[New-Poetry] Scanned

[TheOldMole]

Yeah, but if you start with the premise of an accentual-syllabic line, 
can't you then chart the variations from that pattern? And at a certain 
point (which may change from reader to reader), aren't you going to say 
"too many variations -- this just doesn't scan"? Or "too many places 
where the accent wants to fall on the wrong syllable -- this just 
doesn't scan"?

David Graham wrote:
> I've never seen the experts agree on *any* specific scansion, I don't 
> think.  Which doesn't mean it's utterly arbitrary:  if someone calls a 
> 5 syllable foot an iamb they're just wrong.  But there is so much 
> disagreement about allowable substitutions (how loose is too loose); 
> what individual ears hear as stress; matters of regional accents; 
> changes of taste over time;  etc., that scansion often *seems* purely 
> arbitrary.  Not to mention the many competing systems of gridding-out 
> metrics. . . .
>
> ========================================
> David Graham
> grahamd at ripon.edu <mailto:grahamd at ripon.edu>
>
> Home Page:
> http://web.mac.com/drjazz
>
> Poetry Library:
> http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/DGPoLibrary.html
> ==========================================
>
>
>
>
> On May 3, 2009, at 12:02 PM, Chris Lott wrote:
>
>> I'm curious about this-- can our resident experts come to agreement on
>>
>> the scansion of Baer's poem? Or is the whole process really as
>>
>> arbitrary as it feels?
>>
>>
>> c
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> New-Poetry mailing list
> New-Poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu
> http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/new-poetry
>   

-- 
Tad Richards
Read my NY Writing Careers Examiner column today!
http://www.examiner.com/x-2862-NY-Writing-Careers-Examiner

http://www.opus40.org/tadrichards/
http://opusforty.blogspot.com/