{"title":"Rochester's Triplets: Offspring of Libertinism or Reason?","authors":"Catherine Addison","doi":"10.1353/sel.2021.a903386","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Rhyme in verse, by limiting verbal choices according to what a language can provide, reduces the degree of rational control over discourse. The reduction increases with the number of repetitions. This is probably why, in the age of Alexander Pope, triplet variants of the dominant heroic couplet were frowned upon. However, in the earlier Restoration period, John Dryden and John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, used triplets fairly frequently in their couplet poems. This article examines the triplet in Rochester's tightly controlled decasyllabic verse, where it registers not only climax and excess, but also a loosening of control that admits undertones of rage, outrage, and irrationality.","PeriodicalId":45835,"journal":{"name":"STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 1500-1900","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 1500-1900","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/sel.2021.a903386","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
Abstract:Rhyme in verse, by limiting verbal choices according to what a language can provide, reduces the degree of rational control over discourse. The reduction increases with the number of repetitions. This is probably why, in the age of Alexander Pope, triplet variants of the dominant heroic couplet were frowned upon. However, in the earlier Restoration period, John Dryden and John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, used triplets fairly frequently in their couplet poems. This article examines the triplet in Rochester's tightly controlled decasyllabic verse, where it registers not only climax and excess, but also a loosening of control that admits undertones of rage, outrage, and irrationality.
期刊介绍：
SEL focuses on four fields of British literature in rotating, quarterly issues: English Renaissance, Tudor and Stuart Drama, Restoration and Eighteenth Century, and Nineteenth Century. The editors select learned, readable papers that contribute significantly to the understanding of British literature from 1500 to 1900. SEL is well known for thecommissioned omnibus review of recent studies in the field that is included in each issue. In a single volume, readers might find an argument for attributing a previously unknown work to Shakespeare or de-attributing a famous work from Milton, a study ofthe connections between class and genre in the Restoration Theater.
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