Sprung rhythm

Sprung rhythm is a poetic rhythm

designed to imitate the rhythm of natural
speech. It is constructed from feet in
which the first syllable is stressed and
may be followed by a variable number of
unstressed syllables.[1] The British poet
Gerard Manley Hopkins said he
discovered this previously unnamed
poetic rhythm in the natural patterns of
English in folk songs, spoken poetry,
Shakespeare, Milton, et al. He used
diacritical marks on syllables to indicate
which should be stressed in cases
"where the reader might be in doubt
which syllable should have the stress"
(acute, e.g. shéer) and which syllables
should be pronounced but not stressed
(grave, e.g., gleanèd).

Some critics believe he merely coined a

name for poems with mixed, irregular
feet, like free verse. However, while
sprung rhythm allows for an
indeterminate number of syllables to a
foot, Hopkins was very careful to keep
the number of feet per line consistent
across each individual work, a trait that
free verse does not share. Sprung rhythm
may be classed as a form of accentual
verse, due to its being stress-timed,
rather than syllable-timed,[2] and while
sprung rhythm did not become a popular
literary form, Hopkins's advocacy did
assist in a revival of accentual verse
more generally.[3]

Example

The Windhover

To Christ our Lord

I caught this morning morning's minion,

king-
    dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-
dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
    Of the rolling level underneath him
steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of
a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on
swing,
    As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a
bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
    Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in
hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the
mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air,

pride, plume, here
    Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from
thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O
my chevalier!
     
   No wonder of it: shéer plód makes
plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my
dear,
    Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-
vermilion.

—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)

Scansion
Since Hopkins considers that feet always
begin in a stressed syllable in sprung
rhythm, for a scansion it is enough to
specify which syllables are stressed. One
proposed scansion [4] of this poem is

I cáught this mórning mórning's mínion,

kíng-
    dom of dáylight's dáuphin, dapple-
dáwn-drawn Fálcon, in his ríding
    Of the rólling level úndernéath him
steady áir, and stríding
Hígh there, how he rúng upon the réin of
a wímpling wíng
In his écstasy! then óff, óff fórth on
swíng,
    As a skáte's heel sweeps smóoth on a
bów-bend: the húrl and glíding
    Rebúffed the bíg wínd. My héart in
híding
Stírred for a bírd, – the achíeve of, the
mástery of the thíng!

Brute béauty and válour and áct, oh, air,

príde, plume, hére
    Buckle! ÁND the fíre that bréaks from
thee thén, a bíllion
Tímes told lóvelier, more dángerous, Ó
my chevalíer!
     
   No wónder of it: shéer plód makes
plóugh down síllion
Shíne, and blúe-bleak émbers, áh my
déar,
    Fall, gáll themsélves, and gásh góld-
vermílion.
Authorities disagree about the scansion.
The scansion of this poem is also
discussed in [5]. Although they don't give
a complete scansion, their proposal
differs in the 10th and 14th lines.

See also
Grail Psalms

Notes
1. "Sprung Rhythm in Hopkins ", Britannica
Online
2. In the classic mode: the achievement of
Robert Bridges, by Donald Elwin Stanford,
1978, pp. 81–92; see p. 81 for "Sprung
rhythm … is a special kind of accentual
verse"
3. "Accentual verse ", Dana Gioia
4. Kiparsky, Paul. Sprung Rhythm in
Phonetics and Phonology, Volume 1:
Rhythm and Meter, edited by Paul
Kiparsky and Gilbert Youmans, Academic
Press, 1989
5. Gardner, W. H. and Mackenzie, N.H. The
Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Oxford
University Press, Fourth edition, 1967.

References
Schneider, E. W. (June 1965). "Sprung
Rhythm: A Chapter in the Evolution of
Nineteenth-Century Verse". PMLA. 80 (3):
237–253. doi:10.2307/461271 .
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