In English poetry substitution, also known as inversion, is the use of an alien metric
foot 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'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. Ag ...
'' 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". "Iam ...
:
: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 by
John Donne 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 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 used this technique extensively, prompting the critic F. R. Leavis to insultingly call this technique the Miltonic Thump.
References
External links
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Poetic devices
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