Rhythmic disturbances, if used purposefully and intelligently, seem to have an emphatic effect superior to almost anything that can be done in poetry. Sequential tonics, anticipation of the first accent of the verse, displacement of the main accent, proparoxytone words disturbing binary verses… these and other details, when applied to an apparent rhythmic stability, cause a powerful effect, suggesting from rapture to despair, typical manifestations of a harmonic rupture that drives the untimely expression. The technique, though it may be confused with error by the unwary, will never be by those who feel the verse as they read it: error damages, never strengthens the expression. For the rest, it is a remarkable quality of patterns that they allow themselves to be consciously violated.
Rhythmic Disturbances
