CERTAIN ASPECTS OF PROSODY IN THE
POETRY OF ROBERT LOWELL
by
Thomas A, Lamont
A T hesis Subm itted to the F aculty of the
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
In P artial Fulfillm ent of the Requirem ents
For the D egree of
MASTER OF ARTS
In the G raduate C ollege
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
STATEMENT BY AUTHOR
This th e s is h as b een subm itted in p a rtia l fulfillm ent of
requirem ents for an advanced degree a t The U n iv ersity of Arizona
and is d e p o site d in The U niv ersity Library to be made av ailab le to
borrow ers under ru le s of the Library*
Brief quotations from th is th e s is are allow able w ithout
s p e c ia l perm ission^ provided th a t acc u ra te acknow ledgm ent of
source is m ade. R equests for perm ission for extended quotation
from or reproduction of th is m anuscript in whole or in part may be
granted by the head of the major departm ent or the D ean of the
G raduate C ollege when in th e ir judgm ent the proposed u se of the
m aterial is in the in te re s ts of sch o larsh ip . In a ll other in s ta n c e s ?
however^ perm issio n m ust be obtained from the author*
SIGNED 2
APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR
This th e s is h a s been approved on the date show n
below;
SO
BARN
)S
A s sista n t P ro fesso r of E nglish
Ap
D ate
!%3
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The w riter i s g rea tly indebted to Dr, Barney
C hilds for h is helpful criticism # sug g estio n s# and
a d v ic e »
ABSTRACT
The purpose of th is th e s is is to analyze th e prosody
in the poetry of Robert Lowell in order to understand b e tte r the
evolution of a fre e -v e rs e form from a trad itio n a l form „ The
study d o es not attem pt to draw any co n clu sio n s from the rela tio n
betw een th e se two te c h n iq u e s, but m erely to show the different
a s p e c ts of developm ent,
E nglish prosody h as alw ays been a co n tro v ersial
su b je c t. An attem pt h as been made in th is paper to avoid the
more ten u ous a re a s of pro so d ic sch o larsh ip and to e s ta b lis h
w hat ap p ears to be the m ost a d eq u ate prosodic v iew p o in t.
This p o licy h as re s u lte d in the a rb itrary choice of some prosodic
a p p ro a c h e s, perhaps at the expense of o thers expounded by
rep u tab le p o ets and sch o lars* Such lim ita tio n i s unavoidable in
a paper of th is le n g th .
The work of Robert Lowell w as chosen as a su b je ct
for se v era l re a s o n s .
He is reco g n ized as a lead in g p oet today
and in a re la tiv e ly short period of tim e h as moved from a
tra d itio n a l form to one th a t i s fre e . The quantity of h is verse
is su fficien t enough to e s ta b lis h broad m ovem ents in te c h n iq u e .
iii
In th is p a p e r, four of h is volum es of poetry w ill
be a n aly zed from the stan d p o in t of m e tric s » P a tte rn s of sound
and im agery w ill be d e a lt w ith when th ey contribute to an under­
standing of the p ro so d ic developm ent»
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT BY AUTHOR. „ . „ » * . »
^
* *
i
ACKNOWLEDGMENT * * . * * * . . * . « , . .
ii
ABSTRACT @* D « q .c o »- « * @* * * □ « » □ » □
111
C hapter
INTRODUCTION . . , «, ... , . . . . .
I
I.or
PROSODY
II.
THEME AND STRUCTURE . .
*. » * ,
18
III,
THE MOVEMENT OF THE LINE
* e *
29
IV,
EARLY AND LATE POETRY (2 parts) ,
V,
PATTERNS OF SOUND , „ ,
VI.
LIFE STUDIES. » * * *
79
BIBLIOGRAPHY * , * , , , , ,, , , , * ,
93
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39
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63
Introduction
Between 1944 and 1960 Robert Lowell has w ritten
four volum es of poetry! Land of U nlike n e ss , Lord W earv 's
C a s t l e T h e M ill of the K avanauahs, and Life S tu d ie s ,
The q u a lity of the poetry and the q u a lity of the sty le
have e s ta b lis h e d him a s one of the major p o ets w riting
to d ay .
When Land of U nlik en ess appeared in 1944, R, P.
Blackmur sa id th a t Robert L ow ell's v erse w as a " b eautiful
c a se of c itatio n in any argum ent in support of the b e lief
in the formal in e x tric a b ility of the various elem ents of
1
p o e tr y .. . . " The other rev iew s follow ed the sam e pattern:
the poetry w as e x c e lle n t , but the tone and sty le w as
v io le n t. As Allen Tate sa id in the introduction:
There is no other poetry today quite lik e
t h is . T. S. E lio t's re c e n t prediction th a t
we should soon see a return to formal and
even in tric a te m etres and s ta n z a s w as com­
ing tru e , before he made i t , in the v e rse of
Robert Lowell . 2
W hen Robert L o w ell's second v o lum e. Lord W earv 's
C a s tle , appeared in 1946, it w as given such c ritic a l
acclaim th a t the p oet receiv ed a n appointm ent a s a
1 "N otes on Eleven P o e ts , " Kenvon R eview > VII (1945) , p . 348 .
2 "In tro d u c tio n ." Land of U n lik en ess ( n .p .i 1944).
C o n su ltant in Poetry at the Library of C ongress/ a G uggen­
heim F ello w sh ip , and the P u litzer Prize for P o e try . Randall
Jarrell said:
M any of the people who review ed Lord W eary1s
C a stle fe lt th a t it w as a s much of an ev en t a s
A uden's firs t book; I can think of no one younger
than Auden who has w ritten b e tter poetry th an
Robert Lowell* s . Anyone who read s contem porary
poetry w ill re a d i t . ,» . 3
In 1949 Robert Lowell pu b lish ed Poems 1938-1949 . All the
new work w as to appear la te r in The M ills of the K avanauahs.
and the old work w as tak en from h is two e a rlie r v o lu m e s. This
volume won him n ational acclaim and he rec eiv e d '^recognition
4
as a lea d er of the younger g eneration of p o ets . . . .. "
W hen The M ills of the Kavanauahs w as p ublished in
1951, W illiam C arlos W illiam s said th a t i t s six poem s were
5
" f ir s t- r a te .
Life S tudies w as pub lish ed in 1959; it won the
N atio n al Book Award for # p e try in 1960 * In the same year
Robert Lowell re c e iv e d a grant from the Ford Foundation and
was named the Boston Arts F e stiv a l P o e t. B ecause of th is volum e's
p e cu lia r s ty le / so abrupt a change from w hat had p receded it.
3 "Robert L o w ell's P oetry, " in M id-C enturv American P o e ts ,
e d . , John C iardi, p . 158.
4 Hugh B. S ta p le s / Robert Lowells The F irst Twenty Years
(London: 19 62) / p . 11.
5 S e le c te d E s s a v s , (New York: 1954), pp. 324-325.
the review s were mixed! 11. , .i t is h o n est and c le a r, w ith
little attem pt at any rh eto ric but the sim plest; it ris k s ^ and
6
som etim es fa lls in to - f la tn e s s . "
7
it a "rem arkable b o o k . 11
S till , Alfred Kazin calle d
The a v a ila b ility of the poetry of Robert Lowell for
p ro so d ic a n a ly sis is b a se d on h is acknow ledged rep u ta tio n
a s one of the m ost gifted p o ets w riting to d ay . . A further
reason., one perhaps more im portant, is the study of a d is ­
tin c t change in sty le by a p oet so n o te d » The firs t volume
Of Robert L ow ell's poetry w as v io le n tly rh eto rical and form al.
The la s t i s free v e r s e , In view of the co n stan t opposition
b etw een the prom oters of free v e rse and th eir o p p o n e n ts,
a study in a poet who h as gone from one of the extrem es to
the other w ill be an e s s e n tia l key to the understanding of
any formal or free v e rs e .
The follow ing a n a ly sis of Robert Lowell' s p oetry does
not broach the s u b je c t of m eaning in any d ep th .
B ecause
there are so many individual poems and b eca u se an adequate
study of meaning in the poem s is o u tsid e the scope of th is
p a p e r, the g eneral o u tlin es of m eaning w ill be touched only
when th ey re la te to the prosodic a n a ly s is .
6 Thom G unn, "E x cellen cies and V a rie ty ," The Yale
R eview , XLIV (I9 6 0 ), p . 304.
7 C ontem poraries
(Boston: 1962), p . 226.
M ost a rts a tta in th e ir e ffe c t by a fixed elem ent
and a v ariab le . From, the em piric angle: v e rse
u su a lly h a s some elem ent roughly fixed and some
other th a t v a rie s / but w hich elem ent is to be
fixed and w hich vary,,, and to w hat d e g re e , is the
affair of; the au th o r. 1
Ezra Pound/ ABC of Reading
I Prosody
A p oet d e cid es the length of h is lin e s , w hether th ey
sh all be uniform / v aried to p a tte rn f or c a p ricio u sly
irregular; he m ust pronounce upon rhyme > an d / if he a c c e p ts
i t / before the end of a su itab le number of lin e s fix its
sc h e m e . The re s u lt of a ll th e s e v a ria b le s and more w ill
be co n sidered law s in some p a rtic u la r p o e t's p rosody, and
the tab u la tio n of ju s t such la w s is then the work c£." the
p ro so d ist. Id e a lly , th e n , the p ro so d ist m erely a n a ly z e s
w hat is there before him , and th e d iffic u ltie s or m ista k es he
can make a s a p ro so d ist w ill be in re la tio n to how w ell he
h e ars; but such id e a l situ a tio n s ra re ly e x is t in E nglish prosody.
The p ro so d ist fin d s him self choosing betw een a t l e a s t two
fundam ental a p p ro a c h e s, the tem poral and the trad itio n a l;
a n d , fu rth er, he h a s to decide betw een two different system s
of n o tatio n u sed to record the lin e of v e rs e , the two s tre s s
le v e ls of the tra d itio n a l and the four s tre s s le v e ls of the
lin g u is ts .
1 (London: 1934), p . 5 .
The p ro so d ist is concerned w ith v e r s e , w hich comes from
the L atin v ersu s > "a turning around a s of the plough at the end
of th e furrow , and thus i t m eant a lso a furrow, a row , a line of
2
w ritin g . 11
The p h y sic a l b a s is of th is lin e of v e rse is the
S yllable, to w hich the lin g u ists have given the operatio n al
3
defin itio n "the domain of any s tr e s s le v e l."
As s u c h , it may
contain a sin g le vow el, a diphthong, or e ith er one of th e s e ,
to g eth er w ith surrounding c o n so n an ts.
The various ty p e s of
prosody can be c la s s ifie d according to th e ir different approaches
to the s y lla b le , and sin c e the sy lla b le i s the b a s is of the lin e
of p o e try , th e se th eo ries w ill differ ra d ic a lly in th e ir in terpre­
ta tio n of the lin e ,
The d is c u s s io n of E nglish m eter h as been dom inated
by two th eo ries of m etrics w hich are divided over ju s t w hat
type of m easure determ ines the line:
Probably the m ost d isp u ted point in a ll prosodic
theory is the re la tiv e im portance of time (duration)
sy lla b ic le n g th , and s tr e s s (acceni) in E nglish
v e r s e . Some w riters have attem pted to ex p lain all
the phenom ena e n tire ly by stress? others en tirely
by time* 4
2 H arold W h ite h a ll, "From L in g u istics to C ritic is m ,11
Kenvon R eview . XVIII (Summer 1956), p . 418 .
3 John Thom pson, The Founding of E nglish M e te r.
(London: 1961), p . 4.
4 Pauli Baum, The P rin cip les of E nglish V ersification
(Cambridge: 1923), p . 4.
6
The tra d itio n a l sc a n s io n is ts / such a s S aintsbury, m aintain
th a t any m easure I s com posed of an a cc en ted (stressed)
sy lla b le and a c e rta in fixed number of u n stre sse d sy lla b le s ;
th e tem poral s c a n s io n is ts , su ch a s Omond, m aintain th a t a
m easure of v erse is a certain period of tim e irre sp e c tiv e of
the number of s y lla b le s , though the term ination of th a t m easure
may be sig n a lle d by a s t r e s s .
Omond s ta te s th a t " a ll m etre is e s s e n tia lly rhythm ic,
th a t is to s a y , it c o n s is ts of eq u al u n its , uniform a s reg ard s
5
d u ratio n . "
He is rig h t a s far a s m eter goes . He m akes th is
sta te m e n t b e c a u se he o b se rv es th at the pros o d ist who sc a n s
according to sy lla b le and s tr e s s s e ts up p a ttern s of su c c e ssio n
th a t, for him , do not re a lly occur:
The "fee t" of our gram m ars, the a lg e b raica l-lo o k in g
colum ns of a. x and x a given in some books of
p rosody, the rows of cro ch ets and quavers preferred
by m u sical s c a n s io n is ts , a l l show an im agined
re g u la rity not in accordance w ith f a c t . 6
As an exam ple of w hat he m ea n s, he ta k e s two lin e s from
"Sing a Song of S ix p e n c e ," and s ta te s th a t every lin e has
sev en periods of times
A lin e may e ith er have its full ta le of s y lla b le s , e . a . ,
Now w a s /n o t t h is /a d a in /ty d is h /to s e t/b e f o r e /
a king ?
5 T, S . Omond, A Study of M etre (Londons 1920), p , 2
6 Ibid . , p . 3.
Or it may have a le s s num ber, e . g . ,
7
b y /c a m e /a b la c k - /b ir d ,/a n d n ip t/o ff/h e r n o se .
B ecause he s e e s th is d ista n c e betw een the re a l lin e and the
s tr e s s - s y lla b le lin e he m ust "fa ll back on th at w hich u n d erlies
th e s e - on the tim e -s p a c e s or p erio d s of duration in w hich
8
s y lla b le s a re , a s it w ere, em bedded. "
Thus tim e becom es
the b a s is of v erse and the c o n stru ctio n of the m etrical foot
for ©nond. The sy lla b le s are com paratively unim portant. In
other w o rd s, the "periods" of Omond may be occupied by sound
or may be le ft b la n k .
In Greek and L atin v erse "tim e" referred so le ly to th e
period ta k e n in pronouncing sy lla b le s . This w as held to depend
eith er on v o w el-duration or on re ta rd atio n by se p a ra te ly pro­
nounced co n so n an ts . A long sy llab le w as accounted equal to
two short arid carried two tim e -b e a ts a s a g a in st one ap ie ce
9
for the short s y lla b le s .
The length of the s y lla b le s could
n ot vary in the context of the line? th ey rem ained long or short ■
a b so lu te ly and under a ll circu m stan ces:
7 Ib id . , p . 5.
8 I b i d ., p . 3.
9 T. S, Omond, E nglish M e trists
(Oxford: 1921), p . 42*
8
To make an error in q u an tity show ed clow nish
ig n o ran c e, com parable to our wrongly a c c e n t­
ing a fam iliar w ord, 10
Omond s a y s th a t duration is not a sig n ific a n t fac to r in
E nglish verses
In E nglish we have nothing analogous to th is
fixed rule * Our ears are pre sum ably not different
from th o se of the Old Greek and Rom ans, but our
h a b its of sp eech are d iffe re n t» We have a pow­
erful s tr e s s - a c c e n t, w hich red u c es q u a n titativ e
d istin c tio n to low and flu ctu atin g v a lu e s .* .* 11
but h is d ism issa l of tim e i s p a rtia lly b a sed on h is re fu s a l to
accept
an analogous sy stem in E nglish v erse b ased on s tre sse d
and u n stre sse d s y lla b le s , and it is tem pered by the fa c t th a t
though he re a liz e s th a t E nglish v erse i s not q u a n tita tiv e , he
s till p la c e s pro so d ic em phasis on i t b e ca u se he b e lie v e s its
p lace in our language is re a l and b e c a u se i t builds up th e
tim e -stru c tu re of the line.. Omond1s p erception of the function
of duration and tim e in E nglish p o etry ,
in so far as rhythm s are
con cern ed, h a s had much influence in re c e n t prosody.
The q u estio n of a c c e n t and i ts re la tio n to prosody is
e sse n tia l* It is recognized a s one of the m ost sig n ific a n t
single fea tu res in E nglish, but the p re c ise defin itio n of acc en t
10 A Study of M e tre » p . 34.
11 E nglish M e tr is ts , p . 42.
h a s b een e lu siv e ;
The word "accen t" is u se d in E nglish to in clu d e
both the p itc h -a c c e n t and the s tr e s s - a c c e n t; but
w hatever the connection betw een th e se tw ov th ey
are conceptually^ a t any rate., quite d is tin c t; and it
is u su a l to d istin g u ish betw een " s tre s s -a c c e n t" and
"p itc h -ac ce n t" lan g u a g e, even if we m erely mean th at
one or the other elem ent i s predom inant i n any par­
tic u la r language *12
In a g en eral se n se we can agree w ith W . R. Twaddell and c all
s tr e s s "lo u d n ess":
In functional lin g u is tic term s*, .a sound may be
more prom inent than another by tim bre (or tamber ) ,
le n g th , or a rticu la to ry energy w ithout being louder
in a p h y sic a l se n se ( i . e . , w ith a sound w ave of
g reater am plitude or Of g reater intensity) „ 13
In Omond’s theory of m etre, a c c e n t i s u sed a s a sig n a l
to d e sig n ate the term ination of a tim e -p e rio d . Even the phrase
"acc en tu al fo o t” i s a m isnom er for him , b eca u se he b e lie v e s
th a t the e s s e n tia l q u ality of a foot is. duration and th a t th is is
14
n ot created by accent*
For Omond a c c e n t can e ffe ct nothing
ex cep t th e arrangem ent of m aterials alread y rhythm ic through
some tem poral re c u rre n c e .
He re a c h e s tn is conclusion b e cau se
he can fin d no law th a t would fix s tre s s in sid e a g iven lin e of
v e r s e . He s ta te s th a t a pros o d is t can speak w ith conviction
about the s tre s s put on sy lla b le s but th a t the s tre s s put on words
is v a ria b le . So, according to Omond, since the fixed
12 W illiam Be a re , L atin Verse and European Song
(London; 1957)1, p . 44*13 W . P . T w addell, c ited bv John Thompson. The Founding
of E nglish M e tre , p , 6 n o te.
14 E nglish M e tr ls ts , p . 4 5 .
10
a c c e n t of s y lla b le s is only a sm all part of our sp e e c h -c a d e n c e ,
the wide range of varying a c c e n ts is not b a s is for a bound
prosody*
This is the firs t of Om ond's stric tu re s a g a in st trad itio n a l
prosody* The trad itio n a l s c a n s io n is t ta k e s the lin e of verse
to be com posed of s y lla b le s w hich are d esig n ated a c c en ted or
un accen ted and d iv id e s th e s e s y lla b le s into fe e t on the b a sis
of th is designation* iam b, u n accen ted follow ed by an accented?
16
tro c h e e , a cc en ted follow ed by an unaccented? e tc .
If there
is no re a l mean for deciding w hether a m onosyllabic word is
a cb an ted or n o t, then his o b jectio n s do hold* A sy llab le may
be a cc en ted or u n accen ted depending upon its lin g u istic
environment,: how ever . As Yvor W inters sa y s:
The language does not divide its e lf evenly into
a c c e n te d and u n accen ted sy llab les^ but th ere is
alm ost in fin ite v ariatio n in degrees of a c c e n t *
For th is re a s o n , the b a s ic rule of E nglish sc an sio n
is th is ; th a t the a cc en ted sy llab le can be d e te r­
mined only in re la tio n sh ip to the other sy lla b le s
or sy lla b le s w ithin the same fo o t. The a cc en ted
sy llab le of a given fo o t* . . may be one of the
lig h te s t sy lla b le s in its lin e . 17
T hus, for a tra d itio n a l pros o d is t, a s tre s s e d sy lla b le is one
which i s , or seem s to b e , pronounced more vigorously th an
th o se nearby it in the sam e word or p h ra se .
