accentual verse

accentual verse

      in prosody, a metrical system based only on the number of stresses or accented syllables in a line of verse. In accentual verse the total number of syllables in a line can vary as long as there are the prescribed number of accents. This system is used in Germanic poetry, including Old English and Old Norse, as well as in some English verse. The poem "what if a much of a which of a wind " by E.E. Cummings (Cummings, E.E.) is an example of accentual verse. In the following lines from the poem the number of accents is constant at four while the number of syllables per line varies from seven to ten:

what if a much of a which of a wind
gives the truth to summer's lie;
bloodies with dizzying leaves the sun
and yanks immortal stars awry?
Blow king to beggar and queen to seem
(blow friend to fiend: blow space to time)
—when skies are hanged and oceans drowned,
the single secret will still be man…

* * *


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  • Accentual verse — has a fixed number of stresses per line or stanza regardless of the number of syllables that are present. It is common in languages that are stress timed such as English as opposed to syllabic verse, which is common in syllable timed languages… …   Wikipedia

  • Bridges' Prosody of Accentual Verse — In this final section of his book Milton s Prosody, Robert Bridges describes a prosody of accentual verse.Terms and notationBridges classifies the following types of syllable (alternative symbols have been added for browsers that do not display… …   Wikipedia

  • Accentual-syllabic verse — is an extension of accentual verse which fixes both the number of stresses and syllables within a line or stanza. Accentual syllabic verse is highly regular and therefore easily scannable. Usually, either one metrical foot, or a specific pattern… …   Wikipedia

  • accentual-syllabic verse — ▪ prosody       in prosody, the metrical system that is most commonly used in English poetry. It is based on both the number of stresses, or accents, and the number of syllables in each line of verse. A line of iambic pentameter verse, for… …   Universalium

  • accentual — adjective 1. of or pertaining to accent or stress • Pertains to noun: ↑accent • Derivationally related forms: ↑accent 2. (of verse) having a metric system based on stress rather than syllables or quantity accentual poetry is based on the number… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Syllabic verse — is a poetic form having a fixed number of syllables per line or stanza regardless of the number of stresses that are present. It is common in languages that are syllable timed such as Japanese or modern French or Finnish, as opposed to accentual… …   Wikipedia

  • Alliterative verse — The Old English epic poem Beowulf is written in alliterative verse. In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme.… …   Wikipedia

  • political verse — noun : Byzantine or Modern Greek accentual verse; especially : verse of 15 syllabled iambic lines * * * political verse noun Byzantine and modern Greek accentual verse, esp iambic verse of fifteen syllables • • • Main Entry: ↑politic …   Useful english dictionary

  • Saturnian verse — ▪ poetry also called  Saturnian metre        the ancient Latin verse used mainly by Livius Andronicus (Livius Andronicus, Lucius) and Gnaeus Naevius (Naevius, Gnaeus) before the adoption of Greek verse forms by later Latin writers. Little is… …   Universalium

  • syllabic verse — ▪ literature       in prosody, the metrical system that is most commonly used in English poetry. It is based on both the number of stresses, or accents, and the number of syllables in each line of verse. A line of iambic pentameter (pentameter)… …   Universalium

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