Ursula Le Guin - The Wave in the Mind

“ Ourselves,” | she murmured. || And re trieving some glintof faith| from the grey waters, | hopefully, | with outmuch helpfrom reason, | she followed the fish; || the speckled, streaked, and blotched; || † seeing in that vision beauty, power, and glory in ourselves.

Sentences: 6 plus a paragraph break

Bars: 24

Words: 75

Words of one syllable: 53

— of two syllables: 19

— of three syllables: 3

There are two series of 3 unstressed syllables, one broken by a bar line (period).

The unusual series of 7 stressed syllables with only 1 unstressed syllable in it is marked clearly to be stressed by the comma and semicolons (“ stalks, silver; pink; gold; splashed; streaked; pied”). It probably raises the stress-count in this selection higher than Woolf’s norm. Stresses: 47

The newtech nology in textile manu facture | vastly in creased cotton pro duction | and revo lutionized a major con sumer industry. || But the in vention that,| morethan any other, | per mitted in dustriali zation | to growon it self| and to ex pandinto one area of pro duction after an other | was the steam engine. || Thisma chinepro vided | for the first timein hu†man history a steady and essentially unlimited source of inanimate power.

Sentences: 3

Bars: 10

Words: 52.5

Words of one syllable: 25

— of two syllables: 14.5

— of three syllables: 9

— of four syllables: 2

— of five syllables: 1

— of seven syllables: 1

There are seven series of 3 unstressed syllables, one divided by a bar line, and two series of 4 unstressed syllables.

There are no series of over 2 stresses.

Stresses: 33

It was generally evident when ever they met, | that he did ad mire her; | and to her it was equally evident | that Janewas yielding to the preference | which shehad be gunto enter tainfor him| from the first, || and wasin a wayto be very muchin love; || butshe con sidered with pleasure | that it was not likely to be dis covered | by the worldin general, || since Janeu nited with great strength† of feeling, a composure of temper and a uniform cheerfulness of manner, which would guard her from the suspicions of the impertinent.

Sentences: 1

Bars: 10

Words: 72

Words of one syllable: 55

— of two syllables: 9

— of three syllables: 9 (I count “generally” as three syllables, “general” as two, “preference” as two; this may be quite wrong for the way Austen would have said the words.)

There are six series of 3 unstressed syllables, one broken by a bar line, and one series of 4 unstressed syllables.

There are no series of more than 2 stresses.

(Note the assonance of the first four stressed syllables. Prose can get this close to rhyme without its being noticeable as anything more than a pleasantly musical quality.)

Stresses: 34

I hireda Gaucho to ac company me | on my rideto Buenos Aires, | thoughwith some difficulty, | as the father of one man| was a fraidto lethim go, | and a nother, | who seemed willing, | was de scribed to me as so fearful, | that Iwas a fraidto takehim, | for Iwas told| that even if he sawan ostrich at a distance, | he would mis takeit for an Indian, | and would flylike the winda way. || The † distance to Buenos Aires…

Sentences: 1

Bars: 13

Words: 77

Words of one syllable: 58

— of two syllables: 15

— of three syllables: 1

— of four syllables: 2

There are four series of 3 unstressed syllables, three series of 4 unstressed syllables (one broken by a bar line [comma]), and one series of 5 unstressed syllables, broken by a bar line (comma).

There are no series of more than 2 stresses.

(The delicate, humorous metricality of the final phrase “fly like the wind away,” is certainly deliberate, involving also a poetic inversion and alliteration.)

Stresses: 35

Haveit as having having it as happening, | happening to haveit as happening, | having to haveit as happening. || Happening and haveit as happening | and having to haveit happen as happening, | and my wifehas a cowas now, | my wife having a cowas now, | my wife having a cowas now| and having a cowas now| and having a cowand having a cow now, | my wifehas a cow† and now.

Sentences: 2

Bars: 10

Words: 76

Words of one syllable: 59

— of two syllables: 10

— of three syllables: 7 (all the same word, “happening”)

There are five series of 3 unstressed syllables and one series of 4, broken by a bar line (comma).

There are no series of more than 2 stresses, and only two series of 2.

That the stresses almost all occur singly gives the sentences a peculiar, rocking gait. A fairly consistent three-foot metric beat based on “ happening” continues with “ wifehas a” and is then replaced by a different beat beginning with the double stress “ wife having.” Given these semiregular beats, the repetition of words, the repeated rhyme “cow /now,” and the alliteration on “h,” this passage is probably best regarded as possibly a poem, anyhow not exactly prose. But the stress count is much the same as in my other, narrative samples.