English Verse. Raymond Macdonald Alden

The accents of English syllables as appearing in verse are commonly classified in two ways: according to degree of intensity, and according to cause or significance.

Obviously there can be no fixed limits to the number of degrees of intensity recognized in syllabic accent or stress. It is common to speak of three such degrees: syllables having accent (stressed), syllables having secondary accent, and syllables without accent (unstressed). Schipper makes four groups: Principal Accent (Hauptaccent or Hochton), Secondary Accent (Nebenaccent or Tiefton), No Accent (Tonlosigkeit), and Disappearance of Sound (Stummheit). In illustration he gives the word ponderous, where the first syllable has the chief accent, the last a secondary accent, the second no accent; while in the verse

"Most ponderous and substantial things"

the second syllable is suppressed or silent.

Mr. A. J. Ellis, in like manner, recognized three principal classes of syllables: those stressed in the first degree, those stressed in the second degree, and those unstressed.[1] In the following lines from Paradise Lost he indicated these three degrees, as he recognized them, by the figures 2, 1, 0, written underneath.

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit

0 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 2

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste

0 1 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 2

Brought death into the world, and all our woe,

1 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2

With loss of Eden, till one greater man

0 1 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 2

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,

0 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 2

Sing, heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top

2 2 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 1

Of Horeb or of Sinai, didst inspire

0 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2

That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed

1 2 0 0 2 2 0 2 0 2

In the beginning, how the heavens and earth

0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 2

Rose out of chaos.[2] 2 0 0 2 0

It is worthy of note that the secondary accent seems originally to have been a more important factor in English verse than it is commonly considered to be in modern periods. In Anglo-Saxon verse the combination of a primary stress, a secondary stress, and an unstressed syllable, is a recognized type. In modern verse the reader is likely to make an effort to reduce all syllables to the type of either stress or no-stress. In such a verse as the following, however (from Matthew Arnold's Forsaken Merman)—

"And I lose my poor soul, Merman, here with thee,"—

we may find such a combination as that just referred to as familiar in Anglo-Saxon rhythm. The syllables "soul, Merman" are respectively cases of primary stress, secondary stress, and no-stress. On this matter see further the remark of Luick, cited on p. 156, below.

The element of Pitch is not ordinarily included in the treatment of versification, as it is not ordinarily recognized as having any significance peculiar to verse. According to Professor

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English Verse. Raymond Macdonald Alden

English Verse

English Verse

Table of Contents

PART ONE

ENGLISH VERSE

I. ACCENT AND TIME

A.—KINDS OF ACCENT