Anlisis del Discurso

Prosodic Analysis

In the beginning was the sound

Poetry places greater emphasis on sound: even the feel of the words is important.
Ideally a poem should be read aloud.
This way we can discover where the emphasis or stresses should lie and hopefully
discover the relation between sense and sound.
The appearance of the poem on the page is important. This is how we first recognise it
is a poem.
The grouping of the lines of a poem into stanzas indicate the structure of a poem.
The way lines and stanzas are laid out on the page helps us to recognise metre and
rhyme.
Line endings indicate a specific point in the rhythmical development of a poem.
Rhyme at the end of a line emphasises this.
The first step is to count the number of syllables in a line; then count the stresses.
It is often possible to recognise patterns which depend on the repetition of combinations
of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Versification is a formal aspect of the text.

It provides a framework for the poem; a given form into which the poet pours a
particular content.
This means that content is adapted to the form. Rhythm and rhyme can be considered
as the predispositions of the text.

Rhythm refers to recognisable combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables

which are regular in conventional poetry.
The analysis of the rhythm or metre of traditional poetry is called scansion and
measures cadences (measured time) by considering the rhythmical alternation of
stressed and unstressed syllables.
There are conventional patterns which determine the way in which we read the poem.
At times the rhythm of a poem will vary depending on whether we read for sense or
read for sound but we should remember that traditional poetry tries to follow a regular
metre.
There is usually stress on open-class words like nouns, verbs and adjectives.
Closed-class words like articles, pronouns and auxiliary verbs are unstressed.
In English, the simplest form is the combination of monosyllabic words and the most
common is that of a closed-class word followed by an open class word: e.g. an article
followed by a noun or an auxiliary followed by a verb. Hence, the most frequent is the
combination of an unstressed syllable (marked x) followed by a stressed syllable
(marked /): x / .

In English, rhythm or metre is based on sequences divided into segments usually

composed of 1 stressed syllable accompanied by 1 or 2 unstressed syllables in varying
combinations (although there are exceptions).
These segments are called feet.
The most common foot, as indicated earlier, is the iamb or iambic foot: x /
Other common metres in traditional poetry are
The trochee (trochaic foot): / x
Anapaest (anapaestic foot): x x /
Dactyl (dactylic foot): / x x

Other feet, sometimes called auxiliary feet are

Spondee (spondaic foot): / / (2 stressed syllables); sometimes for added emphasis
Pyrrhic or weak foot : x x (2 unstressed syllables)

Less common are

Amphimacer: / x /
Amphibrachy: x / x

Rhythm (like the rhyme scheme) is a predetermined pattern in a text.

It creates expectations and we anticipate what comes next.
It also places words and phrases in relation to each other. There may also be some
semantic relation (similarity, difference or opposition).
Stress often coincides with rhyme and other sound effects, like alliteration.
Stress also indicates emphasis and may coincide with strong words which carry
significance or have particular connotations.
Metre in most English verse is based on the repetition of the same metrical foot.
Look for variations as changes may be significant as they may coincide with a change
in mood or the attitude of the speaker, a change in the direction of the argument, or
some other thematically significant change.

We usually describe whole poems in terms of the dominant foot.

Rhythm patterns are recognised first by counting the number of syllables in each line,
then counting the number of stressed syllables.
It should then be possible to recognise a repeated pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables which can be described in terms of the feet we have mentioned.
If a line has an incomplete foot (a syllable is missing), it is called a catalectic foot.
If there is an additional syllable, it is called an extrametric or hypermetric foot.

Metre is influenced also by other variations like the elision of a syllable sometimes
marked by an apostrophe (neer; eer) or by the dominant metre of the poem; or an
additional syllable often in the past tense of a word: -d.
The pronunciation of diphthongs as 1 or 2 syllables is usually decided by the
predominant rhythm.
We call rhythm regular if there are the same number of syllables, stresses and feet in
each line.
If not, the rhythm is irregular.

To describe metre once we have counted the number of syllables and stresses in each
line and recognised the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables we state the
dominant foot and the number of feet in each line: the number of feet and its nature
determines the metre:

2 feet in a line: dimeter

3 feet: trimeter
4 feet: tetrameter
5 feet: pentameter
6 feet: hexameter,m and so on.
Hence we can speak of iambic pentameter, trochaic tetrameter, etc.

These rhythmical sequences are often complete syntactic structures (sentences, clauses)
which coincide with the end of a line: these are called end-stopped lines.
However, there may also be run-on lines (the syntactic structure continues into the next
line which is called enjambment and is thought to often indicate heightened emotions.

