The comparative metrical rigidity of long-voweled trochaic would in part derive from its unvariant dominant accent on the first group syllable. Woodrow notes that there are no exceptions to the perception of accent on a long sound beginning a group, whereas a long sound ending a group may lose its accent to the shorter beginning syllable.35 A further indication of the differing inherent preference for vowel length among the two meters is that, in the total of the verse-figure frequency rankings (see Tables 8.1 ff., Chap. 8) and very often among individual poets, a predominance of one length in a figure is generally a ground for preference or dispreference. Thus in iambic the figures ( - - u - ) and ( ) are greatly preferred and figures (u u - u) and (u u u u) are dispreferred. In trochaic the situation is not so clear, but (u u u -), (u u u u) and (u - u u), all at a high level, are separated by a considerable saltus from the multiple long-stress figures below them. One can conceive of a ranking principle which would maintain approximately the same proportion of long and short throughout the different levels and thus not reveal this structural characteristic. The total iambic and trochaic tetrameter ranking (Table 8.1) does something like this.36 In the individual poets, we usually find that the top quarter or half of the verse-figure ranking tables show a greater predominance of one length than does the table overall. Thus in Goethe the top half of the trochaic tetrameter figure table represents a subsample of (preferred) verses whose stresses average 62% short. In Heine the corresponding top half is 66% short, in Trakl 55.4%, all percentages much higher than the respective averages for the whole tables. In iambic verse, likewise, Goethe's top eight figure sub-sample is 57.7% long, Heine's is 66 % long, Trakl 58 % and Rilke 64.3%. This indicates that a relatively large number of shorts or longs in a quantitative configuration is a strong criterion of preference (resp. for trochaic and iambic), although as we shall see not an irresistible one. An interesting comparable phenomenon emerges from the study of siress-distribution in the non-accentual

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6.3 Vowel distribution by metric genus

meter of Russian tetrameter verse. Here, the trochaic verse of Lomonosov contains only 32% of four-stress lines, whereas his iambic has 71%. 37 That lines with all potential stress-points realized are much more common in the Russian iambic could be due, we might speculate, to the attendant secondary lengthening of a stressed syllable, a lengthening which is less compatible with the preferred trochaic element-ratio within the foot. The most frequently appearing configurations in a sample are, of course, the ones most likely to condition our impression of the form as a whole, to suggest its archetype to our form-intuition. 6.3.1 Onomatopoeia and vowel accommodation It is quite noteworthy that onomatopoetic inventions often respect these length relationships of elements in trochaic and iambic feet, by controlling the length of the vowels. In a phrase such as bimbambum, which is trochaic, the relatively greater phonological length of low vowels (here a) with respect to the relatively shorter high vowels (here i and u) - see Chapter section 4.5.2 - will keep the intentionally percussive ictic elements (b'im, bum) as short as possible with respect to the thesis (bam). In the more resonating form bimbaum the thesis (baum), with a diphthong, is even potentially phonologically longer than the ictus, a state of affairs which is quite permissible in trochaic so long as the proper stress interval and intensity differential is maintained. An iambic accommodation is found in pardâutz, where the necessarily long second element of iambic is guaranteed by the diphthong. Here a phonologically very long sound is needed to compete with the lengthening effect of r in the preceding thesis (see Chapter section 4.5.3). Long iambic stresses are also found in the open syllables of "juchhé, juchhéi, juchhû." Ticktack will adapt to either trochaic or iambic reading, since the first syllable can dominate by initial intensity (then trochaic) or the second by relative length of the a (then iambic). Goethe has shown the flexibility of such relationships by adapting the resonant bell sound "Bum Baum" to an iambic position (in "Parabel", line 40). The diphthong makes conversion to a long iambic stress quite easy, and writing Baum as a separate word (as Goethe does) signals the stress shift to the reader and adds the surplus length that monosyllables enjoy vis-à-vis disyllables. It is particularly significant that Otto Jespersen has unconsciously succumbed to this principle of vowel-length relationships in his choice of the word didùm to mimic the iambic foot and dùmda the trochaic. 37 The high vowel i will again be somewhat shorter than the low vowel a (also extended by appearing in a final open syllable), so that the length ratio of ictic dtim to unstressed di will be greater (iambic) than the ratio of ictic dûm to unstressed da (trochaic.) Wilhelm Busch is one of the most active onomatopoets. The relative

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183

short-long contrast in i-a and u-a seems to play a role in his phrases Ritzeracke, Richeracke, Knusper Knasper, etc., which always occupy an initial or final ditone (dipode) in trochaic tetrameter. 37 b Here we are not dealing with relationships within a foot, but with what we will call (Chapter 7) a transition element, a relation of vowel length in two sequent feet. We will see (Chapter section 7.7) that a short-long sequence [S-L] is the preferred transition element in trochaic tetrameter verse, and, within the limits imposed by the expressively desired short vowels in these phrases, the sequences i-a or u-a come closest to permitting this contrast. 6.4 Vowel distribution for total sample It would be useful to have as a base the length-distribution of stressed vowels for the language as a whole, in order to measure the degree of variation from it of different metric forms. Unfortunately, no such figures seem to exist other than the unsatisfactory ones derived from Kaeding (see Chapter 3, Table 3.2), which do not discriminate long and short. E. and K. Zwirner counted long and short vowels as phonemic elements of a whole text, without taking stress into consideration. They found 26.1% short, 4.73% long, 4.37% overlong, the percentages being of all phonemes. 38 Marguerite Durand has found, in the languages she has studied, that the short vowels generally outnumber the long.39 Obviously, general figures would be very difficult to arrive at, since a criterion for stress occurrence or sufficiency would be harder to define in prose or conversational speech than in poetry. And with what mode of language should we compare poetry - with conversation, or with narrative or discursive prose, which could all conceivably have different distributions? The distribution in the lexicon would be even more meaningless, since it is not subject to the factors of word-frequency, level of usage or to the rhythmic influences of uttered language. In the poetry we have studied the balance is very close, with longs constituting a bit less than 51% of the total. The figure found for the grand total of all verses (which is weighted toward trochaic) is 50.55% long, while the average of the separate averages for the three metrical forms is 50.92% long, and the average of the iambic and trochaic averages is 50.98% long. A comparison is at least possible with the figures for free verse given in Chapter 3 (Table 3.2), which shows about 50.8% long, not far from the figure for iambic pentameter. Without some way of coping with nonpoetic distributions, for comparison's sake, we can only speculate that this rather even balance is at least encouraged in poetry by the tendency of metrically group-initial stresses to be shorter and of group-final stresses to be longer.

184

6.5 Vowel distribution by stress number

The comparatively greater necessity for the latter relationship might account for the imbalance toward long. 6.5 Vowel distribution by stress number

The figures for the individual stress numbers in the different types of line bring out clearly the above mentioned factors of position preference. The phenomenon of measurably different lengths at different points of a rhythmic structure has already been noted by Robert Macdougall : "There can be no question that each metrical structure, the iambic trimeter or dactylic tetrameter line, for example, composes a definite rhythmical melody within which each measure is shortened or prolonged, subdued or emphasized, according to its position and connections in the series of relations which constitute the rhythmical sequence." 40 Acoustic measurements and experiments on perception have on numerous occasions revealed distinctions in the rhythmic treatment or perception of different foot-positions in the verse. The statistical work of the Russian Formalists on stress realization also supports the view that each foot of a verse has its own structural peculiarities.41 The following tables (6.3 and 6.4) give percentages of long and short vowels found in the various feet of the different forms in general and in the verse of individual poets. The figures in bold-face type are long, those in standard type short. Table 6.3 contains figures for : (1.) total and individual feet of tetrameter verse as a single sample; (2.) total trochaic and total iambic tetrameter verse as single samples; (3.) sample averages of foot percentages and total percentages over all the poets as individual samples ; (4.) total percentage and foot percentages for the individual tetrameter poets. Table 6.4 contains: (1.) total for whole pentameter sample and for individual feet in total sample; (2.) averages over the total percentages and individual foot percentages of poets as separate samples; (3.) total and foot percentages for individual poets. The trochaic tetrameter sample consists of 6677 verses distributed as follows: Eichendorff (1183), Gerhardt (996), Goethe (1061), Gryphius (507), Heine (1024), Heym (861), Hölderlin (665), Trakl (380). In the iambic tetrameter sample are 4123 verses: Eichendorff (554), Gerhardt (449), Goethe (432), Gryphius (487), Heine (949), Heym (359), Rilke (516), Trakl (377). Iambic pentameter contains 3290 verses : Eichendorff (562), Heine (587), Heym (540), Hölderlin (267), Rilke (623), Trakl (711).

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Table 6.3. Percentage Vowel-Length Distribution by Stress Point (Boldface indicates preference for long vowels; otherwise short). Total All Feet

1'

2'

3'

4'

1. Total Tetrameter Sample

50.52

51.14

50.70

51.11

53.62

2. Total Trochaic Sample

50.71

53.82

50.59

52.09

53.66

Total Iambic Sample

51.71

51.56

51.98

50.13

53.41

50.23

53.42

50.24

52.29

54.88

51.72

52.25

51.29

50.64

53.89

3. Average of Separate Samples: Trochaic Sample Iambic Sample

6.5.1 The verse-final stress Table 1. reveals clearly that the most outspoken demand is for lengthening of the verse-final stressed vowel (and probably, thence, of the whole stress and foot). This corresponds to what is known to psychologists as the "finality feature," the gradual dying out at the end of a unit or period. As we shall see, there is a great deal of existent evidence for this effect, in units ranging from words up to stanzas. We mentioned in discussing the nature of vowel length the experimental fact that vowels in monosyllabic words are longer than those beginning polysyllabic ones (which are farther from the end).42 At a higher level, Wilhelm Appel has recorded the lengthening of short vowels "at the end of a speech unit," 43 and Hans Joachim Brandstádter likewise finds that "the slowing of the speech tempo at the end of the syntagmas can be noted in the longer vowel duration." 44 The extension of the last stressed or unstressed syllable in a verse is well-documented. Most recently, Seymour Chatman has done a kymograph of an iambic nonsense line, showing the last stressed syllable 33-40% longer than the other stresses.45 Stetson's earlier measurements of iambic tetrameter rhythm found the "finality form" of the last accented element "not comparable to" (i.e. greater than) the other elements.46 The function of this form is to establish, by a longer pause, the "unity of the verse", and it seems to indicate the "dying out" of the intensity factor. 47 Amos R. Morris also discovered the lengthening of the final stress,48 and, in measur-

186

6.5 Vowel distribution by stress number

Table 6.3.4 Individual Poets: Total and by Foot for Different Genera and Stanzas

Poet and Form Gerhardt, total troch.: Gerhardt, ABAB rhyme: Gerhardt, AABB rhyme: Gryphius, all rhymes: Gryphius, ABAB rhyme: Gryphius, AABB rhyme: Goethe Hölderlin, Total: Hölderlin, ABAB rhyme: Eichendorff, Total: Eichendorff, ABAB rhyme: Heine Rilke Heym Trakl

TROCHAIC Total 1' 2' 3' All Feet

4'

IAMBIC: 1' 2' Total All Feet

3'

4'

50.35

50.30 51.41 52.11 55.22

50.10

50.60 53.20 52.20 55.60

50.81

50.00 50.40 52.42 55.24

52.72

50.33 53.67 51.20 55.68

50.35

51.48 52.66 50.69 53.45

51.28

51.95 50.31 54.00 51.13

52.19

52.92 52.08 51.25 52.50

50.35

50.88 51.94 57.95 57.60

50.94

50.19 53.18 50.19 57.30

52.57

55.88 51.96 51.47 57.84

51.84 54.85

55.36 51.23 50.99 50.14 56.84 54.29 50.23 58.05

52.03

53.70 51.62 52.08 54.86

55.04

56.78 54.46 51.74 57.17

50.61

52.62 51.69 50.75 50.75

51.10

52.09 50.61 51.84 51.10

51.98 53.54 51.53 52.59

50.37 54.26 57.66 51.72

53.03

59.18 51.37 51.37 50.20

51.28 50.13

52.03 52.26 52.38 57.26 58.27 50.92 56.96 63.78

54.90 51.74 51.81 50.93

53.00 50.39 52.65 50.93

50.37 58.53 50.70 60.48

ing whole foot-lengths (in blank verse), came to the conclusion that the existence of a typical line-pattern of feet - with the last foot the longest was one of the most consistent results of his readings.49 The ««accented syllable in final segments, taken separately, has also been found longer, by Paul Verrier.50 To this final-lengthening effect are to be ascribed various anomalies

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Table 6.4. Percentage Vowel-Length Distribution in Pentameter Verse Total All Feet 1. Whole Pentameter Sample 50.36 2. Average of Separate Samples 50.50

y

2'

3'

4'

5'

53.59 53.78

51.28 51.28

50.52 50.51

53.43 53.96

53.54 54.46

53.93 51.42 53.49 53.45 59.62 50.77

50.96 53.65 51.45 50.40 52.22 50.21

50.94 51.25 50.26 51.04 52.22 51.76

56.93 53.56 53.32 52.17 50.55 57.24

60.30 50.89 52.13 56.50 57.59 55.41

3. Poets: Hölderlin Eichendorff Heine Rilke Heym Trakl

51.16 51.59 50.73 51.43 53.33 50.61

observed in actual verse forms. The association of a following pause with lengthening explains, according to A.W. de Groot, those cases in Greek and Latin prosody where brevia are accepted in long elements before caesura or verse-end (the so-called brevis in longo) and are either actually or apparently lengthened.51 Andreas Heusler notes for Germanic freefilled verse forms: "In the verse conclusion the lengthening of the penultimate lift persists for a long time ... even where the interior measures can no longer be filled with a monosyllable." 52 The Serbo-Croation decasyllable verse form tends to long phonemes in the last accentable syllable (the ninth), while in Bulgarian - which has lost the opposition of long and short syllables - the corresponding verse form tends to evoke a drawling of this ninth syllable in recitation. 53 But not only increased length, with its "calming" quality, is found as a characteristic sign of a rhythmic end-segment. The sense of finality may be produced also by a heavy, end-marking accent, deriving from some factor which receives emphasis or attracts attention. According to Stetson: "The heavy accent at the close seems not only to mark the event, but to release quickly all the tension of the movement." 54 As a consequence, in Russian binary verse, which is primarily a syllabic meter, the only obligatory stress is on the last foot. 55 A. W. de Groot asserts that in German as in Dutch verse the last stress has the highest average intensity.56 Macdougall reports that the subjects in his experiments on rhythm remarked on the necessity of accent on the last beat of trochaic periods. 57 This may be due to the fact that, since the arsis/thesis ratio of trochaic is small, the possibility of relative length as the finalizing moment in the last foot is not so readily given: or to the phenomenon that a slight lengthening would more likely make itself known as

