When there is metrical ambiguity--that is, when a line can be read in either of two ways--how shall we decide which way is "right"?
If the poet himself has gone on record as to how he means the line to be read, must we take his word for it? Or may we just assume he didn't know any better and re-write his line for him according to our own preference?
If the poet hasn't gone on record but has followed a recognizable pattern, must we assume that he meant the questionable line to continue the same pattern? Or may we assume that he deviated from the pattern simply because we ourselves might have done so had we written the line? Are we expected to take substitutions in stide, or may we disregard them because we don't like their placement--for instance, an initial monosyllable that might normally be swallowed up in an iamb or anapest, but which needs to be read as a headless iamb to keep the beat?
If there is no firmly established pattern, or if a line breaks radically from the established pattern, at what point can we assume the poet made a mistake? How much credibility does he have to accumulate as a poet before we decide he can't have made a mistake and that the poem must therefore be better than it seems?
Carol
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