This does not mean
16 For a l is t of the p rin cip al feet se e E nglish M e tr is ts ,
p . 19.
17 The Function of C riticism (Denver; 1957)., p . 88 .
11
th a t th ere w ill be no disagreem ent among p ro so d ists on th e
re la tiv e value, of a c e rta in sy llab le in a cdrtain lin e; but i f
we couple to th is the fa c t th a t the poem a s it p ro g re sse s w ill
rein fo rce th o se lin e s w here the m atrical p attern i s n o t apparent ,
then much of Omond1s critic ism on th is point is unfounded:
The w ay words have to be em phasized is d e ­
term ined in part by the natu ral ru le s of the
la n g u a g e , or the pronunciation of w o rd s, w hich
m eter may influence and m o d ify .... (and) by the
c o n te x t, ** w hich i s being created by the p ro ce ss
of the poem*,:* 18
Om ond's second critic ism i s th a t the term s u sed to d e sig n ate
the sy lla b ic fe e t in E nglish v e rse b e ar no resem blance to the Greek
and L atin fe e t from w hich they were taken:
T o.G reeks and Romans d a c tv llic was a w eighty,
sonorous, regular m ea su re , used for heroic them es;
iam bic a lig h t, p lia n t, colloquial type of v e rs e ,
adm itting a g reater v a rie ty . W ith u s , though the
nam es are id e n tic a l, the ch arac ters are re v e rse d . ..1 9
Ju st w h at the fe e t are c a lle d in E nglish v erse seem to m atter little i f
one i s aw are th a t E nglish is a s tre s s e d language and not a q u a n titativ e
o n e. A lso, the assu m p tio n of c la s s ic a l nam es h as b een so m odified
by the sy lla b ic S c a n sio n ist th a t, in som e, the lin e of v erse is
divided into risin g and falling m eters w hich allow only four b a sic
20,
ty p es of f e e t (the iam b, tro c h e e , d a c ty l, and a n a p e s t).
18 George S tew art, The T echnique of E nglish V e rse .
(N ew York: 1930), p„. 4*
19 A Study of M etre ^ p , 52 >
20 John C ia rd i. How D oes a Poem M e a n ? (Cambridge 1960),
p p . 9 2 1 -2 3 .
12
F urther r a great many of the sy lla b ic differen ces th a t
Omond n o tes in two lin e s from the sam e poem (see p. 6
)
have been an sw ered by the tra d itio n a l pros o d is t's p rinciple
of su b s titu tio n . W inters holds th a t "an inverted or tris y lla b ic
or o ther foot may be su b stitu te d for an iam bic foot in an iam bic
lin e z or sim ilar a lte ra tio n s may be introduced into other l i n e s , 11
21
and th a t an u n accen ted sy llab le may be dropped,
In the b ro ad e st s e n s e , them , we can define Om ond's
theory a s one w hich sa y s th a t m eter c o n s is ts e ith er w holly i n ,
or h a s a s an e s s e n tia l fea tu re, some principle of recurrence in
e q u a l, or approxim ately e q u al, tim e.
The re la tiv e im portance
given to any one of th o se co n cep ts is e s s e n tia l in judging the
whole th eo ry . If one say s a poem e x is ts in tim e, th ere is
very little room for g eneral d isag reem en t. Any poem.) in re c ita tio n ,
o ccu p ies an amount of time; duration i s the fundam ental su b sta n c e
of rhythm . But if one s a y s th a t a ll E nglish poetry h as as its
prosodic (metrical) b a s is some theory of is o chronic or ex ac t
tim e in te rv a ls , we are trying to p o sit a character of perform ance
or rhythm a s a c h arac ter of prosody or meter:
The m easurem ent of v erse is determ ined by some
recu rren t lin g u istic fe a tu re , p e g , o b s ta c le , ju t­
ting s t r e s s , or w h a te v e r» If we read th is recurrence
so as to give it equal tim e , th is is som ething we do
to i t . , . .i t is not a p art of the lin g u is tic fa c t w hich
21 In D efense of R eason (Denver: 1947) p . 108,
13
the p oet h a s to recognize and on which he has
to re ly in order to w rite v erses* 22
F in a lly , I b eliev e th a t n e ith er the system of the trad itio n a l
p ro so d ists nor th a t of Omond is going to be su fficie n t a s a general
theory covering the whole of E nglish p o e try , though both have
th eir own v a lid ity w ithin certain areas*
W hat we have in E nglish p oetry are se v era l p rin cip les
of rhythm , due in part to the am bivalent c h arac ter of
the language (Teutonic and Rom antic), in part to the
influence of French and c la s s ic a l prosody* N ative
E nglish ("A nglo-8axon") m eter, according to Pope
("The Rhythm of Beow ulf"), is a falling rhythm of
dipodies m easurable in 4 /8 m usical time**** The
so u rces of the living trad itio n of E nglish v e rse from
C haucer to the p re s e n t, h ow ever, are m edievel L atin
and R om ance, b ased on the prin cip le of w hat Hopkins
c a lle d "running rhythm" , sy lla b ic y et a cc e n tu a l as
well* 23
An attem pt to force e ith e r of th e se th e o rie s of prosody on the
whole of E nglish p o e try , or an attem pt to sa y th a t one principle
is b e tte r , or more so u n d , th an the o th e r, w ill re s u lt in confusion
a n d , m ost probably, erro r. Omond h as in sig h t into the rela tio n
betw een rhythm and duration; the tra d itio n a l p ro so d ists re a liz e d
the sy lla b ic nature of a great d e a l of E nglish v erse *
Two se p ara te th eo ries attem pt to s ta b iliz e prosody by
lis tin g the various pro so d ic th e o rie s w hich influence E nglish
v e rse ; the th re e -p a rt theory of Robert Bridges and the four-part
22 W . K* W im satt, Jr. and Monroe C* B eardsley, "The
C oncept of M eter; An E xercise in A bstraction, " PMLA, LXXXV
(December 1959), p . 596*
23 Victor Hamm, "M eter and M e a n in g ," PMLA, LXIX
(1954), p . 696 (695-710).
theory of Yvor W in te rs . Bridges c la s s if ie s th ree d is tin c t
sy stem s of prosody! the q u a n titiv e , w hich we have d isc u sse d
already; the s y lla b ic . in w hich only the sy lla b ic le n g th of the
lin e is fixed; and the stre s s > w hich fix e s a c e rta in number of
24
n atu ral a cc e n tu a l s tr e s s e s to a lin e ,
Yvor W inters l is ts four
sy ste m s: the q u a n tita tiv e ; the a c c e n tu a l (agreeing w ith
Bri d g e s '
s tre s s system ); the sy llab le; and th e a c c e n tu a l- s y lla b ic , which
is "id en tica l w ith the c la s s ic a l sy stem in its m ost general
p rin c ip le s, ex cep t th a t a cc en ted and unaccented sy lla b le s
25
d isp lac e long and sh o rt, . , , "
Bridges fa ils to a c c e p t a system
analogous to the a c c e n tu a l-s y lla b ic for e s s e n tia lly the same
re a so n th a t Omond u se s:
W hat ru le s th is new stre ss-p ro s o d y w ill s e t to '
govern its rhythms one cannot fo resee / and there
is a s yet no recognized prosody of s tr e s s - v e r s e ,
I have experim ented w ith it , and trie d to determ ine
w hat th o se ru le s m ust be; and th ere is little doubt
th a t the p erfe ct prosody w ill pay g rea t a tte n tio n
to the quantitive value of s y lla b le s , though not on
the c la s s ic a l sy ste m , 26
The fin al conclusion d iffers from th a t of Omond, however*
Bridges n o tes so much v ariatio n in th e iam bic lin e s of M ilton
th a t he cannot a c c e p t the lin e s a s iam bic and ch o o ses to regard
27
the stan dard E nglish v e rse a s s y lla b ic .
24 Robert Bridges , "L etter to a M u sician on E nglish Prosody,
in C o llected E ssav s and Papers (London 1933), p , 66.
25 p . 106
26 "L etter to a M usician on E nglish P ro so d y ," p . 74.
27 In D efense of R e aso n , p , 147, •
15
The four sy stem s of W inters, allow for the p o s s ib ility
of O m ond's p rin cip le of tim e-p erio d . In the v e rs e s of Langland
or C oleridge ( " C h r is ta b e l" ) w h e r e a system sim ilar to a c c e n tu a ls y lla b ic i s not functioning , a system of eq u ally tim ed periods
could apply .
The re c e n t a c tiv ity of the lin g u is ts brings up the fin al
problem in any in itia l study of prosody, e sp e c ia lly sin c e they
sta k e out modern poetry a s th e ir province:
The tra d itio n a l " id e a l11 m etrical p attern of much
E nglish v e rse —p attern s b a se d on tw o -le v e l
c o n tra st of s tre s s e d v ersu s u n stre sse d sy lla b le s have been o rc h e stra te d since M arlowe by a p o etic
adoption of the a c tu a l fo u r-le v el sp e ec h c o n tra st. 28
The lin g u ist brings two new co ncepts to the study of prosody:
four p attern s of s tre s s ( / / A , \ rw) and four p a ttern s of juncture
29
(//,$■, /
but lu s t w hat i s attem pted w ith them is v a g u e .
Victor Erlich s ta te s :
,
Prosody . . .m u st be "oriented" not tow ard p h o n e tic s 4
th a t is th e p h y sic a l and p h y sio lo g ic al d e sc rip tio n of
sp e e c h so u n d s, but tow ard phonem ics, which exam ines
sp eech sound su b sp e c ie of th eir lin g u is tic function,
th a t i s , th e ir c a p a c ity for d ifferen tiatin g word m eanin a s . 30
28 H arold W h iteh a ll, "E nglish M e te r," Ken von Review.
XVIII (Summer 1956), p . 418. I re a liz e th is is a sk e tch y review
of lin g u is tic s but i t is e s s e n tia lly c o rre ct. See H arold W h iteh all,
"From L in g u istics to P o e try ," in Sound and Poetry (New York: 1957) ,
pp. 134-147.
29 I b i d ., p p . 416-419.
30 Victor E rlich , R ussian Form alism , (n . p .: 1955), p . 188
(Italic s m ine.) .
16
Harold W h iteh all seem s to be saying som ething sim ilar but w ith
a slig h tly different em phasis:
For the p ro s o d is t, the k e y se c tio n of the T ragerSmith O utline of E nglish Structure is th a t w hich
d e sc rib e s and i n te r r e l a t e s .. .th e configurational
fe a tu res of English: ju n c tu re , s t r e s s , and pitch*
Taken to g e th e r, th e se n o t only p a tte rn the stru c ­
tu ral re p e titio n s e s s e n tia l to any form of rhythm
but a ls o c u t the sp e e c h —flow into se n te n c e w ordgroup, and word segm ents e s s e n tia l to the .
e x p re ssio n Of meaning . 31
E rlic h 's "word m eaning" and W h iteh a ll1s'lhythm " seem to r e s t
on a m isconception of p o e tic stru c tu re , a lac k of d ifferen tiatio n
b etw een m e te r, a p a tte rn of c ro s s s tr e s s c o n tra s ts , and rhythm ,
w hich is the re s u lt of sp eech-rhythm s being counterpointed on
th is meter:
M eter is an unchangeable and in different norm,
a n unmoved but moving e x te rn a lity . The rhythm
in i ts dynam ic and tu rbulent p ro c e ss of individual
experience r e a c ts both tow ards and a g a in st th a t
externality* 32
. If the lin g u is t is in te re s te d .in m eter, there i s no need for
the four le v e ls of stre s s w hich he brings to bear* . If the lin g u ist
is in te re s te d in rhythm , and i t would seem th a t he i s , then he
is very lik e ly to be recording the perform ance of the poem and
th a t a lo n e , The p ro so d ist has to rem em ber th a t the original
concern of the lin g u ist is lan g u a g e, not prosodic stru c tu re . In
a lin g u is tic analysis, of Robert F ro st1s "M o w in g ," Seymour Chatman
31 Harold W h ite h a ll, "E nglish M e te r ," p . 416,
32 Arnold S te in , "A Note on M e te r ," Kenvon Review XVIII
(Summer 1956), p , 459,
33
compared eig h t perform ances of the poem*
This would seem
to be the u su a l approach, and it i s ju s t th is procedure th a t
v itia te s the ap p ro ach .
But how many perform ances are n e c e s ­
sary before the lin g u ist has arrived a t w hat he w ants to c all
the perform ance ? Further, why only four le v e ls of s tre s s ? It
i s n o t im p o ssib le th a t th ere be a fifth categ o ry , or p o ssib ly a
s ix th . I t is the fo o t, not the ju n ctu re-g ro u p , th a t in te re s ts the
p ro so d ist.
George Pace h a s sta te d th a t even though the lin g u ist h as
no rea so n to map the m etrical p attern of a poem , perhaps he may
be effectiv e in d esig n atin g the "rhythm core" (arrived a t by a
34
d iv isio n of rhythm into "p o ten tial rhythm" and "rhythm core") *
But even here the dangers are in e s c a p a b le . There seem s to be
a g rea t d eal of s e n s e in the statem en t of John Crowe Ransom:
We m ust suppose th a t th ere is a good under­
standing betw een the poet and h is a u d ie n c e ,
, , . the language is rhythm ical, but you can be
sure th a t If you w ant to re a d it a s p ro se , the
prose is th ere too* Read according to our
m eters and we sh a ll not make you in to fo o ls * *» 35
33 "Robert F ro s t's 'M ow ing1! An Inquiry into Prosodic
S tructure, " Kenvon R eview , XVIII (Summer 1956), p p , 421-438,
34 George P a c e , "The Two Dom ains: M eter and R hythm ,"
PMLA. LXXVI, pp. 4 1 3 -4 1 9 ,
35 "The Strange M usic of E nglish V e rs e .” Kenvon R eview ,
XVIII (Summer 1956) , p , 465,
II Theme and Structure
The fro n tisp ie ce of Land of U n lik en ess show s a gargoyle
hanging from a c r o s s . I t is ju st th is ju xtaposition^ alm ost
M an ich ean , th a t might be c alle d the keynote of Low ell' s first
volume; but the am biguity of the symbol its e lf i s an index of the
am biguity of "m eaning" in a ll of L o w ell's early p o etry ,
For
though Lowell is reco g n ized as a "C atholic" p o e t, h is p ecu liar
brand of C atholicism i s com posed of a shifting em phasis - now
on the v en g ean ce-w reak in g of Jehovah, now on redem ption through
Christ*. He h as su c ce ed e d in making salv atio n seem a s real and
1
alm ost as "frightening as d a m n a tio n ."
The Roman Empire in
2
his "Dea Roma" evolves info the Roman C atholic Churcn; but
the cnange here is in d e g re e v not in k in d , for the Church becom es
an overwhelm ing s o c ia l-h is to ric a l fa c t, a sta te a s terrifying a s
any se c u la r o n e . The title of th is volume comes from S aint Bernard,
a p a ssa g e show ing L o w ell's b e lie f in tn e s p lit of God and Man:
Such i s the condition of th o se who liv e in the Land
of U n lik e n e s s , They are not happy th e re . W ander­
in g , h o p e le ss ly revolving* * , th o se who trea d th is
w eary round suffer not only the lo s s of God but also
1 Randall Ja rre ll, "Poetry in W ar and P e a c e ," P artisan
R eview , XH (1945) , p . 125,
2 Land of U n lik en ess (n. p ,s l9 4 4 ) . Since th ere are no page
numbers in th is volum e, a ll su b seq u en t re fe ren c es w ill be w ithout .
page lis tin g .
18
19
the lo s s of th e m se lv e s. They dare no longer
look th e ir own so u ls in the fa c e . , . .
For when
the soul has lo s t its lik e n e s s to God i t i s no
longer lik e its e lf: inde anima d fsslm ilis D e o ..
inde d issim ilis e s t e t sibi; a lik e n e s s w hich i s
no longer lik e its original is lik e its e lf no m ore. 3
L o w ell's world in th is volume i s one th a t has lo s t the le a d er"
ship of C h ris t, w ith the re s u lt th a t man has lo s t h is sp iritu a l
dignity and h as become s a tis fie d w ith opportunism and the
naked p u rsu it of pow er. This a ttitu d e tow ard the "u n lik e n ess"
is se e n in h is treatm ent of th e
Old Law, im perialism , m ilitarism , c a p ita lis m ,
C alv in ism , A uthority, the F ath er, the "proper
B o sto n ian s," the rich who w ill "do everything
for the poor ex ce p t g et off th e ir b a c k s ," 4
H is a ttitu d e s are s e t in a context or u n iv ersal sig n ific a n c e , for
h isto ric a l p ersp ec tiv e allow s him to view the m ilitarism of th e
p resen t day a s an ex te n sio n of the co n flict of Gain and Abel and
5
mute th e conception of the "Virgin" w ith M ars and B ello h a. The
world of his poetry is a world of co n flicts: betw een man and m an,
man and G od, the p a s t and the p re s e n t, paganism and C a th o licism .
There is no so lu tio n in tn is first volum e, no sa lv a tio n .
3, Etienne G ilso n , The M y stic al Theology of Saint
Bernard (London: 1940) , p . 58.
4 Randall J a rre ll, "Robert L ow ell's P o e try ," in M id-O enturv
American Poets , e d , John C iardi (New York: 1950), p . 159. Robert
Lowell sa id th a t tn is a rtic le co n tain s te c h n ic a l a n a ly s e s th a t he
agreed w ith .
5 See "On the F e a st of the Im m aculate Conception: 1942, "
In the introd uction to Land of U n lik en ess Allen Tate s ta te s :
Every poem in th is book h a s a formal p a tte rn ,
e ith er the p o e t's ow n, or one borrow ed, a s the
s ta n z a of "S a ta n 's C onfession" is borrowed from
D ray to n 's "The V irginian V oyage, " and adapted to
a p erso n al rhythm of the p o e t's ow n, 6
This im m ediate su b je c tio n to formal p a ttern s g iv es the poem s a
feelin g of s tra in , a s if th ey have b een w renched in to shape* The
language is v io le n tly rh e to ric a l, b aro q u e, som etim es b o m b astic,
and o ften not very effectiv e in th o se sta n z a s where the form i s
e sp e c ia lly tig h t, such as th a t of D ray to n 's "The V irginian Voyage,
In fa c t, D rayton h an d les the sta n za w ith a g reater amount of
freedom:
You brave H eroique m inds.
W orthy your C ountries name;
That Honour s t i ll p u rsu e ,
G o e, and su b d u e .
W h ilst lo y t'rin g Hinds
Lurke here a t hom e, w ith sham e,
7
And Lowell:
Adam, you id le -ric h
Image of the D ivine;
Tell m e, w hat holds your han d ?
Fat of th e land .
My w ife ’s a bitch;
My garden i s L ove's S h rin e, 8
L ow ell’s sty le here is c ry p tica lly b rie f, th ere is no im agery a t
all; an d w hile the language its e lf i s fo rcefu l, the p o et stan d s
6 "In tro d u ctio n , " Land of U n lik en ess <■
7 H , J, C» G rierson and G , Bullough, e d . » The Oxford Book
of S eventeenth C entury Verse (Oxford: 1934), p , 49,
8 "S a ta n ’s C o n fe ssio n ," Land of U n lik e n e ss,
21
rem oved, a s though speaking from th e end of a long corridor „
But w hat is in te re s tin g Is Lowell*s chM ce of th is p a rtic u la r
work from w hich to choose h is s ta n z a form. D rayton1s poem
b ears a th em atic re la tio n to Lowell* s , a n in v erse rela tio n ;
for w hile D rayton is attem pting to spur the id le tow ards a new
w o rld , Lowell is spurring the id le in a world th a t w ill continue
to be o ld , com placent in its i d le n e s s .
