Confused about the meter and rhythm of Ulysses by Tennyson












1















Ulysses is written in iambic pentameter. There are a few spondees and trochees thrown in for good measure, but I'm confused in some places, like here:




I cannot rest from travel: I will drink

Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd

Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when

Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vext the dim sea: I am become a name




In the second line, there's a trochee (Life to), but then it continues on normally. Ok. Fine. The line after that does the exact same thing (Greatly). What goes on in the fourth and sixth (last) lines, though?




That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when




The first pair (that loved) is an iambic foot, the second (me, and) is what? A trochee? The third (alone) is, finally, an iamb. The rest are iambs.



What goes on in Tennyson's head when he creates such a weird structure? How does he decide to break the rules, and where? Also, is it correct to think in pairs when breaking down a poem like this?



Similarly, the last line is also funky:




Vext the dim sea: I am become a name




Vext the: trochee.



Dim sea: spondee?



There's also a line at the end of the poem that has 11 syllables, but I guess he just thought "shit, this sounds so good I just have to leave it in" because it's the best line in the entire thing. But I'm guessing that's not the usual thought process going on?










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  • I cannot hope to give any kind of reasoned answer, but I always read Ulysses as if it were blank verse. It is one of my favourite poems. Does the technical construction matter?

    – Mick
    10 hours ago








  • 1





    Substituting trochees for iambs in iambic pentameter (preferably no more than one a line, and not in the last foot) is a thing that goes back to Shakespeare, and probably earlier. See my answer here. Tennyson is not breaking the rules; he is bending them in a way that had been allowed for over 200 years.

    – Peter Shor
    10 hours ago













  • @PeterShor Yes, which is why I'm not confused about that part.

    – Yeats
    10 hours ago






  • 1





    @Mick It's probably my favorite poem as well. I'm working on a little variation of it myself, which is why I have started to dig around in it to see how it's constructed.

    – Yeats
    10 hours ago











  • @Yeats: what part are you confused about then? I only see spondaic and trochaic substitutions here. (I'd say dim sea and All times are spondees, and that me and is an iamb, but scansion is to some extent subjective.)

    – Peter Shor
    9 hours ago
















1















Ulysses is written in iambic pentameter. There are a few spondees and trochees thrown in for good measure, but I'm confused in some places, like here:




I cannot rest from travel: I will drink

Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd

Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when

Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vext the dim sea: I am become a name




In the second line, there's a trochee (Life to), but then it continues on normally. Ok. Fine. The line after that does the exact same thing (Greatly). What goes on in the fourth and sixth (last) lines, though?




That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when




The first pair (that loved) is an iambic foot, the second (me, and) is what? A trochee? The third (alone) is, finally, an iamb. The rest are iambs.



What goes on in Tennyson's head when he creates such a weird structure? How does he decide to break the rules, and where? Also, is it correct to think in pairs when breaking down a poem like this?



Similarly, the last line is also funky:




Vext the dim sea: I am become a name




Vext the: trochee.



Dim sea: spondee?



There's also a line at the end of the poem that has 11 syllables, but I guess he just thought "shit, this sounds so good I just have to leave it in" because it's the best line in the entire thing. But I'm guessing that's not the usual thought process going on?










share|improve this question









New contributor




Yeats is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





















  • I cannot hope to give any kind of reasoned answer, but I always read Ulysses as if it were blank verse. It is one of my favourite poems. Does the technical construction matter?

    – Mick
    10 hours ago








  • 1





    Substituting trochees for iambs in iambic pentameter (preferably no more than one a line, and not in the last foot) is a thing that goes back to Shakespeare, and probably earlier. See my answer here. Tennyson is not breaking the rules; he is bending them in a way that had been allowed for over 200 years.

    – Peter Shor
    10 hours ago













  • @PeterShor Yes, which is why I'm not confused about that part.

    – Yeats
    10 hours ago






  • 1





    @Mick It's probably my favorite poem as well. I'm working on a little variation of it myself, which is why I have started to dig around in it to see how it's constructed.

    – Yeats
    10 hours ago











  • @Yeats: what part are you confused about then? I only see spondaic and trochaic substitutions here. (I'd say dim sea and All times are spondees, and that me and is an iamb, but scansion is to some extent subjective.)

    – Peter Shor
    9 hours ago














1












1








1








Ulysses is written in iambic pentameter. There are a few spondees and trochees thrown in for good measure, but I'm confused in some places, like here:




I cannot rest from travel: I will drink

Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd

Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when

Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vext the dim sea: I am become a name




In the second line, there's a trochee (Life to), but then it continues on normally. Ok. Fine. The line after that does the exact same thing (Greatly). What goes on in the fourth and sixth (last) lines, though?