188

6.5 Vowel distribution by stress number

stress. The ictus of the last trochaic foot must also assert itself against finality lengthening of the final thetic syllable, which could threaten the foot with iambicity. In French Alexandrines, a schematically syllabic meter, Franz Saran finds that "lifts" are heaviest before the caesura and the verse end. 58 This final accent, of course, will often coincide (at least in many languages) with the phrase accents of the verse, as dictated by syntactical units. Phrase accent will have, as an important component, a pitch obtrusion. But though the pitch level of the final stressed vowel may rise initially above the line of the previous ones, the course of the pitch within this vowel may be falling - due to the necessity of realizing a falling final pitch-juncture at the syntactical unit's end. This effect has been found in sentences, at least, by Adalbert Maack. His experiments show that, although generally stressed vowels (73%) have a rising inner Melodieverlauf and unstressed vowels (90%) a falling one, at the end of a sentence the stressed vowels may also be falling; in fact, 69% do as opposed to 29% elsewhere. At the beginning of a sentence, contrarily, even unstressed vowels tend to rise, and the stressed vowels rise more frequently (88 %) than they do elsewhere (73%). 59 All these findings obviously correlate with, and the argument is that they cause, the rather strong preference we have found for a long vowel in the final stress of a verse line. Three factors are thus involved: 1. The long vowel is by its nature (see Section 4.2) more easily extensible and thus can accommodate more adequately the rhythmic requirement for finality lengthening. 2. Since stressing in language usually includes a component of lengthening, the long vowel can also with the least comparative effort (with a lesser pitch or intensity component) accommodate to a requirement for finality accent. This is because the long vowel increases disproportionately more under stress than the short. 60 3. Finally, if it is true, as Durand argues, that long vowels have in general a falling melodic course as opposed to the rising of shorts, then long vowels would by nature be more compatible with the falling pitch of stressed final vowels found by A. Maack. 61 Obviously, a still very large percentage of the verses studied do end with a stressed short vowel. But in these cases the finality feature which can best assert itself is that of accent, not length per se or, perhaps, falling pitch. Of course, even a short vowel will increase in actual length at the verse-end; it is simply not so efficient. Since now duration is more important for stress than is intensity, and pitch more so than duration, 62 the short vowel can compete with the long in point of finality only by a considerably greater volume of intensity or a slightly greater rise in pitch. Hence, although the verse ending on a stressed short vowel will undoubtedly achieve the desired

Chronemes and Stress Points

189

finalization, it will do so in a relatively more emphatic or high-pitched manner, a circumstance that cannot escape our rhythmic sensibilities and that may also lend itself to expressive use. 6.5.2 Collocation of rhythmic features and substantial words Before going any further we should consider the possibility that an alternative explanation for the distributions found could be sought for in the interaction of various other distributions within the language. For example, we might try to show that rhyme words (those bearing final stress) tend to be semantically "substantial" ones - usually in the grammatical categories of verb, noun, descriptive adjective and adverb and that, as an independent fact, such notional words tend to have long vowels. Or for the verse as a whole we might determine that specific grammatical categories tend to be collocated with specific stress positions, and, in addition, also tend to have specific length preferences. I have made a pilot check into this phenomenon, using about 250 trochaic tetrameter verses of Goethe, Holderlin and Eichendorff, equally divided among the two quantitative figures: (u - u -) and its opposite ( - u - u). Percentages of notional words in the stress points are as follows: Table 6.5.2 Goethe Hölderlin Eichendorff

(u - u 1' 11.0 34.3 23.3

( - U - -u)

2' 57.0 58.7 67.7

3' 55.0 78.3 67.7

4' 87.0 78.3 83.7

1' 39.0 66.0 52.5

2' 75.0 50.0 72.5

3' 57.0 84.0 75.0

4' 98.0 66.0 88.5

The table does not clearly indicate that, for the sample studied, when a stress is to be filled by a long vowel it more easily bears a notional word (compare the two figures), but it does show that in this sample notional words do not fall so frequently on the first stress of trochaic and do fall most frequently on the last stress of both configurations (compare the stress points). The latter effect must clearly derive from the requirements placed on rhyme-words - that they function as semantic and syntactical "resting points," presenting images capable of standing in isolation. The conclusion for this table would seem to be that long stresses are more frequently "notional" than short, by a slight amount (about 6%), but that it is indeterminate whether this derives from the structure of the lexicon or already shows the effect of rhythmic selection to fill a specific quantitative form. However, many more verses, configurations and poets would have to be studied to confirm even this table, and the idea would have to be refined of what constitutes a "substantial" as opposed to a functional or relational

190

6.5 Vowel distribution by stress number

word, and whether this distinction properly isolates the vividly representational words. This definition alone is a problematic link in the argument. If, indeed, the position of substantial words in a verse is a primary rhythmic consideration and quantitative figuration only secondary then, of the following verses, a. and c. should sound more similar (with substantial words on 2' and 4') than a. and b. (which only share the same vowel-length figure), with the same holding true of b. and d. as opposed to c. and d. (u - u - ) (-u-u)

a. b. c. d.

Um die Hügel und das Tal Trink ich nun Vergessenheit Wo der Bach vorüberrinnt Schau ich oft und grüße dich

(2' and (1' and (2'and (1' and

4' subst.) 3' subst.) 4'subst.) 3' subst.)

But these comparisons recall primarily the important rhythmic role of dipodic accent. Figures a. and c. show a coincidence on 2' and 4' of dipodic accent plus substantial word, whereas in b. and d. there is some tension between these two types of accent, tending to level all the stresses. Possibly we could assume that dipodic accents tend to fall more frequently on 2' and 4' and that thus both long vowels and substantial words, which can best bear such emphasis, are consequently especially encouraged at those points. The correlation of long vowel and substantial word at other stress points would then often be explicable as a corresponding shift of the dipodic accents. Hence our explanation would be a specifically rhythmic one, with no direct lexical correlation between length and substantiality. The poet tends at certain points to choose words with both these qualities, but only in order to better fit a rhythmic requirement. A general methodological difficulty in trying to correlate lexical distributions with rhythmic distributions in point of quantity is our inability to isolate independently the sphere or universe of words drawn on by the poet. Distributions in the poet's prose are not relevant since it will contain numerous words the poet would never dream of using in poetry. Many words, for external reasons of sound similarity, will occur more frequently in rhyme position than elsewhere. The relative frequency of other words will probably vary between lyric, epic, dramatic and perhaps other categories of verse, which in turn are often tied to specific forms. We would thus want to limit considerably the lexical sample, to words actually available for the specific purpose, i.e. ones demonstrably found in poetry, and one could then legitimately ask if the sample's quantitative distribution by grammatical category is not in fact already a function of rhythmic considerations in the sample poems, which are constantly operative while the lexical sphere is in the very process of being defined - rather than the lexical sphere's being initially given as an abstract realm of possibilities, before the rhythmic factor becomes effective in selection. In

Chronemes and Stress Points

191

other words, prior rhythmic requirements of the form help to structure, in the act of creation, the distribution of vowel lengths over grammatical categories and of the latter over the stress-point matrix of the verse, so that it is methodologically impossible to determine the potential poetic lexicon. We have only the actual one. We will never be able to "see" a lexical sphere behind and independent of the filtering lens of formal constraints. Such formal constraints clearly operate to limit, for example, the extent to which multisyllabic words can be used in verse, however poetically apt they might be. 63 We could also approach the question of interaction of syntax, lexicon and quantity from the purely empirical point of view. If such interaction were primarily responsible for quantitative distributions then, as an example, on the basis of the above distribution of substantial words the figure (u ) should be more popular in trochaic tetrameter than (u - u u); but in fact it is considerably less so (see Table 8.2.1). We might also note that poets like Heine, Gryphius and Heym, in some prosodic forms, manage to rhyme constantly short without noticeably resorting to functional as opposed to substantial words. Trakl's free verse often begins, trochaic-fashion, with a stressed syllable (58.7%), but still tends to a long initial stress and a short final one, contrary to the usage of trochaic tetrameter, making it appear somewhat less probable that correlation of line position, grammatical category and quantity is statistically decisive in the latter form. (See Table 8.16.1.1 for Trakl's free-verse length distribution.) 6.5.2.1 Collocation of length and word boundary Another distribution that might credibly be held to constrain vowel-length distribution is that of word boundary. In trochaic tetrameter a tendency has been found in the above cited sample of Hölderlin, Goethe and Eichendorff (256 verses; see Section 8.13.1.2) and in a separate somewhat larger Hölderlin sample (432 verses; see Section 7.3.1) for short-voweled stressed syllables to be followed by a word boundary more frequently than longvoweled stressed syllables, a tendency deriving perhaps from a lexical correlation between short vowels and monosyllabic words that can appear in metrical stresses, or perhaps a rhythmical preference in its own right. In the former case, an independently operative desire for favored wordboundary distributions could conceivably then influence the vowel-length distribution. But the converse - length-preference dictating word bounday - is logically just as possible, and it seems to me that the whole burden of this study shows that it would be the prior consideration. That neither interaction rigidly compels the statistics is proven in the third foot of the samples mentioned, where short vowels are preferred and yet word boundary within the foot is avoided, although the two tendencies elsewhere conflict. Here again it is an overriding rhythmic principle which

192

6.5 Vowel distribution by stress number

explains the correlation, an urge for acceleration of tempo in the tetrameter verse's penultimate foot. It is not impossible that in general the quantity/word-boundary relation is an independent rhythmic preference. My own conclusion is that, since many of the principles of length adhered to in the distributions found derive from studies of rhythms created by stimuli other than language, and since they are documented for a number of languages with undoubtedly different distributions in lexicon, syntax and word boundary, it would seem more plausible to assume that rhythmical forms are influencing the choice of language, rather than vice versa. In addition, the phenomena cited in the remainder of this chapter especially stanza line preferences - show that, insofar as the latter influences might be effective, they are not strong enough to prevent the development of elaborately differentiated quantitative conformations that obviously serve only rhythmic purposes. 6.5.3 Second stress What has been said about the tendency to a finalizing length in a verse-end stress will apply in lesser degree to the second stress of tetrameter verse, since the latter often has diaeresis between 2' and 3', breaking the line into two metra or ditones and hence placing 2' before a slight pause. Pentameter verse often has a tendency also for its caesura to appear between the second and third stress, although some poets observe a different stylistic usage. (The result of the former practice is that the second part of the line is longer and consequently more rapid. Caesura after 3' shortens and slows the second part, a rhythm which may be more majestic or deliberate but is certainly less fluent.) Wherever the break occurs, it may lengthen the preceding foot. Ada Snell has shown in English blank verse, at least, that a word before a pause is usually lengthened, and that interval-pauses are only slightly shorter than final ones.64 Franz Saran has found noticeably finalizing accent before the caesura in French Alexandrines,65 and it is known of Russian binary verse that, when only two accents are realized in a verse, they fall preferentially on 2' and 4'. 66 Less attention has usually been devoted to experimentally examining the length of internal verse-feet than that of the extreme ones. The evidence is largely circumstantial. A study by Ulrich Pretzel of beschwerte Hebungen in Middle High German verse presents examples in which there is a noticeable preference for this monosyllabic (necessarily lengthened) measure in the second foot. 67 Warner Brown's research subjects tended to read the arsis of the second foot longer than that of the other feet (excluding the last foot). 68 Paul Verrier, who measures feet from the beginning of one stressed vowel to the

Chronemes and Stress Points

193

beginning of the next, claims that the second foot of iambic tetrameter (in this case the second stress plus the third thesis, 2' + 3") is usually closest to the average length of the feet in a line.69 Amos R. Morris' very interesting study of the verse line's orchestration reports that the second foot of iambic pentameter is, next to the final foot, the longest ; 70 but Ada Snell's study of syllabic quantity in English blank verse shows figures which indicate that the relative lengths of both "long" syllables separately and whole foot lengths are in the decreasing order: 5', 1', 4', 2', 3'. 71 Morris also claims to have measured in several instances (too few, unfortunately, to be conclusive) that the four tetrameter feet follow a short-long-short-long sequence in the line. That is, the half-lines (dipodes) are rising, consisting of a shorter followed by a longer foot. 72 Morris' sample verses are few and the evidence thus admittedly slight, but the pattern suggested by his study exactly follows the relative quantitative preferences of the tetrameter stress points as found in our survey, i.e. in Table 6.3.1, which averages the foot preferences of iambic and trochaic. Taken separately, trochaic tetrameter also shows this pattern (Table 6.3.2), although 2' is only relatively "longer" than Y or 3'. The situation for iambic tetrameter, however, is not entirely clear. To be sure, the total iambic sample (Table 6.3.2) likewise shows 2' longer than Y and 3', but the average of the separate samples (Table 6.3.3) shows 1' longer than 2'. My inclination is to accept the latter figures, which would indicate that the imperative of establishing iambicity in Y by a large arsis/ thesis ratio (l'/l x ) is a force greater than caesural finalizing in 2'. In both iambic and trochaic tetrameter the percentage length-filling of the second stress is closest to the average stress length of their respective metrical types (Table 6.3.3), thus approximating it to something like the "normal" stress length; we recall the claim of Verrier, cited above, that the second foot (in his sense of 2' + 3 x ) of iambic tetrameter is closest to the average foot-length for the line. In iambic pentameter verse, as we have seen, the evidence for the relative length of the second foot is contradictory, Morris having it longer than all but the last, Snell shorter than all but the third. Our study shows 2' shorter than all but 4'. Very probably the situation is inherently variable, depending upon the predominant location of caesura in the sample studied. Although I have not undertaken to determine the most frequent position of caesura in the poets studied here, it is possible that their individual relative stress lengths (Table 6.4.3) give some indirect clue, provided we can assume that length is used by the poet as a finalizing device. Only of Heine does this not seem true. In his verses 5' is the second shortest stress, and he is also the only poet with a stress other than 5' and 1' among the two longest. The other poets use length primarily to finalize (5') and to initiate

194

6.5 Vowel distribution by stress number

iambicity (1'), and they all have either 2' or 3' third ranking in the lengthorder, an objective indicator perhaps of the author's preference for caesura or a slight break following the given stress, an indication independent of our own scansions. Holderlin, Trakl and Rilke all share the relative length order: 5, 1, 2, 3, 4; Eichendorff and Heym rank: 1, 5, 3, 4, 2; and Heine: 1, 3, 2, 5, 4. The first group may tend to caesura after 2', the second group after 3', and Heine may show no preference. 6.5.4 Initial stress About the beginning of a verse line we know more. Many authors have noted the following phenomenon described by Otto Ortmann: "In any succession of sensory stimuli the first and the last are accentuated for consciousness because the difference between no sensation and a sensation is greater than the difference between any two sensations in the same sensory field, so long as intensity remains constant. The first and the last tones of a melody, therefore, are projected more vividly upon consciousness than any intermediate tone." 73 This produces a purely subjective element of stress after and before an empty interval or fading juncture. Naturally, the intensity level in a real verse instance will not be constant, even on like elements. Emphasis tends to appear in the form of finalizing stress, as noted above, but also at the beginning of the verse. According to Henry Lanz: "... the photographic records [of acoustic measuring apparatus] show that the beginning of a line is more stressed than the end, probably owing to the nature of breathing." 74 (Lanz must be referring here only to the factor of intensity.) For the insinuation of rhythmic pattern the beginning of the line is a particularly critical position, for, says Seymour Chatman: "... in the initial stages of a rhythmic sequence, the subject tends to be biased by what comes first, regardless of how the ultimate pattern works out." 75 The subjective importance of the first rhythmic elements in a verse is thus well established. But what might be our expectations, on this basis, for the length of the first metric stress? On the one hand - the emphasis, real and subjective, on the first syllable of a line should in principle tend to lengthen it both in reality and for subjective perception. And in fact, Warner Brown found two of his four readers rendering the thesis of the first foot in iambic tetrameter (the initial syllable of the verse) longer than the other theses.76 Paul Verrier also measures the anacrusis of iambic pentameter longer than the other interior theses, while his findings for iambic tetrameter are inconclusive.77 Another rhythmic principle, however, supports the idea that initiatory power resides in relatively short elements. In conjunction with word-units we mentioned the fact that the first syllable of polysyllabic words (which we can see as rhythmic units) tends to be shortened. 78 Jespersen's explana-

Chronemes and Stress Points

195

tion for this is that: "We can perhaps set up as an important law of quantity that the speaker will accelerate the tempo when he is conscious that he must pronounce a long series of sounds .. ." 79 Verrier asserts that, in English, emphatic reinforcement of the beginning of a verse is more often poetically achieved by adding additional syllables (which would accelerate the tempo and shorten in consequence the individual syllables) than by lengthening the beginning element.80 Moreover, short tones - at least in music - have been considered "exciting" and "stimulating" in themselves, rather than "calming",81 and this property would be more fitting dynamically at the outset of a rhythmic unit. The exciting effect may derive from the short tone's not allowing sufficient time for an accommodation to its stimulus, thus preventing the consequent relaxation of attention. To recur specifically to short vowels - their attachment to the following consonant isfirmand the effect of this, in a verse-initial syllable, could be construed as a rhythmically continuative juncture. If, in addition, the short vowel is indeed more susceptible to a rising inner pitch line, then it would be more suitable as bearer of the pitch rise at the beginning of a sentence or verse. Even where it is intensity, not brevity, that provides the group-beginning power (see 6.2), the intensity can well be subjective, stemming from comparative lengths in a rhythmic group where one element is only slightly longer than the other. All of these considerations apply most strictly to the first syllable of the verse, but should have an overall effect on the first foot as a whole. Some studies cited in discussing the second stress suggest that in tetrameter verse feet one and three are often shorter than respectively two and four, most expressly so in trochaic. But W.L. Schramm, measuring from stress beginning to stress beginning (a device to regularize as much as possible the rhythmical intervals found, and based also on the idea that the beginning of a heavy beat marks the start of the following interval), claims for iambic tetrameter that the "feet" l'+2x and 3' + 4 x are both greater than 2' + 3", suggesting perhaps that V is longer than 2', or 3X shorter than 2X, or both.82 In such light, how are we to interpret our data that the first stressed vowel of trochaic verse tends to be short, while iambic meter, both tetrameter and pentameter, tends even more strongly to start with a long stress? The principle that brevity, relatively and in itself, can have initiatory, accelerative, or continuative force seems fairly well founded, not only by the investigations adduced, but by further evidence of this study discussed in the following sections. The group-beginning power of intensity is another important principle. On the other hand, secondary lengthening due to emphasis cannot be denied as a phenomenon.

