The formula SADIV will help the beginners to remember all the stages of scansion. The significance of each capital letter is given below:
First stage -- S : Syllabification i.e., division of words into syllables.
Second stage-- A: Accentuation i.e. placing of accents over certain syllables.
Third stage-- D: Division into feet i.e. placing of a vertical line against each foot.
Fourth stage-- I: Identification of meter through nature and number of feet.
Last stage-- V: Variation (if any) and their treatment.
The first stage is syllabic division. The second stage is putting of accent marks on important syllables. Mark that the verbs and the nouns are accented; other unimportant syllables such as like, in and thy are also accented because of metrical reason and of their positions in the lines. The third stage is the division of each line into a number of feet. As the total number of syllables in each line is twice or about twice the total number of its accents, the feet are undoubtedly disyllabic. Hence we divide the lines into a number of feet by putting vertical lines after every two syllables. The fourth stage is the identification of the meter through the nature and number of feet employed in the lines. So far as the first four lines are concerned we observe that there is falling rhythm ( accented beginning and unaccented ends) in the normal lines. This helps us to take the feet as trochaic. When we pay our attention to each single foot, we find that it has an accented syllable followed by an unaccented one. This also convinces us that the feet are trochaic. In the last foot we observe that the rising rhythm (unaccented beginning and accented end) has been used, and each single foot has an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. Both these assure us that the feet are iambic. Now we shall have to decide the prosodic name. As in cases of verses composed irregularly of different meters, their prosodic name is determined according to the nature of the majority of the feet employed in them, we may say that the prosodic name here is trochaic trimeter. in the last stage we are to find out variations, if any. We observe that there are two variations at the end of the second line and the fourth. Since there is an accented syllable at the end of each of these lines, so the last foot of each is catalectic. Now we can write like the following: The first four lines are trochaic trimeter. The last foot of the second and fourth lines is catalectic. The last line is iambic hexameter.
First stage -- S : Syllabification i.e., division of words into syllables.
Second stage-- A: Accentuation i.e. placing of accents over certain syllables.
Third stage-- D: Division into feet i.e. placing of a vertical line against each foot.
Fourth stage-- I: Identification of meter through nature and number of feet.
Last stage-- V: Variation (if any) and their treatment.
The first stage is syllabic division. The second stage is putting of accent marks on important syllables. Mark that the verbs and the nouns are accented; other unimportant syllables such as like, in and thy are also accented because of metrical reason and of their positions in the lines. The third stage is the division of each line into a number of feet. As the total number of syllables in each line is twice or about twice the total number of its accents, the feet are undoubtedly disyllabic. Hence we divide the lines into a number of feet by putting vertical lines after every two syllables. The fourth stage is the identification of the meter through the nature and number of feet employed in the lines. So far as the first four lines are concerned we observe that there is falling rhythm ( accented beginning and unaccented ends) in the normal lines. This helps us to take the feet as trochaic. When we pay our attention to each single foot, we find that it has an accented syllable followed by an unaccented one. This also convinces us that the feet are trochaic. In the last foot we observe that the rising rhythm (unaccented beginning and accented end) has been used, and each single foot has an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. Both these assure us that the feet are iambic. Now we shall have to decide the prosodic name. As in cases of verses composed irregularly of different meters, their prosodic name is determined according to the nature of the majority of the feet employed in them, we may say that the prosodic name here is trochaic trimeter. in the last stage we are to find out variations, if any. We observe that there are two variations at the end of the second line and the fourth. Since there is an accented syllable at the end of each of these lines, so the last foot of each is catalectic. Now we can write like the following: The first four lines are trochaic trimeter. The last foot of the second and fourth lines is catalectic. The last line is iambic hexameter.
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
ReplyDeleteThat I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love — then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink...dada ay prosody ta solve kore dew..