A
D ISTIN G U I SH I N G
CH A R A CTER I STIC
O#
PROSE STYL E
B
A B RA
Y
L IP SK Y, PH
M
IT E D
NO
u m b ia
U n iv
e r s it y
Co
Y R
.
S
4, J U
.
C ol
B
on s
n t rib u t i
to
NEW
D
.
P SYCHOL OG Y
H I V E S O#
A RC
ED
.
W OOD W OR T H
.
N E 190 7
P h ilo
s
op h y
and
P
sy c h
olo g y V ol
Y ORK
T H E SC I EN CE PRE SS
.
.
No 4
.
C ON T E N T S
PA G E
Stu d y
of Phonogr a phic R ec or ds
Study
o f Pu b lic
2
2
6
6
8
Spea ker s
Sc a nn in g
Composite
VA RI E TIE S O#
1
R H YT H M I N
Scannin g b y t h e
D I # # E R E N T STY L E S
-
Writ e r
Scannin g b y
Oth e r s
M e a su r es
Reli ability
of
9 23
EX A M P LE S O# PR OS E RH YT H MS
23 2 4
O# PHRA S A L SE C TI O N S
24 2 7
RH YT H M
PH RA S A L RH YT H M
IN
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-
PO E T R Y
27 28
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MEA N S O# PR ODU C I N G PR OS E RH YT H M
Le n gth
Choice
Ord e r
of
of
of
# igu r es
29 3 2
-
Wo rd s
Wo r d s
Wo r d s
of
Speech
TH O U G H T RH YT H M
3 3 -3 7
Pa r a llelis m
Balance
of
P hrase
SE N TE N C E A N D PARAG RA PH
THE CO N C EP T
CAU S E
A ND
“
STY LE
a nd
Wo rd
RH YT H M
”
37 39
-
-
U TI L I TY O# LA N G U A GE
RH Y TH M
iii
41
41 44
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RHYTHM A S A D ISTINGU ISHING
CHA RA CTERISTIC O# PROSE STYL E
I t wou l d be d iffic ult t o fin d a mod ern Rhetoric that does n ot c on
“
”
tain a f ew parag raphs on the rhythm of prose
It woul d be ju s t
a s diffi cul t to obtain f rom those para g raphs a clear i dea of what
rhythm in prose really is O ne of the most e x plicit sta t ements is : 1
“
Rhythm in p rose may be defined as the alternate swelling and
lessenin g of sound at certain intervals
I t r efe r s to the general
e ffect of sentences and paragraphs where the words are chosen and
a rranged so as not only to ex pr ess th e meaning of the writer but
also to furnish a musical accompaniment which shal l at once delight
”
the ear by its soun d and help out the sense by its sugg estiveness
This writer d oes not tel l us whether there is any re gularity in
the al ternate swelling a n d l essening of sound # nor if there is h ow
much He do es not say what are the means by which the rhythm
of prose is pro duced # n or doe s he or any other of the writers r e
“
”
ferred t o e x plain e x actly what they mean by rhythm
When we come upon a n al lusion in l iterary criticism t o an
”
“
author s rhythmical style we commonly think of an a gr eeable sense
of movement had in reading him B ut if we ask ourselves what it
i s that moves wh at makes the difference between a rhythmical a n d
an unrhythmical style or how the rhythm of one auth or d ifi er s from
that of another we find that our conceptions are e x ceedingly vagu e
The writer was impelled to enter upon the present study on fin d
“
”
in g himsel f unable to use the concept rhythm in prose because of
its vagueness in a series of e x periments that he h ad planned for
d eterm ining the psychology of j u d gments on literary sty l es He h a d
“
taken for insta nce several ver sions of Dante s There is no greate r
”
sorrow than in misery to remember the happy time and asked ab o ut
thirty graduate students to arrange them in order of preference an d
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“
to give reasons for first and last choice
Because it is smooth
”
” “
” “
“
Soun ds rough
B ecause it is rhythmical
Like the sound o f it
were among the reasons given Th e question arose : Wh at ch a nge
in a sentence will make a rough on e smo o th or a smooth one rough ?
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1
ll
D e Mi
e,
El e m e nt s
of
,
Rh etor ic
.
§ 2 99
.
,
IN PR OSE
RH Y THM
2
.
It seemed necessary to k now what elements of sound or o f sense
go to consti tute what is called the rhythm Of a piece Of writing
The phenomeno n of rhythm in prose was reco gnized by the ora
tors and rhetoricians of Greece and Rome a n d they gave definite
rules for prod ucing it
Aristotle philosophizes concerning the mat
ter in a way suggestive of Herbert Spencer s effort in h is well
“
That composition which is enti rely devoi d Of
known essay on style
“
”
rh ythm is indefinite says Aristotle
The in d efin ite or unl imite d
is displeas ing and cannot be kn o w n I t ough t to be limite d only
”
“
not by meter l ike verse
So soon as a definite measure is c au g ht
”
the ea r waits for its return
He goes on t o specify what k inds o f
”
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”
“
feet are most suitable for prose Th e heroic measure is not
s uitable because it is t oo s olemn an d too remote from the langua g e
“
”
o f conversation # t he trocha ic is too light and tripping
There
”
“
remains the paeonic rhythm wh ich though use d by many r h e tori
eiaus had n o t been d efined I t has two f orms
and
the first suitable f or the be g innin g o f a sentence the secon d
Ior the end
C icero f ollows Aristotl e in the main and g ives illus
2
t r a t ions from his ow n orations
Recent students have found that the ancients wrote as they pleased
”
“
and t h eory h a s t o make the b est of it Blass has scanned selecte d
”
“
passages fro m the classica l Kunstprosa with the aim of disclosin g
the un d erlying rh y thmical schemes He leaves ancien t theory far
3
behin d
Weil disputes Cicero s d ictum as to the reas o n why a
certain celebrated oratorical period was greeted with tremendous a p
“
N orden remar k s that in the antique concepti on rhythm i c
p la u s e
”
prose was identic a l with periodic ?
Th e subj ect of prose rhythm has received considera b le attentio n
of late years fro m psychologists It has been touched upon inci
dentally by investigators of rhythm in general like Bo l ton Meu
mann Mc D ou ga l an d Stetson # and d irectly attacked by Wall in Marb e
and Sco tt
Th e e x perimental investigation of rhythm has added to our
k now l ed ge on s u ch points as the l imits within which irre gulariti es in
the time in tervals between successive impressions may occu r without
destroyin g a rh yth m on the e ffect of the rate of succession of im
pres sions in facilitating or hindering the arousal Of a feeling o f
rhythm on the av a ilability of different kinds of impressions for
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A r is tot l e Rh e tor ic III 8
Cic e ro D e Ora tor e
B l a ss D ie Rh y t h me n d e r A tt isc h e n K uns tp ro s a
W e il Or d e r o f W or d s p 13 tr b y Su pe r 188 7
N or d e n D ie A n t ik e K u ns tpro s a p 42 1898
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e pz ig
L i
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1901
.
RH Y THM
IN
PR OSE
3
,
hapin g into a rhythm on the relations between rhythm perception
an d physical or mental a ctivities an d so on
B ut owin g t o the
na ture o f the stimu l i use d in these experiments— simple sensations
like hammer clic k s or lig ht fl a sh es — f ew o f the detailed results can
be used in the stu dy o f the rhythm of l angua g e where the rhythmical
material is so much more complex in character There are however
a few f a cts o f a g ener a l nature that are Significant for our purpose
The definition o f rhythm in B aldwin s d ictionary seems to com
“
mit th e error o f identifying mere repetition with rhythm
Rhyt hm
is a repea ting series of time intervals : events which occur in s uch a
”
series are sai d to have rhythm
We have on the other hand the
s t a te me nt o f Bolton that a rhythm in speech means a series o f
“
2
i
n gh a u s s that rhythm is
E
b
b
an
d
an org anization
r ou s of sounds
g
p
o f sensati ons following one another in time by the combination o f
as is sometimes sai d the
s everal o f th e m into unifi ed groups ( not
mere succession of impressions f ollowin g one another in equal inter
vals o f
We are no lon ger b oun d in consi d ering lang uage rhythm to re
main with in the arb itrary limits of l iterary metrical theory An
increase in the number o f elements com posing a g roup in a rhythmi
cal series d oes n ot proportionally increase the apparent leng th o f
4
the groups
Rhythm d oes n ot depen d upon equality o f succes sive
‘5
time intervals O nly an approximate equality is n ec es s a ry
Meu
mann has shown that intervals as lon g as f our or five s econds are
very inac curately estimated are merely guessed at while readin g
Attention plays an important part in the perception of rhythm
—
rhythmization
the
This is especia l ly SO in the case of subj ective
f eeling of rhythm in an ob j ectively monotonous series of impressions
Different forms of rhythm are fel t accordin g as one or another is
imagine d
Conversely a rhythmical series of impressions is more
6
easily atten d e d to an d b etter remembere d than a structureless series
m
i
The rhythmical material may b e a succession o f simple sense
pres sions li k e the au d itory an d visual sensations employed in l abora
tory experiments # au d itory sensations that vary in pitch as well a s
in lou d ness and d uration as in music # a series o f movements as in
d ancin g # or of soun d s having meanings as in languag e There Is a
“
Rh y t h m
1 D ie t
of P h i l o s a n d Ps y c h o l A rt
2 Bo l to n A m Jou r n a l o
f P s y ch ology v 6 p 158 1894
7
1
50
i
e
d
e
r
Ps
y
h
o
l
o
v
o
l
p
c
8 Eb b in h a us
n
u
e
e
ru
d
z
G
g
g
g
h y t h m s p 3 6 1903
4 M in e r M otor V isu a l a n d A pp l ied R
5 P h i l o s St u d
vo l X p 404
Ex p e riment el l e B e it ra eg e zu r U n t ersuc h u ng
6 M uel l e r a nd Sc h u m a nn
d es Ged a ee h t nis s e s Ze its e h f Ps y c h o l u nd Ps y s ioi d Sinnes org Bd V I
s
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18 93
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RHYTHM
IN
PRO SE
.
not separa b le f rom the rh ythm
controllin g a nd supplement in g th e purely phoneti c
of la ngu a g e
I n poetry phonetic r h ythm ofte n overri d es th ou ght rhythm
r hythm
I n prose phoneti c rhyt h m is on the wh ol e su b or d in ate to th ough t
rhythm As the complexity o f the rhyt hmi ze d m aterial increa ses ir
re gularities in th e succession o f the simpl er sti muli are more a nd
m ore disre g a r d e d
“
Rh ythm a ppea rs in th ou ght with sim pl e perception o f a number
“
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o f o b j ects says James
Accentu ati on an d emphasis are pr esent in
We fin d it quite impos si b l e to d ispe rse
every perception we have
”1
Wh en
ou r at tenti on impartia lly over a num b er Of impressions
thou ght moves d eci d e dly in a d efinite d irection un d er the impul se
to b ecome speech these accentuations and emphases become m ore d i s
Lan gua g e fixes them pe r manently although they m ay b e f e l t
t in ct
b efore b ec om in g em bod ie d in w or d s
An experi mental investi gation o f speech rhythm h as been m a d e
2
b y Wallin
H is subj ects Spo k e vari ous pi eces o f prose and poetry
The recor d s were then reproduced an d studie d
into a phono graph
b y ear Durations were measured by reactin g with a tele graph k ey
to certain soun d s or pauses in the reproduce d speech Inte nsiti es a n d
pitc hes were estimate d and group ed by the listener When in dou b t
other listeners were substitu ted to ch ec k his impressions
Alth ou gh the method is Open to certain Objections— the n oise o f
the stylus an d subj ective errors in m aki n g the estimations whi c h
have b een pointe d out b y Stets on—s ome of the results that espec iall y
interest us here m ay b e sa f ely accepte d Wa l lin f oun d that t h e chie f
g ui d e in dec i d ing whether a pi ece o f writin g was prose or verse w as
the arran g ement of th e lines to the eye Wh en verse was printe d a s
prose or vice versa the one was o f ten taken f or the other The f ol
l owin g bit o f prose b y B acon was calle d poetry b y a majority of h is
s u b j ec ts
r
hyt hm o f thou gh t d istin guish ab le
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T o th e poor Christian that si ts b o u n d in the galley
To d espair f ul wi d ows pensive prisoners and de pose d k ings #
TO them whose fortune runs b ac k an d whose spirits muti ny
U nto su ch d eath is a redeemer and the g rave a pl ace o f rest
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His su b jects spok e pr ose more rapidly than poetry the avera ge
be in g
syl l ables of poetry per secon d a n d
of prose— 2 0 per
cent more prose They spok e 10 per cent more prose syllables d urin g
an expiration th an p oe try
of the former an d
Of th e latter
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P r incip l es o f Psy c h o l o gy vo l 1 p 2 84
2 R
e se a r c h e s on t h e Rh y th m o f Sp e ec h St u d ie s fr om
l ogi ca l La b or a tory vo l IX
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] bid
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the
Ya l e P s y ch o
RH YTHM
P RO SE
IN
.
