Twilight Of A Crane Analysis: Fill & Download for Free

Unfinished & pending editorship.Foreword,I have set before me an impossible task, to construct an overarching view of Ezra Pound´s metre and sound, their methods, use, and others emergent manifestation. I will very likely fail in doing so, but let me at least fail spectacularly. I have not yet come across a systematic analysis of The Cantos, let alone the detailed description of metre in them. Meaning, I am sailing blindly here, and will probably smash on the reefs. Unlike Magister, I am a greenhorn…--In my brief overview, beside The Cantos, I will probably touch some other poems, like Sestina: Altaforte, The Seafarer, Cathay ( collection ), Homage to Sextus Propertius, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley,…While the central figure will certainly be Pound, along the way, there will be peepholes to glance other poets and poems, specially modernist. And in doing so, I shall try to deconstruct that rampant notion of unmusical poetry, where unmusical oft signifies unmelodious, and that, in the most blatant of terms, “not sounding nice, pleasant”, in contrast, par example, Tennyson and Browning.“Rhythm: to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome” ( Pound, Literary essays ). There is not only the shift and call for deviation, nay, abandonment of metronome, or, “default rhythm” in poetry, but a new outlook to see the rhythm defined by its anti-metronomical aspects. And there, great parallels can be drawn between renovations in poetry and music. —“To break the pentameter, that was the first heave,” ( Canto 81 ). Transformation from classical-prosodic to syntactic and kinaesthetic basis for rhythm leaves many readers deaf to the sounds, but that does not mean the role and value of the rhythm and sound declined, no, the techniques went through a radical change to mimic the mind-set of the eraWilliam Wimsatt said “[poetry] consists of the careful pinning of logical syntax onto an alogical grid of metrical or stanzaic form. “ I think that truth, if there is one, should not fall far from this, and with little remodeling, the statement can, perhaps not in whole, environ Pound. He was a melodist, not a harmonist.In How to read, there a brief description of three major tendencies;Melopoeia; wherein the words are charged, over and above their plain meaning, with some musical property, which directs the bearing or trend of that meaning.phanopoeia,; a casting of images upon the visual imagination.logopoeia; the dance of the intellect among words.So, let me finish this foreword with a fitting quote:I believe in an ‘absolute rhythm’, a rhythm, that is, in poetry which corresponds exactly to the emotion or shade of emotion to be expressed. A man’s rhythm must be interpretative, it will be, therefore, in the end, his own, uncounterfeiting, uncounterfeitable. (Literary Essays, p. 9) “Absolute rhythm”, to say paradoxically, must be taken concretely in its metaphorical notion.Lest I forget, a quick mention of Hart Crane, about whom I might write a thing or two at the end ( concerning rhythm / prosody, of course ), if the time grants. Why I mention him here, despite the possibility of non-occurrence later on is, if I get a single soul to pick him up during the next week, and read him, I shall, ages and ages hence, musing upon my last breath, deem my life successful if this be enacted.Also, I would thank in advance, Michael, for editorship before posting it on TEB. There are, surely, some spell-slips, probably some benign inaccuracies, and God forbid, some cancerous mistakes.Sound analysis, metrical feetSestina: AltaforteAt the heart O´meThe ReturnThe Seafarer & Various sections from The Cantos + Miscellaneous observations1.Sound analysis, stress, time duration…, metrical feetTo include this section was a last moment decision, and what promoted is probably the nature of accentual verse, which we will encounter later on, in The Seafarer and The Cantos. More precisely, Old English alliterative verse, with accented meter of four beats/stresses.The following section will present time figures beneath all syllables and pauses ( in parentheses ) of utterances on the scope of tenths of seconds. More important than the face value will be the comparison we will draw from them, between stressed-unstressed, vowels-consonants,.. ( Informations extracted from The Principles of English versification by Paull F. Baum )Paradise Lost, II, 604-614, iambic feet; The Cloud ( Shelley ), anapestic feett,From this data one can