Challenge

RJ McCaffery

1 Provide Scansion for the passage (if you don’t know how to do this, watch and learn)
2 Explain (briefly) why each couplet’s meter is appropriate – i.e. what it illustrates. This can be done at the end of the piece.

Although there are a number of Gazebo regulars and part timers who can tell a click from a clack, I’ll publicly call in a favor and ask Alicia to officiate, to judge – her ear is impeccable. Alicia- are you available for this? If so, it’s all yours.

The PRIZE is wrapped and ready to be mailed!!

The Passage:

The Sound must seem an Eccho to the Sense.
Soft is the Strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth Stream in smoother Numbers flows;
But when loud Surges lash the sounding Shore,
The hoarse, rough Verse shou'd like the Torrent roar.
When Ajax strives, some Rocks' vast Weight to throw,
The Line too labours, and the Words move slow;
Not so, when swift Camilla scours the Plain,
Flies o'er th'unbending Corn, and skims along the Main.
Hear how Timotheus' vary'd Lays surprize,
And bid Alternate Passions fall and rise!
While, at each Change, the Son of Lybian Jove
Now burns with Glory, and then melts with Love;
Now his fierce Eyes with sparkling Fury glow;
Now Sighs steal out, and Tears begin to flow:
Persians and Greeks like Turns of Nature found,
And the World's Victor stood subdu'd by Sound!

peter stewart richards

The Sound must seem an Eccho to the Sense.
The SOUND must SEEM an ECho TO the SENSE.
Cathartic taxometer
Soft is the Strain when Zephyr gently blows,
SOFT is the STRAIN when ZEPhyr GENtly BLOWS,
Polemic taxidermist
And the smooth Stream in smoother Numbers flows;
and the SMOOTH STREAM in SMOOther NUMbers FLOWS;
Sporadic intoxication
But when loud Surges lash the sounding Shore,
but WHEN LOUD SURges LASH the SOUNding SHORE,
archaic decibell meter
The hoarse, rough Verse shou'd like the Torrent roar.
the HOARSE, ROUGH VERSE shou'd LIKE the TORrent ROAR.
Rustic cowbell
When Ajax strives, some Rocks' vast Weight to throw,
when AJax STRIVES, some ROCKS' vast WEIGHT to THROW,
Optimistic speedometer
The Line too labours, and the Words move slow;
the LINE TOO LABours, and the WORDS MOVE SLOW;
Telephonic dime eater
Not so, when swift Camilla scours the Plain,
not SO, when SWIFT camILla SCOURS the PLAIN,
Abrasive grime eater
Flies o'er th'unbending Corn, and skims along the Main.
flies O'ER th'unBENding CORN, and SKIMS alONG the MAIN.
Electric meter
Hear how Timotheus' vary'd Lays surprize,
hear HOW tiMOtheus' VARy'd LAYS surpRIZE,
Esoteric seismometer
And bid Alternate Passions fall and rise!
and BID altERNate PASSions FALL and RISE!
Concentric diameter
While, at each Change, the Son of Lybian Jove
WHILE, at each CHANGE, the SON of LYBian JOVE
Gaddafic vasectometer
Now burns with Glory, and then melts with Love;
now BURNS with GLOry, AND then MELTS with LOVE;
Coptic perimeter
Now his fierce Eyes with sparkling Fury glow;
now HIS fierce EYES with SPARkling FUry GLOW,
Plastic thermometer
Now Sighs steal out, and Tears begin to flow:
now SIGHS steal OUT, and TEARS begIN to FLOW:
Mystic hygrometer
Persians and Greeks like Turns of Nature found,
PERsians and GREEKS like TURNS of NATure FOUND
Intrinsic tachometer
And the World's Victor stood subdu'd by Sound!
and the WORLD'S VICtor STOOD subDU'D by SOUND!
Entropic barometer

It's not as simple as click and clack, is it? Sound echoes sense with a healthy dose of onomatopoeia in addition to the variously subtle turns of meter and rhythm in this thang. I shall wait with baited earwax for whoever can name that tune.

Peter

A. E. Stallings

(Of course, no one would accept MY prize for line breaks. Hmmph.)

I'd have to say Peter's no amateur.

AE

P.S. Pyrrhics and amphibrachs do not impress me.

