English: Stress, Syllables, Meter

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Yejun
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English: Stress, Syllables, Meter

Post by Yejun » July 17th, 2009, 10:53 pm

English is called a stress-syllable language.

What is stress?

Stressed and unstressed syllables are a way of describing the different emphasis, pitch, duration (and others) that two English syllables have in relationship to each other.

Outside of a context, any one syllable word has no stress -- 'life' 'man' 'tree'

The moment you have two syllables, you have one that is stressed more than the other:
'woman' 'a man' 'lively'-- Can you hear it?

Potentially, there is an infinite amount of variation among stressed and unstressed syllables; poets use a binary system to describe what they do because it is the simplest way to explain what they do. It is not a science; it is not absolute; it is relative.

Believe it or not, all this is is a way of describing how you speak in English everyday.

The terminology may throw you off but you do it every time you speak.

Note:

1. I wrote this and some other stuff ten years ago for another site. I had a few extra minutes and decided to share. It is primarily for those interested in the more formal aspects of poetry, but I'll try to show how it can work for free verse as well.

2. I make no promises except that I'll try to keep each post short and digestible. It is, if you get into it, an infinite conversation (to borrow a phrase), but we're all human so I'll probably stop at some point.

3. Any comments of course would be greatly welcomed. That would include disagreements and/or whatnot.

4. If I have a guiding thesis, it is that meter in English is not absolute and, within limits, arguable and variable. It is about what you say and what you hear and nothing more.

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Post by judih » July 18th, 2009, 12:07 am

playing with stressed syllables adds to the music of the poem.
(unless one deals in one-syllable words and then music comes from consonance, assonance, alliteration, etc)

Stress is an element of poetry and, as such, needs to be recognized, saluted and dealt with in real-time. Since one dialect's stress differs from another, spoken word makes the most of stress, as you've indicated.

Comment: Perhaps, you could tag these posts, and hopefully there'll be many more, with 'Elements of Poetry' or 'Yejun looks at elements of poetry' to differentiate these posts from creative poems/prose pieces that others might want to put here for discussion.

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Post by Yejun » July 24th, 2009, 9:31 pm

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

There are three types of stress:

semantic stress: this one's easy. Any two syllable or more word has an accent on one of the syllables. If the word has more than two syllables it has a primary and secondary stress (generally, both are considered a stress in poetry). If you have a problem, check a dictionary.

grammatical stress: important words are stressed more than unimportant words concerning meaning. What is an important word? You tell me --ex: Life and death are important.

rhetorical stress: This is based entirely on the context of the conversation and/or pattern of the poem (this needs examples but I can't give them right now).

Quickly:

i LIVE in KoREa. (this is normal)
I (stressed) live in KoREa.
I live IN KoREa.
i live in KOREA.

In formal poetry there is, I would argue, a fourth type of 'stress': metrical stress. Any given pattern will tend to create an expectation in the reader so that they will 'hear' or promote a normally unstressed word and demote a normally stressed word if the conditions are correct.

The conditions are easy to understand but I have to do a little more background first.

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Post by Doreen Peri » July 24th, 2009, 10:23 pm

I love the info you're posting, Yejun! It's great!

Just a short note to say that there's no way to "tag" posts with this software like on other sites. Maybe if I upgrade the software, the developers have added that function. But it doesn't work that way for now.

If you'd like to be the moderator of this forum, let me know. I offered before and you said no, but thought I'd offer again 'cause I think it's a good idea. *smile*

When I have more time, I'll reply to your posts.

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Post by Yejun » July 25th, 2009, 6:54 pm

Thanks, Doreen.

Uh, I'll do it. Just so long as you know that I can't really do more than what I'm doing now. Time goes faster as you get older. :shock:

------------------------------------------
The following example comes from Derek Attridge's POETIC RHYTHM:

Anyway, stressed versus unstressed syllables:

Read the following sentences out loud keeping the two strong stresses at equal intervals. Start with a very slow beat (and tap your hand or foot to keep the beat):

CARL TENDS

CArol TENDS

CAroline TENDS

CAroline inTENDS

CAroline interFERES

CAroline is interFERing

CAroline is an interFERer


Now, try to do the same thing with

CAroline JONES TENDS.

If this exercise works the same way for you as it does for me, you'll see how stressed syllables are more important than unstressed syllables. Trisyllabic substitution should not be a problem. However, 'Caroline is an interferer' with a regular beat should have been a little difficult to say (for me, anyway). So, stressed syllables are the important ones but that doesn't mean you can throw in all the unstressed syllables you want. It just sounds weird.

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Post by Doreen Peri » July 26th, 2009, 7:55 pm

sounds good to me! ;) :D

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Post by Doreen Peri » July 26th, 2009, 9:55 pm

I think the unstressed syllables are also important because to me it's about the way it sounds and oftentimes the unstressed syllables add to the music and rhythm of how it sounds.

