English Versification PARSONS o o ENGLISH VERSIFICATION FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS. BY REV. JAMES C. PARSONS, PRINCIPAL OF PROSPECT HILL SCHOOL, GREENFIELD, MASS. Who through long days of labor, And nights devoid of ease, Still heard in his soul the music Of wonderful melodies. LONGFELLOW. LEACH, SHEWELL, AND SANBORN. BOSTON. NEW YOKK. CHICAGO. CorYUl'.MT, : By .1 1 1 ■■> CiPi C. J. PCTEBS 4. SON, Tvpocaapmih* AND El' Pbiv, • >*■ Smith. l5oq P37 1811 PREFACE. Tins little book is intended to take its place as one of a series for the study of the English Language, for pupils in our higher institutions of learning. There seems no good reason why the young men and women in our schools should be more thoroughly and intimately acquainted with the pho- netics, the grammar, the rhetoric, and the prosody of the classical languages, than with those of their vernacular. But, unfortunately, this is too often the case, notwithstanding the constant multiplication of text-books upon the English language. These text-books, for the most part, lack perspective, and grasp of the natural method. We need, first, a book which shall treat thoroughly, but simply, of the phonetic elements of English, with the laws of euphony, of roots and deriva- tion, of grammatical forms, and of the syntactical and idiomatic structure of sentences. The next book in the series should be an English Prose Composition, — not digni- fied by the name of Rhetoric, but devoted wholly to master- ing the various transformations of which sentences are capable, to produce variety of expression. The third book might be English Versification, for which the present manual is onY iii IV PREFACE. . .ml the fourth would be a Rhetoric in its most oomprehen nn. In preparing tliis book, the author lias boon guided by the experi( I many years in tin' class-room. No attempt lias luce an exhaustive treatise on the fascinat- ing subject of prosody. The controversy of scholar the d in which quantity prevails as a basis for English rhythm has been studiously avoided. It seems Bufficienl iw the prevalent habit «»f our best poets, as evidenced in their utterance ami their works, of assigning to accent the distinguishing characteristic ol English vei >■■ Given this as Ible I" go on ami add all tin- charms of phonetic richness ami depth oi which tin' Ian;,': capable. biel features of the book will be found in I oopi From the beginning of the study, olutely essential that the ear of the student should be trained to deted all the va: of melody and harmony, and • which can be betl mplified than rilicd. For this training, much depends apon the guidance of the tea, he]'. It • tirst intended to append to eaoh chapter a' tudy and pi of the principles contained in but upon consideration, it. was thought better to l, to the individuality of the tea, -her, with • .re embodied in the in, of familiarity with the ived hut inadeqi tention in our TREFACE. v courses of study. It is true, that the feeling for rhythmic expression is born, not made. But whoever is capable of understanding and reading correctly the best prose in our literature, is capable also of giving a proper rendering of our higher poetry, with the same amount of attention to the laws of rhythm and metre. Especially is such study important to those who seek expression of their own thoughts in prose or verse. The vocabulary in English is essentially the same in poetry as in prose. "Our prosody," says Henry Reed, in his lectures on English Literature, "seldom if ever disqualifies words on account of their sound, whereas in the Latin, as has been ascertained, one word out of every eight is excluded from its chief metres by the rules of its prosody. The study of English poetry, being thus in closer affinity with the prose, admits of an important use in the formation of a good prose style. A mind as earnestly practical as Dr. Franklin's ob- served this, and he recommended the study of poetry and the writing of verse for this purpose ; it was one of the sources of his own excellent English." Even for the sake of the few, in each generation, who are favored with the gift of song, we may well afford to offer the advantages of such a study in our regular courses upon language. If one of the uses of teaching music and drawing in our public schools is the opportunity afforded to the fortu- nate ones to discover their gift and to cultivate it, may we not claim the same office for the study of verse ? Who can say what young soul may even now be born among us, who, "mute and inglorious" else, may be thus stimulated and vi l'i;r.r.\ infonned to use his dawning powers, and who may in future the tribute to um- Bchoola which Bryant tendeied to his fat). '• Who taught my youth The art of verso, and in the bad of life I me to the Muses." J. c. p. < ii:i i.ni nil'. ■' i . • . . L80L TO TEACHERS. Two purposes were had in view in the preparation of this manual : first, study of the forms of verse ; then, practice upon those forms. "We will consider them separately, although they may be carried on simultaneously. First, the study. From the first, the pupil should be expected to search for additional examples of every form of language mentioned in the book. Learning and reciting the definitions and the rules, he should also furnish an example of each, not only from the book, but also of his own discovery. To begin with, some practice should be had in reading simple prose, to catch the significance of accent and emphasis ; then rhythmical prose ; then rhythm reduced to regular metre. The reading should embrace longer extracts than those given in the book, for the sake of getting the full swing of the style. It would be well to have one example, at least, of each form, committed to memory and recited. Under Variety of Rhythm, instances should be found of substitution, elision, and the rest. In Variety of Metre, additional examples should be given of each kind. For Rhyme, besides the method already proposed, we quote the following suggestion of Dr. W. J. Rolfe, in his Hints to Teachers: "The teacher may give VII viii TO rEACHBRS. • to this subject by asking the pupils if there are b words (not Including proper names of persons, pi i r which >i» rhyme can be found; and if so, t<> look up examples of them (like silver, squi ladow, planet, filbert, trellis, April, August, temple, virt\ r, almond, bay mething, nothing, etc). Words which have only <>it>- rhyme are also curious ; like people nguish, winter, hornet, hatchet, mountain, darkt /'/r. Rolfe intends, perfect rhymes; for sunn- c » i unr best poets have - rhymes for some <>r those words; for in find what port has quarrel to rhyme with squirrel, meadow with shadow, sorest with forest. Also find the words which rhyme with the last list given, and, if possible, any us them in the poet ». In the chapters <>n Alliteration and T< i let ;enuine examples of each be Btudied and read with Buch appreciation of the J i to bring out the full ificance of the sound . Lei the Bubjeot of ttention it de P i ol considerable th, of the moi ! forms, Bhould !>•• read in class, first natural of expression, and then for ana'. am pies ! unusual o old then be taken up. Specimens of tl ra, and humorous forma should I and analj zed. ;i\ . pi . le with thi >uld iu the composition «>l verse, which Bhould follow Ta TEACHERS. ix prose composition as a part of the regular course for every well-educated person. There are many ways in which this practice may be given. Single lines of each kind of rhythm ,and metre, from iambic to dactylic, from monometer to octam- eter, should be made by the pupil. Later, a stanza of each may be required. Preparatory to original work, facility of construction may be cultivated by giving dissected selections to be re-combined in their proper order. For instance, let the teacher take a passage of iambic pentameter from Paradise Lost, or of dactylic hexameter from Longfellow, and transpose phrases and clauses, so as to break up the rhythmical order, and give it to the class to be reconstructed. Again, give an extract with omitted epithets or phrases, thus changing the metre, to be restored to the original form. Thus : "When, as returns this solemn day, Man comes to meet his — God, What rites, what honors, shall he pay ? How spread his — praise abroad ? " Once more, try the exercise named bouts rimes, or "rhymed endings." In this, the final rhymes of a poem are given, — also the scheme of the verse, and the subject, — for the pupil to reproduce the poem, or one similar to it. Thus : WOODS IN WINTER. u ' I u ' J u ' I u chill u ' I u ' I u ' I u gale u ' | u ' | u ' | o hill u ' I v ' I yj ' | o vale. Then, as a beginning of original work, assign a short pass of prose to be turned into verso of any kind which may bo x TO TK LCHBES. ified. For example, the Bong of Solomon ii. 11-1.'), to be oonyerted Into iambic pentameter. In this way, the pupil idually U'il mi tu andertake metrioal composition for which he shall furnish his own material. Then, Let abun- dant practice be given in all the forms of verse which arc laid ire him in this book. As an incentive to the teacher, the author is glad to testify to very creditable productions as the Jar work of pupils in such a course, as is here indicat' > NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION. r 01 c irreotions and improvements in this Becond edition, the author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to the criti- cisms and suggestions of Dr. \V. J. E&olfe of Cambridge, Pro! A. !l. Tolman of the University of Chicago, Prof. J. 11. Gilmore of the University of Rochester, Mr. Brander Blatthews, I turer at Columbia College, Prof. L B. K. Briggs oi Harvard ity, and Dr. J. Bchipper Of Vienna, author oi " I liscii bit trik." .1 C i' m i i:i.r>. J '■■. 1891. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTORY 1 Prose. — Verse. — Quantity. — Stress. — Rhythmical Prose. — Rhythm. — Metre. — Alliteration. — Rhyme. — Tone- Color. II. RHYTHM 5 Accent. — Emphasis. — Proclitics and Enclitics. — Unit of Rhythm. — Names of Feet. — Character of Rhythms. III. METRE 12 Examples of Metres, from Moiiometer to Octameter, in each of the Four Rhythms. IV. VARIETY IN RHYTHM 18 Substitution. — Elision. — Slurring. — Extra-rhythmical Syllables. — Rests. — Pauses. — Ca-sura of the Foot. — Ca'sura of the Line. — Run-on Lines. — End-stopped Lines. V. THE STANZA 33 Couplet. — Triplet. — Stanza. — Quatrain. — Hymn Metres. — Stanzas of five, six, seven, eight, and nine Lines. — Rime Royal, or Short Chaucerian. — Spenserian. — Long Chaucerian. — Sonnet. — Oil''. xi xii TABLE OF CON I !.'■ i n.vr . r L it as significant. 'Dais: ///-!' the acceuts. Thus, in this sentence • iriosity Shop :"" Night is generally my* time for walking. Save in the country, I seldom go 6ut until after dark." Here n<> regularity is observable in the occur- ol the ' This is simple prose. 7. But when the thoughts become animated by feeling a tendency to express them in a rhythmi- cal form. Thus, in another passage from the same work of 'When Death strikes down the innocent and young, ///<■/'/' pi which he lite the panting spirit . in shapes of mSrcg, charity and walk the earth and bless it." [n the passage italic iin: "Faint if piirpl n blushed along the i.il con filled with the in : the m bt." — Edward I In the sentence, if we omit soon, or chan to light, \'. unbroken rhythm, produced by the J liable. \ . 'i the peal thiii dr into music and r611ing it f6rth u 1 I of the sentence, thi INTRODUCTORY. 3 second syllable ; in the last part (if we change upon to on) it falls upon every third syllable. The three sentences quoted in this section are examples of rhythmical prose. Neither can properly be called verse. To constitute verse, not only rhythm is needed, but Metre. 8. Metre is the arrangement of rhythmical language in portions of a determinate length. Rhythmical prose might run on indefinitely, with only such break as would be required by the rhetorical divisions of the sentence. It would still be rhythmical, but not metrical. Metre is a measured portion of rhythm. Its first and simplest division is that of the Line. The length of the line is determined by the number of accents, which may vary from one to eight. The metre is named accordingly. The next division of Metre is that of the Stanza. It con- sists of a group of Lines, varying in number from two upwards, and bound together by a certain organic unity. 9. Besides rhythm and metre, other elements contribute to the charm of verse. The ear is pleased with harmony of tones. The repetition of the same or similar sounds was early seized upon to produce this effect. This similarity may occur only incidentally and irregularly, serving merely as an ornament; or it may be used as an aid in marking the rhythm, or in bind- ing the lines together into the organic unity of the Stanza. The earliest form in which this element occurred in English is known as Alliteration. 10. Alliteration. In Anglo-Saxon and Old English, this consisted in the repetition of the same or similar consonant or vowel sounds at the beginning of several of the most emphatic syllables in the line. It served both to mark the rhythm, and to bind together the two halves of the line. In later times. •1 I NGLISH 7EBSIFICATI0N. the Btrioi rales have been disregarded, and the term alliteration is applied to the general predominanoe of similar initial sounds in any passage of verse. 11. KiiYMi:. This came into use later than alliteration in English Wrse. It is sometimes called End-rhyme to distin- guish it from alliteration. It is similarity of sounds at the end of words instead of at the beginning. It was not com- monly employed in the ancient classical languages, but is very generally used in modern verse, both as an ornament ami as a ,ns of uniting lines together in a stanza, 12. AS80S LN< r. This is a modified form of rhyme, in which their is not a complete resemblance between the closing sylla- bles of words, as respects their final consonants, but the .simi- larity is wholly in the vowel sound. 13. Tonk-Coi.oi;. A still more subtle element of beauty in is found in the correspondence between the quality of the sounds employed ami the sentiment expressed. This may be merely an imitation of sounds in nature, or it may be an indefinite suggestion of certain feelings by the use of the appropriate consonant or vowel sound. Thus in Poe's de- . iption of the fire-bell •• Il'.u tiny dang ami clash ami roar, \\ bat ;i horror tiny out poor On the i in of the palpitating ah BachoJ t; .'.ill be fully treated in its appropriate chapter. EHYTIIM. CHAPTER II. RHYTHM. 1. As Rhythm is the most important feature of verse, it is necessary, first of all, to understand its nature, and catch its spirit. To appreciate the external charm of poetry, one must be susceptible to the grace of all swaying movements in nature. 2. Examples of these are found everywhere about us and within us ; in the rise and fall of leafy branches in the spring- time ; in the winding curves of the river, hollowing out its banks to the right and to the left ; in the rolling in of the billows toward the shore ; and, as if in response to these, the beating of our hearts, felt with regular pulsations in all parts of our bodies. Thou canst not wave thy staff in air, Or dip thy paddle in the lake, But it carves the how of heauty there, And the ripples in rhymes the oar forsake. — Emerson. 3. Rhythm, in its most comprehensive sense, is the recur- rence of similar phenomena at regular intervals of space or time, thus showing itself to the eye or the ear. A force is exerted, and then spends itself. The wave swells and then sinks, making a crest and a hollow, visible to the eye. A succession of crests and hollows forms a rhythm. So of the voice ; it pulsates loudly and then softly, and the succession of loud and soft syllables forms a rhythm. C I nclisii VERSIFICATION. 4. In the earliest times, this response of man to nature gave rise to dance and song, marking off the time into regular intervals, in obedience to a natural instinct. The alternate ing of t'nr foot served as an accompaniment ami measure of the movements of the voice. So it happens that the fust literature thought worthy of preserving was in the form of verse ratlin- than of prose. 5. But rhythmic movement is determined by law. as well in human language ;is in outward nature. To Learn these laws, in English vci must Btudy the nature of Strxss, or force, as employed to give significance to speech. Stress, as we have before learned, is of two kinds, A.< i butt and Emphasis. ACCENT. 6. If we notice carefully the speech of others, we shall rve that we catch the meaning chiefly by means of certain syllables and words, which are mi. re prominent than the i The Intervening syllables are comparatively obscure. The prominent syllable in a word is made so, because it contains the principal idea in the word. It is said to be accented. Thus: in-th'i-'t-hlr. Heir the syllable del, meaning t<> blot out, is the • : idea of the word, and is a d. 7. But the unaccented syllables are a e importai i tell nrhal to i>" done with th idea. The word '.Ufle means not to h I •<•'. Therefore, the unaccented r he wholly neglected in speech. The ation of i' iker and hearer, while directed chiefly to the accented syllable, mu rrj the unaccented syllables which are he. jarj to modify its meaning. Bach accei Bylla ne or more an yllables as modifi o. But to give attention to tin- strong syllal sd tic weal. • • ...• t line, requii has its limits. It i..t been found that it i to pronou RHYTHM. 7 or to hear more than two unaccented syllables attached to an accented one, whether they come before or after it. There- fore, the accent in any word cannot easily be placed farther back than the antepenult. If it should be placed farther back, either some unaccented syllable that follows must be slurred, or obscured, in pronunciation, or a secondary accent must fall on some one of the following syllables. Thus, if we accent the first syllable of cemetery, 'we must either pronounce it cemet'ry, or cemetery. In the word unconstitutionality, we find three accents, with single unaccented syllables intervening. 9. Each accented syllable, then, may carry with it not more than two unaccented syllables. If these follow it, they arc called enclitics, from a Greek word meaning to lean upon. If they go before it, they are called proclitics, meaning leaning forward. EMPHASIS. 10. The same principle which applies to syllables in a word is applicable also to words in a sentence. Certain words in a sentence are more important than others, and are made notice- able by stress of voice. This stress is called Emphasis. Such words are usually nouns, adjectives, and verbs ; connected by less important words, such as conjunctions and prepositions, which do not receive any stress. 11. Between accent and emphasis, this difference is observ- able. The place of the accent in a word is generally fixed by the prevalent usage of the time. Whereas the place of emphasis in a sentence varies somewhat with the habit of the individual speaker, or with his conception of the relative importance of the thoughts or feelings expressed. 12. But wherever the emphasis may fall in a sentence, tin- same general law holds good as in accent, that a Btrong syllable cannot easily carry with it more than two weak syllables, before or alter it. 8 ENGLISH Yi.KMl'K ATION. 13. Therefore, if rhythm, in English, is produced by the >s of voice falling at regular intervals, its limits are determined by this general law. It will consist of a bug sion of accented syllables followed each by one or two unao- cented, or preceded by one or two unaccented. To compare it with the waves of the sea, it will be a series of crests subsiding into hollows, or a scries of hollows rising into crests. 14. Rhythm, being thus regular, is capable of beim,' measured. One of the regular intervals will ((institute the unit of rhythm. It can be measured from the beginning of one stress to the beginning of the next; or from the end of one stress to the end of the next. Thus : I ^w I ^w I ^wl ^wl A v I Or 15. As an accented syllable may carry with it either one or two unaccented, tin- unit of rhythm may consist of either two Or three syllables. If it consists Of two, it may be called double movement, as is marked in the preceding section. If it consists of three syllables, it may be called triple n. meiit. Thus : ^uu | ^uu | ^uu | ^uu| <>r: uu^ | uu n | uu n | uu n I In subsequent marking of rhythm, the stre sd syllables will have the usual sign lor accent., and the other syllables will lie left unmarked excepl in Bpeoial cases. 16. The unit of rhythm is commonly called a foot, it will i-n that there are four principal kinds of feet tun i.l double movement, and two <»f triple movement. Thus, of double movement : |'^ | or | ^ ' 01 triple movement: | ' u ^ | or | w w ' | RHYTHM. 9 17. For convenience, the ancient names of the feet are still employed; always with the understanding that we are speak- ing of accented and unaccented, instead of long and short syllables. The iambus may be thus represented : | u ' | as, alone. The trochee may be thus represented : | ' u | as, onward. The anapaest may be thus represented : | ^ u ' | as, intervene. The dactyl may be thus represented : | ' o u j as, delicate. 18. Other feet are also possible. In marking time with the feet, in marching, instead of making each alternate stroke a heavy one, as is the custom, it is possible to emphasize every stroke. Carrying the analogy into verse, we have a unit of rhythm in double movement, with both syllables accented. Thus we have the spondee : | ' ' | as, amen. Again, in marching, the heavy stroke, or the tap of the drum which designates it, may be intermitted, for a moment, the movement being carried on, in the mind, during the interval. Applying this principle to verse, the unit of rhythm may lose the accent occasionally. Thus we have the pyrrhic : | u u | as, in the. 19. Still other types may be formed. The unit of rhythm may consist of an accented syllable with an unaccented pre- ceding and following. Thus we have the amphibrach : | u ' u | endurance. Or, in a different order, the amphimacer : | ' w ' | give me life. "We find even the choriambus : | ' u ^ ' | over the sea. This last is a compound of trochee (or choree) and iambus. 