Whereas Creatures . . .
Whereas
creatures1 have been potted into shape
by a Lord that fosters a
damning god,
the increate have patterned themselves
on the Norm that furthers the just and good,
as unbowed beings of a nature not denied.
Whereas creatures have been
killing mortals
for displeasing one of their
divine Makers,
for offending one of their ethnic faiths,
the increate have evolved and survived
in a worldwide familial communion.
Whereas creatures halt in Him
exclusively,
the increate, uncreated in His image,
self-existent in interdependence,
are well aware that legions lost the way
which is the evolutioners' Dao2.
Whereas creatures see but one Man's
splendor
--"may every bush be aflame
with His"--
the increate wish to live in a land
that includes each kind equally,
and to enter into stillness thus.
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-
in certain situations you/they may be used instead of
creatures, i/we instead of the increate,
myself/ourselves instead of themselves (l.3) and, if
i is used, a being instead of beings (l.5);
obviously, they are the ones believing in a supernatural,
god-created, god-centered order and we the ones believing in
a natural, self-existent, norm- or value-centered order
-
dao is path of good behavior, right way of life, ultimate principle or
set of principles of a normistic
(as distinct from theocentrist) doctrine
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Before we will be able to consider the many instances of the
repetition of sounds in Whereas Creatures ... with the
ensuing aural effects (such as alliteration), we must
know what sounds are or can be involved.
For that purpose we use the double-case phonemic
transcription system as introduced in the
Vocabulary of Alliteration.
Not only does this transcription stick to standard letters, it
also has the great advantage of clearly showing, by means of
capitals, the position of |STREST| syllables in words and phrases:
we-RAEZ KREE.tsh.arz hav bin PO.t.ad IN.t.a SHEIP
bai a LAWRD dhat FO.st.arz a DAE.m.ing GOD
dhi in-KREE-at hav PAE.t.arnd dham-SELVZ
on dha NAWRM dhat FAR.dh.arz dha DZHAST an GUD
a-Z+UN-BAUD BEE-ingz av a NEI.tsh.ar NOT di-NAID
we-RAEZ KREE.tsh.arz hav bin KI.l.ing MAWR.t.alz
far dis-PLEE.z.ing WAN av dhar di-VAIN MEI.k.arz
far a-FEN.d.ing WAN av dhar ETH-nik FEITHS
dhi in-KREE-at hav i-VOLVD and sar-VAIVD
in a WARLD-WAID fa-MIL-jal ka-MJOON-jan
we-RAEZ KREE.tsh.arz HAWLT in HIM ik-SKLOO.s.iv-li
dhi in-KREE-at, AN.k.ree-EI.t.id in hi-Z+I.m.idzh
SEL.f.ig-ZI.st.ant in IN.t.ar.d.i-PEN.d.ans
ahr WEL a-WEAR dhat LEE.dzh.anz LOST dha WEI
WITSH iz dhi E.v.a-LOO.sh.a.n.arz DAU
we-RAEZ KREE.tsh.arz SEE bat WAN MAENZ SPLEN.d.ar
mei EV-ri BUSH bee a-FLEIM widh HIZ
dhi in-KREE-at WISH ta LIV in a LAEND
dhat in-KLOODZ EETSH KAIND EE.k.wa.l.i
AEND tu EN.t.ar in.t.a STIL-nis DHAS
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phonemic transcription
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A disadvantage of a phonemic, and even more so of a phonetic,
transcription is that the same word is supposed to be shown in
different ways, if and when it is pronounced differently. Words
may not only be pronounced differently in different dialects, but
also within one dialect there are words which have a weak and a
strong form. Thus, while the strong form of and is
|AEND|, its weak form is |and| or |an|, or even just |n|. For
similar reasons potted may be pronounced as |PO.t.id|
or as |PO.t.ad|, and stillness as |STIL-nis| or as
|STIL-nas|. Many of the native speakers who pronounce the suffix
-ed as |ad| will also more or less consistently
replace |O| with |AH| and unstressed intervocalic |t| with |d|,
saying |PAH.d.ad| instead of |PO.t.ad| or |PO.t.id|.
Whatever the pronunciational variants or differences of
pronunciation may be, they will only be relevant here, if they
cause different aural effects as created by the repetition of
sounds. That is, for example, why |in-KREE-at| is preferred to
|IN-kree-EIT| in this poem. But where there is no such poetic
reason to choose the one pronunciation instead of the other,
preference is given to the variant from
which it is possible to derive the other variant(s). Therefore,
the |r| is always shown, because there is a rule for |r|-deletion
in certain dialects (namely, that the r is not
pronounced unless followed by a vowel), while this is not
possible the other way around, for there is no such rule for
|r|-insertion. Similarly, |t| is shown even at a place where many
native speakers actually utter a |d|, because there is a rule for
such t-voicing (between vowels at a fuzzy syllable boundary),
while there is not an alternative rule for d-devoicing.
With the above transcription as our basis we can now show the
places where words or phrases are repeated in their entirety (in
boldface), and those where a repetition of single sounds creates
assonance or consonance:
we-RAEZ
KREE.tsh.arz hav bin PO.t.ad in.t.a _____
___ a _AWRD dhat FO._t.ar_ a D__._.ing GOD
dhi in-KREE-at hav P__.t.ar_d ____-_____
__ dha NAWR_ dhat F__.__.ar_ dha D____ __ G_D
a-_+__-B__D BEE-ing_ a_ a N__.tsh.ar N__ __-N__D
we-RAEZ
KREE.tsh.arz hav bin K_._.ing M___._.a_z
far ___-P_EE._.ing WAN av dhar __-VAI_ MEI._.arz
far _-F_N._.ing WAN av dhar ___-_i_ FEI___
dhi in-KREE-at hav _-V__VD a_d _a_-VAIVD
in a W___D-W__D _a-M_L-jal ka-M___N-jan
we-RAEZ
KREE.tsh.arz H___T in HIM i_-SKLOO.s.__-li,
dhi in-KREE-at, _N.k.ree-__.t.id in hi-Z+I._.id__
SE_._.i_-ZI.st.ant in IN._.a_._._-___._.an_
__r W__ a-W__R dhat L__.___.anz L_ST dha W__
W____ __ dh_ _._._-LOO.__.a.n.___ DAU
we-RAEZ
KREE.tsh.arz SEE _a_ WAN ___NZ S____._.ar
___ __-__ B_SH bee a-_____ wi__ _IZ
dhi in-KREE-at WISH ta LI_ in a LAEND
dh__ in-K_____ EE___ K__ND EE.k.__.l.i
AEND t_ _N.t.ar in.t.a ____-___ DHAS
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aural analysis
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Altho there is no repetition of sounds between |DAU| (Dao)
at the end of the third and |DHAS| (thus) at the end of the
fourth stanza, there is much similarity between the two words.
Both of them are very short, consisting of one syllable only,
and both of them receive full stress at the end of the last
sentence of the stanza in which they appear.
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