Re: _ _ _ _Re:_Metrical_Stress,_Feet,_ etc.

On Monday, February 9, 2004, at 08:47 AM, Philippe Caquant wrote:
[snip]

> Fist you have to take into account the cÈsure (pause
> inside the verse). In an alexandrin, itís normally in
> the middle of it (6 + 6), but the scheme can also be 4
> + 4 + 4 (Ah si mon coeur / osait encor / se
> renflammer, La Fontaine), or possibly other schemes
> (the decasyllable can be 5 + 5, but preferingly 4 + 6;
> etc.)
Right - that's more like it! I knew the caesura (which, I guess, in Murkan
is 'cesura') was involved    :)

> Now look at those 2 alexandrins:
> 1) Cíest bien. Tout ce qui níest pas moi vaut mieux
> que moi. (Victor Hugo)
> 2) Un soir, tíen souvient-il, nous voguions en
> silence. (Lamartine)
(Gosh - what's happened to the apostrophes? It makes reading hard  :=(

[snip]
> The 2nd one is a model of musicality, as is the entire
> poem where it comes from (Le Lac). There is a stress
> on the 2nd syllable (which is long), then a pause,
> then a pause (cesure) after the 6th syllable (which is
> short), then a stress on the 9th (half long), then on
> the 12th, which is long. Everything is made to evoke
> the bark quietly evoluting on the lake in the evening.
That's better  :)

> So one cannot say that things like long or short
> syllables are not relevant in French poetry. There are
> not part of the DEFINITION of the verse, but their
> (mastered) use reveals the TALENT of the poet, and is
> essential for the beauty of the poem. If there is no
> music in there, there is no poetry.
Right.

> Even in the XXth century, many poets used successfully
> the rhythm and the count of syllables in their works,
[poems snipped, but read with pleasure]

> True, there was a strong tendency in the last decades
> to ignore everything about rhythm and melody, and
> write ëintellectualí, ëcleverí poems.
It happened this side of La Manche too  :=(

> To me this looks
> rather sterile,
Amen.

[snip]
> self-called ëpoetsí ignore nearly everything about
> metrics, musicality and classical rules. When they
> write ëalexandrinsí, they count on their fingers. This
> is the end of a culture ! :-(
Let's hope not.

Ray
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