20. As the character of a rhythm cannot be seen in a single foot, it will be necessary to give here an example of each. Double rhythm, is, in general, a staid and stately movement. The ciir | few tolls | the knell | of part | ing d;iy. | — Gray. l't ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. Driple rhythm is more animated and graceful ligfal | to the croup | the fair la | ily he nrdng; | ghl | to the sad | u deep | and dark | blue 6 | cean, roll. | — Hiir, commit to .<>ry the followin I trips from | I6ng to | short; i in oleum RHYTHM. 11 Slow Spon | dee stalks, | strong foot, | yet ill able Fiver to | come up with | Dactyl tri | sellable. | lam | bics march | from short | to long; | With a leap | and a bound | the swift An | apaests throng; | One syllable long with one short at each side Amphibra | chys hastes with | a stately | stride: First and last | being long, | middle short, | Amphima | cer Strikes his thundering hoofs like a proud high-bred racer. Coleridge. 12 ENGLISH VERIFICATION. CHAPTEE III. METRE. 1. When a rhythmic succession of words is divided into lines of a definite number of feet, the result is called metre. In other words, metre is a measured portion of rhythm. 2. The number of units in a line determines the name of the metre. A line of one unit is called Mon6mi pebj of two, 1 >im i: I I i: : of three. Tki'm i mi;; of lour, Tl I B mi i i ft J of five, i (mi i I i; ; of Six, 111 \ \ Ml. Ill; ; of seven. 1 I i p i \ \\ r i i i; ; . if eight, 0< i\mi mi:. Thus, a line of five iambuses is called 1 ami;i> l'i N i \ M i i SB. 3. Besides these regular measures, there may be fractions • at the beginning <>r end of a line, and sometimes in the middle. This is especially th< with lyric mi those adapted for singin 4. To illn trate the various kimls of metre, the follov examples are given. It, should be remarked that it is very rare to find specimens of lines consisting of one unit, or more than six units, of any rhythm. 5. Iamhie monomi i \ M B i <'. ii. ire 6nd I l ii. -// ■■■! METRE. 13 6. Iambic dimeter : Because | I do | Begin | to woo, | Sweet sing | ing Lark, | Be thoii | the clerk. | — Herrick. With added syllable : She wept, | sweet la | dy, And said, | in weep | ing — — liossetti. 7. Iambic trimeter : O let | the sol | id ground | Not fail | beneath | my feet. | — Tennyson. With added syllable : Ere God | had built | the moun | tains Or raised | the fruit | ful hills. | — Cowptr. 8. Iamb;c tetrameter : Come live | with me | and be | my love. | — Marlowe. This is a form frequently used ; as in Milton's " L' Allegro," Tennyson's "In Memoriam," and many others. With added syllable : • * Wee, sleek | it, cow'r | in, tim | 'rous be"ast | ie. — Burns. 9. Iambic pentameter : A knight | there was | and that | a wor | thy man. | — Chaucer. This is the most common of all English metres. It has received the name of heroic verse in English, German, and Italian; and the same name is given to the iambic hexam- eter in French, and the dactylic hexameter in Greek and Latin. It will receive special attention in another chapter. With added syllable : On helm | and bar | ness rings | the Norse | man's ham | mer. — Longfellow. 1 I ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. 10. Iambic hexameti t : For sin- | was wdn | drous f;iirc | as an | y liv | [ng wight. | — Speiuer. This is called the Alexandrine line, — as being the metre of b French poem apon the life of Alexander. It naturally divides into two trimeters; thus : The ddw | was fall | Ing fust, | the stars | began | to blink. | — M'ordsuorth. 11. [ambio heptameter: There's not | a joy | the world | can give | like that I it takes | a\\;iy. | Hymn. With added syllabi- 1 Aud wrdnght | within | his shut | tered brain | such quick | , poet I ic sen | ses. — Mrs. Jlroirniny : O owptt ' t OfOM. TBOOHAIC i2. Trochaic monometei : Sphfahing i tasblng. — Southey. 13. Trochaic dimeter : C6nld I | ditch that | \ [mble | Ir.iyler I ■rnfiill I Ldwra | | Law la. | — Cum ]> ion. With added syllable; < live the | vdngeance | dde Td the | valiant I a — i 14. Trochaic trimeter i I . when | ^l<>ry | u ill thee. I M METRE. 15 With added syllable : Home they | brought her | warrior | de"ad. — Tennyson. Of this last, numerous examples may be found. 15. Trochaic tetrameter : Space to | breathe how | short so | ever. | — Den Jonson. This is the metre of Longfellow's " Hiawatha." With added syllable : 6nly | kneel once | more a | round the | sod. — Mrs. Hemans. 16. Trochaic pentameter : Sing thee | tales of | true long- | parted | lovers. | — Matthew Arnold. With added syllable : Think when | e'er you | see us | what our | beauty | saith. — Leigh Hunt. 17. Trochaic hexameter : Dark the | shrine and | dumb the | fount of | song thence | willing. | — Swinburne. With added syllable : Ldt us | swear an | oath and | keep it | with an | equal | mind. — Tennyson. 18. Trochaic heptameter : Let the student find an example of this, if possible. With added syllable : Tell me | what thy | lordly | mime is | on the | night's I'lu | tonian | shore. — Poe. 19. Trochaic octameter : Dear my | friend and | fellow | student, | I would | l> : :in my | spirit | o'er you. | — Mrs. Browning. 1G ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. a n.vpakstic. 20. Anapaestio monometer : On thy blink In a rank. — Drayton. 21. Anamnestic dimeter: On the 6m | erald in;iin. | — Shelley. With added syllable: Be la gone | on the mdun | tain; He is lust | lo the for | est. — B 22. Anapaestic trimeter i Prom the can | tre all rotind | to the sea | I am I6rd I of the fowl | ami the bnite. | — Cirj; r. Witli added syllable : Cornea a pause | in the day's | occupil | tions. — l.itmjfi {low. 23. Anap i I rameter : Por a field | of tie' dead | rusbea red | on my sight | — (\im]>ht II. Witli added syllable : If they n>h | ns of mime | and pursue | oa with beag | lea, Give their roof | to the flame I and their flesb | to the sag I let. Stood. In each <»f tin ie Last two forms, an iambus is often buI tnted for tin; first anapa Three Hah I era wenl sail | Ing out m | to tie- west. I — Chat How dear | to my lean I are the acehes I of my chfld | hood. — W.iotliiorth. kjo i .« - iii | i | under <» I man'- green ira* I ter. 'I'll.' e last two may he seanm-d perfectly as oonsisting of amphibraohs. METRE. 17 24. Anapaestic pentameter : And the sleep | in the dried | river chan | nel where bul | rushes tell | That the wa | ter was wont | to go war | bling so soft | ly and wedl. | — Robert Browning. 25. Anapaestic hexameter : Or the least | little del | icate aq | uiline curve | in a sen | sitive nose. | — Tennyson. 26. Anapaestic heptameter : Let the student seek an example of this. With added syllable : That are lit | tie of might, | that are mould | ed of mire, | unendiir- | ing and shad | ow-like na | tions. — Swinburne. DACTYLIC. 27. Dactylic monometer : Memory ! Tell to mo. — George Eliot. With added syllable : Weary 6f | breath. — Hood. It will be seen that this last is the same as the choriambus. 28. Dactylic dimeter : Cannon to | right of them. | — Tennyson. A form similar to this, with accents much modified, is found in several well-known poems : as Drayton's " Agineourt," and Longfellow's " Skeleton in Armor." 29. Dactylic trimeter : Here let the student seek for an example. With added syllable : Warriors and | chiefs should the | shaft or the | sword Pierce me in | leading the | host of the | I/>rd. Byron. 18 ENGLISH VKRSIPK ATION. 30. Dactylic tetrameter : Why art thou | dim when thy | sisters arc | radiant ? | - a. n. Mat This is more commonly found with the last foot a troth' Brightest and | best of the | sons of the | m6rning. - Ileber. 31. Dactylic pentameter: An example may lie furnished by the student, either selected or original With added syllable: Dance the e | lastic dac I tylics with | musical | cadences | on. - jr. W. Xiory. 32. Dactylic hexameter: \v with a | Bprightlier | springiness | botindlng in I triplicate | syllables. | _ w „•. storv _ This is an example of pure dactylic hexameter. The classi- cal dactylic hexameter differs from this in having a Bpondes or trochee in the last foot, and allowing spondees in other places; only, the iittli foot is usually a dactyl. Thus: Stand like | harpers | hoar with | beards that | real on their | bosoma | — Longfi How. As spondees are not easily Formed in English, trochees take their place, as in the above example. Not*. — The most oommon «.f these imtrcs will reoeiye special attention in :i laics chapter VARIETY IN RHYTHM. 19 CHAPTER IV. VARIETY IN EHYTHM. 1. In the preceding chapters, the laws of rhythm and metre have been given as seen in their most exact and regular forms. But it is b}^ no means necessary that they should be limited to these. Much of the charm of verse would be lost by this strict uniformity. In all languages, and especially in English, a larger freedom of movement is allowed, without changing essentially the rhythmic effect. Just as in music, added notes may be thrown into a measure, called "grace- notes," which, being played rapidly, do not disturb the regular time of the movement, so lighter syllables may be introduced in the unit of rhythm, without affecting the general flow of the accent. Then, also, silences or rests may take the place of syllables occasionally. And again, a few light syllables may occur as a sort of flourish at the beginning or end of a line, without affecting the regularly accented portion. The present chapter is devoted to these variations. SUBSTITUTION. 2. In the first place, it is to be observed, that the same unit of rhythm is not necessarily preserved throughout an example of verse. One kind of foot may occasionally be sub- stituted for another. In general, it is desirable that the rela- tive place of the accent should be retained. That is, the accent should be struck regularly at the beginning of every foot, or at the end of every foot, without having necessarily 20 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. tin- same number of syllables in each foot. In this wav, iambuses and anapaests may interchange with each othex in the same verse. Thus : 1 sift I the snuw | on the m6un | tains bel6w, | And their great | pines groan | aghast: | And all | the night | 'tis my pj] | low while | While i sleep | in the anus | of the blast | — Shell Or trochees and dactyls : Narrowing | in to | win-re they | sit as | Bumbled | Low vo | lupiaooa | music | winding | trembled. | 3. In iambic movement, which represents marching time, the stroke ui- accent, which usually comes only on the last Syllable, may. at times, come equally on the fust, syllable. In this case, a Bpondee takes the place of the iambus. B6U 6n, | limn de*ep | ami dark | hliic 6 | cean, roll. | — Hi/ run. Or the stroke may he omitted front each syllable, in one measure, occasionally, the time being carried on in the mind, during the interval. .This gives the pyrrhic in tie- place of an iambus : light | 6d On I :1 he:iv I en-kiss | In- hill. | — Shaketpeart, Here the Becond loot is a pyrrhic. Owing t<> the large number of particles in English, the pyrrhic is a foot of very frequent occurrence. Some writers upon verse are accustomed t<> mark the pyrrhic with an iit, like the other feet in the line, calling it a metrical >nt as distinguished from the true accent. Bui this lends ong, scanning movement, which detracts from the gracefulness of the natural reading. A genuine port will always dispose the particles in his verse iii such a manner, that it may !"■ read naturally without impairing tie- rhythmie effect VARIETY IN RHYTHM. 21 4. It is less easy to explain how an inverted foot can occur in any given rhythm. It would seem to destroy the onward flow, if the accent should suddenly be thrown upon the begin- ning of the foot, when it had been running prevailingly upon the end. But it is nevertheless true, that a trochee is fre- quently found in the place of an iambus. The law seems to be, however, that this occurs most easily and properly after a pause ; that is, at the beginning of a line, or after a rest, in the middle. Thus : Earth, with | h6r thous | and voi | c6s, prai | sCs God. | — Coleridge. Nay, an | swer me". || Stand and | unfold | yourself. | — Shakespeare. The true explanation may therefore be, that it is like the effort made to catch the step, when one is "falling in" to marching time. 5. Besides the substitution of these more commonly used feet for each other, we sometimes find the invasion of an unusual unit of rhythm for a brief period. Thus in Brown- ing's " How they brought the good news from Ghent to Aix," the prevailing rhythm is anapoestic, and yet an amphibrach or amphimacer may occasionally be found. Thus : Amphibrach : I spring | to the stir | nip, and Jo | ris, and he, \ I galloped, | Dirck galloped, | we galloped | all three. | Amphimacer : Not a word | to each 6th | er, we kept | the great pare, | Neek by neck, | stride by stride, | never cluing | tag our place. | 6. It will thus be seen that the rhythmic effect may be sustained, with a great number of variations in the prevailing unit of rhythm. The movementj in English, is very free, and consists mainly in keeping up a succession of equal time- intervals, marked oil* by accents, generally at the beginning or 22 ENGLISH VERIFICATION. end of the intervals. There is a limit, however, to the varia- tions. They may be carried to such an extent as to bring us perilously near to the border-line of verse. Thus : When nun were all asleep the snow eame flying; In large White flakes fulling on the City brown: Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying, Boshing the latest traffic of the drowsy town; Deadening, muffling, Btifling its murmurs falling, l.a/.ily and incessantly floating down and down; Silently sifting and veiling road, roof and railing; Hiding difference, making unevenness even, Into angles and crevices softly drifting and sailing. Author of The Growth of Love, London, Although the general effeel here is rhythmical, yet tl are instances of partial failure, especially in the eighth Line, where we feel thai we are left on the shallows of prose . at least, at that lowest ebb of verse, which is scarcely more than rhythmical prose. Bill 81 ON. 7. We have thus seen that the essential feature of rhythm LS that the accents shall flow along easily at regular intervals, with not more than one or two unaccented syllables between. But as there are a great many unaccented syllables, in English, to di of, it is i irj to various expedients to bring them within the required Limits. /n!h/. The consonant w, being also a semi-vowel having the sound u<>. may he so pronounoed as either to divide two syllables, or to blend them into one. Thus, the word power may he sounded in one or two syllables. In a similar way, ov< r and ever become o'er and e'er, and heaven, heav'n. Thirdly, A vowel may easily he slurred when it j> recedes or follows one of the liquids, /. m. //. /•, which coalesce with the adjoining consonant; as the second » in murmuring, i in ominous, i in delicate, and final i in spirit. Fourthly, Certain slurriiiL, r s are allowable which do not follow strictly from the laws of euphony, hut arise from the omission of some elements in frequent and familiar combi- nations of sound; as. I' ///«■ lor in the, wV ye for with >/•• ; "God he with ye" has 1 a contracted into "(Jood-b So irln'r for whether, whPr for whither. In Shakespeare, well-known prefixes are omitted; 08,'stroy for destroy, 'aide for decide, etc. The termination ed in the preterite of verbs may he sounded or not. at, the option of the poet. In some editions of the poets, tic Blurred vowel is omitted in the printing, and an apostrophe used to indicate its place; bul this is objectionable, as it leads to a mechanical Btyl< ling, instead of trusting to the taste of tie read* r. I . camples of slurring : The nil- | Vbbr come lightly in, before the first regular accent in the line. Thus: A | l;is for the | nirity | Of | Christian | charity | Under the sun. - Hood. O youii!: | Locli invar | has conic ('ml | of tin' West, | In all | the wide DOT | der li is steed | is the best. I — .V In the first extract, the rhythm is dactylic, and the sylla- bles A and Oj xtra syllahles thrown lightly in at the -inning of the line. In the second, the rhythm is anapaestic, and is preceded by • •xtra syllahles funning an iambus. This is sometimes called "a catch;" as if it were catching step with the regular rhythm. 15. Hut besides this ease ( ,f extra syllables which arc pre- liminary to the regular rhythm, there is another <>f Erequenl occurrence, in which what appear to be extra syllables at. the inning of a line, are really only the completion <>f a foot at. end of tin- preceding line s<> the rhythm is not really [TUpted, but runs on from line t<> line. In the same way, in D wanting in the last measure of a rerSS Lfl found in the first measure of the followin . Thi calh-d anaeru VARIETY IN RIIYTIIM. 27 Thus, in the following examples, the initial syllables marked short will be seen to complete the final foot of the preceding line : Know ye the | land where the | cypress and | myrtle Are | emblems of | deeds that arc | dune in their | clime, WhCre the | rage of the | vulture, the | love of the | turtle, NOw | melt into | softness, now | madden to | crime ? — Byron. Come from deep | glen and From | mountain so | rocky, The | war-pipe and | pennOn Are | at Inver | lochy. | — Scott. nigh in Val | hallfi A | window stands | 6p6n, Its | sill is the | snow p6aks, Its | posts are the | water spOuts. | — Kingsley. The | bleak wind of | March Made her | tremble and | shiver, But | not the dark | arch NOr thC | black flowing | river. — Ilood. O | love, what | hours were | mine and | thine In | kinds of | palm and | southern | pine, In | hinds of | palm, of | orange | blossOm, Of | olive | aloe and | maize and | wine. | — Tennyson. RESTS. 16. Besides this variety of rhythm caused by additional syllables, we have another consisting in the omission of syllables at the beginning of lines, or within the line. I trow | they did | not part | in scorn; | u Lov | ers long | betrothed | were they. | — Tennyson. u Break! | u Break! | u Break! | On thy cold | gray stones, | O sea! | — Tennyson. -8 1 NCI.ISII VERSIFICATION. March! u u | March! u u | Kilrick Ind | Teviotdale! W li y tin" ili-il | dinna yfi mftrch | forward in | 6rd6r? — Sett. Here tlic place of one or more syllables is passed over in ace. It would be Indicated l>y a rest in music. I'A I B I 17. Under this head, of variety in rhythm, conn's naturally the subject of Pause. The How of all speech, whether in prose or verse, is constantly interrupted by the breaks which are necessary to indicate the ending of words, phrases, and sentences. T B8 the accents <>f ordinary speech e to be so managed, in verse, as to meet the requirements of the rhythm, in like manner, the natural pauses must be arranged so as to aid in the rhythmical effect. CAESIIIA OFTIIK TOOT. 10. First } of the pause alter words. [f, in ever;, . the end of a foot should coincide with the end of a wunl, the rhythmic effect would be very monotonous. Thus: And >uims, | or sinks, | or wades, | or creeps, | or file — - Milton. l'uts forth | an arm, | and creeps | from pine | to pine. | — T< a in To prevent this, there must be frequent ending of a word re the foot is completed. Thus : With ro | sy sleo | der fln | gen back | ward drew. | — Tcnnyinn. This is called, in cal language, the cossura of the / itting of the foot into sections. CA i *«i i: A or Tin LINK. 19. Next, of the pause aiter phrases. In ordinary speech, a long sentence it frequently broken up by natural divisions in th ■. 1! none of these divi bould occur in vei VARIETY IN RHYTHM. 29 or if they should occur only at the end of lines, the sameness would be a serious defect in the rhythm. Variety arises from the occurrence of rhythmical pauses in the line, cor- responding with the logical pauses in the meaning. This is called caesura of the line. The tendency is, at first, fur this caesura to occur near the middle of the line : Come live | vvitli me || ami be | my love. | — Marlowe. The caesura of the line is here marked with two short vertical lines. And smooth or rough || with them is right or wrong. — Pope. The dew was falling fast, || the stars began to blink. — Wordsieorth. There's not a joy the world can give II like that it takes away. — Byron. Saw the vision of the world, || and all the wonder that would be. — Tennyson. Dear my friend and fellow-student, || I would lean my spirit o'er you. — Mrs. Drowning. 20. But variety requires that even this should be changed. Especially is this the case in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Says Cowper : " The writer in this kind of metre, in order that he may be musical, must exhibit all the variations, as he proceeds, of which ten syllables are susceptible. Between the first and the last, there is no place at which he must not occasionally pause, and the place of the pause must be contin- ually shifted." The following examples show the caesura occurring in every place, from the first syllable to the ninth : Not to me returns Day, || or the sweet approach of cv'n or morn. — Milton. 30 KXCLISII vkksii u .vims. For tlu 1 t i 1110 I stmly Virtue, ll and that part of philosophy. — Shakespeare Taming qftlu Shr For it of honor and all virtue is The root, ll and brings forth glorious flowers of fame. — Spt n* r . Fan rk Qm /<• . Assassins II and all flyers from tbe hand Of justice, ll and whatever loathes a law. — 7V mi; From branch to branch the smaller birds with Bong Solaced the woods || and Bpread their painted wings. — Milton, A daring pilol in extremity, Pleased with the danger, ll when the waves went high. — hnjil, n. Endeavor thus to live; II these rules regard. — Wordtwortk, Not loss Geralnt believed It, ll and there fell A horror on him. — Ten 111/ son. To him who in the love of Nature holds ' ommunion with her visible forms, \\ she speaks A various langu — J!ri/iiiit. I oud as from numbers without number, II bw< As from blest voices, uttering . — Milton. In vrry long lims the cssura is almost Indispensable. The enoe and the want of it. are well illustrated in these fcwo lines from t; Looksley 1 lull i " Comrades, leave me here a little, ll while as yet 'tis early morn. M.uiy a night from yonder Ivied casement en 1 went to rest. The movement in the lust line seems labored and ezhausl i 2i. At the plaoe of the oiBSura in the line, there sometimes y liable; the oflBsnra falls Bometimes before and sometimes after this syllable, in Bryant's " Waiting by VARIETY IN RHYTHM. 