Any poetic work can be distinguished by the size in which it is written. The dactyl, examples of which are given in this article, is just one of them. There are also amphibrachium, anapest, trochee and iambic. It is worth noting that these are only the main poetic meters, in reality there are even more of them, some of them are currently outdated. Some poets in their works adhere to only one pre-selected poetic metre, this can be a dactyl, amphibrachium, or anapest. You will find examples in this article. Others use different techniques and styles when writing their poetry.
Poetic dimensions
Examples of dactyl will allow you to visualize what this poetic meter is. In Russian versification, the length of the line of a poetic work most often varies. Thus, each poetic measure is divided into several components. So, an iambic can be, for example, one-foot, two-foot or three-foot.
A distinctive characteristic of almost any poetic meter is the presence or absence of caesura (this is a rhythmic pause) and catalectics (cutting and shortening of the foot).
What are the poetic meters?
All poetic meters that are widely used in Russian versification can be divided into only three groups.
The first includes monosyllabic sizes. A classic example of this size is a brachycolon. This is a monocotyledon meter, when each foot contains a word consisting of strictly one syllable. At the same time, there can be several feet in one line of a work; this is fully permitted by the rules of versification.
The second group includes two-syllable meters. These are perhaps the most common meters in Russian poetry, which include iambic and trochee. We will talk about them in more detail later.
In poems written in trochee, the stress always falls on the first syllable of the foot. In works created using iambic, the stress necessarily falls on the last syllable in the foot.
And finally the third group is called logaed. Its fundamental difference is that if all the previously given examples of poetic meters were based on a sequence of any number of feet of the same type, then logaed is a size in which several feet can alternate in one line at once.
Iambic
Examples of iambic, trochee, and dactyl will help you easily distinguish one poetic meter from another. In Russian versification, iambic is a poetic meter in which an unstressed syllable constantly alternates with a stressed one.
It is still not possible to establish the exact etymology of this term. It is only known that the so-called iambic chants were well known during the ancient holidays in honor of the goddess of fertility Demeter. That is why many now associate the birth of this term with the name of the servant of King Kelei, whose name was Yamba. If we remember the myth, only she managed to cheer up Demeter, who remained inconsolable for a long time due to the fact that she could not find her daughter Persephone. It is noteworthy that Yamba managed to do this with the help of obscene poetry.
According to another version, the name Yamba is an echo of an ancient word that has a slang meaning. It turns out that one way or another the term is rooted in profanity. True, there is another version according to which the word came from the consonant musical instrument, which accompanied the performance of iambic songs.
Examples of using iambic
Iambic has been well known since the times of ancient poetry. The main difference between iambic and other poetic meters is its lightness and similarity to ordinary speech. Therefore, it was most often used by poets who wrote dramatic or lyrical works. For example, tragicomedies or fables. But iambic was not suitable for epic genres.
Iambic was and is actively used in Russian poetry. For example, it was often used by Alexander Pushkin. The beginning of his famous “Eugene Onegin” (“My uncle of the most honest rules...”) is written in iambic. This, by the way, is an example of iambic tetrameter.
In Russian poetry, iambic tetrameter was used in epic and lyric poetry, iambic pentameter was used in lyric poetry and dramas of the 19th-20th centuries, and iambic hexameter was used in dramas and poems of the 18th century. There is also free-varied iambic, which was loved by the authors of fables of the 18th-19th centuries and comedies of the 19th century.
Trochee
Examples of dactyl and trochee will help you distinguish one poetic meter from another. So, trochee is a two-syllable poetic meter. In this case, the foot contains first a long and then a short syllable, a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. Like iambic, it is widely used in Russian versification.
Most often, poets used tetrameter or hexameter trochee. Since the middle of the 19th century, trochee pentameter has become popular and has undergone significant development.
The main Russian poet of the 19th century, Alexander Pushkin, often used trochee, alternating it with iambic. Therefore, it is best to cite a clear example of a trochee from his work. As an example, you can take the poem “Winter Evening”, which begins with the line “The storm covers the sky with darkness...”.
We will find an example of trochee pentameter in Mikhail Lermontov’s poem “I go out alone on the road...”. This line, which is also the title of the work, clearly demonstrates the features of trochee pentameter.
Dactyl
Examples of dactyl will allow you to remember this poetic meter once and for all, so as not to confuse it with any other.
This is a three-part meter, which originates in ancient metrics. In Russian versification, this poetic meter corresponds to a foot, consisting of one stressed syllable and two unstressed syllables following it.
Examples of dactyl in poems can be found in Mikhail Lermontov - “Heavenly Clouds, Eternal Wanderers...”. Interestingly, there is even a mnemonic rule for remembering the features of dactyl. The phrase “A deep hole is dug by dactyl” helps not to confuse it with other sizes.
In Russian versification, examples of dactyl are most often found in the tetrameter version. Two-foot was popular in the 18th century, and three-foot in the 19th century.
The name of this poetic meter comes from the Greek word for "finger". The point is that the finger consists of three phalanges, with one of them longer than the others. Likewise, the dactyl foot consists of three syllables, one of which is stressed and the rest unstressed.
Interestingly, in the 1920s there was a theory about the origin of rhythm in poetry that compared examples of dactyl verse to metrical hammer blows.
Amphibrachium
The five main poetic meters of Russian poetry are trochee, iambic, dactyl, amphibrachium, and anapest. Examples of poems written with their help help you quickly figure out how to distinguish one size from another and not get confused.
Amphibrachium is a special size that is formed by trisyllabic feet. Moreover, the strong place, that is, the stressed syllable, is in this case the second. Thus, the following alternation is formed: unstressed syllable - stressed syllable - unstressed syllable.
IN early XIX century, the tetrameter amphibrachium was very popular, and from the middle of the 19th century the trimeter amphibrachium came into fashion.
Examples of such poems can be found, in particular, in Nikolai Nekrasov. In the poem “Frost the Voivode” there are the following lines: “It is not the wind that rages over the forest, \ Streams do not run from the mountains, \ Frost the Voivode patrols \ Walks around his domain.”
Anapaest
Anapest is also a three-syllable poetic meter. It is often compared to dactyl in the sense that it is its opposite.
In the ancient tradition, this was a poetic meter consisting of two short syllables and one long syllable.
In Russian versification, anapest is a meter when the foot consists of two unstressed syllables and one stressed syllable.
This poetic meter became popular in the 20th century. Therefore, we can find examples from Alexander Blok - “Oh, spring without end and without end! \ Without end and without end, a dream.”
Hexameter
There are poetic meters that were actively used in ancient poetry, but are now practically not used. This also applies to hexameter. This was the most common meter in ancient poetry.
This is a rather difficult size, since in in a broad sense This is any verse consisting of six meters. If we go into detail, a hexameter was a verse consisting of five dactyls or spondees, as well as one spondea or trochee present in the last foot.
Hexameter was used by Homer when writing the Illiad and Odyssey. There is also the concept of “modern hexameter,” which was widespread in European poetry of the 14th-18th centuries.
Main characteristics of the syllabic-tonic system
The basis of the syllabic-tonic system is foot - a repeating element of a verse, usually consisting of stressed and the same number of unstressed syllables. The foot is not at all an invention of Russian scientists; it was already known in the ancient metric system, from which the names were borrowed. However, in antiquity the foot consisted of long and short sounds, and in Russia - of stressed and unstressed sounds. This not only decisively changed the sound of the verse, but also sharply reduced the number of feet. The fact is that in the ancient system the foot was not necessarily defined one with a long sound, there could be three, or even four. Duration (mora, share) was of decisive importance. Let us remember that a long sound was taken as two beats, and a short sound as one. Therefore, say, an eight-beat foot of four long sounds was allowed dispondei: – – – –; on the other hand, another octagonal structure was possible dohmiy: U – – U – .
