For hours the convoys had rolled by
Svein, now that I've said it 50 times, I find that I can give a little emphasis to "had" without any awkwardness, but in the beginning I couldn't say it that way. The problem with the line is that, on first reading, I expected "rolled" to take a stress, so I suppressed "had"; but then I saw that "by" followed "rolled", so I suppressed "rolled" also, resulting in 3 syllables in a row with no emphasis. I just don't think this is a well-written line, not if the author was writing in meter. In an accentual poem, it would be acceptable.
However, my natural inclination is still to say it like this:
for HOURS / the CON /voys [slight pause] / had rolled BY
as if the pause were substituting for a syllable.
[This message has been edited by Caleb Murdock (edited September 20, 2001).]
|