Greetings,

I've been working on Oliver Wendell Holmes's "The Chambered Nautilus":

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44379/the-chambered-nautilus

The poem is in iambic meter and has five stanzas with lines of varying foot
length, in the pattern 5-3-3-5-5-3-6, and with the rhyme scheme aabbbcc.
Numerous lines begin with an undeniable trochaic substitution in the first
foot, which is pretty normal in metered verse. I also find a number of lines
where the first foot appears to be pyrrhic and the second spondaic -- e.g.:

"on the / SWEET SUMM / er WIND / its PUR / pled WINGS" (stanza 1)
"where its / DIM DREAM / ing LIFE / was WONT / to DWELL" (stanza 2)
"as the / FRAIL TEN / ant SHAPED / his GROW / ing SHELL" (stanza 2)
"from thy / DEAD LIPS / a CLEAR / er NOTE / is BORN" (stanza 4)
"through the / DEEP CAVES / of THOUGHT / i HEAR / a VOICE / that SINGS"
"as the / SWIFT SEA / sons ROLL" (stanza 5)

I'm pretty sure you'll agree with my judgement about those, but I'd thought
I'd mention them, just to be sure. What I'm fascinated by is two lines where
the third foot appears to be pyrrhic with a caesura (pause) between the
first and the second unstressed syllable in the foot. Below are the two lines
in question. If I'm perceiving this correctly, is this fairly standard practice?

"in GULFS / en CHAN / ted || where / the SI / ren SINGS" (stanza 1)
"SHUT thee / from HEA / ven || with / a DOME | more VAST" (stanza 5)

That is my main question; however, since I've already bundled the pyrrhic-
spondee combinations into the post, I'll add one last sub-question to the
package. The last two lines of the third stanza seem to me to begin with
a phrasal verb (verb + particle) and a normal verb + preposition,
respectively. I do not view "stretched in" as a phrasal verb, as I do "built up":

"built UP / its I / dle DOOR
STRETCHED in | its LAST- / found HOME, / and KNEW / the OLD / no MORE"

Would you agree with those judgments?

Thank you.

On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 12:49:02 AM UTC-7, Metrist2021 wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> I've been working on Oliver Wendell Holmes's "The Chambered Nautilus":
....

> I'm pretty sure you'll agree with my judgement about those, but I'd thought
> I'd mention them, just to be sure. What I'm fascinated by is two lines where
> the third foot appears to be pyrrhic with a caesura (pause) between the
> first and the second unstressed syllable in the foot. Below are the two lines
> in question. If I'm perceiving this correctly, is this fairly standard practice?
>
> "in GULFS / en CHAN / ted || where / the SI / ren SINGS" (stanza 1)
> "SHUT thee / from HEA / ven || with / a DOME | more VAST" (stanza 5)

Standard-ish?

"The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,"

"Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast"

"Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd"

"Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,"

> That is my main question; however, since I've already bundled the pyrrhic-
> spondee combinations into the post, I'll add one last sub-question to the
> package. The last two lines of the third stanza seem to me to begin with
> a phrasal verb (verb + particle) and a normal verb + preposition,
> respectively. I do not view "stretched in" as a phrasal verb, as I do "built up":
>
> "built UP / its I / dle DOOR
> STRETCHED in | its LAST- / found HOME, / and KNEW / the OLD / no MORE"
>
> Would you agree with those judgments?

Yes, at least partly because you can build your idle door up,
but you can't stretch your last-found home in.

