over-reave, v.
(əʊvəˈriːv)
[Etym. uncertain; perhaps f. over- 16 + a confusion of reeve v.1 and weave v.1]
trans. A term used of the metre of his poetry by G. M. Hopkins, to denote scansion continued for a complete stanza, as distinct from that confined to individual lines (see quots.). So over-ˈreaving vbl. n.
| 1879 G. M. Hopkins Lett. to R. Bridges (1935) 86 These little graces help the ‘over-reaving’ of the verse at which I so much aim, make it flow in one long strain to the end of the stanza and so forth. 1880 ― Let. 22 Dec. in Hopkins & Dixon Corr. (1935) 40 In lyric verse I like sprung rhythm also to be over-rove, that is the scanning to run on from line to line to the end of the stanza. 1881 ― Lett. to R. Bridges (1935) 120 In my lyrics in sprung rhythm I am strict in overreaving the lines when the measure has four feet, so that if one line has a heavy ending the next must have a sprung head. 1973 Studies in Eng. Lit.: Eng. Number (Tokyo) 25 ‘Over-reaving’, or the scanning of verse without break from line to line, is a structural necessity following upon the method of scansion Hopkins proposes for sprung rhythm. |