Strict Metrical Tradition: Variations in the Literary Iambic Pentameter From Sidney and Spenser to Matthew Arnold 9780773569041

Citation preview

debut.fm Page i Monday, February 26, 2001 1:41 PM

The Strict Metrical Tradition Variations in the Literary Iambic Pentameter from Sidney and Spenser to Matthew Arnold

A central issue in the recent surge of interest in metre on the part of theorists in different disciplines and practicing poets has been that of variations in the iambic pentameter. Keppel-Jones approaches this subject in a way that somewhat resembles Derek Attridge’s, but is in fact very different. The Strict Metrical Tradition focuses on a period of 275 years, during which iambic pentameter variations were conducted with special precision. Representative blocks of verse are chosen from major poets in original authoritative editions, and each variation is analysed on the basis of all cases of that variation. To give precision to certain of the principles, Keppel-Jones follows the linguist Bruce Hayes’ definitions of boundaries between word-groups, but handles this material in such a way as to be understood by the general reader. The practical result of this study is a new metre that allows KeppelJones to apply the principles of iambic variation to the anapest. His fascinating and original approach to iambic pentameter will appeal to scholars in the field and also to people with a general interest in poetry. david keppel-jones teaches in the Department of English at University College of the Cariboo.

debut.fm Page ii Monday, February 26, 2001 1:41 PM

debut.fm Page iii Monday, February 26, 2001 1:41 PM

The Strict Metrical Tradition Variations in the Literary Iambic Pentameter from Sidney and Spenser to Matthew Arnold d av i d k e p p e l - j o n e s

McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston • London • Ithaca

debut.fm Page iv Monday, February 26, 2001 1:41 PM

© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2001 isbn 0-7735-2161-5 Legal deposit second quarter 2001 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (bpidp) for its activities. It also acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for its publishing program.

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Keppel-Jones, David, 1938– The strict metrical tradition: variations in the literary iambic pentameter from Sidney and Spenser to Matthew Arnold Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-7735-2161-5 1. English language – Versification. 2. Iambic pentameter. 3. English poetry – History and criticism. I. Title. pe1531.i24k46 2001 821.009 c00-901268-0

This book was typeset by Typo Litho Composition Inc. in 10/13 Baskerville.

debut.fm Page v Monday, February 26, 2001 1:41 PM

In memory of my Father

debut.fm Page vi Monday, February 26, 2001 1:41 PM

debut.fm Page vii Monday, February 26, 2001 1:41 PM

Contents

Preface

ix

General Introduction

3

part one Introduction to Part One 1 The Unvaried Line 2 Extra Syllables

31

35

39

3 The Choriamb 56 4 The Minor Ionic

73

5 The Second Epitrite

93

6 Review of Radical Variations

104

7 Variations Based on the Spondee 110 8 Variations Based on the Pyrrhic 9 Combinations

147

Conclusion to Part One

154

part two Introduction to Part Two

167

131

debut.fm Page viii Monday, February 26, 2001 1:41 PM

viii

Contents

10 The Renaissance

171

11 The Interregnum and the Restoration 12 The Eighteenth Century 13 The Romantics

197

14 The Victorians

206

Conclusion

184

192

216

Appendix: The Placement of Variations and the Caesura Notes

239

Bibliography Index 275

269

233

preface.fm Page ix Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

Preface

The occasion that led to the writing of this book was, not surprisingly, a conversation about metre and rhythm. But the metre under discussion was not iambic pentameter. I was preparing, with an eye to publication, a little selection from the poems of my grandfather, Harold Keppel Jones, that had lain in manuscript in a trunk in Salisbury, Rhodesia (as it was then), his relatively early death from tuberculosis having forestalled his own plans for publication. I found that a friend and I differed slightly regarding the rhythm in the poet’s pièce de résistance, Elisanne (a poem purporting to have been written by Richard Coeur de Lion while in prison in Austria on his way back from the Second Crusade and recounting an amorous escapade in his youth). Of the metre itself there was no question: it was the 15-syllable line used for example by Tennyson in Locksley Hall. The question was how many beats one felt in each line. I resolved to add a brief note to the poem, presumptuously explaining the beats as I felt them. What really intrigued me was the sense of coherence one felt in this pattern of beats. I began to ponder other patterns of beats related to the one in Elisanne; but related patterns started turning up on every hand. And since these patterns were turning up not just in verse but in music, I soon found myself wading into a ludicrously ambitious investigation of how beats yield a sense of rhythmical coherence. Curtailing the focus to several centuries of English verse seemed to be a workable solution until, having already found that iambic pentameter posed a peculiar conundrum, I realized that one could not talk convincingly

preface.fm Page x Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

x

Preface

about beats in iambic pentameter until one could explain what happened to those beats in the presence of the variations that give the line its character. Fortunately, perhaps, I was unable to foresee how many years would elapse before I was done with that explanation. As I worked on iambic pentameter variations, the earlier study of rhythmical coherence faded into the background. In the end it was necessary to include a sketch of the central points in order to touch on the peculiar conundrum of the iambic pentameter, mentioned above. What had wholly disappeared from the picture was the original question, the beats in Elisanne. Meanwhile it struck me that the principles coming to light, showing how iambic pentameter variations were rooted in the basic iamb, could be applied to another base, namely the anapest. The result would be a metre that had never been tried before. I translated some poems, mainly German, into the varied anapest (as I call it) and was pleased with the results. But it was only on returning to these translations after some years, polishing them, and adding others, that both I and the friends I showed them to became convinced that the new metre was worth pursuing in earnest. One of these pieces was published by the late Jon Silkin in his Stand Magazine (Spring 1997); and Mr Dana Gioia kindly invited me to give an account of the metre at the poetry conference at West Chester, Pennsylvania, in June 1999. No such account can be included in the present study, in view of a limit on length. So this is a metrical study that has to ignore both the familiar metre that led to it and the unfamiliar one to which in turn, as a practical result, has led. For their valuable comments and suggestions and their continuing encouragement over many years I am especially indebted to three friends and ex-colleagues: James Carscallen and Laurence Cummings, who read portions of the manuscript at different stages of its progress, and Walter Martin, who, in addition to helping me procure some of the source materials, read all of it at one point. My thanks go to Robert Wiljer for his encouraging comments on seeing the opening chapters in their earliest form, and to Geoffrey Durrant and Lee Johnson for their comments and suggestions regarding the introduction at a much later stage. I am particularly indebted to Annette Dominik for her support in the field of linguistics, and for her responses and suggestions regarding a number of troublesome points. My greatest debt is to my wife, Christa, without whose labours I would not have been able to de-

preface.fm Page xi Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

xi

Preface

vote to this book the time I needed for it. For comments and encouragement and for help of various kinds I also thank George Johnson, Gail McKay, Raymond and Hélène McLenaghan, Colin Murray, Lawrence Ries, and Joan Weir. Finally, I would like to thank the editorial staff at McGill-Queen’s University Press for their patience and care in preparing the manuscript for publication.

preface.fm Page xii Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

ge_intro.fm Page 1 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

The Strict Metrical Tradition

ge_intro.fm Page 2 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

ge_intro.fm Page 3 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

General Introduction

The early 1590s in England witnessed a remarkable phenomenon in the development of English verse. There was an explosion of genius, in the form of masterpieces in verse published by poets of the highest rank – in 1590 Spenser’s Faerie Queene (Books 1–3); in 1591 Sidney’s sonnet-sequence Astrophil & Stella; in 1593 and 1594 Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. And to these should be added the poems interspersed through Sidney’s prose romance The Countesse of Pembroke’s Arcadia, published in 1590, and Marlowe’s Hero and Leander, written shortly before his death in 1593, though not published until 1598. What was perhaps even more significant than these actual works was the technical breakthrough that can be shown to lie behind them. The point was made, memorably but not I think very accurately, by the Imagist poet T.E. Hulme: “Take the case of the extraordinary efflorescence of verse in the Elizabethan period. All kinds of reasons have been given for this – the discovery of the new world and the rest of it. There is a much simpler one. A new medium had been given them to play with – namely, blank verse. It was new and so it was easy to play new tunes on it.”1 Surely, the important new medium was not the blank verse of drama. It was the iambic pentameter itself, whether rhymed or unrhymed, but invested with a newly perfected technique. And this new technique first appeared not in the blank verse of drama but in the non-dramatic, rhymed iambic pentameters

ge_intro.fm Page 4 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

4 The Strict Metrical Tradition

of the works mentioned above.2 It was in them that the technique of writing iambic pentameters in modern English was perfected, in them that a new medium made it possible to play new tunes. What was this new technique? My understanding is that it concerned the ways in which the alternating stress-pattern of the syllables could be varied. A distinction must be drawn between those variations that leave the sense of alternation intact and those that truly disrupt the alternation. The former – simple variations as I shall call them – are of lesser importance. Some of them involve a weak syllable where a strong one was expected: / / / * / And now employ the remnant of my wit, (where * marks the unexpected weak syllable). The others involve a strong syllable where a weak one was expected: / / / + / / When Nature made her chiefe worke, Stella’s eyes,3 (where + indicates the unexpected strong syllable). The syllable-pair or “foot” in question is a pyrrhic in the one case and a spondee in the other, to use the traditional terms. The important variations are those that disrupt the alternating pattern – radical variations, as I shall call them. One had long been in use, and for the present can be called by its familiar name, inversion, which refers to the inversion (or reversal) of an iambic “foot.” For example: / ∪ Led with delight, they thus beguile the way, (where ∪ indicates a non-stress). However, the use of inversion was now brought under a considerably tightened discipline. Meanwhile, over the preceding century and more, two other configurations were gradually coming into use. Both, when perceived (as I believe they should be) as figures of four syllables, can be seen to be radical variations. One has two non-stresses followed by two stresses: ∪∪ / / And proov’d your strength on a strong enimie, For this I shall use the classical term minor ionic. The other has three stresses and one non-stress: / ∪ / / Full of great lumpes of flesh and gobbets raw,4 For this I shall use the classical term second epitrite. (I shall comment in due course on my use of classical terms for these and indeed for all

ge_intro.fm Page 5 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

5 General Introduction

variations.) These figures had emerged not just as stress-patterns but as figures associated with a number of linguistic details. The new technique arose, as I see it, out of a discovery regarding these two figures. It was in fact the discovery of how these two figures functioned if one maintained a strict count of ten syllables for the line, with the exception of feminine endings and syllables understood to be elided. Under that condition, these two figures not only came sharply into focus but presented themselves, together with the old principle of inversion (newly disciplined), as the three means – the three means linguistically convenient and rhythmically acceptable – by which the basic iambic alternation could be radically varied. So it was that this new, strict iambic pentameter suddenly became the vehicle of the explosion of poetic genius referred to above. What is more, employing the same system of variations essentially unaltered, it continued to be the main vehicle of English verse for nearly 300 years. Actually this was a discovery that affected not just the pentameter but iambics in all lengths of line, for the same system of variations was used in all of them. Not until the mid-nineteenth century did this system of variations slowly begin to disintegrate, a disintegration that was accompanied by the gradual loss of preeminence in English verse of iambics in general, and of the iambic pentameter in particular. Such long-continued acceptance of a single system of variations seems to call for the phrase metrical tradition, which I have used in my title. A preliminary step in the present work will be to draw a bounding line around the body of verse fully observing this tradition. Then, on the basis of representative samples of iambic pentameter from that body of verse, the three aims of the work are: first, to describe the variations in question; second, to account for these variations and the form they take, in the light of an appropriate general rationale; and, finally, to demonstrate the consistency with which this system of variations was employed throughout the domain defined by the bounding line. I began by specifying the works that inaugurated the tradition of the strict iambic pentameter. Of these works (all published in the early 1590s), Sidney’s and Spenser’s contributions had already been circulating in manuscript for some years, and these two poets were unquestionably the ones actually responsible for perfecting the new technique. How did they do so, and what were the steps that led up to their doing so?

ge_intro.fm Page 6 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

6 The Strict Metrical Tradition

In his admirable account of the business in The Founding of English Metre (1961), John Thompson offers an illuminating remark. “The frequency of the monosyllabic epithet in English,” he says, “had troubled Surrey and Sackville, for phrases like false fayth could be used by Chaucer, with the sounded e, in a way that these poets could not manage without, it seemed, endangering the iambic pattern” (149). Unfortunately Thompson’s account is seriously handicapped through his knowing nothing of the minor ionic and the second epitrite, those two radical variations that have begun to become familiar to prosodists in recent years; for, as I have already hinted, I see their adoption as the centre-piece in the perfecting of the new technique. But in this remark Thompson supplies, without realizing its full significance, an incidental key to a good part of the business. Indeed, this problem of the monosyllabic adjective not only goes a good way toward explaining the adoption of the two new variations but also provides a connecting thread that enables one to chart the progress being made in the preceding centuries towards the new technique, even amidst much metrical confusion. Let us be quite clear as to the nature of this problem. The problem was to accommodate, in the iambic pentameter line, word-groups of the following very common type: a strong enemy her sad troubles with false shows and sure aid In each case both the second and third syllables are stressed (the second being, of course, the monosyllabic adjective). For Chaucer there was no problem. The adjective was typically not a monosyllable, since it ended in a sounded -e, ∪ /∪ / The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne – and the resulting stress pattern was iambic. Thus there was no real need for the minor ionic and the second epitrite. The occasional minor ionics that seem to turn up were probably intended to be read iambically.5 Possible second epitrites are too rare for the figure to be regarded as a bona fide variation. For radical metrical variety Chaucer relied on inversion, on the fairly free play of extra unstressed syllables under various principles,6 and occasionally on the omission of the opening syllable (yielding a “headless” line).

ge_intro.fm Page 7 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

7 General Introduction

Chaucer’s immediate successor Gower was still able to sound the -e. But in the next generation Lydgate evidently could not do so with comfort, so that he, and in due course the Scots poets, notably Henryson, Dunbar, and Gavin Douglas, all had to face the problem of the monosyllabic adjective. They all found that there were two solutions to the problem. One was to have the adjective close a regular iambic foot, and the noun open an inverted foot, with the beat occurring one syllable sooner than expected: ∪ / /∪ For greit sorrow his hart to brist was boun:7 For the present I shall refer to this solution as abrupt inversion. One of its drawbacks is the conflict between syntax and rhythm: the syntactic resolution (on the noun) falls at a point of maximum rhythmic distortion. Still worse is the danger that the reader might take the syntactic closure as giving the cue for the beat: / / For greit sorrow his hart to brist was boun: The line has then fallen into anapestic, or triple, rhythm and has lost one of its five beats. It is a danger pointed out by Derek Attridge in The Rhythms of English Verse (1982) with respect to manoeuvres of this type, and is doubtless what Thompson had in mind in saying that these poets were “endangering the iambic pattern.” Presumably these poets read Chaucer without sounding his final -e, and thus supposed that he himself had freely used this manoeuvre. The other solution was to set up the group in question as the closing three syllables of the 4-syllable minor ionic:

/ / ∪ ∪ And with swift course atour the flude thay frak; or, very occasionally, of the 4-syllable second epitrite: / ∪ / / Lyke to sum poet of the ald fasson.8 In either case the syntactic resolution on the fourth syllable coincides with a beat in the rhythm. It is interesting to note that Dunbar and Douglas seem to have settled increasingly on this solution of the minor ionic, as they matured. Henryson is notable in keeping (at least in his Testament of Cresseid) almost exclusively to the solution of abrupt inversion. One might wonder why each of these poets, and indeed poets like Surrey and Sackville in the next century, evidently had to work out for himself, afresh, the solution of the minor ionic. Undoubtedly the

ge_intro.fm Page 8 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

8 The Strict Metrical Tradition

reason was that the efficacy of this solution could not be noticed as long as fundamental issues had not been settled. The omission, for example, of an unstressed syllable in the middle of a line, so as to yield five beats but only nine syllables in all, is a persistent phenomenon, attributable again no doubt to a misreading of Chaucer. The irregularities in Wyatt show that metrical discipline in the iambic pentameter had not yet been demonstrated, by the time of Henry VIII’s reign, to be compatible with the versatility and expressiveness required by a poet of Wyatt’s genius. A reactionary trend would soon set in toward excluding virtually all departures from regular iambics other than the unobtrusive use of inversion at the opening of the line. The resultant verse, monotonously regular, can be seen in poets like Gascoigne (1535–77) and Turberville (c.1540–c.95). These poets skirted around the problem of the monosyllabic adjective; but they must have felt sorely the constraint of having to do so. A different path, however, had already been taken by Surrey (1517– 42) and Grimald (1519?–42?) and would soon be taken by Sackville (1536–1608). Their path starts from a point that reminds one of the Scottish poets of the preceding century; but then, at least in Surrey and Sackville, it shows what can be seen in retrospect as a fairly steady progression toward the final solution. Surrey’s earlier work I take to be the pieces printed by Tottel in Songs and Sonets. Here Surrey solved the problem of the monosyllabic adjective, usually by the old method of abrupt inversion but not infrequently with a minor ionic. Meanwhile he also indulged in an assortment of irregularities. Then in his translation of two books of Virgil’s Aeneid into blank verse he found, with growing confidence as he progressed, that he could all but dispense with abrupt inversion and use the minor ionic as his standard means of embodying the monosyllabic adjective: ∪ ∪ / / By the good zele of old devotion. The second epitrite he used as an occasional alternative:

/ ∪ / / Stuft with armd men, about the which there ran9 At the same time he considerably curtailed his use of irregularities. In the first 200 lines of his “Induction” to the Mirrour for Magistrates (1564), Sackville seems to have been almost as anxious to skirt around the problem of the monosyllabic adjective as his contemporaries like Gascoigne. But in the later part of the poem he took over the torch of metrical progress just at the point where Surrey had relinquished it.

ge_intro.fm Page 9 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

9 General Introduction

He found that he could use the minor ionic freely to solve this problem, the second epitrite occasionally, and the old method of abrupt inversion sparingly. It was in terms of irregularities that he advanced well beyond Surrey in eliminating all but the occasional case of inversion in two – or, very rarely, three – successive feet. On all counts but one, Grimald fits neatly enough into this progression toward perfection, after Surrey and before Sackville. (His pieces were printed, together with Surrey’s, in the first edition of Tottel’s Songes and Sonettes, 1557, now known as his Miscellany.) What is extraordinary in Grimald is his confident use of the second epitrite as an alternative method for embodying the monosyllabic adjective, besides the method of the minor ionic. Indeed, in his adoption of these two variations, his reluctance to use abrupt inversion, and his fair success in avoiding irregularities, he presents a pretty close approximation to the strict system, decades before it was re-perfected and definitively demonstrated by Sidney and Spenser. But his verse, in other respects undistinguished and awkward, was omitted from later editions of Tottel’s Songes and Sonettes, and one cannot be sure whether his successors seriously examined his technique.10 In the mid 1570s Sidney and Spenser entered the picture. Both would perfect their technique in iambic pentameter after trying an earlier technique, and then making a change. Sidney’s earlier phase is given by the poems interspersed through his Countesse of Pembroke’s Arcadia, evidently composed between 1577 and 1579.11 A fundamental feature introduced by him, the importance of which was rightly stressed by Thompson,12 is what I shall call syllabic integrity – in other words, the maintenance of a strict count of syllables in the line. What is particularly notable with respect to variations is Sidney’s frequent use of the second epitrite, and above all his fondness for the type that joins the first two syllables in one word:

/∪ / / Nature made all, but me of dolours made: 7.143 This arrangement does not accommodate the full 3-syllable monosyllabic adjective group; but Sidney also included a good number of second epitrites of the type that does accommodate the group, as in /∪ / / He proules ech place stil in new colours deckt, 8.35 Quite often, however, Sidney approached the problem by another route. (Though justification of the method must be deferred until later, here I will use foot-divisions as the most effective frame of reference.)

ge_intro.fm Page 10 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

10

The Strict Metrical Tradition

He allowed the noun to open a foot (awkwardly, as in the earlier poets), and then, instead of letting this become an inverted – an abruptly inverted – foot, filled it out with some stressed word, preferably a verb: / / I yet should knowa youngman speaketh now, 9.97 An abrupt spondee (/ /), one could call it. Strangely, Sidney was extremely reluctant to use what would later turn out to be the best solution to the problem, the minor ionic. Indeed, when he did set up a minor ionic, he liked to include the option of its being read iambically by putting a possessive pronoun at syllable 2 of the figure. Thus, in Arcadia 1.8 one could avoid a stress on that second syllable (thine) and precipitate a minor ionic:

/ / ∪ ∪ In thine owne seate a forraine state shall sit. Or one could stress thine and retain an essentially iambic reading. Here and there in these poems Sidney used patterns of syntax and stress, including double inversion, that would come to be irregular in terms of the strict tradition. One of his special goals seems to have been that of working out for himself the ways in which inversion could be used in iambic pentameter naturally and harmoniously – what should precede it, what could follow it, whether two successive feet could be inverted, and so on.13 The second epitrite, especially in the form he preferred, could be seen as inversion followed by a spondee – so he experimented with it. The minor ionic had no apparent connection with inversion – so he used it very cautiously and often ambiguously. His sonnet-sequence Astrophil and Stella was probably written in the summer of 1582;14 and he had evidently more or less perfected his mature technique by the time he began writing the sequence. Syllabic integrity was taken for granted, and, building on his earlier technique respecting variations, Sidney now employed the second epitrite even more frequently. The dramatic change, though, was in his attitude toward the minor ionic, an about-face from extreme caution to wholehearted endorsement, for he adopted the minor ionic from the start as one of his standard metrical tools. As might be expected, a number of his earlier preferences and leanings persisted. He retained a slight preference for the second epitrite over the minor ionic and, within that preference, a leaning toward the type that joins the first two syllables. Moreover, though the “standard” type of second epitrite and the minor ionic now offered ample accommodation for the monosyllabic adjective group, he was still somewhat fond of reverting to his earlier alterna-

ge_intro.fm Page 11 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

11

General Introduction

tive approach, the abrupt spondee,15 and occasionally to the form from which it was presumably derived, abrupt inversion. Curiously, this fondness is clearly evident in the first quarter and the last third of the Astrophil and Stella sonnets, but almost disappears in the rest. On the one hand, the sheer frequency not merely of these new variations but also of the simple variations based on the spondee (the second type described above on p. 2, with an unexpected strong syllable) is unmistakable. But that is not all. The combination of Sidney’s assurance in handling these variations, and the frequency with which he draws attention to them by means of breaks in the line, renders his work not merely a tour de force but a kind of textbook of what would quickly become the technique of the strict iambic pentameter. However, the whole picture is slightly blurred by experimental variations, which, though infrequent, are nevertheless slightly more frequent here than in the Arcadia poems. Spenser’s earlier phase is to be seen in his Shepheardes Calender, entered on 5 December 1579 in the Stationers’ Register for publication. In terms of metre, Spenser’s object in the Calender was evidently to conduct a series of wide-ranging experiments; and in the iambic pentameter pieces he ranged through a variety of approaches, from the plain line, to vacillating between the old 4-stress and the iambic pentameter (an approach that can be found also in certain of the contributions to the Mirror for Magistrates), to disrupting the basic scheme beyond recognition, and finally to offering a restrained sprinkling of assorted variations. With slight re-arrangement these pieces present an orderly progression from the plain line (varied only by occasional inversion) to a line barely recognizable as iambic pentameter. The essential point then emerges. As one moves through this progression, sporadic minor ionics and second epitrites appear, but so do a much larger number of non-iambic irregularities, accompanied by a loosening of syllabic integrity. In other words, there is no recognition of these two figures as being specially significant, nor as being uniquely compatible with iambic discipline and syllabic integrity. A curious fact is that a number of clear minor ionics (embodying the monosyllabic adjective) turn up in “Julye,” the metre of which is not iambic pentameter but the alternating 4.3.4.3 (iambic) line of the ballad or old “fourteener.” Spenser presumably felt able to use the minor ionic configuration thus, knowing that it would be forced into iambic conformity (the minor ionic nearly always can be forced) in this clear and compelling metrical context.

ge_intro.fm Page 12 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

12

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Spenser’s mature metrical technique is to be found in the Faerie Queene, and initially in Books 1–3. Here, even more than in Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella, one sees the new technique in its ideal form. Unfortunately little is known about Spenser’s composition of these books, vast though the labour must have been, and the clues regarding his crucial first steps are puzzling, even though the main facts regarding his circumstances and movements at the time are well known. The salient facts are these. From September or October 1579 until the spring of 1580, Spenser was, quite possibly for the only time in his life (and certainly the only time that matters from our point of view), in contact with Sidney and his circle, including Sidney’s uncle, the great Earl of Leicester, and was also party to some of Sidney’s discussions regarding the state of English verse with his courtier friend, Edward Dyer. It will be remembered that Spenser submitted his Shepheardes Calender for publication in the midst of this period – December 1579. Shortly after this – if not at the very same time – he sent a portion of a poem entitled The Faerie Queene to his own friend, Harvey, for he requested criticism of the piece in his letter to Harvey of April 1580. Harvey, in his reply later that month, showed clear disappointment with the piece. A few months later Spenser left for Ireland as secretary to Lord Grey, whom he evidently accompanied for two years on his rigorous military campaigns there. A certain amount is known about Spenser’s subsequent official and business dealings, but almost nothing definite is known about the progress of the Faerie Queene until 1588 when, as Alexander Judson explains, “English readers were given their first opportunity to see a stanza of The Faerie Queene in print. The book in which it appeared, Abraham Fraunce’s Arcadian Rhetorike, was entered in the Stationers’ Register on June 11, 1588. Fraunce quotes 2. 4. 35, naming book and canto as well as author and work: evidently a portion of the poem was circulating in manuscript in London.”16 By the end of the next year, 1589, at the urging of Sir Walter Raleigh (who not only had a very large estate near Spenser’s own but was also at that time the Queen’s Favourite), Spenser had come to London with Raleigh, had presented his poem to the Queen, and had submitted it for publication on 1 December – though it would not emerge from the printers until April or May 1590. The effect of rehearsing these facts is to raise questions one would particularly like to have answered. Most tantalizing is the question of what that piece was that Spenser sent to Harvey under the title of The Faerie Queene. One cannot help suspecting that, in having settled on the

ge_intro.fm Page 13 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

13

General Introduction

title of his magnum opus, Spenser had already reached some general conception of the work. Yet it seems impossible that he could at this time, within scant weeks of being done with the experiments of the Calender, have had command of his mature technique in variations. Besides, Harvey’s strictures in his reply to Spenser militate against his having seen of any portion of the poem as we know it.17 A more substantial question is when Spenser could have carried out the main labour of composing Books 1–3 as we know them. If at least some of the Faerie Queene was circulating in manuscript in London in a relatively finished state by June 1588, Spenser was presumably far advanced with the poem in Ireland by 1587, if not earlier.18 Judson is not alone in suggesting that Spenser’s duties with Lord Grey would have left him little time to himself from the summer of 1580 until August 1582, when he acquired New Abbey near Kilcullen just as he was being released from his duties with Grey, but that the following two years (until mid-1584) would have been one of the few times when he might indeed have had the leisure for the massive undertaking before him. Two crucial questions (in the perspective of this study) concern Sidney’s possible influence on Spenser.19 First, could Spenser’s direct contact with Sidney, and an examination of Sidney’s earlier technique in the Arcadia poems, have played a part in turning Spenser from his Calender experiments toward the new technique of the Faerie Queene (and thus perhaps have prompted Spenser to sit down at once, draft a portion of his projected epic, and send it off to Harvey)? The chronology of events suggests that there may be at least some germ of truth in the suggestion. One must remember, though, that Spenser could not have gleaned his mature technique from Sidney at this time, for Sidney was evidently still well short even of his own version of it. Secondly, could Spenser through some later contact have based his mature technique on Sidney’s mature technique? In other words, could Sidney, after composing his Astrophil and Stella sequence in the summer of 1582, have sent a copy to Spenser in Ireland, and thus have given Spenser the metrical instrument with which to begin work on The Faerie Queene? This time the combination of chronology and geography would seem to render the suggestion improbable. General internal evidence points to the same conclusion. Where Sidney’s variations in Astrophil and Stella, radical and minor, are quite densely packed, Spenser’s in The Faerie Queene are usually considerably more spread out and less noticeable.20 The effect tends to be that of

ge_intro.fm Page 14 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

14

The Strict Metrical Tradition

the plain line with the new variations (the minor ionic and the second epitrite) unobtrusively grafted in. So, too, with experimental variations; Sidney’s, though not frequent, are noticeable, while Spenser’s are very rare and virtually unnoticeable. Perhaps the most significant feature of all is Spenser’s preference between the two new variations. Sidney always preferred the second epitrite and started out by being extremely cautious with the minor ionic. Spenser, on the other hand, exhibited from the start a decisive preference for the minor ionic, keeping the second epitrite down to an altogether lower frequency. (His judgment would come to be endorsed by nearly all the poets who were to follow; and the reader will notice that my analysis of the two variations brings to light rhythmical anomalies in the second epitrite that explain well enough why Spenser and the later poets, though ready to use the figure, used it somewhat sparingly.) In short, Spenser’s technique with variations has none of the distinctive stamp of Sidney’s technique in Astrophil and Stella; instead it bears a different stamp, a deep, consistent stamp that can only be Spenser’s own. How sorely one feels the lack of firm evidence on all these questions! Yet I believe that something almost as interesting as such evidence may lie ready to hand – a glimpse of Spenser in the very act of working out his mature technique. This glimpse is to be found in the most obvious place, the opening canto of Book 1. And the key to understanding what is happening is that same key that has proved so useful in measuring the progress of other poets, namely, treatment of the monosyllabic adjective group. At first, Spenser fluctuates between a method resembling that of Sidney’s abrupt spondee (1.3, 1.5, and 4.5) and the method of the minor ionic (3.5, 3.8, and 18.6).21 But all these cases are unsatisfactory in their use of weak or ambiguous stresses. At 20.3 he turns to the second epitrite, using firm stresses that embody a typical monosyllabic adjective group:

/ ∪ / / Full of great lumpes of flesh and gobbets raw, It is the first relevant figure that is confident and unequivocal. Then he suddenly seems to realize that the solution to the problem lies in the minor ionic after all, when used with this kind of confidence. And so, at stanza 23, he begins to pour out minor ionics embodying the monosyllabic adjective group, in exuberant profusion and with firm stresses: As gentle Shepheard in sweete even-tide, 23.1 And proov’d your strength on a strong enimie, 27.7

ge_intro.fm Page 15 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

15

General Introduction

and so on. (Bold type indicates the minor ionic.) Meanwhile he uses the second epitrite as his alternate vehicle, boldly but not too frequently.22 Only once (47.9) does he return to his earlier approach, but this time it is an unambiguous case of abrupt inversion. It all seems to present a clear picture. He started the canto with the problem of the monosyllabic adjective clearly before him, but nothing beyond hints as to what his solution would be. There was just one figure he was already sure of, the second epitrite; but this was the one that he was determined not to use as his prime vehicle. Several false starts led him to the solution he wanted; and then at last, finding it, he felt a surge of confidence. Meanwhile the methods he had started out with, and in differing degrees rejected, are recognizable as those to be found in the poems of Sidney’s Countesse of Pembroke’s Arcadia. Amidst much that is uncertain, it seems possible nevertheless to put forward a tentative conclusion. Sidney seems to have worked out his mature technique over a number of years, following the route of forms of inversion, tinkering incidentally with the problem of the monosyllabic adjective, and making one decisive advance between writing the Arcadia poems and the Astrophil and Stella sonnets, in wholeheartedly adopting the minor ionic. On the other hand, the opening Canto of The Faerie Queene seems to show Spenser discovering his mature technique at a single bound, in wrestling with the problem of the monosyllabic adjective. It is possible that he did so in England shortly before leaving, perhaps while he was still in touch with Sidney, but more probable that he did so when he was in Ireland, at a remote distance from Sidney. In either case Spenser would seem to have made his discovery essentially on his own and at a time when he was familiar with Sidney’s Arcadia poems, but not Astrophil and Stella. A final question presents itself. Could Sidney’s adoption of the minor ionic in Astrophil and Stella have resulted from his seeing the opening Canto (or Cantos) of the Faerie Queene (not the piece sent to Harvey, but Canto 1 more or less as we know it)? The idea is plausible, but must remain speculative. In working out his mature technique, then, each of these poets may have owed something to the other. But some impressive element of coincidence seems to rise above what can be explained by this means. Each of the poets, one in England and one probably in Ireland, seems to have worked out his mature technique essentially on his own, giving it his own distinctive stamp; yet the two resultant new metrical systems are fundamentally the same. The system described and analysed in Part One of this book is Sidney’s system, and it is Spenser’s system. The

ge_intro.fm Page 16 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

16

The Strict Metrical Tradition

fact that this system endured essentially unchanged for nearly 300 years suggests that it was, as it were, waiting to be found.23 In his own way each poet was evidently able to perceive which variations, under the condition of syllabic discipline, arose naturally and harmoniously out of the basic iambic metre. As was mentioned at the outset, Books 1–3 of Spenser’s Faerie Queene were published in 1590, Sidney’s Arcadia in the same year, and his Astrophil and Stella in 1591. One does not know whether these works had already been seen in manuscript by Shakespeare and Marlowe before they were published. What is certain is that their effect on Shakespeare was evident enough by 1592, with the publication of his Venus and Adonis, and that their effect was equally evident on Marlowe no later than 1593, when he died after writing a substantial part of Hero and Leander. Marlowe’s adoption of the new system is especially interesting, in view of his having already developed the technique with which he had made his name – his “mighty line” (on the stage, in blank verse). This “mighty line,” at least in the earlier and relatively reliable text of Tamburlaine, is, in its variations, the plain and regular line of the midcentury decades, but from the pen of a genius. It is virtually devoid of the minor ionic and second epitrite. On seeing the new system in Sidney and Spenser, Marlowe clearly lost no time in putting it to use himself. Shakespeare and Marlowe were not the only poets to see the value of the new system at this early stage. Daniel, for example, had already done so in his Delia sonnets, of which 28 had been published together with Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella in 1591, and the rest in 1592; and Chapman was to do so in his Shadow of Night in 1594. Within three or four years, then, of the first public showing of the new system in The Faerie Queene in 1590, the tradition of the strict iambic pentameter had been inaugurated. From now on, to write in iambic pentameter (except for the stage) meant to write in this tradition. During the long course of the tradition, one thing that never really changed was the system of variations with the three radical variations as its core, though poets varied in the frequency with which they used them. What did change was that small corner of the whole picture, represented by experimental variations. In the first half of the 17th century a number of poets did indeed experiment, not so much introducing other variations as seeing what happened if the canonical ones were handled in ways that Spenser had almost wholly avoided and Sidney had only mildly dabbled with. Espe-

ge_intro.fm Page 17 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

17

General Introduction

cially notable, of course, was John Donne, in his Elegies, Letters, and Holy Sonnets, but above all in his Satyres 1, 2, 4, and 5.24 Ben Jonson and Vaughan must also be mentioned, and Lord Herbert of Cherbury (though only in some early poems). Various things could be said about these experiments – for example, that they reflect something of the temper of the times, and in Donne’s case the individual temper of a maverick. But in the long perspective of the tradition, they seem to take their place as a testing of the newly formed system that showed, in fact, how soundly Spenser and Sidney had laid down the foundations. Milton restored the tradition to a degree of strictness quite equal to that of Shakespeare and Marlowe, though somewhat disguised in appearance by his bold system of elision. And then, with Waller and Dryden, the tradition was tailored to an absolute strictness that lasted for a full century: no “irregularity” was permitted, except for occasional abrupt inversion. As one looks onward, through the Romantic to the Victorian and 19th-century American poets, up to, say, 1875, one realizes that an allowance must now be made. To see the essential picture, those cases must be discounted where a poet’s very first pieces in iambic pentameter show irregularities – even flagrant irregularities – that later disappear. To be thus discounted, for example, are the opening pieces in Blake’s Poetical Sketches (1783) and those in Morris’s Defence of Guenevere (1858). The Romantic poets then fall into two groups: the majority, in whom non-standard variations occur noticeably, yet rarely; and Shelley and Hogg, in whom they are decidedly more frequent. On the other hand, the second quarter of the 19th century, both in England and America, was marked by a tendency to return to the tradition in all its strictness. The occasional irregularity – an anapest, for example – occurs in E.B. Browning, and in Thackeray. The 1840s, 50s, and early 60s, however, saw a gradual increase in irregularities – to the point of being decidedly noticeable – first in Robert Browning, and then in E.B. Browning’s Aurora Leigh (1856) and Meredith’s Modern Love (1862), with a similar tendency appearing in some American poets in the 1860s, notably Thoreau and Tuckerman, and (to a lesser extent) Sidney Lanier.25 The striking phenomenon, however, was Robert Browning’s development of his mature “dramatic monologue” style. At first, in Men and Women (1855) and Dramatis Personae (1864), the frequency of irregularities varies quite widely. But in The Ring and the Book (1868–69) a fairly high frequency is pretty consistently maintained.26 Hopkins’ development of his mature style in 1876–77 (though the

ge_intro.fm Page 18 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

18

The Strict Metrical Tradition

poems were only published later) marks a point at which the tradition of the strict iambic pentameter was clearly disintegrating. A closing line must be drawn somewhere, for the purpose of this study. It seems best to draw it at 1865, just before The Ring and the Book. Of course one could exclude all Browning’s monologues, as falling into the category of dramatic verse. But I think it would be unfair to deny them their role in the history of the literary iambic pentameter. In these later monologues Browning is comparable with Donne. Yet, even though Donne goes much further than this in four of his Satyres, I shall leave him – there is no choice in the matter – in the stream of the tradition, but draw the closing line so as to exclude The Ring and the Book. The point is that Donne was an individualist, leading a short-lived experimental excursion, whereas Browning was in the vanguard of a movement that would take the iambic pentameter out of its strict tradition. It is the period, then, from 1590 to 1865 – 275 years – that emerges as the period of the strict iambic pentameter. A large mass of drama written in iambic pentameter during this period belongs within the strict tradition. But the decay of dramatic blank verse during the reign of Charles I, down to the closing of the theatres in 1642, is notorious. An inspection of such texts as can be regarded as reasonably reliable shows that the dramatic iambic pentameter began to diverge from the literary at about the time of James I’s accession to the throne in 1603; moreover, it is clear that Shakespeare’s late dramatic verse, thoroughly in tune with what was happening, cannot be included in the strict tradition.27 However, if in defining the domain of the strict tradition one were simply to exclude a recalcitrant block like these 30 years of dramatic verse, one would altogether fail to appreciate the kind of hold the tradition exercised. Let dramatic verse be excluded, categorically. The pentameter will then be found to conform to the tradition for 275 years, with only such exceptions as are inevitable when one is dealing with a convention or tradition in arts like poetry or, for example, music. A final point about inclusion and exclusion. The variations characteristic of the strict iambic pentameter are also to be found in iambic lines of other lengths. There are two reasons for making iambic pentameter alone the object of the present study. First, the variations reach their full scope in the pentameter, but often tend to be under constraint in other lengths of line. Second, the metre in iambic lines of other lengths has shown itself to be prone to various types of influence. Especially no-

ge_intro.fm Page 19 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

19

General Introduction

table is the tetrameter, which has always been prone to dropping its opening syllable, as in Milton’s “L’Allegro” and “Il Penseroso,” and thereby altering the mode in which the metre is perceived. And, though the principle introduced into English literary verse by Coleridge in 1798 with his “Christabel” was wedded in the first instance also to the tretrameter, in time it came to be applied to other linelengths and combinations of line-lengths. This principle allowed either one or two syllables between each beat and the next beat; in other words, anapests could be freely admitted into an otherwise iambic line. It is true that certain poets – notably Tennyson and Browning – made a few experiments with applying this principle even to the pentameter. The generalization can nevertheless be safely made, at least for the period we are concerned with, that the literary pentameter was the one line that remained curiously resistant to such influences. What are the distinguishing features of the iambic pentameter of the strict tradition? They are the features described above as having been adopted by Sidney and Spenser in perfecting the line. Fundamental is the maintenance of a strict syllable-count, mentioned above in connection with Sidney, so that the body of each line consists of exactly ten bona fide syllables. That condition being assumed, the strict iambic pentameter distinguishes itself by limiting radical variations to a canon of three – inversion subject to a discipline that will be explained below; the minor ionic; and the second epitrite. Inversion had always been an indispensable variation in the English iambic pentameter; so its distinctiveness in the strict tradition lies in those matters of detail I have hinted at under the term discipline. Those matters of detail will turn out to be important. But for our immediate purpose inversion and its points of detail can be set aside, for it is the minor ionic and the second epitrite that stand out as the two unmistakable features that distinguish the strict iambic pentameter. That is not to say that, once they had been perfected, these two variations will not also be found in iambic pentameters outside the strict tradition – in the blank verse of the Jacobean dramatists, for example. But the minor ionic and the second epitrite can be taken together as the hallmark of the strict tradition, when it is understood that they form, together with disciplined inversion, its triple canon of radical variations, under the general condition of syllabic integrity. So let the question now be posed that will doubtless have presented itself in the mind of the reader: to what extent have these two

ge_intro.fm Page 20 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

20

The Strict Metrical Tradition

distinctive variations been recognized in discussions of the iambic pentameter? As far as I know, the minor ionic was first pointed out by Robert Bridges in 1893 – somewhat incidentally in the course of a discussion of recession of accent – as a “foot of two unstressed short syllables preceding a foot composed of two heavy syllables.”28 Then in 1900 the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen, recognizing the figure as a significant variation in iambic pentameter and pointing out that the two stresses are usually given by an adjective and a noun, attempted to account for it in terms of his system of four levels of stress.29 He claimed, in fact, that instead of two non-stresses and two stresses, the figure consisted of four syllables gradually rising in stress, so that each pair, or foot, was a kind of iamb. Iambic alternation of stress was lacking between syllables 2 and 3, but a more serious problem with his explanation is that, to judge from how the minor ionic has been viewed since then, very few people feel the figure to work in this way.30 The next notable mention of the minor ionic was by John Crowe Ransom in the symposium on metre in the Summer 1956 issue of the Kenyon Review. He defined the figure thus: “Any two successive iambic feet [may] be replaced by a double or ionic foot.”31 What brought the figure to the attention of a larger public was its inclusion (under the name minor ionic) in the influential study Sound and Form in Modern Poetry (1964) by Harvey Gross. Then Marina Tarlinskaja, after spotting the configuration and coining the term “juncture inversion” to describe its essence as an inversion across a foot-juncture, dealt with it in her exhaustive statistical study English Verse: Theory and History (Mouton, 1976). Meanwhile the generative linguists were beginning to establish rules that applied, among other things, to syllables 2–4 of the minor ionic. In particular, it can be seen from Kiparsky’s rules (1975) that the third syllable of the figure is, with most poets, virtually always a monosyllable; and from Bruce Hayes’ rules (1989) that a syntactic boundary between the third and fourth syllables is shunned in proportion to its strength.32 One notes that none of these linguists recognizes the minor ionic, or indeed any 4-syllable figure, as a significant entity. On the other hand, the inclusion of the minor ionic as one of the ten points under debate in the 1996 symposium Meter in English: A Critical Engagement (edited by David Baker) hints at growing formal recognition of the figure, at least in some poetic circles in the United States. However, no fresh attempt after Jespersen’s was made to analyse and account for the minor ionic until 1982 when Derek Attridge, in his

ge_intro.fm Page 21 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

21

General Introduction

masterly study, The Rhythms of English Poetry, gave it (under a different name) central importance in his account of iambic pentameter, viewing it as the mirror-opposite of inversion. The second epitrite was, I believe, first identified as a distinct phenomenon by Tarlinskaja in 1976, under the general term, “‘noniambic’ trisyllabic combinations with the central syllable on an ictus,” and then under the limiting clause, “in which the two types of inversion appear to overlap.” She gives four examples and four columns of statistics.33 Meanwhile syllables 2–4 of the second epitrite were another of the configurations covered by the generative linguists’ rules mentioned above. But it was left to Attridge to accord the figure full recognition and careful attention. Since Attridge’s general approach and his interpretation of these figures are well known among people concerned with metre, it is encumbent upon me to explain how far I agree with him, and why I differ from him when I do. It should be noted that he does not specifically address the matter of the strict tradition of the iambic pentameter, for his aim is to account for all English iambic pentameters, under a still more general rationale that accounts for all English metres. Central to Attridge’s approach (for all English metres) is the concept of alternation between beats and what he calls “offbeats.” In iambic pentameter this alternation is realized most simply by an alternation between stressed and unstressed syllables. And, he insists, it is no more than alternation: the relation between a stressed syllable and the unstressed one before it is no more significant than its relation with the unstressed one after it. Thus, pairing the syllables as iambs with foot-divisions, in the conventional way, reflects nothing of significance perceived by the reader – and should be discarded. Simple variations he accounts for under his “deviation rules” of promotion and demotion. A weak syllable where the alternation calls for a strong one is perceived as fulfilling the role of a beat – or “promoted.” Conversely a strong syllable where the alternation calls for a weak one is perceived as fulfilling the role of an offbeat – or “demoted.” When he comes to radical variations, Attridge treats the minor ionic and inversion as mirror-opposites. The minor ionic he treats in terms of the same sequence I have been using. For example:

/ / ∪ ∪ And thence in Heav’n call’d Satan, with bold words Inversion he sees in terms of the sequence / / ∪ ∪, as in

ge_intro.fm Page 22 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

22

The Strict Metrical Tradition

/ / ∪ ∪ For one restraint, Lords of the World besides?34 a sequence that straddles conventional foot-divisions, for it is the two middle syllables – Lords of – that constitute the “inverted foot.” Between the adjacent stresses in each pattern an offbeat is lacking. But the sense of alternation is preserved, Attridge claims, because an offbeat is implied, under the condition of being balanced by the neighbouring double offbeat. In its elegant symmetry this interpretation is appealing and plausible. What is more, it is corroborated by two interesting points of detail, both relating to inversion. First, inversion is almost always preceded by a pause or break of some kind; and, second, the two unstressed syllables tend to move quickly. On the other side are two points of detail distinctly inconvenient. First, a noticeable break is not only shunned at the corresponding position in the minor ionic, between the two stresses, but is quite often given instead between the two unstressed syllables. The double offbeat and the implied offbeat thus tend to be so different in length as to be incapable of being regarded as equivalent. Still more inconvenient is the fact that inversion occurs in the great majority of cases at the beginning of the line. Thus, the sequence / / ∪ ∪ lacks its first stress, and the implied offbeat lacks its context. Attridge has to imbed his elegant formula for inversion and the minor ionic in a somewhat cumbersome apparatus of alternatives to cover this, much the commonest form of inversion (see Rhythms, 189). To do him justice, one must point out that he is aware of these difficulties. In his initial remarks on the second epitrite (/ ∪ / /) Attridge makes a number of important points. The variation nearly always occurs at the beginning of the line; it is very limited as to “the verbal structure that makes it possible”; and these facts imply “that when special rhythmic and linguistic conditions are met, it is possible to push deviation from the metrical pattern further than usual” (170). But in the end he interprets the figure either as inversion or (occasionally) as a minor ionic in disguise. Thus, in a line like / / / ∪ Weighs the Mens Wits against the Lady’s Hair; Rape of the Lock 5.72 there must be an implied offbeat either before Weighs (yielding inversion) or between Mens and Wits (yielding a minor ionic). With either alternative the already mentioned difficulties will present themselves: an implied offbeat before Weighs lacks a context, and one between

ge_intro.fm Page 23 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

23

General Introduction

Mens and Wits lacks the noticeable break it needs for credibility. But there is now another difficulty. A full stress has to be included in the compensatory double offbeat, either Mens (inversion) or Weighs (minor ionic); but neither syllable seems prepared to accept this subordinate role. The most obvious difference between my treatment of radical variations and Attridge’s is the sequence of syllables involved with inversion. Instead of Attridge’s sequence, / / ∪ ∪, I see inversion in terms of the sequence beginning one syllable later, / ∪ ∪ /, so that I would mark the example given above thus:

/ ∪ ∪ / For one restraint, Lords of the World besides? The manoeuvre can then be readily identified in terms of conventional feet. But my reason for taking this as the significant sequence lies in the treatment which, as I shall demonstrate, is given the third and fourth syllables of the figure in the strict tradition, showing them to be an essential part of the inversion manoeuvre. With inversion seen thus, an elegant consistency emerges in the three radical variations of the strict tradition: choriamb /∪∪/ minor ionic ∪∪// second epitrite /∪// Each consists of four syllables, and each closes on a full stress. More subtle is my difference with Attridge on the role of the syllables between beats, whether in the presence or absence of variations. In the strict iambic pentameter I do not see the basic principle as one of mere alternation. As I see it, each unstressed syllable is, in an important sense, perceived as introducing the stress that follows. This concept is central to my approach. What lies behind the concept, and what its broader ramifications are, will have to be left to emerge in stages. Particularly noteworthy here is the fact that the concept removes most of the difficulties I have pointed out in Attridge’s interpretation of radical variations. Thus, in the minor ionic the principle of compensation still holds, but no implied entity has to be postulated between the adjacent stresses: the first stress is introduced by two subordinate syllables, the second by none. So too with the choriamb: the first stress is introduced by no subordinate syllables, the second by two. And no difficulty arises when the choriamb occurs (as it usually does) at the lineopening. What precedes the opening stress is, quite simply, nothing. With the second epitrite there is a residual difficulty not obviated by

ge_intro.fm Page 24 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

24

The Strict Metrical Tradition

this concept, namely the presence of a third stress appearing like a third beat. It is a difficulty that will be addressed in the chapter on the second epitrite. Another difference with Attridge may be pointed out here, stemming from this concept. In the absence of variations, the syllables are perceived (among other things) in pairs, as iambs. Radical variations are perceived as blocks of four syllables, each block taking the place of two iambs. And simple variations (as will be shown) are perceived partly in the one mode and partly in the other. The framework, then, within which analysis can best be conducted is one which starts by dividing the line into 2-syllable “feet,” but joins two adjacent feet into a 4-syllable block when necessary. Thus the requisite framework resembles (but is by no means the same as) the traditional framework of feet. Before closing this introduction I should explain certain key terms as I understand them.

stress That the syllable-patterns of the iambic pentameter are based on contrasts in stress is a fact now too firmly established to need defending. So, too, it has long been known which factors or cues distinguish a syllable as being stressed and in what order of priority (namely, duration and pitch; then loudness; and, finally, vowel quality).35 How (it will be asked) have the stress-levels in the lines of verse analysed in this study been determined? What I have relied on is my own ear, and I have done so in the belief that the stress-patterns composed by the poet are addressed to the ear of the reader (under the assumption, in the case of the strict iambic pentameter, that the reader is familiar with that tradition). It seems hardly necessary to point out that the stress-levels of the syllables will not be quite the same as what would be appropriate for the same words offered as prose. Yet I largely reject the well-known concept of “metrical stress,” whereby, in a straightforward line (devoid of radical variations), a weak syllable in an even-numbered position will receive additional stress. It is notably when the stress-pattern takes on the shape of a radical variation that I see the natural stress-levels as being subtly modified where necessary, so as to register the reader’s recognition of this special pattern and pleasure in its rhythmic effect. Above all it is the stresses that will be thus subtly modified, anything resembling a full stress being treated as far as possible as a full stress, so as to play its part in the pattern as a counter or element.

ge_intro.fm Page 25 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

25

General Introduction

I cannot expect that the above account will satisfy all my readers. What opposes it most authoritatively is the linguists’ principle of stresshierarchies. A clear example can be seen in line 1 of Shakespeare’s first sonnet as marked by Michael Hammond according to Bruce Hayes’ “grid” method:36 x x x . x . x . . . x . x From fairest creatures we desire increase where the syllables marked with a dot can be regarded as stressless, and the “grid” above each stressed syllable indicates increasing levels of stress, in increments corresponding to the number of “exes” in the grid. In this verse-context I have to say that I do not hear these stresslevels. Indeed, I cannot help feeling that if lines like this were read aloud with the indicated increments of stress objectively present (and thus capable of being registered by suitably sophisticated equipment), the result would not be acceptable to lovers of poetry. The increments indicated in the grid-columns seem to me to answer not to stress but to one’s sense, in varying degrees, of syntactic resolution. Rather than increments above a full stress, what I feel the need of being able to mark is intermediate levels between a full stress and a non-stress. As patterns in the abstract, all iambic pentameter variations, radical and simple, are made up of stresses and nonstresses. But syllables with an intermediate level of stress, standing occasionally for a stress in the abstract pattern but more often a nonstress, are not uncommon even in radical variations; and a convenient means is needed for marking such syllables. The Trager-Smith system enables one to mark four levels of stress thus (in descending order): full stress /

∧

\ minimal stress ∪ But since \ has always tended to be used to indicate something like a half-level of stress, and since there is a special need in describing iambic pentameter for indicating a stress-level only slightly above minimal, I shall introduce one more symbol, ∨, to meet that need.37 In other words, five symbols will indicate five levels of stress thus: full stress /

∧

ge_intro.fm Page 26 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

26

The Strict Metrical Tradition

half stress

\

∨

minimal stress ∪ The three intermediate levels must not, however, be understood to indicate any kind of measurement or exactitude.

rhythm The general concept of rhythm is familiar to everyone, though few people could readily crystallize it into a definition. Fortunately the concept comes into clear focus when considered in terms of verse (of almost any kind other than free verse). One then sees that rhythm tends to resolve itself into three aspects. Most basic is the sense of a beat. This is what Seymour Chatman in his Theory of Meter calls primary rhythm – the term I favour. In Les Structures Rhythmiques Paul Fraisse calls it cardiac rhythm.38 The sense of a beat arises when we perceive a series of impulses of some regularity occurring at intervals that lie within the range of .3 to 1.2 seconds. This range of intervals defines the rate that psychologists call man’s “spontaneous motor rate” – the rate at which we perform most of the basic repetitive muscular movements with the utmost economy.39 In iambic pentameter the situation is clearest in lines devoid of variations, the beats being given plainly by the stresses. I have found Ada Snell’s kymograph recordings of selections from Paradise Lost useful in giving an idea of the rate at which stresses tend to occur in such lines. In her study, Pause,40 there are three such lines in the selections from Bk 3: lines 8 and 11 read by one reader, and line 31 read by another. Snell gives the durations for individual syllables. But if one notes the time from stress to stress, the intervals come out thus: .55 .5 1.3 .4 Whose fountain who shall tell? Be – fore the sun, .5 .48 .32 .6 The rising world of waters dark and deep, .7 .62 1.32 .7 That wash thy hallowed feet, and warbling flow, Both the longish intervals (1.3 and 1.32 secs) include a pause, and a pause may be said to create a special situation with regard to the rhythm. All the remaining intervals, however, show stresses occurring at an appropriate rate for being perceived as beats.41 Of course, the effect of variations will be, among other things, to disguise some of the beats.

ge_intro.fm Page 27 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

27

General Introduction

As there is a natural human susceptibility to the suggestion of a beat, so, too, is there a natural tendency to perceive subordinate intervening stimuli as forming little rhythmic groups with each beat. The term secondary rhythm, used by Chatman for this aspect of rhythm, seems eminently suitable.42 In the unvaried iambic pentameter line the intervening stimuli are, of course, the unstressed syllables. There is an obvious sense in which the word- and phrase-divisions of the language itself will form such groups. In the line given above, for example, the subordinate syllables can be seen as grouping themselves with the beats thus: / / ∪ / ∪ /∪ ∪ /∪ The risingworldof watersdarkand deep But it has been shown by many researchers that, once a particular type of repetitive rhythmic grouping is perceived, that type strongly tends to persist,43 and the only question here is whether that repetitive grouping, perceived beneath the changing phrase-groupings, will fall into the iambic or the trochaic mode. The form of individual English words tends to favour trochaic grouping, as with rising and waters in the line given above. But a number of factors have the opposite effect. First, English phrases tend to open iambically on an unstressed word (article, preposition, or conjunction), as with The rising world and the waters in the line before us. Second, iambic grouping is established – re-established – at the beginning of every iambic pentameter line that does not open with a radical variation and is confirmed at the close of every line free of feminine ending. Finally, there is a strong natural tendency to group together those stimuli that lie closest to each other in time.44 Since an unstressed syllable is nearly always shorter than a stressed syllable,45 it lies close to the following stress, and thus tends to be grouped with it – iambically. I have already made clear that I see these latter factors as prevailing, in my central claim that unstressed syllables are perceived ultimately as introducing stressed, beat-syllables. The findings of Part One of this book amount to an array of evidence in support of that claim, the key point being that the variations of the iambic pentameter are, demonstrably, rhythmic derivatives of the iamb. The final aspect of rhythm is that whereby the beats themselves, in a line of verse, are perceived as forming a coherent group. Attridge provides a suitable label for this aspect, underlying rhythm. Musicologists are familiar with the same question in the form of the extraordinarily persistent phenomenon of the 4-bar phrase. It is the one aspect of rhythm

ge_intro.fm Page 28 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:42 PM

28

The Strict Metrical Tradition

that psychologists have not been clear on, beyond establishing that the listener’s perception of coherence flags when such groups exceed a certain length. Though one of the grounds for my taking the approach I have in this study is my conviction that the five beats of the strict iambic pentameter are clearly felt as a coherent group, the subject involves subtleties and intricacies that would distract the reader unduly if pursued at this stage, so I shall postpone discussion of it to the final conclusion.

metre With respect to the iambic pentameter, the term metre calls forth a plain meaning – a line of five iambs. But, though there is a basic sense in which the iambic pentameter consists of five iambs, and, though for some purposes it may be useful to apply the term metre to the line in this elementary sense, it is of little use to do so in a study devoted wholly to the iambic pentameter. The point is that the iambic pentameter – certainly in the strict tradition – employs alternatives to the basic stress-pattern as an essential feature, and one really needs to specify, under the term metre, what those alternatives are. Non-iambic verse in English presents no situation quite like this,46 but something of an analogy can be seen when one applies the term metre to Greek or Latin verse: defining these metres entails, in most cases, specifying options and alternative patterns. The case with iambic pentameter is especially elusive, though, since specifying alternative patterns would fall far short of defining the nature of the actual variations in question. What is needed is a concise yet adequate description of what could be called the canonical variations, and of the main constraints governing their use. Attridge is surely right in regarding rules as the appropriate form for such an account.47 What is more, he has presented what he believes to be the very rules in question. As I have already made clear, I regard his rules as requiring significant modification, at least for the iambic pentameter of the strict tradition. It is not my purpose in the present work, though, to offer a set of rules as such, but rather to educe the principles which such rules would have to embody – in short, the principles behind the metre.

