[Carolyn Moore]

It’s been a few years since I was active online with other poets. I really miss the online discussions on scansion—especially on the differences in our scanning “ears.” One British poet chided North Americans for how we over-promoted stressed syllables. After a while, we also noticed how East Coast poets (those with cultural roots in the East Coast, N.A.—not those who transplanted from elsewhere) promoted syllables (from unstressed to stress) less than did West Coast North Americans. This was not a scientific study, and it certainly involved an inadequate sample (20-30 of us, about equally split on either side of the pond).

These differences were most apparent when we agreed to scan a given poem (usually a famous one) and compare our individual results. Fisticuffs of the best sort ensued! We simply did not all hear the stresses of key words in the same way, though we usually found allies among those sharing our regional roots. For example, if the word “tedium” appeared early in a line of iambic pentameter, Yanks tended to hear TE-di-UM while Brits tended to hear “TE-di-um.” This wasn’t a hard and fast rule. For instance, if that word ended a line of pentameter, most people fell into the rhythm and, through expectation and anticipation, promoted that last syllable (-um) to a stress, regardless of their geographical origins.

I remember another distinction: compound words (e.g., “threshold,” “childhood,” “mailbox”). The further west of the English Channel you were born and raised, the more likely you were to hear both syllables stressed. I’ve barely touched on the context in which a word appears, an essential factor in scansion. One obvious matter of context: the English-speaking ear (now there’s an oxymoron for you!) is supposed to abhor the “vacuum” of three unstressed syllables in a row. Thus, one of those three syllables gets promoted. Most often this is the middle syllable, even if it is a pipsqueak definite or indefinite article. (Note that I am sketching a trend, not campaigning for a rule in promotion.)

Unhappily, I have lost track of other distinctions we found in the scanning ear, distinctions based on geography. I hope others here will chime in on differences they notice in scansion—whether or not geography is involved.