That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when




The first pair (that loved) is an iambic foot, the second (me, and) is what? A trochee? The third (alone) is, finally, an iamb. The rest are iambs.



What goes on in Tennyson's head when he creates such a weird structure? How does he decide to break the rules, and where? Also, is it correct to think in pairs when breaking down a poem like this?



Similarly, the last line is also funky:




Vext the dim sea: I am become a name




Vext the: trochee.



Dim sea: spondee?



There's also a line at the end of the poem that has 11 syllables, but I guess he just thought "shit, this sounds so good I just have to leave it in" because it's the best line in the entire thing. But I'm guessing that's not the usual thought process going on?










share|improve this question









New contributor




Yeats is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












Ulysses is written in iambic pentameter. There are a few spondees and trochees thrown in for good measure, but I'm confused in some places, like here:




I cannot rest from travel: I will drink

Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd

Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when

Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vext the dim sea: I am become a name




In the second line, there's a trochee (Life to), but then it continues on normally. Ok. Fine. The line after that does the exact same thing (Greatly). What goes on in the fourth and sixth (last) lines, though?




That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when




The first pair (that loved) is an iambic foot, the second (me, and) is what? A trochee? The third (alone) is, finally, an iamb. The rest are iambs.



What goes on in Tennyson's head when he creates such a weird structure? How does he decide to break the rules, and where? Also, is it correct to think in pairs when breaking down a poem like this?



Similarly, the last line is also funky:




Vext the dim sea: I am become a name




Vext the: trochee.



Dim sea: spondee?



There's also a line at the end of the poem that has 11 syllables, but I guess he just thought "shit, this sounds so good I just have to leave it in" because it's the best line in the entire thing. But I'm guessing that's not the usual thought process going on?







poetry meter alfred-tennyson






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Yeats is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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share|improve this question









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Check out our Code of Conduct.









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edited 11 hours ago









Gallifreyan

5,43231967




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asked 12 hours ago









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  • I cannot hope to give any kind of reasoned answer, but I always read Ulysses as if it were blank verse. It is one of my favourite poems. Does the technical construction matter?

    – Mick
    10 hours ago








  • 1





    Substituting trochees for iambs in iambic pentameter (preferably no more than one a line, and not in the last foot) is a thing that goes back to Shakespeare, and probably earlier. See my answer here. Tennyson is not breaking the rules; he is bending them in a way that had been allowed for over 200 years.

    – Peter Shor
    10 hours ago













  • @PeterShor Yes, which is why I'm not confused about that part.

    – Yeats
    10 hours ago






  • 1





    @Mick It's probably my favorite poem as well. I'm working on a little variation of it myself, which is why I have started to dig around in it to see how it's constructed.

    – Yeats
    10 hours ago











  • @Yeats: what part are you confused about then? I only see spondaic and trochaic substitutions here. (I'd say dim sea and All times are spondees, and that me and is an iamb, but scansion is to some extent subjective.)

    – Peter Shor
    9 hours ago



















  • I cannot hope to give any kind of reasoned answer, but I always read Ulysses as if it were blank verse. It is one of my favourite poems. Does the technical construction matter?

    – Mick
    10 hours ago








  • 1





    Substituting trochees for iambs in iambic pentameter (preferably no more than one a line, and not in the last foot) is a thing that goes back to Shakespeare, and probably earlier. See my answer here. Tennyson is not breaking the rules; he is bending them in a way that had been allowed for over 200 years.

    – Peter Shor
    10 hours ago













  • @PeterShor Yes, which is why I'm not confused about that part.

    – Yeats
    10 hours ago






  • 1





    @Mick It's probably my favorite poem as well. I'm working on a little variation of it myself, which is why I have started to dig around in it to see how it's constructed.

    – Yeats
    10 hours ago











  • @Yeats: what part are you confused about then? I only see spondaic and trochaic substitutions here. (I'd say dim sea and All times are spondees, and that me and is an iamb, but scansion is to some extent subjective.)

    – Peter Shor
    9 hours ago

















I cannot hope to give any kind of reasoned answer, but I always read Ulysses as if it were blank verse. It is one of my favourite poems. Does the technical construction matter?

– Mick
10 hours ago







I cannot hope to give any kind of reasoned answer, but I always read Ulysses as if it were blank verse. It is one of my favourite poems. Does the technical construction matter?

