A new LMDC misconceived and snappily titled webpage on : Misfits in poetry rhyming schemes as indicators of Intonation/Phonetic language drift or/and regional accents of old and ancient languages, concentrating on William Blake's (1757-1827) "Auguries of Innocence"

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Why do this webpage? Just for fun and interest. Modern poetry has so bastardized the language of poetry, that it could be thought that old rhyming poems deliberately have non-rhyming lines - even though everything around it rhymes? Comments and links to other sources on this topic, expecially on examples in old and oldish English appreciated.

Summary of feedback received: try reading William Blake's poetry with a modern Irish Accent, which is claimed to match the standard English of the 18th Century

>To: "L. Cranswick "[lzc@dl.ac.uk] >Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 11:31:20 +0100 > >Overall I think the standard English of the 18th C was probably more >like modern Irish. (Both the Irish and the American accents are more >closely related to Tudor English than modern English.) So many of your >questions re: poetry [of William Blake] are probably answerable by >affecting an Irish accent!

Delete surrounding text but keep the following:

"The young Queen Victoria was extraordinarily unpopular in the early years and press criticism grew so loud that she once threatened to abdicate if they didn't pipe down. When she married, a yellow press satire had her wedding train "setting out from Waterloo, passing by Virginia Water and passing through Maidenhead, leaving Staines behind."" - Simon Carr

An alledged shift in pronunciation in Melbourne, Australia between the 1950's/60's and 1980's/90's would be the girl's name Gail/Gale. 1950's/60's = pronounced Guile ; 1980's/90's = pronounced Gale (Gay-el). So unless the pronunciation shift was systematic, rhyming poetry written in Melbourne with the girl's name of Gail/Gale in the 1950's/60's would not rhyme to a new generation if read in 1980's/90's Melbourne.

Links webpages describing this type of thing (though in a far more professional and rigorous manner):

Chu Rhymes: http://www.umass.edu/wsp/tools/languages/chu/rhymes.html

The language of Chu is lost except for the few pitiful shreds of vocabulary given on our Chu Lexicon page. We here try to track and define what seems to be a phonetic feature of that language, which consists of some degree of mixing of -n and -ng finals in rhyming. That feature may be due to influence from a non-Chinese language then spoken in the area of the Chu capital. There are four possible instances of the feature in the present Chu Tsz anthology.

The History of Nursery Rhymes & Mother Goose: http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/ENGL/courses/engl208c/esharris.htm
An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Edward Sapir (1884-1939): http://www.bartleby.com/186/

Examples of the mis-rhyming in the rhyming scheme of William Blake's (1757-1827) "Auguries of Innocence" as an indicator of Phonetic language drift or/and regional accents, then and now

For the lines:

Every Tear from Every Eye
Becomes a Babe in Eternity.

This implies/infers: Eternity should be pronounced as "Eternitie"/"Eternitii"? Or Eye as "EE". There is also :

We are led to Believe a Lie
When we see not Thro' the Eye

and

The wanton Boy that kills the Fly
Shall feel the Spider's enmity.

Thus "Lie" should(?) have been the same ending as "Eye" and "ty" in Eternity. (or the word "Eye" could have two different pronunciations for the same spelling? Unlikely in this case?) "Fly" should(?) have been the same ending as "ty" in enmity.

Other possible examples in William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence":

A dove house fill'd with doves & Pigeons
Shudders Hell thro' all its regions.

pronunciation of the Pigeons/regions?

A Horse misus'd upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood.

pronunciation of the Road/blood?

Every Wolf's & Lion's howl
Raises from Hell a Human Soul.

pronunciation of the howl/Soul?

He who the Ox to wrath has mov'd
Shall never be by Woman lov'd.

pronunciation of the mov'd/lov'd?

He who shall train the Horse to War
Shall never pass the Polar Bar.

pronunciation of the War/Bar?

The Gnat that sings his Summer's song
Poison gets from Slander's tongue.

pronunciation of the song/tongue?

The poison of the Snake & Newt
Is the sweat of Envy's Foot.

pronunciation of the Newt/Foot?

The Babe that weeps the Rod beneath
Writes Revenge in realms of death.

and

He who mocks the Infant's Faith
Shall be mock'd in Age & Death.

pronunciation of the Faith/Death/beneath? (or the word "death" could have two different pronunciations for the same spelling)

The Strongest Poison ever known
Came from Caesar's Laurel Crown.

pronunciation of the known/Crown?

Examples of the mis-rhyming in the rhyming scheme of William Blake's (1757-1827) "The Tiger/The Tyger" as an indicator of Phonetic language drift or/and regional accents, then and now (or indicating lines may be missing/changed? - though unlikely)

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

pronunciation of the eye / symmetry?

William Blake (1757-1827)

William Blake - Auguries of Innocence - http://stellar-one.com/poems/auguries_of_innocence__william_blake.htm
William Blake - Auguries of Innocence - http://ash.xanthia.com/nazgsoul.html#Poetry from ashspace | http://ash.xanthia.com/blake.html

William Blake - Auguries of Innocence - http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem161.html

This poem was first published by Rossetti in his edition in Gilchrist's Life of William Blake, 1863. It was edited from a MS. in fair draft written by Blake probably during his stay at Felpham (1800-3), and later known as the Pickering MS., from a Mr. B. J. Pickering who bought it and published an edition of it, more accurate than Rossetti's, in 1866.

    Auguries of Innocence

To see a World in a Grain of Sand 
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, 
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 
And Eternity in an hour. 
  