Please note: in the theory of verse, a long or stressed sound is usually denoted – (long dash), and short (unstressed) U(dimples). IN Lately, however, other designations of stressed/unstressed are also allowed, but this design dominates. If you count the shares, it is easy to see that there are 8 of them in dispondea (4 x 2 = 8) and 8 in dokhmia (1+2+2+1+2 = 8).
But such stops are possible only in metric system, in the case of accents this is fundamental impossible. Imagine what kind of foot it would be if it had four strikes in a row. And if after it there are four more drums, then everything will become completely frivolous. Therefore, European and, above all, Russian versification, which interests us, chose from a huge number of ancient feet only those in which there was one long(his position was taken shock), and the rest brief(their positions were taken unstressed).
In reality, the following feet take part in the classical dimensions of verse:
- · Disyllabic(repeat every two syllable):
Trochee (stressed + unstressed):
– U
The easiest way to feel the sound of a trochee is to take a trochaic word (for example, Mother or dad) and repeat it many times. In poetry, trochees are very common - from children's poetry to classics:
Our Tanya cries loudly:
She dropped a ball into the river.
- Hush, Tanya, don’t cry:
The ball will not drown in the river... (A. Barto)
The blizzard is angry, the blizzard is crying;
Sensitive horses snore;
Now he's galloping far away;
Only the eyes burn in the darkness... (A.S. Pushkin)
Iambic (unstressed + stressed):
U –
Repeat iambic words several times ( window, winter, moon etc.) - and you will feel the sound of iambic. Iambics are the favorite feet of Russian classics:
My uncle has the most honest rules,
When I seriously fell ill,
He forced himself to respect
And I couldn't think of anything better. (A.S. Pushkin)
- · Trisyllabic(repeatability through three syllable). In Russian poetry, where there is one shock in the foot, three options are, accordingly, possible:
Dactyl (stressed + two unstressed):
– U U
If we take the dactylic word ( gold, cold, fair etc.) and repeat it, we will hear the dactyl. Dactyls are quite popular in Russian poetry, although they are less common than two-syllables:
Storm in the evening sky
The angry noise of the sea,
Storm at sea and thoughts,
A lot of painful thoughts. (A. A. Fet)
Heavenly clouds, eternal wanderers!
The azure steppe, the pearl chain
You rush as if like me, exiles
From the sweet north to the south. (M. Yu. Lermontov)
Amphibrachium (unstressed + stressed + unstressed):
U – U
Repeated amphibrachic word ( cow, road, listen etc.) will give us the sound of this size. There are a lot of amphibrachs in Russian poetry:
The last cloud of the scattered storm!
Alone you rush across the clear azure,
You alone cast a dull shadow,
You alone sadden the jubilant day. (A.S. Pushkin)
Today, I see, your look is especially sad
And the arms are especially thin, hugging the knees.
Listen: far, far away, on Lake Chad
An exquisite giraffe wanders. (N.S. Gumilyov)
Anapaest ( unstressed + unstressed + stressed):
U U –
To hear an anapest, you need to repeat the anapest words (head, cold, far, etc.). Anapest is very popular:
Oh, spring without end and without edge -
An endless and endless dream!
I recognize you, life! I accept!
And I greet you with the ringing of the shield! (A. A. Blok)
In the cold, in the cold
From their homes
Others call us cities, -
Be it Minsk, be it Brest, -
In the cold, in the cold... (V.S. Vysotsky)
This is the so-called “classic five” of Russian feet. Most of the poems of Russian classics use these very feet. Students, as a rule, remember the names of feet well, but are confused with the placement of accents.
Choir awesome yam box d will leave amphibian July in Anapa at .
This phrase is easy to remember and matches the emphasis ( choir to her, yam b, d actil, amphibian rakhii, anap eating). Two syllables first with first and second stress (trochee, iambic), then trisyllabics with the first, second and third stresses (dactyl, amphibrach, anapest).
In addition to the “classical five”, Russian poetry also knows more complex feet. Less popular, but available four-syllable feet. They are called peons (sometimes written “peons”, less often “peans”). It's a foot of four syllables . Each peon does not have a special name; they are determined by the position of the shock: peon I, peon II, peon III, peon IV. These feet are quite rare, more often than others are peons I I and II I . Formally, they are similar to trochees and iambs, but the rhythm is different, and the four-syllable division is clearly felt. Compare iambic tetrameter:
For the shores of the distant fatherland
You were leaving a foreign land;
In an unforgettable hour, in a sad hour
I cried for a long time in front of you. (A.S. Pushkin)
and the formally close two-footed peon II:
Lanterns, sudari,
Tell me,
What you saw, what you heard
Are you in the silence of the night?
You are arranged so decorously
Along our streets:
Night guards,
Your watchful eye is faithful! (I. P. Myatlev)
You don't need to be a poet to feel the different rhythms. Myatlev clearly feels four-syllable repeatability: U – U U U – U U .
The most common are the third peons, they have been known since the 18th century and were initially used to stylize folk poetry:
Don't be sad, my light! I'm sad and myself
It's been a long time since I've seen you, -
A jealous husband won't let you go anywhere;
I just turn away and he goes there.
Forces me to always be with him;
He says: “Why are you sad?”
I sigh for you, my light, always,
You never get out of your thoughts. (A.P. Sumarokov)
The metrical diagram for this verse is: U U – U U U – U U U – .
Later, the range of uses of peon III expanded. It has become quite popular both in classical poetry and in poems for children, for example, by Korney Chukovsky.
In many cases, distinguishing between peons and disyllabics (iamb and trochee) is a problem, but we don’t have to delve into these subtleties of poetry for now; now our task is to understand the very principle of organization of syllabic-tonic verse.
Possible and quite common pentasyllabic feet (in the terminology of A.P. Kvyatkovsky - pentalobeds). They are usually used for stylizations of folk poetry. The most common pentasyllable is III: U U – U U U U – U U . It is associated with the name of A. Koltsov and the poems of other poets who stylize folk verse:
How it gets attached, how it sticks
An idle thought to the mind,
A boring thought will cling to your brain
And she pecks at him, persistently. (V. G. Benediktov)
These are the main steps of Russian versification. Inside a real poem there may be elements that are formally similar to other ancient feet, which allowed some theorists (for example, V. Ya. Bryusov) to significantly expand the list of possible feet in Russian poetry. However, this is hardly reasonable; we are not faced with a foot, but with some super-schema phenomenon that complicates the metric scheme, for example, amphibrachium. It makes sense to talk about the foot only if it underlies poetic rhythm. In other words, we can talk about iambic if there are poems written in iambic. And it is hardly correct to call special cases of complications of the metric scheme stops. There can be many of these complications, some of them will be described below, but we cannot talk about feet in the strict sense of the term.
Foot underlies poetic sizes. A caveat needs to be made here. In everyday life, we often speak inaccurately. Even teachers, when asking students “What size is this?”, expect to hear “iamb” or “trochee”. However foot And size- the concepts are different. After all, the word “size” always implies “the size of something.” In our case, size verse. Unit measurements is foot, But size determined number of feet. Therefore, the “meter” is not iambic, but “iambic tetrameter” or “iambic pentameter.” To put it roughly, we can say that to answer the question about size "iamb" or "trochee" - this is approximately the same as answering a question about size meter rooms. But it’s important for us to know How many meters. It’s the same with the verse: it’s important for us to know How many stop in verse and what is the foot like.
