The Dunciad Book I—Verses 11, 12
Ferrick Gray
Working with Pope
Volume 1, Issue 1
Alexander Pope is a poet unsurpassed in skill, creativity, and wit. His expertise using what we may call the rimed couplet is beyond belief. His idol John Dryden also used this form, but Pope made it his own and perfected it. No one can dispute this fact.
Whether we call rimed couplets in iambic pentameter heroic couplets is a matter of definition. There has been a blurring of interpretations over the years. Heroic was at one time used to describe this form due to the translation of Greek epics by Dryden and Pope. It often referred to lofty themes such as G(g)od(s), kings, queens, religious quest, and the like. The resulting poems were also lengthy, thus epic or narrative. At one time, it was also considered that these should be closed couplet. Meaning that their sense did not extend beyond the two verses. So much for enjambment of couplets!
So—Back to Pope, and what the go is. Working with Pope, the aim is to analyze the metrical variation of certain verses, not to critique Pope’s work. Some may think that analysis and scansion of verses is of no real consequence. In some ways, it is not. The fact is, most poets would not be concerned with the scansion of their verses.
Regardless of when reading verse such as this, we inevitably stumble reading a few here and there. Not because the poet has been careless, but because a slight variation in rhythm is required.
Pope is the expert in this form, so it is a matter of determining what change has occurred and why. Thus, we find why the verse will merrily skip along, and why Pope became the master of riming couplets.
Verses 11, 12
11 Dulness o’er all possess’d her ancient right,
12 Daughter of Chaos and eternal night:
If we look at this couplet with the intent of examining its iambicity, we find both unwanted promotion and demotion of speech stress conflicting with metrical accent. Thus, we are tempted to say that this couplet is not pure iambic pentameter.
11 Dŭlnēss | ŏ’er āll | pŏssēss’d | hĕr ān | ciĕnt rīght,
12 Dăughtēr | ŏf Chā | ŏs ānd | ĕtēr | năl nīght:
Naturally, there is no reason to have pure iambic pentameter verses, and some variation will be pleasing to the reader’s ear. Even though the syllable count aligns with the alternating values, verse 11 in particular sounds too long.
The major point of concern is the promoted metrical accent on the second syllable of each line. In both verses, the long syllable has been shortened, and the short syllable lengthened, resulting in an unnatural reading at the start. This then causes rhythmical confusion in the remainder of the verses.
Thus, we may consider a valid trochaic beginning for each of these verses:
11 Dūlnĕss | ŏ’er āll | pŏssēss’d | hĕr ān | ciĕnt rīght,
12 Dāughtĕr | ŏf Chā | ŏs ānd | ĕtēr | năl nīght:
At first, this seems quite appropriate; however, the second verse still appears to have some rhythmical confusion with the trochaic foot.
We may see that a dactyl may be appropriate for the first foot, leading to two possible results, each involving a dactyl followed by a trochee, as one would expect:
12 Dāughtĕr ŏf | Chā ŏs | ānd ĕtēr | năl nīght:
12 Dāughtĕr ŏf | Chā ŏs | ănd ĕtēr | năl nīght:
The first involves a cretic in the third foot, and the second an anapest in the third foot. Both are appropriate depending on the reading. Yet we distinctly hear five speech stresses in this verse, which would discount the ready with the anapest. It would seem that and requires a promoted metrical accent. Thus, the cretic is a possibility.
The placement of the cretic comes under question due to a necessary pause before and. So the three-syllable foot does not sit well in this verse. Hence, it would appear that there are five feet, not just four. However, the combination of dactyl and trochee creates a wonderful and spirited beginning.
Having and with a promoted metrical accent, we find the vowel sound lengthen, and a naturally occurring pause will result prior to this word, introducing a pause-foot or half-foot:
12 Dāughtĕr ŏf | Chā ŏs | ° ānd | ĕtēr | năl nīght:
We may be tempted to say this is a clipped iamb, but it is metrically timed punctuation even though no punctuation symbol is used—it is implied and takes this on when the vowel is long. As a result, there are indeed five feet, and both speech stress and metrical accent align, producing a superb flow.
This combination may be given as dactyl, trochee, followed by three iambs—all being valid substitutions.