On the Meter and Prosody of French 12-Syllable Verse

Abstract

This article provides the reader with a survey of the basic metrical and prosodic properties of the French classical and post-classical 12-syllable alexandrine line. It is argued that these features can be captured within a neo-Jakobsonian framework which maintains a clear distinction between linguistic and non-linguistic parallelisms. Metrical equivalence is accounted for by positing abstract “line designs” that are linked to “line instances” by a set of “matching rules.” The versification of Racine, Hugo, and late Nineteenth-century poets of the Parnassian and post-Parnassian generations is studied in some details. This makes it possible to evaluate the adequacy of recent theorizing by Benoit de Cornulier and Paul Verluyten.