Dear JP, What syllable are you giving the second stress? One cannot say "Th'in TOL er A ble SHIRT of FLAME." No one would stress the "a," so I am still unclear how this is meant. I do not think any implied meter can be assumed to call for stressing a sound no English speaker would ever hear or say with stress. Nancy Date sent: Thu, 2 Jan 2003 10:49:03 -0600 Send reply to: "T. S. Eliot Discussion forum." <[log in to unmask]> From: "Earls, JP" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Meter in LG IV/208 To: [log in to unmask] I agree here with Greg, except that I hear a common hymnodic elision between "the" and "intolerable," sometimes printed as "th' in" or with a half-moon sort of thing linking the "e" to the "in," hence _ / _ / _ / _ / "Th' in tol er a ble shirt of flame" Not that it would actually be *read* that way, but that is the implied meter ticking behind it, by my reckoning. Also, I don't think anyone pointed out that the first stanza has a strongly implied tetrameter scansion (using a "feminine" final foot on second and fourth lines (terror/error), but also having the trimeter third line "Of which the tongues declare." J. P. Earls, OSB St. John' University Collegeville, MN 56321 -----Original Message----- From: D.Gregory Griffith [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, January 01, 2003 12:37 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Meter in LG IV/208 As I look at the way my post has come back to me, I'd like to appologize for the scan marks being skewed from the lines of the poem--that's not what it looked like as I transmitted it. Rather than resubmit the entire post hoping it will come out the way I want, I'll let the majority stand and offer a correction on the line I had difficulties with. Line four in my opinion should read: _ _ / _ / _ / _ / The intol era ble shirt of flame Rather than: _ _ / _ _ _ / _ / The intol erable shirt of flame Hope this one flies! --Greg--