Monday, November 28, 2011
Tintern Tempo: Pacing and line breaks provide excitement and passion
I was very interested in the effect that the structure of Tintern Abbey had on the way I read the poem aloud. Almost all of the lines are injambed, resulting in an interesting reading tempo. I Feel that it is unnatural to pause for more than a moment at the point where the injambed thoughts connect, and I want to pause for a longer period of time at the end of each line. This long pause at the line ends interrupts a thought halfway through before releasing tension at the beginning of the next line. When reading aloud, I got the impression that I often have when trying to express ideas that are not easily put into words. I begin to say something, pause to think, then continue. My next thought follows immediately without pause, but I am then forced again to pause and recollect my thoughts. This usually happens when a topic of discussion is exciting and inspiring, but hard to describe or to relate to others. Perhaps this is what Wordsworth was struggling with as well. He says in the introduction that he wrote this poem while traveling and did not change it at all when he later wrote it down. I can imagine his excitement and passion welling, causing him to rush ahead, then slow down to reconnect with his listener. Reading aloud, I felt that the structure of the poem imparted to me the same sense of urgency and passion. How remarkable it is that a poetic structure's effects on my speaking pattern could so obviously impact my feelings.
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That's the point! poetic structure actually carries meaning. Like a heartbeat, maybe, or a brain scan?
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