196

6.5 Vowel distribution by stress number

6.5.5 Dynamics of the initial trochee We might conjecture on the following relationship of events in trochaic verse. The emphasis on the first syllable as the initial stimulus of a series at line-beginning cannot fail to result in a perceived (and usually also real) secondary lengthening. However, in order for the meter to remain trochaic, and especially to establish trochaicity at the outset of the line, it is desirable for the ratio of ictus and non-ictus in the first group (of two syllables) to remain small. This is best achieved if the vowel of the initial syllable is kept as short as possible, both in reality and in perception. But we know that phonologically short vowels are not only perceived as shorter; they are also proportionately considerably less extensible under any kind of stress than are long vowels. Hence, a short vowel in the first trochaic syllable, although it will somewhat increase in length under initial emphasis, will do so much less than a long vowel and thus more easily accommodates to the desired small arsis/thesis ratio of trochaic. Initial emphasis, if realized, can then appear in the guise of intensity or pitch-rise rather than considerably increased length. To my subjective hearing the first stress of trochaic verses does indeed often enough sound abrupter and harder, perhaps even shriller, than is usual in iambic, but that is merely an impression to be checked. For the second foot in trochaic tetrameter, the arsis/thesis ratio is not so crucial since the meter has been established, and the factor of initial brevity is absent. Instead, finality lengthening before the ditonic break becomes the more important force, accounting for the tendency of 2' to be long. Depending on the position of the break, the lengthening could effect 2x or 2', or even both. For the fact that caesura might not occur until after 2X need not preclude an extension of 2' also (with respect to 1') as a gesture of conclusion for the group composed of two stresses, which we will call a ditone. The next chapter will offer evidence for this phenomenon: that the vowel lengths in 1' and 2' are heard as linked elements of a ditonic rhythmic grouping, independent, to a degree, of the lower-level foot groupings. Perhaps we should repeat here that these dynamic length adjustments for rhythmic purposes will also operate suprasegmentally in language, even on the "wrong" length of vowel in a given element; our statistical biases are just evidence of the general dynamic purposes being pursued, which we deduce from the empirically preferred choices among feature contrasts. At all times the poetic sense and rhythmic context may unavoidably thwart or deliberately resist these relationships, perhaps in the pursuit of other configurations of sound. This weakens the statistical biases in the most general foot distribution. But individual poets show more marked tendencies. Hölderlin writes trochaic verse that strongly tends to a long vowel (56.8%) in the first foot. The consequence in such verse should be either a compensatory lengthen-

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ing of the first thesis (to maintain trochaicity), thus of the whole first foot, and with that a sensible retardation of the vital verse-beginning, affecting our whole perception of the series that follows; or, alternately, a necessary articulatory compression of the initial long vowel with an attendant sense of abruptness. The former seems more likely, since Hölderlin prefers long vowels in 2' and 4' also. Actually we want to argue that in Hölderlin's case the desire for initial rhythmic retardation is the effective cause, influencing the poet in his selection of vowels. When, as in Gerhardt, Gryphius and Hölderlin, the second stress tends to be shorter than the first, it might reflect a rhythmic idiosyncrasy of the poet, which would have to be traced by examining other factors. Either the caesural pause is often comparatively weak, or caesural lengthening effects especially 2X (with gain of secondary stress), or a pre-caesural accent is accomplished by intensity or pitch. Could we isolate any such factor, it might tell us more about the typical rhythmic profile of the poet's verses. 6.5.6 Dynamics of the initial iambic The dynamics of the iambic verse beginning are obviously different. Here again we assume that the initial syllable (the thesis) is slightly accentuated and subjectively lengthened due to its initial position in the series - and we recall that Warner Brown and Paul Verrier found some evidence of lengthening in the thesis of foot one of iambic verses. Jespersen describes the psychological grounds for this phenomenon: "If I hear a syllable after a pause, it is absolutely impossible for me to know whether it is meant by the speaker as a strong or a weak syllable: I have nothing to compare it with until I hear what follows." 83 We also know that iambicity of rhythm requires that the arsis/thesis length-ratio be comparatively large ( > 2). The result of these two factors interacting must be a greater lengthening of the second syllable (arsis) of the iambic line, in order to preserve its ratio to the potentially assertive first syllable of the group (the thesis), and in order thus to establish at the outset that the verse's meter is to be iambic since a short vowel in the first iambic stress might have a greater tendency to combine with the following thesis (2X) into a trochaic foot with anacrusis (1 x + 1 ' + 2X). This desired lengthening of the first stress occurs most readily through insertion of an easily extensible long vowel. This necessity, of immediately setting the metric genus, apparently proves more compelling than the dynamic penchant to acceleration of tempo at the outset, so that the iambic verse as a whole gets off to a slower start than the trochaic. This may be one reason for the not infrequent stress inversion in iambic first feet, a welcome relapse into a quicker starting tempo, where metric stress and subjective initial emphasis coincide. Perhaps it is also in compensation for this necessity that the second stress

198

6.5 Vowel distribution by stress number

of the iambic line seems to be relatively shorter than the first (although still remaining absolutely long); this is suggested in Table 6.3.3 as opposed to the total in Table 6.3.2. The general tendency to a finalizing length on 2' with respect to 1' is restrained, perhaps in an effort to somewhat pick up the tempo, for increasing the length of 2' beyond 1' might prove laborious. This effect is especially noticeable in 1 (2') - line one, stress two - of iambic ABAB quatrains, where, at the beginning of a stanza, it is imperative to impart a sense of ongoingness. At the outset of the ABAB stanza we thus find 1 (1') to be longer (56.99%) than any other first stress in the stanza and 1(2') to be shorter than any other, extremely short indeed (56.52%), even in absolute terms. Any desired ditonic finalizing effect on 2' should then be most easily accomplished by an intensity or pitch increment, producing a more balanced configuration of intonational line for the iambic than for the trochaic verse. An argument for this would be as follows: in trochaic the probability of pure intensity or pitch increment is greater on V than on 2' (see 6.5.5), creating from the very outset a tendency toward a falling intonational line, whereas in iambic the higher probability is for a pitch rise to 2', balanced against the potential fall in 4' (where length will suffice to finalize). In summary, trochaic verse enjoys the "advantage" of combining the group-stress occurrence with the naturally emphatic group-initial position. Iambic separates them and, to maintain itself, must add in some way to the real or apparent length of the second group-syllable, in order to produce there the desired group stress. A similar necessity may be found operative in Russian syllabotonic verse. German phonology has a metrically uninhibited bivalent vowel length with which to accommodate duration dynamisms within a fixed stress meter. Russian vowel length, on the other hand, is not freely bivalent but is realized indirectly as a derivative of word stress, which, with respect to the syllabotonic metrical scheme, is only partially free (it may or may not occur on certain schematically given syllables, but is absolutely proscribed on the other non-schematic syllables). It has been determined now in Pushkin's verse that 43% of the trochaic verses dispense with a realized stress in 1', while only 16.5% of the iambic verses are able to do so. 84 Our interpretation of such facts would be that in trochaic meter the first syllable of the verse is automatically emphasized by position with respect to the second, even without realized stress, and thus can fulfill in any event its group-beginning (trochaic) requirement of intensity, while to create iambicity the second syllable in iambic verse must somehow assert its length against the imperious first syllable, a task most easily accomplished in Russian by realizing a stress with its consequent relative lengthening. Such relationships also help to account for the fact that, in English and German verse, inversion of stress is more frequent in the first foot of iambic

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verse than in trochaic. In iambic, inversion of stress is simply a realization of the continuously latent accent on the first syllable of a verse and is not incompatible with a reasonably long group-finalizing second syllable with secondary stress (hovering accent). In addition, if the initialized stress is protracted, it will automatically contribute to the grouping of the following thesis with the next thesis and stress ( l ' + [l x + 2*+2']), thus allowing no trochaic foot to arise: Gott-Vater oben unsern Herrn verhielt Geht wie ein Glanz durch unsere hundert Geister

(Rilke)

A corresponding inversion in trochaic would imply a less natural intensification of the second syllable, to defeat the alliance of metrical set and subjective first-syllable stress, followed possibly by a still greater emphasis on syllable three to restore the trochaic periodicity. This second following accent in the rising series (on syllable three) could only be accomplished either by an inordinate degree of pitch or intensity increment, exceeding the normal dynamic range, or by lengthening; but in the latter case the phenomenon of length-finalizing could well supervene, grouping syllables one through three and entailing a subsequent grouping of (2X + 3'), leading back again to iambic.85 Simply from the point of view of congruence of sense and rhythm, we could say that initial inversion in iambic puts an important syllable at a position of inherent rhythmic importance, while in trochaic the inversion results in a usually purely functional word or syllable being placed under initial stress as well as metrical stress. Er geht strahlend durch die hundert Geister Und hell strahlt der Stern am schwarzen Himmel

(invented)

Although this line of rhythmic interpretation seems generally convincing to me, it must be noted that in one genus of verse, the AABB iambic stanzas of Gryphius and Gerhardt, verse-stress number one is shortvoweled in all but the last line of the stanza. It will have to be determined if this is a personal, epochal or generic idiorhythm. From the general style of these Baroque verses, including the impetuosity of the rhyme-scheme AABB, one senses a desire to instill a rhythm of rapidly driving force, even in iambic, which could lead to a shortening of 1' as in trochaic. Indeed, there appear to be, as an impression, an unusual number of hovering accents in the first feet, and the rhythm at times turns metrically equivocal: uuuu uuuu uu- u uu- u

O Herrscher in dem Himmelszelt Was ist es doch, das unser Feld Und was es uns hervorgebracht, So ungestalt und traurig macht. - P. Gerhardt, O Herrscher in dem Himmelszelt

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6.5 Vowel distribution by stress number

Compare this with the last stanza of the same hymn which has the postulated more "natural" long iambic 1': - uu - u—

Verleih uns bis in unsern Tod Alltäglich unser liebes Brot Und dermaleinst nach dieser Zeit Das süße Brot der Ewigkeit!

6.5.7 Penultimate stress and foot In the weighted total of iambic and trochaic tetrameter the penultimate third foot is short (51.11%), as is the penultimate fourth foot in iambic pentameter (53.43%). This relationship generally holds also in the separate lists. In almost all individual tables of trochaic verse the penultimate stress is absolutely short or, if long, is relatively considerably shorter than the other stresses. The same principle usually governs the individual iambic tables, with the exception of Heine and Eichendorff, and represents the clearest general length-tendency next to the finalizing long. The measured relative brevity of the penultimate verse-foot has already been discussed in conjunction with the first and second feet. In addition, Verrier has noted in iambic tetrameter with inverted first stress that the third foot is shortest. 86 Warner Brown finds that in iambic tetrameter nonsense verses there is a slight tendency for the thesis before 3' to be short (i.e. 3X). In none of his readers did Brown see a tendency for the whole third foot to be longest; either the first or second (the fourth was excluded) enjoyed this honor. 87 And to continue our structural analogy with Russian syllabotonic verse, the most frequent stress failure there is on the penultimate foot of both tetrameter and pentameter verse.88 In general the penultimate element of a rhythmic structure tends to introduce a moment of acceleration; see Chapter section 8.11. We might add here the example of a stanza form which is rhythmically irresistible if not very subtle - the limeric, with its two metabolic verses that provide momentum for the punch line. Some stanzas of classical antiquity also incorporate the principle of penultimate acceleration (alcaic, asclepiadean) on the verse level within the strophe. For our findings the most plausible explanation is that the short penultimate foot (often with short stress) introduces just this desired moment of acceleration, anticipating and moving towards the conclusion of the verse, which itself occurs by lengthening or other emphasis. The notion that "acceleration" is encouraged at 3' is reinforced by a finding, in a sample of 253 trochaic tetrameter verses, that the third stress (3') is the syllable least likely in the whole line to be followed by a word boundary, while the third thesis (3X) is less likely to be followed by a word boundary than are theses one and two. The first-mentioned tendency even

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asserts itself in the case of short-voweled 3', against an apparently greater likelihood, throughout the line, for short-voweled stresses to be followed by word boundary than for long-voweled stresses. If this proves generally true, the third foot as a whole may thus discourage open external junctures and will consequently tend to move more rapidly. 89 Penultimate shortening appears more frequently than not with final lengthening, and this conjunction seems rhythmically quite effective for the verse line taken in isolation (stanzaic dynamics, of course, may supercede with a more important consideration). A similar configuration is noted by R. Jakobson in Serbo-Croation epic decasyllabic verse, where the ninth syllable (in the last foot) has the greatest tendency to long phonemes while the preceding seventh and eighth syllables (penultimate foot) show the contrary. A like relationship appears in Russian trochaic decasyllables. Jakobson associates this phenomenon with the quantitative clausula found in many Indo-European verse forms. 90 We will discuss this sequence at greater length in the following chapter on quantitative ditonic rhythmemes. In tetrameter verse the penultimate foot is also in most verses the initial foot after a mid-line break and is thus to a certain extent a position of rebeginning, so that the principle of brevity as an initiatory impetus would apply. In iambic verse the generic tendency to long stresses weakens this effect in absolute terms, but it is visible relatively. In iambic, too, a short penultimate stress (p') could be expected to encourage its own trochaic coalescence with the following final thesis (P) instead of the preceding one (px), on the principle that the shorter one sound of a group is - in a rhythmic series of like groups - the greater is the subjective lengthening of the interval before it and the shortening of the interval after it. This coalescence can be sealed by diaeretic coincidence with a trochaic wordfoot, and the result will be a sort of syncopation before the finalizing tone(s). In an example taken from Gerhardt all factors are favorable to show such an effect: Man plagt und jagt die armen Leut. 6.6 The stanzaic chroneme matrix The reasonably convincing correlations of other empirical and statistical research on factors of rhythm with the vowel-length distributions we have found would appear to support our initial assumption that in a statistically large sample the distribution of chronemes complies with the fundamental dynamisms of rhythmic forms. Since our knowledge of several important rhythmic interrelations derives from research using sense-stimuli other than words, we can further accept that the linguistic distributions are in

202

6.6 The stanzaic chroneme matrix

part conforming to non-linguistic laws of intensity and duration, rather than vice-versa. In his Theory of Meter Seymour Chatman has similarly concluded that: "Structural metrics indicates that meter is a system in itself, parallel to and actualized by, but not to be confused with the linguistic system." 91 We would assert the same of a secondary rhythmic system, an epistructure built upon the meter. If this is the case, the rather small percentage differences in some of the large-sample distributions are not to be considered insignificant, for they are not presented as unique rhythmic causes but as symptomatic consequences, asserted against conflicting demands, of a non-verbal rhythmic system that also operates through other factors. In performing actual verse instances, the generic rhythmic system will dictate appropriate shortening and lengthening of positions either along with or in spite of the phonemic length of the nuclear vowel, but not without inducing in the latter (resistant) case some characteristic secondary rhythmic consequences. In individual metric forms and auctorial styles the percentage deviations, however, can become rather large, leading to the conclusion that strong specific idiorhythms are reinforcing or countervailing the weaker but more general ones. Having once shown inductively that vowel-length distribution conforms to rhythmic vectors at a level where we do know something about such vectors from independent research on rhythm, we now reverse our argument and look to the vowel distribution tables as evidence for specific rhythms of which we have previously known nothing. Our frequency tabulations become tools for inductively examining metric and stanzaic forms as well as the poet's private experiences of rhythm, whether they spring from pre-verbal intuitions (see Introduction, Note 29) or arise in the course of conscious perfection of a personal tone. 6.6.1 Positional distribution in free verse A very simple analytical case in point are the vowel-length distributions for free verse, a prosodic form for which we have no experimental evidence of rhythmic group relationships, insofar as such a concept might even be definable. In Chapter 3 we have already discussed a sample (Table 3.1) of free-rhythmic verses by Goethe, Holderlin, Heine and Trakl, in which the verse-initial stress proved generally long (53.8%) and the verse-final stress short (52.3 %). We interpreted this as an indication that free verse, without the ongoing momentum of a metrical and stanzaic set, is obliged to discourage individual verse resolution by length and to promote continuative transition to the next verse by curtailing the (potentially finalizing) rhythmic end-element; the initial long element must in turn intercept this precipitate motion and restore a measured pace, the "bearing" of conscious verbal performance.

