Scansion of first line of Paradise Lost

[mayneverhave]

The first line, of course, is:

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit...

How would you scan this first line? Obviously its not straight iambic pentametre, especially given the extra syllable at the end.

I scan it as:

U** / *** /** /U*/*U*U***U**U***/
Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit


Obviously "disobedience" is the ringer in this sentence - is there any special way in which the reader's of the 17th century would have stressed this word differently?

What purpose does Milton have starting a blank verse epic with such a strangely metered line?

[bluevictim]

Actually, I read it as a regular iambic pentameter line, except with a spondee in the second foot:

Of man's | first dis | o bed | ience, and | the fruit

(bold = stress)

[mayneverhave]

You read the "ience" of disobedience as one syllable?

[bluevictim]

Yes, I took "ience" to be one syllable via synizesis.

[AuntShecky]

whoops!
so much by relying on memory!

[mayneverhave]

Of Man's disobedience and the fruit

You've forgotten the "first" between man and disobedience.

[JBI]

Trochaic substitution in second foot, not a revamping of the whole stress pattern.
u.../........./....u.u../...u...../.....u..../
Of man's first disobedience and the fruit

u / / u u / u / u /

Or, to use your method

Of MAN'S FIRST disoBEDience AND the Fruit

Capitals denoting stress, note however the syllables run over the d, so it technically works in both syllables.

[JBI]

You read the "ience" of disobedience as one syllable?

Because of the stress, and the language at the time, the syllables are slightly elided over, to make bed one syllable, and ience one syllable. so it looks like dis-o-bed-ience instead of dis-o-be-di-ence as some of us may pronounce it.

[hulmadhad]

Good post. I appreciate it
Thank you so much for the post.
Would a new one like me be welcome here?

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