Since the 19th century, poetry tends to be written in a much looser metre.
There is often a stress accent metre which is dependent on natural sense stresses.
Here the number of syllables in a line may vary, but the number of stresses is the same.
Some poetry places the emphasis on pauses (caesura) where poetry is considered as a
movement in space rather than as a series of beats.
This kind of poetry (which may be combined with stress accent rhythm) often provides
a sense of balance between half lines.
Or balance is suggested by repeating the same number of pauses in each line
regardless of the syllables.
Stress patterns may vary depending on the reader but remember that the repetition of a
regular pattern is the basis of verse and we should look for one.

Rhyme Patterns.
The most common rhyme is masculine or single rhyme, where the rhyme coincides
with the final syllable in a line: fought, caught, Arbuthnot.
Less common is feminine rhyme with 2 or more rhyming syllables at the end of a line:
Beautiful, dutiful.

There is also Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter and

Free Verse where length of line, stresses and rhythm vary and there is an absence of
rhyme.
Internal rhyme appears when words within different lines of a poem rhyme with each
other, often at the end of the half-line or hemistich.

We indicate the rhyme scheme by labelling the lines which rhyme with each other with
a letter.
Rhyme in more than two consecutive lines is rare but is sometimes appears in 3 and
even more lines.

The most common rhyme is open or alternate rhyme: ABAB CDCD EFEF, etc.
There is also consecutive rhyme also known as rhyming couplets: AA BB CC, etc.
Enclosed or envelope rhyme: ABBA ABBA

Rhyme and rhythm are associated with mood: musical rhythms like the dactyl are
associated with a light or happy mood; the iambic pentameter is often associated with
seriousness and formality; trochaic rhythm appears often in nursery rhymes and is
thought less serious, but any comments on the relation between rhythm and mood are
dependent on the specific context.

Stanza Forms.
Stanza forms are named in terms of the number of lines in each stanza.
2 lines: couplet
3 lines: triplet or tercet
4 lines: quatrain
5 lines: quintet
6 lines: sextet
8 lines: octave.

Some common stanza forms are the following:

The English/Shakespearean sonnet: 14 lines considered as octave and sestet, in which

the octave is maid up of 2 quatrains and the sestet by a further quatrain and a final
rhyming couplet; rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet: octave plus sestet; 2 quatrains and 2 tercets; rhyme
scheme: ABBA ABBA + CDE CDE or CDC DCD or CDC DDC or CDC edc
The Spencerian sonnet (notice the enchained rhyme): ABAB BCBC CDCD EE
The metre is usually iambic pentameter.
This stanza form indicates a clear development which can be described in a number of
ways: introduction or statement of the theme, variation and recapitulation; Thematic set-
up, variation and release; Presentation of an idea, the volta or turn and conclusion;
thesis, antithesis, synthesis. The final couplet or tercet usually indicates a kind of
resolution sometimes involving the reconciliation of opposites, etc.

Villanelle: 5 tercets and a quatrain; the first and last line of each tercet rhyme and are
these lines are repeated alternately in the final line of each tercet and form a final
rhyming couplet together in the final quatrain. All the second lines rhyme.

Ottava Rima: 6 lines of alternate rhyme plus a couplet.

Terza Rima: 3 line stanzas of enchained rhyme: ABA BCB CDC DED EFE, etc.
Burns Stanza: AAABAB (A-4 feet; B-2 feet).
Rhyme Royal: 7 lines of 10 syllables, usually iambic pentameter: ABABBCC
Ballad: Quatrains of alternating 4 and 3 foot lines rhyming ABCB.
And so on

Stanzas are like paragraphs and the content or mood may vary from one stanza to
another.
It is also possible to relate development in a poem to the division into stanzas.
Rhythm and rhyme are both part of intratextual relations and we should consider the
relation that exists among stanzas.
The rhyme and rhythm patterns create particular expectations and allow us to
anticipate what will come next.
Variations or the fulfilment or disappointment of those expectations may have a
thematically significant effect and coincide with changes in mood, direction, content,
etc.
Consider the onomatopoeic quality of the sounds and the relation they have with
mood, the referential context, etc.
Remember the relation between sense and sound.

Sound effects.
Euphony refers to a harmonious combination of sounds mainly, but not exclusively,
vowel harmony.
In poetry it is usually achieved by appropriate alliteration and assonance and achieves
the effect of soft, flowing, aesthetically pleasing sounds.
Assonance is the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds, even related vowel
sounds (open/closed; long/short).
Alliteration is the repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds
Sibilance is the repetition of /s/, /z/ sounds.
Continuation has the sound at the end of one word beginning the next one.
Alliteration often coincides with stresses and is often an indicator of emphasis.
Alliteration and assonance create (intratextual) relations among words which may
have thematic significance (similarity, difference, opposition and so on).
Consider the onomatopoeic quality of sounds and their relation to content.
Sound effects are usually associated with modulation or mood; indicate this.
Cacophony is the effect of harsh, discordant sounds.
It occurs with hard or guttural sounds or combinations which are difficult to articulate.