Shakespeare's Metrical Art

by George Thaddeus Wright

This is a wide-ranging, poetic analysis of the great English poetic line, iambic pentameter, as used by Chaucer, Sidney, Milton, and particularly by Shakespeare. George T. Wright offers a detailed survey of Shakespeare's brilliantly varied metrical keyboard and shows how it augments the expressiveness of his characters' stage language.

Genres: Shakespeare, Writing, Nonfiction, Poetry, Criticism, Plays

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Tom Delise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the bible for those interested in learning all there is to learn about poetic scansion.

[Harper Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

“And I said, with rapture, Here is something I can study all my life, and never understand.” The epigraph is from Beckett. This book, by a poet, is a sensitive study, which is never pedantic. Every poet and poetry lover should study it closely.

[Angelina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the very relevant explanations for things I'd noticed in Shakespeare but not understood and things I hadn't consciously noticed but my ear had caught as significant. While I don't think you can make hard and fast rules about things Shakespeare does metrically always meaning the exact same thing, I think discussing recurring patterns is interesting and gives you a richer experience with reading the Bard.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me two times to read if before I stopped over thinking and understood. So helpful. But quite the metric breakdown of Shakespeare

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blank verse is uniquely versatile long-line form. Although a long line, it isn’t symmetrical (like a hexameter or octometer) so it doesn’t easily lend itself to being divided into two equal halves (and thus becoming two tetrameters). Yet it isn’t so long that you can’t say it in one breath. And as a long-line (non-lyric/song) form it is also flexible enough to express a wide range of moods and emotions, from philosophical questions to anguish.

I learned more about the craft of writing poetry here than from any other book or person. It is a meticulous, exacting review of blank verse from its origins in English up to Shakespeare (and briefly Milton). Blank verse grew and changed over that time (and continues to evolve). For poets, this book opens a veritable box of tools to be considered.

This is for the hearty few who actually spend time counting syllables in poetry. If that’s your thing (god bless you), this is the book for you. If not, there’s nothing to see here.