This work investigates the evolution and codification of English prosodic theory during the eighteenth century, questioning how contemporary writers understood the mechanics of verse. Paul Fussell, a distinguished scholar of English literature, utilizes a rigorous historical framework to examine the transition from traditional accentual-syllabic models to the more rigid, neoclassical prescriptions of the era. By analyzing the treatises of the time, he demonstrates how these theoretical developments directly influenced the poetic output of the period.

This text is regarded as a foundational academic resource for students and scholars of English prosody and neoclassical literature. Its dense, scholarly approach provides a definitive historical account of how eighteenth-century theorists attempted to systematize the structure of English verse.