Hello all,
On the "Loose Meters" thread, we had gotten round to talking about syllabic vs. accentual-syllabic vs. accentual verse. This looked like a good topic for another thread, particularly since there have been several syllabic poems posted on the Metrical Board lately. I would argue that syllabics are not metrical at all, and belong on the Other Board, as a variant of free verse.
First some simple definitions. Writing syllabic verse, we count syllables for lines of fixed length, regardless of accents. Writing accentual-syllabic verse, we count both stresses and syllables, in rough or strict accordance with pre-determined patterns. Writing accentual verse, we count stresses only, for lines of varying length.
Stressed syllables are the determinants of rhythm in English. Verse written with accentual rhythm is also known as "qualitative." In some other languages, the rhythms of speech are time-based. Verse in those languages is called "quantitative." See the discussion of duration on the "Musical Measures" thread.
I would reserve the term "metrical" for speech which has a sustained rhythm. Syllabic poetry would, by definition, become accentual-syllabic if it displayed this property. Does it not, therefore, fall outside the boundary of metrical practice? I'd be curious to hear what others think.
Alan Sullivan
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