Structure and versification in Duns Scotus' Oxford
An irregular sonnet
As a Petrarchan sonnet, only the poem's rhyme scheme would appear regular. The octave neither proposes a question, nor does the sestet answer any. They simply describe two things that mean a lot to Hopkins. They are not problematised in any way, apart from the modern falling from grace in the second quatrain.
Metre
The sprung rhythm is difficult to determine in a few lines, but other lines are remarkably regular in rhythm and metre, as l.7, which is, however, trochaic and not iambic (i.e. a falling rhythm). Many lines actually begin as trochees, as ll.1,2,4,7,8,13, though switching back to iambics at some point in the line. Thus l.1 starts as a trochee ‘Tów-er' but then reverts to iambic ‘-y cít-' and continues as two anapaests, then reverts to another trochee with the repetition of ‘tow-er'.
In l.2, what is best to do with the compounds is to count each stress as a half, so that the whole compound counts as one stress. So ‘rook-racked' counts as just one stress. However, ‘Cuckoo-echoing' is rather too many syllables really to get away with just one stress, though this is what is suggested by some Hopkins' scholars, in order to keep the pentameter line. But ‘cuckoo' really has to have one stress, as does ‘echo-', giving us a hexameter again, with a very distinctly trochaic feel.
Run-ons and pauses
Hopkins uses enjambement with carried-on lines in ll.3,5,6,7,9,10,12- almost half the lines of the poem. More difficult is to say how they counterpoint the rhythm, and whether it is significant or trivial.
However, several significant caesuras (mid-line pauses) do counterpoint the rhythm markedly. Thus in ll.3,4, the clause beginning ‘that country' runs from the caesura in l.3 to the caesura in l.4, and has to be read counter to the metre of the line.
Investigating Duns Scotus' Oxford
- Can you work out the scansion for l.3?
- Why do you think the second quatrain is almost entirely carried-on lines?
- Do you see any significant counter-rhythms being set up by the enjambement?
- 1.11 has no internal punctuation.
- How would you shape the line as you read it?
- Where would you put the emphasis, pauses and climax?
- Try out which tone you would use to read the poem out loud.
In the style of Petrarch, an Italian poet of the sixteenth century, who created both a form of the sonnet and presented a courtly ideal of womanhood.
The device, frequently used at the ends of lines in poetry, where words with the same sound are paired, sometimes for contrast ' for example, 'breath' and 'death'.
The 8-line stanza of a Petrarchan sonnet, always occupying the first eight lines. It sometimes has a division halfway, creating two quatrains. It poses a problem or describes some single object or incident.
The 6-line stanza of a Petrarchan sonnet, occupying the last six lines, sometimes divided into tercets or couplets. It often resolves the problem posed in the octave or comments significantly on it.
A quatrain is a 4-line stanza, usually rhyming.
A term given by Gerard Manley Hopkins to his versification. It does have a regular basic metre, but contains additional feet or outriders and other planned irregularities.
The musical effect of the repetition of stresses or beats, and the speed or tempo at which these may be read.
The particular measurement in a line of poetry, determined by the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (in some languages, the pattern of long and short syllables). It is the measured basis of rhythm.
Use of a metric foot in a line of verse, consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed. It is thus a falling metre.
A term used of speech rhythms in blank verse; an iambic rhythm is an unstressed, or weak, beat followed by a stressed, or strong, beat. It is a rising metre.
A metre in poetry, each foot consisting of two unstressed syllables, followed by a stressed syllable. A rising metre, like the iambic.
A combination of basic elements. A compound word is made up of two or more separate words.
In all languages, some syllables are pronounced with more of an emphasis than others. In poetry of many languages, this becomes a significant means of patterning. The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables within a line of verse is called its
The smallest sound fragment of a word, consisting of one vowel sound, with attached consonants if any.
A line of poetry containing six feet or stresses (beats).
The technique used in blank verse and other verse forms in which the sense of a line runs on without a pause to the next one; this often gives a sense of greater fluency to the lines.
In music, the playing of two tunes at the same time, allowing them to interweave. In poetry, the use of two rhythms at the same time, for example, one being based on the metre, and one on the grammatical structure of the sentence.
A pause, often indicated in text by a comma or full stop, during a line of blank verse.
Measuring the metre of verse, by determining the patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables, and the length of each line.