T h e natural inference f rom these figures seems to be that equa l in
t er v als o f time in prose m ay be fille d with unequal numbers o f una c
P er
n t e d sylla b les the l arger number bein g spo k en more rapidly
ce
f ee t rhythm measured by perf ect equality of time interval s b etween
a c cents w a s but slightly more common in verse than in prose
The metho d employed by Scripture of measurin g th e physical
impression on phono graphic d isc s a lth ou gh Obj ective in a high de gree
1
is t oo tedious for pieces Of any len gth
It is imperfect besides i n
confusing obj ective magnitude with subj ective impressions A n a c
cent in langua g e means an accent to the mind of the reader or lis
tener and is wholly relative to a dj acent stresses durations an d
pitches A we a k soun d may be felt as accented i f prece d ed and
fo llow ed by wea k er ones
The d egree of d i fference that shall be
j u dged suffi cient to constitute an accent is a sub j ective matter It
f ollows that this ri gidly physical method must rely ultimate ly on th e
an d cannot cl aim to be free f rom
e stim ate Of the listenin g mind
su b j ective errors
”
“
The good old process of scanning which was employed by B lass
i n his studies o f Greek and Latin prose has b een used by Marbe on
2
the prose o f Goe the an d Heine
He began by sc a nnin g the first and
“
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second thousan d wor d s of Goethe s St Roch u s fest and Heine s
“
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Harzreise ( both travel sketches ) while a f riend scanne d the sec
ond and third thousand The avera g e nu mber of unaccented sylla
bl es per interval between two accents w a s calculated and the frequency
”
“
o f each variety of f oot found in each thousand words The scan
n ing of his friend agreed su fficiently with his own to show that the
di ff er ences found between Goethe s and Heine s prose were obj ectively
there and the results from the successive thousands showed that the
characteristics of the first thousand mi ght be expected to hol d
throughout each piece It was found that Goethe s sketch had a
greater n u mber of certain k inds of feet and less of others than did
H eine s and that the average foot was shorter in the former than in
the latter
Marb e then scanned a thousand words from each of
h alf a dozen other writings of the same authors and found simi l ar
differences
Finally two very suggestive essays by Scott should be mentioned )
This write r claims to have discovered two styles Of vocal chan ge within
prose sentences In one type the voice rises in pitch to the apex of
an arc is held suspended for a time then descends # in the other i t
rises be g ins to descend an d the pause d oes not enter u ntil it h a s
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l
E e m ent s
of
Ex p e r im e nt a l
P h on e t ic s
Rh y t h mu s im P r os a Gie SSe n 1904
3 M o d e r n L a n ua
g
ge As s o c i a t io n Pu b
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1902
2
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1905
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P ROSE
IN
RH Y THM
6
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d es cended by the musical inte rval of a f ourth or a minor f ourth
”
“
Scott s theor y is that these infl ectional arcs constitu te the feet o f
prose rhythm which are compo u n d ed in various ways He ad mits
tha t there are other rhyt hmical elements also such as stress a lliter
Scott s observations it
balance of clause and phrase etc
a tion
appea rs were made on his own rea d ing # he gives no d e tailed accoun t
of them
Stetson has estimate d the f al l ing slide at the close o f
sentences to be an interval o f a th ir d or a fourth
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P hono graphic recita tion recor d s enable one easily to o b serve the
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rhythm of prose Cyl in d er recor d s of Lincoln s Gettysb u rg Speech
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of Ingersoll on N apoleon s Tom b an d of Mc K in ley s Speech at
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—
P
an
American
xposition
are
on
the
market
spo k en of course
E
the
by an elocutionist The elocutionist s a rt ific ia lity mars rather than
improves these pieces but their measured character becomes o b v io us
enough
The writer from much listening h ad them so impresse d
on his mind that they ran through his he a d constantly in the elo
c u tion is t s voice an d he rea d them in the elocutionist s manner wh en
he h a d the written copies before him It was not difficult to mar k
on a copy the syllables accented in the phonograph The rhyt hm o f
the first sentence of the In gersoll selection for e x ample is quite d is
tinct It is here given as mar k ed # with accents and pauses :
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A little while ag o I sto o d at the t o mb of the first N ap o leo n
a magnificent to m b of g ilt and g o ld Iwhere r e ste d at l a st the a shes
of that r e stless m a n ”
.
N o mea s urements or ca l culations were mad e on these specimens
The chief result of the study of them was to accusto m the ear to
d etect beats in prose The fact of the e x istence of rhythm in prose
“
”
b ecame clear an d certain It is easy to b eat time while ea ch
o f the phrases separate d by the vertical lines in the above sen tence
is spoken
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I n listening to publ ic spea k ers one is usually so interested in the
mean ing of the discourse that one does not Obse rve the rhythm of its
sound but if the lan guage is a forei gn one and unintelligible there
i s noth ing but the soun d to attend to and its rh ythmical character
becomes apparent The writer l istened to a sermon of which he d i d
not unde rs tand a word in the Russian church in N ew York He w a s
a bl e to beat time for short stretches though constantly thro w n ou t
at pauses where th e movement bro k e up and varie d B ut the d elive ry
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Ha rv a rd Ps y c h ]
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d
Stu ies
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1903
.
P RO SE
IN
RH Y THM
.
of some American public speakers i s so markedly rh ythmical as to
be come annoying in its unvarie d chant With a little e ffort it is
ssible
to
abstr
a ct the attention from the meanin g of what is sai d
o
p
and bea t ti m e The wr iter has done it very often
That authors of m arked individuality of sty l e differ f rom one an
other in the quality O f rhythm is a commonpl ace o f literary criticism
Every sensitive rea d er feels the d i fference b etween such writers a s
Scott an d Stevenson M a caulay and C arlyle D e # uincey and Emerson
Dickens and Thackeray Spencer and H uxley What is at the bott om
of these d ifferences ? I n poetry different rhythms are produce d by
various metrical forms th at may be schematically e x hibited
Can
anything like this be d one for prose ?
The following e x peri ment t o test this question was made A num
be r o f mi m eo grap h copies were made o f selections f rom Sc ott, Steven
son Thackeray Carlyle Rus k in Hawthorne an d Lotze ( tra n sla
tion ) The selections were arran g ed as if b y one author in consec u
tive paragraphs each of about 13 0 words O ne person rea d alou d
while another marked the sy l lables that to his hearing were ac cente d
Six mark ings were thus Obtained
In g oin g over the copies after
w a rds three or more mar k s on a syllable were consi d ered an accent
The most surprising result Of the e x periment was that only one
o f the persons enga ged in it was sure when as k e d that the selection s
were by d i fferent authors The others had not notice d the fact O ne
d eclared they were by the same author The selections had of cours e
purposely been chosen so as to be on congruous t opics
More s y llables were marked towards the close than at the b e
g inning sh o wing that the d iscriminativeness o f the mar k ers increased
as they pr oceeded There was a high d egree of a greement amon g the
markers bu t the selections differed from one another in the proportion
of unaccented to accented syll ables
A couple of sentences w ith the mar k in gs g athere d f rom the several
sheets are here g iven :
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You m ight
dtio
be
tter
e
n
d e get
so n r
g et
p
assion out
r
fd
of
and the Gith ic
f
g ive
u
ligl t ning
f
or
p
2
your
the
af
your
l
s m o ce
i do
dl itt
é
c r
n
ur
ws
ed
g
5
S
gla ss t o
6
y
ligio
th
bd
n
th an
,
ghost in
l
on e
the
‘
I
tI
‘
IG
You h a d
.
i
th em
g
d
mai
le
e
ainted
h d r ogeri
f
s n oke
re
i
i
I pes
an d the or g an
an d the
l
s
m d ern En g lish
s
w
out o f incense
i
S
z
v e
r ty
r
e
o
p
healthy
ex
,
f
i
r a ion
p
s
l ook after Lazarus at the door step
The agreement is close enough to j ustify the a ssumption that the
”
“
scanning of one in d ividual having a good ear would be j us t as
valid for the practical purpose in view as the result obtaine d by a dd
a nd
-
.
,
,
RH YTHM
8
IN
PRO SE
.
in g mar k ings of seve r a l persons There i s consi d erable variation in
th e sca nnin g of g oo d p oetry by schol ars These in d ividual variation s
h owever are insignificant beside the l arge differences d ue to di fferent
type s of rhythm l ike b lan k verse and hexameter shown by the scan
ning of a l l alike
O ne person s scann ing Of a number of poetical
specimens woul d be sure to show these typical d ifferences however
i t might vary in d eta il from the scannin g of another The a s su m p
t ion is that i f there are distinct rhythmical types in prose th e same
proced u re there should give valid results
”
“
The term scanning applied to prose Obviously does not mean
quite the same process a s that gone throu gh by the school —b oy who
scans Vir gil The school b oy is taught that the poetry h e is to scan
cons ists of two kinds of syllabl es arranged accordi n g to definite ru l es
a n d his task i s to find h ow each line con f orms t o the given pattern
The patt ern bein g fl exible within definite limits the boy s in g enuity
is expended in accounting for seeming irregul arities in the line b e
f ore him But we never are provided with a ready ma d e pattern for
a n y piece of prose
Scanning prose then must mean marking accen t s
w herever we feel them
Here a certain amount of vagu eness enters
N ot havin g a pattern to gu ide us which accents shall we mar k ? For
there are accents of vari ou s degrees of intensity
A goo d poem sets the tune in the first line so unmistakably
that the succeeding l ines even tho ugh they be somewhat uncertain
rhythmically are drawn by the reader into the rhythm su ggested
at t h e beginning
P rose has no l ines l ike those of poetry and its
rhythmical units certainly do not follow each other with a ny such
regularity as do the lines Of poetry N evertheless a phrase i n prose
frequently suggests a rhythm as distinctly a s d oes a line o f poetry
an d rhythms are ech oe d in prose as in verse
The ten d ency to accommodate the time of a sy llable in prose to fit
the movement of t h e phrase in whi ch i t occurs m a y be shown by a
“
simple e x periment G ive a person the sentence You are a wi cked
”
“
”
m an
t o read al ou d and then
You a re a bad m a n
There will
“
”
be a distinct lingering on the w o rd b a d
So in t h e second of the
“
”
“
?
sente n ces H o w do you d o this morn ing
How d o you do
a nd
”
“
”
“
”
?
thi s morning
where th e first d o i s emphasized you is pro
l on g ed There m ay be a shifting of ac cent from one syll able to e u
“
other a s may be seen on comparing the two sentences That j udg
”
“
”
m ent was un j ust
and It was an un just j udgm ent
I n the first
“
”
u n just
is accented on t h e second syllab le # in the secon d on t h e
2
first
.
,
.
,
,
,
’
.
,
.
,
.
-
.
.
’
,
-
.
.
,
,
.
.
,
.
,
,
1
.
,
.
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
1
2
n ie r
L ew is
La
,
,
o f En g V e r se
10 1880
P r inc ip l es o f Eng V e r s e p 1
Sc ie n ce
C M
.
.
,
.
,
,
.
.
,
.
,
1906
.
R HYTHM
N Plea s e
I
9
.
In order to determine whet h er various prose styles d iffer from
one another in a ccentual rhyth m the method o f scanning was em
ploye d as f ollows : A thousand words ( or more i f neede d to mat ch
a full stop ) w ere co unte d f rom the works o f di fferent a uthors an d
”
“
uitt ed
scanne d by the Writer The whole num b er o f syllables was c O
also the accented and the unacce nted syllables The avera g e n umbe r
o f unaccented syl l ables between a pair of accented syllables was cal
”
“
Then the f requency Of each type of f oot was cou nt ed
ca la te a
that is the nu m ber of times the combination
etc oc curred Sentence s tops were d isreg
ar de d
Th e proce d ure h ere d es cribed it wil l be seen is the same as tha t eth
ployed by Ma rb e
To illustr ate : The first
wor d s o f Cooper s Re d R o ver edu
ta in e d
syllables 498 were ac cented in scanning l 095 we re
left unaccented — average una ccented interval
syllab l es av erage
syllables
deviation 99 average word
The distributi on of gro ups
”
“
or f eet wa s as f ollow s :
,
,
,
,
.
