I didn't know that Chaucer was wasted...
We're in an interesting time with all kinds of speech patterns using English
within our auditory and visual space and it's normal to experience a mixture
rather than being exotic. We are exposed to varieties of prosody from which
to learn. The result won't necessarily be good, but the options are there.
L
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robin Hamilton" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 21 January 2001 06:27
Subject: Re: metirics
| stresses, let alone three or four degrees.
|
| I don't know Russian, so I shouldn't come in on this, but ... Isn't this
a
| bit like the situation in England post-Tottel? The iambic pentameter
| reached English_shores the THIRD time around -- Chaucer got wasted by the
| loss of the final unaccented "e", Wyatt had the bad luck to have a son who
| voted the wrong way over the Bloody Mary business. Then we have 1560-1590
| when it WAS "a syllable is either stressed or it ain't" -- only this isn't
| the way English works.
|
| Then (and I should emphasise it's not my favourite pome) we have Sidney
| doing lollipop eyes over Stella, and you can do a straight-down-the line
to
| 1900, when Things Change.
|
| R.
|
| >I'm inclined to agree with Robin that the T-S levels are pretty
arbitrary:
| why exactly four? Two (unstressed-stressed) are really sufficient for
| metrics, though three might make for more agreement in scansions.
|
| ASIDE: (OK, it's my King Charles' head) but while two runs fine for
| syllable-accent, you need three for diipodic.
|
| R2D2
|
|