31 the Gate," we find the extra syllable occurring sometimes before and sometimes after the csesural pause. Thus : Beside | a mass | ive gate | way, || | built up | in years | gone by, | Upon | whose top | the clouds | II in | eter | nal shad | ow lie, | While streams | the eve | ning sun | shine || on qui | et wood | and lea, | I stand | and calm | ly wait | || till | the bin | ges turn | for me. | Here each line contains six iambuses with an extra syllable after the first three feet. Throughout the entire poem, the caesural pause falls sometimes before and sometimes after this extra syllable. To show that this peculiarity is not removed by dividing the lines in the middle, as is sometimes possible, it is only necessary to make the division. Thus: Beside | a mass | ive gate | way Built up | in years | gone by, | Upon | whose top | the clouds | in Eter | nal shad | ow lie | The structure of the entire poem is so regular, that there is no reason why the first and third lines of this last quatrain should not be treated alike. It is possible to carry the final in of the third line over to the fourth as an anacrusis ; but it is not possible to carry way of the first line over to the second line, in a similar manner. In short, there is an extra syllable in each series of six iambuses, and the caesural pause does fall sometimes before and sometimes after this extra syllable. It was doubtless as a continuous movement of six iambuses that the metre was conceived in the mind of the writer. END-STOPPED AND RUN-ON LINES. 22. A pause naturally takes place, also, at the end of a line, simply because it is a line; that is. because it is the first dis- tinguishing mark of the metre, as different from rhythmical prose. In reading verse, some slight recognition of the end of the line should always be made ; otherwise there would be 32 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. no reason for the division into lines. But it would be very wearisome it' the sense should require a logical pause, also, at the end of each line. A pleasing relief is afforded by carrying on the meaning, occasionally, from one line to the next, without rhetorical pause. Thus: Or if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed Fast by the oracle of God: — 1 thence Invoke thy aid. -MUUm. Indeed, this has become so decided an evidence of improved teste, that it has been adopted as one test, among others, to distinguish between thf earlier and the later plays of Shake- speare. It has been shown that he was much limited, at first, by Btopping tin' sense with the line, but as he advanced in ease of composition, he more frequently carried the mean- ing over to the following line. Thus the critics speak of i (To-stopped ami hi n-on i i spectively. Attention will be paid to this in a later chapter. THE STANZA. 33 CHAPTER V. THE STANZA. l. So far we have treated of rhythmical language as sub- jected to the laws of metre, only to the extent of forming the line. We have seen that a line may consist of any number of feet or accents, from one to eight. But lines themselves may be formed into groups, by being bound together into a certain organic unity. Such a group is called a stanza. The earliest poems usually consist of a succession of single lines of generally equal length. In later development, usually by the up-rising of some kind of rhyme, two or more lines become united together so as to form a distinct group. The simplest instance of this is the rhyming of the end of one line with the end of the next. This is called a couplet ; as : Know, then, this truth, enough for man to know, Virtue alone is happiness below. — Pope : Essay on Man. Three such lines constitute a triplet. Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks, It still looks home, and short excursions makes; But rattling nonsense in full volleys breaks. — Pope : Essay on Criticism. 2. Couplets and triplets usually make part of a continuous and undivided poem. When a poem is divided into groups of lines characterized by a definite structure and arrangement] such groups are called stanzas, or, in common speech, verses. Stanzas of three lines. Of equal length: A still small voice spake unto me, " Life is so full of misery, Were it not better not to he ? " — Tttmyson. 34 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. Of unequal length : Ye voices, that arose After the Evening's close, And whispered to my restless heart repose] — Lonyfclloir. 3. Stanzas of four lines. A stanza of four lines is technically known as a quatrain. The lines may be of any rhythm and of any length, ami with various kinds of correspondence. The rhymes may occur only in the B< '"iid and fourth lines, or in the first and third, also; or the first ami fourth may rhyme together, and the second and third. This last is the kind of stanza used in Tennyson's " In Aiemoriam : " I hold it truth with him who sings To one dear harp in divers ton.-. That men may ri>e on Btepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things. 4. To designate the ordered rhymes in a stan/a. the first let- h n. it is customary, als< r as is practicable, to indent, t in, those lines which rhyme together, at equal distances from th-- hit-hand margin. This, too, is illustrated in the stanza given aboi 5. At this point, we may properly give the name., of metres usually employed in hymns. * mmon metre. Iambic tetrameter ami trimeter: 1 sin,- the mighty power of God, That m.ele the mountains That spread the Bowing - .i abroad And built the loftj kli - /. WatU, THE STANZA. 35 Long metre. Iambic tetrameter : O thou to whom in ancient time The lyre of Hebrew bards was strung, Whom kings adored in songs sublime, And prophets praised with glowing tongue. — J. Pierpont. Short metre. Iambic trimeter, with tetrameter in third line : O everlasting Might! My broken life repair; Nerve thou my will and clear my sight, Give strength to do and bear. — II. Sonar. Eights and sevens. Trochaic tetrameter, and trimeter with added syllable : Love divine, all love excelling, Joy of heaven, to earth come down; Fix in us thy humble dwelling; All thy faithful mercies crown. — C. Wesley. Sevens. Trochaic trimeter, with added syllable : Slowly, by God's hand unfurled, Down around the weary world Falls the darkness. Oh, how still Is the working of his will ! — W. II. Furness. Eights, sevens, and four. Trochaic tetrameter, trimeter with added syllable, and dimeter in fifth line : Open now the crystal fountain Whence the healing waters flow; Let the fiery, cloudy pillar Lead me all my journey through. Strong Deliverer! Be thou still my strength and shield. — William Williams. 36 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. - vnis and sixes. Iambic trimeter, with eulded syllable in iirst and third lin Before him on the mountains Shall Peace, the herald, go, And Righteousness in fountains From hill io valley flow. — J. Montgomery. Sixes and four. Iambic trimeter and dimeter: My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, < m" thee I sing; Land where my fathers died. Land of the pilgrim's pride, From every mountain side Lei freedom ring! — 8. F. Smith. Tens. Iambic pentameter: Abide with me] fasl falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide! When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, lKlp of the helpless, oh, abide with mel Elevens. Anapaestic trimeter preceded by iambus: Let goodness and mercy, my bountiful God, Still follow my steps till I meet thee above; I seek by the path which my forefathers trod. Through the land of their .sojourn, thy kingdom of lo\ — J. MoHlgemtfff, Hallelujah metre. Poor lines of iambic trimeter, and four of iambic dimeter. : Upward l lift mine eyes ; u God Is all my aid: The Qod that built tie- .skies And earth and n.it in.- made. I I id is the tower To which I fly; Hi grace is nigh, Jn ovei J hour. -/. ir.ttti. TIIE STANZA. 37 Other hymn metres might be mentioned, but the above are those most commonly employed. 6. Of four-line stanzas, with varying number of units, the following may serve as examples : Whither, midst falling dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Far through the rosy depths dost thou pursue Thy solitary way ? — Bryant. There is a calm for those who weep, A rest for weary mortals found, Who softly lie and sweetly sleep, Low in the ground. — Campbell. 7. Stanzas of five lines : O that I were an orange tree, That busy plant! That I might always laden be, And never want Some fruit for him that dresseth me. — George Herbert. Or (unrhymed and rare) : Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean; Tears from the depths of some divine despair, Rise in the heart and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy autumn fields, And thinking of the days that are no more. — Tennyson. 8. Of six lines : O what a sight it was, wistly to view, How she came stealing to the wayward boy! To note the fighting conflict of her hue, How white and red each other did destroy! But now her cheek was pale, and by and by It Hashed forth fire, as lightning from the sky. — Shakespeare : Venus and Adonis. 38 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. 9. Of seven lines : So like a man of amies and knyght, lie was to sen, fultild of heigh prowesse; For bothe he hadde a body and a inyght To don that thyng, as wele as hardynesse; And eke to sen him in Ids gcre him dresse, So fressh, so yong, so weldy semSd he, It was a heven upon him for to se. — Chaucer: Troy I us and Criteyite. This stanza has been called the Rime Royal, or b) Chaucerian stanza. The rhyme order is a b a l> l> e 0. 10. Of eight lines: With every morn their love grew tenderer, With every eve deeper and tenderer still; He might nol in house, field, or garden stir, Bnt her full shape would all his Beeing fill; And his continual voice was pleasanter To her, than noise of trees or hidden rill; Her lute-string gave an echo <>f his name; She spoilt her half-done broidery with the same. — Keats: Jsaliella. This is the Ottava Rima from the Italian. See also close of Milton's "Lycidas," and Byron*! •• Don Juan." Also of eight lini off Hercules, thesovereyn conquerour, Byngen i>i> werkes, laude, and heigh renoun; For in his tyme of Btrengthe he was the il"ur. He slow, ami rafte the skyn <>t the leoun; HeoJ I lentaurus leyde the boosl adoun; He Arplee slow, the erneel bryddes felle; i !■ golden appli of the dragoun; He drow ont I erbera , the hound of belle. — Chaucer: The Monk's Tale. The rhyme order is a b a b b t b o. Bpensei adds the A andrine to this, ami makes the folli led the Spenserian /a. THE STANZA. 39 11. Of nine lines : A lovely Ladie rode him falre beside, Upon a lowly Asse more white than snow, Yet she much whiter; but the same did hide Under a vele, that wimpled was full low; And over all a black stole shee did throw; As one that inly mourned, so was shee sad, And heavie sat upon her palfrey slow: Seemed in heart some hidden care she had, And by her, in a line, a milke-white lamb she lad. — Spenser. This Spenserian stanza, it will be seen, consists of eight lines of iambic pentameter, followed by a line of iambic hex- ameter, or an Alexandrine. The rhyme-order isab abbcbcc. It is the stanza used in Byron's "Childe Harold," Burns's " Cotter's Saturday Night," and Keats's " Eve of St. Agues." Also of nine lines : To whom shal I then pleyn of my distresse ? Who may me helpe ? Who may my harm redresse ? Shal I compleyn unto my lady fre ? Nay, certes, for she hath such hevynesse For fere, and eke for wo, that, as I gesse, In lytil tyme hit wol her bane be; But were she safe hit were no fors of me! Alas, that ever lovers mote endure, For love, so many a perilouse aventure! — Chaucer : Complaint of Mars. This is known as the long Chaucerian stanza. It differs from the short Chaucerian by the addition of lines second and fifth ; making the rhyme order, aabaabbcc. 12. Examples of longer stanzas are given in the Appendix, p. 156 ; also of the so-called Tail-rhyme stanza. 40 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. THE SONNET. 13. The sonnet is not a stanza, but a poem complete in itself. It consists of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter. It was introduced into our language from the Italian, but has since been modified. In the strict, or Italian form, it separates Into two parts, — the first eight lines being called the octave, and the last six the sestette. There are but two rhyming sounds in the octave, — l> a a b b a. In the sestette there is more liberty in the rhymes; tin-re may be two or three rhyming sounds, in either of the following orders : o d e d <• f things past, I |gh the lack >>f many :i thing tit, And with old woes new wall my dear time's ws Then can I drown .'in eye, unused i<> flow, For precious friends bid In il<:i!h's dateless night, A ii' 1 weep afre li love's long since cai Il'd woe, A ip I moan the expen i oi manj a vanish' d sight; THE STANZA. 41 Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, Which I new paid as if not paid before. But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored, and sorrows end. — Shakespeare. It is a beauteous evening, calm and free; The holy time is quiet as a Nun, Breathless with adoration ; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquillity; The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea. Listen! the mighty Being is awake, And doth with his eternal motion make A sound like thunder — everlastingly. Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here, If thou appear untouched by solemn thought, Thy nature is not therefore less divine; Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year, And worship'st at the Temple's inner shrine, God being with thee when we know it not. — Wordsworth. THE OI>E. 14. The ode may be said to be the most comprehensive metri- cal group known in English. It may consist of any number of lines, with any number of units in a line, but all bound together in a symmetrical whole. Gosse defines it as "any strain of enthusiastic and exalted lyrical verse, directed to a fixed purpose, and dealing progressively with one dignified theme." It is usually divided into stanzas of unequal length. As good examples of the ode, we may cite Wordsworth's •• ( >n Immortality," Coleridge's "To France," Tennyson's "On the Death of the Duke of Wellington," Bayard Taylor's "National Ode," and Lowell's ''Commemoration Ode." 15. The Pindaric Ode is named from the Grecian poet Pindar. In its original form it consisted of groups of lines •1-' ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. arranged in multiples of three. These three groups were named Strophe, Antistrophe, and Epode. The number of lines in a Btrophe, antistrophe, or epode varies from six to twelve. In any ode, the number of lines, their Length, and their arrangement remain the same for each strophe, for each antistrophe, and for each epode. In Pindar's Fourth Pythian Ode there are thirteen multiples of the three groups. Translations and imitations of the Pindaric Ode, in greater or less degrees of exactness, haw been numerous in English iv, from Ben Jonson to Gray. 16. The length of an ode renders it impracticable to give an example entire, and the following stanza from "Wordsworth's '• Immortality " must sufhee : Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; Tin' Soul that rises with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere Its setting, And cometh from afar. Not in entire forgetfulness, Ami not in otter nakedness, Bnl trailing clouds of glory do we come From God who is our borne. II i\. ii li.-- ;i!ic:ii us in our i n fancy ! Bhadi of Mi.- prison bouse begin to (•'.■ i .n the growing hoy; Bui he beholds the light and whence it flows, II.- si es it in his joy; Tin- youth, who dally farther from tin: East Bfusl travel, still is Nature's priest, And by the vision splendid i Ltended; At length the man perceives it die away, And fade into the light of common day. KHYME. 43 CHAPTER VI. EHTME. 1. We have, thus far, treated of rhythm as the chief feature of English verse. We notice most the movement produced by the accents. But the quality of sounds also attracts attention. First of all, similarity of sounds strikes the ear. Syllables beginning alike were early used to mark off the metre, as the accents mark off the rhythm. In Anglo-Saxon verse, the initial sounds of certain accented syllables were em- ployed in this way. This was known as Rime. This form of rhyme is now called Alliteration, and will be described in Chapter VII. 2. The word, now commonly spelled Rhyme, is limited to similarity of vowel-sounds, most frequently used to mark the ends of lines, and thus to indicate the metre. To some minds, rhyme seems essential to verse. In French poetry, it is always used ; in classical Greek and Latin, seldom, if ever. In English, it may or may not be employed, at the option of the poet. Verse without rhyme is called blank verse. Blank verse may be written in any kind of metre, but is mostly con- fined to iambic pentameter; as in epic poetry, by Milton, and in dramatic, by Shakespeare. 3. Proper end-rhymes require four conditions: First, the vowel sounds must In' alike ; thus, now and plough rhyme together, but do and go do not. Secondly, the sounds before the vowels must be unlike; light and bright arc proper rhymes; but not right and unite. 44 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. Thirdly, the sounds after the vowel sounds must be alike: thus, weak and pique; but not seen and team. Fourthly, the syllables must be similarly aooented; city and charity do not rhyme, though city and pity do. or charity and parity. City and defy do not rhyme, as defy and comply do. 4. But a syllable having a secondary accent is sometimes made to rhyme with one similarly situated, having a primary accent; as in the last syllable of the following words, found in Hilton: began and 6cean, thrum: and contemplation, 5. Rhyme between final syllables is called single, or mascu- line rhyme; between penultimate syllables, double, Or femi- nine ; as holy, slowly. The rhyme may fall even farther back, on the antepenult, as importunate, unfortuna 6. An identical rhyme is one in which the syllables coincide in sound throughout; as in pain and /»nir. Such rhymes are, in general, aot regarded as allowable, but instance them may be found in some of the best poets. Thus Lowell has wholly and holy, .Milton Ruth and ruth. Tenia son cave and eve. Some authorities lay down a rule that the aspirate /< at the beginning of a syllable is not enough to prevent two syllables from forming an identical rhyme ; but this Is gener- ally disregarded. Thus Milton rhymes high and I. hun/is and a mis. 7. But, besides proper, or perfect, rhymes, others are some- times found in good writers, in which the conditions are not wholly fulfilled; as in love and provi (Marlowe), indeed, it urd to determine the limit between rhymes that are allow- able, and those that, are unallowable, if we regard the u ome of our mi • teemed poets. Thus Pope has light, irit , ./.,./..,-. . good,bl care, war. Gray, towers, ado RHYME. 45 bent, constraint ; lost, coast. Burns, startle, mortal; censure, answer; sent you, memento. Coleridge, clasping, aspen. Long- fellow, abroad and accord. The widest liberty, perhaps, which has been taken by any serious poet, may be found in the writ- ings of Mrs. Browning ; as, fringes, inches ; human, common ; turret, chariot ; angels, candles ; conquer, anchor ; vigil, eagle ; glory, doorway ; Goethe, beauty. 8. In humorous poetry there is still greater liberty. Much use is made of two-syllable and even three-syllable rhymes. Thus in "Hudibras," inclined to, mind to ; disparage, plum por- ridge ; drum beat, combat ; ecclesiastic, a stick. In the (i In- goldsby Legends," paws off, he, philosophy ; sully verse, Gulli- ver's ; suffice at her, eyes at her ; etc. 9. It must not be thought, however, that these double and triple rhymes are used exclusively in comic poetry. In Ten- nyson's " Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington," the double rhyme is freely used; as wrought for, fought for. So in Hood's pathetic poem of the "Bridge of Sighs:" unfortu- nate, importunate; scrutiny, mutiny; evidence, eminence. To these, we may add the following from Mrs. Browning : Let us sit on the thrones In a purple sublimity, And grind down men's bones To a pale unanimity! 10. It is to be observed that in any but comic poetry, forced rhymes are objectionable; also, bringing into close proximity two pairs of rhymes which are nearly alike in vowel-sounds; as name, fame, contiguous to vain, stain. It is good practice, to seek, occasionally, for possible rhymes to certain words which are capable of but few rhymes. 11. A modi tied form of rhyme, borrowed from other lan- guages, is called assonance. In this the similarity is wholly 46 ENGLISH VERIFICATION. in the vowel sounds, the beginning and end of the syllable being disregarded. Tims, in George Eliot's •• Spanish Gypsy : n Maiden crowned with glossy l>'nckness t Lithe as panther iovesl-roautiinj, Long-armed naiad, when she dances, On a stream of ether floating. It is claimed that the vowel-sounds after Iho accented vowel should also eorrespond with each other; as, retieenee, penitent. 12. Having thus described the character of rhyme in gen- eral, the next point we have to consider is its place in the metre. Its lirst and simplest use is at the end of lines. Fur example: In couplets : Sweet was the sound when oft at evening's close, Up yonder hill the village murmur rot — Oolditnith. In triplets: "lis life whereof our nerves are scant, O life, not death, for which we pant, More life, and fuller, that we want. — Tennyson. In quatrain . the. second and fourth lines alone may rhyme; And dow the storm-blast came, and ho tyrannous and strong; He struck with his o'ertaklng win And i'lia ed Qfl south all — ( < m- the firsl and third also i lie' then from th em Pure as the Ice-drop thai froie on the mountain ? Brl [hi at the hummlng-blrd'a green diadem. \\ i»'ii it n. ibeama thai lilne through a fountain? A i RHYME. 47 Or, the first may rhyme with the fourth, and the second with the third : I sometimes hold it half a sin, To put in words the grief I feel, For words, like nature, half reveal And half conceal the soul within. — Tennyson. The whole of "In Memoriam" is written in this form, and it is also found in Ben Jonson, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, and others. Still another form is a a b a : I sent my Soul through the Invisible, Some letter of that After-life to spell: And by and by my Soul returned to me, And answered, "I Myself am Heaven and Hell." — Omar Khayyam : transl. by Fitzgerald. 