Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory by Hugo Münsterberg (100 books to read .txt) 📕

R. 9 9 11 7

B. 12 8 15 7

H. 7.5 8 10 7

B. Max pos. lags in dac. let., cat., in order 12 16 8

S. 10 11 7

Mc. 7 10 6

G. 11 11 7

L. 19 16 7

H. 7 6 4

This shows that an irregularity in the time intervals may be greater

in the earlier than in the later part of the verse. This last table is

further evidence of the increased exactness of the rhythmic perception

at the close of the verse. As far as nodes are concerned, they show

clearly two types: (1) A node after the second foot (L., G., Mi., Mc.)

and (2) a node after the third foot (R., B., H.). For the tetrameter

there is some indication in the cases of B., S. and Mc., but the other

cases are negative and further evidence is needed.

With three of the subjects, Mi., J. and K., it was not always possible

to get records of the maximum lag, since it was impossible to define

the verse unity. When this was unbroken it was the unanimous testimony

of the subjects, corroborated by their unconscious movements, that

there was a feeling of tension during the lag. But the subjects just

referred to got a type of unity, and there was no tension. The lags

were indefinite and very long (35-90). This unity must be of the same

kind as the unity of the stanza, which includes long expressional

pauses, as well as rhythmic verse pauses.

If a subject is asked to fall in at the beginning of a rhythmic series

his first attempts are decidedly incoördinated. His earliest reactions

follow the clicks which they are intended to represent, but presently

the series of motor impulses generated by the sounds and the voluntary

movements which the subject makes fuse into a voluntary type of

reaction in which the cycle has become automatic and definite, and the

clicks take their proper places as coöperating and controlling factors

along with the motor cues of the process itself. The accuracy of the

judgments of time, if such judgments be made, or the estimation of the

likeness of the groups, depends on the definiteness with which

movement sensations follow each other in a regular series.

The following experiments (Table I.) concern the perception of a lag

in different parts not of a verse but of a stanza. It was a question,

namely, whether a lag in the first rhythmic series (first verse) which

establishes the motor cycle in the subject would be detected in the

later rhythmic series (later verses of the stanza) after the motor

cycle in the subject has been inaugurated. This responsive motor cycle

should itself, of course, contain the lag given with the first

rhythmic series.

A stanza of the form of A (Table I.) was clicked out by the

instrument, but the subject had no clue as to the regularity or

irregularity of any verse. The stanza was repeated as often as the

subject wished, but not without a pause of a few moments between each

repetition.

TABLE I.

THE INFLUENCE OF A LAG IN THE FIRST VERSE ON THE JUDGMENT OF IDENTICAL

LAGS IN LATER VERSES.

A. Stanza given: I. 34 34 35 34 p. 7-9

II. ” ” ” ” “

III. ” ” ” ” “

In 14 cases the following was reported:

I. Lag noted.

II. ” not noted.

III. ” ” “

In 9 cases the following was reported:

I. Lag noted.

II. ” ” but shorter than first.

III. ” ” ” ” ” “

In 6 cases the following was reported:

I. Lag noted.

II. ” ” and equal to first.

III. ” ” ” ” ” “

B. Stanza given: I. 35 34 34 34 p. 7-9

II. ” ” ” ” “

III. ” ” ” ” “

Any pause large enough to be noted in I. was noted in II. and

III. (This table contains the judgments made on all trials.)

Most of the judgments of the third set are due to the fact that the

subject first attended to the series on the second or third verse. The

large number of cases (83 per cent.) in which the lags in the second

and third verses were concealed by the equal lag in the first verse,

makes it very probable that the type of a verse is somehow altered by

the impression left by the preceding verse.

The method of determining the maximal lags (as previously described)

gave interesting evidence on the point at which the unity of the verse

is actually felt. In the form

I. 5 (34)

II. 34 lag 34 34 34 34-34

as the lag increases, a point is reached at which the unity may be

made to include the first foot or to ignore it. Which of these is done

depends on the subject’s attitude, or _on the point at which the verse

is brought to a close._ In either case the unity, the ‘pentameter

feeling,’ is not experienced _until the end of the series unified is

reached._ This is the case with all the subjects.

This development of the feeling of the particular verse form only at

the end of the verse, and the fact that the subject may be uncertain

which form he will hear until the series has actually ceased, shows

that the verse-form movement is not of such a character that the close

of it may not be considerably modified. A form which may fit the

pentameter can be broken off early, and become a satisfactory

tetrameter. The feeling seems to depend on some total effect of the

verse at the close. This effect is probably a blending of the

mass-effect of the impressions received thus far, which have a

definite character and feeling significance, and which form the motor

disposition for the next verse. The essential thing in the

determination of verse unity seems to be the dying out of the

automatism, the cessation of the coördination of the cyclic movement.

