Milton's Prosody (book)
Encyclopedia
Milton's Prosody, or in full, Milton's Prosody, with a chapter on Accentual Verse and Notes is a book by Robert Bridges
. It was first published by Oxford University Press
in 1889, and a final revised edition was published in 1921.
Bridges begins with a detailed empirical analysis of the blank verse
of Paradise Lost
, and then examines the changes in Milton's
practice in his later poems Paradise Regained
and Samson Agonistes
. A third section deals with 'obsolete mannerisms'. The final section of the book presents a new system of prosody for accentual verse
.
rhythm. When Gerard Manley Hopkins
visited Bridges in mid August 1886, they discussed Bridges' work on the preface.
Thus according to Bridges' analysis Milton was writing a form of syllabic verse
. At the time this was a controversial thesis. George Saintsbury
disagreed with Bridges, and stated that Milton had simply been using standard extra-metrical liberties, but Bridges was able to answer this objection by showing that every single instance in the poem of such a variation from the norm could be explained by his natural definition of elision; this would be extremely unlikely to be the case if the poet had simply been allowing himself extra-metrical variations as described by Saintsbury. Bridges took the very restricted range of Milton's variations to be a proof of his thesis.
.
Bridges bases much of his account of Recession of Accent on the work of Alexander Schmidt's analysis of Shakespeare's
practice. Schmidt takes, for example, an adjective such as 'complete' and shows that it is used with the normal accent on the second syllable in lines such as:
And then proceeds to find numerous examples where the stress is changed according to the rule, thus:
and
Bridges lists a number of clear example of recession of accent in Milton's earlier work, such as:
but then goes on to note the very frequent occurrence of the rhythm ⌣ ⌣ – – (that is, xx// ) in Milton's verse, a rhythm that Milton would have taken from Shakespeare, as at the end of the following line from A Midsummer Night's Dream:
Milton's frequent use of this rhythm undermines any case for supposing recession of accent played a role in Milton's later metrical practice. Bridges argues that Milton excluded the 'licence' of recession of accent because it would have given rise to uncertainty about where a stress should lie. He observes that the words complete, extreme, serene, and sublime occur twenty-four times in Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes, and in each case the accent is on the second syllable, whereas each of these words appears only once in Comus and there 'suffers' recession of accent.
.
Bridges also has a shorter version of the 'Light' symbol for 'very short' syllables. We can use ⌵ ('.').
Robert Bridges
Robert Seymour Bridges, OM, was a British poet, and poet laureate from 1913 to 1930.-Personal and professional life:...
. It was first published by Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
in 1889, and a final revised edition was published in 1921.
Bridges begins with a detailed empirical analysis of the blank verse
Blank verse
Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
of Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
, and then examines the changes in Milton's
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
practice in his later poems Paradise Regained
Paradise Regained
Paradise Regained is a poem by the English poet John Milton, published in 1671. It is connected by name to his earlier and more famous epic poem Paradise Lost, with which it shares similar theological themes...
and Samson Agonistes
Samson Agonistes
Samson Agonistes is a tragic closet drama by John Milton. It appeared with the publication of Milton's Paradise Regain'd in 1671, as the title page of that volume states: "Paradise Regained / A Poem / In IV Books / To Which Is Added / Samson Agonistes"...
. A third section deals with 'obsolete mannerisms'. The final section of the book presents a new system of prosody for accentual verse
Accentual verse
Accentual verse has a fixed number of stresses per line or stanza regardless of the number of syllables that are present. It is common in languages that are stress-timed, such as English—as opposed to syllabic verse, which is common in syllable-timed languages, such as French.- Children's poetry...
.
Writing of the book
Bridges had been asked by Henry Beeching, his local vicar, to write a preface for an edition of Paradise Lost that Beeching was preparing for sixth-form pupils. Beeching wanted something to counter the prevailing da-DUM-da-DUM style of reading, that artificially distorted words to fit the regular pattern of the iambic pentameterIambic pentameter
Iambic pentameter is a commonly used metrical line in traditional verse and verse drama. The term describes the particular rhythm that the words establish in that line. That rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables; these small groups of syllables are called "feet"...
rhythm. When Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous 20th-century fame established him among the leading Victorian poets...
visited Bridges in mid August 1886, they discussed Bridges' work on the preface.
The Prosody of Paradise Lost
Bridges shows that:- there are no lines with fewer than ten syllables in Paradise Lost
- with a suitable definition of elisionElisionElision is the omission of one or more sounds in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce...
, there are no mid-line extra-metrical syllables - the stresses may fall at any point in the line,
- although most lines have the standard five stresses, there are examples of lines with only three and four stresses.
Thus according to Bridges' analysis Milton was writing a form of syllabic verse
Syllabic verse
Syllabic verse is a poetic form having a fixed number of syllables per line regardless of the number of stresses that are present. It is common in languages that are syllable-timed, such as Japanese or modern French or Finnish — as opposed to stress-timed languages such as English, in which...
. At the time this was a controversial thesis. George Saintsbury
George Saintsbury
George Edward Bateman Saintsbury , was an English writer, literary historian, scholar and critic.-Biography:...
disagreed with Bridges, and stated that Milton had simply been using standard extra-metrical liberties, but Bridges was able to answer this objection by showing that every single instance in the poem of such a variation from the norm could be explained by his natural definition of elision; this would be extremely unlikely to be the case if the poet had simply been allowing himself extra-metrical variations as described by Saintsbury. Bridges took the very restricted range of Milton's variations to be a proof of his thesis.
