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No, I think some verse, like the first three lines of my little example, are truly iambic & should be scanned that way; the last line is dipodic & should be scanned that way. What I like about my trivial example is that the word "oblivion" creates a tension in the ear: should it be heard _ / _ / or should it be heard _ _ / /. Sung, it hovers somewhere between those two patterns. Dipodic poetry in English often makes use of this kind of tension. Anyway, metrical analysis always comes afterward; it is always "belated" as the deconstructionists say. Even if a poet is consciously using a particular meter, the analysis always comes after the composition. And most of the people who "wrote" dipodics have actually sung them: as ballads, in the nursery, in church. You can bet that these "folk" did not have a metrical handbook open while singing "Sir Patrick Spens" or "Barb'ry Allen." Still, the patterns are there. You can hear them & see them if you are using printed texts. So I don't think of them as straitjackets at all. I have no proof, but I'd guess that dipody in English folk meters developed out of interaction with melody & musical rhythm. jd On 1/23/07, Joanna Boulter <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > So, let's see if I've got this straight. > > You are talking about poetry which can be / is to be scanned in two ways > at > once, each of them strict and without the little relaxations which give > the > poetic line its subtlety? > > What is the point, except to see if you can? You might as well wear two > straitjackets at the same time. > > That's not for me! > > joanna > > joanna > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Robin Hamilton" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 12:28 PM > Subject: Re: is dipodic a no-no? > > > >> OK so I'm wrong again! > >> At least I'm not alone. > >> Roger > > > > Ah, depends which dipodic you mean, but. The term does seem to drift > > around a bit, meaning something quite different (earlier) in classical > > quantitative scansion, for instance. > > > > I think Joe and I are both singing from the same hymn sheet (hm -- are > > hymns dipodic?), but I've been stressing the origins while his latest > neat > > post directs towards the way it occurs in non-folk poetry. > > > > [I'm unsure where to place the comment you forwarded from Joanna. If > > there were an equivalent here to Dana Gioa among the New Formalists, it > > might just be James Fenton. Except he's a bit too daring for > them. Does > > Gioia mention him anywhere, or stick to trying to rehabilitate Charles > > Causley?] > > > > R. > -- Joseph Duemer Professor of Humanities Clarkson University [sharpsand.net]