Approach (3) is the typical formalist view, embraced in the 20th century by theorists as diverse as Roman Jakobson, John Crowe Ransom, and Helen Vendler (e.g., Jakobson 1987, Ransom 1941, Vendler 1969, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1995a, 1995b, 1997a, 1997b). In this view, poetic form does not support poetic meaning but constitutes an unrelated, aesthetic texture that is valued for its own sake. Selectively ordered forms partition the poem, texture its parts, and craft perceptible figures (symmetrical, chiastic, centralized, circular, radial, hierarchical, etc.) that can be appreciated for their own sake. These figures give the poem a "poeticality" which is itself a major function of language as a communicative system, comparable to its other communicative functions (in Jakobson's scheme: expressive, conative, phatic, metalingual, and referential)

Approaches (2) and (3) have been unpopular because of the persistent belief that poems are not just communicative failures or aesthetic textures but convey significant truths of our human nature, history, and condition. Therefore, the most popular approach to poetry has been rhetorical/dramatic. In this view, poetry does not differ radically from prose fiction or drama. Poetic form supports poetic meaning--framing, linking, highlighting, and sharpening what is basically conveyed by other means. The main function of the poem is to elaborate fictional speakers, listeners, speeches, and verisimilar scenes to which we (emotionally, intellectually, perceptually) respond; and poetic forms further this function by making these scenes more concentrated, more precisely articulated, and therefore more engaging to the ear, eye, and mind. In this view, poetry is not paraphrasable because the rhetorical/dramatic effects of poetic forms are so concentrated and so highly elaborated that their absence would severely impoverish the fictional representation.

This rhetorical/dramatic approach to the function of verse form is both commonsensical and easy to learn and therefore has long been the dominant approach in verse pedagogy and criticism, both of which are usually oriented toward ideas and paraphrasable content anyway. Recently, its most significant embodiment has been (what has been called) the New Criticism, a 20th century approach to poetics enshrined in Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren's textbook Understanding Poetry, which dominated poetic pedagogy for much of the second half of the twentieth century. Besides Helen Vendler's new textbook Poems, Poets, Poetry, which details her formalist view of poetry, all other poetry textbooks that I am aware of also adopt this rhetorical/dramatic view of poetry.

New Critical approaches to poetry are problematical, though, and are seldom defended (or even practiced) outside the beginning classroom. Most day-to-day, practical criticism is content to omit reference to poetic form altogether, thus avoiding the task of relating form to meaning rather than confronting it. On the other hand, much of the best theorizing about verse in the second half of the twentieth century has consistently rejected the New Critical view, stressing the weakness of iconic/mimetic theories of verse form. While it is easy to point out cases where poetic sound, syntax, or rhythm support sense, in most cases, this support does not occur, or at least, not obviously so.

Among the best theorists of lyric poetry today (e.g., Meschonnic 1982, Wesling 1980, 1985, 1996, Vendler 1988, 1997a, and Bernstein 1992) the major approach to these difficulties is an atheoretical pragmatism--sometimes optimistic, sometimes pessimistic, but always partial, fragmentary, and inconclusive. The problems of poetics that we have just reviewed are openly acknowledged and lamented; there is general agreement about what needs to be accounted for; but no strong theoretical solution to these difficulties has been forthcoming. As Bernstein puts it, the major need in poetics is "to move to a synthesis beyond technical cataloging, toward the experiential phenomenon that is made by virtue of the work's techniques" (1992: 11). As Wesling puts it, the major failure of poetics, the one that subsumes all others, has been its lack of "hermeneutical first principles" (1996: 37).

My solution to these difficulties is to claim that a positive version of approach (2) above is indeed possible: Poetic meaning depends on poetic form through their mutual dependence on rhythm, poetic form being closer to rhythm than poetic meaning (Cureton 1992, 1996, 1997a, 1997b, 1997c, 1997d). The novelty of this theory is the claim that poetry is essentially temporal, that it is ordered--both structurally and historically--by the defining features of rhythmic forms. These rhythmic features, this theory claims, reach up into language and rhetoric and provide the structural logics that determine the subjective/ psychological values of poetic techniques--formal, conceptual, rhetorical, and pragmatic. What poetry references is also rhythmically ordered, the theory claims; therefore, these subjective/psychological values of rhythmic forms are not autonomous but also relate articulately to their contexts of use--physical, biological, social, cultural, and historical.