13. As we pass into stanzas of more than four lines, we find a wider variety in the order of rhymes, some of which are described under the stanzas in which they occur; as in the Rime Royal, the Sonnet, Foreign Forms, etc. In the Ode, and such poems as Emerson's "Threnody," and Long- fellow's " Rain in Summer," the end rhymes occur at widely varying distances from each other. 14. But rhymes are by no means confined to the end of lines. They may be in the middle : And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold, And ice mast high came floating by, As green as emerald. — Coleridge. The splendor falls on castle walte And snowy summits old in story ; The long light shakes across the lakes. And the wild cataract leaps in glory. - Tennyson. 48 BNGLISII VKKSIFICATION. Even these, coming at definite division points of the lino, are much the same as end-rhymes. But there may be a larger ill : Hark! hark I the /''/•/.• at heaven's gate sings. — .S7c(/.< tpt are. The snowy-banded, delicate-Ztanded, dilettante priest Intone. — Tennyson. ( an - n r discover my soul from the soul. — Poe. And the \aerV* heart's outbreak tuneli — Browning, Tlioso may be said to partake more of the nature of asso- nance than of rhyme. 15. A carious poem by Hood has three rhyming words at the cinl of each line : 'Tis eve, and from the dark park, hark! The signal of the setting sun, one gun. Of a different character is the poem by George Herbert, in which the rhyming syllable is twice decapitated of its initial sound : I blesse thee Lord, because I grow Anion',' thy trees, Which, in a row, To thee both fruit and order OW. What open force or hidden charm Can blasl my fruit, or bring me harm, While the Inclosure i> thine arm ? [ndose lie' still, for fear I start ; I;.' in mi' rather sharp and tart. Than let me want thy hand and art. When thou dost greater judgements mare, And witli thy knife hut prune and pare, I | 'n fruitful trees inure fruitful are. Buch sharpnes shows the - fiend; BuCfa CUttlngS rather heal than rend; And sucb beginnings touch tin ir cud. RHYME. 49 In the following from Mrs. Browning's " Drama of Exile," the first and fifth lines rhyme together, the second and sixth, third and seventh, fourth and eighth : Exiled human creatures, Let your hope grow larger ; Larger grows the vision Of the new delight: From this chain of Nature's God is the discharger, And the Actual's prison Opens to your sight. 16. An ingenious example of complicated rhyming is seen in the verses given below. The poem is entitled " A Pastoral," by A. J. Munby, of London. The rhyme order may be indi- cated thus : a b b c d e e c « / / 9 d h h g Two stanzas are needed to complete the scheme. It will be seen that the end rhyme of the first line becomes the middle rhyme in the second line ; and the end rhyme of the third line becomes the middle rhyme of the fourth line. Not only so, but the middle rhymes of the first and third lines of the first stanza become the middle rhymes of the first and third lines of the second stanza. I sat with Doris, the shepherd maiden; Her crook was laden with wreathed flowers; I sat and wooed her through sunlight wheeling, And shadows stealing for hours and hours. no i \(.i.isii versification; Ami she my Doris, whose lap encloses Wild summer roses of faint perfume, The while I sued her, kepi hushed, and barkened, Till shades had darkened from gloss to gloom. .1. J. Muuby [St e Appendix), 17. Another order of rhymes which has been sonu'tinn-s used in English is the terza rima of Dante. In a Beries of triplets the rhyme order is a b a — b o b — c d e — d e d. Thus in Shelley's -Ode to the West Wind:" O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow and black and pale and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes! o thou Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed. Other combinations of rhyme will appear in the chapter on Foreign Forms of Verse. ALLITERATION. 51 CHAPTER VII. ALLITERATION. 1. Alliteration is a kind of rhyme. It is a similarity of sound at the heginning of syllables instead of at the end. The same or similar consonants or vowels are repeated at the be- ginning of prominent accented syllables in more or less close succession. There is probably an instinctive tendency to it in human speech. Under strong emotion, there is an impulse to use words having the same initial consonant ; as " You ^>oor pitiful pettifogger ! " This tendency is afterwards consciously employed in shaping proverbs and maxims which shall cling to the memory. " i^ast bind, /ast find." " Time and tidu wait for no man." " When the wine is in, the wit is out." 2. This mode of utterance seems to be especially pleasing to people of the Anglo-Saxon stock, if we may judge by the headings of newspaper columns in our own day. In genuine Anglo-Saxon verse, it was the distinguishing characteristic. End-rhyme was seldom used, and there was no nice division of the line into feet. But the rhythm was strongly marked by accent. The one long-line consisted of two half-lines, separated by a caesural pause. In each half-line there were at least two strongly accented syllables, making four in the whole line. Of these four strongly accented syllables, the first three were still further marked by having the same or a similar initial letter. With consonants, the repeated letter must be tin' same ; with vowels, any vowel might correspond to any other. The first accented syllable in the second half-line was considered as giving the leading letter, to which the others must correspond. Thus: 52 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. Fnunscoaft/ira ||/corran reccan. (Tin' origin of man from far relate.) This strict form of alliteration admitted some modifications, even in An S ton verse, and gradually gave way to all Borta of perversions; but a good example of il is found even when, Anglo-Saxon verse had given place t<> Marly English. The famous poem entitled "The Vision concerning Tiers the Plow- man," in the time of Chaucer, is considered a fair representor of the
n Mowing big, He had Mown already till he burst his clicks. — Browning, That the rude sea grew civil at her song, And certain Stars shot madly from their .spheres, To hear the sea-maid's music — 8hatt$peon: Midnmner Nights /ham. 6. It will bo noticed, of course, that it is not necessary that the same letter should !"• used, if the sound is the same; as, in th>' last example, c and ,s- are Interchangeable. Indeed, we may go farther and say that consonants of the same class may be used fur each Other, as the labials p and b, and the dentals / and d. This is sometimes called "disguised" alliteration. 7. It is not well, however, to attempt a too curious search foi alliterati as One may easily discover instances never sus- id by the writer, and without Bpeoial significance. But in hardly go amiss in at t ributing the charm of the follow- ing extract to something more than "giddy cunning," and believing it to h rung from "the hidden soul of har- mony : " Or sweete I v ! ikesp ire, Fancy's child, ii arble Ins native wood notes wild. And - \ or [alnsl < atin Lap me in s(di Lydian ALLITERATION". 55 J/arried to immortal verse; (Such as the meeting soul may pierce In notes with many a winding bout Of linked sweetness loug drawn out, irith wanton heed and giddy cunning, The melting voice through mazes running, Untwisting all the chains that tie The Aidden soul of /jarmony. — Milton : V Allegro ot 56 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. CHAPTEB VIII. QUANTITY. 1. It was stated in the first chapter, that while rhythm in the Greek and Latin languages depended on quantity, in English it depends upon accent. For a fuller understanding of this difference, it seems necessary to explain mi Barly the nature of Quantity. 2. In the earliest times, poetry, or verse, was sung, rather than read. It sprang np, probably, before there was any written language. Under the influence of religious or war- like excitement, the primitive people were moved to utter their devotion, or celebrate their victories, in words and tones that naturally took on the rhythmic pulsations of emotion. In a rude dance or inarch about the altar, their voices kept time to the beating of their feet. Bo, however imperfect the melody or the meaning, the measure was, of necessity, very regular. Their steps were all of equal length. The same >/u,i/ifi/>/ of time was occupied by each. Their verse, then, was a monotonous chant. 3 This idea of verse continued to prevail for many cen- turies. It w;i iciated in the popular mind with music rather than with speech. Its tones were not the natural tones Of conversation, varying constantly in rapidity of utterance, hut were alternately long and short, in regular pulsations. Then probably, also, some difference id pitch, ami in force, of Bound, but tin incidental only. The chief feature Which Caught the ear, and marked the rhythm, v. a.; the recur- QUANTITY. 57 rence of the long-drawn syllables. Thus, the first line of Virgil's iEneid, instead of being read with the natural vivacity of common speech, was doubtless sounded with somewhat of the following effect : Ar - ma vi - rum-que ca - no Tro - jai qui pri - mus ab na Here every syllable had its exact length or quantity of time taken in pronouncing it. Let the syllable Ar, with its quarter note, occupy half a second ; then ma and vi would each occupy quarter of a second, and the whole of the first measure would occupy a second. The same time was given to each measure. 4. Quantity of time, therefore, was the basis of the ancient rhythm. Each measure had its exact time, and each syllable in the measure had its proportionate part of that time. Every syllable in the language, for purposes of metre, was either long or short. A long syllable occupied twice the time of a short one. A syllable was constituted long, either by the nature of its vowel, or by having two or more consonants following its vowel. So general and established were these rules, that one may go through an entire poem of thousands of lines, as, for example, the Iliad or the ^Eneid, and prove the long or short quantity of every syllable contained in it, making allowance only for the few exceptions which are necessary with any general rule. This shows that these poems must have been read with a regard to the length of feet and syllables which would make the reading sound very strangely to modern ears. 5. What is the change, then, that has taken place in modern times? Poetry, in common use, has become separated from music, and given over to speech. We are no longer content to chant our verse. We can do much better with music than ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. that. Music has become capable of expressing sentiments and emotions in a way that was impossible in early times. We now read our poetry in the tones of our ordinary speech, depending for tin- rhythm, not upon the quantity of the syllables, but upon the natural undulations of accent and emphasis. Thus, iu a line from Longfellow's " Evangeline," very similar to that quoted from the iEneid, we read: This is the | forest pri | me*vaL The | mtirmnring I pines and tll<- | hrinlocks. Here the rhythmic idTect is produced by the accent and emphasis occurring at somewhat regular intervals. And in this there is nothing forced, or unnatural. The words receive aine emphasis and accent as they would in prose. The art of the poet consists m the arrangement of the words so that the accents shall occur at such regular intervals as to produce a rhythm. Nor is this wholly art ; tor all emotion, we have seen, tends to rhythmical expression. 6. It will be noticed that the length of syllables, in this last example, does not affecl the rhythm. Tin' vowel i in primeval is as long as l in pines, hut the latter marks the rhythm, while the former does not. because it does not happen to have the accent. In Greek or Latin, a By 11 able, if 1 must always occupy the Bame relative position in a foot. In I iish, the same syllable may occupy now one and now another position in a foot, according as it does or does not ;ve the a< nt. Thus, in Latin, the lirst. syllable in hOmanUM is long, and could never stand in any part of a foot where a short syllable would he required. But in English, the same syllable l,n may stand at the beginning of a trochee, or an iambus, or a dactyl, as it happens to be accented; as, human \ , or | human \ if;/, or | hum&nt \ tdrian, 7. In . then, that English verse doe, not depend on quantity, like the Greek ami Latin, we mean that the rhythm QUANTITY. 59 is not marked by the length of the syllables. Of course, quantity of time must come somewhat into the account, or else verse would not be metrical, or measured, language. The line is divided into measures of time, and these measures must be pretty nearly equal quantities of time, or they would not constitute rhythm. But, even in this respect, there is great freedom in actual usage. Whenever we attempt to mark the beginning or end of the feet with much precision or accuracy of time, the result is at once recognized as scan- ning, not reading. Indeed, some writers go so far as to deny the possibility of feet in English. 8. But to say that quantity does not produce our rhythm is not to say that it is without effect in our verse. In English, as in every other language, there are long and short syllables. First, there are long and short vowels, as i in machine, and i in pin, oT> in boot, and do in foot. Less time is occupied in pronouncing a-bil-i-tg in the usual manner, than if it were written a-beel-ee-ty. Secondly, a syllable in which the vowel is encumbered with several consonants, is more difficult of pronunciation, and therefore occupies more time, than one not so encumbered. The difficulty varies according to the character of the consonants, and the combinations which they form. The same amount of effort would sound the syllable met in less time than the syllable strength. 9. Now, this difficulty or ease of expression connects itself naturally with the character of the idea or sentiment to be expressed. And so the most skilful poets are those who use the natural quantities of the language to convey their mean- ing by harmonious correspondence : When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line, too, labors, and the words move slow. Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, / Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main. —Pope. 60 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. In the first two lines we notice how the intended effect is produced by the preponderance of long vowels and difficult consonants, together with the skilful arrangement of pause and emphasis. In the last two lines, the short vowels, the liquids and sibilants, and the movement unobstructed by pauses, produce precisely the opposite effect. 10. Appreciation of the capabilities of our language in this direction is steadily gaining in modern times. This is true not only of quantity, but still more of the quality of tones. Not only do the sounds of the voice differ in length, but also in richness, fulness, delicacy, and in many other qualities which can be better exemplified than described. The con- sideration of this subject will be found in the following chapter. TONE-COLOR. 61 CHAPTER IX. TONE-COLOR. 1. The term Tone-Color is used in acoustics to describe the quality by which one sound differs from another, not in pitch, or length, or force, but in a way in which one shade or tint of a color differs from another. Just as two shades of red or green are easily distinguishable from each other, although of the same general color, so two notes of the same pitch have a different quality when coming respectively from a flute or a violin. The difference in each case is due to the character of the vibrations, — to the overtones, as they are called, rising from the fundamental tone. 2. As in musical instruments, so in the human voice. Not only does one voice differ from another in quality, but each vocal element, each vowel and consonant, has its appro- priate tone-color. It is readily seen that some of the vowel- sounds are much fuller, richer, deeper, than others ; as of the o in rose compared with the i in ]>!n. We have said that this quality is not the same as that of length. And yet there is a difference of quality, or tone-color, between the so-called long and short vowels ; as the i in ravine and the i in fin. 3. This difference exists, of course, in prose as well as in verse, and is seen in the sonorousness or mellifluence of one passage of prose, as compared with another. But it is at once evident of how much greater effect this quality is capable 62 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. in a form of speech like verse, in which so much depends on tin- pleasure of the ear. If rhythm is the anatomy of Terse, without which it could not exist, then tone-color is the flesh- tint which clothes it with life and animation. Therefore, when we say that in English, rhythm is founded upon accent and not upon quantity, we do not forget, that the quantity and quality of the sounds have as much to do perhaps with til- beauty of our verse as with that of the ancients. 4. In one Bense, both rhyme and alliteration, of which we have already spoken, come under the head of tone-color, as they both have to do with the quality of sounds. But their character is Buch as to nerd special treatment, and they reveal similarity only, of sounds, whereas we have now rather to do with variety. 5. The main principle which concerns us now is that certain tones are naturally significant of certain emotions, or expres- sive of certain ideas. Phese may be definable or (indefinable, but they are unmistakable. Certain elements of language are derived from imitation of sounds or motions in the natural world; as in the words, gurgle, splashy thud. This principle is called onomatopana, from a Greek word which means "the making of names." But there is something more than mere imitation in this. Even where there is do exacl similarity, there is correspondence between the effort required to utter certain sounds, and certain motions in nature. The mute con- sonant t requires more effort than the liquid I, and the difference is plainly indicated in the word tug as compared with the word lag. Cent* Lveof liquid motion, as flow, glide, and in is used of murmuring sounds. Then, again, besides imitation and correspondence, there is also a Buggestivenesa in sounds, which is perhaps indefinable, l>ut is nevertheless real. All i I Sects are produced by tone color in human ch. TONE-COLOR. 63 6. To appreciate this charm in verse, needs a nicer ear for the harmonies of tone, than is sufficient to notice the effects of rhyme or rhythm. One must read and listen with the eye and ear of the imagination. Take the following example from Longfellow's "Voices of the Night:" I heard the trailing garments of the Night Sweep through her marble halls; I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light From the celestial walls. The poet here personifies the cool and soothing Night as a serene and consoling goddess. Her presence comes to him as of the one he loves, moving down a dim marble corridor, her flowing silken robes just rustling on the smooth pavement, and fringed with the fading light of day. Now read the verse, with the voice protracted on the word trailing, and giving full force to both initial consonants in the word sweep, as well as to the vowel sound in the same word ; notice the open coolness of the vowel a in garment and marble; give fringed its complete expression ; observe the alliteration in saw, sable, skirts, celestial; catch the rhythmic effect of the trochee preceding the iambus in the second line ; and we can hardly fail to bring the vision of the poet into an open reality to the eye and ear. 7. Imitation, correspondence, suggcstiveness, we have said, are all found in tone-color. Those who have studied the subject minutely, and classified the vocal elements, indicate the various ideas which the different vowels and consonants are fitted to express. Professor Tolman, in the "Andover Review" for March, 1887, tells us that the lower vowels in his scale, aw (awe), oo (gloom), 5 (gore), etc., are fitted to express "solemnity, horror, and deep grief," as well as "slow- ness of motion and great size." The colors at the top of the scale, i (little), e (met), a (mat), express "joy, gayety, triviality. G4 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. rapid movement, delicacy, and physical littleness." Of the consonants, he says the surd mutes, p, t, k, express "unex- pectedness, vigor, explosive passion, and startling effects <>f all kinds;" "z and zh are rich, pleasant colors;" / and >• smooth are used for " softness, smoothness, liquidity, lis ing, and love;" the whispered consonants, 5, sk, h, and «•//, express "fear, secrecy, deception, caution, mystery." 8. The following examples range through the various de- grees of imitation, correspondence, and Buggestiveness. 9. In the first, notice how the Burd mutes and their vowels help to convey the idea of littleness, delicacy, and spright- Linesa : But as for faeries that will Hit, To make the greensward fresh, I hold tin in exquisitely knit, But far too spare of flesh. — Ttiiiii/SDii : Tailing Oak. Speaking of Queen Mali, Shakespeare says: She comes In shape n<» bigger than an agate m ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. 11. Contrast the tones of Lady Macbeth in the resolute hard ruilt, with the innocence of Banquo, where each, at different times, is Bpeaking of the entrance to the castle : Lady Macbi th. The raven himself is hoarse That croaka the fatal enterance of Duncan Under my battlements. Banquo. Tills guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve By his lov'd masonry, that the heaven's breath Smells wooingly here. . . . The air Is dellc i So Milton portrays the opening of the gates of heaven and of hell: Heaven opened w Ide Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound, On golden hinges turning. On a Budden open By With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, 'I'h' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Harsh thunder. 12. Only brief mention can be made of whole poems charac- terized by effectiveness of tone-color. Southey, in " fiodore," mimics with his verse all the tumultuous changes id' a ealaraet. Lowell, in " Pictures from Appledore," i ets wonderfully before island, buffeted by the billows of the Atlantic. ( >iir .sleut specimen must suffice : I have seen it when i: i med frantic, Butting against th.' mad Atlantic; When surge on surge would heap enorme ciiiTs ci' emerald, topped with snow. Thai lifted and lifted, and thru lei A greal white avalanche <>f thunder, \ i Inding, blinding, < 1 » - - » t • nlng ire, Ifonadnock miglil have trembled under. TONE-COLOR. 