Journal article
Stressed? Unstressed? Attentiveness to Metre: A journey towards intentional practice
Axon (Canberra, A.C.T.), Vol.13(2), pp.147-159
21/02/2024
Appears in Recent Faculty of Education Publications
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Abstract
How do you scan a line of poetry? This creative-critical essay explores the faultlines opened up by this simple, but dangerous, question from the perspective of a poetry-writing practice and pedagogy. It argues for a distinction between metre and rhythm, then proposes that quarrels over scansion often come down to different assumptions about which metrical system is in use. The paper demonstrates this by examining the contradictory positions of canonical heavyweights Robert Hass and Gerard Manley Hopkins on the matter of the dactyllic foot. This paper goes on to outline a few challenges and strategies in teaching poetic metre to beginner poets. It considers the difficult task of discerning what ‘sounds right’ in a poem, using Annie Finch’s theories of metre and meaning to prompt reflective questions for the practicing poet. While an app or digital tool that could scan oral readings of poetry would be useful (both for pedagogy and practice), this essay contends that attentiveness to metre and rhythm is primarily a discipline of the body.
Details
- Title
- Stressed? Unstressed? Attentiveness to Metre: A journey towards intentional practice
- Creators
- Miriam Wei Wei Lo - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Axon (Canberra, A.C.T.), Vol.13(2), pp.147-159
- Publisher
- The Centre for Creative & Cultural Research University of Canberra
- Number of pages
- 13
- Identifiers
- 991013396252002368
- Copyright
- The copyright for articles in this journal is retained by the author(s) with first publication rights granted to the journal.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article