The study deals with the polymetrics of Milota Zdirad Polák‘s (1788-1856) Vznešenost přírody (1819, The Sublime of Nature). This topic was not yet treated, not even in specialized studies (Jan Mukařovský, 1934; Miroslav Červenka, 1995). After a list of applied meters (Polák used a syllabotonic as well as quantitative prosody) the focus turns to a traditional hypothesis that meter is changed in relation to topic (or subtopic). This was not confirmed. However, metric alternation is not totally random: with the exception of cantos II. and V., there is some regularity: Písně (Songs) are in trochaic tetrameter, other parts (called Slavozpěvy, Chvalozpěvy, Mnohozpěvy etc) make, regarding to their numbers, length, and labeling, metrically heterogeneous lyrical insets. Their heterogeneity corresponds their very lyrical basis (link to the Boileau’s “un beau desordre” could be made as well). Trochaic tetrameter, an unusual meter not only in Czech literature, is with its 69% presence a preponderant meter. Motivation of its use could be seen in its inherent character (long verse lands to descriptions), but also in possible literary inspiration (in particular in European descriptive poetry, e.g. Thomson, Wieland, Ewald von Kleist). Although the trochaic tetrameter was not used in any of these examples, it appears in Brockes’ verse prologue to his (German) translation of Thomson’s The Seasons (translated 1745). On the other hand we cannot totally neglect the Czech context of the XVIII-Century. Descriptive poetry is very demanding for the reader. Yet Thomson sought ways how to make descriptive parts more vivid. Polák decided to solve this problem by rhythmical/metrical heterogeneity. (In coincidence with his main topic: heterogeneity of Nature.) This heterogeneity is better seen when one compares the former redaction of Vznešenost přírody (called Vznešenost přirozenosti, 1813) where the use of polymetrics is not so striking. The use of polymetrics in Vznešenost přírody was a novelty not only in the frames of genre (European descriptive poetry used just the monometrics), but also in the context of modern Czech literature – Mácha’s Máj (May), also polymetric, was published nearly twenty years later.
There are a great number of differences between Milota Zdirad Polák’s (1788–1856) Vznešenost přirozenosti (The sublimity of nature) published in the first volume of Hromádka’s Prvotiny pěkných umění (First fruits in literature) in 1813 and Vznešenost přírody (employing the newer Czech word for ‘nature’) published as a book in 1819. A comparison of the two texts demonstrates not only how many poems were taken from Vznešenost přirozenosti for Vznešenost přírody and how in that respect the individual canti differ from one another, but also shows the substantial ideational difference in the two works. Analysis confirms that the systematic substitution (or deletions) of expressions denoting or connoting God/the Creator with the word ‘Nature’ is clear not only in the subtitle of the two compositions (V slávozpěvích na tvorce [In hymns to the Creator] versus Lyrická báseň v šesti zpěvích [A lyric poem in six canti]), but also throughout Vznešenost přírody. This has to do with an intentional toning down of the religiousness of the poem. Since Josef Jungmann (1773–1847) took a similar approach when translating Chateaubriand’s Atala (1801; Czech trans. 1805), one may well ask to what extent he was an influence on the final version of Vznešenost přírody.
An article concerned with the Structuralist critique, particularly by Roman Jakobson (1896–1982) and Jan Mukařovský (1891–1975), of the classical philologist and important theorist of Czech prosody Josef Král (1853–1917). Quoting examples, the author considers the often unjustified criticism by Jakobson and also the differences in Mukařovský’s and Král’s theories of verse. In conclusion, he states that although Král’s methods have been superseded his scholarly works continue to be useful.
The article considers Czech translations of Greek and Latin hexameter and pentameter, in which the Czech alexandrine was used as the verse for translation, that is, iambic hexameter with a caesura in the middle. An analysis of material by Josef Jungmann, Ivan Bureš, Julie Nováková, Jiří Žáček, Milan Machovec shows how the rhythm of the verse changes depending on the times or the author or both. The analysis suggests possible ways to use this in the actual practice of translation. The article pays particular attention to Nováková and her translation of Musaeus’ epyllion, Hero and Leander: in keeping with her own intentions, Nováková has, by capturing the principal features of Mácha’s alexandrine, managed to evoke Mácha -like connotations in her translation, while completely suppressing connotations of French culture or Czech Decadence, which almost automatically accompany the Czech alexandrine.
Drawing on an analysis of 70,000 verse lines by twelve selected authors, the study attempts to analyze the context in which violations of the metrical norm in 19th-century Czech syllabotonic (i.e. accentual-syllabic) trochee and iamb occur. First, basic information concerning Czech quantity and stress is provided; next, attention is turned to the history of 19th-century Czech verse, especially with regard to the prosodic struggles between the supporters of syllabotonic and quantitative versification. The main aim is to examine whether the violation of a metrical norm may result in compensation for this violation, either by quantity or a prepositional phrase. The study demonstrates that: i) the distribution of long syllables in n-syllable units of 19th-century Czech verse is not accidental, ii) the violation of a metrical norm is compensated for by quantity or a preposition; iii) the preference for a specific compensation type depends on additional factors, e.g. the author’s style or the historical context, i.e. on an overall tolerance for the frequency of violation of the metrical norm.
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