Can someone help me in scansion of the poem "the poplar field" by William Cowper?
need help to find base meter, scheme, stanza forms if any, and the metrical peculiarities such as end-stopped lines, run-on lines, elision, pause, feminine ending, masculine ending and truncation.
the poem
At least one of these should help you:
http://server.riverdale.k12.or.us/~bblack/meter.html
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/glossaryItem.do?id=8056
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/570/02/
Post what you think once you study these and give it a try.
Of course! I'd be happy to help you with the scansion of William Cowper's poem "The Poplar Field." To analyze the poem's scansion thoroughly, follow these steps:
1. Read the poem aloud: Start by reading the poem aloud to get a sense of its rhythm and meter. This step will help you identify the stressed and unstressed syllables in each line.
2. Identify the base meter: The base meter of a poem refers to the basic rhythmic pattern found in most of its lines. Look for a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
3. Analyze the meter of each line: After identifying the base meter, go through each line and mark the stressed ( / ) and unstressed ( x ) syllables. Pay attention to variations in meter and syllable count from line to line.
4. Determine the rhyme scheme: Look for patterns in end rhymes throughout the poem. Assign a unique letter to each rhyme sound (e.g., A, B, C) to identify the rhyme scheme.
5. Identify the stanza forms: Check if the poem follows a specific stanzaic structure or if it consists of individual, unconnected lines.
Now, let's apply these steps to "The Poplar Field" by William Cowper:
The poplars are felled, farewell to the shade
And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade,
The winds play no longer and sing in the leaves,
Nor Ouse on his bosom their image receives.
1. Read the poem aloud: Reading the poem, we can observe the natural rhythm and stress placements.
2. Identify the base meter: In this case, the base meter seems to be predominantly iambic tetrameter (four iambs per line). However, there are a few lines that do not strictly follow this pattern.
3. Analyze the meter of each line:
- The pop - lars are - felled, fare - well to - the shade (trochee, trochee, iamb, trochee, iamb)
- And the whis - per - ing sound - of the - cool co - lon - nade (iamb, iamb, trochee, iamb, trochee, iamb, iamb)
- The winds - play no - long - er and - sing in - the leaves (iamb, iamb, iamb, iamb, iamb)
- Nor Ouse - on his - bos - om their - im - age re - ceives (iamb, iamb, iamb, iamb, iamb, iamb)
4. Determine the rhyme scheme: In this four-line stanza, the rhyme scheme can be represented as AABB.
5. Identify the stanza forms: Based on the given excerpt, the poem seems to be composed of individual, unconnected lines rather than following a specific stanzaic structure.
Regarding metrical peculiarities:
- End-stopped lines: Most of the lines in this excerpt can be considered end-stopped, meaning there is a natural pause after each line.
- Run-on lines: There are no obvious run-on lines, as each line makes a complete grammatical unit without linking to the next.
- Elision: There are no apparent examples of elision, which is the omission of a vowel or syllable when two words come together.
- Pause: The natural pauses in the lines align with the end-stopped lines.
- Feminine ending: In this excerpt, there are no examples of feminine endings (additional unstressed syllables at the end of a line).
- Masculine ending: All lines end with stressed syllables, indicating masculine endings.
- Truncation: There are no truncations detected in this excerpt.
By following these steps, you can continue analyzing the remaining stanzas of the poem "The Poplar Field" to complete your scansion and identify any further metrical peculiarities, base meter variations, or additional rhyme schemes, if present.