- Sprung rhythm
Sprung rhythm is a poetic rhythm designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech. It is constructed from feet in which the first syllable is stressed and may be followed by a variable number of unstressed syllables. The British poet
Gerard Manley Hopkins claimed to have discovered this previously-unnamed poetic rhythm in the natural patterns of English in folk songs, spokenpoetry , Shakespeare, Milton, "et al." He used diacritical marks onsyllable s to indicate which should be drawn out (acute e.g. á ) and which uttered quickly (grave e.g. è ). Some critics believe he merely coined a name for poems with mixed, irregular feet, likefree verse . However, while sprung rhythm allows for an indeterminate number of syllables to a foot, Hopkins was very careful to keep the number of feet he had per line consistent across each individual work, a trait that free verse does not share.Example
Pied Beauty
Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spáre, strange;
Whatever is fickle, frecklèd (who knows how?)
With swíft, slów; sweet, sóur; adázzle, dím;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is pást change:
Práise hím.
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)Proposed Scansion:
|Glory|be to|God for|dappled|things—
For|skies of|couple-|colour as a|brinded|cow;
For|rose-moles|all in|stipple upon|trout that|swim;
Fresh-|firecoal|chestnut-|falls;|finches'|wings;
|Landscape|plotted and|pieced—fold,|fallow, and|plough;
And|áll|trades, their|gear and|tackle and|trim.
|All things|counter, o|riginal,|spáre,|strange;
What|ever is|fickle,|frecklèd|(who knows|how?)
With|swíft,|slów; sweet,|sóur; a|dázzle,|dím;
He|fathers-|forth whose|beauty is|pást|change:
|Práise|hím.
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