The Things Common in Music and Prose

[RAVENEYE]

^ ^ ^ *yeah, that* ^ ^ ^

Jul 28, 2022 1:20:32 GMT -6 Octagon said:

Actually. I'm not sure whether to use scansion or phrasing. Is there anyone here familiar with scansion with whom I can speak?

Never heard of "scansion."

[havekrillwhaletravel]

Jul 28, 2022 1:20:32 GMT -6 Octagon said:

Actually. I'm not sure whether to use scansion or phrasing. Is there anyone here familiar with scansion with whom I can speak?

Scansion is often used to analyze poetry, or at least I'm not aware of it being used to analyze prose. I'm definitely not the best authority on this but ... English words have natural stresses when spoken out. There's several different types of stresses (or feet) in English e.g. iambs, trochees, dactyls. Each of these feet can be used to produce a particular effect - iambs can be used to propel a reader forward; trochees can be used to convey that something strange is afoot (haha).

Metrical poetry often has a dominant foot. For instance, the most common foot in English is the iamb (unstressed syllable/stressed syllable). Famously, most of Shakespeare's and Emily Dickinson's stuff is written in iambs.

When you do scansion, you're basically trying to figure out a poem's feet (and meter). So, for instance, this is Emily Dickinson's A Weight with Needles on the pounds:

A Weight with Needles on the pounds -
To push, and pierce, besides -
That if the Flesh resist the Heft -
The puncture - Coolly tries -

I read the poem aloud and this is my crummy attempt at scanning it (with stressed syllables in caps and unstressed syllables in lowercase). I've scanned the poem as being iambic. The first/third lines are tetrameter (there are 4 iambs in those lines) and the 2nd/4th lines are trimeter (3 iambs in those lines):

a WEIGHT with NEEdles ON the POUNDS -
to PUSH, and PIERCE, beSIDES -
that IF the FLESH reSIST the HEFT -
The PUNCture - COOlly TRIES -

I'm rubbish at scanning, so it's not something I do often. But theoretically, identifying feet and deviations from the feet shows you the text's rhythm and can add an extra dimension to your understanding of the text. For instance, if a poem is written in iambs and the last line is suddenly in trochees, there might be a reason for that. Some free-verse poets will also use meter from time to time to achieve particular effects, so scanning isn't limited to just metrical poetry.

[RAVENEYE]

Aug 17, 2022 6:20:04 GMT -6 havekrillwhaletravel said:

Jul 28, 2022 1:20:32 GMT -6 Octagon said:

Actually. I'm not sure whether to use scansion or phrasing. Is there anyone here familiar with scansion with whom I can speak?

Scansion is often used to analyze poetry, or at least I'm not aware of it being used to analyze prose. I'm definitely not the best authority on this but ... English words have natural stresses when spoken out. There's several different types of stresses (or feet) in English e.g. iambs, trochees, dactyls. Each of these feet can be used to produce a particular effect - iambs can be used to propel a reader forward; trochees can be used to convey that something strange is afoot (haha).

Metrical poetry often has a dominant foot. For instance, the most common foot in English is the iamb (unstressed syllable/stressed syllable). Famously, most of Shakespeare's and Emily Dickinson's stuff is written in iambs.

When you do scansion, you're basically trying to figure out a poem's feet (and meter). So, for instance, this is Emily Dickinson's A Weight with Needles on the pounds:

A Weight with Needles on the pounds -
To push, and pierce, besides -
That if the Flesh resist the Heft -
The puncture - Coolly tries -

I read the poem aloud and this is my crummy attempt at scanning it (with stressed syllables in caps and unstressed syllables in lowercase). I've scanned the poem as being iambic. The first/third lines are tetrameter (there are 4 iambs in those lines) and the 2nd/4th lines are trimeter (3 iambs in those lines):

a WEIGHT with NEEdles ON the POUNDS -
to PUSH, and PIERCE, beSIDES -
that IF the FLESH reSIST the HEFT -
The PUNCture - COOlly TRIES -

I'm rubbish at scanning, so it's not something I do often. But theoretically, identifying feet and deviations from the feet shows you the text's rhythm and can add an extra dimension to your understanding of the text. For instance, if a poem is written in iambs and the last line is suddenly in trochees, there might be a reason for that. Some free-verse poets will also use meter from time to time to achieve particular effects, so scanning isn't limited to just metrical poetry.

Omg, Whale. You're a literature professor, right? Cuz, wow, I get it now. After Octagon mentioned the word, I looked it up, and the definition wasn't nearly this thorough. Had no idea that when I'm looking for meter in a poem I was actually scansioning. Well, scanning, but whatever. 

I feel smarter today. 
 

[havekrillwhaletravel]

Aug 17, 2022 8:18:39 GMT -6 RAVENEYE said:

Omg, Whale. You're a literature professor, right? Cuz, wow, I get it now. After Octagon mentioned the word, I looked it up, and the definition wasn't nearly this thorough. Had no idea that when I'm looking for meter in a poem I was actually scansioning. Well, scanning, but whatever. 

I feel smarter today. 
 

Haha, sadly, I'm just a guy with too much time on his hands I bumped into the word enough times online that I gave up a while ago and fell down a Google rabbit hole

[Octagon]

Do you think that all people with a mind's ear have a sense of prose rhythm? Do you think that mental illness, or antipsychotics, can impede one's sense of prose rhythm?

[Octagon]

I think my mind's ear was off because I didn't realize that an anapest is slower than an iamb. I thought it was faster.