--
Jerry Friedman

On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 1:49:08 PM UTC-7, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 12:49:02 AM UTC-7, Metrist2021 wrote:
> > Greetings,
> >
> > I've been working on Oliver Wendell Holmes's "The Chambered Nautilus":
> ...
> > I'm pretty sure you'll agree with my judgement about those, but I'd thought
> > I'd mention them, just to be sure. What I'm fascinated by is two lines where
> > the third foot appears to be pyrrhic with a caesura (pause) between the
> > first and the second unstressed syllable in the foot. Below are the two lines
> > in question. If I'm perceiving this correctly, is this fairly standard practice?
> >
> > "in GULFS / en CHAN / ted || where / the SI / ren SINGS" (stanza 1)
> > "SHUT thee / from HEA / ven || with / a DOME | more VAST" (stanza 5)
> Standard-ish?
>
> "The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,"
>
> "Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast"
>
> "Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd"
>
> "Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,"

"Slight is the subject, but not so the praise"

"The silver token, and the circled green"

"Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive"

"When music softens, and when dancing fires?"

Those four are from "The Rape of the Lock".

--
Jerry Friedman

On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 12:49:08 PM UTC-8, Jerry Friedman wrote:
.. . .
> but you can't stretch your last-found home in.

Even if you're a mollusk who's just crawled into a new chamber of your spiral shell? ;-)

On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 1:40:04 PM UTC-8, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 1:49:08 PM UTC-7, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> > On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 12:49:02 AM UTC-7, Metrist2021 wrote:
> > > Greetings,
> > >
> > > I've been working on Oliver Wendell Holmes's "The Chambered Nautilus":
> > ...
> > > I'm pretty sure you'll agree with my judgement about those, but I'd thought
> > > I'd mention them, just to be sure. What I'm fascinated by is two lines where
> > > the third foot appears to be pyrrhic with a caesura (pause) between the
> > > first and the second unstressed syllable in the foot. Below are the two lines
> > > in question. If I'm perceiving this correctly, is this fairly standard practice?
> > >
> > > "in GULFS / en CHAN / ted || where / the SI / ren SINGS" (stanza 1)
> > > "SHUT thee / from HEA / ven || with / a DOME | more VAST" (stanza 5)
> > Standard-ish?
> >
> > "The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,"
> >
> > "Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast"
> >
> > "Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd"
> >
> > "Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,"
> "Slight is the subject, but not so the praise"
>
> "The silver token, and the circled green"
>
> "Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive"
>
> "When music softens, and when dancing fires?"
>
> Those four are from "The Rape of the Lock".

Thank you so much, Jerry. You have been, as always, a wonderful help to me.
Regarding the examples from Gray's "Elegy," your adducing them here is causing
me to rethink my mental performance of those lines as I strive to keep the poem alive in
memory. I've been assuming a straightforward, substitution-less iambic reading of
those lines, by stressing "or," "that," "but," and "and," respectively (unnaturally).

BTW, "The Rape of the Lock" is on my reading list; I haven't read it yet. I'm happy
to report that my interest in prosody has not waned but only grown stronger. This
week it got a major boost when I received a very special work in the mail from an
antique bookstore in Germany: George Saintsbury's three-volume "A History of
English Prosody." Magnificent volumes. Now I just need to read them (a project)!

>
> --
> Jerry Friedman

On 3/10/2022 2:33 AM, Metrist2021 wrote:
> Jerry Friedman wrote:
> . . .
>> but you can't stretch your last-found home in.

> Even if you're a mollusk who's just crawled into a new chamber of your spiral shell? ;-)

You can stretch out in it, if there's room.

CDB <bellemarecd@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 3/10/2022 2:33 AM, Metrist2021 wrote:
> > Jerry Friedman wrote:
> > . . .
> >> but you can't stretch your last-found home in.
>
> > Even if you're a mollusk who's just crawled into a new chamber of your
> > spiral shell? ;-)
>
> You can stretch out in it, if there's room.

You make room by stretching, in that way of life,

Jan

On Thursday, March 10, 2022 at 4:36:47 AM UTC-8, CDB wrote:
> On 3/10/2022 2:33 AM, Metrist2021 wrote:
> > Jerry Friedman wrote:
> > . . .
> >> but you can't stretch your last-found home in.
>
> > Even if you're a mollusk who's just crawled into a new chamber of your spiral shell? ;-)

> You can stretch out in it, if there's room.