The rhyme, it would seem, emphasizes the close of the automatic cycle.

But it is probable that satisfactory phrasing has other

characteristics, and a definite form as a movement whole.

2. The Relation of the Rhyme to the Verse Pause.

Determinations of the minimal satisfactory verse pause were made with

a view to comparing the minimum in unrhymed with that in rhymed

verses.

The stanza used was of the following form:

I. 34 34 34 p.

II. ” ” ” “

III. ” ” ” “

The minimal satisfactory verse pauses were:

Without Rhyme. With Rhyme.

Subject. L. 6 4

” J. 5 4

” Mc. 6 4

” R. 7 4

” B. 6-7 3.5

” G. 6 3.5

” Mi. 6-7 3.25

It thus appears that the minimal pause which is satisfactory, is less

when rhyme is present than when it is not present. Similar

determinations were made for the maximal satisfactory verse pauses, as

follows:

Without Rhyme. With Rhyme.

Subject. L. 9-10 11

” J. 8 9

” Mc. 9 9

” R. 10-11 10-11

” B. 9 9

” G. 11-12 11

” Mi. 10 10

(A few experiments were tried with verse pauses of different length in

the same stanza. A difference of one fourth the value of the pause is

not detected, and unless attention is called to them, the pauses may

vary widely from one another.)

This shows that the rhyme reduces the necessary pause in verse to

the mere foot pause; while at the same time as great a pause is

possible with rhyme as without it. Aside from the table above, a

large number of the records made for other purposes support this

statement: whenever rhyme was introduced, the verse pause was made

equal to the foot pause, or even slightly less than it, and was always

found satisfactory.

Numerous cases of introduction of lags into the verses of rhymed

stanzas go to show that irregularities in such verses do not affect

the length of the pauses.

Two hypotheses suggest themselves in explanation of the striking fact

that the verse pause becomes unnecessary at the close of a rhymed

verse.

The unity is now a new kind of verse unity; the rhyme is a regular

recurrent factor like the accent of a foot, and the series of rhymes

generates a new rhythm. In the rhymed stanza we are to see not a set

of verses, like the verse of blank verse, but a new and enlarged verse

unity.

There are several decided objections to this conception. First, the

verse pause may be eliminated, but its elimination is _not

essential_ to the rhyme effect; the verse pause may still be as long,

if not longer, with rhyme. Secondly, the larger unity into which the

verses enter is not in many cases a unity made up exclusively of

rhymed verses. Verses without rhyme alternate with rhymed verses, and

have the usual verse pause. Thirdly, the rhyme is not merely a

regularly recurring element: it is essentially a recurring element of

which one may say what has been said falsely of the rhythm elements,

that each rhyme is either a repetition of something gone before to

which it refers, or the anticipation of something to which it looks

forward. In most cases, rhymes function in pairs. Such peculiarities

distinguish the rhyme from the accent of the foot. Lastly, the freedom

of the whole stanza structure into which rhyme is introduced is much

greater than that of the single verse; pauses much larger than the

admissible lags of a single verse are possible between the verses, and

there is no tension which persists throughout. There is no feeling of

strain if the series halts at the verse ends.

A second hypothesis is that there is some definite process at the end

of the verse which marks the close of the verse and which takes more

time in the case of blank verse than in the case of rhymed verse. If

we conceive the end of the verse as a point where a dying out of the

tension occurs, we may imagine that the rhyme brings an emphasis, and

becomes a qualitative signal for this release. The slight increase of

intensity on the rhyme contributes to the breaking up of the

coördination, and at the same time exhausts and satisfies the feeling

of tension which the verse embodies. It is at the point for finishing

and releasing the set of strains which constitute the motor image of

the verse. A qualitative change may be supposed to produce the effect

more rapidly than the simple dying out of the tensions, which occurs

in blank verse without a differentiated end accent.

3. _The Relation of the Rhyme to the Cyclic Movement of the Unit Group

and of the Verse_.

A series was arranged in which the accent of an ordinary foot and a

rhyme occurred side by side; the distance between them was gradually

lessened, and the effect on the rhyme and on the ordinary accented

element was noted.

A preliminary set of experiments on the effect of two accents which

approach each other gave some very interesting results. Thus Table II.

shows the effect of gradually eliminating the verse pause from the

couplet.

TABLE II.

Dactylic, catelectic couplet of the general form:

ÍII ÍII ÍII Í / ÍII ÍII ÍII Í Without rhyme.

Each dactyl (ÍII) is, in terms of spaces between the pegs, 3 2 4;

or in seconds, .25, .17, .33.

The pause between the two verses was gradually lessened

B.

At 5 (.42 sec.) The verses are normal.

4.5 The