Studia Metrica et Poetica

Metrical Ambiguity

Barry P. Scherr — 2023-12-31

In most instances the meter of a Russian poem becomes clear virtually from the start, after a single line or perhaps just a few lines. However, there are also poems for which a simple metrical classification remains problematic even upon consideration of the entire work. In some cases, an abundance of internal rhyme leads to the appearance of a “shadow meter” that creates an alternative way to describe the meter over at least a portion of the poem. In others, it turns out to be possible to interpret an entire poem as belonging to any of two or more meters, often because the work does not precisely match the norms for any one type while bearing reasonably close resemblances to more than one metrical category. In this paper I examine several instances of metrical ambiguity in Russian verse and conclude that for such poems it is best not to employ a single metrical label but to offer a more detailed characterization that does justice to the work’s complexity.

Rhyme in dróttkvætt, from Old Germanic Inheritance to Contemporary Poetic Ecology II: Rhyme as an Inherited Device of Old Germanic Verse

Frog — 2023-12-31

This paper is the second in a three-part series on the distinctive type of rhyme in the Old Norse dróttkvætt meter, argued to have emerged through the metricalization of uses of rhyme within a short line found across Old Germanic poetries. Whereas the first paper outlined the argument and its background, this paper explores uses of rhyme in Old Germanic poetries other than Old Norse. Rhyme involving the stressed syllable or word stem irrespective of subsequent syllables is shown to be a device of these poetic systems. Especially in Old English, such rhyme is used to support and reinforce the basic meter and may even fill a metrical function in the place of additional alliteration. The type of rhyme is argued to be an inherited feature of the poetic system, an argument also supported by the metricalized use of rhyme in Old Norse dróttkvætt poetry. Because some theories of the Old Germanic poetic form require viewing rhyme as competing and interfering with its rhythm, the rhymecompatible model used here is outlined.

The Riddle of the Thread: On Arabic ghazal

David Larsen — 2023-12-31

Ghazal is the Arabic word for “amatory verse”, and in other languages of the Islamic world it designates a sonnet-like poetic form. The notion that the word stems from Arabic ghazl “spinning thread” is widely held, despite the absence of support for this in classical lexicography and poetry criticism. Comparison to Semitic cognates points to an alternative derivation of ghazal from a verb of speaking – specifically, speech that is ambiguous and suggestive – by way of attraction to the gazelle (Arabic ghazāl), an ancient Near Eastern idiom for the beloved. While ghazal poetry emerged in Western Arabia during the first century of Islam, the genesis of ghazal as a term of art predates the literary record, as may be appreciated in a poem by ʿAmr ibn Qamīʾa (6th century CE) that has been called the earliest complete qaṣīda in Arabic manuscript tradition.

The fall of genres that did not happen: formalising history of the “universal” semantics of Russian iambic tetrameter

Antonina Martynenko — 2023-12-31

This paper examines thematic features of the “universal” poetic meters that are disproportionately popular in a tradition. Focusing on the example of 19th-century Russian iambic tetrameter, we propose a method for diachronic analysis of semantic structure of a meter based on the combination of topic modelling and network analysis. We represent each poem as topic probabilities and use most probable topics appearing within one poem to build up the connections of a network. This representation allows us to detect a chronological process of semantic expansion of the meter: its usage spreads to various thematic domains contributing to its perception as “universal”. At the same time, we show that the expansion of iambic tetrameter does not lead to the collapse of semantic traditions of other meters and their associations with certain genres. Testing the amount of shared connections between meters against randomized data demonstrates that the increase in number of topics within a meter is mostly driven by the sample size, rather than by the direct borrowing from other meters. The stability of thematic connections inside each meter displays the conservative nature of poetic meters and surprisingly strong retention of association between meter and semantics.

Plotting Poetry 6: The Plot. Storytelling in Verse. Conference Report

Anne-Sophie Bories — 2023-12-31

Plotting Poetry 6: The Plot. Storytelling in Verse. Conference Report