Part_01.fm Page 29 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:43 PM

pa r t o n e

Part_01.fm Page 30 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:43 PM

Part_01.fm Page 31 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:43 PM

Introduction to Part One

The domain of the strict iambic pentameter having been defined, suitable samples of this verse must now be selected. In the end it will be necessary to examine samples from all the relevant major poets, so as to substantiate the claim that a single canon of variations was adhered to, and handled in the same manner, throughout the period in question. But the first task, the task to be addressed here in part I, is to establish the characteristics of this canon of variations by analysing in detail some passages of sufficient length and importance to constitute between them a measure of what might be called standard practice. The criteria I have followed in choosing samples of verse for this purpose are these. The samples should be of reasonable length; they should be continuous pieces of verse, rather than collections of short poems; they should be distributed suitably through the period of 275 years; and they should be representative pieces from poets of the very highest stature. But the final choice of pieces must also take into consideration the state and provenance of the texts themselves. The kind of detail involved in a metrical study requires that the texts preserve original spelling and punctuation. That the texts must be (if possible) absolutely reliable goes without saying. The works I have chosen are Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, Milton, Paradise Lost, Bk 1, Pope, The Rape of the Lock, and Wordsworth, The Excursion, Bk 1. The choice of these four poets, and in the first three cases the choice of the poem itself, requires little comment or justification.1 What does call for comment is the choice of The Excursion, as the piece from

Part_01.fm Page 32 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:43 PM

32

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Wordsworth. The obvious choice would have been a book from the Prelude. But the Prelude was first published in 1850, the year of Wordsworth’s death, after what can only be described as endless tinkering. On the other hand, the Excursion was published in 1814, when Wordsworth was at the height of his powers. The one objection to the Excursion is that the poem is not regarded as having the stature of the Prelude; but this objection does not apply to Book I, which is highly regarded. Besides, what we are concerned with is Wordsworth’s metrical practice, in his prime; the relative stature of the two works is not in itself the issue – only the representativeness of each, with regard to metrical practice. But (it will be asked) why not use the 1805 text of the Prelude? The phenomenon we are examining is a tradition of metrical practice, handed on from one generation of poets to the next through published works.2 Where there is a choice, with a given poet, between a work published at the time and one published long afterwards, I prefer the former – the work that took its place in the accessible, ongoing stream of verse. The 1805 text of the Prelude remained in manuscript until it was edited and published by Ernest de Selincourt in 1928. This perspective of the ongoing stream of verse also affects the choice of editions. It would suit the present purpose to examine each poem in the form in which it was originally presented to the public – if that form (i.e., the first edition) was true to the poet’s intention. And because the first edition of each of these works can be taken to be authoritative, I have chosen the first edition in each case.3 Consistency is a desirable object too, of course. These, then, are the texts:4 Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis (London, 1593). Reprinted in facsimile from the only known copy, in the Bodleian Library, by Scolar Press, 1968. Milton, Paradise Lost (London, 1667), Bk 1. Reprinted in facsimile in John Milton’s Complete Poetical Works, ed. H.F. Fletcher, vol. 2 (University of Illinois Press, 1945). Pope, The Rape of the Lock (London, 1714). Reprinted in facsimile by Scolar Press, 1970. Wordsworth, The Excursion (London, 1814), Bk 1. Copy in the University of Waterloo Library, Waterloo, Ontario. Since Venus and Adonis and The Excursion Bk 1 are decidedly longer than the other two pieces, I shall cut them down to a similar length as follows, taking advantage of the nearest significant break in the narrative:

Part_01.fm Page 33 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:43 PM

33

Introduction to Part One

Venus and Adonis, lines 1–798 Paradise Lost, Bk 1 (798 lines) The Rape of the Lock (766 lines) The Excursion, Bk 1, lines 1–7645 Keeping the pieces more or less uniform in length will mean that a comparison of poet with poet will be available to the reader at every point, even though the object throughout will be to draw a composite picture. As the line-numbers in Venus and Adonis have never changed, there is no problem with line-numbering (though neither the pages nor the lines were numbered in the first edition); so, too, the line-numbers are the same in every edition of Paradise Lost Bk 1, including the first edition. Pope introduced a few changes in later editions of the Rape of the Lock, however, and Wordsworth a great many changes in later editions of the Excursion. Both first editions have only page numbers. It is therefore necessary to use a double system of reference for both these pieces: the page and line number in the first edition, and then (in square brackets) the line number – or canto and line number, for The Rape of the Lock – from a modern variorum edition.6 The titles of the four pieces can be abbreviated to V&A, PL 1, RL and Ex 1, and for clarity it will be best to use Roman numerals for book and canto numbers where relevant. A typical citation, then, would be Fairest of Mortals, thou distinguish’d Care RL 3.3 [I 27] The citation means that the line is from the Rape of the Lock, page 3, line 3, in the first edition, and Canto I, line 27, in the variorum edition (and, in fact, in almost every other edition). It would be misleading to many readers, and merely pedantic, to go so far as to reproduce each quoted line of verse exactly as it was printed in the first edition, especially in the case of Venus and Adonis. The following silent alterations will always be made.

letters The old s and ss, which I can only represent here by f and ff, will be replaced with the modern s and ss. In Venus and Adonis, I (=J) will be replaced with J, VV replaced with W, and U (or u) and V (or v) interchanged in most instances. Thus, lines 34 and 220 were originally printed like this: VVith leaden appetite,vnapt to toy, Being Iudge in loue,fhe cannot right her caufe.

Part_01.fm Page 34 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:43 PM

34

The Strict Metrical Tradition

But here they would be printed like this: With leaden appetite, unapt to toy, Being Judge in love, she cannot right her cause.

printer’s contractions The ampersand & will be replaced with and; in Venus and Adonis the contractions o , p, a and ou will be replaced by on or om, en, an and oun. Thus, lines 153 and l67 from Venus and Adonis were originally printed like this: Two ftrpgthles doues will draw me through the skie, Seeds fpring fro feeds,& beauty breedeth beauty, Here they would be printed like this: Two strengthles doves will draw me through the skie, Seeds spring from seeds, and beauty breedeth beauty, Needless to say, normal spacing will also be observed after commas, etc. where necessary, as already shown above. A few further remarks are called for regarding the methods that have been adopted and the assumptions that have been made. At the close of each of the chapters on specific variations, beginning with chapter 3 on the choriamb, is a list of all cases of the variation in question. I should point out that these lists are complete only for the minor ionic and the second epitrite: for them the list is drawn from the full verse-sample of 3,126 lines. For the choriamb and all simple variations, the lists – which otherwise would be tediously and unnecessarily long – are drawn from a curtailed sample of verse, lines 1–250 of each piece, or 1,000 lines in all. When quoting lines of verse, I shall quote only the line in which the variation in question occurs, with (as has already been remarked) the original end-punctuation. Some of the stress-values marked may have been influenced by a neighbouring line. It would be too cumbersome to point out, every time, the fact of such influence; so it will be up to the reader to check the neighbouring lines when that seems necessary.

chap_01.fm Page 35 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:43 PM

1 The Unvaried Line

The natural point at which to start is the unvaried line, devoid of specific stress-variations (and also of extra syllables). Here is an example of such a line: / ∪ / ∪ / ∪ / ∪ ∪ / And thus in Whispers said, or seem’d to say. RL 3.2 [I 26] The odd-numbered syllables are unstressed, and the even-numbered, stressed. But a line can still be classed as “unvaried” when intermediate stress-levels are present, whether in an odd-numbered syllable, as in / \ Twixt crimson shame, and anger ashie pale, or in an even-numbered syllable, as in

V&A 76

∪ \ ∪ To Maids alone and Children are reveal’d: RL 3.14 [I 38] In each of these cases I have used a half-stress, \ , but other intermediate degrees could have been used. What is the process whereby we perceive the rhythm in unvaried lines like these? Of course, allowance must be made for the fact that readers familiar with iambic pentameter will not take a stressed syllable, merely because of its stress, to represent a beat. Even in “unvaried” lines they will identify a stressed syllable as a beat only on the condition of its being preceded by an intervening unstressed syllable, after the last identified beat. The basic iambic process, then (as it may be called), functions I believe as follows. At five points, namely on the even-numbered syllables,

chap_01.fm Page 36 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:43 PM

36

The Strict Metrical Tradition

we not only recognize a stressed syllable as such but perceive it to have been duly preceded and introduced by an unstressed syllable. That moment of recognition coincides with the muscular impulse of enunciating the stressed syllable (aloud or as though aloud), which in turn gives rise to the sense of a beat. So the happy coincidence arises whereby the stressed syllable provides a focal point for a single act of rhythmic perception embracing two syllables.1 With each such act, even as the beat is registered, the account of that rhythmic unit with its two syllables is closed; and the account of the next unit is ready to proceed from a fresh start. With a fresh start, and with only two syllables to be accounted for, each step in this basic iambic process can be conducted almost unconsciously. In saying that each pair of syllables is perceived as a rhythmic unit, I am addressing that aspect of rhythm defined in the section on Rhythm at the close of the General Introduction as secondary rhythm. Meanwhile, at the deeper level defined earlier as underlying rhythm, the beats, simply as beats, are felt to accumulate to their fit total of five at the close of each line. It will be seen that there is an element of deliberateness in the act described above, whereby each syllable-pair is recognized and its beat identified and registered. So it is that, when relative prominence in the syllable carrying the beat is lost (first in the presence of intermediate degrees of stress as in the examples given above, and then in the presence of full-fledged simple variations), the reader meets this loss with a proportional increase of deliberateness in identifying and registering the beat in question.2 Thus, the five acts of identification retain their distinctness even under such circumstances. I have said that as each beat is registered the account of that syllablepair is closed. This is true at the level of secondary rhythm. The beat in question, thus verified, is then relegated to join the set of beats accumulating at the deeper level of underlying rhythm; and their account will not be closed until the end of the line. It is worth pointing out here that the disguises in which beats are offered in the iambic pentameter are such that an underlying tally of those beats would not be possible if each beat were not thus verified through elementary metrical closure – the term I will coin for this decisive closing-of-the-account for each syllable-pair. The two syllables in each pair are distinguishable, in unvaried lines, by means of a contrast in stress. But what we are really con-

chap_01.fm Page 37 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:43 PM

37

The Unvaried Line

cerned with is the role played by each of the syllables – the second carrying a beat, and the first introducing the second. In the presence of simple and radical variations these roles will persist, but the relative positions and stress-contrasts of the syllables will keep changing. Under such conditions none of the traditional terms applied to the two types of syllables will serve to identify them. For the important syllables I shall use the term beat-syllable (modified slightly from Attridge’s beat), a term that lies ready to hand, and is clear. For the other class of syllable I shall adopt the term subordinate syllable, which should also be clear. An issue that must still be addressed is the effect of phrase- and word-breaks on the perception of iambic syllable-pairs, in other words feet, in unvaried lines. It is clear, first of all, that no break, greater or lesser, marked by punctuation or unmarked, will interfere with the iambic process described above, if the break coincides with the close of a foot.3 For example: And gins  to chide,  but soone she stops his lips,

V&A 46

(where  indicates a foot-division,  a major break or caesura). But consider a line like this: Torments  him;  round he throws his baleful eyes PL I 56 Here the iambic process is interrupted half-way through the second foot.4 As that break occurs, the unstressed, subordinate syllable him is left for the moment to be felt above all as an appendage or phrasal feminine ending to the first foot.5 A more obscure sense of its being left hanging, precisely in order to be picked up by the requirements of the next foot and the ongoing iambic structure, crystallizes as soon as we proceed with the line, superseding that momentary, backwardlooking effect. In the following line the closest approach to a break is a boundary between word-groups, falling again in the middle of a foot: Upon  that open level  stood a Grove, Ex I 4.15 [26 & n] Here the subordinate syllable -el is perhaps felt equally as a phrasal feminine ending to the first three feet of the line, and as the introductory syllable to the 4th foot, the former effect having hardly enough time to assert a temporary dominance. But in this line one notices that something of the same dual effect arises even from word-division alone, when words of two syllables straddle the foot-boundaries: the last, unstressed syllable of open is thus felt both as trailing from the

chap_01.fm Page 38 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:43 PM

38

The Strict Metrical Tradition

second foot, and as introducing the third foot. The point to be made is that this trailing, feminine-ending effect, when it arises, pulls against the recognizing and identifying business of the iambic process (a pull that varies according to circumstances).6 But the iambic process responds to such familiar tensions by becoming a shade more deliberate.

chap_02.fm Page 39 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

2 Extra Syllables

Extra syllables function under two principles: feminine ending (the familiar name will do well enough) and elision. Feminine ending is a simple matter, quickly dealt with. But, though the principle of elision is familiar in a general way to readers of verse, it will need to be examined in considerable detail here.

feminine ending It happens that feminine ending is common in only one of the pieces of verse before us – Venus and Adonis. (It is rare in Paradise Lost and The Excursion, and occurs in only one couplet of The Rape of the Lock.) Feminine ending normally consists of an extra, unstressed syllable after the close of the 5th foot (in iambic pentameter). For example: ∪ That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring, PL I 102 There will always be a full stress on the preceding syllable, syllable 10.1 It is on this full stress that the reader of the verse makes the final deliberate identification in the line, closing the 5th foot and also closing the account of the line, as an inviolable whole. As a rule (especially in the absence of rhyme), the unstressed syllable 11 is joined in the same word with the stressed syllable 10, as in the above example;2 and the feminine ending is thus felt as an appendage both to the 5th foot and to the line as a whole.3 The point, then, is that with respect to a given

chap_02.fm Page 40 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

40

The Strict Metrical Tradition

line the iambic pentameter process is already completed before the feminine ending, which is felt merely as an appendage. When feminine ending occurs within the framework of rhyme, the rhyme becomes a double rhyme of two syllables – the 10th, stressed syllable, and the 11th, unstressed syllable. For example: /∪ Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses, /∪ And being set, Ile smother thee with kisses. V&A 17–18 The effect is familiar, and powerful. The onset of the rhyme, with stress, confirms what we already know of syllable 10 – that it closes the 5th foot and the body of the line. Then, in embracing the unstressed syllable 11 as well, the rhyme vouches for syllable 11 as a feminine ending. In the example just given the 2-syllable rhyme coincides with a 2-syllable word. But the effect is still perfectly clear to the ear when Shakespeare uses separate words or parts of words to provide the rhyme, as he often does in this poem. For example: / ∪ As they were mad unto the wood they hie them, / ∪ Outstripping crowes, that strive to overfly them. V&A 323–4 I said that feminine ending normally consists of one extra unstressed syllable. There is one clear case in Venus and Adonis, and two possible cases, with two extra unstressed syllables. The feminine ending then becomes a double feminine ending, and the rhyme, a triple rhyme. The clear case is /∪∪ And yet not cloy thy lips with loth’d satietie,4 ............. /∪∪ Making them red, and pale, with fresh varietie: V&A 19, 21 It is of course the triple rhyme that shows up the double feminine ending clearly. The two possible cases arise because poets of Shakespeare’s time reserved the option of treating the -i- in words ending in -tion, -ssion, etc., as a separate syllable. So in Thou art no man, though of a mans complexion, For men will kisse even by their owne direction. V&A 215–16 a double feminine ending is possible. We can read the lines with a single or with a double feminine ending, and our choice here does not af-

chap_02.fm Page 41 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

41

Extra Syllables

fect the metre in the body of each line. (The other possible case is V&A 566, 568.) What brings these possible cases particularly to our attention is the fact of Shakespeare’s doing much the same thing in lines 668 and 670, but not wanting a feminine ending of any sort, and definitely requiring the -i- as a syllable: /∪∪ That tremble at th’imagination, .......... /∪∪ And feare doth teach it divination; Here the stressed syllable closes the 4th foot, and the use of two unstressed syllables continuing on in the same word to form another foot would be perfectly normal (when we allow for this use of -i- at that time), were it not for the rhyme. The rhyme acts as a cue here for feminine ending; and one can only say that Shakespeare has given a false cue. Of course we immediately perceive it to be false, and recognize the metrical intention. Only in this last case, then, is there even a momentary confusion over where the body of the line ends and what is appended as a feminine ending.

elision Though much attention has been given to the subject of elision, and close analyses of Milton’s elision have long been available (such as those of Bridges and Sprott), the present purpose calls for a consistent comparative study of elision in the four pieces of verse before us. Lines 1–500 from each piece will provide a large enough sample to work with. Certain types of unstressed syllables present an option: they may either be regarded as bona fide syllables, playing their part like other unstressed syllables in the metrical composition of the line, or they may be “elided,” and treated as not counting in that composition. In the latter case they are often glossed over in pronunciation. Thus, if the middle syllable in difference is treated as elided, the word will tend to be pronounced as two syllables, diff’rence. Our four poets tend to use two main means for showing their intention regarding elidible syllables. On the one hand, each poet finds ways of effectively limiting – often drastically – the range of syllables in question; while, on the other hand, he takes care to set each questionable

chap_02.fm Page 42 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

42

The Strict Metrical Tradition

syllable in a metrical context (plainly and obviously iambic, as a rule) that cannot be mistaken, with syntax quite often providing additional control. Limiting the range of syllables in question is done in three distinct steps. The first step is defining the categories of syllables to be treated as elidible. It may be that this defining of categories is more the work of periods and schools of verse than of individual poets; but that is a question that need not concern us. The important point is that each poet recognizes certain categories, and no others, as elidible. Thus, all four poets treat as elidible the initial vowel or vowel-pair in merging vowel-groups, within words, of the kinds illustrated as follows: ?∪ varying

?∪ experience

?∪ ? ∪ impetuous annual etc.5 Each vowel group is underlined (and it is convenient to include -l, -n, -r or -ng when they close the group). It will be noticed that the elidible vowel, marked ?, tends in each case to become a glide – either a y or a w. I shall call the general class of merging vowels, Class I, and the specific category here delineated, Class IA.6 The second type treated by all four poets as elidible may be described as a “disappearing” vowel, of indeterminate (or “degraded”) sound,7 followed in the same word by an unstressed vowel (or vowelpair) after an intervening r, l (or ll) or n, as in these examples: ?∪ every

? ∪ adventurous

?∪ bodily

?∪ traveller

? ∪ ? ∪ prisoner listening Disappearing vowels I shall call Class II, and this specific category of them, Class IIA.8 In this category Shakespeare excludes endings of the -fully and -ily type, thus treating scornfully and prettily, for example, as unelidible. Milton excludes proper names like Ashtaroth and Ascalon. Pope seems to exclude vowels separated by n except for opening (which is elidible), and he also excludes, as unelidible, slightly unusual or special words like labyrinth and chocolate,9 and also circumference. In both the above categories, IA and IIA, elision will be avoided if an unmanageable consonant-cluster would have resulted. Thus, un-

chap_02.fm Page 43 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

43

Extra Syllables

der Class IA elision with the word influence would produce, in effect, infl’wence, an unmanageable consonant cluster. So too, under IIA, elision with infinite would produce inf’nite, and with contrary would produce contr’ry. Thus, elision is avoided in these cases. Finally, two small groups of words are treated by all four poets as elidible: /? prayer

/ ? / ? power, flower, etc.

/ ? /? [hour, fire, etc.]

and /? / ? / ? even Heaven, Heavenly The first group, involving merging vowels, I shall designate Class IC; the second group, involving disappearing vowels, and separated from a neighbouring vowel by the special consonant v, I shall designate Class IIC.10 (The designation C acknowledges the fact that the adjacent vowel is stressed in both these classes.) Hour and fire are bracketed because the poets after Shakespeare evidently regarded words spelled like this as monosyllabic. These, then, are the categories common to all four poets. Shakespeare, Pope, and Wordsworth are prepared to add only a little to this trio of central categories, in completing their tacit definition of elidible categories. Thus, Shakespeare merely extends classes IC and IIC to include being and certain words ending in -en and -est (or -eth): IC seest doest mayest goeth IIC swollen fallen Like Shakespeare, Pope extends Class IIC slightly, so as to include seven, given, and fallen. But under merging vowels he includes ?∪ ?∪ the imprisoned, the Exchange, etc. and ?∪ ?∪ to assault, to inclose, etc. I shall assign these cases to Class IB, where B signifies the wordbreak.11 Wordsworth only partly follows Pope here, in allowing under this class the inspiring, the unthinking, etc.12 But, under Class IB, Wordsworth does include the combination many a. And he treats as elidible the combination ?/ the Altitude

chap_02.fm Page 44 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

44

The Strict Metrical Tradition

which must be assigned to a new class, ID, since there is a word-break and the neighbouring vowel is stressed. Unlike Shakespeare and Pope, Wordsworth extends Class IIC only to include adjectives of the pattern /? eloquent when followed by a noun.13 Milton presents a contrast with the other three poets in the considerably greater range of categories of syllables he treats as elidible. This is no doubt partly due to what he found being practised by his immediate predecessors, notably Donne and Ben Jonson. But it is clear that he was also determined to exploit to the full the rhythmic possibilities offered by the use of a wide, yet meticulously defined, range of elidible categories. Under Class IB he includes not only the few types included by Pope and Wordsworth (the imprisoned, to assault, many a), but also combinations of a polysyllable with of or and, like ?∪ ? ∪ ignominy and shame Vally of Hinnom and combinations of polysyllables like ?∪ glory above14 Under Class IC Milton includes, like Shakespeare and Pope, the word being; but he also includes the verbal forms beest, seest, etc.,15 and also dissyllables like riot and ruin (but not a proper noun like Sion). Like Wordsworth, Milton includes, under the rare Class ID, combinations with the, like ?/ ? / the upright the Ocean – that is, with a stressed vowel opening the following word. A new class included by Milton, Class IIB, is the class of disappearing vowels, both unstressed, across -l-, -r-, -n-, and across a word-break, as in the following examples: ? ∪ innumerable. As when

? ∪ the Temple of God

? ∪ their Prison ordained16 Finally, with Shakespeare and Milton one really has to include, under the heading of elision, the option of not sounding past-tense verb endings in -ed, except after t and d (sighted, clouded), or when l, n or r is sand-

chap_02.fm Page 45 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

45

Extra Syllables

Table 1 Categories treated as elidible

Adjacent vowel unstressed

Adjacent vowel stressed

I: Merging Vowels

II: Disappearing Vowels

A within a word

*varying, *annual

*every, *prisoner, *perilous

B across a wordbreak

*the unthinking (M., P., WW.) *to adore (M., P.) many a (M., WW.) *Vally of Hinnom/ *Glory above (M.)

*innumerable. As when/*their Prison ordained/*the tryal of man (M.)

C within a word

*prayer being, *beest (Sh., M.) *riot (M.) *doest (Sh.)

even, Heaven *fallen (Sh., M., P.) spirit (M.) *eloquent + noun (WW.)

D across a wordbreak

*the Ocean (M., WW.)

Note: -ed verb endings (past-tense) must be included as a separate category for Shakespeare and Milton.

wiched (tangled, fastned, etc.); in these cases the -ed must be sounded. Pope and Wordsworth, however, are evidently able to treat these -ed endings as no longer optional but determined by common speech. (Nevertheless, Pope always indicates the silent -ed with an apostrophe.) Table 1 brings together the main points of this first step, showing the categories treated by the four poets as elidible. In the table most categories are merely suggested by an example, which is then marked with an asterisk. (Specific words that are elidible are not marked with an asterisk. Categories common to all four poets are given in bold type. The names of the different poets, abbreviated within the brackets, will be readily recognizable.) The second step is fixing upon certain of these categories as the ones that are always to be elided. Thus, all four poets always elide in Class IA.17 In Class IB, Pope always elides with the type the unthinking, Milton and Wordsworth with the phrase many a, and Milton when both words are polysyllabic. In Class IC, Shakespeare and Milton always elide with the verb forms beest, seest, doest, goeth;18 and Milton always

chap_02.fm Page 46 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

46

The Strict Metrical Tradition

elides with words like fire, as does Wordsworth, who always elides also with words like power and prayer.19 Allowing for types excluded in the first place by these two poets, we can proceed to note that Shakespeare and Pope always elide in Class IIA. On the other hand, for Milton and Wordsworth elision is automatic in this class only in cases of the following type:20 ?∪ the bodily sense ?∪ Hovering on wing In Class IIC, Pope always elides with even, fallen, etc.; and Wordsworth, with even. And for Shakespeare and Milton an -ed verb ending is always silent if there is no preceding consonant, as in owed, or if the -ed, were it to be sounded, would take a minor stress, as in ∪\ disheveled What is left, when the categories in which each poet always elides have been put aside, is a set of categories in which the poet reserves the option of eliding or not eliding. Syllables in these categories can justly be termed optional syllables. These are the syllables felt by the reader to be in question; for the poet’s method with categories of syllables, especially if his method is largely traditional, soon becomes familiar to the reader. Here then are the categories treated as optional by each poet. shakespeare IIC

*even *hour, *fire *being -ed verb endings, except of the owed and disheveled type milton IIA

IB

IC ID

*the infernal *to adore *Vally of Hinnom *riot

IIB

IIC

*Conquerour, *misery (excluding adjectives, verbals, proper nouns) (under multiple restrictions) *Prison ordained even, Heaven[ly] spirit[s]

*the Ocean -ed verb endings, as in Shakespeare

chap_02.fm Page 47 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

47

Extra Syllables

pope IB *to assault wordsworth

IB

ID

IIA

*reverence (excluding trisyllabic adjectives and -ing verbals)

IIC

*eloquent (followed by noun)

*the unthinking

*the altitude

The last step in narrowing down the effective range of syllables in question is the direct indication of elision by means of spelling or an apostrophe. These indications also embody usages in common speech, like Shakespeare’s copp’s – i.e., coppice already becoming copse – and tane for taken (V&A 259, 2), Milton’s i’ th’ midst (PL I 224), and Wordsworth’s ’twas and o’er. Cases of elision that would otherwise be extraordinary can no doubt be accounted for on this principle, notably Shakespeare’s mightst (V&A 137) and Milton’s satst, mad’st, and ris’n, chos’n (PL I 21, 22, 211, 318). Perhaps Shakespeare’s stillitory (V&A 443), treated as only two syllables, / ∪, can be accounted for in the same way, as a familiar contraction, still’tory.21 But our main concern is with spelling or an apostrophe used to indicate whether an optional syllable is to be elided or not. Here are some typical examples. Shakespeare: swolne, falne, tendrer, maist, enrag’d, begd Milton: th’infernal, adventrous, watry, lik’ning, Heav’n, flowry, th’Ocean Pope: th’approaching, t’assault, glitt’ring, glittring, giv’n, fal’n, Pow’rs, Pray’rs Wordsworth: th’altitude A number of points can be made about this practice. By Wordsworth’s time it had evidently been more or less dropped, except for the occasional difficult case, for a sprinkling of silent -ed verb endings (which were in any case assumed to be silent), and, of course, for common contractions. In one class of elidible syllables these means were never used: Class IA (varying, annual, etc.). This class does not lend itself to the use of spelling or an apostrophe. But such indications were probably felt to be unnecessary. These merging vowels tend naturally toward elision in speech, and were evidently treated as automatically elided by our four poets.

chap_02.fm Page 48 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

48

The Strict Metrical Tradition

In those categories that do lend themselves to the indications of spelling or an apostrophe, as in nearly all disappearing vowels (diff’rent, giv’n, etc.), there is a curious inconsistency of usage that conflicts with the appearance of attempts at consistency, not only in Milton, but even in Pope. Thus, in Class IIA, Pope’s text usually indicates elision with an apostrophe (am’rous, glitt’ring), and occasionally with spelling (wandring, adventrous). But two cases are left unindicated: different and numerous (RL 24.1 [III 83], 28.14 [III 168]).22 One must remember, though, that these indications are not really necessary, since Pope always elides in this category. In the single, tiny category that Pope reserves as optional, t’assault, to encounter, etc., the indications of elision are meticulously attended to. And the indications of elision are also meticulously attended to in every other category, barring Class IA. Inconsistency, or rather the lack of meticulous indication, is therefore a trivial feature in the whole picture of Pope’s method with elision. In his text the use of spelling and the apostrophe not only clears up the only category of optional syllables (t’assault, etc.) but also covers every case of elision (barring Class IA), with the two exceptions, different and numerous, thus bringing virtually the whole field of elision under the double security of mutually exclusive categories (each either elided or not elided) and meticulous indication. In Milton, on the other hand, it is only for Class ID, for the word Heaven (Heavenly, or Heavens) in Class IIC, and for -ed verb endings that indications are meticulously given: th’upright, Heav’n, mov’d, etc.23 As a result, the reader can safely assume non-elision in unapostrophized cases like the Image and the Ammonite (PL I 371, 396), or Heavens (line 297). In the related Class IB (th’infernal, etc.), also an optional category, many cases of elision are indicated, yet one is overlooked – the unconquerable (line 106).24 Non-elision in the Almighty (line 44) cannot therefore be assumed but must instead be deduced from the context. The inconsistent use of indications in these and other categories simply reduces the number of individual cases that have to be determined from the context. In Shakespeare there seems to be no attempt at a systematic use of spelling and the apostrophe to indicate elision, even though these indications are frequently given. In Wordsworth, as I have said, the practice is largely dropped. Let us now see what is left, when all cases of elision that are indicated have been removed. In other words, let us see what categories of syllables each poet allows to remain as unindicated optional syllables. (As

chap_02.fm Page 49 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

49

Extra Syllables

in the tables referred to earlier, words marked with an asterisk stand as examples for a category.) shakespeare IC *hour, *fire being milton IB

IC

*the unconquerable *to adore *Vally of Hinnom *riot

IIC

even, Heaven[ly]

IIA IIB

IIC

*Conquerour *innumerable. As when *Temple of God *Prison ordained even, spirit[s]

IIA

*reverence

IIC

*eloquent + noun spirit[s]

pope No cases of any kind. wordsworth IB

*the inspiring

We can now move on to consider the means by which a poet makes the context show whether an optional syllable should be elided or not, if the indications of spelling or apostrophe are not employed. This is not to say that the context of elidible syllables is immaterial when the syllables belong to a category always elided, or when indications of spelling or apostrophe are always given. But our present purpose is to see whether the poet’s intention regarding elision is always shown by at least one sufficient means. The inquiry can therefore be narrowed to those syllables for which the context alone provides the means of determining elision. Pope, as we know, never allows syllables to fall into this class. Milton can be left until last. We start, then, with Shakespeare and Wordsworth. They present an interesting contrast in method. Shakespeare The syllables Shakespeare reserves as optional (and unindicated) present two noteworthy features. First, there are only a few words involved, of which even and being are by far the most frequent; but the others, too, are few enough to be unmistakable when they occur.

chap_02.fm Page 50 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

50

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Second, every one of these words, except the compound heavenly, offers the stress-pattern / ?, an unusual pattern for words with elidible syllables, taken by and large. In view of this latter peculiarity one would expect Shakespeare to use a clear metrical context, preferably one that is plainly iambic, so as to show his intention regarding the optional syllable. Instead, for his most characteristic use of elision he tends to avoid a plain iambic context, and to set up the elision either within a spondee (or virtual spondee, ∧ /) or within a choriamb. The resulting manoeuvre, especially in the case of the spondee, involves some rhythmical strain and could be metrically confusing. However, for one thing, he isolates and shows up the manoeuvre by placing it at the beginning of the line (or, in a few cases, after the caesura) and then (except in one case) by following it with an iamb. In addition, he reserves being to be used with a spondee, as in these cases:25 /? / Being Judge in love, she cannot right her cause. Being mad before, how doth she now for wits? and even to be used with a choriamb, as in these cases:26

220 249

/? ∪ ∪ / Even as the sunne with purple-colourd face, 1 Even as an emptie Eagle sharpe by fast, 55 Thus, for his most characteristic use of it, Shakespeare creates two stereotypes whereby elision becomes for the reader a standard component in a familiar package. In the few cases involving being or even, not elided, a plain iambic context (sometimes in company with a hint of stereotyped wordpattern) makes Shakespeare’s intention perfectly clear. For example:27 / ∪ /? The steed is stalled up, and even now,

39

/ ∪ /? Being red she loves him best, and being white, 77 With cases of optional syllables in words other than even or being, Shakespeare’s intention is almost always perfectly clear from the metrical context, even when a spondee or near-spondee is present. Here are some examples:28 Spondee or near-Spondee Elided: / / ? ∪ / What houre is this, or morne, or wearie even,

495

chap_02.fm Page 51 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

51

Extra Syllables

Not elided: / / ? / ∪ / The fields chiefe flower, sweet above compare, Pyrrhic Not elided:

8

∪ /? ∪ ∪ / And Titan tired in the midday heate, 177 Only in one such case, line 131 (with a spondee and a near-pyrrhic), is there a need to watch one’s step, as it were, and see that the optional syllable has to be elided: / / ? ∪ \ ∪ / Faire flowers that are not gathred in their prime, 131 In all the remaining cases the context is plainly iambic, and the need for elision or non-elision is clear. For example, elided:29 ∪ / ? ∪ / And calls it heavenly moisture, aire of grace, Not elided: / ? / ∪ ∪ / The sun that shines from heaven, shines but warm,

64

193

Wordsworth Wordsworth’s method with contexts for optional syllables is, in the main, quite different from Shakespeare’s. It is true that Wordsworth does occasionally, like Shakespeare, combine elision with a radical variation, as in this case with a choriamb (elided): /? ∪ ∪ /∪ / (Vigorous in native genius as he was) Ex I 10.15 [137–9n] But in the few cases of this kind the context is clear, and, given a familiarity with the radical figures in question, the reader should have no difficulty in spotting the figures and in perceiving whether elision is intended or not. None of the four cases presents any problem.30 With respect to simple variations, Wordsworth does not combine optional syllables with spondees (/ /), but he does combine them with pyrrhics (∪ ∪). Usually the basic context is given by a fourth paeon (∪ ∪ ∪ /), which together with the preceding full stress sets up the pattern * /∪∪∪/

chap_02.fm Page 52 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

52

The Strict Metrical Tradition

where the asterisk represents our tentative identification of that middle unstressed syllable as a “failed” beat-syllable. In cases requiring elision the optional syllable will appear as a fourth unstressed syllable within this stress-pattern. There are five cases in all, three from Class IIA, as in / ? ∪ ∪ ∪ / Graceful support; the countenance of the Man and these two from Class IB: / ∪ ∪ ? ∪ / Of culture and the inspiring aid of books,

5.11 [43 & n]

7.11 [83]

/ ∪ ∪ ? ∪ / A lasting tablet--for the observer’s eye 18.4 [297–8n] In all the cases the need for elision is clear enough, and the “failed” beat-syllable will be safely identified.31 In cases requiring non-elision the context is simpler, for the optional syllable will appear thus, within the same general pattern: * /?∪∪/ There are seven cases from Class IIA, as in / ?∪∪ / Of his own mind; by mystery and hope, and three from Class IIC, as in

17.10 [284]

/ ?∪ ∪ / Gained merited respect in simpler times; 19.17 [328] Though some of these cases include a variation or an elided syllable elsewhere in the line, these features are readily recognizable in themselves and do not interfere with the stress-pattern that frames the optional syllable. No case in fact gives any difficulty.32 When the pyrrhic is combined with an optional syllable at the beginning or the end of the line the context is simpler still. There are two cases at the beginning of the line (Class IB): ∪ ? ∪ / Of the industrious husbandman, diffused ∪ ? ∪ / In the adjoining Village; but the Youth, and three at the end of the line (Class IIA), as in

6.21 [71] 19.1 [312–14n]

/ ? ∪ To yield him no unworthy maintenance. 18.19 [311] In the first type (Class IB) there is the obvious help of word-pattern; the latter type employs the set-up of the appended pyrrhic, which, as we shall see in due course, will of itself facilitate recognition.33

chap_02.fm Page 53 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

53

Extra Syllables

The immediate context for virtually all the remaining cases of optional syllables is clearly iambic. Here are examples under each of the three classes into which all these cases fall. Class IB, elided:34 ? ∪ / ∪ / Among the unthinking masters of the earth Class IIA, elided:35

22.3 [380]

/ ∪ / ?∪ Of Persecution and the Covenant--Times Class IIC: First, of the eloquent + noun type. Elided:36

12.7 [175]

/ ∪ /? ∪ And some small portion of his eloquent speech, Second, with the word spirit. Unelided:37

8.4 [98]

∪ /? / Nor any voice of joy; his spirit drank 13.20 [206] However, there is one case under Class IIA (elided) where one might mistake Wordsworth’s intention regarding the optional syllable at first sight; but a second reading would show that elision is intended:38 ∪ /? ∪ \ ∪ ∪ ∪ ∧ ∪ / A misery to him; that he must resign 19.4 [314 & n] And there remains one case that is clearly exceptional: /∪ ? / ∪ And go to the grave, unthought of. Strongest minds 7.19 [91] The explanation is provided by Edward Weismiller (see note 13, above). He lists the contractions i’th’, o’th’, by th’, and to th’ under “Words and word-groups sometimes reduced, sometimes used in full, in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century verse.” His point is that the Romantics in general, and Wordsworth in particular, make use of these same categories of elision, but without the indication of the apostrophe.39 (The same approach is especially noticeable in Wordsworth’s elision in adjectives like eloquent, under Class IIC.) Milton With Milton the picture is more complicated, both because he uses more categories of optional syllables than any of the other poets and because he is almost as ready as Shakespeare to combine an optional syllable with a radical variation or with a spondee (/ /), but does not, like Shakespeare, turn these combinations into stereotypes. Yet there are very few cases that are not immediately clear.

chap_02.fm Page 54 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

54

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Of the cases involving radical variations, five involve a choriamb. Despite the presence of a half-stress in one case, there is no difficulty with any of these.40 On the other hand, the one case involving a minor ionic does give some trouble. Elided: ∪ / ? ∪∪ / / IC In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest PL I 91 This category of syllable is not elidible with the other three poets,41 and the minor ionic that follows does not provide the clearest context for resolving the doubt that has arisen, especially since the minor ionic is itself unusual in one respect.42 The extra syllable does fall, however, just before a major break in the line, and thus seems to pass for the “midverse extrametrical syllable” so familiar in the dramatic iambic pentameter, though disallowed by Milton in Paradise Lost. There are nine cases involving simple variations, of which the following will serve as examples. With a Spondee (/ /), Class IB, elided: / / ?∪ / He also against the house of God was bold: With a Pyrrhic (∪ ∪), Class IIA, not elided:

470

/?∪ ∪ Here swallow’d up in endless misery. 142 No problem arises in these nine cases, except in one case calling for elision (from Class IIB, involving a pyrrhic) where modern readers, unfamiliar with Milton’s intention regarding -able endings, might elide a different syllable:

∨

/ ∪∪? ∪ / Innumerable. As when the potent Rod 338 A modern reader might well elide the first e, Innum’rable. But, as we saw earlier, Sprott has shown what Milton’s method is with regard to -ble endings.43 All the remaining cases have iambic contexts that are quite clear, even though a half stress is occasionally involved, and categories of elidible syllables are sometimes stretched to the limit. Here are some typical examples.44 Class IB, elided: ?∪ / ∪ / To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds Not elided: /∪ ? ∪ / ∪ And Devils to adore for Deities:

323

373

chap_02.fm Page 55 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

55

Extra Syllables

Class IC, elided: ∪ /? ∪ / Of riot ascends above thir loftiest Towrs, Not elided:

499

∪ / ? ∪ ∪ / With hideous ruine and combustion down Class IIB, elided:

46

/? ∪ / ∪ For those rebellious, here their Prison ordain’d Class IIC, elided:

71

/? ∪ / ∪ Can Perish: for the mind and spirit remains Not elided:

139

/? \ / ∪ ∪ These Feminine. For Spirits when they please 423 In Milton, then, we have found only one case that could be confusing: ? In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest 91 To sum up. With only a handful of exceptions, the matter of elision is handled in these four works in such a way that the poet’s intention is always clear. The scope of the matter is first defined by which types of syllables each poet treats as elidible, then narrowed by which of these types a given poet always elides, and narrowed still further by the use of apostrophe and spelling as means of indication. Finally, those syllables that are still capable of confusing the reader – unindicated optional syllables – are placed in a context that shows whether the syllable is to be elided or not. The three lines we have found to be exceptional are exceptional only in disturbing that marginal, barely conscious attention normally required by the metrical workings of iambic pentameter. Most notable is the line just quoted, PL I 91. The other two lines are V&A 131, ? Faire flowers that are not gathred in their prime, and Ex I 19.4 [314 & n] ? A misery to him; that he must resign Here one may need to pay slightly more conscious attention to the business of identifying the beat-syllables.

chap_03.fm Page 56 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

3 The Choriamb

We now embark upon the most critical part of this study – the study of radical variations. As was made clear earlier, there are three such variations: choriamb /∪∪/ minor ionic ∪∪// second epitrite /∪// Each is a 4-syllable figure, closing on a full stress, and taking the place of two iambic feet. And in each figure the first beat-syllable has been displaced from its expected position (syllable 2), but the second is in place as the closing stress (syllable 4). My method with every variation will be to start by recording all noteworthy features, regardless of what use will be made of each in the ensuing analysis. The theorist who wishes to draw a conclusion different from mine will then have a body of material ready to hand with which to proceed. At this point let me refer my readers to the List of Cases at the end of the chapter. (In view of the commonness of the choriamb, this is a curtailed list, covering only lines 1 to 250 of each piece.) The cases are arranged first according to where the figure occurs in the line (so that the reader can easily find the figure), and then in groups and subgroups according to the Key given at the beginning of the list. The purpose of the groups and sub-groups is to show up some of the features. For convenient reference (both for the choriamb and for the many other 4-syllable figures to be dealt with) the boundaries between the four syllables of the figure can be designated thus:

chap_03.fm Page 57 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

57

a ⯗

b ⯗

The Choriamb

c ⯗

/ ∪ ∪ / But since the term boundary will be needed to refer to syntactic boundaries, I shall adopt the term juncture instead for the present purpose, and speak of juncture a, juncture b and juncture c.

fe at ur e s i. placement Number of cases in each possible position in the line. Ft 1–2 Ft 2–3 Ft 3–4 Ft 4–5 Total 162

1

19

15

197

ii. bridging within the variation Somewhat over half of all cases (104) have a word-break at all three junctures, as in

/

∪ ∪

/

Bright as the Sun, her Eyes the Gazers strike, RL 11.5 [II 13] The next most common arrangement is the bridging of juncture a – i.e., the joining of syllables 1 and 2 in one word – as in

/ ∪ ∪

/

Hunting he lov’d, but love he laught to scorne: V&A 4 There are 50 cases of this type (Group B). The only other arrangement of any frequency is the bridging of juncture c, as in / ∪ ∪ / Hear and believe! thy own Importance know, There are 28 cases of this type (Group D).

RL 3.11 [I 35]

iii. internal boundaries in the variation In a large number of cases the only significant internal boundary falls at juncture a, dividing the figure into 1 + 3 syllables. That boundary may take the form of a punctuated break, as in / ∪ ∪ / There, on a small hereditary Farm, Ex I 8.15 [109] or it may take the form simply of a boundary between one word-group and another, as in / ∪ ∪ / Prone on the Flood, extended long and large PL I 195 (i.e., between Prone and on the Flood).1 Then there are some ten cases with a break or boundary at b strong enough to divide the figure into

chap_03.fm Page 58 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

58

The Strict Metrical Tradition

2 + 2 syllables.2 Though there is a slight boundary at b in some 28 further cases, this boundary is negligible in the movement of the verse, partly through falling after an unstressed syllable. For example: / ∪ ∪ / Others on Earth o’er human Race preside, RL 15.9 [II 87] There is no need to identify the precise order of boundary at these junctures (a and b) in all cases. As will become clear in due course, the order of boundary occurring at c is a critical matter that needs pinning down with some precision. I shall therefore draw (here and subsequently, when necessary) on the orders of boundary established by Bruce Hayes in his “Prosodic Hierarchy,”3 slightly abbreviating the technical terms. At c in the choriamb, then, one virtually never finds even the slightest boundary that will concern us in this study, a clitic boundary; though a clear case of such can be seen in PL I 218: / ∪∪ / Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shown (A clitic boundary is the boundary between two “content” words – Infinite and goodness in this case – together with any “non-content” words accompanying them.)4 In one case, however, there is a stronger boundary at c, a phonological boundary:5 / ∪ ∪ / Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd PL I 90 This boundary (before once) is just noticeable; but its tendency to break the figure into 3 + 1 syllables is counterbalanced by the movement from unstressed syllables into a stress, and by the unifying effect of the clear break one syllable later. In all, then, there are quite a few cases in which the figure is effectively unbroken; some ten cases in which it breaks into 2 + 2 syllables; and a large number of cases in which it breaks (even if only slightly) into 1 + 3 syllables. From this it will be seen that in all except ten cases the verse effectively moves from syllable 2 to the closing stress without a break. Now unstressed syllables are almost always quick syllables; and hence there arises the characteristic movement of the choriamb, a lilt or swing through syllables 2 and 3 into the closing stress.6 There is always a sense in which this choriambic swing (as we may call it) begins on the stress at syllable 1, as a launching point, or point of suspension;7 but in its rapid movement the swing usually gets under way only on syllable 2 – for there is almost always a

chap_03.fm Page 59 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

59

The Choriamb

tendency to linger on the opening stress. In ten cases the swing is broken at the midpoint, juncture b; but even then, as always, it finishes with an unbroken movement. iv. what precedes the variation First, as to the foot or figure preceding the choriamb. With one exception, this is resolved on a full stress, or (in three cases) with an appended pyrrhic8 followed by a clear break in the syntax and linedivision. In the exceptional case, PL I 215, the preceding foot closes on an intermediate stress, with only line-division intervening: ∪ \ That with reiterated crimes he might / ∪ ∪ / Heap on himself damnation, while he sought Second, as to the boundary intervening between the preceding foot or figure and the choriamb. In all but 11 cases this boundary consists of line-division, or a punctuated break, or both. In eight of the remaining cases it is at least a phonological (and thus, one could say, a noticeable) boundary, as in Ex I 5.4 [37]:9 / ∪ ∪ / An iron-pointed staff lay at his side. In these cases one evidently sees the minimal order of boundary normally required before a choriamb in the strict tradition. In the three remaining cases the choriamb is preceded merely by a clitic boundary: / ∪ ∪ / Had tane his last leave of the weeping morne, / ∪ ∪ / And raine his proud head to the saddle bow,

V&A 2 14

/ ∪∪ / One room he owned, the fifth part of a house, Ex I 6.3 [52–5n] Meanwhile the three cases are immediately recognizable as cases of “abrupt inversion,” that old solution to the problem of the monosyllabic adjective. As will become clear in the next two chapters, the strict tradition not only uses the minor ionic and the second epitrite as its two standard vehicles for embodying the monosyllabic adjective wordgroup; it uses the word-group as a cue for recognizing these figures. In these three cases, therefore, the word-group acts as a false cue, the more deceptive because the reader is swept into a choriamb without

chap_03.fm Page 60 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

60

The Strict Metrical Tradition

the otherwise unfailing preparation of an adequate boundary. The experienced reader immediately sees through the deception, however. I shall label this manoeuvre the deceptive choriamb. The final point to be made about these cases is that they clearly represent a departure from an established norm, regarding what should precede a choriamb. Yet it is also clear that they have a certain legitimacy in the tradition, as a peripheral phenomenon. v. the close of the variation To describe the close of the figure accurately one must distinguish two types, a normal close and a deferred close – though in fact there are also some cases with a partly deferred close, a compromise between the two. In the List of Cases at the end of the chapter, cases with a deferred close are listed under groups marked with an asterisk (A*, B*, etc.), while cases with a partly deferred close are marked with a bracketed asterisk and included under the groups with a normal close (A, B, etc.). The Key to the List will make all this clear. Normal Close (155 cases) Here the stress at syllable 4 forms as it were the landing point of the choriambic “swing.” That is not to say that the movement necessarily comes to an immediate halt on that syllable. Usually it does, as in / ∪ ∪ / Feed where thou wilt, on mountaine, or in dale; V&A 232 But there may be one, or occasionally two, unstressed syllables attached to that stress, imparting a phrasal feminine ending to the 4-syllable figure:10 / ∪ ∪ / He with his Thunder: and till then who knew PL I 93 Think what an Equipage thou hast in Air, RL 4.3 [I 45] There then follows a break, or at the very least a phonological boundary, marking the end of the movement, except in one case where the boundary can be taken as merely clitic: / ∪ ∪ / Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence

PL I 12

Deferred Close (29 cases) Here the choriambic movement swings into syllable 4 but is then carried straight on through a plain iambic foot without a break to land finally on the full stress at syllable 6, as in

chap_03.fm Page 61 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

61

The Choriamb

/ ∪ ∪ / Chain’d on the burning Lake, nor ever thence PL I 210 There then follows (sometimes after a feminine ending) at least a phonological boundary. In one case slight complications intrude into this scheme: / ∪ ∪ / Stationed, as if to rest himself, with face Ex I 5.7 [38–41n] Here syllable 4 (if ) is not wholly firm, but this weakness is remedied by the firmness of syllable 6, rest. However, on to the already extended figure is tacked what amounts to a double feminine ending, in the unusual form of a separate word, himself. Two further cases with an unfirm stress at syllable 4 will be noticed below under Unusual Cases. Partly Deferred Close (13 cases) In these cases syllable 4 provides something of a landing-point for a choriambic movement that nevertheless continues on through an iambic foot to a fuller close at syllable 6, to be followed (sometimes with a feminine ending) at least by a phonological boundary. For example: / ∪ ∪ / Yet hath he bene my captive, and my slave, V&A 101 Though these cases tend to merge on the one side into the normal close and on the other into the deferred close, some 13 cases can be said to fall into this class. vi. common patterns of syntax No pattern recurs with significant frequency.

a n a ly s i s The “inverted” foot or trochee (/ ∪) that opens the choriamb has nearly always been regarded as the variation in question here. Let me remind the reader why I include the iamb that follows to make up the full choriamb. The reason lies in the special treatment given that iamb, the key point being that a syntactic break is avoided at the last juncture, c, of the choriamb (as was shown under feature iii above). This special treatment, the full significance of which will emerge in due course, shows that the iamb is an essential part of the inversion manoeuvre, and also that the three radical variations share a common 4-syllable form. The logical starting-point is to see the choriamb as consisting of these same two components, the long-recognized trochee and the

chap_03.fm Page 62 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

62

The Strict Metrical Tradition

neglected iamb that follows. This concept, or model, which I shall call Model 1, does account for what precedes the variation: the trochee reverses and opposes the iambic movement, a disruption that needs to be properly prepared for. Hence the combination of items described under feature iv. And when the iamb is added to complete the model, one can point out that the iamb serves to restore the iambic movement. What this model fails to explain is the characteristic shape and movement of the choriamb. Under feature iii we saw that in only 10 cases, of the total 197, the movement of the verse suggests a trochee and an iamb as the composition of the figure. In most of the other cases the movement discourages our perceiving the composition in this way. A more fruitful concept is the one based not on reversal, but on compensation. First we are given a stress that lacks an introductory unstressed syllable, and then, by way of compensation, a stress introduced by two unstressed syllables (in effect, an anapest, ∪ ∪ /). This, which I shall call Model 2, is a model that certainly does reflect the characteristic fracturing of the choriamb into 1 + 3 syllables, and also the resultant movement that lingers on the opening stress and then moves rapidly through the anapest. But the model goes farther than that, for it also offers to explain this rapid anapest, and the pause that almost invariably precedes the choriamb, under a single principle. The preceding pause stands in place of the missing introductory syllable; and the rapid anapest compresses its two introductory syllables into the normal space of one. The model is recognizable as Attridge’s, somewhat modified. The problem that arises when one tries to make too much of this model and its principle of compensation is the problem I mentioned earlier in my discussion of Attridge. When the compensatory elements are reversed (with the anapest first, followed by the solitary stress lacking an introductory syllable), the result is the minor ionic; but these corroborative details then disappear. For there is no general tendency in the minor ionic to hasten over the anapest, and no pause before the solitary stress. The principle of compensation is undoubtedly felt in both the choriamb and the minor ionic; but some deeper principle must be sought to explain the characteristic movement of the choriamb. While acknowledging a measure of truth in each of the above models, I introduce as a final model the concept that the choriamb is in the end a single whole, / ∪ ∪ /. (Whether poets consciously rationalized

chap_03.fm Page 63 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

63

The Choriamb

the figure in this way is not, I think, the most important test of the validity of the model.) Taken thus, as a whole, the stress-pattern of the choriamb has a number of interesting aspects or properties. The stressed syllables define the beginning and end of the figure; but they also form as it were a firm outer casing, enclosing a weaker interior. (Thus, the choriamb is a signal instance of what I shall call a “robust” variation – a variation that both opens and closes on a full stress.) These aspects go hand in hand with a clean symmetry in the pattern that is immediately appealing; and all aspects combine to give the whole a tight unity. Finally there is a subtle aspect that is significant. The whole and its constituent elements can be grasped in an act of perception more simple and single than is possible with any other combination of these elements. One begins to see that the characteristic features of the choriamb (as actually realized in verse) all serve to exploit these properties inherent in the form itself. The elementary contrast between the stressed and the unstressed syllables is brought out through a lingering on the former and a hastening over the latter, and an avoidance of any break that would injure this effect. The resultant quick movement through syllables 2 and 3 into syllable 4 is then fostered as a swinging movement, as though strung from and therefore connecting syllables 1 and 4. The choriamb is unified by its swing. A clear break beforehand prepares the reader for launching into the swing and defines the opening. And that obvious preparation having been given, what defines the close is not so much a break after it as the more subtle effect of a properly conducted landing on syllable 4 itself. But the inherent properties of the choriambic form could not be thus enhanced and exploited if the result did not at the same time answer the requirements of the iambic process. In a plain iamb the closing stress serves as a focal point for metrical closure (as described earlier). In the choriamb there is no possible focal point until syllable 4. On the opening stress no unstressed syllable is yet in the picture, to be brought into focus and accounted for; and an unstressed syllable is not usable as a focal point. So it is that the closing stress takes on a role like, yet considerably more complicated than, the role of the stress in a plain iamb. It serves as a focal point and indeed as a landing-point for closing not one foot but two, and accounting for all four syllables. The measure of how much is at stake here is to be seen in the avoidance of a syntactic break before this closing stress as an inviolable feature of the choriamb.

chap_03.fm Page 64 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

64

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Two points should be made regarding the opening stress of the choriamb. It has to be felt and identified as a beat-syllable; but its full identification as such must wait for the settling of accounts on the landing-place of the closing stress. Thus, on encountering that opening stress, we evidently make a tentative identification that is confirmed at the close. It is this carrying-over of the crucial matter of identifying the first beat-syllable, from the opening to the close, that requires the choriamb to be perceived as a single whole. The second point to be made here concerns the break that precedes the opening stress. In its minimal form (as specified under feature iv above), this break is the other inviolable feature of the choriamb. Why should such a break be indispensable? It is a question best put aside until the other radical variations are also in the picture. Meanwhile I shall point out that Attridge has put his finger on a factor that is certainly involved – namely, the danger that, without such a break, the preceding beat-syllable might well forfeit its role and that beat be lost.11 To return to the choriamb as a whole. What of the deferred close, which, in deflecting the landing point of the swing from syllable 4 to syllable 6, and thus extending the choriamb to 6 syllables, would seem to fly in the face of this main object? The explanation, surely, is that the 4-syllable choriamb is still there in its characteristic movement; it is just that we are not permitted to halt on syllable 4 and take in that fact. We can only make a hasty, tentative identification of the choriamb at syllable 4; and it is evident both that a full landing-point is needed as soon as possible, to look back and confirm that tentative identification, and that an innocuous iamb is the one foot that can intrude and still leave us a sufficiently clear backward view. The key point can perhaps be put thus. The deflection of the landing of the choriambic swing into the safety-net (as it were) of the added iamb does not injure our sense of syllables 1 and 4 as forming the crucial interval to be spanned by the swing.

unusual cases 1 Here and in subsequent chapters, cases examined in chapter 2 as involving unindicated optional syllables can be passed over, except where some difficulty is present. 2 Cases with irregular stress-values fall into two classes. First, passing over the few cases with a slightly heavy syllable 2, there are a number of cases with a distinctly heavy syllable 3, as in

chap_03.fm Page 65 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

65

The Choriamb

/ / ∪ \ Staine to all Nimphs, more lovely then a man, V&A 9 One of these cases, V&A 45, is a little awkward and uncertain with its two choriambs, both distorted by emphasis from the antithesis she/he: / ∪ / / ∪ \ / \ Now doth she stroke his cheek, now doth he frown, V&A 45 In general, though, it can be said that in no case do we have difficulty in perceiving the familiar figure of the choriamb.12 Then there are these cases with a seemingly weakish syllable 1 or 4. Syllable 1

\ ∪ ∪/ In the Beginning how the Heav’ns and Earth PL I 9 I have marked a half stress for the opening syllable; but in fact a comma at the end of the preceding line renders In, in its line-opening position, significant enough to require, I think, more than a half stress – and enough to carry the choriamb. Syllable 4 In addition to the case discussed above under feature v, Deferred Close, there are two cases: / ∪ ∪ ∧ Beautie within it selfe should not be wasted,

V&A 130

/∪ ∪ ∧ To do aught good never will be our task, PL I 159 In the first case a stress on -in seems in fact to be called for, so as to give the phrase within it selfe the required weight. So too, in the second case, a firm control of the movement of the verse, expressive of Satan’s iron will, would seem to require a stress on either will or be; and the latter option seems preferable.13

doubtful cases There are four cases worth mentioning as being sufficiently in doubt. It happens that all four seem best read some other way, not as a choriamb. Three will duly be found listed under some other variation – RL 3.17 [I 41] as a second epitrite, PL I 95 as a third epitrite, and PL I 24 as a fourth paeon. The fourth case, V&A 168, could be taken as a choriamb, but an iambic reading seems preferable.

chap_03.fm Page 66 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

66

The Strict Metrical Tradition

List of Cases A no juncture bridged Key:14 B juncture a bridged C juncture b bridged D juncture c bridged E junctures a and b bridged F junctures a and c bridged Subdivisions within each group (barring groups marked *): 1st syll. 2 a preposition introducing a noun at syll. 4 2nd syll. 4 a noun 3rd syll. 4 a verb 4th other Groups marked * deferred close Cases marked (*) partly deferred close Ft 1–2 A / ∪∪ / Staine to all Nimphs, more lovely then a man,15 V&A 9 Tires with her beake on feathers, flesh, and bone, 56 Looke in mine ey-bals, there thy beautie lyes, 119 Would in thy palme dissolve, or seeme to melt.(*) 144 Daunce on the sands, and yet no footing seene. 148 Herbes for their smell, and sappie plants to beare. 165 Graze on my lips, and if those hils be drie, 233 Rose out of Chaos: or if Sion Hill PL I 10 Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence 12 He with his Thunder: and till then who knew 93 Here in the heart of Hell to work in Fire,(*) 151 Back to the Gates of Heav’n: The Sulphurous Hail(*) 171 Prone on the Flood, extended long and large 195 Moors by his side under the Lee, while Night 207 Not by the sufferance of supernal Power. 241 Seem’d to her Ear his winning Lips to lay, RL 3.1 [I 25] Hang o’er the Box, and hover round the Ring. 4.2 [I 44] E’re to the Main this Morning’s Sun descend. 7.12 [I 110] Warn’d by thy Sylph, oh Pious Maid beware! 7.14 [I 112] Lanch’d on the Bosom of the Silver Thames. 10.4 [II 4] Quick as her Eyes, and as unfix’d as those: 11.2 [II 10]

chap_03.fm Page 67 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

67

The Choriamb

Bright as the Sun, her Eyes the Gazers strike, If to her share some Female Errors fall, Look on her Face, and you’ll forget ’em all. Love in these Labyrinths his Slaves detains, All but the Sylph–With careful Thoughts opprest, Soft o’er the Shrouds Aerial Whispers breath, Some to the Sun their Insect-Wings unfold, Waft on the Breeze, or sink in Clouds of Gold. Loose to the Wind their airy Garments flew, Some in the Fields of purest Æther play, Spread by a brotherhood of lofty elms– Turned tow’rds the sun then setting, while that staff Far from the sight of City spire, or sound Or from the power of a peculiar eye,16 Even as the sunne with purple-colourd face, Saith that the world hath ending with thy life. Looke how a bird lyes tangled in a net, Touch but my lips with those faire lips of thine, Love is a spirit all compact of fire, What were thy lips the worse for one poore kis?(*) Thou art no man, though of a mans complexion, Ile be a parke, and thou shalt be my deare: That were an ignominy and shame beneath Save what the glimmering of these livid flames Left him at large to his own dark designs, Slight is the Subject, but not so the Praise, Think what an Equipage thou hast in Air, Oft when the World imagine Women stray,

11.5 [II 13] 11.9 [II 17] 11.10 [II 18] 11.15 [II 23] 13.11 [II 53] 13.15 [II 57] 13.17 [II 59] 13.18 [II 60] 14.3 [II 63] 14.17 [II 77] Ex I 4.18 [29] 5.8 [40] 9.20 [124] 11.10 [157] V&A 1 12 67 115 149 207 215 231 PL I 115 182 213 RL 1.5 [I 5] 4.3 [I 45] 6.11 [I 91]

Now doth she stroke his cheek, now doth he frown,(*) V&A 45 So they were dew’d with such distilling showers. 66 Looke how he can, she cannot chuse but love, 79 I have bene wooed as I intreat thee now, 97 Yet hath he bene my captive, and my slave,(*) 101 Feed where thou wilt, on mountaine, or in dale; 232 Let us not slip th’occasion, whether scorn,(*) PL I 178 Late, as I rang’d the Crystal Wilds of Air, RL 7.9 [I 107] Him whom I sought; a Man of reverend age, Ex I 4.22 [33 & n]

chap_03.fm Page 68 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

68

The Strict Metrical Tradition

There was he seen upon the Cottage bench, Him had I marked the day before – alone There did he see the writing; – all things there(*)

5.2 [35] 5.5 [38] 14.19 [227n]

Still is he sullein, still he lowres and frets, V&A 75 Even by the sterne, and direfull god of warre, 98 Yet was he servile to my coy disdaine, 112 Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd PL I 90 All is not lost; the unconquerable Will, 106 What shall be right: fardest from him is best 247 Not a less pleasing, tho’ less glorious Care. RL 15.14 [II 92] There, on a small hereditary Farm, Ex I 8.15 [109 & n] Even in their fix’d and steady lineaments 11.13 [160] A* Then with her windie sighes, and golden heares, V&A 51 Even as an emptie Eagle sharpe by fast, 55 What can it then avail though yet we feel PL I 153 Chain’d on the burning Lake, nor ever thence 210 Thence, by a soft Transition, we repair RL 4.7 [I 49] Safe from the treach’rous Friend, and daring Spark, 5.11 [I 73] Dipt in the richest Tincture of the Skies, 14.5 [II 65] (Which in the docile season of their youth17 Ex 7.9 [81] All but a scattered few, live out their time, 7.17 [89] B Under her other was the tender boy, V&A 32 Shaking her wings, devouring all in hast, 57 Wishing her cheeks were gardens ful of flowers, 65 Never did passenger in sommers heat, 91 Leading him prisoner in a red rose chaine, 110 Sowring his cheekes, cries, fie, no more of love, 185 Sometime her armes infold him like a band, 225 Opend their mouthes to swallow Venus liking: 248 Favour’d of Heav’n so highly, to fall off PL I 30 Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 65 Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed, 114 Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds 130 Evil to others, and enrag’d might see 216 Fairest of Mortals, thou distinguish’d Care RL 3.3 [I 27] Favours to none, to all she Smiles extends, 11.3 [II 11]

chap_03.fm Page 69 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

69

The Choriamb

Others on Earth o’er human Race preside, Southward, the landscape indistinctly glared Pleasant to him who on the soft cool moss Singled out me, as he in sport would say, Feeding the soul, and eagerly imbibed Deeply the lesson deep of love which he, Ocean and earth, the solid frame of earth

15.9 [II 87] Ex I 3.2 [2] 3.10 [9n] 6.7 [58] 6.19 [69] 13.5 [194] 13.15 [201]

Hunting he lov’d, but love he laught to scorne: V&A 4 Nature that made thee with her selfe at strife, 11 Nimbly she fastens, (ô how quicke is love!) 38 Backward she pusht him, as she would be thrust, 41 Panting he lies, and breatheth in her face. 62 Never can blab, nor know not what we meane. 126 Torches are made to light, jewels to weare,(*) 163 Dainties to taste, fresh beautie for the use, 164 Sometime she shakes her head, and then his hand,(*) 223 Fondling, she saith, since I have hemd thee here 229 Strongly to suffer and support our pains, PL I 147 Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure, 158 Colours that change whene’er they wave their Wings. RL 14.8 [II 68] Hover, and catch the shooting Stars by Night; 15.4 [II 82n] Thither I came, and there – amid the gloom Ex I 4.17 [28] Making them red, and pale, with fresh varietie: V&A 21 Myriads though bright: If he whom mutual league, PL I 87 B* Scorning his churlish drumme, and ensigne red, V&A 107 Breaking the horrid silence thus began. PL I 83 Stationed, as if to rest himself, with face Ex I 5.7 [38–41n] (Vigorous in native genius as he was) 10.15 [137–9n] C And, being still unsatisfied with aught 10.19 [143] C* Rapt into still communion that transcends 14.7 [215] D Since through experience of this great event PL I 118 Heap on himself damnation, while he sought 215

chap_03.fm Page 70 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

70

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter’d side Sees by Degrees a purer Blush arise, He by appointment waited for me here, Or by predominance of thought oppress’d,18

232 RL 9.9 [I 143] Ex I 5.18 [50] 11.12 [159]

In the Beginning how the Heav’ns and Earth PL I 9 There the companions of his fall, o’rewhelm’d 76 So the foundations of his mind were laid. Ex I 10.6 [132] All his remembrances, thoughts, shapes, and forms; 10.18 [142] Forst to content, but never to obey, Still she intreats, and prettily intreats, Bid me discourse, I will inchaunt thine eare, Hear and believe! thy own Importance know, This to disclose is all thy Guardian can. Oft she rejects, but never once offends. Soon to obtain, and long possess the Prize:

V&A 61 73 145 RL 3.11 [I 35] 7.15 [I 113] 11.4 [II 12] 13.2 [II 44]

Art thou asham’d to kisse? then winke againe,(*) V&A 121 Shewes thee unripe; yet maist thou well be tasted, 128 These, tho’ unseen, are ever on the Wing, RL 4.1 [I 43] Strange and uncouth; dire faces, figures dire, Ex I 12.14 [182] D* Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate: PL I 58 Cloth’d with transcendent brightness didst outshine 86 Then with expanded wings he stears his flight 225 Or by creative feeling overborne, Ex I 11.11 [158] E Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shown PL I 218 Husbanding that which they possess within, Ex I 7.18 [90] F Wishing Adonis had his teame to guide, V&A 179 Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour’d. PL I 220 Graceful support; the countenance of the Man Ex I 5.11 [43 & n] Needful instruction; not alone in arts 9.3 [111n] Statüe contenting but the eye alone, Fearless, endanger’d Heav’ns perpetual King; Whether upheld by strength, or Chance, or Fate,

V&A 213 PL I 131 133

chap_03.fm Page 71 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

71

The Choriamb

Trembling, begins the sacred Rites of Pride. Vaunting aloud, but rackt with deep despare: F* Beautie within it selfe should not be wasted, Nourished Imagination in her growth,

RL 8.12 [I 128] PL I 126 V&A 130 Ex I 11.19 [166]

Ft 2–3 D / ∪ ∪ / Then such could hav orepowr’d such force as ours)

PL I 145

Ft 3–4 A /∪ ∪ / Then woo thy selfe, be of thy selfe rejected: V&A 159 For one restraint, Lords of the World besides? PL I 32 We were tried Friends: I from my Childhood up(*) Ex I 5.20 [52–5n] And I will winke, so shall the day seeme night. V&A 122 And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?(*) PL I 105 From morne till night, even where I list to sport me.

