syntactical idiosyncrasy.

5. The introduction of the typical features of colloquial language to a full degree (in plays) or a lesser one (in emotive prose) or a slight degree, if any (in poems).

The belles-lettres style is individual in essence. This is one of its most distinctive properties. Individuality in selecting language means (including stylistic devices), extremely apparent in poetic style, becomes gradually less in, let us say, publicistic style, is hardly noticeable in the

style of scientific prose and is entirely lacking in newspapers and in official style. The relation between the general and the particular assumes different forms in different styles and in their variants. This relation is differently materialized even within one and the same style. This is due to the strong imprint of personality on'any work of poetic style. There may be a greater or lesser volume of imagery (but not an absence of imagery); a greater or lesser number of words with contextual meaning (but not all words without contextual meaning); a greater or lesser number of colloquial elements (but not a complete absence of colloquial elements).

1. LANGUAGE OF POETRY

The first substyle we shall consider is v e r s e. Its first differentiating property is its orderly form, which is based mainly on the rhythmic and phonetic arrangement of the utterances. The rhythmic aspect calls forth syntactical and semantic peculiarities which also fall into a more or less strict orderly arrangement. Both the syntactical and semantic aspects I of the poetic substyle may be defined as compact, for they are held in “i check by rhythmic patterns. Both syntax and semantics comply with fi the restrictions imposed by the rhythmic pattern, and the result is brevity of expression, epigram-like utterances, and fresh, unexpected imagery. Syntactically this brevity is shown in elliptical and fragmentary sentences, in detached constructions, in inversion, asyndeton and other syntactical peculiarities.

Rhythm and rhyme are immediately distinguishable properties of the poetic substyle provided they are wrought into compositional patterns. They can be called the external differentiating features of the substyle, typical only of this one variety of the belles-lettres style. The various compositional forms of rhyme and rhythm are generally studied under the terms versification or prosody.

Let us examine the external properties or features of the poetic sub-style in detail. *-•••

a) Compositional Patterns of Rhythmical Arrangement

Metre and Line

It is customary to begin the exposition of the theory of English versification with the statement that "...there is no established principle of English versification/'Eut this statement may apply to almost any branch of linguistic science. Science in general can live and develop only provided that there are constant disputes on the most crucial

issues of the giver; science.

English versification is no exception. We have already discussed some of the most general points of rhythm. This was a necessary introduction to English versification, inasmuch as English verse is mostly based on rhythmical arrangement and rhyme. Both rhythm and rhyme are objective qualities of language and exist outside verse. x But in verse

1 This is the reason that both rhythm and rhyme have been treated in Part III outside the^ chapter on versification.

both have assumed their compositional patterns and, perhaps, due to this, they are commonly associated with verse. The most observable and widely recognized compositional patterns of rhythm making up classical verse are based, on:

1)alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables, x

2)equilinearity, that is, an equal number of syllables in the lines,

3)a natural pause at the end of the line, the line being a more or less complete semantic unit,

4)identity of stanza pattern,

5)established patterns of rhyming.

Less observable, although very apparent in modern versification, are all kinds of deviations from these rules, some of them going so far that classical poetry ceases to be strictly classical and becomes what is called free verse, which in extreme cases borders on prose.

English verse, like all verse, emanated from song. Verse assumes an independent existence only when it tears itself away from song. Then only does it acquire the status of a genuine poetic system, and rhythm, being the substitute for music, assumes a new significance. The unit of measure of poetic rhythm in English versification is not so much of a quantitative as of a qualitative character. The unit of measure in musical rhythm is the time allotted to its reproduction, whereas the unit of measure in English verse rhythm is the quality of the alternating element (stressed or, unstressed). Therefore English versification, like Russian, is called qualitative, in contradistinction to the old Greek verse which, being sung, was essentially quantitative. In classic English verse, quanti-,ty is taken into consideration only when it is a matter of the number of feet in a line. Hence classic English verse is called syl I a bo-tonic. Two parameters are taken into account in defining the measure: the number of syllables (syllabo) and the distribution of stresses (tonic). The nature of the English language with its specific phonetic laws, however, is incompatible with the demand for strict regularity in the alternation of similar units, and hence there are a number of accepted deviations from established metrical schemes which we shall discuss in detail after pointing out the most recognizable English metrical pa ft e r n-s.

There are five of them:

1. Iambic metre, in which the unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one. It is graphically represented thus: (w-).

2. Trochaic metre, where the order is reversed, i.e.. a stressed syllable is

followed by one unstressed (-^).

3.Dactylic me t r e—one stressed syllable is followed by two unstressed (-w).

4.Amphibrach i с metre—one stressed syllable is framed by two unstressed

^~w.

1 Many linguists hold that verse rhythm is based on alternation between stronger and weaker stresses. They maintain that four degrees of stresses are easily recognizable. But for the sake of abstraction—an indispensable process in scientific investigation — the opposition of stressed—unstressed syllables is the only authentic way of presenting tne problem of verse rhythm.

5. Anapaestic me tr e—iwo unstressed syllables are followed by one stressed (w-

).

These arrangements of qualitatively different syllables are the units of the metre, the repetition of which makes verse. One unit is called a foot. The number of feet in a line varies, but it has its limit; it rarely exceeds eight.