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The relatively short-lined free verse written by these poets would thus seem to be organized with reference to marked verse-beginnings rather than ends, forming a basal rhythmic line along which, periodically, moments of moderated tempo are introduced, at the outset of the rhythmic surges which are the lines. The final short in free verse might also be more compatible with a sustentional pitch juncture between successive lines, in verses where the ending does not coincide with any syntactical break. (Hölderlin was found to reverse these length tendencies, an idiorhythm which may be correlated with his practice of extreme syntactical enjambment but which also must be seen now in conjunction with his unique penchant (see Table 6.3.4) to begin trochaic tetrameter verse long instead of short.) These generic rhythmic tendencies will not be effectuated exclusively by the vowel length, but will emerge as a poetic imperative for various features of the form and will be reflected in vowel-length selection. The question of the initial long cannot, of course, be answered to complete satisfaction without a consideration of the factor of thetic or ictic starts (anacrusis) of the verses examined. This circumstance was not yet understood at the time the above quantitative relationships were first investigated and the tabulation made. However, it does not seem likely that this is a determining factor. A subsequent check of 560 free-rhythmic verses of Trakl in the survey shows that 58.7% begin trochaeodactylically (with a stress), and should thus tend short if the same mechanism were operative as in metrical verse; but in fact, 59% of Trakl's free verses begin long and 53% end short, the latter likewise being contrary to the general metrical practice and in particular Trakl's. In free verse the length ratios of grouped elements obviously do not play as important a role as they do in establishing the character of a specific metrical genus, and the distinction found here seems to be another good indication that in metrical verse it is the importance of just this ratio which determines the length distributions in the verse-initial position. 6.6.2 The stanza as rhythmic entity Little empirical evidence could be found in previous investigations on the rhythmic vectors within a stanzaic framework. What exists will be mentioned in Chapter 8. Since we are concerned now with the stress-point distribution of quantitative preferences, we will extend the tabulations here to include all the metrical points in a tetrameter or pentameter quatrain, taken as one of the most commonplace and rhythmically simple stanzaic forms. Matrices showing the length tendency of individual stresses by the stanzaic line (Table 6.5 in the next section) give insight into the rhythmic flow-gradients at each moment of the rhythmic period, indicating whether the natural tempo there is relatively accelerating, retarding or indifferent. It seems not unlikely that the percentage strength is proportional to the

204

6.6 The stanzaic chroneme matrix

comparative potency of an inherent psychological or physiological rhythmic impulse, and should thus form a well-differentiated quantitative basis for the rhythmic comparison of forms and individual styles. The fundamental further assumption that the stanzaic motion is organized as a whole, and is not just the sum or sequence of isolated verse profiles or a product of the chronemic matrix, will also be discussed later in Sections 7.11,8.9,8.10.92 An important corollary of this axiom, relevant to any meaningful distinction of verse-performance or delivery from the textual verse-instance, is that a verse read within the context of a stanza will usually obey a different dynamic than the same verse read in isolation or in another context. This is not a new notion in rhythmic research but is simply more clearly documented here. Macdougall's investigations lead him to conclude that: Further quantitative analysis of rhythmical sequences, involving a comparison of the forms of successive measures throughout the higher synthesis of verse, couplet and stanza, will, I believe, confirm this conception of the unstable character of the relations existing between the elements of the rhythmical unit and the dependence of their quantitative values on fixed points and modes of structural change occurring within the series.93 For our present argument, the "relations existing between the elements of the rhythmical unit" (ictus and thesis) are temporal ones and are considered to be reflected by the vowel-length tendency. In subsequent analyses of ditone, verse and stanza units, we will find that the choice of chroneme in context, at a specific stanzaic stress-point, is not a simple function of positional tempo relationships, but is dependent on quantitative transitions in ditones, on the gestalt of the whole verse figure and on the organization of the stanza. However, the point-tempo matrix represents tendencies that will always participate in determining the resultant rhythmic vector for a verse-instance, whatever other contributions are made by higher-level patterning influences. For example, although trochaic tetrameter crossrhymed quatrains seem to prefer a short 1' in general, the point 4(1') in the stanzaic matrix for quatrains is long. Thus, even a short-voweled stress placed here in the last quatrain verse will probably experience a certain prolongation contrary to usual trochaic practice. Of course, even a somewhat dispreferred, short 4(1') may turn out to be rhythmically "justified", may be "saved" here by its incorporation into a quantitative sequence like (u u u u), which shows considerable relative preference in line four (Table 8.9.2), or it may be incorporated in a figure of parallelism with another line (Chapter section 7.11). Reference to all of these factors may help to explain tempos chosen for a particular verse in a particular stanza. The ultimate practical goal of all our preference listings

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205

is to aid a reasonable guess about which rhythmic forms, in the face of many alternatives, the poet intended to realize, and thence to improve the music and expression of verses read. 6.6.3 Table of chroneme matrices The most general matrix (I.) in Table 6.5, following, is based on the total population of trochaic tetrameter verses plus the weighted population of iambic lines increased by the factor necessary (1.62) to equalize the totals. An equal amount of iambic tetrameter verse could not be found for most of the poets and works examined (Gerhardt, Gryphius, Holderlin, Eichendorff and Heym). This matrix includes both ABAB and A ABB rhyme schemes as well, and so may suggest a basic tempo pattern for the tetrameter quatrain, seen as four equal phrases of four stresses each. The basic tempo pattern seems to be: repetition of the first phrase in the second, with a stronger retarding semicadence in 1 (4') than 2(4'), followed by an interlude of rhythmic pendulation or balance and then a strongly retarding finalizing phrase introduced by the contrastive signal of a long 4(1'). This movement can be displayed graphically by plotting against the stanza's successive metric points the rise or fall above the total average quantity for the stanza (50.43 % L ) : Line: Stress:

Average Foot Length

First V

T

3'

V

V

/\

/

Second

Third

T

I'

3'

4' V Longer

Fourth

3'

4'

/

V

2'

3'

K

1

N Shorter

Fig. 6.6.3

The plot illuminates the quick falling gradient of line one and its sudden rising end, the dampened repetition of this profile in line two, the oscillating interlude in three, and the decelerating elevation and then gradual fall of line four, with its gently rising end. In the succeeding matrices we see the results for total trochaic, total iambic, and then for the several rhyme forms. In these latter cases, where the size of the samples is smaller, the total matrix is supplemented by the matrix of averages of the respective point percentages in the individual poets. The total matrices are biased toward poets for whom a larger sample was available, the matrices of point averages toward the poets with smaller samples and thus greater statistical differentiation. The actual state of affairs, for these poets as a group, lies thus somewhere in between. Entirely

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6.6 The stanzaic chroneme matrix

stable results will only be gained by very large counts covering many more poets. Consequently the results are tentative until further poets are examined, although the most important tendencies, clear in most of the poets already, will probably not be found to change much, especially since they are explicable by plausible rhythmic mechanisms. Particularly in the case of AABB rhyme schemes (matrices V and VII) the two poets examined may not be typical. In trochaic ABAB stanzas the results are most solidly founded: Table 6.5. Positional Matrices of Vowel-Length Percentages. (Boldface points prefer long vowels.) Matrix I: Percentage Frequencies in Total of Trochaic and Corrected Iambic Verse in Stanzas: Line Total 55.67 52.80 50.25 50.56 51.31 51.20 51.28 50.43 50.11 51.69 53.02 51.02 53.60 50.15 51.06 50.42 52.26 51.76 53.18 52.02 Matrix II : Percentage Frequency in Total Trochaic : 51.08 51.95 51.95 50.49 53.94 51.13 54.32 50.43 52.59 50.22 51.08 52.60 Matrix III : Frequency 50.76 50.25 52.30 56.00

in Total Iambic : 54.55 54.55 50.50 51.26 52.81 50.00 55.00 51.75

55.19 52.10 55.18 53.25

51.03 50.87 50.54 50.05

56.06 50.50 52.55 51.25

50.57 50.01 50.77 53.50

Matrix IVa: Frequency in Total Trochaic ABAB (Heym, Gerhardt, Gryphius, Eichendorff, Hölderlin): 55.04 53.68 50.41 52.18 50.82 50.54 53.13 50.27 54.90 52.72 55.45 50.95 52.52 52.52 51.02 50.20 Matrix IVb: Average of Individual Frequency for Trochaic ABAB: 51.78 51.99 53.85 55.65 51.04 50.53 51.49 51.27 52.98 52.91 52.08 55.66 53.35 50.55 51.89 52.65 Matrix Va: Frequency 54.73 50.26 52.08 52.88

in Total Trochaic AABB (Gerhardt, Gryphius): 55.79 57.89 53.16 57.07 54.45 57.07 52.08 54.69 52.08 56.02 52.88 56.02

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207

Matrix V b: Average of Individual Frequency for Trochaic AABB (Gerhardt, Gryphius): 53.63 52.78 56.56 56.76 57.77 51.41 57.06 53.27 55.45 53.08 50.57 53.08 56.62 52.78 53.49 55.91 Matrix Via: Frequency in Total Iambic ABAB (Heym, Gryphius, Eichendorff): 56.47 57.76 56.47 56.03 54.04 50.64 50.00 51.91 50.22 53.68 50.65 53.25 52.34 54.47 50.64 51.91 Matrix VI b: Average of Individual Frequency for Iambic ABAB (Heym, Gryphius, Eichendorff): 58.42 56.52 55.96 56.99 56.59 51.23 54.81 52.17 53.72 53.55 50.31 50.38 52.92 52.25 55.28 50.35 Matrix Vila: Frequency in Total Iambic AABB (Gryphius, Gerhardt): 57.32 51.83 52.44 53.66 55.21 50.31 50.92 52.15 50.93 55.28 56.52 54.66 50.30 61.21 59.39 53.33 Matrix VII b: Average of Individual Frequency for Total Iambic AABB (Gerhardt, Gryphius): 57.70 51.83 51.59 50.40 56.74 50.31 51.18 50.49 56.39 52.59 57.86 55.08 59.51 55.46 53.22 52.49 Matrix VIII: Frequency in Iambic Pentameter ABAB (Eichendorff): 52.52 53.24 51.80 53.24 53.96 55.32 53.19 51.06 58.16 52.48 51.39 51.39 52.78 56.25 53.47 55.07 52.90 57.97 52.17 51.45 Matrix IX: Frequency 58.96 57.03 62.96 59.56

in Iambic Pentameter ABAB (Heym): 50.75 53.73 54.48 53.73 56.30 57.78 50.37 51.11 53.33 50.00 51.47 52.22

Matrix X: Average of Iambic Pentameter ABAB: 53.22 53.84 53.95 54.05 55.95 52.65 55.09 53.31 52.29 57.32 52.19 50.39

50.53 55.81 52.36 53.99

52.99 61.48 54.07 61.76 50.13 57.34 52.73 56.97

208

6.6 The stanzaic chroneme matrix

6.6.3.1 Point analysis To confirm the rhythmic significance of a point in matrix I. it is necessary to consult all the tables, since the proportions of the two metric and the two stanzaic types differ as do the sizes of individual samples of poets. Local tempos that seem solidly based on all the tetrameter matrices are the strong lengthening of 1&3(4') as semicadences marking the ends of the antecedent phases of two-part melodic phrases (the distichs), and the brevity of 3 (1'), an accelerant remotivation of the rhythm after the stanzaic semicadence. With regard to the former phenomenon we can adduce some notions from The Theory and Practice of Tone-Relations by P. Goetschius: When a musical sentence is eight measures in length [in our homologous situation eight metric feet], it normally separates into fourmeasure phrases. The first of these is called the antecedent phrase; the second, the consequent phrase. The division is made by a cadence in the middle of the sentence (on an accent of the fourth measure), which is called the semicadence, and differs from the perfect cadence in being made upon some lighter form of harmony. The semicadence chord must be longer than the adjacent chords (similar in length to the perfect cadence chord), in order to interrupt the rhythm and mark the end of the antecedent. 94 That we do not find 2&4(4') as long percentagewise as 1&3(4') could be due to a greater tendency to resolve at these points by intensity finalization, pitch emphasis or the mere force of rhyme. Pitch-induced accent would be especially appropriate in 2(4'), where the incremental pitch rise would demand continuation toward melodic resolution, i.e. would not yet conclude the stanza. The correlation of the distributions in (4') with the use of masculine and feminine cadences should be examined, since a stressed vowel that is word-final will tend to be phonetically longer than one followed by a weak final syllable. Apropos the brevity of 3(1'), we cannot cite any direct empirical evidence from rhythmic research, but a rather suggestive analogue exists. Amos Morris found in 4' + 3' verse-couples (the verse-length sequence of the Vagantenzeile and the Chevy Chase stanza) that the first foot of the second verse was the shortest of all feet in the couple. (The last foot of verse two was the longest.)95 The consequent phase of the two-part rhythmic phrase receives thereby a new impulse. It is likely that this is the important rhythmic function of shortening foot 3 (1') in a quatrain, since it begins the stanza's consequent phase. Within the stanzaic frame it contributes to penultimate acceleration. (See Section 6.5.7). In matrices I and II the [S-L] clausula at the verse-end seems fairly well