V&A 154

My smooth moist hand, were it with thy hand felt,19 A* Had tane his last leave of the weeping morne, And raine his proud head to the saddle bow, Thou art no man, though of a mans complexion, For men will kisse even by their owne direction. To mortal men, he with his horrid crew And what is else not to be overcome? B Which long have raind, making her cheeks al wet, Moors by his side under the Lee, while Night What shall be right: fardest from him is best B* With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power

143 2 14 215 216 PL I 51 109 V&A 83 PL I 207 247 44

chap_03.fm Page 72 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:44 PM

72

The Strict Metrical Tradition

To do aught good never will be our task, To one Man’s Treat, but for another’s Ball?

159 RL 6.16 [I 96]

Ft 4–5 A / ∪ ∪ / He burnes with bashfull shame, she with her teares V&A 49 Now gazeth she on him, now on the ground; 224 Instruct me, for Thou know’st; Thou from the first PL I 19 An iron-pointed staff lay at his side. Ex I 5.4 [37] One room he owned, the fifth part of a house, 6.3 [52–5n] O then what soul was his, when, on the tops 13.12 [197–9n] Had ris’n or heav’d his head, but that the will From many a brooding cloud; far as the sight In summer to tend herds: such was his task Now doth she stroke his cheek, now doth he frown, Upon the earths increase why shouldst thou feed,

PL I 211 Ex I 3.6 [6n] 13.10 [197–9n] V&A 45 169

Though mine be not so faire, yet are they red,

116

Torches are made to light, jewels to weare,

163

B D Thrise fairer then my selfe, (thus she began) Illumine, what is low raise and support;

7 PL I 23

chap_04.fm Page 73 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

4 The Minor Ionic

Like the choriamb, the minor ionic (∪ ∪ / /) is a 4-syllable figure that displaces the first beat expected at syllable 2. In the choriamb the beat turns up early, as syllable 1; but in the minor ionic it turns up late, as syllable 3. Unlike the choriamb, which has so often been perceived merely as the reversal of one iambic foot, the minor ionic has tended to be recognized (by those who have recognized it) as a 4-syllable figure. As can be seen from the List of Cases at the end of the chapter,1 the minor ionic is here divided into three types, according to the treatment of the opening syllable of the figure. In the plain type the opening syllable belongs to the same word-group as the rest of the figure. For example: / ∪ ∪ / On the rich Quilt sinks with becoming Woe, RL 32.9 [IV 35] In the semi-trailing type the opening syllable belongs to a preceding word-group and is separated from the rest of the figure by some break in the syntax. For example: ∪ ∪ / / Wherin she fram’d thee, in hie heavens despight, V&A 731 In the trailing type the opening syllable forms the trailing or feminine end of some preceding word, as in PL I 561: ∪ ∪ / / Mov’d on in silence to soft Pipes that charm’d

chap_04.fm Page 74 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

74

The Strict Metrical Tradition

The totals for each type are Plain Semi-trailing 97 7

Trailing 88

fe at ur e s i. placement The plain type is usually found in ft 1–2; but the semi-trailing and trailing types can only occur later in the line. When the three types are combined the picture is as follows: Ft 1–2 Ft 2–3 Ft 3–4 Ft 4–5 Total 69 25 54 44 192 ii. bridging The bridging of juncture a in 3 cases (constituting Group B, with all 3 cases falling in fact under the narrower designation B3) seems like a peripheral phenomenon, especially since all three cases are also exceptional in other respects.2 So, too, is juncture b bridged in only a few doubtful cases (to be examined below under Doubtful Cases). Thus, it is only the bridging of c (in 18 cases, constituting Group C) that is clearly an accepted practice. iii. internal boundaries Between them, the plain, semi-trailing, and trailing types offer everything possible at a from bridging to the full break of a period. At b, however, in all types, there is not even, I believe, a clitic boundary. The fact that c falls between two stresses means that (in all types) at least a clitic boundary is almost inevitable.3 (One notes, therefore, that the only really quick movement in the figure, in the trailing and semitrailing types, is the movement from syllable 2 to syllable 3.) Yet the boundary at c is very rarely more than clitic. There are seven cases (under Group A4) in which, though one has the option of regarding it as a phonological boundary, a clitic boundary seems more appropriate.4 There remain just these four cases with a boundary at c that is clearly phonological:5 / / ∪ ∪ Created hugest that swim th’Ocean stream: ∪ ∪ / / On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain;

PL I 202 350

chap_04.fm Page 75 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

75

The Minor Ionic

∪ ∪ / / In vision beatific: by him first

684

/ / ∪ ∪ And their place knew them not. Meanwhile abridg’d Ex I 30.1 [546] In these cases one sees the strongest boundary occurring at c in the minor ionic. iv. what precedes the variation The true opening of the minor ionic is disguised in the trailing and semi-trailing types. That opening, therefore, is not consistently marked in any way. But the foot or figure preceding the minor ionic is always properly closed, either on a full stress (quite often with a feminine ending, which then constitutes syllable 1 of a trailing-type minor ionic) or by means of an appended pyrrhic and a punctuated break. Thus, the identification of syllables in the minor ionic proceeds from a fresh start. v. the close of the variation As with the choriamb (and in fact all variations closing on a full stress), one can have a normal close, a deferred close, or a partly deferred close. Normal Close (157 cases) What follows after syllable 4 (and, if present, a feminine or very occasionally a double feminine ending) is usually an obvious break but quite often only a phonological boundary. Partly Deferred Close (12 cases) Every case is followed after syllable 6 by a major break. Deferred Close (22 cases) The close at syllable 6, sometimes with a feminine ending, is followed at least by a phonological boundary. Double Deferred Close (1 case) This special class (marked ** in the List of Cases) has to be added so as to accommodate one case, in which syntactic closure is deferred through two plain iambs until syllable 8 (sport): / ∪ ∪ / Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport.

V&A 24

chap_04.fm Page 76 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

76

The Strict Metrical Tradition

vi. patterns of syntax By now the reader will be familiar with the connection between the minor ionic and the monosyllabic adjective group (or pattern of syntax) as a practical discovery by poets in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and as an analytical discovery by Otto Jespersen in 1900.6 The full group consists of three syllables, with the stress-pattern ∪ / /; and the set of examples given at the outset as a means of defining the group can be given again here: a strong enemy her sad troubles with false shows and sure aid For convenience the pattern can be called the Jespersen pattern,7 and cases employing it will be found in sub-group 2 in the List of Cases. When cases from Group C are included that are very similar in effect,8 one finds that, of 169 cases with a normal or partly deferred close, 125 employ this pattern. Quite similar in effect also are the 9 cases under Group A3 and (despite their exceptional character in another respect) the 3 cases under Group B3, all of which employ what I shall call the Short Jespersen pattern – some other kind of word in syllable 2, before an adjective in syllable 3 and a noun in syllable 4. The total picture for cases with a normal or partly deferred close is then as follows: Jespersen Short Jespersen Other Normal close 118 8 31 Partly Deferred 7 4 1 Most cases with a deferred close insert an additional adjective into the Jerspersen pattern, as in this example: / / ∪ ∪ With shining Ringlets her smooth Iv’ry Neck. RL 11.14 [II 22 & n] If one includes slight variants of this Modified Jespersen pattern, as it may be called,9 the picture for the 22 cases with a deferred close is as follows: Mod. Jespersen Variants of Mod. Jesp. Other 10 9 3 The whole picture regarding the use of the Jespersen pattern in the minor ionic can now be summed up thus. If one includes the seven specified cases from Group C, the full 3-syllable Jespersen pattern is

chap_04.fm Page 77 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

77

The Minor Ionic

employed in 125 cases, nearly two thirds of the total 192 cases. It is thus used frequently enough to give a characteristic stamp to the three syllables that constitute the essential core of the minor ionic. And that stamp is strengthened by a kind of penumbral use of similar patterns in 31 further cases.

a n a ly s i s A curious feature in the minor ionic, when compared with the choriamb, is the handling of its opening in the semi-trailing and trailing types. The figure then seems to begin at syllable 2, the true opening being disguised. The effect is very different from that in the plain type, where the true opening is shown. Some light is thrown on the puzzle of the opening when one considers the inherent properties of the minor ionic stress-pattern. It is a stress-pattern that is not only unbalanced and asymmetric as a whole but weak and ill-defined in its opening: ∪ ∪ / /. Our poets were evidently ready to use the plain type and show the opening of the figure but equally ready to abandon the goal of defining a naturally illdefined opening, presumably through having found some mode of perceiving the figure that is uninjured by the disguised opening of the trailing and semi-trailing types. But one is conscious of a serious problem here. It is difficult to see how the minor ionic, with its radical transformation of the iambic movement, could be presented under any possible mode of perception as the precise equivalent of two iambs, in the face of uncertainties regarding the opening, and hence the number of syllables in the figure. Bearing this puzzle of the different openings in mind, we can now proceed to consider the minor ionic in terms of several models, each of which should throw some light on how the figure is perceived.10 Model 1 The figure is perceived as a single whole, a kind of double iamb, with a pair of subordinate syllables introducing a pair of beat-syllables, the whole then being identified as a double foot. For the plain type, with no syntactic break at any juncture, this model is highly convincing and doubtless represents an important aspect of the truth. Answering the requirements of the model, each pair of syllables is indeed kept together, and the unbroken movement from the subordinate into the beat-syllable pair brings out their relative functions. But

chap_04.fm Page 78 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

78

The Strict Metrical Tradition

the semi-trailing and trailing types, though they answer to the model on some of these counts, depart from it very obviously in their two introductory syllables, which are divided and belong to different word-groups and can only be felt as a pair with conscious attention. Model 2 In an iambic base of two feet, syllables 2 and 3 are perceived as being switched. The interesting thing about this model is that it works with all types – but for different reasons; or, at any rate, the obvious reasons for its success with the plain type, on the one hand, and with the semitrailing and trailing types, on the other, are different. In the plain type of minor ionic the switched pair of syllables, 2 and 3, is always precisely in the place of the expected pair, because syntactic breaks are avoided throughout the figure. (How different is the situation in the choriamb, where the switched pair of syllables is usually preceded by a clear break!) The stuttering articulation of the syllables is crucial to the whole effect; but one should note that the articulation heightens this effect of careful timing. The whole effect can be described as the effect of a beat missed, then quickly given but out of place, and then followed immediately by a beat in its proper place. Much of the whole effect is retained in the semi-trailing and trailing types. Indeed, attention is subtly drawn to the switched pair of syllables, both by the break preceding them at juncture a and by the fact that the only quick movement in these types links these two syllables.11 What is not retained in these types is the strict timing of the arrival of the switched pair of syllables. Take an example of the trailing type: / ∪ ∪ / Paternal blessings. The good Pair bestowed Ex I 20.7 [338–9n] We know and feel, in a way, that the feminine ending before the break (-ings) calls for a beat-syllable as the first syllable after the break. But what follows after the break looks like an ordinary iamb (The good). It seems as though we are being prompted to forget the feminine ending and lose the true frame of reference at the very moment when we most need the frame of reference to show up the switched pair of syllables, as a switch. In fact, this very delusion is turned to account. In the example just given, the first syllable of the minor ionic is given by the unstressed ending of the preceding word – blessings. This word is, in itself, a trochee (/ ∪). In fact, in all but a handful of cases, the preceding word is either (in itself) a trochee like this, or a double trochee as in

chap_04.fm Page 79 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

79

The Minor Ionic

/∪ / ∪ Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore or the last of a series of such trochaic words, as in

PL I 528

/ ∪ / ∪ / ∪ From Egypt marching, equal’d with one stroke PL I 488 These trochees do not constitute a trochaic metre; they straddle the foot-divisions of the iambic metre, ∪ / ∪ / ∪ / ∪ From E gypt mar ching, e qual’d while pulling against the iambic framework in the manner examined in chapter 1. But in a sense they do set up a counter framework, a trochaic framework; and in the context of this counter-framework the switched syllables of the minor ionic show up very plainly as a reversed foot, iambic, against the trochees: / ∪ / ∪  / ∪  ∪ /  From Egypt marching, equal’d with one stroke It is of course an illusory iamb in an illusory trochaic framework, and we are immediately brought back to a true sense of the metre by the closing syllable of the minor ionic, following hard on the heels of the displaced stress. I have already pointed out a tendency in the semi-trailing and trailing types for attention to be drawn subtly to the switched pair of syllables; this illusory trochaic framework serves at least in the trailing type to focus attention still more on that pair, as a switch. In the few examples we have of the semi-trailing type, the same effect is not always as clear. But in general one can say, for both these types, that the loss of a strict sense of timing is balanced by other means that are, if anything, even more effective in focusing attention on this explanatory key to the minor ionic, the switch in syllables 2 and 3. An intention of showing up the switched syllables being evident in all three types, model 2 can be taken as the fundamental model for perceiving the minor ionic. But, though this purpose turns out to be uninjured by the opening of the figure in the semi-trailing and trailing types – indeed, to be elegantly answered by such an opening – the basic problem that we determined to bear in mind all along presents itself once more. Does the perception of a switch in syllables 2 and 3 enable us at the same time to perceive the minor ionic as a 4-syllable figure equivalent to two iambs, despite the disguised opening in the semi-trailing and trailing types?

chap_04.fm Page 80 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

80

The Strict Metrical Tradition

In one sense, at least, this perception of a switch in syllables 2 and 3 only aggravates the basic problem of the opening. In the normal iambic process, a beat-syllable is registered as a beat-syllable in the same act that perceives the preceding subordinate syllable as being duly accounted for. In the choriamb a fortunate combination of features opens the way to a special process, whereby two beat-syllables are linked across some distance and also seen to be accompanied by their proper subordinate syllables. But in the minor ionic the perception fostered by model 2, of syllables 2 and 3 as a switched pair, inevitably links them also as subordinate and beat-syllable – syllable 2 introducing syllable 3 – even though our sense of a switch tells us that this is no ordinary iamb. Syllable 1 is then left to be the subordinate syllable paired with the beat at syllable 4. But no link can be felt between these two, like the link felt between syllables 1 and 4 in the choriamb (though that is a link between two beat-syllables). Indeed, syllable 1 has been drawn away from the body of the minor ionic and alienated, in the semi-trailing and trailing types. The figure clearly presented to us consists of one subordinate and two beat-syllables, ∪ / /. To make matters worse, the perception of a switch in syllables 2 and 3 brings to the surface an equally serious problem at the close of the figure. Syllable 4 has the duty of being so clearly felt as closing a 4-syllable figure that the iamb just given in syllables 2 and 3 will be shown up as illusory, and a sense of the true iambic framework restored. In the choriamb the equally crucial role of syllable 4 is brought out and felt in the way the verse moves – the way the choriambic swing lands, after two unstressed syllables, on the stress at syllable 4. But the stress-pattern of the minor ionic, though faithfully reflected in the actual movement of the verse, carries no comparable implication of the crucial role of syllable 4. And that implication is weakest just when the role of syllable 4 is most crucial – in the semi-trailing and trailing types, for it is then that some special effort is required to draw the alienated syllable 1 back into the picture. For an answer to these problems we turn to a third model. Model 3 Our perception of the figure is controlled by syntax. As we saw under feature vi, the Jespersen pattern of syntax is employed in the great majority of cases for the essential core of the minor ionic, syllables 2–4. And the figure therefore takes on a characteristic stamp, so that its very identity as a metrical variation is associated with

chap_04.fm Page 81 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

81

The Minor Ionic

this pattern of syntax – in marked contrast to the choriamb, for which no one pattern of syntax is favoured. Incorporated into this pattern is the characteristic movement we have traced in the core syllables, with a perception of the switch in syllables 2 and 3 as the central perception. But that perception is placed in the context of two other perceptions, induced by the pattern of syntax. One is the recognition of the core syllables as a syntactic unit – indeed, as a special syntactic unit. The other is a sense of closure on syllable 4. It will be remembered that the Jespersen pattern, after allowing three options for the unstressed syllable 2, then excludes options as it moves into the stressed syllables 3 and 4 and into a sense of closure on the noun at syllable 4. But the sense of closure is not merely a sense of syntactic closure: our reaching the closing noun also crystallizes our recognition of the completion of that special pattern, the Jespersen pattern. It is a heightened and enhanced sense of closure. Thus, of the two problems in the minor ionic, the problem of the close, at any rate, is answered by the use of the Jespersen pattern. The question arises, of course, of those cases that do not use this pattern (many of which, however, use some “penumbral” form of it). In fact, in all such cases, with four exceptions, the close of the figure is felt as a close, according to its type. The four exceptions are those cases that, by employing patterns of syntax unrelated to the Jespersen pattern as well as a deferred close, stand at the farthest remove from the characteristic Jespersen cases: / / ∪ ∪ And their place knew them not. Meanwhile abridg’d Ex I 30.1 [546] / / ∪ ∪ Created hugest that swim th’Ocean stream: ∪ ∪ / / On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain;

PL I 202 350

∪ ∪ / / Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport. V&A 24 In the first three cases syllable 4, instead of providing some sense of closure to the minor ionic proper, actually begins some new word-group.12 The result is that the unity of the core of the minor ionic is damaged, and we do not properly make even the tentative identification of the figure at syllable 4 that a deferred close requires. These exceptions only underline the point, then: it is the syntax, characteristically of the

chap_04.fm Page 82 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

82

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Jespersen pattern, that serves to unify the core of the minor ionic and conduct the figure to a properly felt close. But what of the problem of the opening in cases of the semi-trailing and trailing types? Surely, the act of recognizing the figure of the minor ionic supplies the answer to the problem. The figure one recognizes is sometimes of the plain type, of four syllables, and obviously complete: / / ∪ ∪ That leads from the green lane, once more I saw Ex I 34.16 [644–8n] and sometimes of the trailing type, of three syllables, and obviously incomplete: / ∪ / His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames PL I 222 In the incomplete trailing type, syllable 1 (-ture), lingering in one’s ears as a phrasal feminine ending, answers that puzzle of incompleteness without the need of conscious attention. Of course, the use in most cases (including the above examples) of the Jespersen pattern plays a significant role: the problem of the opening is solved by the clarity with which the remainder of the figure is identified by its familiar syntactic stamp.13 Let us conclude by stepping back to view the minor ionic in a larger perspective, placed beside the choriamb. What stands out is the contrast between the decisive and meticulously planned opening of the choriamb and the uncertain opening of the minor ionic. But one’s attention ends up by being focused on the displaced beat-syllable in each figure, and on the common purpose evident in both figures. In the choriamb that purpose is obvious: everything is done to herald the premature arrival of the choriamb’s opening beat-syllable. In the minor ionic the purpose is subtler: the delayed first beat-syllable tolerates uncertainty in the subordinate syllables preceding it, because this heightens the certainty with which it will itself be recognized when it finally arrives. The paramount object, then, is evidently the recognition and identification of the displaced beat-syllable. Accounting for the associated subordinate syllables is not unimportant, but is of lesser importance.

unusual cases Of the three cases unusual in bridging juncture a (see above under feature ii) one is notable in also following after an unusual case of elision:

chap_04.fm Page 83 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

83

The Minor Ionic

? ∪∪ / / In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest PL I 91 The combination of these two factors is slightly disconcerting. On the other hand, the minor ionic is clarified in being isolated between clear syntactic boundaries, and through using the Short Jespersen pattern. Cases with irregular stress-values fall into two groups. Syllable 1 (distinctly heavy) In addition to the case mentioned below, V&A 369, there are some ten cases with something like a half stress on syllable 1, as in14

\ ∪ / / Ere the last Star had vanished.–They who passed Ex I 29.4 [527] Since syllable 2 is unstressed, syllable 1 has a noticeable prominence in these cases, to the point that the figure seems to approach the second epitrite, / ∪ / /. The peculiar dilemma, though, that arises in the second epitrite (to be explained in due course) does not arise here. The point to be made is that, though there is more than a hint of the second epitrite in the effect, there is no question as to which the beatsyllables are – syllables 3 and 4, as in the minor ionic. Thus, these cases are a species of minor ionic. After these, other cases with a touch of stress on syllable 1 need no special mention. Syllable 4 (seemingly weak) In the compound words that join syllables 3 and 4, thus giving rise to Group C, syllable 4 often seems to call for less than full stress, as in ∪ ∪ / \ Like a divedapper peering through a wave, V&A 86 Attridge has shown why such compounds used in metrical contexts like this, at least during the Renaissance, call in fact for a full stress on the second syllable of the compound.15 More problematical is the semi-trailing type case, V&A 369, which appears both to open and close on something like a half-stress,

\ ∪/\ Would thou wert as I am, and I a man, the half-stresses being carried by the parallel verbs wert and am. The two factors that go some way toward making metrical sense of this manoeuvre are the almost full stress on Would in the preceding foot, and the comma after am, for what therefore tends to emerge is the rare but robust 6-syllable combination, spondee-minor ionic.16

chap_04.fm Page 84 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

84

The Strict Metrical Tradition

doubtful cases 1 Two cases that could be claimed to be minor ionics, PL I 112 and Ex I 12.3 [171], will be dealt with in chapter 10 under the combination appended pyrrhic + spondee. 2 There are five cases involving disyllabic adjectives. With modern pronunciation the second syllable of each adjective would carry the stress and produce a minor ionic: / ∪ ∪ / Next Chemos, th’obscene dread of Moabs Sons, / ∪ ∪ / And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King / ∪ ∪/ The divine Milton. Lore of different kind, / ∪ ∪ / He clothed the nakedness of austere truth.

PL I 406 735 Ex I 15.20 [250] 16.17 [269]

/ ∪ ∪ / Or obscure records of the path of fire. 17.5 [279] If read as minor ionics, these cases are exceptional in joining syllables 2 and 3. But if the principle of “recession of accent” is being invoked, then each case falls simply into iambic alternation. Bridges’ opening remarks on the subject of recession of accent are worth quoting: “Recession of accent is not now heard. I have been told that it lingers in Ireland in the common speech in which it must have originated, and that Roman Catholics there will still talk of éxtreme unction, just as Milton has éxtreme shift in Comus: also that they do not say Sir Jóhn Róbinson, but Sír-john Róbinson … Ignorance of this old-fashioned habit causes unsuspected misreading of many familiar lines in our poetry.”17 Whether recession of accent was in fact intended in cases like those before us is an issue that, a hundred years later, has still not been settled. Kiparsky has argued pretty convincingly in favour of recession in cases of this kind; Attridge, after discussing the matter at some length, remains largely non-committal.18 I am inclined to feel that recession was intended, at least in the two cases from Milton.19 3 Three further cases resemble the five just discussed, except that the word in question is a preposition, rather than an adjective: For love can comment upon everie wo. V&A 714 That comes to all; but torture without end PL I 67 I am a Dreamer among men, indeed Ex I 34.6 [635]

chap_04.fm Page 85 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

85

The Minor Ionic

Moreover, somewhat different principles are involved. As Attridge has shown (221–2), the indefinite stress on the second syllable of such prepositions readily disappears in a choriambic context but, in effect, shifts back to the first syllable in cases like those before us, though not without generating some tension. One notes that a minor ionic reading in these cases would be awkward, as the displaced beat in a minor ionic cannot be carried convincingly by the indefinite stress of a preposition. Thus, what is called for is an iambic reading. 4 Finally, of a number of cases that can be read perhaps with equal felicity either as minor ionics (as listed) or another way, two are particularly interesting, both in their evidently deliberate use of metrical ambiguity and in the equally evident connection between them. In Milton’s PL I 428 the minor ionic would be ∪ ∪ / / Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose and the alternative reading would be iambic: ∪ / \ / Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose Both Milton’s idea and his metrical ambiguity are then imitated by Pope in RL 5.8 [I 70], Assume what Sexes and what Shapes they please. But Pope carries the manoeuvre a step further by adding a parallel ambiguity earlier in the line so that, under one reading, one has a first epitrite (∪/ / /) followed by a minor ionic, / / ∪ ∪ / / ∪ / Assume what Sexes and what Shapes they please. and, under the other, an iambic alternation involving half-stresses: \ /∪ / \ / ∪ / Assume what Sexes and what Shapes they please. The fact of a choice between alternative readings does not, however, constitute a metrical problem.

list of cases Key:20

2 3

A no juncture bridged B juncture a bridged C juncture c bridged syll. 2 an article, possessive pronoun, or preposition; syll. 3 an adjective; syll. 4 a noun syll. 3 an adjective;21 syll. 4 a noun

chap_04.fm Page 86 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

86

The Strict Metrical Tradition

4 other Groups marked * and cases marked (*): as before22 Group marked **: double deferred close Plain Type, Ft 1–2 A2 ∪ ∪ / / And for my sake hath learnd to sport, and daunce, V&A 105 Is thine owne heart to thine owne face affected? 157 Can thy right hand ceaze love upon thy left? 158 That in ech cheeke appeares a prettie dimple; 242 Of the faire breeder that is standing by. 282 Like a red morne that ever yet betokend, 453 Like the faire sunne when in his fresh array, 483 Like a wild bird being tam’d with too much handling, 560 For my sick heart commands mine eyes to watch, 584 Which the hot tyrant staines, and soone bereaves: (*) 797 That with sad overthrow and foul defeat PL I 135 From the safe shore their floating Carkases 310 Of their great Sultan waving to direct 348 On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain; 350 To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite 396 In his own Temple, on the grunsel edge, 460 To their first Elements the Souls retire: RL 4.16 [I 58] And in soft Sounds, Your Grace salutes their Ear. 6.6 [I 86] In the clear Mirror of thy ruling Star 7.10 [I 108] On her white Breast a sparkling Cross she wore, 10.7 [II 7] And the long Labours of the Toilette cease– 20.16 [III 24] With his broad Sabre next, a Chief in Years, 22.11 [III 55] And of all Monarchs only grasps the Globe? 23.10 [III 74] From the fair Head, for ever and for ever! 27.18 [III 154] Or the small Pillow grace a Lady’s Bed, 28.12 [III 166] On the rich Quilt sinks with becoming Woe, 32.9 [IV 35] And the nice Conduct of a clouded Cane) 37.6 [IV 124] On her heav’d Bosom hung her drooping Head, 38.11 [IV 145] Where the gilt Chariot never mark’d the way, 39.3 [IV 155] And the pale Ghosts start at the Flash of Day! 42.14 [V 52] And the high Dome re-ecchoes to his Nose. 44.1423 [V 86] Through a pale steam; but all the northern downs, Ex I 3.3 [3] For my grave looks–too thoughtful for my years. 6.8 [59]

chap_04.fm Page 87 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

87

The Minor Ionic

Through a parched meadow-ground, in time of drought. 6.22 [72] In the plain presence of his dignity! 7.4 [76] Or a nice backwardness afraid of shame), 7.13 [85] From his sixth year, the Boy of whom I speak, 9.14 [118] From his sixth year, he had been sent abroad 13.9 [197–9n] Of the high mountains, he beheld the sun 13.13 [197–9n] Of his own mind; by mystery and hope, 17.10 [284] And their hard service, deemed debasing now, 19.16 [327] And the wild paths; and, when the summer’s warmth 22.12 [388 & n] And his whole figure breathed intelligence. 24.7 [425] As my own child. O Sir! the good die first, 27.22 [500] Of her own thoughts: by some especial care 28.15 [516] Ere the last Star had vanished.–They who passed 29.4 [527] In the dark hedges. So their days were spent 29.9 [532] Was their best hope,–next to the God in Heaven. 29.11 [534] And a sore temper: day by day he drooped, 31.13 [581] O’er the flat Common.–Having reached the door 34.19 [646 & n] A3 We were tried Friends: I from my Childhood up Ex I 5.20 [52 & n] A4 Where he fell flat, and sham’d his Worshipers: PL I 461 While the Fops envy, and the Ladies stare! RL 36.6 [IV 104] Where the wren warbles; while the dreaming Man, Ex I 4.3 [13] Ere we built up a pile of better thoughts, 36.15 [687] A* But in one minutes sight brings beautie under, V&A 746 At thir great Emperors call, as next in worth PL I 378 Or when rich China Vessels, fal’n from high, RL 28.5 [III 159] And the first virgin passion of a soul Ex I 17.11 [285] Like their own stedfast clouds)–did now impel 19.10 [320] And their place knew them not. Meanwhile abridg’d 30.1 [546] Of the poor innocent children. “Every smile,” 31.21 [589] B3 Over one arme the lustie coursers raine, V&A 31 24 103 Over my Altars hath he hong his launce, C Like a divedapper peering through a wave, 86 That the star-gazers having writ on death, 509 On his bow-backe, he hath a battell set, 619 In his bed-chamber to be bard of rest, 784

chap_04.fm Page 88 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

88

The Strict Metrical Tradition

C* To his Step-father’s School, that stood alone,

Ex I 9.18 [122n]

Ft 2–3 A2 / ∪∪ / The mind is its own place, and in it self Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm’d His mind in a just equipoise of love. And begged of the Old Man that, for my sake, That leads from the green lane, once more I saw A4 By which she is made quick to recognize With those whom he saw suffer. Hence it came C His mind was a thanksgiving to the power

PL I 254 305 Ex I 21.1 [355] 33.17 [624] 34.16 [644–8n] 11.21 [168] 21.17 [371] 14.9 [217]

Ft 3–4 A2 / / ∪ ∪ Is thine owne heart to thine owne face affected? V&A 157 Poore Queene of love, in thine own law forlorne, 251 The bearing earth with his hard hoofe he wounds, 267 Are better proofe then thy speares point can enter,(*) 626 In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; PL I 336 Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose 428 Thir painful steps o’re the burnt soyle; and now 562 Were baffled; nor could my weak arm disperse(*) Ex I 4.12 [23] While yet a Child, with a Child’s eagerness 11.2 [149] He sate, and even in their fix’d lineaments, 11.9 [156] Such words of hope from her own mouth as served 36.13 [685] A* Left him at large to his own dark designs, PL I 213 B In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest 91 Ft 4–5 A2 / / ∪ ∪ How he outruns the wind, and with what care,

V&A 681

chap_04.fm Page 89 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

89

The Minor Ionic

Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe, Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, Hollow and green, he lay on the green turf And begged of the Old Man that, for my sake,

PL I 122 261 379 Ex I 16.8 [260] 33.17 [624]

C With an increasing weight; he was o’erpower’d

17.8 [282]

Semi-trailing Type, Ft 2–3 A2 / ∪ ∪ / Reserv’d him to more wrath; for now the thought A4 Would thou wert as I am, and I a man, Instruct me, for Thou know’st; Thou from the first

PL I 54 V&A 369 PL I 19

Ft 3–4 A2 / ∪ ∪ / But this endured not; his good humour soon Ex I 31.10 [578] A* Wherin she fram’d thee, in hie heavens despight, V&A 731 Ft 4–5 A2 ∪ ∪ / / Her wedded Partner lacked not on his side A4 –An irksome drudgery seems it to plod on,

Ex I 28.19 [520] 19.12 [322]

Trailing Type, Ft 2–3 A2 / ∪ ∪ / The riches of Heav’ns pavement, trod’n Gold, PL I 682 Exalted to such power, and gave to rule, 736 The youngest of three sons, was yet a babe, Ex I 8.19 [111n] In gladness and deep joy. The clouds were touch’d, 13.17 [201–3n] The hardships of that season; many rich 29.20 [543] A3 Of greatness; and deep feelings had impress’d 10.10 [136]

chap_04.fm Page 90 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

90

The Strict Metrical Tradition

A4 That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed PL I 8 But ever to do ill our sole delight, 160 Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least 258 In summer to tend herds: such was his task Ex I 13.10 [197–9n] A** Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport. V&A 24 C Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr’d on Jove, PL I 198 Th’associates and copartners of our loss 265 C* And sometime where earth-delving Conies keepe, V&A 687 Ft 3–4 A2 / / ∪ ∪ Of mad mischances, and much miserie. 738 Who from the terrour of this Arm so late PL I 113 His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames 222 Thus answer’d. Leader of those Armies bright, 272 Groveling and prostrate on yon Lake of Fire,(*) 280 His swift pursuers from Heav’n Gates discern 326 Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore 528 Mov’d on in silence to soft Pipes that charm’d 561 As in an Organ from one blast of wind(*) 708 At Pandæmonium, the high Capital 756 And striking Watches the tenth Hour resound. RL 2.12 [I 13–18n] Assume what Sexes and what Shapes they please. 5.8 [I 70] Th’Adventrous Baron the bright Locks admir’d, 12.3 [II 29] When numerous Wax-lights in bright Order blaze, 28.14 [III 168] As ever sully’d the fair face of Light,(*) 31.6 [IV 14] He spoke, and speaking in proud Triumph spread 38.5 [IV 139] That often, failing at this time to gain Ex I 17.20 [293n] Paternal blessings. The good Pair bestowed(*) 20.7 [338–9n] A3 Hateful to utter: but what power of mind(*) PL I 626 Here Thou, great Anna! whom three Realms obey,(*) RL 19.7 [III 7] Him Basto follow’d, but his Fate more hard 22.9 [III 53] Or caus’d Suspicion when no Soul was rude,(*) 34.11 [IV 73] Fans clap, Silks russle, and tough Whalebones crack;(*) 42.2 [V 40]

chap_04.fm Page 91 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

91

The Minor Ionic

A4 Slight is the Subject, but not so the Praise, 1.5 [I 5] Too soon dejected, and too soon elate!(*) 25.2 [III 102] With whom from childhood he grew up, had held Ex I 22.22 [398] With half a harvest. It pleased heaven to add 29.15 [538] A* Save a proud rider on so proud a back. V&A 300 Created hugest that swim th’Ocean stream: PL I 202 On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain; 350 With shining Ringlets her smooth Iv’ry Neck. RL 11.14 [II 22 & n] To save the Powder from too rude a Gale, 15.15 [II 93] Not fierce Othello in so loud a Strain 45.15 [V 105] Where two tall hedge-rows of thick alder boughs Ex I 26.6 [460] By reason, barren of all future good. 34.2 [631] C Sharp-knee’d, sharp-elbowed, and lean-ankled too, 12.15 [183] C* This sower informer, this bate-breeding spie, V&A 655 Love-lacking vestals, and selfe-loving Nuns, 752 And high permission of all-ruling Heaven PL I 212 Ft 4–5 A2 ∪ ∪ / / But when her lips were readie for his pay, V&A 89 Burneth more hotly, swelleth with more rage: 332 He trusted to have equal’d the most High, PL I 40 And thence in Heav’n call’d Satan, with bold words 82 Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band 356 Infected Sions daughters with like heat, 453 From Egypt marching, equal’d with one stroke 488 Witness the Streets of Sodom, and that night 503 Frighted the Reign of Chaos and old Night. 543 That fought at Theb’s and Ilium, on each side 578 With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that. RL 20.10 [III 18] A skilful distribution of sweet sounds, Ex I 6.18 [68] Stern self-respect, a reverence for God’s word, 9.11 [115] And many a Legend, peopling the dark woods, 11.18 [165] Whose echo rings through Scotland to this hour! 12.8 [176] Which is the eagle’s birth-place, or some peak 16.23 [275]

chap_04.fm Page 92 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:45 PM

92

The Strict Metrical Tradition

By loneliness, and goodness, and kind works, A Man of kindlier nature. The rough sports Into a narrower circle of deep red An ordinary sorrow of Man’s life, A3 Matchless, but with th’Almighty, and that strife Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts A4 Favour’d of Heav’n so highly, to fall off In this unhappy Mansion, or once more And injury and outrage: and when Night In vision beatific: by him first That stared upon each other! I looked round, Her head from off the pillow, to look forth, A folded paper, lying as if placed The yellow stone-crop, suffered to take root C Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the Love-tale Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere: Shows in her Cheek the Roses of Eighteen, Who rule the Sex to Fifty from Fifteen, In scanty strings, had tempted to o’erleap

23.7 [405] 23.17 [415] 24.9 [427] 34.8 [637] PL I 623 659 PL I 30 268 500 684 Ex I 4.20 [31] 35.15 [664] 35.18 [667] 38.1 [717] PL I 452 656 RL 32.6 [IV 32] 33.14 [IV 58] Ex I 26.4 [458]

chap_05.fm Page 93 Monday, March 5, 2001 9:08 AM

5 The Second Epitrite

Like the other two variations, the second epitrite (/ ∪ / /) is a 4-syllable figure with the first beat displaced but with the second in place at syllable 4. When the figure is set beside the iambic base that it replaces, one can see that three successive syllables oppose that base: second epitrite / ∪ / / iambic base ∪ / ∪ / In the choriamb, only syllables 1 and 2 oppose the base; in the minor ionic, only syllables 2 and 3. Moreover, in the other two variations the beat and subordinate syllables are clearly identifiable through their stress-levels. But in the second epitrite there are three stresses, against one non-stress. There is, in fact, a built-in problem regarding the identification of the first beat, for neither position nor stress-level will serve the purpose. It is with an awareness of these unique and plainly evident obstacles that we launch into a study of the variation. As can be seen from the List of Cases at the end of the chapter,1 the second epitrite has been divided into two types. The trochee-spondee type (which I shall hereafter usually simply call the trochee-spondee) breaks slightly into 2 + 2 syllables. For example: / ∪ / / Nourish’d two Locks, which graceful hung behind RL 11.12 [II 20] The standard type breaks slightly into 1 + 3 syllables. For example: / ∪ / / Fear the just Gods, and think of Scylla’s Fate! RL 26.4 [III 122] The distinction is a fine one but will turn out to be significant.

chap_05.fm Page 94 Monday, March 5, 2001 9:08 AM

94

The Strict Metrical Tradition

tr o ch e e- s po n de e: f eat u re s i. placement All 13 cases are placed in ft 1–2. ii. bridging The trochee-spondee is characterized by the bridging of juncture a, though in several cases syllables 1 and 2 are merely joined through phrasing. Juncture c is bridged in one case (Group C.) iii. internal boundaries Under the definition of this type of second epitrite a significant boundary at a (in the few cases where a is not bridged) is scarcely possible; and in fact nothing more than a clitic boundary occurs there. The boundary at b that divides the figure into 2 + 2 syllables is in one case a punctuated break, / ∪ / / Know then, unnumber’d Spirits round thee fly, RL 3.17 [I 41] and in one case (after me) a boundary one degree stronger than a phonological boundary: / ∪ / / Tell me loves maister, shall we meete to morrow, V&A 585 2 This is an intonational boundary. In the other cases the boundary at b is slighter, but is nevertheless stronger than anything that occurs at a or c. At c there is never more than a clitic boundary.3 iv. what precedes the variation We have already seen that every case is preceded by line-division; in fact, in addition, the foot or figure closing the preceding line is always resolved on a full stress. v. the close of the variation Every case is followed, according to its type (10 cases with a normal close, 3 with a deferred close), and with or without feminine ending, at least by a phonological boundary. vi. patterns of syntax In the last chapter we found that the 3-syllable group I have called the Jespersen Pattern is used in nearly two-thirds of all cases of the minor ionic. The trochee-spondee, divided as it is into 2 + 2 syllables, cannot accommodate that 3-syllable group in full. But it can accommodate the

chap_05.fm Page 95 Monday, March 5, 2001 9:08 AM

95

The Second Epitrite

2-syllable Short Jespersen pattern, as syllables 3 and 4. As will be seen from the List of Cases, this pattern, modified as in the minor ionic in cases with a deferred close,4 is in fact used in all but the 2 cases under Group B4. In itself the Short Jespersen pattern is only a 2-syllable pattern and is therefore able to give no more than a local sense of closure on the noun. But in many of these cases the pattern used is not, in fact, just the Short Jespersen pattern. Syllable 1 – or syllables 1 and 2 under the more common Group B – forms a verb or participle, of which the noun at syllable 4 (or 6) is the object. Here, for example, is a case cited earlier: / ∪ / / Nourish’d two Locks, which graceful hung behind RL 11.12 [II 20] The result is that the trochee-spondee tends to be linked with the standard second epitrite and the way it often employs the Jespersen pattern, as we shall see.

a n a ly s i s The question of how this type of second epitrite is perceived can be answered at once: it is perceived as being composed of the two parts into which it is broken – a trochee and a spondee. The trochee (/ ∪) is not only the most recognizable of all departures from the iambic pattern; it tends to be perceived as a variation in itself – “inversion,” or an inverted iamb. And so, clearly presented as it is in this type of second epitrite, it will be clearly understood as an inverted iamb, with syllable 1 as the beat-syllable. The spondee (/ /) in its turn is also clearly presented, and is also thoroughly familiar, though as a simple variation. I will here anticipate my study of the spondee by saying that the second stress is distinguished from the first by means of a deliberate, inward act on the part of the reader, identifying it as the beat-syllable. Let an asterisk represent this deliberate act that both identifies the beat-syllable and also subordinates syllable 1 in retrospect, and the spondee can be represented thus: * // And so, with the two component feet of the figure clearly presented, the beat-syllable in each will be recognized without trouble: * * /∪//

chap_05.fm Page 96 Monday, March 5, 2001 9:08 AM

96

The Strict Metrical Tradition

But a number of features suggest that there must be some difficulty with these two feet, when combined in this way. The very frequent use of the Jespersen pattern (often including syllables 1, or 1 and 2, in the manner described above) hints at some such difficulty, and there is a definite element of caution implied in the placement of every case at the opening of the line. And there is also the rarity of the figure: only 13 cases from our four verse-samples in full. A little reflection shows well enough what the difficulty is. The opening trochee, sufficiently isolated, is indeed unmistakable. But it resists metrical closure, so that we are left in a state of tension, awaiting a second, appropriately placed beat-syllable as a landing-place on which to take stock and confirm the identity of the trochee. What follows, in fact, is a spondee. True, it is sufficiently distinct to be recognized as such. But, instead of addressing the unfinished business of resolving the trochee, it demands attention in itself. What is more, it cannot simply be taken on its own terms, as is the case in a simple variation. A kind of shifting of gears is now necessary before the spondee can be properly identified. In the trochee the beat-syllable is identified by its stress-level, its position being discounted; in the spondee the beat-syllable is identified by its position, its stress-level being of no help. Another way of putting the point is that the trochee is resolved, somewhat uncomfortably, by means of a syllable-pair that is in fact a fresh variation – though a simple one. Hence the compensating features. Placement at the opening of the line lessens the disruptive and confusing effect of most variations, notably a variation like the second epitrite. And there is some help from the Short Jespersen pattern (in all but a few cases) to bring out the crucial role of syllable 4.

s ta n dar d s ec on d e pi tr i t e: f eat u re s i. placement Ft 1–2 46

Ft 2–3 –

Ft 3–4 1

Ft 4–5 2

Total 49

ii. bridging The only juncture that is bridged in this type is c, and it is bridged in only two cases (Group C). iii. internal boundaries The break that divides the figure characteristically into 1 + 3 syllables occurs at a. Usually it is a boundary rather than a break; but occasionally it is a clear break, as in

chap_05.fm Page 97 Monday, March 5, 2001 9:08 AM

97

The Second Epitrite

/ / / ∪ Gusts, and foule flawes, to heardmen, and to Herds. V&A 456 At b there is not even a clitic boundary, except in two cases where the order of boundary is open to interpretation.5 At c the boundary is I believe never more than clitic, except in one case where it could be regarded as phonological:6 / ∪ / / And out of good still to find means of evil; PL I 165 In the movement of syllables 2–4 the standard second epitrite is identical to the minor ionic; and, broken as the figure is into 1 + 3 syllables, it resembles the trailing or semi-trailing types of minor ionic still further. The whole effect is very different, though, because of the opening full stress. iv. what precedes the variation In every case the preceding foot or figure closes on a full stress, except one (PL I 162–3), where it closes with an appended pyrrhic followed by a distinct boundary coinciding with line-division. What immediately precedes the variation is either line-division, or (in one case) a punctuated break, or (in two cases) a boundary that is at least phonological. v. the close of the variation The close, whether of the normal (44 cases), the partly deferred (3 cases), or the deferred type (2 cases), and with or without a feminine ending, is followed at least by a phonological boundary. One notices that the deferred close is used very sparingly. vi. patterns of syntax As was pointed out above, the standard second epitrite is identical to the minor ionic in the movement of syllables 2–4. Use of the Jespersen pattern of syntax carries this resemblance much further. Allowing for the familiar modification of the pattern under the deferred close,7 the Jespersen and Short Jespersen patterns are employed as follows:8 Normal & Partly Def. Deferred Jespersen 38 2 Short J. 3 – Other 6 – The Jespersen pattern is used even more frequently here (in proportion) than in the minor ionic. Thus, the standard second epitrite zealously mimics the minor ionic in syllables 2–4. But even this is not the whole picture. In roughly half the cases that employ the Jespersen

chap_05.fm Page 98 Monday, March 5, 2001 9:08 AM

98

The Strict Metrical Tradition

pattern, syllable 1 is given by a verb, of which the noun-phrase in syllables 2–4 is the object. For example: / / ∪ / Claps her pale cheeke, till clapping makes it red. V&A 468 This pattern can be called the Perfected Jespersen pattern, and cases employing it will be found under Group A 1. Their homogeneity is the more striking since the function of all three stresses in the 4-syllable figure is precisely prescribed. The effect of this block of cases is to crystallize an inner rigid core, within the characteristic stamp given to the figure by the Jespersen pattern, and shared with the minor ionic. Meanwhile, as we are now in a position to recognize, it is this Perfected Jespersen pattern that is used in many cases of the trochee-spondee, but with syllable 2 modified.

a n a ly s i s In the standard second epitrite the opening two syllables avoid being presented as a trochee (/ ∪). But, with the careful preparation for the opening of the figure, and with the all-powerful precedent of the choriamb,9 they will inevitably be construed as such, at least in the first instance. In other words, the opening stress will be construed as a beatsyllable: * Thrice the wrought Slipper knock’d against the Ground, RL 2.11 [I 13–18n] The unstressed second syllable, however, is at once caught up into the ensuing 3-syllable block (∪ / /), which, we found, mimics the core of the minor-ionic in all respects. Indeed, this 3-syllable block supplies the key to the minor ionic – the sense of a switch in syllables 2 and 3. The beat-syllable expected at syllable 2 is delayed, like a missed beat, and given instead at syllable 3. This block, then, being imported en masse into the standard second epitrite, complete with its characteristic pattern of syntax, brings with it the unmistakable implication that the two closing stresses are the two beat-syllables of the figure: * * Thrice the wrought Slipper knock’d against the Ground, But the beat expected at syllable 2 has already been perceived to have been given at syllable 1. Thus, there arises the dilemma of the standard second epitrite: the first beat is clearly not in its expected place at syllable 2, and syllables 1 and 3 both claim, convincingly, to embody it.

chap_05.fm Page 99 Monday, March 5, 2001 9:08 AM

99

The Second Epitrite

What is actually felt is the anomaly of a 4-syllable figure with what appear to be three beats: * * * Thrice the wrought Slipper knock’d against the Ground, The anomaly is of a flagrant kind, if my claim is sound that the essential mechanism of the iambic process consists in an unambiguous identification of the five beats in the line. It can be argued that, at some deep level of perception, the dilemma is resolved: the resolution of syntax on syllable 4 lowers the relative significance of syllable 3, but not of the further-removed syllable 1. Thus, the reader is cued, even while feeling the fullness of stress on each of these syllables, to perceive syllables 1 and 4 as the ones that must “count,” if all three cannot do so: * * Thrice the wrought Slipper knock’d against the Ground, But let it not be supposed that this argument can dispel the anomaly of the standard second epitrite. To show how fully the anomaly is felt, one has only to point to the extraordinary care with which the figure is treated – the very strong preference for placement at the opening of the line (46 out of 49 cases); the avoidance of a deferred close except in two cases; the clarity of the close in all cases; and the absence of unusual cases of any kind, even to the point of excluding elision. The result is a consistent clarity of outline in the figure, far beyond what is found in the choriamb and the minor ionic. Furthermore, the figure not only employs the Jespersen pattern more frequently than does the minor ionic; it frequently incorporates syllable 1 so as to form the Perfected Jespersen pattern (Group A 1), with a result so striking as to produce a little shock of recognition in the reader, even though there is no weakness or uncertainty in the opening to require compensation. These two effects taken together – the consistent clarity of outline and the extraordinary use of syntactic pattern – show that exceptional pains are being taken to render the figure clear and recognizable as a whole.10 Of course, the fact that some of these features are also present in the trochee-spondee suggests that the anomaly is felt to some degree in that type, too. But it is in the standard second epitrite that the anomaly is felt to the full; and so slight, evidently, is the reader’s sense of that dilemma’s being resolved that the need for these extraordinary measures remains undiminished. An interesting point that emerges here is the efficacy of a robust 4-syllable figure (one that both opens and closes on a full stress) in

chap_05.fm Page 100 Monday, March 5, 2001 9:08 AM

100

The Strict Metrical Tradition

containing the tensions of radical departures from iambicism. Such a figure is almost capable, it seems, of passing as a substitute for two iambs, without the reader’s having to follow precisely what has happened to the metrical components within.

unusual and doubtful cases Trochee-Spondee One case has a heavyish syllable 2: / / ∨ / Seest thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wilde, PL I 180 There is some doubt as to whether thou might not be fully stressed, possibly with a reduction of stress on Seest, yielding a heavy iambic foot ( \ /) in foot 1, followed then by a third epitrite (/ / ∪ /) in ft 2–3. And in any case there is an elided (but not an optional) syllable in Seest. The result is a hint of awkwardness in the figure, though not of difficulty. Standard Second Epitrite There are no cases.

list of cases Trochee-Spondee Type A no juncture bridged Key:11 B juncture a bridged C juncture c bridged 3 syll. 3 an adjective; syll. 4 a noun 4 other Ft 1–2 A3 / ∪ / / Tell me loves maister, shall we meete to morrow, Got them new Names, till wandring ore the Earth, A* Seest thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wilde, B3 Making my armes his field, his tent my bed.12 Taking no notice that she is so nye,

V&A 585 PL I 365 180 V&A 108 341

chap_05.fm Page 101 Monday, March 5, 2001 9:08 AM

101

The Second Epitrite

Deeming some Island, oft, as Sea-men tell, PL I 205 Severing each kinde, and scum’d the Bullion dross: 704 Nourish’d two Locks, which graceful hung behind RL 11.12 [II 20] Sudden these Honours shall be snatch’d away, 25.3 [III 103] B4 Burneth more hotly, swelleth with more rage: V&A 332 Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss PL I 21 B* Witnesse this Primrose banke whereon I lie, V&A 151 C* Know then, unnumber’d Spirits round thee fly,13 RL 3.17 [I 41] Standard Type Key:14 A no juncture bridged C juncture c bridged 1 syll. 1 a verb; syll. 3 an adj.; syll. 4 a noun (object of the verb) 2 syll. 2 an article; possessive pronoun, or preposition; syll. 3 an adjective; syll. 4 a noun 3 syll. 3 an adjective; syll. 4 a noun 4 other Ft 1–2 A1 / / / ∪ Steale thine own freedome, and complaine on theft. V&A 160 Shewes his hote courage, and his high desire. 276 Claps her pale cheeke, till clapping makes it red. 468 Set thy seale manuell, on my wax-red lips. 516 Marke the poore wretch to over-shut his troubles, 680 Mov’d our Grand Parents in that happy State, PL I 29 Maim’d his brute Image, head and hands lopt off 459 Wheels her pale course, they on thir mirth and dance 786 Form a strong Line about the Silver Bound, RL 17.7 [II 121] Shrink his thin Essence like a rivell’d Flower. 17.18 [II 132] Gain’d but one Trump and one Plebeian Card. 22.10 [III 54] Proves the just Victim of his Royal Rage. 22.16 [III 60] Fear the just Gods, and think of Scylla’s Fate! 26.4 [III 122] Spreads his black Wings, and slowly mounts to Day. 35.8 [IV 88] See the poor Remnants of this slighted Hair! 39.15 [IV 167 & n]

chap_05.fm Page 102 Monday, March 5, 2001 9:08 AM

102

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Clapt his glad Wings, and sate to view the Fight, 42.16 [V 54] Weighs the Mens Wits against the Lady’s Hair; 43.16 [V 72] Form’d a vast Buckle for his Widow’s Gown: 45.2 [V 92] A2 Save a proud rider on so proud a back. V&A 300 Gusts, and foule flawes, to heardmen, and to Herds. 456 Looke the worlds comforter with wearie gate, 529 Nor thy soft handes, sweet lips, and christall eine, 633 Nor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what cause(*) PL I 28 Both of lost happiness and lasting pain 55 15 163 Out of our evil seek to bring forth good, Wing’d with red Lightning and impetuous rage, 175 489 Both her first born and all her bleating Gods.16 Less then Arch Angel ruind, and th’excess(*) 593 Sol thro’ white Curtains did his Beams display, RL 2.7 [I 13 & n] Thrice the wrought Slipper knock’d against the Ground, 2.11 [I 13–18n] Not with more Glories, in th’Etherial Plain, 10.1 [II 1] Strait the three Bands prepare in Arms to join, 21.3 [III 29] She with one Finger and a Thumb subdu’d: 44.8 [V 80] This, the blest Lover shall for Venus take, 47.9 [V 135] Yet with good hope that soon I should obtain Ex I 4.8 [17–20n] –But, from past liberty, and tried restraints, 18.16 [308] A3 What tho’ no Credit doubting Wits may give? RL 3.15 [I 39] So when bold Homer makes the Gods engage, 42.7 [V 45] Yet do such Travellers find their own delight; Ex I 19.15 [326] A4 They that thrive well, take counsell of their friends, V&A 640 Thrice she look’d back, and thrice the Foe drew near. RL 27.2 [III 138] “Made my heart bleed.” At this the Wanderer paused; Ex I 31.23, 32.1 [591] A* Showed like two silver doves that sit a billing. V&A 366 This, in two sable Ringlets taught to break, RL 39.17 [IV 169] C2 Say for non-paiment, that the debt should double, V&A 521 This the Beau-monde shall from the Mall survey, RL 47.7 [V 133]

chap_05.fm Page 103 Monday, March 5, 2001 9:08 AM

103

The Second Epitrite

Ft 3–4 A4 / ∪ / / And out of good still to find means of evil;(*)

