Thesaurus of Czech metres 1795-1825

Thesaurus of Czech Meters 1795–1825

http://isis.ucl.cas.cz/?form=cme

The "Thesaurus of Czech Meters" database processes in detail Czech poetic output from the beginning of the National Revival. The creation of this database was described in ČL 47 (1999), p..287nn., where there is also a detailed description of the individual sections for each entry.

Characterization of the database, its scope and purpose:

1. In the early stages of its development, modern Czech poetry had to deal amongst other things with the very important issue of which principle to apply as its basis. Prosodic problems and disputes had their consequences not only for poetic form but also for the overall standard of poetry at that time. This database provides summary material for this versological view of the development of Czech, which has not hitherto been dealt with comprehensively. Because of its comprehensive nature, the database can also provide a great deal of interesting material for literary-historical research, particularly with its detailed biographies and information on the reworking and reprinting of individual verses, as well as on originals which were translated and genre specifications.
2. The database encompasses all available poetic output from 1795 to 1825 from books and journals, including translations. Several authors and works from before 1795 (i.e. before Dobrovský's prosodic reform) were exceptionally included (e.g. Thám's Almanach), and we went beyond 1825 in the case of authors whose important works and selected or collected writings came out after that date (e.g. Puchmajer, Hanka, J. and V. Nejedlý). The attached List contains excerpted literature with an addendum of several titles which we did not manage to find in our libraries.
3. Each poem is an independent unit (MFN). The file currently contains approx. 7,800 entries, the polymetric compositions having as many entries as there are metrically different parts in them. If a poem was reworked over time, this is noted in the entry and only if a fundamental reworking and metrical change has taken place has a new entry been compiled.
4. What can we get from the database? All the poems (separate verse fragments) by a single author,
   
   • All poems from a particular period,
   • All poems from a particular journal, 
   • All poems written as a four-foot iambic etc., 
   • All poems written as a tercet, quatrain etc.,
   • All poems with an enclosing rhyme, 
   • All translations from a particular author, 
   • All sonnets, triolets etc., 
   • All poems of a particular genre (songs, ballands, lullabies etc),

   and various combinations of two or three of these standpoints.

Practical instructions for database users

1. All information supplied by the compilers, e.g. first line of a poem without title, is given in square brackets.
2. If a text has been printed anonymously and the author has not been determined from literary-historical sources, it is designated "unsigned", and the initials or mark are noted.
3. In the "POLYMETRY" field the number indicates the individual whole units made up of a single meter and the letter indicates the succession of these parts (3/A, 3/B, 3/C). This field also records whether or not the poetic text has been excerpted from a drama or from prose.
4. The VERSE COMBINATIONS field is only completed if stanzas of various unrelated meters (e.g. trochaic-iambic) are combined in one poem.
5. While METER designates the type and extent in terms of feet (T4, J4m etc.), METRICAL COMPONENTS designate the same in terms of syllabic range (7t, 8t, 8j etc.). A given type of line "Tsyl", "Jsyl" designates a line that is significantly affected by syllabism, so that there are numerous deviations in the basic meter. In the case of PROSODY, the metrical scheme cannot always be designated in detail and the attribute "original" is often used, i.e. the author does not use traditional antique forms such as the Sapphic strophe and the like. In the case of prosody in drama (and exceptionally, drama written in syllabotonic verse), we do not break down the individual phenomena even if they are written in different types of verse. If prosodic verse is being sought, it is necessary to look under key entries: "prosody", "quantitative hexameter", "quantitative elegiac distich", quantitative adonic verse", quantitative iambic trimeter", "quantitative antique strophe" and so forth.
6. STROPHIC SCHEME designates either an established form (sonnet etc.) or a couplet, tercet etc., or lack of strophes, with a rhyme scheme that does not distinguish masculine and feminine verse, which is left to the RHYMES field. Traditional forms occurring in this period are designated.
7. In the NUMBER OF LINES an entry distinguishes strophic (x3, X4 etc) from non-strophic (24v etc) forms, while in the case of certain traditional forms (the sonnet and elegiac distich) the overall number of lines is given as in the case of non-strophic forms.
8. In the AD METRUM field a note is made of some deviations from the basic meter, points of interest and changes during reworking. In the case of dactylo-trochees, the regular insertion of a dactyl among trochees may be noted, in the case of alexandrines, division into half-lines (6+6(7)), in the case of Sapphic strophes the insertion of a dactyl, in the case of a sonnet other graphic arrangements than the traditional 4+4+3+3, e.g.. 4+4+6, or 14, if the sonnet has been printed without division into strophes.
9. POEM TEXT contains the entire strophe if possible or a certain section of a non-strophic poem, if possible from the start of the text.
10. TRANSLATION indicates the language from which the translation has been performed, the author, if known, and the original extent of the poem if this can be ascertained.
11. SPECIFICATION relates to the poetic genre. A list of all terms used for this specification comes after these instructions. A summary of the main principles which we applied:
    
    • the name or subtitle of the author was decisive (e.g. Odes - Gallaš),
    • a cycle of poems from a particular author normally has the same specification, e.g. Kollár's sonnets from Daughter of Glory are designated as "patriotic lyric verse",
    • poems dealing with the creation of poetry and considerations of its meaning have been designated as "self-reflection",
    • in the case of many texts it was very difficult to provide a clear-cut specification because the contours between certain concepts are not always evident, e.g. between the ideas of "intimate lyric verse" and "subjective lyric verse". Sometimes we solved this problem by adding a second or third characteristic and if necessary a more detailed explanation in the NOTES. When conducting searches, the user should not just focus on a single term, but, for example, look for both "epigram" and "inscription". Most difficult of all was to provide specifications for drama works. The specification "occasional" relates to a specific situation, while a division is made in this group between poems designated as "elegy", "felicitation", "wedding song", "wedding wish" and so forth.
12. Of the bibliographical information the most important item is the source from which the text was excerpted. If this is not a generally well-known and available source (e.g. journals such as Čechoslav, the poetic writings of F. L. Čelakovský and the like), we also detail the source (the shelf number of the library in question). We replace the "page" designation in some journals (e.g. Prvotiny) by "number".
13. LITERATURE includes references to specialist literature dealing with the poem in question; these are most frequently comments made by the editors of selected writings or almanachs and references to basic works in the field, e.g. "On Czech Prosody" by Josef Král.
14. NOTES can be used for more extensive commentary and details on any field in the preceding entry, and particularly involve: the author's comments on the text or on the name, the name of the section in which the poem is included in the original publication or in a reprint, the name of the prose work in which the verse appears, if the text has been put to music, by whom, if the text tallies or does not tally with other poems (e.g. of the same name), with a reference to the appropriate MFN, additional, more detailed specifications.