The Prosody of Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes
Bridges showed that Milton further broadened his concept of elision in his later works. Bridges investigation of Milton's twelve syllable lines led him to ideas of prosody embodied in his own Neo-Miltonic syllabicsNeo-Miltonic Syllabics
Neo-Miltonic Syllabics is a group of poems written by Robert Bridges between 1921 and 1925, and collected in his book New Verse . The poems are based on a syllabic meter, which Bridges arrived at through his detailed analysis of Milton's poems, which is explained in detail in his book Milton's...
.
Recession of Accent
Bridges discusses the obsolete practice of Recession of Accent. The rule being that "disyllabic adjectives and participles accented on the last syllable will shift their accent back if they occur before a noun accented on the first syllable."Bridges bases much of his account of Recession of Accent on the work of Alexander Schmidt's analysis of Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
practice. Schmidt takes, for example, an adjective such as 'complete' and shows that it is used with the normal accent on the second syllable in lines such as:
- He is complete in feature and in mind (Gent. ii 4.73)
And then proceeds to find numerous examples where the stress is changed according to the rule, thus:
- A maid of grace and complete majesty. (L.L.L. i. 1.137)
and
- Than all the complete armour that thou wear'st. (Rich 3rd iv. 4.189)
Bridges lists a number of clear example of recession of accent in Milton's earlier work, such as:
- The sublime notion, and high mystery
but then goes on to note the very frequent occurrence of the rhythm ⌣ ⌣ – – (that is, xx// ) in Milton's verse, a rhythm that Milton would have taken from Shakespeare, as at the end of the following line from A Midsummer Night's Dream:
- The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn
Milton's frequent use of this rhythm undermines any case for supposing recession of accent played a role in Milton's later metrical practice. Bridges argues that Milton excluded the 'licence' of recession of accent because it would have given rise to uncertainty about where a stress should lie. He observes that the words complete, extreme, serene, and sublime occur twenty-four times in Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes, and in each case the accent is on the second syllable, whereas each of these words appears only once in Comus and there 'suffers' recession of accent.
The Prosody of Accentual Verse
In this final section of Bridges describes a prosody of accentual verseAccentual verse
Accentual verse has a fixed number of stresses per line or stanza regardless of the number of syllables that are present. It is common in languages that are stress-timed, such as English—as opposed to syllabic verse, which is common in syllable-timed languages, such as French.- Children's poetry...
.
Terms and notation
Bridges classifies the following types of syllable (alternative symbols have been added for browsers that do not display symbols correctly):| Symbol | Alternative | Syllable Type | Description |
| ⋀ | ^ | Stressed | Syllable carries the stress |
| – | - | Heavy | Is genuinely long, slows down the reading. For example: broad, bright, down. |
| ⌣ | ~ | Light | All syllables with short vowels, even those that would be long 'by position' in Classical terms. That is, if the consonants around a short vowel do not genuinely retard the syllable then it will be counted 'light'. Light also includes all classically short syllables. For example the second syllables of 'brighter' and 'brightest' are both light, despite the consonants in the latter. |
Bridges also has a shorter version of the 'Light' symbol for 'very short' syllables. We can use ⌵ ('.').
Rules
Bridges lists six "rules" for accentual verse. He states (p. 89) "These 'laws' are merely the tabulation of what my ear finds in English stressed or accentual verse". The rules are as follows:- the stress governs the rhythm
- the stresses must all be true speech-stresses
- a stress has more carrying power over the syllable next to it, than it has over a syllable removed from it by an intervening syllable
- stress has a peculiarly strong attraction towards verbal unity and for its own proclitics and enclitics
- a stress will not carry a heavy syllable which is removed from it by another syllable. Here Bridges cites several lines from ShelleyPercy Bysshe ShelleyPercy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
which violate this rule, such as: "Each and all like ministering angels were." - a stress will not carry more than one heavy or two light syllables on the same side of it
List of common stress units
Bridges lists the common stress units or 'feet:| 1st | Bare Stress | ⋀ | ^ |
| 2nd | The 2 falling disyllabic feet | ⋀– | ^- |
| ⋀⌣ | ^~ | ||
| 3rd | The 2 rising disyllabic feet | –⋀ | -^ |
| ⌣⋀ | ~^ | ||
| 4th | The britannics or mid-stress trisyllabics | ⌣⋀⌣ | ~^~ |
| –⋀⌣ | -^~ | ||
| ⌣⋀– | ~^- | ||
| –⋀– | -^- | ||
| 5th | The falling and rising trisyllabics | ⌣⌣⋀ | ~~^ |
| ⋀⌣⌣ | ^~~ | ||
| 6th | The quadrisyllabics | ⌣⋀⌣⌣ | ~^~~ |
| –⋀⌣⌣ | -^~~ | ||
| ⌣⌣⋀⌣ | ~~^~ | ||
| ⌣⌣⋀– | ~~^- | ||
| 7th | The five syllable foot | ⌣⌣⋀⌣⌣ | ~~^~~ |