The Strict Metrical Tradition: Variations in the Literary Iambic Pentameter From Sidney and Spenser to Matthew Arnold

292 Pages·2001·5.74 MB·English

by  David Keppel-Jones

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The Strict Metrical Tradition
Variations in the Literary Iambic Pentameter from Sidney and
Spenser to Matthew Arnold
A central issue in the recent surge of interest in metre on the part of
theorists in different disciplines and practicing poets has been that of
variations in the iambic pentameter. Keppel-Jones approaches this sub-
ject in a way that somewhat resembles Derek Attridge’s, but is in fact
very different.
The Strict Metrical Tradition focuses on a period of 275 years, during
which iambic pentameter variations were conducted with special preci-
sion. Representative blocks of verse are chosen from major poets in
original authoritative editions, and each variation is analysed on the
basis of all cases of that variation. To give precision to certain of the
principles, Keppel-Jones follows the linguist Bruce Hayes’ definitions
of boundaries between word-groups, but handles this material in such
a way as to be understood by the general reader.
The practical result of this study is a new metre that allows Keppel-
Jones to apply the principles of iambic variation to the anapest. His fas-
cinating and original approach to iambic pentameter will appeal to
scholars in the field and also to people with a general interest in po-
etry.
david keppel-jones teaches in the Department of English at Uni-
versity College of the Cariboo.
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The Strict
Metrical Tradition
Variations in the Literary
Iambic Pentameter from Sidney
and Spenser to Matthew Arnold
david keppel-jones
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston London Ithaca
• •
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© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2001
isbn 0-7735-2161-5
Legal deposit second quarter 2001
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper
This book has been published with the help of a grant
from the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of
Canada, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada.
McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the
financial support of the Government of Canada through
the Book Publishing Industry Development Program
(bpidp) for its activities. It also acknowledges the
support of the Canada Council for the Arts for its
publishing program.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Keppel-Jones, David, 1938–
The strict metrical tradition: variations in the literary
iambic pentameter from Sidney and Spenser to
Matthew Arnold
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-7735-2161-5
1. English language – Versification. 2. Iambic
pentameter. 3. English poetry – History and criticism.
I. Title.
pe1531.i24k46 2001 821.009 c00-901268-0
This book was typeset by Typo Litho Composition Inc.
in 10/13 Baskerville.
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In memory of my Father
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Contents
Preface ix
General Introduction 3
part one
Introduction to Part One 31
1 The Unvaried Line 35
2 Extra Syllables 39
3 The Choriamb 56
4 The Minor Ionic 73
5 The Second Epitrite 93
6 Review of Radical Variations 104
7 Variations Based on the Spondee 110
8 Variations Based on the Pyrrhic 131
9 Combinations 147
Conclusion to Part One 154
part two
Introduction to Part Two 167
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viii Contents
10 The Renaissance 171
11 The Interregnum and the Restoration 184
12 The Eighteenth Century 192
13 The Romantics 197
14 The Victorians 206
Conclusion 216
Appendix:
The Placement of Variations and the Caesura 233
Notes 239
Bibliography 269
Index 275
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Preface
The occasion that led to the writing of this book was, not surprisingly, a
conversation about metre and rhythm. But the metre under discussion
was not iambic pentameter. I was preparing, with an eye to publication,
a little selection from the poems of my grandfather, Harold Keppel
Jones, that had lain in manuscript in a trunk in Salisbury, Rhodesia (as
it was then), his relatively early death from tuberculosis having fore-
stalled his own plans for publication. I found that a friend and I dif-
fered slightly regarding the rhythm in the poet’s pièce de résistance,
Elisanne (a poem purporting to have been written by Richard Coeur de
Lion while in prison in Austria on his way back from the Second Cru-
sade and recounting an amorous escapade in his youth). Of the metre
itself there was no question: it was the 15-syllable line used for example
by Tennyson in Locksley Hall. The question was how many beats one felt
in each line. I resolved to add a brief note to the poem, presumptu-
ously explaining the beats as I felt them.
What really intrigued me was the sense of coherence one felt in this
pattern of beats. I began to ponder other patterns of beats related to
the one in Elisanne; but related patterns started turning up on every
hand. And since these patterns were turning up not just in verse but in
music, I soon found myself wading into a ludicrously ambitious investi-
gation of how beats yield a sense of rhythmical coherence. Curtailing
the focus to several centuries of English verse seemed to be a workable
solution until, having already found that iambic pentameter posed a
peculiar conundrum, I realized that one could not talk convincingly
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x Preface
about beats in iambic pentameter until one could explain what hap-
pened to those beats in the presence of the variations that give the line
its character. Fortunately, perhaps, I was unable to foresee how many
years would elapse before I was done with that explanation. As I
worked on iambic pentameter variations, the earlier study of rhythmi-
cal coherence faded into the background. In the end it was necessary
to include a sketch of the central points in order to touch on the pecu-
liar conundrum of the iambic pentameter, mentioned above. What
had wholly disappeared from the picture was the original question, the
beats in Elisanne.
Meanwhile it struck me that the principles coming to light, showing
how iambic pentameter variations were rooted in the basic iamb, could
be applied to another base, namely the anapest. The result would be a
metre that had never been tried before. I translated some poems,
mainly German, into the varied anapest (as I call it) and was pleased
with the results. But it was only on returning to these translations after
some years, polishing them, and adding others, that both I and the
friends I showed them to became convinced that the new metre was
worth pursuing in earnest. One of these pieces was published by the
late Jon Silkin in his Stand Magazine (Spring 1997); and Mr Dana Gioia
kindly invited me to give an account of the metre at the poetry confer-
ence at West Chester, Pennsylvania, in June 1999.
No such account can be included in the present study, in view of a
limit on length. So this is a metrical study that has to ignore both the
familiar metre that led to it and the unfamiliar one to which in turn, as
a practical result, has led.
For their valuable comments and suggestions and their continuing en-
couragement over many years I am especially indebted to three friends
and ex-colleagues: James Carscallen and Laurence Cummings, who
read portions of the manuscript at different stages of its progress, and
Walter Martin, who, in addition to helping me procure some of the
source materials, read all of it at one point. My thanks go to Robert
Wiljer for his encouraging comments on seeing the opening chapters
in their earliest form, and to Geoffrey Durrant and Lee Johnson for
their comments and suggestions regarding the introduction at a much
later stage. I am particularly indebted to Annette Dominik for her sup-
port in the field of linguistics, and for her responses and suggestions
regarding a number of troublesome points. My greatest debt is to my
wife, Christa, without whose labours I would not have been able to de-