Stylistics: Formal Analysis

by Nick Franklin Meter There are two types of meter: accentual meter (a.k.a. strong-stress meter), and accentual syllabic meter In accent al meter there are a fi!ed n mber of stressed syllables and any n mber of nstressed syllables. "ccent al meter dominates #nglish literat re from Beowulf to $ha cer. From $ha cer ntil %erard &anley 'opkins (late ()th $ent ry) #nglish poetry is dominated by accent al syllabic meter. This means that both the n mber of stresses and the n mber of syllables are important. *o, the definition of a line+s meter consists of two words. For e!ample: iambic (referring to the stress pattern) pentameter (referring to the n mber of syllables). Two-Syllable Feet: &ost of the #nglish poetry yo will read will be based on duple feet (i.e. each foot has two syllables). There are fo r types: ,y far the most fre- ent are: iamb (n.), iambic (ad..) (yambo) /o0/ - e.g. re1ol1e, before The c rfew tolls the knell of parting day
(Elergy Written in a Country Churchyard, Thomas %ray)

trochee (n.), trochaic (ad..) /0o/ - e.g. forward, rabbit There they are, my fifty men and women
(One More Word, 2obert ,rowning)

& ch less common are: spondee (n.) (espondeo) /00/ - e.g. no more pyrrhic (n.) (prico) 3here there+s a spondee there+s often a pyrrhic and 1ice-1ersa. The reason is simple: a spondee 4 pyrrhic (or pyrrhic 4 spondee) has the same n mber of stressed syllables as two normal feet (trochaic or iambic). 3e imagine that the stressed syllable has been transferred from the pyrrhic to the spondee. This process is known as 5substitution+.

Three-Syllable Feet: These are 1ery rare in #nglish poetry and yo can largely ignore them: anapaest (n.), anapaestic (ad..) (anapesto) /oo0/ - repossess, The "ssyrian came down like a wolf on the fold dactyl (n.), dactylic (ad..) (d ctilo) /0oo/ - p l1erise, agitate #1e, with her basket, was deep in the bells and grass
(E!e, 2alph 'odgson)

nderstand

(The Destruction of Sennacherib, 6ord ,yron)

amphibrach /o0o/ - redo ble, confetti *o, to mis- ote %eorge 7rwell in "nimal Farm, 8"s a r le of th mb, two-syllable feet good, three-syllable feet bad.9

If in do bt, it+s an iambic pentameter (it is ):; of the time).

Whats so Special about the Iambic Pentameter The pentameter is a nat ral length for a line between breaths< the se- ence of iambs most nat rally fits ordinary #nglish sentences. It imitates a metronome, a clock, someone breathing or somebody walking. The two commonest patterns are the reg lar one (: iambs) and the reg lar iambic pentameter with initial (trochaic) in!ersion (( trochee followed by = iambs). - medial in!ersion (a trochee in foot > ? or =) is also possible "nother common 1ariation is to allow an e"tra (((th) unstressed syllable at the end of the line. This lea1es the last foot as an amphibrach. 3hen trying to identify a line yo are looking for patterns. These will not be totally e1en.

#ow to Scan a $ine The placing of stress in #nglish is strongly conditioned, tho gh not absol tely determined, by grammar and le!icon.% (. $o nt the n mber of syllables in se1eral lines. In most cases this year the n mber sho ld be (@. *o, we are probably talking abo t iambic pentameters. >. Identify all the content words (no ns, ad.ecti1es, ad1erbs, main 1erbs, particles of phrasal 1erbs). The stressed syllable(s) will occ r in these words. ?. ,y doing the abo1e yo sho ld also ha1e identified the str ct ral words (a !iliary 1erbs, con. nctions, prepositions, articles, etc.). These words will s ally be nstressed. =. Ai1ide yo r line p into feet, for instance: a horse / a horseB / my king/dom for / a horseB ("ichard ###)

