Syllabo-tonic versification: the origin and dimensions

In this article we will discuss in detail the syllabo-tonic versification. Let's talk about how this system appeared and came to Russia, we will analyze the sizes.

What it is?

Syllabo-tonic versification is a poetic system built on the regularity of grouping and alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. In verses written in this way, all syllables can be grouped into stops, in which there are so-called strong places-shock vowels, and weak points-unstressed vowels. Therefore, when analyzing such poems, you specify not only the size, but also the number of stops in one line.

Origin

The syllabo-tonic system of versification originated in European poetry. This happened due to the merging of the syllabic verse, which was used in the Romance languages, and the tonic alliterative verse, which came from the Germanic languages. This process has ended in different countries at different times. So, in England syllabo-tonic was established already in the 15th century, thanks to J. Chaucer, and in Germany only in the 17th century after the reform of M. Opitz.

Russian syllabo-tonic versification

The main merit in the reformation of the Russian poetic syllable belongs to MV Lomonosov and VK Trediakovsky.

So, in the thirties of the 18th century Trediakovsky began to speak with texts whose structure was significantly different from the syllabic system of versification adopted in those days, based on the number of syllables in a line, and not on the number of percussion or unstressed vowels. The poet, having studied the folk verse and its structure, concluded that the basis of Russian versification is the principle of tonics.

Lomonosov continued these investigations begun by Trediakovsky. It was he who created in Russia a syllabo-tonic verse. This system, based on the alternation of shock and unstressed vowels, takes into account the metric experience. The basis of the syllabo-tonics is the principle of folk verse - the ratio of lines by location and the number of stressed syllables.

Throughout the 19th century, the syllabo-tonic dominated poetry. Only some poets started up experiments, mainly this was due to attempts to imitate people's motives. At the same time, until about the middle of the 19th century, dislocations were predominantly used. The first to actively apply three-syllabic dimensions began Nekrasov.

However, already at the beginning of the 20th century active poetic experiments began, which mainly appealed to tonic and complication of the poetic form.

Dimensions of syllabo-tonic versification

Depending on the number of "strong" and "weak" places in the foot, two varieties of syllabo-tonic sizes are distinguished: they are dislocations and trispositions. To the two-syllable are iambs and trochees, to trisyllabic ones, in turn, dactyl, anapest, amphibrachium.

Due to the lexical structure of the Russian language, three-syllabic dimensions seem to the reader to be more musical, since words with three syllables are chosen for the poem and less often one has to make "stop changes".

These substitutions can be found in the trochaic and iambic works, since unstressed syllables are very often found in strong stops in some stops, and percussion on weak ones. In this regard, we can say that, along with the main disyllabic stops, there are 2 additional:

• Pyrrhic - it's 2 syllables in a row with unstressed vowel.
• Sponday - it's 2 syllables in a row with a stressed vowel.

Using them in verses provides a unique rhythmic sound to the lines of the piece.

Horei

This is one of the types of a disyllabic meter. In his foot there are only 2 syllables - the first is the percussion, the second - unstressed. Horay often used for song lyrics.

An example of a five-foot chorea is Pasternak's poem called "Hamlet": "I am faced with the dusk of the night / Thousand binoculars on the axis ...". 3-foot - the product of M. Yu. Lermontov "From Goethe": "Quiet valleys / are full of fresh haze ...".

Iamb

Syllabo-tonic versification was leading for Russian poetry of the 19th century, and iamb was the favorite size of AS. Pushkin.

So, the iamb is a two-syllable meter consisting of 2 syllables - the first unstressed and the second percussion. If the stress is skipped, the foot turns into pyrrhic, and when there is an additional one, it becomes spondyl.

The 4-legged iambic was the most popular and most frequently used in Russian poetry. In the 18th century poets of "high" genres turned to this meter, focusing on the differences between odic works and "light poetry", which was written by the choir. But in the 19th century the iambic loses its thematic connection with the poem and becomes a universal meter.

The clearest example is Pushkin's Eugene Onegin: "Latin is out of fashion now: / So, if the truth is to tell you ...".

Three-syllable

Let us now consider the trisyllabic dimensions of the Russian syllabo-tonic versification.

Dactyl is a meter in three syllables, the first of which is percussion. An example is: "God's trial over bishops" (VA Zhukovsky), "Mason" (V.Ya. Bryusov). Dactyl is usually used to simulate a hexameter.

Amfibrachy is also a meter in three syllables, but this time the second is the percussion. In Russian versification, it is usually used to write epic works. An example is the "Airship" - Lermontov's ballad: "From the coffin then the emperor, / Waking up, is suddenly ...".

Anapest - the third three-syllable meter, in which the stress is on the last syllable. Examples of this construction of the verse can serve as poems: "Reflections at the front door" (Nekrasov) and "At the dawn, do not wake her up" (Fet).