67 In Tennyson's "Lotus Eaters," the inimitable expression of drowsy languor pervades the whole, produced in large measure by the tone-color of the prevailing sounds : In the afternoon they came unto a land, In which it seemed always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon, Breathing like one that hath a weary dream. Full faced above the valley stood the moon ; And like a downward smoke, the slender stream Along the cliff to fall and pause and pause and fall did seem. • ••••••• Here are cool mosses deep, And through the moss the ivies creep, And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep, And from the craggy ledge the poppy hangs in sleep. Last of all, we mention the remarkable poems of Poe, "Ulalume," "The Raven," and especially "The Bells," in which last the perfection of success seems to have been reached in uttering the inarticulate language of nature in articulate speech. 03 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. CHAPTER X. ON READING VERSE. 1. Wk have now reached that point in our study of the elements of metre, in which we may put our knowledge into practice, so far as to read properly any ordinary Bpecimen of English v'-rse. Two things we need to remember; first, that any serious piece of composition is to be read for the meaning of it rather than the jingle; but, secondly, a piece of good • can be read for the meaning, and at the same time give to the ear the pleasure of rhythm. The power to make Terse of which this is possihle constitutes the difference between a good poet and a poor one. 2. Tins indicates the way in which wo are to proceed to read verse properly. We are nut to find out, firsi of all. how an it, and then, dividing it up into feet, to put the a< nt in the proper places, regardless of the meaning. Bui we are to read it to express as completely as possible tin- thought and feeling in the mind of the writer, Letting accent and emphasis fall naturally where they will. Then, discovering the metri- cal intention of the writer, we .-hall see where a Blight modifi- cation of emphasis may he accessary to tie rhythm n^ n. 3. For we must observe this. Rhythm depends on .tress. Stress includes accent and emphasis. The accent of words is fixed, for any given time and country. \W cannot modify that. But emphasis varies with the meaning. It chai ON READING VERSE. 69 place according to the conception in the mind of the writer or reader. Therefore, if our emphasis does not seem to make the verse read rhythmically, it may be possible to catch the rhythm, by varying the emphasis to express more nearly the concep- tion of the author. In lyric poetry, especially, we cannot always determine the rhythmic intention, in the first line or two of the poem. We may need to read a whole stanza for that purpose. 4. Notice this also. Although stress makes the rhythm, it is not necessary that there should be equal force in every stress. All that is needed is that the stressed syllable shall be distinguished from the unstressed syllables. The stressed syllables may all differ from one another in their degree of force. 5. Kead the poem, therefore, to give the meaning, letting the emphasis be guided somewhat by the evident metrical intention. Then, if the stressed syllables be marked, it will be found that they will divide the lines according to some defi- nite rhythm and metre. It will be seen, that even where there are slight differences of conception as to the exact meaning and the proper emphasis, the different readings will each be susceptible of correct rhythmical measurement. "Accent is always arranged by the great masters, so as to enhance and illustrate their prosody ; and they require of the reader only that he should understand their meaning, and deliver it with proper accentuation; then they will answer for the prosody coming right." — Ruskin : Elements of English Prosody. 6. In putting this principle into practice, it needs to be remembered that in English, there is a large number of sub- ordinate words, — articles, prepositions, and conjunctions, — which ordinarily require no emphasis. Such are a, the, of, on, with, and, etc. Some persons make too much of these, 70 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. even in prose; by sounding, for instance, the article a like the letter a. Such words should be sounded obscurely, like the final a in America. This applies as well to poetry. Never emphasize unimportant words for the sake of the rhythm. Emphasize them only when there is some special reason for doing so. To disregard this principle is inev- itably to introduce sing-song into the verse. Fet some writers on verse insist on placing a mark of accent over such syllables, if they occur in that part of a foot which should regularly be accented. They call this a metrical or anemphatic accent, as distinguished from the natural accent. But it is difficult to see how such syllables or words can be accented in any way by the voice, and not produce a sing-song effect. Thus we find lines marked as below in a treatise on metre: That heals the wnun1 I from forth | thy si | lent sea I of pines | Bl»- serve the weight of the heavy vowels, in pause, bald, and awful; tie 1 crystal clearness in charm and star. Other efl migl lie detected, alth trongly marked in tone-color. ON READING VERSE. 75 14. In lyric poetry, where we are no longer guided by the strict form, as in iambic pentameter, it is not always easy to catch the rhythm on the first reading. The opening lines may not be so determinate in emphasis as to fix the character of the metre. In such cases, it is necessary to read one or more stanzas, to get the movement intended. Thus : Down toward the twilight drifting. Toward is accented on the first syllable according to the dictionaries, and may be pronounced as either one or two syllables. It may be esteemed so unimportant, compared with down, as to lose its accent in comparison. So we might sup- pose either of the following readings : Down tow'rd the | twilight | drifting, | D6wn tow'rd | the twi | light drift | ing. | But reading the whole stanza we find the movement to be different from either of these : Down to | ward the | twilight | drifting, | Hover | now the | shadows | fast; L6! the | evening | clouds are | rifting, | And the | storm is | over | past. — S. D. Robbing. 15. Again: So we'll go no more a-roving. This might be read : So we'll | go no | more a- | roving. | But we find that Byron intended : So we'll go | no more | a-rov | ing, So late | into | the night, | etc. 16. Once more : One word is too often profaned, is not especially rhythmical if read : One word is too often profaned; 7G ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. In its connection, however, it becomes: 6n«' word I Is tOo »'if I t »> ii profaned | For ine | to profane | it ; One feel | Ing too false | ly disdained | For thee I to disdain | it. — Slu II. y. 17. So, even in iambic pentameter, a line may seem entirely unrhythmical, if we fail to feel the emphasis as it lay in the mind of the writer. Thus, in Milton: 'Tis true I am that spirit unfortunate, will seem like; prose if thus accented: 'Tis tnie | I am | thai splr | It Onfor I Innate. | Throw the emphasis, however, on am as the sense requires, and it becomes at once rhythmical, if we remember that spirit is frequently one syllable in the poets: 'Tis true | I am | that spir't | unfor | lunaie. | 18. The following extract Erom Buskin illustrates this dis- crimination in emphasis : •■ A true master-poet invariably calculates on his v. being first read as prose would bej and on the reader's being pleasantly surprised by finding thai he has fallen unawares into ma l there was naething I bated lii>e men! — TIh- dell gae wV him, to believe me. "The only doubtful accent in this piece of entirely pro and straightforward expression is on the him, and this accent depends on the context. Had the sentiment 1 o, for instance, 'He's gaen — the fi ras- ing, which has already been described as an additional effect, superimposed upon the fundamental flow of the verse. 78 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. 21. Another example is from "In Memoriain:" Or that the past will always win A glory from its being far, And orb Into the perfect st;ir We saw not when we moved therein. Mr. Iiuskin says: "If the reader lias intelligence enough to put the accent on the Or, and be of being, the verse conns right; hut imagine the ruin to it if a merely formal reader changed the first line into a regular iambic by putting the accent on that /" Mr. Hodgson replies: "My intelligence is not enough, I confess, to make me put the accent on the be of being, though it is adequate to the Or. To put the stress <>n the be of being is to make logic of the verse, and bad logic into the bargain. Tin- true stress is on far. That gives an Imaginative picture of the receding past. Whereas, to lay stress on being is to give an argument for the past winning a glory, and a bad argument to boot, because much of the past is very near — berdaVj for instant DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH FORMS. 79 CHAPTER XI. DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH FORMS. 1. Three periods, according to Schipper, mark the growth of English verse ; first, the Anglo-Saxon ; second, the Norman and Transition; third, the New English, or Modern Period. 2. The Anglo-Saxon gave the strong basis of our rhythm, characterizing it as Germanic, or accented, as distinguished from the classical, or quantitative metres. There was no smooth or regular flow of syllables, nor were the syllables counted as in Greek and Latin. The emphatic syllables in the line were forcibly struck with a strong accent, leaving the other syllables to take care of themselves, whether few or many. — A long-line was made up of two half-lines, in each of which were two strong accents. Of these four strongly accented syllables, the third, and either or both the first and second were still further indicated by having the same or similar initial letter. This accented, alliterated long-line, without stanzas, was the chief characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon period. Al- though afterwards modified, broken up, and discarded, it retained some influence, even to the time of Chaucer. 3. During the Norman and Transition period, various modi- fying influences came in, from French and from Latin sources. These affect the character of the rhythm and the length of the line, and introduce the stanza. — The rhythm becomes more uniform and regular by the greater attention paid to the un- sr > ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. accented syllables. These are more closely proportioned to the number of the accented syllables, and are counted in the Length of the line. A double-syllabled foot becomes apparent, which finally becomes prevailingly iambic At the same time end-rhyme begins to take th" place of alliteration. — The Length of the Line is modified. The Saxon Long-line is affected in two ways. Under the influence of tlic French '• Liming Couplet " of eight syllables, it becomes formed into couplets, bound to- gether hy rhyme. I nder the influence of the Alexandrine, its two accents in each hall line increase to three, and the iin< six accents, thus tunned, are bound by rhyme into couplets. — Thus both Bhort couplets and long couplets find a place in our metres. Beside these, a new form from the Latin is introduced, named the Septenary. It consisted of a half-line of four ac- cents, followed by another halt-line of three accents. Thus, with an equal number of unaccented syllables, a line of four- teen Byllables was produced. This Septenary was at fn church hymn metre, in the Latin of the Middle Ages. Intro- duced into English, either at full length, or in half-lines, it ime the popular metre of our ballad | try. which was pro- duced in great abundance in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- turies. A combination of the Alexandrine of twelve syllables, and t he Septenary Of fourteen — used alternately — was after* wards called Poulters' Measure; so called from the poulterers, who ga elve for the first do/en, and fourteen tor the •id. With Chaucer, as the closing representative of this transition period, we find two forms finally adopted as Eavor- < me is t he four-aooenl »r French " riming coup! other is a comparatively new form, intermediate between this and the Long seven accented Septenary from the Latin. This new form consists of live accents, and as the iambus had now become Bettled as the prevalenl English rhythm, we have the Iambic Pentameter, destined to become the distinguishing iintri of English poetry, DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH FORMS. 81 4. The third, or Modern period, extends from Chaucer to the present time. It was characterized very early by the predomi- nance of iambic rhythm, especially the pentameter. In its earliest use it was accompanied by rhyme, and has been fre- quently employed in this form till the present day, notably by J 'ope. The Earl of Surrey is the first known representative of its use without rhyme, in his translation of the Second and Fourth Books of Virgil's ^Eneid. In this form it is known as heroic blank verse, and has become the acknowledged English metre for epic and dramatic poetry. — For lyric poetry there has arisen the widest variety of forms in rhythm, in length of line, in the structure of the stanza. As to the predominant rhythm, we have the judgment of Swinburne, that, " to English all variations and combinations of anapaestic, iambic, and trochaic metre are as natural and pliable as all dactylic and spondaic forms of verse are unnatural and abhorrent." — As to length of line, any number of accents has been employed, from two to eight. Although eight-accent lines have been used by some of our best poets in a few of their poems, the pre- vailing metres are the pentameter and tetrameter, with occa- sionally the trimeter. — The stanza, originating with the use of end-rhyme, and producing first the couplet, has developed into a large variety of forms, as regards the number of lines and their arrangement. — Increased attention has been given in recent times to the quantity and quality of the vocal ele- ments, in rhyme, alliteration, and tone-color; and our English verse, while retaining its vigorous accentual character, together with the regularity and proportion derived from the Romance languages, has developed more of richness in tone and grace in movement. A few examples of the different forms are here given, with such fuller treatment of the iambic pentameter as its impor- tance demands. 82 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. 6. The Shout Coupli i A prcst was in londe, Laweman was (i) hote He was Leocala sone Lef him beo drihte. (The Lord bt graciou* to him.) — Lay anion's Brut. Horn, thu art wel kene And that is wel bene ; Thu art grel and strong, Fair and euene long. — King Horn. [eh WM in one suinerc dale In one rathe dithele hale. (In a r< nj sun t holl&W.) — The Owl and the bllgh t lmgait In a croniqne this I redei Aboute a king ;is moste aede Ther was of knyghtes and Bqulera Great route, and eke of officers. — Gower's Confestio Amantis. For al my ehambre gan to rynge, Through syn ol berarmonye; For Instrument nor melodye ao-wher herd yel half so sw IS'or of acconl'- n<- baU SO DH — Chnur- r Tkt Boh '■/tlu Dmhcsse. Thus I, Colin Clout, As I p> about, And wandering aa I walk, I bear the people talk; v fur llh '"lil rea are bonght and sold. —JohmSMkm. 1 Bbephi rd DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH FORMS. 83 It was near a thicky shade, That broad leaves of beech bad made, Joining all their tops so high, That scarce Phoebus in could pry. — Robert Greene. Home they brought her warrior dead, She nor swooned nor uttered cry. — Tennyson. 7. The Long Couplet : (Pointer's Measure ; alternate Alexandrine and Septenary.) Thuse come, lo! E"ngelond into Normannes honde; And the Normans ne couthe speke || tho bote her owe speche; Ich wene ther 116 be man iu world contreyes none, That ne holdeth to her kunde speche hot Engelonde one. — Robert of Gloucester, (The Same.) Layd in my quiet bed, in study as I were, I saw within my troubled head, a heape of thoughtes appeare. — Surrey. (Septenary.) So many fires disclosed their beams, made by the Trojan part Lcfore the face of Ilion, and her bright turrets show'd. A thousand courts of guard kept fires, and every guard allow'd Fifty stout men, by whom their horse eat oats and hard white corn, And all did wistfully expect the silver-throned morn. — Chapman. (Alexandrine.) The Naiads and the nymphs extremely overjoy'd, And on the winding banks all busily eniploy'd, Upon this joyful day, some dainty chaplets twine. — Drayton's I'olyolbion. (Septenary.) There's not. a joy the world can give like that it takes away, When the glow of early thought declines in feeling's dull decay. — Ilyron. 84 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. (Al< rut, f fiv< . not so long i be necessarily broken up into two lines, and yet nol short to admit of and weighty matter being expre ; a lin in uneven numbei bat the i of the dividing break ily variable; should be that in which the fetl f rhyme should he thrown aside, and the whole trust placed, nol on the metre as defined by rule, hut on the variations oi and quantity." — Hodgson. DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH FORMS. 87 14. First, then, what is the "metre as defined by rule " ? Strictly, five iambuses, neither more nor less. Thus : For man | to tell | how hii | man life | began. | — Milton. Here the accent would fall on every alternate syllable. In keeping the flow of it in the mind, it is convenient to think of it as composed of two sections and a half, — each section of four syllables. We then see that eight syllables would not satisfy the requirement, and twelve syllables would be redundant. 15. But this metre would never have gained the ascendency it has, if the strict rule had been invariably followed. " The normal line is too monotonous and formal for frequent use." — Abbott. " Johnson was wrong in condemning deviation from the ideal structure as inharmonious. It is precisely such devi- ation that constitutes the beauty of blank verse." — Symonds. All the substitutions noticed in the chapter on Variety in Rhythm may be employed, and all the changes in caesural pause. "Practically, many of the groups (feet) are allowed to consist of three syllables, two of them being unaccented. The number of sjdlables may therefore be greater than ten, while the accents may be, and generally are, less than five." — A. J. Ellis. "What combinations of the dissyllabic groups (feet) can produce a blank verse which is good to the ear, is not a matter for arithmetical computation, but for experience." — Masson. " Milton, who first taught us what this kind of verse ought to be, is careful to vary the movement by an occasional inversion of the iambic accentuation in each of the five places." — Patmore. "The writer in this kind of metre, in order that he may be musical, must exhibit all the varia- tions, as he proceeds, of which ten syllables are susceptible. Between the first and the last, there is no place at which he 88 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. must not occasionally pause, and the place of the pause must be continually Bhifted." — Cowper. "It is the easiest of all conceivable metres to write; it is the hardest to write well." — Hodgson. "No poet ought to think of beginning his career with blank vers.-. It has little <>r no rhythm of its own. and therefore the poet has to create the rhythm as he writes." — Patmore. 16. In general, it may be said, that the chief care to be taken, is, that the substitution of other feet than the iambus old not be such or f o frequent as to destroy the iambic char- acter of the rhythm; and that the Dumber of accents should not exceed five. It is true, that, LI) Shakespeare, what is • Bidered as an Alexandrine (six accents) is occasionally found, but this can hardly be regarded as coming within the scope of this rule. 17. To apply these principles somewhat in detail, we may notice the following : n. Owing to the large number of particles in English, the foot most commonly substituted for the iambus is the pyrrhic: Brought death | into | the world | and nil | our woe. | — M torn. There are ten pyrrhips in the first sixteen lines of u Paradise l. The pyrrhic may occur at any place in the line; but rarely do we find two pyrrhics in immediate succession, as : Burned if | tfir thfim | U) the | bottom | 16m pit. | — MUkm. I: at the end of the line : These o6ocb | toga Ind | tin m I6w I ly cour | LfisTes. I — Shnl.r jitnrr. DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH FORMS. 80 Even here, there may be said to be a secondary accent on the last syllable. Indeed, this secondary accent on the final syllable of a trisyllable is regularly recognized in iambic verse. b. Occasionally a spondee may take the place of the iambus. There are few, if any, natural spondees in English, but two emphatic syllables may come together and produce a foot with two accents : 11611 611, | thou deep | and dark | blue 6 | c6an, roll. | — Byron. Say, Muse, | their ndnies, | then known, | who first, | who hist. | — Milton. 6u those | long rank | dark wood | walks drench'd | in dew. | — Tennyson. c. Even the trochee, which is the reverse of the iambus, may take its place. This occurs oftenest after a pause; as at the beginning of a line : Loud as | from num | bers with | out num | her, sweet. | — Milton: Paradise I^st, III. 316. Or after the csesural pause : Feed, and | regard | him not. | Are you | a man ? | — Shakespeare : Macbeth, III. 4, 58. It may be in the second foot : The eye | wink at | the hand, | yet let | that be. | — Macbeth, I. 4, 62. Or in the third: And yet | dark night | strangles | the trav' | ling lamp. — MacbUh, II. 4,7. Or the fourth : The cloud | y mess | enger | turns mC | his back. | — Macbeth, III. 0,41. 