PL I 165

Ft 4–5 A4 / ∪ / / How all his malice serv’d but to bring forth 217 With long and ghostly shanks – forms which once seen Ex I 12.16 [184]

chap_06.fm Page 104 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

6 Review of Radical Variations

The three radical variations are now on the table, so to speak, and ready for comparison. Here are their stress-patterns, again: choriamb /∪∪/ minor ionic ∪∪// second epitrite /∪// (I should point out that the two types of second epitrite will sometimes need to be treated as distinct variations in the discussion that follows.) With inversion viewed thus, in terms of the choriamb, each variation is a 4-syllable figure, with the first beat (expected at syllable 2) displaced, and the second beat in place as a full stress at syllable 4. This is already a significant set of basic features shared by all three variations. The central question to be asked is what further features have turned up that are also shared by all three. But let us first consider what features are shared by only two of the variations. The Jespersen pattern of syntax is clearly an important feature in this class, even though it is a characteristic rather than a constant feature in the variations that employ it. But, since discussion of the Jespersen pattern has been conducted at each point to some degree in a comparative way (comparing its use in one variation with that in another), the matter can be set aside until we have all the variations before us. The other feature to be considered here is the break or boundary preceding the choriamb and the second epitrite. Since both variations open with a trochee (/ ∪), and the only other variation does not

chap_06.fm Page 105 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

105

Review of Radical Variations

include a trochee, the question can be put in simple terms: What order of boundary is required before a trochee (in other words, before inversion)? It is a question that was addressed by Sprott with respect to Milton,1 and that more recently has been investigated in some depth, notably by the generative linguists. For our verse-samples the answer will be seen under feature iv in chapters 3 and 5. Though the trochee is normally preceded by a major break, it is as a rule never preceded by less than a phonological boundary; but in the three cases of deceptive choriamb it is preceded only by a clitic boundary. Thus, there would seem to be a compelling need for at least some slight boundary before the trochee, together with a strongly felt need for that boundary to take the form of a clear break, if at all possible. Presumably these superimposed needs stem not just from one but from a number of factors. One factor was mentioned earlier as having been pointed out by Attridge,2 and can be restated thus. In the absence of an adequate boundary between them, the two adjacent stresses (one closing the preceding foot or figure, and one opening the trochee) would fail to be perceived as two beat-syllables. The most obvious factor is the reversal of the iambic rhythm, a manoeuvre that evidently requires a defined point for its onset, if not also a leveragepoint for its launching. Two other factors, similar enough to amount to two factors in one, will come to light shortly. We can now proceed to the central question of features common to all variations. It is a question best handled methodically, beginning with the opening of each variation.3 It will be seen from feature iv in each chapter that the only feature common to the opening of all three variations is this: the foot or figure preceding the radical variation closes either on a full stress or in an appended pyrrhic followed by an adequate break. In the one exceptional case (a choriamb), ∪ \ That with reiterated crimes he might / ∪ ∪ / Heap on himself damnation, while he sought PL I 214–5 partial closure is provided by the combination of a half-stress and line division. Actually this case can be included in the generalization the other cases point to: in radical variations the identification of the syllables, beat and subordinate, always begins with what can be called a clean slate. In terms of language and syntax, however, no feature is consistently present in the opening of all three variations. There is in fact a sharp difference between the clear break or boundary preceding

chap_06.fm Page 106 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

106

The Strict Metrical Tradition

the choriamb and second epitrite (discussed above) and the disguised opening of the minor ionic in the trailing type. But, though special treatment in terms of syntax is not consistently given to syllable 1, it is given to a syllable that can be said, in a different sense, to open each variation. If the opening be taken as the point of departure from the iambic base, then that point is syllable 1 in the choriamb and second epitrite, and syllable 2 in the minor ionic. The relevant sections (feature iv for the choriamb and second epitrite, feature ii for the minor ionic) show that this departure-syllable, as it may be called, is always articulated (that is, preceded by word-division). It is true that there are three exceptions in the three minor ionics that bridge juncture a; but this bridging we judged to lie outside the accepted norm.4 Having noticed this fact regarding the departure-syllable, one is drawn to inspect the treatment of the displaced beat-syllable, which after all furnishes the raison d’etre for radical variations. In the choriamb and trochee-spondee the displaced beat-syllable is syllable 1; in the minor ionic, syllable 3. What about the standard second epitrite? According to our interpretation, the displaced beat-syllable is either syllable 1 or 3. Even when both these options are allowed for, it turns out that the displaced beat-syllable is articulated in all radical variations, except in the five doubtful minor ionics involving possible recession of accent.5 Thus, both the departuresyllable and the displaced beat-syllable are articulated. Here we should pause for a moment to note that the two roles coalesce in syllable 1 of the choriamb and both types of second epitrite. In other words, syllable 1 in these variations is both a departure-syllable and a displaced beat-syllable, and is therefore (it could be argued) entitled twice over to articulation. These variations, of course, are the ones discussed above as opening in a trochee. Here, then, is that further factor that can be seen as contributing to the need for a clear boundary before a trochee. In comparing the close of the variations, let us start with what happens before syllable 4, and in fact go as far back as juncture b, the midpoint of each figure. As will be seen under feature iii for each variation, a curious pattern of contrast emerges. On the one hand, there is not even a clitic boundary at b in the minor ionic and the standard second epitrite, except in two cases of the latter variation with, at most, a phonological boundary. On the other hand, a clear boundary or even a punctuated break, though not common, can occur at b in the choriamb and the trochee-spondee. The significance of this curious pattern will become clear shortly.

chap_06.fm Page 107 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

107

Review of Radical Variations

Regarding juncture c, what can be seen from feature iii for each variation is this: only in the following five cases is the boundary clearly more than clitic.6 Choriamb: / ∪ ∪ / Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd Minor ionic: / ∪ ∪ / Created hugest that swim th’Ocean stream: / / ∪ ∪ On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain;

PL I 90

PL I 202 350

/ / ∪ ∪ And their place knew them not. Meanwhile abridg’d Ex I 30.1 [546] ∪ ∪ / / In vision beatific: by him first PL I 684 Yet even in these cases what occurs at c is no more than a phonological boundary. This avoidance of anything that could be called a break at c in all three radical variations, without any exceptions, is clearly significant. With respect to the choriamb it is a phenomenon of special interest, for it shows (as was pointed out earlier) that inversion does indeed involve the full figure of the choriamb. As for what happens after syllable 4, allowance must be made for an array of options. First, there are the different types of close, normal, partly deferred, and deferred, amounting to the option of an additional pure iamb. Then there is the further option of a feminine or occasionally a double feminine ending. Even these options, however, do not accommodate three cases. Two choriambs (discussed under feature v for the choriamb) introduce slight complexities into the scheme of a deferred close: / ∪ ∪ / Stationed, as if to rest himself, with face

Ex I 5.7 [38–41n]

/ ∪∪ / And, being still unsatisfied with aught 10.19 [143] And one minor ionic (see feature v) is unique in having to be classified as having a double deferred close (consisting of two clean iambs): ∪ ∪ / / Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport. V&A 24 Allowing then for these three cases, which extend the otherwise simple principle of deferred closure into further ramifications, we can say that

chap_06.fm Page 108 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

108

The Strict Metrical Tradition

every figure is followed, after closure under one of the various options, at least by a phonological boundary. Limited in scope though these options are, the fact of such an array of options after syllable 4, with several exceptions to boot, suggests that the most crucial phase of closure for each figure has already been achieved by syllable 4. The clear-cut imperative, evidently, is that the final internal phase in each 4-syllable figure should not be interrupted by anything more than a relatively trivial boundary. But what precisely is the extent of this final internal phase? The curious pattern that emerged above shows that the inviolable sequence extends from syllable 3 to syllable 4 in the choriamb and trochee-spondee, but from syllable 2 to syllable 4 in the minor ionic and standard second epitrite. Why the difference? It is true that the difference can be partly explained away with respect to the standard second epitrite, since a break at b would merely classify the figure differently, as a trochee-spondee. But the root explanation, the explanation that covers the minor ionic, would seem to be this. In the choriamb and the trochee-spondee, syllable 3 is a subordinate syllable; in the minor ionic and the standard second epitrite, it is, at least in some sense, a beat-syllable. A principle can therefore be discerned: there is never anything more than a phonological boundary between the last subordinate syllable in the figure, whatever its position, and the closing beat-syllable, syllable 4. Evidently no interruption must be permitted to hinder us in perceiving the sequence extending backwards from the closing beat-syllable to a subordinate syllable. It is a sequence that has to straddle an intruding displaced beat-syllable in the minor ionic and standard second epitrite (syllable 3), and in all the variations it follows in the wake of some earlier disruption. It seems that we have to be able to perceive the relationship of syllable 4 to that preceding subordinate syllable, either one or two syllables earlier. How clearly this need points to the simple iamb as lying behind the form shared by the radical variations! In the 4-syllable radical variation, as in the 2-syllable iamb, the preceding subordinate syllable is perceived as leading up to the closing beat-syllable. No less clear is another implication. The avoidance of a break in the juncture or junctures immediately preceding syllable 4 shows that syllable 4 is entrusted with some special role, which can only be that of rectifying the foregoing disruption, and thus achieving metrical closure for the variation. But full metrical closure also involves what happens after syllable 4. And, though what happens after syllable 4 is a

chap_06.fm Page 109 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

109

Review of Radical Variations

much less clear-cut affair than what happens just before it, these two features can be seen to a degree as jointly responsible for closing the figure, a manoeuvre I shall label special metrical closure, so as to distinguish it from the metrical closure seen in the elementary iamb. The features that have emerged as being common to all radical variations, then, can be briefly set forth as follows. They are now entitled, I think, to be called principles. a) Nothing is left unresolved from what precedes each figure. b) Each figure consists of four syllables, a displaced beat-syllable, two subordinate syllables, and an undisplaced beat-syllable closing the figure. c) Both the departure-syllable and (if this is not the same as the former) the displaced beat-syllable are articulated. (Three definite and five possible exceptions, respectively.) d) Nothing stronger than a phonological boundary falls between the last subordinate syllable in the figure and the closing beatsyllable. e) Before its effective termination in a break or adequate boundary, the figure may be extended by a plain iamb, or a feminine ending (single or double), or both. (Three exceptions.) As has already been stipulated, features d) and e) together constitute special metrical closure.

chap_07.fm Page 110 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

7 Variations Based on the Spondee

Simple variations, as was noted earlier, can be divided into those based on the spondee (/ /), those based on the pyrrhic (∪ ∪), and combinations. The variations based solely on the spondee I shall classify as follows: isolated spondee // third epitrite //∪/ first epitrite ∪/// In other words, the spondee can be seen either as standing on its own or as being grouped with a following or a preceding iamb. Occasionally two spondees will be found in succession, so as to suggest that a fourth variation could be added to the list, the dispondee: / / / /. It will be convenient to discuss such cases under that heading, even though the dispondee cannot really be regarded as a bona fide variation. With spondees, however, all classification is somewhat artificial. There are times when one of these figures merges into another and no figure can be identified as clearly cradling the spondee; and in the end one is left with the fact that the essential variation in every case is simply the spondee itself. The classification adopted reflects a tendency rather than a firm fact. For each variation the List of Cases is taken, as with the choriamb, from lines 1–250 of each piece of verse. Of the four figures, only one begins on an unstressed syllable, the first epitrite, and is therefore capable (like the minor ionic) of being cast in a trailing or semi-trailing type. Hence the di-

chap_07.fm Page 111 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

111

Spondee Variations

vision of the first epitrite (and only the first epitrite) into the three types, plain, semi-trailing, and trailing. But, in fact, the trailing type is rarely used in the first epitrite, and the semi-trailing type only once.

t h e i s o l at e d s p o n d e e ( / / ) Features i. placement Ft 1 Ft 2 43 –

Ft 3 6

Ft 4 2

Ft 5 1

Total 52

ii. bridging The two syllables are joined in only three cases (Group B), in all three cases by means of a hyphen. iii. internal boundaries As will be seen with the help of the subdivisions in the List of Cases, nothing more than a clitic boundary falls between the two syllables of the figure, except in three cases: / / Sowring his cheekes, cries, fie, no more of love,

V&A 185

/ / Him haply slumbring on the Norway foam

PL I 203 / / Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail 250 In the first case the comma serves to introduce quoted speech, rather than to indicate a break; and, since the neighbouring commas do indicate breaks, this one can hardly be intended to do so as well. In both the other cases a comma could be inserted but has been avoided in all three authoritative versions (the manuscript, and the editions of 1667 and 1674). Milton evidently did not want a noticeable break at this point in either case. Thus a phonological boundary seems to be all that is called for in these three cases. iv. what precedes the variation The figure is always preceded by a foot or figure closing on a full stress, and either by a marked break or (in the two cases without that) by a boundary that is at least phonological.1

chap_07.fm Page 112 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

112

The Strict Metrical Tradition

v. the close of the variation It is the sense of a close on syllable 2 of the spondee that defines the variation as an isolated spondee; so a clear normal close can be more or less assumed in every case.2 vi. patterns of syntax No one pattern is used frequently enough to give a characteristic stamp to the figure.3 Analysis The iambic process is faced in the spondee with a problem quite different from the kind of problem presented by radical variations; and the problem is seen in its most elementary form in the isolated spondee. The beat is not displaced and is carried by a full stress on which the necessary act of identification can be focussed. The problem is that, because the first syllable of the spondee is also fully stressed, some means other than its stress is required to confirm that the second syllable is indeed the beat-syllable. Meanwhile the first syllable is placed in a curious predicament. Despite its stress it must be understood as a subordinate syllable and passed over, so that the act of metrical closure can be focused on the second syllable. Yet this first syllable is, in a sense, the variation: it alone opposes the iambic base. If the variation is intended to be felt as a variation, the boldness of the first syllable’s stress must be felt to the full. In the isolated spondee these conflicting demands are all met, largely through the very fact of isolation. In a clearly isolated foot, the prevailing iambicism determines which of the equal stresses is the introductory and subordinate one, and which the beat-syllable. This distinction is corroborated by the syntax, resolving as it does on the second syllable, the ensuing break also giving syllable 2 time to embody the iambic act of identification convincingly; and for its part the first syllable, in opening the group, is given full scope for displaying its own boldness. But this is not all. The spondee can be seen to be treated, beyond the mere fact of isolation, so as to meet the conflicting demands of the two syllables more fully. The avoidance of a break between the syllables ensures that the first will indeed be felt as introducing the second; and placement of the spondee at the opening of the line in the overwhelming majority of cases enhances the boldness of the first stress, even while guaranteeing that it cannot be mistaken for a foot-closing syllable.

chap_07.fm Page 113 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

113

Spondee Variations

Unusual Cases In chapter 2 we noted the one case involving an unindicated optional syllable: / / For that celestial light? Be it so, since hee PL I 245 The elision is unusual, even in Milton; but the context, with the spondee precisely boxed between major breaks, firmly prevents confusion. Then there is the case noted above under feature iii: / / Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail PL I 250 It is clear that Milton deliberately uses exceptional means to produce a strained rhythmical effect. A lesser stress is called for on syllable 2 than on syllable 1; yet the word horrours demands emphasis and a full stress on horr-, with a resultant sense of clashing stress-demands, and of difficulty in identifying this syllable 2 as a beat-syllable. Meanwhile the apparent sandwiching of the spondee in a 4-syllable figure at the end of the line (a third epitrite, / / ∪ /), but with studied avoidance of syntactic closure on syllable 4, results in further strain.4 Yet, despite these strains, the problem of identification of syllable-roles is confined to the two syllables Hail horr-, and the reader is therefore presented simply with a momentary dilemma, and needs to make a choice.

third epitrite (/ / ∪ /) Features i. placement Ft 1–2 87

Ft 2–3 6

Ft 3–4 10

Ft 4–5 27

Total 130

ii. bridging The most common arrangement has a word-break at a, b and c. One other arrangement is fairly common, in which b is bridged:5 / / ∪ / Soft yielding Minds to Water glide away, RL 4.19 [I 61] As can be seen from the List of Cases, there are examples of every possible combination of word-breaks, except only the simultaneous bridging of all three junctures.

chap_07.fm Page 114 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

114

The Strict Metrical Tradition

iii. internal boundaries In a number of cases there is a perceptible boundary at b. But this is merely the phenomenon we noticed at the beginning of the chapter, of a spondee only partly grouping itself to form a 4-syllable figure. At a there is quite often a significant boundary, and in eight cases a punctuated break, a break that is the more significant for falling in the middle of the spondee. For example: / / ∪ / First, rob’d in White, the Nymph intent adores RL 8.7 [I 123] In addition, there are three cases with a punctuated break at both a and b,6 and these two cases with a punctuated break at both a and c: / / ∪ / Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux. 9.4 [I 138] 14.14 [II 74] Fays, Fairies, Genii, Elves, and Dæmons hear! In these two cases, in effect identical, the series of commas seems to defeat any attempt to classify the spondee either as an isolated spondee or a third epitrite (the only credible alternatives, other than regarding the spondee as not being cradled in a definable figure at all). But the natural tendency of the line to make a caesural break between the second and third beats (with the further cue of alliteration in the first case) favours the third-epitrite option. Other than these two cases, with their anomaly that cannot be remedied by a different classification, there are no cases of the third epitrite with anything more than a phonological boundary at c, and usually not even that.7 iv. what precedes the variation This is not a critical issue, since the figure in which a spondee is cradled cannot always be determined beyond question. But let the point be made nevertheless: all cases here classified as third epitrites are preceded by a foot or figure closed on a full stress or in an appended pyrrhic, with at least a phonological boundary intervening. v. the close of the variation Each close, according to its type (113 normal, 8 partly deferred, and 9 deferred) and with the usual options of feminine ending, is followed at least by a phonological boundary.8 vi. patterns of syntax The only pattern of some frequency is that under Group C2: / /∪ / Each Silver Vase in mystic Order laid.

RL 8.6 [I 122]

chap_07.fm Page 115 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

115

Spondee Variations

But with 21 cases out of 130, or 16%, the pattern is not strikingly significant. Analysis In the third epitrite the spondee is followed by an iamb. With syllable 2 of the spondee thus buried in the figure, and “upstaged” by syllable 1, it tends to be less clearly recognizable as a beat-syllable than it is in the isolated spondee. On the other hand, the whole 4-syllable figure can be felt to take on something of the coherence of the robust radical figures, and syllable 4 in particular to take on something of the role it has in those figures. (As in the radical figures, in the third epitrite – with two notable exceptions – there is no syntactic break at the last juncture, c.) The result is that, exactly in proportion to the failure of syllable 2 to achieve proper identification in itself, syllable 4 is called upon to confirm its identity in retrospect. Meanwhile the predicament of syllable 1 (its subordinate status, and yet the desirability of its asserting its opposition to the iambic base) is taken care of. Because the spondee is relieved of the burden of immediate identification, syllable 1 can actually be lingered on, and its opposition to the iambic base felt to the full – as happens in the 11 cases with a major break at a, or at a and b. (I do not say that the boldness of syllable 1 is always displayed, just that it is free to be displayed. In fact, the third epitrite is less frequently placed at the opening of the line than the isolated spondee.) Indeed, these eleven cases show what tensions are possible even in a simple variation and how the efficacy of a 4-syllable figure can be relied upon to contain and cradle them. In these cases syllable 1 is not only given special prominence but is also stripped of all sense of introducing syllable 2. It is only at the distance of syllable 4 that the two syllables of the spondee take on their proper perspective as subordinate and beat-syllable. The closing iamb serves to give that perspective to the two stresses, simply by re-establishing the expected pattern: * * //∪/ And, of course, the closing stress itself serves as the landing point from which a retrospective view is possible. An interesting comparison can be made of the third epitrite and the choriamb. Let us place the two side by side. choriamb /∪∪/ third epitrite //∪/

chap_07.fm Page 116 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

116

The Strict Metrical Tradition

All radical and all spondee variations close on a full stress; all except two are “robust” in also opening on a full stress; and all except one are the standard four syllables in length. But in addition to these features the choriamb and the third epitrite share the special advantage that their departure from the iambic base occurs right at the start, the remainder of the figure being devoted to a return and resolution. The comfortableness of this arrangement is reflected (in both variations) in a general tolerance of bridging and a more specific tolerance of major breaks early in the figure, above all at juncture a. And it is reflected in the commonness of the two variations. Each in its way can be called an “ideal” variation. Doubtful Cases There is one case, PL I 95 (under ft 1–2, A*), that could be read as a choriamb.

first epitrite (∪ / / /) Features i. placement Ft 1–2 38

Ft 2–3 3

Ft 3–4 7

Ft 4–5 14

Total 62

ii. bridging There are only four cases of bridging altogether – one of juncture a and four of c. In all other cases the four syllables of the figure belong to four different words. iii. internal boundaries In the few trailing and semi-trailing types there tends, as one would expect, to be a break or boundary in the syntax at a.9 By virtue of being classified as a first epitrite, no case of any type has a noticeable boundary at b. At c there is never more than a phonological boundary, and even that is clearly present in only one case.10 iv. what precedes the variation Since the opening of the figure is disguised in the trailing and semitrailing types (as with the minor ionic), the opening is not consistently marked by any order of boundary. Indeed, we cannot even say (as we could with the minor ionic) that the preceding foot or figure is always

chap_07.fm Page 117 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

117

Spondee Variations

resolved on a full stress or in an appended pyrrhic, for there are two cases (as well as another rather similar case) of what can be described as a first epitrite preceded by a pyrrhic without even a clitic boundary intervening. But these three cases will in fact be treated as combinations, in chapter 9.11 v. the close of the variation Every case, whether with a normal close (54 cases) or a deferred close (8 cases), is followed at least by a phonological boundary. vi. patterns of syntax The one pattern of some frequency is that under the first subdivision of Group A (adjective, adjective, noun); but with just over a third of the cases (21 out of 62) it gives little more than a hint of a characteristic stamp to the variation. Analysis In the first epitrite the spondee follows an iamb after word-division that marks no more than a slight syntactic boundary. (A noticeable break at this point, b, would call for a different classification for the spondee.) The first syllable of the spondee is thus left undistinguished, other than in being articulated. And the fact that this is the one syllable opposing the iambic pattern is felt only in the anomaly of its being the middle of three consecutive stresses. In the space of the one syllable that remains, syllable 4, metrical closure has to be achieved, of an order that in retrospect ensures a right construing of the spondee (and thus of the three consecutive stresses). When that syllable 4 is the focus of a normal close, it is clear (in view also of the consistent avoidance of a break at c) that these aims are achieved. In other words, with the role of syllable 4 thus established, a right construing of the preceding syllables is readily confirmed in retrospect: * * ∪/// The question with the first epitrite is whether any confusion arises in the presence of various uncertainties mentioned under feature iv, when these are added to the undistinguished beginning of the spondee at syllable 3. We saw that no feature is consistently present at the opening of the figure, other than the mere fact of the iambic stress-pattern. The one case mentioned as having a somewhat uncertain opening (see note 11 above)12 turns out to remedy this weakness

chap_07.fm Page 118 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

118

The Strict Metrical Tradition

by closing decisively on syllable 4 at the end of the line. What then of the eight cases with a deferred close? In six of these, the fact of being placed at the line-opening, and also sundry other little clues, serve to clarify the roles of the stresses.13 But there are two cases in which the crucial spondee is tucked away in the middle of a sequence of six or seven syllables with no internal cues in the language: / / Of twelve vast French Romances, neatly gilt.

RL 12.12 [II 38]

/ / Our Enemy, our own loss how repair, PL I 188 In the first case there is a slight distraction in the form of the feminine ending to the segment. In the second case there are two distractions: the appended pyrrhic closing the preceding segment and the hint of a break at the critical juncture c (after loss), emphasized by the extension into a deferred close. One finds, though, that even the latter of these two, the least clear of the first epitrites, gives in fact no trouble, and the reason is evident enough. In both cases the extended figure (first epitrite + iamb, with a feminine ending in one case) is preceded and followed by a clear break, and there are no uncertainties in the syllables. Thus, a certain lack of definition in the middle of the first epitrite is never combined with both an ill-defined opening and an ill-defined close. Unusual and Doubtful Cases Two cases are unusual in having a distinctly heavy syllable 1:

\ / / / Why there love liv’d, and there he could not die. V&A 246 Say what strange Motive, Goddess! cou’d compel RL 2.1 [I 7] The second case could alternatively be taken as a second epitrite, standard type, with a heavy second syllable (/ \ / /); but neither case gives trouble. Then there is a case which seems at first sight to be a first epitrite, / / / ∪ Say first, for Heav’n hides nothing from thy view PL I 27 But I have taken the spondee (hides noth-) instead as opening the combination, spondee-paeon (/ / ∪ ∪ ∪ /), with an unmarked caesura after Heav’n (rather than the punctuated break after first) being felt as the true fulcrum of the line. As to doubtful cases, V&A 89 (under Plain Type, Ft 1–2, Group A) could be read just as convincingly as a minor ionic.

chap_07.fm Page 119 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

119

Spondee Variations

the dispondee (/ / / /) I pointed out at the beginning of the chapter that the dispondee can hardly be called a bona fide variation but will be needed as a category of convenience. Features i. placement Ft 1–2 7

Ft 2–314 1

Ft 3–4 –

Ft 4–5 1

Total 9

ii. bridging The only bridging occurs in one case, where both a and c are bridged with a hyphen. iii. internal boundaries There is always at least a phonological boundary at b, and in four cases a punctuated break, but no more than a clitic boundary at either a or c, except in one case with a phonological boundary at c: / / / / Hears least; else surely this Man had not left

Ex I 7.21 [93]

iv. what precedes the variation Every case is preceded by a foot or figure resolved on a full stress, with line-division or a punctuated break intervening. v. the close of the variation All 9 cases have a normal close, followed (sometimes after a feminine ending, single or double) at least by a phonological boundary. vi. patterns of syntax No pattern recurs significantly. Analysis In the four cases where the component spondees are separated by a punctuated break, they really function as two distinct variations. In a number of the other cases, however, though the two spondees are still distinguishable, there is a hint of their being felt as a 4-syllable figure. Presumably, on the one hand, the need to make metrical sense of four

chap_07.fm Page 120 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

120

The Strict Metrical Tradition

successive stresses tends to keep the two distinct, while, on the other, the currency of the 4-syllable figure as a vehicle for variation comes into play as a factor. That the dispondee comprises two cycles of departure from, and return to, the iambic base – a fairly complex manoeuvre – explains the strong preference for placing it at the opening of the line.

list of cases Isolated Spondee (/ /) Key:

A juncture (at mid-point) unbridged B juncture bridged or hyphenated Subdivisions within Group A: 1st syll. 2 a noun, qualified by syllable 1 2nd syll. 2 an adjective, adverb, or participle, modified by syll. 1 3rd syll. 2 a verb, with subject in syll. 1 4th syll. 1 a verb or participle, modified by syll. 2 5th other

ft 1 A / / Ten kisses short as one, one long as twentie: V&A 22 Pure shame and aw’d resistance made him fret, 69 Faire flowers that are not gathred in their prime, 131 Red cheekes, and fierie eyes blaze forth her wrong: 219 No light, but rather darkness visible PL I 63 Such place Eternal Justice had prepar’d 70 That Glory never shall his wrath or might 110 This downfall; since by Fate the strength of Gods 116 164 Our labour must be to pervert that end,15 This Casket India’s glowing Gems unlocks, RL 8.17 [I 133] Fair Nymphs, and well-drest Youths around her shone, 10.5 [II 5] Fair Tresses Man’s Imperial Race insnare, 12.1 [II 27] Old songs--the product of his native hills; Ex I 6.17 [67] More white, and red, then doves, or roses are: Even so she kist his brow, his cheeke, his chin, Long after known in Palestine, and nam’d Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav’n.

V&A 10 59 PL I 80 124

chap_07.fm Page 121 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

121

Spondee Variations

He burnes with bashfull shame, she with her teares V&A 49 53 He saith, she is immodest, blames her misse,16 Few ask, if Fraud or Force attain’d his Ends. RL 12.8 [II 34] Speake faire, but speake faire words, or else be mute: V&A 208 Stray lower, where the pleasant fountaines lie. 234 Say first, for Heav’n hides nothing from thy view PL I 27 Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv’d 35 Hurld headlong flaming from th’Ethereal Skie 45 Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe 52 Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge 196 Drivn backward slope their pointing spires, and rowld 223 Think not, when Woman’s transient Breath is fled, RL 4.9 [I 51] Mount up, and take a Salamander’s Name. 4.18 [I 60] Leapt up, and wak’d his Mistress with his Tongue. 7.18 [I 116] Rise up, and bathe the world in light! He looked-- Ex I 13.14 [200] She red, and hot, as coles of glowing fier, V&A 35 This said, impatience chokes her pleading tongue, 217 So spake th’Apostate Angel, though in pain, PL I 125 There rest, if any rest can harbour there, 185 Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate 192 Him haply slumbring on the Norway foam 203 Now Shock had giv’n himself the rowzing Shake, RL 2.9 [I 13–18n] Nay oft, in Dreams, Invention we bestow, 16.3 [II 99] B Il-nurtur’d, crooked, churlish, harsh in voice, Ore-worne, despised, reumatique, and cold, Thick-sighted, barren, leane, and lacking juyce,

V&A 134 135 136

ft 3 A / / Is love so light sweet boy, and may it be V&A 155 With stench and smoak: Such resting found the sole PL I 237 As now your own, our Beings were of old, RL 4.5 [I 47] Strange and uncouth; dire faces, figures dire, Ex I 12.14 [182] Transparent Forms, too fine for mortal Sight, Sowring his cheekes, cries, fie, no more of love,

RL 14.1 [II 61] V&A 185

chap_07.fm Page 122 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

122

The Strict Metrical Tradition

ft 4 A / / For that celestial light? Be it so, since hee Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail

PL I 245 250

ft 5 A / / He with his Thunder: and till then who knew

93

Third Epitrite (/ / ∪ /) Key:

A no juncture bridged B a bridged C b bridged D c bridged E a and b bridged F b and c bridged G a and c bridged Subdivisions within Groups A and C (but not A* and C*):17 1st syll. 2 a verb, with syll. 1 as its subject and syll. 4 as its object 2nd syll. 1 an adj. or adverb; sylls. 2 & 3 an adj.; syll. 4 a noun 3rd syll. 4 a noun 4th syll. 4 a verb 5th other

ft 1–2 A / / ∪ / Love keepes his revels where there are but twaine: Love made those hollowes, if him selfe were slaine, What guards the Purity of melting Maids, These set the Head, and those divide the Hair, Some fold the Sleeve, while others plait the Gown; Some guide the Course of wandring Orbs on high, He red for shame, but frostie in desier. More thirst for drinke, then she for this good turne, Make use of time, let not advantage slip,

V&A 123 243 RL 5.9 [I 71] 9.12 [I 146] 9.13 [I 147] 15.1 [II 79] V&A 36 92 129

chap_07.fm Page 123 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

123

Spondee Variations

Seeds spring from seeds, and beauty breedeth beauty, 167 Ay, me, (quoth Venus) young, and so unkinde, 187 Nay more then flint, for stone at raine relenteth: 200 Thing like a man, but of no woman bred: 214 Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night PL I 50 As now your own, our Beings were of old, RL 4.5 [I 47] Oh blind to Truth! the Sylphs contrive it all. 7.6 [I 104] 8.3 [I 119] Wounds, Charms, and Ardors, were no sooner read, First, rob’d in White, the Nymph intent adores 8.7 [I 123] Here Files of Pins extend their shining Rows, 9.3 [I 137] Slight Lines of Hair surprize the Finney Prey, 11.18 [II 26] There lay the Sword-knot Sylvia’s Hands had sown, 12.13 [II 39n] 13.9 [II 51] Smooth flow the Waves, the Zephyrs gently play[,]18 Watch all their Ways, and all their Actions guide: 15.10 [II 88] As grateful resting-place, and livelier joy.19 Ex I 4.9 [17–20n] 8.1 [95] But, as the mind was filled with inward light,20 Which, if with truth it correspond, and sink 8.9 [103] He, many an evening to his distant home 9.22 [126] Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses, V&A 17 Then mightst thou pause, for then I were not for thee, 137 What tis to love, how want of love tormenteth? 202 No dog shall rowze thee, though a thousand bark. 240 Some Nymphs there are, too conscious of their Face, RL 5.17 [I 79] One room he owned, the fifth part of a house, Ex I 6.3 [52–5n] Struck dead at first, what needs a second striking? V&A 250 Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend PL I 183 More low and distant! Other lot was mine; Ex I 4.7 [16–20n] A* So soone was she along, as he was downe, V&A 43 O had thy mother borne so hard a minde, 203 Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage PL I 95 So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay 209 Nor bound thy narrow Views to Things below. RL 3.12 [I 36] C Earths soveraigne salve, to do a goddesse good, V&A 28 Two strengthles doves will draw me through the skie, 153 Well painted idoll, image dull, and dead, 212

chap_07.fm Page 124 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

124

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Sweet bottome grasse, and high delightfull plaine, 236 Round rising hillocks, brakes obscure, and rough, 237 What mighty Quarrels rise from trivial Things, RL 1.2 [I 2 & n] Some secret Truths from Learned Pride conceal’d, 3.13 [I 37] Soft yielding Minds to Water glide away, 4.19 [I 61] What tender Maid but must a Victim fall 6.15 [I 95] Each Silver Vase in mystic Order laid. 8.6 [I 122] Thin glitt’ring Textures of the filmy Dew; 14.4 [II 64] Our humbler Province is to tend the Fair, 15.13 [II 91] Still deeper welcome found his pure discourse: Ex I 7.1 [73] So offers he to give what she did crave,(*) Fie, livelesse picture, cold, and sencelesse stone, Sing Heav’nly Muse, that on the secret top Rais’d impious War in Heav’n and Battel proud(*) Teach Infants Cheeks a bidden Blush to know, This erring Mortals Levity may call, Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux. Now awful Beauty puts on all its Arms; Fays, Fairies, Genii, Elves, and Dæmons hear!

V&A 88 211 PL I 6 43 RL 6.9 [I 89] 7.5 [I 103] 9.4 [I 138] 9.5 [I 139] 14.14 [II 74]

What followes more, she murthers with a kisse. Here swallow’d up in endless misery. Know farther yet; Whoever fair and chaste Than issuing forth, the Rival of his Beams

V&A 54 PL I 142 RL 5.5 [I 67] 10.3 [II 3]

D What bare excuses mak’st thou to be gon? V&A 188 Who first seduc’d them to that fowl revolt? PL I 33 One next himself in power, and next in crime,(*) 79 What dire Offence from Am’rous Causes springs, RL 1.1 [I 1] This, ev’n Belinda may vouchsafe to view: 1.4 [I 4] Some less refin’d, beneath the Moon’s pale Light 15.3 [II 81] But, through the inclement and the perilous days Ex I 9.16 [120] D* O how unlike the place from whence they fell! PL I 75 So not without distinction had he lived, Ex I 8.2 [96] E Sick-thoughted Venus makes amaine unto him, V&A 5 Strong-temperd steele his stronger strength obayed. 111

chap_07.fm Page 125 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

125

Spondee Variations

Foreknowing well, if there he came to lie, Unnumber’d Treasures ope at once, and here

245 RL 8.13 [I 129]

Strength undiminisht, or eternal being How overcome this dire Calamity, What reinforcement we may gain from Hope, Stern self-respect, a reverence for God’s word, Breathed immortality, revolving life F* Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime. G Rose-cheekt Adonis hied him to the chace,

PL I 154 189 190 Ex I 9.11 [115] 14.20 [228]

F

PL I 16 V&A 3

ft 2–3 A / / ∪ / I sing--This Verse to C--l, Muse! is due;21 O then what soul was his, when, on the tops

RL 1.3 [I 3] Ex I 13.12 [197–9n]

C Oh say what stranger Cause, yet unexplor’d, Could reach, those many shadows lay in spots For this, e’re Phoebus rose, he had implor’d

RL 2.3 [I 9] Ex I 3.7 [6n] RL 12.9 [II 35]

F If not what resolution from despare.

PL I 191

ft 3–4 A / / ∪ / What tis to love, how want of love tormenteth? A precious gift; for, as he grew in years,(*)

V&A 202 Ex I 10.16 [140]

Being mad before, how doth she now for wits? V&A 249 From what highth fal’n, so much the stronger provd PL I 92 A* Strucke dead at first, what needs a second striking? V&A 250 C If to her share some Female Errors fall,(*) RL 11.9 [II 17]

chap_07.fm Page 126 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

126

The Strict Metrical Tradition

While ev’ry Beam new transient Colours flings,(*)

14.7 [II 67]

Warn’d by thy Sylph, oh Pious Maid beware!

7.14 [I 112]

Make use of time, let not advantage slip,(*) I saw, alas! some dread Event impend,(*)

V&A 129 RL 7.11 [I 109]

D

ft 4–5 A / / ∪ / Ten kisses short as one, one long as twentie: What seest thou in the ground? hold up thy head, O had thy mother borne so hard a minde, Red cheeks, and fierie eyes blaze forth her wrong: The Mother of Mankinde, what time his Pride Then such could hav orepow’rd such force as ours) All but a scattered few, live out their time, All his remembrances, thoughts, shapes, and forms;

V&A 22 118 203 219 PL I 36 145 Ex I 7.17 [89] 10.18 [142]

What can it then avail though yet we feel

PL I 153

Tis but a kisse I begge, why art thou coy?22

V&A 96

B Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid And tho’ she plays no more, o’erlooks the Cards.

PL I 172 RL 4.12 [I 54]

C That we must change for Heav’n, this mournful gloom PL I 244 Appeared a roofless Hut; four naked walls Ex I 4.19 [30] The measure of themselves, these favoured Beings, 7.16 [88] With will inflexible, those fearful pangs 12.5 [173] The heate I have from thence doth litle harme, Unutterable love. Sound needed none, And rest can never dwell, hope never comes Chain’d on the burning Lake, nor ever thence

V&A 195 Ex I 13.19 [205] PL I 66 210

D But having no defects, why doest abhor me? To feed such appetite: nor this alone

V&A 138 Ex I 11.5 [152]

chap_07.fm Page 127 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

127

Spondee Variations

Oh then how beautiful, how bright appeared

14.14 [222]

E Oh pitie gan she crie, flint-hearted boy,

V&A 95

F Thus he that over-ruld, I over-swayed, Oh say what stranger Cause, yet unexplor’d,

109 RL 2.3 [I 9]

G Whereto with speedy words th’Arch-fiend reply’d.

PL I 156

First Epitrite (∪ / / /) Key:

A no juncture bridged B a bridged C c bridged Subdivisions within Group A (but not A*): 1st syll. 2 an adjective; syll. 3 an adj.; syll. 4 a noun 2nd syll. 2 a verb; syll. 3 an adj.; syll. 4 a noun, object of the verb 3rd other

plain type, ft 1–2 A / / ∪ / The fields chiefe flower, sweet above compare, From his soft bosome never to remove, And one sweet kisse shal pay this comptlesse debt. My smooth moist hand, were it with thy hand felt, Or what great danger, dwels upon my sute? As one great Furnace flam’d, yet from those flames To one Man’s Treat, but for another’s Ball? Say what strange Motive, Goddess! cou’d compel Of some huge cave, whose rocky ceiling casts And some small portion of his eloquent speech, Which bred more beautie in his angrie eyes: Or brew fierce Tempests on the wintry Main, To draw fresh Colours from the vernal Flow’rs, He had small need of books; for many a Tale Till he take truce with her contending teares, But when her lips were readie for his pay,

V&A 8 81 84 143 206 PL I 62 6.16 [I 96] RL 2.1 [I 7] Ex I 4.1 [11] 8.4 [98] V&A 70 RL 15.7 [II 85] 15.17 [II 95] Ex I 11.16 [163] V&A 82 89

chap_07.fm Page 128 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

128

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Were I hard-favour’d, foule, or wrinckled old, 133 If they burn too, Ile quench them with my teares. 192 Why there love liv’d, and there he could not die. 246 From what highth fal’n, so much the stronger provd PL I 92 And him thus answer’d soon his bold Compeer. 127 To do aught good never will be our task, 159 And dwells such Rage in softest Bosoms then? RL 2.5 [I 11–12n] A Youth more glitt’ring than a Birth-night Beau, 2.17 [I 23] Thy Eyes first open’d on a Billet-doux; 8.2 [I 118] The Fair each Moment rises in her Charms, 9.6 [I 140] The Sun first rises o’er the purpled Main, 10.2 [II 2] The Pow’rs gave Ear, and granted half his Pray’r, 13.3 [II 45] Where Fear sate thus, a cherished visitant, Ex I 12.18 [186] A* And yet not cloy thy lips with loth’d satietie,23 V&A 19 Of Mans first Disobedience, and the Fruit PL I 1 That with no middle flight intends to soar 14 And lodge such daring Souls in Little Men? RL 2.6 [11–12n] Of twelve vast French Romances, neatly gilt. 12.12 [II 38] And breaths three am’rous Sighs to raise the Fire. 12.18 [II 42] B Before all Temples th’upright heart and pure, PL I 18 C That left half-told the preternatural tale, Ex I 12.11 [179] C* At such unthought-of meeting.--For the night 5.16 [48] ft 2–3 A / / / ∪ The force of those dire Arms? yet not for those Across a bare wide Common I was toiling

PL I 94 Ex I 4.10 [21]

ft 3–4 A ∪ / / / That to the highth of this great Argument Of Minster clock! From that bleak Tenement Thing like a man, but of no woman bred:

PL I 24 Ex I 9.21 [125] V&A 214

chap_07.fm Page 129 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

129

Spondee Variations

Whom we resist. If then his Providence24 A* Our Enemy, our own loss how repair, C Bëëlzebub. To whom th’Arch-Enemy,

PL I 162 188 81

ft 4–5 A / ∪ / / More thirst for drinke, then she for this good turne, V&A 92 What were thy lips the worse for one poore kis? 207 As being the contrary to his high will PL I 161 Some less refin’d, beneath the Moon’s pale Light RL 15.3 [II 81] In such access of mind, in such high hour Ex I 14.3 [211] A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round PL I 61 Out of our evil seek to bring forth good, 163 He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long, RL 7.17 [I 115] C By ancient Tarsus held, or that Sea-beast

PL I 200

semi-trailing type, ft 2–3 A / / / ∪ She had not brought forth thee, but died unkind.

V&A 204

trailing type, ft 3–4 A / / / ∪ Not a less pleasing, tho’ less glorious Care.

RL 15.14 [II 92]

ft 4–5 A / / / ∪ Though chang’d in outward lustre; that fixt mind In horrible destruction laid thus low, Of force believe Almighty, since no less In clearest air ascending, shew’d far off By that impending covert made more soft,

PL I 97 137 144 Ex I 3.4 [4] 4.6 [16–17n]

chap_07.fm Page 130 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:46 PM

130

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Dispondee (/ / / /) Key:

A B

no juncture bridged a and c bridged with a hyphen

ft 1–2 A / / / / Thine eye darts forth the fire that burneth me,(*)25 V&A 196 Give me one kisse, Ile give it thee againe, 209 She would, he will not in her armes be bound: 226 This Day, black Omens threat the brightest Fair RL 16.5 [II 101] Hears least; else surely this Man had not left Ex I 7.21 [93] Oh then how beautiful, how bright appeared 14.14 [222] B Sharp-knee’d, sharp-elbowed, and lean-ankled too,

12.15 [183]

ft 2–3 A / / / / Speake faire, but speake faire words, or else be mute:26

V&A 208

ft 4–5 A / / / / Nor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what cause

PL I 28

chap_08.fm Page 131 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

8 Variations Based on the Pyrrhic

The pyrrhic (∪ ∪) is used in just two ways. Either it precedes an iamb to form the fourth paeon, or it follows after the stress that closes a foot or figure, forming an appended pyrrhic. Sometimes it is used in both ways at once; but one or the other usage always, in fact, tends to predominate to the point of rendering classification straightforward.

t h e f o u r t h pa e o n ( ∪ ∪ ∪ / ) As in the minor ionic and the first epitrite, the weak opening of the fourth paeon gives rise to the three types of opening. Their frequency is as follows: Plain 10 Semi-trailing 8 Trailing 103 Features i. placement Ft 1–2 6

Ft 2–3 15

Ft 3–4 62

Ft 4–5 38

Total 121

ii. bridging Juncture c is quite often bridged. For example: ∪∪ ∪ / And study of revenge, immortal hate,

PL I 107

chap_08.fm Page 132 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

132

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Neither a nor b is ever bridged. Thus, syllable 2 is always a monosyllable. iii. internal boundaries At a there can be anything from not even a clitic boundary (in some cases of the plain type) to a punctuated break (in some cases of the trailing type). But neither at b nor at c, in any of the types, is there, I believe, even a clitic boundary. Since the great majority of cases belongs to the trailing type, the essential movement is the movement of syllables 2–4, the core of the figure. It is the movement of two unstressed syllables, quick yet precise in their articulation, moving without interruption into a stress. iv. what precedes the variation In every case the preceding foot or figure can be said to be adequately resolved; for in the one case where that foot closes only on an intermediate stress (for), ∪ ∪ ∪ / Ile make a shadow for thee of my heares,1 V&A 191 a phonological boundary then follows (after thee). On the other hand, as with the minor ionic and the first epitrite, the opening of the fourth paeon is not consistently marked in any way, being disguised in the trailing and semi-trailing types. v. the close of the variation The fourth paeon is distinctive in employing a deferred close (45 cases), and indeed in one case a double deferred close, far more frequently than any other variation. But in these cases the close is nevertheless clear in its own way, partly through being cast in a standard formula (deferral via an adjective – or two adjectives in the double deferred case – to closure on a noun) and partly through being followed almost invariably by a clear break.2 All cases with a normal close (68) are followed at least by a phonological boundary; all cases with a partly deferred close (7) are followed after syllable 6 by line-division. vi. patterns of syntax Of the 49 cases under Group A, 1st subdivision, all closing in a noun at syllable 4, 46 introduce that noun with a preposition at syllable 2 – or all 49, if one counts conjunctions used prepositionally. Thus, some

chap_08.fm Page 133 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

133

Pyrrhic Variations

40% of all cases share a common pattern of syntax in syllables 2–4. Though not an insignificant proportion, it is still not enough to give a characteristic stamp to the fourth paeon (especially since only one of the syllables in the pattern is stressed). Analysis Like the spondee, the pyrrhic consists of two syllables whose equal stress fails to distinguish either as a beat-syllable, so that other cues are required to make that distinction. But this time the two syllables are unstressed rather than stressed; and in the fourth paeon, being followed by an iamb, they produce a series of three consecutive nonstresses, ∪ ∪ ∪ /. The decisive cue is given by the stress at syllable 4, which is easily recognizable as a beat-syllable, both because of its natural clarity of role as the first stress after three non-stresses and because of the sense of syntactic closure focused on it. (It is true that syntactic closure is often deferred through an iamb to syllable 6; but the quick, uninterrupted movement from syllable 2 to syllable 4 in all cases guarantees some sense of closure on syllable 4.) In the few cases placed at the opening of the line, this decisive cue confirms in retrospect the iambic expectation of a beat (*) at syllable 2: ( )

* * ∪ ∪ ∪ / No less clear is the context provided for all other cases but one,3 with a clear beat before syllable 1: * ( *) * / ∪ ∪ ∪ / It will be remembered that syllable 2 is always a monosyllable. In all but three cases it also has the distinction of beginning a new wordgroup of at least three syllables, usually a prepositional phrase,4 a distinction that offers an additional cue regarding the position of the beat. But in any case the natural human propensity for rhythm will lead the reader either to give a touch of stress to syllable 2 in a context like this or at least to perceive a touch of stress there.5 Despite these distinctive properties, however, the reader is given no chance to make a deliberate identification of syllable 2 as the first beat-syllable in the figure, but instead is hurried onward without a break to land on the full stress at syllable 4. All that can be done with syllable 2 in passing is to make a tentative identification of it, with

chap_08.fm Page 134 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

134

The Strict Metrical Tradition

the help of its clarity as a monosyllable. So it is that the act which identifies syllable 4 as the beat-syllable closing the figure confirms in retrospect the earlier tentative identification of syllable 2. The process of special metrical closure can be seen here in one of its clearest manifestations. There is even a sense of dependence of the weak beat-syllable on the strong one that follows, felt in the way the former hastens on to the latter and in the syntactic linkage between the two. Unusual Cases In V&A 191 (cited above under feature iv) the preceding foot closes somewhat weakly, but, though the anomaly can be felt, there is no real difficulty. Then there are a number of cases in which either syllable 1 or syllable 3 is slightly heavy, so that the crucial syllable 2 seems somewhat overshadowed by this adjacent syllable. For example, with a heavyish syllable 1:6

∨ ∪ ∪ / Which to his humble duties appertained, Ex I 9.4 [111n] In such cases the weak beat-syllable is in fact safeguarded, I suspect, by a slightly more deliberate operation of that rhythmic propensity mentioned earlier, whereby this syllable is given, or at least is perceived to be given, a shade more stress than its neighbours. t h e a p p e n d e d p y r r h i c ( . . . / ∪ ∪) After the fourth paeon, the appended pyrrhic is the only other form taken by the pyrrhic (∪∪) – apart from a few rare cases mentioned in the next chapter. It is a pyrrhic that is attached or appended to a full stress, by virtue of the joining of all three syllables in one word. The stress usually closes an iamb, as in ∪ / ∪∪ The spectacle; sensation, soul, and form Ex I 13.21 [207] But the stress can also close a figure, radical or simple. Here for example is a minor ionic with appended pyrrhic: ∪ ∪ / /∪ ∪ To their first Elements the Souls retire: RL 4.16 [I 58] The word that unites the stress with the pyrrhic – the “umbrella” word, as I shall call it – is normally of three syllables, as in these two examples. But occasionally it extends backward for one more syllable,7 and in one case forward for one more syllable. The appended pyrrhic

chap_08.fm Page 135 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

135

Pyrrhic Variations

is unique in several respects, when compared with all other variations. It alone begins not at the beginning of a foot but on the closing syllable of another foot or figure. It alone is in essence a 3-syllable figure. And it alone closes on an unstressed syllable. The List of Cases is divided first of all according to whether the pyrrhic is appended to an iamb or to some variation; then, as always, according to placement in the line; and finally according to the extent of this umbrella word. All the variations involved have already been noticed in their own right, in the appropriate chapter. Features i. placement (of the pyrrhic) Ft 2 Ft 3 Ft 4 Ft 5 16 26 23 24

Total 89

ii and iii. bridging and internal boundaries Both junctures are always bridged, and syntactic boundaries are therefore ruled out. iv. what precedes the variation The full stress that begins the figure of the appended pyrrhic either closes a simple iamb, which is itself in fact preceded in every case by a properly closed foot or figure;8 or it closes a radical or simple variation, properly conducted in the manner we have found to be appropriate for each. v. the close of the variation Because the appended pyrrhic closes on an unstressed syllable, what follows must be examined carefully. When it is followed by line-division or a punctuated break, the appended pyrrhic can be treated as properly resolved, as will become clear in the analysis below. In fact, even when followed by a phonological boundary, it can be said to be more or less adequately resolved. But there are some 13 cases followed by a boundary that is, or could be taken as, weaker than phonological. Every one of these cases, however, turns out to be followed by a plain iamb, and thus to be covered in the ensuing analysis. vi. patterns of syntax Since the three syllables of the figure always belong to the same word, there is no syntactic relation involved.

chap_08.fm Page 136 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

136

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Analysis As with the fourth paeon, here too the beat-syllable in the pyrrhic cannot be identified as such under the process of elementary metrical closure. But the appended pyrrhic differs not only from the fourth paeon but from all other variations in not looking to the next beat-syllable to resolve a problem of this kind. It is true that the next beat-syllable often does serve to some extent to resolve the problem, most notably when the appended pyrrhic is followed by no more than a slight boundary, as in / ∪ ∪∪ / Against the Throne and Monarchy of God PL I 42 Here the role of the weak beat-syllable (-chy) is to some extent confirmed in retrospect on the next beat, God, as in the fourth paeon. But it is worth pointing out that one does not have a regular fourth paeon in such cases, since the weak beat-syllable is not articulated. Indeed, the key to resolving the problem of the appended pyrrhic cannot lie, thus, in the following beat; for then one could not account for the frequent placement of the figure at the end of the line, as in /∪∪ Here swallow’d up in endless misery. PL I 142 That the appended pyrrhic is always linked in an umbrella-word with the preceding beat-syllable (which is, moreover, always a full stress) shows where the key lies, instead. It lies in that preceding beat-syllable. The set-up of the appended pyrrhic, stripped down to essentials in cases like the one just given, is altogether different from that in the fourth paeon. Yet the common objective shared by the two variations – having to take care of the weak beat-syllable in a pyrrhic – suggests that some kind of comparison of the two ought to be possible. We saw that in the fourth paeon the reader is hurried on from the weak beat-syllable, without a break, into the closing stress at syllable 4; and that there is a sense of dependence of the weak beat-syllable on the strong one in this hurrying from the one to the other, and in the syntactic linkage between the two. In the appended pyrrhic one sees the reverse. The weak beat-syllable is again linked to the strong one, with a sense of dependence that is unmistakable. But contrary to the elementary iambic principle, and to all other precedent, the linkage is backwards. It is, however, the ultimate linkage, unquestionable and unshakable – the linkage of belonging to the same word. Instead of providing a landing-place on which to resolve the difficulty after it has

chap_08.fm Page 137 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

137

Pyrrhic Variations

occurred, the full stress in the appended pyrrhic provides for the difficulty in advance. It is an anchor-point for the weak beat-syllable. When, as is often the case, the appended pyrrhic is followed by a break or a line-ending, this weak beat-syllable is the last syllable before the break. There is time to feel whatever quality it has to offer. But in lacking stress it is unable to form the focal point for elementary metrical closure, as defined earlier. What one feels with the appended pyrrhic is that the preceding full stress serves not only as an anchor-point, but as a guarantor of the validity of the weak beat-syllable appended to it. A few peripheral points remain to be cleared up. One might wonder whether the full stress (to which the pyrrhic is appended), if it already has the important task of closing a 4-syllable figure, is not overburdened by this extra duty of anchoring and guaranteeing the pyrrhic appended to it. Evidently not. Even when the preceding figure is a critical one like the second epitrite, one does not feel any difficulty: / ∪ / / ∪∪ Both of lost happiness and lasting pain PL I 55 (It is interesting to note, however, that only Wordsworth appends a pyrrhic to the fourth paeon, as in ∪ ∪ ∪ / ∪∪ The feeling pleasures of his loneliness, Ex I 8.6 [100] The resultant combination requires the full stress to perform the same kind of task twice over, in validating one failed beat-syllable before it and another after.) So too it is evidently immaterial whether the umbrella word extends backward to include a syllable (or even two) before the full stress. All that matters, it seems, is that the full stress should properly close a foot or figure. Doubtful Cases Doubtful cases tend to arise when the beat-syllable of the pyrrhic carries significantly more than minimal stress. For example: ∪ /∪ \ In solitude returning, saw the Hills Ex I 10.1 [127] But these are cases of iambic alternation that do not concern us. What should be mentioned here is a doubtful and unusual case: ∪ ∧∪ ∨ All melted into him; they swallowed up Ex I 13.22 [208] It is like an appended pyrrhic in that the failed beat-syllable him is linked backward to a preceding beat-syllable, and then followed by a

chap_08.fm Page 138 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

138

The Strict Metrical Tradition

break. But the backward link is through phrasing rather than an umbrella word, and the preceding beat-syllable carries less than full stress, so that we have to go right back to melt- to find a beat-syllable that is firm. All this would be highly irregular in an appended pyrrhic. In fact, the failed beat-syllable him carries some slight stress, so that the sequence is iambic, each beat-syllable being identified in its own right. (The effect is unusual, and obviously deliberate.)

list of cases Fourth Paeon (∪ ∪ ∪ /) Key:

A no juncture bridged B juncture c bridged Sub-divisions within each group (unless marked *): 1st syllable 4 a noun 2nd “ “ “ a verb (including infinitives) 3rd “ “ “ an adjective, past participle, or adverb

Plain Type, Ft 1–2 A ∪∪ ∪ / That to the highth of this great Argument And to my wish and to my hope espied And in the middle of the public way A* Which to his humble duties appertained, B* Of the industrious husbandman, diffused And an habitual piety, maintained

PL I 24 Ex I 4.21 [32] 5.6 [38–41n] 9.4 [111n] 6.21 [71] 9.12 [116]

Ft 2–3 A* ∪ ∪ ∪ / From him, who in the happy Realms of Light

PL I 85

Ft 3–4 A ∪ ∪ ∪ / He saw, he wish’d, and to the Prize aspir’d:

RL 12.4 [II 30]

chap_08.fm Page 139 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

139

Pyrrhic Variations

B* Or from the power of a peculiar eye,

Ex I 11.10 [157]

Ft 4–5 B ∪ ∪ ∪ / To weigh with care his words, and to rejoice

7.3 [75]

Semi-trailing Type, Ft 3–4 A* ∪ ∪ ∪ / Who first seduc’d them to that fowl revolt?

PL I 33

B Our labour must be to pervert that end,(*) It was denied them to acquire, through lack

164 Ex I 7.10 [82]

Ft 4–5 A / ∪ ∪ ∪ Rose-cheekt Adonis hied him to the chace, Oh be not proud, nor brag not of thy might, Ile make a shadow for thee of my heares, What bare excuses mak’st thou to be gon?

