Hello everyone,
I think that one thing that is getting lost in this discussion is the function of phrasing in accentual meter. It is not that there has to be only two stressed syllables in a line, but that there has to be one highest peak in each phrase. This is how Larkin does it, and I think this is why his poem works better. If I am correct, the lines that break the rule against three unpromoted syllables in a row break easily in two. While the lines that won’t break easily in two don’t break the rule. So even if you read: "THERE is an AIR of GREAT FRIENDliness." The line still breaks into two parts with two highest peaks on "air" and "friend." The line itself takes on an expansive and overall ascending feel, with a two-syllable release after “friend.” The line is a perfect sound-picture of Larkin’s meaning. It is expansive and down to earth. If it didn’t match his meaning so well it wouldn’t work. The point is, and Dana Gioia makes this point in an essay on his website, that accentual meters work best when the author tries to avoid metrical ambiguity, or when the author writes accentuals that flow naturally in speech. I think that that is why accentual meters usually break into groups of two.
On the other hand I kind of like what de le Mare has done:
Stood thronging /the faint moonbeams /on the dark stair,
So you could say this line with six stresses: stood, throng, faint, moon, dark, and stair. But it still can break into three parts with one peak each on throng, moon, and dark even with those other stresses. I actually like de la Mare’s pattern a lot. It’s kind of sublime in it’s ambitions. But I don’t think he establishes his pattern as clearly as Larkin.
Am I not right?
Scott.
p.s.
To borrow some lines from AE: (The divisions are mine)
LEG-of-mutton / SLEEVES
some CAper / a few STEPS
and of great SADness / ALso
(in this line the also is an addendum, not as essential to the meaning of the phrase and so it break easily there)
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
The strenth of accentual-syllabics is that it gives more of a driving sense to each word. In accentual meters the rythm moves more in phrases. I don't think it works to only stress the highest points with, but rather to read naturally dividing the motion of the sounds into groups around the highest stresses. If the accents don't flow somewhat naturally, then the accentual meter isn't very valid. You win or lose the reader based on how normative you can make the pattern for him/her without being boring.
Here is Gioia's website. He doesn't mention phrasing. But he does mention metrical ambiguity:
http://www.danagioia.net/essays/eaccentual.htm After you read this, go back and read Micheal Juster's poem again. It's quite beautiful.
Scott.