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Metre and Line

It is customary to begin the exposition of the theory of English versification with the statement that "...there is no established principle of English versification." But this statement may apply to almost any branch of linguistic science. Science in general can live and develop only provided that there are constant disputes on the most crucial issues of the given science.

English versification is no exception. We have already discussed some of the most general points of rhythm. This was a necessary introduction to English versification, inasmuch as English verse is entirely based on rhythmical arrangement and rhyme. Both rhythm and rhyme are objective qualities of language and exist outside verse.[29] But in verse both have assumed their compositional patterns and, perhaps, due to this, they are commonly associated with verse. The most observable and widely recognized compositional patterns of rhythm, making up classical verse, are based on:

1) alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables,[30]

2) equilmearity, that is, an equal number of syllables in the lines,

3) a natural pause al the end of the line, the line being a more or less complete semantic unit,

4) identity of stanza pattern,

5) established patterns of rhyming.

Less observable, although very apparent in modern versification, are all kinds of deviations from these rules, some of them going so far that classical poetry ceases to be strictly classical and becomes what is called free verse, which in extreme cases borders on prose.

English verse, like all verse, emanated from song. Verse assumes an independent existence only when it tears itself away from song. Then only does it acquire the status of a genuine poetic system, and rhythm, being the substitute for music, assumes a new significance. The unit of measure of poetic rhythm in English versification is not so much of a quantitative as of a qualitative character. The unit of measure in musical rhythm is the time allotted to its reproduction, whereas the unit of measure in English verse rhythm is the quality of the alternating element (stressed or unstressed). Therefore English versification, like Russian, is called qualitative, in contradistinction to the old Greek verse which, being sung, was essentially quantitative. In classic English verse, quantity is taken into consideration only when it is a matter of the number of feet in a line. That is why classic English verse is called syIIabo-tonic. Two parameters are taken into account in defining the measure: the number of syllables (syllabo) and the distribution of stresses (tonic). The nature of the English language with its specific phonetic laws, however, is incompatible with the demand for strict regularity in the alternation of similar units, and hence there are a number of accepted deviations from established metrical schemes which we shall discuss in detail after pointing out the most recognizable English metrical patterns.

There are five of them:

1. lambic metre, in which the unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one. It is graphically represented thus: (Ⱦ)

2. Trochaic metre, where the order is reversed, i.e. a stressed syllable is followed by one unstressed ( ¾È ).

3. Dactylic metre — one stressed syllable is followed by two unstressed (¾ÈÈ).

4. Amphibrachic metre — one stressed syllable is framed by two unstressed (ȾÈ).

5. Anapaestic metre — two unstressed syllables are followed by one stressed (ÈȾ).

These arrangements of qualitatively different syllables are the units of the metre, the repetition of which makes verse. One unit is called a foot. The number of feet in a line varies, but it has its limit; it rarely exceeds eight.

If the line consists of only one foot it is called a manometer; a line consisting of two feet is a demeter; three — trimeter; four — tetrameter; five — pentameter; six — hexameter; seven — septameter; eight — octameter. In defining the measure, that is the kind of ideal metrical scheme of a verse, it is necessary to point out both the type of metre and the length of the line. Thus a line that consists of four iambic feet, is called iambic tetrameter; correspondingly a line consisting of eight trochaic feet will be called trochaic octameter, and so on.

English verse is predominantly iambic. This is sometimes explained by the iambic tendency of the English language in general. Most of the English words have a trochaic tendency, that is the stress falls on the first syllable of two-syllabic words. But in actual speech these words are preceded by non-stressed articles, prepositions, conjunctions or by unstressed syllables of preceding words thus imparting an iambic character to English speech. As a result iambic metre is more common in English verse than any other metre.

Here are a few examples illustrating various metrical arrangements of English verse.

If we make a careful study of almost any poem, we will find what are called irregularities or modifications of its normal metrical pattern. These modifications generally have some special significance, usually connected with the sense, though in some cases they may be due to the nature of the language material itself. This is particularly the case with the first modification when the stress is lifted from a syllable on which the language will not allow stress, and we have what is called a pyrrhic foot instead of an iambic or a trochee, for example:

So, that now to still the beating ofmy heart I stood repeating (Poe)

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But makes surrender to some thoughtless boy (Keats)

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In both examples the stress is lifted from prepositions on which the stress very seldom falls, therefore pyrrhics are very common and quite natural modifications in English verse.

The second common modification of the rhythmical pattern is the intrusion of a trochee into an iambic metre or of an iambus into a trochaic one. This is called rhythmic inversion.

The third modification is the insertion of a foot of two stressed syllables, called a spondee. It is used instead of an iambus or a trochee. In Shakespeare's iambic pentameter these two modifications are frequently to be found, for example:

The morn in russet mantle clad

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Walkso ' er the dew of yon higheastern hill

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Here the first "foot of the second line is rhythmic inversion, and the fourth is a spondee.

Rhythmic inversion and the use of the spondee may be considered deliberate devices to reinforce the semantic significance of the word combinations. Here are other examples:

Rollon, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll.

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Tenthousand fleets sweep over thee in vain.

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Luredby the love of the genii that move

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The spondee as a rhythmic modifier, unlike the pyrrhic, is always used to give added emphasis. This may be explained by the fact that two successive syllables both under heavy stress produce a kind of clash, ^as a result of which the juncture between the syllables becomes wider, thus making each of them conspicuous. A pyrrhic smooths and quickens the pace of the rhythm; a spondee slows it down and makes it jerky.

Pyrrhics may appear in almost any foot in a line, though they are rarely found in the last foot. This is natural as the last foot generally has a rhyming word and rhyming words are always stressed. Spondees generally appear in the first or the last foot.

These three modifiers of the rhythm are the result of the clash between the requirements of the metrical scheme and the natural tendency of the language material to conform to its phonetic laws. The more verse seeks to reflect the lively norms of colloquial English, the more frequently are modifications such as those described to be found.

The fourth modifier has to do with the number of syllables in the line. There may be either a syllable missing or there may be an extra syllable. Thus the last syllable of a trochaic octometer is often missing as in this line from Poe's "The Raven".

Thrilled me, filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before

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This is called a hypometric line. Other lines in the poem have the full sixteen syllables.

In iambic metre there may be an extra syllable at the end of the line.

In the line from the Shakespeare's sonnet:

"Then in these thoughts myself almost despising"

there are eleven syllables, whereas there should have been ten, the line being iambic pentameter, as are all the lines of a sonnet. A line with an extra syllable is called hypermetric.

Such departures from the established measure also break to some extent the rhythmical structure of the verse, and are therefore to be considered modifications of the rhythm.

The fifth departure from the norms of classic verse is enjambment, or the run - on line. This term is used to denote the transfer of a part of a syntagm from one line to the following one, as in the following lines from Byron's "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage":

1. Fair is proud Seville; let her country boast