The major tasks of this project are three: (1) to define what rhythms are, (2) to show how rhythms are foundational to the organization of language, rhetoric, and other aspects of poetic form, and (3) to show how rhythms are foundational to the organization and development of (1) human subjectivity and (2) its physical, social, cultural, and historical contexts.

In its broadest outlines, our rhythmic constitution is quadratic (e.g., Schenker 1935/1979, Cooper and Meyer 1960, Meyer 1973, Lerdahl and Jackendoff 1983, Kramer 1988). There are four human temporalities, what I call the cyclical, centroidal, linear, and relative. Each of these temporalities is defined by a formally distinctive rhythm, what I call meter, grouping, prolongation, and theme.

The structures of these four rhythmic components are reflected in the forms of subjective time they create: cyclical, centroidal, linear, and relative. Meter, which creates cyclical time, is strongly repetitive (although not entirely so, by any means). The basis of meter is beating, a system of bodily pulsations, differentiated by prominence, but otherwise identical. In a beating, whole sections of the rhythmic figuration return again and again, differentiated by only initiating beats, which steadily decline in strength. Grouping, which creates centroidal time, is repeatedly centering. It divides a temporal stream into small groups of events, each of which has one and only prominence, a kind of rhythmic core. These rhythmic cores are then grouped and centered, building up a hierarchy. In the extreme case, an entire universe of events can be centered in this way. Prolongation, which creates linear time, relates present events to distant departures/arrivals, either by anticipating an imagined future or extending an experienced past. Theme, which creates relative time, links varied, usually peripheral, events to some imagined, but usually absent, center, creating a network of loose family resemblances.

These four rhythmic forms constitute four different structural logics that can be distinguished by many considerations--by their scope and stability, by the type of temporal relations they establish, by the kind of temporal figures they develop, by how they relate perceivers and events, by how they relate perceivers to others perceivers, and by the preferred position, orientation, and direction of their events. I call these distinguishing considerations the features of rhythmic forms and organize their dialectical relations into what I call the Temporal Paradigm.

The strength and precision of the Temporal Paradigm comes from the number of these features and their coherent source in rhythmic form. Many have noticed the importance of, say, fixity vs. freedom, or succession vs. simultaneity, or similarity vs. difference, in verse form, verse meaning, and cultural history (e.g., Wesling 1996: 80, following Levy 1966). But any small list of features is too weak to motivate the range of formal structures found in all of the concerns that bear upon poetic production and reception: grammar, rhetoric, rhythm, verse form, culture, history, etc. In the Temporal Paradigm, I suggest 44 features, organized into a grid of eleven quadratures. All who have suggested some system of formal ordering for poetic materials have also left the source of this order unmotivated. I derive my principles of order from the known features of rhythmic forms.

The Temporal Paradigm, this theory claims, is centrally involved in the structure and evolution of the major products of human cognition (language, ideology, society, culture, art, history, etc.) and evolutionary systems more generally (biological and sociobiological taxonomies, stages of human evolution, the stratification of the human brain, etc.). In all of these realms, evolutionary products tend to break into quadratic arrays whose structural features correlate with the defining features of our four temporal capacities: cyclical, centroidal, linear, relative. These correlations can also be collected in tabular form. I call this table the Poetic Paradigm.

Over time, there is a predictable development from cyclical time to relative time, by way of centroidal time and linear time, and then (through a recurso) back to cyclical time. When embodied in the Poetic Paradigm, this rhythmic/temporal development is reflected in many realms, suggesting a parallel pattern of cognitive development, linguistic development, cultural development, literary development, and so forth, including poetic development (i.e., a history of poetic techniques and styles). Temporally, this developmental history balances structural integrity and representational power. Cyclical time is structurally stable but representationally poor; relative time is structurally unstable but representationally rich. Centroidal and linear time provide ordered, transitional moments between these two extremes.

