Towards a universal definition of the caesura
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Marc Dominicy
Abstract
In modern verse, the caesura can be roughly defined as the first word-boundary that follows the nucleus of a non-final break syllable; it is synthetical if, and only if, it is associated with the break syllable, otherwise it is analytical. This approach runs into difficulties when applied to the Homeric hexameter and the iambic trimeter of Greek tragedy or comedy. Relying on a theory which explicitly distinguishes between underlying feet and the various surface feet that may realize them in a verse instance, and on the hypothesis that, in terms of metrical tree structure, both the hexameter and the trimeter consist of a dimetric expansion of four feet and a monometric clausula of two feet, we show that the rules or regularities which relate caesura location to the distribution of word boundaries within the whole line can be conceived of as contour principles that govern a series of contrasts between suprasyllabic units at all levels (Expansion vs Clausula, Metron, Foot, Position). We also argue that, while caesura location may be constrained in very divergent ways with respect to the various relevant suprasyllabic units, it is always primarily constrained with respect to the most prominent non-final metron. This allows us to formulate a tentative definition of the universal notion of caesura syntheticity and to claim that Greek and Latin meters make use of both progressive and regressive analyticity.
Abstract
In modern verse, the caesura can be roughly defined as the first word-boundary that follows the nucleus of a non-final break syllable; it is synthetical if, and only if, it is associated with the break syllable, otherwise it is analytical. This approach runs into difficulties when applied to the Homeric hexameter and the iambic trimeter of Greek tragedy or comedy. Relying on a theory which explicitly distinguishes between underlying feet and the various surface feet that may realize them in a verse instance, and on the hypothesis that, in terms of metrical tree structure, both the hexameter and the trimeter consist of a dimetric expansion of four feet and a monometric clausula of two feet, we show that the rules or regularities which relate caesura location to the distribution of word boundaries within the whole line can be conceived of as contour principles that govern a series of contrasts between suprasyllabic units at all levels (Expansion vs Clausula, Metron, Foot, Position). We also argue that, while caesura location may be constrained in very divergent ways with respect to the various relevant suprasyllabic units, it is always primarily constrained with respect to the most prominent non-final metron. This allows us to formulate a tentative definition of the universal notion of caesura syntheticity and to claim that Greek and Latin meters make use of both progressive and regressive analyticity.
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
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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
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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
