Timdalf
Active Member
1. Seek for the Sword that was broken A / u u / u u / u
2. In Imadris it dwells; B u / u / u /
3. There shall be counsels taken C / u u / u / u
4. Stronger than Morgul-spells. B / u u / u /
5. There shall be shown a token A / u u / u / u
6. That doom is near at hand. D u / u / u /
7. For Isildur’s bane shall waken, C u / u u / u / u or u u / u / u / u
8. And the Halfling forth shall stand. D u u / u / u /
Summarizing from the Explore LotR talks:
Basic rhythm is iambic with variations u /
But in second session lines 1,3,5,7 do not deviate from that norm, but are their own norm – there is no default metric structure --
Lines 2 & 6 are regular iambic, but most are not.
A poet conscious of sound of words can convey meaning by deviation from the regularity – words are stressed unnaturally so they stand out.
1 & 2 = couplet
3 & 4 & 5 & 6 = ??
7 & 8 = couplet
The A & C rhymes are closely akin
Are there parallels among the rhymed lines? Yes:
Lines 1 & 5 deal with the Sword and the Ring while 3 & 7 are about counsel and an action – they are thus 2 sets of contrasts
The message – Go the Council of Elrond where all is knit together…
The token is not the Sword which is a response to the doom that the Ring portends.
Metrically lines 1 & 2 – 3, & 4 & 5 – 6 & 7 & 8 form groups. 6 is a pivot between the latter two groups syntactically.
The tone of the poem is oracular… not personal or specific.
Classification
Qualitative versus quantitative metre
The metre of most poetry of the Western world and elsewhere is based on patterns of syllables of particular types. The familiar type of metre in English-language poetry is called qualitative metre, with stressed syllables coming at regular intervals (e.g. in iambic pentameters, usually every even-numbered syllable). Many Romance languages use a scheme that is somewhat similar but where the position of only one particular stressed syllable (e.g. the last) needs to be fixed. The metre of the old Germanic poetry of languages such as Old Norse and Old English was radically different, but was still based on stress patterns.
Some classical languages, in contrast, used a different scheme known as quantitative metre, where patterns were based on syllable weight rather than stress. In the dactylic hexameters of Classical Latin and Classical Greek, for example, each of the six feet making up the line was either a dactyl (long-short-short) or a spondee (long-long): a "long syllable" was literally one that took longer to pronounce than a short syllable: specifically, a syllable consisting of a long vowel or diphthong or followed by two consonants. The stress pattern of the words made no difference to the metre.
2. In Imadris it dwells; B u / u / u /
3. There shall be counsels taken C / u u / u / u
4. Stronger than Morgul-spells. B / u u / u /
5. There shall be shown a token A / u u / u / u
6. That doom is near at hand. D u / u / u /
7. For Isildur’s bane shall waken, C u / u u / u / u or u u / u / u / u
8. And the Halfling forth shall stand. D u u / u / u /
Summarizing from the Explore LotR talks:
Basic rhythm is iambic with variations u /
But in second session lines 1,3,5,7 do not deviate from that norm, but are their own norm – there is no default metric structure --
Lines 2 & 6 are regular iambic, but most are not.
A poet conscious of sound of words can convey meaning by deviation from the regularity – words are stressed unnaturally so they stand out.
1 & 2 = couplet
3 & 4 & 5 & 6 = ??
7 & 8 = couplet
The A & C rhymes are closely akin
Are there parallels among the rhymed lines? Yes:
Lines 1 & 5 deal with the Sword and the Ring while 3 & 7 are about counsel and an action – they are thus 2 sets of contrasts
The message – Go the Council of Elrond where all is knit together…
The token is not the Sword which is a response to the doom that the Ring portends.
Metrically lines 1 & 2 – 3, & 4 & 5 – 6 & 7 & 8 form groups. 6 is a pivot between the latter two groups syntactically.
The tone of the poem is oracular… not personal or specific.
Classification
Foot type | Style | Stress pattern | Syllable count |
Iamb | Iambic | Unstressed + Stressed | Two |
Trochee | Trochaic | Stressed + Unstressed | Two |
Spondee | Spondaic | Stressed + Stressed | Two |
Anapest or anapaest | Anapestic | Unstressed + Unstressed + Stressed | Three |
Dactyl | Dactylic | Stressed + Unstressed + Unstressed | Three |
Amphibrach | Amphibrachic | Unstressed + Stressed + Unstressed | Three |
Pyrrhic | Pyrrhic | Unstressed + Unstressed | Two |
Qualitative versus quantitative metre
The metre of most poetry of the Western world and elsewhere is based on patterns of syllables of particular types. The familiar type of metre in English-language poetry is called qualitative metre, with stressed syllables coming at regular intervals (e.g. in iambic pentameters, usually every even-numbered syllable). Many Romance languages use a scheme that is somewhat similar but where the position of only one particular stressed syllable (e.g. the last) needs to be fixed. The metre of the old Germanic poetry of languages such as Old Norse and Old English was radically different, but was still based on stress patterns.
Some classical languages, in contrast, used a different scheme known as quantitative metre, where patterns were based on syllable weight rather than stress. In the dactylic hexameters of Classical Latin and Classical Greek, for example, each of the six feet making up the line was either a dactyl (long-short-short) or a spondee (long-long): a "long syllable" was literally one that took longer to pronounce than a short syllable: specifically, a syllable consisting of a long vowel or diphthong or followed by two consonants. The stress pattern of the words made no difference to the metre.
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