Concerning the Functions of Fully Stressed Rhythmic Form (Based on the Poetry of Joseph Brodsky)

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Abstract

The article examines the functions of the fully stressed rhythmic form, primarily in the poetry of J. Brodsky. The fully stressed rhythmic form is intended to accentuate the semantics of the corresponding lines where it is used. This rhythmic form, both in iambic and trochaic meters, can also imitate the striking of a clock or the movement of a pendulum. But it does not have a stable semantic aura. It can designate the striking of a clock or the swing of a pendulum only if an indication of such striking or movement is contained in the content plan of the poem. The same function can be performed by other rhythmic forms in the case of their regular repetition in adjacent lines. In fully stressed forms, rhythmic regularity and monotony are created by alternating the same number of unstressed syllables between ictuses, as well as by repeating the verses themselves with the same rhythmic pattern. In poetic texts where some other rhythmic form, not fully stressed, is consistently realized, it is the second factor that is significant – the repetition of lines of the same rhythmic structure, rather than syllables. In trisyllabics, the imitation of clock strikes and / or pendulum movements is achieved in other ways, additional to fully stressed ones.

About the authors

A. M. Ranchin

Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: aranchin@mail.ru
51/21 Nakhimovskiy Prospect, Moscow

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