90 ENGLISH VKKSIFICATIOX. Instances have been offered of the occurrence of a trochee in the fifth foot, Wit 1 have Been none such in which the accentuation was so clear as to be beyond controversy. Very seldom two trochees may be found together; as, at the beginning of the line : Present I thus to | his son, | audi | biy spoke. I — Milton. Felt thP | light Of | her eyes | into | his life. | — Tennyson. N6tBd | d6wn in | the book, I there; turn | and see. | — Browning. A peculiar effect is produced by the succession trochee* iambus (choriambus), twice in the first four Eeet of the line: Over I thy wounds | now d0 | I proph | esy. | — ShaLespenn . Others | apart | -at On | a bill, I retired. | — M. Iti-u. Beadjf | tO Spring, | W<lng | .1 chance | for this. I — Tennyson : Quint Pi Not U) | tell her, | never | to let | her know. | — Ttniii/smi : Knock Ardiii. Tt will be seen tlmt tins divides the line into the two and a half sections, of which we have before Bpoken. A pleasing combination is that of a trochee followed by IS : I i 1 the | same (lock, | by fOUU | lain, shade, | and rill. | — Milton. Spread- 1,1- I light Iffnga | and in | a rno | inent (lies. | — J'opr. r at the end : "lis not | alone | my ink | y eloak, | good motli | Br. —BamUt, I. ■:,:'■ I dare | avouch | it, sir; | what, fif | ty fol | lowers? —King Lear: U.4.M Thcso unaccented syllables at. the end are called feminine endings. These seldom constitute ;i word! by themselvi that | sin fell | tin- ;m | gels; how | can man, | then. - llrnnj \ 111., [11.8,441. //. Even normal lines may have light t or weak endings. Light endings are personal anil relative pronouns, auxiliaries, allowing a Blight pause after them. Weak ending* an- prepositions ami conjunctions, allowing no pause after them. i Lines in which tin* Bense is complete at the end, with a full pause, are called end-Stopped lines; those in which the sense is carried on to the succeeding lines, without pause, are called run-on lines. j. The place of the csesural pause in iambic pentameter is imt fixed. It probably occurs oftenesl after the fourth or the sixth syllable. The usage differs somewhat with the different Bui in the besl poetry it takes a wide 1 from the Liable to the ninth. "Though it is impossible to lav down any rule regulating the pauses, yel it is probably true that the pause after the fourth syllable, which La iambic, ia r fitted for didactic and ram; while that after the fifth, which gives a trochaic effect, ia adapted for descrip- tion, and - D. of sentiment, or for h BerioUS :u." — English Lessons for English People* DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH FORMS. 93 18. We give below a few quotations, indicating the names of the earliest authors representing iambic pentameter: I have mot with no specimen of this metre among our English rhythms, hefore the fourteenth century. — Guest's History of English Rhythms, p. 524. The metre of five accents, with couplet rime, may have got its earliest name of "riding rime" from the mounted pilgrims of the Canterbury Tales. — Idem, p. 526. The unrimed metre of five accents, or as it is generally termed, blank verse, we certainly owe to Surrey. ... I have seen no specimen of any definite unrimed metre of five accents, which can date earlier than Surrey's translation of the fourth iEneid. — Idem, p. 527. Marlowe brought the English unrhymed pentameter to a perfection of melody, harmony, and variety, which has never been surpassed. — Lowell: Among My Boohs, p. 157. Adding to these the names of Shakespeare and Milton, as the highest representatives of this form of verse, previous to the modern poets, we will present a few of the characteristics of each. CHAUCER. 19. Nearly all the "Canterbury Tales," and the "Legend of Good Women," are written in iambic pentameter, with couplet rhymes. But by reason of a frequent unaccented syllable at the end, the lines have oftener eleven syllables than ten. Some critics maintain that a line may have only nine syllables, the first foot consisting of an emphatic monosyllable. But Fleay says that the " omission of the first syllable is not allowed in this metre." " Final c, a relic of early French and Saxon endings, usually makes a light syllable, when the next word begins with a consonant. It was probably sounded obscurely, as in final unaccented e in French poetry. It is usually silent when the 01 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. next word begins with a vowel, and before a few words begin- ning with h: as, He, his, him, hire, hem, hath, have, hadde, . hi r (heer). In most other cases, it makes a Light syllable before h. It is also often sounded when followed by the mral pause, where it would otherwise be silent. •• With the exception of the article the, and the negative particle ne, the e of monosyllables is commonly not elided. "The great majority <>f words from the Norman are accented on the last Byllal . licour, vertue, nature, cordge. Many, however, are variable, » accented Bometimea on tin- ulti- mate and sometimes on the penult." — C<>rs'>n : Hand-book of Anglo-Saxon "u>l Early English. The following u:. is from the Prologue to the "Canter- bury Tales:" Whio th&t | April | le with | his schdw | res BWdote | The dronghl | of sfarche I hath per | ced to | the route, | And ba | thed >-v | ery veyiic I iii suich | licour, | .hich | verttie | engen | dred is | the Hour; | Whan Zeph | Irua | eek with | his sue | te breethe | Bnspl | red hath | in ev | eiy holte | Mid heethe | The ten | dre crop | pes, and | the you | ge Bonne | II. tih in | the Bam | his half | e coins i- | ronne I And smal | e fowl | ea ma | ken niel | odle | That alep | en all | the nlghl | with o | pen eye | So prik | etb hem | oattire | in lure | cordges; | Than long | en folk | to gon | on pi] | grim&ges, | And pal | men for | to seek | en straiin | ge Btrondes, | To far | ne hoi | wis, kouthe | in >-on | dry londes; | And ipe I dally | from ev I eiy BChlr I es ctido I Of En I gelonxl) I to Caun | terburj | they wende. I s I 1:1:1 > 20. To Surrey, as we have con, is assigned the honor of having used the iambic pentameter withoul rhyme. He i has the praise of being the first who introduced the sonnet into our language, and he Wrote besides in a \aint. Hie. DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISII FORMS. 95 He used the heroic blank verse in a translation of the Fourth Book of the iEneid. There are differences of opin- ion as to the merit of his style. Warton questioned whether, in the qualities of being smooth and musical, our versification had advanced since Surrey tuned it for the first time. In the edition of Mr. Bell, while Surrey is praised for skilful variety in the use of iambus and trochee, it is said that " crudenesses of sundry kinds are by no means infrequent." Mr. Symonds, on the other hand, says that Surrey is very averse " to any departure from iambic regularity." Prof. Mayor has made a somewhat careful analysis of Surrey's blank verse, from which we select the following examples of usage, which seem to indicate a primitive " crude- ness " not prevalent in later writers. a. Two trochees in succession : The old | temple | dedl | cate to | Ceres. | Shall I | wait or | board them | with iuy | power. | Wherewith | Panthus | scaped from | the Greek | ish darts. | b. Trochee in fourth place : In the | dark hulk | they closed | bodies | of men. | With blood | likewise | ye must | seek your | return. | Toward | the tower | our hearts | brent with | desire. | We went | and gave | many | onsets | that night. | c. Trochee in fifth place : Esca | ped from | the slaugh | ter of | Pyrrhus. | Worship | was done | to Ce | res the | goddess. | With wail | Ing great | and worn | en'a shrill | yelling. | By the | divine | science | of Mi | nerva. | d. Harshness of csesural pause : Without | sound, || liung | vainly | in the | shield's boss. Command | ed I | reave II and | thy spirit | unloose. | An old | laurel | tree II bow | inu r there | unto, j 9G ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. The following passage is a favorable example of his ordinary • re : s-. ills, whil< God aid destinies it would, Bi ceive this sprite and rid me of these cares: I lived and ran the coarse fortune did grant; And onder earth my great ghost now -hall wend: A goodly town I built, and saw my walls; Happy, alas, too happy, if these coasts The- Troyan ships had never touched aye. U A B I . o\v i: 21. We have already seen Lowell's tribute to the perfec- tion of Marlowe's verse. He wrote the "first play in blank e which was publicly acted, and fixed the metre of his drama forever as the metre of English tragedy." His influence was felt by Shakespeare, who quoted a line from his "Hero and Leander," ' and of whom it has been said that he "never reached in his own narrative verse a music so spontaneous and rich, — a music to which Marlowe might have applied his own words : That calls my soul from forth his living scat To move onto the measures of delight." Prof. Mayor tells US that the rhythm of Marlowe is \ different from that of Surrey. "It is much more regular of accentuation." Nevertheless, he gives us many examples of nine syllables ina line, — the firsl foot being a monosylla- ble, — and of halting rhythm in other respects. But it is not by such criticism in detail thai Marlowe is to be jud There if an unmistakable passionate Loftine oi tyle which ity and energy to his verse, well i J on's pi. ; •• Marlowe's mighty line." 1 I »• nl -lii ipherd, now I tiinl tli 'it: " Who ever loved that lov< d not nl I -.1 ) '- in b DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH FORMS. 07 The following extracts will convey some impression of it : Give me a look that when I hend the brows, Pale Death may walk in furrows of my face; A hand that with a grasp may gripe the world ; An ear to hear what my detractors say; A royal seat, a sceptre and a crown ; That those that do behold them may become As men that stand and gaze against the sun. — Massacre at Parts. If all the pens that ever poets held Had fed the feeling of their master's thoughts, And every sweetness that inspired their hearts, Their minds and muses on admired themes, If these had made one poem's period, And all combined in beauty's worthiness, Yet should there hover in their restless heads One thought, one grace, one wonder, at the least, Which into words no virtue can digest. — First Part of Tamlurlaiiu; V. 2. SHAKESPEARE. 22. The great body of Shakespeare's plays is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It is evident in the reading of any long-sustained passage in the mouth of one of his speakers, that the rhythmic sense of the author, and his com- mand of the metre, is in no respect inferior to his powers of expression in general. But the nature of dramatic poetry, the interruptions of conversation, the changes of action, and of emotion, and the dominance of passion, give rise to so many kinds of license, that the student of his metre needs some principles to guide him in the interpretation of his verse. 23. In the first place, we need to know if Shakespeare con- fines himself strictly to five measures in the line. The excep- tions are as follows : a. He introduces occasionally lyric measures, — iambic di- meter and iambic and trochaic tetrameter; as in the "Tem- 98 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. " Midsummer Night's Dream," "As You Like It," and "Macbeth." A. B . Lea these, in the regular body of the play, short lines of two or three iambuses occur, sometimes as brief sentences in rapid dialogue, sometimes at the beginning or end <>t speeches. r. As to lines of only four iambuses, there seems to be difference of opinion. Dr. Abbott 1 says that "lines with four accents are very rare." VI rts that "where ti. is an appearance of a four-foot line, it is either made ap of (3+1, or 2+2), <>r is corrupt." This docs not deny the fact of rhymed lines of four feet, (i. The existence of occasional six-foot lines is generally admitted. In some cases these are composed oi trimeter coup- lets; that is, with the pause after the third foot; in others, they are true Alexandrines, with pauses alter the second, nth. eighth, or tenth syllable. a It is quite in accordance with the rules of heroic blank i, that there should be one or even two extra syllables (unaccented) at the end of a line; these are called feminine endings. /. Such extra syllables may also occur in the middle of ;i line, before the caesura! pan 24. The next consideration is as to the character of the rhythm. It i -. of course, m large proportion, iambic, with the occurrence oi trochees, pyrrhios, Bpondees, as we have noted, and frequ( oi the anapa |: these, we have to observe the customary elisi 1 Abbott's Shakespearean Grammar. * Sbaki peare Manual, ':■. i Q. Floay, A.M. London, Macmtllan 4 DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH FORMS. 99 and slurrings, as in other writers, and, more than this, the fact of many contractions and expansions which are peculiar to the author or his times. a. The common elisions : th' for the ; V th' for in the ; o' th' for of the ; 's, for is, us, or his ; 'Id for would ; 'dst for hadst; and many others, h' were for he were ; etc. Final er, el, and le dropped before vowel or silent h. b. Dropping of prefixes : 'hove for above ; 'come for become ; 'count for account; 'larum for alarum; 'stonished for aston- ished ; un'sisting for unresisting. c. Slurring or contraction : This occurs usually in the case of unaccented vowels, between consonants that easily coalesce ; or, in a few cases of consonants, that may be omitted without destroying the character of a word. It always lies with the taste of the reader whether to omit such syllables altogether, or to give them a rapid enunciation like grace notes in music. Thus, vowels near liquids : corp'ral for corporal ; confer- ence for conference ; warrant for icarrant ; perilous for perilous ; mar'l for marvel ; eas'ly for easily (see deVcate for delicate, in Tennyson.); en 1 my for enemy; mess' tigers for messengers; inn' cent for innocent; unnat'ral for unnatural; inter 'gator ies for interrogatories. The word spirit may be pronounced spirt, or sprite. A light vowel following a heavy vowel in the same word is sometimes obscured : pow'r, be'tig, know' in g, prow' 88. Plural and possessive endings are frequently dropped when the singular ends in s, se, ss. ce, or ge. The e in ed of past tenses is sometimes sounded and some- times omitted, even in the same line : Hence ban | ished | is ban | ish'd from | the world. | —Borneo and Juli, t, III. 3, 19. Despis'd, | distress | ed, ha | ted, mar | tyr'd, kill'd. —Idem, IV. 5, 59. 1M ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. Consonants arc sometimes omitted; as th in the middle of a void; irhc'r for whether, etc. '/. Expansions : which increase the number of syllables in a word. Liquids, and especially r, in dissyllables, are frequently pronounced as though an extra syllable were introduced xreen them and the preceding consonant : The parts | and gra | res of | the wrest I (e)ler. — .is Tan Lib It, II. 2, 13. If you will tarry, holy pilg(e)riin. -.ins Well thai I d i H ,111.8 Monosyllables containing a long vowel and ending in an >• sound, are often pronounced in two syllables: Bear, Na | tore, he* | ar; de* | at God | deas, hear. | — King Lear, l. i, M7. Sometimes other monosyllables are thus divided: Will you | be rtiled | by m> P | A-y, | my Lord. | —Hamlet, IV. 7, er final seems sometimes to have 1 n pronounced with a kind of '-burr," equivalent to an additional syllabi.' : A brotb | 't's nun- 1 der-r. | i'i r. can I I not. | — Ham;, . I ! ! < m, We'll teach I you. Kent. sir | -r, I'm | too old I to learn. | King /.. r, n. :, ISL 8ir becomes Sirrah, % is frequently pronounced I o syllables at the end of aliie \ o Hon in a Line, especially after e. Bo also final ience, iant, ious, iage, etc The - metimes sounded In " ph i mute is somel imes pronounced : d at | the base I of Pom I ; • I u-e, I I! I DEVELOrMENT OF ENGLISH FORMS. 101 The noun ache was pronounced aitch. (See notes to Rolfe's " Tempest.") Fill all | thy bones | with ach | es; make | thee roar. | — Tempest, I. 2, 3C8. The e in commandment, entertainment, which was originally used, is sometimes retained : Be val | ued 'gainst | your wife's | command | (e)ment. — Merc/uint of Venice, IV. 1, 442. e. Accent. Some words in Shakespeare have the accent nearer the end than at present. Thus : abject, Rich. III., I. 1, 106; access, W. T., V. 1, 87; aspect, A. & C, I. 5, 33; characters, Ham., I. 3, 59 ; commerce, Tr. & Cr., I. 3, 105 ; contrary, Ham., III. 2, 194 ; compact, J. C, III. 1, 215 ; edict, M. N. D., I. 1, 151 ; exile, R. & J., V. 3, 211 ; instinct, 2 Hen. IV, I. 1, 86; obdurate, M. of V., IV. 1, 8; opportune, T., IV. 1, 26; portents, Othello, V. 2, 45; sepulchre, Rich. II, I. 3, 194 ; sinister, Hen. V, II. 4, 85. In some the accent is nearer the beginning than with us : compelled, M. for 31, II. 4, 57; complete, L. L. L., I. 1, 137; detestable, K. J., III. 4, 29; distinct, M. of V., II. 9, 61; enginer, so also mutiners and pioners ; obscure, M. of V., II. 7, 51 ; Observant, K. L., II. 2, 97 ; persever, M. N. D., III. 2, 236 ; rheumatic, M. N. D., II. 1, 105 ; secure, Ham., I. 5, 61 ; successors, Hen. VIII, I. 1, 60. In general, an adjective or participle of two syllables stand- ing before a noun accented on the first syllable throws the accent back, when, otherwise, it would have the modern accent. Thus, complete becomes complete: A maid of grace and complete majesty. — Love's Labour's Lost, I. 1, 137. So in numerous instances of other words. 'Words in ized and ised throw the accent back : As I | by friends | am well | adver | tls&L | — Richard 111., IV. 4,497. 102 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. The French accent is sometimes retained; as in royal, fortune, pardon, metof. This, however, is not so common as in Spenser, Surrey, and Chaucer. f, Rhyme is often used by Shakespeare as an effective termination at the end of a scene, also to mark an aside. Prose is sometimes used in comic scenes and in letters, when' necessary to lower the dramatic pitch, or to ex] frenzy, madness, and higher flights of the imagination. 25. In general, the blank verse of Shakespeare was more Btrid and constrained in his earlier plays, and more tree and untrammelled in the later. Several indications of this have been used as tests to help to fix the time at which the various plays were written. The following rules are based upon those given in Fleay's Shakespeare .Manual, before quoted: a. The difference between "end-stopped" and "run-on" lines. In "Love's Labour's Lost," his first genuine play, the percentage of run-on lines is only five and a half; in " Win- ;• r Tale," one of the rery latest, it is forty-seven and one- fifth, /-. Lines with feminine endings; that is. with extra unac- yllables at the end. These increase in frequency from four per cent in the earliest plays, to thirty-one or thirty-two per cent in the latest. c Lines with extra syllables before the oaasura] pause increase from none in the earliest p.. bO nearly four per in the lab !' light endings (pronouns, auxiliat eti'.), and of weak endings (prepositions, conjunctions, etc.. allowing no pause), incri during the i itesl pla; Alexandrines not only increase in frequenoy, but a inme a freer form; being confined at first to a middle pause, hut in t! having pauses in various other places in the line. DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH FORMS. 103 f. The use of rhyme couplets diminishes gradually from a proportion of two rhyme lines to one of blank verse, down to an absolute absence of rhyme. 26. Without attempting to characterize the blank verse of authors since the time of Shakespeare, we give below some tabular results of an analysis, by Professor Mayor, of the metre of Milton, Tennyson, and Browning. Of our American poets, we may remark, that Bryant is distinguished above all for the dignity and energy of his style in this special form of verse. Longfellow seldom attempts it, and with indifferent success. Holmes reminds us of Pope in the ease of his rhymed iambic pentameter. CAESURAL PAUSE. 27. The table shows the average in passages of two hundred lines each, taken from the three poets named. MILTON. TENNYSON. BROWNING. Pause after first syllable. 1 8 11 Pause after Initial trochee 1 3 2 Pause after initial iambus 13 11 7 Pause after third syllable 13 16 22 Pause after fourth syllable .... 25 33 •-'•"> Pause after fifth syllable 14 23 28 Pause after sixth syllable 42 24 18 Pause after seventh syllable .... 17 23 21 Pause after eighth syllable .... 15 14 7 Pause after ninth syllable 2 7 4 Pause final only 40 53 51 Pause internal only 74 58 45 Pause none 25 20 27 Feminine ending 11 9 1 These results are averaged from Professor Mayor's tables. A wider range was taken for analysis in Tennyson than in Milton or Browning. 104 ENGLISB VERSIFICATION. KINDS OF FEKT. 28. Prom the same tables we obtain the following propor- tion of substituted feet in the same authors, in two hundred lines, or a thousand feet : MIl.WN. TEHHTaOH. BBOWX 1'yrrliic M 60 81 ndee 7^ 52 80 Trochee (initial) 37 06 Trochee (nut Initial) 18 7 '.< Anapmt SI 30 Dactyl 2 "J -' Thia leaves lambua , 812 766 IMITATION OF CLASSICAL METRES. 105 CHAPTER XII. IMITATION OF CLASSICAL METRES. 1. Our masters of English verse, not content with the range afforded them by the various metres in their native language, have found an attractive field of experiment in the well-known forms of Greek and Latin prosody. 2. As the sense of rhythm is a natural instinct, and is based upon fundamental principles common to all languages, the prosody of one nation must be always capable of repro- duction, to some extent, in the language of another. At the same time, there are peculiarities of age and race which pre- vent a complete identification of one with the other. 3. In the classical metres, as we have shown in the chapter on Quantity, the rhythm depends upon the length of the syl- lables ; in the English, upon the accent. Therefore, even if we should employ in English the same number of syllables in the foot, and the same number of feet in the line, we should not exactly reproduce the effect of the ancient metre, unless we should employ also syllables corresponding in length to those in the original. For these we lack the material. We have, indeed, vowels naturally long, and we can furnish syllables made long "by position," that is, with two conso- nants after the vowel ; but to prolong these in exact time is foreign to our habits of speech, and the most skilful arrange- ment for this purpose would probably fail to liud readers who could produce the intended effect. 