Bridges' Prosody of Accentual Verse
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In this final section of his book Milton's Prosody, Robert Bridges describes a prosody of accentual verse.
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[edit] Terms and notation
Bridges classifies the following types of syllable (alternative symbols have been added for browsers that do not display symbols correctly):
| Symbol | Alternative | Syllable Type | Description |
| ⋀ | ^ | Stressed | Syllable carries the stress |
| – | - | Heavy | Is genuinely long, slows down the reading. For example: broad, bright, down. |
| ⌣ | ~ | Light | All syllables with short vowels, even those that would be long 'by position' in Classical terms. That is, if the consonants around a short vowel do not genuinely retard the syllable then it will be counted 'light'. Light also includes all classically short syllables. For example the second syllables of 'brighter' and 'brightest' are both light, despite the consonants in the latter. |
Bridges also has a shorter version of the 'Light' symbol for 'very short' syllables. We can use ⌵ ('.').
[edit] Rules
Bridges lists six "rules" for accentual verse. He states (p.89) "These 'laws' are merely the tabulation of what my ear finds in English stressed or accentual verse". The rules are as follows:
- the stress governs the rhythm
- the stresses must all be true speech-stresses
- a stress has more carrying power over the syllable next to it, than it has over a syllable removed from it by an intervening syllable
- stress has a peculiarly strong attraction towards verbal unity and for its own proclitics and enclitics
- a stress will not carry a heavy syllable which is removed from it by another syllable
- a stress will not carry more than one heavy or two light syllables on the same side of it
[edit] Stress governs rhythm
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] True speech-stresses
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] A stress carries the syllable next to it
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] Stress is attracted to verbal unity
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] A stress will not carry a distant heavy syllable
Here Bridges cites several lines from Shelley which violate this rule, such as:
- Each and all like ministering angels were.
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] A stress can carry at most one heavy or two light syllables on a given side
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] List of common stress units
Bridges lists the common stress units or 'feet:
| 1st | Bare Stress | ⋀ | ^ |
| 2nd | The 2 falling disyllabic feet | ⋀– | ^- |
| ⋀⌣ | ^~ | ||
| 3rd | The 2 rising disyllabic feet | –⋀ | -^ |
| ⌣⋀ | ~^ | ||
| 4th | The britannics or mid-stress trisyllabics | ⌣⋀⌣ | ~^~ |
| –⋀⌣ | -^~ | ||
| ⌣⋀– | ~^- | ||
| –⋀– | -^- | ||
| 5th | The falling and rising trisyllabics | ⌣⌣⋀ | ~~^ |
| ⋀⌣⌣ | ^~~ | ||
| 6th | The quadrisyllabics | ⌣⋀⌣⌣ | ~^~~ |
| –⋀⌣⌣ | -^~~ | ||
| ⌣⌣⋀⌣ | ~~^~ | ||
| ⌣⌣⋀– | ~~^- | ||
| 6th | The five syllable foot | ⌣⌣⋀⌣⌣ | ~~^~~ |
