Versification (1)
Some Types of Verse Line
Old English Style: Four stresses, pause after second, alliteration
Time and again, foul things attacked me,
lurking and stalking, but I lashed out,
gave as good as I got with my sword.
My flesh was not for feasting on,
there would be no monsters gnawing and gloating (Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf)
Mainstream/Chaucer Style: Count (ten) syllables, stress and unstress alternate
A knyght ther was, and that a worthy man,
That fro the tyme that he first bigan
To riden out, he loved chivalrie,
(Chaucer)
Hebrew Style: Grammatical Parallelism
For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is
over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,
and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.
(Song of Solomon)
Arthur Waley Style: Five stresses per line, unstresses free.
That have newly opened beneath the wattled fence.
I have brought wine and meant to fill my cup
When the sight of these made me stay my hand
(Arthur Waley)
Carlos Williams style: Each line is a 'breath'
This is Just to Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
Versification: some working definitions
POETRY, VERSE, RHYTHM AND METRE
Some working definitions
Poetry
Composition which incorporates in its meaning and/or effects a sense of language sound and/or structure as such, not necessarily verse composition.
Verse
Composing in ‘lines’. A line implies other lines alongside it, and these being in some sense equivalent, usually in rhythm.
Rhythm
The regular pulses or pulses the language has whether in verse or prose, speech or (as imaged from) writing. In English rhythm is marked by stressed syllables
Metre
A stylisation of natural rhythm to form a pattern. Pattern implies repetition of some kind, usually of sound.
Parallelism
The pattern is based on parallelism, that is basic repetition with variations in the detail. There are many kinds of parallelism.
Rhyme
‘bed’ and ‘fed’ the onsets are different, the rimes are the same
ONSET RIME
b ed
f ed
Grammar and/or vocabulary
(Grammatical form is the same, vocabulary is different, but vocabulary is parallel semantically is that we have types of flowers and trees, types of offspring, and ‘love’/’beloved’
As the lily among thorns,
so is my love among the daughters.
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood,
so is my beloved among the sons.
(Song of Solomon)
Syllable
(number of syllables is the same, individual syllables different)
For you must know that the world is round. In its centre
the gold pin of Jerusalem holds down the twelve winds.
(Matthew Francis: Mandeville)
Consonant or vowel
(e.g. alliteration, where the first sound is the same, the rest of the word different)
Round the ragged rock, the ragged rascal ran
Stress
There is no one among men that has not a special failing’
And my failing consists in writing verses. (Arthur Waley)
Consonants/vowels and stress:
We set up mast and sail on that swart ship,
Bore sheep aboard her, and our bodies also (Pound)
Stress and syllable:
The fault dear Brutus lies not in our stars
but in ourselves, that we are underlings (Shakespeare)
Line-end pause (‘breath’)[1]
(lines end with a pause, which may sometimes be used to create a stress)
Forgive me
They were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
Visual
(The line is taken as a spatial idea to do with layout on the page and used to foreground patterns of meaning)
Metrical Verse
has a predictable patterning of one or more of these kinds of parallelism. Metrical verse may have variations on a ‘norm’, and the patterning be less strict; here it merges into free verse
Free verse
has either a minimal amount of parallelism (a pause at the end of a line), or in has variable types which occur unpredictably, one kind a parallelism one minute, then another the next.
Speech
Parallelism is based on repetition and occurs in other texts than poetry (as do all features of poetry). There seems to be some connection, though, between parallelism (repetition) and the expression of emotion. Think of Churchill’s famous speech.
we shall fight on the
landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields
and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender.
Natural Speech Rhythm
There's also a tendency in informal conversational speech for the stresses to fall at regular time intervals, something which gets stylised in one way in the so-called 'iambic' rhythm of a lot of English poetry, in another way in Old English poetry and some folk poetry
Versification: examples of some types of verse line
Alliterative: Four stresses, pause after second, two/three per line alliterations
Time and again, foul things attacked me,
lurking and stalking, but I lashed out,
gave as good as I got with my sword.
My flesh was not for feasting on,
there would be no monsters gnawing and gloating (Seamus Heaney )[1]
Sprung (Arthur Waley Style): Five stresses per line. Unobtrusive
All that is left are a few chrysanthemum-flowers
That have newly opened beneath the wattled fence.
I had brought wine and meant to fill my cup,
When the sight of these made me stay my hand. (Arthur Waley)[1]
Grammatical Parallelism: Same sentence pattern, but with ellipsis if you wish
For, lo, the winter is
past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,
and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. (Old Testament)[1]
Free/Breath (Carlos Williams style): each line takes up a 'breath'
I have eaten
the
plums
that were
in
the icebox
and
which
you were
probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive
me
they were
delicious
so sweet
and so cold
It’s worth noticing that often in free verse the there’s a use of ellipsis (things left unstated) which masks a grammatical parallelism. Williams’ lines could be expressed as
They were delicious
They were so sweet.
