The Harmony of Verse is a study of rhythm and metre, a thought-provoking analysis of those qualities which make up a formal aspect of poetry. It is an interpretive essay rather an exhaustive treatise.
Most works on metre in English poetry make, or seem to make, little attempt to relate theory to the actual sound of poetry as read by the ordinary sensitive and practised reader. In this study the author makes that connection: he regards the poem on the printed page as speech-music; spoken freely it becomes musical speech. He constantly listens to the verse he is describing and the result is a theory and system of notation to fit what he actually hears. The basic premise of his system is that individuals have their own autometre: that the positions of major and minor stresses, for example, are not imposed according to some inflexible, universal system but vary with the poetical ear of each reader. In this essay on prosody, a field which has often suffered from pedestrian treatment, the author offers an original and successful study of tonal patterns and the phrasing of verse.
Most works on metre in English poetry make, or seem to make, little attempt to relate theory to the actual sound of poetry as read by the ordinary sensitive and practised reader. In this study the author makes that connection: he regards the poem on the printed page as speech-music; spoken freely it becomes musical speech. He constantly listens to the verse he is describing and the result is a theory and system of notation to fit what he actually hears. The basic premise of his system is that individuals have their own autometre: that the positions of major and minor stresses, for example, are not imposed according to some inflexible, universal system but vary with the poetical ear of each reader. In this essay on prosody, a field which has often suffered from pedestrian treatment, the author offers an original and successful study of tonal patterns and the phrasing of verse.