Student Question
Comment on the prosodic features of this quotation: "Confusion shame remorse despair. At once his bosom swell. The damps of death bedewed his brow."
Quick answer:
The prosodic features of the quotation include intonation, stress, and rhythm. The lines follow a duple iambic rhythm, with pauses occurring between the first and second lines due to omitted conjunctions. The main stress is on "bosom" in the second line and "death" in the third. Intonation is consistent in the first line but changes in the second and third lines, with variations in tempo, pitch, and loudness, especially on key words.
"Prosodic features" is a term that encompasses the linguistic features of
intonation, stress, and rhythm. These features are central to spoken and
written communication in English and are different in English than in some
other languages, say, for example, French, which does not have the syllabic
stress elements that English has. To comment on the prosodic elements in the
quoted lines, you will have to comment on where the pauses are to be; where the
main stress of each line is to be; where linking occurs; and where intonation
changes occur (intonation comprises pitch, loudness, and tempo).
To find the prosodic features of the quotation, you'll read it aloud for poetic
rhythm. You'll find it is in the duple rhythm of iambs (x /):
"Confusion shame remorse
despair ." Within the duple iambic framework, note where pauses occur. You'll note there are none within the first...
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line, although there is a significant pause at the end of the first line, a pause that separates the first from the second line.
There would seem to be a logical link (no pause) between the second and third
lines, yet, because a conjunction, like as, for, or because,
has been omitted (i.e., At once his bosom swell as
the damps ...), there is a pause between these lines.
Consider now the main stress of each line. There is no main stress in the first
line: the words in each iambic foot carry the same weight of stress. The iambs
dictate three stresses in the second line, but which carries the main stress?
It is usually the principle noun, in this case "bosom," that carries the main
stress, although verbs, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs may also carry stress.
In the third line, the noun "death" carries the main stress.
Intonation in the first line is consistent as each iamb is emphasized in a
pounding rhythm: the pitch, loudness and tempo are the same for all four feet
of the tetrameter line. Intonation changes in the second and again in the third
lines as the tempo speeds up, then slows, and as pitch and loudness increase
for "bosom swells" and again for "death" in the final line.