Greetings,

I've been reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's _Evangeline_,
annotating my scansion all the way through. I have a fussy
little question about the first foot of some lines. Consider
the fourth line below (lines 30-33 of Section V of Part I):

"Half-way down to the shore Evangeline waited in silence,
Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of affliction,—
Calmly and sadly she waited, until the procession approached her,
And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emotion."

The meter of the poem is widely deemed to be dactylic hexameter, though
it contains hardly a single line with a "perfect" use of that meter;
that is, almost every line contains multiple substitutions, where a
trochee is used in place of a dactyl: e.g. "HALF-way | DOWN to the . . ."

Shouldn't the first foot of the fourth line of the above quotation be
scanned like this: "and SHE be | . . ." If so, what is the prosodic
rationale. I think this scansion presupposes two steps: 1) trochaic
substitution; 2) anacrusis.

Is that right? What do you think of this scansion? The "//" denotes caesura.
Foot markings are the vertical lines. Stressed syllables are in all caps:

HALF way | DOWN to the | SHORE // e | VAN ge line | WAI ted in | SI lence
NOT o ver | COME with | GRIEF // but | STRONG in the | HOUR of af | FLIC tion
CALM ly and | SAD ly she | WAI ted // un | TIL the pro | CESS ion app | ROACHED her
and SHE be | HELD the | FACE of | GA bri el | PALE with e | MO tion

Thank you.

Metrist2021 wrote:

> Greetings,

> I've been reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's _Evangeline_,
> annotating my scansion all the way through. I have a fussy
> little question about the first foot of some lines. Consider
> the fourth line below (lines 30-33 of Section V of Part I):

> "Half-way down to the shore Evangeline waited in silence,
> Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of affliction,—
> Calmly and sadly she waited, until the procession approached her,
> And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emotion."

> The meter of the poem is widely deemed to be dactylic hexameter, though
> it contains hardly a single line with a "perfect" use of that meter;

Though your third line here happens to be one.

> that is, almost every line contains multiple substitutions, where a
> trochee is used in place of a dactyl: e.g. "HALF-way | DOWN to the . . ."

> Shouldn't the first foot of the fourth line of the above quotation be
> scanned like this: "and SHE be | . . ." If so, what is the prosodic
> rationale. I think this scansion presupposes two steps: 1) trochaic
> substitution; 2) anacrusis.

> Is that right? What do you think of this scansion? The "//" denotes caesura.
> Foot markings are the vertical lines. Stressed syllables are in all caps:

> HALF way | DOWN to the | SHORE // e | VAN ge line | WAI ted in | SI lence
> NOT o ver | COME with | GRIEF // but | STRONG in the | HOUR of af | FLIC tion
> CALM ly and | SAD ly she | WAI ted // un | TIL the pro | CESS ion app | ROACHED her
> and SHE be | HELD the | FACE of | GA bri el | PALE with e | MO tion

> Thank you.

I agree with your accents. Whether you call the first foot a trochee with
anacrusis or an amphibrach seems arbitrary, unless there's something in
the traditions of classical scansion (which I assume Longfellow and some
of his readers would have known) that favors one approach or the other.

--
Jerry Friedman

jerryfriedman wrote:

> Metrist2021 wrote:

>> Greetings,

>> I've been reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's _Evangeline_,
>> annotating my scansion all the way through. I have a fussy
>> little question about the first foot of some lines. Consider
>> the fourth line below (lines 30-33 of Section V of Part I):

>> "Half-way down to the shore Evangeline waited in silence,
>> Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of affliction,—
>> Calmly and sadly she waited, until the procession approached her,
>> And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emotion."

>> The meter of the poem is widely deemed to be dactylic hexameter, though
>> it contains hardly a single line with a "perfect" use of that meter;

> Though your third line here happens to be one.

I'm pretty sure the last foot is a trochee substitution in that line. The
trochaic substitution in the sixth foot seems almost universal in this
book-length poem. Incidentally, I found a great article about the meter of it:
"Longfellow's Long Line," by Gilbert Youmans. It enabled me to read the poem.
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110197624.3.135/html

>> that is, almost every line contains multiple substitutions, where a
>> trochee is used in place of a dactyl: e.g. "HALF-way | DOWN to the . . ."

>> Shouldn't the first foot of the fourth line of the above quotation be
>> scanned like this: "and SHE be | . . ." If so, what is the prosodic
>> rationale. I think this scansion presupposes two steps: 1) trochaic
>> substitution; 2) anacrusis.

