VCCS
Litonline Introduction to Literature
page 11 of 20English 112 (English Composition II)
| VCCS
Litonline Introduction to Literature
page 11 of 20 English 112 (English Composition II) |
A Scansion of Sonnet 116
Directions: Read about "Scansion" on the right, try to apply the "rules" by looking at the sample on the left, then click on the audio link under line 8 to hear the lines read through your Real Player™ as you scroll through the lines. Be sure to listen more than once to see if the reading matches the scansion marked above lines 1 - 8 of the poem on the left. The syllable backgrounded in yellow should be the loudest in the line.
Click here for a reading of the lines above. Click here to determine if you hear any difference in emphasis (or de-emphasis in this reading of the whole sonnet by Linda Gregerson. Listen to this reading to hear how Mark Dofy de-emphasizes the feminine (2-syllable) rhyme in lines 6 - 8 as he reads the whole sonnet. |
SCANSION Which words and syllables are most likely emphasized by the rhythm built into a poem? "Scansion" tells the answer. Here are some "rules", probably a bit beyond what you might have encountered in a high school introduction to scansion: 1. A poet cannot wrench the normal way to say a word, so the first part of marriage has to be louder than the last part: MARRiage. 2. Words that carry meaning generally count more than function words. So nouns like minds and mark should be louder than words like to or of. |
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3. Once you begin to figure out the dominant meter, follow it for each syllable; unless you have a reason to believe that the poet is deliberately varying the dominant meter to highlight an important word. For instance, shaken and taken add 11th syllables to iambic pentameter (SEE the next page) lines--at the end of the second quatrain , a place for emphasizing words that assert the changelessness of love. 4. Let the theme and the structure settle questions that remain. For example, which uses of not should be loud--those in the early part of the poem or those in the last half? If the poem's emotion builds to the last couplet , then denials near the end should be louder than those near the beginning, as shown in the scansion marked for this poem. Besides, the not s at the beginning of the poem are not in position to be stressed by the meter, whereas the not s at the end of the poem are (see the scansion continued on the next page). |
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| Selecting the Best Way to Read a Line
(*Click here for a hint on re-opening a word processor.) |
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The URL for this page is: http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/sonnet116/scan1.htm |
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to download Real Player.)
Which
of the louder syllables should be read as the loudest in the line? Re-open
your word processor and explain for ONE of these comparisons, which one makes more sense.
Tell which syllable is emphasized in the way you prefer the line to be read, and
tell what meaning you associate with that reading as opposed to the other(s).