.
.
,
.
,
.
.
,
,
.
’
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
33
12 0
15 3
116
57
15
3
Since
the n umber of syllables in the different selections scanne d
varied d istributions were ca l culated for a common base of
sylla
bles The above accor d ingly gave :
,
.
“
”
Table I g ives the frequencies of th e various types of foot f or
3 5 specimens scanned by the writer
The figures over the columns
”
“
indicate types of foot : 0
1
2
etc In the left hand column of the Table are
3
given authors a n d titles These are in full :
Re d Rover
COO P E R
Little Minister
BARRI E
O ld P acific Capital
ST E VE N SO N
In the M atter of a P rivate
K IP L IN G
I ncarnation Of Krishna Mul v aney
Man Who Was
.
2
-
.
.
RH YTHM
10
JA M ES ,
H
P RO SE
IN
.
Watch an d War d
The Am b assadors
The Lady o f the Aroostook
Lan dlor d at Lion s Head
N icholas N ic k leby
Mo d e r n P a inters
Sesame an d Lilies
Tenure of Kin g s a n d Ma gistrate s
U r n Burial
Es say on Milton
Essay on Sh ak espeare
Essay on Shakespeare
Hero Worship : Shakespe are
B oswell s Li fe of Johnson
O l d an d N ew School master
Nature
Autocrat o f the B reakfast Tabl e
O n Conciliation W ith Americ a
Character of Washin gton
Heretics
Ed itorial
Edi torial
Report o f an A ccident
P rinciples of P sycholo gy
P hysio graphy Chap I
P re f ace to the above
Ex pression of Emotions
P rinciples o f P sycholo gy : Habit
The Princess : P rolo gue ( blank verse )
.
HO W ELLS
’
D ICKEN S
R U SKIN
MI LTO N
BR O W N E
ADD I SO N
J O HN SO N
D E # UIN C E Y
CARL Y L E
MA C A U LA Y
’
EM ER SO N
HO L M E S
B U RKE
WEBST ER
I N G E R SO LL
THE TI MES
THE JO URN A L
THE Ti M m
SP E N C E R
IIU XL EY
D AR WI N
J AM E S ,
W
.
,
.
TE NN YSO N
TABL E I
( 0)
( 1)
(2)
.
(3)
( 4)
(5)
( 7)
(6)
C OO PER
BA R I E
B
.
71
.
69
.
67
.
.
69
68
70
RH Y THM
L
L H
.
.
( 1)
( 0)
P ROSE
IN
(2 )
11
.
(3 )
( 4)
(5)
(6)
( 7)
.
D IC EN S
RUS IN
.
K
.
(8)
72
66
K
M
.
S
.
P
L
.
.
L ON
BR O W NE
A I S ON
J O HN S O N
DE # U I N C E Y
MI
T
DD
56
68
ER SO N
HO L M E S
BU R E
WE S ER
I N ER S O LL
.
61
EM
.
71
.
62
.
62
K
B T
.
62
G
THE J ou r na l
I‘ HE
Ti m
S PEN C ER
R
es ,
HU X LEY
Ph y s
P r ef
.
Ch
I
.
.
DA R W I N
JAM E S
W
,
“
THE
.
62
.
P R I N CES S
”
.
75
ER A E S
AV
G
( e x c l u d i ng t h e l a s t )
Tabl e I I g ives the avera g e unaccented interval in syllab les the
averag e deviation f rom this average and the avera ge word len gth
in syllab les for each of the selections
,
-
,
,
.
TA BL E 11
.
Av
.
Int
.
A D
.
.
C OOPER
99
BA RBIE
98
S E EN S O N
K I PL I N —I
97
T V
G
M
.
I K
.
.
95
.
M
W W
J A M E S H—W W
M
,
.
.
.
.
91
.
.
.
92
92
98
90
Av W
.
.
RH YTHM
12
D IC EN S
R U S I N—M
IN
PRO SE
.
K
K
P
.
98
.
96
93
2
V
N
J O HN SO N
D E # U I N CEY
C A RL YLE
M ACA U LA Y
AD D I SO
.
94
LA M B
N ERS O LL
I G
THE
s,
THE J ou r n a l
Ti m
S PEN C ER
85
.
94
.
97
.
Ti m e
THE
.
Ed
.
93
88
I
.
.
99
93
.
R
es ,
HU X LE Y— Ch
Ed
,
.
.
96
Pr e f
95
.
91
86
71
A cursory glance at Table I shows that each selection has a foot
that the curves rise more
of maximum frequency either ( 1) or ( 2 )
steeply th an they descen d # that there is considerable variety o f shape
in the curves A few typical ones have been p l otted an d are g iven in
the accompanyin g charts The points t o be note d are : the acute and
the rounded summit the steep an d the gra d ual d escent the summit
in ( 1) an d the summit in
the d ouble apex or d ip ( M ilton an d
Stevenson )
Before proceeding to discuss the fi gures presente d in th e pr e
ceding tables i t will b e d esirable to give some evidence of their reli
ability # first as measures of obj ective f act # secon d as typical of the
whole wor k from which each selectio nwas taken
“
”
The first thousan d words of Cooper s Re d Rover were scanned
by t wo persons besides the writer Both were stud ents at Teacher s
Col l ege Columbia U niversity b ut one h a d never scanned poetry
The numerical resul ts are given together with those f rom the write r s
scansion for comparison in Tabl e I I I
,
.
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
’
’
.
,
,
.
’
,
,
,
.
PROSE
IN
RH Y THM
14
.
TABL E I I I
COO P E R
( 0)
A
L
M R
L T
’
S Red Rover
“
(2)
( 1)
”
.
( 1s t
.
words )
.
( 4)
(3 )
(5)
Av
(6)
In t
.
.
A D
.
.
.
.
25 82
.
.
.
.
99
.
99
.
.
The agreement between the first two i s close Th e third var i e s
fro m the other t w o but it wil l be n o tice d that t h e ma x imum is in
The l o w number in colu mn
and the high
th e sam e column
numbers in column s ( 5 ) and
indi cate that this person Omitted
a great many accents th at were marked by the first two
”
“
Stevenson s O l d Pa c ific Capital was scanned b y C W who had
never scanne d poetry The next ta bl e gives the resul t together with
t h e correspon d in g fi gures from Tab le I
C W scanned th e s ec on d
thousan d wor d s # A L the firs t th ousand
.
,
.
.
’
'
.
.
.
,
.
.
.
ST E VE N SO N
A
.
C
.
L
.
S O l d P acific Capital ( Ist
“
”
(2 )
( 1)
( 0)
.
.
.
TABLE I V
’
,
(3 )
( 4)
2 nd
(6)
(5)
.
W
.
Av
( 7)
Av
.
In t
.
A D
.
.
71
.
97
.
71
.
98
W
.
.
.
The two scansions give wi d ely divergent figures in columns ( 0)
an d
N ow it will be observed that the number of ( O) s m ark e d
by C W is f ar in excess of that given for any writer b y A L in
I t is also more th an doubl e the number marked by M R
Table I
in the C ooper selec tion I t seems a fair inference that C W w as a b
norm al in accenting successive syllables C W s mann er o f speak ing
suppor ts this inference It is sl ow and deliberate with strong em
phasis alw ays noticed by new acquaintances If we throw in a f ew
u naccen te d syllables here a n d there so as to reduce ( 0) to more nor
mal size ( 1) will rise proportionally I t sh oul d be noticed that the
hi gh f requency of ( 1) and the rel atively high frequency o f ( 3 ) appear
i n both records
”
“
H enry James Watch an d W ard was scanned b y K graduate
student o f English
’
,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
’
.
.
.
,
.
.
,
.
,
.
’
,
.
.
IN
RH Y THM
P ROSE
TAB LE V
JAM E
A
I
K
L
.
S Watc h and Ward ( sa m e s ec tion )
’
“
”
(2)
( 1)
( 0)
15
.
( 4)
(3 )
(5)
.
(6 )
.
.
A In t
.
68
.
.
A D
.
.
.
92
.
97
We observe here that th e ma x ima are in the same column and th e
general agreement g o od A piece of p rose having a large e x cess of
”
“
one kind of foot we may assume will have a d ifi eren t rhyth mical
char a cter from one with an e x cess of another kind Its rhythm will
be greatly colored by the predominant type Hence agreement a mo ng
“
”
different mark ers in marking the m ost frequent foot
indicates
a greement in feeling the predominant rhythm
“
”
The most frequent foot it has been n oted is always in column
These tw o intervals are ra d ically of di fferent type
( 1) or
Foot ( 1) is t w o rhythm— iambic or trochaic # foot ( 2 ) is three
rhythm— anapaestic or d a ctyllic Fo ot
on the other hand may
b e the resul t of negligence in marki n g foot
as a little c on sid
Similarly foot ( 4) may be due to neglect of a d
c ration will Show
j acent ( 1) s an d
and foot
to neglect of successive
O ne wou l d e x pect the scansion of an ine x perienced person to show a
greater number Of the long intervals than the scansion of a person
who had marked a large number o f pieces Th e scansion of three of
the m arkers illustrates this po int But the opposite may happen
The ine x perienced marker may mark too minute ly marking wor d
accents instead of sentence accents This seems to have been done
by ( M
As to the e x tent t o which the figures in Table I may be taken to
b e typical for the piece of writing as a whol e from whi ch each selec
tion Of a thousand words was taken s o me evidence will be found in
Table VI a n d VI I
Each of the selecti ons named in the first column Of Tab l e VI
w as divided in hal f and the different types Of foot in each half were
coun ted just as they had been in the wh oles Th e halves ranged in size
b etween seven and eight hund r ed syllables Th e figures in the table
have been reduced t o a comm o n denominato r of 500
In Table VI I are given the fi gures resulting from L T s scansion
“
of the fir s t and s econ d consecutive tho u sand words of Cooper s Red
”
Rover
.
,
,
.
.
,
.
,
,
.
-
,
.
,
.
’
'
.
.
.
,
-
.
.
,
.
‘
,
.
.
.
’
.
.
’
.
PRO SE
IN
RH Y THM
16
.
TA BLE VI
( 1)
( 0)
I LING
K P
K
I
.
.
.
(3 )
(2 )
’
M
B
L
S
.
.
.
I LTO N
RO W NE
C A RLYLE
LA M
(5)
M
54
RL S K IN
( 4)
28
5
31
3
49
51
46
45
52
37
50
3
58
44
35
3
60
30
56
32
:
57
29
9
1
66
34
31
5
5
#
B
EM E RS O\
58
5
49
N ER S O LL
I G
61
S PEN C ER
24
11
0
7
: 7
HU X LE Y— #
i ef
37
‘
.
p
h
37
TAB LE
COO P ER
( 0)
l at
VI I
”
(2)
( 1)
I
.
S Red R ov e r ( L
“
O
15
(3 )
.
( 4)
(6 )
(5)
8 75
.
2n d
’
43
.
.
61
Let us now r eturn t o Ta ble I Th e sel ect io ns we r e taken f rom
authors Of the most diverse s tyles The r e w a s Of course no need of
esta blishing th e fact Of th e w id es t di v e r sities by e x periments in a p
preciati o n That Stevenson s st y le for e x a mple is e x tremely differ
ent from Cooper s w ill be dispute d b y n o on e l nnume r a b le printed
Opini o ns ha v e given e x pression t o th is ju d g m ent A s im ilar c on sen
of Opinion may b e c o nfiden t ly assumed as t o t h e fact of diversity
“
”
between such styles as that of Ruskin s Modern P ainte r s and th a t
”
“
Of Lamb s Essays Of Elia between Bu r ke a nd Ingersoll be t ween
He r bert Spencer and W ill iam James between A d d is o n and Carlyle
between t h e Ti m es and the J ou r n a]
The figures in the table so fa r as these very dissimilar styles are
concerned at least vary in sympathy with th e estimate o f lite ra ry
criticism Carlyle and Add ison are a strongly contrasted pair Th e
”
“
epithets applied most Often to Ca r lv le s st y le are v ig or ous and
.
