Harvard Psychological Studies Part 51

I. 5 (34).

II. 34 lag 34 34 34 34 34.

If the lag does not break the verse, the subject should hear the close of the verse at the end of the fifth foot in II. If the verse is broken he should ignore the first foot and make a new verse, ending with the sixth foot.

J. Iamb. tet. 1st pause of verse, max. pos. lag 9 3d 7 L. 1st 9 3d 7 R. 1st 11 3d 9 G. 1st 9 3d 7 Mi. 1st 10 3d 8 B. 1st 7 H. 1st 10 3d 6

Later, in the attempt to determine natural divisions, or nodes in the verse, the following were determined:

L. Max. pos. lags in f. p. of iamb. pent. in order 8 13 9 6 G. 10 11 9 8 Mi. 15 18 17 14 Me. 7.5 13 9.5 6 R. 9 9 11 7 B. 12 8 15 7 H. 7.5 8 10 7

B. Max pos. lags in dac. let., cat., in order 12 16 8 S. 10 11 7 Mc. 7 10 6 G. 11 11 7 L. 19 16 7 H. 7 6 4

This shows that an irregularity in the time intervals may be greater in the earlier than in the later part of the verse. This last table is further evidence of the increased exactness of the rhythmic perception at the close of the verse. As far as nodes are concerned, they show clearly two types: (1) A node after the second foot (L., G., Mi., Mc.) and (2) a node after the third foot (R., B., H.). For the tetrameter there is some indication in the cases of B., S. and Mc., but the other cases are negative and further evidence is needed.

With three of the subjects, Mi., J. and K., it was not always possible to get records of the maximum lag, since it was impossible to define the verse unity. When this was unbroken it was the unanimous testimony of the subjects, corroborated by their unconscious movements, that there was a feeling of tension during the lag. But the subjects just referred to got a type of unity, and there was no tension. The lags were indefinite and very long (35-90). This unity must be of the same kind as the unity of the stanza, which includes long expressional pauses, as well as rhythmic verse pauses.

If a subject is asked to fall in at the beginning of a rhythmic series his first attempts are decidedly incoordinated. His earliest reactions follow the clicks which they are intended to represent, but presently the series of motor impulses generated by the sounds and the voluntary movements which the subject makes fuse into a voluntary type of reaction in which the cycle has become automatic and definite, and the clicks take their proper places as cooperating and controlling factors along with the motor cues of the process itself. The accuracy of the judgments of time, if such judgments be made, or the estimation of the likeness of the groups, depends on the definiteness with which movement sensations follow each other in a regular series.

The following experiments (Table I.) concern the perception of a lag in different parts not of a verse but of a stanza. It was a question, namely, whether a lag in the first rhythmic series (first verse) which establishes the motor cycle in the subject would be detected in the later rhythmic series (later verses of the stanza) after the motor cycle in the subject has been inaugurated. This responsive motor cycle should itself, of course, contain the lag given with the first rhythmic series.

A stanza of the form of A (Table I.) was clicked out by the instrument, but the subject had no clue as to the regularity or irregularity of any verse. The stanza was repeated as often as the subject wished, but not without a pause of a few moments between each repet.i.tion.

TABLE I.

THE INFLUENCE OF A LAG IN THE FIRST VERSE ON THE JUDGMENT OF IDENTICAL LAGS IN LATER VERSES.

A. Stanza given: I. 34 34 35 34 p. 7-9 II. " " " " "

III. " " " " "

In 14 cases the following was reported:

I. Lag noted.

II. " not noted.

III. " " "

In 9 cases the following was reported:

I. Lag noted.

II. " " but shorter than first.

III. " " " " " "

In 6 cases the following was reported:

I. Lag noted.

II. " " and equal to first.

III. " " " " " "

B. Stanza given: I. 35 34 34 34 p. 7-9 II. " " " " "

III. " " " " "

Any pause large enough to be noted in I. was noted in II. and III. (This table contains the judgments made on all trials.)

Most of the judgments of the third set are due to the fact that the subject first attended to the series on the second or third verse. The large number of cases (83 per cent.) in which the lags in the second and third verses were concealed by the equal lag in the first verse, makes it very probable that the type of a verse is somehow altered by the impression left by the preceding verse.

The method of determining the maximal lags (as previously described) gave interesting evidence on the point at which the unity of the verse is actually felt. In the form

I. 5 (34) II. 34 lag 34 34 34 34-34

as the lag increases, a point is reached at which the unity may be made to include the first foot or to ignore it. Which of these is done depends on the subject's att.i.tude, or _on the point at which the verse is brought to a close._ In either case the unity, the 'pentameter feeling,' is not experienced _until the end of the series unified is reached._ This is the case with all the subjects.

This development of the feeling of the particular verse form only at the end of the verse, and the fact that the subject may be uncertain which form he will hear until the series has actually ceased, shows that the verse-form movement is not of such a character that the close of it may not be considerably modified. A form which may fit the pentameter can be broken off early, and become a satisfactory tetrameter. The feeling seems to depend on some total effect of the verse at the close. This effect is probably a blending of the ma.s.s-effect of the impressions received thus far, which have a definite character and feeling significance, and which form the motor disposition for the next verse. The essential thing in the determination of verse unity seems to be the dying out of the automatism, the cessation of the coordination of the cyclic movement.

The rhyme, it would seem, emphasizes the close of the automatic cycle.

But it is probable that satisfactory phrasing has other characteristics, and a definite form as a movement whole.

_2. The Relation of the Rhyme to the Verse Pause._

Determinations of the minimal satisfactory verse pause were made with a view to comparing the minimum in unrhymed with that in rhymed verses.

The stanza used was of the following form:

I. 34 34 34 p.

II. " " " "

III. " " " "

The minimal satisfactory verse pauses were:

Without Rhyme. With Rhyme.

Subject. L. 6 4 " J. 5 4 " Mc. 6 4 " R. 7 4 " B. 6-7 3.5 " G. 6 3.5 " Mi. 6-7 3.25

It thus appears that the minimal pause which is satisfactory, is less when rhyme is present than when it is not present. Similar determinations were made for the maximal satisfactory verse pauses, as follows:

Without Rhyme. With Rhyme.

Subject. L. 9-10 11 " J. 8 9 " Mc. 9 9 " R. 10-11 10-11 " B. 9 9 " G. 11-12 11 " Mi. 10 10

(A few experiments were tried with verse pauses of different length in the same stanza. A difference of one fourth the value of the pause is not detected, and unless attention is called to them, the pauses may vary widely from one another.)

This shows that the rhyme reduces the _necessary_ pause in verse to the mere foot pause; while at the same time as great a pause is _possible_ with rhyme as without it. Aside from the table above, a large number of the records made for other purposes support this statement: whenever rhyme was introduced, the verse pause was made equal to the foot pause, or even slightly less than it, and was always found satisfactory.

Numerous cases of introduction of lags into the verses of rhymed stanzas go to show that irregularities in such verses do not affect the length of the pauses.

Two hypotheses suggest themselves in explanation of the striking fact that the verse pause becomes unnecessary at the close of a rhymed verse.