Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins | Page 2

the putting the stress where, to judge by?the rest of the measure, the slack should be and the?slack where the stress, and this is done freely at the?beginning of a line and, in the course of a line, after?a pause; only scarcely ever in the second foot or?place and never in the last, unless when the poet?designs some extraordinary effect; for these places are?characteristic and sensitive and cannot well be touched.?But the reversal of the first foot and of some middle?(3) foot after a strong pause is a thing so natural that?our poets have generally done it, from Chaucer down,?without remark and it commonly passes unnoticed and?cannot be said to amount to a formal change of rhythm,?but rather is that irregularity which all natural growth?and motion shews. If however the reversal is repeated?in two feet running, especially so as to include the?sensitive second foot, it must be due either to great?want of ear or else is a calculated effect, the superinducing?or mounting of a new rhythm upon the old;?and since the new or mounted rhythm is actually heard?and at the same time the mind naturally supplies the?natural or standard foregoing rhythm, for we do not?forget what the rhythm is that by rights we should be?hearing, two rhythms are in some manner running at?once and we have something answerable to counterpoint?in music, which is two or more strains of tune?going on together, and this is Counterpoint Rhythm.?Of this kind of verse Milton is the great master and?the choruses of _Samson Agonistes_ are written throughout?in it--but with the disadvantage that he does not let?the reader clearly know what the ground-rhythm is?meant to be and so they have struck most readers as?merely irregular. And in fact if you counterpoint?throughout, since one only of the counter rhythms is?actually heard, the other is really destroyed or cannot?come to exist, and what is written is one rhythm only?and probably Sprung Rhythm, of which I now speak.
Sprung Rhythm, as used in this book, is measured?by feet of from one to four syllables, regularly, and for?(4) particular effects any number of weak or slack syllables may be used. It has one stress, which falls on the?only syllable, if there is only one, or, if there are more, then scanning as above, on the first, and so gives rise to?four sorts of feet, a monosyllable and the so-called?accentual Trochee, Dactyl, and the First Paeon. And?there will be four corresponding natural rhythms; but?nominally the feet are mixed and any one may follow?any other. And hence Sprung Rhythm differs from?Running Rhythm in having or being only one nominal?rhythm, a mixed or 'logaoedic' one, instead of three,?but on the other hand in having twice the flexibility of?foot, so that any two stresses may either follow one?another running or be divided by one, two, or three?slack syllables. But strict Sprung Rhythm cannot be?counterpointed. In Sprung Rhythm, as in logaoedic?rhythm generally, the feet are assumed to be equally?long or strong and their seeming inequality is made up?by pause or stressing.
Remark also that it is natural in Sprung Rhythm for?the lines to be _rove over_, that is for the scanning of?each line immediately to take up that of the one before,?so that if the first has one or more syllables at its end?the other must have so many the less at its beginning;?and in fact the scanning runs on without break from?the beginning, say, of a stanza to the end and all the?stanza is one long strain, though written in lines asunder.
Two licences are natural to Sprung Rhythm. The?one is rests, as in music; but of this an example is?scarcely to be found in this book, unless in the _Echos_,?(5) second line. The other is _hangers_ or _outrides_ that?is one, two, or three slack syllables added to a foot and?not counting in the nominal scanning. They are so?called because they seem to hang below the line or?ride forward or backward from it in another dimension?than the line itself, according to a principle needless to?explain here. These outriding half feet or hangers are?marked by a loop underneath them, and plenty of them?will be found.
The other marks are easily understood, namely?accents, where the reader might be in doubt which?syllable should have the stress; slurs, that is loops?_over_ syllables, to tie them together into the time of?one; little loops at the end of a line to shew that the?rhyme goes on to the first letter of the next line;?what in music are called pauses, to shew that the?syllable should be dwelt on; and twirls, to mark?reversed or counterpointed rhythm.
Note on the nature and history of Sprung Rhythm--?Sprung Rhythm is the most natural of things. For?(1) it is the rhythm of common speech and of written?prose, when rhythm is perceived in them. (2) It is the?rhythm of all but the most monotonously regular music,?so that in the words of