Sprung rhythm

Sprung rhythm

Sprung rhythm is a poetic rhythm designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech. It is constructed from feet in which the first syllable is stressed and may be followed by a variable number of unstressed syllables. The British poet Gerard Manley Hopkins claimed to have discovered this previously-unnamed poetic rhythm in the natural patterns of English in folk songs, spoken poetry, Shakespeare, Milton, "et al." He used diacritical marks on syllables to indicate which should be drawn out (acute e.g. á ) and which uttered quickly (grave e.g. è ). Some critics believe he merely coined a name for poems with mixed, irregular feet, like free verse. However, while sprung rhythm allows for an indeterminate number of syllables to a foot, Hopkins was very careful to keep the number of feet he had per line consistent across each individual work, a trait that free verse does not share.

Example

Pied Beauty
Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spáre, strange;
Whatever is fickle, frecklèd (who knows how?)
With swíft, slów; sweet, sóur; adázzle, dím;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is pást change:
Práise hím.
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

Proposed Scansion:
|Glory|be to|God for|dappled|things—
For|skies of|couple-|colour as a|brinded|cow;
For|rose-moles|all in|stipple upon|trout that|swim;
Fresh-|firecoal|chestnut-|falls;|finches'|wings;
|Landscape|plotted and|pieced—fold,|fallow, and|plough;
And|áll|trades, their|gear and|tackle and|trim.
|All things|counter, o|riginal,|spáre,|strange;
What|ever is|fickle,|frecklèd|(who knows|how?)
With|swíft,|slów; sweet,|sóur; a|dázzle,|dím;
He|fathers-|forth whose|beauty is|pást|change:
|Práise|hím.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • sprung rhythm — sprung′ rhythm n. pro a poetic rhythm using strongly accented syllables, often juxtaposed, accompanied by an indefinite number of unaccented syllables • Etymology: term introduced by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1877) …   From formal English to slang

  • sprung rhythm — n. [term coined by HOPKINS Gerard Manley] a kind of rhythm in English poetry, based on the normal rhythms of speech and made up of a mixture of feet, each foot consisting of either a single stressed syllable or a stressed syllable followed by one …   English World dictionary

  • sprung rhythm — a poetic rhythm characterized by the use of strongly accented syllables, often in juxtaposition, accompanied by an indefinite number of unaccented syllables in each foot, of which the accented syllable is the essential component. [term introduced …   Universalium

  • sprung rhythm — noun a poetic rhythm that imitates the rhythm of speech • Hypernyms: ↑poetic rhythm, ↑rhythmic pattern, ↑prosody * * * noun : a poetic rhythm designed to approximate the natural rhythm of speech and characterized by the frequent juxtaposition of… …   Useful english dictionary

  • sprung rhythm — noun Date: 1877 a poetic rhythm designed to approximate the natural rhythm of speech and characterized by the frequent juxtaposition of single accented syllables and the occurrence of mixed types of feet …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • sprung rhythm — /sprʌŋ ˈrɪðəm/ (say sprung ridhuhm) noun a system of prosody with the accent always on the first syllable of every foot followed by a varying number of unaccented syllables, all feet being given equal time length …  

  • sprung rhythm — noun a poetic metre approximating to speech, each foot having one stressed syllable followed by a varying number of unstressed ones. Origin C19: coined by the English poet G. M. Hopkins …   English new terms dictionary

  • rhythm — rhythmless, adj. /ridh euhm/, n. 1. movement or procedure with uniform or patterned recurrence of a beat, accent, or the like. 2. Music. a. the pattern of regular or irregular pulses caused in music by the occurrence of strong and weak melodic… …   Universalium

  • rhythm — Synonyms and related words: Alexandrine, accent, accentuation, alternation, amphibrach, amphimacer, anacrusis, anapest, antispast, arrhythmia, arsis, bacchius, balance, beat, beating, beauty, cadence, cadency, caesura, catalexis, chloriamb,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • running rhythm — Pros. the usual English verse rhythm created by a succession of metrical feet each of which consists of a stressed syllable and one or two unstressed ones. Also called common rhythm. Cf. sprung rhythm. [1880 85] * * * …   Universalium

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