Gerard Manley Hopkins, selected poems Contents
Structure and versification in Patience, Hard Thing!
Questions of scansion
As with I Wake and Feel, the sonnet divides neatly into two quatrains and two tercets, which latter also rhyme in the same way. The scansion, however, is much less obvious:
- in the first quatrain, the monosyllable clusters all seem to demand stresses, as: ‘Wánts wár, wánts wóunds;|| wéary his tímes, his tásks;'
- if we withdraw stresses from both ‘wants', the line almost settles into iambic pentameter
- however, the echo of the stress remains to set up a counterpointing, as does the pause after ‘wounds' with the implied caesura
- it becomes a jerky rhythm
- similar clusters as ‘take tosses', ‘wrecked past purpose' echo the phrase ‘hard thing'
- should the repeated ‘hard thing' share a stress, which would make l.1 too short; or do both words carry stresses, in which case the first line is a hexameter?
Rhythmically, therefore, there is no real evidence for any systematic use of sprung rhythm, but it is a rhythm of stops and starts, some smooth, some jerky - which is what we might expect from the subject matter.
Investigating Patience
- Do you see any use of enjambement that calls for attention?
- If so, what sort of counterpointing is set up?
- Overall, would you say this sonnet was the most focused on one particular topic that you have read so far?
- Which others are as focused?
A 3-line unit of verse, usually forming part of a sestet. Sometimes it rhymes within itself, sometimes it has the same rhyme scheme as a following tercet.
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'.
Measuring the metre of verse, by determining the patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables, and the length of each line.
A line containing five metrical feet each consisting of one stressed and one unstressed syllable.
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.
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
A line of poetry containing six feet or stresses (beats).
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 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.
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