Rhythm: regular pattern of change; 'the movement or sense of movement communicated by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables and by the duration of the syllables' (Cuddon). Periodicity is sometimes required as essential –... more
Rhythm: regular pattern of change; 'the movement or sense of movement communicated by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables and by the duration of the syllables' (Cuddon). Periodicity is sometimes required as essential – problem of prose rhythm. Rhythm has a power of its own (→ lullabies, charms etc.), and it contributes to meaning. Verse rhythm, prose rhythm – difference in the unit: the line (verse) and the sentence (prose). Underlying idea: the human need for order, organisation. Our focus of attention: verse rhythm; it is created by the use of metre Metre: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse – in English. There are different verse systems / types of versification: syllabic, quantitative, accentual. Syllabic: based on the number of syllables per line; not natural in a Germanic language. Quantitative: based on the duration of syllables (short and long syllables); possible but not natural – imported from classical languages, only a few experimental examples in English. Accentual (also called accentual syllabic): based upon stress, the alteration of stressed (heavy) and unstressed (light) syllables; the most common in English poetry since the Renaissance Rhythm in verse: considering the individual line – a separate entity on the printed page, representing a pattern. Base – regular rhythmic pattern, independent of words, an abstract pattern; metre – language shaped to suit the base (language = stressed and unstressed syllables; => metre = the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables); modulation – departure from the abstract pattern. The base must be dominant, esp. towards the end of the line. Line: consists of metrical feet. Foot: unit of rhythm. Base feet: rising – iamb: x / (= a metrical foot consisting of an unstressed (x) syllable followed by a stressed (/) one), anapaest: x x / ((= a metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one); falling – trochee: / x (= a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one), dactyl: / x x (= a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones). Feet used only in modulation: spondee: / /, pyrrhic: x x, choriambus: / x x /