A Robin Red breast in a Cage 
Puts all Heaven in a Rage. 
A dove house fill'd with doves & Pigeons 
Shudders Hell thro' all its regions. 
A dog starv'd at his Master's Gate 
Predicts the ruin of the State. 
A Horse misus'd upon the Road 
Calls to Heaven for Human blood. 
Each outcry of the hunted Hare 
A fibre from the Brain does tear. 
A Skylark wounded in the wing, 
A Cherubim does cease to sing. 
The Game Cock clipp'd and arm'd for fight 
Does the Rising Sun affright. 
Every Wolf's & Lion's howl 
Raises from Hell a Human Soul. 
The wild deer, wand'ring here & there, 
Keeps the Human Soul from Care. 
The Lamb misus'd breeds public strife 
And yet forgives the Butcher's Knife. 
The Bat that flits at close of Eve 
Has left the Brain that won't believe. 
The Owl that calls upon the Night 
Speaks the Unbeliever's fright. 
He who shall hurt the little Wren 
Shall never be belov'd by Men. 
He who the Ox to wrath has mov'd 
Shall never be by Woman lov'd. 
The wanton Boy that kills the Fly 
Shall feel the Spider's enmity. 
He who torments the Chafer's sprite 
Weaves a Bower in endless Night. 
The Catterpillar on the Leaf 
Repeats to thee thy Mother's grief. 
Kill not the Moth nor Butterfly, 
For the Last Judgement draweth nigh. 
He who shall train the Horse to War 
Shall never pass the Polar Bar. 
The Beggar's Dog & Widow's Cat, 
Feed them & thou wilt grow fat. 
The Gnat that sings his Summer's song 
Poison gets from Slander's tongue. 
The poison of the Snake & Newt 
Is the sweat of Envy's Foot. 
The poison of the Honey Bee 
Is the Artist's Jealousy. 
The Prince's Robes & Beggars' Rags 
Are Toadstools on the Miser's Bags. 
A truth that's told with bad intent 
Beats all the Lies you can invent. 
It is right it should be so; 
Man was made for Joy & Woe; 
And when this we rightly know 
Thro' the World we safely go. 
Joy & Woe are woven fine, 
A Clothing for the Soul divine; 
Under every grief & pine 
Runs a joy with silken twine. 
The Babe is more than swadling Bands; 
Throughout all these Human Lands 
Tools were made, & born were hands, 
Every Farmer Understands. 
Every Tear from Every Eye 
Becomes a Babe in Eternity. 
This is caught by Females bright 
And return'd to its own delight. 
The Bleat, the Bark, Bellow & Roar 
Are Waves that Beat on Heaven's Shore. 
The Babe that weeps the Rod beneath 
Writes Revenge in realms of death. 
The Beggar's Rags, fluttering in Air, 
Does to Rags the Heavens tear. 
The Soldier arm'd with Sword & Gun, 
Palsied strikes the Summer's Sun. 
The poor Man's Farthing is worth more 
Than all the Gold on Afric's Shore. 
One Mite wrung from the Labrer's hands 
Shall buy & sell the Miser's lands: 
Or, if protected from on high, 
Does that whole Nation sell & buy. 
He who mocks the Infant's Faith 
Shall be mock'd in Age & Death. 
He who shall teach the Child to Doubt 
The rotting Grave shall ne'er get out. 
He who respects the Infant's faith 
Triumph's over Hell & Death. 
The Child's Toys & the Old Man's Reasons 
Are the Fruits of the Two seasons. 
The Questioner, who sits so sly, 
Shall never know how to Reply. 
He who replies to words of Doubt 
Doth put the Light of Knowledge out. 
The Strongest Poison ever known 
Came from Caesar's Laurel Crown. 
Nought can deform the Human Race 
Like the Armour's iron brace. 
When Gold & Gems adorn the Plow 
To peaceful Arts shall Envy Bow. 
A Riddle or the Cricket's Cry 
Is to Doubt a fit Reply. 
The Emmet's Inch & Eagle's Mile 
Make Lame Philosophy to smile. 
He who Doubts from what he sees 
Will ne'er believe, do what you Please. 
If the Sun & Moon should doubt 
They'd immediately Go out. 
To be in a Passion you Good may do, 
But no Good if a Passion is in you. 
The Whore & Gambler, by the State 
Licenc'd, build that Nation's Fate. 
The Harlot's cry from Street to Street 
Shall weave Old England's winding Sheet. 
The Winner's Shout, the Loser's Curse, 
Dance before dead England's Hearse. 
Every Night & every Morn 
Some to Misery are Born. 
Every Morn & every Night 
Some are Born to sweet Delight. 
Some are Born to sweet Delight, 
Some are born to Endless Night. 
We are led to Believe a Lie 
When we see not Thro' the Eye 
Which was Born in a Night to Perish in a Night 
When the Soul Slept in Beams of Light. 
God Appears & God is Light 
To those poor Souls who dwell in the Night, 
But does a Human Form Display 
To those who Dwell in Realms of day.

augury: n.; pl. auguries [L. augurium, divination from augur, an augur]

the art or practice of foretelling events by signs or omens
She knew by augury divine. - Swift
that which forebodes; that from which a prediction is drawn; and omen; portent.
Sad auguries of winter thence she drew. - Dryden
a formal ceremony conducted by an auger.

William Blake (1757-1827) - The Tyger / The Tiger - http://quotations.about.com/cs/poemlyrics/a/The_Tiger.htm

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