This them atic m annerism i s se e n in many of the other
formal adoptions of Lowell , m ost notably in a poem w hose form
ad o p ts very w ell b e c a u se i t i s not a s tig h t a s the D rayton sta n za Donne*s "The Baite „"
Come liv e w ith raee, and bee my lo v e ,
And w ee w ill some new p le a su re prove
Of golden sands r and c h ris ta ll b ro o k es.
W ith silk e n lin e s , and silv er h o o k es.
There w ill th e riv e r m hispering runne
W arm 'd by thy e y e s , more th an th e S unne.
And there the 'inam or'd fish w ill s ta y ,
Begging th em se lv e s th e y may b e tra y . 9
and L ow ell1s:
Once fish in g w as a ra b b it's foot;
O wind blow c o ld , O wind blow ho t.
L et suns sta y in or su n s ste p out;
Life dance a jig on the sperm -w hale' s spout;
The fis h e r1s fluent and obscene
C a tc h e s k ep t h is co n scie n ce c le a n .
C hildren, the raging memory drools
Over the glory of p a s t p o o ls . 10
9 John D onne, The Com plete Poetry and S e le c te d Prose
(New York; 1952) ^ M* Coffin e d » , p» 36, M ost of the s im ila ritie s
noted in th is chapter come from my own re s e a rc h , so there is
p o s s ib ility of error,
10 Land of U nlike n e s s .
L o w ell's tlsnerm an is a tw isted versio n of D o n n e 's. There is
only an iro n ic re la tio n betw een the " silk en lin e s and silv er
hookes"
01
Donne and the "flu en t and obscen e" fisherm an of,
L ow ell. The second and th ird lin e s of Low ell’s poem re c a ll
th e se lin e s from W hitm an's "O ut of th e C ra d le , E n d le ssly
Rocking":
"W inds blow so u th , or w inds blow n o r t h ,/ D ay come
11
w n ite, or nxgnx come black . , , «"
This re la tio n introduces a
further c o n tra s t, one betw een the America of W hitman and th at
of L o w ell.
"In M emory of Arthur W inslow " i s adapted from M atthew
Arnold’s "The S c h o la r-G y p s y ." It is an in d icatio n o t w hat is
to follow in Lord W eary 's C a s tle ,
G o, for th ey c a ll you. Shepherd, from the hill;
G o, Shepherd, and untie tne w attled c o tes:
No longer leav e thy w istfu l flock u n fed ,
Nor le t th y baw ling fellow s ra c k th e ir th r o a ts ,
Nor the cropp'd g ra s s e s shot# another h e ad .
But w hen the field s are s t i l l ,
And the tire d men and dogs a ll gone to r e s t,
And only tn e w hite sheep are som etim es se e n
C ross and re c ro ss the s trip s of m oon-blanch'd green;
Com e, S hepherd, and ag ain begin tne q u e s t. 12
11 W alt W hitm an, "Out of the C rad le, E n d le ssly R ocking,"
in F ifty G reat P o ets (New York: 1952) , p . 36.
12 Sir Arthur Q u ille r- C ouch, e d , , The Oxford Book of
E nglish Verse (New York: 1940) , p . 919.
23
and L o w ell's:
G randfather W inslow , lo o k , the sw anboats c o a st
That is la n d in the P ublic G ardens, w here
The b re a d -stu ffed ducks are brooding, w here w ith tub
And s tra in e r the m id-Sunday Irish sc a re
;
The su n -stru c k sh allo w s for the dusky chub,
This E a ste r, and the G host
Of R isen Je su s w alk s the w aves to run
Arthur upon a trum peting black sw an
Beyond the C harles 'R iver to the Acheron
W here the wide w aters and th eir voyager are o n e . 13
In L o w ell's sta n z a th ere is only one e n d -sto p p ed lin e; and even though
the rhythm s s e t up a re very lo o se , the re la x atio n of the prev io u sly
tig h t rhythm s i s effective*
The c o n stric tio n of rhythm th a t mars many of the poems in
th is volume seem s to be w hat Robert Low ell is talk in g of when he
sa y s th at
S helley can ju s t ra ttle off terz a rim a by the p a g e ,
and i t 's very sm ooth, d o e s n 't seem an o b stru ctio n
to him - you som etim es w ish it were more d iffic u lt,
W ell som eone does th a t today and in modern sty le
i t lo o k s a s though h e 's w restlin g w ith every line
and may be pushed into co nfusion, a s though h e 's
having a re a l struggle w ith form and c o n te n t. M arks
of th a t are in the fin ish ed poem . 14
Land of U n lik en ess w as a hurdle th a t Robert Low ell had to clim b
before he could re a c h Lord W earv 's C a stle a nd The M ills of the Kavan a u a h s. Even the poems th a t are carried over from h is first volume in
Lord W earv 's C a stle are not a s savage and v io le n tly re lig io u s , but
more im m ediate and p e rso n a l, w hile the rhythm s and im agery are le s s
w illed and e x p lic it.
13 Land of U n lik e n e ss.
14 F rederick S e id e l, "An Interview w ith Robert L ow ell, "
P a ris R eview > XXV (W inter-Spring 1961), p . 64.
24
I took out se v era l th a t were p ara p h rases of early
C h ristian poem s, and I re je c te d one rath e r dry
a b s tra c tio n , th en w hatever seem ed to me to have
a m essy violences All the poems (transferred) nave
relig io u s im agery, I th in k , but th e.o n es I to o k were
more concrete „ T h at's w hat the b ook w as moving .
tow ard; le s s sym bolic im agery. There seem ed to
bee too much tw istin g and d isg u st in the firs t
book. 15
There are s t i ll a d a p tatio n s in Lord W earv's C a s tle , but
th ey c o n s is t m ostly in w hat Lowell c a lls "im itation*”
"W hen I u se the word a fter below the title of a poem , w hat
16
follow s i s not a tra n sla tio n but an im ita tio n . . , "
These
im itatio ns range from Sextus Propertius to C obbett and m ost of
them are s e t in rough adap tio n s of the Ita lia n and S h ak esp earian
sonnet* Of the two th a t are n o t, one is in the s ta n z a ic p attern
of D o n n e's "A N octurnal on S t. L u cy 's Day" and the other is two
n in e -lin e s ta n z a s .
The only irreg u lar sta n z a form reta in e d from
the Land of U n lik en ess is th a t of A rnold's "The S c h o la r-G y p sy ."
The break w ith the Land of U n lik en ess is not com plete *
Lowell i s s t i l l concerned w ith the enerv atio n and b ru tality of the
p re se n t sta te of man. and can speak in h is former lo u d , in tric a te ,
and rh e to ric a l voice;
Our F ath ers wrung th e ir bread from sto c k s and stones
And fenced tn eir gardens w ith the Redm an's bones;
Embarking from the N ether Land of H olland. ... .17
15 I b id . . p . 63,
16 Lord W earv 's C a stle (New York; 1947), "Note , "
17 "Children of L ig h t," p. 28*
2,5
In many poems# how ever> th is a ttitu d e is s e t in term s of a
dram atic or p e rso n a l p e rs p e c tiv e .
He tre a ts N apoleon and
C harles the F ifth . A single lin e of D ante in sp ire s him to
re c o n stru ct th e tragedy of an I ta lia n soldier:
W here i s th a t G hibelline whom D ante met
On purgatory' s doorstep* w ithout kin
To s e t up ch an trie s for h is G od-held d e b t? 18
In "1790" cru elty i s not a cosm ic gesture# but an underplayed *
in te n se ly p erso n al actio n :
»».a sp a n ie l mucked w ith ta r
Gut by h is H ighne s s ' a n k le s on the d o u b le-q u ick
To fetch its stam ping m is tre s s , Louis sm ashed
I ts backbone w ith a backstroke of h is stic k :
Slouching a little more than usual* he sp la sh e d
As b o y ish a s a sta llio n to the Champs de M ars. 19
There is another stra in in Robert L o w ell's poetry th a t
ap p ears in se v e ra l poems in Lord W earv 's C a stle and may be found
in m ost of the poem s of The M ills of the K avanauahs.
One of the
ad ap tio n s in Lord W ea rv 's G astie is a c lo se rendering - in many
p la c e s a w ord-for-w ord copy - of Jonathan E dw ards' N arrative of
S uprisina C o n v ersio n s:
Septem ber tw en ty -seco n d # Sir: today
I an sw er. In the la tte r p art of May*
Hard on our L ord's A scen sio n , it began
To be more s e n s ib le . A gentlem an
Of more th an common understanding * s tr ic t
In m o rals, pious in b ehavior, kicked
a g a in s t our goad, 20
18 "The S old ier* " p ,35
19 p . 40
20 "After Surprising C onversions *" p . 60
26
This i s w hat I would c all a dram atic monologue . I t probably
grows out of L o w ell's in c re a sin g aw aren ess of the p e rso n a l
and show s a g rea ter e a se in d ictio n ;f I do not m ean to im ply
th a t the im personal or rh eto rical poem s of Lord W earv 's Gas tie
are in ferio r, m erely th a t th ey u se a d ifferen t and more supple
brand of v e rs ific a tio n . This s tra in in L ow ell1s poetry is seen
in p a rts of "The F irst Sunday in L ent" and. the opening of "M ary W inslow " a s w ell a s in m ost of the poems in The M ills of
the K av anauahs.
The d ifference b etw een the opening of the title poem of
The M ills of the K avanauahs;
The Douay Bible in the garden chair
Facing the lad y playing so lita ire
In blue-’je a n s and a s e a ls k in toque from Bath
Is Sol h er dummy. 21
and "Salem" from Land of U n lik en ess;
In Salem s e a s ic k sp in d rift d rifts or sk ip s
To the canvas flapping on the seaw ard p an es
U ntil the knittin g Seam an sta b s a t ships
N osing lik e sheep of M orpheus through h is brain's
Asylum. 22
.
p re se n ts the polarity, of v e rsific a tio n betw een L o w ell's first
volume and h is th ird .
T hem atically, a ls o , th ere seem s to be a g rea t change in
th is third volum e. In the previous two v o lu m e s, Land of U n lik en ess
21 (New York: 1951), p . 3.
22 Land of U n lik e n e ss .
27
and Lord W earv1s C a s tle .. the em phasis w as on dogma
ritual/, and the sym bolism of the C hurch. The firs t v ersio n
of th e title poem / "The M ills of the Kavanaughs^ " w hich
23
appeared in the Kenvon R eview ,
contained a llu sio n s to the
Virgin M ary and to S t. Patrick? a ll th e s e a llu sio n s were om itted
in the v e rsio n th a t w as rep rin ted in The M ills of the K avanauahs.
As Hugh S ta p le s said?
. . . t h e r e is a them e of o p p osition to C atholicism
in much of th is poetry th a t goes beyond mere
in d iffe re n c e . The Douay Bible in "The M ills of the
K avanaughs" i s not sim ply a partner in Anne Kavan a u g h 's game of P a tie n c e , it is "Sol her dummy , " a s Lowell m akes c le a r in a note - her opponent. 24
The ab sen ce of C h ristian and C ath o lic sym bolism is. a p p a re n t.
Except for sporadic in s ta n c e s in th e other poem s, "M other M arie
T herese" i s the only poem th a t develops a them e involving a
re lig io u s a ttitu d e and i t s approach is ra th e r unusual?
After M other d ie d ,
"an em igree in th is world and the n e x t, ”
Said F ather Turbot, playing w ith h is te x t. 25
This seem ing change is not th eo lo g ica l but aesth etic?
the poem trie s to be a poem and not a p iec e of
a r tle s s relig io u s testim o n y .
. . . there i s a
q u estio n of w hether my poems are re lig io u s or
ju s t u se relig io u s im ag ery . In many w ays they
(the la te r poems) seem to me more re lig io u s than
23 Kenvon R eview . XII (1951), pp. 1 -1 9 .
24 Robert Lowell; The F irst Twenty Years (London? 1962),
p . 55.
25 p . 3 6 -3 7 .
28
the e a rly o n e s , w hich are full of sym bols and
re fe ren c es to C hrist and God* I'm sure the sym bols
and th e C atholic framework d id n 't make the poem s
re lig io u s e x p e rie n c e s .
* .* I d o n 't think my
experience changed very m uch. 26
W hat h as changed in th is third volume is p e rsp e c tiv e .
C h aracters are being c re a te d , and the poem s move from in sid e
them* Perhaps th is a c c o u n ts for some of the d ifficu lty in a
poem lik e "The M ills of the K avanaughs." The p ro g ressio n is
not lo g ic a l but personals
"She h a s a h e a rt and s h e 's alive,. I
hope f and she h as a lo t of color to her and dr a ma . 2 7
26 "An In terv iew w ith Robert L ow ell, " p . 94.
27 I b i d . , p . 75.
Ill The M ovem ent o f the Line
E sse n tia l to any study of Robert Low elll s prosody is a
c lo se a n a ly sis of h is sta p le lin e - iam bic p e n ta m e ter» As
John C iardi h as said* "Lowell does p n t the hero ic lin e through
1
p a c e s it h a s n 't performed for a long t im e ,"
Even though there
are many irreg u larly stru ctu red poems in a ll of the f ir s t three
volum es of h is poetry^ the iam bic lin e rem ains a norm from
w hich Lowell d ep arts only to return again* The p e c u lia r te c h ­
n ic a l g enius of Lowell l ie s in the way he avoids an y m onotonous
iam bic m ovement w ithin th is ra th e r s tric t lim ita tio n he h a s s e t
for him self*
2
John Crowe Ransom l is ts th ree p o ssib le ex ce p tio n s
th a t
can be adm itted in an iam b ic lines two u n s tre s s e d sy lla b le s
can rep la ce the one of the iam b if e lisio n i s p o ss ib le in
a c tu a l sp eech or only th eo re tic ally ; th ere can be an extra
u n stre sse d sy lla b le a fter the tenth# and in any foot e x cep t the
'
3
l a s t / th e iamb may be re v e rs e d . The u se t ° w hich Lowell puts
th e se allow ed ex cep tio n s # both sin g ly and in conjunction^ allo w s
1 John Ciardi/. " L e tte r," Poetry * LXXII (1948) / p , 2 63 ,
2 Sim ilar ex cep tio n s are noted by John C iard i/ How Does a
Poem M ean? (Cambridge; 1959) + pp* .923-924* and Yvor.W inters*
In D efense of R eason (Denver: 1947) * pp. 107-111. I have chosen
Ransom b eca u se of h is re la tio n w ith Lowell; se e "John R ansom 's
C o n v e rsatio n . " Sew anee Review* XVIII (1948) r pp .. 275-277.
3 "E nglish M e te r. 11 Sew anee R eview . XVIII (Summer 1956)*
p . 471.
29
30
him to work w ithin the lim its of an iam bic lin e y et e ffe c t a
v a rie ty of s ta te m e n ts ,
Lowell u s e s tro ch a ic su b stitu tio n freely^ but h is m ost
w idespread u se of i t is. in the in itia l foot of the lines
i
i
i
i
i
D rvina upon the crooked n a ils of tim e r
I.
H
1
<
1
D irtv Saint F ra n c is , w here i s J e s u s 1 b lood,
i
i
i
»
i
S a lv a tio n 's only Fountainhead and F lo o d ? 4
Here he c re a te s a sem blance of fallin g rhythm but im m ediately
jerk s th e lin e back in to an ia m b ic , risin g m ovem ent.
He seldom
u s e s the rev e rse d iamb in the second foot and never in the fifth
or final foot, but he w ill u se i t in the third:
Now south and south and south the m allard h e a d s .
H is g reen -b lu e bony hood ech o es the green
I
1
F la ts of the W e s e r ,» ,, 5
W hen he u s e s two su b stitu te d tro ch e es in one lin e the e ffect is
6
»
i
i
i
i
sta rtlin g : Here the ia c k -h a mmer jab s into the o c e a n , , , .
4"C iste rc ia n s in G erm any," Land of U n lik e n e ss,
(Ita lic s in a ll Lowell c ita tio n s m in e,) ,
5 “The North Sea U ndertaker' s C om plaint, ” Lord W eary1s
C a s tle , p , 33,
6 " Colloquy in Black Rock, " Lord W earv 's C a s tle , p , 5*
31
The su b stitu te d a n a p e st is u s e d w ith the same
re g u la rity and w ith the same freedom* Lowell w ill su b stitu te
in any foot in the lin e ex ce p t the fifth , though not n e c e s s a rily
where e lisio n w ould be th e o re tic a lly possibles
*
*
,i
*
l
A c lu tte r of Bible and w eeping w illow s guards
i
i
|
i
*
The ste rn C olonial m ag istra te s and w ards
*
i
i
i
Of C harles the S econd, and th e clouds
i
;
i
i
i
W eep on the ju s t and u n ju st a s th ey will* * , *7
Perhaps th is i s w hat Ransom m eant w hen he s a id th a t "a lin e may
becom e bigger a n d , and perhaps b e tte r, yet rem ain a pentam eter
8
lin e «o . o1
Along w ith th e three ru le s Ransom rep h rased from B ridges,
he s ta te d another th a t he thought should be included: "Any two
su c c e ss iv e iam bic fe e t m ight be re p la c e d by a double or ionic
9
foot* "
There are two ty p e s of io n ic fe e t: the g re a te r io n ic ,
w hich i s two s tre s s e d s y lla b le s follow ed by two u n s tr e s s e d ;.
and th e sm a lle r, w hich i s two u n s tre s s e d follow ed by t # o s tr e s s e d «,
Yvor W inters m entions e s s e n tia lly the same thing when he
d ev elo ps the p o s s ib ility of sp o n d aic su b stitu tio n ; he b eliev e s
7 "D unbarton, "Land of U n lik e n e s s »
8 The W orld1s Body (New York: 1938), p» 97
9 "E nglish M e te r, " p . 471*
32
th a t i t i s a momentary abandoning of the a c c e n tu a l-s y lla b ic
sprung -rhythm . According to W inters i t occurs w here in any
four sy lla b le s the "a c c e n tu a l w eight of the first and third p la c e s
is in c re a se d to eq u al approxim ately the w eight of the second
10
and th e fo u rth ."
Low ell se em s to favor both of th e s e p rin c ip le s in his
v e rs e . In "The Quaker G raveyard in N antucket" there are
exam ples of sm aller io n ic s:
. . . t h e untim ely stroke
i
i
i
i
i
Of the
g rea se d w ash exploding on a s h o a l-b e ll
£
I
I
A
In the old mouth of the A tlan tic. 11
W hile in " C iste rc ia n s in Germany" is a greater!
H ere
Puppets have heard the c iv il words of Darwin
i
i
C la n g , c la n g , w hile the d i v in e s .. . . 12
There are a lso num erous exam ples of W in ters' conception of
i
i i
i
sy lla b ic sprung-rhythm ! ’ How dry tim e sc rea k s in i t s fa t
13
a x le - g r e a s e .. . . "
The first four sy lla b le s of th is lin e
might p o ss ib ly be scanned into an iam bic m ovem ent/ but th e
10 In D efen se of R eason (New York! 1947) , p . 110. Also
se e John C ia rd i, How D oes a Poem M e a n ? f p . 922.
11 Lord W earv 's C a s tle , p . 14.
12 Land of U n lik e n e s s .
13 Ib id .
33
slig h t difference betw een th e s t r e s s e s , if th ere i s an audible
d iffe re n c e , does not lend its e lf to any su c h d istin c tio n .