Chronemes and Stress Points

209

established. This is also found in iambic pentameter quatrains (matrix VIII) in line two. In trochaic tetrameter (matrices II, IV and V), point 2(2') is quite short, a failure of relative length where we might expect it on the end-stress of the verse's first ditone. This brevity may derive from the position of this ditone as the penultimate one in the first verse-couple, producing a penultimate shortening. Such an effect is not seen in iambic, which, as discussed in 6.5.6, has already experienced a very accelerant 1 (2') to restore momentum after the iambicizing long 1(1')- In matrices II, IV, Vb and VIb, point 3(2') seems to share in the initiatory shortening of 3(1'), while all matrices save II and V show a long point 4(2') contributing to the stanza-finalizing by relative length of verse line four. The over-all long verse four is particularly marked in iambic (matrices III, VI, VII and VIII). In matrix II iambic line four averages 53.50% long. It thus resolves the stanzaic period by length; the preceding iambic verses average respectively only 50.57% S, 50.01% S, and 50.77% L. Trochaic line four (matrix II.) is not as long as line one, but this is due to the statistical influence of the AABB rhyme component, which will be discussed separately. In trochaic ABAB stanzas the fourth line is also the longest. Even over all, in matrix II., trochaic line four is relatively longer than the two preceding verses; the verse percentages are: 51.03% L, 50.87% S, 50.54% S„ 50.05% S. Incidentally, several fixed prosodic forms utilize metrically long final lines for resolution, for example the Nibelungenstrophe and the Spenserian stanza. In all matrices 3(4') is quite long [in iambic pentameter 3(4' + 5')] and in all but matrix V (trochaic tetrameter AABB rhyme) point 4(1') is also retarding. A long 4(1') constitutes a considerable contrast to the parallel short 3(1') and in addition is relatively long compared with all preceding points (1'). As a structurally foregrounded change of pace it seems to represent a signal that the cadence phase of the stanzaic period is beginning. One might further check for increased incidence of stress-inversion at this point in the iambic quatrain, to see if its rhythmic syncopation also functions as such a signal. The fact that the trochaic tetrameter pair-rhymed (AABB) stanza differs considerably at 4(1') points up its seemingly distinctive movement compared with trochaic cross-rhymes (ABAB), although the statistical basis both here and in iambic AABB stanzas is not yet large and the results are more interesting than dependable. At the least they show an idiorhythm in Gerhardt and Gryphius. Matrix V shows that trochaic AABB line one is extraordinarily long. We could attribute this to the desire to retard the potentially precipitate rhythm arising from the union of a rapid trochaic impetus with the further eagerness which is induced by quick rhyme-resolution in the pair-rhymed scheme. A rein on the rhythm will undoubtedly

210

6.6 The stanzaic chroneme matrix

be most effective when applied at stanza outset to secure a desired rhythmic set for the succeeding lines. But with such a protracted and restraining rhythm in verse-couple one, the stanza cannot very well resolve by length in line four. Instead the stanzaic rhythm is relieved of restraint and allowed to exhaust rather than resolve itself in the rapid second verse-couple. Point 4(4') is longer than in any other matrix, indicating a resolution at the verse level, which must be potent to counteract the free-running trochaic and rhyme-pairing impetus. The two couples have similar profiles of quantitative transition, couplet ditones one [1(1'+ 2')], two [1(3'+ 4')] and four [2(3'+ 4')] are all relatively "rising", i.e. f'd > i^ (final stress of ditone longer than initial one), while ditone three [2(1' + 2')] in the couplet is "falling", i^ > f^, which seems a form of penultimate acceleration within the pattern of the couple's four ditones (r r f r). Notable features of matrix VII (iambic tetrameter AABB rhyme) are the brevity of points (1') relative to iambic in general, and the brevity of the first as opposed to the second couplet. The latter effect must move the rhythm toward trochaicity at stanza outset. The poets represented here are the same as those of matrix V (trochaic AABB), and both reflect the same stylistic period (the Baroque), so we could postulate that they aim in both metric forms at a similar driving rhythm, to attain which they must moderate the trochaic pair-rhymes and excite the iambic form. 6.6.3.2 Idiorhythms The matrices for the different metric forms in individual poets (see the Appendix) reveal numerous marked idiorhythms, suggesting personal rhythmic gestures, along with some relative regularities. In EichendorfTs trochaic tetrameter ABAB verse, for example, all lines begin quite short [l(l') = 58.78% S, 2(1') = 55.74% S], but line three is extraordinarily so [3(1') = 60.81% S], while line four, even with 4(1') = 54.58% S, still begins relatively longer than the preceding lines. These large percentages are particularly astonishing in view of the large sample size (1183 verses), so that no doubt can exist Eichendorff actually felt and intended the "springing" and in appropriate semantic context frischfröhlichen rhythm into which a reading of his verse often lapses: uuuu u- uu u- uu u

Und das Wirren bunt und bunter Wird ein magisch wilder Fluß, In die schöne Welt hinunter Lockt dich dieses Stromes Gruß. - Eichendorff, Frische Fahrt

Eichendorffs T4-ABAB chronemic matrix is adduced here as an instance of the stylistic possibilities of matrix analysis:

Chronemes and Stress Points

58.78 55.75 60.81

54.48

51.69 57.77 51.69 51.19

54.05 53.04 54.39 53.56

211

52.36 50.00 52.70 50.17

On the surface a certain rhythmic monotony is indicated by the pervasive ( n u l l - ) configuration of the verse stresses in the stanza. On the other hand, if we look at the matrix of deviations from the quantitative average of all stresses (53.17 S) we see a relative flow dynamics appear which is a bit more like that for T4-ABAB in general; here, the minus sign indicates acceleration (shortness) relative to the average tempo, and a plus sign registers retardation (greater length than average): -5.61 -2.58 -7.64 -1.31

+ 1.48 -4.60 + 1.48 + 1.98

-0.88

+0.13

-1.22

-0.39

+5.53 +3.17 +5.87 +3.34

As in the general T4-ABAB, 3(1') is faster than any other (1') and 4(1') slower. Indeed, this relative tempo matrix differs from IVb (Table 6.5) only at 3(2') and 4(1'), points revealing thus stylistic shifts of tempo toward a pervasive, oscillating (u - u -) figure that reminds us of his preferred ( a b a c ) echo figure in his model stanza of Chapter section 1.14 but even given the superimposed quickness of EichendorfTs rhythm some features of the relative tempi of the generic system still impose themselves. The poet sets his own basic pace, but still must more or less hurry or lag as the common rhythmic terrain demands. Plotting the above matrix of deviations against metric points (as in Figure 6.6.3, p. 205) will provide a graphic device for grasping stylistic peculiarities. Hölderlin's chronemic matrix shows similarities. 6.6.4 Model stanzas We occasionally encounter stanzas that correspond at almost all their points to the quantitative preferences of the generic flow-charts, and which help us to hear the realities behind the statistical figures. It has proven impossible as yet to locate "natural" stanzas which conform at all metrical points, a disappointment which is not surprising considering the 65,536 theoretically possible stanza patterns. I have found a stanza by Goethe which, with the change of one word, produces the matrix for trochaic tetrameter cross-rhymed quatrains. In line one the original "du liebst" has been altered to "du hoffst". u- uuuu-

Denn ich weiß, du hoffst, das Droben, Das Unendliche zu schauen,

212

6.6 The stanzaic chroneme matrix

uuu— u-

Wenn sie sich einander loben, Jene Feuer in dem Blauen. - Goethe, Westöstlicher Divan, "Sommernacht". 96

The accelerating "failure" of shortened 2(2') constrasted with long verseparallel 1 (2'), as well as ditonically parallel 1 (4'), and the cadential slowing of long 4 ( 1 ' + 2') seem rhythmically palpable in the stanza. With several changes we arrive at another example in Goethe: uuu uu -

uuuu-

Kann wohl sein! so wird gemeinet; Doch ich bin auf andrer Spur: Alles Menschenglück vereinet Bei Suleika find' ich nur. 97

Eichendorff supplies an instance of the schematic ideal for iambic tetrameter cross-rhymed verses, again with a single word substitution. The original "Im Irdischen" in line two becomes "Im Zeitlichen". There is, albeit, a stress inversion in 3(1'): - uu- uuu- u-

Den blöden Willen aller Wesen, Im Zeitlichen des Herren Spur, Soll er durch Liebeskraft erlösen, Der schöne Liebling der Natur 98

Four changes are required to create a quantitatively normative "patchwork" stanza from another Eichendorffian quatrain: - uu- uuu- u-

Wo treues Wollen, kräftig Streben Und graden Sinn der Rechte spürt, Das muß die Seele dann erheben, Hat wohl mich jedesmal gerührt. 99

In this pattern the first phrase (verse couple) repeats a given motif - a common way of introducing a melody - in which the long initial stress establishes the iambic meter but then yields to a run of two short stresses, which in turn is absorbed in the final long. The third verse introduces a variation, a more balanced weighing of tempos, leading up to the protracted, "weighty" and firmly resolving last verse of the stanza. Although the matrices for trochaic tetrameter AABB stanzas are, as stated, not yet reliable for the form generally, we can read as an idiorhythmic comparison to the above rhythms a schematic quatrain adapted from Gerhardt to the quantities of matrix V b. The initial traction exerted by the longs on the trochaic movement in verse-couple one and the contrasting rhythmic release of couple two are audible: - uu-

Wer den Höchsten liebt und ehrt, Der entdecket, daß sich mehrt

Chronemes and Stress Points

uuuuuu-

213

Alles, was in langem Leben Von dem Himmel ist gegeben.100

6.6.5 Length vs. echo matrices It is conceivable that a statistical connection might also exist between the quantitative stanzaic matrices presented here and the distribution of vowel-echo figures as examined in Chapter 1. In trochaic tetrameter crossrhymed quatrains, for example, the occurrence of verses beginning with double short or double long (l'+2') could obviously encourage the echo linkage of the same stresses, or vice-versa. If the phenomena were interrelated, we would expect some sign of preference for (x x — ) echo linkages in stanza lines which also prefer the initial [S-S] or [L-L] quantity sequence. Checking the appropriate data we find that stanza line four of the T4-ABAB has the greatest total of these two initial ditone types. The other lines in decreasing order of [S-S] or [L-L] begins are: one, three, two. But the echo linkage (x x — ) is not preferred in line four, but in lines one and two, the last being at the bottom of the above quantitatively based order; see Table 1.3 in Chapter 1. Individual echo configurations also do not necessarily appear most frequently in lines theoretically favoring them. The figure (a a b a) might be expected to prefer stanza line four, which shows in the matrix the quantity sequence ( — u -), but it actually prefers overwhelmingly line one (Table 1.4, Chapter 1.). In all likelihood the quantitative sequence distributions have little effect on the echo preferences, which represent a more restricted phenomenon, but one which is more intensely audible and which thus follows its own more firmly established laws. The obverse influence of echo-figures on quantitative sequence distributions, however, may exist statistically to a certain extent - for example leveling somewhat the length-rise gradients within the ditone 1(1'+2') and between 1(1' ... 4'), due respectively to line one preferences for (x x — ) and (x — x) linkages. But this is not sufficient to alter the relative length relationships from which we deduce the tempo scheme. The two systems, to be sure, undoubtedly work in a similar fashion to pattern stanzas through the formation of parallel, alternating and enclosing relationships between the stanzaic verses. There is probably also some connection between line preferences of echo configurations and line preferences of the quantitative figure patterns studied in Chapter 8., both of which exist at a formal level above that of quantitative tempo.

214

Chapter 6

Notes 1 Lanz, p. 216. 2 "An Objective Study of Syllabic Quantity in English Verse. Part II. Lyric Verse," PMLA, 34 (1919), p. 432. 3 Time in English Verse Rhythm : An Empirical Study of Typical Verses by the Graphic Method (New York, 1908), p. 56. 4 "Experiments on Time Relations of Poetical Meters," University of Toronto Studies. Psychological Series, no. 3 (1899), p. 66. 5 Motor Phonetics. A Study of Speech Movements in Action; Archives Néerlandaises de phonétique expérimentale, 3 (1927), pp. 431-2, 346. 6 Rhythm and Rhyme ; Harvard Psychological Studies, 1 ; Psychological Review, Monograph Supplement, 4, no. 1, whole no. 17 (January, 1903), p. 461. 7 Die physiologischen Grundlagen der neuhochdeutschen Verskunst (Wien, 1871), p. 41. 8 Op. cit., p. 68. 9 Time in English Verse Rhythm, p. 39. 10 "An Objective Study of Syllabic Quantity in English Verse," Part II, p. 432. 11 R. H. Stetson, A Motor Theory of Rhythm and Discrete Succession, II, The Psychological Review, 12 (1905), p. 306. See also his Rhythm and Rhyme, p. 460. 12 A Quantitative Study of Rhythm. The Effect of Variations in Intensity, Rate and Duration (New York, 1909), p. 46. See also p. 64. 13 Woodrow, p. 46. 14 Woodrow, p. 64. Thaddeus L. Bolton, "Rhythm," The American Journal of Psychology, Vol.6, no. 2 (January 1894), p. 145-238. Bolton finds that for the most effective grouping: "The group must begin with a very intense sound or close with a very weak one," p. 227. And, in the case of very great lengths : " . . . all the subjects found great difficulty in not making a pause after the long sound, which compelled them to begin the group with the short sound." p. 234. 15 The Psychology of Time (New York, 1963), p. 130. See also Bolton, p. 232 : "The accented long sound frequently appeared more prolonged than the unaccented sound of the same length; the accent had the effect both to increase the length of sound and of the interval which followed." 16 A Motor Theory of Rhythm and Discrete Succession, p. 303. 17 A Quantitative Study of Rhythm, p. 52. 18 The Structure of Simple Rhythmic Forms. Harvard Psychological Studies, 1 ; Psychological Review, Monograph Supplement, 4, no. 1, Whole no. 17 (January, 1903), p. 357. 19 Ibid., p. 405. 20 "Zur dt. Metrik," Beil. z. Schulprogr., 1 (Berlin, 1890); cited by Robert Bräuer in Tonbewegung und Erscheinungsformen des sprachlichen Rhythmus. Profile des deutschen Blankverses (Berlin, 1964), pp. 9-10. 21 Deutsche Versgeschichte, 3, p. 134; "Der faßbare Gegensatz der beiden Klassen liegt im Verseingang: Auftakt oder nicht." 22 Tonbwegung, pp. 10-11. 23 A recent Statement of the theory is to be found in Halle and Keyser's article on "The Iambic Pentameter" in W. K. Wimsatt, Versification. Major Language Types (New York, 1972), pp. 217-237. 24 "Trochaic Meter", College English, 33, No. 2 (November 1971), pp. 219-220. 25 Newton, "Trochaic and Iambic," Language and Style, Spring 1975. 26 Hascall, pp. 224-5, and Newton, "Trochaic and Iambic," pp. 150f. 27 Kleine deutsche Versschule (Munich, 1957), p. 28. 28 "Notes on Meter," in The Structure of Verse. Modern Essays on Prosody, Harvey Gross, ed. (New York, 1966), p. 127-8.

