201:, syllable counts are not bound by tradition. Even very long lines are not divided into hemistichs, and the verse exhibits none of the markers usually found in other syllabic meters (with the occasional exception of end-rhyme), relying for their measure solely on total count of syllables in the line.
182:
Humans can perceive the number of members in a small set without actually counting them or mentally breaking them into subsets, with the upper limit of this ability estimated between 5 and 9 units. This seems to hold true in sequences of audible stimuli (e.g. syllables in a line of verse). Therefore,
325:
Syllabic poetry can also take a stanzaic form, as in
Marianne Moore's poem "No Swan So Fine", in which the corresponding lines of each stanza have the same number of syllables. This poem comprises 2 stanzas, each with lines of 7, 8, 6, 8, 8, 5, and 9 syllables respectively. The indented lines rhyme.
173:
Due to variations in line length, hemistichs, obligatory stress positions, and other factors among verse traditions, and because each language provides words with different rhythmic characteristics, this basic metrical template is realized with great variety. A sequence of syllables that is metrical
130:: The ends of the hemistichs are marked and contrasted by an obligatory stress: a specific syllable position near the end of each hemistich must be filled by a stressed syllable, and this position typically differs between the first and second hemistich, so that they are audibly distinct.
104:
plays no part in the syllabic prosody of these languages. While word stress in most of these languages is much less prominent than in
English or German, it is present both in the language and in the meter. Very broadly speaking, syllabic meters in these languages follow the same pattern:
326:
As in accentual-syllabic verse, there is some flexibility in how one counts syllables. For example, syllables with y- or w-glides may count as one or two syllables depending on the poet's preference. Moore counts "Dahlias" (a y-glide) as 2 syllables, and "flowers" (a w-glide) as 1.
469:) are written in Poland in 11-syllable lines. Accentual verse was introduced into Polish literature at the end of 18th century but it never replaced traditional syllabic metres. Today 9-syllable lines are extremely popular. They are iambic or choriambic.
93:. These traditions often permeate both folk and literary verse, and have evolved gradually over hundreds or thousands of years. In a sense, the metrical tradition is older than the languages themselves, since it (like the languages) descended from
399:
The modern French language does not have a significant stress accent (as
English does). This means that the French metric line is generally determined by the number of syllables. The most common metric lengths are the ten-syllable line
209:, one may question whether syllabic verse is 'metrical' at all." In English, the difficulty of perceiving even brief isosyllabic lines as rhythmically equivalent is aggravated by the inordinate power of stressed syllables.
239:
Thus, in
English, syllabic technique does not convey a metrical rhythm. Instead, it is a compositional device primarily of importance to the author, perhaps noticed by the alert reader, and imperceptible to the hearer.
321:
Because of its consistent short lines marked with end-rhyme, these lines could conceivably be heard as 7-syllable groups by a listener; however, they would be more likely to be perceived as (usually) 3-stress lines.
146:: Further rules may be imposed, such as additional word-boundary constraints on certain syllabic positions, or allowances for extrametrical syllables; and further interlinear structure may be present (such as
183:
it is no surprise that syllabic hemistichs tend to be very short (typically 4 to 8 syllables), and to be grouped and separated from their neighbors by markers like stress, word boundaries, and rhyme.
367:("as the / dead fountains"), it is quite clear that the symmetry of syllables is not meant to be audible. Moore's use of end-rhyme is telling. Only 2 lines in each stanza are rhymed: these are
205:, "it is very doubtful that verse lines regulated by nothing more than identity of numbers of syllables would be perceived by auditors as verse ... Further, absent the whole notion of meter as
461:). The rules of Polish verse were established in the 16th century. Polish metrics were strongly influenced by Latin, Italian, and French poetry. To this day originally Italian forms (like
576:
For further descriptions of Polish verse see works by Maria Dłuska, Lucylla Pszczołowska, Adam
Kulawik (Wersologia), and Wiktor Jarosław Darasz (Mały przewodnik po wierszu polskim).
