A Temporal and Dynamic Approach to Enjambments in French Versified Poetry from the 17th to the late 19th Century

Authors

  • Éliane Delente Université de Caen Normandie, CRISCO – Centre de Recherche Inter-langues sur la Signification en Contexte, Esplanade de la Paix, CS 14032, 14032 Caen Cedex 5, France https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9642-6361

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12697/smp.2024.11.2.02

Keywords:

enjambment, rejet, contre-rejet, metrics, rhythm, French poetry, conversational analysis, pause, dynamic grammars, on-line syntax

Abstract

This study is about enjambments, rejets and contre-rejets in French metrical poetry. No study explains why these constructions are seen as characteristic of poetry. Moreover, the common approach in terms of (mis)alignment between metrical and prosodic or syntactic structure leaves a number of unanswered questions. Why meter is studied only in its relationships with prosody or syntax, leaving many other aspects of discourse unexamined? When the meaning in a line straddles the line break to continue into the next line, which line is concerned by the enjambment? the first, the second, or both? Does enjambment constitute a homogeneous category?

Observations of these constructions were carried out on an exploratory corpus based on Boileau’s and Chénier’s works. The unanswered questions above can be explained by the fact that metrical, and, above all, syntactic structures are seen as finished products. Conversely, a temporal and dynamic approach to discourse can shed some light on these issues.

The first part of this study will examine the morpho-syntactic structure before and after a pause in speech, before and after the line break in versified poetry, and justify the idea that the phenomena referred to by the terms enjambement, rejet and contrerejet can be found in any discourse, including conversation. The pause at the line break is seen as a signal to process what precedes the pause without knowing what follows it.

The second part will rely on linear or dynamic grammars that have established that, in any discourse, whether spoken or written, morpho-syntactic units are processed as they unfold over time. This temporal and dynamic perspective, applied to versified poetry, involves the reader in a prospective phase of predictions and a retrospective phase of satisfaction or frustration followed by continuous readjustments, which are an integral part of interpretation. Enjambment, rejet and contre-rejet represent an ideal observatory of this dynamic, since they highlight this two-stage process.

This approach allows us to distinguish the first type of enjambment. When dealing with two lines, type-1 enjambment is only perceived at the start of line 2, through the addition of an unexpected grammatical constituent. Unlike type-1, type-2 enjambment is predictable from the end of line 1, and is generally confirmed by the beginning of line 2, bringing the rejet into focus. As for contre-rejets, some present events in discourse earlier than expected. Interestingly, the step-by-step process allowing predictions is supported by recent psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic studies.

I suggest in the last part an analysis of a particular rejet that illustrates these dynamics at work.

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Published

2024-12-31

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Section

Articles