Chronemes and Stress Points 29 30 31 32 33 34

215

Die lyrische Form Georg Trakls (Salzburg, 1959), p. 27. The Structure of Literature (Chicago, 1954), p. 187. A Motor Theory of Rhythm and Discrete Succession, p. 306. Time in English Verse Rhythm, p. 55. Time in English Verse Rhythm, p. 56. Hascall, "Trochaic Meter," p. 225; Joseph C. Beaver, "A Grammar of Prosody," Linguistics and Literary Style (New York, 1970), p. 432. 35 A Quantitative Study of Rhythm, p. 39. 36 As a systematic example : if, in the sixteen-level tetrameter ranking, the levels paired in the following list contained figures opposite in length (i.e. u u - u and — u - ) with either the predominantly shorter or longer member consistently at the higher level; paired levels = 1 & 4, 2 & 3, 5 & 8,6 & 7,9 & 12,10 & 11, 13 & 16, 14 & 15. The result here is that each quarter of the table has approximately the same length distribution as the table overall, in which one of the quantities enjoys an excess, but the predominantly long or short figures need not appear in any particular quarter of the table. 37 Unbegaun, Russian Versification, p. 29. 37 a "Notes on Metre," in Essays on the Language of Literature, ed. Seymour Chatman and Samuel R. Levin (Boston, 1967), p. 87. 37 b Otto Behagel has already pointed out that in irreversible binomials (Kisten und Kasten, singen und sagen, Stütze und Stab, zittern und zagen, weder Gicks noch Gacks, Glück und Glas, Müntze und Maß, etc.) and in Ablautbildungen (Klingklang, Singsang, Ticktack, Wirrwarr, etc.) an / or u usually precedes an a. He attributes this to a desire to return to the rest position (of the tongue) from a deviant one (in the high vowels). But note that in his examples of co-ordinate words the first vowel is often short and the second long; Deutsche Syntax, III (Heidelberg, 1928), p. 367, cited from Richard D. Abraham, "Fixed Order of Coordinates," Modern Language Journal, 34 (1950), p. 283. 38 "Phonometrischer Beitrag zur Frage der neuhochdeutschen Quantität," Archiv fur vergleichende Phonetik, I (1937), pp. 96-113. 39 Voyelles longues et voyelles brèves (Paris, 1946), p. 142. 40 The Structure of Simple Rhythm Forms. Harvard Psychological Studies, 1 ; Psychological Review, Monograph Supplement, 4, No. 1 (Whole No. 17; January, 1903), p. 410. 41 See René Wellek, "Euphony, Rhythm, Meter," in Harvey Gross, ed., The Structure of Verse (New York, 1966), p. 37. 42 See Henry August Rositzke, "High German Vowel Duration," Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, 20 (Cambridge, 1938), p. 198. 43 "Gestaltstudie an dt. Versen," Zeitschrift für Phonetik, 15 (1962), p. 29 ; "Am Ende einer Sprecheinheit..." 44 "Vokaldauer und Positionseinfluß beim Sprachvergleich," Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprache und Kommunikation, 18 (1965), p. 417; „Die Verlangsamung des Sprechtempos am Ende der Syntagmen macht sich durch längere Vokaldauer bemerkbar." 45 A Theory of Meter, p. 80, n 4. 46 Rhythm and Rhyme, p. 441. 47 Ibid., pp. 443, 447. 48 The Orchestration of the Metrical Line. An Analytical Study of Rhythmical Form (Boston, 1923), pp. 84-88. 49 Ibid., p. 57. 50 Essai sur les principes de la métrique Anglaise (Paris, 1909), III, p. 44. 51 "Der Rhythmus," Neophilologus, 17 (1932), p. 180. 52 Deutsche Versgeschichte, 1 (Berlin, 1929), pp. 38-39. 53 Roman Jakobson, "Studies in Comparative Slavic Metrics," Oxford Slavonic Papers, III (Oxford, 1952), pp. 25-28. 54 A Motor Theory of Rhythm, p. 316.

216

Chapter 6

55 B.O. Unbegaun, Russian Versification (Oxford, 1956), p. 17. 56 "Zur Grundlegung der allgemeinen Versbaulehre," Archives Néerlandaises de phonétique expérimentale, 8-9 (1933), p. 79. 57 The Structure of Simple Rhythmic Forms, p. 388. 58 Der Rhythmus des französischen Verses (Halle, 1904), p. 410. 59 Adalbert Maack, "Phonometrische Untersuchungen über Beziehungen des Akzents zum Melodieverlauf," Archiv für vergleichende Phonetik, I, no. 4 (1937), pp. 217-221. 60 Adalbert Maack, "Der Einflußder Betonung auf die Lautdauer der deutschen Sonanten," Zeitschrift für Phonetik, III (1949), pp. 345-7. 61 Maack himself (see Chapter 4) denies a difference in pitch movement within the two types of vowels (which Durand claims), but in the figures he cites we might repeat an interesting point which we have mentioned before. At sentence beginning, 12 of 22 unstressed syllables are rising (against the habitude of unstressed vowels), but of these 12 risers 9 are short. Of the remaining unstressed beginning syllables in the sample (i.e. the 10 which fall), fully 9 are long. These figures are not adequate proof of a correlation, but at least they cannot disprove the notion that the short vowel accomodates a pitch rise more easily than the long. 62 Chatman, Theory of Meter, p. 51. 63 See K. Magnuson and F.G. Ryder, "The Study of English Prosody: An Alternative Proposal," College English, 31 (May, 1970), pp. 803 ff. Magnuson and Ryder point out constraints apparently governing the positioning of types of polysyllabic words in the metrical matrix of verse, for example, words composed of stem and derivational suffix and inflectional ending. 64 See Wilbur L. Schramm, Approaches to a Science of English Verse, University of Iowa Studies. Series on Aims and Progress of Research, no 46 (1953), p. 77. 65 Rhythmus des franz. Verses, p. 410. 66 Unbegaun, Russian Versification, p. 17. See also V. Zirmunsky, Introduction to Metrics (The Hague, 1966), p. 55, citing figures of G. Sengeli for Pushkin; and James Bailey, "Some Recent Developments in the Study of Russian Versification," Language and Style, 5, 3 (Summer, 1972), p. 157. 67 Ulrich Pretzel, "Vers und Sinn; Über die Bedeutung der 'beschwerten Hebung' im mittelhochdeutschen Vers," Wirkendes Wort, 3 (1952/3), no. 6, pp. 325-9. 68 Time in English Verse Rhythm, p. 38. 69 Essai sur les principes de la métrique anglaise, 3, p. 327. 70 The Orchestration of the Metrical Line, pp. 92-105. 71 "An Objective Study of Syllabic Quantity in English Verse," PMLA, xxxiii (1918), pp. 406-7. -12 Ibid., p. 39. 73 On the Melodic Relativity of Tones; Psychological Monographs, Psychological Review Publications, no. 1, Whole No. 162 (1926), p.4. J.Minor also accepts this principle for poetry in his Neuhochdeutsche Metrik, Ein Handbuch (Straßburg, 1902), p. 64: as does A.W. de Groot, "Der Rhythmus," Neophilologus, xvii (1932), p.80; and, as a general principle of perception, Paul Fraisse in The Psychology of Time (New York, 1963), p. 132. 74 The Physical Basis of Rime, p. 235. 75 A Theory of Meter, p. 27. 76 Time in English Verse Rhythm, p. 38. 77 Essai, 3, p. 329. 78 Otto Jespersen, Lehrbuch der Phonetik (Leipzig, 1904), p. 176. 79 Ibid., p. 175 : "Als wichtiges Quantitätsgesetz kann vielleicht aufgestellt werden, daß der Redende das Tempo beschleunigt, wenn er sich bewußt ist, daß er eine lange Lautreihe sprechen soll." 80 Essai, 3. p. 327.

Chronemes and Stress Points 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92

93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

217

Theodor Ziehen, Vorlesungen über Ästhetik (Halle, 1925), p. 161. Approaches to a Science of English Verse, p. 66. "Notes on Meter," in H. Gross, ed., The Structure of Verse, p. 117. Unbegaun, p. 29. See also Jespersen's interpretation in terms of the number of successive disappointments of expectation, in "Notes on Meter", in Gross, H., ed., The Structure of Verse, New York (1966), p. 126. Essai sur les principes de la métrique anglaise, 3, pp. 236-8. Time in English Verse Rhythm, pp. 42, 38. Unbegaun, Russian Versification, pp. 20, 24. Also V. Zirmunsky, pp. 52, 55; and J. Bailey, "Some recent developments ...," p. 157. See Chapter section 8.13.1.2a and 2b, also 8.13.1.3. "Studies in Comparative Slavic Metrics," Oxford Slavonic Papers, III (Oxford, 1952), pp. 25-28, 39, 62-63. P. 96. The extension of this investigation to segmental phonemes may prove interesting. The trochaic tetrameter quatrains of Trakl in Dichtungen and Aus goldenem Kelch have been tabulated with respect to the distribution of specific vowel timbres at all stanzaic points. Even taking into consideration the supervening influence of length, specific vowel timbres seem to be drawn to specific points, e.g. au to 1&4(2'), â to 2(2') and 4(3'), ö to 1 (3'), öto 2(2') and 4(3'), etc. To be proven meaningful or intended such results would have to be correlated with preferred whole sequences of vowels or positional relationships ; or a structural connection between shared distinctive features and position must be shown. An interesting further study would be of the distribution of consonants, in particular occlusives as opposed to continuants before and after syllables at the various stress-points, to determine whether they also serve initiatory and retarding functions. Karl Weitkus has shown that, in German, liquid, nasal and fricative consonants are clearly longer than plosives; see "Experimentelle Untersuchung der Laut- und Silbendauer im deutschen Satz," p. 19. He also gives very differentiated figures for combinations of vowel and consonant groups, with resulting average lengths, which might correlate with the tempo distribution. The Structure of Simple Rhythm Forms, p. 361. New York, (1931), p. 43. The Orchestration of the Metrical Line, p. 41. Werke, 2, p. 97. "Hatem," Werke, 2, p. 72; Menschen- «- Erden-, and Bei Suleikafind ich 2CN

C. Quantities by Stress 1' = 2' = 3' = 4'=

55.36% u 51.13%u 50.99% u 50.14%-

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 51.84% u E. Frequency Ratios Top 1/Bottom 1 = 1.66 Top4/Bottom 4 = 1.53 Top8/Bottom 8 = 1.30

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. A feature of preference (FP) for positive deviation in B. above is 2 -C, i.e. the 2nd and 3rd transitions differ in kind (C or N), resulting in Unlike 2',4'. Exceptions are: (u u — ) and ( u), marked "Exc." b. A feature of dispreference (FDP) is 2 -N, with no exceptions, giving Like 2',4'.

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

409

Table 9.2. Heine - Trochaic Tetrameter (1024 verses) A. % Freq. Figure 8.34 8.01

u u u u u u u u

u u u u - u — u - u u u u

u u u

NNN NNC CCN CNC — NCN

7.62 7.62 7.52 7.42 - ccc 6.84 u NCC 6.45 - CNC — 5.76 CNN — 5.66 NNN 5.47 - u - u CCC 5.27 u NNC 4.78 u u NCN 4.49 - u CCN 4.49 u - NCC 4.20 - u u u CNN C. Quantities by Stress l' = 2' = 3' = 4'=

59.18%u 51.37% u 51.37%u 50.20% u

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 53.03 %u E. Frequency Ratios Top 1 /Bottom 1 = 2.00 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.76 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.49

B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq. +20.3 17.7 u 8.7 8.4 u — u 6.8 - u - u 6.4 u u u u 3.0 u u u 2.7 u - u u 2.2 u u .8 u - u - 6.6 u u 7.8 u u u 11.6 11.6 - u 17.4 22.4 - u u u —1

VNN'"'

N

;.- 2 CN

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. A strong (6 of top 7) ensemble of feature preferences is 1-N- + Like l',2' or l',4'. More comprehensive is the FP: 3 N, though it permits one exception: ( — u u). iN = symmetry feature. b. A strong FDP is 2 CN, meaning: Unlike l',3 + like 2',4.

410

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.3. Trakl- Trochaic Tetrameter (380 verses) A. % Freq. Figure 11.55 u u u ; : = 2 CC , ; 2 -C

;|NC

:2-N

--?NN

C. Quantities by Stress l' = 2'= 3' = 4' =

58.27%u 50.92%56.96% u 63.78%-

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 50.13% u E. Frequency Ratios Top 1 /Bottom 1 = 4.40 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 3.84 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.95

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. A fairly good FP ensemble is 2 -C, with two dispreferred exceptions ( - u , - u u -) which are excluded by adding + pN— or 0c— + SJJ. The 2-C preference is for Unlike 2',4', as in Goethe's T4 (Table 9.1). b. The FDP is, oppositely, 2-N, Like 2',4'. There are also two exceptions ( - u - u, — u -), but in general the likeness or not of 2' and 4' has considerable differentiating power for Trakl's T4 patterns.

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

411

Table 9.4. Eichendorff- Trochaic Tetrameter ( 1183 verses) A. % Freq. Figure 8.37 u - u u - u 8.37 u 7.95 u u u 7.52 u - u 7.27 u u 7.02 u u 6.85 5.66 5.66 u u u 5.49 u 5.41 - - u 5.24 u - u 5.16 4.99 - u u 4.82 - u 4.23 u

CCN CCC NCN NNN NCC NNC CNC — CNN —I CNN —I CCN — CNC — CCC NNN NCN NCC NNC -

C. Quantities by Stress l'= 2' = 3'= 4'=

57.57%u 52.83% u 53.59% u 51.31%-

D. Quantity of Total stresses = 53.17%u E. Frequency Ratios Top 1 /Bottom 1 = 1.98 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.68 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.44

B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq. CCN + 18.1 u - u u ; CCC 12.1 u - u :NCC 11.2 - u u 9.8 u u

CC Seq.

8.2

5.8 3.6 2.8 - 4.2 4.4 5.3 6.4 11.8 12.4 12.5 16.0

u - u u - u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u -

u -

!

NNN NN CNN , „ NNC J

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. Pattern preference does not seem to be a strong factor in EichendorfTs T4. An apparent FP, however, can be seen in a first-order CC sequence (CCC, CCN, NCC), with the exception of ( u -). b. A corresponding FDP is first-order NN sequence, again with one exception ( ). Thus, sequences of three like quantities are dispreferred; alternations ( - u - , u - u) are preferred. But in no cases do pattern pairs show proximate deviations.

412

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.5. Gerhardt - Trochaic Tetrameter (996 verses) B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq.

A. % Freq. Figure 7.93 7.53 7.33 7.13 6.73 6.63 6.53 6.53 6.43 6.12 5.82 5.82 5.02 4.92 4.82 4.72

u u u u u u u - u u u - u u u u u u

u u u u u u u - u —

u -

u u u u u u u

NNC NCN NCN NCC CNC CCC CNN NNNCCN NCC NNN CNN CCC CCN CNC NNC -

C. Quantities by Stress 1'= 2' = 3'= 4' =

50.30% u 51.41 % u 52.11%u 55.22% -

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 50.35%E. Frequency Ratios Top 1/Bottom 1 = 1.68 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.54 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.29

+ 19.4 7.9 5.7 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.4 1.2 .8 1.3 2.3 5.9 10.1 11.1 11.1

u u u u - u u - - u - u u - - u u u - u u u u u u u - u u - u u u -

-

-

-

::?CN2

C-

-

u - u u u u u u u

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. The figure frequency ratios (E) reveal a low level of stereotypy, and the deviation hierarchy (B) exposes a matching inactivity of transition patterns quantitatively. The strongest FP is 2 C-, producing Unlike l',3\ with two exceptions ( - u u - , u -). b. The most effective FDP is Like l',4', again violated twice (u u - u, u — u). All but one of the negatively deviated patterns share this feature. The two violating figures are made positive by FP : Unlike 1', 3' + Si.

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

413

Table 9.6. Heym - Trochaic Tetrameter (861 verses) A. % Freq. Figure 9.75 u - u 8.13 u u 8.01 6.97 u 6.97 - u u 6.39 u 6.16 u - u u 6.04 u u u u 6.04 - u u u 5.57 - u 5.57 u u 5.46 u u u 5.11 u u 5.11 - u - u 4.41 u u - u 4.30 u

B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq.

ccc NCN NNN CNN CNC NCC CCN NNNCNN • CCN NCN • NNC • CNC CCC NCC NNC •

C. Quantities by Stress l' = 2'= 3' = 4'=

52.03%u 52.26%52.38% u 57.26%-

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 51.28%E. Frequency Ratios Top 1/Bottom 1 = 2.27 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.78 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.41

+20.1 19.6 18.0 17.1 9.7 8.6 1.5 1.1 .7 5.9 7.6 10.7 12.7 15.0 15.7 26.7

u u u - u u u -

-

,---2NN-:?N

-

u u u u u u u - u u u - u - u u u u

2

CC

-

-

-

-

n...

V.-'N-C

u u u

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. 2NN is a strict but not very comprehensive FP. 3 N (symmetry) is more inclusive but admits two exceptions ( — u u, u — u). b. A good indicator of the strongest dispreference is 1N-C, giving proximate pairs in lower negative quarter. 3 C is the FDP implied by the symmetry FP above. Exceptions are ( - u u u, u - u u).