M uch of the s tre s s am biguity th a t re s u lts from io n ic s
and sy lla b ic sprung-rhythm i s the re s u lt of the ten d en cy in
Lowell to compound* A ccording to George P a c e , a g reat many
14
compounds have re la tiv e ly eq u al s tr e s s le v e ls „
Here the D ragon's
S ucklings tum ble on the s te e l—s c a le s and puff
Billows of cannon—fodder from the b eak s
Of be e -h iv e cam p s, m unition—pools and sc ra p —h e ap s
And here the S e rp e n t,*** 15
The conjunction of a n a p e s tic and tro ch a ic su b stitu tio n
coupled w ith io n ic s and jammed s tr e s s e s (or W in ters' s y lla b ic
sprung-rhythm ) produce lin e s w hich do not seem even fain tly
iam bic;
W hen the w h a le 's v isc e ra go- and th e ro ll
Of its corruption overruns th is world
Beyond tre e -s w e p t N antucket and W ood' s Hole
And M a rth a 's Vineyard, S a ilp f, w ill your sw ord
W h istle and fa ll and sin k into the f a t?
In the g re a t a s h - p it of Jeh o sh ap h at
The bones cry for the blood of the w hite w h a le ,
The f a t flukes arch and whack about its e a r s .
The d e a th -la n c e churns into the sa n c tu a ry , te a rs
The gun-blue sw in g le , heaving lik e a f l a i l.
And h a ck s the coiling life out; i t w orks and drags
And rip s the sperm -w hale' s m idriff into r a g s .
G obbets of blubber s p ill to wind and w e ath e r,
S a ilo r, and g u lls go round the stoven tim bers
W here the morning sta rs sing out to g eth er
14 "The Two Dom ains; M eter and Rhythm, 11 PMLA,
LXXVI (1961), p . 417,
15 " C iste rc ia n s in G erm an y ," Land of U n lik e n e ss,
34
And thunder sh a k e s the w hite surf and dism em bers
%he re d flag hammered in the m a st-h e a d * H id e ,
Our ste e l,, Jonas M e s s ia s , in Thy side,: 16
Here the in te n s ific a tio n of tro c h a ic and a n a p e stic su b stitu tio n ,
j;
j
X
and the u se of the words "v in ey ard , “ " s a ilo r, " " c o ilin g ,"
"b lu bber, " "h e a v in g , " "m o rn in g ," "thunder, " and "ham m ered” even when th ey are not sc an n e d a s tro ch ees in sid e the lin e tem porarily c reate a tro c h a ic rhythm* The entire p a ssa g e
a n sw e rs to G erard M anley H opkins4', d escrip tio n of " counter­
point rhythm* "
If, how ever, th e re v e rs a l is rep e ate d in two
fe e t ru n n in g , e s p e c ia lly so a s to in clu d e the
s e n s itiv e seco n d fo o t, i t m ust be due e ith e r to
great w ant of ear or e ls e a c a lc u la te d e ffe c t,
th e superinducing or mounting of a new rhythm upon
th e old; and sin c e the new or mounted rhythm is
a c tu a lly heard and a t the sam e tim e the mind
n a tu rally su p p lie s the natural or standard forgoing
rh y th m .. .tw o rhythm s a re in some manner running
a t once and we have som ething an sw erab le to
counterpoint in m u sic , w hich is two or more
s tra in s of tune going on together , and th is is
C ounterpoint Rhythm. 17
I t i s lin e s lik e th e s e th a t make h is v e rse appear "one of lumped
te n s io n , of a half-aw kw ard clp ttin g -u p of o therw ise s tric t
18
a lte rn a tio n . . . . "
16 "The Q uaker G raveyard in N a n tu c k e t," Lord Weary*s
C a s tle .» p . 12.
17 Gerard M anlev Hopkins* Poems and P ro s e .
W . H* Gardner ed * , (Londons 1953), p . 8 .
18 John H ollander, "Robert L ow ellls New B ook,"
P o etrv . XCV (1959) , p . 44*
35
Lowell a lso u s e s another type of counterpoint* I believ e
Hopkins is talk in g of w hat I would c a ll "m etrical counterpoint^ "
the counterpoint of a fallin g m eter a g a in st a risin g (though a c tu a lly
th e fallin g m eter is a rhythm) or a n iam bic lin e a g a in st a tro c h a ic .
The second type of counterpoint w hich Lowell i s u s in g , I b e lie v e ,
I would c a ll the counterpoint of speech-rhythm s; it b e co m es,
u ltim a te ly , not the sim ultaneous running of rhythm s in sid e
th e sam e p ro so d ic sy ste m b u t the ju x ta p o sitio n of two pro sd so d ic
sy ste m s - the a c c e n tu a l and the a c c e n tu a l-sy lla b ic * Robert
Bridges d efin es stre s s -p ro s o d y in th is way:
In th is system the n a tu ra l a c c e n tu a l sp eech-rhythm s
come to the fro n t, and are the determ ining factor of
the v e r s e , overruling the sy lla b ic d e term in atio n . .
These sp eech -rh y th m s were alw ays presents th ey
c o n stitu ted in c la s s ic a l v e rse the m ain v a rie ty of
e ffe c ts w ithin d ifferen t m e tre s , but th ey were
co u n te rp o in te d . so to s p e a k , on a qu an titiv e rhythm ,
th a t i s , on a framework of s tr ic t (unaccented) tim e.:.* 19
Northrup Frye e x p lain s th a t th is is due to a " sim ilarity betw een the
pentam eter lin e of M ilton and S hakespeare and the older (or newer)
20
E nglish s tro n g -s tre s s m eter*"
The re a d e r i s further conditioned
,
to c atch th is counterpointed fo u r-s tre s s rhythm b e ca u se it is
u sed in lin e s where one of the five s tr e s s e s h a s b een low ered
enough to w h e re , in other lin e s , i t might have b een assum ed
into a su b stitu te d a n a p e stic fo o t»
19 "L etter to a M u sician on E nglish Prosody, ” in
C o llected E ssa v s and Papers (London: 1933) , p p , 71-72 .
20 "Lexis and M e lo s ," in Sound in Poetry (New Yorks 1956)
p. xv.
36
1 The p e g -le g and reproachful ch an cello r
2 W ith a fo rg et-m e-n o t in h is b a tto n -h o le
.
3 W hen the u n se aso n ed fib erato rs roll
^
f
X
X
X
4 Into the M arket S q u a re , ground arm s before
Jt
X
X:
X
X
5 The R athaus; but alread y lily -s ta n d s
xx
i
x
i
6 Bargeon the rise n R hineland, and a roughz
7 C athedral lifts its e y e ,
21
In each of th e s e lin e s the counterpointed a ccen tu al-rh y th m
is em phasized by a llite ra tio n . In the six th lin e i t is achieved
through a fro n tal consonant; in the second by near-rhym e; in
th e fourth by the re p e a te d " r's " ; and in the f ir s t by a com bination
of th is fa c to r s .
B esides L ow ell’s iam bic line,, in Land of U n lik en ess
and Lord W ea rv 's C a stle th ere are many in s ta n c e s of tetram eter
and trim eter and dim eter lin e s ,
'The in sta n c e s of tetram eter and
trim eter are re la tiv e ly s lig h t, so th ey w ill hot concern us; but
the high in cid en ce of th e trim eter lin e w arrants a n a ly s is . In
both volum es i t is u sed in se p a ra te poems and a s one of the
b a s ic in te rje c td d lin e s ,
"The Bomber" is th ree s ta n z a s of
fourteen l i n e s , in trim e te r.
" Concord Cem etery A fter the
T ornado, " a ls o in Land of U n lik en e ss , i s th ree te n -lin e sta n z a s
of trim eter; and "At th e Bible H ouse" (Lord W earv 's C astle) is
th irty lin e s of trim ete r.
The lin e s in a ll of th e s e poems are
iam b ic, but the sy lla b ic count can run a s low a s five and as
21 "The E x ile 's R eturn," Lord W earv 's C a s tle , p . 3,
high a s eight,.
j
X
I
Bomber climb out on the roof
i
x
X
W here your goggled p ilo ts mock#.
X
X
W ith p o sitiv e disproof#
j
x
'x
D avid'S and S ib y l's Bluff*
"W ill God put back the clock
Or conjure an Angel H o st
W hen the Freedom s p o lice the w o rld ?" 22
The v a ria tio n s follow the sam e p a tte rn s se en in th e iam bic lin e *
There is an in v erted iamb in the f ir s t lin e and a su b stitu te d
a n ap e st; lin e two ~ a su b stitu te d anapest? lin e three - normal
iam bic movement; lin e four - an inverted iam b. The l a s t lin e
c o n tain s eig h t sy llab les# th ree stre sse s# and two su b stitu ted
a n a p e s ts .
The sam e phrasin g se e n in e a rlie r pen tam eter lin e s
enforcing a counterpointed fo u r-s tre s s lin e w orks here to
counterpoint a tw o -s tr e s s lines
You spoke
W histling gr is tie -w ords
H alf inau d ib le .
To u si of raw —boned birds
22 "The Bomber# " Land of U n lik e n e s s . The movement
here is sim ilar to A uden's "Septem ber 1# 1929 ," M odern Verse
in E nglish (New Yorks 1958) t D avid C ecil and A llen T ate ed* *
p . 519.
38
l
A
*
M igrating from the smoke
Of c i t i e s . . . .
23
Of course the counterpointing here i s different than th a t
se en in the iam bic lin e * The rhythm s do not a c h iev e any­
where n e ar the lin e a r p lay in th is sh o rt lin e th a t th ey do in
the longer o n e .
The difference noted betw een the two types of
counterpointing is s lig h t, but the e ffe c t it has on the
p o etry of Robert Low ell i s d e c is iv e . H opkins' type of
counterpointing w ill re s u lt in a lin e th a t is h eav ily jammed
w ith s tre s s e s ^ w hile Bridges' counterpointing w ill r e s u lt
in a lo o s e r, more p lia b le lin e .
The e s s e n tia l ch an g e , then ,
in L o w ell's lin e a s se en in h is firs t three volum es is a
move from a lin e counterpointed lik e B rid g e s'. This corres~
ponds w ith the them atic change we noted e a rlie r.
As the geographical lim its of h is poetry
co ntract L o w ell's v isio n tu rn s in w ard , so
th a t in h is la te s t work, he i s concerned l e s s
w ith cosm ic c o n flicts or so c ia l sa tire than
w ith h is own em otional re a c tio n s to people
and situ a tio n s im portant to h is p erso n al l i f e . 24
23 "At a Bible H o u s e ," Lord W earv 's C a s tle . p . 30.
See A rchibald M a c le is h 's "Ezry" for a sim ilar m ovem ent.
M odern Verse in E n g lish , p . 362; and Richard W . S helton,
"C ertain A spects of Prosody in the Verse Dramas of A rchibald
M a c le is h , " unpublished m aster' s th e s is . U n iv ersity of A rizona,
1961, p p . 2 5 -4 2 .
24 Hugh S tap les ■ Robert Lowell: The F irst Twenty Y ears,
(London: 1962), p . 16..
IV Earlv and Late P oetry
Though it is dangerous to point to one poet a s an
in flu en ce on a ll th e early work of Robert Lowell t the sim i­
la ritie s betw een the poetry of M ilton and th a t of Low ell are
'
1
sig n ific a n t an d e x te n siv e enough to w arrant the statem en t *
The sim ple ju x ta p o sitio n of two e a rly poem s, one by e a c h
poet* p o in ts tow ards th e relation*
Avenge O Lord thy slau g h tered s a in ts , w hose bones
Lie sc a tte re d on the Alpine m ountains c o ld .
Even them who k ept thy tru th so pure of old
W hen a ll our fath ers w orshiped sto c k s and s to n e s .
Forget no: in thy book record th e ir groans
Who were th y sheep and th eir an cien t fold
Slain by the bloody Piem ontese th a t rolled
M other w ith infant down the ro c k s . Their m oans
The v a le s redoubled to the h i l l s , and th ey ,
To h e av e n . Their m artyred blood and a s h e s sow
O 'er a ll the Ita lia n fie ld s where s till doth sw ay
The trip le tyrant: th a t from th e s e may grow
A hundredfold, who having learned thy w ay
Early may fly the Babylonian w oe, 2
and L o w ell's:
Here C harlem agne's stu n ted shadow p lay s ch arad es
W ith paw ns and b ish o p s w hose p la y -c a n is te r
Shivers the Snow m an's b o n e s, and the G reat Bear
Shuffles aw ay to his a n c e s tra l sh a d e s .
For here N apoleon Bonaparte p arad es;
H u ssar and c u ira ssie r and grenadier
Ascend the tom bstone ste p p e s to R u ssia, Here
The e a g le s gather as the W est in v ad es
1 See Randall J a rre ll, "Poetry in W ar and P eace , "
P a rtisan R eview , XII (1945), p , 124,
2 H arris F rancis F le tc h e r, e d . , The Com plete P o etical W orks of
Tohn M ilton (New York: 1941), p* 133. Milton* s fourth lin e in the ,
poem above w as u sed by Lowell in " Children of L ig h t," Lord W earv 's
C a stle , p , 28,
40
The H oly Land of R ussia# Lord and glory
Of dragon!sh, unfathom ed w a te rs, rise*
Although your Berezina cannot gnaw
T hese so ld ier-p lu m ed pontoons to m atchw ood, ic e
I s tuning them to tu m b rils, and th e snow
B lazes its c arrio n -m iles to Purgatory* 3
The d e scrip tio n in both th e s e p a s s a g e s is ex trao rd in arily
sim ila r, though the tone of the poems is different: L ow ell's
"cannot g n a w ", "c a rrio n -m ile s, " and "d ragon!sh, unfathom ed
w aters" and M ilto n 's "m o an s/to h e a v e n ,” "sla u g h te red s a i n ts ,"
and "m artyred blood and a sh e s #" The b a s ic sim ila rity i s in th e
stru c tu re of th e se " so n n e ts# " Both p o e ts tak e advantage of
every ru n -o n lin e th ey c a n . The octave and s e s te t in both poem s
are divided by a sen ten c e startin g a t the end of the ninth lin e #
Even the m edial lin e -b re a k s are m odulated in a sim ilar way*
But i t i s n o t in the sh o rt poems that, the re la tio n i s a s
e x p lic it a s th e s im ila ritie s betw een "The Q uaker G raveyard in
N antucket" and "L ycidas*" T hem atically the stru c tu re s are
sim ilar; both d e a l w ith a d eath by drowning and both are
e le g ie s (or monodies) * L o w ell's poem w as firs t printed in the
4
P a rtisa n Review a s nine sta n z a s of 194 lin e s , d iv id e d , lik e
the lin e s of "L ycidas, " into lo o se sta n z a ic stru c tu re s of
pentam eter lin e s v aried by a n o c c a sio n a l trim e te r. The sta n z a s
of both range in lin e -le n g th w ith each sta n z a having i t s own
3 "N apoleon C ro sse s the B erezina, " Lord Weary*s
C a s tle , p# 34#
4 P a rtisa n R eview , Xtl (1945) , pp. 170-174#
41
highly in tric a te rhym e-schem e differing from the rhymeschem e o f the other s ta n z a s only slightly* Both p o ets
enlarge the e le g a ic form by broaching u n iv ersal is s u e s at
the end of the poems . It is d iffic u lt to decide w hich poem
John Crowe Ransom is describ in g when he sp e ak s of a poem
th a t i s com posed of
a sta n z a of indeterm inate le n g th / running it
m ight be to tw enty lin e s or so , m arked by
some in tric a te rhyming schem e/ and by a
sm all number of s ix -s y lla b le lin e s in se rte d
among the te n -s y lla b le lin e s w hich c o n stitu te d
the s ta p le * 5
We should rem ember th a t th e p rin cip al ex cep tio n s
n oted in L o w ell's lin e s e a rlie r were R ansom 's re s e ttin g of
Robert Bridges* prosodic ex p lan atio n of Milton* Rowell
him self/, in review ing D ylan Thom as, sa y s th a t anyone
who h as re a d Bridges* Study of M ilto n 's
P rosody m ust admire th e stran g e s k ill w ith
w hich Thomas v a rie s the s tric t iam bic lin e s
of h is e a rlie r poem s. The e a s y and lo o se
movement of h is la te r sy lla b ic sta n z a s is as
rem a rk ab le . 6
E xcept for the rhyme and the n in e -s ta n z a p lacem ent,
th o u g h , the other pro so d ic fe a tu re s of L ow ell's poem draw
more from the so u rces of e a rlie r and la te r M ilton th an from
5 The W orld's Body (New York: 1938) , p . 7 * Ransom
is speaking of "L y cid as. "
6 "T hom as, B ishop, and W illiam s, "Sew anee R eview .
LV (1947), p . 493.
42
nL ycidas" its e lf* I t seem s a s though Lowell had tak en
the frequent use of in te rje c te d th r e e -s tre s s lin e s se e n in
th e C horuses of Sam son A ao n istes , the Psalm P arap h ra se s >
and e a rlie r poem s lik e "On Time , " the heavy enjam bem ent of
P arad ise L o s t. and th e irreg u lar paragraph fingering se e n in
M ilto n ’s la te r poetry,- and th en in te n sifie d a ll of th is in one
broad form adopted from "L ycidas =" The im portance of
L o w ell's poem d o es not lie in i t s re la tio n to M ilton; how ever,
it is im portant b e c a u se i t sta n d s a s a prosodic fo cal point
for m ost of h is poetry u n til The M ills of the K avanauahs.
T h eo re tica lly , the lin e of iam bic pentam eter m ay have
a break after any sy lla b le , or may be w ithout one altogether;
p ra c tic a lly , both Lowell and M ilton make u se of every one of
th e s e p o s s ib ilitie s :
after the first sy lla b le :
Now, and the world sh a ll come to W alsingham 7
a fter the seco n d sy llab le:
S a ilo rs , who p itc h th is portent a t the se a
(I, lin e 17, p . 8)
after the third sy llab le:
Off 'S c o n s e t, where the yawing ;S-boats sp la sh
(II, lin e 7, p . 9)
a fte r the fourth sy llab le:
In h is s te e l s c a le s : ask for no O rphean lu te
(I, lin e 23, p . 8)
7 "The Quaker G raveyard in N an tu ck et, " Lord W earv's
C a s tle , VI, lin e 20 , p . 13. All su b seq u e n t n o tatio n s w ill be
made in the te x t.
43
a fter the fifth sy lla b le !
The P equod's se a w ings^ beating landw ard^ fall
(II, lin e 2
p* SB
after the six th sy llab le:
The clocks! off M ad ak et, where the lubbers la s h
(IIv lin e 10f p . 9)
after the sev en th sy lla b le :
On Ahabls void and forehead; and the nam e
(Ij- lin e 15, p . 8)
after the eighth sy llab le:
In the mad scram ble of th e ir l iv e s . They died
(III, lin e 13, p . 10) .
a fte r the ninth sy llab les
W hen the drowned s a ilo r clu tch ed the d ra g -n e t. Light
(I, lin e 4 , p . 8)
a fter the te n th sy lla b le :
Had steam ed into our North A tlantic F le e t,
(I, lin e 3, p . 8)
no break:
Cry out in the long night for the hurt b e a s t . , . .
(II, lin e 1 8 , p & 9)
A lso , in th e o ry , we m ight ex p ect to find up to ten
breaks in any single lin e , but in th is poem there are seldom
more than tw o, a principle th a t Lowell - nor M ilton - rarely
v io la te s in any lin e of h is p o e try .
Though Lowell does su b stitu te irreg u larly w ith th re e s tre s s l in e s , there are p a ra lle ls , rhythm ic p a r a lle ls ,
betw een se c tio n s of a sta n z a or en tire s ta n z a s . To define
th is fu rth er, the poem is divided into sev en s e c tio n s .
