The art of scansion by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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The art of scansion by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a critical letter-essay on poetic meter and classical pronunciation, written in the early 19th century. It examines how English verse should be scanned in relation to Greek and Latin prosody, addressing accent, quantity, and rhythm. The likely topic is the principles of scansion and the expressive effects of different metrical feet in both classical and English poetry. The book presents a spirited letter
to Uvedale Price that contests prevailing views on pronouncing Greek and Latin and their impact on metre. Drawing on Marmontel’s distinction between dactyls and anapests, the author analyzes lines from Milton, Hesiod, Virgil, and Pope to show how rhythm conveys motion and force, and argues that English can naturally host choriambs and even pyrrhics, offering numerous examples from Milton, Byron, Shakespeare, Campbell, Anstey, and Cowper. She challenges claims about hexameter openings, cites Lucretius and Greek epic for counterexamples, and probes Latin accent rules (Donatus, Quintilian) to expose inconsistencies in strict accentual systems. Throughout, she balances technical rigor with wit—defending expressive readings, objecting to ungainly elisions, and even playfully rebuking a slight to “Will o’ the wisp”—before closing with cordial personal remarks. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 1806-1861 |
|---|---|
| Author of introduction, etc. | Meynell, Alice, 1847-1922 |
| Author of introduction, etc. | Shorter, Clement King, 1857-1926 |
| Other | Price, Uvedale, Sir, 1747-1829 |
| LoC No. | 59056008 |
| Title | The art of scansion |
| Original Publication | London: Clement Shorter, 1916. |
| Note | "A letter from Elizabeth Barrett, afterwards Mrs. Browning, to Uvedale Price, afterwards Sir Uvedale Price, bart." |
| Credits | Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PE: Language and Literatures: English |
| Subject | English language -- Versification |
| Subject | Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 1806-1861 -- Correspondence |
| Subject | Latin language -- Metrics and rhythmics |
| Subject | Greek language -- Metrics and rhythmics |
| Subject | Price, Uvedale, Sir, 1747-1829 -- Correspondence |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78519 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-78519-6 |
| Release Date | Apr 21, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 320 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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