On the expressive and iconic value of enjambment from Homer to
Milton
Enjambment, the breaking of correspondence between meter
and syntax usually employed to avoid the monotony of verse-phrase,
is also, in some cases, exploited as an effective stylistic figure
to charge the diction with expressiveness at various levels. The aim
of my paper is to discuss the iconic expressiveness of enjambment in
epic poetry from Homer up to Milton and Tasso. I will analyse in
particular the striking type consisting of the postposition of a
single word in the next line, before a syntactic pause. This figure,
since it introduces a strong pause in reading, seems particularly
appropriate to stress significant words or to reinforce iconically
the semantics of verbs meaning a sudden, violent action, such as
that of falling down or throwing. The ‘chain’ of passages in which
the figure is employed with similar stylistic effects in different
literatures and languages sheds an important light on the
‘mechanisms’ of intertextuality, clarifying the impact and the
contribution of great Poets to the stylistic
repertoire of an entire poetic genre.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Homeric enjambment
- 3.Virgilian enjambment
- 4.Dante’s iconic enjambment
- 5.Enjambment in Tasso’s and Ariosto’s poetry
- 6.Miltonic enjambment
- 7.Concluding remarks
-
Notes
-
References
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Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Tartakovsky, Roi & Yeshayahu Shen
2023.
The Storm Sank My Boat and My Dreams: The Zeugma as a Breach of Iconicity.
Metaphor and Symbol 38:2
► pp. 162 ff.
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