Scansion

[4][5] Systems of scansion, and the assumptions (often tacit or even subconscious) that underlie them, are so numerous and contradictory that it is often difficult to tell whether differences in scansion indicate opposed metrical theories, conflicting understandings of a line's linguistic character, divergent practical goals, or whether they merely constitute a trivial argument over who has the "better ear" for verse.

All aspects of language contribute to it: loudness, pitch, duration, pause, syntax, repeated elements, length of phrases, and frequency of polysyllabic words.

A perfectly regular line of iambic pentameter may have anywhere from 2 to 9 stresses,[8] but it is still felt to exhibit 5 pulses or beats.

It is natural to want to enrich scansion with other kinds of analyses which capture more of the phonological and syntactic structure of the line ...

Scansions which take account of more levels of metrical degree than two, or intonation, or the timing of syllables are all guilty of overspecification.

[12] For example, in trisyllabic measures (anapestic, amphibrachic, dactylic) it is often quite arbitrary where one divides the feet, and the salient fact seems to be the number of non-ictic syllables —in this case two— between each ictus, rather than whether the repeated pattern is imagined as ××/, ×/×, or /××.

Though the classical breve is still present, its pairing with slash indicates that it has been relieved of its original "short" meaning.

But strictly speaking it can be seen as sending the mixed message that syllables are being marked as stressed or short which would be a nonsensical scansion.

It could be utilized as diacritics only using the relatively obscure x above ("aͯ") or times above ("a̽") and therefore typically set in 2 lines (1 for the verse, and 1 for the scansion).

This notation has been used by James McAuley, Timothy Steele, Robert B. Shaw, and the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics; and as a secondary method by Derek Attridge.

Nor does it imply that the line should be read monotonously in only 2 registers ("when Ajax STRIVES some ROCK'S vast WEIGHT to THROW").

Wimsatt, Woods, and The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics have used Chomsky's & Halle's notation as a secondary method.

Recall that this metrical scansion does not imply that "of" is necessarily spoken with more emphasis than "sweet", only that they fill ictic and nonictic positions, respectively.)

In fact, Groves[18] has shown that in such cases, where the ictus moves forward (as opposed to backward as in "When to"), each of the 4 positions in question has slightly different constraints that must be fulfilled for the line to be perceived as metrical.

[19] This basic approach has subsequently been used to scan English verse by Marina Tarlinskaja, Derek Attridge, and Peter L. Groves, though their systems differ in detail and purpose.

In addition to making rhythm and meter distinct, all three prosodists provide explicit rules for assigning stress levels so that, as far as possible, it becomes an objective process driven by lexicon and syntax, rather than depending upon the "ear" of the scanner.

She has used several versions of the scansion levels shown above, some more and some less fine-grained, and some reduced to numerical values; but all relate to this basic 3 × 2 structure.

In the metrical component of her scansion, she (like Jespersen) marks the ictic and nonictic positions of the meter, not of the line.

It allows her to compare patterns across hundreds or thousands of verse lines statistically, using a consistent matrix of positions.

Attridge's scansion is intended to be broadly applicable, using a few symbols and rules to describe a wide range of English lines consistently, without a priori reducing them to one metrical system.

To date, Groves has put forward his system only as an explanation of iambic pentameter (or "the English heroic line" as he prefers to call it), though elements may be applicable to other accentual-syllabic meters.

Further, while his metrical scansion begins as a familiar wSwSwSwSwS, he allows "w" and "S" to trade places under certain conditions, and when they do their mapping rules are altered, requiring additional symbols.

In 1880, Sidney Lanier published The Science of English Verse, in which he developed a novel theory exploring the connections between musical notation and meter in poetry.

(pages 3–4) Harvey Gross' criticism also described the theory as lacking in good sense, saying "it scatters sand in the eyes and pours wax in the ears.