Sound enactment denotes how poets can exploit rhythm and phonology so that the effects appear to corroborate, mimic or enact the content of the lines in which they occur. The controversy over the intrinsic nature and aesthetic value of these effects in the middle decades of the eighteenth century are detailed.
During the eighteenth century, a controversy breaks out concerning the extent to which poets can use sound effects to mimic the subject-matter of their lines. Its catalyst is provided by ...