The
opening tw e n ty -s ix lin e s of the firs t se ctio n a lte rn a te three
44
and f iv e - s tr e s s lin e s in th is manner: 5555535533
5 5 5 5 5 3 5 3 3 3 5 5 5 3 2 The second se ctio n has no irreg u lar
th r e e - s tr e s s and corresponds to the sev en th s e c tio n . The
th ird se c tio n e ch o es the beginning of se ctio n one^ but after
ten lin e s develops it's own p a ttern „ The fo u rth ‘se c tio n and
the six th se c tio n develop sim ilarly: two s ta n z a s of 5555535555*
The sam e p a tte rn is re p e a te d in other poems ("The D eath of the
S heriff, " "In Memory of Arthur W inslow , " and "W here the
Rainbow Ends") * The se v e n th se ctio n follow s no re p e ate d
pattern*
The p o e tic v irtu o sity dem anded in any sin g le sta n z a
th a t com bines irreg u lar th re e '-s tre s s lin e s w ith iam bic
p en tam eter, a lo o se rhyme (som etim es c o u p le ts , som etim es
8
a ltern a te or fla tly irregular) made m obile by n ear-rh y m e,
and e x te n siv e enjam bem ent coupled w ith lo o se m edial lin e b reak , i s staggering* There are so many w ays in w hich a
co n stru ctio n lik e th is can f a il, su c h d e lic a te rhythm ic balan ce
n e c e s s a ry , th a t even p a rtia l s u c c e s s is an achievem ent.
In sp eak in g of the paragraph fingering in M ilto n 's
v e rs e , T* S. E liot say s th a t
M ilto n 's v erse is e s p e c ia lly refra cto ry to
yielding its s e c re ts to exam ination of the sin g le
lin e . For h is v erse is not formed th is w ay. It
is th e p e rio d , the s e n te n c e , and s till m ore, the
8 The full range of rhyme w ill be tre a te d la te r .
45
paragraph^- th a t i s the unit of M ilton’ s, v e rse ; and
em p h asis on the lin e i s the minimum n e c e s s a ry to
provide a c o u n te r-p atte rn to the period stru c tu re v
I t i s only in the period th a t the w a v e-len g th of
M ilton’s v erse is to be found: it i s h is a b ility to
give a p e rfe c t and unique p attern to every p a ra ­
graph^ su c h th a t the fu ll beau ty of the lin e i s
found in its context., and h is a b ility to work in
longer m usical, u n its th an any other poet* « .. 9
U sing a sta n z a of the "The Quaker G raveyard in N antucket"
a s a u n it/ in th e w ay th a t E liot s u g g e s ts / I b eliev e we can see the
pro so d ic method in m ost of the e arly poetry of Robert Lowell „
1 All you recovered from Poseidon died
2 W ith you/ my co u sin / an d the harrowed brine
3 Is fru itle s s on the blue beard of the god,
4 Stretching beyond us to the c a s tle s in S p ain /
5 N a n tu ck e t's w estw ard h a v en . To Cape Cod
X
i
j
6 G u n s, cradled on the tid e /
7 B last the e e lg ra s s about a w aterclock
8 Of bilge and backw ash/ ro il the s a lt and sand
}
- vi
X
9 Lashing e a rth 's sc a ffo ld , rock
10 Our w arsh ip s in the hand
11 Of the G reat God., w here tim e ’s contrition b lu e s ,
12 W hatever i t w as th e se Quaker sa ilo rs lo s t
13 In the mad scram ble of th e ir liv e s . They died
14 W hen tim e w as o p en -ey ed
9 Annual L ecture on a M aster Mind: M ilto n , Read
26 M arch/ 1947, p p . 12 -1 3 .
46
15 W ooden and ch ild ish ; only bones abide
16 T herer in the no w h e re . where th e ir b o ats were to s s e d
17 E k v -h ia h . w here m ariners had fab led news
18 Of IS j the w hited m onster . W hat i t c o st
19 The is th eir s e c r e t. In the sp erm -w h ale’s s lic k
20 1 se e the Q uakers drown and hear th e ir cry;
21 "If God him self had not been on our s id e r
22 If God him self had not been on our side t
23 W hen the A tlantic ro se a g a in s t,. u s , w hy,
10
24 Then, it had sw allow ed us up quick , "
P ro so d ically there are three le v e ls working w ithin th is
poem; the iam bic norm^ counterpointed rhythm s sim ilar to th o se
w hich H opkins d e sc rib e d , and in te rje c te d th r e e - s tr e s s lin e s
(six -sy llab le) „ The se c tio n w hose s tr e s s e s I have marked from
lin e four to lin e elev en c o n tain s a ll of th e s e e le m e n ts , Line
th ree h a s a su b s titu te d tro ch e e; lin e four s ta r ts w ith a su b s titu te d
tro ch ee and ends w ith a su b stitu te d a n ap est; lin e five runs in
s tr ic t iam bic pentam eter; lin e s ix is an in te rje c te d s ix -s y lla b le
line* W hile th is i s w hat i s happening in sid e the lin e s , the
movement of the poem th a t s e ts th e se lin e s a g a in st one another
through p a u se and enjam bem ent produces th e to ta l rhythm ic
effect*
10 p* 10
47
The larg e rhythm ic o utline and the in tric a te inner™
movement of th is s ta n z a is controlled by p a u s e s « G ram m atical
p a u ses in te rru p t the m etric rhythm and are u s e d for th e sak e of
se n s e or to se p ara te th e d ifferen t and varying se c tio n s of the
11
sp eech rhythm*
T hese may be s y n ta c tic a l or rh e to ric a l and
th ey correspond to th e ends o f s e n te n c e s , c la u s e s , and p h ra se s;
th ey are u su a lly in d ic a te d by varying m eans of punctuation* The
se c o n d type of p a u se re fe rs to b re a k s in the speech-rhythm s
and may occur e ith e r a t the lin e d iv isio n s or in the m iddle of
12
lin e s to b ala n ce "groups of vow el and consonant sounds , "
To ex p lain further, norm ally, a t the end of a lin e of poetry
(whether v e rse or not) th ere i s a perform ance p a u s e . In a line
of v erse the p au se is em phasized when there is a re p e titio n of
a sim ilar cadence - th a t i s , a s in th e c a se of L ow ell, where the
poet does not in v ert the l a s t foot in a fiv e-fo o t iam bic lin e
so th a t the lin e w ill end on a cadence effected through an
13
u n s tr e s s e d -s tre s s e d re la tio n betw een the fin al s y lla b le s .
A sharp end-rhym e re p re se n ts not only sim ilar vow el and co n so n an t14
sounds b u t a re p e titio n of sim ilar cad e n ce s a s w ell;
and i f the
11 T his is e s s e n tia lly w hat Bridges s a y s „ See "Letter to A
M u sician on E nglish P ro s o d y ," p p . 58-59 .
12 S* E rnest S prott, M ilto n 1s Art of Prosody (Oxford: 1953), p . 113.
13 For a treatm ent of "cu rsu s e n d in g s," s e e M orris C roll,
"The C adence of E nglish O ratorical P ro s e ," Studies in Philology
(January 1919), pp.. 1 -5 5 .
14 Henry Lanz sa y s it a ffe c ts us rhythm ically b eca u se i t
a ffe c ts us m elo d ica lly , but th is does not change the p o in t. The
P h y sica l Basis of Rime (London: 1931), p* 237,
48
rhyme is reg u lar and c o n s is te n t/ the p a u s e s w ill he so
m arked th a t a v e rse paragraph i s im possible^ sin c e it
depends on a quick ru n -o v er lin e . W ith the kind of
near-rhym e em ployed by Low ell th is danger i s m inim ized .
It is not until th e fifth lin e of the quoted p a s s a g e th a t we
catch a sh arp ly rhym ed w ord/ and th en the rhyme d isa p p e a rs
u n til the n in th lin e ,
The p a u se s th a t occur in the m iddle of a lin e are more
d iffic u lt to e x p lic a te , They are not gram m atical p a u se s and
do not depend on p u n c tu a tio n / but somehow break the lin e so
th a t i t l i e s in rhythm ical b a la n c e / the two h a lv e s played a g a in st
one a n o th e r. Because it is a m atter of individual re a d in g / and
p a rtia lly b e ca u se a stu d en t of lite ra tu re m ight be more apt to
h e ar the m ed ial/ rhythm ic p a u se / being conditioned by a
great d e a l of 16th and 17th century E nglish p o e try / i t is
d ifficu lt to s ta te w ith c e rtain ty ju s t w here the p a u se does
lie :
W henever the w inds are moving / and th eir breath (» ++.*)
H eaves a t the ro p ed -in bulw arks / of th is p ie r/ /
The te rp # and. s e a - g u lls trem ble / a t your death* , , 15
Lowell o b scu res the m edial p a u s e s even further by breaking
16
many of h is enjam bed lin e s both before and a fter the verb
so
th a t the appearance of the verb in the m iddle of a lin e produces
15 "The Quaker G raveyard in N a n tu c k e t/" p* 9 ,
16 See lin e s 8* 9 / 11., 12/ 13/ 15/ 16*
49
a p au se th a t seem s to h o v e r. This m edial p a u se is u sed
by many p o e ts of our decade who have adopted the s la s h
( / ) I have in terp o se d above to in d ic ate "a p au se so lig h t
th a t it hardly se p a ra te s the words , y et does not w ant a
comma — w hich is an in terru p tio n of meaning ra th e r th a n
17
the sounding of the l i n e , , * , "
In th is se c tio n the fin ely b alan ced p a u se s su b tly
move rhythm ic se c tio n s a g a in s t each other to rein fo rce the
jammed s tr e s s e s w ithin th e lin e s by in s is tin g on linking
fin al iam bs (lines 1 5 , 8, 9) w ith in itia l tro ch e es (16, 9 , 6),
The jamming of th e s e s t r e s s e s , in tu rn , slow s th e lin e u n til
the s tre s s e s lo o se n into a reg u la r iam bic or an a n a p e stic
m ovem ent.
One poem may o b v io u sly urge the v o ice a t a
fa s te r pace than does another* W ithin the sam e
poem , m oreover, one part may urge its e lf much
more ra p id ly th a n another . Even within, a n indi­
v id u al lin e , one p h rase may c le a rly be in d ic ate d
a s moving more ra p id ly or more slow ly than
a n o th e r. F or, * .p o e try in p a rticu la r , c a rries w ithin
it a s e r ie s of unm istakable n o tatio n s th a t te ll the
read er how any g iv en p a ssa g e should be re a d . 18
This rhythm ic movement from extrem e te n sio n to rela x atio n
c h a ra c te riz e s a g reat deal of L o w ell's early w ork.
17 C harles O lso n , "P rojective V erse, ” The New American
Poetry * D onald M . A iled, e d . , (New York: 1960), p . 393.
18 John C iard i, How D oes a Poem M e a n ? , pp, 920-921»
50
If a ll poem s are born a s rhythm,- then so m e ,
i t seem s may be born a s rhythms of i d e a s ,
th a t i s , a s p a ttern s of syntax rath e r than
p a ttern s of sound* And th is would make syntax
the very nerve of p o e try « 19
Attempting to p in down the p re c ise re la tio n betw een syntax and
rhythm is u n se ttlin g .
But even though a p o sitio n th a t p o sits
the " id e a " a s moulder of rhythm or rhythm a s m oulder of idea
i s d iffic u lt to e x p la in , sy n ta x may be d e alt w ith purely in
re la tio n to the w ay a sin g le id e a may develop in a v e rse
p arag rap h , Alan S tephens s a y s th a t the "norm" in a ll verse
20
is "the formal arch ite ctu re of the s e n te n c e ,"
If th is is
tr u e , th en the w ay in w hich Lowell arran g es h is long se n te n c e s
over h is varying lin e le n g th s i s going to be linked w ith q u ality
an d e ffe ct of h is id e a .
The im ages in L o w ell's poetry form an e s s e n tia l part
of the rhythm ic e ffe ct in a long s ta n z a . Each im age expands
u n til it ta k e s the utm ost m eaning th a t can be drawn from a
s e r ie s of in tric a te sy n ta c tic a l lin k s* The id e a s develop by
w hat I c a ll " sy n ta c tic a l e x te n s io n ," There is an in itia l s t a te ­
m en t, p erh ap s a re p h ra sin g , follow ed by an exploration or
ex ten sio n through some p a rtic u la r sy n ta c tic u nit u n til each
se p a ra te image fu s e s w ith a ll the others into a w hole e ffe c t.
19 Donald D a v ie , A rticulate Energy (New York: 1955) ,
p , 32.,
20 "D r, W illiam s and T rad itio n , " P o e try . Cl (February
1963), p., 361,
51
A very brief exam ple of th is can be se en in lin e fifte e n and
Continuing to lin e e ig h te e n . The in itia l sta te m e n t, "only the
bones abide th e re .," is developed through three c la u s e s a ll
re la tin g to the concept "where..." E ach s y n ta c tic a l unit
co ntains a sin g le im age or id ea th a t is an ex te n sio n of the
preceding o n e . In f a c t the entire se c tio n is m odelled on a
highly com plex rendering of th is developm ent* The in itia l
statem ent^ "All you reco v ered from Poseidon / died w ith
y ou, ray c o u s in * , *" is m odified by tig h tly -lin k e d e x te n sio n s
u ntil the final re fra in and sharp ending lin e .
There w as rebellion,, fa th e r, when the mock
French w indow s slam m ed and you hove backw ard, rammed
Into your heirloom s, s c re en s , a g la s s - ca sed c lo c k .
The h ig h -b o y quaking to i t s to e s . You damned
M y arm th a t c a s t your house upon your h ead
And broke the chim ney flin tlo ck on your skull*
E a st night the moon w as full:
I dream ed th e dead
C aught a t my k n e es and fe ll:
And i t w as w ell
W ith m e, my father* Then
Behemoth and L eviathan
D evoured our m ighty m erchants * None could arm
Or put to sea*. O fa th e r, on my farm
I added field to fie ld
And I have se a le d
An e v e rlastin g p a c t
W ith D iv e s to co n tra ct
The world th a t sp read s in pains
But the w orld sp read
W hen the clubbed flin tlo ck broke my fa th e r's b rain . 21
21 "R ebellion, " Lord W earv1s C astle , p . 29*
52
Lowell here pro v es how he i s a p oet of "h ap p en in g s.." This
2.2
poem is stru ctu red lik e some of the poetry of th e im agists^
a m ontage of se p ara te verbal im ages tig h tly lin k e d by sta te d
or im plied s y n ta c tic a l e x te n s io n s . The short lin e s function
a s a type of sy n ta c tic a l counterpoint a g a in st th e larger o n e s .
The se n te n c e structure i ts e l f i s played a g a in st the varying
23
le n g th s of the lin e s ,
and the length of each sy n ta c tic a l
u n it i s played a g a in st the le n g th s of the o th e rs .
The id e a is
p erfectly fitte d to the rhythm and stru c tu re ,
o. .th e m aterial of poetry i s v e rb a l, i ts import
is not the lite ra l a s s e rtio n made in w o rd s, but
the w ay the a s s e rtio n is m ade, and th is involve s
the sould the tem po, the aura of a s s o c ia tio n s of
the w ords, the long or short se q u e n c e s of id e a s ,
the w ealth or poverty of tra n s ie n t im agery,,.*.and
th e u nifying, all-em b racin g a rtific e of rhythm , 24
C ertain co n clu sio n s about the early v e rse of Robert
Lowell may now be drawn: the short lin e is u se d both a s a
rhythm ic and a sy n ta c tic counterpoint; the counterpointing of
h eav ily s tr e s s e d rhythm s m akes the longer poems move on a
22 The w ide movement im plied here b e ars a g eneral
re la tio n to the movement of Cummings1 p o e try , i . e . , " . „.
Cummings w i l l . . .w ithold the clim ax of a sp e e c h from view
u n til th e read er i s prepared to rec eiv e i t s maximum im p a c t, . , n
E .E . Cummings; The Art of H is Poetry (Baltimore:
1960), p p . 112-113. See a lso " 1 6 ," 100 S e lec te d Poems of
e , e . cumminas (New York: 1923), p . 18.
23 See Ezra Pound's "C anto 1, " M odern Verse in E n g lish ,
(New York: 1958), pp. 256-258.
24 Suzanne L anger. P hilosophy in a New Kev, (Cambridge,
M a s s .: 1947), p p . 2 6 0 -6 1 .
53
p rinciple of rela x a tio n and tension? and there is heavy
enjam bem ent - m ost of h is s ta n z a s are co n stru cted on
th e b a s is of a sin g le running s e n te n c e «
11
Mr* L ow ell, a t h is b e s t and l a t e s t, i s a
dram atic poet; he p re s e n ts p e o p l e t h e i r
a c tio n s , th e ir s p e e c h e s , as th ey fe e l and
look and sound to people; the p o e t's g e n eral­
iz a tio n s are u su a lly im p lied , and the poem 's
e x p lic it g e n e ra liz a tio n s are there prim arily
b e c a u se they-are d ram atically n e c e ssa ry - it is
not u su a lly the p oet who m eans them* 1
As we have noted e a r lie r, the change in Robert L ow ell's
poetry i s n o tic e a b le , and though i t d o e s n 't n e c e s s a rily c all for
a value judgm ent, the change i s , a s sta te d by R andall Jarrell
ab o v e, a move tow ards a more dram atic l i n e , If a c en tral influence
on L o w ell's e a rlie r poetry c an be tra c e d to M ilto n , th e in flu en ces
here w ill have to be the form of Robert Browning's "M y L ast
D u ch ess " and a com bination of the tone in the opening lin e s of
T* S. E lio t's "G eronition"w ith th a t in much of the p oetry of
E lizab eth Bishop ,
The m ost im m ediate difference is L ow ell's move to
2
the c o u p le t, u se d in a few e a rlie r poem s but never e x te n siv e ly .
This change to the cou p let is e s s e n tia l for an understanding of
L o w ell's change in tones
I w anted som ething a s flu en t as prose; you w ouldn't
no tice the form, y e t looking back yo u 'd find th at
g reat o b s ta c le s had been climbed* *,» once you've
1 "Robert L o w e ll's P o e try , " in M id-C entury American P o e ts ,
(l\fe..w York: 1950), p* .165*
2 Those se e n in Lord W eary 's C a stle ares "The Drunken
F ish erm an ," "Between the Porch and the A ltar," "To P eter Taylor
on the F e a st o f the E p iphany," "After Surprising C o n v e rsio n s,"
54
55
got your two lin e s to rhyme^ then th a t's done
and you can go on to the n e x t. You're not stu c k
w ith the whole sta n z a to round out. and build to a
clim ax . A couplet can be a couplet or can be
sp lit and le ft a s one lin e v or it can go on for a
hundred lines? any so rt of com pression or expansion
is po s s ib le * 3
Even s o , the e s s e n tia l change th a t ta k e s p la c e betw een the e arlie r
poem s and the la te r poems i s in the line, itse lf*
“L ove, is it tre s p a s s in g to c a ll them o u r s ?
I
They are now . Once I tre s p a s s e d - p icking flow ers
For k e e p sa k e s of my jo u rn ey , once I bent
Above your w e ll, where law n and battlem ent
W ere trem bling, y et w ithout a flaw to mar
Their sw e e t su rren d er. R ipples seem ed to s ta r
My f a c e , the r o c k s , the bottom of the w e l l ,, » ,4
Though th e s e lin e s are iam bic p en tam eter, the counterpointed
rhythm i s a sp eech -rh y th m , or a counterpointed fo u r-s tre s s lin e .
The s tr e s s e s do not janrt .therefore, the te n sio n and re le a s e of the
e a rlie r poem s is gone. In its p lace i s a sm ooth te x tu re ,
The placem ent of the lin e -b re a k s d iffers slig h tly a ls o .
They are much more frequent for one th in g , and th e y seem to
c lu s te r
tow ards the m iddle of the lin e s rath e r than the e n d s. In
3 "An In terv iew w ith Robert L ow ell/ " p . 66,
4 "The M ills of the K avanaughs," p , 4*
56
the e a rlie r poems f w here the sta n z a s do not have many in te rj e c t th ree—s tre s s lin e s , the breaks are rhythm ical or im p lied . In
th is la te r p o e try , w ith the sam e type of s ta n z a , the m edial p a u se s
are m arked by p u n ctu atio n —alm o st a c a e su ra in the E lizab eth an
' S
sense*
She h ears her h u sb a n d , and sh e trie s to c a ll
H im , then rem embers* Burning stu b b le ro ars
About the calendar on w hich she s c o re s .
