s are, in the first instance, sounds, of which the printed
or written marks are but conventional symbols. And these symbols and the
sounds which they represent have other values also, logical or
intellectual and emotional values. Language is therefore a compound
instrument of both sound and meaning, and speech-rhythm, in its fullest
sense, is the composite resultant of the attributes of sound (duration,
intensity, and pitch) modified by the logical and emotional content of
the words and phrases which they represent.

For example, utter the words: "A house is my fire," and observe the
comparative duration of time in the pronunciation of each word, the
comparative stress, and the relative pitch (e. g. of _a_ and _fire_).
Now rearrange these nearly meaningless syllables: "My house is afire."
Observe the differences, some slight and some well marked, in time,
stress, and pitch. Then consider the different emotional coloring this
sentence might have and the different results on time, stress, and pitch
in utterance, if, say, the house contains all that you hold most
precious and there is no chance of rescue; or if, on the other hand, the
house is worthless and you are glad to see it destroyed. And even here
the matter is comparatively simple; for in reading the following
sentence from Walter Pater, note the manifold variations in your own
utterance of it at different times and imagine how it would be read by a
person of dull sensibilities, by one of keen poetic feeling, and finally
by one who recalled its context and on that account could enjoy its
fullest richness: "It is the landscape, not of dreams or of fancy, but
of places far withdrawn, and hours selected from a thousand with a
miracle of finesse."[3]

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| [3] Walter Pater, "Leonardo da Vinci," in The Renaissance. |
| For an account of scientific experiments on the time and |
| stress rhythm of this sentence, see W. M. Patterson, The |
| Rhythm of Prose, New York, 1916, ch. iv. An idea of the |
| complexity may be obtained from Patterson's attempt to |
| indicate it by musical notation: |
| |
| [Illustration: Metrical pattern expressed in musical |
| notation] |
+----------------------------------------------