Vers Libre The Emergence of Free Verse in France 1886-1914

The prosodic description of free verse, with its web of shifting rhythmic effects, has long been met with difficulty. In this interpretive study, Scott proposes various methods of prosodic analysis uniquely based on the study of the history and theory of free verse in France, and on contemporary theoretical documents. Using a free-verse poem by Alain Fourner to illustrate the problems of scansion and the assumptions that are commonly associated with it, Scott establishes working methods that can be applied to the interpretation of specific poems. The book also includes useful commentaries on poems by Rimbaud, Laforgue, Claudel, and Apollinaire.