Abstract
This essay brings together an old subject, a new body of knowledge, and a scientific paradigm, which have not previously been associated with one another. The subject is poetic meter, a universal human activity, which, despite its universality and obvious importance in most human cultures, has received very little attention from humanists, except for the studies of a few literary prosodists, and virtually none at all from science. The new body of knowledge derives from the findings of the intense study of the human brain that has taken place within the last few decades. The new scientific paradigm has been developed by the International Society for the Study of Time. Its major postulates are that: 1. An understanding of time is fundamental to an understanding of the real world. 2. Time is not simple, but composite. 3. Time is a hierarchy of increasingly complex temporalities. 4. The more complex temporalities evolved as a part of the general evolution of the universe, and, in a sense, the evolution of time constitutes the evolution of the universe. 5. The hierarchical character of time as we know it reflects and embodies the various stages of its evolution.1
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References and Notes
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“Ergotrophic” refers to the whole pattern of connected behaviors and states that characterize the aroused state of the body, including an increased heart rate and blood flow to the skeletal muscles, wakefulness, alertness, and a hormone balance consistent with “fight or flight” acitivities. “Trophotropic” refers to the corresponding system of rest, body maintenance, and relaxation: decreased heart rate, a flow of blood to the internal organs, an increase in the activity of the digestive process, drowsiness, and a hormone balance consistent with sleep, inactivity, or trance.
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op.cit. d’Aquili et al., pp 152-182.
ibid d’Aquili et al, pp 183-215.
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© 1988 Springer Basel AG
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Turner, F., Pöppel, E. (1988). Metered Poetry, the Brain, and Time. In: Rentschler, I., Herzberger, B., Epstein, D. (eds) Beauty and the Brain. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-6350-6_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-6350-6_4
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Basel
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Online ISBN: 978-3-0348-6350-6
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