Harvard Psychological Studies Part 57

5. The period composed of a number of unit groups (the verse, in nonsense syllables) has a general form which suggests strongly that it has the unity of a single coordinated movement. There is no more reason for a.s.suming a transcendental mental activity in the case of a rhythmic period than in the case of a single act which appears in consciousness as a unity. Undoubtedly the breathing is correlated with the rhythmic movements and may be a factor in determining the verse period. Meumann's princ.i.p.al accent, about which a number of subordinate accents are grouped, is characteristic not only of poetry but of the simplest rhythms. At some point in the period there is a definite climax, a chief accent; the movement 'rises' to that point and then falls off. This is strikingly seen in nonsense verses spoken with a heavy accent within the verse. The accent does not stand out from a dead level, but the verse culminates at that point.

Unfortunately very little is known of the mechanism of so simple a coordinated muscular activity as that necessary for a simple rhythm.

Sherrington[17] and Hering[18]have pointed out the primary character of the grouping of the muscles in opposing sets and the reciprocal nature of almost all muscular activity, but in a review of the work of coordinated movements Hering denies any simultaneous stimulation of the two sets and considers the question of the innervation mechanism of opposing muscle-sets entirely unsettled.

[17] Sherrington, C.S.: _Proceedings Royal Soc._, 1897, p. 415.

[18] Hering, H.E.: _Archiv f. d. ges. Physiol._ (Pfluger's), 1897, Bd. 68, S. 222; _ibid._, 1898, Bd. 70, S. 559.

That the connection between the positive and negative set of muscles in a rhythmic movement is very close, and that the reaction is of the circular type, is evident from the automatic character of all rhythmic movements, and it is evident that the limiting sensation is the primary cue in the reaction. Anything further is mere hypothesis.

Robert Muller's[19] thorough criticism of the Mosso ergograph throws great doubt on the present methods of investigation and invalidates conclusions from the various curves of voluntary movements which have been obtained.

[19] Muller, R.: _Phil. Stud._, 1901, Bd. 17, S. 1.

The curve of contraction and relaxation of a simple muscle is well known and is not affected by Muller's criticism. Its chief characteristic, with or without opposing tension, is the inequality of the intervals of the contraction and relaxation phases. As one might expect, since a single set of muscles dominates in a rhythmic movement, the typical rhythmic curve has the general character of the curve of the simple muscle. The average values of the phases of curves of simple rhythmic movement obtained by A. Cleghorn[20] from a large number of observations with at least three subjects, are as follows: phase of contraction, .44 second; phase of relaxation, .54 second. It is very significant for a motor theory of rhythm that this general form of the curve of rhythmic movement may easily be altered in all sorts of fashions by unusual stimuli to the two muscle sets.

[20] Cleghorn, A.: _Am. Journal of Physiol._, 1898, I., p. 336.

While it is well recognized that a rhythm does not consist necessarily of sound sensations, the 'rhythmization' of a series of sound sensations in the ordinary perceived rhythms is a matter of great interest. Ewald found strong reasons for believing that the ear is peculiarly connected with the motor apparatus. The experiments of Hofbauer[21] and Cleghorn[22]show that any strong stimulus to either eye or ear modifies decidedly the reactions of coordinated muscles.

How shall we a.s.sume that the automatic movement cycle necessary to rhythmic perception is set up when one listens to a series of sounds?

[21] Hofbauer: _Archiv f. d. ges. Physiol._ (Pfluger's), 1897, Bd. 68, S. 553.

[22] Cleghorn, A.: _op. cit._

It must be a.s.sumed that any chance sound sets up a contraction in a set of muscles, however large or small. If but a single sound occurs, the phase of contraction in that muscle set is followed by a longer phase of relaxation, and the musculature is pa.s.sive as before; it may be that the stretching of the antagonistic set of muscles weakly stimulates them, and they then contract during the relaxation phase and a.s.sist in restoring the original condition.