.
,
,
’
.
,
,
’
.
.
’
’
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
.
’
IN
RH Y THM
“
”
PROSE
17
.
“
’
”
emphatic while Addis on s writ ing is characterized as smooth
“
”
and urb ane
To a person scannin g styles s uch as these two t h e
d ifference is f el t t o be one b etween strong or distinct and weak an d
vague accentuation O ne scanning a vaguely accentuated style will
pass over a relatively large number of syllables without ma rking an
a c cent
In a strongly accentuated style the accents marked are
numerous an d close together This is Shown in the tabl e by the
grea t excess of
( 5 ) s and ( 6 ) s in Ad dison over Carlyle and th e
excess of ( 0) s in Carlyle over Addison
Similar di fferences m ay be seen In the table between Burke an d
Inge r soll Spencer and Jame s Cooper and Stevenson the Tim es and
the J ou r n a l Comparing the figures in column ( 0) with one another
an d those in columns
and
w e should cl ass Lamb D e
# uincey Johnson and Howells with A ddison # and Barrie Kipl ing
Br o wne H James Ruskin M P with Carlyle
We now pass to consider columns ( 1) and
These two
columns as has been remarked before represent radically different
”
”
“
“
and
types of rhythm
Iambic or trochaic with reference to
”
”
“
“
anapaestic or d a cty llic w ith reference to
are obj ectionable
”
“
”
“
terms # both because n o distin ctions between iambic and trochaic
”
“
”
“
anapaestic and d a ctyllic were made in scanning and because
or
these terms carry inplica t ion s Of classical prosodic theory that are in
“
”
”
“
applicab l e The term duple f o r the shorter foot and triple for
the lon ger will be used Each Of these may be again char a cterize d
”
”
“
“
if necessary as rising or falling according as th e accent come s
l ast or first in the f oot
”
“
Taking two contrasted styles like Ruskin s Modern P ainters
”
“
and Lamb s Essays we note that the one has a l arge e x cess o f
over
the
other
Of
2
S over
Ruskin
s
style
then
1
s
(
)
( )
we should say is markedly d u ple in this selection # Lamb s trip l e
For Similar re a s onls we would a ffi rm that the styles of Stevenson
Barrie Dickens Milton Carlyle Ingersoll the J ou r n a l Kipling s
”
“
In th e Matter Of a P rivate e xhibit ma r ked dup le rhythm # while
“
”
Hu xle y Darwin W J ames H J ames in Th e Ambassadors
“
Howells Holmes Kipl ing in Th e Incarnation of Krishna Mul
”
have a predominant triple rhythm Th e degree of d uple or
v a n ey
triple Shou l d be estimated by the degree Of e x cess Of ( I) S over ( 2 ) s
or vice versa But low amounts of b o th ( as in th e case of Spencer )
even though there be a considerable e x ce ss of one over the other can
for they may both be scattered throu gh
n ot constitute a rhythm
ou t the piece of writing as isol a ted gr o ups of syllables n ot as gro u ps
“
”
of feet
Large amounts of both on the other h and ( as in the case
o f Browne ) e v en though neither predominate ind icate rhythm a
mi n gl in g or a lternation Of d uple and triple
,
.
,
,
.
.
.
’
’
,
’
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
.
’
’
,
’
’
’
,
,
’
.
,
’
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
.
,
’
’
.
#
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
RH Y TH M
18
IN PR
m
a
z
e
?
8
4
e
n
e
m
a.
m
o
p
e
m
m
m
n
o
2
0
a
m
m
a
m
a
m
.
.
0
m
.
.
m
m
.
0
.
c
m
2
m
>
m
e
m
:
0
~
5
2
m
.
.
2
#
H
“
z
8
s
5
w
2
a
m
m
RH YTHM
PRO SE
IN
19
.
m
0
.
m
.
.
0
a
o
m
.
.
m
m
.
0
m
.
.
2
.
8
2
9
6
a
.
2
.
4
“
5
S
5
fi
9
m
u
m
s
26
P ROSE
IN
RH Y THM
.
In the b est o f d uple rhythms there will b e foun d a certa in amoun t
“
”
of
The P rincess which is d upl e rhythm by a gr eat artist is
instructive on this poin t
Some of the
there are due t o sy l
la b les inten d ed to be hu rried or slurred in reading O thers arise fr om
the substitution here an d there Of a duple fallin g f or a d uple ris
ing f oot— a permissibl e procedure in blank vers e —which br in g s
t h e unaccented sylla b les of two feet together
Ami d triple rhythm
b y the opposite process of l engthening syl l a bl es duple f ee t may b e
inserted without b rea k ing the rhyth m
The figu res in column ( 3 ) are to be in terpreted in two ways
They indicate partly failure to mark accents in successive d uple fee t
“
”
This point too is illustrated in The P rin c ess
It probably a c
B ut
c ounts for the l ar g e number of ( 3 ) s in M ilton an d Stevenson
( 3 ) s to a l ar g e extent constitute a distinct type of rhyt hm It will
b e remembered that Aristo tle r ec ommended this type which h e
”
“
c al led th e paeonic as the most suita b le for prose A few phrases
of English from the selec tions that were scanned will show the char
a cte r o f this f oot
”
“
I n the first f rom Macaulay s B oswell the ( 3 ) s are alternate d
quite regul arly with other intervals :
All the caprices o f his temper al l the ill usions Of his v a ni ty all
his c a stl es in the a ir
The next is from Johnson :
He s a crifices virtue to conv e nience
An d this from Burk e :
If anythin g were w a nting to this n e cessary oper a tio n Of the f o rm
o f g o vernment religion would have given i t a c om plé te effé c t
This type of foot seems to be comparative l y numerous in Burk e
“
Webster John son M acaulay The Tim es reporter an d Th e Lady of
”
the Aroos too k
Column ( 4) has alread y been discussed in conn ection with col umn
I t d oes not represent a disti nct type but i s a resultant of wea k
or may be resolved into shorter feet Th e
a n d vague accentuation
same may be said of the column s beyon d
The assumption has been m ade once or twice a b ove tha t a large
a mount Of a particul ar type of foot in a piece of writin g indicate s the
presence of a rhythm o f that type Th e assumption may b e tested by
a c t ual counting
This was done for portions of a few of the se
lections
The fi rst 2 00 feet of Stevenson B arrie Rus ki n ( M
COOper an d Macaulay were plo tt ed an d counted in the following man
,
,
.
.
.
,
,
.
.
.
,
.
,
’
.
’
.
,
.
,
.
’
’
,
,
,
.
.
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
.
.
.
,
.
,
n er
A d ot was p l aced one unit above the base line f or each f oot of type
2 uni ts above for every
separate d
3 above for every
e tc
h ori zonta lly by units of space
Starti n g at the b eginn in g Of th e
.
.
,
IN
RH Y THM
22
“
P ROSE
.
”
Rus k in s Modern P ainters differs very much in Tab le I from his
”
“
The one i s highly accentuate d with a great
Sesame and Lil ies
number of duple feet the other shows modera te a ccentuation w ith a
slight prepond erance Of triple feet and more than the average Of
both ( 4) S and ( O) s which is e x ceptional These figures seem t o
conform to the impression made by the two styles on at least one
”
“
reader The passage from Mod ern P ainters is extraordin ary prose
— a d escription of sun r ise in the Alps and a palpa b le effort a t
”
“
rhyt h m ical writing
Sesame and Lilies is di d ac tic a homi ly to
young l adi es on their duties and privileges The one almost breaks
into song # the other is uneven and spasmodic
Kipling s three stories show three different types of rhyth m
d u ple triple an d mixed Readers of Kipling will n ot be surp rised
at this There may be characteristics in hi s style that woul d enabl e
one to d isting uish his work f rom another writer s witho ut know ing
the authors yet noth in g could be plainer than that some o f his
stories m ov e very differently from others C ompare for instan ce two
”
“
“
such e x treme kinds as The Big Dr u n k D r a f with An Ha b ita tion
”
Enforce d
H u xl ey s Chap ter I shows a greater amount of accentuation than
his P reface though the predominant type of rhythm is the same in
b oth The two selections differ in the character of thei r matter Th e
P reface discusses th e pl ace o f P hysiography as a science its impo rt
ance in an educational curriculum an d the best ways of te ach ing it
The thought is strong the vocabulary abstract and polysyll abic It is
a d dressed to men of science I n Chapter 1 tec h n ical ities are a b an
d on e d and the author faces t h e task of instructing th e average man
in the elements of science The movement becomes comparatively
li gh t and rapid
The e x tracts fro m both Howells and Henry James were chosen
with the view of testing whether there had been a change o f style
f orm early t o l ate works The c ritics make much of a d ifferen ce in
Henry James styl e The table shows that there has b een a chan ge
“
”
“
f rom duple rhythm in Watc h a nn d Ward to triple rhythm in The
”
A mbassadors
The average foot has lengthene d slightly # the aver
a g e deviation is exactly the same # the average word is a tri fl e sho rter
The rel atively hi gh number o f ( 5 ) s in d ic ate s greater vagueness Of
accentuation The change from predom inant dupl e to predominan t
triple rhythm despite the s l ightly shor te n ed word len gth is si gnifican t
f or it shows that th e chan g e has been brought abo u t by other means
w ord a rrangement or thought f orm
”
“
Howells later wor k The Lan d l ord at Lion s Hea d shows a
“
gr eater amount of triple rhythm than his earlier La dy of the Ar m s
”
k
t oO
The average foot the average d e v iation an d the a vera ge
’
,
.
,
,
,
’
’
.
.
-
,
.
.
.
’
.
,
.
’
,
.
.
’
,
’
.
.
,
.
,
.
.
,
.
.
.
’
.
.
.
’
.
,
-
-
,
.
’
’
,
,
,
.
,
RH Y THM
IN
PROSE
23
.
word h ave nevertheless all decreased There are fewer
w ells
and
All
seem
to
in
d
icate
that
Ho
h
a
c
t
s
e
5
t
e
s
s
f
( )
style has become more decidedly tripl e rhythmically and in general
more clean cut and distinct
I t appears from thes e comparisons that a writer s style is n ot
the same rhythmically in different works whether of the same or
of d ifferent periods Of his career And this generalization base d upon
a count f rom which the possibility of sub j ective error is indee d not
e x clu d ed is confirmed by the p u rely Ob j ective test of the avera ge
w ord l en gth Th e d i fference in this respect between Huxley s P reface
and his Chapter I is considerably greater th an that between either
of these and the selections from D arwin or Prof James The dif
”
“
“
’
ference between Kiplin g s In the Matter of a P rivate and his Man
”
Who Was in word len gth is greater than th at between the former
of these and Lamb or M acaulay A greater d i ffe rence moreover is
sh o wn by this obj ective test between the above mentioned stories Of
Kipling than between the t w o by Howells or the t w o by James
altho u gh a pe r iod of over twenty years elapsed between the wr iting
of eac h of these pairs
Ta ble I s h o ws n o a greement among writings of the same genr e
e x cep t ing the gr oup of scientists N ovelists and essayists display all
varieties of accentuation and rhythm
Ingersoll di ffers markedly
fr o m his fellow orators The two j ournal istic styles form a stron g con
trast B ut although Spe ncer is e x treme in his very low degree o f
a c c en t u a t ion h e agrees with the other scientists in h aving a p r e d om i
D a n c e of triple feet
.
’
’
,
,
-
.
’
,
.
,
,
’
-
.
.
.
-
,
,
.
,
,
-
,
,
,
.
,
.
.
.
.
'
,
.
illustrations will now b e given to show th e distinctnes s w ith
which prose rhythm o ccurs in different rhythmical types
Th e
“
”
first is a sen tence f r om Th e Little M inis t er in perfect d uple
rhythm :
“
When G a vin c a me to Thr ums he w as a s I am D O
W f or t h e
”
re h im on which he w a s to write
p a ges l a y b efO
“
”
Th e next is a sentence f rom Macau l ay s Essay on Milton
in
which triple rhythm i s d ominant :
O n the rich and the é loquent on n O
b les an d priests they loo k e d
w n with c ont empt # for they es teé m e d themselves rich in a mor e
dO
pr e cious tr e as ure an d eloqu ent in a more sublime l a n g ua g e n O
b les
by the ri ght of an e arlier cre a tion an d priests by the im position o f
a mi g htier h a nd
In the f ollowing from Jeremy Taylor there is an alternati on of
d u p l e a nd triple :
w e d the h é a d and b r O
ke its sta lk and at night having lO
st
I t bO
sO
m e of its lé a v es and a ll its b e auty it fé ll into the p O
r tion o f
w e é d s an d O
u t w orn f a ces
Some
.
