The Principles of English Versification | Page 8

even reproduction in reading aloud, of a regularity of rhythm where
none really exists; as when protracted reading or listening develops or
seems to develop a monotonous sing-song. But this phenomenon
cannot be explained briefly, and the details must be omitted here.[11]
In verse also syncopation frequently occurs, though it is seldom
recognized except as an 'irregularity.' In the following lines of Paradise
Lost the first two coincide pretty closely with the normal beats of the
measure; while in the third line the series is an entirely different one.
So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub Thus answered: "Leader of those
armies bright, Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foil'd...."
MILTON, Paradise Lost, I, 271-273.
Here to stress distinctly but,-tent, could utterly ruins both the meaning
and the music of the line: to utter the words as if they were ordinary
prose would preserve the meaning, but destroy the verse-movement. In
Milton's ear, however, and in ours if we do not resist, there is a subtle
syncopation of four beats against five. (Of course syncopation alone
does not explain the rhythm of this line.) A most startling syncopation
is ventured by Milton in Samson Agonistes (1071-72):

I less conjecture than when first I saw The sumptuous Dálila floating
this way.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | [11] Those
who are interested will find the scientific | | experiments discussed in
Patterson, ch. i and Appendix III. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
* * * * *
Substitution is simpler. It merely means recognizing the equivalence,
and therefore the possibility of interchange, of a long interval with two
or more shorter intervals whose sum equals the one long. That is, in
music two quarter-notes are equal to a half-note, and they may be
anywhere substituted one for the other; or a dotted half-note equal three
quarter-notes, etc. In verse it means that three syllables (or one, or even
four) may be substituted for the normal two syllables of a foot if the
three (or one or four) are uttered in approximately the same period of
time.
The term substitution, however, may be used in a larger sense. Thus far
only the purely temporal element of the rhythm has been thought of.
When the two others, stress and pitch, are recalled, it becomes clear
that another sort of substitution is both possible and usual, namely, that
of either pitch or stress for duration. In other words, the groups that
make up a rhythmic series may be determined or marked off by
emphasis of pitch or emphasis of stress as well as by duration of time.
In fact, it is from this habitual interplay of the three elements that most
of the complexity of metre arises; as it is the failure to recognize this
substitution which has given the older prosodies much of their false
simplicity and their mechanical barrenness.
* * * * *
Summary. The fundamental problems of versification are all involved
in the principles of rhythm, especially the temporal rhythm of language.
The rhythm of both prose and verse is a resultant of the three attributes
of sound: stress, duration, and pitch (the first two being usually the

determining elements, the third an accessory element) modified by the
thought and emotion of the words. The feeling for this rhythm, or
perception of it, has both physical and psychological explanations, and
varies considerably among individuals, some being 'timers,' others
'stressers,' apparently by natural endowment. The processes of our
perception of rhythm are those of coordination, or partly subjective
reduction of actual 'irregularities' to a standard of 'regularity'; this
reduction being accomplished mainly by syncopation and substitution.
CHAPTER II
RHYTHM OF PROSE AND VERSE
It is clear now that all language is more or less definitely rhythmical;
and that the two fundamental and determining elements of
speech-rhythm are time and stress. It is clear also that the essential
thing in our perception of rhythm is the experience or recognition of
groups, these groups being themselves distinguished and set off by
stress and time. When there is an easily felt regularity of the groups,
when the alternation of stress and unstress and the approximate equality
of the time intervals are fairly apparent, then the rhythm is simple.
When the regularity is not obvious, the rhythm is complex, but none the
less existent and pleasing.[12] In other words, the character of language
rhythm is determined by the relative proportion of coincidence and
syncopation. In verse, coincidence preponderates; in prose, syncopation
(and substitution). Between absolute coincidence, moreover, and the
freest possible syncopation and substitution, infinite gradations are
possible; and many passages indeed lie so close to the boundary
between recognizable preponderance of the one or of the other that it is
difficult to say this is verse, that is prose. Various standards and
conventions enter into the decision.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | [12] When no
organization