Re: I thought you were an Arab

Christian Thalmann scripsit:

> To write a decent-sounding rhyme
> This Paxton sure was able
> Although I find from time to time
> His meter quite unstable.
>
> The syllables in every line
> In number greatly vary
> To sing that poem clear and fine
> Is a deed quite scary.
English folk verse, like the alliterative tradition from which it
descends, continues to have four stresses and a variable number of
slacks, despite the change from alliteration to rhyme in the
12th-14th centuries under French influence.  "Learned" verse
is often pentameter, but on investigation it generally turns out that one
of the stresses has been promoted:

        To be1 or not2 to be3: that4 is the ques5tion
        Whe1ther 'tis no2bler in3 the mind4 to suf5fer
        The slings1 and ar2rows of3 outrage4ous for5tune
        Or by tak1ing arms2 against3 a sea4 of troub5les
        And by1 oppos2ing end3 them.  To die4, to sleep5
        [...]

        To be1 or not2 to be: that3 is the ques4tion
        Whe1ther 'tis no2bler in the mind3 to suf4fer
        The slings1 and ar2rows of outrage3ous for4tune
        Or by tak1ing arms2 against a sea3 of troub5les
        And by oppos1ing end2 them.  To die3, to sleep4
        [...]

And of course the tetrameter version has a variable number of slacks.

--
John Cowan <jcowan@...>     http://www.reutershealth.com
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen,    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith.  --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_