Henry, I promise you I have no "theory to defend", only my immediate feeling of how to read these things. I do believe the whole thing works better in 3s, which is not so much a theory as it is the product of my experience - and I think that the poet wrote it that way. I am not saying it doesn't or can't happen that a poet like this slips in a few tet or pent lines, but I would feel uncomfortable doing it in one of my tri poems. It feels a bit cheaty, somehow. I know that this will sound "hide-bound" to some, but I believe that the challenge for the writer (and the reader) is to stick with a set meter, and not just throw in an odd, asymmetic, longer line. As I say, I am sure this has been done, and maybe often done (that is, asymmetrical het-met), but I don't care for it myself, and I have a strong feeling de la Mare agrees. I think it is inelegant. It looks sloppy. It looks like the poet took an easy way out. Others will see it differently, as the expression of a greater freedom. Maybe they are right. Maybe I am just an old-fashioned fart. But to me this poem is consistent accentual trimeter. And if it had been my poem, I would have kept it all in tri, with no random variations.
Many, with some cause will read the line you quote like this:
While his HORSE moved, CROPping the dark TURF,
But (get ready to abandon me Henry - but hear me out first, please) I am not altogether averse to "DARK turf", which fits the established pattern of feminine endings - there are around a dozen orthodox ones in the poem like "stirrup" and "backward" etc., and the other virtual feminine ended pairs like "grey eyes" (although I grant that you could use this last bit as evidence of petitio principii in my argument). I think you could go with either of these. And, for the same reason, "STILL house" might be preferable.
and
TELL them I CAME, and no one ANswered
That is how you would expect to hear that said in normal speech, I would say.
Henry, before you give up on me forever, can you please allow me one more indulgence?
Can you please give this reading of the poem one try - without prejudice - just read it purely on the basis of what I have capitalised as the beat. And if you still feel that it doesn't work, then fair enough.
'Is there ANYbody THERE?' said the TRAVeller,
KNOCKing on the MOONlit DOOR;
And his HORSE in the SIlence champed the GRASSes
Of the FORest's FERny FLOOR:
And a BIRD flew up OUT of the TURRet,
AbOVE the TRAVeller's HEAD
And he SMOTE upon the DOOR again a SECond time;
'Is there ANYbody THERE?' he SAID.
But NO one desCENded to the TRAVeller;
No HEAD from the LEAF-fringed SILL
Leaned OVer and LOOKED into his GREY eyes,
Where he STOOD perPLEXed and STILL.
But only a HOST of PHANtom LISTeners
That DWELT in the LONE house THEN
Stood LISTening in the QUIet of the MOONlight
To that VOICE from the WORLD of MEN:
Stood THRONGing the faint MOONbeams on the DARK stair,
That goes DOWN to the EMpty HALL,
HEARKening in an AIR stirred and SHAKen
By the LOnely TRAVeller's CALL.
And he FELT in his HEART their STRANGEness,
Their STILLness ANswering his CRY,
While his HORSE moved, CROPPing the DARK turf,
'Neath the STARRed and LEAfy SKY;
For he SUDDenly SMOTE on the DOOR, even
LOUDer, and LIFTed his HEAD:-
'TELL them I CAME, and no one ANSwered,
That I KEPT my WORD' he SAID.
NEVer the least STIR made the LISTeners,
Though EVery WORD he SPAKE
Fell ECHoing through the SHADowiness of the STILL house
From the ONE man LEFT aWAKE:
Ay, they HEARD his FOOT upon the STIRRup,
And the SOUND of IRon on STONE,
And how the SILence surged SOFtly BACKward,
When the PLUNGing HOOFS were GONE.
===============
[This message has been edited by Mark Allinson (edited August 21, 2005).]
|