They were so cold
The parallelism is also semantic, in that all the contrastive words are adjectives about taste
Versification: notes on examples
NOTES ON THE HEANEY PASSAGE
Heaney uses a loose form the Old English line. He has mainly four beats and alliteration watered down, no doubt to avoid the thumping heaviness it gives in modern English.
1 Time and again, foul things attacked me, /xx / / xx /x
2 lurking and stalking, but I lashed out, /xx / x xx / /
3 gave as good as I got with my sword. x /x /xx / xx /
4 My flesh was not for feasting on, x/x / x /x /
5 there would be no monsters gnawing and gloating xxxx/ /x /xx /x
Quite a few of these wouldn’t fit into the ‘classical’ OE line. From the point of view of stress pattern, the regular OE lines are 2(a), 4, and 5a, and 1b if we count ‘things’ as unstressed or half-stressed. So Heaney produces a loose form of the OE line, acceptable as being near enough (and given the need to translate). 4 in fact is a bit doubtful because ‘on’ doesn’t really take stress. The alliterations are reduced too, with only line 3 having 3 alliterations OE metre requires. But line three is irregularly also in that the pause comes after the third stress, ‘got’, although it might be possible to read it as
gave as good as I got with my sword
But Heaney is a good model because full-fledged OE metre sounds odd. If it is softened it can work. You can further soften it by (for example)
(1) having two alliterating sounds per line, each one occurring just once
Time and again ghouls attacked me
(2) ignoring voice/unvoice.
Again I was caught by coughing and ghouls
(3) Using either of the above or both and letting the alliterations run over onto the next line
Time and again fiends attacked me
tearing at my gear with venomous claws,
NOTES ON THE WALEY PASSAGE
1 All that is left are a few chrysanthemum-flowers /xx /xx /x /xx / ^
2 That have newly opened beneath the wattled fence. xxx /x /xx /x /x / ^
3 I had brought wine and meant to fill my cup, xx /x /x /x /x / ^
4 When the sight of these made me stay my hand. (Arthur Waley) xx /x / /x /x / ^
Waley does the basic thing beautifully. Same overall metre but variations within that. All the lines have 5 stresses but the distribution of unstressed syllables does not fall into a neat pattern. But he does tend to have the pattern /x /x / at the ends of his lines, and every line ends with a single stress followed by a silent stress (^) signalled by the end-stopping (punctuation). Because he makes the metrical stresses fall on naturally occurring stress, the rhythm sounds ‘natural’. You might think this was free verse. This gives Waley’s poems their typical calmness and sense of rightness based on unconsciously perceived regularity (metre). He also manages to make the ‘cadence’ coincide with the length of the line.
Waley’s metre is ‘sprung’ in the sense use by Hopkins, but Hopkins didn’t have the same interest in the conversational intonation Waley aims at, and Hopkins also drew in other thighs such as alliteration and almost a kind of Cynghanedd
Waley’s metre also shows how ‘natural’ the five beat line is, and the alternating pattern also (which underlines the ‘iambic’ line. Take any text beginning ‘Today I’ve got to . . .’ and cut into ten stress lines, and then work it so that that line-ends coincide with a pause. After the second line add some sort of comment on the significance of these tasks
Today I must mow the lawn if it doesn’t rain. x /xx /x /xx /x /
Then go to Morrison’s to get some mincemeat and yogurt. x/x /xxx /x /xx /x
Day after day the same simple tasks. /xx / x / /x /
Then consider any ways the rhythm can be used to enhance the attitudes emerging, ways that you can create variety within the 5 beat framework
The last line is okay because the repeated /x /x expresses the routine tasks. But line 1 breaks down after ‘lawn’ which rhyme awkwardly with rain. And the second line as the awkward jingle of ‘Morrison’s’ and ‘mincemeat’ and then ‘mincemeat’ and ‘yogourt’
if it doesn’t rain today, mow the lawn
After that, Morrison’s for yogurt and mince
NOTES ON THE SONG OF SOLOMON PASSAGE
1 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; overview: new seasons
2 The flowers appear on the earth; example: flowers/plant
3 the time of the singing of birds is come, example: birds
4 and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; example: type of bird
5 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, example: type of plant
6 and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell example: type of growth
This is based on repetition of (1) sentence pattern and (2) words of similar meaning
(1) Mention of something to do with the season, and what it is ‘doing’
winter is past
rains is over
(rain is) gone
flowers appear
singing…is come
voice… is heard
fig tree putteth for …figs
vines…give…good smell
(2) Prepositions plus Places
on the earth
in our land
(3) Phrases with ‘the’ following by a season/nature noun
the winter - the rain - the time - the singing - the voice - the turtle - the fig tree - the vines
(4) Processes of coming, being, etc
is past – is over - (is) gone - appear – is come - is heard -
(5) Nouns to do with season
winter - rain - flowers –earth – time - birds - turtle (dove) - land - fig tree - leaves – vines – grape
(6) Sequence of lines picks out examples of types of things just mentioned
NOTES ON THE W C WILLIAMS PASSAGE
I have eaten xx /x
the plums x /
that were in xx /
the icebox x /x
and which x /
you were probably xx /xx
saving x /
for breakfast x /x
Forgive me x /x
they were delicious xxx /x
so sweet / /
and so cold x / /
Another scansion (ignoring line ends)
xx/xx/xx/x/xx/xx/xx/xx/x x/x xxx/x //x //
It’s clear from this that although ‘free’ there’s clear symmetry with the ‘anapaestic’ type of foot dominant until end
It’s more clearcut if we don’t give ‘so’ stress at the end. Only 2 variations of xx/. If we pushed things and read ‘and which/ you were’ with a stress on ‘were’ and not ‘which’, the whole thing would be regular.