,
,
.
’
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
RH YTHM
24
PROSE
IN
.
F in ally a passa g e from the writing of Thompson
a rra n ged as regul ar blank verse :
So
-
is g iven
Se ton
,
in thi s land of long long win te r nigh t
Where n ature stints her j oys for six ha rd m onths
Then owns her d ebt and pays it all at once
The spring is glorious compensation for the past
Six months arrears of joy are paid in one
Vast l avish ou t pou r
,
,
,
.
’
l
.
Th e Bible is a great treasury Of rhythmical English prose
amples
.
Ex
sen tences i n perfect triple rhythm and even regular hex
A few such
a m e te rs
m a y be found almost an ywhere in t h e bo o k
from a larger co l lection are here given :
of
,
.
,
,
,
How a r t thou fa llen from Heaven
Is
.
14 :
: 12
0
,
Lucifer s o n o f
,
th e
mornin g
.
.
God is gone u p with a shout t h e Lor d with the sound of th e
trumpet Ps 47 : 5
For the earth Shall be filled with th e k nowledge Of the glor y o f
the Lord as the waters c o ver th e sea Hab 2 : 4
W e h ave eate n and drunk in thy pr esence and th ou hast tau ght
in our streets Luke
: 26
He looseth the bonds of kin gs a n d girdeth their l oins with a
gi r d le Job 12 : 18
Mi schief shall come upon misch ief and rumor sh al l be u pon
rumo r PS 18 : 15
Cease then and let me alone th at I may take com fort a little
Job 10 : 2 0
B e as the sands of the sea which cannot be measured or numbere d
,
.
.
.
.
,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
‘
.
H08
1 : 10
.
.
Wall o f
Lam 2 : 18
.
the
.
daughte r O f
Zio n ,
l et tears run
d own like
a river
.
.
A few e x amples
perfect d uple rhythm from the Bible fo l low
He casteth fort h his ice like morsels
Wh o c a n stand before h is cold ?
H e giveth snow like wool
of
:
,
.
PS
58
.
Th e
sea and all th a t in them is
Who kee peth truth f o rever
.
,
.
Ps
Take my y o ke u pon you
.
146
a nd
.
learn of m e Matt 11 : 2 9
Dea t h i s swallowed up In v ictory # 0 death where is th y sting ?
”
O gra v e w h ere is thy victory I C o r xv
.
,
,
.
1
A t l a n t ic
M on t h
ly
,
.
.
.
.
RH Y THM
IN PROSE
25
.
Division into lines which pres ent rhythmical units to the eye
is one of the principal d istinguishing m a r ks of poetry B ut prose
has its rhyt hmical units also These are not presented to the eye
as are the lines of poetry but the voice in reading calls attention to
them by pauses These p h rasal sections are often but not always
mark ed ou t by the punctuation
The part of the sentence before the copula the sub j ect usually
fo rms a phrasal secti on of the kind here meant al though it is sel d om
separated by punctuation Th e pause after the st a tement of the
subj ect can be readi l y perceived in o ne s own reading In the prece d
ing sentence for instance there seems to the writer a distinct pause
”
“
before can
The fact has been verified in a number of e x amples by
h aving one pe rs o n read while three o the rs noted the p a uses by writ
ing down the w ords after which they occurred There is no p ause
after the subj ect if the subj ect is very short or has been fully sug
“
”
gested in the previous sentence There is n o pa u se after He in
“
the following sentence
He was always laying himself at the fee t
”
of some eminent man
The real subject of a p r op o sition some
times d oes not coin cide with the grammatical sub j ect In such cases
the position of th e pause indicates th e t r ue divis ion In t h e follow
”
“
“
”
“
ing sentence f o r e x ample it is after n i ght n ot after It
It was
”
a dark night betw een two sunny days
Compare this with the sen
“
tence that succeeds it in Macaulay s te x t Th e a ge of the Ma cen a ses
”
h a d passed away
where the pause divides the sentence into equal
halves— the sub j ect and the predicate
Conside r ing th e phrasal sect ion in prose a s the analogue of the
verse in poetry the question arises whether the phrases within a given
piece of pr o se l ike the ve r ses in a poem display any uniformity of
rhythmical st r uctu r e To determine this point twenty of the te x ts
th at had been scanned were re a d again and divided into phrasal sec
tions The accents in each phrase we r e then counted Here is a
passage from Macaulay scanned a n d d ivided :
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
.
’
.
,
,
.
.
,
.
.
.
.
.
,
,
,
.
~
.
’
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
.
Wh a t si l ly things he s a id I what bitter ret o rts he prov o ked I h ow
at o ne place he was tro ubled wit h é v 1l pres entiments I which c a me
o n w a king from a drunken
to n o th ing I h o w at an o the r pl a ce
d o ze Ihe r ead the P r ayer book Iand t ook a h a ir of the d o g that h a d
bitten h im h ow he w ent to s é e men h a nged I and came aw a y m a nd
l in h ow he a dded five hundred p o unds t o the f o rtune of o ne of his
ba bies I bec a use she was n ot frightened at John s on s ugly fa ce I e tc
-
’
.
T able IX gives in percentages the number of phrases in each
selection th a t contained one t w o or more accents— as indicated at
the head of each col umn Decimals have been omitted
,
.
,
.
RH Y THM
26
PROSE
IN
TA BL E
.
IX
.
( Accents per phrase )
.
I
m s:
K I PL I N G— I
2
Bu
M
.
HOW E LL S
D I CK E N S
’
— L
.
P
.
L
.
H
4
’
BU S K I N— M
3
4
33
23
24
28
20
28
18
29
31
19
6
8
16
3
4
1
12
3
2
6
5
1
6
1
19
33
Bnow
10
24
44
12
32
31
19
1
21
29
21
5
DE
m
15
cs r
CA RL YLE
ILACA U L A i
EM ERs ov
22
41
16
38
18
HOL M ES
18
3
1
1
1
12
4
11
1
21
36
10
35
Jou r n a
W
l
22
21
J A M ES
Av r
A D
.
1
9
.
32
14
1
30
10
2
31
3
1
26
10
e a ge s
1
1
WE B S TE R
IN GE RS OL L
1
31
2
BU RK E
1
12
11
J OHN S ON
8
1
M I L TON
v n
7
6
P
.
5
1
.
The d istributi ons shown in T able IX are so much al ik e th at we can
not on the stren gth of them infer distinctive rhyth mical types for
various selections There are h o wever a few e x ceptions Sir Thoma s
B rown e Lamb an d Emerson have phrases with three ac cents much
above the averag e This must be regard ed as ind icating another rh yth
mical effect in a d dition to that discussed in connection with Ta b le I
The figures in Table I were rather d isappoint ing for Bro w ne s s tyle
in view of his great reputation as a writer of rhythmical prose Th e
fi gures in Table IX supplement those of Table I and give a more satis
f a c tory e x planation of his reputation Lamb it is k n own mode led
h is sty le to a great extent on Browne s H is high percentage in
col u mn 3 almost as high as Browne s seems mo r e than a mere co
inci d ence In column 2 we not ice Ingersoll s and the Tim es re
porter s high fi gures So far as Ingersol l is concerned we seem t o
have a correc t re gister of th e short phras ed st a ccato style characte r
is t ic of him
We note ne x t that Table IX appears to show a central tendency as
,
,
.
.
,
,
.
.
’
,
.
.
,
,
’
.
’
,
,
’
,
.
’
.
,
-
,
.
RH Y THM
PROSE
IN
27
.
whole in colum n 3 The f act is su g gestive of Wu n d t s Gesetz der
”1
d rei Stuf en
Three accents form a sort of natural unit group per
“
”
“
“
”
”
mittin g discrimination of much
more and most
A Ger
man sentence a ccente d and divided by him is of interest The acu t e
the grave and the double acute accents indicate different intensities
“
’
a
.
-
.
~
,
,
.
,
.
-
.
er sich den V o rwur f Is é h r zu H e rzen zu n e hmen schien II
un d immer aufs n é ue b eth é u er t e dass er gewiss gern m itth eile Igé rn
fiir Fr e unde th atig sei IIso emp a nd sie dass sie sein z a rtes Gem iith
”
und sie fiih lte sic h als seine Sch uldnerin
v er lé tz t h abe I
“
A ls
I
.
Here are a few English sentences from Lamb to illustrate the
phrase of three accents degrees of accent an d pause being i gnore d :
“
H is dep o rtment was of the e ssence of gr a vi ty I his W o rds fé w or
”
n o ne Iand I was n o t to make a n o ise in his p r esenc e
A wful id e as of the T o wer I twined themselves ab o ut his pr é s
ence
A c a ptive —a st a te ly b e ing Ilet o ut of the T o wer on Sa turdays
In Wu n d t s examp l e not only are accents grouped i n threes but
al so phr ases
The single and double bars indicate shorter and
l onger pauses There are three l ong phrases made up of shorter
ones sometimes three also in the whol e sentence
Th e number of phrases per sentence ( phrases distinguished as
before said by sensible pauses ) was coun ted in the selections named
in Table IX A central tendency appeared in only t w o or three c a ses
Emerson had 44 per cent o f two phrased sentences Burke had 3 3
per cent of three phras ed senten ces The frequency of t w o phrased
s entences in Emerson is probably due to his large proportion of
simple sentences
The question m ay be raised whether we have a right to speak of
”
“
the rhythm constituted by phrases that are uniform on l y in respect
to the number of ac cents contained in them disregarding un accented
syllab les Some answer t o this question was given in the early par t
of the essay Another perhaps more forcible one is that poetry
meant to be and accepted as rhythmical has been in many languages
constructed on e x actly this principle The rhythm of the German
Nib elu n gen liel is composed of main a ccents the unaccented syl
Th e same principle besides alliteration
la b le s not being co unted
and balance is employed in O ld English poetry
In the earliest
Anglo Sa x on manuscripts the lines were written in the same way as
in prose rhythmical divisions being indicated by punctuation Later
the lines were written as in modern poetry and h alf lines were marked
b y punctuation # or the hal f l ines were written one below the other
,
.
.
.
’
,
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
.
-
.
.
-
-
.
.
.
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
-
.
,
-
.
,
-
,
-
1
h eil
Voe lk e r p sy c h olog ie , T
1, B d
.
2 , S 3 91
.
,
,
RH Y TH M
28
PROSE
IN
.
l ines Th e f ollowing from P iers P lowman is an illustration each
”
“
line as prin te d b ein g a s o called half line :
as
.
,
-
-
There pre a che d a p a r d oner
As h é a priest were
Br o ught forth a b ull
With many bishop s s é a ls
’
.
In h a bite as an h é rem ite
U nh o ly of w orke s
Went wyde in this w o rl d
w ond res to h é re
.
Each half line corresponds cl o sely to what has been called above
”
”
“
“
1
a phrasal s ect ion f Each conta ins two heavy words
The heavy
-
.
words of the first half l ine are distinguished by an alliterative c en
”
“
sonant which r e appears in the heavy word of the sec o nd h alf line
The number of unaccented syl l ables is disregarded
When m any
they are hurri ed over We have here a rhythm of main concepts fol
lowin g i n appro x imately equal times
The time s are conditioned
but not strictly determined by the intervening unaccented syllables
Most scholars n ow h ol d that the ancient Hebrew p o ets c o nsid ered
only the syll a bles receiving the accent Th e sub j ect has been studied
w ith great care by Sievers K o nig and othe r s K o nig points ou t that
th e popu l ar poetry heard at the present d a v in P alestine is a lso of
this characte r :
“
Lines with two three f o ur and five accented syllables may be
distin guished between which one to three and even four unaccented
syll ables may be inserte d the poet being b o und by no de finite num
ber in his poem
O ccasionally t w o accented syllables are j oined
The symmetry and vari ati o n being d etermined by emo
”
tion and sentiment
The metrical theory which C o leridge meant to e x emplify in
”
“
Christabel was practica l l y the same as that here describ ed Bu t
C o leri dge hel d that although the number o f unaccented syllables
might vary the nu mber of accents must remain th e same in every
“
line Something of the same sort may be seen in Milton s Samson
”
Ag o nistes and Whitman ranges fr o m the st r i ct limits of m o dern
conventional verse t o a freedom that is less rhythmical than good
prose
-
-
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1
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,
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,
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’
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,
.
