English 131Society & Literature

Lecture 2.1Language & Meter

literature |ˈlit(əә)rəәCHəәr, -ˌCHo͝or, -ˌt(y)o͝or|nounwritten works, esp. those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit: a great work of literature.

Márió Z. Nemes

?

We have seen thee, queen of cheese,Lying quietly at your ease,Gently fanned by evening breeze,Thy fair form no flies dare seize.

<C>

/k/ /s/

cup

celery

cancer

i

e ə

u

o

a

velum

palate

alveolar ridge

dentallabial

glottis

To be or not to be

hiatus

stress

To be or not to be

stress

chocolate

CHOC • o • latechocolate |ˈCHäk(əә)lit, ˈCHôk-|noun

a food preparation in the form of a paste or solid block made from roasted and ground cacao seeds, typically sweetened: a bar of chocolate | [ as modifier ] : a chocolate cookie.• a candy made of or covered with this: a box of chocolates.• a drink made by mixing milk with chocolate: sipping on hot chocolate .• a deep brown color: [ as modifier ] : huge spiders, yellow and chocolate brown .

DERIVATIVESchocolaty (also chocolatey )adjective

ORIGIN early 17th cent. (in the sense ‘a drink made with chocolate’): from French chocolat or Spanish chocolate, from Nahuatl chocolatl ‘food made from cacao seeds,’ influenced by unrelated cacaua-atl ‘drink made from cacao.’

‿ ‿

IM • port

im • PORTimportverb |imˈpôrt| [ with obj. ]1 bring (goods or services) into a country from abroad for sale: Japan's reluctance to import more cars.

importnoun |ˈimˌpôrt|1 (usu. imports) a commodity, article, or service brought in from abroad for sale.• (imports) sales of goods or services brought in from abroad, or the revenue from such sales: this surplus pushes up the yen, which ought to boost imports.• the action or process of importing goods or services: the import of live cattle from Canada.

‿

‿

RE•cord (n.) re•CORD (v.)

Dunkin Donuts‿ ‿

Boston Red Sox‿ ‿

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,

By the shining Big-Sea-Water,

Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,

Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.

Dark behind it rose the forest,

Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,Rose the firs with cones upon them;Bright before it beat the water,Beat the clear and sunny water,Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

‿ ‿ ‿ ‿‿ ‿ ‿ ‿‿ ‿ ‿ ‿‿ ‿ ‿ ‿‿ ‿ ‿ ‿‿ ‿ ‿ ‿

‿

‿

LONGFE

LLOW

‿ ‿ ‿ ‿

‿ ‿ ‿ ‿

‿ trochee

1 2 3 4

4 = quad(ra)

+ meter

trochaic quadrameter

‿ trochee

‿ iamb

‿ anapest

‿ dactyl‿‿

Basic Feet

disobedience‿ ‿ ‿

‿ amphibrach

spondee

‿ pyrrhic

‿ cretic

‿

Fancy Feet

disobedience‿ ‿ ‿

‿

iambic quadrameter

Forms

ballad

iambic quadrameter

iambic trimeter

iambic trimeter

4

4

3

3

‿‿ ‿ ‿

‿‿ ‿ ‿‿‿ ‿

‿‿ ‿

Variation

ballad

4

3‿‿ ‿‿‿

pretend that you owe me nothing

and all the world is green

‿‿

—Tom Waits

we can bring back the old days again

when all the world is green 34½

Forms

epic

5‿‿

Of Man’s First Disobedience and the Fruit‿‿

Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste

Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,

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‿ ‿ ‿ ‿ ‿

‿

‿ ‿ ‿ ‿ ‿

—John Milton, Paradise Lost, I, i.

5

5

Forms

“epic”

7‿‿

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by‿‿ ‿

‿ ‿‿ ‿ ‿

—Allen Ginsburg, Howl

5

5

madness, starving hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the negro streets at

dawn looking for an angry fix,

‿ ‿ ‿

‿ ‿‿‿ ‿

‿ ‿ ‿4

‿

Forms

ballad

4‿

Webster was much possessed by death‿ ‿‿ ‿

—T. S. Eliot, Whispers of Immortality

4

4

And saw the skull beneath the skin

And breastless creatures under ground

Leaned backward with a lipless grin.

‿

4

‿‿‿ ‿‿‿

‿‿ ‿‿

a

b

c

b

ByronSHE walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellow'd to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impair'd the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o'er her face;Where thoughts serenely sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. And on that cheek, and o'er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent!

caesura (weak)

444444½

444444 444444

ababab

cdcdcd efefef

caesura (strong)