Alternating verse principle

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When alternating Versprinzip is in the Verslehre a Versprinzip called, thus the alternation , regular change of uplift and subsidence , essential feature of the verse is. The consequence is that the metric form results directly from the number of syllables of a verse together with the type of rhyme or cadence . For example, an alternating ten-syllable can only be realized by two sequences of upward and downward movements, namely

◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡— ( iambic rhythm and male cadence )

and

—◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ ( trochaic rhythm and female cadence ).

Accordingly, the poetic terminology in literatures with an alternating verse principle is mostly based on the number of syllables. For example, typical is to provide a Vierzeilermetrums by 10-11-10-11, which means that the first and third verse and the second and fourth are ten syllables elfsilbig, wherein is implicit that the hendecasyllable then cadence female or female Endreim have , the rhyme scheme must therefore cross rhyme [abab]be. The written stanza scheme would therefore be:

◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡—
◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡
◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡—
◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡

Despite the importance of the number of syllables, the alternating verse principle must be clearly distinguished from the syllable-counting verse principle , since this does not require alternation and the meter is typically determined by defining the characteristics of certain syllable positions in stanzas with a fixed number of syllables.

The alternating principle of verse is traditionally used in the poetry of the Romance languages ​​(especially in French literature) and was adopted in German poetry from the 12th century ( Heinrich von Veldeke , Friedrich von Hausen , Hartmann von Aue , Gottfried von Strasbourg and, after this, Konrad von Würzburg and others), whereby the accentuation positions largely corresponded to the natural syllable stress, i.e. the word accent .

A contrast between the alternating and accentuating verse principle arises when this correspondence is hardly taken into account, i.e. when stressed syllables often appear in a lowering position and unstressed syllables in a raised position ( pitch inflection ). This was mainly the case in German poetry around 1600 ( Paul Schede , Georg Rodolf Weckherlin , Tobias Hübner ). Martin Opitz turned against these forms, which were perceived as unnatural and inappropriateness to German , who demanded that the verse accent exactly match the word accent, but wanted to retain the principle of alternation.

If such a contrast between verse and word accent does not exist, the alternating verse principle can be viewed as a special form of the accentuating verse principle, one also speaks of accentuating-alternating poetry.

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