Tonic versification

Tonic (accentual) versification is a system in which rhythm is determined by an equal or ordered number of stresses in the line, while the number of unstressed syllables between them varies freely. Tonic verse is close to the natural intonation of speech and to folk recitative, in particular to the Ukrainian duma with its lines of unequal syllable count. In the twentieth century accentual verse was actively developed by the Modernists, who freed rhythm from the rigid foot scheme for the sake of greater intonational liberty. Its varieties are the dolnyk and the taktovyk, which occupy an intermediate position between strict syllabo-tonics and wholly free verse, retaining an accentual support while the inter-stress distance changes.