In most complex rhythms, such as we find in poems, all of the rhythmic components are present, albeit with different embodiments and intensities. Given the structurally distinct, complementary relations among the four rhythmic components, this situation is necessarily committed, conflicted, and given practical limitations, less than ideal. At any historical moment, embodied rhythms are necessarily skewed toward one rhythmic component rather than another, and this rhythmic skewing foregrounds certain formal concerns and backgrounds others. When embodied fully in the Poetic Paradigm, this rhythmic skewing defines an articulate problematics for a hermeneutics of poetic reading.

Outline

Part I Introduction: Some Observations

Part II Explanation

• Chapter 1 Rhythm and the Temporal Paradigm
• Chapter 2 Poetry and the Poetic Paradigm
• Chapter 3 The Dialectics of Rhythmic Development
• Chapter 4 The Dialectics of Rhythmic Structure

Part III Description

• Section 1 Rhythm
  • Chapter 5 Meter
  • Chapter 6 Grouping
  • Chapter 7 Prolongation
  • Chapter 8 Theme
• Section 2 Language
  • Chapter 9 Paralanguage
  • Chapter 10 Prosody
  • Chapter 11 Syntax
  • Chapter 12 Semantics
• Section 3 Rhetoric
  • Chapter 13 Schemes
  • Chapter 14 Arguments
  • Chapter 15 Tropes
  • Chapter 16 Speech Acts
• Section 4 Discourse
  • Chapter 17 Poetic Textures
  • Chapter 18 Poetic Genres
  • Chapter 19 Poetic History
  • Chapter 20 Poetic Voice

Part IV Evaluation

• Chapter 21 Poem #1
• Chapter 22 Poem #2
• Chapter 23 Poem #3
• Chapter 24 Poem #4
• Chapter 25 Poem #5
• Chapter 26 Poem #6
• Chapter 27 Poem #7
• Chapter 28 Poem #8
• Chapter 29 Poem #9
• Chapter 30 Poem #10

The book is divided into four parts.

Part I ("Some Observations") details what needs to be accounted for by a theory of poetry. Part II ("Explanation") develops a theory of poetry that can motivate these observations. Part III ("Description") lays out how this theory accounts for the major levels of organization in poetry: rhythm, language, rhetoric, and discourse. Part IV ("Evaluation") applies the theory to ten canonical poems.

Part II ("Explanation") is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 explores the structural organization of rhythmic forms. Chapter 2 outlines how features of rhythmic forms have been embodied in poetic materials and their contexts of use. Chapter 3 considers how rhythmic forms have evolved. Chapter 4 explores how rhythmic forms are positioned and interact in rhythmic complexes.

Part III ("Description") is also divided into four sections (of four chapters each).

Section 1 ("Rhythm") explores the four components of rhythm--meter (Chapter 5), grouping (Chapter 6), prolongation (Chapter 7), and theme (Chapter 8). In each of these chapters, the goals are (1) to derive the rhythmic component from its textual and cognitive sources and (2) to formalize and evaluate the result.

Section 2 ("Language") details the temporal organization of linguistic form, moving from low levels (paralanguage, prosody) to high (syntax, semantics). Chapter 9 considers the temporal values of sonic quality and schemes (alliteration, assonance/ rhyme/reverse rhyme, consonance, and pararhyme). Chapter 10 considers the temporal values of prosody: syllabification, stress, and intonation (i.e., the prosodic hierarchy and tone). Chapter 11 sketches a rhythmically-based theory of syntax. Chapter 12 considers the temporal basis of (archetypal) meaning.

