that don't scan

[Rich D]

"From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."

"From the ashes shall a fire be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."

Which flows smoother?

I always said, old J.R.R. was a fine story teller, but
no ear for the cadences of the English language -

--
Rich

[Jeff Urs]

Post by Rich D
"From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
"From the ashes shall a fire be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
Which flows smoother?

Seriously? The first one.
Stresses on 'ash', 'fire', 'wok', 'light', 'shad', 'spring'.

[Steve Morrison]

Post by Jeff Urs

Post by Rich D
"From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
"From the ashes shall a fire be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
Which flows smoother?

Seriously? The first one.
Stresses on 'ash', 'fire', 'wok', 'light', 'shad', 'spring'.

It all depends on whether you pronounce "fire" with one syllable or
two. Most of us use the two-syllable pronunciation in real life, but
the scansion works assuming "fire" is a one-syllable word. It's good
enough for poetry.

[Glenn Holliday]

Post by Steve Morrison

Post by Rich D
"From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
"From the ashes shall a fire be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
Which flows smoother?

It all depends on whether you pronounce "fire" with one syllable or
two. Most of us use the two-syllable pronunciation in real life, but
the scansion works assuming "fire" is a one-syllable word. It's good
enough for poetry.

I heard an actor once comment "John Wayne is the only person I ever
heard pronounce 'cow' as three syllables."

<Trying it with "fire">

That doesn't work. Never mind.

[Julian Bradfield]

Post by Steve Morrison

Post by Rich D
"From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
"From the ashes shall a fire be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
Which flows smoother?

It all depends on whether you pronounce "fire" with one syllable or
two. Most of us use the two-syllable pronunciation in real life, but
the scansion works assuming "fire" is a one-syllable word. It's good
enough for poetry.

When Tolkien read his poetry, he was rhotic, and pronounced "fire" as
approximately [faɪr], with the r being a tap or short trill.

[Rich D]

Post by Steve Morrison

Post by Jeff Urs

Post by Rich D
"From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
"From the ashes shall a fire be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
Which flows smoother?

Seriously? The first one.
Stresses on 'ash', 'fire', 'wok', 'light', 'shad', 'spring'.

It all depends on whether you pronounce "fire" with one syllable or
two. Most of us use the two-syllable pronunciation in real life, but
the scansion works assuming "fire" is a one-syllable word.

Good point, and subtle.

if 'fire' is stretched out, the book version becomes clumsy. But pronounced
sharply, a single syllable, it works.


--
Rich

[John W Kennedy]

Post by Rich D
"From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
"From the ashes shall a fire be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring..."
Which flows smoother?
I always said, old J.R.R. was a fine story teller, but
no ear for the cadences of the English language -
--
Rich

The other responders have observed that Tolkien’s version requires that
“fire” be pronounced with a single syllable, but there’s nothing unusual
about that. Tennyson, for example, does it more often than not, and so
does Shakespeare.

Your version, on the other hand, is hideous, and doesn’t scan at all
unless you pronounce "ashes" as one syllable and “fire” as two. Don’t
quit your day job.