That said, I've quite a few times received critiques from people on the net who have told me to eliminate an "and" or "the" (just examples of the unstressed syllables I may have used to complete the rhythm), telling me that the pieces would be stronger without them.

When I started eliminating them, listening to the advice and critiques, sometimes I thought it worked well on the page, but not so speaking it.

That's always a problem I have... I can HEAR what I write in my head but I'm not sure whether the people reading the words on the page can hear it.... unless I record it.

_______________

I also have a theory about why time seems to go faster as we get older. It's because when you are 10 years old, 1 year is one tenth of your life. That's why summers seemed to last so long when we were kids. But when you are 40 years old, 1 year is only 1/40th of your life. :D

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Post by Yejun » July 30th, 2009, 11:06 pm

Yes, they are important. So far this explanation is building up to a discussion of accentual-syllabic (stress-syllable) meter. The count of the syllables allows for the creation of and/or demotion of stressed syllables.

If you only count accents, you can't do that. You have no counterweight and therefore no counterpoint.

To jump ahead (because I don't have time):

Speech run
------------------ = Poetic Rhythm
Meter

--I don't like the term 'speech run' (Wallace) but I think it gives a strong enough idea of what I'm talking about.

Interestingly, it follows that free verse doesn't have a counterpoint since it has the speech run but no meter.

This is not true. And I think we already knew intuitively that it wasn't true. To borrow another phrase from another poet (Hass) but from the same book ("Meter in English"), free verse can be accounted for by the following:

Speech run
------------------------ = Poetic Rhythm
Linebreak (measure)

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Post by Yejun » August 11th, 2009, 5:32 pm

At another site (Perdida's), it was pointed out that my description makes the stressed/unstressed relationship sound too variable.

It's an important clarification. I do not mean arbitrary or random.

Yet, my focus here is not to constrict writers of formal verse, it is to show that meter is both a flexible tool and a 'natural' one in its components. Everything you do in verse or can do in verse is something that you also do in everyday speech.

Most people will read this the same way:

I hear the sounds and say the words.

The only people I've met who might not are people trying to follow the 'rules'. It's akin to someone saying "between you and I" -- a half-understanding if you will. The rules aren't so much rules as descriptions of something you already do.

A couple of years ago, I had an argument over the pronunciation of "banal". Is it BAnal (rhymes with anal) or baNAL (rhymes with canal)?

My friend argued the latter and said baNAL, baNALity. I countered with TRIvial, triviALity.

We finally got on the computer and it turned out that WE were right, both are acceptable pronunciations.

These are the things I do when I'm drinking gin. :roll:

One last point:

Robert Shaw relates a fun anecdote. A friend of his was teaching a poetry-writing class when a student said,

"I can't believe that I can write blank verse."

The teacher responded, "You just did."

Here are the 'rules':
1. In every word of the English language of two or more syllables, at least one syllable will take a stress. If one cannot at first hear the stressing, then one may consult a pronouncing dictionary.

2. Important single-syllable words, particularly verbs and nouns, generally take strong stresses.

3. Unimportant single-syllable words in the sentence, such as articles, prepositions, and pronouns (except demonstrative pronouns) do not take strong stresses, though they may take secondary stresses through promotion or demotion, depending on their position in the sentence or the line of verse.

4. In any series of three unstressed syllables in a line of verse, one of them, generally the middle syllable, will take a secondary stress through promotion and will be counted as a stressed syllable.

5. In any series of three stressed syllables in a line of verse, one of them, generally the middle syllable, will take a secondary stress through demotion and will be counted as an unstressed syllable.

6. Any syllable may be rhetorically stressed by means of italics or some other typographical play.


--from Lewis Turco

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Post by Yejun » August 13th, 2009, 7:21 pm

This is the first of two wrap up posts.

When you teach English, one of the basic techniques is called a repetition drill. This is a standard technique and one that post people intuitively seem to see as what teaching English is about. There are two problems with this idea. One, if you try to break up a sentence, you have to break it up into its semantic parts. If you don't you end up 'promoting' the 'naturally' unstressed words in the sentence:

I went to the store and bought some milk.

If you read this out loud,

I went

I went to

I went to the

I went to the store

most will promote the 'to' and 'the' until you reach the full clause. One of the strick to minimize this problem is to start from the last word.

store

to the store

went to the store

I went to the store.


Hear the difference? In the same way, demotion is often confused:

milk

some milk

bought some milk

Here, 'some' is often given more stress than it is usually given when read in its full context.

Two, the repetition drill has a sibling, the choral repetition drill -- when students follow the teacher in unison. This is not natural either for it creates a chanting style (or if you want isochronic) as everybody tries to follow everybody else.

Two points follow from these examples:

1. promotion and demotion are natural occurrences in English

2. lineation creates different sounds in the language

Next, as we all know, "tick-tock" is an onomatopoetic word for the clicking sound of a clock. As we all know as well, it is not an objective description of that clicking. The clock clicks with the same sound every second but, over time, we hear that clicking, we register it, in two different ways. We create our own natural, binary system.