Number of stops fixed in verse on the last stressed syllable, the presence or absence of unstressed words at the end does not determine the size. Let's clarify this with an example:
In what year - calculate
In what land - guess
On the sidewalk
Seven men came together. (N. A. Nekrasov)
What is the verse size of the famous prologue to the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”? If we formally count the syllables, we get (without taking into account stressed and unstressed) that the first three lines have eight syllables, and the last one has six. We can identify the foot. This is iambic. Does this mean that the first lines are written in iambic tetrameter, and the last in iambic trimeter? No, because the last stress is everywhere on the sixth syllable, the metrical scheme will be like this:
U – U – U – U U
U – U – U – U U
U – U – U – U U
U – U – U –
Therefore, the size here is the same - iambic trimeter, and the lines differ not in size, but in the nature of the endings (clauses). Clauses and other rhythmic qualifiers will be discussed below.
The same is true in the opposite case, when the last foot is not filled with unstressed ones. It is the last shock that is important to us; the size is fixed by it:
There is no other way
Like through your hand -
How else to find
My dear land? (O. E. Mandelstam)
We have a dactyl in front of us, but how many feet are there? The complete dactyl diagram would be:
– U U – U U – U U
Mandelstam has a slightly different drawing:
– U U – U U –
However, in terms of meter, this does not change anything, it is still a trimeter dactyl, since the last stress is always on the seventh syllable, which means the third foot is indicated. It’s just that there is a masculine clause here (that is, the absence of unstressed words at the end of the line).
Stops are set metric chart verse, that is, some ideal principle of its construction. However, the real sound of the verse, as a rule, does not coincide with the metric scheme; the metric scheme can only be emphasized when chant, that is, the artificial reading of poems, emphasizing their metrical structure. Reading will be funny and unnatural. Very often, chanting is typical for children reading poetry from the stage; it is easier for children to emphasize meter than semantic accents. For example, an adult will read this:
WITH e la m y ha na var e Nye, that's it e poem e Nye.
(Accents of reading are highlighted.)
The child will read differently:
WITH e la m y ha n A var e Nye, in O t and sun e poem O creation e Nye.
The metrical scheme underlies any syllabic-tonic verse, but the real rhythm does not coincide with it. There are many factors that create real rhythm. Let's take a closer look at some of them.
Rhythmic determinants of syllabic tonic
Over-scheme accents or omission of schema stress
Living speech is always “uncomfortable” in a strict metrical scheme. Experts have calculated that the average syllable size of a word for most European languages is about 2.4 - 2.5 syllables. That is, if we divide all the words into syllables, add the syllables together and divide by the number of words, we will get approximately the following numbers. This is, of course, an abstraction, but it explains some things. It becomes clear that in two-syllable meters (trochee and iambic) this abstract word will be too cramped, since 0.4 - 0.5 of the “unstressed” syllable will go beyond the scheme. But in three-syllables it’s the other way around: the word will be too “spacious” and there will be a shortage of stress. This explains the fact that in iambic and trochee there is a lot passes metric accents. Positions that are strong according to the metric scheme (the so-called icts) in real text are filled with unstressed ones. This phenomenon is called pyrrhic. For the reasons already indicated, there are a lot of pyrrhic verses in iambic and trochaic verses:
The clouds are rushing, the clouds are swirling;
Invisible moon
The flying snow illuminates;
The sky is cloudy, the night is cloudy. (A.S. Pushkin)
Before us is a tetrameter trochee, the metrical scheme of which is always the same:
– U – U – U – U
In tetrameter trochee, the ictics are the first, third, fifth and seventh syllables. But in reality, in Pushkin’s text we see something different:
– U – U – U – U
U U-U U U –
U U– U – U – U
– U – U – U –
The first and fourth lines are written according to the metric scheme, but the second and third miss some accents. This is pyrrhic. In such cases, it is customary to say that before us pyrrhic tetrameter trochee.
In three-syllables, omission of pattern stress is much less common, but sometimes it is possible. Then we get a three-syllable foot with a missing accent, often, by analogy with the ancient foot in three short ones, it is called tribrachium, but we can simply talk about skipping the schematic accent:
After the calming blizzard
Peace comes to the area.
I listen in my spare time
This is a trimeter anapaest with a metric scheme
U U – U U – U U – U
U U – U U – U U –
The second and fourth lines correspond to this pattern, but the first and third do not. The first line should have been " y hubbub And existing", and in the third - "sent y shiva Yu sya." But in reality, of course, we don’t pronounce it like that, skipping the schematic stresses.
The opposite phenomenon is superscheme stress. Super-scheme stress is natural for trisyllabics, which is clear from the previous explanations. In the lines of Pasternak just given, we see it at the beginning of the first and third lines. Usually, when reading poetry aloud, we slightly muffle these accents, following the logic of the meter. We don't read " Í I listen at my leisure,” and we pronounce phonetically together “I have spoken y I’m hanging out.”
In two-syllables, super-scheme stress is striking and, as a rule, carries a semantic load. This is understandable: the word is already “crowded” in a two-syllable scheme, and we saturate the text even more with stress. This phenomenon is called spondee. Spondees explode the rhythm, the verse sounds more intense. Typically, spondees emphasize excitement or drama. A classic example is the description of the battle in “Poltava” by A. S. Pushkin. Here there is iambic tetrameter, and at first the metrical scheme is observed more or less strictly:
And with them the royal squads
They came together in the smoke in the middle of the plain:
And the battle broke out, the Battle of Poltava!
But then the tension increases, and this is emphasized by many spondees and other rhythmic complications:
Cast iron balls everywhere
They jump between them, strike,
Dust They dig and hiss in the blood.
Swede, Russian - stabs, chops, cuts.
The battle drumming, clicks, grinding,
Thunder guns, stomping, neighing, groaning,
And death and hell on all sides...
Four lines in a row begin with percussion, which should not happen in the iambic metric scheme. Spondeic interruptions in rhythm are enhanced by alliteration (note how big number“r” and hissing sounds in the passage) and emphasize the feeling of the bloody chaos of the battle.
Number of stops per line
The actual rhythm depends on the size of the verse (line), that is, on how many feet there are in the verse. Short poems tend to be more energetic, while long ones sound smoother. There are many pyrrhic elements in iambic and trochee polymeters. Let's compare the sound of iambs in Pushkin:
Oh Delvig! drew
The Muses are my destiny;
But are you my sorrows
Want to multiply?
This is iambic trimeter. And here is the hexameter:
In full squares, silent from fear,
On Fridays executions began to take place,
And people began to scratch their ears
And say: “Ehe! but this one is not the same.”
It is easy to feel that simply adding the lines of the first poem will not produce the rhythm of the second passage. Iambic hexameter basically sounds different. In real poetry, two-syllables with three to six feet and three-syllables with three to five feet were most often used. Although in some poets (for example, in K. Balmont) we will also find multi-foot meters. On the contrary, in poetic experiments even monometer trochees with masculine rhyme (that is, a one-syllable word in a line) are possible. This is, for example, “Sonnet” by I. Selvinsky:
Dol
Sed.
Shel
Grandfather.
Track
Vel –
Brel
Following...
Naturally, this is only possible in experiments; it is impossible to write like this all the time.
Line ending (clause)
A clause is the phenomenon of the end of a line in poetry. To put it somewhat roughly, we can say that rhythmically the clause is the last percussion and everything that comes after it. Naturally, the rhythm will change noticeably if, say, the line ends with a stressed one or if there are a few more syllables after it. We have already said that the number of feet in a line is determined by the last stress. The clausal stress is stable and cannot fall out - this is the law of verse. If, say, we have iambic tetrameter, then any foot can have pyrrhic, but the eighth syllable will always be stressed. The following types of clauses are distinguished:
Men's (line ends with stress). The male clause gives the verse clarity and completeness. For example, only male clauses are used by M.Yu. Lermontov in the poem “Mtsyri”:
Once upon a time a Russian general
I drove from the mountains to Tiflis;
He was carrying a prisoner child.
He fell ill and could not bear it
The labors of a long journey;
He seemed to be about six years old...
