All the Fun's in How You Say a Thing: An Explanation of Meter and Versification

by Timothy Steele

Overview

Perfect for the general reader of poetry, students and teachers of literature, and aspiring poets, All the Fun's in How You Say a Thing is a lively and comprehensive study of versification by one of our best contemporary practitioners of traditional poetic forms. Emphasizing both the coherence and the diversity of English metrical practice from Chaucer's time to ours, Timothy Steele explains how poets harmonize the fixed units of meter with the variable flow of idiomatic speech, and examines the ways in which poets have used meter, rhyme, and stanza to communicate and enhance meaning. Steele illuminates as well many practical, theoretical, and historical issues in English prosody, without ever losing sight of the fundamental pleasures, beauties, and insights that fine poems offer us. Written lucidly, with a generous selection of helpful scansions and explanations of the metrical effects of the great poets of the English language, All the Fun's in How You Say a Thing is not only a valuable handbook on technique; it is also a wide-ranging study of English verse and a mine of entertaining information for anyone wishing more fully to write, enjoy, understand, or teach poetry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821412602
Publisher:	Ohio University Press
Publication date:	04/30/1999
Edition description:	1
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Timothy Steele’s books include Toward the Winter Solstice, a collection of poems published by Ohio University Press. Among Steele’s honors are a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Creative Writing from Stanford University; a Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets; and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a professor emeritus at California State University, Los Angeles, where he taught literature and writing for twenty-five years.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction ?

Part One: Iambic Verse

1

Metrical Norm and Rhythmical Modulation

2

Scansion and Metrical Variation

?. Principles of Scansion

?. The Principal Iambic Meters

?. The Three Common Metrical Variations in Iambic Verse: The Trochaic Substitution

in the First Foot, the Mid-line Trochaic Substitution, and the Feminine Ending

?. Less Common Trochaic Substitutions and Trochees That Maybe Are Not Trochees

?. Loose Iambic—Iambic Verse with Anapestic Substitutions

?. Other Variants: Divided Lines, Clipped Lines, Broken-Backed Lines,

and Feminine Caesuras

3

Additional Sources of Rhythmical Modulation, Including Enjambment,

Caesural Pause, and Word Length

4

The Story of Elision, Including the Famous Rise, Troublesome Reign,

and Tragical Fall of the Metrical Apostrophe

?. The Practice and Conventions of Elision

?. Elision and Changing Views about Syllable Count

?. How Real Is Elision? And What Are We, Finally, to Think of It?

5Boundless Wealth from a Finite Store:Meter and Grammar

Part Two: Other Matters, Other Meters

6

Rhyme

?. The Background and History of Rhyme

?. The Two Common Types of Rhyme in English—

Full and Partial—and Some of Their Varieties ?. The Use of Rhyme

Seven

Stanzas

8

Trochaic and Trisyllabic Meters

9

Alternative Modes of Versification in English

?. Accentual Verse

?. Syllabic Verse

?. Free Verse

?. Imitation-Classical Verse

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Permissions and Copyrights

Index

What People are Saying About This

Richard Wilbur

Steele's book has been delightful and instructive reading for me.

Editorial Reviews

Steele himself says that a formally experienced poet would not require a book on meter to learn his trade. That is surely true; yet I can testify, as one who has been writing in meter for over fifty years, that Steele's book has been delightful and instructive reading for me.”—Richard Wilbur


“All the Fun’s in How You Say a Thing takes its title from a line by Frost, a poet whose commitment to clarity of expression Steele clearly shares in this modest, neatly organized, and lucidly written explanation of English meter. Steele incorporates into his graceful study a wealth of linguistic insight. Steele's sharp and witty book is the perfect Poetry Month selection: an expert guide that speaks to all levels of readers.”—Kirkus Reviews


“Steele places the many styles of poetry in historical context and clearly explains such elements as rhyme, rhythm, elision, and the use of stanzas. Students of poetry as well as practicing poets who wish to hone their craft will find this new book immensely helpful.”—Library Journal

From the Publisher