Art of the worms

The art of the worms (sometimes named in a more ambiguous way art of poetry ) corresponds to the technical data concerning the traditional poetic expression which obey uses (different according to the languages) regulating the practice of the Towards, the regrouping in Strophes, the play of the rates/rhythms and sonorities like the formal types of Poèmes or the poetic Genres determined by their contents. “Art of the worms”, with the purely technical contents, is distinguished from “poetic Art” which returns to esthetic designs asserted by a person or a group.

It is here about a general presentation of these technical data, one will find developments detailed in the specific articles like Métrique, Towards, Enjambement.

French Poetry

The metric

the calculation of the syllables

The measuring unit of the French worms is the syllable. The meter is the number of syllables counted in worms, which determines the type of the worms. (To speak about " pied" , by analogy with Latin, is officially banished since 1961…). Particular rules apply in certain cases:

the " e" : At the end of the worms (- E, - be, - ent), it does not count (it is dumb) as inside the worms, at the end of a word, if the following word starts with a vowel, (there is elision).

On the other hand, if the following word starts with a consonant, the " e" count (it is not dumb).

E.g.: “I have rê/vé/in the gro/tt (E) where na/ge/the si/rèn (E)” Nerval

By convention, the " e" elide yourself in the ends of words in - IE, - ée, - ue even if the following word starts with a consonant (“This world of harmoni (E) which saw eternity”); the same applies with the marks of plural verbal (e.g. “sang”) or nominal (e.g. “lives”). Same convention applies to the " e" between a vowel and a consonant inside a word (e.g. “I you envi (E) spoke not this beautiful title of honor” Crow). However it went from there differently to the Middle Ages and with the XVI° century, e.g. “Pi/es, corbels, the undermined eyes” (Villon) or “Ma/ri/e/have us which would like your name to turn over” (Ronsard)

Dieresis and Syneresis:

To produce a particular effect or to respect the meter, the poet is sometimes brought to dissociate two sounds which usually marked are grouped, it is the dieresis. When one sound is counted, it is about a syneresis. Classically the dieresis was allowed only if the Latin étymon had two syllables as for " sky " (caelum " or " god " (deus) but it was impossible for " " place; (locus) or " to trust " (set).

E.g.: “That Roman palates the au/da/ci/eux face” (Of Bellay)

“I put, with the place (syneresis) of me, Chimène in its li/ens (dieresis)” Cid towards 103

various types of regular worms:

French poetry privileges the even worms, i.e. having an even number of syllables.

the Alexandrine (12 syllables) which owes its name with its first appearance in the Novel of Alexandre , anonymous narrative poem of XIIe century. It is the meter more used in the French language, in all the types of poetic expression like the texts of the traditional theater. The traditional use imposes a central cut (the caesura) which divides the worms into two hémistiches (6/6). E.g.: “In the eternal night/carried without return” (Lamartine) or “I will weave the sky/with the French worms” (Aragon).

the Decasyllable (10 syllables) whose employment is dominating with the Middle Ages but rarer then comprises a traditional cut 4/6 which defines even under-parts. E.g.: “Human Brothers who after us live” (Villon), but one meets also structure 5/5 with an effect of swinging. E.g. “We will have beds/full with light odors” (Baudelaire)
the Octosyllabe (8 syllables) without regular cut is characterized by lightness. E.g.: “Gone With The Wind! ” (Villon). It is rather often employed in partnership with other longer or shorter meters

e.g. “Say, that you made, you that here,

Of your youth? ” (Verlaine)

the Hexameter or hexasyllabe (6 syllables) which only meets but which is often used in partnership with the alexandrine to break monotony and the majesty.

E.g.: “He cries in my heart

As it rains on the city”. (Verlaine)

“And pink it lived what the pinks live,

The one morning space”. (Malherbe)

the odd worms seek the variation and the flexibility:

E.g. the Fountain: “The cicada having sung (7 syllables)

All the summer” (3 syllables)…

or Verlaine ( poetic Art ):

“Of the music first of all (9 syllables)

And for this reason the odd one prefers Vaguer and more soluble in I 'air, Without anything in him which weighs or which poses”. (Poetic Art)

The calling into question of the traditional meters that the use of the odd worms constitutes seems a stage towards their rejection and the free Verse which will mark the end of the XX° century when also the Verset meets.

