Reciprocal scansion in Wordsworth's 'There was a boy'

Williams, R. and Mason, E. (2009) Reciprocal scansion in Wordsworth's 'There was a boy'. Literature Compass, 6(2), pp. 515-523. (doi: 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2008.00614.x)

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Publisher's URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-4113.2008.00614.x

Abstract

In this two-voiced paper, we conduct an experiment in ‘reciprocal scansion’: a process in which prosodic investigation and labelling becomes a site, not for fixing the terms of a poem's formal effects, but for communication and dialogue. The paper will overturn the assumed association between scansion and ‘naturalness’ (the iambic pentameter as human heartbeat, for example), one that often manifests as peremptory analysis based on cultural prescription (as implied in an Eton Latin master's rhetorical questions in 1840: ‘if you do not write good longs and shorts, how can you ever be a man of taste? If you are not a man of taste, how can you ever be of use in the world?’). By renouncing openness and dialogue for rote methods of formal measurement, predetermined ways of scanning poetry serve to distance readers from, rather than draw them to, a poem's formal effects. In order to undo this knot of formalism, we seek to locate dialogue, rather than singularity of effect, at the heart of our investigation. An examination of prosodic variations within larger frames of regularity allows us to access the different effects that prosodic choices enact upon readers. In particular, this paper illustrates how Wordsworth's frequent emphasis on movements between the ear and the eye traces thematically vital transitions between sight and sound, and in doing so, allegorizes the process of scansion used in prosody. By bringing this treatment to bear on ‘There Was a Boy’, we critique the ‘naturalness’ of prosody and bring out the ways in which Wordsworth's ‘intertexture of ordinary feeling’ involves the coalition of emotion and regulation through metre. This coalition also hints at meetings and encounters that, by virtue of prosody, can be reciprocally rewarding.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Williams, Dr Rhian
Authors: Williams, R., and Mason, E.
Subjects:P Language and Literature > PR English literature
College/School:College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Literature
Journal Name:Literature Compass
ISSN:1741-4113

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