{"id":2030,"date":"2021-09-17T14:38:24","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T18:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eana.org\/?p=2030"},"modified":"2021-09-17T22:23:35","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T02:23:35","slug":"revealing-the-music-of-pentameter-putting-shakespeare-through-his-paces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eana.org\/wordpress\/revealing-the-music-of-pentameter-putting-shakespeare-through-his-paces\/","title":{"rendered":"Revealing the Music of Pentameter: Putting Shakespeare Through His Paces"},"content":{"rendered":"

An In-Depth Exploration Which Might Well-Resolve<\/strong> John Barton\u2019s \u2018Haunting\u2019 Sense of Failure<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Posted in September 2021
A Detailed Article with Four Sets of Companion Documents
by Kate Reese Hurd<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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\u2019s 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 \u2013 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 \u2013 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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

John Barton \u2013 referenced here in the title \u2013 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 \u201ca bit of a sense of failure\u201d in the outcome of their staging of the plays. And he went on to say, \u201cI suppose I feel a particular sense of failure when I talk about Shakespeare\u2019s poetry. It\u2019s a problem that\u2019s haunted me over the years, and which I\u2019ve never really solved. When I read a Shakespeare text, I\u2019m moved and stirred by the power and the resonance of individual lines.\u201d He was referring to the text of the plays as well as of the sonnets.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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 \u2018something\u2019 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, \u201cCan this cockpit hold\u2026?\u201d (Henry V<\/em>, Prologue to the play) \u2013 not just the \u2018cockpit\u2019 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 \u2018water\u2019 of the lines of blank verse forward through the plays. I find that Barton\u2019s use of the word \u201chaunting\u201d is quite appropriate; for this pentameter structure<\/em> (Rudolf Steiner would in German call this its \u2018Gebilde\u2019) 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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Some Definitions to Set the Stage
Context and Background for the Exploration
The Beautifully Rich and Lawful Structure Emerges
\r\n\r\nBlank Verse, Too! Plus Other Considerations
Necessities For Success in Exploring and Expressing
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the Complexities of the Pentameter Structure
Really Living and Moving in Pentameter
Why We Miss the Structure: Weight vs. Duration,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Prepositions and Conjunctions, Punctuation,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Run-ons, Pauses and Shared Lines\u00a0
Confirmation: Signs of the Structure Breaking Through
Does Anything Need to Hold Us Back? No!
\r\n\r\n References, Endnotes and About the Author<\/p>\r\n

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Four well-known passages of Shakespeare\u2019s blank verse from his plays, prepared in light of their poetic-musical pentameter structure, serve as follow-up companions to the article:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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  1. Prologue, \u201cO for a Muse of fire,\u201d Henry V<\/em> \r\n\r\n<\/li>\r\n
  2. Gertrude, the Queen, \u201cThere is a willow,\u201d Hamlet<\/em>, Act IV:vii, l. 162ff \r\n\r\n<\/li>\r\n
  3. Romeo and Juliet, \u201cBut soft, what light,\u201d Romeo and Juliet<\/em>, Act II:ii \r\n\r\n<\/li>\r\n
  4. King Leontes, \u201cInch thick, knee deep\u2026 Go play, boy, play,\u201d The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em>, Act I:ii,l. 185ff<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    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 \u2013 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.\u00a0 The actual soundings will of course vary according to one\u2019s regional accent. The markings are also not meant to replicate Elizabethan English \u2013 may we each do our own research toward that!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Wishing you many blessings on your journey,
    Kate Reese Hurd
    karehuuu@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n

    The article for download:
    MusicalPentameter,Shakespeare\u2019sPaces,KateReeseHurd,091621<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n

    The four companion documents for download:
    HenryV,Prologue,\u201dO for a Muse of fire,\u201dAnnotated,KRH,091621<\/a>
    Gertrude,Hamlet,IV:vii,\u201dOne woe,\u201dAnnotated,KRH,091621<\/a>
    Romeo, II:ii,\u201cBut soft,\u201dAnnotated,KRH,091621<\/a>
    Leontes,Winter\u2019sTale,I:ii,\u201dGo play, boy, play,\u201dAnnotated,KRH,091621<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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     <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    An In-Depth Exploration Which Might Well-Resolve John Barton\u2019s \u2018Haunting\u2019 Sense of Failure Posted in September 2021A Detailed Article with Four Sets of Companion Documentsby Kate Reese Hurd In my writing for my fellow members of the Eurythmy Association of North … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artistic-eurythmy"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 15:57:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eana.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eana.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eana.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eana.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eana.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2030"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/eana.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2048,"href":"https:\/\/eana.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030\/revisions\/2048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eana.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eana.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eana.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}