Identity and similarity of sound combinations may be relative. For instance, we distinguish between full rhymes and incomplete rhymes.
The full rhyme presupposes identity of the vowel sound and the following consonant sounds in a stressed syllable, including the initial consonant of the second syllable (in polysyllabic words), we have exact or identical rhymes.
Incomplete rhymes present a greater variety. They can be divided into two main groups: vowel rhymes and consonant rhymes.
In vowel-rhymes the vowels of the syllables in corresponding words are identical, but the consonants may be different as in flesh - fresh - press. Consonant rhymes, on the contrary, show concordance in consonants and disparity in vowels, as in worth - forth, tale - tool - treble - trouble; flung - long.
Modifications in rhyming sometimes go so far as to make one word rhyme with a combination of words; or two or even three words rhyme with a corresponding two or three words, as in «upon her honour - won her», «bottom - forgot them - shot him». Such rhymes are called compound or broken. The peculiarity of rhymes of this type is that the combination of words is made to sound like one word - a device which inevitably gives a colloquial and sometimes a humorous touch to the utterance. Compound rhyme may be set against what is called eye - rhyme, where the letters and not the sounds are identical, as in love - prove, flood - brood, have - grave. It follows that compound rhyme is perceived in reading aloud, eye - rhyme can only be perceived in the written verse.
Many eye-rhymes are the result of historical changes in the vowel sounds in certain positions. The continuity of English verse manifests itself also in retention of some pairs of what were once rhyming words. But on the analogy of these pairs, new eye-rhymes have been coined and the model now functions alongside ear-rhymes.
According to the way the rhymes are arranged within the stanza, certain models have crystallized, for instance:
1. couplets - when the last words of two successive lines are rhymed. This is commonly marked aa,
2. triple rhymes-aaa
3. cross rhymes-abab
4. framing or ring rhymes-abba[11]
Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes multifarious forms. It is a mighty weapon in stirring up emotions whatever its nature or origin, whether it is musical, mechanical or symmetrical as in architecture. The most general definition of rhythm may be expressed as follows: «rhythm is a flow, movement, procedure, etc. characterized by basically regular recurrence of elements or features, as beat, or accent, in alternation with opposite or different elements of features» [6].
Rhythm can be perceived only provided that there is some kind of experience in catching the opposite elements or features in their correlation, and, what is of paramount importance, experience in catching regularity of alternating patterns. Rhythm is a periodicity, which requires specification as to the type of periodicity. Inverse rhythm is regular succession of weak and strong stress. A rhythm in language necessarily demands oppositions that alternate: long, short; stressed, unstressed; high, low and other contrasting segments of speech.
Academician V.M. Zhirmunsky suggests that the concept of rhythm should be distinguished from that of a metre. Metre is any form of periodicity in verse, its kind being determined by the character and number of syllables of which it consists. The metre is a strict regularity, consistency and unchangeability. Rhythm is flexible and sometimes an effort is required to perceive it. In classical verse it is perceived at the background of the metre. In accented verse - by the number of stresses in a line. In prose - by the alternation of similar syntactical patterns. Rhythm in verse as a stylistic device is defined as a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and the variations of it, variations which are governed by the standard. [2] There are the following rhythmic patterns of verse:
Iambus
Dactul
Umphibrach
Anapaest
Rhythm is not a mere addition to verse or emotive prose, which also has its rhythm. Rhythm intensifies the emotions. It contributes to the general sense. Much has been said and writhen about rhythm in prose. Some investigators, in attempting to find rhythmical patterns of prose, superimpose metrical measures on prose. But the parameters of the rhythm in verse and in prose are entirely different. [11]
In poetry all these phonetic expressive means and stylistic devices play the most significant role. Their realization can be best seen on the example of the works by Percy Bysshe Shelley, whose poems are often called «songs» in order to underline the melody of his speech. [5]
2. Practical Part
2.1 Percy Bisshe Shelley's life and literary work
To understand better Shelley's manner of writing, it's necessary to say first some words about his life and literary work.
As a writer, Shelley has been criticised for his obscure symbolism, intellectual arrogance and intense self-pity. However, in his greatest works he transcends these limitations and conveys a message of hope and aspiration through strikingly beautiful prose and poetry.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792 - 8 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded among the finest lyric poets in the English language. He is most famous for such classic anthology verse works as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, and The Masque of Anarchy, which are among the most popular and critically acclaimed poems in the English language. His major works, however, are long visionary poems which included Prometheus Unbound, Alastor, Adonais, The Revolt of Islam, and the unfinished work The Triumph of Life. The Cenci (1819) and Prometheus Unbound (1820) were dramatic plays in five and four acts respectively. He wrote the Gothic novels Zastrozzi (1810) and St. Irvyne (1811) and the short works The Assassins (1814) and The Coliseum (1817).
Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron. The novelist Mary Shelley was his second wife.
Shelley never lived to see the extent of his success and influence. Some of his works were published, but they were often suppressed upon publication. Up until his death, with approximately 50 readers as his audience, it is said he made no more than 40 pounds from his writings. For example, in 1813, at age 21 Shelley «printed» his first major poem, «Queen Mab». He set the press and ran 250 copies of this radical and revolutionary tract. «Queen Mab» was infused with scientific language and naturalizing moral prescriptions for an oppressed humanity in an industrializing world. He intended the poem to be private and distributed it among his close friends and acquaintances.
His early works are characterized by intense political passion. In them he proposed republicanism, free love, atheism and vegetarianism. They contain many autobiographical references and introduced the theme of struggle and renewal, which is present in much of his later works. Musical patterns of his works, which are built on internal rhyme, assonance and run-on lines, clearly show the poet's mastery of his art. [9]
2.2 The analysis of the content of the song «To the Men of England»
First of all one should introduce the poem itself:
Men of England, wherefore plough
For the Lords who lay you low?
Wherefore weave with toil and care,
The rich robes your tyrants wear?
Wherefore feed, and clothe and save,
From the cradle to the grave,
Those ungrateful drones who
Drain your sweat - nay, drink your blood!
Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,
Shelter, food, love's gentle balm?
Or what is ye buy so dear
With your pain and with your fear?
The seed ye sow, another reaps;
The wealth ye find, another keeps;
The robes ye weave, another wears;
The arms ye forge, another bears.
Sow seed - but let no tyrant reap;
Find wealth - let no impostor heap;
Weave robes - let not the idle wear;
Forge arms - in your defence to bear.
With plough and spade, and hoe and loom,
Trace your grave, and build your tomb,
And weave your winding sheet, till fair
England be your sepulcher.
The text poem in details and its translation into Russian, made by S.Y. Marshak can be seen in Supplement №1.
The song «To the Men of England» was written by Shelley in 1818, while he was staying in Italy. It is an expression of his indignation at the cruelty of capitalist exploitation. Thus it is imbued with bitter irony and wrath. The poem is built on a contrast between «Men of England» - the labourers, who create real value, and the lords - «the ungrateful drones» who exploit the toilers - «drink their blood». Thus, at first look it is quite obvious that this song is meant to be an empowering anthem for the workers of England. However, upon closer examination, it becomes quite clear that Shelley's message may be a little bit more complicated than it seems. [14]
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