V&A 3 113 191 188

B That with the mightiest rais’d me to contend,

PL I 99

Trailing Type, Ft 2–3 A ∪ ∪ ∪ / And trembling in her passion, calls it balme, She feedeth on the steame, as on a pray, A twilight of its own, an ample shade, Recumbent in the shade, as if asleep; Afforded to his Figure, as he stood, Grow larger in the darkness, all alone He trusted to have equal’d the Most High, A* And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize,

V&A 27 63 Ex I 4.2 [12] 5.3 [36] 5.9 [38–41n] 10.2 [128] PL I 40 89

chap_08.fm Page 140 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

140

The Strict Metrical Tradition

A** A Herdsman on the lonely mountain tops, B The Mother of Mankinde, what time his Pride And study of revenge, immortal hate, Yet wanting the accomplishment of Verse, Determined and unmoved, with steady beams Of Nature, and already was prepared,

Ex I 14.11 [219] PL I 36 107 Ex I 7.8 [80] 3.8 [7] 13.3 [192]

Ft 3–4 A ∪ ∪∪ / He might be buried in a tombe so simple, There the companions of his fall, o’rewhelm’d In dubious Battel on the Plains of Heav’n,(*) And sport and flutter in the Fields of Air.(*) Thy Eyes first open’d on a Billet-Doux; A heav’nly Image in the Glass appears, The various off’rings of the World appear; That seem’d but Zephyrs to the Train beneath. And bask and whiten in the Blaze of Day.(*) In the plain presence of his dignity! The feeling pleasures of his loneliness, So the foundations of his mind were laid. A* Who blusht, and powted in a dull disdaine, The studded bridle on a ragged bough, Which bred more beautie in his angrie eyes: Yet was he servile to my coy disdaine, And Titan tired in the midday heate, Within the circuit of this ivorie pale, Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss Mov’d our Grand Parents in that happy State, Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe Since through experience of this great event Or do his Errands in the gloomy Deep; Save what the glimmering of these livid flames Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate Him haply slumbring on the Norway foam

V&A 244 PL I 76 104 RL 5.4 [I 66] 8.2 [I 118] 8.9 [I 125] 8.14 [I 130] 13.16 [II 58] 14.18 [II 78] Ex I 7.4 [76] 8.6 [100] 10.6 [132] V&A 33 37 70 112 177 230 PL I 21 29 52 118 152 182 192 203

chap_08.fm Page 141 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

141

Pyrrhic Variations

With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind 206 Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air 226 ’Twas he had summon’d to her silent Bed RL 2.15 [I 21] The light Militia of the lower Sky; 3.18 [I 42] For Life predestin’d to the Gnomes Embrace. 5.18 [I 80] In the clear Mirror of thy ruling Star 7.10 [I 108] Th’inferior Priestess, at her Altar’s side, 8.11 [I 127] Lanch’d on the Bosom of the Silver Thames. 10.4 [II 4] And all the Trophies of his former Loves. 12.16 [II 40] The Sun-beams trembling on the floating Tydes, 13.6 [II 48] Thin glitt’ring Textures of the filmy Dew; 14.4 [II 64] Or dip their Pinions in the painted Bow, 15.6 [II 84] Or brew fierce Tempests on the wintry Main, 15.7 [II 85] And in the middle of the public way Ex I 5.6 [38–41n] Beneath the shelter of these clustering elms. 5.19 [51 & n] Old songs--the product of his native hills; 6.17 [67] And some small portion of his eloquent speech, 8.4 [98] Espoused the Teacher of the Village School; 9.1 [111n] He, many an evening to his distant home 9.22 [126] Of visitation from the living God, 14.4 [212] B Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv’d With hideous ruine and combustion down

PL I 35 46

Vouchsafe thou wonder to alight thy steed,(*) V&A 13 Steale thine own freedome, and complaine on theft.(*) 160 And courage never to submit or yield: PL I 108 Strongly to suffer and support our pains 147 Who swell their Prospects and exalt their Pride,(*) RL 6.1 [I 81] B* With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, PL I 77 Wing’d with red Lightning and impetuous rage, 175 Not by the sufferance of supernal Power. 241 With Head uncover’d, the Cosmetic Pow’rs. RL 8.8 [I 124] Ft 4–5 A ∪ ∪ ∪ / Each leaning on their elbowes and their hips: Doth quench the maiden burning of his cheekes,

V&A 44 50

chap_08.fm Page 142 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

142

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Panting he lies, and breatheth in her face. 62 Faire flowers that are not gathred in their prime, 131 And died to kisse his shadow in the brooke. 162 Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage PL I 95 The Glance by Day, the Whisper in the Dark; RL 5.12 [I 74] And little Hearts to flutter at a Beau. 6.10 [I 90] They shift the moving Toyshop of their Heart; 7.2 [I 100] Transform’d to Combs, the speckled and the white. 9.2 [I 136] The Fair each moment rises in her Charms, 9.6 [I 140] And calls forth all the Wonders of her Face; 9.8 [I 142] And keener Lightnings quicken in her Eyes. 9.10 [I 144] Than issuing forth, the Rival of his Beams 10.3 [II 3] Dipt in the richest Tincture of the Skies, 14.5 [II 65] His Purple Pinions opening to the Sun, 14.11 [II 71] Graceful support; the countenance of the Man Ex I 5.11 [43 & n] A market-village, seated in a tract 6.1 [52–5n] Abstrusest matter, reasonings of the mind 6.15 [65] (Which in the docile season of their youth 7.9 [81] In summer, tended cattle on the Hills; 9.15 [119] He had perceived the presence and the power 10.9 [135] Nourished Imagination in her growth, 11.19 [166] His mind was a thanksgiving to the power 14.9 [217] And when from thence he struggles to be gone,

V&A 227

B He red for shame, but frostie in desier. That witness’d huge affliction and dismay His Ministers of vengeance and pursuit This Nymph, to the Destruction of Mankind, Forst to content, but never to obey, From his soft bosome never to remove, By his intense conceptions, to receive

36 PL I 57 170 RL 11.11 [II 19] V&A 61 81 Ex I 13.4 [193]

Appended Pyrrhic Key:

Umbrella word includes A closing stress and pyrrhic B preceding syllable, closing stress, and pyrrhic9

chap_08.fm Page 143 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

143

C

Pyrrhic Variations

closing stress, pyrrhic, and one following syllable

Iamb + Pyrrhic (∪ / ∪ ∪). Pyrrhic in Ft 2 A /∪ ∪ ∪ The president of pith, and livelyhood, To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In horrible destruction laid thus low, His Ministers of vengeance and pursuit Our Enemy, our own loss how repair, By circumstance to take unto the height Of honesty, and holiness severe. But eagerly he read, and read again, The spectacle; sensation, soul, and form The mystery, the life which cannot die:

V&A 26 PL I 47 137 170 188 Ex I 7.15 [87] 9.7 [111n] 12.2 [170] 13.21 [207] 14.17 [225]

B Couragiously to plucke him from his horse. Invincible, and vigour soon returns, Leviathan, which God of all his works Incessantly to turn his ear and eye Triumphantly displayed in records left

V&A 30 PL I 140 201 Ex I 11.3 [150] 12.6 [174]

C Unutterable love. Sound needed none,

13.19 [205]

Ft 3 A ∪ / ∪∪ Betweene this heavenly, and earthly sunne. A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round As being the contrary to his high will Or Virgins visited by Angel-Pow’rs, The Fair and Innocent shall still believe. From earthly Vehicles to these of Air. That all her Vanities at once are dead: Succeeding Vanities she still regards, With varying Vanities, from ev’ry Part, They lay like substances, and almost seemed Of dimmer character, he thence attained

V&A 198 PL I 61 161 RL 3.9 [I 33] 3.16 [I 40] 4.8 [I 50] 4.10 [I 52] 4.11 [I 53] 7.1 [I 99] Ex 10.13 [137–9n] 10.20 [144]

chap_08.fm Page 144 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

144

The Strict Metrical Tradition

The moral properties and scope of things. Profuse in garniture of wooden cuts The imperfect offices of prayer and praise,

12.1 [169] 12.13 [181] 14.8 [216]

B Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe, And old Impertinence expel by new. With will inflexible, those fearful pangs

PL I 122 RL 6.14 [I 94] Ex I 12.5 [173]

Ft 4 A / ∪∪ ∪ Still she intreats, and prettily intreats, Against the Throne and Monarchy of God Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav’n. And Nymphs prepar’d their Chocolate to take; The Sprights of fiery Termagants in Flame And Garters, Stars, and Coronets appear, This erring Mortals Levity may call, The Tortoise here and Elephant unite, Which Jews might kiss, and Infidels adore. He summons strait his Denizens of Air; Nor let th’imprison’d Essences exhale, We parted nothing willingly; and now A pair of random travellers; we sate-Feeding the soul, and eagerly imbibed Of the industrious husbandman, diffused The vision and the faculty divine, Who on her offspring zealously bestowed Of honesty, and holiness severe. And an habitual piety, maintained Romance of Giants, chronicle of Fiends That made him; it was blessedness and love!

V&A 73 PL I 42 124 RL 2.10 [I 13–18n] 4.17 [I 59] 6.5 [I 85] 7.5 [I 103] 9.1 [I 135] 10.8 [II 8] 13.13 [II 55] 15.16 [II 94] Ex I 5.17 [49] 6.12 [62–3n] 6.19 [69] 6.21 [71] 7.7 [79] 9.2 [111n] 9.7 [111n] 9.12 [116] 12.12 [180] 14.10 [218]

B Who durst defie th’Omnipotent to Arms. Of thousand bright Inhabitants of Air!

PL I 49 RL 3.4 [I 28]

Ft 5 A ∪ /∪ ∪ I may assert Eternal Providence,10

PL I 25

chap_08.fm Page 145 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

145

Pyrrhic Variations

No light, but rather darkness visible As far as Gods and Heav’nly Essences Here swallow’d up in endless misery. To undergo eternal punishment? The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice Half conscious of the soothing melody, His Father dwelt; and died in poverty; Great objects on his mind, with portraiture An active power to fasten images Even in their fix’d and steady lineaments Where Fear sate thus, a cherished visitant, And greatness still revolving; infinite;

63 138 142 155 173 Ex I 4.4 [14] 8.17 [111n] 10.11 [137–9n] 10.21 [145] 11.13 [160] 12.18 [186] 14.21 [229]

B And put to proof his high Supremacy, How overcome this dire Calamity, Of thundring Ætna, whose combustible

PL I 132 189 233

Choriamb + Pyrrhic. Ft 3 A /∪ ∪ / ∪ ∪ Never did passenger in sommers heat, Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence

V&A 91 PL I 12

B All his remembrances, thoughts, shapes, and forms; Ex I 10.18 [142] Or by predominance of thought oppress’d, 11.12 [159] Minor Ionic + Pyrrhic. Ft 3 A ∪ ∪ / /∪ ∪ To their first Elements the Souls retire:

RL 4.16 [I 58]

Ft 5 A / ∪ ∪ ∪ ∪ / While yet a Child, with a Child’s eagerness He sate, and even in their fix’d lineaments,

Ex I 11.2 [149] 11.9 [156]

chap_08.fm Page 146 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

146

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Second Epitrite + Pyrrhic. Ft 3 A / ∪ / / ∪∪ Both of lost happiness and lasting pain

PL I 55

Third Epitrite + Pyrrhic. Ft 3 A / / ∪ /∪∪ What guards the Purity of melting Maids,

RL 5.9 [I 71]

B Breathed immortality, revolving life

Ex I 14.20 [228]

First Epitrite + Pyrrhic. Ft 5 A / / ∪ ∪ ∪ / That to the highth of this great Argument Bëëlzebub. To whom th’Arch-Enemy, Whom we resist. If then his Providence11 Of Minster clock! From that bleak Tenement

PL I 24 81 162 Ex I 9.21 [125]

Dispondee + Pyrrhic. Ft 3 A / / / / ∪∪ Oh then how beautiful, how bright appeared

14.14 [222]

Fourth Paeon + Pyrrhic. Ft 5 A ∪ ∪ ∪ / ∪∪ In the plain presence of his dignity! The feeling pleasures of his loneliness,

7.4 [76] 8.6 [100]

chap_09.fm Page 147 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

9 Combinations

Two species of combinations have already been examined – the dispondee, which is the combination of a spondee with a spondee; and the appended pyrrhic, when appended to a 4-syllable figure. The remaining combinations have two features in common: they all close on a full stress, and they are all six syllables in length. The component figures of which they are made up are radical and simple variations, almost always functioning in a familiar way, except only in the fact of being joined together (often quite loosely). In some cases, however, the effect of the join is to introduce an anomaly in the close of the first component or the opening of the second. The individual radical figures involved in these combinations have already been listed and covered in the relevant chapters; but the individual simple figures appear for the first time. These combinations can be divided into Rare Combinations, of which there are some half dozen, and Common Combinations, of which there is only one, the spondee-fourth paeon, or spondeepaeon for short. For the Rare Combinations, with which I shall begin, the list – of only a few cases – may as well be given at the start of each section. In view of the relative unimportance of these combinations, there is no need to go beyond lines 1–250 of each piece of verse for any of them.

chap_09.fm Page 148 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

148

The Strict Metrical Tradition

r a r e c o m b i n at i o n s 1. Combinations of a spondee (/ /) with a radical variation Choriamb + Spondee / / / ∪ ∪ / Turned tow’rds the sun then setting, while that staff Ex I 5.8 [40] A slight break after the choriamb leans toward setting up the spondee as an isolated spondee. But the spondee can also be felt to follow on the closing stress of the choriamb, somewhat in the manner of the spondee in a first epitrite – unprepared for and cradled instead in the larger figure. Spondee + Minor Ionic / / ∪ ∪ / / That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,

PL I 8

/ / ∪ / ∪ / Of unblest feet. Him followed his next Mate, 238 The combination can be seen most clearly as a combination in the last case. But in both cases the spondee clearly takes care of the weakness and the disguised opening of the minor ionic (trailing type), producing in fact a 6-syllable figure that is precisely symmetrical and doubly “robust” (in both opening and closing on a double stress). 2. Combinations of a spondee with a simple variation Spondee + First Epitrite (∪ / / /) / / ∪ / / / Said then the lost Arch Angel, this the seat PL I 243 The component figures are distinct, and the spondee has a fair sense of closure in itself; yet the spondee can also be felt to combine with the first epitrite, converting a weak-opening figure into a robust 6-syllable figure (somewhat as in the preceding combination). Fourth Paeon (∪ ∪ ∪ /) + Spondee / ∪∪∪ / / Leading him prisoner in a red rose chaine, Pleasant to him who on the soft cool moss

V&A 110 Ex I 3.10 [9n]

chap_09.fm Page 149 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

149

Combinations

/ / / ∪ ∪ ∪ The Pilot of some small night-founder’d Skiff, PL I 204 The combination could equally well be regarded as a pyrrhic followed by a first epitrite. Under either mode of perception, however, there is an anomaly in the treatment of one of the components: either a fourth paeon has its close deferred not in an iamb but in a fresh variation, a spondee; or a first epitrite is preceded by an unclosed pyrrhic. (The deferred close in the last case alters the whole effect, but the anomaly remains.) It is interesting to note that Wordsworth later altered his line (Ex I 3.10), removing this combination.1 Appended Pyrrhic (.../ ∪ ∪) + Spondee /∪ ∪ / / Whate’er the Minister’s old Shelf supplied; Ex I 12.3 [171] Here, too, there is an anomaly: an appended pyrrhic followed by another variation – a spondee – with only a clitic boundary intervening.2 It is true that one could account for the anomaly by pointing to the analogy of the trochee-spondee, where a spondee serves to resolve a trochee. The question also arises as to whether one should take this figure as an irregular minor ionic. It seems to me that the figure is felt, admittedly with a slight sense of awkwardness, as the combination specified.

s p o n d e e - pa e o n ( / / ∪ ∪ ∪ / ) Because of its commonness (it was noticed by John Mason in 1749),3 the spondee-paeon needs to be looked at somewhat more thoroughly than the preceding combinations. There is no need to point out the fact of a boundary between the spondee and the fourth paeon if that occurs at the appropriate place (after syllable 2 or syllable 3)4. But any anomalies in the close of the spondee or the opening of the fourth paeon will need to be examined. One other preliminary point. There is a noticeable tendency toward forming this combination with some slight stress on syllable 4, as in / /∪ ∨ ∪ / Now gazeth she on him, now on the ground; V&A 224 The 6-syllable figure nevertheless seems to function here as a combination; and I shall include such cases without further comment.

chap_09.fm Page 150 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

150

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Features i. placement Ft 1–3 20

Ft 2–4 –

Ft 3–5 15

Total 35

ii. bridging Much the most common arrangement bridges b5 and only b, as in / / ∪ ∪∪ / Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid PL I 172 With 27 cases of the total of 35, this arrangement (Group A) gives a characteristic general shape to the spondee-paeon. iii. internal boundaries, other than the one expected at b or c In two cases there is a punctuated break at a, significant in splitting the spondee: / / ∪∪ ∪ / Oh! many are the Poets that are sown

Ex I 7.5 [77]

/ / ∪ ∪ ∪ / Unrecognized; but, stricken by the sight, 5.13 [45] But of course the resultant tension is resolved in the fourth paeon that follows. In three cases the combination fractures at d instead of b or c, but only by means of a slight boundary, so that the overall effect is not significantly altered.6 Thus at d there is never a noticeable break; and at e there is never more than a clitic boundary. iv. what precedes the variation In every case the combination is preceded by a fully resolved foot or figure, with line-division or at least a phonological boundary intervening. v. the close of the variation The close is essentially the same as the close of the fourth paeon, though the relative frequency of the types of closes is different (31 normal, 3 deferred, and 1 double deferred). In every case the close is followed, according to its type, at least by a phonological boundary (one case being somewhat open to question on this point, however).7 The avoidance of the partly deferred close and the phenomenon of the double deferred close are explained by the length of the figure: with a 6-syllable figure, even a single deferred close extends the figure

chap_09.fm Page 151 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

151

Combinations

to eight syllables – or nine, with a feminine ending; a double deferred close has the elegance of finishing the line cleanly. vi. patterns of syntax Of the 23 cases under Group A, twelve have not only an adjective or participle as the word joining syllables 2 and 3 but also a preposition at syllable 4 leading into a typical fourth paeon of the trailing type, closing in a noun at syllable 6. For example: / / ∪ ∪ ∪ / Things growing to them selves, are growths abuse, V&A 166 These twelve cases are strikingly similar; and, though they are not enough, at just over a third of the total, to give a characteristic stamp to the spondee-paeon, they do perhaps give a hint of such a stamp, within the characteristic general shape of Group A. Analysis Since the two component figures are usually distinct, the spondee tends toward being resolved in the manner of an isolated spondee, and the fourth paeon as a fourth paeon. Still, the combination also emerges as a combination, partly with the help of being sandwiched in one or other of the two obvious positions (between line-division and some kind of break),8 and partly because of its natural appeal. The two cases in which the fact of combination is most evident are the two cited under feature iii, with a punctuated break at a that splits the spondee. There is a close analogy between these cases and the eight cases of the third epitrite (/ / ∪ /) opening with a split spondee (of which RL 8.7 [I 123] is cited under feature iii for the third epitrite, while others are given in note 6). It is evident that the split spondee, unable to be resolved in itself, is there resolved in an iamb, making up a third epitrite, and here in a fourth paeon, making up a spondeepaeon. Resolution of the spondee in an iamb is unquestionably more stable than resolution in a fourth paeon, which entails another departure from iambicism in a pyrrhic before the closing iamb. Yet it is clear that this type of resolution is also stable. The natural appeal of the figure is readily accounted for. Like the third epitrite and the choriamb, the spondee-paeon is robust in both opening and closing on a full stress, like them it makes a bold, positive departure from iambicism right at the start, and like them it has the stable and leisurely resolution of a closing iamb. But the spondee-paeon

chap_09.fm Page 152 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

152

The Strict Metrical Tradition

even has an advantage that the other two figures do not have: the spondee is balanced by the pyrrhic, the positive by the negative. The fact of this balance evidently offsets the inconvenience of two successive departures from iambicism and allows the closing iamb to resolve both with full efficacy. One is reminded here of the other 6-syllable combination in which these same elements are combined in a different order, the combination labelled fourth paeon + spondee (∪ ∪ ∪ / / /). The combination (as the three cases of it show, both in their relative ineffectiveness and in their number) has much less appeal than the spondee-paeon, and even a touch of awkwardness. In this other combination the pyrrhic is again, no doubt, balanced by the spondee; but the two are separated by the iamb in the middle, the figure has lost the elegance of robust form, and the spondee is left to close itself at the end. List of Cases Key:

A B

only juncture b bridged some other arrangement

Ft 1–3 A / /∪ ∪ ∪ / Thrise fairer then my selfe, (thus she began) V&A 7 Each leaning on their elbowes and their hips: 44 So fastned in her armes Adonis lyes, 68 Raine added to a river that is ranke, 71 Things growing to them selves, are growths abuse, 166 Now gazeth she on him, now on the ground; 224 Fall’n Cherube, to be weak is miserable PL I 157 Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid 172 Both glorying to have scap’t the Stygian flood 239 Oh! many are the Poets that are sown Ex I 7.5 [77] Pure Livers were they all, austere and grave, 9.9 [113] Great objects on his mind, with portraiture 10.11 [137–9n] A* Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed PL I 68 Half conscious of the soothing melody, Ex I 4.4 [14] How precious when in riper days I learn’d 7.2 [74]

chap_09.fm Page 153 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:47 PM

153

Combinations

A** Sole Building on a mountain’s dreary edge, B Brought Death into the World, and all our woe, Serv’d only to discover sights of woe, This Nymph, to the Destruction of Mankind, Thought was not; in enjoyment it expired.

9.19 [123] PL I 3 64 RL 11.11 [II 19] 14.5 [213]

Ft 3–5 A / / ∪ ∪ ∪ / Staine to all Nimphs, more lovely then a man, V&A 9 54 What followes more, she murthers with a kisse.9 Looke how a bird lyes tangled in a net, 67 Thou canst not see one wrinckle in my brow, 139 Dainties to tast, fresh beautie for the use, 164 And view with scorn Two Pages and a Chair. RL 4.4 [I 46] The graver Prude sinks downward to a Gnome, 5.1 [I 63] Some Nymphs there are, too conscious of their Face, 5.17 [I 79] Th’impending Woe sate heavy on his Breast. 13.12 [II 54] Unrecognized; but, stricken by the sight, Ex I 5.13 [45] For my grave looks--too thoughtful for my years. 6.8 [59] B Can thy right hand ceaze love upon thy left? Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd When Florio speaks, what Virgin could withstand, A little One--unconscious of their loss.

V&A 158 PL I 90 RL 6.17 [I 97] Ex I 8.20 [111n]

con_p1.fm Page 154 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

Conclusion to Part One

In preparation for drawing a rounded conclusion, we can now marshal and compare all the variations and combinations. Here is a list of them in the order in which they were examined, with the number of cases of each, in lines 1–250 of each piece. (For the minor ionic and the second epitrite these are not the numbers we were working with.) Radical choriamb, / ∪ ∪ / 197 minor ionic, ∪ ∪ / / 63 second epitrite, / ∪ / / 21 Spondee isolated spondee, / / 52 third epitrite, / / ∪ / 130 first epitrite, ∪ / / / 62 dispondee, / / / / 9 Pyrrhic fourth paeon, ∪ ∪ ∪ / 121 appended pyrrhic, ... / ∪ ∪ 89 Combinations choriamb + spondee, / ∪ ∪ / / / 1 spondee + minor ionic, / / ∪ ∪ / / 2 spondee + first epitrite, / / ∪ / / / 1 fourth paeon + spondee, ∪ ∪ ∪ / / / 3 appended pyrrhic + spondee, ... / ∪ ∪ / / 1 spondee-paeon, / / ∪ ∪ ∪ / 35 Of this array the appended pyrrhic stands out as the only figure that does not close on a full stress; it is therefore best set aside for the time being, so that a preliminary comparison of the other figures can be conducted efficiently. Combinations present another obstacle with

con_p1.fm Page 155 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

155

Conclusion to Part One

which we must come to terms. All the combinations will be seen to consist of a spondee and a 4-syllable figure, making up six syllables, except for the dispondee, which combines two spondees for four syllables. When the combinations are split into their components, one is left with the following figures, arranged here in terms of length and mode of opening and closing. (Robust signifies figures that both open and close on a full stress; radical figures are given in bold type.) robust 2-syll

isolated spondee, / /

4-syll

choriamb, / ∪ ∪ / second epitrite, / ∪ / / third epitrite, / / ∪ /

weak-opening

minor ionic, ∪ ∪ / / first epitrite, ∪ / / / fourth paeon, ∪ ∪ ∪ /

Our initial discussion can address these seven figures, whether appearing separately or in combination. A question that will arise, when the figures appear in combination, is the treatment of the close of the first figure and the opening of the second. An inspection of the cases listed in chapter 9 shows that there is in fact a boundary clear enough to distinguish the component figures and render them unexceptionable (yet at the same time weak enough to allow the two component figures to be felt as making up a larger figure) in all cases except for four; these four will be considered in due course. One issue that will not be pursued here is the placement of variations in the line; it is best relegated, together with the related question of the caesura, to an appendix. What about the basic form of these seven figures? In the radical figures the first beat-syllable is displaced and the second in place as syllable 4. Only one of the simple figures can be described in analogous terms, namely the fourth paeon. There is no question, though, of displacement: both its beat-syllables are in place. But, while its first beatsyllable “fails,” the second is firm. The remaining figures are based on the spondee. In these figures every beat-syllable is both in its place and firm. What does happen is that a subordinate syllable takes on the appearance of a beat-syllable with regard to stress. The figure is then brought to a close either on the immediately-following beat-syllable, or on the subsequent beat-syllable, kept uninjured for the purpose. The full form of the resultant figure depends also on whether the advent of the spondee has been heralded by a break (or at least a boundary) in the syntax.

con_p1.fm Page 156 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

156

The Strict Metrical Tradition

unheralded, closed immediately first epitrite ∪/// heralded, closed immediately // isolated spondee heralded, closed on next beat syll. //∪/ third epitrite (It is true that a deferred close in a number of cases of the first and third epitrite further complicates this picture;1 but these cases constitute a peripheral phenomenon, the main body of cases falling into the three figures as shown.) Clearly, the basic form of spondee figures cannot be defined with the elegant simplicity that works for radical variations and the fourth paeon; and still less elegant would be a general definition comprehending all seven figures. But a generalized description of some kind would be useful. Common to all seven is their closing on a beatsyllable, in its proper place, fully stressed. What happens before that is perhaps best described in terms of opposition to the expected iambic base. In radical figures the switch of one beat-syllable and one subordinate syllable2 gives rise to a 2- or 3-syllable opposition to the iambic base. In simple figures one syllable opposes the base – a weak beatsyllable in the fourth paeon, and a strong subordinate syllable in the spondee figures. In these terms it is possible to offer a general description, bland though it may be, of the form of all seven figures: Each figure may be said to consist of two essential elements: a series of one to three syllables opposing the iambic base, only one of which can be a beat-syllable; and a beat-syllable, stressed and in place, closing the figure. The description can readily be extended to cover combinations: Instead of one series of syllables opposing the iambic base and a beat-syllable closing the figure, combinations offer the sequence twice – an opposing series, closure, another opposing series, and final closure. Moving on from basic form, let us now consider what particular features are common to all seven figures. First, as to what precedes each figure. Under simple variations, one case of the fourth paeon is somewhat exceptional in that the preceding foot closes on an intermediate stress, without a distinct intervening boundary or break;3 otherwise, the preceding foot or figure closes on a full stress or in an appended pyrrhic followed by a break. We found earlier that all radical figures make a fresh start in their syllable-count; and we see now that the same can be said of simple figures, with this one partial exception. The actual opening of each figure is not consistently acknowledged in any other way. Indeed, in the trailing type of the three weak-

con_p1.fm Page 157 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

157

Conclusion to Part One

opening figures (minor ionic, first epitrite, fourth paeon), the opening is disguised, syllable 1 belonging to a preceding word and wordgroup. What is acknowledged in radical variations, we found earlier, is the syllable that marks the departure from the iambic pattern, and also (if a different syllable) the displaced beat-syllable: both are articulated. Displaced beat-syllables do not occur in simple variations, but departure-syllables do. In the fourth paeon (∪ ∪ ∪ /) the departure-syllable is syllable 3, the “failed stress”; in spondee-figures it is always the stressed subordinate syllable of the spondee. As will be seen under the relevant features (feature ii for the fourth paeon and first epitrite, feature iv for the isolated spondee and third paeon), it turns out that the departure-syllable is indeed always articulated in these simple figures. Thus, the departure-syllable is articulated in all seven figures, but (the reader will remember) with three exceptions in the minor ionic.4 The question arises of the penultimate juncture in the figure (b in a 4-syllable figure), since the avoidance of a break at this point in two of the radical figures turned out to be significant.5 In fact, the penultimate juncture cannot have the same significance in simple figures. It is true that even a clitic boundary at b is avoided in the fourth paeon (∪ ∪ ∪ /), a fact that will be taken up in due course; but there is no point in even considering the penultimate juncture in spondee figures, for in two of them it occurs before the essential variation (the spondee), and its treatment in the third reflects back at the classifier the way spondees have been classified.6 To move on, then, to the last juncture (c in a 4-syllable figure), examined under feature iii for each variation. In radical variations, it will be remembered, the strongest boundary to be found at c is a phonological boundary, clearly present in 5 cases.7 In the fourth paeon there is not even a clitic boundary at c. For spondee figures, the claim can almost be made that they resemble radical figures in occasionally allowing a phonological boundary at the last juncture, but nothing stronger. But there are two clearly exceptional cases, the two cases that were classified by default as third epitrites: / / ∪ / Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux. RL 9.4 [I 138] 14.14 [II 74] Fays, Fairies, Genii, Elves, and Dæmons hear! When so classified (and no other classification renders them any less exceptional), they have a punctuated break both at c and before syllable 6. On the other hand, whether classified as third epitrites or isolated spondees, both cases are given pretty well the maximum clarity of

con_p1.fm Page 158 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

158

The Strict Metrical Tradition

context in other respects, being preceded by firm line-division and followed by a succession of iambs – a fact that cannot be regarded as accidental. These, then, are the only two cases of a figure, simple or radical, with a break immediately before the closing beat-syllable. For radical variations we were able to make a slightly more comprehensive statement: nothing stronger than a phonological boundary falls between the last subordinate syllable in a figure and the closing stress. Since the penultimate syllable in a simple variation is always a subordinate syllable (no beat-syllable is displaced), that statement applies, in fact, to all seven variations – with the exception of the two cases just cited. Lastly, there is the question of what follows the closing syllable of each figure. The general statement we came up with for radical figures turns out to apply also to simple figures. The figure may be extended by a pure iamb, or a feminine ending (single or double), or both; but it will then be followed by at least a phonological boundary. In radical figures there were three exceptions, one double deferred close and two cases of a deferred close involving slight irregularities.8 In simple figures the only exceptions are two cases of a double deferred close (see feature v for the fourth paeon and the spondeepaeon). Double feminine endings, of course, are appended pyrrhics, and have been examined as such.9 What features, then, have emerged as being common to all seven figures? By drawing on the description of basic form given above, we can list five features or principles that parallel the five principles educed in chapter 6 for radical variations. aa) Nothing is left unresolved from what precedes the figure. (1 partial exception.) bb) Each figure moves from a series of syllables opposing the iambic base into closure on a beat-syllable that is stressed and in place. cc) The departure-syllable is articulated. (3 exceptions.) dd) Nothing stronger than a phonological boundary falls between the last subordinate syllable in the figure and the closing beatsyllable. (2 exceptions.) ee) Before its effective termination in a syntactic break or boundary, the figure may be extended by a plain iamb, or a feminine ending (single or double), or both. (5 exceptions.) The last two principles duplicate principles d) and e) of the radical set, and thus constitute between them the manoeuvre of special metrical closure.

con_p1.fm Page 159 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

159

Conclusion to Part One

I mentioned earlier, without specifying them, four cases of combinations that are irregular in their treatment of the meeting of the two component figures. First, there are three cases of the combination fourth paeon + spondee (∪ ∪ ∪ / + / /), with no significant boundary dividing the combination into two component figures: / ∪ ∪∪ / / Leading him prisoner in a red rose chaine, Pleasant to him who on the soft cool moss

V&A 110 Ex I 3.10 [9n]

/ / / ∪ ∪ ∪ The Pilot of some small night-founder’d Skiff, PL I 204 And there is the solitary case of the combination appended pyrrhic + spondee, again with only a clitic boundary distinguishing the component figures: /∪ ∪ / / Whate’er the Minister’s old Shelf supplied; Ex I 12.3 [171] In none of the four cases can one distinguish canonical component figures that are free of anomalies at the point where they meet; and it also happens that these are the four cases we found to be awkward in their effect, in our earlier analysis of combinations. In short, the two combinations that seem slightly questionable in their effect turn out to join their component figures in a questionable manner. However, there is a sense in which the anomaly is relatively minor: the awaited special metrical closure is impeded simply by the stressed subordinate syllable of a spondee. The one variation that has still not been brought into the picture is the appended pyrrhic. The key points were made earlier in the pertinent analysis and may be repeated thus. In its essentials the appended pyrrhic reverses the sequence inherent in the basic form of all other variations, that of moving from opposition to the iambic base into closure on a full stress, and instead links the opposition phase backward to a full stress. The extraordinary means employed by the appended pyrrhic, its fully uniting in the same word the three syllables involved, can be seen as acknowledging the uniqueness of the manoeuvre. However, though the five principles given above are impressive in applying to virtually all variations, we are left with the fact that no elegant general principles can be stated so as to comprehend the form of all figures including the appended pyrrhic. Surely, though, some general principles must have emerged that do not require special pleading. The key here turns out to lie in the nature of the injury suffered by a beat-syllable. A beat-syllable that is in

con_p1.fm Page 160 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

160

The Strict Metrical Tradition

place and fully stressed may be fairly regarded as uninjured. Such is the case in spondee figures. Real injuries to beat-syllables, then, result either from displacement or from loss of stress. A beat-syllable injured through displacement gives rise (as we saw in chapter 6) to a radical figure that observes the following principles (here briefly recapitulated): a) The preceding foot or figure is resolved. b) After a displaced beat-syllable and two subordinate syllables, each figure closes on an undisplaced beat-syllable. c) The departure-syllable and (if different) the displaced beatsyllable are articulated. (Three definite and five possible exceptions, respectively.) d) and e) Syllable 4 is the vehicle of special metrical closure. (Three exceptions regarding what happens after the closing beat-syllable.) Beat-syllables injured through loss of stress appear as pyrrhics, in the form of the fourth paeon or the appended pyrrhic; and it turns out that a general principle can be stated, underlying both figures. A beat-syllable injured through loss of stress is either followed by an uninjured beat-syllable without a syntactic break or preceded by one without a word break, the intervening subordinate syllable in either arrangement being unstressed. That there are no exceptions here is remarkable, and the more remarkable as the phrase without a syntactic break could be tightened to read without even a clitic boundary. Yet the principle is not quite as remarkable as it might seem, being partially explained by the fact that when these constraints are removed the beat-syllable in question will tend to carry a hint of stress, so that there will be no true pyrrhic. We should note also that the first option, referring to the fourth paeon, is not quite the same thing as special metrical closure, as it includes the treatment of juncture b10 but excludes what happens after syllable 4. When what happens after syllable 4 is included, a number of exceptions turn up: special metrical closure is not strictly observed in two fourth paeons with a double deferred close, nor in the three cases of questionable combinations just examined above. It will now be seen that the two classes of injury, displacement and loss of stress, can be grouped together, as they observe a common principle. If the sequence from the last subordinate syllable to the closing stress (in the four relevant figures) can be called the closing phase of the figure, then that principle may be stated as follows. An injured beat-syllable is united with a neighbouring uninjured beat-syllable either through being followed by it without a break in

con_p1.fm Page 161 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

161

Conclusion to Part One

the closing phase of the figure11 or through being linked backwards to it in the same word. This principle of the injured beat-syllable, as it may be called, is interesting in marking the most comprehensive level at which a clear statement of principle becomes possible, and the more interesting in that we have found no exceptions to it. An inference can be drawn here. Since a clearly-defined mechanism of redress manifests itself only when a beat-syllable is injured, it is evident that the business of properly identifying every beat-syllable is critically important. The time has come to allow for significant omissions that may have resulted from the method pursued. It will be remembered that from line 251 on, in each piece of verse, we have examined only minor ionics and second epitrites. There is no need to check through these later lines for trivial exceptions; what we are concerned with is exceptions that flagrantly violate the general principles educed here and in chapter 6. It turns out that there are only four such exceptions. In two, a choriamb seems to open on a half-stress in a hyphenated compound word: \ ∪ ∪ / His Step-father supplied; books that explain Ex I 15.22 [252 & n] \ ∪∪ / And Beau’s in Snuff-boxes and Tweezer-cases. RL 46.8 [V 116] On both counts, the half stress and the hyphen, these choriambs would be highly exceptional. But Attridge examines compounds of just this type, and draws a distinction between newly-coined compounds and ones that have become familiar: “If the compound can be treated simply as a stress and two nonstresses, which will only be possible if it has become familiarised and is acting as a single word, then there is no problem” (278). The two cases before us no doubt fall under this rubric. That is, father and boxes are perceived as pyrrhics, with the second syllable as the beat-syllable. The remaining two signal exceptions cannot be disposed of so summarily. Both are 6-syllable combinations closing on a full stress, and both open with a trochee (/ ∪), thus displacing the first beat-syllable: / ∪ / ∪ / ∪ Matchless, but with th’Almighty, and that strife

PL I 623

/ ∪ ∪∪ ∪ / Opn’d into the Hill a spacious wound 689 In the first case the trochee is followed by a choriamb; in the second, by a fourth paeon (∪ ∪ ∪ /). Elsewhere, as we concluded in chapter 6,

con_p1.fm Page 162 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

162

The Strict Metrical Tradition

a displaced beat-syllable is always followed by an undisplaced beat-syllable, making up a 4-syllable radical figure. Here this principle is plainly violated: the displaced beat-syllable is first followed by another beatsyllable injured through displacement or loss of stress, and only then by the manoeuvre of special metrical closure. What can be pointed out, though, is that both resultant 6-syllable figures are prominently placed at the line-opening; in both, the component figures are clearly identifiable; and both are closed with exemplary firmness and clarity. Thus, the two cases acknowledge their exceptionality by doing what they can to ameliorate it. With these two cases brought into the picture, it must be admitted that, in all, few general principles have emerged wholly unscathed by the presence of exceptions of some kind. What has emerged unscathed is the principle of the injured beat-syllable stated above, if that principle is somewhat broadened to read as follows: An injured beat-syllable is either linked backwards in the same word with a neighbouring uninjured beat-syllable or followed within 5 syllables by an uninjured beat-syllable without a break in the closing phase of the figure. However, though infringed by two exceptions, the principle is undoubtedly more significant in the tighter form given earlier. A matter that has been passed by in this pursuit of general principles is that of features common only to a few variations. The question of the break or clear boundary preceding variations opening with a trochee was addressed in chapter 6. A question that could be broached here is that of the boundary preceding simple variations opening on a full stress – in other words, the isolated spondee, the third epitrite, and the dispondee. But there is little point in pursuing the question since the essential variation in these figures is the spondee itself, which is quite capable of being preceded by no significant boundary at all. More interesting is the Jespersen pattern of syntax, by which I mean the full 3-syllable Jespersen pattern. It will be remembered that this pattern turned up first, in our analyses of variations, in the three cases of deceptive choriamb (see chapter 3, feature iii). It then turned out to be characteristic of both the minor ionic and the standard second epitrite, and will be seen in the Lists of Cases for these variations under Group A2, and also (filled out into four syllables as the “Perfected Jespersen Pattern”) under Group A1 for the latter variation. What is now clear is that these are the only places in which this pattern has turned up in our analysed samples. (With the help of the subdivisions in the

con_p1.fm Page 163 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

163

Conclusion to Part One

lists, the reader will see that the full 3-syllable pattern does not turn up in any spondee arrangement.) The three deceptive choriambs appear in lines 1–250 of each piece, so for comparison it is worth noting the number of cases of minor ionic and standard second epitrite with this pattern, in that curtailed sample: deceptive choriamb 3 minor ionic (A2) 37 standard second epitrite (A1 + A2) 9 This 3-syllable pattern is, of course, the monosyllabic adjective group discussed at some length in the General Introduction. Here, in a measured perspective, one sees the two “hallmark” variations continuing to serve the need they had been called forth to serve at the founding of the strict tradition. Let us now stand back to review the leading principles that have emerged in our analysis of the four verse-samples, and the inferences to be drawn from them. First, syllabic integrity is assumed as a prerequisite: with occasional unstressed syllables discounted by an understood system of elision, the body of each line consists of exactly ten syllables.12 And syllabic integrity being assumed, the elementary iambic pattern requires that every other syllable is stressed, is preceded by an unstressed syllable, and is perceived as carrying a beat. Moreover, we surmised that the act whereby the reader perceives such a beat is a deliberate act of identification, an act that also embraces the preceding syllable, perceiving it to have introduced the beat-syllable. Second, the class of three radical figures emerges, with the five common principles listed in chapter 6 and recapitulated above. Since the displacement of a beat-syllable is the most radical manoeuvre found in the foregoing analyses, the 4-syllable form of the radical figures, accompanied by the other features we have found to be common, occupy a central position in the whole picture of variations in the strict tradition. A notable inference to be drawn from these principles (we concluded) is that the 4-syllable radical figure derives from the 2-syllable iamb, and that the special treatment of syllable 4 is rooted in the function of syllable 2 in the elementary iamb. The other variations are based on the spondee and the pyrrhic, and can be called simple because the alternating roles (subordinate syllable and beat syllable) remain unchanged. The resultant figures testify to the central significance of radical variations by tending to adopt the same form and salient features. (Thus, the most common spondee

con_p1.fm Page 164 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

164

The Strict Metrical Tradition

figure, the third epitrite, and the most common pyrrhic figure, the fourth paeon, both have four syllables, and offer special metrical closure on syllable 4.) The varied and sometimes ambiguously defined figures in which the spondee is cradled can be seen as stemming from the fact that in the spondee no beat-syllable is injured. By contrast, even though one of them is unique in the way it functions, the two pyrrhic figures turn out to be strict obverse manifestations of a common principle. This time the explanation lies in the fact that a beat-syllable is injured, through loss of stress. Occasionally two figures are juxtaposed in a combination, usually in the form of a spondee-paeon; but even so, barring a few exceptional cases, the component figures retain their identity. In all, then, what emerges in our verse-samples is a canon of eight variations, three radical, three spondee, and two pyrrhic.

Part_02.fm Page 165 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

part two

Part_02.fm Page 166 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

Part_02.fm Page 167 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

Introduction to Part Two

In Part One, the variations employed by four preeminent poets during the period 1590–1865 were described and analysed. What remains to be seen is whether these are the variations that were employed by other poets during the same period. A representative set of passages from suitable poets will therefore need to be selected for examination; however, the passages had best be decidedly shorter than those used for Part One if a reasonable number of poets is to be included. First, the choice of poets. Clearly, the list should include (in addition to the four poets already covered) all poets generally regarded as “major” within the period; that is, all the major poets writing in non-dramatic iambic pentameter. Then, one should certainly add those few poets whose reputation, though now diminished, stood very high for a long time – notably Waller and Thomson. The question arises, too, of poets whose important contribution in this metre was just one poem, but a very notable poem. Marlowe’s Hero and Leander is the most obvious case; but Gray’s Elegy is a significant case, too, and Fitzgerald’s Rubáiyát, though a translation, is another. There is also the question of poets who wrote much in iambic pentameter but are remembered for their work in other metres; especially notable are Marvell and Vaughan. Finally, posing the most difficult dilemma, are those many poets who lie on the borderline of being “important.” The key here, surely, is that each age should be reasonably represented; so that, while in some ages only poets of the first rank will be included, in other ages it will be necessary to include poets

Part_02.fm Page 168 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

168

The Strict Metrical Tradition

of a slightly lower rank. The following poets make up a list that seems acceptable. The list is broken into five ages or periods and includes the original four poets (marked by an asterisk) as a reminder, together with twenty-two new poets. Renaissance: Spenser, Sidney, Marlowe, *Shakespeare, Donne, Ben Jonson Interregnum and Restoration: Waller, *Milton, Marvell, Vaughan, Dryden 18th Century: *Pope, Thomson, Johnson, Gray, Cowper Romantic: *Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats Victorian: E.B. Browning, Fitzgerald, Tennyson, R. Browning, Arnold (The closing date of 1865 rules out otherwise possible choices like the Rossettis, both of whose work in iambic pentameter – sonnets – came too late.) Now for the choice of poem from each poet. A length of around 70– 80 lines seems suitable; that is, long enough for the rarer variations to turn up, but not so long as to make the whole collection unwieldy. Seeing that we are dealing with a tradition, it is evident that poems should be chosen that were familiar to readers at the time, rather than obscure; and it seems desirable that each should also be familiar to readers now. And a number of criteria that needed to be met by the longer passages in Part One need to be met here too, if possible. It seems desirable, for example, that each passage should be a single poem, or part of a longer poem, rather than a number of shorter poems (or, in the case of a sonnet-sequence, a continuous set from the sequence, rather than assorted sonnets). Furthermore, it is clearly important that the edition used should be (a) an edition from the poet’s time, with the original spelling, punctuation, etc. (b) a reliable and authoritative edition Preferably, this edition would also be (c) the first edition (for the sake of consistency) (d) an edition fairly readily available in a facsimile reprint But, because the passages will be much shorter than those used in Part One, it is evident that another criterion should be included: each passage should reflect the poet’s characteristic method with variations, at least to a reasonable degree. In other words, each passage should be metrically representative of the poet.

Part_02.fm Page 169 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

169

Introduction to Part Two

The metrical representativeness of a poem or passage cannot be determined without some preliminary work. It seems best to examine a fair sampling of verse from each poet, measure the approximate frequency of occurrence of certain variations, and then endorse a given passage as answering to those measurements. The most sensitive indicators of the integrity of the strict tradition are unquestionably the minor ionic and second epitrite, together with uncanonical irregularities, if present. (These of course are the same indicators we were watching in tracing the founding of the tradition.) Ideally one would set up a system for classifying irregularities; in fact, a simple division into two classes, mild and flagrant, will have to suffice. Certain clear irregularities that will arise can be fairly safely allocated thus: a deceptive choriamb* Mild a midverse extrametrical syllable1 in a clear context, a broken spondee left unresolved* Flagrant a break at juncture c in a radical figure or a fourth paeon a deceptive second epitrite2 a trochee not resolved in the next foot* an anapest a compounding of significant irregularities On the other hand, the following irregularities will need to be classed as mild or flagrant according to the manner of handling: A variation other than an appended pyrrhic closing weakly* A variation preceded by a pyrrhic without an adequate boundary intervening* (Irregularities that turned up in Part One are marked with an asterisk.) Since borderline cases of many kinds will inevitably arise, the measure of frequency for the two classes of irregularity will have a considerable element of personal judgment built in. But, as long as that personal judgment (mine) functions consistently, it will treat each poem from a given poet in the same manner, and should therefore provide a reasonably sound basis for choosing a metrically representative poem. (On the other hand, the statistics of irregularities should not be regarded as being accurate, beyond the purpose for which they have been drawn up.) With each poet, then, general statistics will be given for the minor ionic, the second epitrite, and mild and flagrant irregularities. Limitations of space unfortunately rule out presenting the full poem or

Part_02.fm Page 170 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:48 PM

170

The Strict Metrical Tradition

passage chosen, with annotations indicating every variation. What will be presented is each line containing one of these variations or an irregularity. All other variations will be given in the form of statistics, in the following order: Ch (choriamb, / ∪ ∪ /); Sp (spondee, / /); 3rd E (third epitrite, / / ∪ /); 1st E (first epitrite, ∪ / / /); DiSp (dispondee, / / / /); 4th P (fourth paeon, ∪ ∪ ∪ /); ApPc (appended pyrrhic, ... / ∪ ∪); SpPn (spondee-paeon, / / ∪ ∪ ∪ /). Spondee will indicate a spondee that is either isolated or not clearly cast in one of the canonical figures. The spondee-paeon and the dispondee are the only combinations that will be recorded as such; elsewhere the components will be recorded separately. A canonical figure with anomalies will appear only as an irregularity, mild or flagrant. Further notes and comments will be provided where called for. note on pronunciation Words stressed or pronounced in a manner unfamiliar to the modern reader will usually be noted at the end of the passage, under the heading Stressings to be Noted. But two classes of cases can be covered here in advance, under these general statements. 1 Until the middle of the 18th century (that is, up to and including Gray), verbal endings in -ed (past) must be sounded, unless otherwise marked. Thus, in Sidney’s opening sonnet, dribbed in line 1 will have two syllables, dribbèd, whereas forc’d in line 7 will obviously have only one syllable. From Cowper on, poets follow the modern approach (even though they still sometimes mark a silent ’d). An exception is Keats, who keeps to the earlier system: with him -ed is always sounded. 2 In the earlier part of the whole period, prepositions of two syllables, like without and into, are stressed according to the demands of the metrical context (though the “stressed” syllable may in fact carry only a half-stress). This convenience-stressing of disyllabic prepositions will be assumed without comment, up to the end of chapter 2. From then on, no general assumption of this kind is possible, and every unusual case will be noted. (In fact, it is not until chapters 4 and 5 that the question arises again.) silent alterations to the text Silent alterations will be the same as those made in the texts of Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, and Wordsworth in Part One.

chap_10.fm Page 171 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

10 The Renaissance

The poets chosen for the Renaissance are Spenser (1552–99), Sidney (1554–86), Marlowe (1564–93), Donne (1572–1631), and Ben Jonson (1572–1637). Though their role in founding the strict metrical tradition was explored at some length in the General Introduction, Sidney and Spenser will be treated here uniformly with the other three poets.

sidney poems examined: Astrophil and Stella When the six “sonnets” in hexameters (nos 1, 6, 8, 76, 77, 102) and the interspersed songs are excluded, one is left with 102 pure sonnets: 1428 lines. (There is too little else that is appropriately representative of Sidney’s mature technique in iambic pentameter to be worth adding to this, the obvious sample.) Average frequency of the four “indicators,” per 75 lines:1 minor ionic 3.2 second epitrite 4.2 mild irregularities 1.3 flagrant irregularities 1.1 As Ringler explains in his “Commentary” (447–57), Astrophil and Stella evidently started out as a single original manuscript by Sidney, of which a single original copy was made; from this copy three intermediate copies

chap_10.fm Page 172 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

172

The Strict Metrical Tradition

were made at different times and with varying degrees of accuracy. All of these are now lost. What survive are seven manuscripts and seven early printed versions, some very corrupt, and all deriving from one or the other of the intermediate copies. Under these circumstances, Ringler remarks (456) that “we cannot expect to recover more than traces of [Sidney’s] original spelling and punctuation,” but that “his original wording can be reconstructed with considerable precision,” in view of the “high average of verbal accuracy” evident in two of the intermediate copies. With Sidney, then, there is no question of using a contemporary edition, least of all the unauthorized and very corrupt first edition of 1591. We must use Ringler’s definitive, reconstructed text, pretty confident that we have Sidney’s words before us, but cautious in leaning on spelling and punctuation as clues regarding variations. (The lack of a wholly reliable text must not be allowed to rule out examination of Astrophil and Stella, one of the two fountainheads of the tradition of the strict iambic pentameter.) Under the guidelines established for Part Two, what is called for is a set of five sonnets, preferably consecutive, making up 70 lines. I think it best to pass over the earlier sonnets, say the first 28 or so, since (as I pointed out in my General Introduction) Sidney quite frequently reverts in them to an earlier approach to the problem of the monosyllabic adjective.2 If we move on, then, the first reasonably representative set in terms of the four indicators is to be found in sonnets 33–37. Minor ionics3 Where Cupid is sworne page to Chastity? Listen then Lordings with good eare to me, Rich in all beauties which man’s eye can see: Which make the patents of true worldly blisse, Second epitrites A burthned hart. ‘How can words ease, which are Stella’s great powrs, that so confuse my mind. What may words say, or what may words not say, Rich in all beauties which man’s eye can see: There are no difficulties here. Mild irregularities In the choriamb at 37.3 Listen then Lordings with good eare to me,

35.8 37.3 37.6 37.13

34.2 34.14 35.1 37.6

chap_10.fm Page 173 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

173

The Renaissance

there is an intonational boundary at c, a boundary one degree stronger than what emerged in Part One (a phonological boundary) as the accepted maximum. But the fact that the corresponding boundary after Lordings functions as the caesura tends to smooth over the earlier boundary. Flagrant irregularities A trochee-choriamb (/ ∪ / ∪ ∪ /), with its double inversion, would in any case be classed as a flagrant irregularity, but, in the case at 36.1, Stella, whence doth this new assault arise, there is the additional complication of raised stress-levels in the subordinate syllables of the choriamb, doth this. One notices, though, that the tensions generated in the 6-syllable figure are resolved by the end of the line in two crystal-clear iambs. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 14 5 10

1st E 12

DiSp –

4th P 4

Ap Pc –

SpPn 1

Further remarks Several choriambs should perhaps be commented on even though they involve no real difficulty. The one at 36.13, Long since forc’d by thy beames, but stone nor tree opens somewhat abruptly, being preceded by only a phonological boundary. The choriambs at 33.7, No force, no fraud, robd thee of thy delight, and 37.8, Abase her praise, saying she doth excell: both close rather weakly, but this weakness is firmly remedied in both cases in the deferred close. And syllable 3 of the choriamb is heavy enough in the cases at 37.7 and 37.11, Beauties so farre from reach of words, that we Rich in those gifts which give th’eternall crowne; to produce a virtual second epitrite; but there is no sense of strain.

spenser All other verse-samples in this study (parts I and II) are taken from poems written only in iambic pentameter. An exception must be made with Spenser’s Faerie Queene, the other fountainhead of the tradition, since it switches to a hexameter (an “Alexandrine”) for the closing line

chap_10.fm Page 174 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

174

The Strict Metrical Tradition

of every stanza. This closing line of each stanza will be ignored in the following analysis. passages examined: 4 The Faerie Queene Book 1 Canto 1 2 3 2 Canto 1 2 3 Canto 1 2 4 Canto 1

complete stanzas 1–10 1–10 stanzas 1–30 1–10 stanzas 1–10 1–10 stanzas 1–10

440 iambic pentameter lines 80 80 240 80 80 80 80

Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 3.6 second epitrite 1 mild irregularities .4 flagrant irregularities .2 Canto 1 of Book 1, as was pointed out in the General Introduction, seems to show Spenser in the very process of perfecting his method regarding variations.5 As with Sidney it therefore seems best to move on – say to the opening of Book 2. Stanzas 1–10, up to the convenient break at the end of stanza 10, yield 80 iambic pentameter lines that turn out to be suitably representative. Books 1–3 were published in 1590; but it is the edition of 1596, equally authoritative and reliable, and the first edition with all six books, that has been conveniently reprinted in facsimile (Scolar Press, 1976). Books 1–3 are virtually the same in both editions (Spenser himself made a few slight changes). It happens that the very passage chosen here is marred by two significant printing errors in the 1596 edition. One of these errors is immaterial with respect to our purpose;6 the other interferes with one of the minor ionics, and will be noted accordingly. Stressings to be noted / 6.1: upright (as always in The Faerie Queene) Minor ionics His practick wit, and his faire filed tong, For to all good he enimy was still.

3.6 5.5

chap_10.fm Page 175 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

175

The Renaissance

And ever with slow pace the knight did lead, And with faire countenance and flattring stile,7 When that lewd ribauld with vyle lust advaunst

7.8 8.5 10.3

Second epitrites Least his long way his aged limbes should tire: Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 6 7 2

1st E 2

DiSp –

4th P 4

7.5

Ap Pc 4

SpPn 1

There are no irregularities and no difficulties.

marlowe Marlowe’s translations of Ovid’s Elegies are believed to be among his earliest work; at any rate they cannot be safely included in the strict tradition we are concerned with. On the other hand, his translation of the First Book of Lucan’s Pharsalia may well belong to the same period as Hero and Leander, since the manuscripts of both works seem to have kept company after Marlowe’s death.8 poems examined: Hero and Leander, Cantos 1 and 2: 818 lines. Bk 1 of Lucan’s Pharsalia, 1–120 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 2.6 second epitrite 1.1 mild irregularities .8 flagrant irregularities .4 The opening of Hero and Leander, Canto 1, lines 5–76,9 forms a convenient passage of 72 lines that is eminently characteristic, metrically. Hero and Leander was first printed by Blount in 1598, five years after Marlowe’s death; and that same year a new edition was printed by Linley, incorporating Chapman’s continuation of the poem. In his Textual Introduction to the poem Fredson Bowers remarks that “the total body of evidence suggests the happy probability that Marlowe’s [text] was set from holograph” (Complete Works, 2.428). Bowers goes on to remark on the relative “correctness” of this printed text. It is therefore with a moderate degree of confidence that one takes up this first and only authoritative edition10 of Hero and Leander (reprinted by Johnson Reprint Corp. & Folger Shakespeare Library, 1972).11

chap_10.fm Page 176 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

176

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Minor ionics That my slacke muse, sings of Leanders eies. Of his owne shadow, and despising many,

72 75

Second epitrites Those with sweet water oft her handmaid fils, There is no difficulty here.

35

Mild irregularities The clean deceptive choriamb at line 21 presents no difficulty: Many would praise the sweet smell as she past, Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 15 2 6

1st E 6

DiSp –

4th P 5

Ap Pc 2

SpPn 2

Further remarks Several of the many choriambs call for comment. The one at line 18 is somewhat abrupt but gives no trouble. There is one at line 28 that could be read iambically, and the one at line 60 could be read as a third epitrite but seems best taken as a choriamb with a half stress on the second syllable, makes. Then there are three cases in which one must choose between a first epitrite and a minor ionic. At line 44 a first epitrite seems necessary, / / / ∪ And with still panting rockt, there tooke his rest. to control the sense of still, transposed from its natural position, and still with panting rockt. The other two cases form a corresponding pair, but my rude pen at line 69 and That my slacke muse at line 72; and one cannot help feeling that both cases were intended to be read in the same manner. On the other hand, the local context seems to demand a first epitrite in the first case, and a minor ionic in the second (as given above).

donne poems examined: 12 Songs and Sonets The Expiration Elegies 5 His Picture 9 The Autumnall

12 20 50

chap_10.fm Page 177 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

177

The Renaissance

16 On his Mistris 56 19 Going to Bed 48 Satyres 3 110 Upon Mr. Thomas Coryats Crudities 76 Letters to Severall Personages The Calme 56 50 To Sr Edward Herbert. at Julyers To Sir H.W. at his going Ambassador to Venice 40 A Letter to the Lady Carey 63 An Anatomie of the World To the Praise of the Dead 48 The First Anniversarie to 250 Of the Progresse of the Soule The Second Anniversarie to 250 Elegie upon the untimely death of . . . Prince Henry 98 Divine Poems Holy Sonnets (1633) 1–12 168 Holy Sonnets (added in 1635) 1–4 56 Goodfriday, 1613. Riding Westward. 42 Hymne to God my God, in my sicknesse 30 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 6.4 second epitrite 3.7 mild irregularities 3.0 flagrant irregularities 3.0 It is peculiarly important with Donne to have a reliable text, because the metrical irregularities that are one of the trademarks of his verse are sensitive to details of spelling and punctuation. Nearly all his poems remained unpublished until after his death; and unfortunately neither the editions that were then published nor sundry contemporary manuscripts that include poems of his are trustworthy with respect to these details. The need for accuracy and the fact of this untrustworthiness were shown up by the discovery in 1970 of the original manuscript of his “Letter to the Lady Carey, and Mistress Essex Rich, from Amiens.” A.J. Smith remarks of the manuscript, “the striking difference between Donne’s copy and any other version is in the punctuation. Donne pointed the poem far more meticulously and subtly than his scribes and editors convey, so as to control its movement and intonation.”13

chap_10.fm Page 178 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

178

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Wouldn’t this unique holograph manuscript be an ideal choice for Donne, then? The answer is that it would be only too convenient, in the context of the present study. Though bold in its use of elision, it is relatively traditional in terms of stress-variations and not metrically provocative enough to be representative of the whole of Donne. (It is also rather short, at 63 lines.) Fortunately there are a few other pieces that are textually reliable. During his lifetime Donne saw through publication two of his most ambitious poems, An Anatomie of the World and Of the Progresse of the Soule (his two “Anniversaries”).14 It is true that the metrical irregularities typical of Donne tend to be somewhat infrequent in these Anniversaries, too; but given the length of the poems one at least has the advantage of being able to select something suitable. The “First Anniversary” offers such a passage in lines 309–86 (78 lines). The text used here is the first edition of An Anatomie of the World (1611), reprinted in facsimile by the Roxburghe Club, 1951, partly from Geoffrey Keynes’s copy and partly from the Huntington Library copy.15 Stressings to be noted ∪∨ 309, 318, 333, 341: proportion16 / 349: sometimes (as is often the case with poets of the period) Minor ionics Examin’d, measure of all Symmetree, 310 Is discord, and rude incongruitee, 324 Shee, shee is dead, shee’s dead; when thou knowst this, 325 When nature was most busie, the first weeke, 347 Shee, shee is dead; shee’s dead: when thou knowst this, 369 376 Or with bought colors to illude mens sense. 382 In the due birth-time, downe the balmy showre. To hatch her seasons, and give all things birth. 384 In the case at line 347 another minor ionic is possible before the one marked: When nature was most busie, the first weeke, On the other hand, the last case (line 383) might almost equally well be read iambically, with a slight stress on and. But these options present no difficulties.

chap_10.fm Page 179 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

179

The Renaissance

Second epitrites All the worlds parts of such complexion bee. And color is decayd: summers robe growes Being all color, all Diaphanous, Nor in ought more this worlds decay appeares,

346 355 366 377

Mild irregularities The dispondee (/ / / /) at line 370, Thou knowst how wan a Ghost this our world is: is fractured by noticeable boundaries not at b but instead at a and c. The disruptiveness of this arrangement can, however, be felt to be largely mitigated by the isolation and clear close of the whole figure, as a 2-foot dispondee. There is perhaps some question regarding the stress on our. If that stress is lowered the figure becomes a second epitrite, similarly disrupted, and with the same mitigation of the disruptive effect. Flagrant irregularities The choriamb at line 335 (Since most men be such as most thinke they bee) seems at first sight to be preceded neither by a properly closed foot nor an adequate boundary. But Donne’s intention, unquestionably, is that the significance of the main verb, be, should be fully appreciated. When that verb is given its due, and the complement that follows is felt as such, one feels both the meaning and the metre sharpening into clarity and control. The irregularity can then be said to be accommodated, at least to a degree; but the attention needed to accommodate it, though serving an important purpose, then takes its place as the irregularity, in the strict tradition. (The fairly full stress on the second most, edging the figure towards a second epitrite, does not materially compound the problem.) Then there are two quite similar cases, in each of which a pyrrhic or near-pyrrhic is followed without a distinct boundary by a radical variation (in the first case by a second epitrite, in the second by a choriamb): 334 To satisfie wise, and good lookers on, 383 Th’Ayre doth not motherly sit on the earth, In the first case some slight stress on -fie and an intervening phonological boundary serve to mitigate the problem somewhat. With no such stress and a lesser boundary, the second case is indeed flagrantly irregular. Finally, there is a weakly-closed minor ionic at line 354: Yet sight hath onely color to feed on,

chap_10.fm Page 180 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

180

The Strict Metrical Tradition

It would be a lame minor ionic indeed were it not that the demands of rhyme bolster the closing syllable to some extent. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 12 1 3

1st E 10

DiSp 1

4th P 2

Ap Pc 7

SpPn 1

ben jonson poems examined: Epigrams 101 Inviting a Friend To Supper 102 To William, Earl of Pembroke The Forest 2 To Penshurst 10 “And must I sing?” 12 Epistle to Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland 13 Epistle. To Katherine, Lady Aubigny 15 To Heaven Underwoods 13 An Epistle to Sir Edward Sackville 14 “ “ “ Master John Selden 15 “ “ “ a Friend . . . Wars 18 An Elegy 30 An Epigram on William, Lord Burleigh 33 An Epigram to the Councillor . . . 37 An Epistle to a Friend 38 An Elegy 40 “ “ 41 “ “ 42 “ “ 47 An Epistle Answering to One . . . Miscellaneous Poems To the Memory . . . Shakespeare Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 7.6 second epitrite 2.1 mild irregularities 1.3 flagrant irregularities .9

42 lines 20 102 30 100 124 26 to 58 86 to 58 24 20 40 33 to 52 50 22 88 78 80

chap_10.fm Page 181 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

181

The Renaissance

The poem on Shakespeare is the obvious choice: it is the only metrically representative piece of a suitable length (80 lines) that is also familiar. This poem was first printed in the “First Folio” of Shakespeare, 1623. The text used is that of the facsimile reprint by Yale University Press, 1954, of the Yale University Elizabethan Club’s copy. In the First Folio, Jonson’s poem was set in italic throughout, with the proper names in roman. For the convenience of the reader that system will be here reversed, with the basic text in roman and the proper names in italic. Stressings to be noted / ∪ 43: was not / 62: himselfe17 Minor ionics ’Tis true, and all mens suffrage. But these wayes Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lye A little further, to make thee a roome: And though thou hadst small Latine, and lesse Greeke, He was not of an age, but for all time! For a good Poet’s made, as well as borne. (2 cases) In his well torned, and true filed lines: And despaires day, but for thy Volumes light. The last case is exceptional in bridging juncture b in the figure.