Michael Pollick

The SOUND must SEEM an ECcho TO the SENSE. (iambic pentameter)

SOFT is the STRAIN when ZEphyr GENtly BLOWS, (starts out dactylic, then goes iambic tetrameter)

And the SMOOTH STREAM in SMOOther NUMbers FLOWS;(anapestic beginning, then back to iambic)

But when LOUD SURGES LASH the SOUNDing SHORE,(all over the board- anapestic, then spondaic, then iambic)

The HOARSE, ROUGH VERSE shou'd LIKE the TORrent ROAR. (again spondaic, then iambic)

When Ajax STRIVES, some ROCKS' vast WEIGHT to THROW,(straight iambic pentameter)

The LINE TOO LAbours, and the WORDS move SLOW;(irregular- could be spondaic or even trochaic, then iambic again.)

Not SO, when swift CaMILla SCOURS the PLAINS, (a trick- anapestic interruption between the iambic)

Flies O'ER th'UNbending CORN, and SKIMS aLONG the MAIN;(another trick- dactylic between iambic.)

HEAR how TimoTHEus' VARy'd LAYS surPRIZE,(the cruxof the whole thing- surprise trochaic beginning, then return to iambic)

And bid ALternate PASsions FALL and RISE! (dactylic, then return to iambic)

While, at each CHANGE, the SON of LYbian JOVE (irregular, but a mixture of anapestic and dactylic)

Now BURNS with GLOry, and then MELTS with LOVE; (basically iambic, with a anapestic interruption)

NOW his FIERCE EYES with SPARKLing FUry GLOW; (spondaic interruption, then iambic)

Now SIGHS steal out, and TEARS beGIN to FLOWspondaic beginning, then iambic pentameter)

PERsians and GREEKS like TURNS of NAture FOUND,(dactylic, then back to iambic)

And the WORLD'S VICTOR STOOD subDU'D by SOUND! (anapestic, spondaic, then iambic.)

Rather than address each couplet separately, I will offer up my opinion as to what Pope is trying to say here. My guess is that each couplet explores a new variation on 'traditional' scansion expectation of the time. Most of the lines return to the safe harbor of Iambic Pentameter, but also experiment with the irregular meters of the other 'feet'. My opinion is that Pope wanted to remind poets that truly good work did not hinge on sonics alone. The various meters communicate just as much to the reader as the words. It seems to me that Pope, in the role as critic, saw too many long and languorous poems that were too fixated on their own 'beauty'. In this passage, he is demonstrating the power of variety and experimentation in poetry.

Michael

Rodney Armstrong

The Sound must seem an Eccho to the Sense.
L1: IP. *to* is promoted to stressed.

Soft is the Strain when Zephyr gently blows,
L2: IP with opening trochee.

And the smooth Stream in smoother Numbers flows;
But when loud Surges lash the sounding Shore,
L3-L4: Double iambs (--//) at the beginning stress the incongruence in *smooth*
and *loud,* reinforce the mood of each line.

The hoarse, rough Verse shou'd like the Torrent roar.
When Ajax strives, some Rocks' vast Weight to throw,
L5-L6: IP. *rough* and *vast* are demoted to unstressed.

The Line too labours, and the Words move slow;
L7: Interesting line. Normally, *and* would be promoted to stressed but the comma allows enough pause to leave it unstressed in my scan. Is this the impossible tribrach? This line labors, rightfully.

Not so, when swift Camilla scours the Plain,
L8: Straight IP

Flies o'er th'unbending Corn, and skims along the Main.
Hear how Timotheus' vary'd Lays surprize,
L9-L10: 2nd foot anapest (thÕ unBEND-) in L9, alexandrines otherwise. The contractions perhaps meant to compensate for the extra foot. L10 is acepalous, which compensates for the anapest in L9.

And bid Alternate Passions fall and rise!
L11: IP with trochee 2nd foot.

While, at each Change, the Son of Lybian Jove
L12: Double iamb to start an otherwise IP line.

Now burns with Glory, and then melts with Love;
L13: Another tribrach?

Now his fierce Eyes with sparkling Fury glow;
L14: Trochee/spondee makes *fierce Eyes* stand out.

Now Sighs steal out, and Tears begin to flow:
L15: Iamb/spondee (*steal* somewhat demoted so maybe straight IP).

Persians and Greeks like Turns of Nature found,
L16: Trochee to begin

And the World's Victor stood subdu'd by Sound!
L17: Double iamb to start. *stood* is a promoted stress, I believe.