When one considers the comparatively artificial means f orced upon
poetry for rhythmical purposes i t appears as if rhyth m in prose
must be a pur e ly accidental effect A little study will convince us
,
.
e a t In tro d to P ie rs P l o wm a n Cl a r end o n Pr es s
1 K o en i
g Sty lis t ik Rh e tor ic P oe t ik p 305 1900
1
Sk
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.
RH Y THM
30
IN
PRO SE
.
course of fiftee n or eighteen months d aily at te ntion to thi s emi
”
nent fini shin g g overness what a deal o f secre t s Amelia learne d
“
There are no dou b t sub tle differen ces of meani n g between Miss
“
”
“
”
”
Ameli a Sedley
our youn g la dy an d plain Amelia # b etw een
”
”
“
”
“
“
tu toress
popular te a cher and eminent finishing governess
B ut w h o will say that mere soun d di d not play an importan t part in
“
”
d eterminin g the selection of these syn onyms ? It s ou n ds b etter is
P erhaps
a principle of rhetoric often invoked by school children
t heir reason i s more nearly right th an their reproving teachers
M adame de St e el is said to have ta ken great pleas ure
u s u ally a d mit
“
”
Th a t i s wh at I cal l poetry sh e
in li stenin g to meanin g less verses
“
w oul d say # it is d elicious and so m u ch the more that it d oes not
”
convey a sin gle i d ea to me
P rof James refers to th e un critical way in which meanin gless com
1
The illusion o f a mean
b in a t ion s of words in prose are often read
ing he think s is due to the correctn ess of the grammatical struct ure
an d to the f act that the wor d s belong to the s ame special voc ab ul ar y
A conventiona l rhythm seems also to con
in the same langu age
tri b ute to the effect In the example he quote s from a newsp aper
“
r eporter :
The birds filled the tree tops with their morning son g
”
ma k in g the air moist cool an d pleasant it seems that the report er
w a s b ound t o have an evenly d vi d ed sentence with a rise an d a sus
i
pe nsion of the voice in the mid d le H ad he put a f ull stop a f te r
“
”
“
”
s on g
omitte d ma k ing and supplied a copula f or his wicon d sen
te nce he woul d have written sense but h is tune woul d have bee n
g one The presence o f the tune in duces the rea d er to overloo k such
The three
a minor s l ip as that o f b ir d songs makin g the air moi st
a d j ectives at the close o f the sente nce are a dd itio n al evid ence that
th e writer wa s bein g le d b y a pre conceived rhythm
A rran g ement o f words is another means o f controllin g rhythm
The or d er of wor d s in a sentence is in larg e measure fix e d
in prose
b y the conventio nalities o f synta x I t is more ri gi dly pres cri b ed
in a n alytic al lan gua g es lik e English an d French than in in flectiona l
In the f orm er the ord er o f the
la n guages like Gr eek an d Latin
w ords is depended upon to show the grammatical relations an office
th a t in the latter is per f ormed b y word endings Transposition s in
th e in flec t iona l l a n guages pro d uce ch an ges of emphas is without con
“
”
fus in g grammatical relations
Romulus Rom a i n condi dit ma y be
s ai d in six d i fferent way s —w ith every pos sible tr a nsposition o f th e
w or d s
The meanin g in e a ch cas e is clear # the emph asis d ifferent
In En glish the su b j ect of the ver b must a s a rule preced e it in or d e r
to b e kn o w n as the s u b j ect
’
th e
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l
Prin c lp los
of
Ps y c h ol ogy
,
v ol
.
1,
p
.
28 8
.
RH Y THM
'
IN
PROSE
31
.
This fix e dn e ss of th e order of words in English may how ever
There is no lack of clearness in this sentence
ea s ily be e x aggerated
”
“
Him Heaven had kneaded of much more potent stu ff
of Carlyle s
“
nor woul d there be in a d ifferent transposition like O f much more
”
ad
T
oten
t
stuff
Heaven
kneaded
him
Anthony
rollope writes
h
p
”
“
Her it was his custom to visit early in the afte r noon 3 which might
“
To visit her early in t h e afternoon was his cus
a lso b e w ritten
”
“
”
or His custom was to visit her early in the afternoon
t om
The general princ iple underlying t h e order in which words occur
in a sentence is that the p o rti o n of thought most vivid in the speak
Th e order of
e r s or writer s mind tends to get itself uttered first
w ords in e x pression moreover ten d s to conform t o the order of per
“
Since i t o ften happens that some strikin g detai l arres t s
c ep t ion
t h e attention first while the more important event o nly shows later
bvious e ffect is more apparent than its h idden cause so the
or an o
”
Th e i nstan t
same order is more effective in lan guage dis course
of conception and u tterance is the imp o rta n t moment in e x pression
Individ uality is stamped upon th e thought at this moment and on e
of the marks o f this individuality is the or d er in which the word s
are produced
Th e importance of the order of w o r d s has been recognized b y
Dionysius of Halica r nassus
b oth ancient and modern rhetoricians
c laimed that the choice of words was not of as much importance as
their arrangement The ancients taught that the order of words
s hould be determi n ed b y the more or less h arm o nious coll o cation of
t h e letters at the end and beginning of words that follow each other
b y the rhythmic m ovement of s u ccessive l ong and short syllables and
#
u
effects
of
e
phony
of
which
the
ear
alone
i
s
competent
to
j
udge
by
The nature of the transition from thought to thought h a s an
i nfl uence in helping or hindering the rhythm of prose
Th e reader
r equires sequence of time in narration
some definite order of s p a c e
relationship in description the relation of cause and effect of sub
ordination and co o rdin a tion or of u nfolding and explanation o f c on
ce p ts
The presence of such clearly perceived ties produces smooth
n ess and easily movin g style
Their absence results in inc oherency
Ellipses di gressions coll ateral ideas chec k the fl ow of thou ght
Rhythm becomes impossible
N ot only in the choice and arra n geme n t of his words and in his
metho d o f j oining thought with thought has the writer of prose in
d ivi d ual l iberty but he m a y modify the very form and substance o f
h is thou ght to suit his purpose
It is often a matter of no c ons e
,
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1
2
L
otz e
VVe il,
,
M ik r
.
Or d e r
“
Bk
of
.
IV,
ch
W ord s
.
”
,
3
( tra n s b y
.
p
.
.
11
.
Ha m i l to n
a nd
J
ones
,
RH Y THM
32
PROSE
#N
.
to h im wha t the particular c h aracte r o f a prop os ition in a
given place in his discourse sha l l be Wh at he is interes te d in is the
f u rther thought to wh ich it lea ds It may make no di fference to him
”
“
“
whether he say A full moon shone in the heavens or It w as a
”
“
bri ght moonli ght ni ght or The earth was suffus ed wi th a kind
”
o f wea k daylight
The po int he wishes to ma k e is th at a ce rta in
thin g coul d be seen So he atta in his end it does not much matte r
whether the statement that gets him there be active or p a ssive literal
or fi gura t ive or whether he use one fi gu re rather than another
In his use of figures he is not however f ree f rom all limi ta tions
as is of ten rashly assumed He must o b ey certain natur al as s ociations
Material images more or l ess l uminous arise spontaneously in the
1
There is no
m in d with every thought and furnish its vestment
creation of metaphors in g ood writing # there is but a limited s elec
tion
The true metaphor which is a namin g b y one te r m o f two con
arises in the m ind at the moment of utterance b ecause of a
cepts
resem b lance b e t w een the two concepts in some essential particular
“
2
an d an actual blen di ng of the two
When the poet says
fear
”
chalke d her face or
I s tole f rom court cat f ooted through the
”
t own there has been no d eli b erate puttin g together of d istinct
images The tw o ideas came together ori g inally and h ave not been
s eparate d
qu enc e
.
.
,
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,
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Artificial fi gures affect the sensitive rea d er as evid ence o f insin
c er it y
Their use for the sa k e of rhythm onl y ad d s to the impression
tha t t h ere is an att empt at imposition A writer on natu re su b j ec ts
“
has the sen t ence A l l the eastern sky is glow ing amber # westw ar d
ri din g hi gh the moon sta res from the empyrean of col d az u re w a she d
”
with silver a d is c of polishe d brass
We feel pretty sure the wr i te r
o f th a t did not see a ll the im ages in the rel ations in which he pu ts
them in his sentence If he in sist th at he d id we must conclu d e that
hi s min d works in ways that are exceptional an d abnormal
Th e
particular fi gure to be used cannot be prescribed or pre d icte d f ro m
the outs ide There is a large fiel d for in d ivi d ual variation but the
associate d images mus t be reco gni zed as occurring together in som e
consi d erable num b er of human minds There is no hesi tati on g ener
“
al ly in namin g metaphors like hair shot throu g h with sunset spikes
”
“
”
of gold and l ips with mus ical curves false an d str ained
.
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,
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,
1
2
,
Em e rson N a tu re Ch a pt e r II
“
Bu ck
M e ta p ho r a St u
in t h e
,
,
,
,
dy
.
Ps yc h o l ogy o f Rh e to ric
.
#
,
1890
.
RH Y THM
IN
PROSE
33
.
The rhythm s that have oc cu pied ou r attention thus far hav e b een
phonetic Accentual rhythm is indeed the external form o f though t
r hythm
the si gnificant in thought coinci d ing with the phonetically
a ccentuated
B ut there are thought rhythm s not s o closely c on
nect ed wit h sound rhythm
Rhythms of this sort may be c a lled
lo g ical
The rhythmical units are thoughts repeated in form or su b
stance or changing in a regul ar way It w ill be convenient to intr o
d uce this part o f our subj ect by reference to a lang uage other than
Engl ish in which the principles of logical rhythm have been to some
e x tent recognized an d f ormulated
B ib l ical scholars have term ed the logical rhythm of the B ibl e
”
“
parallelism of members
This is a rhythm over and above tha t
accentual rhythm of the Bible already referred to The Hebrew te x t
of the B ible i s elaborately p u nctuated to indicate syntacti cal and
logi cal groupings of words
The characters used for punctuating
are calle d ac cents but are rather of the n ature of musical notes t o
guide the public reader Different degrees of coherence and of separa
tion are indicated by different characters This system of pu n ct u a
tion was first institute d in the poetical books but was applied later
t o t h e prose books also
Th e principle of para llel ism predomin a tes in the poetical bo o ks
Th e parallelism m ay be of several kind s Th e first and secon d m em
b ers may state the same thought in different w ords # the secon d m em
ber m ay sta te a thou ght antithetical to the first # th e second member
Th e parallelism m ay also sub s ist
m a y echo or supplement the first
am o ng three members In such case all three m ay be coordinate
e x pressions of th e same t hought , or the l ast two may supplement
th e first or the first two may be coordinate and supplemented by
the third The m ain divisions in al l these cases are indicated by t h e
principal accent or punctuation mark
Ex amples of these paral lelisms are
.
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~
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#
Jehovah rebuke me not in thine an g er
N either ch asten me in thy hot d ispleasure
,
soft answer turneth away wrath
But a grievous word bringeth up anger
.
I
A
.
Life he asked of thee # thou h a s given it him :
Len gth of days f o rever and ever
.
They have han ds b u t they handle not I
Feet have th ey but th ey wal k not
N either speak they th rough their throat
I
W ic k e s
,
A cc e nts o f
u
the
u
P r os e B ook s o f t h e
P o e t ic a l
u
u
B ib
u
le
,
.
188 1
.
RH Y THM
34
IN
PROSE
.
Each member of each group i s further subdivid ed and punctuate d
to show its s v n ta c t ic a l and logical struc ture These points of th e
second order are placed appro x imately at the phonetic mid d le o f
each clause tending t o produce evenly balanced groups of sounds
an d in some cases where adherence to the logical groupin g o f t h e
words woul d result in an unsymmetrica l division the accent is sh if te d
to a more agreeable p o sition
I n this subdivision of the cl auses phrasal sections are marked
out corresponding to the phrasal sections we have already no te d in
English The principles of division are similar When the s ub j ec t
precedes it is generally marked off from the rest of the sentence :
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
.
,
“
And the ear t h
When the ob j ect precedes
emphasized it is m arked off
,
”
I
was waste and void
w
hic h implies that it is to be especi a l ly
.
,
“
A laughing stock Ihas God made me
”
.
