Syllables in Weak Position
A broader metrical sense of "weak position" can arise in any language, either from a formal poetic meter (such as iambic pentameter or the Latin hendecasyllable) or from the use of parallel structure in prose for rhetorical effect. The prevailing rhythm of the poem or speech leads the listener (or reader) to expect a certain pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. The consequences of violating that expectation may be illustrated with a line from John Milton's Paradise Lost:
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- Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, and shades of death
Here rocks, lakes, and bogs are all stressed syllables in weak positions, resulting in a dramatically slow and dolorous line among the surrounding blank verse. (This reading of one of Milton's most famous lines is familiar but not uncontested; see Bridges' analysis of Paradise Lost.) In the linguistics literature, this usage of "weak position" originated in Halle and Keyser (1966).
Read more about this topic: Weak Position (poetry)
Famous quotes containing the words syllables, weak and/or position:
“I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;
And her quick look, a sidelong pickerel smile;
And how, once startled into talk, the light syllables leaped for
her.”
—Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)
“Necessity makes women very weak or very strong, and pent-up rivers are sometimes dangerous. Look to it!”
—Mary Worthington, U.S. women’s magazine contributor. The Lily, p. 183 ( November 1856)
“Will women find themselves in the same position they have always been? Or do we see liberation as solving the conditions of women in our society?... If we continue to shy away from this problem we will not be able to solve it after independence. But if we can say that our first priority is the emancipation of women, we will become free as members of an oppressed community.”
—Ruth Mompati (b. 1925)