Prosody
1. The theory and practice of versification; (in technical use) the branch of knowledge which deals with the forms of metrical composition, and formerly also with the pronunciation of words, esp. as this relates to versification; (more generally) the patterns of rhythm and sound used in poetry. As a count noun: a metrical form or scheme; †a treatise on metrical composition (obs.).Prosody was formerly regarded as a branch of grammar (see note s.v. grammar n. 1), and taken to include the study of phonology and phonetics.
1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems Pref. 17,
I have bound myself to avoid certain positions forbidden by the laws of ancient prosody.
1913 New Statesman 26 July 497/2
To attempt to get through his poems in Classical Prosody is like
trying to ride a bicycle over miles of newly-stoned road not yet
steam-rollered.
1992 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 5 Mar. 18/4
The real subject of any Cullen poem is the rapture of the prosody he
was drawn to master, the vein-thrilling possibilities of versification.
2004 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 29 Apr. 48/1
Students of prosody may think of this as ‘pure stress verse’ and trace its English origins back to Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon.
Scansion
[Prosody] The action or the art of scanning verse; the division of verse into metrical feet; also, an example of this.
a1849 E. A. Poe Rationale of Verse in Wks.
(1864)
II. 249
The object of what we call scansion is the distinct marking of the rhythmical flow.
1874 Symonds in Fortn. Rev. Dec. 772
In this prosody [of blank verse] scansion by time takes the place of scansion by metrical feet.
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