Adverbial an d prepos itional ph rases at the beginning of a sente nce
are set off :
“
As for
th e
man
ate
I he found no help m
”
.
T urning n ow to English # we find that bal a nce of clauses and
phrases a s it i s called di ffers fr o m the paralle l is m of the Bible only
in the fact that t h e principles underlying coordination and subor d ina
tion of the membe r s in the m odern language are of greater subtl ety
The relation of pa r t t o part is of a more intellectual character # th e
connec ting links are more fine l y discriminated
”
“
I n the Euphuism of the si xteenth centu r y which marks th e
beginning of the formation of an English prose style parallelis m
an d balance ran riot Besides alliteration consonance rhyme and
pl ays upon wor d s we find a pro f usion of twin phrases an d parallel
c l auses and the most elaborate antithesis of well balanced sen tences
Th e a rt ific ia lity of the euphuisti c style is what most impresses a
m odern reader B ut the same d evices as those employe d there may
be foun d more or less in all artistic pro
We may take for e x ample the first para g raph of Macaulay s Es
”
“
say on Boswe ll s Life of Joh n son
,
,
.
.
,
1
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,
,
,
-
,
.
.
’
’
l
.
The Life of Johnson is assuredly a great— a very great wo r k
H o mer is not more decide d ly the first of heroic poets Shakespe are
is n ot more decided ly the first of dramatists Demosthenes is no t
more d ecided ly the first of orators than B oswell is the first of biog
“
.
,
,
,
1
Ga r n e tt,
“
l
Eng is h
P ro s e f ro m
l
E iza b e t h
to V ic tor ia
”
,
p
.
4, 1891
.
RH Y THM
IN
PRO SE
3S
.
He h a s no secon d H e has distance d all h is competi to rs
Eclipse is
s o d eci d ed ly that it is not wort h while to place them
”
first an d the rest nowhere
r a ph er s
.
.
.
.
,
Th e
The first sentence contains repetition in the predicate
rhythm of thought in the s econd sentence consi s tin g of cl aus es
of the same form but of d ifferent though analogous meanin g is
obvio u s The fourth sentence wo ul d in Biblical s tyle be expresse d
,
”
“
—
without the correlatives s o that
These words in the En gl ish
sentence d is g uise but do not destroy the parallelism The fifth sen
tence is distinctly bal ance d
It may be thought that Macaulay is e x ceptionally f on d o f these
effects B ut Open a book by a very d ifferent sort of writer at ran
“
”
dom
Let it b e Stevenson s Amateur Emi gr ant
Th e chapter
”
“
happens to be Steerage Types
The first sentence of the first para
graph contains repetiti on of the same part of spe ech The secon d
“
sentence is Even in these rags and tatters the man twi nk le d al l
over with impu d ence like a sham piece of j ewelry I and I have he a r d
him offer a situation to one of his fello w passengers with the a ir
”
of a lord
Here the second member states specifically what the
first has expresse d in general terms This corresponds to the f orm
“
”
of B iblical parallelism named syn onymous
.
,
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#
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,
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,
“
O Jehova h my God thou art very great
”
Thou art clothed with honor and maj esty
,
,
,
.
third sentence is
N othing coul d overlie such a f ello w # Ia
”
kind of base success was written on h is brow
This i s o f the
“
same kind as the preceding The fourth sentence : He was then in
his ill d ays # I but I can imagine him in C ongress with his mouth full
”
of bombast and sawder is antithetical
The next two sente nces
“
are respectively synonym ous a n d antithetical :
As we move d in the
“
”
I do
same circle I I was brought necessarily into his society
not thin k I ever heard him say anythin g that was true kin d or
”
interestin g I b ut there was entertainment in th e m an s d emeanor
The l ast sentence of the paragraph is si m ple an d the only one that
d oes not contain balance or parallelism
If it b e o b j ec te d that b etween the members of th e parall el cl auses
that have b een cit ed as examp l es a variety o f lo g ical relationships
may be d iscriminate d an d is in fact in d icate d b y the connecting
particl es it shoul d be observe d that such lo gical relations exist b e
twee n t h e mem b ers o f the B iblic a l parallel groups also although the
conn ectin g particles are absent The explicit statement o f the logi ca l
relation b etwee n cons ecutive clauses is even in mo d ern En glish larg ely
a matter o f taste with the writer The es sential thin g is th at the
“
Th e
,
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.
RH YTHM
36
PRO SE
IN
.
l tion b e there B ut connec tives in di ca tin g con di tion ca use con
sequence etc are n ot wholly l a cki ng in B i b lical pa r a l leli sm Con
d ition for insta n ce is expresse d in
“
Except Jehova h k eep the city
”
The w atc hm an w a k eth b ut in v a in
C a u sa l r elation is expresse d in
“
I have not tu rne d asi d e f rom thy ju dg me nts
”
For thou h as ta u ght me
re a
.
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
In
Th ou are my hi d in g pl ac e
”
I hope in thy wor d
my shield
a nd
.
Th e
ausal rel ation is j ust as clearly g iven without a conn ecti ve
Repet itions o f the same f orm o f ph rase wi th d i fferent b ut alli ed
meanin g constitute another or d er o f thought rhythm A ce l eb rate d
pa ss age o f B urk e s will i llustra te this :
c
.
.
’
“
N ever never more sh all we behol d that generous loyal ty to rank
an d s ex that proud submission that dignifi e d obedi ence that sub
ordi n ation of the h eart which k ept alive even in servitude i t self
th e Spirit o f an exal ted f ree d om The un b ou ght grace of li f e the chea p
d e f ence o f nations the nurse of m anly sentiments an d h eroic ente r
prise i s gone I t is gone that sensibility of prin ciple that ch astity
of honour which f e l t a stain li k e a wound whi ch in spire d coura ge
it miti g ate d f erocity which ennobled wh ate ver i t touche d
w hile
a n d un der which vice itself l ost h a l f its evil b y l osin g a ll i ts gros s
”
ness
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
The sam e ty pe of word or wor d group recurrin g— verb noun a d
—
e
t
i
v
e
or
noun
w
ith
adjective
gives another rhythmic e ffect The
c
j
“
”
l a st sentence o f In g ersoll s lecture on Domestic Happin es s m ay be
quoted as a n exam ple :
-
,
,
.
,
’
“
I woul d rather h ave liv ed a nd died u nnoticed a nd u nknow n ex
cept by those w h o love d me an d gone d own into the v oic eless s ilence
o f the d r ea m les s dus t than to have bee n that imp er ia l imp ers ona tion
o f for ce a nd m u rd er wh o covere d Europe wi th b lood a nd tea rs
O rations are more artificial than other f o rms o f prose Bu t
we find th e same ki n d o f rhythm in t h e quiete st sort o f writin g
Sc ott for in stance h as
,
,
,
”
.
.
.
,
“
,
Th e sun
settin g upon one of the r ic h glas sy gla d es o f that
forest which we have mentioned in the be ginning o f the c h apter
”
H undreds o f br oa d h ea d ed s h or t s tem me d w id e bra nc h ed oa ks
“
—
e tc
in some plac es they were in te rmin gled wi th b eec h es h olliea
an d cops ew ood of v a rious d escriptions so c l osely a s totally to in te r
”
cept the lev el b ea ms of the sin king s u n
w as
,
.
-
-
-
,
,
,
,
.
An d
w e
in the still more plac i d wr i ting o f Howells
h ave :
’
“
Lon d on Film s
”
RH Y THM
38
“
P ROSE
IN
.
“
The ra in wi l l soon f all
I f ear it may rain etc
Explicit pred i
“
—
cation may be avoided by the use of absolute const r u ctions
Caes ar
”
“
—
h a vin g re a ch ed the Rubicon # b y appositives
Caesar a Rom a n
”
“
—
Caesar was a Roman
general # b y conj unctions wi thout copul as
”
a nd th e conqueror o f Gaul # by prepositi ons ins t ead o f conj un c t ions
“
—
Caesar was a Rom a n wi th
Copul a s o r conj uncti ons with Copulas
”
f ew equals in m ilitar y genius # by phras es f or cl auses b y su ggestive
w or d s for phrases by present and past participles A uniform
a verage of predications in successive sections of a prose work there
f ore must be c onsi d ered as indicating a rhythm composed of j u dg
ments indeed but not a rhythm formed of all the j udgments
Sherm an has foun d that every writer has a characteristic sen
2
tence rhythm throughout his works
Historically the En glish sen
tence has been d iminishing in l en gt h from the pre Eliza b eth an a ge
to the presen t time Fabyan the earl iest w r iter stu d ied has an
average sentence length of
words # Spenser s average is
Hoo k er s
Macaulay s
Channin g s
Emerson s
”
”
,
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’
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,
The constancy of the average sentence len g th in successive s ec
tions of a given writer s prose may be seen in the followin g ta b l es
“
”
taken f ro m Sherman s Analytics of Literature
’
’
.
DE
1s t
# U IN CEY
Sentence
Average
.
t h 100
13 t h
3 8 12 2
3d
E
HI58
th
3 5 J3 2
3 l 22
15
5th
3421
16 t h
th
2 91M)
17
7t h
3 0J3 9
18 t h
th
3 22 93
th
2 oth
n
u
‘
Hl 2 9
th
3 8 3I2
19
9t h
l ot h
2 9i ¥7
i 4t h
4t h
8
.
12
100
2d
6
Length in Words
3 2L8 8
1 1t h
3 0376
2 l st
ifll S?
2 2d
2%L 09
Th e average of all the periods is
the mode is about 3 3
The averages f or each thousand consec utive sentences of Macau
”
“
lay s His tory o f Engl and are as f ollows :
.
’
,
1
2
d P y h o l ogy D es r ip t iv e d
o f L it e r t u r e
Sh e rm n A n ly t i
La d ,
s
a
c
.
a
an
c
,
cs
a
,
Ex p
1893
l
a na
.
tory p
,
.
460, 1894
.
RH Y THM
H IST ORY O# EN GLA N D
P RO SE
IN
Average
.
39
.
Sentence
Length
.
The variability of th e length of the sentence within each series
however i s great in modern authors Macaula y s long sentences a r e
very long Three consecutive paragraphs taken at random from N ew
”
“
man s Hist o rica l Sketches sho w the following sentence len gths :
,
,
’
.
,
,
.
’
,
19 — 2 1 — 19 — 18
40 — 3 0 — 3 1 — 3 7
2 6 — 41 — 3 4 —
28
9 — 61 —
45 — 3 2 — 92
-
36 —
w
Th e las t fou r sentences
of
the first paragraph are so nearly equal
in l ength that they form a rhythmical group
The last sentence
seems abnormally long B ut such great variability as we see here
i s more apparent than real for the position of the f ull stop is
a r bitrarily determined Another writer woul d be j ust as likely t o
m ake th r ee se n tences of that long on e punctuating with periods where
N ewman uses the colon semi c olon and comma with dash There
is g o od reason in fact for c onsidering the paragraph rather than
the sentence the true unit of discourse since the only positive rule
1
for pointing off sentences is to choose the longer breaks in the sense
Statemen ts that would be independent sentences if standing alone are
often united into one sentence when they are parts of a paragraph
A writer sees the topics of his d iscourse as hazy parag aph s w hich
he proceeds to analyze and define in sentences
There is in some authors a marked tendency towar d uniformity
in len gth of paragraph s Macaulay was found by Lewis to have th e
“
”
greatest amount of paragraph rhythm His History o f Engl an d
gave the following averages per volume :
336
Authors of regular methods show a general tendency
60
toward approximate uniformity in the parag raph averages o f different
sections of their works
.
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,
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'
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r
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(at
l
Ba in ,
l
Eng is h Com
“
po s it io
n,
”
15 7, 188 6
.
RH Y THM
40
PROSE
IN
.
