zodiac26 Aug 2005

Weak answer: I dunno, just kind of strike me as stylized. You'll have to give me a day or so for the not-weak answer.

As far as accents, I look to Frost, whose more-or-less straight-up rhythmical verse is full of extra and dropped syllables (cf. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.) I've never had trouble reading Frost's intended rhythm, and I wouldn't stumble on "blessed blashphemy" in a pentameter poem. At best, the grave's unnecessary for modern readers, I think.