5 20 21 31 43 64 68 80

Second epitrites And despaires day, but for thy Volumes light. (The context calls for emphasis on thy.)

80

Mild irregularities The abrupt choriamb at line 13, preceded by only a clitic boundary, nevertheless gives no trouble: These are, as some infamous Baud, or Whore, A combination of several seemingly innocuous factors in the choriamb at line 23, And art alive still, while thy Booke doth live,

chap_10.fm Page 182 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

182

The Strict Metrical Tradition

– namely, the fact of being preceded by no more than a phonological boundary, and of following up a break at a with some stress on syllable 2 (while) – gives the figure a somewhat odd movement that is clearly intentional. A first epitrite reading is possible, though I think not as convincing: / ∪/ / And art alive still, while thy Booke doth live, Besides, it would involve the irregularity of a punctuated break at c in the figure. Flagrant irregularities A trochee-choriamb occurs at line 60: / ∪ / ∪ ∪ / (Such as thine are) and strike the second heat The flagrant opposition of the successive trochees to the iambic movement can be felt to the full. But Jonson has unquestionably gone to some lengths to ensure that this manoeuvre is not misconstrued. For one thing he has imbedded it in a context of half a dozen lines of crystal-clear iambic feet. Above all, though, he has carefully isolated the two successive trochees (/ ∪) within parentheses, before resolving them in a clear iamb. Thus, he acknowledges the rhythmical irregularity of the manoeuvre, while at the same time presenting it for inspection. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 7 3 4

1st E –

DiSp –

4th P 3

Ap Pc 1

SpPn –

Further remarks The choriamb at line 40 opens somewhat abruptly but cannot be said to give trouble. (Actually it could be read iambically.) What do these passages show when the quoted lines are seen in the perspective of the remaining lines (which must be understood to be varied only with unexceptionable choriambs and simple figures)? It would of course be very surprising if Sidney and Spenser had turned out, upon examination of representative samples of their verse, not to conform to the tradition they are supposed to have founded. In fact, they clearly fit the picture established in Part One, as does Marlowe. One raises an eyebrow only at the flagrant irregularity that

chap_10.fm Page 183 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

183

The Renaissance

turned up in Sidney – a trochee-choriamb with the additional strain of partially-stressed subordinate syllables in the choriamb. What this case shows, I think, is the still slightly rough-hewn state of the fringe of his freshly worked-out canon of variations; in other words, of the bolder uses of inversion. One notices that Donne and Ben Jonson share a fondness for the minor ionic, employing it much more frequently than the poets of the preceding generation. But in doing this they are working decidedly within the new metrical tradition. We are left with the one serious question that arises in these passages, the question of Donne’s four flagrant irregularities. Elsewhere in the passage (barring one mild irregularity) Donne employs canonical figures in a traditional manner. And it will be remembered that these four flagrant irregularities are in fact central, canonical figures (two choriambs, a second epitrite, and a minor ionic), rendered uncharacteristic and not readily recognizable as such through the treatment of the opening or the close. What we see, then, is Donne keeping to the figures of the strict tradition but occasionally dispensing with some of their sensitive points of detail.

chap_11.fm Page 184 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

11 The Interregnum and the Restoration

The poets chosen for this period are Waller (1607–87), Marvell (1621–78), Vaughan (1622–95), and Dryden (1631–1700).

wa l l e r poems examined: Of the Danger His Majesty (being Prince) Escaped . . . 170 To the Queen, Occasioned upon Sight . . . 62 Upon His Majesty’s Repairing of Paul’s 64 Upon Ben Jonson 32 At Penshurst (“Had Sacharissa lived”) 32 The Battle of the Summer Islands 222 Of the Queen 70 A Panegyric to my Lord Protector 188 To the King, upon His Majesty’s Happy Return 120 Instructions to a Painter 336 Of Divine Love, Canto 1 54 Of the Last Verses in the Book 18 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 5 second epitrite 2.5 mild irregularities .5 flagrant irregularities – Waller’s verse varies rather widely in terms of these indicators. The poem that stands out as being suitable in most other respects and met-

chap_11.fm Page 185 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

185

The Interregnum and the Restoration

rically representative is A Panegyric to my Lord Protector, in particular lines 21–96 (76 lines). The only drawback with this choice is that the poem is unavailable in a convenient reprint. The text used here is a microfilm of the 1st edition (1655) by University Microfilms International, 1978, p. 4, line 7 to p. 6, line 2.1 Minor ionics Heav’n, that has plac’d this Island to give Lawe, By the rude Ocean from the Continent, Of her own Growth has all that Nature craves, France conqu’ring Henry flourisht, and now You Whom the old Roman wall so ill confin’d, With a new chain of Garisons you bind,

4.7 [21] 4.12 [26] 4.37 [51] 5.16 [70] 5.31 [85] 5.32 [86]

Second epitrites Here the third Edward, and the Black Prince too, When for more Worlds the Macedonian cry’de, Bin, from all ages, kept, for you to tame,

5.15 [69] 5.19 [73] 5.30 [84]

Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 18 2 7

1st E 4

DiSp –

4th P 5

Ap Pc 4

SpPn 3

marvell poems examined: To his Noble Friend Mr. Richard Lovelace . . . Upon the Death of the Lord Hastings The Fair Singer Musicks Empire Fleckno, an English Priest at Rome Tom May’s Death The Character of Holland The First Anniversary of the Government under O.C. On the Victory Obtained by Blake . . . A Poem upon the Death of O.C. On Mr. Milton’s Paradise Lost The Last Instructions to a Painter Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 6.8 second epitrite 2.2

50 60 18 24 170 100 152 to 98 to 124 to 178 54 to 104

chap_11.fm Page 186 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

186

The Strict Metrical Tradition

mild irregularities 1.7 flagrant irregularities .5 Like Waller, Marvell varies his metrical style quite widely in terms of these four indicators, so that a passage has to be chosen with care if it is to be representative. But with Marvell one is working under further constraints. Few of the poems for which he is now remembered are in iambic pentameter; and, of those that are, several cannot be ascribed with certainty to his pen, and several present difficulties regarding a suitable text. A piece that is generally suitable is the opening section (lines 1–184) of his poem on the death of Oliver Cromwell, the section that was printed in the 1st edition of his Miscellaneous Poems (1681) under the supervision of Mary Marvell (really Mary Palmer) shortly after his death.2 The opening lines might have done, but slightly more representative is the passage 79–156 (77 lines). The text used is a copy of the 1st edition in the British Museum, reprinted by Scolar Press in 1969, p. 142, line 9, to p. 144, line 10. Minor ionics 142.35 [105] Or the great World do by consent presage, First the great Thunder was shot off, and sent 143.5 [113] Or of huge Trees, whose growth with his did rise, 143.11 [119] In their own Griefs might find themselves imploy’d; 144.4 [150] 144.7 [153] And the last minute his victorious Ghost Second epitrites So the dry Stock, no more that spreading Vine, First the great Thunder was shot off, and sent

142.29 [99] 143.5 [113]

Mild irregularities The foot preceding the choriamb at line 143.24 [132], The Universe labour’d beneath their load. closes on a lightly-stressed syllable (-verse), and the intervening boundary can be regarded as no more than phonological. But these features between them provide at least moderate preparation for the choriamb. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 13 5 9

1st E 4

DiSp –

4th P 6

Ap Pc 2

SpPn 2

chap_11.fm Page 187 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

187

The Interregnum and the Restoration

va u g h a n poems examined: Poems, with the Tenth Satyre of Juvenal Englished A Rhapsodie To Amoret Weeping Olor Iscanus The Charnel-house In Amicum fœneratorem To his Friend– To his Retired Friend . . . An Elegie on the Death of Mr. R.W. . . . Upon Mr. Fletchers Playes . . . Upon the Poems and Playes of . . . Mr. William Cartwright To my Learned Friend, Mr. T. Powell . . . To Sir William D’avenant . . . Silex Scintillans Isaacs Marriage The Lampe Rules and Lessons H. Scriptures The Tempest Mount of Olives (“When first I saw”) Ascension-day The Palm-tree Love-sick The Timber The Rain-bow The Hidden Treasure Jacobs Pillow, and Pillar Thalia Rediviva To his Learned Friend and Loyal Fellow-Prisoner . . . The King Disguis’d The Eagle To Mr. M.L. . . . To the Pious Memorie of C.W. Esquire . . . In Zodiacum Marcelli Palingenii To Lysimachus . . . On Sir Thomas Bodley’s Library . . . The Importunate Fortune . . .

to 50 58 66 52 68 to 54 to 54 58 42 42 48 72 26 to 102 14 4 + 44 26 56 28 22 56 42 34 54 48 50 58 32 to 56 30 42 54 to 52

chap_11.fm Page 188 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

188

The Strict Metrical Tradition

To J. Morgan of White-Hall Esq. . . . 44 To Etesia Looking from her Casement . . . 22 Pious Thoughts and Ejaculations To his Books 26 Daphnis: An Elegiac Eclogue to 50 Flores Solitudinis Primitive Holiness 56 + 38 St. Paulinus to his Wife, Therasia to 58 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 7.7 second epitrite 2.7 mild irregularities 2.6 flagrant irregularities 1.6 “The Timber” would be the obvious choice from Vaughan – the one well-known poem of his in iambic pentameter, and one that also comes from his best-known work, Silex Scintillans. But several factors weigh against it. It is not available in a convenient reprint and is rather short at 56 lines. The decisive factor is that it has a quite disproportionate number of flagrant irregularities, in addition to a disproportionate number of minor ionics. Much more representative, from Silex Scintillans, is “Isaacs Marriage” (72 lines), which also has the advantage of being included in the Scolar Press facsimile reprint (1968) of the first edition of Silex (1650), the text used here. Stressings to be noted / 23: Retinue /∪∨ 21.18 [48]: pinions / ∪ 21.19 [49]: wearied Minor ionics Praying! and to be married? It was rare, But now ’tis monstrous; and that pious care Unto thy God, for Marriage of all states Makes most unhappy, or most fortunates; Thy soule, and with new pinions refresh Didst thy swift years in piety out-grow,

1 2 21.15 [45] 21.16 [46] 21.18 [48] 21.38 [68]

chap_11.fm Page 189 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

189

The Interregnum and the Restoration

Second epitrites Very strange stuffe wherewith to court thy lasse, Up in one cloud, and so returnes the skies First, a young Patriarch, then a marry’d Saint. Note, in the last case, that the i in Patriarch is elided.

12 21.31 [61] 22.4 [72]

Mild irregularities The choriamb in the opening line Praying! and to be married? It was rare, may seem to close very weakly. But this infinitive is no doubt intended to stand out as a category or label, To be Married, with some strengthening of its opening word to. And, to whatever extent the choriamb remains improperly closed, this weakness is taken care of by the following iamb (be marr-), which conducts the figure firmly to a deferred close. A second epitrite with a punctuated break at the last juncture would normally be highly disconcerting. But the example at 21.3 [33] All was plaine, modest truth: Nor did she come is only slightly disconcerting – the comma signifying and, rather than a break. Flagrant irregularities The trochee-choriamb (/ ∪ / ∪ ∪ /) at 21.33 [63] Thus soar’d thy soul, who (though young,) didst inherit is disconcerting because its components are disguised, with the further slight disguise of a feminine ending (-rit). However, that fact of a feminine ending being allowed for, the extent of the figure is pretty plainly shown up. Disconcerting, too, is the third epitrite (/ / ∪ /) with weak close at line 11, enjambed across the line-ending into a second epitrite (shown in bold type) at the opening of the next line: But being for a bride, sure, prayer was Very strange stuffe wherewith to court thy lasse, On the one hand, however, the weak syllable was is bolstered by rhyme (even though it is only half-rhyme – lasse). And the whole package is carefully prefigured two couplets earlier: ∪ \ Thy flames could not be out; Religion was / / ∪ \ ∪ / Ray’d into thee, like beames into a glasse,

chap_11.fm Page 190 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

190

The Strict Metrical Tradition

What with the weak close on was, the enjambment into a robust variation opening the next line, and the very same sound for the halfrhyme, the parallels are close. This first time what is weakly closed is merely an iamb, and the variation opening the next line is also less critical than a second epitrite (in effect a spondee-paeon). Thus, the reader has been prepared, so as to grasp the metrical intention in the couplet that follows two lines later. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 9 3 7

1st E 7

DiSp –

4th P 5

Ap Pc 5

SpPn 1

Further remarks At line 16 we are almost given a spondee, broken at its midpoint: / / New sev’rall oathes, and Complements (too) plenty; In fact, the aside (too) is slightly subordinated in stress to the closing beat-syllable plen-, and one is also carried firmly on to that close on plenty, so that the potential disruption is largely smoothed away. Though the choriamb at line 23 Retinue; All was here smooth as thy bride is preceded only by a phonological boundary, the effect is not unduly disconcerting.

dryden poems examined: to 150 Astræa Redux To my Honor’d Friend Dr. Charleton 58 to 500 Absalom and Achitophel 217 MacFlecknoe to 251 Religio Laici Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 2.2 second epitrite 1.1 mild irregularities .1 flagrant irregularities .1 Absalom and Achitophel is an obvious choice, and one that was printed in an authoritative first edition (Folio, 1681). The opening, however, is unrepresentative of Dryden, metrically: minor ionics and second

chap_11.fm Page 191 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:49 PM

191

The Interregnum and the Restoration

epitrites, never common in Dryden, are here unusually rare. The 73line verse paragraph, 218–90, is much more representative in this respect. The text used is the Scolar Press reprint (1970) of the 1681 Folio, p. 8, line 5, to p. 10, line 12. Minor ionics (2 cases) Till thy fresh Glories, which now shine so bright, 8.23 [236] Those heaps of People which one Sheaf did bind, 9.20 [265] Mild irregularities The heavy second syllable in the choriamb at 8.15 [228], Thee, Saviour, Thee, the Nations Vows confess; presents no problem, but one would expect the break at c to do so. In fact, the disruption is largely smoothed away, as we are carried across the apostrophised Saviour (and the breaks setting it off) to the second Thee, to pause at the stronger caesural break that follows. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 7 4 11

1st E 1

DiSp –

4th P 8

Ap Pc 2

SpPn 1

As measured by the four indicators we are using, the poets in this chapter fall pretty clearly into two camps. One the one hand, there are Marvell and Vaughan, who together are notable in perpetuating Donne’s and Ben Jonson’s fondness for the minor ionic, while Vaughan goes some way toward following Donne also in experimenting with irregularities. Of the two flagrant irregularities in Vaughan’s piece, one is indeed reminiscent of Donne’s irregularities in being a canonical variation (a third epitrite) with several anomalies in the treatment of the close. The other is if anything even more disconcerting, as it is a figure on the fringe of the canon, the trochee-choriamb, further removed by touches of disguise. However, the integrity of the strict tradition can hardly be said to be brought into question by these two irregularities. On the other hand, Waller can be seen marking out a new path, that of clarifying the strict tradition by keeping to indisputably canonical figures and excluding irregularities. And Dryden then pursues that path further, by also bringing the two hallmark figures, the minor ionic and the second epitrite, under severe control, in the frequency of their use.

chap_12.fm Page 192 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

12 The Eighteenth Century

The poets chosen for the eighteenth century are Thomson (1700–48), Johnson (1709–84), Gray (1716–71), and Cowper (1731–1800).

thomson poems examined: The Seasons Spring, 1–400 Summer, 1–300 Winter, 1–264 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 3.1 second epitrite 2.5 mild irregularities .2 flagrant irregularities – The opening series of verse paragraphs of “Spring,” up to line 75, offers a convenient passage that is fairly representative of Thomson, except only in containing two deceptive choriambs, where in a passage of this length it would be surprising to find even one. But, since the other passages from the eighteenth century will turn out to present no irregularities at all, these two cases can do duty for the whole century, as far as irregularities are concerned. The text used is the first edition of The Seasons (London, 1730), reprinted by Scolar Press, 1970.

chap_12.fm Page 193 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

193

The Eighteenth Century

Stressings to be noted / ∨ 41: Meanwhile (probably) /∪∨ ∪ 63: delicacies Minor ionics And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud, That thy own season paints; when Nature all And the bright Bull receives him. Then no more To the full Roman court, in all its height

2 9 27 56

Second epitrites Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets Lifts the light clouds sublime, and spreads them thin, Winds the whole work, and sidelong lays the glebe.

20 30 43

Mild irregularities The two deceptive choriambs, 17 The mountains lift their green heads to the sky. And sing their wild notes to the listening waste. 25 though classed as mild irregularities, are of course canonical in their way. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 10 – 7

1st E 2

DiSp 10

4th P 7

Ap Pc 5

SpPn –

johnson poems examined: 263 London 368 The Vanity of Human Wishes Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic .7 second epitrite 1.2 mild irregularities – flagrant irregularities – One would like to choose a passage from The Vanity of Human Wishes. It happens that, while the first half of the poem has quite a number of minor ionics and second epitrites (by Johnson’s standards), the

chap_12.fm Page 194 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

194

The Strict Metrical Tradition

second half is almost devoid of them. Lines 175–254, however, offer a generally representative passage of 80 lines. The text used is the copy of the 1st edition (1749) in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, reprinted in facsimile by the Augustan Reprint Society (1950), p. 15, line 11, to the end of p. 20. Stressings to be noted / 15.13 [177]: gazette’s Minor ionics No Dangers fright him, and no Labours tire;

17.2 [194]

Second epitrites Tries the dread Summits of Cesarean Pow’r,

20.2 [242]

Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 1 9 7

1st E 1

DiSp –

4th P 8

Ap Pc 4

SpPn –

g r ay Since the famous Elegy is only 128 lines, and most of Gray’s other work in iambic pentameter consists of short pieces, one has to look at pretty well every eligible piece. poems examined: Poems published in Gray’s lifetime Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard On Lord Holland’s Seat near Margate

128 24

Posthumous poems Sonnet on the Death of Richard West Hymn to Ignorance The Alliance of Education and Government Stanzas to Mr. Bentley Epitaph on a Child Epitaph on Sir William Williams Verses from Shakespeare

14 37 107 25 6 12 24

chap_12.fm Page 195 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

195

The Eighteenth Century

Epitaph on Mrs. Mason 4 Tophet 8 Invitation to Mason 8 Couplet about Birds 2 Parody on an Epitaph 3 Lines Spoken by the Ghost of John Dennis . . . 51 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic .7 second epitrite 1.0 mild irregularities .5 flagrant irregularities – Gray is included only for the sake of his Elegy; and even the Elegy is not long enough to give much room for manoeuvre. The earlier part of the poem, up to line 76 or 80, is not representative, for, though Gray is always sparing in his use of minor ionics and second epitrites (and almost excludes irregularities altogether), this part contains not even one of these variations. The opening and closing sections (excluding the Epitaph), three and six stanzas respectively, would be awkward to break up. Fortunately the whole central part of the poem, lines 13–92 (80 lines), is quite representative, on the strength of including just one second epitrite. The text used is T.J. Wise’s copy of the first edition (London, 1751), reprinted in facsimile by Oxford Clarendon Press, 1927. Second epitrites Left the warm Precincts of the chearful Day, Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 8 – 6

1st E 6

DiSp –

4th P 14

9.15 [87]

Ap Pc 7

SpPn 1

cowper passages examined: Retirement The Task, Bk 1 The Task, Bk 2 The Task, Bk 3 The Task, Bk 4 The Task, Bk 6

to 168 to 180 to 254 1–40, 108–90 1–35, 120–428 57–117

chap_12.fm Page 196 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

196

The Strict Metrical Tradition

On the Receipt of my Mother’s Picture . . . 121 Yardley Oak to 109 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 3.5 second epitrite .4 mild irregularities .3 flagrant irregularities .06 The obvious choice would be something from Cowper’s magnum opus, The Task; and it happens that one of the best known passages, Bk 3, lines 108–90, is reasonably suitable in length (83 lines) and reasonably representative, metrically. The Task was first printed in 1785 as vol. 2 of a new edition of Cowper’s Poems. The text used is a copy in the Cambridge University Library, reprinted in facsimile by Scolar Press in 1973, p. 96, line 19, to p. 101, line 2. Minor ionics With the vain stir. I sum up half mankind, To the sharp peak of her sublimest height, Great contest follows, and much learned dust A thousand systems, each in his own way, To a sharp reck’ning that has lived in vain, Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 5 3 8

1st E –

DiSp –

4th P 4

98.1 [130] 99.8 [157] 99.12 [161] 100.2 [171] 100.10 [179]

Ap Pc 14

SpPn 1

Again we see the poets, in terms of the four indicators, falling into two camps or streams. Johnson and Gray continue on the path marked out by Waller and Dryden, their distinctive touch being a further severe curtailment in the use of the minor ionic, to the point of allowing the second epitrite to be the more frequent figure, though neither is at all frequent. Meanwhile Thomson takes up his position at the beginning of this path; in other words, with Waller. With regard to the minor ionic and second epitrite, this amounts to returning to the original tradition, as for example in the hands of Shakespeare. With regard to irregularities, only the very mildest of them, the almost canonical deceptive choriamb, is countenanced. Much the same can be said of Cowper in the next generation, except that Cowper shows a marked aversion to the second epitrite.

chap_13.fm Page 197 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

13 The Romantics

The poets chosen for this period are Coleridge (1772–1834), Byron (1788–1824), Shelley (1792–1822), and Keats (1795–1821).

coleridge poems examined: The Eolian Harp Reflections on Having Left a Place of Retirement Religious Musings The Destiny of Nations To the Rev. George Coleridge This Lime-tree Bower my Prison Frost at Midnight The Old Man of the Alps Fears in Solitude The Nightingale Lines Written in the Album at Elbingerode Hymn before Sun-rise, in the Vale of Chamouni Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 6.4 second epitrite 2.7 mild irregularities .4 flagrant irregularities .5

64 71 to 197 to 161 74 76 74 137 to 202 110 39 85

chap_13.fm Page 198 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

198

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Of the well-known poems in iambic pentameter, the most representative, metrically, are “Reflections on Having left a Place of Retirement” and “This Lime-tree Bower my Prison” – the former slightly more so. “Reflections” also has the advantage of having been printed in Coleridge’s Poems, 2nd ed., of 1797, whereas “Lime-tree Bower,” though composed in 1797, was not printed in a volume by Coleridge until 1817 (Sybilline Leaves). Nevertheless, the latter poem seems preferable, as the maturer poem. Its length is 76 lines. The text is taken from the copy of Sybilline Leaves (London, 1817) in the Bertrand Davis Collection at the University of Waterloo, 189– 93.1 Minor ionics Wander in gladness, and wind down, perchance, Where its slim trunk the Ash from rock to rock Of the blue clay-stone. Now, my Friends emerge In the great City pent, winning thy way On the wide landscape, gaze till all doth seem Was richly ting’d, and a deep radiance lay Through the late twilight: and though now the Bat My gentle-hearted Charles! when the last Rook Homewards, I blest it! deeming, its black wing

190.6 [20] 190.17 [30] 191.10 [40] 192.2 [52] 192.6 [56] 192.18 [68] 192.20 [70]

Second epitrites Struck with deep joy may stand, as I have stood, Makes their dark branches gleam a lighter hue Beat its straight path along the dusky air (Now a dim speck, now vanishing in light)

191.8 [38] 192.5 [55] 192.19 [69] 192.21 [71]

8 12

Mild irregularities That the deceptive choriamb at 191.4 [34] Shine in the slant beams of the sinking orb is preceded by another choriamb (Shine in the slant) does not affect its ready recognizability. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 13 2 9

1st E 10

DiSp –

4th P –

Ap Pc 3

SpPn 5

chap_13.fm Page 199 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

199

The Romantics

Further remarks Despite the profusion of variations of all kinds, there is no difficulty or awkwardness.

byron poems examined: Childe Harold (iambic pentameter lines) Canto 1 to 88 Canto 2 to 88 Canto 3 to 88 Canto 4 to 88 to 100 The Corsair to 240 Beppo Don Juan Canto 1 to 320 Canto 2 to 120 Canto 3 to 120 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 4.8 second epitrite .9 mild irregularities 1.1 flagrant irregularities .3 In terms of his use of variations, the most basic change in Byron’s verse can be seen in Canto 3 of Childe Harold, where he first introduces the minor ionic and second epitrite to any noticeable degree.2 The other important change, of course, is his adoption of his characteristic mature style in the ottava rima stanza, above all in Don Juan. Ideally our sample would come from this last and most distinctive phase, and indeed from Don Juan. The opening of Canto 1 (excluding the Dedication) presents a nuisance in stanza 3 in the form of lists of French names, the intended stressing of which is not worth arguing over. Passing over the opening stanzas, then, one finds a reasonable starting point at stanza 8, and it turns out that a passage of 80 lines to the end of stanza 18 (omitting stanza 15, because it was suppressed in the first edition) is fairly representative, metrically. The text used is the copy of the first edition of Books 1–2 (London, 1819) at the University of Western Ontario.

chap_13.fm Page 200 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

200

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Stressings to be noted /∪ ∨ 13.7: theorems / / 16.5: personification Minor ionics 9.4 Through the most Gothic gentlemen of Spain; 10.8 In their own way by all the things which she did. She knew the Latin--that is, “the Lord’s prayer,” 13.1 Her guardian angel had given up his garrison; 17.4 As those of the best time-piece made by Harrison: 17.6 (I wonder how they got through the twelve hours) 18.6 A number of features should be noted in these cases, none of which constitutes irregularity: the feminine endings, single (10.8) and double (17.4, 17.6); the elisions pray’r and giv’n (13.1, 17.4); and the hint of stress on the opening syllable through (9.4, 18.6). Mild irregularities The combination at 16.5, appended pyrrhic + spondee, Morality’s grim personification, we found in Part One to be a somewhat awkward and anomalous combination; but there is no real difficulty here. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 8 – –

1st E –

DiSp –

4th P 4

Ap Pc 5

SpPn –

Further remarks Byron’s characteristic toying with conventions is evident in this passage in his treatment of double and triple rhyme. For example, with triple rhyme: / Her favourite science was the mathematical, / Her wit (she sometimes tried at wit) was Attic all, / In short, in all things she was fairly what I call 12.1, 3, 5 (The stress at syllable 10, giving the last beat, is marked.) Here the extra syllables are treated as unstressed – so that call and all, for example, forfeit at least part of their natural stress. The obvious discrepancy be-

chap_13.fm Page 201 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

201

The Romantics

tween the natural and the required stressings then draws attention to the rhyme as a convention. Inevitably the question arises as to whether the metre within the line also falls prey to Byron’s toying with conventions. If, as with double and triple rhyme, the language were shown at times to require unnatural stressing to meet the demands of the metre, how would the reader know when a variation was intended? In this matter Byron evidently treads a fine line. On the one hand, he seems to keep to an iambic alternation where possible. One feels that in nearly all of those places where a spondee might be thought possible, the spondee is “iambicised” instead. The result is that the passage in question is (to my ear) virtually free of spondees. What is more, iambic alternation can be felt to be imposed in one or two cases, as in 12.5: / / In short, in all things she was fairly what I call On the other hand, Byron seems determined not to forfeit the metrical variety offered by the radical variations, especially the choriamb and the minor ionic. The choriamb, in its usual position at the beginning of the line, is too familiar not to be recognized. But it is interesting to see that the minor ionic, a figure often susceptible of being iambicised, emerges clearly enough in this passage. In general Byron seems to ensure that the minor ionic is recognizable simply by using it often enough to establish it as one of his standard metrical tools.

shelley poems examined: Alastor Mont Blanc Julian and Maddalo Ode to the West Wind Letter to Maria Gisborne The Witch of Atlas Epipsychidion Adonais The Triumph of Life Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 9.2 second epitrite 2.4

to 106 144 to 140 70 to 131 to 160 to 129 to 180 to 100

chap_13.fm Page 202 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

202

The Strict Metrical Tradition

mild irregularities 1.8 flagrant irregularities .9 The “Ode to the West Wind” would be an appealing choice, but it contains far too many irregularities to be metrically representative. Of the better known poems, “Mont Blanc” offers perhaps the most convenient passage that is representative, in sections 2 and 3, totalling 72 lines. In this case we cannot use an early edition: the only reliable text is Shelley’s own fair copy, which he left with Byron, and has only recently come to light. It was published by Judith Chernaik and Timothy Burnett in 1978 in the Review of English Studies3 – the text used here – and is printed as an alternate text of the poem in the Longman Annotated edition (1989). Stressings to be noted 13: voicèd 22: charmèd ∪/ ∪ 26: aërial Minor ionics 17 From the ice gulphs that gird his secret throne 30 And its hues wane, doth blend them all and steep To muse on my own various phantasy 38 [36] 42 [40] With the clear universe of things around: A legion of swift thoughts, whose wandering wings 43 [41] Now float above thy darkness, and now rest 44 [42] 45 [44] Near the still cave of the witch Poesy Seeking among the shadows that pass by, 46 [45] 73 [72] Where the old Earthquake demon taught her young Interpret, or make felt, or deeply feel. 84 [83] Note the elision wand’ring in line 43, and the familiar variant of opening with a touch of stress on Near in line 45. Two further minor ionics are mentioned below. Mild irregularities There are two are minor ionics that are checked but not really disrupted by a boundary at c that seems best classed as phonological: Near the still cave of the witch Poesy 45 [44] And the wolf watches her--how hideously 70 [69]

chap_13.fm Page 203 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

203

The Romantics

And at line 77 [76] an appended pyrrhic is followed by a fourth paeon, ∪ ∪ ∪ / (or possibly a choriamb), with an intervening boundary that could be regarded as no more than phonological: This wilderness has a mysterious tongue None of these cases can be said to present noticeable difficulty. More awkward is the deceptive choriamb in line 15: Fast cloud shadows and sunbeams--awful scene, Despite Shelley’s articulation one inevitably inclines toward hyphenating cloud-shadows, with the result that the choriamb opens both deceptively and weakly.4 However, the preceding spondee (Fast cloud) helps to shore up that weakness, somewhat in the manner of a spondeepaeon (/ / ∪ ∪ ∪ /). Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 15 8 9

1st E 2

DiSp –

4th P 5

Ap Pc 8

SpPn 2

k e at s poems examined: to 106 Endymion, Bk 1 Epistle to Reynolds 113 Isabella to 104 Hyperion to 212 St. Agnes’ Eve to 135 Ode on a Grecian Urn 50 Ode to Melancholy 30 Lamia to 145 The Fall of Hyperion to 80 To Autumn 33 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 7.1 second epitrite 1.9 mild irregularities 1.2 flagrant irregularities .4 One’s first thought with Keats would be to choose a representative passage from Hyperion or one of his other longer works. But Keats’s deliberately imitative styles in many of these poems must make us hesitate, especially in the case of Hyperion, since we already have before us the

chap_13.fm Page 204 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

204

The Strict Metrical Tradition

whole of Paradise Lost Bk 1, and a large sample of Wordsworth in a somewhat Miltonic style. It seems better to select the kind of poem in which Keats is most distinctively himself. We can do so by putting together the two well-known Odes that are entirely in iambic pentameter – the “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and “To Autumn.” Together they number 83 lines, just a little over the guideline. Metrically they are fairly representative. The text used is the copy of Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St, Agnes, and Other Poems (1820) in the British Museum, reprinted in facsimile by Payson & Clarke, 1927. Stressings to be noted A reminder: with Keats -ed verbal endings are always sounded (-èd), unless elision is marked. Minor ionics Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: What little town by river or sea shore, To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees, (2 cases) With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours. Second epitrite Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,5

Urn 2 12 14 35 Autumn 5 8 22

Autumn 18 25

Mild irregularities In “Autumn” there are two analogous irregularities that one would expect to be awkward. In the first epitrite (∪ / / /) at line 9, And still more, later flowers for the bees, one would expect the punctuated break at c that splits the closing spondee, further accentuated by a deferred close, to be noticeably disruptive. In fact, all sense of difficulty disappears, as though by magic. The reason is evidently that the comma embodies the concept of adding to what went before, so that one is not only carried forward over the comma but carried on to a stress (la-) that is, if anything, fuller than the preceding two. Thus, one is offered an actual stress-cue for resolving the first epitrite on syllable 4; and in the face of this cue any difficulties do indeed tend to evaporate.

chap_13.fm Page 205 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

205

The Romantics

Then at line 29 there is the combination – usually awkward – of a fourth paeon (∪ ∪ ∪ /) followed by a spondee (/ /), Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; with liberties resembling those in the previous case – a boundary at the last juncture (in the spondee, between wind and lives) that is at least phonological, leading into a close that could be called partly deferred. But again an unflagging onward and upward movement carries one over that boundary. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 9 6 22

1st E 6

DiSp –

4th P 6

Ap Pc 3

SpPn 3

After the restraint observed throughout the preceding century (severe in Johnson and Gray, moderate in Thomson and Cowper), what is striking in the Romantic poets other than Byron is a wholehearted return to exploiting the metrical tools available in the strict tradition. Above all, this takes the form of a return to as generous a use of the minor ionic and the second epitrite as we have seen in any of the earlier poets. Regarding irregularities, here too there is a return, but (except in Shelley) only to what might be called the status quo, the level obtaining in the tradition at its outset. Even in Shelley, however, nothing has turned up in our sample more disconcerting than a weak-opening deceptive choriamb. In admitting occasional irregularities into his verse Byron does follow the general Romantic trend. It is in his use of the two hallmark variations that he is relatively restrained, keeping to frequencies like those, for example, of Spenser.

chap_14.fm Page 206 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

14 The Victorians

The poets chosen for this period are Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61), Edward Fitzgerald (1809–83), Tennyson (1809–92), Robert Browning (1812–89), and Matthew Arnold (1822–88).

elizabeth barret browning poems examined: Sonnets from the Portuguese 616 415 Casa Guidi Windows, 1–10 Aurora Leigh Bk 1 1–455 Bk 2 1–212 Bk 6 1–204 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 6.1 second epitrite .7 mild irregularities 2.9 flagrant irregularities 1.9 The obvious choice is a selection from the “Sonnets from the Portuguese,” as the best known work of the poetess. It is true that there is a noticeable increase in irregularities – or, to be more specific, in flagrant irregularities – in Aurora Leigh as compared with the Sonnets and Casa Guidi Windows. But the Sonnets themselves are sufficiently varied in this respect to permit the choice of a set that is

chap_14.fm Page 207 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

207

The Victorians

fairly representative of E.B.B.’s work as a whole. It seems best to take a continuous set of sonnets (five sonnets, 70 lines), in conformity with our method elsewhere. The first representative set is sonnets 12 to 16. The Sonnets were first printed in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Poems (2 vols, London, 1850). The text here is taken from the copy in the Colbeck Collection at the University of British Columbia Library. Minor ionics Between our faces, to cast light on each?-By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude, Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry, But love me for love’s sake, that evermore With the same sunlight on our brow and hair. On me thou lookest, with no doubting care, And to spread wing and fly in the outer air Note the elision in the last line, th’outer. Three more possible ionics are pointed out below. Second epitrites Make thy love larger to enlarge my worth.

13.4 13.13 14.10 14.13 15.4 15.5 15.8 minor

16.14

Mild irregularities The two deceptive choriambs, 12.10 Of love even, as a good thing of mine own. Lest one touch of this heart, convey its grief. 13.14 present no real difficulty despite slight complications in both cases before the figure (in 12.10, some slight uncertainty over the elision ev’n, and over the amount of stress ev’n should carry; in 13.14, a momentary uncertainty over the stressing of the near-spondee Lest one); and despite the presence of some stress on syllable 3 (this) in 13.14. On the other hand, the choriamb at 13.8, In words, of love hid in me out of reach. already somewhat abrupt in its opening, can be felt to be injured by the phonological boundary at c (after me), leading into a deferred close. Flagrant irregularities The very clear trochee-choriamb (/ ∪ / ∪ ∪ /) at 16.6 How it shook when alone. Why, conquering

chap_14.fm Page 208 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

208

The Strict Metrical Tradition

can be regarded as a figure on the fringe of the canon. The anapest at 15.9, Were most impossible failure, if I strove is a flagrant violation of the syllabic integrity assumed in the strict tradition; yet it is somewhat softened in its effect through leaning towards elision: imposs’ble. (Bold elision is so striking a feature of E.B.B.’s verse that a case like this, though really beyond the pale, is not wholly unexpected.) Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 4 3 3

1st E 10

DiSp –

4th P 4

Ap Pc –

SpPn –

Further remarks There are three further cases of possible minor ionics, as follows: 13.7 From myself . . me . . that I should bring thee proof Beholding, besides love, the end of love, 15.11 Hearing oblivion beyond memory . . . 15.12 – that is, if myself, besides and beyond are stressed on the second syllable, as in modern normal usage. The poetic precedent from earlier centuries would be, in such contexts, to stress each on the first syllable, so as to yield an iambic reading.1 It is difficult now to be sure what E.B.B.’s intention was. As minor ionics the last two cases would be exceptional in bridging juncture b in the figure, and the first case doubly exceptional in bridging b and making a break at c (though the figure would nevertheless emerge as a figure in view of a stronger break after me).

fitzgerald poems examined: Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, 1st edition (1859): 300 lines. There is no question of choosing a passage outside the Rubáiyát; and the poem is just long enough to establish credible average frequencies for the indicators, which are as follows (per 75 lines): minor ionic 3.3 second epitrite 1.3 mild irregularities .6 flagrant irregularities .2 The opening 20 stanzas, followed by a slight pause in the flow of thought, offer themselves as a passage of convenient length

chap_14.fm Page 209 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

209

The Victorians

(80 lines), a passage which turns out to be adequately representative. The text used is A.J. Arberry’s The Romance of the Rubáiyát: Edward Fitzgerald’s First Edition Reprinted with Introduction and Notes, Allen & Unwin, 1959. Minor ionics Where the White hand of Moses on the Bough The Courts where Jamshýd gloried and drank deep: And Bahrám, that great Hunter--the Wild Ass Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows

4.3 17.2 17.3 19.3

Second epitrites Now the New Year reviving old Desires, Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum!

4.1 12.4

Mild irregularities In the first epitrite (∪ / / /) at 3.1, And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before the punctuated break at juncture c is noticeably disruptive; yet the effect is somewhat mitigated by the onward movement past the parenthetical clause, as the Cock crew, to the main subject, those. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 15 3 5

1st E 8

DiSp 1

4th P 8

Ap Pc 3

SpPn 1

tenny son poems examined: The Kraken Ulysses The Lotos-Eaters, introductory stanzas Œnone The Gardener’s Daughter St Simeon Stylites Morte d’Arthur The Golden Year The Princess Edwin Morris Tithonus

15 70 40 (iambic pentameters) to 100 to 95 to 90 to 150 76 to 150 to 99 76

chap_14.fm Page 210 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

210

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Vivien to 150 Guinevere to 150 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 3.5 second epitrite 1.1 mild irregularities 1.4 flagrant irregularities .5 Tennyson’s verse shows a gradual increase in the use of irregularities, mostly mild. The early piece “Ulysses” would be an attractive choice, except in its purity in this respect. “Morte d’Arthur,” also well-known, is more representative. The opening, up to the break after line 81, offers a suitable passage of acceptable length. The text used is the copy of the 1st edition of Poems (2 vols, London, 1842) at Carleton University Library, Ottawa, p. 4 to p. 7, line 21. Stressings to be noted \ 26: without Minor ionics That stood on a dark strait of barren land. Brightening the skirts of a long cloud, ran forth This way and that dividing the swift mind, And the wild water lapping on the crag.” Note the elision bright’ning in line 16. Second epitrites Lay a great water, and the moon was full. Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,

10 6.16 [54] 6.23 [60] 7.11 [71]

12 5.15 [31]

Mild irregularities The extra syllable at 5.22 [38], Watch what thou seëst, and lightly bring me word.” would elide itself, had Tennyson not marked it with dieresis. Even so, the syllable is questionable enough to respond to the reader’s perception that elision is necessary. But even when unelided it has a certain validity as the license familiar in dramatic blank verse, the midverse extrametrical syllable. At 6.11 [49] the break in the spondee is disruptive: Shrill, chill, with flakes of foam. He, stepping down but it can be accommodated if the figure is regarded as a third epitrite (/ / ∪ /) with a deferred close.

chap_14.fm Page 211 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

211

The Victorians

Other variations Ch 3rd E Sp 12 7 3

1st E 4

DiSp –

4th P 6

Ap Pc 8

SpPn 2

Further remarks At 7.14 [74] the apparent combination, spondee + minor ionic (/ / + ∪ ∪ / /), / / ∪∪ / / Not rendering true answer, as beseem’d is irregular in that the pyrrhic takes the form of an appended pyrrhic (rendering). However, this appended pyrrhic is sufficiently taken care of by the phonological boundary that intervenes before the spondee, and the doubly “robust” combination (spondee + appended pyrrhic + spondee) is actually quite effective, and free of strain.

robert browning poems examined: My Last Duchess 56 Artemis Prologizes 121 Rudel to the Lady of Tripoli 36 Pictor Ignotus 72 The Bishop Orders his Tomb to 125 Fra Lippo Lippi (song lines passed over) to 105 An Epistle . . . Karshish to 78 Bishop Blougram’s Apology to 149 “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” to 102 Andrea del Sarto to 103 Cleon to 98 Caliban upon Setebos to 97 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 4.4 second epitrite 2.0 mild irregularities 2.9 flagrant irregularities 2.8 A slight break at the end of line 79 in “The Bishop Orders his Tomb at St. Praxed’s Church” offers, from a well-known poem, a passage of suitable length that is also fairly representative. The poem was first published in Bells and Pomegranates, 2nd series (1845), but the text from Poems, in Two Volumes (London: Chapman & Hall, 1849; reprinted by University Microfilms, 1969), 345–9, seems the obvious copy-text to work from.

chap_14.fm Page 212 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

212

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Minor ionics Hours and long hours in the dead night, I ask And corded up in a tight olive-frail, St. Praxed in a glory, and one Pan Second epitrites Nephews--sons mine . . . ah God, I know not! Well-Hours and long hours in the dead night, I ask

12 346.19 [41] 347.9 [60]

3 12

Mild irregularities There are three choriambs that present little real difficulty. One is the familiar deceptive choriamb: 346.8 [30] As fresh-poured red wine of a mighty pulse In another, the closing stress is weakish – but is followed by a tensionresolving break: 347.23 [74] Horses for ye, and brown Greek manuscripts, (This case could also be read as a trochee-choriamb.) The choriamb that opens line 1 looks disconcerting, with a comma at juncture c, followed by a weakish syllable 4 leading into a deferred close: Vanity, saith the preacher, vanity! But the comma does not represent a real break, and all tensions are resolved by syllable 6 in the manner of a 6-syllable combination. Flagrant irregularities On the other hand, there are two figures in which a thoroughgoing break at juncture c is followed by a fresh word-group. One is a first epitrite (∪ / / /) with the closing spondee split: 347.26 [77] Choice Latin, picked phrase, Tully’s every word, The other is a radical second epitrite (/ ∪ / /): “Do I live, am I dead?” Peace, peace seems all. 13 In both cases, additional factors help to render the figure almost unrecognizable: in the first case, the illusory spondee, picked phrase; in the second case, the weakness of the crucial opening and closing stresses, Do and am.2 Indeed, in these instances one temporarily loses the sense of an iambic context and base. No less disconcerting is the split spondee at 346.21 [43]: / / Big as a Jew’s head cut off at the nape, It is also what can be called a deceptive spondee, being introduced via the monosyllabic adjective group in the manner of a deceptive chori-

chap_14.fm Page 213 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

213

The Victorians

amb.3 And what immediately follows also requires care. As Attridge says of this line, “We have to give ‘Jew’s’ and ‘cut’ as much weight as ‘head’, and leave ‘off’ unstressed so that ‘at’ can take the next beat” (253). Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 12 11 11

1st E 7

DiSp –

4th P 8

Ap Pc 2

SpPn 2

Further remarks The Renaissance-style elision indicated in line 21, One sees the pulpit o’ the epistle-side, is pretty well impossible with modern pronunciation. On the other hand, there is no real problem, as the following syllable elides quite easily and naturally, th’epistle. The weakish close to the choriamb at 346.10 [32], Put me where I may look at him! True peach, is not problematic.

arnold poems examined: Mycerinus 127 The Church of Brou: The Tomb 46 A Dream 37 To a Gipsy Child by the Sea-Shore 68 Sohrab and Rustum to 526 Balder Dead: Sending to 201 Tristram and Iseult: Iseult of Brittany to 150 Average frequency of the four indicators per 75 lines: minor ionic 9.8 second epitrite 2.6 mild irregularities 1.0 flagrant irregularities .3 Since Arnold’s use of variations remains fairly consistent, one can go straight to “Sohrab and Rustum” as the obvious choice for an iambicpentameter piece. But it happens that the opening pages include a quite disproportionate number of second epitrites and minor ionics; the first reasonably representative passage is lines 291–363 (73 lines). The poem was first printed in Arnold’s Poems (1853), and the text used

chap_14.fm Page 214 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

214

The Strict Metrical Tradition

here is the copy at the Queen’s University Library (Kingston, Ontario), p. 20, line 4, to p. 23, line 16. Stressings to be noted / 22.4, 6 [331, 333], 23.16 [363]: Iran Minor ionics And on each side are squares of standing corn, Eyes through her silken curtains the poor drudge Who with numb blacken’d fingers makes her fire-When the frost flowers the whiten’d window panes-And a deep pity enter’d Rustum’s soul21. And he ran forwards and embrac’d his knees, “O, by thy father’s head! by thine own soul! And turn’d away, and spoke to his own soul:-‘I challeng’d once, when the two armies camp’d

20.8 [295] 20.16 [303] 20.17 [304] 20.19 [306] 12 [319] 22.14 [341] 22.16 [343] 22.19 [346] 23.10 [357]

Second epitrites So on each side were squares of men, with spears Sohrab come forth, and ey’d him as he came.

20.10 [297] 20.14 [301]

Mild irregularities The punctuated break at c in the third epitrite (/ / ∪ /) at 23.1 [348] is indeed disruptive, especially in view of the earlier break at a: False, wily, boastful, are these Tartar boys. The case is irregular, but closely follows the precedent of the two cases from The Rape of the Lock examined above in Part One. Flagrant irregularities The punctuated break, again at c, but this time in a second epitrite (/ ∪ / /), So he spake, mildly: Sohrab heard his voice, 22.7 [334] must be classed as a flagrant irregularity; its effect, however, is mitigated to some degree by a certain sense of continuity that culminates in the more decisive break after the whole figure. Other variations Ch Sp 3rd E 13 5 6

1st E 5

DiSp –

4th P 1

Ap Pc –

SpPn –

chap_14.fm Page 215 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:50 PM

215

The Victorians

Further remarks At 20.11 [298] the weakish closure of a choriamb, Bristling, and in the midst, the open sand. is firmly resolved in the next foot (the midst) as a deferred close. Like the poets of the Interregnum and the Restoration, the Victorian poets fall into two sharply divided camps. This time the crucial issue is the use of flagrant irregularities. Robert Browning introduces them as frequently as Donne, both poets doing so by disguising canonical variations with unorthodox features; but Browning is distinctive in tending to have several unorthodox features present at the same time. In our sample passages, however, it is Elizabeth Barrett Browning who infringes syllabic integrity with an anapest. Regarding the hallmark variations, one notes that she much prefers the minor ionic to the second epitrite. On the other hand, Fitzgerald, Tennyson, and Arnold stay firmly within the tradition, keeping their irregularities moderate in number and in kind. Regarding the hallmark variations, while Fitzgerald and Tennyson observe the sort of pace set at the beginning by Sidney and Spenser, Arnold follows the generous style of the Romantics.

conclu.fm Page 216 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

Conclusion

Was the consistent metrical method, shown in Part One to have been shared by four preeminent poets as their metrical method for the literary iambic pentameter, shared by poets in general in the period 1590– 1865? This is the question we set out to answer in Part Two by examining shorter but representative passages from twenty-two additional major poets. Clearly, the only obstacles in the way of a wholeheartedly affirmative answer lie in the cases marshalled as irregularities. It will be remembered that occasional exceptions to virtually every principle and pattern turned up in the four preeminent poets analysed in Part One; but that, in the end, only four of these exceptions could be regarded as flagrant, or almost flagrant. The presence of occasional irregularities of not too flagrant a type, then, must itself be seen as having a certain legitimacy in the strict tradition. Under this principle of a certain legitimacy all the irregularities classified in Part Two as mild can, I believe, be fairly accommodated. It is the irregularities classified as flagrant, then, that constitute the obstacles. Three of these irregularities are trochee-choriambs and can be dismissed as lying (we concluded earlier) on the fringe of the canon. The remaining irregularities are limited to Donne and Robert Browning, and (with one each) Vaughan and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Regarding the Brownings, it has to be admitted that they are beginning to step outside the strict tradition, and that, by drawing the cut-off date at 1865, we are including the first signs of the collapse of the ex-

conclu.fm Page 217 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

217

Conclusion

clusive hold of the tradition. But all that is in question here is the meaning and placing of that date. Draw it at 1850, for example, or even 1855, and the hold of the tradition would still appear firm.1 With Donne and Vaughan the case is rather different. For one thing, they seem to be experimenting with the tools of the tradition, where the Brownings give the impression rather of looking for new tools. But the essential point is that Donne and Vaughan were not followed in their experiments. Their experiments, useful no doubt (as was suggested earlier) in testing the mettle of the recently-founded tradition, remained experiments, and in the long perspective of the tradition took on the colour of a temporary aberration. Indeed, Donne’s experiments were regarded as an aberration even at the time; for Ben Jonson can be seen expressing the judgment of the age in his memorable remark that “Donne, for not keeping of accent, deserved hanging.”2 A reservation will no doubt still be felt, which could be expressed thus. Let it be granted that the flagrant irregularities brought to light in a number of these poets can be accounted for in various ways, and that the poets in Part Two are recognizably employing the system of variations analysed in Part One. Nevertheless, the passages in Part Two also show, surely, that once the number of poets in one’s sample is increased significantly, the conclusions drawn in Part One can no longer be sustained in all their rigour. Here I would point to the stature of the poets, and also to the length of the verse-samples, used in Part One. It is true that some of the poets from Part Two can be said to be equal in acknowledged stature to some of those in Part One. But no such claim can be made for the poets in whom the flagrant irregularities at issue turned up. On this score what Part Two shows, with respect to the strict metrical tradition, is that significant irregularities, though they may be found in the occasional major poet, are unlikely to be found in a preeminent one. What was established in Part One appeared to be an authoritative set of norms of metrical practice during the period in question. In Part Two we found precisely those norms to be consistently observed by the overwhelming majority of poets, and to be observed most of the time even by the few remaining poets. The norms established in Part One can therefore reasonably be taken as the norms of the strict tradition throughout the period defined. Though the central conclusions have already been drawn in the present study, two questions were set aside for later perusal, so as not to impede the flow of the main argument. One of these was the

conclu.fm Page 218 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

218

The Strict Metrical Tradition

question of the placement of variations in the line, together with the related matter of the placement of the caesura. This question is relegated to the Appendix, as being somewhat peripheral to the main argument. The other can be taken up here.

un d er lyi ng rh y th m In the minds of readers steeped in twentieth-century verse the foregoing account of the strict tradition will perhaps have raised a question. What was the ultimate purpose of this intricate array of variations, assiduously tended by virtually all writers and readers of verse for 275 years? In a sense the answer is obvious. Its purpose was to reconcile flexibility with strictness – to enable five beat-syllables to be identified in every line with precision and certainty, despite thorough disguises of many kinds. But could it have mattered so much that the reader not lose track of a single beat-syllable? Evidently it did matter. Five beats in each line were evidently a requirement that was inviolable; and so, too, therefore, was the requirement that every beat be recognized, whatever its disguise. The explanation of these absolutes must lie in the relevant aspect of the human susceptibility to rhythm. It must lie, in fact, in that third aspect of rhythm, full discussion of which was postponed in the remarks on rhythm at the end of the General Introduction. The first and most basic aspect of rhythm, it will be remembered, is the sense of a beat. The second aspect is the perception of subordinate stimuli grouping themselves around each beat. Under the third aspect, the subordinate stimuli are passed over and the beats themselves are perceived as forming coherent groups. It is an aspect of rhythm that, to my knowledge, has been squarely addressed by only two people – in the field of music by the musicologist Hugo Riemann in his System der Musikalischen Rhythmik und Metrik (1903), and in the field of verse by Attridge. Yet it seems to me that neither of these people has really explained the phenomenon in question – the phenomenon, that is, of a distinct sense of coherence felt in each group of beats, when the beats are suitably presented. What is especially interesting is that, when one looks into this aspect of rhythm, the iambic pentameter turns out to be the most difficult nut to crack, so to speak. A glance at Riemann’s and at Attridge’s treatment of the subject will introduce it conveniently.

conclu.fm Page 219 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

219

Conclusion

Riemann There is no need to run over Riemann’s basic postulates. What concerns us is his object in the second half of his book – to explain the sense of coherence in, and thus the universal currency of, the 8-bar “period,” or full musical sentence, in music. He starts by establishing, as the elementary building block of rhythm in music, the motif – which consists essentially of a beat introduced by an up-beat or anacrusis (though that up-beat may well consist of a number of notes, and the motif may also include a feminine ending after the beat of one or more notes). Reduced to its essence, therefore, Riemann represents this basic building-block as a quarter-note up-beat introducing a quarter-note beat. He then sees motif answering motif, forming a 2-bar phrase; phrase answering phrase, in a 4-bar half-period; and halfperiod answering half-period in a full 8-bar period. At every level he sees a lighter half as being answered by a heavier half, relatively speaking; thus, the elementary block of the motif is successively reproduced on a larger scale.3 Two objections at once present themselves. 1 Why not go on to have each 8-bar period answered by another 8-bar period, each 16 by another 16, and so on? Riemann raises this objection himself; but his answer sidesteps the real issue. He says that the 8-bar period has long been established as the unit complete in itself.4 2 At the level of the motif, the beat certainly answers the up-beat, as heavy against light. But at the next level, with the beats perceived in pairs, Riemann has a consensus of authorities against him: it is the first beat in each pair that will be perceived (as a rule) as being the stronger beat. It is somewhat presumptuous to declare Riemann’s scheme to be unsound without examining his working-out of the scheme amidst the formidable complexities and ambiguities of the rhythmical structures that he analyses, mainly of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. Moreover, his scheme does make sense at a number of levels, at least with some forms of verse. Nevertheless, as it stands, his scheme will not do for our purpose. For iambic pentameter, incidentally, it offers no help at all. Attridge Attridge’s exploration of underlying rhythm would be useful to us, if only because he deals with the subject as it manifests itself in the

conclu.fm Page 220 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

220

The Strict Metrical Tradition

common forms of English verse. But he does more than that; he comes close at one point to putting a finger on the key to underlying rhythm, as I see it. His basic points emerge in his chapter on “The Four-beat Rhythm.” He turns to the musicologist Donald Tovey to establish the principle that lies behind the popular verse-forms and their sense of coherence. Attridge states the principle thus: “A four-beat line tends to resolve into two units, the four beats being perceived as alternately stronger and weaker, even if there is no phonological reason to stress the syllables in this way.”5 In light of this principle Attridge sees long measure (four lines of four beats each, or 4 × 4, as he calls this basic scheme) as the most fully and obviously coherent form (a view I do not share). With each line resolving into two pairs of beats, the stanza owes its coherence to being perceived as the structure, a “pair of pairs of pairs of beats” (83, 85). When he comes to common measure, or the ballad stanza (with 4and 3-beat lines in the pattern 4.3.4.3), Attridge demonstrates that the 3-beat lines have a fourth, silent beat. The logic for this silent beat is provided by the principle mentioned above of a perceived alternation in the strength of beats: a silent beat readily replaces the fourth beat, because the fourth beat would in any case be perceived as weak. He adds: “That this should happen most easily at the end of the second and fourth lines is not surprising, since the third beat of these lines is also the fourth and final main beat of the larger two-line unit” (89). There – almost – is the key to the sense of coherence in underlying rhythm. The question arises of lines of only three beats (3.3.3.3). Attridge notes that this form, though known in literary verse, is rare in popular verse; and he effectively dismisses the form with the remark, “Our ear seems to need the reassurance of a fully-realised four-beat line from time to time” (92). That may be true; but the 3-beat line should not be dismissed too hastily. I see it as the embryo, so to speak, out of which the more complex forms of underlying rhythm develop. In his next chapter he deals with the 5-beat line, which is in effect (as he explains, 125) the iambic pentameter. The point about the pentameter for Attridge is that, by avoiding the compelling rhythm of the 4 × 4 scheme, the line is more flexible, and above all allows the language to assert itself more naturally than is possible with lines under the 4 × 4 scheme. What this means, however, is that Attridge sees the iambic pentameter as avoiding any clear sense of coherence in its underlying rhythm. Here again I must disagree with him.

conclu.fm Page 221 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

221

Conclusion

Let me begin my own account of underlying rhythm by stating, or restating, what I see as the basic premises and principles. The concept of beats, discussed earlier, can be assumed. Of the two key principles the first, together with its corollary, is in effect what has already been quoted above from Attridge. I will rephrase the principle thus, calling it the alternating-beat principle: People tend to perceive a series of beats, though uniform in fact, as alternating in significance; and, in the absence of some contrary indication, perceive the opening beat as beginning the significant set. The corollary is that the beats are perceived as pairs. Now both Attridge and Riemann have made it clear that in verse, no less than in music, beats will also be perceived in the multiple groups of 4 and 8, and even 16. Meanwhile the experimental psychologists have singled out two and four as the most natural groups for human perception of beats.6 The principle implied, however, by the forms of English verse and the details of their handling (notably in the period we are concerned with) is more clear-cut than this, and should I believe be stated as follows: At least under the conditions we are concerned with, beats are counted above all in groups of four. This I shall call the countof-four principle. In other words, it is after four beats, not after two, or eight, or sixteen, that a fresh start is made in the almost unconscious count of beats conducted by the reader of verse. I cannot point to positive proof of this principle, when defined as I have defined it;7 its confirmation has to lie in the way in which it makes sense of the various forms of verse, in terms of underlying rhythm. The three verse-forms already mentioned in connection with Attridge will serve to lay the groundwork for analysing underlying rhythm in the iambic pentameter. Other verse-forms will have to be passed over as peripheral to the present purpose. It must be remembered that what concerns us here is the beats, and only the beats; unstressed syllables between the beats will be ignored. Some symbols will be needed, and those coined by Paul Fraisse will do admirably. Each beat actually given will be represented by ■ , and a silent beat (a beat withheld), by .

