Well, that settles my question I suppose. Thanks, Steve. May I include your response in the wikicities discussion? Steve the Younger On 10/28/05, Steven Brust <skzb at dreamcafe.com> wrote: > > There are many reasons I hate that poem and wish I'd never written it; > you've just mentioned one. "Dzur" is one syllable. The only way to > make that line work is with a beat, or a breath, *before* the beginning > of the line, which is ugly. > > Steve Rapaport wrote: > > Ok, this has been bugging me for twenty-odd years. I just put it into > the > > Lyorn Records wiki, but I'd like to hear what people think here. > > > > Pronouncing "Dzur" > > > > The Cycle <http://dragaera.wikicities.com/wiki/Cycle> poem is in > trochaic > > tetrameter <http://tinablue.homestead.com/Prosody2meter.html> (* > > http://tinablue.homestead.com/Prosody2meter.html*), > > > > That is, the lines have four feet, each one is a trochee (STRONG weak), > e.g. > > "PHOEnix SINKS in TO de CAY___" > > > > (the last foot is a half-foot in every line) > > > > But: this line is an exception: > > *Dzur stalks and blends with night.* > > > > The only way the poem scans (that I can see) is if Dzur is pronounced > with > > TWO syllables, with the first one strongest, as in: > > > > "DEE-zur" STALKS and BLENDS with NIGHT ____ > > > > > > Does anyone think that it's pronounced that way? Or have another way to > make > > that line scan properly? (Other than changing words) > > -- > > \Steve > > -- \Steve