ABSTRACT
This chapter, based on the last two, proposes a frame theory of rhythm, using a grid to depict duration on the horizontal axis and intensity of emphasis on the vertical axis. It does so via a discussion of the blank verse sonnet then moves into a discussion of frame theory and its application to poetic rhythm. The prosodic pattern is distilled into a simple grid used to describe and analyze free verse rhythms. In particular, the grid is used to ‘measure the line’ of free verse. Not only the way that phonetics and syntax contribute to the measure of the line, but also the place of whole word within the line (sometimes with a single word constituting the line itself), is discussed. Further examples are provided of the system in use, and then the chapter pans out again to consider the use of free verse by Gary Snyder.
