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stream
Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Posts: 19
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 Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:14 am Post subject: The articles in English verse. |
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Hello,
I have the impression that in English verse any article the grammar demands can be omitted for the sake of preserving the metre. Is it so?
Thanks, Yuri |
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dragn
Joined: 17 Feb 2009
Posts: 450
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| Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I have the impression that in English verse any article the grammar demands can be omitted for the sake of preserving the metre. Is it so? |
Any article? I would have to say no. In certain situations? Maybe.
It's impossible to make such a sweeping generalization like that, because articles are often essential to the sense of what is being written and their omission can easily change or damage the intended meaning, regardless of how nicely the result fits the given meter.
Now, it is certainly true that poets routinely alter standard grammatical forms and bend and occasionally break the ordinary rules of grammar and usage in order to achieve certain poetic effects. That's for sure. However, the writing must still be comprehensible, and the indiscriminate omission of articles would certainly have a negative impact on that.
If you'd like to pursue this idea further, we would need to look at specific examples. If you'd like, maybe you could give us a few lines of verse that led you to form this impression in order to elicit comments from various teachers in the forum...most of whom are probably much better equipped to comment on poetry than I am! 
Greg (who majored in math, for heaven's sake) |
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stream
Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:19 am Post subject: |
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Thank you for the comment, dragn.
I come across this �phenomenon� all the time.
Sometimes I think that my grammar fails (at times it is certainly the case)
and I just cannot understand why the article is missing in some particular
case. But often it is evident that article is omitted deliberately,
just to fit the metre.
Let�s take for instance a poem by William Blake.
Spring
by William Blake
Sound the flute!
Now it's mute!
Bird's delight,
Day and night,
Nightingale,
In the dale,
Lark in sky,--
Merrily,
Merrily merrily, to welcome in the year.
Little boy,
Full of joy;
Little girl,
Sweet and small;
*beep* does crow,
So do you;
Merry voice,
Infant noise;
Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year.
Little lamb,
Here I am;
Come and lick
My white neck;
Let me pull
Your soft wool;
Let me kiss
Your soft face;
Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year.
It seems some articles in these lines are missing. I do not
know whether it produces some poetical effect for the native speaker�s
ear (most certainly) or not, but on the other hand it�s evidently
impossible to preserve all the articles in this short line form.
stream |
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dragn
Joined: 17 Feb 2009
Posts: 450
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| Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:46 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
It seems some articles in these lines are missing. I do not
know whether it produces some poetical effect for the native speaker�s
ear (most certainly) or not, but on the other hand it�s evidently
impossible to preserve all the articles in this short line form. |
Yes, some are missing; and yes, it certainly does produce a pleasing rhythm to a native speaker's ears�at least it does mine, and I am hopelessly ignorant of poetry. Blake is repeatedly presenting us with a series of images that pile one upon another, forming a complete picture by the end of each stanza�much like a few bold strokes from an artist's brush that come together to form a whole image.
I say we forget the grammar and enjoy the poetry. 
Greg |
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pugachevV
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 2295
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| Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:42 am Post subject: |
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It's called Artistic Licence or Poetic Licence. (License in USA)
The normal rules of grammar can be "bent" for the sake of the artistic effect that the poet is trying to achieve. |
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stream
Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:14 am Post subject: |
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I think the truth is somewhere in the middle as usual. The tasks of producing a poetical effect and fitting the metre (making a good rhythm)
actually are inseparable.
Thanks, stream |
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