Rachel Dacus

I scan this poem as basically iambic tetrameter, witha lot of interesting variations. In this first line, I think he's setting up the poem as a metaphorical discussion of meter matched to content in poetry ("eccho to the sense"). The line's iambic meter turns dactylic with "eccho", putting an emphasis on the word and the concept. Good example of using meter to underscore meaning.

SOFT is the STRAIN when ZEphyr GENTly BLOWS,

Here I think he counterposes the iambic with a dactylic opening, which causes a pleasant variation but quickly rights itself again to iambic pentameter -- the soft, gently blowing undercurrent that will provide the main rhythmic structure.

And the SMOOTH STREAM in SMOOTHer NUMbers FLOWS;

Anapestic beginning to another basically i.p. line.

But WHEN loud SURges LASH the SOUNDing SHORE,

He's staying with ip, but the line has a masculine ending, with more dynamic quality. I think he's suggesting that this meter is better for action and dynamic movement.

The HOARSE, rough VERSE shou'd LIKE the TORrent ROAR.

Ditto the previous line for scansion and meaning.

When Ajax STRIVES, some ROCKS' vast WEIGHT to THROW,

Ip

The LINE too LABours, and the WORDS move SLOW;

Iambic tetrameter -- a short line to depict the slowed movement.

Not SO, when SWIFT CaMILla SCOURS the PLAIN,

Impeccable ip, picking up speed again

Flies O'ER th'unBENDing CORN, and SKIMS along the MAIN.

Begins to be anapestic, picking up more speed.

HEAR how TimoTHEus' VARy'd LAYS surPRIZE,

Then reverts to a dactylic opening to take a new tack of argument, namely that variation provides interest in a regular metrical pattern.

And BID ALternate PASsions FALL and RISE!

Ditto

While, at EACH CHANGE, the SON of LYBian JOVE

Now BURNS with GLOry, and then MELTS with LOVE;

Iambic tetrameter. The short line lends emphasis to the action.

Now his FIERCE EYES with SPARKling FUry GLOW;

The variation in meter also heightens the drama.

Now SIGHS steal OUT, and TEARS beGIN to FLOW:

Return to the basic pattern, a flowing.

PERSians and GREEKS like TURNS of NAture FOUND,

And the WORLD'S VICtor STOOD subDU'd by SOUND!

Carolyn Moore

My discussion perimeters: I will begin with some of the Papal (as in A. Pope, not the Pope) bulls (as in every sense of the word you can imagine) issued in the Pope seminar I took in graduate school in the ‘70s. That was the Vietnam protest era, and to us Pope was Establishment, though Augustan rather than Nixontonian. I am hoping RJ has studied a kinder, gentler Pope and will let me know where I (and my generation) unfairly condemned Alexander P.

1. Papal Bull #1 [I have lost a sense of my professor’s voice, but I am presently channeling into my short fiction the voice of LORE-aine, the lifer waitress, with whom I waited tables to get through college. She has agreed to speak these bulls for me.] When scanning Pope, remember that there will always be five feet to the lines of this passage. If you come out with a foot more or less, re-scan. After all, this is Pope we’re talkin’ about, and he’s like Ivory soap on this one: 99.97% pure.

2. Papal Bull #2: Watch for tricks of elision. Corollary A: Pope elided words more freely than we do and often tips off his reader by usin’ punctuation. Corollary B: we elide some words that Augustans wouldn’t have and vicey-versy.

3. Papal Bull #3: Today, we place stresses on many one-syllable modifiers; Pope (and his age) was far less likely to do so.

4. Papal Bull #4: Though not as anal about this as Milton was, Pope rarely, rarely varies the second foot of a pentameter line (that’s a five-step line dance, y’all). If you’ve varied that second foot (i.e., called it anything but an iamb) go back and re-scan. Corollary A: as in our own age, a spondee (a foot of two stressed syllables) may replace an iamb anywhere in the line without taxing the ear or counting as a substitution in the sacred second foot. Corollary B: the combination of a pyrrhic (a foot of two unstressed syllables) followed by a spondee functions as one drawn-out iamb but is scanned as two iambs since that is its effect on the rhythm of the poem. This pyrrhic-spondee combination has several Latinate and Greek names (and one or two excessively vulgar ones of my own invention). Let’s call it, as many modern prosodists do, the Minor Ionic. A good example in our passage: "and the SMOOTH STREAM . . ."