If the line consists of only one foot it is called a monometerA a line consisting of two feet is a dimeter; three—t r i т е t e /*; four-tetrameter\ five—p entdmeter\ six—h e x a m e t e r\ seven—i septameter\ eight—о с t a m e t e r. In defining the measu re, that! is the kind of ideal metrical scheme of a verse, it is necessary to point out both the type of metre and the length of the line. Thus, a line that consists of four iambic feet is called iambic tetrameter, correspondingly a line consisting of eight trochaic feet will be called trochaic octameter, and so on.

English verse is predominantly iambic. This is sometimes explained by the iambic tendency of the English language in general. Most of the English words have a trochaic tendency, that is the stress falls on the first syllable of two-syllabic words. But in actual speech these words are preceded by non-stressed articles, prepositions, conjunctions or by unstressed syllables of preceding words thus imparting an iambic character to English speech. As a result iambic metre is more common in English verse than any other metre.

Here are a few examples illustrating various metrical arrangements of English verse. , •

1. Iambic pentameter

Oh let me true in love but truly write 2. Trochaic tetrameter

•*.-, Would you ask-me whence these stories

3.Dactylic dimeter Cannon to right of them Cannon to' left of them

4.Amphibrachic tetrameter

O, where are you going to all you Big Steamers

5. Anapaestic tetrameter Do you ask what the birds say? The sparrow, the dove

If we make a careful study of almost any poem, we will fmd what 1 are called irregularities or modifications of its normal metrical pattern. These modifications

generally have some special significance,

usually connected with the sense, though in some cases they may be due to the nature of the language material itself. This is particularly the case with the first modification when the stress is lifted from a syllable on which the language will not allow stress, and we have what is called a pyrrhicfoot instead of an iambic or a trochaic foot, for example:

So, that now to still the beating of my heart I stood repeating (Рое)

But makes surrender to some thoughtless boy (Keats)

In both examples the stress is lifted from prepositions on which the stress seldom falls, therefore pyrrhics are very common and quite natural modifications in English verse.

The second modification of the rhythm is the inverted order of stressed and unstressed syllables in one of the feet of the iambic or trochaic pattern. For example, in the sonnet by Roy Campbell "The Serf" which,'like all sonnets, is written in iambic pentameter, there creeps in a foot wjiere the order, unstressed—stressed, is inverted:

His naked skin clothed in the torrid mist

That puffs in smoke around the patient hooves

Here the third foot of the first line violates the rhythmic pattern. Such modifications are called rhythmic inversions and are used to add emphasis.

The third modification is the insertion of a foot of two stressed syllables, called a spondee. It is used instead of an iambus or a trochee. In Shakespeare's iambic pentameter these two modifications are frequently to be found, for example:

The morn in russet mantle clad

Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill

Here the first foot of the second line is rhythmic inversion, and the fourth is a spondee.

Rhythmic inversion and the use of the spondee may be considered deliberate devices to reinforce the semantic significance of the word-combinations. Here are other examples:

Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll. Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain.

The spondee as,a rhythmic modification, unlike the pyrrhic, is always used to give added emphasis. This may be explained by the fact that two successive syllables both under heavy stress produce a kind of clash as a result of which the juncture between the syllables becomes wider' thus making each of them conspicuous. A pyrrhic smooths and quickens the pace of the rhythm; a spondee slows it down and makes it jerky.

Pyrrhics may appear in almost any foot in a line, though they are rarely found in the last foot. This is natural as the last foot generally has a rhyming word and rhyming words are always stressed. Spondees generally appear in the first or the last foot.

These three modifications of the rhythm are the result of the clash between the requirements of the metrical scheme and the natural tendency of the language material

to conform to its own phonetic laws. The more verse seeks to reflect the lively norms of colloquial English, the more frequently are modifications such as those described,to be found.

The fourth modification has to do with the number of syllables in the line. There may be either a syllable missing or there may be an extra syllable. Thus, the last syllable of a trochaic octameter is often missing, as in this line from Poe's "The Raven":

Thrilled me, filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before

This is called ahypometric line. Other lines in the poem fiave the full sixteen syllables.

In iambic metre there may be an extra syllable at the end of the line. In the line from the Shakespeare sonnet:

"Then in these thoughts myself almost despising"

there are eleven syllables, whereas there should have been ten, the line being iambic pentameter, as are all the lines of a sonnet. A line with an extra syllable is called h y^p e r m e t r i c.

Such departures from the established measure also break to some extent the rhythmical structure of the verse, and are therefore to be considered modifications of the rhythm.

The fifth departure from the norms of classic verse is e n j a m b -meat, or ihe runon line. This term is used to denote the transfer of a part of a syntagrtijrom one line to the following one, as in the following lines from Byron's "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage":

1.Fair is proud Seville; let her country boast

2.Her strength, her wealth, her site of ancient days;

6.While boyish blood is mantling, who can 'scape

7.The fascination of the magic gaze?

It will be observed that here again is a violation of the requirements of the classical verse according to which the line must be a more or less complete unit in itself. Here we have the overflowing of the sense to the next line due to the break of the syntagm in the first and sixth lines-—

close predicate-object groups. The lines seem to be torn into two lalves, the second half flowing structurally into the first half of the next [line. The first impression is that this is some kind of prose, and not verse,

this impression is immediately contradicted by the feeling that there |is a definite metrical scheme and pattern of rhyming.

The rhythmic pattern of the verse leads us to anticipate a certain smantic structure; but when the device of enjambment is used, what

anticipate is brought into conflict with what we actually find, that [is, what is actually materialized.

This is still more acutely felt in the case of s t a n z a e n j a m b -\tn e n t. Here the sense of a larger rhythmic unit, the stanza, which is [generally self-contained and