Remark : one speaks about " towards blancs" when the particular rate/rhythm of a sentence in prose approaches one meter traditional, particularly with the theater (e.g. Dom Juan " The birth is nothing where the virtue is not! ") or in poetic prose.)

The rate/rhythm

Cuts

Based on the play of the accents to obtain an expressive effect the rate/rhythm rests on secondary or principal cuts which follow the tonic accents placed on the last stressed syllable of a word or a word group forming a grammatical unit and thus a rhythmic group.

One locates in particular the binary rates/rhythms made up by 2 about equal measurements in worms, separate a strong cut called Césure when it is central and divided the worms into two Hémistiches. The traditional alexandrine obeys this diagram (e.g. “In the eternal night //emport be without return” Lamartine) but can comprise secondary cuts (e.g. “I will leave. /You,/I Sees know that you await me” Hugo) creating sometimes Tétramètres at the regular rate/rhythm of rhythmic groups (e.g.: “Waterloo! /Waterloo! /Waterloo! /dull plain!” (Hugo))

One meets also ternary rates/rhythms comprising 3 measurements, from where obliteration at least partial of the caesura in the alexandrine, particularly apparent in the romantic Trimètre. E.g.: “I will walk/the eyes fixed/on my thoughts” (Hugo).

Sometimes the caesura disappears completely ex Rimbaud the drunk boat , towards 11 and 12:

“I run! And started Peninsulas

Did not undergo tohus-bohus more triumphing”

According to the place of the accents, one speaks about rate/rhythm regular, symmetrical, growing, decreasing, accumulatif, broken as in worms 972 of Ruy Blas : “I… /Not. /But… /Leave! /If… /I will kiss you! ”.

The Crossing-over

It appears when there is discordance between the grammatical structure and the rhythmic structure of the worms (= overflow). Example with separation of the subject and the verb:

“My only star died, - and my constellated lute

Carry the black sun of the Melancholy”. (Nerval - El Desdichado )

The crossing-over is sometimes accompanied by processes of highlighting which are the Rejet when the element shifted at the beginning of the second towards is short, (ex “the emperor turned to God; I 'man of // glory Trembled; ” (Hugo - the Atonement ) or the Against-rejection when a short element is emphasized at the end of the first towards (e.g. “a squatted child full with sadness, releases frail //Un boat like a butterfly of May” (Rimbaud - the drunk Boat ).

Work on sonorities

The Rhyme

It is the return of sonorities identical to the end of to less the two worms with for base the last tonic vowel. Different from medieval assonance, the rhyme imposes the homophony of the consonant sounds which follow the last marked vowel if they exist. It can be enriched by the resumption by complementary sounds which precede the vowel.

the provision:

followed rhymes or punts: AABB (sung//deprived/come), crossed: ABAB (thought/noise/cross/night), embraced ABBA (beautiful candle/filant/s' filling with wonder/) or frays (without order):

the kind of the rhymes:

Principle of alternation between masculine rhymes (= which do not comprise a " e" final - be, - ent and feminine rhymes (= which comprises this - E final which does not count in the syllables)). Alternation is of use since the XVI° century and rule since Malherbe.

richness of the rhymes sometimes (one says in a more ambiguous way quality): it is determined by the number of common sounds.

poor rhyme = 1 its commun run (tonic last vowel only). E.g.: also/reads = male poor - life/filled = female poor

sufficient rhyme = 2 common sounds (the last tonic vowel + a consonant pronounced behind or in front of or + another vowel in front). E.g. animal/jackal - horizon/house - hooted clouds/…

rich rhyme = 3 common sounds (sufficient rhyme + another sound in front). E.g. dunce/anchors - prêteuse/emprunteuse…

Beyond one speaks about very rich rhymes (e.g. trees/marbles).