414

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.7. Hölderlin - Trochaic Tetrameter (665 verses) A. % Freq. Figure 10.38 9.77 7.37 7.01 7.01 6.32 6.17 6.02 5.71 5.71 5.41 5.11 4.96 4.51 4.36 4.06

- - u - NCC — NNN — CCN — - u - u u - CNC — u - u - CCC —| u u NCN — - u - u CCC — u u u - NNC u NNC u CNC u NCN u u u u - u NCC u CNN — u u u u NNN u - u u CCN u u u CNN —

C. Quantities by Stress 1' = 2' = 3'= 41 =

56.84% 54.29% 50.23%58.05% -

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 54.85%E. Frequency Ratios Top 1/Bottom 1 = 2.57 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.94 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.51

B. % Deviation from Calc. Freq. + 22.8 u U u - U r- u 1 16.4 15.6 u 12.8 - u 9.5 U U U U —r nnnJ 8.6

5.6 u u u 3.5 u - u u — 1.9 2.8 - u 5.9 u u 6.7 - u u 10.8 u - u 12.2 25.1 - u u 27.4 u -

u —

u u u

2

-N

:2CN

J

1

—N

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. A valid but limited FP is 2AW. 2-N covers six of eight favored figures but mispredicts CNN, the most negative. b. 1-CN predicts dispreference successfully, but does not cover the most disfavored pattern. FDP 1 —N widens the coverage to include it (CNN), but erroneously admits NNN. Nevertheless, 1 — N (= Like 3',4') is generally avoided.

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

415

Table 9.8. Gryphius- Trochaic Tetrameter (507 verse) . % Freq. Figure 7.50 7.30 7.30 7.10 6.50 6.50 6.31 6.31 5.92 5.72 5.72 5.72 5.72 5.32 5.32 4.93

u u u u u u u u

-

u u u NNN u u - CNC CCN • u u u - NNC NCN • u NNN u - u NCC - u - CCC CNN - u u CCN — u CNC u u NCN u - NCC u u u CNN u NNC u - u CCC

C. Quantities by Stress 1'= 2' = 3' = 4'=

51.48% u 52.66 %u 50.69 %u 53.45%-

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 50.35 %u E. Frequency Ratios Top 1/Bottom 1 = 1.52 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.37 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.25

B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq. +11.1 11.1 8.3 7.8 4.3 1.8 .8 .8 .3 .3 3.4 7.5 8.1 8.6 11.0 11.8

u u u u u u u - - u

-

-

-

-

-

u - u u - u u - u u u - u u u u u u u u - - u u - u u - u u u u

a

NNN CNC

2

-

NN 3

.- 2 CC-

N

?CN

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. An FP strictly valid for the top four figures in B. is i-N- + 3N, which selects the patterns CNC & NNN. The top six figures are chosen by Like l',4', but this FP also covers (u - u u, — u —) which are negative. The ensemble l -N- + 3N means an internal level transition plus symmetry. b. Half of the negative figures are selected by 1 — N + 2 C - i.e. Like 3',4' + Unlike ¡',3'.

416

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.9. Goethe - Iambic Tetrameter (432 verses) A. % Freq. Figure 7.87 7.87 7.41 7.41 6.71 6.71 6.48 6.25 6.25

u u u u

6.01

-

6.01 5.55 5.55 5.09 4.86 3.94

u u u u

u u - CNC - u - NCC CCN - h u NNN u CNC —I u u u CNN — NCN — u - u u CCN — - u - CCC — - u u NCN — u u - NNC —I u NNC —I CNN — u u u NNN — u - u CCC — u - u NCC —

C. Quantities by Stress 1' = 2' = 3' = 4' =

53.70%51.62% 52.08% u 54.86% -

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 52.03%E. Frequency Ratios Top 1 /Bottom 1 = 2.00 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.57 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.32

B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq. +29.8 11.2 10.0 9.8 8.5 1.6 .6 3.4 3.4 6.1 7.5 7.8 8.5 11.6 13.5 18.8

Exc.

u - u - u u u u u u -

-

-

u u u u u u u u u -

-

-

-

-

-

u u

-

-

u u

-

-

u u u

-

IB1—C

-

U

-

U

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. 1 — N accounts for five of the six preferred figures. However, three members of its set occur in the negative reaches of the hierarchy (u u u u, u , — u u). b. The inverse FDP, 1 —C, is more effective, correctly assigning seven of its eight members to pattern disfavor. The exception is (u — u). Its meaning ist: Unlike 3', 4'.

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

417

Table 9.10. Heine - Iambic Tetrameter (949 verses) A. % Freq. Figure 8.01 8.01 7.06 6.64 6.43 6.32 6.32 6.32 6.32

u u u u u

6.11

-

6.11 u 5.58 5.48 u 5.48 5.16 4.64 u

B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq.

— u CNC u NNC • CNN • - u - NCC - u - CCC NNNCCN u - u u CCN NCN —! u - u u NCN —i u u - NNC — u u u CNN — u - u NCC — u - u CCC — u u - CNC — u u u NNN —

•

C. Quantities by Stress l' = 2'= 3'= 4'=

50.37%u 54.90%53.00%50.37%-

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 51.98%E. Frequency Ratios Top 1/Bottom 1 = 1.73 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.44 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.24

+ 13.6 u 11.7 10.2

U U

1

u —'

U

6.9 - U U 5.7 - u 4.1 u u 2.9 u - 1.7 u - u 2.0 u - u 2.6 - u u 3.9 u 4.3 u 7.0 - u 8.4 u u 12.5 u u u 13.2

-N

_u_u

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. A prominent but restricted FP is NNC. 1 -C gives 5 of positive 7. b. 2NN is an FDP without exception (= Like l',3' + Like 2',4'). The more comprehensive 2 -N produces the bottom five, but has two aberrant members with positive deviation ( - u u u, — u -). This feature indicates Like 2',4'.

418

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.11. Trakl-Iambic

Tetrameter (377 verses)

A. % Freq. Figure 9.81 7.86 7.69 7.69 7.69 7.43 6.90 6.37 5.31 5.31 5.31 5.04 4.77 4.77 4.24 3.71

u - u u - - u - u u u - u u u u u uu u - u u u - u u u u u u u u u u u - u u - - u

CCN NCC CNN •

ccc

NCN — NNC CNC NCN —I CCC NNC NNN CCN NNN — CNN NCC CNC

C. Quantities by Stress 1'= 2' = 3' = 4' =

51.72%50.93 % u 50.93 % u 60.48% -

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 52.59%E. Frequency Ratios Top 1/Bottom 1 = 2.64 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.89 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.60

B. % Deviation from Calc. Freq. +25.4 - u — 24.7 u u 9.4 u u 7.9 5.7 u - u u 5.3 u u 5.3 u - u 3.9 - u - u u .5 - 1.8 u u u 3.6 u u u u 10.0 - u u u 11.1 u u - u 14.9 - u u 19.2 u u 29.5

-CN

- N - + 3N

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. FP = 1-CN defines four of top six. l-Ccovers seven of nine positive deviations, with negative aberrant (u u - u). b. Corresponding to this, l-N-, (Like 2',3') specifies six of seven negative deviations (exc. , u), while the addition of u + 3 N names four negatives without exception.

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

419

Table 9.12. Rilke - Iambic Tetrameter (516 verses) B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq.

A. % Freq.Figure 9.11 8.53 8.53 8.14 7.36 6.78 6.78 5.81 5.42 5.23 5.04 5.04 4.84 4.84 4.46 4.07

u u u u u u u u -

- u u - u u u u - u - u u u u u u u u u u u

u u u u - u - u

NCC CCN NNN CNC —, NCN CNC CCC — NCN — NNN — CNN —i CNN —I NNC —i NNC —I CCN — NCC — CCC —

C. Quantities by Stress 1'= 2'= 3' = 4' =

54.26%51.74%50.39% u 58.53% -

D. Quantity of Total Stress = 53.54% E. Frequency Ratios Top 1/Bottom 1 = 2.25 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.89 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.57

+ 39.2 17.6 14.8 12.1 10.0 5.4 4.7 - 1.0 1.8 2.2 2.9 4.4 16.1 22.6 24.5 26.6

u - - u u u u u u u - u - u u u -

-

-

-

u u u u u -

-

-

-

u u u u u u u u u u u

u u u u _ _ _

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. FP = Like l',4'. Only one figure (u u — ) finds favor without this feature. It is not strictly valid, since two members (u u - u, u - u u) are dispreferred. b. FDP = Unlike l',4' produces seven of nine negative figures. Slightly less effective is 3 C (Single marked stress), which specifies six of the dispreferred ones.

420

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.13. Eichendorff- Iambic Tetrameter (534 verses) A. % Freg. Figure 8.05 - u - u 7.12 u u 7.12 - - u u 6.93 - u 6.74 u u u u 6.74 6.55 u u u u 6.55 6.18 u - u u 6.18 - u u 6.18 u 5.62 - - u 5.43 - u u u 5.43 u - u 4.68 u u - u u 4.49 u

B. % Deviation from Calc. Freq.

ccc

•

NCN NCN CCN — NNC —| NNC —I NNN—| NNN—I CCN — CNC — CNN —| NCC — CNN —I CCC — NCC — CNC —

C. Quantities by Stress 1' = 52.62%2 ' = 51.69% u 3 ' = 50.75%4 ' = 50.75%D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 50.61%E. Frequency Ratios Top 1 /Bottom 1 = 1.79 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.46 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.26

+ 18.4 15.4 12.8 u 11.4 u 10.3 u 10.1 u 6.1

u u u - u u u u u

u u u u u

• =,'2xN

4.8 u 0.0 -

1.0

5.1 9.1 11.5 17.7 21.5 23.7

- u u - u - u u u - u u u u u u u - u

2 ;_- C- +

'Odd N

. Preference Features in % Deviation a. Both l N— and 1 —N describe six of the nine positive figures, with in each case two exceptions. A slightly better fit is rendered by 1 2xN, indicating all patterns with two level transitions (NNC, NCN, CNN, NNN). b. FDP = Unlike l',3'+ Like l',4' specifies four of the bottom five and none of the positive deviations. Like I',4' can be formulated as l Odd N, which includes CCN, CNC, NCC, NNN.

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

421

Table 9.14. Gerhardt - Iambic Tetrameter (449 verses) A. % Freq. Figure 9.80 8.91 7.80 6.68 6.46 6.24

u u u u u u U

-

- u u 6.01 - u 6.01 u 6.01 u u 5.79 u u 5.79 5.79 u - u 5.12 - u u 4.68 - u 4.68 u u u 4.23 u

U -

u u u u u u u

B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq. NNN CNN NNC NCN CCC CNC CCC —I NCC NCC NCN NNC CCN —, CNN CCN NNN CNC

•

C. Quantities by Stress l ' = 50.33%2 ' = 53.67%3 ' = 51.20%4'=55.68%D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 52.72%E. Frequency Ratios Top 1/Bottom 1 = 2.32 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.77 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.38

+ 27.4 25.0 17.5 15.1 14.4 13.6 1.6 .3 - 1.6 5.5 6.0 10.8 11.7 18.1 24.3 30.1

-

-

-

-

u u u u - - u u - u u u u - u u u u u - u u u u u u u u u u - u u u - u u - u - - u

..---CNN

..---CNC

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. Table B. above indicates strong configuration preferences (compare Goethe's 14, Table 9.9, for a sample of comparable size), but pattern consciousness is not evident. CNN is positive in both members, but one figure only weakly so. b. A negative but non-proximate pattern pair is CNC.

422

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.15. Heym - Iambic Tetrameter (359 verses) A. % Freq. Figure 8.64 8.08 7.80 7.52 6.96 6.96 6.41 6.13 5.85 5.57 5.57 5.29 5.29 5.01 4.74 4.18

- u u u - u u - u u

u u u

CNC NCC CCC NCN CNN NNN u NNC u CNN u - u u CCN u u u u NNN u — u CNC u - u - CCC CCN - u u u - u NCC U U U - NNC NCN u u

B. % Deviation from Calc. Freq -

C. Quantities by Stress 1'= 2'= 3' = 4' =

57.66%51.81%52.65% u 50.70% u

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 51.53%E. Frequency Ratios Top 1/Bottom 1 = 2.07 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.67 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.41

+ 19.0 u 12.6 - u u 10.3 u u u 9.7 - u 6.4 4.3 — u 3.7 u u .1 — u - 1.2 u - u 1.6 u — 5.0 u u 6.3 - u u 9.0 u u u 10.7 13.4 U - U 18.2 - u

u u u u u u u u -

- : >, 2 -N

n.

n "---;= 2 NC

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. A limited FP including NNN & NCC is 1 N— + 2-N or Like l',2' + Like T,4'. The FP 2-N alone produces six of the top eight, with its members(- u u u, u - u - ) as negative exceptions. b. A valid FDP for half of the disfavored figures is 2NC. Complementary to the above FP, 2 - C describes six of the bottom eight.

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

423

Table 9.16. Gryphms - Iambic Tetrameter (487 verses) A. % Freq. Figure 8.41 7.80 7.80 7.60 7.39 6.78 6.57 5.95 5.75 5.75 5.54 5.54 5.13 4.93 4.72 4.31

u u u u u u u u -

u u - NNC — - u - ccc — u NCN —| - u u NCN —I u NNC — U U CNC — u u u NNN — - u u CCN — u - u NCC —| - u - NCC - I u - u CCC — NNN — u u u CNN —, u CNC CNN CCN

C. Quantities by Stress l' = 2'= 3' = 4'=

51.95%u 50.31 %u 54.00% u 51.13%-

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 51.28 %u E. Frequency Ratios Top 1/Bottom 1 = 1.95 Top 4/Bottom 4 = 1.66 Top 8/Bottom 8 = 1.40

B. % Deviation from Calc. Freq. +22.1 19.2 15.9 14.2 8.3 7.8 2.4 .7 - 5.8 6.7 8.9 9.9

u u - u u - u u u - u u - u - u u u u u - u u

'::}:.Odd C

u u u u — U

u u 11.5 - u 14.7 u u - u 23.9 u —

^

10.8

iOddN ---'-2CN

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. Unlike l',4' generates six of the positive eight, including the top, most deviating four. Unlike 2', 4' also describes six, but misses the third ranking. Thus FP = 1 Odd C (NCN, NNC, CNN, CCC), with CNN being the negative exception. b. Complementarily, Like l',4' comprises six of the bottom eight, including the four lowest. FDP = lOdd N. An unexcepted FDP = 2CN.

424

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.17. Heine - Iambic Pentameter (587 verses) % Freq. Figure 4.43 4.43 4.26 4.09 4.09 3.75 3.58 3.58 3.41 3.41 3.41 3.41 3.07 3.07 3.07 3.07

u u

% Freq. Figure

u u u u u u u u u u u u u - u u - - u u u u u u - u u -

-

u

-

u

-

-

u u

-

u u - u u - u - u u u - - _- - - u -

2.90 2.90 2.90 2.90 2.90 2.90 2.90 2.73 2.73 2.56 2.56 2.56 2.39 2.21 2.04 2.04

u u u u u u - u - - u u - u - - u u u u u u u - u u u - u u - u u u u u u u - u u u u u - _ —

-

u u -

u u -

u u u -

u -

_

B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq. + 33.8 33.0 28.6 27.5 18.8 18.0 15.9 12.6 9.0 7.9 6.2 5.9 5.1 1.5 .3 .0

u u -

-

-

-

u u u -

u u —

u u —I

!:J

u u u u u - u u — u u - u u u u u u u -

- 2.2

2.3 5.5 6.0 6.8 6.8

7.1 7.2 12.1

13.6 18.7 19.2 22.7 24.2 27.3 29.5

u u u u

u u u u u

u u u

u u u u u - u u u - u u u u - u u u u u u u - u u u

u u u u u u u u

u

Individual Configuration Hierarchies Table 9.17. Heine - Iambic Pentameter (587 verses) C. Quantities by Stress V = 2' = 3' = 4' = 5' =

53.49% 51.45%u 50.26% u 53.32 %u 52.13% u

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 50.73 %u E. Frequency Ratios Tl/Bl = 2.17 T8/B8 = 1.69

T4/B4 = 1.98 T16/B16 = 1.38

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. Like 2', 5', which may reflect marking of colon ends with like quantity, characterizes eleven of the top sixteen figures, including five of the top six. Patterns with both members positive are: NNNN, CNNC, CCNC, NCCN and CNCC. b. Unlike 2', 5' specifies eleven of sixteen lower figures, in particular five of the bottom five. All-negative pairs are NNNC, CCCC, NNCC, CNNN, CNCN and NNCN.

