English Literature / Unit 1 ENL 0015 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Sprung Rhythm
Captions available
The idea
Sprung rhythm is Gerard Manley Hopkins's name for a meter that counts stresses while letting the number of unstressed syllables vary, to imitate natural speech. Hopkins said he found it in folk songs, Shakespeare and Milton, and he marked stresses with accents where a reader might doubt them.
In practice
Fixed stresses, free light syllables.
Where people slip
Sprung rhythm is Hopkins's, and Victorian.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Unlocks
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