An In-Depth Exploration Which Might Well-Resolve John Barton’s ‘Haunting’ Sense of Failure
Posted in September 2021
A Detailed Article with Four Sets of Companion Documents
by Kate Reese Hurd
In my writing for my fellow members of the Eurythmy Association of North America (EANA), I have mentioned several times the poetic-metrical structure of pentameter in Shakespeare’s sonnets and in the works of other poets, such as John Keats and Geoffrey Chaucer. The complex and subtle musicality of this poetic meter is truly amazing. If we really experience and understand the dynamics of this structure and its shaping forces, it will reveal to us how to speak lines of pentameter such that we bring their full poetic-musical quality to life. And this applies, of course, not only to the speaking of works in pentameter, but also to their expression in eurythmy – this art in which poems and music are to be expressed in movement as an objective reflection of the elements within the pieces themselves. Shakespeare not only wrote sonnets in pentameter: he also wrote the substance of his plays in it – the unrhymed pentameter known as blank verse. And the power of this poetic structure will guide us in unfolding these lines, too, with remarkable diversity, power, nuance, color and clarity.
John Barton – referenced here in the title – was co-founder together with Peter Hall of the Royal Shakespeare Company in England and was for many years associate director. Despite the wonderful success they achieved, in a series of films which Barton and the Company made between 1979 and 1984, he expressed “a bit of a sense of failure” in the outcome of their staging of the plays. And he went on to say, “I suppose I feel a particular sense of failure when I talk about Shakespeare’s poetry. It’s a problem that’s haunted me over the years, and which I’ve never really solved. When I read a Shakespeare text, I’m moved and stirred by the power and the resonance of individual lines.” He was referring to the text of the plays as well as of the sonnets.
When I began this article, I did not realize that what I was experiencing in the vibrant phenomenon of pentameter was in fact that special ‘something’ that John Barton himself had felt was lacking in his absolutely-devoted work with the scripts of the Bard. I did not know of his experience. But now I gently offer these findings to all Shakespeare enthusiasts as a resolution of his sense of lack, in the event that you share it. May you feel relief in what this poetic-musical structure confers upon the work. For when it unfolds and holds sway it gives a resounding Yes! in answer to the question, “Can this cockpit hold…?” (Henry V, Prologue to the play) – not just the ‘cockpit’ of the theatre and its stage, but of the verse itself. A fellow eurythmist said that this pentameter pulse-structure feels like the banks of a river for the speaking: it holds the living pictures and carries the ‘water’ of the lines of blank verse forward through the plays. I find that Barton’s use of the word “haunting” is quite appropriate; for this pentameter structure (Rudolf Steiner would in German call this its ‘Gebilde’) is not present on the page or in the words themselves, but informs them as an invisible, inaudible reality which can nevertheless be discovered, as I discuss in this article.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Some Definitions to Set the Stage
Context and Background for the Exploration
The Beautifully Rich and Lawful Structure Emerges
Blank Verse, Too! Plus Other Considerations
Necessities For Success in Exploring and Expressing
the Complexities of the Pentameter Structure
Really Living and Moving in Pentameter
Why We Miss the Structure: Weight vs. Duration,
Prepositions and Conjunctions, Punctuation,
Run-ons, Pauses and Shared Lines
Confirmation: Signs of the Structure Breaking Through
Does Anything Need to Hold Us Back? No!
References, Endnotes and About the Author
Four well-known passages of Shakespeare’s blank verse from his plays, prepared in light of their poetic-musical pentameter structure, serve as follow-up companions to the article:
- Prologue, “O for a Muse of fire,” Henry V
- Gertrude, the Queen, “There is a willow,” Hamlet, Act IV:vii, l. 162ff
- Romeo and Juliet, “But soft, what light,” Romeo and Juliet, Act II:ii
- King Leontes, “Inch thick, knee deep… Go play, boy, play,” The Winter’s Tale, Act I:ii,l. 185ff
For each of these, three versions are provided: one is plain, with room to make your own markings when working with the script; one is annotated with the pulse and word-rhythms that I have settled on, and the third has speech sounds marked in addition – the end result of my work so far, offered as suggestions to compare with your own findings of the vowel and consonant repetitions, sounds of importance to the shaping of the lines, and reminders of the actual sound that is spoken regardless of the spelling. Markings for the vowels only point them up and are not intended to be phonetically-accurate. The actual soundings will of course vary according to one’s regional accent. The markings are also not meant to replicate Elizabethan English – may we each do our own research toward that!
Wishing you many blessings on your journey,
Kate Reese Hurd
karehuuu@gmail.com
The article for download:
MusicalPentameter,Shakespeare’sPaces,KateReeseHurd,091621
The four companion documents for download:
HenryV,Prologue,”O for a Muse of fire,”Annotated,KRH,091621
Gertrude,Hamlet,IV:vii,”One woe,”Annotated,KRH,091621
Romeo, II:ii,“But soft,”Annotated,KRH,091621
Leontes,Winter’sTale,I:ii,”Go play, boy, play,”Annotated,KRH,091621