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Unread 08-25-2005, 07:23 AM
Mark Granier Mark Granier is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Ireland
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The Listeners' is tricky business, but it's ballad stanza as far as I'm concerned. That or chaos, and I don't buy chaos for this poem.
The ballad stanza, to my knowledge, is A4 B3 C4 B3, which would disqualify The Listeners, both in terms of rhyme and meter, though its meter certainly has echoes of the 3/4 contrast. But the first lines, to my ear, read A3 B3 C4 B3.

The subject matter, on the other hand, is perfectly suitable, though the atmosphere is more Gothic than a traditional ballad (in my experience anyway).

But I fail to see why metrical irregularities in The Listeners should mean it is in any way chaotic. On the contrary, I would suggest such unevenness is deliberate, part of the mysterious texture of the poem, part of the spell of its unique, dreamy atmosphere. The strangely archaic or odd words (champed, smote, 'neath etc.) also contribute to this.

Incidentally, there's a lovely bit of rhyming magic/mimesis in the final word, where the vowel-sound shifts/gallops from long (stone) to short (gone).


[This message has been edited by Mark Granier (edited August 25, 2005).]
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