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sition of stressed syllable(s) (arsis).

Haupthebung (pl. -en) = Chief arsis..

Nebenhebung (pl. -en)

= Minor arsis.

Senkung (pl. -en) = 1. Unstressed syllable(s), 2. position of unstressed syllables (thesis).

Schwellvers (pl. -e)

=

Auftakt = Anacrusis.

Lengthened line.

More (pl. moren), "According to Prof. Möller the half-verse consists theoretically of two takte, each of four moren (a more being the time required for one short syllable)". (Lawrence, Chapters on Allit. Verse.)

Introduction.

§ 1. Versification. Rhythm.

By versification or prosody is meant the description of those verse and stanza forms used in poetry. The structure of verse depends on the rhythm of poetry.

Rhythm in general takes place when a connected group of dissimilar movements recurs at regular intervals of time.

A definite rhythm results of its own accord when we undertake a series of consecutive movements (breathing, chewing, walking, thrashing etc.). Those movements, too, which are in themselves without rhythm, e.g. the ticking of a watch, the pulse-beat, can be made rhythmical by us as we choose.

§ 2. Rhythm of Poetry. Quantitative and Accented Metre.

Stress or accent in the widest sense of the word, i.e. the prominence of individual syllables over those preceding or following them, is the founda

tion of the rhythm of poetry.

This prominence may depend either on the quantity of the individual syllables and their "fullness" (long and short, heavy and light syllables) or on the intensity with which they are pronounced (accented and unaccented syllables). We speak of quantitative metre or accented metre according as the rhythm of the language depends principally on quantity or on

accent.

Latin and Greek verse is predominantly quantitative. Short and long syllables were variously combined to make feet, e.g. _ iambus, - trochee, spondee, - dactyl, _ anapaest etc.

In the verse of the Germanic languages the quantity of syllables is of some importance, for it is on the quantity of the root-syllable of a word that in OE., for example, the possibility of a stress on the following syllables depends. In modern English verse, too, the length of individual syllables is not without importance. Light syllables, even when stressed, are avoided in the arsis, and heavy syllables in the thesis. Moreover attempts have been made in modern English to imitate the quantitative metres of the classical languages, but with little success (§ 224).

It is, however, the greater force of utterance, by which individual syllables, especially the rootsyllables of words, are made prominent in ordinary conversation, which forms the foundation of the rhythm of Germanic languages. English verse,

therefore, is accented verse. It depends on a sequence of stressed and unstressed syllables, governed by definite laws. In general the stress in verse is the same as the natural stress in ordinary speech. A conflict between verse-stress and wordstress, such as we find in the quantitative metres of the classical languages, is possible in English only to a slight extent.

§ 3. Arsis and Thesis. Bar (Glied), Foot. By Arsis (hebung) is meant a syllable with a strong or weak stress for the earlier period one distinguishes a major arsis (haupthebung) from minor arsis (nebenhebung), which could be strong or weak, by thesis (senkung) is meant an unstressed syllable. In the earliest period an arsis and thesis together formed a bar (or glied) of the verse. In consequence of the loss of final inflectional syllables, which the Germanic languages suffered, the early poets had so few unstressed syllables at their disposal that in old Germanic verse a stressed syllable alone could fill a 'glied'; unstressed syllables could partially or wholly be wanting.

The arses of old Germanic verse were further of various degrees of strength and could be combined in various ways to form feet of two or of three members (§ 63). It was only in the ME. period, after those final syllables of words, which had weaker stress, had lost their

original stress that theses again became essential constituent parts of the verse. Stressed and unstressed syllables (arses and theses) again followed. each other regularly and at equal intervals of time. Further the arses were no longer graduated, but of about equal strength. Later ME. and NE. rimed verse, e.g. the regular short rimed couplet (§ 121) and heroic verse (§ 186) are therefore composed in equal bars in contrast to the freer rhythm of OE. alliterative verse and early ME. rimed

verse.

§ 4. Verse and Stanza. Alliteration and Rime. A rhythmical unity, which consists of a small number of syllables of various kinds (long and short, or stressed and unstressed), arranged in a definite order, is called a bar (or glied) or foot. A definitely limited series of such bars or feet is called a verse (or line).

The individual verse must not contain more than a certain number of feet, if it is to be looked on as a metrical unity. Four feet can easily be looked on as a unity; where there are five feet a division into smaller groups by means of a short pause within the verse (caesura) is desirable; where six to eight feet occur a caesura is necessary.

In most kinds of verse, e.g. in old Indian, late Latin, and French verse, a fixed number of syllables is also requisite, whilst in Greek and Latin hexameters, in old Germanic alliterative verse, in early

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