>> Is that right? What do you think of this scansion? The "//" denotes caesura.
>> Foot markings are the vertical lines. Stressed syllables are in all caps:

>> HALF way | DOWN to the | SHORE // e | VAN ge line | WAI ted in | SI lence
>> NOT o ver | COME with | GRIEF // but | STRONG in the | HOUR of af | FLIC tion
>> CALM ly and | SAD ly she | WAI ted // un | TIL the pro | CESS ion app | ROACHED her
>> and SHE be | HELD the | FACE of | GA bri el | PALE with e | MO tion

>> Thank you.

> I agree with your accents. Whether you call the first foot a trochee with
> anacrusis or an amphibrach seems arbitrary, unless there's something in
> the traditions of classical scansion (which I assume Longfellow and some
> of his readers would have known) that favors one approach or the other.

Wonderful. Thank you, Jerry. I sincerely appreciate your feedback on this.
I'm so glad that this forum has survived the change with Google Groups. I
don't know whether to describe this as a new "platform," but whatever it is,
it works. This forum is the only place I know where I can get feedback about
metrical analyses -- mainly, of course, from you. I hope to see PTD again, too!

Metrist2021 wrote:

> Wonderful. Thank you, Jerry. I sincerely appreciate your feedback on this.
> I'm so glad that this forum has survived the change with Google Groups. I
> don't know whether to describe this as a new "platform," but whatever it is,
> it works. This forum is the only place I know where I can get feedback about
> metrical analyses -- mainly, of course, from you. I hope to see PTD again, too!

yeah, what happened to PTD ?

if you email me, i'll tell you about another "platform," or forum. HH

Metrist2021 wrote:

> jerryfriedman wrote:

>> Metrist2021 wrote:

>>> Greetings,

>>> I've been reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's _Evangeline_,
>>> annotating my scansion all the way through. I have a fussy
>>> little question about the first foot of some lines. Consider
>>> the fourth line below (lines 30-33 of Section V of Part I):

>>> "Half-way down to the shore Evangeline waited in silence,
>>> Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of affliction,—
>>> Calmly and sadly she waited, until the procession approached her,
>>> And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emotion."

>>> The meter of the poem is widely deemed to be dactylic hexameter, though
>>> it contains hardly a single line with a "perfect" use of that meter;

>> Though your third line here happens to be one.

> I'm pretty sure the last foot is a trochee substitution in that line. The
> trochaic substitution in the sixth foot seems almost universal in this
> book-length poem.

OK, I see. I didn't even think of that as a variation.

> Incidentally, I found a great article about the meter of it:
> "Longfellow's Long Line," by Gilbert Youmans. It enabled me to read the poem.
> https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110197624.3.135/html

>>> that is, almost every line contains multiple substitutions, where a
>>> trochee is used in place of a dactyl: e.g. "HALF-way | DOWN to the . . ."

>>> Shouldn't the first foot of the fourth line of the above quotation be
>>> scanned like this: "and SHE be | . . ." If so, what is the prosodic
>>> rationale. I think this scansion presupposes two steps: 1) trochaic
>>> substitution; 2) anacrusis.

>>> Is that right? What do you think of this scansion? The "//" denotes caesura.
>>> Foot markings are the vertical lines. Stressed syllables are in all caps:

>>> HALF way | DOWN to the | SHORE // e | VAN ge line | WAI ted in | SI lence
>>> NOT o ver | COME with | GRIEF // but | STRONG in the | HOUR of af | FLIC tion
>>> CALM ly and | SAD ly she | WAI ted // un | TIL the pro | CESS ion app | ROACHED her
>>> and SHE be | HELD the | FACE of | GA bri el | PALE with e | MO tion

>>> Thank you.

>> I agree with your accents. Whether you call the first foot a trochee with
>> anacrusis or an amphibrach seems arbitrary, unless there's something in
>> the traditions of classical scansion (which I assume Longfellow and some
>> of his readers would have known) that favors one approach or the other.

> Wonderful. Thank you, Jerry. I sincerely appreciate your feedback on this.
> I'm so glad that this forum has survived the change with Google Groups. I
> don't know whether to describe this as a new "platform," but whatever it is,
> it works. This forum is the only place I know where I can get feedback about
> metrical analyses -- mainly, of course, from you. I hope to see PTD again, too!

You're quite welcome. This is the same forum it always was since before Google
was born or thought of. Just you and I are accessing it in different ways from
before.

--
Jerry Friedman