The la d y la u g h s . She sh a k es her p a ra s o l.
The ta b le r a t t le s , and sh e chew s her p e a rle d .
Once te le s c o p ic p e n c il, t il l its knife
Snaps open* "Sol, " she w hispers , lau g h in g , "S o l,
If you w ill help m e, I w ill w in the w o rld ." 6
The a b sen c e or p resen c e of lin e s w ith a strong m edial break a c ts
as an effectiv e counterpoint in its own rig h t by a cc e le ra tin g or
7
slow ing the sp e ed of the lin e and the sp e ed from lin e to lin e
but w ithout the re su ltin g jamming of s tre s s e s and r e le a s e of ten ­
sio n th a t con tro lled the movem ents of L ow ell' s early lin e s* This
5 Sir Philip Sidney s a y s th a t a c aesu ra i s a "breathing
p lace in the m iddest of the v e rs e . " An Apoloaie for P o e trie >
G* S m ith. E lizab eth an C ritcal E s s a v s , (Oxford; 1904), 2 v o l s . ,
v . I , p . 205. John C iardi sa y s it " la b e ls the in te rn a l p a u se s
in a p a s s a g e . It corresponds to a r e s t in m u s ic ." How D oes a
Poem M ean ? (Cam bridge, M a s s .; 1959), p . 293.
6 "The M ills of the K avanaughs," p . 5.
7 See C ia rd i, How D oes a Poem M e an ? , p p . 926-928.
57
i s effectively, se en here:
"The b laz in g s of the woodsman le ft a track
S traight a s an arrow to the b la c k sm ith 's sh ack
W here I w as born. There^ ju s t a month before
Our m arriag ef I can se e you: we had d re s se d
O urselves in h o lly , and you cut your c re s t,
A stump and green sh o o ts on my fa th e r’s d o o r.
And swore our m arriage would renew the c le ft
F o rests and sk u lls of the Abnakis le ft
Like sa u ria n footprints by the lum ber lo r d .
Who broke th eir virgin g ree n n ess cord by cord
To build h is clearing* " 8
The movepient of the v erse is controlled by the gram m atical p a u f e s
th a t seem to c atch a t the m iddle of the lin e *
The sp eed is controlled in y et another way* We saw
in the e arly poems th a t the high in cid en c e of near-rhym e and
irreg u lar rhyme allow s the lin e s to ru n -o v er very q u ick ly .
Those poem s of The M ills of the Kavanauqhs th a t employ th e
couplet have th e ir perform ance p a u se (at the end of the line)
h eig h tened by the re p e a te d sound*
The broken-w inded yelp
Of my P hoenician h o u n d s, th a t fills the brush
W ith snapping tw igs and fly in g , cannot flush
The gh o st of P allas* But I tak e h is p a ll.
Stiff w ith its gold and p u rp le , and re c a ll
How Dido hugged i t to h e r, w hile sh e to ile d .
Laughing —her golden th re a d s , a se rp en t coiled
In c y p re s s , 9
The lin e s are able to move in th ree *s , from the la s t rhyme of
one co u p let until the l a s t rhyme of th e next when th e rhyme—sound
is caught again* The function of the verb a t the end of <- ;
8 "The M ills of the K avanaughs, 11 p . 9
9 "The M ills of the K avanaughs," p . 7
58
an enjam bed lin e is heightened; for a moment the re a d e r is
p o ise d on the a c tiv ity of the verb before he sw ings down into
the n ex t l in e .
There are only two poem s in The M ills of the Kavanaucrhs
th a t employ short lin e s w ith any am ount of re g u la rity . . The
f ir s t o n e4 "D avid and B athsheba in the P ublic G arden^" is
divided into two p a r ts , each three sta n z a s of tw elve lin e s .
"The Fat M an in the M irror" is six s ta n z a s of five lin e s . In
both of th e se the placem en t of the short lin e s is reg u la r, and
the re a so n for th e s e lin e s has not changed ra d ic a lly sin c e Lord
W earv*s C a s tle , but# I b e lie v e , in some in sta n c e s h a s become
s u b tle , They are s t i ll u sed here a s rhythm ic v ariatio n off a
sta p le lin e but som etim es th eir rhythm ic innovations are
rem a rk ab le .
The fo u n ta in 's fallin g w aters ring around
The g a rd e n . "L ove, if you had sta y ed my hand
U riah would not understand
The lio n 's ru sh or why
This stone-m outhed fountain la p s us lik e a c a t." 10
The break a fte r "garden" in the second lin e g e n e ra te s a segm ent
of tetram eter th a t is echoed in the n e x t lin e and th en assum ed into
a s iam bic movement a g a in . This rhythm is th em a tic a lly sound
b eca u se of the lo v e-ex ch an g e betw een the sp e a k e rs. In "The Fat
M an in the M irror" we have a sim ilar situ a tio n .
10 p p . 4 1 -4 2 .
59
W hatIs fillin g up the mirror ? O t it is not 1;
H a ir-b e lly lik e a beaver*s h o u se ? An old d o g 's e y e ?
The forenoon w as blue
In the mad King' s zoo
N urse w as sw inging me so high,, so high! 11
The feeling of m a d n e ss, frenzied h ila rity , is e sta b lis h e d by the
sudden sh ift in rhythm in th o se tw o - s tr e s s lin e s » The lin e -b re a k s
in th e firs t two lin e s a fte r "mirror" and "house" s e t up a rhythm
th a t is echoed in "so high, so high" and heightened by the sudden
shock of the two short lines? in fa c t, both the rhythm and the
rhyme generate a kind of m odulated limerick*.
The fin al in sta n c e of a change w ithin the lin e is the
12
ten d en cy to u se n in e -s y lla b le
lin e s and d o ts ( .* „ ) w ithin the
lin e s* Both of th e se show an in te rp retatio n of the v e rs e -lin e a s .
l e s s a sy lla b ic u n it and more an e x ten sio n into tim e* This does
not mean th a t a ll the lin e s are becom ing irregular or f re e , but i t
does in d ic ate th a t l e s s em phasis is being p laced on sy lla b ic
determ ination*
You grim aced, bared
Your c h e s t, and b ello w ed , " L is te n , u ndeclared
W ar seem s to * * * s ta tic * * * the U nited S tates
And Honolulu are a t w ar . "13
11 p . 47.
12 See "The Fat M an in the M irror, "
13 "The M ills of the K avanaughs, ” p . 1 1 .
60
Lines sim ilar to th e se are never se e n in poem s before
The M ills of the Kavanauahs; and even though th e s e lin e s
m aintain th eir sy lla b ic re g u la rity / th e ir rhythm ic e ffe c t i s
c h an g e d „ .
As we noted e a rlie r in the c h ap ter, the sy n ta c tic a l
pro g ression of m ost of th e poem s in Lord W eary1s C a stle and
Land of U n lik en ess moves through c la u sa l and p h ra s a l ex ten ­
sion* This is p o ssib le in th o se poem s b e ca u se th ey have
been co n stru cted a s v erse^ p arag rap h s * Not many of th e poems
in th is volume develop in th a t way* M o st of them are too long .
to handle any su sta in e d movement ("M other M arie Therese") and
o th ers seem to move through illo g ic a l, personal a s s o c ia tio n
rather than s y n ta c tic a l or lo g ic a l progression*
The children sp la sh and p a d d le . T hen, hand in h a n d .
They duck for tu r tle s « W here sh e cannot s ta n d ,
! The w hirlpool su ck s here * She h as s e t her te e th
Into h is thumb* She w re stle s underneath
The s e a -g re e n sm other; stu n n e d , unstrung and torn
Into a thousand g lo b u les by th a t horn
Or W horl of riv e r, sh e h as bu rst ap art
L ike churning w ater on her hu sb an d ’s h e a rtA horny thum bnail I Then th ey lie b e sid e
The m arble g o d d e ss. "Look, the sto n y -ey ed
Persephone has m ouldered lik e a le a f I"
The children w hisper* Old and p e d es ta ile d .
W here ro ck -p o o ls u sed to echo w hen sh e called
D em eter - sh eath ed in L incoln g reen , a sheaf The s ta tu e of Persephone regards
The r iv e r, while it m oils a hundred y a rd s* ***14*
14 "The M ills of the K avanaughs, " p„ 6*
61
C ertain p a rts of th is sta n z a are s y n ta c tic a l, but m ost of it
is a s e rie s of jumps from one im age to an other.
One im age or
thought is exhausted; th ere is an abrupt break (sy n ta ctic al);
th en a jumptto another im age . In s te a d of rounding one thought t
th e s e sta n z a s becom e em otional " s t i l l - s h o t s ,"
A v a ria tio n on the developm ent by a s s o c ia tio n i s
se e n in th o se s ta n z a s th a t u se re p e titio n as the m ain device ~
rhythm id, se m a n tic , and sy n ta ctic *
"S le ep , s le e p , ’ 1 hushed you* ‘S le e p , You m ust abide
The lam en tatio n s of the inuptial m ass Then you are r is in g . Then you are a liv e ;
The bridesm aids s c a tte r d a is ie s , and the b rid e ,
A d a is y choired by d a is ie s , sin g s; "M y life
Is lik e a horn of p len ty gone to g r a s s .
Or lik e the yellow bee-^queen in her h iv e , "
She w h isp e rs, "Who i s t h i s , and who is th is ?
H is e y e s are c o a ls » H is breath is myrrh; h is k i s s .
The consum m ation of the silv e re d g l a s s ,1"15
The rhythm s here are controlled by the re p e titio n of the
words and p h ra s e s and by the re p e titio n of the sy n ta c tic a l u nits;
the movement i s irregular* The p a ssa g e engenders a feeling
sim ila r to th a t produced by some of E liot' s lin e s;
And indeed there w ill be time
To w onder, "Do I d a re ? " a n d , "Ho I d a re ? "
Time to turn back and d escen d th e s ta ir ,
W ith a bald sp o t in the m iddle of my hair****
16
1.5 "The M ills of the K avanaughs, " p . 17*
16 "The Love Song of J* Alfred P ru fro c k ," in T. S. Eliot
The Com plete Poems and P ia v s 1909-1950 (New Yorks 1952) , p . 5*
There a re other sim ila ritie s betw een E lio t's fo u r-s tre s s lin e and
L o w ell's counterpointed one * See H elen G ardner, The Art of
T. S* E liot (Londons 1949), pp* 1-35»
62
At the end of three volum es of p o e try z Robert Lowell
h a s moved from borrowed forms m rh eto rica l c o n stru c tio n , and a
jammed lin e to a g eneral form^ a l e s s obvious rh e to ric / and a
lin e counterpointed by sp e e c h rh y th m s.
V P a tte rn s of Sound
Rime h as had a long re ig n , and s till flo u ris h e s ,
and it is in E nglish one of the chief m etrical
F a c to rs » Like a low -born u p sta rt i t h as even
sought to e s ta b lis h its kin sh ip w ith the a n cien t
fam ily of rhythm by incorporating the a ris to c ra tic
h. and_y in to its name* As i t d istin g u ish e s v e rs e s
th a t have not other d istin c tio n i t s d isp o sitio n
determ ines sta n z a -fo rm s, e tc .? and for th is re a so n
it usurps a prom inence for w hich i t is ills u ite d . 1
This attitu d e tow ards rhym e is one th a t h as p e rs is te d
2
sin c e the m iddle of the 16th century and i s s t i ll m aintained
today in the p ra c tic e of poetry if not in a c tu a l d ia tr ib e . Even
s o , many modern poets, u se rhyme * L ow ell's in te r e s t in rhyme
and a ll its v a ria n ts is in te n se * There h a s sc a rc e ly been a poem
w ritten by him th a t h a s not c o n sc io u sly u se d some form of it*
The fir s t type of rhyme u sed by L ow ell, and w hat m ost
people norm ally un d erstan d a s rhym e, has been d e sc rib e d th is
way:
In E nglish v e rs e , two words w hich rhyme m ust
alw ays have? the in itia l con so n a n t-so u n d s d if­
fe re n t. and a ll the sounds follow ing th e s e in itia l
ones a lik e - w hether v o w e l-so u n d s, or both vow el
and c o n so n a n t-so u n d s, 3
1 Robert B ridges, "A L etter to a M u sician on E nglish
P ro s o d y ,11 inclu d ed in C o llected E ssa y s (London: 1933), .vol2, p . 78*
2 Sir P hilip Sidney c a lls i t "not o n ly * . * superfluous but a ls o
absurd* " O bservation in the Art of E nglish P o e s ie . included in
E lizab eth an C ritic al E ssa y s (Oxford: 1904) , v o l.I , p* 159.
3 Sidney L anier, The S cience of E nglish V e rse , (New York:
1909), p . 284.
63
64
4
This is p erfect rhym e, w hat Sidney L anier calle d "a r u le ,"
and Low ell h a s u se d It in a ll h is fir s t three v o lu m e s, As we
have se e n b efo re> h is end-rhym e schem es vary from a ltern atin g
rhym e, c o u p le ts , and q u atrain s (abba) to p ra c tic e s th a t could
5
only be calle d irre g u la r.
We d is c u s s e d briefly the u se of
p e rfe ct rhyme in the l a s t chapter* I t c an be s a id to have a t
le a s t three m ajor functions? m erely to give p le a su re by sound
rep etition^ to sig n a l a m etrical pause# and to organize sta n z a s
or groups of lin e s * A fourth function given to rhyme h a s been
sem antic; in som e pe'culiar w ay i t i s su p p o sed to lin k the
6
m eanings of the w ords a s w e ll.
We have a l r e a d y noted L ow ell's use of p e rfe c t rhyme
a t the end of the line* He a lso u s e s it in the middle:
W hat a whirl
Of E aste r eggs is colored by the lig h ts
As the N orw egian d a n c e r's c ry sta lle d tig h ts
F lash w ith her naked le g 's hig h -b o o ted s k a te ,
Likb N orthern lig h ts upon my w atching p la te , 7
Lowell i s u sing rhymed co u p lets h e re , and the in te rn a l perfect
rhyme fu n ctio n s to draw a tte n tio n aw ay from the lin e en d in g »
4 Ib id , , p . 284,
5 The rhyme schem e of the f ir s t two sta n z a s of "Thanks­
g iv in g 's Over" is : 1 - aabbcbbcceeeeffggehh; 2 - abcaaccb d d b efag h
h d a b ih jjj»
6 See W* K* W im satt# "One R elation of Rhyme t© Reason# "
M odern Language Q uarterly, V (1944), p p . 323-338.
7 "Between the Porch and the Altar# " Lord W earv's C a s tle , .
P , 45,
65
P erfect rhym e, how ever, is only one of the sev en
8
type lis te d by Louis Unterm eyer;
and Robert Lowell u s e s
a ll th e s e in h is p o e try , som etim es w ith euphonic b rillia n c e ,
som etim es w ith heav y -h an d ed c lu m sin e s s.
The f ir s t of U nterm eyer's v a rie ty of near-rhym es
is a sso n a n c e . This occurs when id e n tic a l v o w el-so u n d s are
preceded and follow ed by unlike c o n so n a n ts , as in "hid" and
"p in * " It i s th is type of rhyme th a t Lowell u s e s to avoid the
m onotony of c o n siste n t end-rhym es and to allow a v a rie ty of
rhyme th a t can be carried on a t g rea t le n g th .
N orm ally it i s
se e n in poems using a ltern atin g or coupling p erfe ct rh im e.
In th e s e , m ost of them tow ards th e end of Lord W eary 's
C a stle and a ll through The M ills of the K av an au ah s, the
a sso n a n ta l rhyme c u ts a c ro ss the perfect.rhym e:
"Then yellow w a te r, and the sum m er's drought
Boiled on its surface underneath our grounds'
D isordered tow zle* W ish m'v> W ish , mv w is h ,
Said the dry flie s snapping p a s t my e a rs to whip
Those d e a d -h o rse w a te rs , fa s te r than a fish* 9
A ssonantal rhyme appears in the firs t two lines? the altern atin g
lin e s th a t follow are probably w hat Lowell m eans when, he sa y s
8 For o th er treatm ent of th is s e e T. W alter H erb ert,
"N ear-R im es and P a ra p h o n e s, " Sew anee R eview , XLV (O ctoberD ecem ber 1937), p p . 437-439.
9 "The M ills of the K avanaughs, " p . 9 .
66
the " a couplet can be a couplet or can be sp lit and le f t a s
one line*, or i t can go on for a hundred lines? an y so rt of
10
com pression or expansion is p o s s i b l e ."
And* a s a ru le ,
m ost of Low ell’s end-rhym es are p erfect rhymes? even though
11
he has to break the running of h is co u p lets and u se id e n tic a l
rhym es to do so:
"Anne* " he te a s e s * "Anne* my whole
House i s your s e rf. The squirrell in i t s hole
Who h e ars your patter.* Anne * and sin k s i ts e y e Teeth* bigger than a human’s* in i ts trea su re
of ro tte n sh e lls* is w ise r far than I . , . . " 12
.The fin a l type of end-rhym e th a t Lowell u s e s to o ff-s e t
or su b stitu te for h is p e rfe ct rhyme i s suspended rhyme* som etim es
c alled fa ls e rhym e. In su sp e n d e d rhyme the fin a l co n so n an t-so u n d s
are id e n tic a l but the v o w el-so u n d s and preceding consonant sounds *
if any? are different* a s in "am ple" and "te m p le ." Som etim es the
fin al consonant sounds are sim ilar but not id en tica l* a s in "done"
13
and "lo n g . "
The children w hisper* Old and p e d esta ile d *
W here ro c k -p o o ls u sed to echo when sh e c a lle d , 14
10 "An Interview w ith R obert Lowell* " p . 66*
11 Henry Lanz sa y s th a t id e n tic a l rhym es are " u n sa tis­
facto ry from an a c o u stic point of v i e w ." The P h y sical Basis of
Rhvme (London: 1931) * pp. 100-101,
12 "The M ills of the K avanaughs*" p . 7.
13 I b i d .* p . 6.
14 "The M ills of the E av arih u g h s*” p . 6.
67
Though Lowell u se s th e s e near-rhym e e x cep tio n s
we have noted for end-rhym e , we m ust rem ark th a t th ey are
not u sed very o fte n » For a p o e t who u s e s rhyme e x te n siv e ly ,
Lowell i s probably one of the few p o e ts today who can use
near-rhym e a s little a s he d o e s .
H is a b ility to rhyme allo w s
him to surm ount an y d iffic u ltie s a short sta n z a form m ight
p o s e , and so in h is early poetry the in cid en ce of near-rhym e
is very s lig h t. In h is la te r p o etry w hen the s ta n z a s are
gettin g lo n g e r, or in the early poetry when he is using a
long s ta n z a , he w ill disru p t a formal rhyme schem e rath er
th an u se n e ar-rh y m e .
Here they u se d to build
a fire to b roil th e ir tro u t. A beer can filled
w ith fish sk in s m arks the dingle w here they d ie d .
They w h isp e r, "Touch h e r. If her foot should slid e
a little earth w ard , Styx w ill hold her down
N ella m iseria, sm ashed her to p la s te r , balled
Into the w hirlpool Is b o il." Here bu b b les filled
Their b a s in , and the children s p la s h e d . They died
In Adam, w hile the g ra ss snake slid appalled
To sum m er, w hile Jehovah1s g ra s s -g re e n ly re
W as ru stlin g a ll about them in the le a v e s
That gurgled by them turning up sid e down)
The tim e of m arriag e ! - worming on a ll fours
Up sla g and d e a d fa ll, while the to rren t pours
Down, down, dow n, dow n, and s h e , a c rested b ird ,
Or, Rainbow , h o v e rs, le st the th u n d er-w o rd . . . . 15
Here Lowell h a s rhymed " d ie d ," "d o w n ,” and "filled " tw ice;
"le a v e s" and "lyre ” have no rhym e-m ates ex cep t through n ear­
rhyme .