Section 3 ("Rhetoric") explores the relation between temporality and the rhetoric of poetry. Chapter 13 explores the temporal values of rhetorical schemes: epizeuxis, anaphora, epistrophe, anadiplosis, etc. Chapter 14 outlines the temporal values of discourse structures--paratactic, logical, temporal, and dialectical. Chapter 15 explores the temporal values of the "master" tropes--metaphor, synecdoche, metonymy, and irony. Chapter 16 explores the temporal values of speech acts--apostrophe, command, exclamation, apology, admission, instruction, question, prophecy, etc.

Section 4 ("Discourse") explores the relations between temporality and poetic discourse. Chapter 17 details the general relations between temporal texturing and poetic value: intensity, shape, scope, and originality. Chapter 18 explores how rhythmic features differentiate the four major poetic genres--epic, lyric, narrative, and dramatic. Chapter 19 shows how rhythmic features order poetic history. Chapter 20 shows how rhythmic features underpin authorial "voice"/style.

Part IV ("Evaluation") applies the theory of poetry developed in Parts I-III to critical practice. The point of each of these chapters is to observe what appears in the rhythm, language, and rhetoric of the poem; to describe the experiential effect of these observations; to explain why these poetic experiences are historically and culturally positioned as they are; and to evaluate the aesthetic achievement of these experiences in their historical context and the poetic tradition as a whole.

Works Cited

Aviram, Amittai. Telling Rhythm. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1994.

Bernstein, Charles. A Poetics. Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1992.

Brooks, Cleanth and Robert Penn Warren. Understanding Poetry. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1938.

Cooper, G. and L. Meyer. The Rhythmic Structure of Music. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1960

Cureton, Richard D. Rhythmic Phrasing in English Verse. London: Longman, 1992.

Cureton, Richard D. "Poetry, Language, and Literary Study: The Unfinished Tasks of Stylistics." Language and Literature 21 (1996): 95-112

Cureton, Richard D. "Linguistics, Stylistics, and Poetics." Language and Literature 22 (1997a): 1-43

Cureton, Richard D. "A Disciplinary Map for Verse Study." Versification 1.1 (1997b)

Cureton, Richard D. "Toward a Temporal Theory of Language." Journal of English Linguistics 25 (1997c): 293-303

Cureton, Richard D. "Helen Vendler and the Music of Poetry." Versification 1.1 (1997d)

Jakobson, Roman. Language in Literature. Ed. Krystyna Pomorska and Stephen Rudy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U P, 1987.

Kramer, J.D. The Time of Music. New York: Schirmer, 1988.

Lerdahl, F. and R. Jackendoff. A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. Cambridge: MIT P, 1983.

Levy, Jiri. "The Meanings of Form and the Form of Meaning," In Poetics 2. Warsaw: Polish Scientific Publishers, 1966, 45-59.

Meschonnic, Henri. Critique du rythme. Paris: Verdier, 1982.

Meyer, L. Explaining Music. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1973.

Ransom, John Crowe. The New Criticism. Norfolk, Conn.: New Directions, 1941.

Schenker, Heinrich. Free Composition. Trans. Ernst Oster. New York: Longman, 1935/1979.

Vendler, Helen. On Extended Wings: Wallace Stevens' Longer Poems. Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1969.

Vendler, Helen. Part of Nature, Part of Us. Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1980.

Vendler, Helen. The Odes of John Keats. Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1983.

Vendler, Helen. Wallace Stevens: Words Chosen Out of Desire. Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1984.

Vendler, Helen. The Music of What Happens. Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1988.

Vendler, Helen. Soul Says. Cambridge, Harvard U P, 1995a.

Vendler, Helen. The Breaking of Style. Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1995b.

Vendler, Helen. Poems, Poets, Poetry. Boston: St. Martin's, 1997a.

Vendler, Helen. The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1997b.

Wesling, Donald. The Chances of Rhyme. Berkeley: U of California P, 1980.

Wesling, Donald. The New Poetries: Poetic Form Since Coleridge and Wordsworth. Lewisburg: Bucknell U P, 1985.

Wesling, Donald. The Scissors of Meter: Grammetrics and Reading. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1996.

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