124:); each hemistich also contains a specific number of syllables, and ends with a word-boundary (this means that the hemistich cannot end in the middle of a word).
170:
verse. These verses retain the older quantitative markers using long and short syllables at the ends of hemistichs, instead of stressed and unstressed.
197:, English syllabics have not evolved over time from native practice, but rather are the inventions of literate poets, primarily in the 20th century.
423:
Special syllable counting rules apply to French poetry. A silent or mute "e" counts as a syllable before a consonant, but not before a vowel (where
236:
English verse are perceived as regularly rhythmic, whereas to the listener, syllabic verse generally is not distinguishable from free verse.
220:—"uh"—rather than fully sounded). Moreover, auditors tend to perceive word stresses to fall at equal intervals in time, making English a
291:" is an example of syllabic verse in English: it has seven syllables in each line (except the last), but no consistent stress pattern.
708:
680:
634:
212:
In
English, unstressed syllables are much weaker and shorter than stressed syllables, and their vowels are often phonetically
191:
Syllabic verse in
English is quite distinct from that in most other languages, historically, structurally, and perceptually.
45:, while stress, quantity, or tone play a distinctly secondary role—or no role at all—in the verse structure. It is common in
431:
counts as a consonant). When it falls at the end of a line, the mute "e" is hypermetrical (outside the count of syllables).
94:
288:
233:
74:
85:
Many
European languages have significant syllabic verse traditions, notably Italian, Spanish, French, and the
507:
Gasparov 1996, chapters 1, 2, 7, and 9; which also serves as the primary source for the following discussion.
50:
735:
690:
62:
101:
439:
Polish syllabic verse is similar to French. The most common lengths are the thirteen-syllable line (
382:
163:
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446:
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136:: Often the syllables immediately before or after the obligatory stresses are obligatorily
652:
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229:
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70:
54:
487:
272:
256:
248:
228:
that the same amount of time occurs between stresses. So the conventional patterns of
729:
669:
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42:
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from the listener by radical enjambment ("fawn- / brown" and "coxcomb- / tinted").
252:
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34:
17:
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120:
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38:
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Linguistically, the most significant exceptions to this pattern are in
483:
333: dead fountains of Versailles." No swan,
151:
478:
267:. Some more traditional poets have also used syllabics, including
217:
147:
520:, 1910, rpt New York: Schocken Books, 1966, p 14; Fussell, Paul:
339: as the chintz china one with fawn-
354: it perches on the branching foam
112:: The line is defined by the number of syllables it contains.
348: Candelabrum-tree of cockscomb-
528:, Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1986, p 12.
699:. In Preminger, Alex; Brogan, T.V.F.; et al. (eds.).
625:. In Preminger, Alex; Brogan, T.V.F.; et al. (eds.).
385:
form for her celebrated syllabic verse poem "Accentedal".
363:
Because these lines are longer, irregular, and frequently
247:
tradition experimented with syllabic verse. These include
174:
in one verse tradition will typically not fit in another.
118:: All but the shortest lines are divided into part-lines (
701:
The New
Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
627:
The New
Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
490:
syllabic verse form of four lines of seven syllables
524:, New York: Random House, 1965, p 7; Turco, Lewis:
694:
668:
620:
590:Beum, Robert (1957). "Syllabic Verse in English".
567:'Biography of Elizabeth Daryush' MyPoeticSide.com
381:, known for her use of syllabic verse, used the
328:
293:
462:
8:
456:
450:
440:
424:
413:
407:
401:
358:flowers—at ease and tall. The king is dead.
545:
543:
243:A number of English-language poets in the
703:. New York: MJF Books. pp. 440–443.
279:is the longest syllabic poem in English.
140:stressed to further emphasize the stress.
37:having a fixed or constrained number of
500:
100:It is often implied, incorrectly, that
629:. New York: MJF Books. p. 1249.
216:(pronounced as the rather indistinct
7:
518:Historical Manual of English Prosody
343:collar on to show whose bird it was.
304:With all their griefs in their arms,
671:A History of European Versification
371:for the reader by indentation, but
27:Poetic form based on syllable count
25:
412:) and the twelve-syllable line (
310:Or the strut and trade of charms
537:Scott 1993; Gasparov 1996, p 8.