Women's (after the last stressed one there is one unstressed one). For Russian poetry, the combination of male and female clauses is classic. Suffice it to recall A. S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”:
Without thinking of amusing the proud world, (female)
Loving the attention of friendship, (male)
I would like to introduce you (female)
The pledge is more worthy than you. (male)
Dactylic (after the last stressed there are two unstressed ones). This clause has nothing to do with the dactyl’s foot; the name is metaphorical. It’s just that formally such a clause is similar to the foot of a dactyl - U U . But it can be found in both iambic and trochee:
Without your mind, without your mind
I was married off;
Golden age of girlhood
They shortened it by force.
Is that what youth is for?
Observed, unlived;
Behind the glass, from the sun,
Beauty was cherished
May I be married forever
I grieved, I cried,
Without love, without joy,
She was distressed and tormented. (A.V. Koltsov)
The rhythm of this poem by Koltsov is determined by the meter (trochee trimeter), the abundance of pyrrhic on the first foot and the dactylic clause.
Hyperdactylic (more than two unstressed words after the last stressed one). This clause is quite rare, but still not something “exotic” for Russian poetry:
Cold, secretly shackling the body,
Cold, enchanting the soul...
Rays stretch from the moon,
They touch the heart with needles. (V. Ya. Bryusov)
This is a trochaic tetrameter with a hyperdactylic clause. Notice how the clause changes the sound of the trochee. Compare with Pushkin’s tetrameter trochee:
Demons rush swarm after swarm
In the infinite heights,
With plaintive squeals and howls
Breaking my heart...
It is no coincidence that the clause is considered an important rhythmic determinant, that is, the actual sound of the verse largely depends on it.
Pause system
Pauses also have a noticeable effect on the rhythm of the verse. We have already said that verse is generally not possible without long pauses between verses (in writing - broken down by lines). But intra-verse pauses are also very important; they often noticeably change the rhythmic pattern. Let's, for example, look at the famous poem by M. Yu. Lermontov:
I go out alone on the road;
Through the fog the flinty path shines;
The night is quiet. The desert listens to God,
And star speaks to star.
It will be difficult for a less experienced philologist to hear the sound of trochee here. Why? The fact is that the metrical scheme is greatly complicated by pyrrhicisms and pauses. The diagram of the trochaic pentameter is as follows:
– U – U – U – U – U
But the real rhythm of Lermontov’s masterpiece is different:
U U – / U – U – U – U
The pyrrhic on the first foot and the pause in the middle of the second changed the trochee beyond recognition.
A special role is played by the so-called caesuras(do not confuse with the paronym “censorship”!) - constant long pauses, cutting multi-foot verses into correlated parts. Most often, caesuras are located approximately in the middle of the verse (however, modern poetry knows caesura shifts to the beginning or end of the verse). For an inexperienced philologist, caesura is insidious in that it can disrupt the graphic harmony of the meter, and super-scheme unstressed ( caesura extension) or, on the contrary, syllables can “disappear” ( caesura truncation). If you “draw” the diagram of such a verse, in the middle there will be a glitch that was not felt when pronouncing:
Sisters, heaviness and tenderness, your signs are the same.
Lungworts and wasps suck the heavy rose.
The man dies. The warmed sand cools down,
And yesterday's sun is carried on a black stretcher.
If we formally draw out the metrical scheme of this poem (we now abstract from super-schema stresses), then we get:
U U – U U – U U U – U UU – U U – U
U U – U U – U U – U U – U U –
It turns out that in the first line there is an extra syllable in the third foot. Why don't we feel the interruption? Try, for example, to insert an extra syllable into the middle of the line of “Eugene Onegin” - the rhythm disruption will be felt immediately. But Mandelstam’s anapest does not suffer at all. The point is precisely that in the middle of the line the caesura, which conceals this interruption, “evens out the rhythm.”
Thus, the sound of a verse is determined not only by size, not only by feet, but also by a whole system of other rhythmic means.
In Greek poetry, the same term was used to refer to one of the lyrical genres, but for Russian poetry only the meaning of the name foot is relevant.
Poetic meters are a headache not only for philology applicants studying theory of literature, but even some writers. The poetic arsenal of Russian poets includes five actively used meters: trochee, iambic, dactyl, amphibrachium, anapest. There are others, for example, spondee. What it is? And how do some differ from others?
Poetic size- a method of sound organization of a verse, a rhythmic form of a poem.
If we define in simple language, then the poetic meter is the alternation of unstressed and stressed syllables in a verse. The easiest way to learn how to determine poetic meter is to remember the rhythmic pattern of each meter.
Foot– a unit of measurement of poetic size.
A foot consists of several syllables, only one of which is stressed, the rest are unstressed. The number of stressed syllables in a verse corresponds to the number of feet (with the exception of such a meter as spondee, in which two stressed syllables can coexist).
Two-syllable feet: trochee and iambic are two-syllable meters or, as literary scholars familiarly call them, two-syllables.
Trisyllabic feet: dactyl, amphibrachium, anapest - these are trisyllabic meters or abbreviated trisyllabics.
Learning to place accents and determine the size of a verse
To learn how to determine the size of any poem, you need to count the number of stressed and unstressed syllables and create a rhythmic pattern for the verse.
Everyone knows that one word has one accent. But in a poetic line there can be several rhythmic stresses in one word. For example, in the quatrain “Martyr A t at chi, vo Yu t at chi/Nevid And soaking the moons A/Lighting A et sn e g years at chiy/M at no e bo, n O whose m at tna" stressed vowels are highlighted in bold. This is the so-called verbal stress, that is, the “native”, habitual stress of the word. But if you read this text like a counting rhyme, highlighting each syllable intonationally, it turns out that there are several rhythmic stresses:
"Mr. A t at chi, vo Yu t at chi” – here the word stress corresponds to its rhythmic stress.
"Invisible moons A" - but here it’s more interesting, because in the word “invisible” And mkoyu" to the native verbal stress on the second "i" in the syllable "dim" is added the rhythmic stress on "e" in the syllable "not" and the final "yu". In the word "moon" the verbal and rhythmic stress are the same.
"ABOUT candle A et sn e g years at chiy" - here you can also observe the emergence of rhythmic stress in an unexpected place: the first syllable “o” in the word “illuminates” when reading the line in the manner of a counting rhyme, it stands out acoustically.
"M at no e bo, n O whose m at tna” – in this line the verbal and rhythmic stress correspond to each other.
To create a rhythmic pattern (scheme) of a verse, you need:
1) place verbal stress in each line, that is, native stress in all words (except for prepositions).
2) place rhythmic stresses, that is, highlight those vowels that stand out acoustically when read and also sound like percussion. When arranging rhythmic stress, prepositions are also taken into account.
3) make a diagram. The diagram of our quadruple “Clouds are rushing, clouds are rolling…” will look like this: _U|_U|_U|_ U, since a stressed syllable is denoted by an underscore _, and an unstressed syllable by a quotation mark U. The feet are separated from each other by a straight vertical line |.
It is not a literary method to determine the size of a poem
1) Number all syllables in the line.
2) Highlight, that is, underline or indicate in any other way All detected stressed syllables: both with verbal stress and with rhythmic stress.
3) Write down the numbers of stressed syllables in a row.
