yes I think Peter is right to remind us that metre is measuring -
of course, the orientation of everything technical is such that its
processes of determining relevance and extent are periodically upsized -
meaning, measurement is bound to numbers, but numbers submit to any
arbitrated scheme consistent with their first principles -
so that counting verse can be more - despite its not having overtly been
so originally - than "one two three four five" and its decked-out/tweaked
variants; what underlies this question (if we're willing to permit the
question to achieve a greater significance) is another question: what is
the nature, what are the characteristics of what can be counted in the
manner of metrical scanning? Can linguistic occurrences -other than-
syllables and those deriving immediately from syllables be counted in this
way? Can, eg, repetitive shades of obfuscation be counted, or organised
and recurrent patterns of archaistic usage, or consonant clusters designed
to obtrude in a euphonious fluidity? Not in the same local way that
syllables are counted, sure - but might not each of these instances of
counting derive its most decisive importance from a common possibility of
counting?
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