352:sea urchins, and everlastings,
337:and gondoliering legs, so fine
1:
449:), the eleven-syllable line (
346:Lodged in the Louis Fifteenth
335:with swart blind look askance
522:Poetic Meter and Poetic Form
406:), the eight-syllable line (
316:Of their most secret heart.
298:Exercised in the still night
224:"stress-timed" language; it
178:Perception of syllable count
675:. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
455:) and eight-syllable line (
341:brown eyes and toothed gold
752:
392:
516:e.g. Saintsbury, George:
331:"No water so still as the
308:Not for ambition or bread
306:I labour by singing light
296:In my craft or sullen art
289:In my craft or sullen art
350:tinted buttons, dahlias,
314:But for the common wages
300:When only the moon rages
75:accentual-syllabic verse
619:Brogan, T.V.F. (1993).
302:And the lovers lie abed
558:Chatman 1965, p 21-22.
463:
457:
451:
441:
425:
414:
408:
402:
361:
356:of polished sculptured
319:
63:stress-timed languages
526:The New Book of Forms
393:Further information:
659:. The Hauge: Mouton.
452:jedenastozgłoskowiec
442:trzynastozgłoskowiec
134:Marker reinforcement
312:On the ivory stages
277:Testament of Beauty
95:Proto-Indo-European
447:Polish alexandrine
234:accentual-syllabic
77:are more common.
657:A Theory of Meter
379:Elizabeth Daryush
269:Elizabeth Daryush
128:Hemistich markers
16:(Redirected from
743:
722:
698:
696:"French Prosody"
686:
674:
660:
653:Chatman, Seymour
648:
624:
622:"Syllabic Verse"
615:
592:Prairie Schooner
577:
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458:ośmiozgłoskowiec
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419:
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287:Dylan Thomas's "
116:Hemistich length
91:Slavic languages
61:, as opposed to
21:
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261:Kenneth Rexroth
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144:Other structure
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71:accentual verse
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18:Syllabic poetry
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5:
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665:Gasparov, M.L.
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598:(3): 259–275.
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273:Robert Bridges
257:Louis Zukofsky
249:Marianne Moore
188:
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82:
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51:syllable-timed
31:Syllabic verse
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14:
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9:
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2:
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737:
736:Poetic rhythm
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549:Brogan 1993.
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330:
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275:. Bridges's
253:Dylan Thomas
242:
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222:perceptually
221:
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203:Perceptually
202:
199:Structurally
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195:Historically
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99:
84:
30:
29:
465:ottava rima
409:octosyllabe
403:décasyllabe
110:Line length
102:word stress
69:, in which
35:poetic form
584:References
416:Alexandrin
383:quaternion
369:emphasized
164:Lithuanian
121:hemistichs
53:, such as
719:961668903
645:961668903
604:0032-6682
265:Thom Gunn
245:Modernist
230:accentual
49:that are
47:languages
39:syllables
730:Category
693:(1993).
667:(1996).
655:(1965).
612:40625103
473:See also
427:h aspiré
365:enjambed
283:Examples
81:Overview
65:such as
488:Tagalog
214:reduced
207:pattern
187:English
168:Serbian
160:Latvian
67:English
59:Finnish
717:
707:
679:
643:
633:
610:
602:
484:Tanaga
435:Polish
389:French
373:hidden
166:, and
152:stanza
87:Baltic
55:French
608:JSTOR
495:Notes
479:Haiku
226:seems
218:schwa
148:rhyme
33:is a
715:OCLC
705:ISBN
677:ISBN
641:OCLC
631:ISBN
600:ISSN
486:- a
271:and
263:and
232:and
150:and
89:and
73:and
43:line
41:per
445:or
420:).
57:or
732::
713:.
639:.
606:.
596:31
594:.
542:^
259:,
255:,
251:,
162:,
154:).
138:un
97:.
721:.
685:.
647:.
614:.
400:(
20:)
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