– Mick
10 hours ago






1




1





Substituting trochees for iambs in iambic pentameter (preferably no more than one a line, and not in the last foot) is a thing that goes back to Shakespeare, and probably earlier. See my answer here. Tennyson is not breaking the rules; he is bending them in a way that had been allowed for over 200 years.

– Peter Shor
10 hours ago







Substituting trochees for iambs in iambic pentameter (preferably no more than one a line, and not in the last foot) is a thing that goes back to Shakespeare, and probably earlier. See my answer here. Tennyson is not breaking the rules; he is bending them in a way that had been allowed for over 200 years.

– Peter Shor
10 hours ago















@PeterShor Yes, which is why I'm not confused about that part.

– Yeats
10 hours ago





@PeterShor Yes, which is why I'm not confused about that part.

– Yeats
10 hours ago




1




1





@Mick It's probably my favorite poem as well. I'm working on a little variation of it myself, which is why I have started to dig around in it to see how it's constructed.

– Yeats
10 hours ago





@Mick It's probably my favorite poem as well. I'm working on a little variation of it myself, which is why I have started to dig around in it to see how it's constructed.

– Yeats
10 hours ago













@Yeats: what part are you confused about then? I only see spondaic and trochaic substitutions here. (I'd say dim sea and All times are spondees, and that me and is an iamb, but scansion is to some extent subjective.)

– Peter Shor
9 hours ago





@Yeats: what part are you confused about then? I only see spondaic and trochaic substitutions here. (I'd say dim sea and All times are spondees, and that me and is an iamb, but scansion is to some extent subjective.)

– Peter Shor
9 hours ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

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3














Tennyson was indeed writing iambic pentameter.



Certain substitutions are traditionally allowed in iambic pentameter, namely, a foot can be replaced by a trochee or a spondee, and two adjacent feet can be replaced by a double iamb.



Here are some examples.



Trochaic substitutions: much have and cities are trochee in the lines:




Much have I seen and known; cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,




Trochaic substitutions are especially common in the first foot of a line, but are allowed in all the feet except the last one.



Spondaic substitutions: day wanes, moon climbs, moans round are all spondees in the lines:




The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

Moans round with many voices.




A double iambic substitution, where two adjacent feet have been replaced by a pyrrhus and a spondee (two unstressed syllables followed by two stressed one); for example, which in óld dáys in the line:




We are not now that strength which in old days




Finally, I assume your 11-syllable line is




Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;




This probably wasn't originally supposed to be an 11-syllable line.
When Tennyson was writing, it seems to have permissible to treat the word heaven as one syllable (but not similar words like leaven). This reflected a peculiarity of pronunciation that has disappeared since. See this English stackexchange question.



Although most iambic pentameter uses the above substitutions, some poems adhere to a particularly strict version of iambic pentameter. For example, in Edna St. Vincent Millay's sonnet I will put chaos into fourteen lines, the only deviation from perfect iambic pentameter are trochaic and spondaic substitutions in the first foot of a line.






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    1 Answer
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    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

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    active

    oldest

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    active

    oldest

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    3














    Tennyson was indeed writing iambic pentameter.



    Certain substitutions are traditionally allowed in iambic pentameter, namely, a foot can be replaced by a trochee or a spondee, and two adjacent feet can be replaced by a double iamb.



    Here are some examples.



    Trochaic substitutions: much have and cities are trochee in the lines:




    Much have I seen and known; cities of men

    And manners, climates, councils, governments,




    Trochaic substitutions are especially common in the first foot of a line, but are allowed in all the feet except the last one.



    Spondaic substitutions: day wanes, moon climbs, moans round are all spondees in the lines:




    The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

    Moans round with many voices.




    A double iambic substitution, where two adjacent feet have been replaced by a pyrrhus and a spondee (two unstressed syllables followed by two stressed one); for example, which in óld dáys in the line:




    We are not now that strength which in old days




    Finally, I assume your 11-syllable line is




    Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;




    This probably wasn't originally supposed to be an 11-syllable line.
    When Tennyson was writing, it seems to have permissible to treat the word heaven as one syllable (but not similar words like leaven). This reflected a peculiarity of pronunciation that has disappeared since. See this English stackexchange question.



    Although most iambic pentameter uses the above substitutions, some poems adhere to a particularly strict version of iambic pentameter. For example, in Edna St. Vincent Millay's sonnet I will put chaos into fourteen lines, the only deviation from perfect iambic pentameter are trochaic and spondaic substitutions in the first foot of a line.






    share|improve this answer






























      3














      Tennyson was indeed writing iambic pentameter.



