48. Close read by scansion

48. Close read by scansion: (poetry analysis paper)

Definitions:

Scanning a poem is the act of determining both the dominant meter of the poem and the metrical variation of that meter. The reader listens closely for changes in the meter and finds meaning in the emphasis theses changes bring to certain words.

Rhythm:

the natural rise and fall of language.

Meter:

accents in language are arranged to occur at equal intervals of time.

Foot:

one metrical interval of usually two syllables containing one stressed accent and usually one unstressed accent. However, it is possible to have two consecutive stresses in one foot.

TYPES OF FEET:

Monometer: one foot

(^ /)

"Without"

Dimeter: two feet

( ^ /)( ^ /)

"Without a grave"

Trimeter: three feet

(^ /)( ^ /) (^ /)

"Without a grave, unknell'd

Tetrameter: four feet

(^ /) ( ^ /) ( ^ /) ( ^ /)

"Without a grave, unknell'd, uncoffin'd"

Pentameter: 5 ft

(^ /) ( ^ /) ( ^ /) ( ^ /)(^ /)

"Without a grave, unknell'd, uncoffin'd and”

Hexameter:6 ft

(^ /) ( ^ /) ( ^ /) ( ^ /)(^ /) (^ /)

"Without a grave, unknell'd, uncoffin'd and”unknown

Close Read by Scansion in a analysis of Lord Byron's “Childe Harolde’s Pilgramage”:

^ / ^ / ^ / ^ / ^ /

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods

There is a rapture on the lonely shore

There is a society where none intrudes

/ ^ / / ^ / ^ / ^ /

By the deep sea; with music in its roar.

^ / ^ / ^ / ^ / ^ /

I love not Man the less, but Nature more.

From these our interviews in which I steal

/ ^ / ^ / / ^ / ^ /

All that I may be; or have been before

^ / ^ / ^ / ^ / ^ /

To mingle with the universe and feel

^ / ^ / ^ / / / ^ / ^ /

What I can ne'er express yet cannot all coneal.

The dominant meter is iambic pentameter in the first three lines in which the speaker establishes his reverence for wild nature. He states, “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods/There is a rapture on the lonely shore/ There is a society where none intrudes.” (lines 1-3). In the fourth line the speaker brings emphasis to the great depths of the sea by creating the assonance of the long "e" sound in the two stressed syllables of a spondee in "deep sea." This break in the rising rhythm of the iamb allows the reader to pause on the seemingly immeasurable depths of the sea. The vast depth of the sea is precisely what the speaker wants the reader to ponder, for this enhances the poem's message that nature is sublime. The meter returns to iambic pentameter in the remaining lines in which the speaker conveys that he loves nature more than man.

The meter is then broken in the seventh line by a trochee "(a)ll that" in the first foot. The auditory stress on the "all" underscores the poem's message that man is more complete when he has a close relationship with nature. The poem then returns to the dominant iambic pentameter in the ninth line. The final line of this excerpt is iambic hexameter with a spondee " yet cannot" in the middle of the line. Byron has rhythmically focused the reader upon the inability of man to resist expressing powerful moments in nature by stressing the "yet cannot all conceal." The speaker admits that he "cannot all conceal" the influence of nature upon him and although he may not be able to express his feelings in words, he will express it through other means: love, peace, kindness, and calm. The line also has six feet (hexameter) and spills over both visually and orally. This suggests that the speaker cannot "conceal" his enthusiasm for nature, for it overflows in sound and rhythm as one's speech does when inspired.

CLOSE READ BY SCANSION STARTERS:

-The dominant meter of the passage is ___________________. The metrical variation in the phrase “____________________” is a spondee / trochee / anapest. This change in rhythm is important because it emphasizes the key words ___________ and ____________. These words reinforce the poem’s central message that ________________.

- The meter is broken by a spondee / trochee / anapest in the line “_______________________.” The auditory stress on the "_____________" underscores the poem's message that