In Appreciation of Metrical Abnormality: Headless Lines and Initial Inversion in Chaucer.
- Author / Editor
- Putter, Ad.
In Appreciation of Metrical Abnormality: Headless Lines and Initial Inversion in Chaucer.
- Published
- Critical Survey 29.3 (2017): 65-85.
- Description
- Observes that in Chaucer's short-line verse, headless lines are much more common than initial inversion, whereas in his iambic pentameter the exact opposite occurs. Argues that Chaucer and his predecessors used such metrical license "very deliberately, not only for emphasis and rhetorical effect but also to clarify narrative and syntactical organization." Notes in particular its appearance "in the context of non-indicative moods, lists and catalogues, direct speeches and changes of addressee, transition between narrative sections, and enjambement."
- Chaucer Subjects
- Style and Versification