What is meter?
Rhythm in Non-Western Poetry
n
n
n
Dr. Colleen Fitzgerald
Assistant Professor of Linguistics
Dept. of English
n
Slides as a PDF file at:
http://english.ttu.edu/fitzgerald/international.pdf1
Types of Meters
n
n
n
n
Rhythmic organization of syllables, stress,
tone, or duration (or some combination of
these qualities). Think repeating pattern.
Rhythm can be used artistically, as in verse.
An examination of the meter of some Western
and Non-Western traditions shows that both
traditions possess complex, interesting
rhythms.
We also see that oral traditions can have
meters; artistic use of rhythm is not restricted
to written literature.
2
Patterning Meters
Western and Non-Western traditions can also
have similar types of rhythm as well.
Patterning Meters: the rhythm comes from
the pattern of different types of units in a line
(like stressed versus unstressed syllables or
light versus heavy syllables)
Counting Meters: the rhythm is formed by the
number of units in a line
We'll see definitions of the different types, and
then run through examples.
3
n
Accentual: stressed syllables form the basis
for the rhythm
– Western Example: English nursery rhymes, and
iambic pentameter
– Non-Western Example: Tohono O'odham trochaic
meters
n
Quantitative: short (or light) syllables versus
long (or heavy) syllables form the basis
– Western Example: Greek iambic trimeter
– Non-Western Example: Somali iambic tetrameter
4
1
Counting Meters
Four Beat Verse
Different types of units can be counted:
syllables, or units smaller than syllables,
known as moras
n Western example: French alexandrine
verse is a syllable-counting meter that
requires twelve syllables
n Non-Western Example: Japanese
haiku counts moras (not syllables!)
n
n
Nursery rhymes give an example of a
rhythmic verse that is accentual.
n Typical nursery rhymes have four beats
per line, although not each beat may be
pronounced.
n In other words, the stressed syllables
matter – there must be four of them.
n Unstressed syllables are unimportant.
5
Rhythm in Nursery Rhymes
6
Iambic Pentameter
n
The cock's in the woodpile a-blowing his horn,
n
The bull's in the barn a-threshing of corn,
n
The maids in the meadows are making of hay,
The ducks in the river are swimming away
7
Another accentual meter is iambic
pentameter.
Classical English poetry uses iambic
pentameter, 10 syllables that alternate
unstressed and stressed syllables.
Consider this line by William Shakespeare
(W=weak or unstressed; S=strong or
stressed):
/\
/\
/\
/\
/\
w s w s w s w s
w s
The li@on dy@"ng thru@steth fo@rth his pa@w
8
2
A Non-Western Meter
n
n
n
n
Traditional Songs
Tohono O'odham is a Native American
language spoken in southern Arizona and
Sonora, Mexico
The tribe was formerly known as the Papago.
The language is a member of the UtoAztecan language family.
The language has a significant oral tradition,
much of which has been published in
O'odham, as well as in English translations
– Song forms are very different from
forms that would appear in speech
– Native speakers may have difficulty
identifying what speech forms
correspond with song forms.
9
First Celkona Song
10
Trochaic Foot
hu¤du¯iN ta¤hNio g ¯ˆ¤¯ˆi ka¤inagimˆ
At dusk, before the songs resounding
n
hu@du¯iN ta¤hNio g ¯ˆ¤¯ˆi ka¤inagimˆ
Trochee (trochaic foot):
At dusk, before the songs resounding
kuc& ame wo?i wa kame ¯ˆ¤inac&uNa
And I arrive there and watch
hu@du¯ i wˆ¤Niumhim am
S
Dusk, being pulled along
W
ˆna si wa ham ka¤inada.
Inside, arriving there to be heard.
n
11
12
(Text, Haefer 1977; Translation, Fitzgerald 1993)
3
Feet in Songs and Speech
Song
s
oi
w
na
s w
s`o-@ s`o
O'odham Song Meter
s w
ku@:-ku:-Ne
n
Lines begin with only two types of sequences
n
Lines never begin with iambic sequences
Two stressed syllables are never adjacent
Everywhere in song lines, a strong is always
followed by a weak, even if this means an
extra syllable is added
Lines never end with a stressed syllable
(iambic meters can end with stressed
syllables)
– Strong-weak or weak-weak
n
n
s
oi
w
na
s
s`o@n
s
ku@g
n
Speech soon perhaps beginning end
"Soon, perhaps, the beginning, the end."
13
Quantitative Meters
n
n
n
Greek Iambic Trimeter
English does not really have any quantitative
meters, although between 1540 and 1603,
thirty or so poets experimented with the form.
The traditional feet used for meter come from
the quantitative systems in Greek and Latin
poetry
Weak-strong means different things in
comparing accentual versus quantitative
verse:
– English: iamb = stressed-unstressed
– Greek: iamb=short-long (light-heavy)
14
15
Iambic meter (three "feet" of light-heavy)
is a common rhythm in Classical Greek
n The meter was used mostly for dramatic
dialogue in plays, like Sophocles'
Oedipus Tyrannus
n As a patterning meter, it has different
patterns of light and heavy syllables
allowed
n
16
4
Syllable Types for Some Lines
Lights and Heavies
L H
n
L
H
H
H
L
H
L H
L
H
o tek-na kad-mou tou pa-lai ne-aa tro-phee
L
– O children of Kadmos of old new infants
H
L H H
H
L H L H L L
n
Ti-nas po hed-raas taas-de moi tho-ad-ze-te
n
– why to the throne to me do you hurry
H H LH
L H L
H L
H
L
n
H
hik-tee-ri-ois kla-doi-si-n ek-se-stem-me-noi
n
– suppliant (olive) branches stretching out
n
It is the different syllable types (essentially,
short vowels versus long vowels) that get
organized into different patterns:
Light-Heavy is an iamb
The other two possible iambs are Light-Light
and Heavy
Light-Light: 1+1=2 (short+short= long)
Heavy: 2 (1 long vowel)
1 heavy= 2 lights
17
Grouping lights and heavies
(L H) (L H)
(H) (H)
(L
H) (L H)
(L
Somali Masafo
H)
o tek-na kad-mou tou pa-lai ne-aa tro-phee
(L
H) (L
H)
(H)
(H) (L H)
(L
n
H) (L L)
n
Ti-nas po hed-raas taas-de moi tho-ad-ze-te
(H) (H) (L H) (L H) (L
H) (L
H) (L
H)
n
hik-tee-ri-ois kla-doi-si-n ek-se-stem-me-noi
The masafo verse form is one of a number of
alliterative verse forms used in Somali.