†

†

lines of three beats I see lines of three beats as the simplest form that evokes a distinct sense of underlying rhythm. The count-of-four principle provides the framework within which such lines are felt to function – a count of four, with the fourth beat silent. The line may be represented thus

†■ †■ †■ ††■ †■ †■ †

conclu.fm Page 222 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

222

The Strict Metrical Tradition

where  represents the point at which a new line and a fresh count of four begin. The silent beat can be felt quite clearly in actual examples of verse that do not deliberately override it. For example (in iambics): It was not in the battle, No tempest gave the shock, She sprang no fatal leak, She ran upon no rock; Cowper, “On the Loss of the Royal George,” 17-20 To proceed. The beat that opens a line will inevitably be perceived as having a special significance (*): *

*

†■ †■ †■ ††■ †■ †■ †

And since (under the alternating-beat principle) the beats will tend to be perceived as alternating in significance, beats 1 and 3 in each line will be perceived as the significant set, happily aligned in a continuing series: *

*

*

*

†■ †■ †■ ††■ †■ †■ †

Meanwhile the silent beat at the end of each line proclaims that, since it can be omitted, it must fall in the insignificant series, thus confirming the already half-established perception that beats 2 and 4 constitute that series. Thus, as each line closes on beat 3, the reader senses a fitness and rightness that it should close thus, on a beat felt to be significant – a coincidence which rebounds upon itself in further confirming the identity of the two contrasting series. Thus arises the sense of coherence in the beats of each line. Actually there are further subtleties involved that are worth tracing. In perceiving the beats as alternating in significance, the reader will inevitably also perceive them (the corollary mentioned earlier) as falling into pairs. In the present case the last beat is silent, so the pairs will be made up thus: *

*

†■ †■
†■ †

The first pair ends tentatively on an insignificant beat; the second “pair,” decisively on a significant beat. In the face of the paradox that two beats are weak, but one is strong, the second “pair” not only contrasts with the first: it answers the tentativeness of the first with its own decisiveness. Thus, one’s sense of fitness and rightness in the line’s closing on beat 3 includes this perception of the firm single beat answering the tentative pair of beats preceding it. Everything coalesces to bring the line’s sense of coherence to a sharp focus on this closing beat.

conclu.fm Page 223 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

223

Conclusion

lines or line-pairs of seven beats In the ballad stanza, or common measure (4.3.4.3), each pair of lines offers a group of seven beats, broken into 4 + 3. This scheme (with a silent beat at the end of the 3-beat line) is in perfect accord with the reader’s instinctive grouping by fours:

†††† ††††

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ As always the beat that opens each line will seem significant in view of its special role: *

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †

But, though the reader will tend (under the alternating-beat principle) to perceive an alternation in the beats, proceeding from this opening point, no confirmation is offered in the remainder of the first line. On the other hand, the second line offers full confirmation, in the 3-beat scheme analysed above: *

*

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †

These three cues are ample for establishing the odd-numbered beats in both lines as forming the significant set, thus: *

*

*

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †

The 3-beat line will of course be felt as coherent in itself, in the manner explained above. But what of the preceding 4-beat line, and the whole 7-beat pair? In filling its 4-beat frame, the 4-beat line will be felt at least in one sense to be fit and right in its length. On the other hand, its close, on a beat belonging to the insignificant set, will fail to achieve any enhanced sense of fitness and coherence – and will produce instead, in fact, a sense of suspension. The effect of the 3-beat line that follows is to set up the same kind of contrast with the preceding line, only on a larger scale, as that offered by the beatpairs in the 3-beat line. Four beats, ending weakly and tentatively, are answered by three, closing firmly and decisively. Indeed, four beats lacking coherence are answered by three that are fully coherent. The sense both of contrast and of answer is of course heightened by the fact that the two lines share a 3-beat core, and differ only regarding the fourth beat. It is a matter (to use Coleridge’s phrase) of sameness, with difference. But the setting-up of this unmistakable contrast between line and line also conjures up the balances and contrasts inherent within each line. Within the 4-beat line the tentativeness of the first pair of beats is

conclu.fm Page 224 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

224

The Strict Metrical Tradition

merely repeated in the tentativeness of the second pair (so that the line proves to be even more tentative than appeared at first sight). But in the 3-beat line, as we have already seen, the opening tentative pair of beats is answered by a single, conclusive firm beat. Thus, the whole scheme narrows down to a point at which firmness answers tentativeness simultaneously in terms of pairs of beats, and of lines: *

*

*

*

†■ †■
†■ †■ †■ †■
†■ †

In short, the weakly coherent 4-beat line interacts with the 3-beat line to produce an even stronger – a much stronger – sense of underlying rhythm than would be achieved by the 3-beat line alone. One notices, incidentally, that Riemann’s scheme is partially valid for the 7-beat group. Both at the level of the line (in the case of the 3-beat line) and at the level of the line-pair, a weak segment is followed and answered by a strong segment. Here is an example of common measure: I died for Beauty--but was scarce Adjusted in the Tomb When One who died for Truth, was lain In an adjoining Room-Emily Dickinson One must not of course expect every beat in every line to proclaim its role in the scheme of coherence: both the scheme and the rhythmical effect of the scheme are so familiar that they propel themselves, once set in motion. lines of four beats The count-of-four principle could not be addressed more simply and directly than it is in lines of four beats:

†††† ††††

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ But what of the alternating-beat principle? By opening the line, beat 1 makes the claim that the odd-numbered beats are the significant ones: *

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■

Meanwhile beat 4, in closing the line, makes the claim that the evennumbered syllables are the significant ones: *

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■

The two claims are incompatible. The alternating-beat principle cannot be addressed, and the beats end up being perceived as uniform in

conclu.fm Page 225 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

225

Conclusion

terms of significance. The result is that there is a sense of coherence, elementary in its answering squarely to the count-of-four principle; but there is no heightened sense of coherence of the kind evoked in 3and 7-beat lines. Here is an example of 4-beat lines in iambics: Now therefore, while the youthful hew Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing Soul transpires At every pore with instant Fires, Now let us sport us while we may; And now, like am’rous birds of prey, Rather at once our Time devour, Than languish in his slow-chap’t pow’r. Marvell, “To his Coy Mistress,” 33–40 Hand in hand with this elementary sense of coherence is another feature, unique to the 4-beat line (and the analogous 2-beat line). The beat-framework is entirely filled; each line follows the preceding one in an unrelenting time-schedule that allows no rest in the form of a silent beat. That is not to say that a rest equivalent to a syllable is not possible. But this is a matter we cannot pursue here.8 lines of five beats As was pointed out earlier, the 5-beat line is, in effect, the iambic pentameter. Our starting point is the one thing that is clear: in a line with five beats, both the beat that opens the line and the beat that closes it are invested with significance by doing so: *

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■

Under the alternating-beat principle it follows that, in the absence of contrary indications, one would tend to perceive beat 3 as making up a significant set of beats, with the other two: *

*

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■

The next thing to consider is the implication of poets’ preferences regarding placement of the caesura. The position of the caesura is of course continually varied in the iambic pentameter; a composite analysis of its placement in Shakespeare, Milton, Pope and Wordsworth will be found in the Appendix. The statistics given there, for caesural frequency in the eight positions possible in practice between syllables,

conclu.fm Page 226 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

226

The Strict Metrical Tradition

become much simpler when reduced to the four possible ways in which the caesura can divide the five beats, thus: 1 + 4 beats 2 + 3 beats 3 + 2 beats 4 + 1 beats 8% 53% 35% 4% With a division into 2 + 3 beats or vice versa, the line breaks into segments long enough themselves to hint at lines. In the former case (a 2 + 3 division) the resultant effect is clear. A first pair of beats is marked off, and beat 3 will be perceived as significant both in beginning the next pair and in opening the new line-segment: *

*

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■

Thus, the cue given by the caesura when in its much-preferred position corroborates the tendency just mentioned. With the division into 3 + 2 beats (the second preference), *

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †

no pair of beats is divided off in a helpful manner, and the first beat in the new line-segment (beat 4) is clearly ineligible to be regarded as significant. Yet the caesura seems to confer some slight favour by default on beat 3 instead, by letting it close a segment of the line. A division into 1 + 4 beats offers no usable cue implying significance in one or the other of the inner beats in the line; and, though a division into 4 + 1 beats seems to permit – and certainly does not oppose – the perception of beats 1 to 4 as a pair of pairs, with 1 and 3 forming the significant set, the rejection of this arrangement by poets except as an occasional alternative shows that the effect of isolating beat 5 is undesirable as a rule. Thus, syllable 3, tending under the alternating-beat principle to be perceived as belonging to a significant set together with beats 1 and 5, has the endorsement of a clear caesural cue to this effect in 53% of the lines; but little or no such endorsement in 47% of the lines. If the position of the caesura seems to give an ambiguous signal regarding the underlying structure of the line, even more ambiguous is the signal given by what happens after the close. When rhymed the line can be said to be followed almost invariably by at least a slight pause. But as blank verse (drama being excluded) the line is often freely enjambed, to the point of seeming at times to forfeit its terminal pause entirely. It seems best to assume, for the present at any rate, that the basic scheme of the line includes just one silent beat at the close:

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■ ††■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †

conclu.fm Page 227 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

227

Conclusion

We can proceed to mark the beats perceived as significant, bearing in mind that beat 3 is positively cued as such only 53% of the time: *

*

*

*

*

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■ ††■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †

Inevitably involved in such a perception would be an accompanying perception of three pairs of beats, with the last pair closing on a silent beat: *

*

*

*

*

*

†■ †■
†■ †■
†■ ††■ †■
†■ †■
†■ †

The full scheme is six beats in each line, with the last one silent; and the reader, instinctively pairing the beats, then encounters three such pairs. Flying in the face, as it does, of one’s natural inclination to count beats in groups of four, this triple-pair scheme must be inspected carefully. When one has three constituents (whether three simple beats or, as here, three pairs of beats) without a silent fourth, one has what in music would be triple time. For such an arrangement to work – to be felt as triple time – the first constituent of each set of three must be felt to be preeminent. Thus, if one were dealing with three simple beats, they would have to be perceived as one major beat followed by two minor beats: *

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■

When one is dealing with three pairs of beats, the situation is more complicated: it is then the first beat of the first pair that must be perceived as preeminent (), beats 3 and 5 being significant (*), and beats 2 and 4 mere beats:   * * * * ■ ■
■ ■
■ ■ ■
■ ■
■ Actually there has to be a still lower, fourth level reserved for what has been omitted from the discussion – the five subordinate syllables in each line. The difficulties that beset this triple-pair scheme – now that one looks at it more closely – begin to emerge. The human mind, ready enough to perceive a basic alternation in the five beats, will not go on to perceive a higher order superimposed upon this one, without the help of clear cues. And, when that higher order entails counting unnaturally in groups of three, the cues would have to be insistent. Furthermore, a sense of triple time, deliberately maintained as it would have to be, would soon become obtrusive. All this is alien to the

†† †† † † †† †† ††

conclu.fm Page 228 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

228

The Strict Metrical Tradition

character of the iambic pentameter as we know it. Worse still, under this scheme beat 5 cannot belong to the highest order of significance, and therefore cannot close the line with a wholly satisfactory sense of coherence. Clearly, the triple-pair scheme will not do. But suppose our assumption regarding the terminal pause were inaccurate. If three pairs of beats without a silent fourth pair won’t work, what about three pairs with a silent fourth? The scheme would look like this: ■ ■
■ ■
■
The skeleton (as it were) of the scheme would of course be given by the alternate beats, three sounded and one silent:

†† †† †† †† *

*

*

*

†■ †■
†■ †■
†■ †
† †

In the strictest sense the pause at the end of the line would need to correspond to three beats (i.e., six syllables); but a pause corresponding to two beats (four syllables) would comprehend the crucial, “significant” silent beat. It is impossible to pretend that actual iambic pentameters make a regular point of including such a pause. But there is a loophole, whereby this discrepancy in the length of the terminal pause can be rationalized. As was pointed out in the initial remarks on rhythm, the human perception of the coherence of beats flags once the series reaches a certain length – a length which has been shown to be of the order of 4 to 5 seconds (Fraisse, 17). Ada Snell’s tabulations for 25 lines from Paradise Lost Bk 2, using three readers, point to an average length of 3.85 seconds per line, including terminal pause.9 It seems possible to suppose that by the end of an iambic pentameter one’s rhythmical attention will begin to flag, and that one’s ear, instead of persevering with a strict count right to the end of the theoretically complete set, may be satisfied with a nominal pause. The problem of the pause may not be insuperable, then. But what of the actual, sounded beats? The audible skeleton of the scheme consists of the three alternate “significant” beats. The sense of coherence, however, must arise from a perception of a higher significance in the first and last of these three. In other words, beats 1 and 5 must be perceived as not merely significant but preeminent ():   * ■ ■
■ ■
■
Thus, the five beats in the line would have to be felt to belong to three levels of significance; and a fourth level would still have to be allocated to the five subordinate syllables in the line. The scheme is as compli-

†† †† †† ††

conclu.fm Page 229 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

229

Conclusion

cated as the original triple-pair scheme in triple-time, but it has the saving grace that it addresses at each level the natural principle of alternation (the alternating-beat principle). Can a scheme of this complexity really be felt? Indeed it can, if the necessary cues are given, as they are in Kipling’s “Stellenbosh,” for example:10 The General saw the mountain-range ahead, With their ’elios showin’ saucy on the ’eight, So ’e ’eld us to the level ground instead, An’ telegraphed the Boojers would n’t fight. For ’e might ’ave gone and sprayed ’em with pompom, Or ’e might ’ave slung a squadron out to see-But ’e was n’t takin’ chances in them ’igh an’ ’ostile kranzes-He was markin’ time to earn a K.C.B. However, the cues in question distinguish these lines from normal iambic pentameters, and turn them instead into “dipodics”.11 Above all, the beats alternate not merely in the reader’s perception but often in actual stress-level – sufficiently often to establish a sense of alternation between major and minor beats. A count of three major beats is in fact being superimposed upon the basic count of five beats: 1 2 3 The General saw the mountain-range ahead, 1 2 3 With their ’elios showin’ saucy on the ’eight, etc. With three major beats thus clearly brought out, a pause representing a fourth silent major beat can also be clearly felt at the end of the line. Indeed, to render the scheme perfectly clear, that pause is filled in, in the penultimate line: 1 2 3 4 But ’e was n’t takin’ chances in them ’igh an’ ’ostile kranzes-So it is that the sense of coherence of a 3-beat line in four time emerges, only writ large, as schematized one page back:   * The General saw the mountain-range ahead,   * With their ’elios showin’ saucy on the ’eight, Kipling’s lines show what an iambic pentameter feels like when adjusted to embody, distinctly, that most basic scheme of underlying rhythm, three beats in 4-time. One cannot claim that this dipodic effect is more than hinted at in normal iambic pentameters; but it can

conclu.fm Page 230 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

230

The Strict Metrical Tradition

be said to be hinted at when a standard caesura gives the cue for beat 3 and the line is followed by a noticeable pause. Is there any scheme embodied accurately enough in normal iambic pentameters (without special features like Kipling’s) to give a distinct sense of coherence? There is something of the kind, I believe. When broken by a standard caesura into 2 + 3 beats, the iambic pentameter offers an analogy with the powerfully coherent 7-beat group. The break in each case cues the following beat as significant, so that the two schemes stand thus: *

5-beat scheme, “standard” caesura

*

*

†■ †■ †■ †■ †■ † * * * * †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †■ †

7-beat scheme, fixed caesura As in the 7-beat group, the last three beats of the pentameter, isolated by the caesura, form a self-coherent segment that closes the whole group. Meanwhile what lies before the caesura in the pentameter is a truncated version of the corresponding segment in the 7-beat group, with a similarly weak ending. One has in fact been tricked into feeling something of the powerful coherence of the 7-beat group. One advantage of this illusory 7-beat scheme is that calls for no more than a single beat’s pause at the end of the line. On the other hand, it, too, is of no help in accounting for those lines (47%) that do not break into 2 + 3 beats. Can no scheme be found that will provide at least some sense of coherence for all iambic pentameters, wherever their caesura may fall? What is more, can a scheme be found that is capable of accommodating not only a variable caesura but also the formidable fact that no beat in the line is exempt from the system of metrical variations analysed in this book – that is, from “failure” or other injury? In view of the real nature of the iambic pentameter, it seems that we cannot expect anything of a particular beat, beyond its being recognized as a beat. The two exceptions are the beats opening and closing the line, for these roles have a significance that cannot be disguised. What would happen, then, if we abandoned the alternating-beat principle and treated the five beats solely under the count-of-four principle? (It will be remembered that the normal 4-beat line had to be treated in this way, too.) The five beats would fall across the framework of a 4-beat count thus: ■ ■ ■ ■
■ (A silent sixth beat, at least, could reasonably be included as before, since there is normally at least a slight break at the end of the line.)

†††† ††

conclu.fm Page 231 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

231

Conclusion

But let us suppose, as we supposed above, that the reader by the end of an iambic pentameter line is satisfied with a token pause that can be understood to represent a longer pause – a pause equivalent, in fact, to three beats: ■ ■ ■ ■
■ And now, expanding the representation to cover two lines, let us mark in the one feature that is invariable and beyond question – the significance of the beats that open and close each line:

†††† ††† † *

*

*

*

†■ †■ †■ †■
†■ † † ††■ †■ †■ †■
†■ † † †

Here at last is a scheme that will explain the sense of coherence in any iambic pentameter line. The counted groups of four are aligned in the simplest way with the actual lines of verse; only the fresh opening beat in each count of four is called upon to stand out; and the sense of coherence arises from the perception that this is the very beat that either opens or closes each line. In every other length of line, the count-of-four principle provides only the basic framework for a sense of coherence. An enhanced sense of coherence arises from the functioning of the alternating-beat principle within this framework; and, where the alternating-beat principle is not addressed, as in the 4-beat line, there is normally no enhanced sense of coherence. The iambic pentameter now emerges as being unique in drawing not only its basic framework but also its enhanced sense of coherence from the count-of-four principle alone. And, because the alternating-beat principle is not addressed, no beat demands special treatment, beyond the inevitable roles of opening and closing the line. Here lies the key to the iambic pentameter’s flexibility in the matter of the caesura, and its tolerance of profound variations in stress-pattern. The cost is a discrepancy between the called-for and the actual length of the pause at the close. Much of the time this discrepancy may not be fully felt, through the flagging of the reader’s attention regarding rhythm; but to it, no doubt, must be attributed the fact, evident enough, that normal iambic pentameters lack the forceful sense of coherence one feels with common measure, for example. The discrepancy of the pause is most severe, of course, with enjambed lines. If this simple count-of-four scheme gives a sense of coherence to every iambic pentameter, why should a 2 + 3 division of beats be so highly favoured? It is evident that the count-of-four scheme, though providing some sense of coherence for the line under all conditions, is

conclu.fm Page 232 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

232

The Strict Metrical Tradition

not really adequate on its own and welcomes such buttressing as can be offered by other schemes of coherence. And it happens that the two other schemes capable of some efficacy (the dipodic scheme and the illusory 7-beat scheme) are both brought into play through a 2 + 3 division of beats. It is probably futile to argue over the relative cogency of the three schemes; what is certain is that the two buttressing schemes cannot be kept permanently in place if the line is to retain its flexibility. But the combined effect of the two, buttressing the simple countof-four scheme, evidently suffices not only to give particular lines an adequate sense of coherence but also to extend something of this influence to neighbouring lines lacking such buttressing. Both the constant scheme and the two buttressing schemes make use of the countof-four principle, their 4-beat counts overlapping thus: dipodic 3 beats illusory 7 beats simple count of four

†† ††††

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Meanwhile each scheme determines which beats it regards as significant (or significant, and preeminent):   dipodic 3 beats * illusory 7 beats * * * simple count of four * * ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ This overlapping of constant and inconstant schemes, partly concordant and partly discordant, may well help to account for the versatility of the iambic pentameter. It is a point that must remain speculative. What concerns us more nearly is whether these are the schemes that combine to produce the sense of coherence one feels in the five beats of the line. If so, then they can be seen as a kind of force which, requiring the beat-syllables to be accurately identified, draws forth and sustains what is latent in the iamb, the intricate array of variations we have analysed.

†† ††††

appendix.fm Page 233 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

Appendix The Placement of Variations and the Caesura

Our object here is to compare the placement tendencies in the different variations, and to relate these to the placement of the caesura. The variations not properly comparable with the others are the isolated spondee (/ /) and the spondee-paeon (/ / ∪ ∪ ∪ /) with their nonstandard 2- and 6-syllable lengths, and the appended pyrrhic (.../ ∪ ∪), for which the placement and the effective length depend on the foot or figure to which it is appended. The dispondee (/ / / /) can also be set aside as not being altogether a bona fide variation. That leaves three simple variations in addition to the three radical variations. Instead of arranging them according to predetermined categories, let us see what happens if we let them find their own order, according to frequency of placement at the opening of the line. (Frequencies are given as percentages.) Ft 1–2 Ft 2–3 Ft 3–4 Ft 4–5 second epitrite, / ∪ / / 95 – 1.6 3.2 choriamb, / ∪ ∪ / 82 .5 10 7.6 third epitrite, / / ∪ / 67 4.6 7.7 20.8 first epitrite, ∪ / / / 61.3 4.8 11.3 22.6 minor ionic, ∪ ∪ / / 36 13 28 23 fourth paeon, ∪ ∪ ∪ / 5 12.4 51.2 31.4 The fact of a descending progression in the first column reflects, of course, merely the method of arrangement. But the range of that progression, from 95% down to 5%, betrays the presence of strong influences. And it is evident that one of the main influences has to do

appendix.fm Page 234 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

234

The Strict Metrical Tradition

with the nature of the opening of each variation. To move down the column is to move from the incisive opening of a reversed iamb in the second epitrite and the choriamb, through a level spondee in the third epitrite and then a neutral iamb in the first epitrite, to the weakness of increasing delay before one encounters any full stress, in the minor ionic and the fourth paeon. An interesting point in this column is the drop from 95% in the second epitrite to 82% in the choriamb. Clearly, the manner in which a variation opens is not the only factor to be reckoned with. We know very well in this case what the other factor is – the dilemma of the first beat-syllable, together with the forced resolution of the trochee in a spondee. Hence the need for exceptional clarity of metrical context. What about the later columns in the table, though? Do they reflect distinct preferences (or aversions), or do they merely and indifferently accept what is left over when the demands represented by column 1 have been met? In column 2, at any rate, one is clearly witnessing just such an aversion. The choriamb has some 18% of its cases left over – unplaced in column 1; but 17.6 of that 18% goes to columns 3 and 4, and only .5% to column 2. And the second epitrite shows an even clearer aversion to column 2. As one goes down the table, the percentages in column 2 rise in proportion (pretty closely) as they fall in column 1; so it seems that a distinct preference for column 1, and a distinct aversion to column 2, fade in concert. One cannot help suspecting that this preference for being placed in ft 1–2 and this aversion to being placed in ft 2–3 are, as it were, two sides of the same coin. We cannot proceed further without looking into where the caesura tends to be placed – the caesura, that is, in the four pieces of verse analysed in Part One. An examination of the first hundred lines of each piece will suffice for the present purpose. To start with, the caesura must be spotted in each line, whether it is marked by punctuation or not. In 358 of the 400 lines there turns out to be, pretty clearly, only one eligible boundary or break; or, if more than one, then one that is clearly preeminent. The remaining 42 lines, with a double (or in one case a triple) caesura, can be set aside as involving needless complexities for the present purpose. It happens that 99 of the 358 lines with a single caesura are devoid of variations, showing, conveniently in virtual percentages, what the preferences for placement of the caesura are when the constraint of accommodating a variation in the line is absent: caesura after syll. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 frequency – 1 4 37 20 21 14 1 1

appendix.fm Page 235 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

235

Appendix

The important points stand out clearly: a strong preference for a post4th-syllable caesura (4th-syllable caesura, for short); an equal favouring of a 5th- or a 6th-syllable caesura, as the next best choice; and an avoidance, if possible, of a caesura within two syllables of either end of the line. Actually the presence of variations does not alter this picture very significantly, except in giving accuracy at the periphery, where the figures for unvaried lines tend to consist of a single case. The percentages for all 358 lines (259 with variations, 99 without) are as follows: caesura after syll. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 frequency .3 2.8 5.3 32.7 20.1 22.9 12 3.6 .3 This relative constancy of caesural pattern points to one of several alternatives. The variations either (i) are subjected in their own placement to the overriding imperatives of caesural placement; (ii) are sufficiently adaptable to find suitable placement regardless of where the caesura falls; or (iii) turn out to have placement needs that are happily compatible, overall, with those of the caesura. With respect to the second epitrite and the choriamb, at any rate, alternative (ii) is of course not tenable. Where, then, are the different variations actually placed in these same lines, with each given position of the caesura? Let us start with the masculine caesurae, after syllables 2, 4, 6, and 8, as most of the patterns here make obvious sense. The six variations will be given in the same order as in the original table, abbreviated as follows: second ep, chor, third ep, first ep, m ionic, and fourth pn. The number of cases of each will be given in parentheses. Caesura after syllable 2 Straddling the caesura, ft 1–2: 1 chor Right after the caesura, ft 2–3: 1 fourth pn 1 foot after the caesura, ft 3–4: 2 fourth pn Caesura after syllable 4 Just before the caesura, ft 1–2: 2 second ep; 28 chor; 17 third ep; 8 first ep; 4 m ionic; 2 fourth pn Right after the caesura, ft 3–4: 6 chor; 2 third ep; 2 first ep; 1 m ionic; 1 fourth pn 1 foot after the caesura, ft 4–5: 1 chor; 1 first ep; 9 fourth pn Caesura after syllable 6 1 foot before the caesura, ft 1–2: 2 second ep; 8 chor; 8 third ep; 5 first ep; 3 m ionic; 1 fourth pn

appendix.fm Page 236 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

236

The Strict Metrical Tradition

Just before the caesura, ft 2–3: 1 first ep; 1 m ionic; 7 fourth pn Right after the caesura, ft 4–5: 1 chor; 9 third ep; 1 first ep; 1 fourth pn Caesura after syllable 8 2 feet before the caesura, ft 1–2: 1 chor; 2 fourth pn Just before the caesura, ft 3–4: 3 fourth pn Let us summarize the four most common arrangements, specifying the number of “robust” variations (second epitrite, choriamb, and third epitrite), since a masculine caesura caters especially to them. 1. (61 cases, 47 robust) Sandwiching of the variation between the line-opening and a caesura after syllable 4. Moreover, for the robust variations, to be placed thus at the line-opening is ideal; meanwhile the caesura also has its ideal placement, after the 4th-syllable. 2. (29 cases, 18 robust) Placement of the variation also at the lineopening, with an additional foot before a 6th-syllable caesura. For the caesura this is the second best option; and, though for the robust variations this placement is once again ideal in one sense, it is noteworthy that the additional foot pretty well calls for a deferred or semi-deferred close to the variation, or an appended pyrrhic. 3. (16 cases, 14 robust) Sandwiching of the variation between a 6thsyllable caesura and the line-ending. Though this arrangement is as elegant as the one first mentioned, for the caesura and for the robust variations it is second best. 4. (12 cases, 8 robust) Placement of the variation after a 4th-syllable caesura, with an additional foot before the line-ending. For the caesura this arrangement is ideal; but for the opening of a robust variation it is second best, and the additional foot, as in arrangement no. 2, calls for an alternative type of close. Here are the variation-placements with feminine caesurae. Caesura after syllable 1 Right after the caesura, ft 2–3: 1 third ep Caesura after syllable 3 Straddling the caesura, trailing type, ft 2–3: 1 m ionic; 7 fourth pn 1 syll. after the caesura, ft 3–4: 1 m ionic; 1 fourth pn 3 sylls. after the caesura, ft 4–5: 1 m ionic Caesura after syllable 5 1 syll. before the caesura, ft 1–2: 5 second ep; 10 chor; 6 third ep; 4 first ep; 3 m ionic; 1 fourth pn

appendix.fm Page 237 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

237

Appendix

Straddling the caesura, trailing type, ft 3–4: 2 chor*; 1 m ionic; 20 fourth pn 1 syll. after the caesura, ft 4–5: 6 fourth pn Caesura after syllable 7 3 sylls. before the caesura, ft 1–2: 5 chor; 2 third ep; 2 first ep; 1 fourth pn 1 syll. before the caesura, ft 2–3: 2 first ep; 2 fourth pn Straddling the caesura, trailing type, ft 4–5: 2 first ep; 4 m ionic; 7 fourth pn (Chor* signifies a deceptive choriamb, which is not really a trailingtype figure.) One has to remember that there is only one feminine caesural position used at all frequently, the 5th-syllable caesura, which rivals the 6th-syllable as the second-best option for the caesura. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the two most common options here involve a 5th-syllable caesura. The most common arrangement (with 29 cases, of which 21 are robust) puts the variation at the line-opening, with one extra syllable before the 5th-syllable caesura, accommodating in fact a feminine ending to the variation. For the robust variations this placement is clearly almost ideal. In the second most common arrangement (with 2 deceptive choriambs, and 21 trailing-type weak-opening variations), a 5th-syllable caesura cuts across a variation placed in ft 3–4. This is in fact the most common arrangement of all, with any caesural position, for weak-opening variations. It is the preferred placement for both the minor ionic and the fourth paeon, and the fact of having thus to straddle a break in a trailing-type figure is also a preferred option with both variations. So, too, with the next most common arrangement: a 7th-syllable caesura cuts across a trailing-type weak-opening variation in ft 4–5. It is not a frequently used position for the caesura, but for the weak-opening variations the arrangement is close to ideal. In all these more common arrangements one sees what was postulated above as alternative (iii) – a happy matching of the needs of the different variations, with the placement of the caesura according to its independently-verifiable preferences.

appendix.fm Page 238 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:51 PM

notes.fm Page 239 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

Notes

general introduction 1 “Romanticism and Classicism,” in Prose Keys to Modern Poetry, ed. Karl Shapiro (New York, 1962), 95; originally published in Hulme, Speculations (London, 1924). T.E. Hulme, of course, was the founder of the group in London that quickly came to be more or less dominated by Ezra Pound. 2 In fact, the blank verse of drama quickly turned out to be an unstable manifestation of the new technique, as we shall see. 3 Astrophil & Stella, 2, line 12; 7, line 1. The edition used here and subsequently for Sidney’s poems is The Poems of Sir Philip Sidney, ed. W.A. Ringler Jr (Oxford, 1962). 4 The Faerie Queene, Bk 1, Canto 1, 10.1, 27.7, 20.3. Edition used here and subsequently: The Faerie Queene, London, 1596, reprinted in facsimile by Scolar Press, 1976. I shall have occasion to quote a very large number of individual lines of verse. For the sake of consistency and accuracy, I leave the end-punctuation of each line unaltered. 5 I base my remarks on an examination of the “Prologue” to the Canterbury Tales. 6 There are three principles: elidible syllables; the so-called midverse extrametrical syllable just before a break in the line (later to become common in drama); and, quite simply, the anapestic foot. 7 Robert Henryson, The Testament of Cresseid, ed. B. Dickins (London, 1943), line 600.

notes.fm Page 240 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

240 Notes to pages 7–13 8 Dunbar, “The Goldyn Targe,” 237, and Gavin Douglas, Aeneid Bk 13, Prologue, 88. Editions used: The Poems of William Dunbar, ed. W.M. Mackenzie (London, 1932); Chaucer to Spenser: An anthology of Writings in English, ed. D. Pearsall (Oxford, 1999). 9 Book 2, lines 239, 299. Edition used: Poems, ed. Emrys Jones, Clarendon Medieval and Tudor Series (Oxford, 1964). 10 Mention should also be made of the “Tragedy of Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester,” added in the 1578 edition of the Mirrour for Magistrates. On the one hand, both the minor ionic and the second epitrite, usually embodying the monosyllabic adjective group, are used more frequently even than in Grimald. On the other hand, assorted irregularities – mainly extra syllables as midverse extrametrical syllables or as anapests – are extremely frequent, and sometimes render a line unrecognizable as an iambic pentameter. 11 Very similar in technique are his “Certain Sonets,” composed between 1577 and 1581. Ringler discusses the dates of composition of the two sets of poems in his “Commentary,” in The Poems of Sir Philip Sidney, ed. Ringler (1962), 423–4. 12 See Founding, 142. 13 Thompson hints at such interest in saying of Sidney’s use of inversion that “it is obviously systematic” (145). 14 See Ringler, “Commentary,” 435–40. 15 Here is an example of an abrupt spondee (syllables 3–4): A&S 3.11 And strange things costtoo deare for my poore sprites. And here is one of an abrupt trochee (with just the trochee indicated): Nor give each speech a fullpoint ofa grone, A&S 54.4 16 The Life of Edmund Spenser (Baltimore, 1945), 127. There is, however, one interesting piece of evidence that bears on the poem during the intervening years. This is the account by Spenser’s friend Lodowick Bryskett of what Spenser told him, evidently in the spring of 1582, to the effect that he had already undertaken a work that answers to the Faerie Queene as we know it, and under the same title. But Bryskett’s distortion of the times of the visits of his circle of friends that included Spenser, compressing some two years into three days, and his long delay in publishing this account (it was published in 1606), renders this evidence unreliable. (See Judson, 105–7.) 17 It is true that Josephine Bennett, in The Evolution of “The Faerie Queene” (1942; New York, 1960), 10–21, worked out a case for some peripheral passages as candidates, namely stanzas 12–15 of Bk 1, Canto 11, and stanzas 47–61 of Bk 3, Canto 7. 18 The suggestion was made by Josephine Bennett and relayed by Judson (Life, 127) that the manuscript was taken to England by Bryskett; and Bryskett was already in England by the summer of 1587.

notes.fm Page 241 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

241 Notes to pages 13–18 19 On the question of the possible influence of either poet on the other, see also Ringler, “Introduction,” xxxii–xxxiv. 20 This contrast is heightened by frequent punctuation breaks in Sidney, isolating the variations, as against a relative scarcity of punctuation breaks within lines in Spenser. But, of course, one cannot be sure how far to attribute the punctuation to the poet, in either case. 21 For the abrupt spondee in Sidney, see above, 10. 22 Minor ionics also turn up at 25.6, 31.3, 31.8, 33.2, 36.2, 37.8, 38.1, 39.6, 42.2, 46.4, 48.6, 51.4, 52.6, and 52.7, and second epitrites at 30.5, 45.9, and 48.6. 23 Indeed, Surrey and Sackville had approached it, and Grimald had pretty well found it, already. 24 In these Satyres I find a flagrant variation every 7 or 8 lines on average, as against one every 25 lines in his poems in general. 25 Of fairly frequent irregularities, the one common to all these poets is the anapest. For the British poets – and this also applies to Browning in his later verse – one should add the trochee followed by a choriamb, and a break before the last syllable of the spondee, the minor ionic, and the second epitrite; for the Americans, one should add the midverse extrametrical syllable. With Thoreau a further feature is his fondness for using variant line-lengths in some poems. 26 On average I find a flagrant irregularity every 20 lines or less. 27 The text is reliable in four of the plays I examined, namely, Ben Jonson’s Volpone (1605), Middleton’s A Game at Chess (1624), and Massinger’s The Renegado (1624) and Believe As You List (1631), the second and fourth having survived, in fact, in autograph manuscript. For Shakespeare the safest relevant texts seemed to be those of Timon of Athens (c. 1604), excluding Middleton’s contributions, The History of King Lear (c. 1605–06) as printed in the new Oxford Shakespeare edited by Wells and Taylor, Antony and Cleopatra (c. 1606), and The Tempest (1611). And for the later dramatists I chose Webster’s The Devil’s Law-Case (c. 1619), Davenant’s The Platonick Lovers (1635), and Suckling’s The Goblins (between 1637 and 1641). (See Bibliography for editions used.) In all these plays there is a high proportion of irregularities unknown in literary verse. Apart from the anapest and the midverse extrametrical syllable, which appear very occasionally in literary verse, the main irregularities in question in the first three dramatists are the unrhymed double feminine ending and the feminine ending consisting of two stresses; to which one must add, for Middleton, the double midverse extrametrical syllable, and irregular line-lengths, sometimes in the trochaic rather than the iambic mode. In Shakespeare one also finds three successive inverted feet and

notes.fm Page 242 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

242 Notes to pages 20–5

28 29 30

31

32

33 34 35

36

37

occasionally a line or line-fragment of unrecognizable structure and, in The Tempest, an unresolved pyrrhic in the last foot of the line, replacing the strict form of the appended pyrrhic. (But see Gary Taylor, “Lineation Notes,” in William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion, eds Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor [Oxford, 1987], 638–9.) In the last three dramatists one finds, in addition to these irregularities, many lines of arbitrary length. Milton’s Prosody (Oxford, 1893), 56. (Page 70 in the 1921 edition.) See Jespersen, “Notes on Metre,” in The Structure of Verse, ed. Harvey Gross (Fawcett, 1966), 125. Jespersen’s paper was originally read in Danish. See, for example, J.B. Mayor, A Handbook of Modern English Metre (Cambridge, 1903), 12–13; W.J. Bate, The Stylistic Development of Keats (1945; New York, 1958), 79–80, 113–14; P. Fussell, Poetic Meter and Poetic Form (New York, 1965, 1979), 44; E.B. Hungerford, Recovering the Rhythms of Poetry (Chicago, 1966), 53–6; J. Malof, A Manual of English Meters (Indiana University Press, 1970), 36–7. “The Strange Music of English Verse,” Kenyon Review 18 (1956): 471. Reprinted in Perspectives on Poetry, eds J.L. Calderwood and H.E. Toliver (New York, 1968), 184–90. See Paul Kiparsky, “Stress, Syntax, and Meter,” Language 51 (1975): 591–2; Bruce Hayes, “The Prosodic Hierarchy of Meter,” in Phonetics and Phonology Vol 1: Rhythm and Meter, eds Kiparsky and Youmans (San Diego, 1989), 250–4. I might remark here that it is not the conclusions but certain tools of the generative linguists that I have found useful for my purpose – namely, Bruce Hayes’ definitions of different orders of word-group in his “Prosodic Hierarchy.” See English Verse, 151–2, and Table 45 (the last four columns). Attridge makes these points on pp. 183–4. The examples are mine – Paradise Lost Bk 1, 82, 32. For a fuller account see Attridge, 62–6. The basis of the concept was established by E.W. Scripture in “The Nature of Verse,” British Journal of Psychology 11 (1920–1): 231–2. Michael Hammond, “Poetic Meter and the Arboreal Grid,” Language 67 (1991): 241. See “Prosodic Hierarchy,” 225, for Hayes’ succinct prefatory remarks on this grid method. Without such a symbol one would have to choose, in a line like Venus and Adonis 182, for example, between a true pyrrhic, ∪ ∪ And with a heavie, darke, disliking eye, and a half-stressed iamb, ∪ \ And with a heavie, darke, disliking eye,

notes.fm Page 243 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

243 Notes to pages 26–32

38 39 40 41

42

43 44 45 46 47

In this and in many analogous cases I feel that these choices represent extremes, between which lies a mean that would be generally acceptable. Chatman, Theory of Meter (The Hague, 1965), 20; Fraisse, Les Structures Rhythmiques (Louvain, 1956), 1. See Fraisse, 113–14. Pause; A Study of its Nature … (University of Michigan Press, 1918), 44–5. See also Snell’s tabulations for passages from Paradise Lost Bk 2 in “An Objective Study of Syllabic Quantity in English Verse,” PMLA 33 (1918): 396– 408. Her figures for lines 604, 622, and 627 (397–400) are fairly comparable with those given here. See his remarks on “the disposition toward ‘grouping’,” 24. For this aspect, Fraisse (1) uses the term iambic rhythm. See also his chapter 1 on rhythmical grouping. See Fraisse, 10. See, for example, Fraisse, 10, and G. Cooper and L.B. Meyer, The Rhythmic Structure of Music (Chicago, 1960), 9. See Chatman, 79–80. An exception, obvious in view of what follows, is the imitation of classical metres. “Metrical form is an aspect of poetry that has always attracted discussion in terms of rules” (148). introduction to part one

1 It is true that there are certain changes in Milton’s practice after the early books of Paradise Lost, above all in his occasional use of a third paeon, ∪ ∪ / ∪. (Kiparsky cites these cases in “The Rhythmic Structure of English Verse,” Linguistic Inquiry 8 (1977): 201, though not under this name.) But this practice was not incorporated into the strict tradition, and it seems to me that Book I can indeed be regarded as centrally representative of Milton’s contribution to the tradition. 2 In the General Introduction I pointed out one significant exception, the influence while still in manuscript of Sidney’s poems (especially Astrophil and Stella), and mentioned what is, in fact, another, Coleridge’s “Christabel.” They are exceptions; but it also happens that both these works were published with comparatively little delay. 3 In the case of Venus and Adonis the first is the only authoritative edition. 4 While using these first editions one must keep an eye on variant readings in later editions, especially with Paradise Lost, since Milton in his blindness could not directly oversee the printing of his first edition, and with

notes.fm Page 244 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

244 Notes to pages 33–6 The Excursion, in view of the number of later changes. In the case of Bk 1 of Paradise Lost one really needs to consult both the 2nd edition of 1674 and also the original manuscript, fortunately preserved. It happens that there is only one variant reading that affects our argument – the spelling of Aroer in line 407. (No metrical significance can be attached to the continually varying spellings, he and hee.) 5 The only convenient paragraph-break falls in the middle of this line (p. 38, line 15), and then only in the later editions of the poem (the line was finally numbered as 730). So I go to this point – but in fact include the two feet that complete the line. 6 For The Rape of the Lock, the Twickenham edition of Pope (vol. 2, London, 1954); for The Excursion, the de Selincourt and Darbishire edition of Wordsworth (vol. 5, Oxford, 1949). the unvaried line 1 It is instructive to contrast this phenomenon with what happens in trochaic (/ ∪) verse, like Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, for example: He it was whose hand in Autumn Painted all the trees with scarlet, Stained the leaves with red and yellow; 134–6 In each line there are four stressed syllables. As we encounter each, we recognize and register it to be stressed, prominent, beat-like; and we feel these beats accumulating to the proper total (in this verse) of four. But the fact that every stressed syllable is followed by precisely one unstressed syllable cannot be incorporated into these primary acts of recognition. Separate acts of recognition and identification are required. Either we suspend the “account” of each trochaic syllable-pair, and close the account, awkwardly, on the unstressed syllable, or we resort to a more complex method of satisfying ourselves (though barely consciously) that by the end of the line the necessary syllables, of each kind, have all been accounted for. It will be said, in answer to this problem with trochaic lines, that the eye of the reader glances ahead, and can easily spot each following, unstressed syllable, even while enunciating the stressed syllable, aloud or as though aloud. (Attridge discusses this phenomenon, 166.) We must remember, though, that a listener will not have this advantage of “forward scanning.” But in any case, to depend on the eye in this way is to move out of the realm of pure, rhythmical organization, and to use a more complex method, after all, of accounting for the syllables. It is a well-known fact that radical variations (displaced beats) are much less frequent in trochaic than in iambic verse, a fact which many a proso-

notes.fm Page 245 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

245 Notes to pages 36–42

2

3 4 5 6

dist has sought to explain. I believe it is to be explained above all by the very point I have been making – that the iambic combines our acts of recognition and identification on syllables which serve as resolution-points for the variations, whereas the trochaic cannot provide such resolutionpoints. In the iambic pentameter our perception of the rhythm is focussed into five points; in trochaic verse it is dispersed among all the syllables. So, too, when jolted by some obstacle, the mind of the reader is roused to pay fuller attention. Attridge makes this point (though in the context of a different account of how the metre is perceived), 79. Under the classical system this was called dieresis. Under the classical system, this is what was meant by a caesura. Such effects within the line are not to be confused with the feminine ending that can occur at the end of a line. What we experience in such cases is, of course, a trochaic rhythm (/ ∪) pulling against the dominant iambic rhythm. extra syllables

1 The syllable -ferr-, in the line just given. Actually there is one exception to this principle:

\ ∪ Fall’n Cherube, to be weak is miserable PL I 157 Under Milton’s system of -able endings – explained by S.E. Sprott in Milton’s Art of Prosody (Oxford, 1953), 90–93 – no elision is possible in miserable, so a feminine ending (-ble) follows after a weak 10th syllable (-ra-). 2 In the pieces before us the only exception in an unrhymed line is

3

4 5 6

/ ∪ A Daughter’s welcome gave me; and I loved her Ex I 27.21 [499] But there is no mistaking the feminine ending here, since the line is very clear, metrically. Because the line is felt to be complete, this appendage is felt only as an appendage, without any anticipation of being taken up again into an ongoing iambic sequence – as is often the case, we saw, within a line. Erroneously printed sacietie in the 1st edition. The illustrations are far from exhaustive, and the extent of the category is suggested rather than defined. That is, with the following features: neither the opening (elidible) part of the group nor the closing part is stressed, and the close of the vowel-group constitutes (together with some final consonants, usually) the final syllable

notes.fm Page 246 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

246 Notes to pages 42–4

7 8 9 10

11 12 13

14

of the word. If any of these features are different, one is really dealing with a different category of syllable. In some cases the vowel is not wholly degraded, as in bodily in the examples given below, and even more in populous and garrulous. Again neither vowel is stressed, but the group is preceded by a stress and itself closes the word. Pope turns Chocolate into a special word by italicizing it. In all these cases the elidible vowel has for its neighbour a stressed vowel, and its own position – at the close of a word of two syllables – is unlike that in the earlier two types. That is, merging vowels, both unstressed, across a word-break, when introduced by the or to (infinitive). That is, the followed by a 3-syllable adjective, starting on an unstressed open vowel and followed in turn by a noun. That is, an unstressed vowel separated from a preceding stressed vowel by l, n or nn, or r, to be followed by an unstressed syllable closing a 3-syllable adjective. This is clearly one of the categories Edward Weismiller has in mind in his discussion of Wordsworth’s elision in “Triple Threats to Duple Rhythm,” in Phonetics and Phonology Vol 1, eds Kiparsky and Youmans, 261–90. For the point Weismiller is making, see below, p. 53. The elidible syllable must be truly unstressed, however, and therefore must follow either a full stress or a syllable capable of taking a minor stress, as in

/ ∪ ∨∪ ignominy And the word-break must not be accompanied by a significant boundary in the syntax. Included with the category glory above is the case (line 388) ?∪ Sanctuary it self for Milton seems to treat it self as one word, in effect. He does not I think allow elision with the word Sanctuary, which he would no doubt stress / ∪∨ ∪ Sanctuary 15 With these (even though it should properly fall under Class ID, in view of crossing a word-break) may be classed the exceptional case /? / For that celestial light? Be it so, since hee PL I 245 At first sight one might suppose that, by analogy, he it would be elidible in Th’infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile PL I 34

notes.fm Page 247 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

247 Notes to pages 44–50

16

17

18 19

20 21

22 23

24 25

In fact, a boundary before the transposed phrase it was intervenes, so that the cases are not analogous, and elision is ruled out in the second. The first word closes on the -l, -r or -n, while the second opens on an unstressed vowel; and the three further alternative requisites are illustrated in the three examples given. That is, either (i) the first word ends in -able or -ible, with the stress on the 4th last syllable (on Milton’s treatment of -able and -ible endings, see Sprott, 90–3); (ii) the first word is of two syllables with the stress-pattern, / ∪, and is followed by of in a simple possessive construction; or (iii) the first word is a dissyllable as in (ii), with internal elision nearly possible, either under Class IC or by analogy with the special case chosen; and is followed by a polysyllable, or an auxiliary verb followed in turn by a polysyllabic verb. There is one exception – Aroer (PL I 407), not elided and apparently stressed, / ∪ ∪. It seems to be explained by Milton’s changing the spelling in 1674 so as to suggest some stress on the last syllable: Aroar, presumably stressed, / ∪ \ . But we cannot include here the exceptional case PL I 245, mentioned above in note 15. Notice the slightly unusual case where a word of the fire type loses its full stress, making elision only the more certain:

\? Ex I 25.18 [451] Pointing towards a sweet-briar, bade me climb That is, if the word is either a trisyllabic adjective, followed by the noun it qualifies, or a verbal form ending in -ing (or -ance, with Milton). If not, it can take its place among a small group of exceptional cases. It would represent an occasional use by Shakespeare of Wordsworth’s category under Class IIC, eloquent, animal, etc., only not conforming to the point of being an adjective. Opening (RL 14.11 [II 71]) is no doubt, as I have already suggested, a special case: ope-ning. Manacl’d and Doubl’d (PL I 426, 485) tend to be mistaken for cases of elision, until the reader realizes that these syllables are phonetically unelidible, and are in fact not optional. The case is also unindicated in the 1674 edition, as well as in Milton’s manuscript. The other cases with this set-up are lines 24, 29, 77, 309, and 446, and line 263, where the manoeuvre occurs after the caesura. There is one exception, line 59, where he uses even in a spondee (at the line-opening). The

notes.fm Page 248 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

248 Notes to pages 50–3

26 27 28

29 30

31 32

33

case not followed by an iamb is line 24, which is followed by the caesura and then a minor ionic. The other cases with this set-up are lines 338 and 458, and also lines 154 and 216, where the manoeuvre occurs after the caesura. The other cases, all involving being (not elided), are in lines 87, 376, 402, and 419. The other cases are these: With spondee or near-spondee, elided: fire, 348; sower, 449. With pyrrhic, not elided: heavenly, 198. With spondee and near-pyrrhic, not elided: fier, 334. The remaining cases, all elided, are houre, 23; lowres, 75; flowers, 152; fire, 94, 196; fier, 402; desire, 389; heavenly, 431. There are two other cases involving a choriamb, Vigorous, elided, in 22.16 [392 & n], and Spirit, unelided, in 19.9 [319]; and one involving a minor ionic, reverence in 9.11 [115]. The other two cases from Class IIA are ignorant in 19.22 [333] and Itinerant in 20.18 [349]. The other cases are as follows: Class IIA: travellers in 6.12 [62–3n]; predominance in 11.12 [159]; reverence in 14.16 [224]; mystery in 14.17 [225]; and history in 17.4 [278] and 21.23 [377]. Class IIC: spirit in 16.16 [268] and 19.6 [316]. The other two cases from Class IIA are

/ ? ∪ (Spirit attached to regions mountainous

19.9 [319]

/ ?∪ The History of many Families; 21.23 [377] When we study the appended pyrrhic we shall see why this arrangement is instantly recognizable. 34 The other case, also elided, is The imperfect in 14.8 [216]. 35 In addition to the awkward case mentioned below in the text, there are four more cases, all elided: drudgery in 19.12 [322]; Travellers in 19.15 [326]; Wanderer in 25.5 [438]; and this slightly awkward case: ∪ / ? ∪ ∧ Indulgent listener was he to the tongue 23.21 [417] 36 The other three cases of this type, all elided, are animal in 14.1 [209]; innocent in 22.20 [396]; and garrulous in 23.22 [418]. 37 Of the other two cases with spirit(s), 22.16 [392 & n] is elided, 15.1 [231] unelided.

notes.fm Page 249 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

249 Notes to pages 53–8 38 It is interesting to note that Wordsworth altered this line in 1827, significantly shortening the region lacking firm beat-syllables:

/

/

A misery to him; and the Youth resigned 39 See Weismiller, 276, 288. 40 The case with a half-stress is from Class IIC, elided:

41 42 43

44

/? ∪ \ / Even to that Hill of scandal, by the Grove 416 The other four cases are as follows, all not elided: Class IB: the Almighty, 44; Glory of, 370. Class ID: the Image, 371. Class IIB: Whether upheld, 133. The case could be classed under IIC instead of IC. See discussion of this case under feature ii for the minor ionic (chapter 4). The remaining five cases are as follows. With a spondee (/ /), from Class IB, elided: also against, 470. With a pyrrhic, from Class IIA, not elided: misery, 90; circumference, 286; Ammiral, 294; Conquerour, 323. Here are all the remaining cases: Class IA, not elided: ∪ / ∪ ?∪ / From Aroer to Nebo, and the wild 407 The case is exceptional: we would expect elision here (see above, note 17). But the nearly plain iambic context guides us firmly. Class IB, elided: the unconquerable, 106; Vally of Hinnom, 404. Class IC, elided: being, 161; Be it so, 245. The last case is exceptional (see above, note 15); but the context is very clear. Class IIA, elided: Conquerour, 143. Class IIB, elided: reason hath equald, 248; tryal of man, 366; Temple of God, 402. In the first case, reason hath equald, Milton has stretched his category to the limit, eliding across -n, a word-break, and h-. But the context is clear. Class IIC, elided: Spirit(s) in 17, 146, 318 and 490; not elided: Spirits, 101. the choriamb

1 This boundary is, I believe, never less than a clitic group boundary (a term that will be explained below). 2 The cases are as follows. With a punctuated break at b:

/ ∪ ∪ / Fondling, she saith, since I have hemd thee here

V&A 229

notes.fm Page 250 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

250 Notes to page 58 Fearless, endanger’d Heav’ns perpetual King; PL I 131 Trembling, begins the sacred Rites of Pride. RL 8.12 [I 128] Hover, and catch the shooting Stars by Night; 15.4 [II 82n] Southward, the landscape indistinctly glared Ex I 3.2 [2] Stationed, as if to rest himself, with face 5.7 [38–41n] With a phonological phrase boundary (a term also to be explained below) at b:

/ ∪ ∪ / Beautie within it selfe should not be wasted, V&A 130 Myriads though bright: If he whom mutual league, PL I 87 (Vigorous in native genius as he was) Ex I 10.15 [137–9n]

3

4

5

6

7

/ ∪ ∪ / My smooth moist hand, were it with thy hand felt, V&A 143 (As in subsequent notes, stressings are marked only in the first example, until the position of the variation changes.) Bruce Hayes, “Prosodic Hierarchy,” 201–60. It should be pointed out here that categorizing boundaries is a matter that not infrequently involves personal judgment, and that is affected, for example, by how quickly the line in question is read. Hayes offers a handy “rough” definition of a clitic group as “a single content word together with all contiguous grammatical words in the same syntactic constituent” (207). The full term would be a phonological phrase boundary. Of phonological phrases (P-phrases) Hayes remarks, “In English P-phrasing appears to follow the Italian model: it adjoins all material to the left of the head obligatorily, and it adjoins one nonbranching complement to the right optionally”; and he adds, “We can specify the kind of branching that is relevant: a complement resists incorporation if it contains at least two Clitic Groups” (215–18). In the case before us, Joynd (standing as the “head” of a phrase) is followed by the complement with me, and then by another complement constituting a new clitic group, once. The two complements cannot both belong in the same phonological phrase with Joynd. For Hayes’ rules for phonological-phrase construction see “Prosodic Hierarchy,” 218. Attridge points out this choriambic swing, even though it cuts across the grouping he focuses on for explaining the choriamb. He calls it a “satisfying, four-syllable rhythmic phrase,” a “grouping [that] has a distinctive and cohesive form” (184). The next feature, What Precedes the Variation, will provide some of the ground for this statement.

notes.fm Page 251 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

251 Notes to pages 59–66 8 What is meant by closing with an appended pyrrhic will become clear in the chapter on pyrrhic variations. 9 The other seven cases are these:

/ ∪ ∪ / Then such could hav orepowr’d such force as ours) / ∪ ∪ / For men will kisse even by their owne direction. And what is else not to be overcome? To do aught good never will be our task, Moors by his side under the Lee, while Night

PL I 145 V&A 216 PL I 109 159 207

/ ∪ ∪ / Upon the earths increase why shouldst thou feed, V&A 169 Illumine, what is low raise and support; PL I 23 10 A 2-syllable phrasal feminine ending is in fact an appended pyrrhic, a variation which will be examined in its own right in due course. 11 Here are the lines that Attridge compares (256) to make the point: /∪ ∪ / At Sestos Hero dwelt; Hero the fair / ∪ ∪ / When Venus’ sweet rites are performed and done Hero and Leander, Canto 1, 5, 320 (I have marked in the choriambs in question.) The first choriamb is preceded by the usual major break. The second choriamb is actually a deceptive choriamb, preceded only by a clitic boundary, as in the cases examined under feature iv. Here one can see the danger of an inadequate boundary, with the preceding beat-syllable, sweet, tending to lose stress and become subordinate to rites. 12 The other cases will be found in the List of Cases as follows: Ft 1–2, A: V&A 215, PL I 106, RL 11.15 [II 23], 15.14 [II 92]; B: PL I 87. Ft 2–3: PL I 145. Ft 4–5, A: V&A 45. 13 The former option yields two successive trochees: /∪ / ∪ never will be It is not impossible that this could have been Milton’s intention. But, among other things, one can’t help feeling that Milton would not have allowed uncertainty to attend the irregular manoeuvre of two successive trochees. 14 In the key to each list (in this and in all subsequent chapters), the terms noun, adjective, etc., are broad, and inclusive of alternatives. Thus, a noun

notes.fm Page 252 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

252 Notes to pages 66–74

15

16 17 18 19

may also be a noun-substitute or pronoun; an adjective may also be any predeterminer, determiner, or post-determiner other than an article or a possessive pronoun (or even a possessive pronoun, if requiring emphasis); a verb may be indicative or infinitive, active or passive, but not an auxiliary; and a preposition may also be a conjunction used prepositionally. In this list, and in the lists in subsequent chapters, only the first case will have the stress-values marked for a given position of the figure in the line. And that first case will always be marked with the standard stress-values of the figure in question, even if irregular stress-values are in fact present (as is true in this case: see above, under Unusual Cases). Or here means either, and therefore carries a full stress. That Wordsworth intended a choriamb here seems clear from his later insertion of a comma after Which. In this case and the last one in the next group (Ex I 11.11), the emphasis on Or results from its being used to open three successive lines. Notice the required emphasis on thy. the minor ionic

1 Taken from the whole of each piece of verse as originally identified – i.e. Venus and Adonis, lines 1–798; Paradise Lost Bk I, complete; The Rape of the Lock, complete; The Excursion Bk I, lines 1–764 (p. 38, line 15). 2 PL I 91 is discussed below under Unusual Cases. And V&A 31 and 103, which may be marked thus,

\ ∪ / / Over one arme the lustie coursers raine, Over my Altars hath he hong his launce, (in both cases the context calls for emphasis on syllable 3) belong in a group of minor ionics also discussed under Unusual Cases, a group in which syllable 1 carries some stress, so as to hint at a second epitrite (/ ∪ / /). These particular cases hint not just at the second epitrite but at the type of second epitrite in which juncture a is bridged, namely the trochee-spondee type. One can’t help wondering whether here, at the inauguration of the strict tradition, Shakespeare is not still feeling his way with figures like this, and echoing Sidney’s decided fondness for the trochee-spondee. If these cases are read with a full stress on syllable 1, the problem is solved. When they are read with a half stress, one could say that a feature appropriate only in a bona fide second epitrite has been imported into a species of minor ionic. 3 Each stress is likely either to constitute or to belong to a content word. Of course, this cannot be the case when syllables 3 and 4 are bridged.

notes.fm Page 253 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

253 Notes to pages 74–6 4 Here are the 7 cases:

∪

∪

/

/

While the Fops envy, and the Ladies stare! Where the wren warbles; while the dreaming Man,

RL 36.6 [IV 104] Ex I 4.3 [13]

∪ ∪ / / But ever to do ill our sole delight, PL I 160 Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least 258 In summer to tend herds: such was his task Ex I 13.10 [197–9n]

/ ∪ ∪ / With half a harvest. It pleased heaven to add

5

6 7 8

29.15 [538]

/ ∪ ∪ / The yellow stone-crop, suffered to take root 38.1 [717] Note that if the boundaries in question here are classified as phonological boundaries, the general principles educed in chapter 6 and the Conclusion to Part One are not affected. This evidence and what follows in ch. 5 corroborate a conclusion drawn by Hayes, namely that, under circumstances realized above all at the point I classify as juncture c in the minor ionic and standard second epitrite, a phonological boundary tends to mark the limit of what is acceptable (see “Prosodic Hierarchy,” 254). See General Introduction, 6ff and 20. What Jespersen actually pointed out was only a 2-syllable pattern – the pattern I shall be referring to as the Short Jespersen pattern. Under Group C, with syllables 3 and 4 joined either with a hyphen or in one word, the Jespersen pattern can nevertheless be said to be recognizable in some seven cases (more clearly in some than in others): ∪ ∪ / / Like a divedapper peering through a wave, That the star-gazers having writ on death, On his bow-backe, he hath a battell set, In his bed-chamber to be bard of rest,

/ / ∪ ∪ Th’associates and copartners of our loss His mind was a thanksgiving to the power

V&A 86 509 619 784 PL I 265 Ex I 14.9 [217]

∪ ∪ / / Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the Love-tale PL I 452 9 There are four variant patterns. The first substitutes a conjunction for a preposition at syllable 2:

/ ∪ ∪ / Or when rich China Vessels, fal’n from high,

RL 28.5 [III 159]

notes.fm Page 254 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

254 Notes to pages 77–83

/ ∪ ∪ / And sometime where earth-delving Conies keepe, V&A 687 (The second case was mentioned under feature v as almost deferring its close through a second iamb.) The second variant hyphenates juncture c: ∪ ∪ / / To his Step-father’s School, that stood alone, Ex I 9.18 [122n] The similarity of the other two variants to the standard pattern is best felt rather than defined. Third variant: ∪ ∪ / / Save a proud rider on so proud a back. To save the Powder from too rude a Gale, Not fierce Othello in so loud a Strain Fourth variant:

10

11 12 13

14

15

V&A 300 RL 15.15 [II 93] 45.15 [V 105]

/ ∪ ∪ / This sower informer, this bate-breeding spie, V&A 655 Love-lacking vestals, and selfe-loving Nuns, 752 And high permission of all-ruling Heaven PL I 212 One model can be rejected right away. As should be clear from the discussion of Attridge in the General Introduction (21–2), the minor ionic cannot be viewed as an anapest (∪ ∪ /) and a single stress (/), the one compensating for the other. See feature iii, above. These three cases, together with a different fourth, were noted above under feature iii as being the cases with the strongest boundary at c. Those cases that do not employ the Jespersen pattern, or even one of its derivatives, presumably tend to follow to some extent in the wake of the mass of Jespersen cases. Recognition of the 3-syllable core figure is induced the more readily because its identity has been established by the Jespersen cases, and the lost syllable 1 is re-incorporated the more readily because the Jespersen cases have rendered this operation familiar. V&A 31 and 103 were discussed earlier under feature ii. Other notable cases will be found in the List of Cases as follows, all from the Plain Type: Ft 1–2, A2: V&A 158; Ex I 34.19 [646 & n] Ft 1–2, A3: Ex I 5.20 [52 & n] Ft 1–2, A4: PL I 461; Ex I 36.15 [687] Ft 3–4, A2: PL I 562 Ft 4–5, A2: Ex I 33.17 [624] See Attridge, 275–80. Wordsworth’s case of the same type, To his Step-father’s School, that stood alone, Ex I 9.18 [122n] clearly falls under the same rubric.

notes.fm Page 255 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

255 Notes to pages 83–4 16 See Rare Combinations in chapter 9. 17 Milton’s Prosody (1921), 67. In his ensuing discussion Bridges argues in favour of recession in many cases of this kind in Shakespeare, in the early Milton, and in Shelley. But he points out that Milton carefully avoided such cases after Bk 3 of Paradise Lost, evidently wanting to avoid metrical ambiguity. As for the few cases in Bks 1–3, Bridges, pointing out the existence of the minor ionic, takes that as Milton’s loophole: there was no need for recession of accent, since without it one simply fell into a minor ionic (70–1). It is not clear why Bridges sees this loophole as applying only to Paradise Lost Bks 1–3, and not to the early Milton, or to Shakespeare and Shelley. But in any case Bridges does not realize that cases of this kind would, if taken as minor ionics, constitute the only minor ionics that join syllables 2 and 3 of the figure. Bridges’ loophole is questionable; and it is the rest of his argument, in favour of recession, that I find convincing. 18 See Kiparsky (1975), 594–6, and also Youmans’ comments in “Milton’s Meter,” 349–50. For Attridge’s remarks see Rhythms, 265–9. 19 Among other things, I cannot help feeling the force of two other cases, one from Milton and one from Shelley, in which recession of accent must surely have been intended. Milton’s early poem “On Time” is written mainly in iambic lines of 5 feet or 3 feet, with one 4-foot and one 6-foot line, and one trochaic tetrameter: 22 lines in all. The only radical variations in the poem are a choriamb at the opening of line 2 and possibly another at the opening of line 22. The metrical style is smoothly iambic. It is in this context that we meet line 17, and can only read it thus:

/ ∪ / ∪ / ∪ About the supreme Throne (Edition used: Complete Shorter Poems, ed. J. Carey, 2nd ed., London: 1968, 1997). The other case also involves the word supreme, and comes from one of Shelley’s translations, “Scenes from the Magico Prodigioso,” line 115. The metre is iambic pentameter: ‘God is one supreme goodness, one pure essence, (Edition used: The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, ed. Thomas Hutchinson, Oxford University Press, 1905, 1943). Without recession of accent on supreme the line is not really acceptable as an iambic pentameter. With recession, it opens with a second epitrite of a fairly standard kind. (It is true that one could also read / ∪ \ / God is one supreme goodness, one pure essence The strained choriamb, / ∪ \ /, works well enough. But here, too, recession of accent is required.)

notes.fm Page 256 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

256 Notes to pages 85–97 20 Sub-groups observed only under Group A. The omission of sub-group 1 facilitates comparison of the minor ionic with the second epitrite in the next chapter. 21 Or very occasionally a possessive pronoun requiring emphasis. 22 This same notation will be used without comment in all subsequent lists for 4-syllable figures. 23 Numbered p. 45 in this copy; the page numbers 44 and 45 are switched. 24 The context calls for emphasis on my. the second epitrite 1 Taken (as with the minor ionic) from the whole of each piece of verse. 2 Hayes opens his account of intonational phrases thus: “The Intonational Phrase (abbreviated: I-Phrase) is a concatenation of one or more P-phrases. As Selkirk (1978) and Nespor and Vogel (1983) point out, the rules deriving I-phrases vary in their application and are harder [than those for clitic groups and phonological phrases] to pin down. There are a few syntactic loci that obligatorily correspond to the edge of an I-phrase; for example, the edges of parentheticals, nonrestrictive relative clauses, and constituents displaced by stylistic or root transformations. The boundaries of clauses and the breaks between subject and verb phrases also strongly tend to attract I-phrase breaks.” However, as he goes on to explain, length is a factor here: an I-phrase that is inappropriately short or inappropriately long will be joined with another or broken up (“Prosodic Hierarchy,” 218). 3 The only case open to possible interpretation on this score is PL I 21, under B4 in the List of Cases. 4 That is, adjective and noun in syllables 3 and 4 for the normal close; adjective, adjective, and noun in syllables 3, 4, and 6 for the deferred close. 5 The two cases are these:

/ ∪ / / What tho’ no Credit doubting Wits may give?