But if a second sound occurs toward the end of the relaxation phase, before the tension is quite exhausted, the movement will be repeated; the negative set of muscles will be more definitely stimulated, for the activity will not have been exhausted when the second sound occurs. If the sound continues to recur at regular intervals, the movement cycle thus established will rapidly become coordinated. The positive set in its vigorous contraction furnishes a limiting sensation which becomes a cue for its own relaxation and for the reciprocal contraction of the negative muscle set. The contraction of the negative muscle set and the resulting changes in tension may become in turn a cue for the positive set. The reaction is now of the circular type and the process has become self-regulative, though constantly reinforced by the recurring sound (which has become a part of the limiting sensation of the rhythmic movement cycle).

But it is very probable that the second sound may not be timed so as to come at the close of the relaxation phase in the set of muscles roused; moreover, in almost all rhythms there are secondary sounds occurring between the main beats. What happens when a sound occurs out of place, early in the phase of relaxation, or just before or just after the climax in the contraction phase? Does it make it impossible to establish the coordination, or destroy it if already established?

Hofbauer demonstrated that a stimulus which appears in close proximity to the limiting sensation, _either before or after_, always increases the force of the reaction, so that such a slight displacement could not affect the rhythm, which would quickly readjust itself. The possibility of a stimulus occurring in the relaxation phase is of much more importance for a motor theory of the initiation of a rhythmic movement. Cleghorn made the stimulus occur at the beginning of the relaxation phase. Instead of prolonging or reinstating the contraction phase, he found that the stimulus _intensified the relaxation process and shortened its period_. "The stimulated relaxation is not only quicker than the normal, but also more complete; the end of the normal relaxation is slow; ... relaxation under the influence of the stimulus, on the contrary, shows nothing of this, but is a sudden sharp drop directly to the base line and sometimes below it." A comparison of the normal phases with the same phases, when the stimulus occurs within the relaxation phase, follows:

Normal: Contraction-phase, .44 sec.; relaxation-phase, .54 sec.; total, .98 sec.

With stim.: Contraction-phase, .47 sec.: relaxation-phase, .30 sec.; total, .77 sec.

It will be noticed that the total time of the movement cycle is reduced. One may then a.s.sume that a sound which occurs too early to become a factor in the limiting sensation, functions as a stimulus to the relaxation process and shortens the interval between the limiting sensations. Thus the movement cycle would be modified, but not destroyed. It is impossible to say just how the relaxation process is affected, and Cleghorn's own conclusions are open to criticism in the light of Muller's comments on the method. The simplest a.s.sumption would be that the stimulus acted on the negative set of muscles.

E.W. Scripture[23] objects to such a 'tonus theory,' because some subjects regularly react _before_ the signal. But in no case in the published records to which he refers is the error more than.05 sec.

either before or after the signal. The investigation of Hofbauer shows conclusively that in such cases the effect of the external stimulus simply fuses with the limiting sensation. Scripture overlooks the automatic character of the rhythmic movement.

[23] Scripture, E.W.: 'The New Psychology,' London, 1897, p. 182.

There is a striking difference between rhythmic movement from unit group to unit group within a period, and movement from period to period (_i.e._, from verse to verse of nonsense syllables). Each foot is simply the repet.i.tion of the movement cycle; all the tensions are maintained, and each foot is an integral part of a larger act. At the close of the period (verse) the active tensions die out, either because of the introduction of some unusual stimulus which causes the positive muscle set to strike a heavy blow, and abruptly upset the balanced tensions, or because a pause of indefinite length ensues in which the tensions die out. This is the process which we call 'finality.'

In the stanza there is evidently a different type of unity from that in the single verse. When we hear the first verse of the stanza, we do not know what the verse whole is, until the finality factor or the verse pause is reached, at its close. Then the verse has a certain definite c.u.mulative effect, a synthetic effect which results from the echoes of the various movements and the total effect on the organism.

One may call it the tetrameter feeling. The verse pause may vary within large limits, but after a few verses there is a definite scheme, or 'Gestaltqualitat,' which represents the verse unity. It is some sort of a memory image, which functions as a cue to the motor process. This motor image, set of strains, or whatever it be, is more than a mere standard by which we judge the present verse. The memory image fuses in some way with the living motor process. _The preceding verse affects the character of the following verse._ An irregularity, easily noted in the first verse, is obscure in the second, and not detected in the third verse, when the verses are identical.

