What is unaccented poetry?

Answer 1

In languages which have a strong accentual system (English, German, Russian are typical examples from Europe) the metrical system usually depends on a specified number of accented syllables per line.

In English the standard line is the Iambic Pentameter, and if you listen closely you can hear five 'beats' in each of the following lines:

Of Man's first disobedience and the fruit

Of that forbidden Tree whose mortal taste

Brought Death into the world, and all our woe

With loss of Eden, till one Greater Man

Restore us and regain the blissful seat.

But in languages with a weak or non-existent accent system (French, Italian, Spanish) usually the metrical system just counts syllables:

Heureux qui comme Ulysse a fait un beau voyage

Ou comme cestui-la qui conquit la toison

Et puis est retourné plein d'usage et raison

Vivre entre ses parents le reste de son age!

(Twelve syllable to each line, no beats).

---- Occasonally a language which normally uses an accentual model (with beats) can also use the unaccented line (simple syllable count).

One of the best examples in English is William Collins' Ode to Evening:

If aught of oaten stop or pastoral song

May hope chaste Eve to soothe thy modest ear

Like thy own solemn springs

Thy springs and dying gales

This uses a simple syllable count - as if it were a French or Italian poem. In theory this shouldn't work in English - but it does.

Why it does is something which has baffled prosodists for generations.

Answer 2

Unaccented poetry refers to a type of verse where the stress patterns of the words are not consistent or emphasize specific syllables. This lack of regular stress creates a more natural and free-flowing rhythm in the poem. Unaccented poetry often allows for greater variation and fluidity in the reading of the verses.