4) You should get one of the schemes that will correspond to one of the poetic meters:
- 1-3-5-7-9 - trochee
- 2-4-6-8-10, etc. - iambic
- 1-4-7-10, etc. - dactyl
- 2-5-8-11 - amphibrachium
- 3-6-9-12 - anapest
Table " Two-syllable poetic meters»
That is, a poetic foot of this size will consist of two syllables
Titles | Definition | two-syllable meter with stress on the first syllable. That is, the first syllable is stressed, the second is unstressed (this is one foot). Next (2nd foot begins) the pattern is repeated: the third syllable is stressed, the fourth is unstressed (this is the second foot). And again: the fifth (if there is one) is stressed, the sixth is unstressed (third foot), etc. | two-syllable meter with stress on the second syllable. That is, in iambic it is the other way around - the first syllable is unstressed, and the second is stressed. Further (second foot), the third syllable is again unstressed, and the fourth is stressed, etc. | Number of stressed syllables | 1-3-5-7-9, etc. | 2-4-6-8-10, etc. | Rhythmic pattern | ‑ U |‑ U |‑ U |‑ U | | U‑ | U‑ | U‑ | U‑ | | The storm covers the sky with darkness, | My uncle has the most honest rules, |
|---|
Table “Three-syllable poetic meters”
That is, a poetic foot of this size will consist of three syllables.
Titles | Amphibrachium | Definition | First syllable. | Trisyllabic meter with emphasis on second syllable, the first and third syllables in the foot are unstressed. | Trisyllabic meter with emphasis on last, third syllable, | Number of stressed syllables | 1-4-7-10, etc. | 2-5-8-11, etc. | 3-6-9-12, etc. | Rhythmic pattern | -UU | -UU | | ‑U‑ | ‑ U ‑ | | -UU | ‑ UU| | In p A saved the life e new | Us e faith d And com one hundred And t one O co | Available in nap e wow yours And x secrets e data |
|---|
Poetic meter "Sponday"
Spondee - iambic foot or trochee with super-scheme stress. As a rule, in such verses the rhythm is somewhat confused, the rhythmic pattern of the verse is disrupted. As a result, a foot may have two stresses in a row, that is, two stressed syllables may appear next to each other.
Example:
Shv e d, r at ssky - stabs, chops, cuts - here is the drum “Shv” e d" is adjacent to "r" at sskim", the first syllable of which is also stressed.
Drumming, clicks, grinding,
Gr O m p at sheck, stomp, neigh, groan, -
And death and hell on all sides.
(A.S. Pushkin)
A classic example is the beginning of “Eugene Onegin” by A. Pushkin:
"M O y d I dia s A our h e luscious A pitchfork..."
Here, in the first iambic foot, the first syllable also seems stressed, as in trochee. That is, the drum “M” is adjacent O th" and "d I"Dya." This juxtaposition of two stressed syllables is a spondee.
If, when determining the size of a poem, that is, arranging verbal and rhythmic stresses, you come across a spondee, but the rest of the scheme suggests that the text is written in iambic (as, for example, in the case of “Eugene Onegin”), then iambic is the size of this fragment.
Foot- a repeated combination of strong and weak points in poetic meter, serving as a unit of verse length.Poetry is distinguished from prose by its ordered, rhythmic sound, which is achieved by repeated repetition of a selected sequence of stressed and unstressed syllables. One cycle of such repetition is called a foot. Typically, no more than 6 feet are repeated in one line of a poem. The part of the foot that is stressed is called thesis; weak, unstressed syllables in the foot are usually designated as arsises. This division, like the term “foot” itself, came from antiquity and is still used in versification today.
Poetic size- this is a certain order in which stressed and unstressed syllables are placed in a foot in poems. This order determines the sound and rhythm of the verse. A certain alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables can be repeated several times in a line, and this is also reflected in the designation of size. For example, 3-foot iambic or 4-foot trochee, where iambic and trochee are ways of alternating strong and weak syllables, and the number of feet indicates the number of repetitions of this alternation in one line.
Versification in its accented speech forms has always corresponded to three main groups or systems of versification: syllabic, syllabic-tonic and tonic. The differences in these groups are determined by the rhythmic basis and proportionality, as well as the repetition of rhythmic syllables with their specific location within the line.
METER in verse- orderly alternation in verse of strong places (ikts) and weak places, filled in different ways. Thus, in a syllabic-tonic anapest, strong places occur on every 3rd syllable and are filled exclusively with stressed syllables (the stress here is a “constant”), and weak places are on intermediate syllables and are filled primarily with unstressed syllables (unstressed here is the “dominant”). Meter in this meaning of the word is present in metric, syllabic-tonic, melodic versification and absent in syllabic and tonic.
Syllabic system of versification
From Greek Syllabe - syllable.
A system of constructing verse, which is based on equisyllabicity, i.e. - the same number of syllables in each poetic line. As a rule, this number was equal to eleven and thirteen. In the middle of the line there was a caesura - an intra-verse pause. There was almost no emotional movement in the verse, because for the most part the works were of a religious and moral orientation and had an instructive character, a striking example of which is the work of the Belarusian poet Simeon of Polotsk.
It is fitting for a monk to sit in his cell,
Pray while fasting, endure poverty,
The temptations of enemies are strong to defeat
And put to death the lusts of the flesh...
...It’s not only the laity who work in the womb,
All the monks give them water and food.
Having chosen to live a Lenten life,
I strive for this, to eat, to drink...
From the example it is clear that the main rule of syllabic verse - an equal number of syllables, even despite the usual stresses, is strictly applied. For combinations, a multi-stress rhyme is used, that is, the stress itself shifts: ve-lit - ste-lit, sa-ma - ma-ma. If you do not operate with a shift in stress, then the poem gradually becomes arithmed, turning into blank verse and then into prose.
Tonic system of verse
From Greek Tonos - tension, stress.
A system of versification in which rhythm is created by the orderly arrangement of stressed syllables among unstressed ones. Within tonic versification, a distinction is made between purely tonic versification, in which only the number of stresses in a verse is taken into account (accent verse), and syllabic-tonic, in which the location of stresses in a verse is also taken into account. In Russian terminology of the 18th century, tonic versification meant syllabic-tonic, as a system distinct from syllabic verse.
Tonic versification, born from buffoon laughter and singing, from timed ditties and folk fairy-tale poems, reinterpreted by great Russian poets, has not lost its significance today. And in the past century - the revolutionary one - pure tonic versification for a long time served with its thundering rhymes to the political conjuncture of the proletariat.
Hey!
Gentlemen!
Lovers
sacrilege,
crimes,
slaughterhouse,—
and the worst thing is
saw -
my face
When
I
absolutely calm?
V. Mayakovsky.
Syllabic-tonic system of versification
From Greek Syllabe - syllable and Greek. Tonos - tension, stress.
The merit of transforming Russian verse belongs to V.K. Trediakovsky and especially M.V. Lomonosov. Trediakovsky, back in the 30s of the 18th century, came up with poems based on principles of versification different from the syllabic system. Having studied the structure of Russian folk verse, he was the first to come to the conclusion that the tonic principle is natural for Russian versification.
What Trediakovsky started was continued, developed and brilliantly applied in his poetic practice by Lomonosov. The system of versification created by his works was later called syllabic-tonic, that is, syllable-stressed. The syllabic-tonic system is based on the uniform alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. The experience of the metric system is taken into account. The syllabic tonic is based on the principle of the structure of Russian folk verse: the commensurability of related verses in terms of the number and location of stressed syllables. The rhythmic units in syllabic-tonic verse, as in any other, are poetic lines that are correlated with each other - verses. Their commensurability with each other is determined by the repeated combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables in them. The units of measurement for these repeating combinations are feet. The division into feet in Russian syllabic-tonic verse (a foot here is a combination of a stressed syllable with adjacent unstressed ones) is to a certain extent arbitrary. The peculiarities of the Russian language do not allow us to strictly maintain this division, since the words of the Russian language are very heterogeneous both in the number of syllables and in the place of stress. Many of the words are so polysyllabic that they can contain two feet and thus require not one, but two stresses in the word. On the other hand, in live pronunciation, the stress in function words, and sometimes in pronouns, disappear, and the stress in the verse is transferred from one word to another (stress transfer from of this word the subsequent is called a proclitic, and the preceding is called an enclitic).