106 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. 4. Therefore, while complete reproduction of th< ical metrea is scarcely possible, there may be various degrees of successful imitation. The ordinary method is simply to copy rhythm, by osing accented syllables in place of the I • in the original Or the attempt may go farther than tli is, and aim at following the long quantity? also, as Ear as possible. In other cases, the modern metre is scarcely more than a suggestion of the ancient, without any pretence of ict imitation. DACTYLIC II i: \ \ m BTBB. 5. In the classical form, this consisted of six f»-<-t, either dactyls or spondees. The dactyl was the prevailing unit of rhythm, ami v illy needed in the fifth foot, to the typical character. This foot, however, was occasionally a spondee, and then the line was called a spondaic verse. The sixth, or last, loot was always a spondee or a trochee. This metre was the recognized vehicle of epic poetry, as iambic pentameter is in English. Several attempts have been made to use it in English, for the same purpose. The number of feet and tlie dactylic movement have been closely adhered to, by osing accented syllables to take the place of the long ones, hut it has 1 impossible to reproduce the dignity and melody of the ancient verse. We have few spondees, produced by two con- tiguous syllabi* qua! a< >r emphasis; and the result ponderance of dactyls, and the substitution of 3 for spondees. This gives a light and tripping m< inent, which fails to he relieved by ; I and :• _•. . < a favorable i pecimen of it. in a tra- 'i from Schillt r : v it | be*ara ai a I Idng in | twilling and | limit 1 < •■«-< | bfllows, | and | D6thlng be | bind but the | tkj and tin- | • IMITATION OF CLASSICAL METIIES. 107 As noted examples, may be cited, Southey's "Vision of Judgment," Coleridge's " Hymn to the Earth," Longfellow's "Evangeline" and "Children of the Lord's Supper," Kings- ley's " Andromeda," and Clough's " The Bothie of Tober-na- vuolich." Earth, thou | mother of | numberless | children, the | nurse and the | m(3ther, | Sister | thou of the | stars, and be | lov'd by the | sun, the re | joicer! | Guardian and | friend of the | moon, O | Earth, whom the | comets for | get not, | Yea, in the | measureless | distance wheel | round and a | gain they be | hold thee! | — Coleridge : Hymn to the Earth. This is the ] forest pri | meval. The | murmuring | pines and the | hemlocks, Bearded with | moss and in | garments | green, indi | stinct in the | twilight, Stand like | Druids of | eld, with | voices | sad and pro | phetic, Stand like | harpers | hoar, with | beards that | rest on their | bosoms. — Longfellow : Evangeline. 6ver the | se*a, pdst | Cre"te, on the | Syrian | shore to the | southward, Dwells in the | well-tilled | lowland a | dark-haired | vEthiop | people, Skilful with | needle and | loom, and the | arts of the | dyer and | carver; Skilful but | feeble of | heart; for they | know not the | lords of O | lympus, Lovers of | men; neither | broad-browed | Zeus nor | Pallas A | thene, Teacher of | wisdom to | heroes, be | stower of | might in the | battle; Share not the | cunning of | ITermes, nor | list to the | songs of A | polio; Fearing the | stars of the | sky, and the | roll of the | blue salt | water. — h'iiigshy : Andromeda. Here we find proper spondees in welt-tilled, dark-haired, broad-browed, and blue salt. The last makes a spondaic line. That gn'at | p6wer with | drawn, re | ceding | here and | passive, Pelt she in | myriad | springs, her | sources | far in the | mountains, Stirring, col | lecting, | rising, up | heaving, | forth out | flowing, U - ENGLISH VERIFICATION. Taking and | joining, right | welcome, that | delicate | rill in the | va! Filling it. | making it | Btrong, and | still tie | scending, | seeking, With a | blind fore | feeling) de | BCending | ever, and | seeking, With a de | licious fore | feeling, the I great still | soa be I fore it. — dough : The Jt'ittu ! ' nn-i-uolich. And as | when in | heaven, a | round the | moon in ber | brightness, 1 r are the I lustrous | stars and | all the | air is | breath! E n are the I jutting I peaks and I jutting I promon | torl< are the | u'!«'ns and re | sealed are the | solemn a | bysses of | heaven, y | star can be | told, and | gladdened at | heart is the | shepherd. — n f Mad, The following seems to be the same as the hexamel wanting the final syllable : kk to Him, | thou, for lie | hears, and | Spirit with | Spirit can | meet, Closer is | He than | breathing, and | nearer than | hands and | feet. — T rwgton Tht tBght r Pamtktttm, ki. i:<; i At: m i:tke. 6. This c '1 of s dactylic hexameter line followed by a dactylic pentameter, so called. This pentameter was peculiar in being com posed of two sections, each of two and a half feet. That i>, there were two whole feet followed l>y ;i long syllable re the ral pause, and then two more who followed by a long syllable. Coleridge illustrates it, in ;i translal ion from Schiller : in the hex | imeter I rises the I fountain's | silvery | column, In the pen | tameter | aye n I filling in | melody | back, n In this metre are written I b.' "Amours de Vo and a poem entitled "Dorothy," 1>\ A. J. Munby. Swin- burne's •• Eiesperia" is nearly the same, although witha modi- fied form of the pentameter. Mi. ill l not, | <», may l | not thus | \<-~ re | fresh the re I mdmbrance | Wi. • | Joyes I had | 6nce n and I whit a | place i did | hold. — Str I'littiii Sid* IMITATION OF CLASSICAL METRES. 109 6ver the | gre"at windy | waters and | over the | cle"ar-crested | summits, Unto the | siin and the | sky || and | unto the | perfecter | earth; Come let us | go to a | land where | gods of the | old time | wandered, | Where every | hreath even | now II | changes to | ether di | vine. | — Clough : Amours de Voyage. Dorothy | goes with her | pails to the | ancient | well in the | court- yard, Daily at | grey of | morn, II | daily ere | twilight at | e"ve ; Often and | often a | gain she | winds at the | mighty old | windlass, Still with her | strong red | arms II | landing the | bucket a | right. — A.J. Munby : Dorothy. Out of the golden remote wild west, where the sea without shore is Full of the sunset, and sad, if at all, with the fulness of joy, As a wind sets in with the autumn that blows from the region of stories, Blows with a perfume of songs and of memories beloved from a boy. — Swinburne : J/esjtcria. Tennyson gives us two examples of Elegiacs. One is an imitation in quantity. These lame | hexaine | ters, the | strong-winged | music of | Homer ? No — but a | most bur | lesque II | barbarous | experi | ment. | When was a harsher sound ever heard, ye Muses, in England ? When did a frog coarser croak upon our Helicon ? Hexameters no worse than daring Germany gave us, Barbarous experiment, barbarous hexameters. Here it will be noticed that the first foot is a natural spondee, both syllables being long by nature. The first syllable in the third foot is made long by position (closing with two consonants), and is accented arbitrarily to bring out the force of a long syllable. The same is true of the last syllable in experiment. The verse must be read with these forced accents to produce the effect intended. The other example from Tennyson is written with the ordinary accent, without special regard to quantity. Creeping through | blossoming | rushes and | bowers of | rose-blowing | bushes, Down by the | poplar | tall || | rivulets | babble and | fall. || 110 ENGLISH 7EBSIFICATION. ii i:n di:c\ s\ i.i.vbics. 7. This word mean el 'en-syllable met The 76186 is composed of a Bpondee, a dactyl, and three trochees. In tin* owing specimen by Tennyson, the first syllable of each foot is intended to be plainly accented, even where it would not be naturally accented, in order to carry oul the effect of syllables long in quantity. Thus, the syllable lent of the fourth foot in the first line musl be accented, and such obscure syllables as U and of } when they occupy the first place in their respectn shall then see "How fantastical is the dainty metre I " you | chorus of | indo | lent ro | viewers, | Irre | spdnstble, | Endo | lent re | view. 1 ok, i | come n> the | test, a | tiny | poem, All com | posed In i | mitre | <>f Ca | ttiJlus; All in | quantity. | careful | 6t my | motion, | Like ih. : | vk.it. r on | ice that | hardly | bears him, | Le*8l 1 | fall una | wares he | fine the | people, W£king | laughter in | (ndo | lent re | view. Should I flounder awhile without a tumble, Thro' this metriflcation of Catullus, They should speak to in.- uol without a welcome, All that eh. nils of Indolent review. Sard, hard, hard is it, only not t.> tumble, fantastical la the dainty m< I The :: imple is from Swinburne : in the* | nn'.nth of the I I6ng de I clfne of | rosi I, i.. ; | hdlding lie- | slim r | dead be | fdre me, | . and journeyed silent, riv w here above the sea-mark) i .in., as fierce as the fen id eye i i II 1 1 dl dh Ided the eyelids "f the sunset. I al o furnishes an example <>f hendecasyllabics so called; but by the substitution of a dactyl for the opening IMITATION OF CLASSICAL METRES. HI spondee, the original rhythm is modified, and the number of syllables becomes twelve instead of eleven : Imar, my be | loved, an | old Mi | lesian | story ! High and em | bosom'd in | congre | gated | laurels, | Glimmer'd a temple upon a breezy headland; In the dim distance, amid the skyey billows, Hose a fair island ; the god of flocks had placed it. In Charles Lamb's well-known poem, "The Old Familiar Faces," we have a suggestion of this metre, retaining the three trochees at the end, and varying between spondees and dactyls in the first part of the line : I have had | playmates, | I have | had com | panions, In my | days of | childhood | in my | joyful | school days; All, all are | gone, the | old fa | miliar | faces. | Another modification of this form is seen in Browning's "One Word More." Instead of retaining the dactyl in the second foot, he uses all trochees, making ten syllables instead of eleven : Rafael | made a | centu | ry of | sonnets, Made and | wrote them | in a | certain | volume, | Dinted | with the | silver- | pointed | pencil, | Else he | only | used to | draw Ma | donnas. | The first and third lines in this stanza of Matthew Arnold suggest also the same modification : Raise the | light, my | page, that | I may | sde her, | Thou art come at last, then, haughty Queen ! Long I've | waited, | long I've | fought my | fever; | Late thou comest, cruel thou hast been. In all these examples, a peculiar character is often given to the rhythm by a weakened stress upon the fourth foot in the line. 112 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. ALCAICS. 8. The scheme of this metre, as used by Horace, may bo marked thus : U | — u | — u | — u u | — uu I <-> j — u | — - u | — uu I — owl u I — u | — u | — u | — u | — uu I — uu| — u | — u | Tennysoo finely reproduces this, in quantify, as well as accent, in his verses on Milton : O | might) | m6uth'd in | ventfir <"»f | harmonies, | O | skill", 1 tfl | sing of | Time Or B I te*rnlty, | Ood- | giftfid | 6rgftn- | v6ice of | England, | Milinii, ft | n;iiiio tC Pfi | st'ninil f.'.r | agfis. | He has also two distinct modifications of it, one in his lines, "To the Rev. F. D. Mauri© u| — u |— u| — w| _ u|_ u | _u | — u | _ | u| — u | — u | — u | — u | — uu I — uu| — u| Com'', I Maurice, | cdme; the | Iftwn aa I j ] | h<>ar with I rniK'. or | Bp6ngy | w£t; I wh.ii the I wreath <>f I March baa | blossomed, | < IrdcUS, a I iii'inoiic, I vio I lrt, Or later, pay one \ Isll here, For those are few we hold as dear ; \..r pa; lnii one, bul come for many, .Many and many a li :ij .j.y y> ar. The other is "The D u | — u I — u I — u I — u I — u I — u I — u I — u| — u| — u| — u| — u u| — u| — uu| — u| — IMITATION OF CLASSICAL METRES. 113 O | Love, what | hours were | mine and | thine, In | lands of | palm and | southern | pine, In | hinds of | palm, of | orange | blossom, Of olive, | aloe, and | maize and | vine. SAPPHICS. 9. This consists of three lines of the following scheme followed by one line marked thus This is closely reproduced by Swinburne, in quantity : All the | night sleep | cajue not up | &u_my | eyelids, | Slu'd hot | dew nor I shook nor un | closed a | feather, Yet with | lips shut | close, and with | eyes of | iron Stood and be | held me. | The more common English form follows only the accentual pronunciation of the Latin. Thus, from Southey : Swift through the sky the vessel of the Suras Sails up the fields of ether like an angel. liich is the freight, O vessel, that thou bearest, Beauty and virtue. SEPTENARIUS. 10. In classical Greek and Latin, this metre was composed of seven trochees, with an added syllable. This is exactly reproduced in Longfellow's "Psalm of Life." Tell me | not in | mournful | numbers, | Life is | but an | empty | dream. In later Latin, this became modified, and formed, as we have seen, the basis for the English Septenary. lit ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. B ATI i;m v n . 11. This is a very ancient Latin form, in which accent and even rhyme seem to have had part: °|— ° I — u |— u I II— ^|— o|— u The | king was | In the | parlor, || | counting | out his | money: The | queen was | in the | kitchen, || | eating | bread ami | honey. — Mother Goose. OH OB I AM BIO. 12. A Bpondee, three choriambos, and an iambus: I — uu — I — wu — I — uu — lu i , whit | ailed thee to leave I life that was nutde | I6vely we th6nght | with Idve '.' What swf sl£ep | liired thee away | ddwn from the light | abo — Siriiiliiirne. <. A I.I. I AM r.ic. 13. This is the metre of the Attis of Catullus. The effect : >ll0WS : | ■■)<.•. | At | his own | rebuke | 1 1 » « - li | on iiiluth I his heart | to a fu | ry ipur, Wit h I a step, I a roar, | a bunt | Ing, || un I arresl | ed «'f an | y brake. — Robin TrtauUMon of tin .ittta. The Bame metre is suggested by Tennyson in his ■• Boadici While abonl the sho kfona those Neronlan legionaries Burnt and broke the grove and altar <>f the Druid and Druldesa, In th«' i mding loftily charioted, M id and maddening all who li«:ir.l her In her Berce volubility, Girl bj ball the tribes of Britain, near the colony Camelodune, I'd and shriek'd between her daughl a wild conspiracy. FOREIGN FORMS OF VERSE. 115 CHAPTER XIII. FOREIGN FORMS OF VERSE. 1. English verse, like the language it uses, is hospitable to all forms. We have seen it emerge from its crude begin- nings, of brief Saxon couplets, modified by the more sonorous Norman metres, and gradually take on an established style, in accordance with its own genius. This style, precise in heroic measures, and flowing in the lyric, is characterized by a certain careless grace, in which the sentiment rather clothes itself than is " clothed upon " by any formal rules of art. The plastic materials, however, can easily be moulded into other shapes, and in the absence of the higher inspiration, the fancy amuses itself with the possibilities of artistic form and finish. With what success our poets have imitated the rhythms of the classic languages, has been shown in the preceding chapter. We have now to consider a phase of imitative work which is of quite recent origin. 2. In the Cornhill Magazine, for July, 1877, appeared an article by Mr. E. W. Gosse, entitled a "Plea for Certain Exotic Forms of Verse." These forms, not native to our language, are chiefly of French origin, and some of them can be traced back to the time of the Troubadours. They were composed by French writers, in great variety, in the four- teenth and fifteenth centuries, and were revived again in the seventeenth. Previous to the year 1873, they had attracted 116 ENGLISH YEESIFICATIOW. but small attention, comparatively, from English writers. Chaucer had made some use of 1 he ballade : Gower had written fifty of that kind in French; Sir Philip Sidney has a ditty jesting the rondel; Drummond of Hawthornden wrote a ■hi; and a volume entitled "The Trivial Poems, and Triolets," of Patrick Carey, was published in England, in 1«'..">1. The sonnet, not included in this list, as being of Italian origin, has been naturalized in English from the earliest times. 3. But since the publication in England, in L872, of Mr. Andrew Lang's " Lays and Lyrics of Old France," or an simultaneously with it, a rapid growth has taken place of this • of metrical composition. Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr. E. \V. Gosse, and Mr. \Y. E. Henley were the earliest com- rs of these forms, but the number of their followers has now widely multiplied both in England and in America. 4. The following rules and examples of the various forms given <>n the authority of Mr. Gosse, in the article men- tioned, and of Mr. Gleeson White, in his book of "Ballades and Rondeaus," 1 published by 1>. Appleton & <'".. New York, L8J Tin: BALLAD] 5. This, in its strict form, consists of three stanzas of eight lines each, followed by a verse Of four lines, called the Envoy; or thi uizas of ten lines each, with envoy of !i ot the stanzas and the envoj ng with the same tin. The same set of rhymes used in the first stanza musl 1"' repeated in the Other stanzas, and in the same order. No i once used as a rhyme musl lie used again as such, 1 I' md rondeaus, th< i 1< oontaini ;iil the Eonni B6» .1 iii tia i . h.ij't' r, shout three hundred < uunpli i in tiL FOREIGN FORMS OF VERSE. 117 throughout the poem. The envoy has the same rhymes, and in the same order, as the last half of the preceding stanza. The rhyme formula is ababbebe, for the eight-line stanzas, and a b a b b c c d c d, for the ten. THE BLITnE BALLADE. Of all the songs that dwell Where softest speech doth flow, Some love the sweet rondel, And some the bright rondeau, With rhymes that tripping go In mirthful measures clad; But would I choose them ? No; For me the blithe ballade! O'er some, the villanelle, That sets the heart aglow, Doth its enchanting spell With lines recurring throw; Some, weighed with wasting woe, Gay triolets make them glad; But would I choose them ? No; For me the blithe ballade! On chant of stately swell, With measured feet and slow, As grave as minster bell, As vesper tolling slow, Do some their praise bestow; Some on sestinas sad : But would I choose them ? No; For me the blithe ballade! Envoy. Prince, to these songs a-row, The Muse might endless add; But would I choose them? No; For me the blithe ballade! — Clinton Scollard. 118 ENGLISB VERSIFICATION \ in a different Btyle, I give the first verse of a ballade, by- Mr. Swinburne, which Mr. Qosse praises as "an excellent type of all that a ballade should be." A BALLAD OF DKEAMLAND. I hid my heart in a nest of roses, Out of the sun's way hidden apart ; In a softer bed than the soft white snow's is, Under the roses I hid my heart Why would it sleep not ? Why should it start, When never a leaf of the rose-tree stirred P What made sleep flutter his wings and part ? Only the song of a secret bird. — A. ''. Swimbmrm. (8m Appendix.) THE KONDEL. 6. This consists of fourteen lines, the number of syllables in a line not fixed in modern usa.^e. The first and second lines are repeated for the seventh and eighth, and also for the thirteenth and fourteenth. There are but two rhymes. The rhyme order is not fixed. Too hard it is toeing In these nntnnefui times, Winn only coin can ring, And no oik- cares for rhymes. Al;is! for him who climbs To Aganippe*! spring] Too hard it is to ling In these nntnnefui times! Hii kindred clip his vring, Hla (eel the critic limes; If Fame her laurel bring, Old age his forehead rimes; loo hard II Is to sing In these ontuneful thm — ,l,i tin /'■•l-arm. FOREIGN FORMS OF VERSE. 119 THE RONDEAU. 7. This is a later form of the rondel. It is composed of thirteen lines of eight or ten syllables each. It is written in three stanzas, of five, three, and five lines respectively. There are but two rhymes. A refrain, made of the first word, or words, of the first line, is added after the second stanza, and also after the third. The usual rhyme-order is a a b b a, a a b, a a b b a. AN ACROSTICAL VALENTINE. Fast in your heart, O rondeau rare, Rich with the wealth of love, I dare, Alas to send, but not to sign, Nestles my name. The fetters fine Kissed by her lips, may break, —beware! Delight is dizzy with despair. Suppose she fain would answer, — there! How shall she find this name of mine Fast in your heart ? Enough if secrecy you swear; Red lips can't solve the subtile snare My tricksy muse weaves with her line; And I am caught, vain Valentine! N. B. — Say, should she ask you where ? Fast in your heart. — Frank Dempster Sherman. THE ROUNDEL. 8. Mr. Swinburne seems to have given currency to this form, which is a modification of the rondeau. He writes it in three stanzas of three lines each, with a retrain after the first and the third. The lines are of any length from lour to six- 120 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. i syllables. There are only two rhymes, in the order « b a, b a b, a b a. A BABY'S hands. A baby's hands, like rosebuds furled, Whence yel do leaf expands, Ope if Null tOUCh, though dose lip-em led, A baby'> hands. Then, even as warriors grip their brands, When battle's boh is hurled, They close, clenched hard like tightening bands. No rosebuds yet, by dawn Impearled, Match, e\ '•!! in loveliest lands, The sun tesl Bowers in all the world, A baby's bands. — A. C Str,iil>unie. Til I K VKIELLE. 9. The kyrielle is ;i familiar form, known in all OUT hynm- books. It is a poem in four-line stanzas, haying the last Line oi each Btanza the Bame. Tin: PAVILION. In the tenl the lamps were bright; < nil beyond, the Bummer night Thrilled and quivered like a -tar; II i ' • . nth c' /•«■ left bo far. in the depths of blue profound (fever any sigbl or sound < urn- our loneliness to mar; n '.. in ui/i vi r< left so far. r.ut the sunimei Onl . l . i otn all other things thai ii • '■■ in A, l> <\ h t> 6, in the second stanza; c c d, c c d, c c d, in the third, and so en. 122 ENGLISn VERSIFICATION. The last stanza (if we take seven stanzas, for example) would have g g a, g g a, g g a. Each rhyme appears twice, once in couplets and once in the single lines. BPBOra SADXKSS. As I sat sorrowing, Love came and bade me sing A joyous song and meet ; For Bee (said be) eacb thing Is merry for the spring, Ami every bird doth greet The break of blossoming, That all the woodlands ring Unto tlit' young boors' feet. Wherefore put off defeat, And rouse thee to repeal The chimes of merles that go, With (lutings shrill and BWB t, In every green retreat, The time of streams that flow, And mark the fair hours' heat With running ripples il And breeses BOft and low. Bo for the sad BOUl 1 Remembrance treasures th< a lin-t Time's harvesting, That so when mild Death frees Tin- smil from Life's dlses Of strife and Borrowing, In L,'la— of memories, The new hope looks an Through death brighter Spring, —John I'tiynt. i n i \ i i: i i \ i mih i.tu. 12. This Juts hut two rhymes, the order not fixed. The stanza is a couplet, which serves also as a refrain for the nding the Becoud stanza, and the FOREIGN FORMS OF VERSE. 