15 "The M ills of the K avanaughs," p . 7 .
68
End-rhym e i s only one sm all a rea of sound In L o w ell's
p o e try , however* There i s a n in te n siv e structure of v o w elsound w ithin th e lin e a ll through h is poetry* Henry Lanz
sa y s th a t a sso n a n c e may be u se d in a. "harm onic" w ay *
Popular conception id en tifies, m usical harmony
w ith the sim u ltan eo u s c o ex iste n c e of v a rio u s
to n es w hich produce a p le a su ra b le effect*
T h is, how ever, i s a very su p e rfic ia l definition*
For te c h n ic a lly the term "harmony" a p p lie s to
the re la tio n among v ario u s ch o rd s, rath e r th an to
a mere c o e x iste n c e of sounds* A sequence of
chords m ay be harm onious or disharm onious
according to w hether or not i t follow s c e rta in ru le s
of m odulation, p ro g re s sio n , and com position* 16
Though th is sta te m e n t,c e rta in ly h as n o t b e en a cc ep ted blandly by
17
p o e ts and p ro s o d is ts ,
Lanz i s the only a e s th e tic ia n who has
gone in to th is su b je c t a t length* He h as found no rea so n why a
18
s u c c e s s io n of vow el sounds may n o t have an a e sth e tic .v a lu e *
B e g ard less of any purely a e s th e tic fu n ctio n , v o w e lsound s may function in a se c tio n of v erse b y dom inating the
rhythm ic m ovem ents through re p e titio n , e ith er th e re p e titio n of
19
a single v o w el-so u n d or re p e titio n of groups of v o w e l-so u n d s»
16 The P h y sical B asis of Rhvme t. p* 250*
17 Bridges sa y s th a t "there i s , in fa c t, a co n stan ce
irrem ediable d e fic ie n cy in th is m erely pho n etic b e a u ty , * * " i n
"L etter to a M u sician on E nglish P ro so d y ," p* 76*
18 p o 31 *
19 See Lanz , p * 29* He d e a ls w ith the sam e thing h e re ,
69
In th is way> perhaps^ i t may he sa id .to s e t up som ething
sim ilar to a "harm onic" stru c tu re .
W allow ing in th is bloody sty*
1 2 3
1 c a s t for fish th a t p le a se d my eye .
1
2 3
(Truly; Jehovah's bow suspends
3.
2 1
No po ts of gold to w eight its e n d s)1
1
2
3
Only the blood-m outhed rainbow trout
2 3
Rose to my b a it. They flopped about
2
1
1
My canvas c re el until the moth
1
3
Corrupted its u n sta b le c lo th . 20
2
3
B esides the fa c t th a t th e se three re p e a te d vowel so u n d s se t
up a rhythm ic and tonal re p e titio n a t the beginning of the
first three lin e s* as sin g le vow el sounds th e y produce a
lin e of re p e titio n th a t binds the tex tu re of the v e rs e .
The
"ow" sound in "w allow ing” in " b o w ," "-m outhed, " and "gold"
to name a few e x am p le s. The "w a" sound of "w allow ing" lin k s
w ith " a b o u t," " p o ts ," and " c a n v a s .” The same holds true of
the "ing" so u n d . If we include the sound of the vowel in
" s ty ," th e firs t lin e co n tain s a com pressed sound p attern th a t
controls the pho n etic q u ality of the entire stan za*
20 Lord W eary1s C a s tle » p . 31 .
Vow#£-sounds can a ls o be rh e to ric a lly arranged
according to w hat Kenneth Burke c a lls “c h ia s m u s ," a cro ssin g
of vow els or co n so n an ts th a t re s u lts in an a - b - b - a arrangem ent»
C onsonantal chiasm us is re a lly a type of a llite ra tio n and w ill
be covered la te r in th is chapter# Though Lowell u s e s s tric t
tonal chiasm us ra re ly in h is la te r poetry* it i s found in h is
tig h tly structured and obviously rh eto rica l early poems Land of
U n lik en ess and Lord W eary*s C a s tle . In "The E x ile 's Return"
there are two e x a m p le s, The firs t i s the re la tiv e ly sim ple
22
"rigor m ortis "j th is p roduces a^b^b-a#
The second exam ple
is a little more com plicated!
23
D e/V ille* whjyre braced pig-/irQp. dra g ons grip
The f ir s t h a lf of th is lin e i s .sim ple tw o-tone chiasm us* b u t the
second lin e em ploys three to n es and u s e s a single tone as a
pivSt for the other two to sw ing around.
The firs t type of ^consonance trea te d by U nterm eyer
is lis te d a s d isso n a n c e or rhymed consonants:
21 "On M u sic a lity in V erse, " P o e try » LVII (October
1940 - M arch 1941) , p . 34#
22 Lord Weary" s C a s tle . p , 3#
2 3 Lord W eary 's C a stle # p . 3«
71
It Is the e x a c t op p o site of rhym e,
H ere
both preceding and follow ing conso n an ts are
Id en tical# b u t the vow el sound is unm atching,
"R ead-rude," "b lo o d -b la d e, " " grow n-green"
are exam ples of d isso n an ce* 24
As w ith a sso n a n ta l rhym e, Lowell u se s co n so n an tal rhyme to
vary h is p erfe ct end-rhym es; but he a lso u s e s i t in te rn ally in
w hat Burke c a lls the ab lau t form or the changing of vow els
25
w ith in a co n so n an tal fram e»
* **and w in ter, spring and summer# guns unlim ber
and lum ber down the narrow gabled s tr e e t* * ,, 26
Such obviously rh e to ric a l d e v ic e s a s th is are fairly lim ited to
L o w ell's e a rlie r poetry*
W hat U nterm eyer c a lls consonance i s a c tu a lly a form
of alliteratio n # but the common d efin itio n rig id ly applied to
a llite ra tio n is Untermeyer*s:
A lliteration o ccu rs w here the in itia l vow elsound s or co n so n an t-so u n d s of two or more
co n secu tiv e or n e ar a c c en ted sy lla b le are the
sam e* In p e rfe c t rhyme th e se in itia l sounds
are n e c e s s a rily different? and to th is extent
a llite ra tio n is the counterpart of rhym e, 27
As we noted in e a rlie r c h a p te r s L o w e ll u se s the a llite ra tio n of
in itia l sy lla b le s to point up h is counterpointed fo u r-s tre s s lin e s*
As p rac tic ed by modern poets# however# a llite ra tio n i s not
24 "Rhyme and Its R easons#"
L ite ra tu re . IX (August 1932), p» 30*
Saturday Review of
25 "On M u sic a lity in V erse#" p* 37*
26 Lord W eary1s C a stle f. p , 3 *
27 "Rhyme and Its R e aso n s, " p , 30*
72
lim ited to a cc e n te d s y lla b le s or to in itia l sounds* Unterm eyer
g iv es a s an exam ple of ”co n cealed a llite ra tio n " the ”v" sounds
28
in "groves"and "ever*"
Low ell u s e s th is type of a llite ra tio n
as a co n stan t p ra c tic e along w ith the a llite ra tio n of in itia l
consonants:
I w alk upon the flood:
My w ay i s wayward; there i s no w ay out;
Now how the w eary w a ters swell., —
The tree is down in b lo o d !
All the b a ts of Babel flap about
The risin g sun of h e ll . 29
The a llite ra tio n is very prom inent here * P erhaps for a them atic
re a so n , but the la te r p oetry of L ow ell doe s not show th is
extrem e; the a llite ra tio n b len d s to the movement of the lin e :
The lady sees, the s ta tu te s in the pool*
She dream s.and th in k s , "My husband was. a f o o l ...3 0
He a ls o u s e s it in lo n g p a s s a g e s :
The farm er sizzle^ , on h is s h a f t , a l l day*
1
1
1 1
2
He is. content.and centuries, aw ay
1 2
2
1 2
1
From w h ite -h o t. C oncord, and he sta n d s on guard
2
2
12
1
Or is he m elting down lik e .sculptured lard ?
1
2
1
2
H is hand is. crisp and ste a d y on the plough.
1
1
1
12
31
28 I b i d . , p . 30*
29 "The Slough of D e sp o n d r 11 Lord W ea rv 's C a s tle . p„ 62.
30 "The M ills of the K a v an a u g h s," p . 4*
31 "Lord Wearv* s C a stle * p . 42*
73
Lowell w orks w ith p a tte rn s of a llite ra tio n th a t are
much more in tric a te than t h is , how ever, Kenneth Burke:.
sp e ak s of w hat he c a lls an " a c ro s tic ” structure:
We may n e x t note an a c ro stic stru ctu re for
getting c o n siste n c y w ith v a ria tio n . In
"tyrrannous and strong f " for in s ta n c e , the
consonant structure of the third word is
but the rearrangem ent of the consonant
stru ctu re in the f i r s t , 32
As an exam ple he show s th a t C o lerid g e's "dam sel w ith a
33
dulcim er" i s a m atching of d.-m-s_-l_wlth d - l r s r m - p lu sjr.
This e x p lain s the p e cu lia r e ffe c t of. some of the p h rases th a t
34
Low ell u s e s lik e : "D ish o n o r/o n a sword"
w hich i s
w ith jv-jir w "21SU Burke a lso in tro d u ces two more
term s th a t deal w ith conso nantal arrangem ent:
"augm entation11
and "dim inution,"
ThuSf if. a them e h a s been e sta b lis h e d in
q u a rte r-n o te s> the com poser may tre a t it
by augm entation by rep eatin g it in h a lf­
n o te s , And dim inution is the re v e rse of th is
p ro c e s s . In poetry then., you could g e t the
e ffe c t of augm entation by firs t giving two
conso n an ts in ju x ta p o sitio n and th en repeating
them in the sam e order but se p ara ted by the
length of a vo w el, 35
32 p . 34,
33 Ib id .
34 "The M ills of the K ayanaughs," p . 12,
35 "On M u sic a lity in V erse, " p . 35,
74
This has the e ffe c t of a llite ra tio n w ithout any of th e
36
obvious signs:
"You l e t a slu t w hose body s o ld * . . . » 11
This is an exam ple of aug m entation, w ith the "s" and the Jll"
of ” slu t" se p ara ted by a vowel* Up to a p o in t, the more
carefu lly the d ista n c e b etw een the two is controlled the
su b tle r the a llite ratio n !
37
together"
"W here morning sta rs .sing out.
L ow ell's u se of a ll th e c o n so n an tal fe a tu res in
conjunction is sim ilar to h is u se of the a sso n a n ta l features;
th ey provide a tex tu re for an en tire p a ssa g e:
•
A belU
5
Grum bles, when the reverberations. strip
1
5 3
4 1
1 1 4
3 341
The -tha tc h ing from its s p ir e ,
4
4 42
1
43 3 1
The s e a rc h -au n s click and sp it and s p lit u p tim ber
4
3 12
3 25 3
3 4
3 5 4
4
1
And nick the s la te roofs, on the Ho fs te nw all
2 4 35 4 1 3
4
532
W here to rn -u p tile sto n es crown the v ic to r. 38
1 41
4 5 $4 .: 3 21
4 • 24 1
This is a movement th a t is k e p t up throughout the en tire poem
and lin k ed w ith the obvious "i" sounds becom es an entire
background of sound.
36 "The G h o s t,” Lord W eary1s C a s tle f P , 51 *
37 "The Quaker G raveyard in N a n tu c k e t," p . 12.
38 "The E x ile 's Return, " Lord W ea ry 's C a s tle , p . 3,
75
Consonan.ee is a key figure in any study of L ow ell,
I t i s one of the w ays in w hich we can d ifferen tiate betw een
h is e a rlie r and la te r v e rs e s .
In a stu d y of Spenser and
M ilton, Ants O ras disco v ered two d iam etrically opposed
tendencies:!
Spenser lo v e s to p lac e his consonant c lu ste rs
a t the begin ning, a s in p la in ;. , w hereas M ilton
p refers them a t the en d , as In f i r s t . The vow els
in M ilto n , ra th e r more often than in S p en ser,
are preceded only by sin g le conso n an ts or by no
consonants a t all* In S penser, on the contrary,
the ten d en cy is to avoid anything heav ier than a
sin g le consonant a fte r the s tre s s e d vo w el, w h ich ,
of c o u rse , m akes th e vowel elem ent more con­
spicuous* 39
Though i t i s dangerous to draw any m eaningfull conclusions
from th is statem ent; one obvious difference betw een the early
and la te r Low ell Is a sh ift from c lu ste red conso n an ts a t the
ends of w ords, to a la c k of c lu s te rin g . Even a haphazard
checks show s th is:
Here corpse and soul go bare „ The L ead er's h e ad p iec e
C apers to h is im agination*s tum blings;
The Party barks a t is u n stead y fled g lin g s
To g o o se -ste p in re d -ta p e , and m icrophones
Sow the four w inds w ith babble » 40
W ords lik e " b a b b le ," " c o rp s e ," and "tum blings” have consonants
c lu ste re d near the end of the word ra th e r th an the beginning. In
"M other M arie T h ere se ” the situ a tio n is different:
39 "Spenser and M ilto n . ” in Sound and Poetry (Mew York:
1957), p p . 11-11 2.
40 " C is te rc ia n s in G erm an y ." Land of U n lik e n e ss.
76
If sh e hears a t a ll.
She only h ears i t to llin g to th is shore 4
W here our fro s t-b itte n sisters, know the roar
Of w a ter, in c h in g , alw ays on the move
For v irg in s , w hen th ey w ish the tim es were lo v e .
And th e ir h y ste ric a l h o san n ah s rouse
The lo v e le s s harems* ». w 41
If there is a ten d en cy to c lu ste r h e re , i t i s more tow ards the
beginnings of the words th an the e n d s „
A fin al note about L ow ell1s u se of sound th a t I w ish
to m ention is its p o ssib le re la tio n to m eaning. In one s e n s e ,
we have se e n it u sed to support m eaning. In the l a s t chapter
we noted th a t in a sta n z a from "The Fat M an in the M irror, "
the h y ste ric a l im balance w as em phasized by a rh ythm ical
im balance:
W h at's fillin g up the m irror? O , it is not I;
H a ir-b e lly lik e a b e a v e r's house: an old d o g 's eye 7
The forenoon w as blue
In the mad K ing's zoo
Nurse w as sw inging me so h ig h , so high! 42
The p o larity of sound em phasized in th is sta n za by the im m ediate
sh ift of the long "i" sound to the ”oo" sound underlin es the
feature of te n s io n , the giddy swing in mood. We s e e the same
feature ag ain in an e a rlie r poem:
41 The M ills of the K avanauahs, p . 38,
42 I b id . , p . 47.
77
Our Lady of B abylon, go by^ go by, .
I w as once the apple of your eye;
F lie s , flie s are on the plane tre e , on. the s tr e e ts * 43
Again we have the r e p e a t e d " i" sound., the same cadence
of "The F at M an in the M irro r," and the sam e heightened h y s te r ia „
Craig La D riere seem s to hold a sim ilar p o sitio n w ith re la tio n to
sound:
Q uantity or in te n s ity in xsound has i t s
analogue in in te n s ity in m eaning, which
may therefore be thought of as q u an titativ e
(though we are far a t p re s e n t from the
p ro sp e c t of applying m easurem ent to it};
and the re la tio n of em phasis in the se n se to
stre s s in the sound i s the b e s t corraboration
of the h y p o th esis 1 have suggested* 44
The sound stru c tu re s tre a te d in th is ch ap ter becom e
p ro g ressiv ely l e s s dom inant a s L o w ell's work p ro c e e d s. The
obvious a llite ra tio n of h is e a rlie r poems is made more subtle
in The M ills of the Kavanauahs.. The clu sterin g e n c litic s even
o u t. In th e ir p lac e we are le ft w ith more subtle p a ttern s of
45
a sso n a n c e and co n so n an c e, blending and co n ce aled a llite ra tio n .
43 "As a Plane Tree by the W a te r," Lord W eary 's
C a stle . p , 47.
44 "S tructure, Sound , and M eaning," in Sound and
P o e try , p , 105.
45 The su b tle ty of the a llite ra tiv e p a tte rn s in Lowell
may be v iew ed , a s Kenneth Burke d o e s , a s a llite ra tio n of
c o g n a te s. As Burke sh o w s, ”n" m oves into a voiced or v o ice­
l e s s "d" and " t ” , w hile "m" m oves into a voiced or v o ic e le ss
"b" or "p"; L ow ell's v erse su re ly ex h ib its th is . "On M u sic a lity
in V e rse ," p p . 3 1 -4 0 ,
78
The q u estio n w hether Low ell u s e s th e s e co n scio u sly
or n ot does not re a lly make much d iffe re n c e . Nor is i t
n e c e ssa ry to draw a re la tio n betw een the change from
dom inant a llite ra tiv e an d consonant p attern s to a more muted
form and the change in L ow ell's dom inant id ea s*
C ertain ly he
i s aw are of w hat is going on in his. v erse but i t i s not n e c e s s a rily
th e kind of a w are n ess th a t one can catalogue or a n a ly z e „ The
firs t kind may be an u n conscious u se of the sound, w hile the
second is a m ethodology. There is no evidence th a t L ow ell's
sound p a ttern s are the r e s u lt of such a m ethodology.
In Life Studies Mr , Lowell has exchanged
the sty le of El G reco for drypoint, 1
VI
Life S tu d ies
Life Studies, is a com pression and m utation of a ll the
e a rlie r prosodic techniqu e , sty le , and tone of Robert Lowell*
I t i s a statem en t of a n o etic a s much a s it i s a probing of per­
sonal liv e s*
The f ir s t se c tio n of the book, c o n s is ts of four poems
th a t d isp lay them atic and stru ctu ral sim ila ritie s to the early
Lowell* The m eters are traditional? the counterpointing i s the
tro ch a ic and d a c ty lic rhythm of H opkins running a g a in st the
iam bic lin e * The sty le i s , p e rh a p s, not a s grand a n d rh e to ric a l
in th is f ir s t se c tio n as Land of U n lik e n e s s , nor the them atic
ten sio n so n o ticeable# s t i ll the sim ilarity i s apparent*
"Beyond the A lps, " the firs t poem in th is volum e, is
s e t in three s ta n z a s of fourteen lin e s and u se s irreg u larly rhymed
2
'
iam bic pentam eter*
The re lig io u s im agery of th is s e c tio n d isp la y s
1 D aniel G* Hoffm an, "A rrivals and R e b irth s," Sewanee
R eview , LXVIII (1960) , p - 130 *
2 The f ir s t Stanza is rhymed abaccdbdeffgge *
79
80
th e sam e am biguity noted in the im agery of Land of U n lik en ess and
Lord W earv 's C a s tle .
Who could u nderstand ?
Pilgrim s s till k is s e d S aint P e te r's brazen s a n d a l»
The D u c e's ly n c h e d , b a re , booted skull s t i ll spoke
God herded h is people to the c o u p de grace The costum ed S w itzers sloped th eir p ik es to push
0 P iu s , through the m onstrous human crush
3
All the elem ents of the early poetry are here: the bru tal se c u la r
authority of M ussolini; the God of power and d e stru c tio n , Jehovah,
a s shown in "herded" and the am biguity of ” c o u p de g ra c e ":
and th e obvious broad c ritic ism of hum anity in "the m onstrous
human c r u s h ,. =" Even Rome a s the them atic cen ter of the poem
is not th a t far from the Rome of "D ea Roma":
M uch a g a in st my w ill
1 le ft the C ity of God where it b e lo n g s .
