If you’d like to learn more about this, you’ll find it discussed in my book A Poet’s Ear. Note 2: If you are wondering, “but what if I want to emphasize it differently? What if I want to stress the “I” because it is I, and not another person, who is calling?,” the answer is yes, you can do that (it’s called “performative stress”), but a reader seeing it on the page would not know you were doing it unless you changed the meter to make it happen. Because of the strength of the verb “call,” the “I” gets softer by comparison, and the “and” ends up being stronger than the two syllables next to it. (Note 1: On a deeper level, if you are wondering how a small word like “and” can sound strong enough for a wand, the answer is that stress is relative: we hear a stress’s power relative to what’s around it. (Note: “I” may feel like a stronger syllable than “and,” but if you SAY IT ALOUD (the first rule of scansion!) you will notice that “and” needs to be spoken more strongly than “I.” Imagine shouting it to someone across a room to feel the difference. The sentence “It’s evening, and I call your name” would be scanned this way: And I’m happy to announce that I have finally completed a long-dreamed-of goal, a complete scansion workbook: How to Scan a Poem ! DEFINITION: “SCANSION,” “TO SCAN” More on scansion, and metrical poems too, may be found on my Youtube channel. Having invented these words due to the sore need for resonant, concrete nouns for basic scansion tools, I offer them freely to all who would like to adopt them (thought I would appreciate the courtesy of giving me credit for them-here’s looking at you, Masterclass!). The six terms used here are my own inventions, developed through decades of scanning and teaching meter. And some of my posts (such as this one on Yeats) will go into detail about meter and scansion.įor the huge numbers of us who were never taught scansion-or for those who were but not by me, and so are not familiar with my scansion terms- I offer this key. So scansion matters to the themes of this Spellsletter-poetry, magic, meter, feminism, and witchcraft. Scansion can be a first step to navigating our way back into the body familiarity that guides much of the wisdom of oral-based, earth-centered societies. But -as I’ve learned over thousands of hours teaching meter-it’s a central tool for those of us who are serious about reclaiming the power of rhythmic language in our current world. Until the advent of free verse about a hundred years ago, poetic rhythm was so familiar in our bodies that scansion may not have been necessary. It can also reveal hidden dimensions to the most urgent and necessary words we speak in our daily lives. The oft-misunderstood activity of scansion is (along with dancing) one of the most attentive and reverent ways with which to open ourselves to the magical energy patterns that weave throughout poetry. As a poetry lover, witch, or an explorer of the magical territory in-between-am I right in guessing this describes you ? - you may be surprised to learn that i consider the scansion of poetry (recognizing and marking its metrical patterns) to be, not only a deep sensual pleasure, but also a sacred art.
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