is used in three senses in the study of poetry. (1) In OE, the term refers to a technique of poetic composition by which the metrical pattern of half-lines, itself partially formulaic, is deliberately not repeated from the first half-line to the second. Since the number of half-line types is deliberately kept low (only about half a dozen), and since these types may well have been recognizable to or even identified for auditors in performance (e.g. by accompanying harp notes), v. seems to have been a deliberate attempt to avoid monotony in line-construction. (2) Metrical v. is often cited as an explanation for the fact that most actual lines of poetry do not entirely match the pattern of the meter they are said to be written in; (3) More generally, v. is often held to be a desirable characteristic of structure which sustains reader interest. Critics who see literary works as developing, exploring, or asserting “themes” (q.v.) sometimes adapt the analogy of “theme and v.” from music, as in the construction of a symphony, where v. is recognized as one of only a few compositional strategies open to any composer. Auditor and reader recognition of a v. as in some respects different from but in others conforming to a prior theme is simply one form of pattern recognition, a fundamental cognitive process applicable across media.—C. P. Smith, Pattern and V in Poetry (1932); W. K. Wim-satt, Jr., “When Is V. ‘Elegant?’” The Verbal Icon (1954); C S. Brown, “Theme and Vs. as a Literary Form”, YCGL 27 (1978); S. L. Tarán, The Art of V. in the Hellenistic Epigram (1979); F. C Robinson, Beowulf and the Appositive Style (1985); E. R. Sis-man, Haydn and the Cl. V (1993).
User Comments Add a comment…