Epic Poetry ... poem/read dynamic

[Jasper Fidget]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tim Strzechowski [mailto:dedalus204 at comcast.net]
> 
> Jasper, I know what you mean.  For me at least (and I don't wish to propel
> this thread further from N and P as maybe the Milton discussion did), the
> *only* poet I've encountered who could make heroic couplets flow smoothly
> without that artificial quality is Pope. Others may very well disagree,
> but
> Pope's couplets are about as perfect as any poet can hope to make them!
> 
> You specify English.  I'd be interested in knowing if that artificial
> quality to rhyming is typical of rhyme in other languages, as well.  I'm
> certain it is, and not unique to our language.


English is the worst culprit of the languages I'm familiar with (which could
simply be an effect of limited exposure).  German maybe has a touch of it --
take for example Goethe's classic "Ein Gleiches":

Über allen Gipfeln 
Ist Ruh,
In allen Wipfeln
Spürest du
Kaum einen Hauch;
Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde.
Warte nur, balde
Ruhest du auch.

French I think has more subtle sounds, so the rhymes don't stand out in the
same way -- from Verlaine's "La Bonne Chanson":

O triste, triste était mon âme
A cause, à cause d'une femme.

Je ne me suis pas consolé
Bien que mon coeur s'en soit allé,

Bien que mon coeur, bien que mon âme
Eussent fui loin de cette femme,

Je ne me suis pas consolé,
Bien que mon coeur s'en soit allé. 

Et mon coeur, mon coeur trop sensible
Dit à mon âme: Est-il possible,


The more I think about it, it has to be iambs and other stress forms that
cause it.  Syllabic verse like that found in Romance languages seems better
suited for rhyming.  I don't have any Russian, so I can only wonder if it
has the same awkwardness?

Jasper