On Sep 26, 2007, at 10:57 PM, Arlen Nydam wrote:
Another question about old Hubert. If we today
pronounce Languet with the stress on the second
syllable, is this also how it should sound when we
read "On Ister bank" aloud?
"The songe I sange old Lanquet had me taught,
Lanquet, the shepheard best swift Ister knewe," etc.
(Feuillerat ed.)
The meter does not suggest that 'Languet' is
pronounced with the stress on the second syllable.
Here's the scansion:
x / x / \ / x x x /
/ x x / x / \ / x /
The word 'old' can be considered a case of demotion,
using Attridge's terminology. Demotion occurs
frequently in runs of / / /. The word 'had' is a case
of promotion, and it occurs regularly in runs of x x
x. The second line opens with a standard trochaic
inversion. Neither demotion nor promotion requires an
abnormal lessening or increasing of stress. How one
negotiates the two variations depends on a whole
serious of performance issues that have been treated
in greatest detail by Reuven Tsur. His latest study
of metrical performance, "'Kubla Khan'--Poetic
Structure, Hypnotic Quality and Cognitive Style"
(Benjamins) is one most romanticists should read. I
have a long review forthcoming in The Journal of
Pragmatics.
Steven J. Willett
Shizuoka Univesity of Art and Culture
Hamamatsu City, Japan
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