quickly see that unstressed syllable is shorter than the stressed one, with some minor exceptions. Meaning, the stress and duration coincide, regardless of the variations in lengths themselves. Furthermore, the ratio is seems to be ~2:4, no matter the tempo we are reading, when the quantitative measures change, the proportions stay the same. With that approximation, the time needed to read iambic foot is roughly 0.6.There are, of course, exceptions. Par example:This only demonstrates the extreme varieties within the iambic foot, which Milton excellently uses. “Small drop” takes a second to pronounce, which is considerably longer than the average foot.With this simple demonstration, I think, we have established that time, together with stress, are the basis of meter.To close this opening section, the most popular of meters:Iambic ( Shakespeare, sonnet 73 ): ( da Dum )That time of year them mayst in me beholdWhen yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangUpon those boughs that shake against the cold—Bare ruin'd choirs where late the sweet birds sang.Trochaic ( Browning, One word more ); ( Dum da )You and I will never see that picture.While he mused on love and Beatrice,While he soften'd o'er his outlined angel,In they broke, those "people of importance":We and Bice bear the loss forever.Pyrrhic ( da da ) and Spondee ( Dum Dum ), we will encounter them later with Pound. –Some poets & prosodists reject the two. But, for the sake of complete overview:( Tennyson In Memoriam );When the blood creeps and the nerves prick. ( Pyrrhic/Dibrach underlined )( Tennyson, Break, Break, Break )For thus /the Great / White Chief / hath said,/ "In all / my lands / be peace". ( Spondee in iambic heptameter )Anapestic ( Shenstone, Pastoral Ballad ); ( da da Dum )I have found out a gift for my fair,I have found where the wood-pigeons breed.Dactylic ( Hood, Bridge of Sighs ); ( Dum da da )Take her up tenderly,Lift her with care;Fashion'd so slenderly,Young, and so fair!Amphibrachic ( W.C. Williams, The Dance ) ( da Dum da ), More popular in Slavic poetry, like Polish, and Slovene, for that matter.2. Sestina: Altaforte( Obligatory listening )Loquitur: En Bertrans de Born.Dante Alighieri put this man in hell for that he was astirrer-up of strife.Eccovi!Judge ye!Have I dug him up again?The scene in at his castle, Altaforte. "Papiols" is his jongleur."The Leopard," the device of Richard (Cúur de Lion).IDamn it all! all this our South stinks peace.You whoreson dog, Papiols, come! Let's to music!I have no life save when the swords clash.But ah! when I see the standards gold, vair, purple, opposingAnd the broad fields beneath them turn crimson,Then howl I my heart nigh mad with rejoicing.IIIn hot summer have I great rejoicingWhen the tempests kill the earth's foul peace,And the lightnings from black heav'n flash crimson,And the fierce thunders roar me their musicAnd the winds shriek through the clouds mad, opposing,And through all the riven skies God's swords clash.IIIHell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!And the shrill neighs of destriers in battle rejoicing,Spiked breast to spiked breast opposing!Better one hour's stour than a year's peaceWith fat boards, bawds, wine and frail music!Bah! there's no wine like the blood's crimson!IVAnd I love to see the sun rise blood-crimson.And I watch his spears through the dark clashAnd it fills all my heart with rejoicingAnd pries wide my mouth with fast musicWhen I see him so scorn and defy peace,His lone might 'gainst all darkness opposing.VThe man who fears war and squats opposingMy words for stour, hath no blood of crimsonBut is fit only to rot in womanish peaceFar from where worth's won and the swords clashFor the death of such sluts I go rejoicing;Yea, I fill all the air with my music.VIPapiols, Papiols, to the music!There's no sound like to swords swords opposing,No cry like the battle's rejoicingWhen our elbows and swords drip the crimsonAnd our charges 'gainst "The Leopard's" rush clash.May God damn for ever all who cry "Peace!"VIIAnd let the music of the swords make them crimson!Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!Hell blot black for always the thought "Peace!"Ending words:peace – music – clash – opposing – crimson – rejoicing [Stanza I]rejoicing – peace – crimson – music – opposing – clash [Stanza II]clash – rejoicing – opposing – peace – music – crimson [Stanza III]crimson – clash – rejoicing – music – peace – opposing [Stanza IV]opposing – crimson – peace – clash – rejoicing – music [Stanza V]music – opposing – rejoicing – crimson – clash – Peace [Stanza VI]crimson – clash – Peace [Envoi]Poem´s speaker is Gascon troubadour and nobleman Bertran de Born, and it was writ in 1909. In epigraph, we see Bertran in Hell, put there by Dante, where he carries his own severed head as a punishment for encouraging a rebellion against Henry II.Sestina form has no prescribed metric system, neither is it constant here, I will go slowly stanza by stanza, and, considering the nature of the poem, I believe many different readings & interpretations can arise. If I still try to get a general baseline, to major meters are anapaest driven leaps for rising, and spondee, to dispel any languoroso lingering and establish that war-drum violent martellato. Again, it is quite pointless to make a scansion here by foot, either di- or tri- syllabic, the names are just a formality. Sounds and phrases are short, quite quickly pronounced. To the poem:This is not “conventional” scansion, but rather the stresses extracted from Pound´s reading of the poem. Bear that in mind.IDamn it all! all this our South stinks peace.Cretic ( - / - ), not an anapaest, pronounced violently. Next four words are unstressed, and the spondee ending, where the duration of »peace« is extended. One would, naturally, like to read a cretic, »South stinks peace«, given the intonation of »stinks«. It takes an effort to make it equally laudable as peace, fairly stressed. We will also see that spondee, or any other kind of stressed endings of the line are common, sometimes with feminine endings.You whoreson dog, Papiols, come! Let's to music!An even trickier line, overall, much more audible than the first one. »e« in »whoreson« is the most silent vowel before the exclemation mark, all others are fairly loud, but, I think, the one highlightened still achieve a lever higher. Ending a line with da-da-Dum builds a necessary tension that will transfer in the next line;I have no life save when the swords clash.»Save« and »clash« are by the more loudable out of both spondee pairs. Consonants help to not make the sound, despite the rhythm, unpleasantly abrupt. »Save« drifts into »swords«, and »clash« provides, not alien, but a distinct sound as to the »save, sword«. S – C, distinct, not alien. And it carries belligerent directive.But ah! when I see the standards gold, vair, purple, opposingI try to distill the most loudable, even though »I« is not marked, it is natural that it is louder than »see« or »the«. But I am highlighting those that go over some indefinite threshold... »Gold« is by far the most silent of the last four words. Can we try to say why? »Vair« is a type of fur from a squirrel with a black back, white belly, used as garments, perhaps banners. Vair – purple, ( Image!! )see those, blue –white banners, »Vair« against »Purple«, which signifies the King, Henry II, in this case. »Purple« and »opposing«.And the broad fields beneath them turn crimson,»Broad« and »Beneath«, »them« and »turn«, alliterations, again. If we continue or previous thought, see the word »them«, meaning »vair« and »purple«, rebellion of 1173, as mentioned, Bertrand is in hell for encouraging young prince Henry. Thus, the last line sends shivers down my spine;Then howl I my heart nigh mad with rejoicing.Mad in rejoicing as I watch the fields turn crimson, their fields. The line is, so far, the most laudible, »Then« is louder than »turn« in the previous line, but still more silent than »howl«, thus I left is unmarked, as the rhythm rose from »then« to »howl« and then fairly constantly maintained that level.IIIn hot summer have I great rejoicingFirst half is silent, so that the shock from the previous line still runs uniterupted, and then the last three words confirm & prolong it.When the tempests kill the earth's foul peace,The pair »tempests kill« is louder than »foul peace« due to the nature of the words, but are still in contrast due to the downfall with »earth´s«. » Kill«,«foul«, l alliteration at the end. And the phrase »foul peace« is intruiging, as in peace is something unnatural, brief, dishonest, and that tempests – war is the natural state.And the lightnings from black heav'n flash crimson,I was somewhat reluctant to mark »crim« as stressed, as the line has significant downbeat after the three stressed words. Again, l, in three stressed words. Also, there is a slight assonance betwenn »black« and »flash«.And the fierce thunders roar me their musicI would point out that the second syllable in »music« is louder. »Music«, but the first is more