425

426

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.18. Rilke - Iambic Pentameter (623 verses) A. %Freq. Figure 5.14 4.82 4.49 4.17 4.01 4.01 3.69 3.69 3.37 3.37 3.21 3.21 3.21 3.21 3.05 3.05

-

-

-

-

u

-

% Freq. Figure u u

-

-

u u u u

u

-

-

u u u - u u u u u u u - u u u - u u u u -

-

-

-

u u u

-

3.05 3.05 2.89 2.89 2.89 2.89 2.57 2.57 2.41 2.41 2.41 2.41 2.25 2.25 2.09 1.44

-

-

u u

-

-

-

-

u u u u -

-

-

u

u

-

-

-

u u

-

u

-

-

-

-

-

u

-

-

u u - u u u u u u - u u - u u u - u u u - u - - u - u u u u - u u u u - u u — — u

u u -

u u u u u u -

u -

u u

B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq. + 35.8 32.1 29.3 28.9 26.1 25.8 24.5 15.7 12.9 11.3 9.4 8.0 7.8 6.3 4.5 .8 .5

-

u u

u u u u —1 u -

-

-

-

-

-

—

-

u

-

u

—

u - u u u u - u u u u - u u - u u u u u - - u u u u u u u u u u - u u u u - u u u - - - u u u u -

—

•

-5.3 7.8 10.5 10.7 12.3 12.9 13.1 14.5 16.8 18.0 24.7 26.2 26.9 27.6 44.8

u u u u u - u u u u u u u u u u

u u

-

-

-

-

u

-

-

u u -

-

-

u

u

-

-

-

-

u u

u u

-

-

-

u

u u u u

-

-

-

u u u -

-

-

-

Individual Configuration Hierarchies Table 9.18. Rilke - Iambic Pentameter (623 verses) C. Quantities by Stress 1' = 2' = 3' = 4' = 5'=

53.45% 50.40% 52.04% u 52.17%u 56.50%-

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 51.43%E. Frequency Ratios Tl/Bl = 3.55 T8/B8 = 1.93

T4/B4 = 2.37 T16/B16 = 1.48

F. Feature Preferences in % Deviation a. FP = Unlike l',4' + Like 3',5' gives six of the top seven positive deviations (seven in top seventeen) but only one exception (u u ) in the negative hierarchy. There are three pattern pairs in the top seven figures: CNNN, NNCC, CCCC. Two additional pairs are positive: NNNN, CNNC. All but CCCC are l-N—. b. FDP = Unlike ]',3' + Like l',4' accounts for seven figures in the negative list (5 of bottom 8) and only one (u u - u u) deviated positively. Negative pairs are: CNCC, CCCN, CNCN and NCCC; all are C-.

427

428

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.19. Trakl-Iambic

Pentameter (711 verses)

A. % Freq. Figure 5.49 4.64 4.22 4.22 4.22 3.94 3.66 3.52 3.52 3.52 3.38 3.23 3.23 3.23 3.09 3.09

-

u -

u u u -

u -

u -

u u -

u u u u u u u u - u u - u u u u u u u - u u u u u u - u u u u - u u -

% Freq. Figure -

u u -

u u -

u

3.09 2.95 2.81 2.81 2.67 2.67 2.67 2.67 2.53 2.53 2.25 2.25 2.11 1.97 1.97 1.83

- u u - u u u u u u u u u u u u u - u - u u u u u u u - u - - u - u u u u

u u

u u u

u -

u u u

B. % Deviation from Calc.Freq. +49.8 32.3 24.9 22.6 21.1 20.6 18.8 17.6 12.9 11.6 9.6 8.2 7.4 6.3 1.0 .3

u u

u - - u —| - u u u u u - u - u u u u - u u u u u u — u - u - u u - u u u - u - u - - u 1 u u - u u —I - u u u - u u u u

-3.0 4.6 6.1 7.5 8.3 9.0 9.5 9.6 11.9 13.1 15.0 18.6 22.1 25.0 34.8 36.9

u u u u u - - u - - u u u u - u u u u u u u u u u u - u - u u

-

-

u u -

u u -

—

-

u u

u u u - u u - - u u _u u __

—

•

Individual Configuration Hierarchies Table 9.19. Trakl-Iambic Pentameter (711 verses) C. Quantities by Stress 1' = 2' = 3' = 4' = 5' =

50.77% 50.21 %u 51.76%u 57.24% u 55.41 % -

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 50.61 %u E. Frequency Ratios Tl/Bl = 3.00 T8/B8 = 1.94

T4/B4 = 2.35 T16/B16 = 1.51

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. A reasonably good FP for the most favored figures is 1 —NC. It comprehends five of the top six (seven of top sixteen) and only one in the negative reaches of deviation. Complete pairs in the positive hierarchy are: CCNC, NCNC, CNNC and NCCN; the first two lie among the upper eight figures. b. FDP = i-N-N includes seven of bottom sixteen, only one of top half. Four of the lowest five can be thus described. 1 N by itself characterizes seven of bottom eight and only one of top eight. Complete pairs in the negative list: NNCC, NNNN, NNCN and CNCN. These figures are all among the lowest eleven.

429

430

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.20. Eichendorff- Iambic Pentameter ( 1124 verses) A. % Freq. Figure 5.16 4.63 4.09 3.83 3.65 3.65 3.56 3.56 3.56 3.47 3.47 3.38 3.20 3.20 3.11 3.11

% Freq. Figure

u - u u u u u u u u u u u - - u u - - u u u u u u u - u - - u u - u u u u - u u - - u u u - u u u u - u - u u u - u u u u u -

-

3.02 3.02 2.94 2.94 2.94 2.85 2.76 2.67 2.67 2.58 2.40 2.40 2.40 2.40 2.14 1.25

u

u - u u - u u - - u u u -

-

u u - u u - u u u - - u u - u u u u - u u u u u u u - - - u u u - u - — — u

B. % Deviation from Cale. Freq. + 28.6 28.1 26.2 21.7 20.5 15.9 15.1 14.2 12. 6 9.7 8.7 8.1 7.9 7.4 6.3 .4 .3

u u u u -

u u

u u u u - u u - u u u u

- u u u u u u -

u u u u u

u u -

u u — u u u

u u u —| u u - u u — u u

-2.8 3.7 3.7 5.2 5.3 5.9 5.9 12.2 13.9 14.3 15.8 25.7 29.2 38.9 49.8

u u u - u u u u - u u u u u - u u u u - - - u u u - u u - u u u u u u u - u - u u u u u u u - - - u

Individual Configuration Hierarchies Table 9.20. Eichendorff - Iambic Pentameter (¡124 verses) C. Quantities by Stress V = 2' = 3' = 4' = 5' =

51.42% 53.65 %u 51.25%u 53.56 %u 50.89% u

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 51.59% u E. Frequency Ratios Tl/Bl = 4.14 T8/B8 = 1.76

T4/B4 = 2.16 T16/B16 = 1.42

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. Eichendorff shows considerable stereotypy of configurations, as indicated by the, for the large sample, high frequency ratios. However, his iambic pentameter does not seem sensitive to patterns. There are few proximate ones, either in the frequency or the deviation hierarchy, and none grouped toward the extremes as we find in Trakl, Rilke and Heine. The rather weak FP = 4 C , i.e. Unlike l',5', describes 10 of the positive 17, including the top four, and none of the bottom five in the deviation hierarchy. b. Correspondingly, *N covers the lowestfivenegative figures. There is thus at least a mild preference for Unlike I',5'. Note that 6 of 8 symmetrical patterns are negative, including lowest four.

431

432

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.21. Heym - Iambic Pentameter (540 verses) % Freq. Figure 5.19 4.81 4.81 4.44 4.44 3.89 3.89 3.89 3.70 3.70 3.52 3.33 3.33 3.15 3.15 2.96

% Freq. Figure

u - u u u u u - u - u u u u u - u - - u u u u - - u u u -

u u u u u - - u u u u - u - u u u - u -

2.96 2.96 2.96 2.78 2.78 2.78 2.59 2.59 2.41 2.22 2.22 2.04 2.04 1.85 1.48 1.11

u u - u u - - u u u u u u - - u - u u u u - u - u u - - - u - - - u u - u - u u u u u u u - u u u - u u u u u u u u - - u u u - u u u -

-

% Deviation from Cale. Freq. +60.2 34.2 27.2 24.0 16.0 14.2 13.7 13.7 11.1 10.5 9.8 9.7 3.7 2.5 1.4

u u - u - u u - u u u u - - u u u u u - - u u u u u u u u u - u u - u u u u u

u u — u -

u — u — -

u

-

u

-1.8 3.3 5.1 7.8 8.0 9.8 10.9 11.5 13.2 13.6 14.4 15.6 16.0 17.0 30.4 31.5 43.7

u u u u u - u u u - u u u - u u u - u - - - u u u - - u - - u u u - u u u u u u u u - u - u - - -

-

u u

u u u u u u u u u -

Individual Configuration Hierarchies Table 9.21. Heym - Iambic Pentameter (540 verses) C. Quantities by Stress 1'= 2' = 3'= 4' = 5'=

59.62%52.22 %u 52.22%50.55 %u 57.59%-

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 53.33%E. Frequency Ratios Tl/Bl = 4.67 T8/B8 = 2.30

T4/B4 = 2.97 T16/B16 = 1.65

F. Preference Features in % Deviation a. Heym's frequency list (A.) reveals the strong action of point dynamics; quantitative opposites of the highest seven figures all sink into the lowest ten. There is no mirror reflection, however, but a stepped order of recurrence indicating pattern influence. FP = Unlike l',4' + Unlike 3', 5' or UOdd C)- + 2 — C covers 4 of top 6 and 6 of top 15. Highranked intruders (u - u - u, u — ) are symmetrical. N specifies b. FDP = Like l',5' + Like 4',5' = *N + 1 6 of lowest 8, 7 of negative 17; only symmetrical ( — u — ) intrudes into highest ranks. FP = symmetry thus plays a supplementary role.

433

434

Individual Configuration Hierarchies

Table 9.22. Hölderlin - Iambic Pentameter (267 verses) A. % Freq.

Figure

6.74 6.34 5.24 4.87 4.49 4.12 4.12 4.12 3.75 3.37 3.37 3.37 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.00

u u u u u

u u u u u

u u u -

u u u u u -

°/„ Freq. Figure

u u u u -

u -

u u u u

u u

u u u u - u - u u

3.00 2.62 2.62 2.62 2.25 2.25 2.25 2.25 1.87 1.87 1.87 1.87 1.87 1.87 1.50 1.50

u u u - u u u u u u u u u - - u u - u u u u - - - u u - u u u u u u u u - u u - u u u u - u u u u u u - - - u u - - u -

-

u

-

B. Since the Hölderlin sample is small, no % deviation has been calculated. C. Quantities by Stress 1' = 2' = 3'= 4'= 5' =

53.93%50.56 %u 50.94% u 56.93 %u 60.30% -

D. Quantity of Total Stresses = 51.16%E. Frequency Ratios Tl/Bl = 4.50 T8/B8 = 2.82

T4/B4 = 3.43 T16/B16 = 1.94

Signs and Symbols

( ) [ ]

l',2',3',4',5' 3(2'), etc. 2a, etc. x2 or 2* 14, T4,15 ABAB, AABB, ABBA abac, aabc, etc. (x - x -), etc. l'/3', 2'/3', etc. 3(l'/3'), etc. 2'/ ¡4', etc. 1/4(274'), etc. 1(4'/1'& 3'), etc.

Enclose patterns in whole verses of assonance, e.g. (a a b c), stress (x x x x) or vowel quantity (u u u -). Enclose ditonic rhythmemes of accent, word boundary, e.g. [02045], or [S-L], See Section 7.4.2, p. 225. Enclose whole stanzaic matrices of interlinear assonance or vowel quantities of stress points. Stress numbers in verse lines. Second stress in third line of stanza, etc. Second stress of verse on third syllable (in trochaic verse). Unstressed second syllable of line or second unstressed syllable. Iambic tetrameter, trochaic tetrameter, iambic pentameter. Quatrains with alternating, paired or enclosing rhymes. Also ditone flight patterns; Section 7.11, pp.243ff. Patterns of vowel repetition on stressed syllables of tetrameter verses. See Section 1.9, p. 43. Any pattern of interlinear assonance (as above) in which stresses 1' and 3' have echoing vowels. See Table 1.3, p. 59. /wiralinear repetition of vowel timbres between stress 1' in a preceding verse with stress 3' in the following verse, or 2' with 3', etc. See Section 2.4, pp. 77.= Repetition of vowel in stress 1' of stanza line 3 with stress 3' of the following (fourth) stanzaic line. Repetition of vowel sound in stress 2' of a verse with vowel sound in stress 4' of the second following verse. Repetition of vowel in stress 2' of line 1 of a stanza with stress 4' in line 4 of the stanza. Repetition of vowel in stress 4' of stanza line 1 with both stresses 1' and 3' in the following verse.

436

Signs and Symbols

1,2+ 5,4(473-), etc. u or S - or L [L-S] or [- u] etc. 1-2, 3-4, etc.

[Si-LJ (u u u -), ( - - u - ) , etc.

Repetition of vowel in stress 4' of line 1 with stress 3' in line two, and then the repetition of this figure, with a different timbre, in the same stresses of lines 3 and 4. Short vowel quantity. Long vowel quantity. Quantitative ditonic rhythmeme with long vowel in first stress and short vowel in second stress of two stress phrase. See Section 7.4.2, p. 225. Configurations of vowel quantity in tetrameter verses expressed as ditonic rhythmeme sequences, where 1 = [S-S], 2 = [S-L], 3 = [L-S], 4 = [L-L], See Section 8.3, pp. 280-81. Short stress V of ditone followed by a long stress 2'. Configurations of vowel quantities in stressed syllables of a tetrameter verse. Pentameter verses observe same principled u u -). See Section 8.3.1,pp.281,358. Same as above.

(S-S-S-L), (L-L-S-L), etc. Bold-face percentages indicate predominantly long 19.8%, 25.6% vowels in a given sample or stress point. Following figures - sequences of quantitative con2-2 + 1-4, etc. figurations immediately sequential in a stanza. See Section 8.12, pp. 324ff. D! or D 2 The initial or final ditone in a tetrameter verse. Dj = l' + 2'; D 2 = 3 ' + 4'. [0204], [0234], etc. Word-boundary sets or rhythmemes, where 0 indicates no word boundary after the syllable number in verse sequence replaced by 0; number indicates WB after the syllable of number indicated. Transition patterns of tetrameter verse. See Section NCN, 2 CN, 3 8.3.2, p. 282. N, etc. Transition patterns of pentameter verse. See SecCCNN, 2 NCN, tion 8.14.3.2, p.358. etc. Feature of preference in a quantitative figure hierLike l',3' archy. Means that preference is given to figures with the same quantity (long or short) on stresses 1' and 3'.

Bibliography

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