Co sho ld be able to g ess that gi1en the choice between a content-filled horse and a pathetic little str ct ral article like 5a+, we stress the horse: a '72*# / a '72*#B /...../ ...../ a '72*#B $learly the dominant foot is the iamb. 3e are left with 8my kingdom for9. "gain it sho ld be pretty clear that a pathetic possessi1e ad.ecti1e like 5my+ and a h mble preposition like 5for+ aren+t going to carry m ch weight. The no n 5kingdom+ ob1io sly m st be stressed. , t with syllable 5king+ or 5dom+. 3ell, (. #nglish no ns tend to stress near the beginning of the word >. "s a 1ery general r le of th mb, we tend to stress the root rather than affi!es. In any case, 5DIN%dom+ so nd infinitely better than 5kingA7&+. *o now we ha1e: a '72*#, / a '72*#B / my DIN%/dom .../ a '72*#B Eh-hoB The meter s ggests this is a reg lar iambic pentameter - with the fo rth foot as /dom F72/ 'owe1er, the meaning wo ld s ggest a pyrrhic in the fo rth foot - /dom for/ This is part of the problem of sing %reek terminology (iamb, trochee, etc.), which referred to syllable length, to refer to stress patterns in #nglish. *ome commentators will tell yo that 5for+ is stressed, others that it is nstressed. Co r best sol tion in e!ams, F#$s, etc. is to recogniGe the problem and say that there is 5li&ht stress+ on 5for+. ,y this yo mean that it isn+t stressed like the stressed syllables in the content words (i.e. '72*# !? 4 DIN%-) b t at the same time it isn+t completely nstressed. 2emember, ret rning to $nimal %arm, 8"ll stressed syllables are e- al, b t some are more e- al than others9. *yllables ha1e 8original weights and d rations9, as well as 8weights and d rations that seem nat rally imposed on them by other syllable gro ps aro nd them9.'

( >

$eech( p) %*+ A),)-) of .eadin& /%01%2 pp) %03-00 by 45ra Pound

The Iambic Tetrameter The fo r-stress line (tetrameter) is older and the more persistent in all pop lar forms of 1erse and song, being easily compatible with re&ularity musical beats. The tetrameter is re1i1ed in high-brow poetry in the (Hth $ent ry beca se of an increased interest in ballads Trochaic Meter Trochaic meter is m ch less fre- ent in #nglish poetry. C# whose / '#"2T* are / F2#*' and / *I&ple (6ongfellow)

3here it does occ r it tends to be tr ncated or 5catalectic+. This means that the last nstressed syllable is omitted: TCger, TCger, ,E2ning ,2I%'T (,lake)

.hetorical 6e!ices ,eware: rhetorical terms ha1e always been notorio s for 1ag eness and inconsistency.7 Schemes or Fi&ures of Sound "bnormal arrangements lending themsel1es to the forcef l and harmonio s presentation of ideas. anaphora (an fora) I the repetition of the same word or phrase in se1eral s ccessi1e cla ses, e.g. 8Awake up& my glory' awake& lute and harp' # myself will awake right early9
((salm )*+,)

incremental repetition I 8for yo r brother and my sister no sooner met b t they looked, no sooner looked b t they lo1ed, no sooner lo1ed b t they sighed, no sooner sighed b t they asked one another the reason, no sooner knew the reason b t they so ght the remedy.9 polyptoton I repetition of words deri1ed from the same root. e.g. The %reeks are strong, and skilf l to their strength. Nothing s cceeds like s ccess. (popular saying) Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness 1aliant. (Troilus and Cressida) Flease, please me. (The Beatles) polysyndeton I the repetition of con. nctions asyndeton (asindeton) I the omission of con. nctions, articles and e1en prono ns ellipsis I the deliberate omission of a word or of words which are readily implied by the conte!t antithesis I the . !taposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel str ct res. chiasmus I a re1ersal of grammatical str ct res in s ccessi1e phrases or cla ses hyperbaton I the in1ersion of word order aphesis I the omission of an initial part of a word or phrase (e.g. +bo t, +bye) syncope I the omission of the medial part of a word or phrase (e.g. ne+er, hea1+n) apocope I the omission of the final part of a word or phrase (e.g. th+, ta!iJcabK) 2epetition (associated with e!treme emotional e!citation) epi5eu"is I immediate repetition (e.g. Tyger& tyger burning bright). ploce /+plo si/ I intermittent repetion (especially the pregnant repetition of items in different senses (e.g. Old -aunt& indeed' and gaunt in being old.)

