The Rhythms of the English Dolnik

This essay starts by illustrating the difference between accentual-syllabic meter in English and the popular form of four-beat verse, or dolnik, by means of a comparison between poems by Thomas Wyatt in both forms. Some of the characteristics of dolnik are discussed, including its easily felt rhythmic base and its expressive flexibility, illustrated by the rhythms of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “Inversnaid.” To allow for a fuller description of dolnik meter than has hitherto been available, a distinction is drawn between two types of dolnik, one fundamentally duple in its rhythm and the other triple. Nursery rhymes provide clear examples of these alternative rhythms, including the possibility that a single poem can be read in either manner. Recognizing this distinction allows for a more detailed account of the rhythms of “Inversnaid” than can be achieved with traditional prosodic approaches; further evidence of this is provided by analyses of poems by Tennyson and Blake.