The essence of the syllabic-tonic system is that in a poetic line, stressed and unstressed syllables alternate according to a certain pattern and form the so-called two- and three-syllable meters. In two-syllable meters, a distinction is made between trochee - with stress on the first syllable and iambic - with stress on the second syllable. Arranging all possible stresses in a line is feasible only when the line consists of short one-, two-, and three-syllable words.
But Lomonosov already admitted that it is “difficult” to write poetry this way, because there are a lot of long words in the language, and they will not fit in a full-stressed poetic line. Therefore, the placement of stresses is not strictly observed - they should not fall on “strange” places, but they can be skipped - the rhythmic sound does not suffer from this, on the contrary, the verse sounds more varied. In this case, two unstressed syllables may appear in a row - they form a group of unstressed syllables, which is called, by analogy with ancient verse, pyrrhic. Sometimes words flow together in such a way that two stressed syllables (spondees) appear in a row. In Russian two-syllable meters, various combinations of iambic and trochaic stops with pyrrhic are especially common.
In three-syllable meters, depending on the location of the stressed syllable, they are distinguished: dactyl - with stress on the first syllable of the foot, amphibrachium - with stress on the middle syllable, and anapest - on the last, third syllable of the foot.
The sequence of such groups of stressed and unstressed syllables (stops) in a line creates the poetic meter. Theoretically, the number of feet in a poetic line can be any - from one or more, but in practice the length of the line is in two-syllable meters (trochee, iambic) from 2 to 6 feet, and in three-syllable meters (dactyl, amphibrachium, anapest) - from 2 to 4 .
So, there are five main sizes of Russian classical verse: trochee, iambic, dactyl, amphibrachium, anapest.
VERSE SIZES
Trochee
According to different versions, the name of this poetic meter comes from Greek words translated as “dancing” or “running.” Indeed, the sound of poems written using trochee is fast and sonorous. A trochee is characterized by the use of two syllables in a foot, a weak and a strong, so that the stress in a line of poetry always falls on the odd syllables. In Russian poetry, 4- and 6-foot trochees were most often used, but from the mid-19th century. they were supplanted by trochee pentameter, which is still used today.
Example diagram:
! - ! - ! - ! - ! -
! - ! - ! - ! - !
The clouds are melting in the sky,
And, radiant in the heat,
The river rolls in sparks,
Like a steel mirror.
! - ! - ! - !
! - ! - ! - ! -
! - ! - ! - !
! - ! - ! - ! -
The golden cloud spent the night
On the chest of a giant rock;
In the morning she rushed off early,
Having fun playing across the azure...
! - ! - ! - ! - ! -
! - ! - ! - ! - ! -
! - ! - ! - ! - ! -
! - ! - ! - ! - ! -
This poetic meter got its name from Yamba, a servant of the goddess Demeter. Initially, this term was used to describe satyrs who ridiculed everything vicious. They were formed by alternating weak and strong syllables so that in a line of satire the stress fell on each even syllable. This poetic meter is still used in poetry, most often feet containing two syllables, of which the second is stressed, are repeated 5 or 6 times in each line.
Example diagram:
- ! - ! - ! - ! - ! -
- ! - ! - ! - ! - !
Again I stand over the Neva,
And again, like in years past,
I look, as if alive,
To these slumbering waters
- ! - ! - ! - !
- ! - ! - ! - ! -
- ! - ! - ! - !
- ! - ! - ! - ! -
Here is a wooded hill, above which
I sat motionless and looked
To the lake, remembering with sadness
Other shores, other waves...
- ! - ! - ! - ! - ! -
- ! - ! - ! - ! - !
- ! - ! - ! - ! - ! -
- ! - ! - ! - ! - ! -
Dactyl
Dactyl is a method of alternating strong and weak syllables in a foot containing only three syllables, so that the first one is always stressed. This poetic meter came to us from ancient poetry, where strong and weak syllables were distributed in the foot in the same way, but were distinguished not by stress, but by drawn-out pronunciation. In the 18th century Russian poets preferred to use 2-foot dactyl, but later it was replaced by 3- and 4-foot dactyl. These meters are still used in Russian poetry.
Example diagram:
! - - ! - - ! - - ! -
! - - ! - - ! - - !
How good you are, O night sea, -
It's radiant here, dark gray there...
In the moonlight, as if alive,
It walks and breathes, and it shines.
! - - ! - - ! - - ! -
! - - ! - - ! - - !
! - - ! - - ! - - ! -
! - - ! - - ! - - !
Early summer dew
We'll go out into the field for a walk.
Let's be ringing braids
Cut off the succulent herbs!
! - - ! - - ! - -
! - - ! - - !
! - - ! - - ! - -
! - - ! - - !
Amphibrachium
The principle of organizing strong and weak syllables in this meter is revealed already in its name. The word “amphibrachy” (Greek amphibrachys) is translated as “short on both sides.” When using this meter, three syllables are formed in a foot, and the accent is placed on the one in the center of this group. The most common are the 4- and 3-foot amphibrachs, although it cannot be said that this poetic meter is often used in Russian poetry.
Example diagram:
- ! - - ! - - ! - - !
- ! - - ! - - ! -
In the sandy steppes of Arabian land
Three proud palm trees grew high
- ! - - ! - - ! - - !
- ! - - ! - - ! - - !
There are women in Russian villages
With calm importance of faces,
With beautiful strength in movements,
With the gait, with the look of queens.
- ! - - ! - - ! -
- ! - - ! - - !
- ! - - ! - - ! -
- ! - - ! - - !
Anapaest
Anapest is translated from Greek language as “reflected back” or “having the opposite meaning” according to some sources. This poetic meter is the opposite of dactyl. The term of a poem written in anapest is formed from 3-syllable feet, the stress of which is placed on the last syllable. Quite often, when writing a poem using an anapest, an additional stress is placed on the first syllable of the line, making it sound more vivid. In Russian poetry, the most common 3- and 4-foot anapest.
Example diagram:
- - ! - - ! - - ! -
- - ! - - ! - - !
Sounded over the clear river,
It rang in a darkened meadow,
Rolled over the silent grove,
It lit up on the other side.
- - ! - - ! - - ! -
- - ! - - ! - - !
- - ! - - ! - - ! -
- - ! - - ! - - !
The cold night looks dim
Under the matting of my wagon,
The field creaks under the runners,
Under the arc the bell rings,
And the coachman is driving the horses.
- - ! - - ! - - !
- - ! - - ! - - !
- - ! - - ! - - !
- - ! - - ! - - !
- - ! - - ! - - !
RHYME
Rhyme is the sequential use of syllables that have a similar sound at the end of lines of a poem. At its core, rhyme is strong expressive means, with the help of which the emphasis is placed on the rhythmic pattern of the verse. This term is of Greek origin. In the poetry of different peoples, different requirements were placed on the use of rhyme; for example, in France, rhymed line endings had to have not only a similar sound, but also a similar spelling. In Russian poetry, the use of rhyme is characterized by the use of words that have consonant stressed syllables. This is often achieved by using the same parts of speech (noun, adjective, verb, etc.) in the same grammatical form at the end of rhyming lines.
Masculine rhyme
Masculine rhyme is the use at the end of a line of a poem of words in which the stress falls on the last syllables that have a similar sound.
Example:
I'm tired of the beard.
I take her back and forth -
I still can’t tear it away
Neither in the evening, nor in the morning.
Feminine rhyme
Feminine rhyme is the use of syllables or words at the end of a poetic line in such a way that they have a similar sound, and the last stress in the line falls on its penultimate syllable.