RL 3.15 [I 39]

/ / / ∪ With long and ghostly shanks–forms which once seen Could never be forgotten! . . . Ex I 12.16 [184] To my ear the conjunction at syllable 2 (tho’, which) remains unstressed, and the perceptible boundary implied by the syntax (before the transposed object no Credit and the elliptical clause once seen) is, in effect, overridden – and therefore unexceptional. But for readers who feel this boundary more clearly, or stress the conjunction, the figure simply be-

notes.fm Page 257 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

257 Notes to pages 97–105 comes a trochee-spondee, or a dispondee, or an iambic sequence, unexceptional in each case. 6 After this case, the next strongest boundary at c is that in Ex I 31.23, 32.1 [591]:

/ / ∪ / “Made my heart bleed.” At this the Wanderer paused; 7 That is, an adjective at syllable 3, an adjective at syllable 4, and a noun at syllable 6. For example:

/ / / ∪ Showed like two silver doves that sit a billing. V&A 366 8 Two cases included under the Jespersen pattern involve variants of the pattern:

9 10 11

12 13

14 15 16

/ ∪ / / Set thy seale manuell, on my wax-red lips. V&A 516 Gain’d but one Trump and one Plebeian Card. RL 22.10 [III 54] In the first case the adjective and noun are reversed – a significant variant. In the second case the variant is only slight: syllable 2 is a prenominal modifier but not one of the three specified alternatives. Note that the opening two syllables in the choriamb also usually avoid being presented as a trochee. As I pointed out earlier (22), Attridge comments on this variation, somewhat in the same vein. As was explained in the minor ionic list, uniformity of classification in the minor ionic and the two types of second epitrite results at times in the lack of a sub-group. (Here sub-groups 1 and 2 are lacking.) The context suggests this emphasis on my. This case could alternatively be read as a choriamb with a heavyish 3rd syllable. The two readings are really very similar; indeed, one can merge into the other. Sub-groups are observed only under Group A. See context for emphasis on our. Syllable 4 does duty for a noun; hence this classification. review of radical variations

1 Sprott’s observation is as follows: “The rule, generally, is that in order that inversion may take place there must be a diaresis between the inverting and the preceding foot, and the stress syllable of the preceding foot must be strongly accented or followed by a definite compensatory break” (100).

notes.fm Page 258 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

258 Notes to pages 105–12 2 See above, 64. 3 An issue that will not be addressed at this stage, as it involves all variations, is the placement of variations in the line. It will be relegated, in fact, to an appendix. 4 See feature ii for the minor ionic. 5 See ch. 4, Doubtful Cases. 6 The following case, a standard second epitrite, could perhaps be added to the five:

/ ∪ / / And out of good still to find means of evil;

PL I 165

spondee variations 1 In V&A 155 (under Ft 3) the boundary is intonational; in PL I 93 (under Ft 5), phonological. 2 Actually there are three cases that are followed (or in the second case can perhaps best be regarded as being followed) merely by a phonological boundary:

/ / So spake th’Apostate Angel, though in pain, Our labour must be to pervert that end,

/

PL I 125 164

/

As now your own, our Beings were of old, RL 4.5 [I 47] In these cases the spondee, though reasonably distinct in itself, nevertheless also tends to merge into a somewhat larger word-group, and thus to fall under the general characteristic mentioned at the outset of spondees not very clearly cast in one figure rather than another. In fact, these three cases could be reclassified without difficulty as third epitrites, the first case then having a deferred close, and the last a partly deferred close. There is also the case mentioned above under feature iii,

/

/

Him haply slumbring on the Norway foam PL I 203 Since (as was explained above) a break just before haply is evidently not Milton’s intention, a fairly clear boundary after it (intonational, in fact) is almost unavoidable, instead. 3 What the arrangement into sub-groups helps to make clear is that the syntax always moves from syllable 1 into a local closure on syllable 2, assisted by the break (slight though it may be) that always follows – by definition.

notes.fm Page 259 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

259 Notes to pages 113–14 4 Notice how Pope imitates this set-up as the closing figure of a line, but takes the strain out of the figure, allowing it to become a regular third epitrite:

/ / ∪ / Then thus addrest the Pow’r–Hail wayward Queen; RL 33.13 [IV 57] The lack of a second hail allows the apostrophised phrase wayward Queen to rise to equality of emphasis with the opening Hail, and therefore allows the beat-syllable in the spondee, way-, to carry without question the requisite full stress. Moreover, with the internal fracture in the figure moving back to juncture a and a major external break falling right after Queen, the figure achieves a proper close on its 4th syllable. 5 Very similar are three cases under Group E that not only thus bridge b but also bridge a with a hyphen. 6 These cases are nevertheless classified as third epitrites in view of yet another major break after syllable 4 or syllable 5, which has the effect of unifying the figure before it: / / / ∪ Ay, me, (quoth Venus) young, and so unkinde, Wounds, Charms, and Ardors, were no sooner read,

V&A 187 RL 8.3 [I 119]

/ / ∪ / All his remembrances, thoughts, shapes, and forms; Ex I 10.18 [142] 7 These are the cases in which a phonological boundary at c is possible: / / ∪ / What followes more, she murthers with a kisse. So offers he to give what she did crave,

V&A 54 88

/ / ∪ / Being mad before, how doth she now for wits?

249

// ∪ / Tis but a kisse I begge, why art thou coy? 96 Chain’d on the burning Lake, nor ever thence PL I 210 Unutterable love. Sound needed none, Ex I 13.19 [205] And in this case there is clearly a phonological boundary at c: /

/

\

/

So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay PL I 209 But here the spondee leans toward an isolated spondee (with a feminine ending) that moves on into a third epitrite with a deferred close (on length). It is another version of the phenomenon just mentioned of a spondee evading simple classification. Meanwhile, under either classification, the intermediate stress on out (a full stress being unacceptable in the metrical context) renders the figure unusual, but not awkward.

notes.fm Page 260 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

260 Notes to pages 114–19 8 The one case in which there could be some question as to whether the boundary (after inclement) is less than phonological is Ex I 9.16 [120]:

/ / ∪ / But, through the inclement and the perilous days (Note the elision, th’in-.) 9 The single case of the semi-trailing type is unusual, however, in having a boundary at a which is, I believe, not even clitic, but which is nevertheless stronger than the boundary before the opening syllable: / / / ∪ She had not brought forth thee, but died unkind. V&A 204 10 The following are the cases in which a phonological boundary at c (rather than only a clitic boundary) is possible: / ∪ / / Till he take truce with her contending teares, If they burn too, Ile quench them with my teares. Why there love liv’d, and there he could not die. From what highth fal’n, so much the stronger provd The Pow’rs gave Ear, and granted half his Pray’r,

V&A 82 192 246 PL I 92 RL 13.3 [II 45]

/ ∪ / / A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round PL I 61 Out of our evil seek to bring forth good, 163 and also V&A 204, cited in the preceding note. In the following case there is clearly a phonological boundary at c: ∪ / / / Our Enemy, our own loss how repair, PL I 188 11 There is also a case, listed here as a first epitrite, that is preceded by an appended pyrrhic (contrary) with no more than a phonological boundary intervening:

/ ∪ / / As being the contrary to his high will PL I 161 12 As was explained above, three further cases will be treated in chapter 9 as combinations. 13 Under Plain Type, Ft 1–2, Group A*, all cases except RL 12.12 [II 38]; Group D*, the only case, Ex I 5.16 [48]. 14 Note that the only case placed in ft 2–3 is really a 6-syllable combination at the beginning of the line (the combination, spondee + dispondee): /

/

/

/

/

/

Speake faire, but speake faire words, or else be mute: 15 See context for emphasis on Our.

V&A 208

notes.fm Page 261 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

261 Notes to pages 120–33 16 17 18 19 20

See context for emphasis on He. Actually the second subdivision applies only to Group C. The omission of a comma here was no doubt a printing error. See context for emphasis on As. Some emphasis on as is evident from the context: But, as the mind was filled with inward light, So not without distinction had he lived, 21 The disguised name is Caryll. 22 The last two feet here might have been taken for a choriamb (/ ∪ ∪ /) were it not that they echo, with a kind of double rhyme, the third epitrite that closes the preceding line:

23 24

25 26

/ / ∪ / Oh pitie gan she crie, flint-hearted boy, Erroneously printed sacietie. See context for emphasis on his. Full stress could also be given to If, yielding a dispondee (/ / / /); but I think one can confidently give it less than full. See context for emphasis on Thine. One must emphasize but because it means only. pyrrhic variations

1 I.e., hairs. Regarding the obviously necessary stressing of for, compare lines 137–8, where for thee offers a double rhyme with abhor thee: Then mightst thou pause, for then I were not for thee, But having no defects, why doest abhor me? See also the rhymes unto him, woo him and unto her, woo her, lines 5–6, 307, 309. 2 After the deferred (or double deferred) close, all but two cases are followed by a clear break. Of those two (both of the Plain Type), Ex I 9.4 [111n] (under Ft 1–2, A*) is definitely followed by a phonological boundary; and if the boundary after PL I 85 (under Ft 2–3, A*) is treated as only clitic – though phonological seems more appropriate – the case can be recategorized under a double deferred close. 3 In the one case not preceded by a full stress, V&A 191 (see feature iv above), the reader is required to be consciously careful in tracking the iambic alternation, actual and understood. 4 The exceptions are the three cases of the plain type in the B* sections. 5 See Attridge, 70–2.

notes.fm Page 262 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

262 Notes to pages 133–50 6 The other notable case with a heavyish syllable 1 is V&A 112 (Trailing Type, Ft 3–4, A*). Those with a heavyish syllable 3, all in Ft 3–4, are as follows: Semi-trailing Type, A*: PL I 33. Trailing Type, A*: V&A 230; PL I 29, 118, 182; Ex I 5.19 [51 & n]; Trailing Type, B*: RL 8.8 [I 124]. 7 Or even further backwards, in two cases. 8 In two cases the iamb is preceded by a pyrrhic; but these cases fall under the category, fourth paeon + appended pyrrhic. 9 Plus another one or two preceding syllables in two cases. 10 Printed th’Eternal; th’ deleted in Errata. 11 See context for emphasis on his. combinations 1 He revised the line in 1845 so as to turn the pyrrhic into an unmistakably iambic foot:

/ ∪ To him most pleasant who on soft cool moss 2 Fairly similar is the case /∪∨ / / With suppliant knee, and deifie his power PL I 112 except that here the intervening boundary is stronger (at least phonological) and the pyrrhic is more or less resolved by the noticeable stress on -fie, its beat-syllable. 3 See John Mason, An Essay on the Power of Numbers and the Principles of Harmony in Poetical Compositions (1749; reprinted in facsimile, Garland, 1970), 45. 4 A boundary after syllable 3, as in

5 6 7

8

/ /∪ ∪ ∪ / And view with scorn Two Pages and a Chair. RL 4.4 [I 46] means that the spondee has a feminine ending, and that the fourth paeon is of the trailing type. In the 6-syllable figure there are five junctures, the last being labelled e. See Ft 1–3, Group A: V&A 224, PL I 172; Ft 3–5, Group B: PL I 90. The spondee-paeon is in ft 1–3, and the boundary in question falls after Destruction: This Nymph, to the Destruction of Mankind, RL 11.11 [II 19] In always being placed either in ft 1–3 or in ft 3–5, the 6-syllable figure makes obvious use of natural caesural positions.

notes.fm Page 263 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

263 Notes to pages 151–71 9 See context for emphasis on she. conclusion to part one 1 It will be remembered that the isolated spondee, by definition, excludes a deferred close – for the figure would then be a third epitrite. 2 Or, ambiguously, two subordinate syllables in the standard second epitrite. 3 See V&A 191 under feature iv of the fourth paeon, chapter 8. 4 The cases are V&A 31, 103, and PL I 91, cited in chapter 4, note 2 and pp. 82–3. 5 See above, 106, 108. 6 A break at b in the third epitrite (/ / ∪ /) – and indeed also in the first epitrite (∪ / / /) – results, under the present system, in classification of the spondee as an isolated spondee. Moreover, the significance of the penultimate juncture in two of the radical figures arises from the fact that the last subordinate syllable falls before it. In all simple figures the last subordinate syllable immediately precedes the closing stress and comes after the penultimate juncture. 7 See above, 107. 8 See above, 107–8. 9 That is, they have been examined up to line 250 of each piece. 10 See above, 157, on the treatment of the penultimate juncture. 11 To specify special metrical closure here would introduce eight exceptions, all regarding what happens after that closing stress. 12 A feminine ending to the line, consisting of an additional unstressed syllable – or, very occasionally, two – is readily understood to be discounted as being tacked on to the body of the line. introduction to part two 1 See General Introduction, note 6. 2 Deceptive in the same sense as the deceptive choriamb. the renaissance 1 The meaning of a figure of (say) 4.2 for the second epitrite is this: in 75 metrically typical lines, one is likely to find at least four second epitrites. Here, and with all the poets that follow, I am compelled by limitations of space to give only the final results of my survey.

notes.fm Page 264 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

264 Notes to pages 172–81 2 See above, 10–11. 3 Minor ionics and second epitrites are shown in bold type; irregularities are underlined. 4 Actually the statistics for irregularities are based on a much larger sample – the whole of Books 1–3. 5 See above, 14–15 and note 22. 6 Lines 6 and 7 of stanza 4 were transposed. 7 In the 1596 edition a was erroneously inserted so as to read And with a faire countenance . . . 8 See The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe, ed. Fredson Bowers (Cambridge University Press, 1973), vol. 2, 275–6, 425–8. 9 The inclusion of lines 1–4 would make no difference, except in involving a problematical misprint in line 3: Seaborders, disjoin’d by Neptunes might: All modern editors have treated the word Seaborders as a misprint for Seaborderers. The line is then metrically clear, with a spondee-paeon occupying ft 1–3 (though with some stress on the 5th syllable, dis-). As printed in the 1st edition the line, with only 9 syllables, is not really an iambic pentameter. 10 Linley’s edition later the same year simply reprinted Marlowe’s text from Blount’s edition. 11 As Blount’s edition has no page numbers, only the line-number will be cited. 12 Where a choice must be made amongst many alternatives, I have tended to keep to the pieces most frequently anthologized. 13 The Complete English Poems, ed. A.J. Smith (Penguin, 1971; St. Martin’s, 1974), 560. 14 It is true that two other poems were printed during Donne’s lifetime, the Satyre “Upon Mr. Thomas Coryats Crudities” (in Coryats Crudities, 1611) and the “Elegie upon the untimely death of the incomparable Prince Henry” (in Joshua Sylvester’s Lachrimae Lachrimarum, 1612). But they were not, like the Anniversaries, clearly printed under his authority. 15 As the 1611 edition has no page numbers, only the line numbers will be cited. 16 But note that Donne counts all other -ion endings as one syllable – e.g., Passions (321), Corruptions (330), actions (331), and so on. 17 It is true that the sense here might call for some bold metrical reversal. Still, the minor ionic that would result from stressing syllable 2 seems

notes.fm Page 265 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

265 Notes to pages 185–204 awkward and unconvincing to me. Though the word is normally stressed thus by Jonson and also by Spenser, both poets occasionally stress the first syllable instead. See especially “The Forest,” 11.64, but also “Epigrams,” 12.3; and Spenser, FQ Bk 2, 1.42.7, 7.37.2. the interregnum and the restoration 1 Here and with subsequent texts I shall use the double system of citation used in Part One for Pope and Wordsworth: the line number (or if necessary the page and line number) in the first edition, followed by the line number in a modern variorum edition). In Waller’s case, however, the modern edition is not a variorum, but Thorn Drury’s edition in The Muses’ Library (London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1893). 2 Actually the poem was withdrawn from the edition, but these lines remain in one surviving copy. the romantics 1 Of the lines cited, p. 191, line 10, and p. 192, line 21, are corrected according to the Errata slip. Actually Coleridge used the Errata slip to shorten lines 10–13, p. 191, On the wild landscape, gaze till all doth seem Less gross than bodily; a living thing Which acts upon the mind–and with such hues As cloath the Almighty Spirit, when he makes to three lines, thus: On the wide landscape, gaze till all doth seem Less gross than bodily; and of such hues As cloath the Almighty Spirit, when he makes Line 21, p. 192, was originally printed thus: (Now a dim speck, now vanishing in the light) 2 It is a change that presumably reflects the influence of Shelley. 3 “The Byron and Shelley Notebooks in the Scrope Davis Find,” Review of English Studies 29 (1978): 36–49. 4 Moreover, it is not a familiarised compound, such as could be classed with those referred to at the end of part I (see above, 161). 5 As I see it, dy- does not take the expected half stress of a compound (thus producing a tortured trochee-choriamb). What one understands here is not a compound but an unhyphenated word-pair, softly dying.

notes.fm Page 266 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

266 Notes to pages 208–21 the victorians 1 The question of recession of accent with prepositions was discussed above, 84–5. 2 Thus, one inclines toward reading the six syllables as two anapests. But that will not do. Though there is a Miltonic precedent for taking two apparent anapests as the equivalent of three iambs (see above, Introduction to Part One, note 1), by this time the occasional anapest was beginning to be used by some poets, including Browning himself, as a substitute for an iamb. Two anapests would therefore be taken as the equivalent of two iambs, not three. 3 It is in fact Sidney’s early alternative method with the monosyllabic adjective group, as we saw earlier (9–10). conclusion 1 With one of these earlier dates for the cut-off, the sample poem we have used for Robert Browning, “The Bishop Order his Tomb,” would still be included in his corpus, but could not be chosen as being metrically representative of that corpus. 2 Conversations with William Drummond of Hawthornden, in Ben Jonson: The Complete Poems, ed. G. Parfitt (Penguin, 1975), 462. 3 See System, 198, for Riemann’s diagram. 4 “The limitation of the scheme to eight proper bars … is not quite as arbitrary as it seems, though. First, it is no new arrangement, but one long customary (for at least 200 years); secondly, simple song-type compositions (dances) have had eight-bar sections with repeats for c. 400 years; but thirdly (and this is really decisive), series of eight-bar sentences seldom appear, except in dances and dance-like pieces, without longer insertions between the sentences” (199, my translation). 5 Rhythms, 89. In laying down this point in his article “Rhythm” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed.), Tovey clearly contradicts Riemann. We have, he says, a “natural tendency to group rhythmic units in pairs, with a stress on the first of each pair.” (Quoted by Attridge, 82). 6 Notice above all T.L. Bolton’s article “Rhythm,” American Journal of Psychology 6 (1894): 145–238, and Fraisse’s endorsement of his conclusions in the course of summing up the work done in this field (Structures, 10). 7 The drawback in the work of the experimental psychologists was the impossibility of their reproducing anything resembling the conditions under which beats are experienced in music or verse. Their beats consisted of

notes.fm Page 267 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

267 Notes to pages 225–9

8 9

10 11

mere clicks against a background of silence. Even so, Bolton’s main table of results (215) is instructive. He asked a selection of people to listen to clicks offered at a variety of rates and to attempt to perceive them as falling into groups, very often with the help of his suggestion. The verse we are concerned with does not normally offer beats near the extremes for human perception of beats (.3 of a second, and 1.2 seconds). Moreover, the full comments recorded by Bolton show that, when beats are represented by clicks against a background of silence, even a rate of 1 click per second begins to sound intolerably slow. When one narrows the scope of his results to a clearly relevant range, say from .5 to .9 seconds, centred on the mean (mentioned earlier) of .7 seconds, the results emerge as follows. Fourteen people, listening to uniform clicks at various rates within this range, were able between them in 26 instances to perceive the clicks as grouping themselves into pairs, fours, or pairs of pairs; and in 5 instances to perceive them as grouping themselves into threes or triple pairs. Perhaps even more revealing than these statistics is Bolton’s remark: “Most subjects preferred a grouping by four to one by three. When the attempt was made to suggest a 3-group by counting three, they felt an overpowering tendency to count one or three a second time. Thus: 1, 2, 3, 1 – 1, 2, 3, 1 – 1, 2, 3, 1 – or 1, 2, 3, 3, – 1, 2, 3, 3 – 1, 2, 3, 3” (223). In other words, they felt an overpowering tendency to count, in fact, in fours instead. It is an issue that Attridge touches on, 104–5. Pause, 69. Snell’s averages exclude pauses, which must therefore be counted in. (The lines in question are 604–28.) It is true that Ada Snell registered no pause whatever at the end of many lines, beyond a noticeable lengthening of the closing syllable. The reason, of course, lies in enjambment, so characteristic a feature of Paradise Lost. On this point Ada Snell’s figures are unrepresentative; the great bulk of iambic pentameters in the strict tradition are endstopped and would characteristically present a distinct terminal pause. Lines 31–38, Collected Verse of Rudyard Kipling (Toronto: Copp Clark, 1909). For further discussion of dipodic verse, see George Stewart, especially The Technique of English Verse (New York, 1930), chapter 11; and Attridge, 114–21.

notes.fm Page 268 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

biblio.fm Page 269 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

Bibliography

Abercrombie, Lascelles. Principles of English Prosody. Part I: The Elements. London: Martin Secker, 1923. Arnold, Matthew. Poems. London, 1853. (The copy at Queen’s University Library, Kingston, Ontario.) Attridge, Derek. The Rhythms of English Poetry. London: Longman, 1982. Baker, David, ed. Meter in English: A Critical Engagement. Fayetteville, Neb.: University of Arkansas Press, 1996. Bate, W.J. The Stylistic Development of Keats. 1945. New York: Humanities Press, 1962. Baum, P.F. The Principles of English Versification. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1922. Bennett, Josephine W. The Evolution of “The Faerie Queene.” 1942. New York: Burt Franklin, 1960. Bolton, T.L. “Rhythm.” American Journal of Psychology 6 (1894): 145–238. Boring, Edwin G. Sensation and Perception in the History of Experimental Psychology. New York: Appleton Century Crofts, 1942. Bridges, Robert. Milton’s Prosody. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1893. – Milton’s Prosody. Rev. final ed. Oxford: [Oxford University Press], 1921. Brooke, Rupert. John Webster and the Elizabethan Drama. New York: Russell & Russell, 1916. Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Poems. 2 vols. London, 1850. (The copy in the Colbeck Collection at the University of British Columbia Library.) Browning, Robert. Poems, in Two Volumes. London, 1849. Reprinted by University Microfilms, 1969.

biblio.fm Page 270 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

270

Bibliography

Byron, George Gordon, Lord. Don Juan. [First edition of Books 1–2.] London, 1819. (Copy at the University of Western Ontario Library.) Calderwood, J.L., and H.E. Toliver, eds. Perspectives on Poetry. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968. Chatman, Seymour. Theory of Meter. The Hague, 1965. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Sybilline Leaves. London, 1817. (The copy in the Bertrand Davis Collection at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario.) Cooper, Grosvenor, and Leonard B. Meyer. The Rhythmic Structure of Music. Chicago: Phoenix Books, 1960. Cowper, William. The Task, a Poem in Six Books. Vol 2 of Poems, 2 vols (1785). Reprinted in facsimile by Scolar Press, 1973. Davenant, William. An Old Spelling Critical Edition of William Davenant’s “The Platonic Lovers.” Ed. W.W. Broom, Jr. Renaissance Imagination, no. 23. New York: Garland, 1987. Donne, John. An Anatomie of the World. 1611. Reprinted in facsimile by the Roxburghe Club, 1951. – The Complete English Poems. Ed. A.J. Smith. 1971. New York: St. Martin’s, 1974. – John Donne: The Anniversaries. Ed. Frank Manley. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1963. Dryden, John. Absalom and Achitophel. 1681. Reprinted in facsimile by Scolar Press, 1970. Fraisse, Paul. Les Structures Rhythmiques. Studia Psychologia. Louvain: Publications Universitaires de Louvain, 1956. Fitzgerald, Edward. Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. 1859. In The Romance of the Rubáiyát: Edward Fitzgerald’s First Edition Reprinted with Introduction and Notes, by A.J. Arberry. London: Allen & Unwin, 1959. Fussell, Paul. Poetic Meter and Poetic Form. Revised ed. New York: Random House, 1965, 1979. Gascoigne, George. “Certayne Notes of Instruction.” In The Posies, ed. John W. Cunliffe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907. Gray, Thomas. An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard. 1751. Reprinted in facsimile by Oxford Clarendon Press, 1927. Gross, Harvey. Sound and Form in Modern Poetry. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1964. – ed. The Structure of Verse. Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett, 1966. Halle, Morris, and Samuel Jay Keyser. English Stress: Its Form, its Growth, and its Role in Verse. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Halpern, Martin. “The Two Chief Metrical Modes in English.” PMLA 77 (June 1962): 177–86.

biblio.fm Page 271 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

271

Bibliography

Hamer, Enid. The Metres of English Poetry. 4th ed. London: Methuen, 1930, 1951. Hammond, Michael. “Poetic Meter and the Arboreal Grid.” Language 67 (June 1991): 240–59. Hayes, Bruce. “The Prosodic Hierarchy of Meter.” In Phonetics and Phonology Vol 1, eds Kiparsky and Youmans (San Diego: Academic Press, 1989), 201–60. Henryson, Robert. The Testament of Cresseid. Ed. B. Dickins. London: Faber & Faber, 1943. Hulme, T.E. “Romanticism and Classicism.” In Prose Keys to Modern Poetry, ed. Karl Shapiro. New York: Harper & Row, 1962. Originally published in T.E. Hulme, Speculations (London, 1924). Hungerford, E.B. Recovering the Rhythms of Poetry: The Elements of Versification. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1966. Isaacs, Elcanon. “The Nature of the Rhythm Experience.” Psychological Review 27 (1920): 270–99. Jespersen, Otto. “Notes on Metre.” In The Structure of Verse, ed. Harvey Gross (Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett, 1966), 111–30. Johnson, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language … in Two Volumes. 1755. Reprinted in facsimile, 2 vols, by AMS Press, 1962. – The Rambler, nos 86 and 88 (12 and 19 January 1751). In The Rambler, eds W.J. Bate and Albrecht B. Strauss. The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson. Vol. 4. Hew Haven: Yale University Press, 1969. – The Vanity of Human Wishes. 1749. Reprinted in facsimile by the Augustan Reprint Society, 1950. Jonson, Ben. “To the Memory of my Beloved, the Author Mr. William Shakespeare …” In Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. 1623. Eds H. Kökeritz and C.T. Prouty. Reprinted in facsimile by Yale University Press, 1954. – Ben Jonson. Eds C.H. Herford and P. & E. Simpson. Vols 5 and 8. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937, reprinted 1954 and 1947. – Ben Jonson: The Complete Poems. Ed. G. Parfitt. Penguin, 1975. Judson, Alexander. The Life of Edmund Spenser. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1945. Keats, John. Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St, Agnes, and Other Poems. 1820. Reprinted in facsimile in The English Replicas by Payson & Clarke, 1927. Kiparsky, Paul. “Stress, Syntax, and Meter.” Language 51 (1975): 575–616. – “The Rhythmic Structure of English Verse.” Linguistic Inquiry 8 (1977): 189– 247. – and Gilbert Youmans, eds. Phonetics and Phonology Vol 1: Rhythm and Meter. San Diego: Academic Press, 1989.

biblio.fm Page 272 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

272

Bibliography

Kökeritz, Helge. Shakespeare’s Pronunciation. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953. Malof, J. A Manual of English Meters. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1970. Marlowe, Christopher. Hero and Leander. 1598. Reprinted in facsimile by Johnson Reprint Corp. & Folger Shakespeare Library, 1972. – The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe. Ed. Fredson Bowers. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973. Marvell, Andrew. Miscellaneous Poems. 1681. Reprinted in facsimile by Scolar Press, 1969. Mason, John. An Essay on the Power of Numbers and the Principles of Harmony in Poetical Compositions. 1749. Reprinted in facsimile by Garland, 1970. Massinger. The Plays and Poems of Philip Massinger. Eds P. Edwards and C. Gibson. 5 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976. Mayor, J.B. A Handbook of Modern English Metre. London: Cambridge University Press, 1903. Middleton, Thomas. A Game at Chess. 1624. Ed. J.W. Harper. New Mermaids Series. London: Benn, 1966. Milton, John. The Manuscript of Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” Bk 1. Ed. Helen Darbishire. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931. – Paradise Lost. 1st and 2nd editions. 1667 and 1674. In John Milton’s Complete Poetical Works, Reproduced in Photographic Facsimile. Ed. H.F. Fletcher. Vols 2 and 3. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1945, 1948. Mirror for Magistrates, The. Ed. Lily B. Campbell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1938. Pace, George B. “The Two Domains: Meter and Rhythm.” PMLA 76 (1961): 413–19. Patmore, Coventry. “Essay on English Metrical Law.” 1856. In Poems. 9th collective ed. 2 vols. (London: George Bell, 1906), 2.217–67. Pope, Alexander. The Rape of the Lock. 1714. Reprinted in facsimile by Scolar Press, 1970. – The Twickenham Edition of the Poems of Alexander Pope. Gen. ed. John Butt. Vol. 2. London: Methuen, 1954. Puttenham, George. The Arte of English Poesie. 1589. Eds Gladys Willcock and Alice Walker. Cambridge University Press, 1936. Ransom, John Crowe. “The Strange Music of English Verse.” Kenyon Review 18 (1956): 460–77. Reprinted in Perspectives on Poetry, eds J.L. Calderwood and H.E. Toliver (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968), 184–90. Riemann, Hugo. System der Musikalischen Rhythmik und Metrik. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1903.

biblio.fm Page 273 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

273

Bibliography

Ringler, W.A., Jr. “Introduction” and “Commentary.” In The Poems of Sir Philip Sidney, ed. W.A. Ringler, Jr. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962), xv-lxvi, 361– 519. Saintsbury, George. Historical Manual of English Prosody. London: Macmillan, 1910. Schramm, Wilbur. “Time and Intensity in English Tetrameter Verse.” Philological Quarterly 13 (1934): 65–71. Scripture, E.W. “The Nature of Verse.” British Journal of Psychology 11 (1920– 21): 225–35. Shakespeare, William. The Complete Oxford Shakespeare. Gen. eds. Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor. 3 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. – Venus and Adonis. 1593. Reprinted in facsimile by Scolar Press, 1968. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Mont Blanc” (MS version). In “The Byron and Shelley Notebooks in the Scrope Davis Find,” by Judith Chernaik and Timothy Burnett. Review of English Studies 29 (1978): 36–49. – “Mont Blanc” (first published version). In Mary Shelley and P.B. Shelley, History of a Six Weeks’ Tour, 1817. Reprinted in Revolution and Romanticism, 1789–1834: A Series of Facsimile Reprints. Oxford: Woodstock Books, 1989. – The Poems of Shelley. Eds G. Matthews and K. Everest. Longman Annotated English Poets. London: Longman, 1989. Sidney, Sir Philip. The Poems of Sir Philip Sidney. Ed. W.A. Ringler, Jr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962. Snell, Ada. Pause; A Study of its Nature and its Rhythmical Function in Verse, Especially Blank Verse. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1918. – “An Objective Study of Syllabic Quantity in English Verse.” PMLA 33 (1918) 396–408; 34 (1919): 416–35. Spenser, Edmund. The Faerie Queene. 1596. Reprinted in facsimile, with an introduction by Graham Hough, by Scolar Press, 1976. – The Works of Edmund Spenser. Eds E. Greenlaw et al. 10 vols. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1932–49. Sprott, S.E. Milton’s Art of Prosody. Oxford: Blackwell, 1953. Steele, Joshua. Prosodia Rationalis. 1779. Reprinted in facsimile by Olms, 1971. Stewart, George. The Technique of English Verse. New York: Henry Holt, 1930. Suckling, Sir John. The Works of Sir John Suckling: The Plays. Ed. L.A. Beaurline. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971. Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of. Poems. Ed. Emrys Jones. Clarendon Medieval and Tudor Series. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964. Tarlinskaja, Marina. English Verse: Theory and History. The Hague: Mouton, 1976.

biblio.fm Page 274 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:52 PM

274

Bibliography

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. Poems. 2 vols. London, 1842. (Copy at Carleton University Library, Ottawa.) Thompson, John. The Founding of English Metre. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961. Thomson, James. The Seasons. 1730. Reprinted in facsimile by Scolar Press, 1970. Tottel’s Miscellany [Songes and Sonettes] (1557–1587). Ed. H.E. Rollins. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1966. Trager, G.L., and H.L. Smith. An Outline of English Structure. Studies in Linguistics: Occasional Papers No. 3. Washington: American Council of Learned Societies, 1957. Vaughan, Thomas. Silex Scintillans. 1650. Reprinted in facsimile by Scolar Press, 1968. Waller, Edmund. A Panegyric to my Lord Protector. 1655. Reproduced in microfilm by University Microfilms, 1978. Webster, John. The Devil’s Law-Case. Ed. F.A. Shirley. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1972. Weismiller, Edward. “Triple Threats to Duple Rhythm.” In Phonetics and Phonology Vol 1, eds Kiparsky and Youmans (San Diego: Academic Press, 1989), 261–90. Wells, Stanley, and Gary Taylor. William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987. Wimsatt, W.K., and Monroe C. Beardsley. “The Concept of Meter: An Exercise in Abstraction.” PMLA 74 (1959): 585–98. Woodrow, H. “A Quantitative Study of Rhythm.” Archives of Psychology 14 (1909): 1–66. Wordsworth, William. The Excursion, Being a Portion of The Recluse, a Poem. London, 1814. Copy in the University of Waterloo Library, Waterloo, Ontario. – The Poetical Works. Ed. Ernest de Selincourt. Vol. 5. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949. Youmans, Gilbert. “Milton’s Meter.” In Phonetics and Phonology Vol 1, eds Kiparsky and Youmans (San Diego: Academic Press, 1989), 341–80.

index.fm Page 275 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:53 PM

Index

accounting for syllables, 63, 80, 82 alternation, concept of, in Attridge, 21 anacrusis, in Riemann’s theory, 219 anapest, 62, 169; Chaucer, 6n6; dramatic blank verse, 18n27; E.B. Browning, 208, 215; 19th century, 17, 19, 17n25 anapestic rhythm, danger of, 7 anchor-point, in appended pyrrhic, 137 appended pyrrhic, 52, 84, 131, 154, 156, 158–60, 169, 170, 233, 236; analysed, 134–8; before a variation, 59, 75, 97, 105, 114, 117, 118, 203; in combination, 147, 149, 200, 211; list of cases, 142–6; umbrellaword, 134, 137; unique, 135, 159, 164 Arnold, Matthew, 168, 213–5; “Sohrab and Rustum,” 213–15

articulation, in radical variations, 106, 160; in strong-ending variations, 157, 158 Attridge, Derek, 7, 20–4, 27–8, 62, 213; boundary before inversion, 64, 105; concept of alternation, 21; danger of triple rhythm, 7; perception of beats as alternating, 220; problem of half stress in compounds, 83, 161; recession of accent, 84–5; underlying rhythm, 219– 221; own differences with, 23–24 balance of positive with negative in spondeepaeon, 152 ballad stanza, see common measure beats, 26; perceived as alternating, 220–1; silent, 221 beat-syllable, 37; danger of forfeiting its role, 64, 105; displaced, 56, 73, 82, 93, 104, 106, 108,

109; identification, 35–6, 64, 82, 95–6, 105, 112, 113, 136, 138, 161, 163; injured, 155, 159–62, 164; introduced by subordinate syllable, 23; 36, 62, 77, 163; tentative identification, 52, 64, 133–4; “upstaged,” 115. See also confirmation in retrospect Blake, William 17 blank verse, dramatic, 18; T.E. Hulme, 3 boundary, before inversion, 105–6; clitic, 58; phonological, 58; intonational, 94 Bridges, Robert, Milton’s elision, 41; minor ionic, 20; recession of accent, 84 Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 17, 168, 206–8, 215, 216–17; “Sonnets from the Portuguese,” 206–8 Browning, Robert, 17–18, 19, 168, 211–13, 215, 216–17; “The Bishop Orders his Tomb,” 211–13

index.fm Page 276 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:53 PM

276

Index

Bryskett, Lodowick, 12n16 buttressing schemes of underlying rhythm, 232 Byron, Lord, 168, 199– 201, 205; Childe Harold, 199; Don Juan, 199–201; lack of spondees, 201; toying with conventions, 200–1 caesura, placement of, 234–7; and underlying rhythm, 225–6, 230, 231 canon, eight variations, 164; fringe of, 183, 191, 208, 216; three radical variations, 19 Chapman, George, 16 Chatman, Seymour, 26–7 Chaucer, Geoffrey, 6 choriamb, 73, 75, 77, 78, 80–2, 93, 98, 99, 104–8, 116, 154, 155, 161, 170, 172–3, 176, 179, 181–3, 186, 189–91, 198, 201, 203, 207, 212, 213, 215, 233–7; analysed, with list of cases, 56–72; combined with elision, 50, 51, 54; combined with pyrrhic, 145; combined with spondee, 148; compared with third epitrite and spondee-paeon, 115–16, 151–2; curtailed sample, 34; deceptive, see deceptive choriamb; “ideal” variation, 116; preceding boundary, 64, 104–5; reason for including the closing iamb, 61; single whole, 62–3; “swing,” 58–9, 63. See also inversion close, in radical variations, 75, 94, 97, 106–9; in simple variations, 112, 114, 117, 119, 132, 135, 150– 1; in strong-closing variations, 157–8; types of, in choriamb, 60–1

closure of account of rhythmic pair, 36. See also metrical closure Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 168, 197–9, 223; “Christabel,” 19; “This Lime-tree Bower my Prison,” 198–9 combinations of variations, 110, 117, 118, 147–53, 154–6, 159–62, 164, 170, 200, 212; awkward, 148–9, 159, 205; rare, 83, 84, 148–9, 211. See also appended pyrrhic, dispondee, spondeepaeon common measure, Attridge on, 220; underlying rhythm of, 223–4 compensation, principle of, choriamb, 62; minor ionic, 77n10 compounds, problem of half stress, 83, 161 confirmation in retrospect, of identity of beat-syllable, 64, 112, 115, 133, 134, 136; of identity of preceding syllables 64, 96, 117 consonant-cluster, unmanageable, 42–3 count-of-four principle, in underlying rhythm, 221 Cowper, William, 168, 195– 6, 222; The Task 196 cue, false, 41, 59–60

deliberate act of identification, 36, 95, 163 departure-syllable, articulated, 106, 157 derivatives, rhythmic. See variations Dickinson, Emily, 224 dilemma of the standard second epitrite, 98 dipodic scheme of underlying rhythm, 229 dispondee, 110, 147, 154, 155, 162, 170, 179, 233; analysed, 119–20; list of cases, 130; with appended pyrrhic 146 distinguishing features of the strict tradition, 19 Donne, John, 17, 18, 168, 176–80, 183, 191, 216– 17; An Anatomie of the World, 178–80; Ben Jonson on, 217; “Letter to the Lady Carey,” 177 Douglas, Gavin, 7–8 dramatic blank verse, 18 Dryden, John, 17, 168, 190–1; Absalom and Achitophel, 190–1 Dunbar, William, 7–8

Daniel, Samuel, 16 deceptive choriamb, 59– 60, 105; 162–3, 169, 196, 205, 212–13, 237; Coleridge, 198; E.B. Browning, 207; Marlowe, 176; R. Browning, 212; Shelley, 203; Thomson, 192, 193. See also abrupt inversion deceptive spondee, 212– 13. See also abrupt spondee

feet, traditional framework of, 24; and word- and phrase-breaks, 37 feminine ending, 39–41; double, 40–1; phrasal, 37, 75, 78, 82; to a variation, 60–1, 75, 94, 97, 107, 109, 114, 118, 119, 151, 158 final -e, in Chaucer, Gower, and their successors, 6–7 first epitrite, 85, 110, 111, 131, 132, 154–7, 170,

editions, first, 32; variorum, 33 enhanced sense of coherence in underlying rhythm, 231 experiments, in early 17th century poets, 16–17

index.fm Page 277 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:53 PM

277

Index

176, 182, 204, 209, 212, 233–7; analysed, 116– 18; combined with other variations 146, 148–9; list of cases, 127–9 Fitzgerald, Edward, 167–8, 208–9, 215; Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, 208–9 five-beat lines, underlying rhythm, 225–32 flexibility, reconciled with strictness, 218 focal point for act of perception, 36 form, basic, of strong-ending variations, 155–6 four-bar phrase, in music, 27 four-beat lines, underlying rhythm, 224–5 fourth paeon, 51, 65, 136, 137, 154–61, 164, 169– 70, 203, 205, 233–7; analysed, 131–4; in combination (see also spondee-paeon), 148–9; list of cases, 138–42; monosyllable in, 132, 133 Fraisse, Paul, 26 Fraunce, Abraham, 12 Gascoigne, George, 8 glide, in merging vowels, 42 Gower, John, 7 Gray, Thomas, 167–8, 194– 6; Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard, 195 Grey, Lord, 12–13 Grimald, Nicholas, 8–9 Gross, Harvey, 20 half stress, in compounds, 83, 161 hallmark of the strict tradition, 19 Harvey, Gabriel, 12–13 Hayes, Bruce, 20, 21; clitic boundary, 58; intonational boundary, 94n2; last juncture in minor

ionic, 74n5; phonological boundary, 58n5 Henryson, Robert, 7–8 Herbert, Lord, of Cherbury, 17 Hiawatha, The Song of, 36n1 Hogg, James, 17 Hopkins, Gerard Manley, 17–18 Hulme, T.E., 3 iamb, illusory, 79 ideal variations, 116 illusory trochaic framework, 79 illusory 7-beat scheme of underlying rhythm, 230 impulse, muscular, 36 injury, suffered by a beatsyllable, 159–62, 164 inversion, 4–11, 15, 17, 19, 21–3; abrupt, 7–9, 11, 15, 17, 59 (see also deceptive choriamb); double (see also trochee-choriamb), 9, 10. See also choriamb irregularities, classification of, 169; review of flagrant, 183, 191, 215, 216–17; in dramatic blank verse, 18n27; 19th century, 17–18; occasional, having a certain legitimacy, 216 isolated spondee, 110, 114, 115, 148, 151, 154–7, 162, 170, 233; analysed, 111–13; list of cases, 120–2 Jespersen, Otto, 20 Jespersen pattern of syntax, 104, 162–3; in minor ionic, 76–7, 80–2; in standard second epitrite, 97–9; in trocheespondee, 94–6; modified, 76; perfected, 97– 8; short, 76. See also monosyllabic adjective group

Johnson, Samuel, 168, 193–4, 196, 205; The Vanity of Human Wishes, 193–4 Jonson, Ben, 17, 168, 180– 3, 191; on Donne, 217; “To the Memory … Shakespeare,” 181–2 Judson, Alexander, 12 juncture, 56–7; b, in radical variations, 106; c, in radical variations, 107; last, in strong-ending variations, 157–8; penultimate, in strong-ending variations, 157 Keats, 168, 203–5; “Ode to a Grecian Urn” and “To Autumn,” 204–5 Kiparsky, Paul, 20–1; recession of accent, 84; third paeon in Paradise Lost, 31n1 Kipling, Rudyard, 229 kymograph recordings. See Snell landing-point, landingplace, 61, 63–4, 96, 136–7 Lanier, Sidney, 17 Lydgate, John, 7 Marlowe, Christopher, 16, 17, 168, 175–6, 182, Hero and Leander, 3, 16, 167, 175–6 Marvell, Andrew, 167–8, 185–6, 191, 225; “A Poem upon the Death of O.C.,” 186 Mason, John, 149 Meredith, George, 17 Meter in English (ed. Baker), 20 metre, 28 metrical closure, elemetary, 36, 136–7; special, 109, 134, 158–60, 162, 164 metrical representativeness, 168–9

index.fm Page 278 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:53 PM

278

Index

metrical tradition, justification of phrase, 5 midverse extrametrical syllable, 169, 210; Chaucer, 6n6; dramatic blank verse, 18n27; Milton, 54; 19th century, 17n25 Milton, John, 17, 19; Paradise Lost Bk 1, 31–164 minor ionic, 4–11, 13–16, 19–23, 54, 56, 62, 93, 94, 97–9, 104, 106–8, 110, 116, 118, 131, 132, 134, 145, 148, 149, 154– 5, 157, 161–3, 169, 171, 172, 175–81, 183, 184– 6, 188, 190–1, 192–6, 197–205, 206–15, 233– 7; adjective-noun pattern in, pointed out by Jespersen, 20; analysed, with list of cases, 73–92; hallmark of strict tradition, 19; noticed by prosodists, 20–3; preSpenserian poets, 6–9; Sidney, 10, 172; Spenser, 11, 14–15, 174–5 monosyllabic adjective group, 6–9, 163; and deceptive choriamb, 59; and abrupt (or deceptive) spondee, 9–10, 212–13; Sidney, 9–10, 15, 172; Spenser, 11, 14– 15. See also Jespersen pattern monosyllable, in fourth paeon, 132, 133 monotonously regular verse, 8 Morris, William, 17 motif, in Riemann’s theory, 219 motor rate, man’s spontaneous, 26 norms of metrical practice, 217 paeon. See fourth peaon, third paeon

patterns of syntax, 61, 112, 114–15, 117, 119, 132– 3, 135, 151. See also Jespersen patterns of syntax pentameter. See five-beat lines perception of beats as alternating, 220, 221 placement, of caesura, 225–6, 234–7; of variations, 233–7 plain type, defined in terms of minor ionic, 73 prepositions, shift of stress. See recession of accent Pope, Alexander, The Rape of the Lock, 31–164 principle(s), alternatingbeat, 221; common to radical variations, 109, 160; common to strongending variations, 158; count-of-four, 221; injured beat-syllable, 160–1 process, basic iambic, 35–6 punctuation, end-, of quoted lines of verse, 34 pyrrhic, 4, 110, 117, 131– 46, 149, 160, 161, 163– 4; 169, 179; spondee balanced by, 151–2; with elision, 51–2, 54. See also appended pyrrhic radical variations, 4, 37, 56–109, 154–8, 160–4, 169–70, 233–7; Attridge on, 21–3; in Chaucer, 6; triple canon of, 19 Raleigh, Sir Walter, 12 Ransom, John Crowe, 20 recession of accent and the minor ionic, 84–5; in E.B. Browning, 208 rhyme, triple, 40 rhythm, 26–8; primary, 26; secondary, 27. See also underlying rhythm rhythmical coherence. See underlying rhythm Riemann, Hugo, 218–19, 221, 224

robust variations, 63, 83, 99–100, 115–16, 155 role played by a syllable, 37 Sackville, Thomas, 7–9 second epitrite, 4–6, 22–4, 56, 59, 65, 83, 104, 106, 108, 118, 137, 146, 154–5, 161, 169, 175–7, 179–81, 183, 184–6, 188–91, 192–6, 197–9, 201, 203–5, 206–15, 233–6; analysed, with list of cases, 93–103; dilemma of standard, 98– 9; hallmark of strict tradition, 19; Jespersen pattern of syntax, 94–5, 162–3; noticed by prosodists, 21–3; preSpenserian poets, 6–9; Sidney, 9–10, 171, 172; Spenser, 11, 14–15, 174, 175. See also trocheespondee semi-trailing type, defined in terms of minor ionic, 73 seven-beat lines, see common measure Shakespeare, William, 16; blank verse 18; Sidney and Spenser, 16; The Rape of Lucrece, 3; Venus and Adonis, 3, 16, 31– 164, 196 Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 17, 201–3, 205; “Mont Blanc,” 202–3; recession of accent, 84n17, 84n19 Sidney, Sir Philip, 3, 5, 9– 11, 17, 168, 171–3, 182– 3, 215; about-face regarding the minor ionic, 10; abrupt spondee, 10; Astrophil and Stella, 3, 10– 11, 172–3; The Countesse of Pembroke’s Arcadia, 3, 9–10; experimental variations, 11; possible influence on Spenser, 13; syllabic integrity, 9

index.fm Page 279 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:53 PM

279

Index

simple variations, 4, 110– 164, 170, 233–7; Attridge on, 21; curtailed sample, 34 Smith, A.J., 177 Snell, Ada, kymograph recordings of Paradise Lost, 26, 228 Spenser, Edmund, 3, 5, 9, 11–17, 168, 173–5, 182, 205, 215; Harvey, 12; Raleigh, 12; The Faerie Queene, 3, 12–16, 174–5; Sidney and his circle, 12– 13; The Shepheardes Calender, 11; problem of monosyllabic adjective group, 14–15 spondee, 4, 10, 110–30, 133, 154–60, 162–4, 169–70, 190, 203, 210; abrupt (see also deceptive spondee), 9–11, 14; combined with other variations, 147–9, 154–5, 159, 200, 205, 211; illusory, 212; lack of in Byron, 201; Sidney, 11; split, 212; trocheespondee, 95–6; with elision, 50–1, 53–4. See also dispondee, first epitrite, isolated spondee, spondee-paeon, third epitrite spondee-paeon, 118, 147, 154, 158, 164, 170, 190, 203, 233; analysed with list of cases, 149–53; compared with third epitrite and choriamb, 151–2; noticed by John Mason, 149 Sprott, S.E., -able endings in Milton, 39n1; boundary before inversion in Milton, 105; Milton’s elision, 41 stress, 24–6; Jespersen’s four levels of, 20; metrical, 24 stress-hierarchies, 25

stress-level, adding a fifth, 25–6; subtly modified, 24 strictness, restored by Milton, 17 subordinate syllable, 37; introducing beat-syllable, 23 Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of, 7–9 syllabic integrity, 9, 215; assumed as a prerequisite, 163 Tarlinskaja, Marina, 20–1 technique, new, of the iambic pentameter, 3 Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 19, 168, 209–11, 215; “Morte d’Arthur,” 210–11 tentative identification. See beat-syllable terminal pause, 226, 228, 230–1 tetrameter, prone to dropping its opening syllable, 19 Thackeray, William Makepeace, 17 third epitrite, 65, 100, 110, 154–7, 162, 164, 170, 176, 189, 191, 210, 214, 233–7; analysed, 113– 16; compared with choriamb and spondee-paeon, 115–16, 151–2; “ideal,” 116; list of cases, 122–7; with appended pyrrhic, 146 third paeon, in Paradise Lost, 31n1 Thompson, John, 6, 9 Thomson, James, 167–8, 192–3, 196, 205; “Spring,” 192–3 Thoreau, Henry David, 17 three-beat lines, underlying rhythm, 221–2 Tovey, Sir Donald, 220 Tragedie of Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, 9n10

Trager-Smith, system of four levels of stress, 25 trailing type, defined in terms of minor ionic, 73 triple-pair scheme, for underlying rhythm, 227–8 trochaic verse, compared with iambic, 36n1 trochee-choriamb, 182–3, 191, 212, 216; Ben Jonson, 182; E.B. Browning, 207–8; Milton, 161; Sidney, 173; Vaughan, 189; 19th century poets, 17n25. See also inversion, double trochee-spondee, 9, 93, 98, 99, 106, 108, 149; analysed, 94–6, 100; list of cases, 100–1 Tuckerman, Frederick Goddard, 17 Turberville, George, 8 umbrella-word, 134, 137 unconscious, basic iambic process almost, 36 underlying rhythm, 27–8, 218–32; Attridge, 219– 221; basic premises for, 221; Riemann, 218–19, 221, 224 up-beat, in Riemann’s theory, 219 variations, as rhythmic derivatives of the iamb, 27, 163; experimental, in Sidney, 11; under constraint, 18–19. See also radical variations, simple variations Vaughan, Henry, 17, 167–8, 187–91, 216–17; “Isaacs Marriage,” 188–90 verbal endings, in -ed, 44–5, 170 vowels, disappearing, 42–3; merging, 42–3 Waller, Edmund, 17, 167– 8, 184–5, 191; A Panegy-

index.fm Page 280 Monday, February 26, 2001 1:53 PM

280 Index ric to my Lord Protector, 184–5 weak-opening variations, 155 Weismiller, Edward, 53, 44n13

Wordsworth, William, The Prelude, 32; The Excursion Bk 1, 31–164 Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 8