Natalie,
I haven’t read that treatment of it, but they are right. If you SING a ballad, there’s often a pause at the end of the second and fourth lines that pretty much evens out the spacing. Here’s from Bob Dylan:
“I dreamed I saw St. Augustine
Alive as you or me
Tearing through these quarters
In the utmost misery”
Or “Somebody robbed the Glendale train
This morning at half past nine.
Somebody robbed the Glendale train
I swear I ain’t lying.
They made off with sixteen G’s
And left two men lying cold.
Somebody robbed the Glendale train
And made off with the gold.
Of course, the 8/6/8/6 syllable count is a base line, and a singer (reciter) can accommodate more or fewer syllables without losing touch with the base rhythm. In music, this means keeping pace with the instruments.
For Dickenson, the iconic line might be “Because I would not stop for death/ He kindly stopped for me.” To me, the first of those lines is best spoken with two stresses, one on “stop,” the other on “death.” The next line pretty much forces three stresses, on “kind,” “stopped,” and “me.” Overall, it’s a pattern driven more by the syllable counts than by the stresses. She certainly doesn’t force the meter into iambic.
I like Williams’ idea of the variable foot. American speech is not naturally iambic for long stretches.
Craig
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Natalie Gerber
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 10:04 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Poetry grammar question: Dickinson
I am struck by how Dickinson's patterning of generic vs. specific meanings with her choice of determiner, including the omission of the determiner, creates groupings within the poem such that the majority and the starkest madness align together while a discerning eye and a chain seem to group with you. Further, the omission of the and the dash accompanying it before starkest madness would not only give the line a trochaic rhythm, but it would also introduce a pronounced caesura after the first foot. It's been a while since I've read Bruce Hayes and Margaret MacEachern's article on folk poetry and ballad meter, but their discussion of how the implied beat at the end of the three-foot line can function as a fourth foot suggests to me that such a pronounced pause so early in the third line would throw off the rhythm of the entire line.
All best,
Natalie
SUNY Fredonia
On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 8:41 AM, STAHLKE, HERBERT F <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Paul,
I think you’re right, and I was considering that as I wrote. We underestimate even in our students’ writing the close integration of sound and sense in the creation of text. That said, I don’t think a poet of Dickinson’s caliber leaves out a definite article to make the meter work. Rather, as you suggest, the meter and the meaning come together in some remarkable way that remains a mystery to a mere academic prose writer like me.
Herb
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul E. Doniger
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 6:29 AM
Subject: Re: Poetry grammar question: Dickinson
Herb,
Could you accept that form and content are so intertwined that neither one nor the other is a "driving force" by itself? It seems to me that they both drive each other. I really have a hard time separating meter from meaning (or vice versa) here.
Paul
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction" (_Twelfth Night_ 3.4.127-128).
From: "STAHLKE, HERBERT F" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wed, September 7, 2011 12:08:02 AM
Subject: Re: Poetry grammar question: Dickinson
Scott,
I’m going back to the complete poem, as below:
Much Madness is divinest Sense —
To a discerning Eye —
Much Sense — the starkest Madness —
’Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail —
Assent — and you are sane —
Demur — you’re straightway dangerous —
And handled with a Chain —
“Much Madness” and “much sense” are both ambiguous, between “a lot of the madness/sense we observe” and “a high degree of madness/sense.” I think both readings work, and I rather like the ambiguity. The dashes add important grammatical information that your quotation left out, namely the parenthetical nature of “to a discerning eye” and the ellipsis of “is” in the third line. As to the use of the article, I think Dickinson is playing with generic vs. specific meanings. I suspect meaning rather than meter is the driving force in her choice, although I can’t speak with any authority about how the mind of a poetic genius works.
Herb
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Woods
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2011 2:33 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Poetry grammar question: Dickinson
Dear List,
Consider these lines from Dickinson: Much madness is divinest sense/ To a discerning eye;/ Much sense the starkest madness.
Why is there no "the" in front of "divinest sense" and why is there a "the" in front of "starkest madness"? It sounds wrong to my ear to say "Much madness is the divinest sense," and it sounds off to say "much sense starkest madness," but I don't know why this is. What is the rule I'm missing?
Thanks,
Scott Woods
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