There the sk irt-m ad M u sso lin i unfurled
the eag le of C a e s a r«, He w as one of us
o n ly , pure p ro se . 4
The second poem in th is s e c tio n , "The Banker’s
D aughter , " i s sim ilar in tone to the la te r poems in Lord W e a rv 's
C a stle lik e "C harles the Fifth and the P e a s a n t." The sty le is
3 Life S tu d ie s » p . 4«.
4 p . 3*
81
dram atic and. d ictio n colloquial:
Once th is poor country egg from Florence la y
a t her accouchem ent, such a virtuous ton
of woman only women thought her o n e .
King Henry p iro u e tte d on h is h eel
and je s te d , ''Look^ my cow1s producing v e a l," 5
The sam e i s true of “A M ad Negro Soldier Confined a t M u n ic h ,”
although the tone here re fle c ts the h y ste ria of "The Fat M an in the
M irror”:
"W e're a ll A m erican, e x ce p t the D oc,
a Kraut D P, who k n e e ls and b ath es my eye*
The boys who floored m e, two b lac k m a n ia c s, try
to pay my hands . R ounds, rounds! Why punch the clock ? 6
The other poem in th is se c tio n , se t in the old formal sty le of Lord
W eary 's C a s tle , com plains:
The snow had buried S tu y v e sa n t.
The subw ays drummed th e v au lts „ I heard
the E l's green girders charge on T hird,
M a n h attan 's tru ss of adam ant,
th a t groaned in erm ine, slummed on w an t, * „,
C yclonic zero of the w ord,
. God of our a rm ie s, who in te rred
Gold H arbor1s blue im m ortals. Grant!
H orsem an, your sword is in the groove! 7
The second se c tio n of th is volume co n tain s th irty -s ix
p a g es of p ro se , a n au to biographical sk etch of L o w ell's e arly life*
I t i s not e s s e n tia l to an y p ro so d ic understanding of L o w ell, but
provides a background for the la te r poems th a t d e al w ith su b je cts
from L o w ell's p a s t.
5 p »■ 5 *
6 p . 8.
7 "Inauguration Day: January 1953, " p . 7 .
82
The third se c tio n p re s e n ts biographical sk e tc h e s
of four lite ra ry figure si Ford M adox Ford, George Santayana <
Delmore Schw artz , and H art Crane , Here we can se e the lin e s
startin g to break!
O d iv o rced , divorced
from the w h a le -fa t of p o st-w a r London! Boomed,
c u t, plucked and booted 1 In Provence , New York , „«
m arrying, blow ing *** n early dying
a t Boulder, w hen the a ltitu d e
x
j
i
p re s s e d the world on your h e a rt,
and your a u d ie n c e , alm ost football s i z e ,
shrank to a d o zen , „ , 8
The beginning lin e s of th is s e c tio n are counterpointed in the
sty le of H opkins, but the la te r lin e s show an in c re a s in g ,
irreg u lar s tra in .
The rhym es of th is se c tio n a lte rn a te betw een
perfect: rhyme and n e ar-rh y m e , The break is even more n o tic e ­
able in the seco n d poem*
In the heydays of 4fo rty -fiv e ,
b u s-lo a d s of so u v en ir-d eran g ed
j
G .1
X
a
%
j
and o ffic e r-p ro fe sso rs of philosophy
came crashing through your c e ll,
pu zzled to find you s t i ll a liv e ,* * * 9
The second lin e here has fourteen s y lla b le s , but the other lin e s
8 "Ford M adox F o rd ," p , 49*
9 "For George S antayana: 1 8 6 3 -1 9 5 2 ," p» 51
do n ot come n ear vio latin g a n iam bic norm* Also the in te rje c tio n of th ree and fo u r-s tre s s lin e s is in c re a s in g » In the
n e x t poem the lin e s become even l e s s regular:
from M alta - h is e y es l o s t in fleshy lip s baked and black*
Your tig e r k itte n . O ra n g e s,
cartw heeled for jo y in a b all of sn a rls *
You said:
"We p o ets in our youth begin in s a d n e s s :
thereof in the end come despondency and m ad n ess:
S talin has had two cerebral hem o rrh ag es! "
The C harles
River w as turning s ilv e r„ In the ebblig h t of m orning, we stu c k
the duck
- ‘s w ebfo o t, lik e a candle , in a q u art of g in w e' d k illed „ 10
Yet even w ith the breaking of the lin e s h e re , the rhyme i s re ta in e d ,
though a great d e al of i t i s near-rhym e = The sta p le lin e of th is
poem continues to be iam bic pentam eter* These lin e s c o n stitu te
a v a ria n t from the pentam eter* T hey d o , how ever, lea d d irec tly
into the fourth se c tio n of the book*
In th is se ctio n the v erse is "free":
"I w on’t go w ith you * I w ant to s ta y w ith G ran d p a!"
T hat’s how I threw cold w ater
on my M other and Father* s
w atery m artini pipe dream s a t Sunday dinner*
* * * Fontainebleau,,. M a tta p o is e tt, Puget Sound. * „ *
Nowhere w as anyw here a fte r a summer
a t my G ran d fath er's farm , 11
10 "To Delm ore S ch w artz, ” pg*. 54*
11 "My L ast Afternoon w ith U ncle Deverems W inslow , "
p , 59,
84
The rea so n for the change is c le a rly s ta te d .
I began to have a certain d is re s p e c t for th e
tig h t fo rm s. If you could make it e a s ie r by
add ing s y lla b le s f why not ? And then when I
w as w riting Life S tu d ie s , a good number of
the poem s w ere sta rte d in very s tric t m eter,
and I found th a t, more than the rhym es, the
reg u lar b eat w as w hat I d id n 't w a n t. 12
The re s u lt of L ow ellls change to a free form is lin e s b a sed on
a purely a c c e n tu a l count:
My grandfather found
I
I
I
h is grandchild s fogbound so lititu d e s
I
4
I
sw ee te r than human so c ie ty .
13
We noted in the e a rly developm ent of Robert L o w ell's lin e th a t
the counterpointing changed from a running rhythm (or rhythm
produced by substitution) to th e counterpointing of speech
rhythm s.
By the tim e I came to Life Studies I 'd been
w riting my autobiography and a ls o w riting
poems th a t broke m eter. I 'd been doing a
lo t of reading a lo u d . I w ent to the We st
C o ast and read a t le a s t once a day and
som etim es tw ice for fourteen d a y s, and
more and more I found th a t I w as sim plifying
my p o e m s. 14
The further developm ent, rem oving any m etrical b a s is for those
sp e e c h rhythm s, is a point in a developm ent th a t h a s been going on
. 12 "An Interview w ith Robert L o w e ll,11 p . 67 ,
13 "D u n b a rto n ," p . 65.
14 "An Interview w ith Robert L ow ell, " pp. 66-67.
85
sin ce Land of U nlike n e s s . The lin e of The M ills of the K avananahs
w as p a rtia lly the r e s u lt of four s tr e s s e s oounterpointed on a
m etrical frame of iam b ic p en tam eter * If the p en tam eter is removed
and th e s tr e s s e s rem ain* the re s u lt is a form of free v e rse based
on th e number of a c c e n ts to a l in e »- The p rin cip le of order* if
any* i s not purely the number of s t r e s s e s to a line* how ever.
But by looking a t longer se c tio n s of th is la te poetry we can see a
p rin cip le of order em erging.
Yvor W inters w rites th a t h is free v erse foot
consists, of one h e av ily a c c en ted syllable*
and unlim ited number of unaccented sy lla b le s *
and a n unlim ited number of s y lla b le s w ith
seco n d ary a c c e n t. This resem b les the acc en tu al
m eter of H opkins * e x c e p t H opkins em ployed
rhym e, 15
The d ifference betw een the foot of W inters and the foot of Lowell
is th a t Low ell seem s to e x e rcise more control:
He w as my Father* I w as h is so n ,
J:
'%
!
X
On our y early autum n g e t-a w a y s from Boston
to the fam ily graveyard in Dunbarton*
he took the w heel him self lik e an adm iral a t the h elm ,
Freed from Karl and chuckling over the g a s he w as saving*
I'
■4:
he l e t h is motor ro lle r-c o a s te r
out of control down e a c h h ill.
15 In D efense of R easo n , p* 112,
86
I
I
1
We stopped atlthe P risc illa in N ashua
l
X
for brow nies and ro o t-b e e r,
and la te r "pumped ship" together in the Indian Summer, * ,16
The sc a n sio n here is my own and c ertain ly lia b le to error; but an y
sc an sio n of v erse su ch a s th is m ust tak e in to c o n sid eratio n the
fa c t th a t a sy lla b le is a cc e n te d according to its p o sitio n in the
lin e and, even more im p o rtan t, if the unit of the lin e (or part of
the line) is a p h rase or c la u se "the primary s t r e s s . , .w ill come a s
17
n ear the end a s p o s s ib le . . ."
In th is s e c tio n , though it a p p ea rs there is no principle of
o rg an iz atio n , the lin e s have a norm from w hich they d ev iate and
to w hich th ey re tu rn . The sta p le lin e in th is p a ssa g e is a th re e s tre s s lin e w ith a tw o -s tre s s lin e adm itted a s a v a ria n t. The
f iv e - s tr e s s lin e (the sixth) is th ree and a tw o -s tre s s lin e run
to g e th e r. The principle of order sta te d here is follow ed by m ost
of the poetry in Life S tu d ie s .
16 "D u n b a rto n ,11 p . 65. The seco n d ary s tr e s s e s are not
marked b e ca u se they do not figure stro n g ly in the determ ination
of the l i n e .
17 John Thompson. The Foundation of E nglish M etre.
(London; 1961), p . 12.
87
The second principle of o rg anization in th is poetry
is th e u se of a llite ra tio n to k e y s tr e s s e d sy lla b le s or words*
This is a d is tin c t carry-over from e a rlie r poetry in w hich i t
w as u sed e x te n siv e ly to m^rk the counterpointed fo u r-s tre s s
lineo It can be used freely a s running a llite ratio n :
x ,
i
In my Father! s bedroom:
1
4'
blue th read s a s th in
t
•
i
a s p en -w ritin g on the b e d sp re a d ,
blue d o ts on the c u rta in s ,
a blue kim ono,
4-
4;
I
C hinese s a n d a ls w ith blue p lu sh straps-.
' j.
4
the broad planked floor.
i
i
had a s.andpapered n e a tn e s s » 18
The a llite ra tio n may be frontal a s in the second lin e „ It may
be a m alliteratio n of cognates ("p" and "b") a s in the third lin e .
Or it m ay be "buried" a llite ra tio n lik e the sev en th lin e . All th e se
w ays of using a llite ra tio n are e s ta b lis h e d p ra c tic e s in the
ea rlie r p o e try .
The third w ay the lin e i s controlled Is through rhyme:
There were no u n d e sira b le s or g irls in mv s e t,
when I w as a boy a t M a tta p o is e tt —
only M other, s till h er fa th e r's daughter*
Her voice w as s t i l l e le c tric
w ith a h y s te ric a l, unm arried p a n ic ,
when sh e read to me from the N apoleon book.
18 "F a th e r's Bedroom ," p , 75,
88
L ong-nosed M arie L ouise
H apsburg in the fro n tisp iece
had a downright Boston b a sh fu ln e ss ,
where she grovelled to B onaparte, who sc ratc h ed h is n a v e l,
and bolted h is food - ju s t ray seven y ears ta ll! 19
I have m erely in d ic ate d th e obvious rhyme h e re . Its function
’ is to guide the movement of the free-ran g in g s tr e s s e s by strongly
sig n allin g the end of the lin e .
But it can a ls o bind the inner
m ovem ents of the v e rs e , keying s tr e s s e s through a s s o n a n c e .
I
I
Ready, afraid
I
J
I
of living alone til eig h ty ,
1
1
I
I
M other mooned in a window ,
J
I
a s if she had sta y e d on a tra in
2 I
2
4
one stop p a s t her d e s tin a tio n . 20
3
3
The a sso n a n ta l rhyme here may e ith e r key the s t r e s s e s e x a c tly ,
as in the fourth lin e . Or in d ic a te the area w here the s tre s s w ill
f a ll, a s in the second lin e .
The major controlling fa c to r, how ever, is w hat h as had
major sig n ific an c e in a ll h is v e rse - sy n tax . We noted
e a rlie r th a t he h a s a tendency (in the e a rlie r poetry) to stop a
lin e on or near a v erb . In h is la te s t poetry th is h a s become a
b a sic principle of c o n stru c tio n , but in a slig h tly d ifferen t way
th an it i s se e n in th e e arlie r v o lu m e s.
19 "My L ast Afternoon w ith U ncle D evereux W inslow , "
p . 62.
20 "Commander L ow ell, " p . 70 ,
89
The n ight attendant# a B, U , sophom ore,
ro u ses from the m are1s n e s t of h is drow sy head
propped on The M eaning of M eaning„
He catw a lk s down our corridor.
Azure day
m akes my agonized b lue window b lea k er .
Grows m aunder on the p etrifie d fairway*
A bsence! My h e art grows te n s e
a s though a harpoon were sparring for the k ill .
(This i s the house for the "m entally i l l . ") 21
Every lin e of th is sta n z a (except the eighth) i s end^stopped on a
p erio d , the sy n ta c tic a l clo se of an i d e a , or the s u b je c t of a verb
w ith th e follow ing lin e com pleting the s e n te n c e ,
C harles H ockett
sa y s th a t the "kernel" of an E nglish se n te n c e is a p red icativ e
co n stitu te:
The m ost g eneral c h ara c te riz a tio n of p red icativ e
co n stru ctio n s is su g g ested by the term s "topic"
and " comment" for th e ir ICS: the sp e ak e r announces
a to p ic and th en sa y s som ething about i t . Thus
Tohn/ran aw ay: th a t new book bv Thomas G uernsey/
I h a v e n 't re a d v e t, 22
The lin e s of the sta n z a above th a t are not com plete
s e n te n c e u n its are c o n stru cted according to the basic, sy n ta c tic a l
stru ctu re topic^com m ent* S tanzas lik e th e se are ra a lly formed lik e
Low ell' s conception of the function a rhym ed couplet h as:
" ,* * a couplet can be a couplet or can be sp lit and le f t a s one
23
lin e o.o*.
21 "W aking in the B lue," p . 81,
22 A Course in M odern L in g u istics (Hew York: 1958),
p , 195,
23 "An Interview w ith Robert L o w ell," p . 66.
90
A lin e is e ith er a com plete u nit ( i . e . , "Left a s one line") or it
is " sp lit" into to p ic and comm ent. The r e s t of th is quote gives
us a key to the v a ria n ts of th is principle:
" , , . or it can go on
for a hundred lin e s; any so rt of com pression or expansion is
24
p o s s ib le . ”
If Lowell were speaking of the b a s ic c o n stitu e n ts
of an E nglish sen ten c e h e re , the couplet would be to p ic-co m m en t,
The single lin e would be a sin g le s e n te n c e , or co n junction'of
to p ic and comm ent. Expansion could tak e p lace if e ith er of
th e se were s p lit into sm aller u n its , but never breaking the
topic-com m ent re la tio n .
W hat u se i s my se n se of humor ?
I grin a t S ta n le y , now sunk in h is s ix tie s ,
once a H arvard all-A m erican fu llb a ck ,
(if such w ere p o ssib le !)
s till hoarding the build of a boy in h is tw e n tie s ,
as he so a k s , a ramrod
w ith m uscle of a se a l
in h is long tu b ,
vaguely urinous from the V ictorian plum bing.
A kingly granite profile in a crim son g o lf-c a p ,
worn a ll d a y , a ll n ig h t,
he th in k s only of his fig u re,
of slimming on sh e rb e t and gingerale more cut off from w ords than a s e a l.
This i s the w ay day breaks in Bowditch H all a t M cL ean's:
the hooded lig h ts bring out "Bobbie, "
P o rcellian '2 9 ,
a re p lic a of Louis XVI
w ithout the wig red o le n t and ro ly -p o ly a s a sp erm -w h ale,
as he sw ash b u ck les about in his birthday s u it
and h o rse s a t chairs . 25
24 "An Interview w ith Robert L o w e ll," p . 66.
25 "W aking in the Blue, ” pp. 8 1 -8 2 .
91
This i s very sim ilar to the c o n stru ctio n of "The Quaker G rave­
yard in N antucket" ~ p h rasal and c la u s a l extension* Each line
corresponds to some sy n ta c tic a l u n it and m ost of th e s e sm aller
u n its work on the sam e principle a s the larger:
"a re p lic a of
L ouis XVI" (topic)./w ithout the wig" (comment) „
This a lso seem s very c lo se to w hat Robert Bridges defin es
as M> D u jard in 's free v erse*
.». *so (a) a lin e of free v e rse i s a gram m atical
u n it, made of a c c e n tu a l verbal u n its combining
to a rhythm ical import^ com plete in i t s e l f and
su fficie n t In its e lf; (b) the lin e may be various
in le n g th , and of any length# only not too long;
(c) the lin e i s a b so lu te ly in different to sy lla b ic
num eration or c o n stru ctio n apart from its own
propriety of sen se-an d p le a s a n t movement;
(d) and* * .free from a ll m etrical o b lig a tio n s . . . 26
The b a s ic stru ctu ral u n it for Lowell i s the sen ten ce and the
lin e s are not only counterpointed a g a in s t each other (not strh o tly
counterpoint) through th eir rhythm s but a ls o through the v ariatio n s
of se n se th a t e ac h d ifferen t sy n ta c tic a l unit e x p re s s e s . The sen ­
te n c e s a re long and fragm entary when broken and the read er moves
through them q u ick ly , forced to p au se only b eca u se the lin e s
are s y n ta c tic a l.
The im ages are frag m en ts, p laced one a g a in st
th e o ther by syntax and form a lin e a r m osaic th a t w orks w ith the
same rhythm ic su b tle ty th a t we have se e n in "The Q uaker Grave­
yard in N an tu ck et* "
26 "Hundrum & Hamm Scarum: A Lecture on Free Verse#"
in C o llected E ssa y s and P a p e rs , (Oxford: 1928), v . 2 , p p . 4 2 -4 3 .
92
L ow ell's prosodic developm ent from highly tra d itio n a l
forms and tig h t stru c tu re s le a d s d ire c tly to th is p re s e n t poetry*
The difference betw een each of h is volum es becom es not an
abandonm ent of principle^ n e c e ssa rily ^ but a g rea ter amount
of em phasis put on one p a rtic u la r method rath e r th an another*
In Land of U n lik en ess i t i s sta n z a form/ in Lord W eary*s C astle
a counterpointed tro c h a ic rhythm w ith short lin e s f in The1M ills
of the K avanauahs a counterpointed fo u r-s tre s s rhythm , in
Life Studies a s tre s s rhythm . There is lo g ic a l p ro g re ssio n .
Ju st where Robert Lowell w ill go from here i s uncertain*
J d o n 't think th a t a p e rso n al h isto ry can go on
fo rev er/ u n le s s you're W alt W hitman and have
a w ay w ith you* That d o e s n 't mean I w o n 't do
more of i t , but I d o n 't w ant to do more now , I
fe e l I haven" t gotten down a ll my e x p e rie n c e ,
or perhaps even the m ost im portant p a rt, but
I'v e sa id a ll I re a lly have much in sp ira tio n to
sa y , and more would ju s t d ilu te , So th a t you need
som ething more im p erso n al, and other th in g s being
equal i t 's b e tte r to g et your em otions out in a
M acbeth than in a confession* M acbeth m ust have
to n s of S hakespeare in him . We d o n 't know w h ere,
nothing in S h a k e sp e a re 's life w as rem otely lik e
M acb eth , y et he som ehow g iv es the feeling of
going to the core of S h a k e sp ea re, You have much
more freedom th a t way th an you do w hen you w rite
an auto b io g rap h ical poem , 27.
27 "An In terv iew w ith Robert L o w ell," pp. 7 0 -7 1 ,
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