ABSTRACT. In poetic language, ordinary language is subject to poetic organization. This organization results in deviation from ordinary-language linguistic norms. A number of Optimality-Theoretic studies analyze poetically motivated linguistic deviation as the domination of linguistic constraints by prosodic constraints (Rice 1997, Golston 1998, Reindl and Franks 2001, Michael 2003, Fitzgerald 2003, 2007). Adding to this line of scholarship, this paper examines how metrical mapping, metrical grouping and rhyme patterning govern stress shift, syllabic variation, and syntactic inversion as exemplified in the lyrics of honky tonk country music singer Hank Williams, Sr. The violation of the norm of the standard, its systematic violation, is what makes possible the poetic utilization of language; without this possibility there would be no poetry. (Mukarovsky 1970: 43) 1. INTRODUCTION. Poetic language necessarily deviates from ordinary language, violating ordinary language norms in order to satisfy poetic patterning. Metrical organization has been shown to govern word order (Youmans 1983, 1989; Golston 1998; Fitzgerald 2003), allomorphy (Youmans 1989), reduplication (Fitzgerald 1998), lexical stress (Janda and Morgan 1988), and the deletion and insertion of syllables (Fitzgerald 1998, Reindl and Franks 2001, Michael 2003). A number of articles analyze such poetically motivated linguistic deviation as the domination of prosodic constraints over other areas of the grammar (Rice 1997, Golston 1998, Reindl and Franks 2001, Michael 2003, and Fitzgerald 2003, 2007). Adding to this line of scholarship, this paper examines how meter, metrical grouping, and rhyme govern linguistic deviation in the lyrics of Hank Williams, Sr. Specifically, I show how metrical mapping and grouping constraints drive stress shift and syllabic variation, and how constraints requiring systematic rhyme govern syntactic inversion. Following a discussion of the methods used in this study is an introduction to the poetic grammar of the Hank Williams song. Three major types of poetic organization are identified: meter, metrical grouping, and rhyme. In the second half of the article, an analysis of the Hank Williams Corpus highlights how three types of linguistic deviation reflect the interaction of poetic constraints and ordinary language constraints: stress shift, syllabic variation, and syntactic inversion. 2. METHODS. The data for the Hank Williams Corpus consist of songs that Williams performed or recorded which were collected on the ten-compact disc compilation album, The Complete Hank Williams. The album contains 224 tracks including songs, recitations, and speech. Of the 164 discrete songs among them, Williams wrote or co-wrote 98 himself. The remaining songs were written by a number of different artists, among them Fred Rose, Mel Foree, Ernest Tubb, and Leon Payne. Each song was coded for its metrical and rhyming structure, and this information was then entered into corresponding databases to facilitate analysis. 3. POETIC ORGANIZATION IN HW CORPUS. Musical rhythm has two major components: meter and grouping (Lerdahl and Jackendoff 1983). In Williams' lyrics, musical meter is realized in the linguistic text in the distribution of downbeat- and non-downbeat-stressed syllables, linguistically-empty downbeats, and extended syllables on the metrical grid. Patterns in the distribution of these units half-line- and line-finally reflect the metrical grouping structure of the song. Systematic end-rhyme reinforces metrical grouping in its patterning. 3.1 METER. The musical meter for the majority of songs in the corpus, i.e. 115 of 164, is duple, 2/2, with two half-note beats per measure. The remaining 49 songs are in triple meter, 3/4, with three quarter-note beats per measure. In each song, the downbeat, i.e. the first beat of each measure, is acoustically prominent, often realized instrumentally as the thumping bass guitar. …