Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1: Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory.
Science
Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1: Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory.
Psychology, Experimental
I do not forget the work of other observers, such as Brücke, who finds
that dactyls which appear among trochees are of less duration than the
latter, nor do I impugn their results. The rhythmical measure cannot
be treated as an isolated unit; it must always be considered in its
structural relations to the rhythmical sequence of which it forms a
part. Every non-conforming measure is unquestionably affected by the
prevailing type of the rhythmical sequence in which it occurs. Brücke
points out the converse fact that those trochees and iambs are longest
which appear in dactylic or other four-measures; but this ignores the
complexity of the conditions on which the character of these intrusive
types depends. The time-values of such variants are also dependent on
the numerical preponderance of the typical form in the whole series.
When a single divergent form appears in the sequence the dynamic
relations of the two types is different from that which obtains when
the numbers of the two approach equality, and the effect of the
prevailing form on it is proportionally greater. Secondly, the
character of such variants is dependent on the subordinate
configuration of the sequence in which they appear, and on their
specific functions within such minor rhythmical figures. The relative
value of a single dactyl occurring in an iambic pentameter line cannot
be predicated of cases in which the two forms alternate with each
other throughout the verse. Not only does each type here approximate
the other, but each is affected by its structural relation to the
proximately higher group which the two alternating measures compose.
Thirdly, the quantitative values of these varying forms is related to
their logical significance in the verse and the degree of accentuation
which they receive. Importance and emphasis increase the duration of
the measure; the lack of either shortens it. In this last factor, I
believe, lies the explanation of the extreme brevity of dactyls
appearing in three-rhythms. When a specific rhythm type is departed
from, for the purpose of giving emphasis to a logically or metrically
important measure, the change is characteristically in the direction
of syncopation. Such forms, as has been said elsewhere, mark nodes of
natural accentuation and emphasis. Hence, the dactyl introduced into
an iambic or trochaic verse, which, so far as concerns mere number of
elements, tends to be extended, may, in virtue of its characteristic
lack of accentuation and significance, be contracted below the value
of the prevailing three-rhythm. Conversely the trochee introduced into
a dactylic sequence, in consequence of its natural accentuation or
importance, may exceed in time-value the typical four-rhythm forms
among which it appears. The detailed examination of the relation of
temporal variations to numerical predominance in the series, to
subordinate structural organization, and to logical accentuation, in
our common rhythms, is a matter of importance for the general
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