10-16-2013, 01:29 AM
Milo:
Okay I see what you're saying about the different placements of stresses. How technical!
I have a few issues wish your scanning and scan theory.
"When we use a metric pattern we are setting up a solid skeleton for the words to hang on"
"It is always best to avoid demoting words like "death" to the unaccented part of the foot -- important words should fit into the line in such a way that they are allowed emphasis."
I refer you to my scanning of Blake's The Sick Rose a few posts back.
I would argue that each word is the skeleton, not the meter or the pattern created by those that came before, or those that came after; If a word is stressed, you say it stressed, regardless of its place in the established pattern. As such, you say death's finest Ruby red. This forces the reader to slow down on the last line creating the illusion of conclusion (what is poetry but the art creating illusion through patterns of stresses, much as painting is creating illusion through patterns of brush strokes). Using "The Sick Rose" as an established poem for example: It is not Dark secret, because that is not how you say the word "secret". It is Dark secret, which forces the reader to emphasize that line to great effect.
Okay I see what you're saying about the different placements of stresses. How technical!
I have a few issues wish your scanning and scan theory.
"When we use a metric pattern we are setting up a solid skeleton for the words to hang on"
"It is always best to avoid demoting words like "death" to the unaccented part of the foot -- important words should fit into the line in such a way that they are allowed emphasis."
I refer you to my scanning of Blake's The Sick Rose a few posts back.
I would argue that each word is the skeleton, not the meter or the pattern created by those that came before, or those that came after; If a word is stressed, you say it stressed, regardless of its place in the established pattern. As such, you say death's finest Ruby red. This forces the reader to slow down on the last line creating the illusion of conclusion (what is poetry but the art creating illusion through patterns of stresses, much as painting is creating illusion through patterns of brush strokes). Using "The Sick Rose" as an established poem for example: It is not Dark secret, because that is not how you say the word "secret". It is Dark secret, which forces the reader to emphasize that line to great effect.