5. Papal Bull #5 , or "The Further Adventures of the Pyrrhic as Substitution": Here Loreaine will defer to the voice of Mary Kinzie: "Poets in the eighteenth century favored third-foot pyrrhics in their iambic pentameters, which emphasize the habit of balance and splitting every phrase and idea and line in two."

6. Papal Bull #6: Dactyls are the hens’ teeth of Pope’s pentameter. This is for those of you who found several dactyls. Usually your ear is sound but you’ve mislabeled Aunt Frieda’s raspberry preserves as Uncle Ole’s pork chop gravy. I often defer to the ears of other poets—but to be perfectly anal about it, I wince to see how many good scansions have come in so far with the wrong labels for the very feet that have been scanned so well. But then, as Willie S. would say, "What’s in a name?"

All of this said and done . . . when scanning this passage RJ supplied, are we scanning it as Pope would have heard it in his age? Or are we scanning it for our own age as a living rather than a dead text? Like translation, this is a matter of spirit vs. letter. Wouldn’t Pope or any Augustan worth his salt like to see a balance, a reconciliation of those two principles? Shouldn’t we?

On to quibbles based on the bull(s) issued above.

PETER, thou jocular wit beyond compare! ‘Love (we all do) your names for each line. Had I been as witty as thou, I might have rushed my scansion a bit to get to the fun parts. Perhaps this happened a time or two for you? I therefore fling Papal Bull #3 at you for your scansion of such lines as the following:

but WHEN LOUD SURges LASH the SOUNDing SHORE,
the HOARSE, ROUGH VERSE shou’d LIKE the TORrent ROAR,

You are stressing one-syllable modifiers in the second foot of each line. While I agree that "hoarse," also a one-syllable modifier, draws a stress, I believe it is promoted to one because of its placement. It is the bashful citizen at a town council meeting who is bullied into volunteering for the position by its even more bashful neighbors. Anyway, I would re-scan for other instances of going against Papal Bull #3 ("too" a few lines down sounds stressed to me, also, but I think that’s our modern ear). One place all modern scanners seem to defy this bull is in Ajax’ line (the word "vast"). You didn’t stress it—how Augustan of you.

How beautifully you caught Pope’s elision of "th’unBENding"! Perhaps this deft success carried over to the next line where you chose to elide the 4th century (BC) poet’s name? You could be right, but I prefer to hear that as "tim-MO-the-us" to add an unstressed foot and to help Pope better practice what this line preaches. He promises "vary’d," so we need to vary the line more, I believe, and convert this third foot from an iamb to an anapest. This is purely a personal preference; however, I feel strength in numbers with the Augustans in asking you to reverse the first foot of this line from "hear HOW" to "HEAR how." Not only is the trochee a frequent substitution in the first foot of 400+ years of iambic meter, but that reading would also pump up the "vary’d" effect of that line.

Braver souls than I should tackle Camilla’s line if they want to disagree with your scansion there. No matter how I try to hear what Augustan purists insist is a pentameter line, my ear’s with yours in hearing an alexandrine (6-beat line) here. Pope had such a light touch with this line in other verse that I like to think he enjoyed slipping one in here. The purist posse will hunt us down on this one, Peter, but I’ll hang with you and know I’m in good company.

I do beg you to reconsider your scansion’s pronunciation of "altERNate." I know we Americans pronounce the "r" harsher than Brits do, so we’ve strayed on this word before we see it here. But I can’t hear Pope straining that word this way. I will also campaign to hear a minor Ionic (--//) beginning the next line: "while, at EACH CHANGE," since "each" seems to point up something important in Pope’s theory here. And possibly (I’m wishy-washy on this one) another minor Ionic beginning with the third foot in this line: now BURNS with GLORy, and THEN MELTS with LOVE. We haven’t heard Pope recite Papal bull #5 for some time in this long poem, and I think this may be the spot for it. Another candidate for the minor Ionic (it doesn’t "count" as a substitution when it ends in the second foot) might be at the beginning of this line:

now his FIERCE EYES with SPARKling Fury GLOW

While we are both violating Papal Bull #3 in our scansions, I hear "fierce" as the better candidate for a stress than "his," as you have it. You have nicely scanned that final line’s opening minor Ionic.

I have used Peter’s scansion as the standard; several excellent variations have also come in (special applause for Rodney—though I bicker over your labels for certain feet).

