Metre Methodology

If a form is defined prior to beginning, this will allow us to greatly decrease the possible worlds, and thereby increase the usefulness of the application.

A form will, first of all, define the metre and the number of feet per line. This will be of great benefit as only certain types of words will be possible in certain positions.

Let’s look at iambic pentameter as an example, since most are familiar with it.

Fist, let’s define the types we are looking for:

0 = unaccented 1 = accented

1 syllable

unaccented = 0 - I know (“know” could potentially be stressed here depending on the emphasis to indicate meaning.)
accented = 1 - you are right (now, of course this is only stressed because of the context I give the word.)

2 syllable

iamb = 01 - delight
trochee = 10 - garden
spondee = 11 - downtown

3 syllable

dactyl = 100 - poetry
anapest = 001- overcome
amphibrach = 010 - reclining
bacchius = 011 - When day breaks
cretic = 101 - nightingale
antibacchius = 110 - Blind luck is
molossus = 111 - mean house, dwells

4 syllable

tetrabrach = 0000
primus paeon = 1000
secundus paeon = 0100
tertius paeon = 0010
quartus paeon = 0001
major ionic = 1100
minor ionic = 0011
ditrochee = 1010
diiamb = 0101
choriamb = 1001
antispast = 0110
first epitrite = 0111
second epitrite = 1011
third epitrite = 1101
fourth epitrite = 1110
dispondee = 1111

(Even the representation above is somewhat misleading as we have primary and secondary accents, and we have the ability to build metre using single-syllable words.)

Now, based on an iambic pentameter line, the form we are looking for would be:

0101010101

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

(The stress for single-syllable words comes from context and meaning.)

We can see right away that any type that has 2 of the same accents back-to-back, can not be included in the results.

Further, the first word must begin with an unaccented sound. Depending on each word that is added, it will be determined whether the next word must begin with an accented, or unaccented sound.

So based on this observation, the first word can be an iamb, amphibrach, or diiamb.

How’s that for reduction?!

If an iamb or diiamb are selected, then the next possibilities remain the same. However, if an amphibrach is chosen as the first word, the next word must start with an accented sound, so the possible choices are trochee, cretic, or ditrochee.

These choices can be further constrained by realizing that there are syllable constraints that become import the more words are added to the line.

A flowchart of possible worlds looks like below:

flowchart TD; A[iamb 01]--> B[iamb 01]--> C[iamb 01]--> D[iamb 01] --> E[iamb 01]; A--> F[diiamb 0101]--> G[iamb 01]--> H[iamb 01]; B--> J[diiamb 0101]--> K[imab 01]; B--> M[iamb 01]--> N[diiamb 0101]; F--> P[diiamb 0101]; A--> Q[amphibrach 010]--> R[trochee 10]--> S[cretic 101]; Q--> U[cretic 101]--> V[iamb 01];

flowchart TD; W[diiamb 0101]--> X[iamb 01]--> Y[iamb 01] --> Z[iamb 01]; W--> AA[diiamb 0101]--> BB[iamb 01]; W--> CC[iamb 01]--> DD[diiamb 0101]; W--> EE[amphibrach 010]--> FF[cretic 101];

flowchart TD; GG[amphibrach 010]--> HH[trochee 10]--> II[trochee 10]--> JJ[cretic 101]; GG--> OO[ditrochee 1010]--> PP[cretic 101]; GG--> KK[cretic 101]--> LL[iamb 01]--> MM[iamb 01]; KK--> NN[diiamb 0101];

The combinatorics for this problem explodes when we include single-syllable possiblities.

Now, to create this kind of logic using a grounding created in Clingo.