xx/xx/xx/x/xx/xx/xx/xx/x x/x xxx/x x/x x/
On this scansion each of William’s stanza corresponds to a 4 stressed line, the first two with 12 syllables, the third with 13
xx /xx /xx /x /x
x /xx /xx /xx /x
x /x xxx /x x /x x /
Each line has one stress except (on one reading at least) for the last two, but now it’s the page space that indicates there’s a pause – not even punctuation. There’s some coincidence between sentence component and line
I have eaten S V
the plums O
that were in S V +in
the icebox A – in
and which S
you were probably S A
saving V
for breakfast A
Forgive me V O
they were delicious S V C
so sweet C
and so cold C
This gives some basis for line-end pause, but line-end pause is mainly intonational, how you say it, and that’s to some extent up to the performer
Versification: metre and syncopation
When you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead,
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars
Iambic
Yeats himself read his poems in a very ‘musical’ way, so it’s difficult to know how far it’s worth looking at the language rhythms that come to us from the page. The poem overall tends towards the stock ‘iambic pentameter line, but there are continual variations on that, in which the alternation of unstress/stress is upset, a ‘syncopation’.
The first line starts with syncopation and then falls into the alternating rhythm
When you are old and gray and full of sleep
and this is a pretty common kind of variation (Opening of Canterbury Tales, for example) where either you miss off the first unstress (as Chaucer does) or you repay it with two stresses coming together afterwards, as here.
He is then syncopated again with
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
where he continually presses two stress up together
take down
soft look
glad grace
love false
He doesn’t let the full unambiguous iambic line flow out , or almost flow out until he gets to the emotional centre, the confession
but one man loved the pilgrim soul in you (x/x/x/x/x\)
and loved the sorrows of your changing face (x/x/xxx/x/)
and even here there’s ambiguity. It’s tempting to put a stress on ‘you’ at the end of the first line, to make to perfectly regular. And similarly to upgrade ‘of’ to stress to make the second line regular. And we might read it that way. You could possible argue that ‘you’ is relatively more stressed than ‘and’ which follows, and ‘of’ stronger than following ‘your’ – possibly. But the greater closeness to the iambic metre seems to reinforce the great closeness the poet has to what really matters to him in the poem. This seemed clear to me when I first read the poem, but I’m less sure now, especially as the next line is the most regular of all in the poem, which is Yeats empathising with her viewpoint
And bending down beside the glowing bars, (x/x/x/x/x/)
. ‘Bars’ is to rhyme with ‘stars’ at the end, and there’s a nice contrast between the domestic fire to which the old woman bends down, and the cosmic stars and mountains to which the poet looks up to see, if not himself, then love as a personified if lost figure.
This most regular line is followed by perhaps the least regular, perhaps mimicking the uncertainty of the ‘murmur’
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled (/xx/x/xx//)
but the conviction of the iambic returns at the end.
And paced upon the mountains overhead, (x/x\x/x\x/ ) / = stress \ = relative stress
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars (x/x/x\x/x/)
Here there is some uncertainty. ‘upon’ requires a stress it wouldn’t have in conversation, although it’s true that compared to ‘the’ it is relatively more stress, same thing with ‘amid’ followed by ‘a’ .
A little bit outside the box: length and pitch
OUR USUAL CONVENTIONS FOR VERSE DON’T ALLOW FOR
(1) length and pauses (2) pitch and pitch movement
It's true that some free verse layouts show pauses through indendation, and there is the example of Robert Bridges who attempted a length based metre (based on Latin where metre is based on length rather than stress)
But what difference would it make if we attempted to show these?
Showing length
¦ No ¦ I¦ can’t ¦No it would be
¦ wrong ¦ wouldn’t it ¦ ¦
¦ No I¦ can’t ¦ ¦No
¦ it would be ¦ wrong ¦ ¦
¦wouldn’t it
Showing length and pitch movement
a
¦ N ¦ c n’ ¦ ¦N
o I t o
w
r
o it
¦ it would be ¦ ng ¦ ¦ ldn’t ¦ o
w
[1] It’s worth noticing that often in free verse the there’s a use of ellipsis which masks a grammatical parallelism. Williams’ lines could be expressed as
They were delicious
They were so sweet.
They were so cold
The parallelism is also semantic, in that all the contrastive words are adjectives about taste