Blank verse
Both written and spoken language use rhythm - a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Most forms of poetry or verse take rhythm one step further and regularise the rhythm into a formal pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. A formal pattern of rhythm is called metre.
Shakespeare writes either in blank verse, in rhymed verse or in prose. Blank verse is unrhymed but uses a regular pattern of rhythm or metre. In the English language, blank verse is iambic pentameter. Pentameter means there are five poetic feet. In iambic pentameter each of these five feet is composed of two syllables: the first unstressed; the second stressed.
The opening line of Twelfth Night, is a perfect iambic line :
'If music be the food of love play on'
With its unstressed and stressed syllables marked or 'scanned', it looks like this:
/ / ں ں / / ں / ں /
'If mu sic be the food of love play on'
/ = strong weak = ں
The rhythm of blank verse is conversational and with its dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM rhythm, it imitates the heartbeat.
In conversation, we often break the rhythmic pattern and this throws specific words into focus. Shakespeare does the same with blank verse: he often deviates from the perfect iambic line. When he does, it's a clue to a change in the character's feelings or thoughts or a change in situation or both. When the rhythm is changed, the energy and dynamic of the language have been changed. Feel how abrupt, uneven and ragged the rhythm is in the final scenes of Macbeth – here, Macbeth's last hope is dashed and Birnam Wood is seen to move to Dunsinane:
MACBETH
ں / ں / ں / ں / ں /
Throw physic to the dogs; I'll none of it.
/ / ں / ں / ں / ں /
Come, put mine armour on; give me my staff.
/ ں ں / / ں ں / ں / ں
Seyton, send out. Doctor, the thanes fly from me.
/ / ں /
Come, sir, dispatch.
King Lear's anguished protest against the murder of Cordelia (and perhaps of the Fool as well) reverses the rhythmic order of the syllables as Lear's world itself has been incomprehensibly upended:
/ ں / ں / ں / ں / ں
KING LEAR Never, never, never, never, never.
In addition to the repetition of 'never,' the emphasis on the first syllables of each foot suggests a blocking, a refusal to accept the unacceptable. The unstressed syllable ending each foot communicates a sense of hopelessness.
When the line ends in an unstressed syllable rather than a stressed one, as is usual with iambic pentameter, this is sometimes called a feminine or weak ending. Several lines ending in unstressed syllables in a speech call for investigation on the part of the reader. Consider the opening lines of Othello's speech to the Venetian Senate:
OTHELLO
ں /ں / ں /ں /ں
Most potent, grave and reverend signiors,
ں /ں /ں / ں / ں / ں
My very noble and approved good masters,
ں / ں / ں/ ں / ں / ں
That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter,
ں / ں / ں / ں / ں /
It is most true; true I have married her.
ں /ں / ں / ں / ں / ں
The very head and front of my offending
ں / ں / ں /
Hath this extent, no more...
What accounts for this series of weak endings? Is Othello feeling defensive in putting his case to the senators? Or is he, with irony, subtly undermining their power and status? Or is there another reason? This is an actor's choice, but a choice that will have vital implications for characterisation.
Just as an actor will 'beat through' the verse (for example, by clapping), when looking for clues to his character's state of being, so students of Shakespeare can benefit from beating out the rhythms of the verse and considering what might explain deviations from the iambic line.
No comments:
Post a Comment