Usage of "'d" in nursery rhyme

[Ralf]

Hi Nessie,

[Yankee]

Hi Nessie

As Ralf says, you should not write things such as wander'd. This is simply something that poets sometimes do (or used to do). Since the word wandered is pronounced as only two syllables anyway, there is not actually any reason that you "must" ever use this form (wander'd) -- not even in poetry. Maybe you should just think of this use of 'd as nothing more than an out-dated poetic "frill".

What might be more logical or easy for you to understand are words such as o'er. This is a contracted form of the word 'over'. This is a poetic device ("syncope") that is used to change this two-syllable word into a one-syllable word.

As Ralf also mentioned, if you wrote want'd, that would mean that the word should be pronounced as one syllable rather than two -- and I can't imagine anyone being able to do that either!
.
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[MrPedantic]

To pick up on an earlier point: the removal of the 'e' in peep'd is not to indicate that the '-ed' is not separately stressed, but that it isn't separately pronounced. (If "peeped" were pronounced as a disyllable, the "-ed" would be unstressed.)

The converse of the poetic 'd is -èd: this shows that the syllable is to be pronounced (as in the adjective "learnèd").

There are thus 3 possible forms of the past tense of "peep", in current notation:

1. peeped — pronounced as 1 syllable
2. peep'd — ditto; a "poetic" form
3. peepèd — pronounced as 2 syllables

The #3 form is very rare. You might use it if you wanted to demonstrate how "peeped" was pronounced in the 15th century.

The "poetic" forms ("peep'd", "wander'd", "sigh'd") are still very popular with amateur writers of verse; I suppose they seem to give a "poetic" look to the page.

MrP

[Yankee]

[Nessie]

Thank you so much, dear everybody :)

First of all, I understand that this is just an old-fashioned poetic usage and that I shouldn't use it, but I just want to make things clear.

Actualy, what led me to ask about "want'd" was that I was stilled confused by the "not separately stressed". Sincerely speaking, I don't know what you mean. (Please do forgive me for my dumbness (again) (+_+))
Specificly, I don't know whether "not separately stressed" mean the same as "not separately pronounced" or not (For this, I'd like to thank MrP so much for his always understanding my thick skull). From all the "exercise on word stress" that I've done in tests and exams in my country, I understand "stress" as "an extra force used when pronouncing a particular word or syllable". And thus, in a word with one syllable like "peeped", how can the "ed" be stressed? (when it's not even a syllable). And so why must they change "peeped" into "peep'd" so that the "ed" would be not separately stressed? Anyway the "ed" can't be stressed in both versions, can it?
That's why I suspect I may have misunderstand your meaning for "stressed". Do you mean "not separately pronouced"? And thus, is this right:

peeped /pi:pt/
peep'd /pi:p/

And sumarily, does the change of "peeped" into "peep'd" change its original pronunciation at all?

Once again, thank you so much for your patience with me, and sorry so much for my dumbness. +_+
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:(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Yankee]

[Nessie]

Thanks a lot, Amy,

but I stil don't understand Alan's idea:
It is a poetic device to remove the 'e' so that the 'ed' isn't stressed. The classic line showing this is in Wordsworth's poem Daffodils:

=> "so that the "ed" isn't stressed => so that means if "e" isn't removed, the "ed" will be stressed? How? :O

Thank you so much once again.
Nessie.
_________________
:(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Yankee]

Hi Nessie

To be honest, I was a little confused by Alan's comment, too. That's why I posted my question about the pronunciation of the 'ed' in 'wandered' back in Wordsworth's day.

I assume that Alan meant that the use of 'd simply indicates that the -ed ending should not be pronounced as a separate syllable. (If this is not what Alan meant, I guess he will tell us so and explain it himself.)

However, the fact that -ed would not pronounced as a separate syllable anyway means that the use of 'd instead of -ed is completely unnecessary. The only purpose it serves is to make the poem "look more poetic".

By the way, I still think it's possible that an additional reason (a reason in addition to style and appearance) that Tennyson tended to use the 'd so much could have been his interest in spelling reform. But that's pure speculation on my part.
.
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[MrPedantic]

I would agree with Amy: the question is not one of stress, but of pronunciation.