Dactylic rhyme
When using dactylic rhyme, two syllables are left at the end of the lines of the poem, free from stress. The sound of the verse in this case turns out to be quite soft and melodious, but in Russian classical poetry this method of rhyming is not used very often.
Example:
It was in the evening.
There was nothing to do.
Hyperdactylic rhyme
Hyperdactylic rhyme is characterized by stress placed only on the fourth syllable from the end of the line. It is quite difficult to use such a rhyme, and most often it was found in oral folklore, where the requirements for the size and rhythm of the verse were rather lenient. As a result of the use of hyperdactylic rhyme, the poem sounds perky, lively, and often has a characteristic “ragged” rhythm.
Example:
The wind combs your head
It’s like he’s cutting a peg.
Exact and imprecise rhymes
Rhymes are distinguished not only by which syllable from the end of the line is stressed, but also by the degree of consonance between the endings of the lines. Most often, exact and imprecise rhymes are distinguished. When using precise rhyme, not only the stressed sounds at the end of lines are consonant, but also the syllables located behind them. Imprecise rhyme is characterized by differences in the sound of consonants in unstressed syllables located at the end of lines.
In addition, some classifications mention rich and homonymous rhymes. Rich rhyme is the use of consonant syllables at the end of lines of a poem, not only after the last stressed sounds, but also before them. The use of homonymous rhyme, in essence, comes down to placing homonyms (words that have different meanings, but the same sound) at the end of lines.
Thus, how successful a rhyme will be is determined not only by the use of vowels that have the same sound, but also by the correct selection of consonants, which, giving similar sounds, will give the endings of the lines even more similarity. The more similar sounds, arranged in a certain order, are used at the end of lines, the more accurate the rhyme itself will ultimately be.
Rhyme systems
The rhyme system refers to the sequence in which lines whose endings have a similar sound are arranged in a poem. The use of only one such sequence in a poem is not strictly necessary. By using various alternations of rhymed lines, the author can achieve an original, non-standard sound of the entire poem.
The most common is adjacent system rhyming, when paired lines are arranged sequentially, one after another, that is, the author first “closes” one rhyme and only then moves on to the next. Poems written using adjacent rhymes are characterized by a fast pace and high dynamics.
Many authors choose cross rhyme. In this case, consonant lines are arranged “one after another,” that is, two rhymes are introduced at once. Cross rhyme is not considered a complex way of organizing paired lines in a poem; moreover, by using it, it is easier for authors to convey the desired emotional mood and it is easier to choose a rhythmic pattern.
I love the storm in early May,
When the first thunder of spring
As if frolicking and playing,
Rumbling in the blue sky.
The girded, enveloping or ring rhyme scheme is quite well known, but it is used much less frequently compared to adjacent and cross rhymes. Pairs of rhymed lines in this case are arranged in such a way that the first of them is, as it were, “broken”, one of its lines opens, and the other closes the quatrain. The second pair is placed between them and remains indivisible. This rhyme system is quite complex, but its use gives special expressiveness to the verse.
I looked, standing over the Neva,
Like Isaac the Giant
In the darkness of the frosty fog
The golden dome glowed.
More complex circuits rhymes are usually referred to by the general term "woven rhyme". This definition includes poems where, in groups, rhymed pairs are used not two, but three times, or where not two, but three or more rhymes are used. Intertwined rhymes are quite difficult to use, but they allow you to create poems that sound unusual. However, before you start experimenting with similar rhyming systems, it is worth mastering more simple ways alternating lines with consonant endings.
Far from the sun and nature,
Far from light and art,
Far from life and love
Your younger years will flash by
Living feelings die
Your dreams will be shattered.
Stanzas
The word "stanza" is literally translated from Greek as "turnover" or "circulation." By and large, the translation quite accurately reveals the essence of this term, because a stanza is nothing more than a combination of lines in a poem where the cycles of rhyme, meter and rhythm are completed. From a syntax point of view, most often a stanza is a complete unit or group of units (sentences). The lines in the stanza are united not only in meaning, but also in their structure, which is repeated throughout the entire verse.
The most common types of stanzas in classical poetry of the past were: quatrains, octaves, terzas.
Quatrain (quatrain) is the most common type of stanza, familiar to everyone from early childhood. Popular due to the abundance of rhyming systems.
An octave is an eight-line stanza in which the first verse rhymes with the third and fifth, the second verse with the fourth and sixth, and the seventh verse with the eighth.
Octave scheme: abababvv
At six years old he was a very cute child
And even, as a child, he played pranks;
At twelve he looked sad
And although he was good, he was somehow frail.
Inessa said proudly,
That the method changed his nature:
A young philosopher, despite his years,
He was quiet and modest, as if by nature.
I must confess to you that I am still inclined
Don't trust Inessa's theories.
Her husband and I were friends;
I know, very complex excesses
An unsuccessful family is born
When the father is a rake in character,
And mommy is a prude. Not without reason
The son's inclinations take after his father!
Tertsins (tercets) are three-line stanzas with a very original way of rhyming. In them, the first verse of the first stanza rhymes with the third, the second verse of the first stanza with the first and third of the second stanza, the second verse of the second stanza with the first and third of the third stanza, etc. The terzas ended with an additional verse that rhymed with the second verse of the last tercet.
Terza circuit:
aba
bvb
VGV
gdg
grandfather
etc.
Black magician
When the darkness thickens around
You're like a slave to destiny
You will draw an even circle with blood,
Cast aside your petty doubts.
You will enter it, forgetting about fear.
The darkness of the current will catch you.
Throw away the body - mortal dust.
You are with those who stepped into the darkness!
The lights in the eyes went out.
Where is your spirit, isn’t it in hell?
(Ganger Scouger Alkaryote)
CLASSICAL TECHNIQUE OF VERSE
The classical technique is the basic one, that is, it constitutes the “skeleton” of the poem. Quite a few requirements for the meter and rhythm of a poem when using classical techniques can be found in the relevant textbooks. However, they all boil down to three simple rules.
The first is that in one stanza all lines must have metric counterparts. That is, a line written with a certain alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables must necessarily correspond to another line that has the same rhythmic pattern within the same stanza. Such lines can be combined in pairs or triplets; in principle, their number in a stanza can be any, one thing is important - you cannot leave single lines in a poem.
If it is not possible to hit the meter accurately, and this situation often happens, its violation can be compensated by using the same number of stresses or syllables in lines that combine with each other. If it is not possible to maintain meter in a certain part of the poem, this can be disguised by the increased use of decorative techniques. Otherwise, the poem will be difficult to understand, and its meaning will be almost impossible to understand.
Sometimes, when using classical techniques, some deviation from the rules is even welcome. So, a broken meter in the last line of a poem will give it more expressiveness and help attract the reader’s attention. When working with classical technique, it is important for the author to remember that poetry is far from an exact “science”, and an appropriate deviation from its rules can become one of the most powerful trump cards of a particular poem. It’s just important not to get carried away with such digressions.
Working with rhymes
Most poems are written using rhymes. Refusal of them is acceptable, but in this case the author must work with syllables and letters, otherwise the poetic work cannot be classified as poetry.
Using rhymes requires special skill. It should not be reduced to a simple selection of words that have consonant endings; at least the entire previous line should prepare the reader for the appearance of one or another rhyme. At the same time, the consonance must be stable and it must be achieved in an original way.
A rhyme, the appearance of which is easy to predict, does not make an impression on the reader, and the entire verse suffers from this. Simple or common rhymes can be used by the author, but in this case the phonetics of the poem must be worked out, giving them an additional flavor.
Some of the most powerful consonances are rhymes formed at the endings of different parts of speech. However, finding a stable consonance in this case can be difficult. If this fails, a weak consonance at the end of a line can be strengthened by the corresponding phoneme located at the beginning of the next line. Similar techniques are also used if the rhyming word contains a sound that violates the phonetic pattern of the verse. In this case, a phoneme is used in the previous or subsequent word that can soften this effect.
