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6.1 Structural Divisions of Verse TextsTEI: Structural Divisions of Verse Texts¶

Like other kinds of text, texts written in verse may be of widely differing lengths and structures. A complete poem, no matter how short, may be treated as a free-standing text, and encoded in the same way as a distinct prose text. A group of poems functioning as a single unit may be encoded either as a group or as a text, depending on the encoder's view of the text. For further discussion, including an example encoding for a verse anthology, see chapter 4 Default Text Structure.

Note the use of the type attribute to name the type of unit encoded by the lg element; this attribute is common to all members of the att.divLike class (see section 4.1.1 Un-numbered Divisions).²² ‘Sestet’ and ‘couplet’ might conceivably also be used as the values of the rhyme attribute in an analysis of rhyme scheme, for which see below, section 6.3 Rhyme and Metrical Analysis. The type attribute is intended solely for conventional names of different classes of text block; the met attribute is intended for systematic metrical analysis.

Particularly lengthy poetic texts are often subdivided into units larger than stanzas or paragraphs, which may themselves be subdivided. Spenser's Faery Queene, for example, consists of twelve ‘books’ each of which contains a prologue followed by twelve ‘cantos’. Each prologue and each canto consists of nine-line ‘stanzas’, each of which follows the same regular pattern. Other examples in the same tradition are easy to find.

One reason for using div rather than lg elements is that the former may contain non-metrical elements, such as epigraphs or dedications and other members of the model.divTop class, whereas lg elements may contain only headings or metrical lines.

6.2 Components of the Verse LineTEI: Components of the Verse Line¶

To use this element together with the module for verse, the module for segmentation and alignment must also be enabled as further described in section 1.2 Defining a TEI Schema.

The seg element may be used to identify any subcomponent of a line which has content; its type attribute may characterize such units in any way appropriate to the needs of the encoder. For the specific case of labeling each foot with its formal type (‘dactyl’, ‘spondee’, etc.), and each syllable with its metrical or prosodic status (syllables bearing primary or secondary stress, long syllables, short syllables), however, the specialized attributes met and real are defined, which provide a more systematic framework than the type attribute; see section 6.3 Rhyme and Metrical Analysis below.

6.3 Rhyme and Metrical AnalysisTEI: Rhyme and Metrical Analysis¶

These attributes may be attached to the lg element, or to the higher-level text-division elements div, div1, etc. In general, the attributes should be specified at the highest level possible; they may not however be specifiable at the highest level if some of the subdivisions of a text are in prose and others in verse. All these attributes may also be attached to the l and seg elements, but the default notation for the rhyme attribute has no defined meaning when specified on l or seg. The value for these attributes may take any form desired by the encoder, but the nature of the notation used will determine how well the attribute values can be processed by automatic means.

The primary function of the metrical attributes is to encode the conventional metrical or rhyming structure within which the poet is working, rather than the actual prosodic realization of each line; the latter can be recorded using the real attribute, as further discussed below. A simple mechanism is also provided for recording the actual realization of a rhyme pattern; see 6.4 Rhyme.

6.4 RhymeTEI: Rhyme¶

Like the met attribute, the rhyme attribute can be used with a user-specified notation documented by the metDecl element in the TEI header. Unlike met, however, the rhyme attribute has a default notation; if this default notation is used, no metDecl element need be given.

The default notation for rhyme offers the ability to record patterns of rhyming lines, using the traditional notation in which distinct letters stand for rhyming lines. For a work in rhyming couplets, like the Pope example above, the rhyme attribute simply specifies aa, indicating that pairs of adjacent lines rhyme with each other. For a slightly more complex scheme, applicable to groups of four lines, in which lines 1 and 3 rhyme, as do lines 2 and 4, this attribute would have the value abab. The traditional Spenserian stanza has the pattern ababbcbcc, indicating that within each nine line stanza, lines 1 and 3 rhyme with each other, as do lines 2, 4, 5 and 7, and lines 6, 8 and 9.

Within a given scope, all rhyme elements with the same value for their label attribute are assumed to rhyme with each other: thus, in the above example, the two rhymes labelled a in the first stanza rhyme with each other, but not necessarily with those labelled a in the second stanza. The scope is defined by the nearest ancestor element for which the rhyme attribute has been supplied.

This mechanism, although reasonably simple for simple cases, may not be appropriate for more complex applications. In general, rhyme may be considered as a special form of ‘correspondence’, and hence encoded using the mechanisms defined for that purpose in section 16.4 Correspondence and Alignment. Similar considerations apply to other metrical features such as alliteration or assonance.

For further discussion of the link and linkGrp element, see section 16.4 Correspondence and Alignment.

The rhyme and caesura phrase level elements are made available by the model.lPart class when the module defined by this chapter is included in a schema.

6.6 Encoding Procedures for Other Verse FeaturesTEI: Encoding Procedures for Other Verse Features¶

A number of procedures that may be of particular concern to encoders of verse texts are dealt with elsewhere in these guidelines. Some aspects of layout and physical appearance, especially important in the case of free verse, are dealt with in chapter 11 Representation of Primary Sources. Some initial recommendations for the encoding of phonetic or prosodic transcripts, which may be helpful in the analysis of sound structures in poetry, are to be found in chapter 8 Transcriptions of Speech; it may also be found convenient to use standard entity names (those proposed for the International Phonetic Alphabet suggest themselves) to mark positions of suprasegmentals such as primary and secondary stress, or other aspects of accentual structure.

As already indicated, chapter 16 Linking, Segmentation, and Alignment contains much which will be found useful for the aligning of multiple levels of commentary and structure within verse analysis. Encoders of verse (as of other types of literary text) will frequently wish to attach identifying labels to portions of text that are not part of a system of hierarchical divisions, may overlap with one another, and/or may be discontinuous; for instance passages associated with particular characters, themes, images, allusions, topoi, styles, or modes of narration. Much of the computerized analysis of verse seems likely to require dividing texts up into blocks in this way. The span element discussed in 17.3 Spans and Interpretations provides the means for doing this. Finally, the procedures for the tagging of feature structures, described in chapter 18 Feature Structures, provide a powerful means of encoding a wide variety of aspects of verse literature, including not only the metrical structures discussed above, but also such stylistic and rhetorical features as metaphor.

For other features it must for the time being be left to encoders to devise their own terminology. Elements such as <metaphor tenor="..." vehicle="..."> ... </metaphor> might well suggest themselves; but given the problems of definition involved, and the great richness of modern metaphor theory, it is clear that any such format, if predefined by these Guidelines, would have seemed objectionable to some and excessively restrictive to many. Leaving the choice of tagging terminology to individual encoders carries with it one vital corollary, however: the encoder must be utterly explicit, in the TEI header, about the methods of tagging used and the criteria and definitions on which they rest. Where no formal elements are currently proposed, such information may readily be given as simple prose description within the encodingDesc element defined in section 2.3 The Encoding Description.

6.7 Module for VerseTEI: Module for Verse¶