audable than »their«. This line has upbeat.And the winds shriek through the clouds mad, opposing,»Mad« is definitely the climax of the line, and a downbeat follows with a fairly audible first syllable of »opposing«. Overall, the line as a whole is electrified and louder than the previous ones.And through all the riven skies God's swords clash.First half is hurried and, as a discharge from the previous line the downbeat continues till »the riven«, where is starts rising again to four loud stressed one-syllable words. Out of the four, swords is the least audible. Alliteration can again be easily seen, s and d. A long vowel o from »God« dies into short o in »swords«, which releases some tension in order to reinforce it again with »clash«.IIIHell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!»Grant« is a noch more loudable than »Hell«, thus I marked it. Fairly loud start, first three words, a quick downbeat, »we hear«, again is stressed to recall the last line of previous stanza and the last the two words reaffirm it.And the shrill neighs of destriers in battle rejoicing,A surprising calm line, with an ending downbeat, as we will find out, server as a »calm before the storm«.Spiked breast to spiked breast opposing!Anaphora. Energetic and brisk, mimicing the battle, and the long word »opposing« almost provides relief, sound-wise.Better one hour's stour than a year's peaceVowel o in phrase »one hour´s stour« and the sound »our« make an internal rhyme, both syllables stressed. If I cut the line in half, a profound symmetry can be seen, if one hurried and pronounces better as a stressed first syllable, and silent ending, better- than, one –a , hour´s stour – year´s peace. »Ou« ( assonance ) vs »ea«. What »r« has in the first phrase, »s« has in the second, »year´s peace ( as s )«.The line, with climax in the middle, has a downbeat.With fat boards, bawds, wine and frail music!The line is much less violent and audible as it depicts peace, boredom,.. There are not such loud stresses as in the previous, like »hour's stour«, my markings are much more uncertain. But, we can see alliterations with »b« and »d«, then »w«, which provide the line a needed connection with sound, as intensitiy of it is somewhat constant.Bah! there's no wine like the blood's crimson!A little upgrade tonality-wise from the previous line, with the strongest stess on wine, as the word repeats.IVAnd I love to see the sun rise blood-crimson.As noted, since we struck bottom with the line »with fat boards, bawdsm wine and frail music«, the intensity is augmenting, thus the whole line is more strident, and the stressed blurry.And I watch his spears through the dark clashAn iteresting sound-play with the phrase »dark clash«, k repeats, the word dark has tone-wise a definite structure, abrupt, starting with d, ending with k. Clash, on the other hand, is soft, undiefined, ending with »sh«. And the »k« sound seems less formed, softer, more unsure. »A« connects them, and provides a pivot to make these distinctions.And it fills all my heart with rejoicingAnd pries wide my mouth with fast musicStresses in the first phrase »pries wide«, is linked with long i vowel, and then three m alliteration, my ( loud, but not as much as surronding words ), mouth, music.When I see him so scorn and defy peace,His lone might 'gainst all darkness opposing.VThe man who fears war and squats opposingDefinite upbeat in ferocity and vigour, beside »r« alliteration, consonats f and w.My words for stour, hath no blood of crimsonRepeating »w«, here and in the next lines.But is fit only to rot in womanish peace»War, words, womanish,..«Far from where worth's won and the swords clashAgain, »w«, and in each case, »o« follows. »Wo«.For the death of such sluts I go rejoicing;Sound of »such sluts«, s and u.Yea, I fill all the air with my music.VIPapiols, Papiols, to the music!There's no sound like to swords swords opposing,Indeed, there is no such sound. The repeating »o« throughout the line, the anaphora, and alliteration with »s«, 7xS in a line; alliterations with »d«.No cry like the battle's rejoicingWhen our elbows and swords drip the crimsonAlliterations, »w«, »d«.And our charges 'gainst "The Leopard's" rush clash.Climax of the line is, no doubt, in »rush clash«, with heavy stresses and »sh« alliteration.May God damn for ever all who cry "Peace!"I shall note that the middle »damn« is the loudest, and the »Peace« at the end, while it stands out, is not that loud, as, while it can be interpreted to be shouted in battle, we have to know the setting of the poem, in a castle, and, I think, the word is uttered with disdain.VIIAnd let the music of the swords make them crimson!Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!Hell blot black for always the thought "Peace!"Pointing out alliterations in phrase »blot black«.Losing words here is pointless, hearing the above recording will recite to you all that is needed, the sound and rhythm to create the atmosphere and delight of battle, and the life that emerges from it. There are mimics of sound, like the line “Spiked breast to spiked breast opposing, short heavy stresses like the blows of sword against sword and so forth.3. At the Heart O' MeA quick peek into Anglo-Saxon metrical content, the first of the three notable cases ( The Seafarer, Canto I ). One thing quickly noticed are compounds and kennings, from Old Englisg, Norse, German poetry, where a simple thing is described metaphorically and allusively. ( Wind – “enemy of the mast” ); from the poem:sea-coasts, Grey-Falcon, land-caressing, in-streams, whale-ways, chain-mail, many-twined, Middan-gard ( Old English for Earth )Another feature is a line cut in half, to get half-lines;The last stanza establishes a rhetorical sequence “what should avail me” as a half-line repeated five times. In this case the division between the two “halfs” comes logically, but, If we look at a picture above, last two lines, the logical pause comes before “with”. And if I return to the poem up, the trend continues, where the line is cut after “of” – Through the pale courses of / the land-caressing in-streams. The line flows here without stop;Don't make each line stop dead at the end, and then begin every next line with a heave. Let the beginning of the next line catch the rise of the rhythm wave, unless you want a definite longish pause. ( Pound, A retrospect ).The breaking of monotony, well, metronome, and Pound wishes to avoid this for all cost. One symptom of this strive for diversity are muted alliterations; Long the sea-coasts / cursed my Grey-Falcon, & Sapphire and emerald with / fine pearls between. Pound abandons strict Anglo-Saxon, where distinct line-cuts and strong alliteration, in order to modify and vary the rhythm. It is a hybrid, with archaic spellings and keening, where the clusters try to achieve spondaic & dactylic effects.And the cities gave me welcome/ and the fields free passage/ With ever one fear/ at the heart o´me.As we will, or at least I will try, draw some parallels with the language of The Seafarer and Canto I, the thematic effect the ( archaic ) language & rhythm has, as all the poems are thematically linked to the sea, and, well, wandering. All three poems have strong language-images, compounds, which further connect poems to the scene. Micheal here will agree; The style, of Old English Seafarer and Wanderer, and these modern approximations, certainly evoke some unique sensibility. This handling of Old English received both positive and negative responses, If we limit ourselves to the poem;The important point is that the first 'half-line' could be in a different metre from that of the second, and usually was. The fact that two half-lines could be and should be of different types meant that the total line was extremely varied and supple, within the rigid rules. (Christine Brooke-Rose in A ZBC of Ezra Pound (1971))Pound´s view of Anglo-Saxon verse greatly differs, as he viewed it as a “verse libre” in essence, as if we look at above picture, each “half-line” presents a picture, unique picture, therefore the rhythm ought to be different, and Pound never strictly stuck with customary Anglo-Saxon. Thus, she concludes: “without actually obeying the complicated Anglo-Saxon rules of scansion ... contrives nevertheless to remain close enough for absurdity”, for, in my opinion, wrong representation of what Pound was trying to do. Of course, if one compares the translation of The Seafarer, or the poem here, under strict set of rules, it ultimately fails. While I am in no way well-read to exactly point out the discrepancies, a short quote of Brook-Rose shall suffice: …serious faults such as alliterating on the fourth stress (which in Anglo-Saxon was always left non-alliterating, as a kind of neutral ground towards the next line); or alliterating on the same sound two lines running, or alliterating on one sound in the first half-line and on another, twice, in the second…Are these faults due to scholarly illiteracy or simply due to the freedom the translator possesses.