Now, on to what I consider as important as the scansion of this passage—the vast array of other sound devices! Pope is a master of what John Frederick Nims calls "bond density." He knows how to form gangs of like sounds (in consonants, such home-boys as plosives, fricatives, and such; in vowels, such groupies as "high frequency" or "low frequency" vowels) and urge them to either harmonize or to scrap with rival gangs. Here’s a paste from my first post to RJ on this passage of Pope’s. It was over at Karen’s Neighborhood Pub, but the thread didn’t continue there. I wrote:

One goofy thing I liked to do with university students in intro. to lit courses (thus, non-majors and very lively and stimulating) was to have them LOOK at this passage and "take bets" on which line would read the slowest. Since it looked longest, they always chose Camilla's line (this was before proportional spacing in fonts, of course). Then I'd set up a race track: groups of four would run a tortoise and hare race: one student would read Camilla's line 10 times as swiftly as possible while another read Ajax's line 10 times as swiftly as possible. It helped a reader to have fingers in the ears to shut out the other reader, of course. After that race was decided by the two "line" judges, the racers would trade lines and go at it again. No matter who read what, Camilla always won. Ajax lagged far, far behind every time.

Thus, once scansion is behind us, this Papal passage bears revisiting just to feel the workout in the vocal chords that the Ajax line places on us. In many other passages such effects are subtler but always in keeping with the passage’s announced theme: "The Sound must seem an Eccho to the Sense." That key word "echo" is what Swinburne and his ilk (including the worst of Dylan Thomas’s verse) forgot. Swinburne let sound so rule that often his sense came out goofy in the head, as Loreaine would say.

I have enjoyed this thread immensely and am so pleased to find so many kindred spirits chiming in on RJ’s challenge. As I posted to him earlier, I disqualify myself from any competition because I have scanned this passage many, many times with undergraduates, graduate students, and Ivory Tower sticklers for scansion precision (besides, I didn’t trot out a full scansion; I just played off Peter’s). This thread is the most enjoyable of all those grapplings with Pope’s lines. Thanks, y’all!

Carolyn (named for North Carolina, y’all) and her channeled friend, Loreaine, lifer waitress.

peter stewart richards

but WHEN LOUD SURges LASH the SOUNDing SHORE,
the HOARSE, ROUGH VERSE shou’d LIKE the TORrent ROAR,

You are stressing one-syllable modifiers in the second foot of each line. While I agree that "hoarse," also a one-syllable modifier, draws a stress, I believe it is promoted to one because of its placement. It is the bashful citizen at a town council meeting who is bullied into volunteering for the position by its even more bashful neighbors.

'Papal bull' being 'academic bull' in my speak, I found that the stressed/unstressed tools of scansion don't cope with but when loud sur ..., which is four syllables of increasing stress (followed by iambs). By the same token of accepting Pope's declaration of sound echoing meaning, I gave ... hoarse, rough verse ... three coarse whacks.

In Norway, where I live, Timotheus would come out as TIMotHEus, which would give a pleasantly varied lay(sic).

I'd certainly go for your scanning of his fierce eyes - it should sound like that, but it's more the meaning that supports that, than the sound of the words themselves.

The sneaking feeling I have, with regard to Pope's intentions in writing this, is that he and his audience were about a million times more clued into all these phyrrics and spondees and dactyls and what they are than we are, as well as being aware of, or learned in, their various effects. So if that is the case, then the scansion of the piece is less important than the use of hard and soft vowel sounds (especially accompanied by fricative or stopped consonants, respectively) as in zephyr gently ... or smooth stream contra rocks' vast weight - sparkling - well, that's my sneakingly suspicious opinion, anyway.

fun read

Peter

Carolyn Moore

I expected you, of course, to pick up on that connotation of "bull" but despair that others will think I hold all this scansion stuff sacred, like a literal Papal bull.

You have given me, as expected, excellent points to ponder. Yet, as my grandmother used to say, "Uf-da, so much more to do!" (Only someone from Norway, the Dakotas, or Minnesota should pick up on that.)

You wrote: "then the scansion of the piece is less important than the use of hard and soft vowel sounds (especially accompanied by fricative or stopped consonants, respectively) as in zephyr gently ... or smooth stream contra rocks' vast weight - sparkling - well, that's my sneakingly suspicious opinion, anyway."