Basic approach here: scansion of 505
masafo lines (1009 half-lines) by the Sayid,
Maxamad Cabdulle Xasan
Short vowels are light (L) and long vowels
and diphthongs scanned as heavy (H)
n Classical
Perfectly regular: 7 feet per line!
– 3 possible iambs (WS feet):
• LH, LL and H
18
19
Somali Song
20
5
The Sayid's Reply, or
Dacwad baan ka leeyahay
Alliteration
n
n
n
n
Alliteration of initial element is a key property
of the masafo songs.
Masafo lines are divided into half-lines by
caesura.
Commas are conventionally used to indicate
caesura, which divide each line into two halflines; caesura always correspond to a wordboundary and often are accompanied by
pauses
Half-lines also typically alliterate with each
other.
21
n
Deyntaan ku leeyahay, dun ha iiga qaadin e
n
Wuchuu aniga iga dilo, diyo hayga siinin e
n
Ogaadeen ha ii dirin, dacwad baan ka
leeyahay
– "Concerning your plea 'Do not incite the
Ogaadeen against us' I also have a complaint"
n
War, duul haad Amchaaraha, adiga
Kaa ma dayayee
– "The people of the Ethiopian region look for
nothing from you,"
22
Evidence for Iambic Rhythm
– "So do not press my claim against them."
n
Amba waa ka dabo geli, dakankiyo qaadkee
– "I will myself seek to recover the property and the loot which they have
seized"
n
Iambs do not just have to be
unstressed-stressed; iambic feet are
also light-heavy in Somali, as they were
in Classical Greek (and Arabic, and
many other verse types).
n Lines typically begin with a LL, LH or H.
n Each half-line has 4 iambic feet.
n An entire line has 8 iambic feet total.
n
– "Do not claim on my behalf the blood money which they owe
me."
Dirham haddii aan kaga tago, anaa been
dabaad ah e
– "Were I to leave a single penny with them my pledge would be
perverted."
23
24
6
Half-lines with iambic feet:
Ogaadeen ha ii dirin,
(LH)(H) (L H) (LL),
dacwad baan ka leeyaha
(LL) (H) (L H)(LH)
War, duul haad Amchaaraha,
(L H) (H) (LH)(LL),
adiga Kaa ma dayaye
(LL)(L H) (L L)(LH)
Deyntaan ku leeyahay,
(H)(H) (L H)(LH),
dun ha iiga qaadin e
(L L) (H)(L H) (L L)
Counting Syllables
The Classic French Alexandrine verse is a
poetic line with twelve syllables.
n An example of this comes from Ronsard:
1 2
3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Amour jusqu'à midy paresseux sommeilla
n And Corneille:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
n
Si l'on ne me trompée, il n'en veut qu'à sa race
25
Counting Moras
n
n
n
n
n
n
Even smaller than a syllable is the mora.
A syllable with a short vowel has one
mora.
A syllable with a long vowel has two
moras.
A syllable that has a short vowel plus a
consonant has two moras (in some
languages).
Japanese haiku is a counting meter;
haiku counts moras (not syllables!)
Typical haiku alternates lines of 5 moras,
7 moras and 5 moras.
27
26
Japanese Haiku
Nara nanae
shichi doo garan
Yae zakura
Kadokado no
Geta no doro yori
haru tachinu
Risshun no
kome koboreori
kasaibashi
28
7
Moras, not syllables
Scanning Japanese Haiku
n
n
n
n
12 34 5
risshun no
1 2 3 4 567
kome koboreori
1 23 4 5
kasaibashi
A haiku with only short vowels:
1 2 34 5
kadokado no
1 2 3 4 5 67
geta no doro yori
1 2 3 4 5
haru tachinu
"from the mud of Geta
going gate-to-gate
spring begin"
by Issa
n
n
n
29
Japanese Verse Types
n
(6 syllables!)
(4 syllables!)
the beginning-of-spring
rice has spilled over . . .
Kasai Bridge
by Yamaguchi Seison
**see how it's not about syllables, it's about
moras
30
Conclusion
n
n
(3 syllables!)
Japanese actually has a variety of
forms that all count moras, with lines of
either 5 or 7 moras each
n
–
–
–
–
– haiku, tanka, chooka, sedooka, katauta,
bussokuseikika
n
31
The examples here are less familiar, coming
from non-Western languages in Asia, Africa,
and the Americas.
The same types of properties are used in
rhythm, regardless of the origin of the meter:
stress
length/duration
repetition of some type of unit
counting
The psychological salience of these properties,
and the way they recur, suggests that they
reflect fundamental properties of all human
32
languages.
8