refrain

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A refrain ( [ʀəˈfʀɛ̃ː] ; from old French refraindre “repeat”; German kehrreim or kehrvers ) is the regular repetition of verses within strophic poems and songs . In terms of content, a distinction is made between the repetition of mere sound or tone sequences (tone refrains , for example with yodelling ) and the repetition of words or word sequences (word refrains ). An identically repeating refrain is called a fixed refrain , if the repetition is varied according to the content of the respective stanza, it is called a liquid refrain .

A distinction is made from the position of the repeated verses:

  • Ending rhyme or final chorus : at the end of each stanza; the most common case
  • Opening rhyme , opening chorus or counter- chorus: in each case at the beginning of the stanza
  • Inside rhyme : inside each stanza

When indoors or binnenstrophigen refrain a verse is repeated within a stanza. A special form is the frame rhyme , in which the beginning verse of a stanza is repeated at the end. Frame rhyme belongs to the poem forms rondeau and triolet .

From periodic refrain is when a refrain not appear in each verse, such as the beginning of a refrain in the first 4th and 7th verse in Georg Herwegh call , or if all the verses are repeated at intervals as in Friedrich Rückert from the youth . If two different refrains alternate at the appropriate stanza position, this is called the alternate refrain .

A special form of the refrain is the chain sweeping rhyme , in which the sweeping rhyme is expanded by a verse after each stanza. A well-known example is the Christmas carol The Twelve Days of Christmas . If this chain runs in reverse order, i.e. if the added verse is inserted at the beginning of the refrain, one speaks of a backward-running chain- turning rhyme , as it occurs, for example, in the song Jan Hinnerk .

The function of the refrain in the poem is to focus, return, and intensify. He ties the stanzas together beyond the response and divides the poem into its overall structure. He sets the mood, especially in narrative poems, ballads and songs, a well-known example is the Nevermore refrain in Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven . Further examples in which the refrain bundles the entire message of a poem are, for example, the fluid, eponymous final rhyme in Adelbert von Chamissos The sun brings it to the day or the catchphrase chorus Der Freiheit ein Gasse! in the poem of the same name by Georg Herwegh. Together with rhyme and meter , the chorus makes it easier to memorize the text, a fundamental function of oral transmission .

In pop music , the refrain is actually the main part around which a song is often composed. It often happens that a piece of music is its second half only of constant repetitions of the chorus, the most for the purpose of last increase nor a semitone higher shifted ( sequenced ), before then disappears slowly ( fade out ) . The term chorus , which comes from English , is often used for this .

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Refrain  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Kehrreim  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. The German term goes back to a translation by Gottfried August Bürger from 1793. "Rhyme" has the original meaning of "verse".
  2. Herwegh's works in three parts. Volume 1, Berlin, Leipzig, Vienna, Stuttgart 1909, p. 38 .
  3. ^ Friedrich Rückert: Works . Volume 1, Leipzig and Vienna 1897, p. 303  f.
  4. ^ Adelbert von Chamisso: Complete Works. Volume 1, Munich 1975, pp. 309-311 .
  5. Herwegh's works in three parts. Volume 1, Berlin, Leipzig, Vienna, Stuttgart 1909, p. 42