[Anirudh G]

In Greek, Latin and Sanskrit, meter is based on syllable length in English, leaving the details aside, a syllable is considered long if it has a long vowel. This in my opinion makes adoption of meters of those languages difficult when done in English, whose poetry tends to be based on syllable stress instead. This is clearly visible in the rather different feel of the Dactylic meter of Homer or Virgil compared to Evangaline, A Tale of Acadie.

English too can make distinctions in vowel length, below are some examples I found on reddit. The sounds don't match exactly but the point still stands imo

Short A: TRAP [æ]
Long A: FACE [ej]
Short E: DRESS [ɛ]
Long E: FLEECE [ij]
Short I: KIT [ɪ]
Long I: PRICE [aj]
Short O: LOT [ɑ]
Long O: GOAT [ow]
Short U: STRUT [ʌ]
Long U: GOOSE(*) [juw]

Often a long vowel is stressed (in fact I am not sure I can think of any instance wherein stress falls on a short vowel instead of a long one) but not all stressed are longs, and choosing longs instead of just stressed and short can contribute to interesting effects, take a look at the last lines of Ozymandias.

Nothing besIde remAIns.rOUnd the decAy
of that colOssal wreck, bOUndless and bAre
The lOne and level sAnds stretch fAr awAy

I have capitalized the long vowels for emphasis, it stretches how long it takes it say, especially in the first line, but even after the longs keep coming, it captures the vastness and the emptyness of the desert.

Anyone know of other uses of vowel length in English poetry?

[RCL]

Author abandoned, Reader abandoned.