Prosody

Author(s): Harriet Monroe

Source: Poetry, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Jun., 1922), pp. 148-152
Published by: Poetry Foundation
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20573636 .
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POETRY: A Magazine of Verse

COMMENT
PROSODY

A RECENT discussion of prosody in The Freeman

brought so many disputants to the fore, each with
a differentpoint of view, as to remindat least one of
themof thewelter of chaos and confusioninwhich that
so-calledsciencefindsitselffoundering today. Since poets
and scholiasts are so at loggerheadsabout the funda
mental techniqueof the verse-artpracticed by the,one
group and analyzed by the other, it may be well to
remindourselvesof the basic originsof rhythm,and of
thehistory,not of poetry itself,but of thesystemof laws
formulated and developedbygrammariansfromthestudy
of poetry.
Rhythm is of course a universal principle, the very
pulse-beatof lifeand of all the arts. From the amoeba
toman, from the atom to the star, rhythm,or power
moving regularlyin time-beats,is a recognizable law
which all creationmust obey. The more closelymodern
science studies the universe-throughmicroscope, tele
scope, or the naked eye and brain of man-the more
astonishingand magnificentbecomes this infinitehar
mony: an intricateweaving of small patterns within
great ones, a march of ordered melody, outreaching
human eyes and ears, outracingeven that "only reality"
the human imagination. The arts are.an effortto join
in, toweave little imitationpatterns,sound little imita
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 Prosody

tion tunes. Even the static arts must respondwith

balanced formand c 3lor in painting,sculpture,architec
ture-else their -manifestations are temporaryand in
congruous,part of theperishablescum and waste.
Music and poetryseem tohave been among theearliest
and most direct humanmanifestationsof the universal
rhythmicimpulse. At firsttheywere united-lyric rap
ture instinctivelyfittedwords tomelody, as it does still
in certain formsof spontaneous folk-songlike keening
over thedead or otherprimitiverhapsodiesof prayerand
praise. But as lifebecamemore complex, the two arts
separated,developedeach itsown imaginativeand techni
cal expressionof therhythmicinstinct. Literaturebegan
in thecreationof poems toobeautifulto be leftto chance
memoriesand tongues,and therefore committedtowrit
ing. After the passing centuries had heaped up an
accumulationof thesemasterpieces, the analysts took
hold of them; and out of the practice of dead poets
grammariansbegan tomake rules forpoets yet to come.
Thus prosody was born, And thus gradually it
developed intoa rigidscienceof verse-structure,a science
about as scientific,from themodern point of view, as
theastronomyor chemistryof the classic andmediaeval
periods. For a brief reviewof its historyone need go
no furtherthanEdmund Gosse's articleon Verse in the
Britannica. It was Aristoxenusof Tarentum,-a gram
marian contemporarywith Alexander the Great and
thereforemuch laterthan thegoldenage ofGreek poetry,
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POETRY: X Magazine of Verse

who "firstlaiddowndefinitelaws forprosodyas a depart

ment ofmusical art." From his time
The theoriesof verse tended to release themselvesfromthe theories
of music. Rules, often of a highlyarbitrarynature,were drawn up
by grammarians, who founded theirlaws on a scholiasticstudyof the
ancientpoets.
One Hephaestion wrote a manual of Greek metres in
the second centuryA. D., which became an authority
in both theByzantine and theAlexandrian schools,and,
printed at last in I526, carried on his influenceinto
modern languages. Of the elaborate systemof classic
set forthby theseand other analystsMr.
verse-structure
Gosse remindsus:
thattheprosodical terminology
Itmust not be forgotten of theGreeks,
which is often treatedby non-poeticalwriters as somethingscientific
and even sacrosanct,dates froma timewhen ancient literaturehad lost
all its freshnessand impulse,and was exclusivelythestudyof analysts
and grammarians.
However, the classic nomenclature-the dactyls, ana
paests,spondees,iambs,etc.,ofGreek andLatin, languages
whose syllabic quantitieswere fairlyrigid-was carried
over into modern tongues of much more changeable
quantitiesand emphaticstresses. Naturally ithas proved
a misfit; especially in English it is inaccurate and mis
leading-a mediaeval remainderstrangelyanachronistic
in this age of scientific research. It has been a hampering
influence,and would have been perhaps a destructiveone
if the poets,most of them,had not preservedeither an
invincibleignoranceor a cold-heartedindifference
against
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 Prosody

