Scansion Guidelines
These are guidelines that will apply to all scansion assignments in the course.
Prior to performing any work written in verse you must first scan the work poetically.
(Rememeber, first you must understand it, then scan it. Then, of course, you must
memorize and embody it, but that comes later.) Ian McKellen dramatized this process and
gave the highlights version, thick with insight, but you will need to do the down-and-dirty
pencil work upon which the insights are built.
1.
First, I expect you to scan the work. I suggest you do this work on your actual script
so that it is there with you when you are rehearsing, but for the purposes of this
class you must also turn in a legible copy to me. Photocopying the scanned verse
from your script is fine, but you may also type a copy with the scansion typed on the
side. Here’s how it should look:
Sonnet 20
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A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted
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IIIAT
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion;
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IIIPI
IIIIIf
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
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- - / / / With shifting change, as is false women's fashion;
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- / - / An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,
/ - / - / - / - / Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;
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IIPIf
IIIIIf
TIIIIf
IISIIf
A man in hue, all 'hues' in his controlling,
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Much steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth.
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- / And for a woman wert thou first created;
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SIIIIf
IIIIIf
IIIIIf
Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,
- / - / - / - / - / And by addition me of thee defeated,
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IIIIIf
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By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
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IITSIf
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IIIIIf
But since she prick'd thee out for women's pleasure,
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Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure.
TIIISf
2
Once the work is scanned you are in a better position to make observations about how the
meter reflects your character and can be used to support your performance. Now it is time
to look for things other than rhythm that will affect your speech. Is there consonance,
assonance, repetition, enjambment, omission, irony, etc. Study the speech as speech and
observe what the poet/playwright has put in there. Answer the following questions.
2.
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5.
Other than metrical rhythm, make some observations about your character’s
language.
What character traits are exhibited in the meter and language of your character?
What does the meter tell you about the specific circumstances and situation of this
scene?
Identify four substitutions (where the iambs are replaced by another
metrical foot) you intend to perform. Explain the change and why you are making it.
I cannot emphasize enough that this is art, not science. You are not looking for the right
way of doing a speech or playing a character, you are looking for a creative way of doing it
that is internally consistent. Great actors will differ about how a piece ought to be scanned,
just as they will differ about how a piece ought to be performed. Embrace this. Embrace
the words and the meter and make them your own.