Pairs and triplets
-
Nigel Fabb
Abstract
All metrical verse involves the measurement of the line; in this paper we show that the line is measured by grouping syllables into pairs or triplets (feet), which are further grouped into pairs or triplets. The grouping is accomplished by iterative rules which build a metrical grid from the line. English accentual-syllabic and French syllabic meters are scanned by similar rules; we show that all French meters are in fact organized into iambic feet. The organization into feet and higher-level metrical units (metra and cola) is evidenced in English by the regular rhythms of the metrical line, and in French by the rules of caesura placement.
Abstract
All metrical verse involves the measurement of the line; in this paper we show that the line is measured by grouping syllables into pairs or triplets (feet), which are further grouped into pairs or triplets. The grouping is accomplished by iterative rules which build a metrical grid from the line. English accentual-syllabic and French syllabic meters are scanned by similar rules; we show that all French meters are in fact organized into iambic feet. The organization into feet and higher-level metrical units (metra and cola) is evidenced in English by the regular rhythms of the metrical line, and in French by the rules of caesura placement.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgments xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Isochronous metrics
- Textsetting as constraint conflict 43
- Comparing musical textsetting in French and in English songs 63
- Bavarian Zwiefache 79
- Natural Versification in French and German counting-out rhymes 101
- Minimal chronometric forms 123
- Symmetry and children’s poetry in sign languages 143
-
Part II. Prosodic metrics
- Pairs and triplets 167
- Generative linguistics and Arabic metrics 193
- On the meter of Middle English alliterative verse 209
- The Russian Auden and the Russianness of Auden 229
- Towards a universal definition of the caesura 247
- Metrical alignment 267
- Rephrasing line-end restrictions 287
-
Part III. Para-metrical phenomena
- Pif paf poof 307
- The phonology of elision and metrical figures in Italian versification 325
-
Part IV. Macrostructural metrics
- Convention and parody in the rhyming of Tristan Corbière 337
- The metrics of Sephardic song 355
- A rule of metrical uniformity in old Hungarian poetry 371
- Metrical structure of the European sonnet 385
- Persons index 403
- Languages index 411
- Subjects index 415
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgments xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Isochronous metrics
- Textsetting as constraint conflict 43
- Comparing musical textsetting in French and in English songs 63
- Bavarian Zwiefache 79
- Natural Versification in French and German counting-out rhymes 101
- Minimal chronometric forms 123
- Symmetry and children’s poetry in sign languages 143
-
Part II. Prosodic metrics
- Pairs and triplets 167
- Generative linguistics and Arabic metrics 193
- On the meter of Middle English alliterative verse 209
- The Russian Auden and the Russianness of Auden 229
- Towards a universal definition of the caesura 247
- Metrical alignment 267
- Rephrasing line-end restrictions 287
-
Part III. Para-metrical phenomena
- Pif paf poof 307
- The phonology of elision and metrical figures in Italian versification 325
-
Part IV. Macrostructural metrics
- Convention and parody in the rhyming of Tristan Corbière 337
- The metrics of Sephardic song 355
- A rule of metrical uniformity in old Hungarian poetry 371
- Metrical structure of the European sonnet 385
- Persons index 403
- Languages index 411
- Subjects index 415
