Analysing this poem

Question

I am trying to analyse this poem and there is only one thing I am having problems with. Is it trochee or iambic?
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/916.html

However I try to stress syllables myself I always end up finding 7 instead of 6. Could you also give me an example of the the rhythm ?

da

DUM

da

DUM

da

DUM

da

Avangi · Accepted Answer

It's definitely iambic, but very flawed. The pattern is two 3-foot lines and one 6-foot line. I've marked the ones which conform to true iambic.

In most of the bad ones, he has used two "quick" syllables in place of the one strong syllable. For example, "to ravish the sensuous mind." The first two STRONG syllables have been replaced by two quick syllables, eg. "ravish." the last one is left alone, "mind."

I'm not sure what you want on the da DUM thing. "I eat my peas with honey?"

1 In a solitude of the sea

2 Deep from human vanity,

3And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.

4 Steel chambers, late the pyres I-3

5 Of her salamandrine fires,

6 Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres. I-6

7 Over the mirrors meant I-3 * (REVERSE ACCENT "OVER")

8 To glass the opulent I-3

9 The sea-worm crawls -- grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.

10 Jewels in joy designed I-3 * (REVERSE ACCENT "JEWELS")

11 To ravish the sensuous mind

12 Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind. I-6

13 Dim moon-eyed fishes near I-3

14 Gaze at the gilded gear I-3

15 And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?" ... I-6 *

(SUPPRESS "VAIN-" TO 4 SYLLABLES)

16 Well: while was fashioning I-3

17 This creature of cleaving wing,

18 The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything

19 Prepared a sinister mate

20 For her -- so gaily great -- I-3

21 A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate.

22 And as the smart ship grew I-3

23 In stature, grace, and hue, I-3

24 In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.

25 Alien they seemed to be;

26 No mortal eye could see I-3

27 The intimate welding of their later history,

28 Or sign that they were bent I-3

29 By paths coincident I-3

30On being anon twin halves of one august event,

31 Till the Spinner of the Years

32 Said "Now!" And each one hears, I-3

33 And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres. I-6

DeRn · Answer

Thank you for your help!
Are these end-rhymes masculine? And what does "reverse accent mean"?
Can you identify some of the variations to be changed into a trochee (the rhythm just being inverted)
That is what I meant with da-DUM, each foot starting with an unstressed syllable then moving on to a stressed syllable (which is iambic) Thanks again

Avangi · Answer

The words "over" and "jewel" each represent a foot in trochee. We're talking about the same thing (inverted, reversed, weak-strong, strong-weak). Even Shakespeare sometimes compromises.

I think there were only a couple of cases in this poem where a line would have been perfect iambic were it not for one word of trochee. This guy obviously doesn't take it very seriously. More than half of the lines don't scan. I don't see much point in trying to analyze his mistakes in great detail. It's not much of a challenge to come up with a 3-foot iambic line.

Obviously, not all words have two syllables, so one foot does not necessarily equal one word. It just happens to work out that way for "over" and "jewel."

Most of the lines which don't scan simply have extra syllables, as you noted in your OP. (often more than one)

Sorry, I'm not into masculine rhymes. I have no idea what that's about.

- A.

Edit. I just noticed that line 9 is okay, though very awkward. I've never thought of "indifferent" as a 4-syllable word, but my dictionary says it is. The stress doesn't work out, though.

BTW, what do you call "da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da" with the extra syllable? I thought you wanted it matched, which was "I eat my peas with honey," but I'm now wondering if you just wanted a line of iambic.

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