For poetry, this point, along with the idea that chanting and speaking in a conversation are different, shows that poetic rhythm is neither a scientific nor objective idea. It is a perceived one. In poetry, the perception is the reality. :shock:

Does this have any consequences for actual performances of poetry?

I think it does and I'll address this in my next post.

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Post by mtmynd » August 17th, 2009, 11:30 am

Interesting thread. Keep up the good work, Yejun, when time permits. ;)
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Post by Yejun » August 17th, 2009, 7:25 pm

Thanks.

It's not just time though, it's also absent-mindedness. I'm posting this thread here and on Perdida's site concurrently and just forgot to add the next post here. Thanks for the wake-up call. :oops:

When you teach English, one of the basic techniques is called a repetition drill. This is a standard technique and one that post people intuitively seem to see as what teaching English is about. There are two problems with this idea. One, if you try to break up a sentence, you have to break it up into its semantic parts. If you don't you end up 'promoting' the 'naturally' unstressed words in the sentence:

I went to the store and bought some milk.

If you read this out loud,

I went

I went to

I went to the

I went to the store

most will promote the 'to' and 'the' until you reach the full clause. One of the tricks to minimize this problem is to start from the last word.

store

to the store

went to the store

I went to the store.


Hear the difference? In the same way, demotion is often confused:

milk

some milk

bought some milk

Here, 'some' is often given more stress than it is usually given when read in its full context.

Two, the repetition drill has a sibling, the choral repetition drill -- when students follow the teacher in unison. This is not natural either for it creates a chanting style (or if you want isochronic) as everybody tries to follow everybody else.

Two points follow from these examples:

1. promotion and demotion are natural occurrences in English

2. lineation creates different sounds in the language

Next, as we all know, "tick-tock" is an onomatopoetic word for the clicking sound of a clock. As we all know as well, it is not an objective description of that clicking. The clock clicks with the same sound every second but, over time, we hear that clicking, we register it, in two different ways. We create our own natural, binary system.

For poetry, this point, along with the idea that chanting and speaking in a conversation are different, shows that poetic rhythm is neither a scientific nor objective idea. It is a perceived one. In poetry, the perception is the reality. :shock:

Does this have any consequences for actual performances and/or readings of poetry?

I think it does.

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Post by Yejun » August 20th, 2009, 6:44 pm

In 1947, W. H. Auden said:
It's amazing how little students know about prosody. When you teach a college class, you find they read [verse] either as straight prose, or as deadly monotonous beat as in Gorboduc.
--quoted in Timothy Steele's All the Fun's in How you Say a Thing, p. 151

While Gorboduc was the first English play written in blank verse (unrhymed u-S,u-S,u-S,u-S,u-S or iambic pentameter), I don't want to focus on the play (though I might say a few things in an afterword).

What intrigues me here is the date that Auden said this. Not only was it over sixty years ago, it was also during a metrical poetry comeback.

Where the hell are we now?

And yeah, when I was an undergraduate, I would have been one of those students.

Simply put, an understanding of metrics can help you understand what happened in the twentieth century and can help you appreciate what was written previous to the free verse revolution. More importantly, I think it can increase the pleasure or reading poetry for its own sake. It has for me.

It can also show you how meaning and rhythm interact:

"To be or not to be: that is the question"

As far as I can tell most people will read "that is" with an emphasis on "that":

to BE or NOT to BE: THAT is the QUEStion
Such a reading stresses the crux of Hamlet's situation: should he live and suffer the corruption he sees about him or should he oppose it to the hilt and thereby almost surely bring on his death? Yet it is also possible to speak the fourth foot ["that is"] as a conventional iamb [u-S]: that IS the question. This construction emphasizes the immediacy of Hamlet's predicament and the urgent necessity of resolving it.

--Steele, All the Fun's, p. 93

While I don't think it changes the meaning as much as Steele seems to imply here, I do think the change emphasizes the immediacy of Hamlet's psychological conflict as opposed to the situational dilemma. That is, the line's meaning is the same for me in either reading, but the latter emphasizes the personal aspect in the subsequent soliloquy. But maybe I'm just too set in my ways here.

Little changes make big differences.

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Post by Yejun » August 20th, 2009, 6:46 pm

Performance?

What seems to be uncontroversial is this spectrum:

speech run---------------------------------------------metrical automaton

To put it another way, you have two extremes. On the one hand, you have "Ah, just read the damn thing" and on the other you have, "make sure that everybody can hear that you got the stresses right." Where you put it within this spectrum is the poet's prerogative:


W.H._Auden

Robert_Frost

Dylan_Thomas

--I had to post that one. Just on principle.

W.B._Yeats

--I like Pinsky reading Yeats more than Yeats reading Yeats.

Howard_Nemerov

Anthony_Hecht

Wallace_Stevens

That's more than I intended but I can't stop. There are a lot more that I want to post. If anybody finds this interesting I'll keep posting more.

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