No "sneaking" about it--yes, yes, a thousand times yes! In gemeral, I'm no fan of Pope's "content," but the urn is well-wrought indeed.

It took years and years of dull, plodding scansion before I noticed that the experts I admired the most on this subject (all of whom were first and foremost poets, not simply critics or academics) stuck doggedly to what I now call "The Big Four and Little Two." By that I mean they eschewed labeling things amphibrachs, etc., and 99% of the time heard iambs, trochees, anapests, and dactyls--then made allowances for substitutions from pyrrhics and spondees (and their partnerships in minor Ionics--for rising meters--and major Ionics--for falling meters). All the rest of those Greek feet don't really transplant well on the legs of English verse.

It's fun to play with all those other labels, but I think they can lead us away from determining the dominant rhythm in a passage. In my plodding days I read an even more plodding scholar who found dactyls cropping up in less than 5% of all the English lines that he and his cronies had managed to scan in "the canon," and even these dactyls showed up primarily as substitutions in trochaic verse. Of the "Big Four," the diametrically opposed feet are (two pairs of them) the iamb and the dactyl (one a two-beat rising foot, the other a three-beat falling foot) and the trochee and the anapest (one a two-beat falling foot, the other a three-beat rising foot). I believe it was Karl Shapiro, back when he was still a goose-stepping formalist, who said that is why you almost never found dactyls as substitutions in iambic lines or anapests in trochaic lines. I fuzzily remember a letter of Pope's in which he denounced ever using a dactyl in the iambic line, but perhaps I dreamt it. RJ has had more recent and intimate contact with Pope's restless ghost, so I defer on such matters to them (RJ and said ghost).

Well, I've beaten this topic about as senseless (as in "sound and sense") as I can. Only during federal taxes week (with two elderly aunts who have shown up with their paper bags of receipts on my doorsteps within the fortnight) could I find scansion as delightful an escape as I have. Any other week of the year? Well, then nobody would have had to put up with all my ramblings on the subject.

A. E. Stallings

Peter I would love to give a prize to just for being absolutely delightful. His is the only scansion I think I've ever seen that is publishable as a work of art in its own right! Brilliant.

The phrasing of this challenge might be a little bit misleading, I think. Pope is not so much playing with meter here, in my opinion, as with the rhythm, alliteration, quality of vowels, caesuras, and assonance. The meter is Heroic Couplets, 10-syllable iambic pentameter, for the most part regular, with occasional time-honored substitutions, usually a trochee in the first foot, and one alexandrine (6 beat line), which was an allowable variant in the 18th century. (There are no tetrameters here, Gazlings.) Pope, though usually not my cup of tea, is the undisputed master of the Heroic Couplet, and this essay is surely one of his most charming (and oft-quoted) works.

Well, scansion is one of those topics, like religion or politics, best kept out of dinner conversation, as it always makes some people mad. I DON'T pretend to be an expert in the specialized field of 18thcentury prosody. I speak here only as a working metrical poet, not a scholar.

Scansion and meter are not the same thing. Scansion is a system of notation, a way of describing what the poem is doing metrically, but it is a bit like taking a black and white photo of a chromatic three-dimensional scene. It only describes one aspect. Our system is DEEPLY flawed for a couple of reasons, but mostly because we derive absurd terminology from the Greek and Latin system, which were quantative rather than accentual/syllabic. Nonetheless, I shall use the (misleading) conventional terms. Scansion is not an exact science, particularly when we deal with the prosody of another era, and sometimes a line admits of more than one possibility. This is often the case with lines that contain a lot of monosyllables, which are ambiguous (or anceps) by nature. For many of these lines, I was willing to accept more than one "answer."

All basic scansion does is describe whether a syllable is stressed or unstressed. (Other systems, such as Timothy Steele's, which describes a range of stress, are useful to scholars and critics, but unnecessarily complicated for our purposes here). But even to talk about a stressed or unstressed (or accented/unaccented, etc.) syllable is misleading, because an "unstressed" syllable can be a heavy syllable indeed, with a long drawn-out vowel and clustered with consonants. And this is precisely where the subtlety, the art, comes in. If rhythm (heavy and slow-to-say syllables versus light, easy-to-say ones) coincides exactly with scansion (stressed, unstressed), the result is sing-song, metronomic, and often annoying. It is how the two play off each other that gives metrical poems there enormous range of effects. Rather than stressed/unstressed, you might think of syllables as upbeats and downbeats, for instance. Whether a syllable is stressed or unstressed depends on an assortment of things. Some words place their stresses unequivocally (as TI ger, be FORE). Monosyllables are trickier. Partly their status depends on context--in iambics for instance a stressed tends to follow an unstressed and vice versa. Other factors such as alliteration or semantic importance can be indicators, but are not fool-proof. (The article "the" almost never takes a stress, likewise "a" or "an"--but little prepositions such as "to" or "in", or conjunctions such as "and" and "but" may well do.) We should keep in mind that some centuries were more willing to promote to a stressed position a small word which we would tend not to.