Selection of stable and at the same time non-trivial consonances is a very labor-intensive task. It is almost impossible to compile a manual for its implementation, and the real skill of composing rhymes comes to the author only with experience.
Working with letters and syllables
Working with letters and syllables is a decorative technique, and how correctly it is applied determines not only the sound of the poem, but sets its tone and determines its mood. Carrying out this work can be compared to putting things in order in the phonic component of a poem; it is mandatory even if the author refuses to rhyme. Otherwise, the resulting text cannot be classified as poetry.
Despite the fact that the technique involves selecting both letters and syllables, working with syllables, as a rule, is not necessary if working with letters is done correctly. It can be divided into two parts - working with vowels and working with consonants. In this technique, vowels create the main pattern of the verse, depending on whether it is stressed or unstressed, they determine its rhythm, while consonants are responsible for expressiveness and brightness.
However, when working with letters, it is important to remember that even one incorrectly chosen consonant or vowel can disrupt the harmony of the verse, break everything painstakingly built by the author. Stressed vowels with their sound set the main mood of the verse, unstressed vowels set them off, emphasizing the impression created. However, a verse can be based on several vowel sounds at once; the main thing is not to make a mistake when combining them. The same can be said about consonants. When correctly placed in a verse, consonant sounds can emphasize the sound of vowels. Consonants give the verse additional shades, greatly enhancing the influence of vowel sounds.
The emotional connotation that the use of one or another consonant sound will give to a verse is easy to determine. To do this, you need to choose several words starting with the letter that represents this sound. Most likely they will have some common feature, by highlighting which it will not be difficult to determine what impact the consonant will have on the verse.
Modern principles of versification were formed as a result of the language reform of M.V. Lomonosov, have not changed since then.
Basic concepts of the versification system
The main difference between poetic speech and poetic speech is the rhythmic organization, i.e. a repeating rhythmic pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables.
Poem
Analysis of the structure of a verse, determination of its rhythmic pattern by the number of syllables, grouped according to the principle of stress.
Rhythm of the verse
Subject to three main schemes:
- Tonic - tonic - pattern is determined by stressed syllables. Their number in each line is the same, and unstressed syllables are not taken into account.
- Syllabic - syllabic - takes into account only the total number of syllables, without dividing into stressed and unstressed.
- Syllabic-tonic - syllabic-tonic - the rhythmic pattern of a verse is determined by the number of syllables and the combination of stressed/unstressed at the same time.
The latter system is more typical for Russian versification. But it is not uncommon to use tonic designs, for example, dolnik:
Dolnik- (from Russian share, part) - one of the types of creative versification: a three-syllable meter with the omission of one or two unstressed syllables within the line.
True tenderness cannot be confused - - / - - / - - / - -
With nothing, and she is quiet - / - - / - /
You are in vain carefully wrapping - - / - / - - / - -
My shoulders and chest are covered in fur - / - - / - /
Accent verse also a type of tonic: each line has an equal number of stressed and a free number of unstressed syllables.
Stanza
A group of verses (lines), united by rhythm and rhyme, forming a single whole. The pattern by which a stanza in a poem is constructed (rhythm + rhyme) is repeated throughout the entire poetic work.
Types of stanzas in lyrics
Tercet: tercep, iteration
The middle line rhymes with the outer lines of the next stanza: aba bcb cdc, etc.
Earthly life having gone halfway,
I found myself in a dark forest,
Having lost the right path in the darkness of the valley.
(Dante A. “The Divine Comedy”)
Quatrain: quatrain, stanzas
Four verses of iambic tetrameter with cross rhymes with obligatory strophic closure
In the hope of glory and goodness
I look forward without fear:
The beginning of the glorious days of Peter
There were riots and executions.
(Pushkin A.S. “Stanzas”)
Five verses
Wise people gathered
Around Gostomyslova's bed.
Death flies over him like a kite!
But, waving his weak hand,
He gives a speech to his friends...
(Lermontov M.Yu. “The Last Son of Liberty”)
Sixth lines: sextina
A stanza consisting of a quatrain and a couplet with different system rhyme
What a night! How clean the air is
Like a silver leaf slumbering,
Like the shadow of the coastal willows,
How serenely the bay sleeps,
How the wave will not breathe anywhere,
How the chest is filled with silence!
(Fet A.A. “What a night! How clean the air...")
Seventh line: septima
Typically iambic with the rhyme arrangement aabcccb.
“Tell me, uncle, it’s not for nothing
Moscow, burned by fire,
Given to the Frenchman?
After all, there were battles,
Yes, they say, even more!
No wonder all of Russia remembers
About Borodin Day!
(Lermontov M.Yu. “Borodino”)
There are fixed stanzas that are characteristic of a particular poetic genre. To violate the structure of such a stanza means to destroy genre principles. Such fixed stanzas include sonnets, haiku and other forms.
Poetic forms in which the volume and strophic structure of the poem are determined by tradition
Rhyme
Consonant (rhymed) line ends. The optionality of rhyme with the obligatory rhythm of the verse explains the existence of poetic works that stand out among ordinary poems:
- Free verse is a synthesis of prose and verse: division into lines, the last word of which is necessarily emphasized - from poetry, and the absence of clear rhythm and rhyme - from prose.
- Blank verse is the subordination of speech to the laws of poetic rhythm, but the free ending of lines that do not rhyme with each other.
- Female: by grief - by sea
- Men's: garden - ice
- Hyperdactylic: Hate is a frank message
- Dactylic: deep - oneOkaya
Free verse / Blank verse / Free verse (metered, no rhyme)
This means that poetry is distinguished from prose by rhythm, not rhyme.
Foot
A building unit of a poetic line, formed by grouped unstressed syllables around one stressed syllable. Each poetic line is divided into a rhythmic unit - a foot - according to the number of stresses. The number of stresses is equal to the number of stops in the line.
Poetic size
The scheme by which a poetic line is constructed. Sizes are distinguished by the number of syllables in one foot and the number of feet in a line. If the number of feet in a verse is not regulated, then the number of syllables, stressed/unstressed, combined into a foot is the main criterion for determining the poetic size. For convenience, we denote the stressed syllable as U, and the unstressed syllable as b.
All meter schemes are divided into two- and three-syllable (according to the number of syllables):
Disyllabic - there are only 2 syllables in a foot - trochee and iambic, the first has stress on the first syllable, the second - on the second. That is, the trochaic scheme is Ub/, and the iambic is bU/.
The first example from the table is T E rivers in ABOUT e, d AND k and evil ABOUT ben – Ub/Ub/Ub/Ub is a tetrameter trochee, since there are 4 feet in the line. Second example – On a visit AND Noah built E cha n ABOUT exit AND ts – BU/BU/BU/BU – iambic tetrameter.
There are three three-syllable sizes:
- dactyl – Ubb (Kt ABOUT no matter what A l – don’t want U – Ubb/Ubb/U);
- amphibrachium – bUB/ (obx ABOUT dit vlad E Nya svo AND – bUb/bUB/bU);
- anapest – bbU/ (one ABOUT wow AND I'm not nice A – bbU/bbU/bbU).
A way to distinguish and remember poetic meters from the literary critic A. Ilyushin:
- Trochee: VA nya- VA n- VA n- VA n
- Iambic: And inAn-AND inAn-AND inAn-AND inAn
- Dactyl: VA nechka- VA nechka- VA nechka- VA nechka
- Amphibrachium: Va nude sha-wa nude sha-wa nude sha-wa nude sha
- Anapest: Io Ann-And about Ann-And about Ann-And about Ann
It is enough to chant a line of poetry, like a football chant, and compare which version the verse fits into.
