Timothy, thank you for your response -- I am glad that I am not the only one who likes the poem!
Despite the accent marks and your explanation, I find myself reading some lines with 3 beats and some with 5, but frankly that doesn't matter to me.
A follow-up question, if I may: has "sprung rhythm" become a recognized category of meter, or is that simply another way of saying "accentual meter"? Or should we use that term only to describe Hopkins's verse? If it is an actual category, how would you define sprung rhythm?
Tim, what a delightful story!
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