A rule of metrical uniformity in old Hungarian poetry
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Iván Horváth
Abstract
The Répertoire de la poésie hongroise ancienne (Paris, 1992; http://magyarirodalom.elte.hu/repertorium) lends itself to a number of overarching inductions. It can be shown by one such induction that, at least till the end of the 17th century, all high frequency strophic schemes in Hungarian poetry are isometric. A similar rule describes rhyming formulas: in this corpus all high frequency strophic schemes are monorhymed. Versification based on syllable count is not solely a Hungarian phenomenon but is regional in extent, being attested along the Danube (J. Lotz), and the same can probably be said for the rule of uniformity (Cs. Szigeti, V. Blokh). This rule probably has its historical origins in the influence of liturgical and lay vagant poetry in Latin on the mostly clerical and not so courtly literatures of the region (F. Zemplényi). Analogues can be found in French medieval verse, e.g. quatrains composed of monorhymed alexandrines and other monorhymed but heterogonic strophic formulas (L. Seláf). Psychologically this kind of versification can be explained by analysing metrical patterns as small worlds (D.J. Watts, S.H. Strogatz) functioning in accordance with V.H. Yngve’s depth hypothesis (P. Bognár). Uniformity, of course, did not lend itself to the creation of highly structured compositions. However, the 16th century saw the appearance in Hungarian verse of a new metrical principle for ordering phonetic material. Subsequently, during the 18th to 20th centuries, Hungarian metrics has been typified by the simultaneous use of both principles, with its musical counterpart in the verbunkos style.
Abstract
The Répertoire de la poésie hongroise ancienne (Paris, 1992; http://magyarirodalom.elte.hu/repertorium) lends itself to a number of overarching inductions. It can be shown by one such induction that, at least till the end of the 17th century, all high frequency strophic schemes in Hungarian poetry are isometric. A similar rule describes rhyming formulas: in this corpus all high frequency strophic schemes are monorhymed. Versification based on syllable count is not solely a Hungarian phenomenon but is regional in extent, being attested along the Danube (J. Lotz), and the same can probably be said for the rule of uniformity (Cs. Szigeti, V. Blokh). This rule probably has its historical origins in the influence of liturgical and lay vagant poetry in Latin on the mostly clerical and not so courtly literatures of the region (F. Zemplényi). Analogues can be found in French medieval verse, e.g. quatrains composed of monorhymed alexandrines and other monorhymed but heterogonic strophic formulas (L. Seláf). Psychologically this kind of versification can be explained by analysing metrical patterns as small worlds (D.J. Watts, S.H. Strogatz) functioning in accordance with V.H. Yngve’s depth hypothesis (P. Bognár). Uniformity, of course, did not lend itself to the creation of highly structured compositions. However, the 16th century saw the appearance in Hungarian verse of a new metrical principle for ordering phonetic material. Subsequently, during the 18th to 20th centuries, Hungarian metrics has been typified by the simultaneous use of both principles, with its musical counterpart in the verbunkos style.
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