all thewiles of prosodic theory. I know twoor threeof

high distinctionwho don't know an iamb froma cellar
door, and couldn't scan theirpoems accordingto formula
to save theirnecks fromtheLord High Executioner.
But thisvirginal innocence,howeverdesirable in the
faceof a falseprosody,might learnmuch to itsadvantage
froma prosodyas accurate and scientifically completeas
the systemofmusical notationwhich has so enormously
stimulatedmusical production. As I said in theFreeman:
In any inquiry into poetic rhythms, one is seriouslyhandicapped
by the inexactnessof theold terms. Prosody, regardedas the science
of verse-notation,is todayabout as scientific
as pre-Galileanastronomy.
Its inheritedancient terms-iambic,trochaic,anapestic, dactylic,etc.
deserveno betterfate than thescrap-heap,afterwhich a modern science
of prosodymight be built upon sound foundations. Indeed, a begin
ninghas beenmade. There isquite a bibliographyof scientific articles
by philologists,chieflyGerman, on the subject of speech-rhythms
and verse-rhythms; and Dr. William Morrison Patterson, formerly of
Columbia University,has made a most valuable contributionin his
volume, The Rhythmof Prose, and in the phonographicresearches
which ledup to it. In reviewingthisbook inApril, I9I8, I said:
"I am quite out of sympathywith those sensitivepoetic soulswho
resent this intrusionof science. The truthcan do no harm, and in
thiscase itmust do incalculablegood in the enrichmentof our sense
of rhythmicvalues. The poet of the future,discarding the wilful
empiricism of thepast and proceedingupon exactknowledge,will greatly
develop and enrichour language-rhythms just as music-rhythmsare
beingdeveloped and enrichedby composersfullyeducated in theirart,
who add knowledgeand trainingto that primal impulseof heart and
mind whichwe call genius. The poet hithertohas worked in thedark,
or at least in a shadow-land illuminedonly by his own intuition.
Henceforth sciencewill lend her lamp; she will hand him the laws of
rhythm just as she hands to the painter the laws of light and color, or
to thearchitectthe lawsof proportionand stress."

[5'

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POETRY: X Magazine of Verse

Of coursemodern investigators,includingMr. Bridges, recognize

that even commonhuman speech falls necessarily intowhat Sievers
or speech-bars,rhythmbeing a universal lawwhich
calls Sprechtakte,
prosemust obey as well as poetry. So Mr. Bridges is in accordwith
thescientistsindeclaring that"in English accentualmeasures thenat
must be supreme."
ural speech-groupings

Prof. Patterson's researcheswere interrupteda few

years ago, unfortunately,by his resignationfromthe
facultyof Columbia University. At presenthe is living
in old Charleston,where, accordingto a recentletter,he
hopes soon to resume his study of this subject. The
workof a progressivescientificmind in thismuch-befogged
specialtycannot fail to be illuminating. H. M.

REVIEWS

CHARLOTTE MEW

SaturdayMarket, by CharlotteMew. Macmillan Co.

A slimbook of verse ladenwith somuch observation,
knowledge,pabssion,sentiment,that it is likean apple-tree
burdenedby the excessof itsown beauty. Almost each
poem has thematerial in it forinnumerablepoems, and
almost each poem is weighed down with words. Yet
thoughMiss Mew lackssimplicity, shenever lacksinterest.
I think,in fact, that thisbook would appeal to a larger
audience than any book of verse published in the past
two years,with the possible exceptionof Edna St. Vin
centMillay's SecondApril; because thepoems tellstories,
[I52]

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