Two topics in one here --
Counting syllabically versus by stress. When I first came across Hopkins'
bit about sprung rythym, I felt as if that was how I usually counted
things when I wrote, and, more and more often, when I read. But looking at
Hopkins' verse itself (and assuming he counted strictly on sprung terms),
I feel as if I could never "believe" as strongly as he does in the
procedure. Somehow, I still do keep track of syllabics when I think in
verse.
If I had to make a call, it would be that I count stress and the syllable
quantity, but tend not to make distinctions about where the stress in a
"foot" falls. The three syllable verus two plays a role, but I think I
don't keep solid track of "where I am" relative to the line breaks as
much, and so I break up feet in different and sometimes contradictory
ways. Perhaps this is because I'm used to/like ragged or "aporetic"
(metrically, grammatically, what have you) linebreaks.
OK, enough about poems and onto --
Following the Seamus thread, there was an editorial by WIlliam Safire (I
think) in the New York Times about how the vote for Beowulf over Potter
was a great blow for culture struck by ... Mick Jagger's wife? Or some
model. But it was a very surreal article, and would be enough to drive
anyone into a frenzy -- a very self-satsified piece where, weirdly enough,
Safire implicitly says that he's never read Beowulf, and doesn't intend
to -- but *has* read the Potter books. Wrargh!
-- Simon
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