$eech p) 8

Tropes Ae1ices that in1ol1e the alteration of normal meaning of an e!pression. apostrophe (ap.strofe) I when an abstraction, a dead or absent person, or a thing is addressed, e.g. 8O Judgement/ Thou art fled to brutish beastsL9 "ntony in 0ulius Caesar bathos (paso de lo sublime a lo ridculo o tri!ial ) I l dicro s anticlima!, e.g. 8%or -od& and country1 and English muffins9 correctio I the correcting of a 5mistake+: But two months dead / 2ay not so much& not two ('amlet) O eyes& not eyes but fountains fraught with tears (*panish Tragedy) irony I the e!pression of a meaning contradictory to the ostensible one. metaphor I two nlike things are compared by identification or by the s bstit tion of one for the other. o"ymoron I an apparently contradictory phrase (e.g. 5happy sorrow+) synecdoche I the part stands for the whole (e.g. 5o r daily bread+, bread M food) 5eu&ma (3eu4g5ma)I when the same word (1erb or preposition) is applied to two others in different senses< e.g. 8Miss Bolo went home in a flood of tears and a sedan chair 9 (Aickens)

Semantics and $ine-4nd 9 end-stopped line: when the semantic content of a phrase coincides with the end of a line 9 run-on line: when there is no congr ity of this kind. 9 en:ambment: a grammatical o1erlap between co plets when the semantic content of a phrase contin es beyond the end of a line, accompanied by an opening weak syllable in the following line. "s p nct ation marks generally indicate places where a pa se is allowable, the identification of r n-on lines and en.ambment by the absence of end-p nct ation is a r le-of-th mb good eno gh for most p rposes. Word .hyme -%-;--': #nglish syllables typically consist of a consonant so nd followed by a 1owel so nd followed by a consonant so nd.8 If a line ends in an nstressed syllable, the entire nstressed syllable m st be repeated for there to be f ll rhyme. 9 alliteration: repeating $( (the repetition of one or more consonant so nds at the beginning of stressed syllables 9 allitero-assonance: repeating $(-N (the repetition of consonant-1owel combinations at the beginning of stressed syllables I name O nat re) 9 assonance: repeating N (the repetition of stressed 1owel so nds) 9 consonance: repeating $( and $> (the repetition of consonant so nds before and after different 1owels in stressed syllables Jli1e, lo1eK 9 pararhyme: repeating $> (the rhyming of the final consonant so nd witho t rhyming the preceding 1owel so nd) 9 full rhyme: repeating N and $> (J5books+, 5looks+K 9 assonance (a.k.a. 1owel rhyme): repeating N b t not $> (the rhyming of 1owels witho t rhyming the following consonants Jboot, roof or fish, fingersK) 9 internal rhyme: rhyme within the line in contrast to line-end rhyme (a.k.a. endrhyme) 9 eye rhyme: a pair of syllables which look as tho gh they sho ld rhyme b t don+t (e.g. in 5lo1e+ and 5mo1e+). Note that there may ha1e been a ral rhyme in the past. 9 half-rhyme: pararhyme or 1owel rhyme $ine .hyme 9 rhymin& couplets: aabb 9 heroic couplet: a se- ence of pentametric rhyming co plets 9 interlace rhyme: abab 9 blan< !erse: abcd ( nrhymed pentameters)

if a line-end syllable consists of --;( assonance is considered full rhyme

,iblio&raphy: $ 6inguistic -uide to English (oetry by %eoffrey N. 6eech J6ongman, ())(K Meter and Meaning+ an introduction to rhythm in poetry by Thomas $arper and Aerek "ttridge J2o tledge, >@@?K Metre& "hythm and 7erse %orm by Fhilip 'obsba m J2o tledge, >@@=K 8ow (oetry Wor9s by Fhil 2oberts JFeng in, >@@@K http://mrdmillerstale.weebly.com/themes-and-moral.html http://www.writework.com/essay/cha cer-s-cantenb ry-tales-comparison-knights-talemiller http://www.(>?helpme.com/pre1iew.aspPidM(=QR>?