Sound and Sense, Chapter 12 notes: Rhyme and Meter

Chapter 12 – Rhyme and Meter

Rhyme and Meter:

·         Rhythm: Any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound.

·         Accented or Stressed: A word or syllable that receives more pronunciation in relation to its surrounding neighbors.

o   toDAY; toMORrow; interVENE…etc.

·         Rhetorical Stresses: certain methods of pronouncing a word in order to display a certain meaning or intention.

·         There are multiple methods of displaying meaning through pauses as well:

o   End stopped line: end of the line corresponds with a natural pause.

o   Run-on line: the flow of the line moves on with no pause in between.

o   Caesuras: grammatical or rhetorical pauses that occur in the middle of the line.

§  Grammatical pause: A pause introduced by punctuation or anything grammatical.

§  Rhetorical pause: usually through syntax, a natural pause in the poem.

·         Free verse: Nonmetrical poetry where the basic unit is the line and where pauses and breaks occur out of the necessity of the poem instead of its style.

o   Predominating style of poetry among contemporary poets.

o   Opposite of metrical verse, which follows a meter and the pauses and breaks originate from the style.

·         Both free verse and metrical verse are distinguished by its meter and foot:

o   Meter: the identifying aspect of rhythmic language, the beat of a poem or song.

o   Foot: measures the metrical verse, and usually consists of one accented syllable and 1-2 accented syllables.

§  Iambic, Trochaic, Anapestic, Dactylic, and Spondaic (adjectival examples of foot).

·         Stanza: Third unit of measurement; metrical pattern repeated throughout the entire poem.

·         Variations of the meter and foot:

o   Metrical variations: variations that deal directly with the departure of certain metrical patterns.

§  Substitution: replacing one foot with another.

§  Extrametrical syllables: added to the beginning or end of a line.

§  Truncation: omitting an accented syllable from the beginning or end of a line.

o   Expected rhythm: the expected rhythm the audience may perceive due to the meter and beat.

o   Heard rhythm: the true rhyme of the poem when read naturally. Usually a derivative of the expected rhythm.

The Stranger Essay Outline

Thesis: Camus uses Meursault to promote his own absurdist philosophy, or the idea that life has no meaning, through the incorporation of Maman’s funeral, Marie’s love and affection, his trial, and his overall reaction to these events.

-          Maman’s funeral:

·         “Maman died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know. I got a telegram from home: ‘Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.’ That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday” (3).

§  Very first lines of the novel; it establishes Meursault’s detached tone, which emphasizes the absurdity of Meursault as a character. Meursault feels completely unmoved by the whole situation and can’t seem to find any emotion to fit the current scenario, thus putting forth the argument that life is meaningless.

§  Meursault begins to quickly move on with the death of his mother by indulging in sensuous pleasures at the beach and with Marie.

-          Marie love/marriage

·         “A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so” (35) and “that evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to” (41).

§  Again, Meursault does not find the joy or the meaning in loving Marie or marrying her. He is simply indifferent, and in the end he wonders what the point of the whole matter really is.

§  Meursault embodies Camus’ absurdist philosophy by negating the emotional effects of love and marriage as meaningless aspects of life. This attitude eventually plays a major role in his trial.

§  Marie tries to make meaning out of Meursault’s meaningless actions.

-          Trial

·         “Fumbling a little with my words and realizing how ridiculous I sounded, I blurted out that it was because of the sun. People laughed. My lawyer threw up his hands” (103).

§  The absurdist philosophy behind the trial is more of an attack on the system of justice rather than society as a whole, and Meursault, understanding this injustice, decides to mock it.

§  Readers can interpret this section of the novel differently, but the theory that Meursault even brought up the sun was to bluntly spew force the courts to make meaning out of something inherently meaningless.  

The Stranger #4

Albert Camus emphasizes his absurdist philosophy in the final chapters of his book The Stranger. A resonating theme throughout the novel, the absurdist philosophy plays a special role in Mersault’s final days. Sitting idly by in his cell, Mersault feels completely disinterested by the world, knowing his fate has already been decided. Every attempt he is given to see the chaplain he turns down, until the chaplain comes to visit him. During this visit the chaplain tries to understand Mersault, only to see the conversation turn into a screaming frenzy for Mersault. In a fit of anger, Mersault proclaims, “nothing, nothing mattered and I knew why…throughout the whole absurd life I’d lived, a dark wind had been rising toward me from somewhere deep in my future…what did other people’s death or a mother’s love matter to me” (121). The absurdist philosophy involves the belief that life is meaningless, and the trial helps seal this perspective in place for Mersault. Blindsided by the negligible, idiotic aspects of his conviction, Mersault feels at a total loss with himself and the world. When the chaplain tries to discuss the picture of God, Mersault immediately refutes it. For what, exactly, would God matter to him after the ordeal Mersault has been put through? It is understandable why Mersault would feel the way he does. Camus uses the trial as a building block for his final chapter, for when Mersault announces the absurdist philosophy and for when Mersault proclaims the idiotic aspects of his life that will get him executed. The unlikely result of this situation merely drives the idea home. It is absurd that Mersault is forced to live the consequences of actions that did not in any way shape or form premeditate murder, similar to how it is absurd that Sisyphus is forced to mindlessly push a boulder up a hill that will result in absolutely no redemption whatsoever.

The Stranger #3

Albert Camus’ The Stranger seems to display Mersault’s interest in the physical world, often neglecting or disregarding the social and emotional aspects. This understanding relates back to Camus’ absurdist philosophy, or the idea that life is meaningless in its entities. In these recent chapters, Mersault’s experience in the prison both conveys this message and at the same time denounces it. While sitting in his cell, Mersault begins to dream about some of the very things that bring joy to him, such as nature, the ocean, smoking cigarettes, and having sex. These are merely physical enjoyments, and Mersault has stripped any social or emotional meaning behind them, reinforcing Camus’ absurdist philosophy. Within the first few months, Mersault was “tormented by [his] desire for woman. It was only natural; [he] was young. [He] never thought specifically of Marie” (77). The simple fact that Mersault did not even have the emotions to specifically think about Marie but women in general displays his detachment from society and everything that has emotion and meaning. However, the readers learn later on that Mersault is beginning to understand his feelings due to his confinement in prison: “But at the same time, and for the first time in months, I distinctly heard the sound of my own voice” (81). Considering the mannerisms of Mersault, this is progress. He is finally beginning to comprehend more than just the physical aspects of life, and although the absurdist philosophy still plays a major role, the readers finally get a glimpse at Mersault’s conscience. As the novel nears its end, the path Camus can take to either denounce his own absurdist philosophy or promote it will become an interesting decision.