The experiments of Hofbauer and Cleghorn, and many facts about the unit groups themselves, make it evident that the function of stimuli, during the movement cycle, varies with the position of the stimulus in that cycle. This offers a possible explanation of the striking peculiarities of the unit groups. The iamb [/ _'] and the trochee [_'

/] should be quite alike for a general synthesizing process; but not only is the experiential character of the two quite unlike, but the ratio between their intervals is entirely different.

A number of measurements by different observers show that in the iambic foot the unaccented syllable is proportionately much shorter than the unaccented syllable in the trochaic foot. It is very easy to beat a simple up-and-down accompaniment to a series of simple feet of nonsense syllables; in the accompaniment the bottom of the down stroke, the limiting sensation of the movement cycle, coincides with the accented syllable of the foot. It is not an unwarranted a.s.sumption that such a fundamental accompaniment represents the fundamental movement cycle of that rhythm.

During the present investigation several observers were asked to determine at just what point in the fundamental movement the unaccented syllable occurred, when the subject gave a series of nonsense syllables. In the fundamental accompaniment the excursion of the hand and arm was at least.4 meter. Four subjects were thus tested, and the results were uniform in the case of all the simple types of unit groups.

In the case of the iamb the unaccented syllable occurs at the top of the movement, at the very beginning of the contraction phase (A, in Fig. 5).

In the case of the trochee the unaccented syllable occurs in the first third of the relaxation phase (B).

It is interesting to note that the unaccented element of the trochee comes at the earlier part of the relaxation phase, where it must intensify the relaxation process, and tend to shorten the total length of the cycle. This may be the reason for its peculiar buoyant, vigorous and non-final character. On the other hand the unaccented element of the iamb occurs at a point where it may initiate and intensify the contraction, which gives the limiting sensation; it is, therefore, more closely bound to the limiting sensation, and has the character of intensifying the beat. There is a similar contrast in the cases of the dactyl and anapaest. The accented syllable of the dactyl is longest, and the second unaccented syllable, the last in the group, is shortest. The accented syllable of the anapaest is much longer in proportion than that of the dactyl, and the unaccented syllables are very short, and hence, very close to the accented syllable, as compared with the dactyl.

In the case of the dactyl the first unaccented syllable in the movement cycle occurs at the beginning of the relaxation phase (B), in the same zone as the unaccented of the trochee. The second unaccented syllable of the dactyl appears at the beginning of the next contraction phase (A), in the zone of the unaccented syllable of the iamb. The group seems a sort of combination of the iamb and trochee, and has an element in every possible zone of the movement cycle. Like the trochee the dactyl is a non-final foot.

The unaccented syllables of the anapaest both occur at the beginning of the contraction phase (A). They are both within the zone of the unaccented syllable of the iamb. The group seems an iamb with a duplicated unaccented syllable. It is possible to form a unit group in nonsense syllables where the unaccented syllable of the iamb shall be represented not by two syllables, as in the anapaest, but by even three.

The anapaest and dactyl, if they correspond to this construction, should show a decided difference as to the possibility of prolonging the foot pause. The prolongation of the foot pause would make the dactyl but a modified trochee.

It is significant that in poetry no other types of unit groups are often recognized. The amphibrach, laid out on this scheme, would coincide with the dactyl, as there are but three possible zones for foot elements: the zone of the limiting sensation (always occupied by the accented syllable), the zone of the contraction phase (occupied by the unaccented syllables of the iamb and anapaest), and the zone of the relaxation phase (occupied by the unaccented syllable of the trochee and the middle syllable of the dactyl).