( Micheal, correct me if I am wrong here), One of the best translations of Beowulf I have encountered, I shall say I have not encountered many, thus I shall await for more opinions, is writ by William Morris. It is full of such mistakes as Brooke calls out in Pound, and I think it is equally ludicrous so set two different languages to exact same standards. --- From William Morris translation, pointed out mistakes:[*] – alliterating on sound in the first half-line[+]- alliterating on the same sound, two lines running[#]- alliterating on the fourth stress( Information extracted from: Expressive metrics, The Content and Development of some prosodic principles in the poetry of Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, by J.D. Ballam )4. The ReturnAnother unconstant artistic rhythm. An elegy to the “Old Gods”, I cannot help myself here but to quote a line from of Milton:The lonely mountains o’er,And the resounding shore,A voice of weeping heard and loud lament;Edgèd with poplar pale,From haunted spring, and daleThe parting Genius is with sighing sent;With flower-inwoven tresses tornThe Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn.The most memorable of lines to me, where the same meter repeats three times in a row;Gods of the| winged| shoe/ With them the| silver| hounds/ sniffing the| trace of| air!This it at a half-point of the poem, a constant, telling elegy emerges. And notice the shift in tone. How before in the poem, as they return ( present ), week, tentative and slow, then this magnificent section follows, ending with how they were, swift, keen-scented, they were souls, souls of blood, where blood means life, compared to the later monotheistic religions.And those last lines, again with the shift in meter:Slow| on the leash/ pallied the| leash-men!The poem, overall, seems without centre ( to call the Yeatsian phrase ), it is fragmentary and unconstant. The simple phrase “ SEE, they return” is no voice of a happy man, and the sigh “ah” only reaffirms. And the meter of corresponds to that; See, they return, with a profound down-beat.The trouble in the pace and the uncertain/ wavering!The fist line of second stanza should be interesting in terms of how would you read it.See, they return, one, and by one, - OR - See, they return, one, and by oneWhat a significant difference, suddenly, from an elegy to a joyous tempo, but since I know the settings of the poem, the first sings better music. That mild stress on “and”, leaving the second “one” unstressed is sad, it hints a disappointment, as though they return by one (only ), not more. And, it again creates the climate of a down-beat, in contrast to the second version. It is a nigh perfect illustration of the importance of metre & reading to create the necessary climate.5. The Seafarer & Various sections from The Cantos + Miscellaneous observationsA quick foreword to the section. It is specially challenging, to write meter for these poems, as any general prosodic structures that you introduce tent to stick, so a default application of iambic pentameter or tetrameter is out of the question, or any other strict di-/tri- syllabic brackets. Above all else, you have to stand firmly on your own reading, the meaning, the speculation of intended meaning and so forth. With ears open, let´s proceed.Firstly, Alliterative meter ( for the Seafarer and Canto I ), if we slightly unpack it; two half-lines, or two parts of the line, or a caesura in the middle of the line. Two beats on each side with indefinite amount of unstressed syllables:Lordly men are to earth o'ergiven & Nor eat the sweet| nor feel the sorry…And with more unstressed syllables: Nor winsomeness to wife, nor world's delight.Beside two beats, they have to contain the same consonants, hence alliterative. In above case, “Nor winsomeness to wife, nor world's delight.” – This is Poundian rendition. Whole text, to draw comparisons . It is imperfect, obviously, in many cases.Two stresses, two repeated alliterative sounds ( w w, winsomeness – wife; compare to the original, Pound´s rendition has more unstressed syllables, due to the cases, like in above example ) If we pick a line above ( 45 ), He hath not harp for harping nor in ring-having. Reader will soon find out that this is seriously condensed English, and the meaning sometime obtuse and hard to figure. Look at these three lines, 82-87:Delight mid the doughty.Days little durable,And all arrogance of earthen riches,There come now no kings nor CæsarsNor gold-giving lords like those gone.Or perhaps these ending lines:His born brothers, their buried bodiesBe an unlikely treasure hoard.Heart-lading ending...