Flammifer
Well-Known Member
When reading JRRT’s poetry, it might be advantageous to consider how the words might have been pronounced by the author.
I noticed, in the class that both Mad Violinist and Prof Olsen pronounced the word ‘been’ (in the fourth line) as ‘bin’, which is common in an American accent. However, to pronounce it ‘bean’ would be much more common in England. (As Corey pointed out.) This would improve the rhyme with ‘seen’ (in the second line).
Likewise, the Professor considered that to make the meter perfectly iambic, one would have to pronounce the word ‘flowers’ (in the third line) with one syllable. Which, he considered possible, but slightly awkward. However, in many English accents, pronouncing ‘flowers’ more like ‘flaars’ would be much more common than it is in an American accent. That pronunciation would also eliminate the sound connection between the 'ow' in 'meadow' and in 'flowers' which was commented on in the class.
In the second verse, ‘were’ and ‘hair’ are a much closer rhyme in an English accent (though not perfect) than they are in most American accents.
So, just a suggestion, but it might be advantageous, when trying to determine the shape of one of JRRT’s poems, to consider an English, rather than an American accent.
Of course, it would be even more illuminating if we could consider JRRT’s precise English accent, when reading his poems. It might be possible to determine from recordings how he pronounced some or all of these words. I have not done so.
I noticed, in the class that both Mad Violinist and Prof Olsen pronounced the word ‘been’ (in the fourth line) as ‘bin’, which is common in an American accent. However, to pronounce it ‘bean’ would be much more common in England. (As Corey pointed out.) This would improve the rhyme with ‘seen’ (in the second line).
Likewise, the Professor considered that to make the meter perfectly iambic, one would have to pronounce the word ‘flowers’ (in the third line) with one syllable. Which, he considered possible, but slightly awkward. However, in many English accents, pronouncing ‘flowers’ more like ‘flaars’ would be much more common than it is in an American accent. That pronunciation would also eliminate the sound connection between the 'ow' in 'meadow' and in 'flowers' which was commented on in the class.
In the second verse, ‘were’ and ‘hair’ are a much closer rhyme in an English accent (though not perfect) than they are in most American accents.
So, just a suggestion, but it might be advantageous, when trying to determine the shape of one of JRRT’s poems, to consider an English, rather than an American accent.
Of course, it would be even more illuminating if we could consider JRRT’s precise English accent, when reading his poems. It might be possible to determine from recordings how he pronounced some or all of these words. I have not done so.