In English poetry substitution, also known as inversion, is the use of an alien metric

foot The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...

in a line of otherwise regular metrical pattern. For instance in an iambic line of "da DUM", a

trochaic In English poetic metre and modern linguistics, a trochee () is a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. But in Latin and Ancient Greek poetic metre, a trochee is a heavy syllable followed by a light one (al ...

substitution would introduce a foot of "DUM da".

Trochaic substitution

In a line of verse that normally employs iambic meter, trochaic substitution describes the replacement of an iamb by a trochee. The following line from

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

's ''

To Autumn "To Autumn" is a poem by English Romantic poet John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821). The work was composed on 19 September 1819 and published in 1820 in a volume of Keats's poetry that included ''Lamia'' and ''The Eve of St. Agne ...

'' is straightforward

iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter () is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called "feet". "Iambi ...

: :To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells Using '°' for a weak syllable, '/' for a strong syllable, and ', ' for divisions between feet it can be represented as: The opening of a

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...

John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...

demonstrates trochaic substitution of the first foot ("Batter"): Donne uses an inversion (DUM da instead of da DUM) in the first foot of the first line to stress the key verb, "batter", and then sets up a clear iambic pattern with the rest of the line

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

includes a well-known example: :''To be, or not to be: that is the question:'' :Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer :''The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune In the first line the word ''that'' is emphasized rather than ''is'', which would be an unnatural accent. The first syllable of ''Whether'' is also stressed, making a trochaic beginning to the line.

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...

used this technique extensively, prompting the critic F. R. Leavis to insultingly call this technique the Miltonic Thump.

References

External links

* Poetic devices {{poetry-stub