Almost anything in English CAN be scanned using the iamb (da DUM), the trochee (DUM da), the dactyl (DUM da da) and the anapest (da da DUM). As far as I am concerned, a spondee (DUM DUM) is usually a RHYTHMICAL variant of either iamb or trochee, where the two syllables approach equality and stress is ambiguous; it is not a meter in its own right, and I tend to avoid the term. Usually what we call a spondee is a heavy-footed iamb/trochee (an iamb with a heavy unstressed syllable), and should still only be issued ONE stress (or down beat). I do not argue that feet such as spondees, pyrrhics, amphibrachs, paeons, cretics, etc., do not exist. All of these things exist in the realm of theory, and might be useful to theorists or critics. But for practitioners, they are generally not necessary (as far as I'm concerned, a run of amphibrachs is a dactylic line with a grace note, or anacrusis). And so I shave them off with Ockham's razor.

Pentameter is generally defined as a line consisting of five feet, but particularly when using exotic feet that contain MORE than one or LESS than one stress, this definition can get a beginner into deep doo-doo (another good reason to stick when possible to the "big four," as Carolyn calls them). When it comes down to brass tacks (I speak again as a practitioner rather than a theoriest), a pentameter is a line with five stresses, slice and dice the feet how you may. Note: again, what many people might call a spondee, I will still issue only one stress (one down beat if I were conducting the poem).

For those who prefer to retain the term spondee, however, you may read "spondee" for iambs that contain "heavy unstressed" syllables. Even I would describe these feet as spondaic in rhythm.

The Sound must seem an Eccho to the Sense.
the SOUND must SEEM an EC cho TO the SENSE

Regular ip--promoted (diastole) "to". Also, unstressed syllables are light (and one of the stressed is very light), so this skims along nicely.

Soft is the Strain when Zephyr gently blows,
SOFT is the STRAIN when ZE phyr GENT ly BLOWS

ip with conventional initial trochaic inversion--pleasant little skip,
softening/breeziness of the meter, if you will. Also windy "s" sounds, etc.

And the smooth Stream in smoother Numbers flows;

Most naturally for us, this would be read as two short syllables, two stressed, and three iambs. You may call the feet as you like--I don't mind. (An ionic or "double iamb" followed by 3 iambs, a pyrrhic and spondee followed by iambs, or the simplest, if anachronistic: an anapest followed by trochees.) I might also, though have entertained an initial trochee. At any rate, another light skimming skip to the meter which then smooths out with the smooth numbers. (Also smooth pleasing long vowels and liquid and lisping consonants). Here I would not object to the term spondee as it refers to two stresses which COUNT as two stresses towards the FIVE stresses in the pentameter.

But when loud Surges lash the sounding Shore,
but WHEN loud SURG es LASH the SOUND ing SHORE

Perfectly regular ip, though you might say the rhythm is strongly spondaic-- that is, a very heavy unaccented or demoted syllable "loud," making this loud and slow (also a lot of onomatopoieic assonance and alliteration). (For those who want to argue that this is a pure spondee, notice that Pope's heavy unstressed syllables here tend to fall on adjectives, not nouns, and are slightly lesser in semantic importance.)

The hoarse, rough Verse shou'd like the Torrent roar.
the HOARSE rough VERSE shou'd LIKE the TOR rent ROAR

Perfectly regular ip, with heavy unstressed syllables (spondaic rhythm): "rough" and to a lesser extent "shou'd", thus making the rhythm of the line heavy and loud. (But also sound effects with r's & s's etc.)

When Ajax strives, some Rocks' vast Weight to throw,
when A jax STRIVES some ROCKS' vast WEIGHT to THROW

Pefectly regular ip, spondaic rhythm with heavy unstressed syllable "vast" (and to lesser extent "some", "jax") burden the line with effort.