The simple sound series is fairly regular, because of its cyclic and automatic character. It is not a matter of time estimation, and the 'Taktgleichheit' is not observed with accuracy. The primary requisite for the unit groups is that they shall be _alike_, not that they shall be _equal_. The normal cycle with a heavy accent is longer than the normal cycle with a lighter accent, for the simple reason that it takes muscles longer to relax from the tenser condition. Time is not mysteriously 'lost'; the objective difference is not noticed, simply because there are no striking differences in the cycles to lead one to a time judgment. Ebhardt's notion that the motor reaction interferes with the time judgment, and that a small amount of time is needed in the rhythmic series in which to make time judgments, is a mere myth.

An unusual irregularity, like a 'lag,' is noted because of the sense of strain and because other events supervene in the interval. But such lags may be large without destroying the rhythm; indeed caesural and verse pauses are essential to a rhythm, and in no sense rhythm-destroying. An unbroken series of unit groups is an abstraction to which most forms of apparatus have helped us. Between the extreme views of Bolton[24] and Sidney Lanier,[25]who make regularity an essential of the rhythm of verse, and Meumann, on the other hand, who makes the meaning predominate over the rhythm, the choice would fall with Meumann, if one must choose. Bolton comes to the matter after an investigation in which regularity was a characteristic of all the series. Lanier's constructions are in musical terms, and for that very reason open to question. He points out many subtle and interesting relationships, but that verse can be formulated in terms of music is a theory which stands or falls by experimental tests.

[24] Bolton, T.L.: _loc. cit._

[25] Lanier, S.: 'The Science of English Verse.'

TABLE XII.

I saw a ship a sailing 50 16 20 13 9 18 32 23- 132 A sailing on the sea 10 16 45 22 8 15 49 -68 And it was full of pretty things 8 6 20 6 6 27 37 12 8 7 20 12 41 -34 For baby and for me 14 9 27 37 18 20 14 8 46 --

Totals of the feet: --/66/60/187 26/45/45/117 14/59/49/47/75 23/64/60/46--

Who killed c.o.c.k Robin 19 34 23 24 17-77 I said the sparrow 45 21 19 3 47 29 -- With my bow and arrow 22 36 25 49 11 38 12 23 33-42 I killed c.o.c.k Robin 33 12 33 21 22 5 21 16-95

(The first stanza was measured in the Harvard Laboratory. The last is modified from Scripture's measurements of the gramophone record (1899). As the scansion of the last is in doubt with Scripture, no totals of feet are given.)

In the cases given in the above table there is an irregularity quite impossible to music.

In the movement cycle of the simple sounds there is a perfect uniformity of the movements of the positive and negative sets of muscles from unit group to unit group. But in verse, the movements of the motor apparatus are very complicated. Certain combinations require more time for execution; but if this variation in the details of the movement does not break the series of motor cues, or so delay the movements as to produce a feeling of strain, the unit groups are felt to be alike. We have no means of judging their temporal _equality_, even if we cared to judge of it. It is a mistake, however, to say that time relations ('quant.i.ty') play no part in modern verse, for the phases of the movement cycle have certain duration relations which can be varied only within limits.

Extreme caution is necessary in drawing conclusions as to the nature of verse from work with scanned nonsense syllables or with mechanical clicks. It is safe to say that verse is rhythmic, and, if rhythm depends on a certain regularity of movements, that verse will show such movements. It will of course use the widest variation possible in the matter of accents, lags, dynamic forms, and lengths of sonant and element depending on emphasis. The character of the verse as it appears on the page may not be the character of the verse as it is actually read. The verses may be arbitrarily united or divided. But in any simple, rhythmic series, like verse, it seems inevitable that there shall be a pause at the end of the real verse, unless some such device as rhyme is used for the larger phrasing.

There is a variety of repet.i.tions in poetry. There may be a vague, haunting recurrence of a word or phrase, without a definite or symmetrical place in the structure.

Repet.i.tion at once attracts attention and tends to become a structural element because of its vividness in the total effect. There are two ways in which it may enter into the rhythmic structure. It may become a well-defined refrain, usually of more than one word, repeated at intervals and giving a sense of recognition and possibly of completeness, or it may be so correlated that the verses are bound together and occur in groups or pairs. Rhyme is a highly specialized form of such recurrence.