[W.F. Lantry]

Hey, folks,

Ok, so: I scan Colin's example differently. Here's what I hear:

to be / or not / to be / that / is the / question

Obviously, that's wrong. My ear is all wrong, so I'm not really qualified to discuss these issues. And I feel like a chess player who still uses the old notation!

But I wonder about the practical applications. The whole thing puts me in mind of chironomia, which people studied for centuries. Entire elaborate systems were drawn up, and proponents of one argued with proponents of another. If you've ever studied ars praedicandi, you can get a refresher course on chironomia every week.

But can we really match gestures to persuasion, or the use of a trochee to a specific emotion or thought? I know it's fun to argue about terms and their application, but I keep coming back to something James Wright wrote in a letter. I can't recall the exact citation, but it was something like 'I have yet to find any practical use for the variable foot.'

So that's my question. Do we find a conscious and practical application for all this? Can systematic use stir a definable specific emotion in a reader, and can we employ this knowledge during the composition process?

As I said, I can't even scan Shakespeare, so I'm not qualified to give an answer, but I *am* interested!

Thanks,

Bill