The fo r e goin g stu d ies of prose r hythm poin t to the c oncl us ion
that style a nd rhythm in prose are t o a very l arge exte nt identical
Rhythm in prose plays the same part that voice gesture and facial
e x pres sion pl ay in oral speech
And j ust as we practical l y never
h a ve expressionless spe ech so we never have rhythmless or stylel ess
prose
“
”
Writers on Rhetoric d iffer in their use o f the term style
Spen
“
cer Le wis a n d H odgson for e x ample mean by the word simply the
m od e of h a n dl ing l an guage for a purpose whatever the purp ose may
”1
be an d wh atever the occasion
P rof Genun g on the other h an d
s pe a k s of styleless writin g and quotes a passage conve y ing statistical
“
in forma t ion in illustration
I have stat ed the ta x able value o f all
”
“
the property of Texas it runs at si x hun dred and three m ill ions
Le t m e enumerate in round numbers a few of the ite ms which g o
to ma k e up that sum The l and is counted at a bout two hun dr e d
”
and f orty seven m illi ons etc etc I t i s a dry sta tement of fact
N evertheless it m ay safely be asserted that few men havin g th e
sam e information t o imp art would g ive it in j ust the same way
The passage quoted by P rof Gen un g was called styleless by hi m
robab
l
y
becaus
e there is in it a very l ow de gree of emo t ional e x cite
p
B ut the w ri ter of the passage evidently takes a stand per
m ent
“
”
“
I have stated an d Let
s on a lly toward his subj ec t when h e says
”
me enum erate
There was no fatal necessity for him to put his
sente nces in the active rather than the passive voice or vice vers a
or with one end foremost rather than the other or to use the par
t icu la r wor d s he uses or to connect or f ail to conn ect hi s sentenc es
a s h e does
Wri ting that is more than mere cata l oguing cannot help
h avin g style though the styl e may be conventional
I f it be mainta ined that a m anner of writing n ot suffi ciently
pecul ia r to serve to characterize the write r from all other men does
”
“
not deserve t o be ca l led style we m ay reply that of most men the
most striking peculiarity is convention a l ity Their g ait their ges
ture their intonati on and thei r rhythm are to the eyes of a ll but
conventio n al
a few f riends
Styl e is elevat ed above conventionality and m a d e indi vi d ual m ain
ly by the pressure of emoti on in the writer an d th e natural result
of strong emotion is rhythm ical e x pression
H eightened emotional
3
pressu r e causes repetiti on of wor d s
The machin ery o f expression
becomes inadequate to carry off the e x cess o f matter suddenly crowded
u pon it
There is temporary da m m ing up of the channe l s with
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2
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,
Hod gson Ou tc a s t Es s a y s a n d Ve rs e p 220 18 8 1
2 Ge n u n
g P ra c t ic a l Rh e tori c p 13 1899
3 Hoe fl d in
g V ie rt e lj a h r s c h ri ft f W iss P h i l 1890 X IV
1
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S 185
.
.
RHYTHM
PROSE
IN
41
.
c ons equent stron g out b rea k f ollo wed by a lul l a nd a repetition of
th e d ammin g up proc ess
The p h enomenon may be l ik ene d to th e
b u bb lin g o f w ater f rom a na r ro w nec k e d b ottle A s a result w e get
“
”
expressions that are o nly excite d s t u tter in g li k e No no no n o #
“
”
rhe tori c al explosions li k e the classi c al A b iit e xc es s it ev a s it eru pit
“
Chatham s I am astonishe d I am shoc k e d to hear such prin c ipl es
”
c on fesse d to hear them avo w e d in this house an d in this countr y
a n d the more complex rhyt hms o f poet ry an d prose
-
,
1
.
-
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
’
,
,
,
.
The e ffect o f rhythm in lan gua ge is to lo ck the parts to g ether i n to
a un i ty an d thus to f a c ilitate c omprehension I t e c onomi zes a t te n
tion f or it assis t s the rea d er in puttin g emphas is w here it is d ue
I t is o f ten f oun d that w riters w ho are d iffic ul t to rea d b ecome eas y
a f ter they have b een hear d in oral d is c ourse T h eir pe c uliar m od e
o f voc al a cc entuation is imper f e c tly su ggested in their w ritin g b ut
the voice once havin g b een hear d its remem b ere d rhyt hm therea ft er
gui d es the rea d er The experien c e here re f erre d to is espe c ial ly c om
mon w ith w ritin g in f orei gn lan gua ges
”
“
The need of havin g the s w ing o f a senten c e in or d er to un d er
stan d it m a y b e i llustrate d b y an example As k someone t o rea d
“
the f ollo w in g sentence alou d w ithout previous examina t ion : Now
any f a c t w hether o f arithmeti c or geo graphy or g rammar w hi c h is
not le d up to an d into out of somethin g w hi c h has previo u sly occu
pie d a s i gnifi c ant position in the c hil d s li f e f or its ow n sa k e is
”
“
f or c e d into this position
The h al f d o zen parti c les up to an d
”
into out of c oming to g ether usually c ause a halt or a stum b le
” “
”
“
in
Bu t as soon as it b ecomes c lear that th e a cc ents are on up
”
“
an d out there is no d ifficul ty in rea d in g an d un d erstan d in g the
senten c e
S pen c er has su ggeste d that the exce llen c e o f a style m ight b e
measure d b y the rate o f a rea d er s comprehension The rate o f c om
prehension a gain it w oul d seem shoul d b e sho w n b y the spee d w ith
w hich a piece of w ritin g is rea d alou d A f ew tests o f this k in d w ere
ma d e b y the w riter as f ollo w s :
”
” “
“
” “
“
Mod
S esame an d L ilies
Red Rover the Essay on Bos w ell
”
”
“
ern P ainters an d The Old P a c ific Capita l have d ifferent rhythms
“
”
as in d icate d in Ta b les I an d II
Re d Rover is leas t rhyt hmi c al
”
”
“
“
S esame an d L ilies is less rhythm i c al
Old P a c ifi c Capital most
“
“
”
than Mo d ern P ainters
The pre d ominan t rhyth m o f Old P a c ific
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1
2
Sp e n ce r , # i r s t Pr
-
De
wey :
i
in i p l
Th e Ch ld
c
es ,
a nd
Ch a p t e r :
Rhy t h m
of
Mot i o n
u r r i cu lu m # Co n t r i b
the C
.
.
t o Ed
.
v
.
Ch
i ca go
,
RHYTHM
42
IN PROSE
.
is d uple # in Re d Rover an d Essay on Bos w ell it is
”
“
”
“
tr i pl e Mo d e rn P ainters is more d uple than S esame an d L ilies
a n d has l ess lo n g f eet
A bout 500 w or d s o f ea c h of th ese se l e c tions w ere rea d alou d b y
( J ) at a rate o f spee d w hi c h he w as tol d to ma k e as nearly a s possi b le
He w as time d w ith a stop w atch
n ormal # that i s natural or easy
T h e fi gures in t h e tab l e are cal c ulate d f or exa c tly 500 w or d s
Capital
“
”
“
”
”
.
.
-
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,
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J
S
R
.
E
M
B
.
.
s ec
,
.
2
B
.
min
2
.
o
.
.
L
a
.
( Rea d in g al ou d )
.
2
P
2
.
O P
C
.
2
28
The same sele c tion s w ere rea d by ( # ) a n d as there seemed t o b e
the l ast t w o w ere
a te n d en c y to read the l ater sele c tions f aster
c h an g ed a b ou t
# ( Rea d in g alou d )
,
,
.
.
.
L
S
3
m in
s e c.
,
2
47
2
0
A f ter
P
C
2
re a d in g them all
rea d S
2 m in
.
L
.
s ec
,
.
,
ag
ain in
,
.
“
”
I t appears f rom these tests that S esame an d Lilies w ith i ts lon g
“
f ee t an d irre g ul ar m ovemen t w as rea d more sl ow ly t h an Mo d ern
”
P ain ters w ith i ts g reat amount o f d upl e rhythm S te venson s
”
“
li ght appears l iterally to g o quickl y
s tyle so o f te n re f erre d to as
The three K iplin g stories w ere te ste d in the same w ay Th ese
“
”
I n the Matter o f a P rivate c on
d i ffer accor d in g to Ta b les I an d II
“
”
tainin g the greate st amoun t o f d uple rhyth m The Ma n Wh o Wa s
The read ers w ere ( A
t h e least
( B ) an d
’
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,
,
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.
,
.
,
A
I
M
I
K
.
.
M
.
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.
L
B
.
P
.
.
sec
L
.
see.
se c .
.
.
M
.
W
.
W
1w 6 0
.
The M an Wh o Wa s w as rea d slow est b y all th ree
I n th e
”
M a t te r o f a P r i va te w as rea d qui ck es t b y tw o Th e resul ts f rom
“
“
”
.
.
RHYTHM
IN PROSE
43
.
t h is tes t a gree on the w hole w ith those f rom the rea d in g o f ( J
# ) in in d icatin g th at d uple rhythm mov es f aster th a n
rhythms an d that mu c h rhythm c on d u c es to spee d in rea d in g
,
an d
other
,
.
,
.
S tron g ly mar k ed rhythm as it is an outcome o f emotion also
stirs up f eelin g in the re a d e r or listener J ust as a lou d cry su g
g ests the emotional state o f the one w h o utters it so m ar k e d rhythm
in lan g uag e i mplyin g that spee c h is goin g on un d er hi gh emotional
pressure imme d iately excites an interest in the emotion arousin g
thou ght The rhythmi c ally expresse d thou ght g ets a hearin g for
those to whom i t is a dd resse d share in a ntic ipation the ex c itemen t o f
the thin k er
Rhyt hmles s w ritin g is even more d iffi c ult to fin d than style l ess
w ri tin g f or thou gh t is b y its nature rhythmi c al an d so must its ex
“
pression b e
L i k e a b ir d s li f e it seems to b e ma d e o f an altern a
tion o f fl i ghts an d perchin g s The rhythm o f langu a g e expresses
this w here every thou ght is expresse d in a sen ten c e an d every
” 1
sen ten c e c lose d b y a per i o d
Chil d ren jus t b e gi nnin g t o w ri t e
artic ulately ne c essarily f a ll into su c h a simple senten c e rhythm
“
“
w rite s a six year ol d I t ma d e me h appy to re
D ear U nc l e
ceiv e y our letter
This a f ternoon I w as goin g to pic k some vi olets
f or you b ut it raine d I have a surprise to tell you w hen you c ome
# ather w a s d o w n w es t l ast w ee k
He w as a w ay a lon g time Ca n
you c ome s oon I h ave another surprise f or you f or supper I t m a d e
”
me smile t oo w hen mo ther rea d your le tter
The r hyt hm h ere i s
in d ee d f ra gmentary ru d imen ta ry an d d isturb e d as c ompared wi th
that d ispl ayed b y a ma t ure writer
A s an illustra ti on o f w ea k rhy t hm t h e f ollo w in g senten c e b y
“
A dd ison may b e ta k en : I n th e next p l ac e w e m ay o b serve that w here
the w or d s are not monosylla b les w e o f ten m a k e them so as mu ch as
”
lies in our po w er b y our rapi d ity o f pronun c iati on
The w or d s
th at h ave to b e a cc ente d in this senten c e are mainly poor in c on tent
— t hey a dd li t tle to wh a t is alrea d y in th e min d I n the c lause “w e
”
o f te n ma k e them so as muc h a s lies in our pow er the only w or d s
”
“
“
un mistak ab ly re quirin g an ac c ent are m ak e an d po w er the rest
is rhythm i c a lly s tru c tureless I t is o f c ourse possi b le w ith a li ttle
d is tor tion o f the natural mo d e o f read in g to a cc ent other w or d s b u t
the eff ec t is d isa greeab le f or the min d ab hors a va cu um U nrh yth
mic al writin g is loose an d un d ec i d e d Rhythmi c al w ritin g impl ies
a c ons c iousness o f one s purpose an d a mastery o f one s meanin gs
Th is b rin gs us t o ano ther c on d it i on o f rhy thm ic al w ritin g —th e
,
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,
1
Ja mes , Pr
i ci p les
n
of
Ps y c h o lo gy
,
v ol
.
1, p
.
243
.
RHYTHM
44
IN PROSE
.
p os session b y the w riter o f a c omplex th ou gh t as a wh ole Th ere
c an b e onl y th e c ru d est an d most elementa ry sort o f r h yth m in t h e
writin g o f one wh ose thou gh t c omes in d ri b le ts A c omp l ex t h o u gh t
graspe d as a unit is i n f a c t anoth er aspe c t of th at wh i c h w as t e
f erre d to ab ove as pressure o f emotion The pen t u p ener gy tha t
issues in repet it ions parallelisms b alan c e et c al so pro d u c es phone t i c
rhyth m f or th ere i s an i mpatien c e in that state o f m in d o f ins ignifi
c ant w or d s A cc ents t h en follo w one anoth er unerri n gl y an d th ere is
no va c illation or am b i gui ty
.
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