Abstract
This paper presents a pilot study in the "epidemiological" program for cultural research put forward by Dan Sperber. Theory is offered to argue that verse form is so disabling that its worldwide distribution must be explained by functions other than the broad communicative, or ideological, power traditionally attributed to it. The theoretical case is confirmed by numerical data showing that in matched texts of English prose and verse the latter contain words of a lower mean length (measured in syllables). Candidate hypotheses for the epidemiology of verse are offered, including design for mnemonic properties, the registration of differences in verbal intelligence, the presentation of gestures of commitment, and the introduction of levels of quasi-randomness that lead to an impression of semantic richness and the illusion of profound and powerful communication.
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Portions of the data and commentary in this paper were presented to the Art and Ritual panel of the 8th Annual Conference of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, held at Northwestern University, Evanston, June 1996.
John Constable read English at Magdalene College, Cambridge, receiving his Ph.D. in 1993. He has edited The Selected Letters of I. A. Richards (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), and Critical Essays on William Empson (Aldershot, United Kingdom: Scolar Press, 1993). He is currently Associate Professor in the Faculty of Integrated Human Studies, Kyoto University.
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Constable, J. Verse form. Hum Nat 8, 171–203 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-997-1010-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-997-1010-x