It is impossible to construct a whole, serious poem with spondees. So spondees mainly occur as variants within, say, an anapaestic structure.
For example (from G. K. Chesterton, Lepanto):
This whole verse is rather unusual in structure, making it difficult as an example, unfortunately. The following is a possible, analysis, and shows the role of the spondee.
A simpler version of the first line might be:
Two short syllables are added at the beginning, and "founts" is lengthened to "fountains." These extra syllables add "filler," so that when the poem is read stress no longer naturally falls on the syllable "fount" (or, does so to a lesser degree). As a result there are unstressed syllables just before the "fall," so that naturally becomes an anapaest ("fountains fall-," duh-duh-DAH), and the "ing" slips into the following anapaest. Chesterton's original version changes all this; it is less intuitive to write and has a more unusual sound. The spondee effects this.
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