Marcia,
No problem on the sequence of the posts; it's good to know
someone agrees with my own attempts, or at least has a similar
view and method. It's also nice to see another take on that
tricky fourth line! Again, I don't hear it the way I scanned it,
but I don't quite elide a syllable in "intolerable" when I speak
it, though I know I've heard many people pronounce it as a four
syllable word. Your own scan of four seems closer than mine,
but I'm a bit uncomfortable with "shirt" receiving no stress.
What do you think of this as a possibility:
_ _ / _ _ / / _ /
The intol era ble shirt of flame
It does technically depart from the meter, or change its identity
as you put it in a previous post, and it offers two less frequently
used feet in English--a pyrrhic followed by a spondee--and one
after the other seems very rare indeed, but no possibility seems
absolute to me at this point, so I'm experimenting.
Marcia Karp wrote:
> Dear Greg,
> I seem to following in your feet. I didn't mean to ignore your
> post--I didn't see it until I'd sent mine off. Thanks for pointing out
> the problem with transmission of the accents. Here's my attempt to keep
> the marks in line:
>
> ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ /
> The intolerable shirt of flame [GJ]
> ~ ~ / ~ ~ / ~ /
> The intolerable shirt of flame [MSK]
>
> It is an interesting verse.
>
> Marcia
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