Fine. Keep Your Iambic Pentameter.
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I don't get it either. |
Fortunately for you, I stop there. Because I care, and also because I have zero time to write today (to wit: balancing the responsibilities of dog walking and parenting). So today I will share with you P. G. Mulvaney's response, which I loved. Proving the intrinsic value of keeping a wacky, brilliant friend or two in the back of your closet. From PG the Astro-not, which is a way more musical name than just "Paul." I did not get his permission. (You're welcome.) PG says:
Ok, that's iambic, I think, and as you point out, dance rhythms of many cultures both primary and derivative (in the anthropological sense only) are heavily influenced? tied to? coincidental with? that particular pattern. Hmm, still doing it, and we do, in stichic and strophe.
But we do it in ENGLISH. Do we do it in other languages? Dunno. Is iambic (or a different rhythm) as important, say, in Old Norse Eddic poetry? I happen to have a PhD in Old Norse Lit downstairs, so I knocked on the study door and inquired. No, not at all, comes the answer. We'd think of the very prose-like poetry of the Med Scandis as blank verse, differentiated from prose by the use of alliteration and kennings. Although some poets use internal rhymes (like the ancient Irish or modern rappers) rhythm isn't a consideration.
And, suSAN geduTIS lindSAY, would be exactement how they would per-oh-nunce your name en Francais, n'estcafe?
"RHYTHM" --one of the few words in the English tongue without a sounded vowel spelt out in each syllable. "Syllable" is another.
The Hills in Purple syllables
The Day's Adventures tell
To little Groups of Continents
Just going Home from School. -- Emily Dickinson
The Day's Adventures tell
To little Groups of Continents
Just going Home from School. -- Emily Dickinson
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