Now you're just being naughtylus.

bill

On Thursday, March 10, 2022 at 12:36:53 PM UTC-8, bil...@shaw.ca wrote:
> On Thursday, March 10, 2022 at 4:36:47 AM UTC-8, CDB wrote:
> > On 3/10/2022 2:33 AM, Metrist2021 wrote:
> > > Jerry Friedman wrote:
> > > . . .
> > >> but you can't stretch your last-found home in.
> >
> > > Even if you're a mollusk who's just crawled into a new chamber of your spiral shell? ;-)
>
> > You can stretch out in it, if there's room.
> Now you're just being naughtylus.

Speaking of which, a feature of the poem just came to light for
me as all five stanzas finally jelled in my memory this afternoon:

"Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past-year's dwelling for the new, . . .
[. . .]
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more."

When you're just listening to the poem, of course, there is no
audible difference between "new" and "knew." I wonder if Holmes
intended "knew the old no more" as a play on words. It's almost
as if it reads "new the old no more" -- the old not being new anymore. : )

Incidentally, for those who may remember a thread I started here two or
three months ago, Holmes uses a dog's bollocks in the penultimate stanza.

On 3/10/2022 9:42 AM, J. J. Lodder wrote:
> CDB <bellemarecd@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Metrist2021 wrote:
>>> Jerry Friedman wrote: . . .
>>>> but you can't stretch your last-found home in.

>>> Even if you're a mollusk who's just crawled into a new chamber of
>>> your spiral shell? ;-)

>> You can stretch out in it, if there's room.

> You make room by stretching, in that way of life,

No doubt you're right, but that doesn't seem to be how OWHSr saw it.

"Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more."

On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 1:40:04 PM UTC-8, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 1:49:08 PM UTC-7, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> > On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 12:49:02 AM UTC-7, Metrist2021 wrote:
> > > Greetings,
> > >
> > > I've been working on Oliver Wendell Holmes's "The Chambered Nautilus":
> > ...
> > > I'm pretty sure you'll agree with my judgement about those, but I'd thought
> > > I'd mention them, just to be sure. What I'm fascinated by is two lines where
> > > the third foot appears to be pyrrhic with a caesura (pause) between the
> > > first and the second unstressed syllable in the foot. Below are the two lines
> > > in question. If I'm perceiving this correctly, is this fairly standard practice?
> > >
> > > "in GULFS / en CHAN / ted || where / the SI / ren SINGS" (stanza 1)
> > > "SHUT thee / from HEA / ven || with / a DOME | more VAST" (stanza 5)
> > Standard-ish?
> >
> > "The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,"
> >
> > "Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast"
> >
> > "Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd"
> >
> > "Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,"
> "Slight is the subject, but not so the praise"
>
> "The silver token, and the circled green"
>
> "Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive"
>
> "When music softens, and when dancing fires?"
>
> Those four are from "The Rape of the Lock".
>

I'd be very interested to know if you see the same thing in this passage from
Book Two of Milton's _Paradise Lost_, lines 257-261 (from Mammon's speech):

[. . .] "Our GREAT / ness WILL / app EAR
then MOST / con SPIC / cuous || when / GREAT THINGS / of SMALL,
USE ful / of HURT / ful, || PROS / p'rous OF / ad VERSE
we CAN / cre ATE, || / and IN / what PLACE / so E'RE
THRIVE un / der E / vil, || and / work EASE / outof PAIN
through LA / bour AND / en DUR / ance. [. . .]"

In case it's unclear, I'm using slashes to separate feet, capital letters for stressed
syllables, and two vertical lines for caesuras. I use a space between prosodically
realized syllables. In the case of "cuous" and "outof," I am postulating "contractions."
The specific line I mean to ask about in this follow-up is the one beginning with "THRIVE."