The Line too labours, and the Words move slow;
the LINE too LA bours AND the WORDS move SLOW

regular ip for me: unstressed syllables "too" and "move" have heavy, long vowels and slow down the line. I think we are less comfortable with the promotion of "and" here than Pope would have been, and so also would accept Rodney's take on this one.

Not so, when swift Camilla scours the Plain,
not SO when SWIFT cam IL la SCOURS the PLAIN

Regular ip, swift moving, since unstressed syllables are light (rhythm and meter roughly equivalent here.)

Flies o'er th'unbending Corn, and skims along the Main
flies O'ER th'un BEND ing CORN and SKIMS a LONG the MAIN.

Alexandrine (six beat) line, a little extra length for flourish as she skims along. "O'er" and "th'un" are one syllable each, (by syncope and elision respectively, if you want to get fancy). Regular iambs, with light unstressed syllables zip this line along. Image is from Aeneid Book 10, where warrior princess Camilla is described as being so swift and light of foot she can run over fields and not touch the heads of the grain, and over waves without wetting her foot. Likewise, the line here skims over certain letters without touching--the elisions ("o'er" "th'un"). Pope is demonstrating the proper place and way to insert an alexandrine. Earlier in this essay he lambasts poets for sticking in lame alexandrines any-old-how.

This is also a reference to to Dryden's Aeneid. He translates the passage thus:

Outstripp'd the winds in speed upon the plain,
Flew o'er the fields, nor hurt the bearded grain:
She swept the seas, and, as she skimm'd along,
Her flying feet unbath'd on billows hung.

Hear how Timotheus' vary'd Lays surprize,
HEAR how ti MO theus VAR y'd LAYS sur PRIZE

Probable initial trochee (but I would also accept an initial iamb), otherwise regular ip. "theus" elides to one syllable here. More Dryden references. Accent is on "mo" of Timotheus, as is evident from looking at Dryden's poem.

And bid Alternate Passions fall and rise!
and BID al TER nate PAS sions FALL and RISE

Regular ip, with light unstressed syllables, so flows along smoothly. The adjective here is pronounced al TER nate.

While, at each Change, the Son of Lybian Jove
WHILE at each CHANGE the SON of LY bian JOVE

Initial trochee (appropriate for the shift--not to mention the talk of "change"--which is a bit of a pun, both chord changes and twists in the story), otherwise regular ip. "bian" is one syllable.

Now burns with Glory, and then melts with Love;
now BURNS with GLO ry AND then MELTS with LOVE

Regular ip. "And" is promoted, but is so little that the stress it receives is fairly light (as moderns we'd be tempted to skim over it in a triple rhythm).

Now his fierce Eyes with sparkling Fury glow;
NOW his fierce EYES with SPARK ling FU ry GLOW

Initial trochee, regular ip. Initial trochees often indicate heightened emotion. "Fierce" is demoted, and slows down the line, tense with Fury. I might entertain other scansions of the first feet tho.

Now Sighs steal out, and Tears begin to flow:
now SIGHS steal OUT and TEARS be GIN to FLOW

Regular ip, starts off spondaicly slow as the sighs steal out (unstressed syllables "Now" and "steal" have long vowels and are relative mouthfuls), and speeds up as tears begin to flow (light unstressed syllables, "and" "in" "to").

Persians and Greeks like Turns of Nature found,
PER sians and GREEKS like TURNS of NA ture FOUND

Initial trochee--inversion like the turning tides of battle. Otherwise regular ip.

And the World's Victor stood subdu'd by Sound!

I would naturally read this as two unstressed, two stressed, three iambs (termed as you like). But I might even entertain an initial trochee. This would demote "World's" to unstressed, but that makes some sense since Alexander is here "subdued."

Again, just my own take as a working metrical poet. Scansion being what it is, I'm sure there is something here to offend everyone!

Congratulations to the winner, and to all the good sports who took RJ up on his challenge!

Rodney Armstrong

I would agree and would certainly never do this myself but Turco seems to disagree. He says compensation "occurs when a missing half-foot or larger unit in one line is made up for with an extra unit added to the same line or to the preceding or following line."

Who'd have thought?

--

This has been a good exercise. I learned a lot from this thread, from Carolyn's intelligent non-scan and from Alicia capper. Most of all I'm still laughing my ass off a Peter's clever post. A real treat, Peter!

peter stewart richards

The Authors & The Alsop Review