      Certain substitutions are traditionally allowed in iambic pentameter, namely, a foot can be replaced by a trochee or a spondee, and two adjacent feet can be replaced by a double iamb.



      Here are some examples.



      Trochaic substitutions: much have and cities are trochee in the lines:




      Much have I seen and known; cities of men

      And manners, climates, councils, governments,




      Trochaic substitutions are especially common in the first foot of a line, but are allowed in all the feet except the last one.



      Spondaic substitutions: day wanes, moon climbs, moans round are all spondees in the lines:




      The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

      Moans round with many voices.




      A double iambic substitution, where two adjacent feet have been replaced by a pyrrhus and a spondee (two unstressed syllables followed by two stressed one); for example, which in óld dáys in the line:




      We are not now that strength which in old days




      Finally, I assume your 11-syllable line is




      Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;




      This probably wasn't originally supposed to be an 11-syllable line.
      When Tennyson was writing, it seems to have permissible to treat the word heaven as one syllable (but not similar words like leaven). This reflected a peculiarity of pronunciation that has disappeared since. See this English stackexchange question.



      Although most iambic pentameter uses the above substitutions, some poems adhere to a particularly strict version of iambic pentameter. For example, in Edna St. Vincent Millay's sonnet I will put chaos into fourteen lines, the only deviation from perfect iambic pentameter are trochaic and spondaic substitutions in the first foot of a line.






      share|improve this answer




























        3












        3








        3







        Tennyson was indeed writing iambic pentameter.



        Certain substitutions are traditionally allowed in iambic pentameter, namely, a foot can be replaced by a trochee or a spondee, and two adjacent feet can be replaced by a double iamb.



        Here are some examples.



        Trochaic substitutions: much have and cities are trochee in the lines:




        Much have I seen and known; cities of men

        And manners, climates, councils, governments,




        Trochaic substitutions are especially common in the first foot of a line, but are allowed in all the feet except the last one.



        Spondaic substitutions: day wanes, moon climbs, moans round are all spondees in the lines:




        The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

        Moans round with many voices.




        A double iambic substitution, where two adjacent feet have been replaced by a pyrrhus and a spondee (two unstressed syllables followed by two stressed one); for example, which in óld dáys in the line:




        We are not now that strength which in old days




        Finally, I assume your 11-syllable line is




        Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;




        This probably wasn't originally supposed to be an 11-syllable line.
        When Tennyson was writing, it seems to have permissible to treat the word heaven as one syllable (but not similar words like leaven). This reflected a peculiarity of pronunciation that has disappeared since. See this English stackexchange question.



        Although most iambic pentameter uses the above substitutions, some poems adhere to a particularly strict version of iambic pentameter. For example, in Edna St. Vincent Millay's sonnet I will put chaos into fourteen lines, the only deviation from perfect iambic pentameter are trochaic and spondaic substitutions in the first foot of a line.






        share|improve this answer















        Tennyson was indeed writing iambic pentameter.



        Certain substitutions are traditionally allowed in iambic pentameter, namely, a foot can be replaced by a trochee or a spondee, and two adjacent feet can be replaced by a double iamb.



        Here are some examples.



        Trochaic substitutions: much have and cities are trochee in the lines:




        Much have I seen and known; cities of men

        And manners, climates, councils, governments,




        Trochaic substitutions are especially common in the first foot of a line, but are allowed in all the feet except the last one.



        Spondaic substitutions: day wanes, moon climbs, moans round are all spondees in the lines:




        The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

        Moans round with many voices.




        A double iambic substitution, where two adjacent feet have been replaced by a pyrrhus and a spondee (two unstressed syllables followed by two stressed one); for example, which in óld dáys in the line:




        We are not now that strength which in old days




        Finally, I assume your 11-syllable line is




        Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;




        This probably wasn't originally supposed to be an 11-syllable line.
        When Tennyson was writing, it seems to have permissible to treat the word heaven as one syllable (but not similar words like leaven). This reflected a peculiarity of pronunciation that has disappeared since. See this English stackexchange question.



        Although most iambic pentameter uses the above substitutions, some poems adhere to a particularly strict version of iambic pentameter. For example, in Edna St. Vincent Millay's sonnet I will put chaos into fourteen lines, the only deviation from perfect iambic pentameter are trochaic and spondaic substitutions in the first foot of a line.







        share|improve this answer














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        edited 8 hours ago

























        answered 8 hours ago









        Peter ShorPeter Shor

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