Languages and Linguistics
In reply to the discussion: Does redundancy constitute bad grammar? [View all]Glorfindel
(9,923 posts)I think the whole poem evokes the horse's hooves...
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horsehoofs ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding
Ridingriding
The red coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still.
Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer. Her face was like a light.
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned himwith her death.
I merely meant that poetry is a bit different from other forms of speech and writing. It follows its own rules. (Or none at all, as the case may be.) I detest redundancy in everyday speech, as: "ER Room." "MVR Report." "ATM Machine." The examples are endless.