( A short answer about The Seafarer, dealing more about translation )Finally, Canto IAnd then went down to the ship,Set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea, andWe set up mast and sail on that swart ship,Bore sheep aboard her, and our bodies alsoHeavy with weeping, and winds from sternwardBore us onward with bellying canvas,Crice's this craft, the trim-coifed goddess.“Then” – “went” – “down” – “ship” → four stresses, we quickly spot alliteration with “t” and internal rhyme “en”, a short caesura, a downbeat and the last stressed forth ship is abrupt and provides a consonant for the opening of the next line, “set”.“forth on the godly sea” – see how both “forth” and “sea” have short vowels, and “godly” has long O, which makes clear and sound, as opposed the other two, which are, if I say so, indistinct and bleary. “Sea” also closes the circle “set established at the start, with “s” consonant. The second part of the line is much more smooth, mimicking the sea, while the “set keels to breakers” sounds mechanic, with the “on-the-ship” atmosphere. Conjunction “and” carries / transmits the force, and maintains the sense of narration.We set up mast and sail on that swart ship, the repetition of words, like set and ship, if one imagines, signify the wave-like movement.“Bore” – “aboard” – “bodies”, alliteration, internal rhyme, again.Canto VII, line 19-36The old men's voices beneath the columns of false marble,The modish and darkish walls,Discreeter gilding, and the panelled woodSuggested, for the leasehold isTouched with an imprecision about three squaresThe house too thick the paintingsa shade too oiled.And the great domed head, con gli occhi onesti e tardiMoves before me, phantom with weighted motion,Grave incessu, drinking the tone of things,And the old voice lifts itselfweaving an endless sentence.We also made ghostly visits, and the stairThat knew us, found us again on the turn of it,Knocking at empty rooms, seeking for buried beauty;But the sun-tanned, gracious and well-formed fingersLift no latch of bent bronze, no Empire handleTwists for the knocker's fall; no voice to answer.( Con gli occhi onesto e tardi – With eyes honest and slow, Purgatorio VI, 63 )Sections of both iambic ( “The house too thick the paintings “) and trochaic ( “weaving an endless sentence” ) . The use of consecutive stresses (“old men's voices”, “great domed head”, “sun-tanned, gracious”, “well-formed fingers” ) certainly bring weight to the table. I particularly like “no voice to answer.”, two iambs with a feminine ending, which provide a much needed downbeat.Canto 81, lines from 123-133;A perfect example of iambic pentameter, with a trochaic beginning, - Saw but the eyes and stance between the eyes.Some various and irregular meter continues, until, again, an iambic pentameter emerges, - Casting but shade beyond the other lights. After which, a ten syllable imagiste three line. Sky´s clear / night´s sea / green of the mountain pool. ( Whether the mountain as both syllables stressed is, I think, a matter of preference ). Spondee / spondee / dactyl and molossus or a spondee with masculine ending. The whole series is ended with a grouped stresses, - shone from the unmasked eyes in half-mask´s space. – while the line is decasyllabic, it has no hint of iambic pentameter, and is actively resisting it. And Pound is doing that often, writing decasyllabic lines polarly opposite.Pound´s idiosyncratic approach to meter opened the flood gates for later generations, and those gates are still open. Sadly, Pound never advocated chaos or un-metric poetry, which resulted from liberation. Pound merely reversed the order and ceased that practice of putting words into meter-boxes, and of course, shone light on some new techniques and sequences, like three short mono-syllabic consecutive stresses, abrupt spondaic endings, a spondee after caesura, rhythm through diversity, subtler use of alliteration, consonance and assonance, that is, in a more modern, “rough” tone than Renaissance and later Romantic & Victorian poetry. It may sound strange, but Pound´s meter is rational and in service of words & emotion, and not the other way around.I will probably make some clarifications and extensions before posting on TEB, and the text will be again reworked / upgraded. Oh, and yes, I will add some Crane-cream with a cherry at the end, categorize various sources,…Pound; Jan Špenko's answer to How would you describe the philosophy of your favorite poet?