Hi Mark,
I think the Larkin is a good example of accentual dimeter. In accentual-syllabic meter there is a "rule" (plausibly based on practice) against having 3 unaccented syllables in a row -- one assumes the middle syllable will always be "promoted" to some extent. But here line 13 is clearly dimeter in context & so violates that rule; as perhaps do other lines in the poem:
LEG-of-mutton SLEEVES
some CAper a few STEPS
and of great SADness ALso
as if the NAME meant ONCE
I think in all 4 of these lines one is initially inclined to force the rhythm into a "legal" accentual-syllabic pattern:
leg-of-MUTon SLEEVES
some CAper a FEW steps
and of GREAT sadness ALso
as IF the name MEANT once
Nothing disprovable about these scansions, but I think the feeling of the lines comes across better the other way.
Anyway, a wonderful poem, wonderfully written.
The De La Mare, on the other hand, does seem metrically screwy to me. I have no problem with the trimeter short lines, but the long lines are hard to keep in a tetrameter rhythm. The very first line seems trimeter to me, for example. I guess I can see:
and he SMOTE upon the DOOR again a SEcond TIME
stood THRONGing the faint MOONbeams on the DARK STAIR
but it's too much of a stretch to come up with such readings in the flow of the poem. I see Henry has suggested on the other thread, "I suspect that the meter is more troublesome to some American ears." Yeah, that must be it...
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