In English poetry substitution, also known as inversion, is the use of an alien metric
foot
The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up o ...
in a line of otherwise regular
metrical pattern.
For instance in an
iambic line of "da DUM", a
trochaic
In poetic metre, a trochee ( ) is a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one, in qualitative meter, as found in English, and in modern linguistics; or in quantitative meter, as found in Latin and Ancien ...
substitution would introduce a foot of "DUM da".
Trochaic substitution
In a line of verse that normally employs iambic meter, trochaic substitution describes the replacement of an iamb by a trochee.
The following line from
John Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...
's ''
To Autumn'' is straightforward
iambic pentameter
Iambic pentameter ( ) is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in each line. Meter is measured in small groups of syllables called feet. "Iambi ...
:
:To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
Using '°' for a weak syllable, '/' for a strong syllable, and ', ' for divisions between feet it can be represented as:
The opening of a
sonnet
A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...
by
John Donne
John Donne ( ; 1571 or 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under Royal Patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's, D ...
demonstrates trochaic substitution of the first foot ("Batter"):
Donne uses an inversion (DUM da instead of da DUM) in the first foot of the first line to stress the key verb, "batter", and then sets up a clear iambic pattern with the rest of the line
Shakespeare's Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
includes a well-known example:
:To be, or not to be: that is the question:
:Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
:The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
In the first line the word ''that'' is stressed rather than ''is'', which would be an unnatural accent. The first syllable of ''Whether'' is also stressed, making a trochaic beginning to the line.
John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
used this technique extensively, prompting the critic F. R. Leavis to insultingly call this technique the Miltonic Thump.
Iambic substitution
Sometimes the opposite substitution, of an iamb in place of a trochee, is found.
References
External links
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Poetic devices
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