Scansion of first line of Paradise Lost

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?

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)

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

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

whoops!
so much by relying on memory!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AuntShecky

Of Man's disobedience and the fruit

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

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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mayneverhave

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

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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.

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