There exist also plays of recovery more subtle as the équivoquée rhyme which exploits several words (e.g.: the pink/sprinkles it) or parallelism between two whole worms = holorime (“Galamment of the arena to the Magne Tower in Nimes/Gall lover of the queen to the atour magnanime” Hugo), or the use of interior rhymes (begun again with the hémistiche or rhyme between the hémistiches…)

Note:

- in theory the rhyme takes into account only the sounds, not the letters nor the syllables, but one makes rimer however a " apparence" of singular with a " apparence" of singular and an appearance of plural with a appearance of plural: it is the " rhyme for the œil" (e.g. elsewhere/flowers - wait/a long time)

- one avoids the easy rhymes which use the same word (see/to re-examine) or the same suffix (will snow/walk - able/perishable…)

Resumptions of sonorities

They can function on one or more worms.

the Assonance: resumption of the same vocalic sound. E.g. the sound: “I often make this strange and penetrating dream” (Verlaine).
the Alliteration: resumption of a consonant sound. E.g. the sound “R”: “While red spittles of the grapeshot” (Rimbaud).
the onomatopoeia: underlined association of the sound and the direction. E.g. the sound “S”: “For which is these snakes which whistle on our heads…” (Root).

The Stanza

It is a regular grouping of worms with (generally) a complete system of rhymes and meters (but not in the tercet for example). The denomination is related to the number of worms: Distich, Tercet, Quatrain, Quintil, Sizain, Seven-strand rope, Huitain, Neuvain, Ten-line stanza (except leaves medieval, variable stanza length using same assonance, i.e the acoustic identity of end of worms taking into account only the last marked vowel). One distinguishes the isometric stanzas (same towards) and the heterometric stanzas (different worms) like the Stance.

Types of poems

They obey more or less complex and more or less rigid rules which relate to the types of worms, the types of stanzas, their fitting or their number.

medieval Forms:

the Ballade major kind with the Middle Ages, given partially to the honor at the XIXe century as with Hugo Odes and Ballades ): it comprises three stanzas and half whose last worms constitutes a refrain; the final half-stanza constitutes the sending (dedication of the poem with God, the king, a lady…). There are as many worms in the stanza than of syllables in the worms (8 or 10 in general). Example: Villon: Ballade of the ladies of time formerly .
the Rondo: 15 short worms out of two rhymes with an effect of refrain e.g.: Charles of Orleans " Time left its coat… "

+ the pastourelle one, the odelette, the rotrouenge, the Lay , the virelai, the lament.

modern Forms:

the Ode: imitated Antiquity, but softened by Ronsard with 2 equal stanzas + 1 shorter stanza.
the Sonnet: inherited Pétrarque and imposed little by little on XVIe S, very alive with XIXe S. (Nerval, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Hérédia…), it is composed of 2 quatrains to the introverted rhymes and repeated (ABBA) and 2 tercets out of 2 or 3 rhymes at variable disposal (CCC I EDE or CCC I EED) with opposition of the quatrains and the tercets and the development of last towards called the fall of the sonnet. Exotic e.g. Perfume Baudelaire.
the Pantoum: of Eastern origin (Malaysia), introduced in France at the XIXe century, used by Hugo in Eastern the : " The butterflies play envi… " and by Baudelaire in Harmony of the evening , but in an irregular way in both cases. The principle is the resumption shifted of the worms of a stanza on the other (the worms L and 3 become worms 2 and 4 and so on).

The poetic Kinds

Defined by their topics and their tone (what differentiates them from the types of poem), the poetic kinds held a great place in the last times. One can quote for example

the epopee
didactic and committed poetry: poetic Art - epigram - Satire - Fable
the personal expression: elegy - Blazon - Madrigal - Pastoral
verbal play: Acrostic

In other languages

Latin language

Latin poetry is founded on the rate/rhythm with stressed worms composed of short or long feet arranged according to definite rules which determine type of worms like the iambic Trimètre (three meters iambic including/understanding each one two feet, is in all six iambes) or the dactylic Hexamètre (six meters dactylic including/understanding each one a foot) with a system of caesura.

English language

(begun again article Towards) The feet and the meters are defined by the distribution of the tonic Accent and not the quantity: the stressed syllable plays the part long, the others that of short. The essence of metric English, however, follows that of metric traditional (graeco-latin). For example, the Pentametric iambic, one of the meters most used in English, is presented thus (the tonic accent is announced by the fat, the feet are separated by the right bar):

Was this | the face | that launch' D | thou has |sand ships

And burnt | the signal |less to |wers off | It ium?

Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Faust (the last one towards finishes on a Trochée)

External bonds and sources

http://palf.free.fr/poesie/definition.htm
http://www.unige.ch/lettres/framo/enseignements/methodes/versification/vrintegr.html
http://www.ac-nice.fr/plplh/notions/francais/bac_pro/htm/ntbac_poesie.htm

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