123 second line ending the third stanza, and so on alternately. The stanzas vary in number of lines, from five to seventeen. (See Appendix.) THE RONDEAU REDOUBLE. 13. This is written in six stanzas of four lines each, with but two rhymes. Its peculiarity is that each line of the first stanza is used again in the same order to serve for the last line of stanzas two, three, four, and five. The last line of the sixth has a new wording for itself; but has, in addition, a refrain consisting of the first half of the first line of the poem. The rhyme-order is a b a b in the first, and b a b a in the second, and so on. My day and night are in my lady's hand; I have no other sunrise than her sight; For me her favor glorifies the land; II er anger darkens all the cheerful light. Her face is fairer than the hawthorn white, When all a-flower in May the hedgerows stand ; While she is kind, I know of no affright; My day and night are in my lady's hand. All heaven in her glorious eyes is spanned; Her smile is softer than the summer's night, Gladder than daybreak on the Faery strand; I have no other sunrise than her sight. Come weal or woe, I am my lady's knight, And in her service every ill withstand; Love is my Lord in all the world's despite, And holdeth in the hollow of his hand My day and night. — John Payne. 124 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. THE SICILIAN OCTAVK. 14. Mr. White gives but two examples of this form, both by the Bame author, describing and exemplifying it. It is one stanza of eight lines, with but two rhymes, a b a b a b t quite Thy octaves with Italia's octaves blend. Six streaming lines amass the arrowy might, In ben, one cataract couple! doth expend; Thine lake-wise widens, level In the light, And like to its beginning i* it-- end. — Richard Oanutt, l.L.D. Till: SICSTINA. 15. Ti tina has six stanzas, each of six lines, of equal length. a. The lines of the six stanzas end with the six same words, each line having a different word, and these words noi rhyming togt ther, b, The ending words are repeated in each succeeding Btai after the following Bcheme: first stanza, 1, 2, '■'•. 1. 5, <">. Seo- ond, 6, l. 5, 2, 1. 3. Third, 3, 6, 1. l. 2, 5. Fourth, 5, 3, 2, 6, L, I. Fifth, I. 1. 5, 3, 6, 2. Sixth. 2, I. 6, 5, 3, 1. r. After the Biz stanzas comes a three-line stanza, using the Bame six word- over again, three at the end of the lines and three in the middle. To bow the form, we give the first two Btanzas and the of a sestina by M r. < I In fair Provence, the land '>f late and rose, \ rnant, great master <>i t he lore of l" rough! sestines t" win in> lady's heart; FOREIGN FORMS OF VERSE. 125 For she was deaf when simple staves he sang, And for her sake he broke the bonds of rhyme, And in this subtler measure hid his woe. "Harsh be my lines," cried Arnaut, "harsh the woe, My lady, that enthron'd and cruel rose, Inflicts on him that made her live in rhyme !" But through the metres spake the voice of Love, And like a wild-wood nightingale he sang, Who thought in crabbed lays to ease his heart. Ah! sovereign Love, forgive this weaker rhyme! The men of old who sang were great at heart, Yet have we too known woe, and worn thy rose. THE VILLANELLE. 16. The original model contains but nineteen lines. It has five stanzas of three lines each, and a sixth of four lines. The method of using the refrain is peculiar. The first line of the first stanza is used as the last line of the second stanza, and of each alternate stanza afterwards. The last line of the first stanza is used as the last line of the third stanza and of each alternate one afterwards. Then, the two together, that is, the first and last lines of the first stanza, become the last two lines of the last stanza. There are only two rhymes, aba, through the whole. Mr. Gosse, however, does not limit the villani'llc to nineteen lines, but says it may be of any length, if only it retain the number and length of rhymes : A dainty thing's the Villanolle; Sly, musical, a jewel in rhyme, Its serves its purpose passing well. A double clappered silver bell, That mu>t be made to clink in chime; A dainty thing's the Villanelle. 126 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. Ami if you wish to flute a spell, Or ask a meeting 'neatb the lime, It serves its purpose passing well. You must not ask of it tin' swell of organs grandiose and sublime; A dainty thing's the VUlanelle, And filled With sweetness, as a shell Is filled with sound, and launched in time; It s Ls purpose passing well. Still fair Id see and good to sin. 11 As in the quaintness of its prime, A dainty thing's the Villanelle; It serves its purpose pasting well. - W. B, lltnhy. (For another example, see Appendix.) TIIK TKIOLKT. 17. "The triolet," says Mr. White, "may be regarded as almost .-Li i epitome of the other forms." It is oomposed of eight lines, the number of syllables not fixed. The first line ipeated f<>r the fourth, and the first and second are repeated for the Beventh and eighth. The rhyme order is a b a a a b n h. I Intended an ode, And it turned into Triolets. It began " la tnodt : 1 intended an < >de. Bat • l the road \\ nil a bunch of fresb \ lol< I inteiideil an < »d. , And it turned into T:i. — Austin D ' FOREIGN FORMS OF VERSE. 127 CHAIN VERSE. 18. In the chain verse of French origin, a word in one line was repeated in a new form in the next. This seems to have suggested two similar forms in English. In one, the last word of a line is repeated as the first word in the next line : Nerve thy soul with doctrines noble, Noble in the walks of time, Time that leads to on eternal, An eternal life sublime : Life sublime in moral beauty,. Beauty that shall ever be ; Ever be to lure thee onward, Onward to the fountain/ree: Free to every earnest seeker, Seeker for the fount of youth, Youth exultant in its beauty, Beauty of the living truth. In the other form, the last line of a stanza becomes the first line of the next stanza : My spirit longeth for Thee Within my troubled breast, Although I be unworthy Of so divine a guest. Of so divine a guest, Unworthy though I be, Yet has my heart no rest, Unless it comes from Thee. Unless it comes from Thee, In vain I look around; In all that I can see No rest is to be found. No rest is to be found But in thy blessed love; Oh, let my wish be crowned, And send it from above. — John Pyrom. 123 ENGLISH VERIFICATION. Till: (HA NT ROYAL. 19. "The chant royal," says Mr. Gosse, "is the final tour- deforce, the ne phu ultra of legitimate difficulty in the construction of a poem. Henry de Croy derives the title oi this term from the fact that persona excelling in the compo- sition of chants royaux were worthy to be crowned with gar- lands like conquerors <>r kings. It is a moot point among Btudents whether the ballade or the chant royal be the earlier ami original poem. It was always dedicated to more stately ami heroic themes than the ballade. The chant royal i rved for the celebration of divine mysteries, or for the •loits of some heroic rac< ." 20. It is composed of five stanzas of eleven lines each, to which is added an envoi of five lines. The final line is the same in each of the stanzas and in the envoy. Only five rhymes are used; the order for each Btanza i- a b a b <• <■ d d a and for the envoy */ ■. The envoy begins with an invocation as in the old ballades. We close this chapter with an example of the chant r«>val composed by Mr. I ! i in: PB LIS! "I DI0B I Behold, above the mountains there la liulit, \ itn ik of gold, a line of gathering fire, Ainl the dim Baal hath suddenly grown bright \\ ith pale afirial flame, thai drivea np higher 'III.- lurid miata that, "f the night aware, i I the dark ravlnea and coverta bare. ):. hold, behold ! the granlti Ami down the vales a lyric i" ople flows, Who dance to music, and in dancing fling Their frantic robes n> every wind that blows, A i f ;in old worshipful gentleman, who had a great estate, Thai kept a brave old house at a bountiful rah-. Ami an old porter to relieve the poor at his gate; Like an old courtier of the queen's, And the queen's old courtier. Or, "Our Village," by Thomas Hood: Our village, that's to say, not Miss Mitford'a village, but our village of Bullock Smithy, Is conn" into by an avenue of trees, three oak pollards, two elders, and a withy. And in the middle there's a green, of about not exceeding an acre and a half; It's common to all, ami fed off by nineteen cows, six ponies, three horses, five asses, two foals, seven pigs, and a calf! 5. In general, a greater freedom of rhythm helps to produce the desired oomic effect, whether in the overflow of syllables, Or by forced accent, or the running over Of unaccented sylla- bles at the end. like a fling of the foot of the dancer. 'Die rhythm is trochaic rather than iambic, ami triple rather than double. 6. Thus, short troehaic: ami mm i. \n.. Singing through the forests, Rattling over ridgi . Shooting under arches, Rumbling over brld Whizzing through 'he mountains, Buzzing o'er the vale, Bleu Hi. ! this h pleasant, Riding on the rail! — J. a. saxe. Otj '. inkec l> !!'• came '•<< town < >n ! pony. COMIC FORMS. 133 7. Dactylic, with anacrusis : There | once was ft | doctor (NO | foe to th6 | proctOr,) A | physIc-cOn | coctfir, Whose | dose wfts sO | pat, How | e"vfir It | acted, One | speech It Ox | tracted; — "Yes, | yes," said the | Doctor, "I | nie"ant It fOr | that!" — Hood. 8. Trochaic trimeter : Summer's | gone and | over! Fogs are | falling | down; And with russet tinges Autumn's doing brown. — Hood. Trochaic tetrameter : Thrash a | way; you'll | hev to | rattle | On them kittle drums of yourn ; 'Taint a knowin' kind o' cattle, Thet is ketched with mouldy corn; Put in stiff, you fifer feller, Let folks see how spry you be ; — Guess you'll toot till you are yeller, 'Fore you git ahold o' me. — Lowell : Biglow Papers. 9. Dactylic : Guvener B. is a sensible man ; He stays to his home, and looks arter his folks, He draws his furrer ez straight ez he can, An' into nobody's tater-patch pokes; But John P. Robinson he Sez he wunt vote for Guvener B. — Lowell : Biglow Papers. 134 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. 10. Anapaestic : Miss Flora MeFUmsey, of Madison Square, Has made three separate journeys to Paris, And her father assures me, each time she was there, That she and her friend Mrs. Harris Spent six consecutive weeks without stopping, In one continuous round of shopping. - »*. .1. llutl.r. In his l»',!, bolt upright, In the dead oi the night, The French Emperor starts like a ghost! liy a dream held in charm, lie uplifts his right arm, For he dreams oi reviewing his host. — Hood. 11. A semi-humorous rhythm is frequently found in Irish songs, of which the following is an example: I've heard hells chimin.,' full many a clime in, Tolling sublime in cathedral shrine, While, at a glibe rat", brass tongues would vihrate, lint all their music spoke nought like thine. For memory dwelling on each proud swelling Of thy helfry, knelling its bold OOl Made the heii> <,f Shandon sound far more grand on The pleasant waters ol the river I Did you hear of the Widow Malonc, < thonel Who lived in the town of Athlone, Alolie : ( )h. -he melted the hearts Of the swains in them ['arts: SO lovely the- Widow Malone, < HlOtie! lOV( IS tic- Widow Malone. — Clmrli s A. M r. COMIC FORMS. 135 12. Mr. Lanier, in his "Science of Verse," calls attention to a rhythm which " humorous verse-makers in English find most to their hand." It mimics very closely "a popular dance of the negro minstrels, preserving even the vigorous slam at the end, where the dancer brings the entire sole of his foot down on the board with all the possible leverage of his leg." He represents it thus : . A A A A \ \ m 9 9 9 \ gl/HPl/l/l/l/PPl/l I If Tick-y tack-y, tick-y tack - y, tick - y slam bam bam! So in the well-known song in the comic opera of " Pina- fore : " I | ne"vCr thought Of | thinking for my | self Jit | all | . See also "The Battle of Limerick," by Thackeray. With | rage and imu | lation in their | black hearts | core. | Mr. Lanier cautions against the use of this rhythm for serious sentiment, and criticises the following verse, for attempting so to use it : Ah, the | autumn days fade | out, and the | nights grow | chill; And we | walk no more to | gether as we | used of | yore, When the | rose was new in | blossom, and the | sun was on the | hill, And the | eves were sweetly | vocal with the | happy whip-poor- | will, And the | land breeze piped its | sweetest by the | ocean | shore. But, as we have already seen, the same rhythms are fre- quently used both for comic and for pathetic poetry, and in the verse last given the scheme marked by Mr. Lanier is essentially modified. In the first full measure there is no longer one long syllable succeeded by three short ones, as in | tack-y tick-y | , but a long and a short syllable alternat- ing, making really two trochees, and affecting sensibly the 136 ENGLISH VERIFICATION. character of the rhythm; | autumn days fade | . The three Umg syllables at the end of the line are not necessarily Comic. < rtainly, one can hardly feel any incongruity of the metre with the tender pathos of the sentiment in the little poem, made on the same scheme, of which we quote the first verse (see Appendix) : The proper place for courting, Uy the story book's reporting, Is some lane or meadow pathway out of sight of town, With the Bweetnesa blowing over From the fields of beans and clover, And the sir lark dropping westward as the Bun goes down. 13. The sense of the ludicrous is aided not only by the rhythm, hut also by the metre, and the combination of lim and the use of the refrain. This is noticeable in the examples already given in "The Widow Malone," by Charles Lever, and "Governor B.," by Lowell. In Hood's poem of "Miss Kiim and her Precious Leg," we find a succession of anapestic lines, broken by Bhorter ones with feminine ending: To trace the Cilmansegg pedigree, To the very rool of the family tree, Were a task aa rash as ridiculous; Through antediluvian mists as thick \ London fog, such a line t<> pick Were enough In truth to puzzle Old Nick, Not to name Sir Harris Nicholas. B also, in the same metro, •■ Mr, BfacBride," by John 0. 14. \ favorite form, which has become appropriated by a Beries of •• Nonsense Verses," may be thus marked \ w | ' v_> w I ' v_> kJ I ' \J I ' UW I ' U W I ' W o | »UU| ' W J I ' U sJ 1 1 ' COMIC FORMS. 137 There was a young woman named Hannah, Who slipped on a piece of banana; She cried out, " O my ! " And more stars did she spy Than are seen in the star-spangled banner! A gentleman ran to assist her; He picked up her muff and her wrister. " Did you fall, ma'am ? " he cried. "Do you think," she replied, " I sat down for the fun of it, mister ? " 15. The ccesural pause and rhyme are sometimes made to come, grotesquely, in the middle of a word : Whene'er with haggard eyes I view This dungeon that I'm rotting in, I think of those companions true, Who studied with me at the U- niversity of'Gottingen, niversity of Gottingen. — George Canning. Also: Yankee lasses are the u- nivarsal airth bewitchin' ; Good and true and party tu, In parlor or in kitchin. This is as old as Horace : Labitur ripa Jove non probante u- xorius amnis. 16. The character of the rhymes has much to do with pro- ducing a comic effect. They may be odd and unexpected : "The birds can fly, An' why can't I ? Must we give in," Says he with a grin, "That the blackbird and phrebe Are Bmarter 'n we be ?" — J. 'J'. Troirbrithji DaritU d'rfii. L38 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION'. The liubs, of logs from the " Settler's ellum," — Of its timber, — tliry eouKln't sell Vm. — Holmes: The Deacon's Mastery. A calf an alderman, a goose a justice, And rooks committee-men and trustees. — Butler's Jludibras. Especially, penultimate and antepenultimate: Some such pious divine as St. Thomas Aquinas. Not to name others, 'mongst whom are few so Admired as John Banyan and Robinson Crusoe. Of Ilaekluytz, — how sadly these Dotch Dames do sully verse! Porchas's, Uawkworth's, or Lemuel Gulliver's. A fig for their nonsense and chatter! — suffice it, her Charms will excuse one for casting sheep's eyes at her I When a man lias decided As ( laptain sf Bride did, And once fully made up his mind on the matter, he Can't i"' too prompt in onmasking liis battery, — BarJUm : Ingoldsby Lrgcnds. O ye immortal gods! what is theogony ? thon too Immortal man! what is philanthropy? world that was ami is! what is cosmogony '•' Some people have accused me of misanthropy, And >'t i know no more than the mahogany Thai form- this desk, of what they mean: lycanthropy 1 comprehend; f"t\ without transformation, Men become wolves on any slight occasion. — Tli/rnn. Bui double and triple rhymes are nol necessarily humorous, • n in Hood's •■ Bridge of Sighs. 1 ' COMIC FORMS. 139 17. The refrain is sometimes peculiarly used, as in the well-known " Echo Verses : " Now, Echo, on what's religion grounded ? Roundhead. Who's its professor most considerable ? Rabble. Or: Echo! mysterious nymph, declare Of what you're made, and what you are. Air! But come, thou saucy, pert romancer, Who is as fair as Phoebe ? Answer! Ann, sir. 18. Finally, it comes within the sphere of verse to mention the Parody, in which a humorous result is produced by the imitation of the metre and style of a serious poem, as the vehicle of a light and trivial sentiment. See "The Rejected Addresses," by Horace and James Smith, and "Eolopoesis, or American Rejected Addresses." Also, as independent of any considerations of rhythm or metre, a source of humorous verse is found in the use of various dialects ; as in the well- known " Hans Breitmann Ballads," by Charles G. Leland. APPENDIX. DEFINITIONS OP TERMS. Acrostic. — A composition, usually in verse, in -which certain letters in the various lines, taken successively, spell a word or words, forming a name or sentence. Usually, the first letter of each line is taken; sometimes the first letter of the first line, the second letter of the second line, and so on. See examples on page 145. Antipiione. — The response which one side of the choir makes to the other in a chant. This is the most ancient form of church music. See page 146. Antistrophe. — That part of a song or dance around the altar which was performed while turning from the left to the right. It was preceded by the strophe, and followed by the epode. Bouts Rimes. — Rhymed endings. An exercise in verse, in which the rhyming words are given, to be filled out into lines, at the will of the writer. Cantata. — A musical composition comprising solos and choruses, arranged in a somewhat dramatic manner. Canto. — The most comprehensive division of a poem; as in The Lady of the Lake. Cento. — A composition formed of lines or passages from different authors arranged so as to be read connectedly ; a sort of literary patchwork. See page 117. in 1 11' ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. DbAMATIC PoKTBT. — A form of poetry in which human ru-t ion, instead of being narrated, as in epic poetry, is exhib- ited in the persons of those concerned It is made up of the speeches of those engaged in it. The old rules required that there should be unity of action, unity of time, and unity of place. Tins.' were called the thr unities. The last of these is now practically disregarded. The two principal forma of dramatic poetry are tragedy and eomedy. A tragedy represents some signal action performed by illustrious persons, and generally having a fatal issue. In Comedy, the complication has a cheerful issue, ami the tone is light and humorous. A farce is a comedy of the broadest form of humor. A melodrama is characterized by exaggerated effects in sentiment or situation. 1'. i.ikm-k. — A pastoral poem, in which two or more shep- herds are introduced, as conversing with each other. An example, in English, is Spenser's "Shepheard's Calender." ElKOT. — This term is usually employed, in English, to ignate a plaintive poem, as "Gray' I i >."' Eu ,,i \' . in classic usage, had reference to the metre, which, as has already been shown, was written in alternate daotylio hexameter and pentameter. Efic Pobtbt. — An spio poem narrates, usually at consid- erable length, the adventures of heroes and illustrious per- based on old legends or traditions. It includes descriptions of nature, as well as narrative of events. It, metre is simple and uniform. Episodes are frequently intro- duced. Repel it i f p pecially in the i porting of m • hich are often given in the words of the sender. Milton's "Paradise I. an example in English. aitendix. 143 Epigram. — Originally, an inscription on a tomb. Now- applied to a brief form of expression, usually in verse, in which a truth or sentiment is uttered in a lively and ingenious manner. Example (written on a glass with a diamond pencil belonging to Lord Stanhope) : Accept a miracle in place of wit: See two dull lines by Stanhope's pencil writ. Epilogue. — A speech or short poem addressed to the spec- tators, by one of the actors, after the conclusion of a play. Epithalamium. — A nuptial song or poem, in praise of the bride and bridegroom, and praying for their prosperity. Epode. — That part of a song or dance which was performed before the altar ; as the conclusion of an ode. It is also a species of lyric poem in which a longer line is followed by a shorter one ; as the " Epodes " of Horace. Hovering Accent. — Division of stress between the word- accent and the verse-accent ; as And Iiy | pheus | that met | us by | moonlight. — Surrey. Idyl. — Originally, a short pastoral poem. It is now applied, rather vaguely, to a short, simple poem, more descrip- tive than narrative. The so-called "Idyls of the King," by Tennyson, are more properly epic than idyllic. Lampoon. — A personal satire, often in verse. Lyric Poetry. — This differs from epic or dramatic poetry in the fact that it usually expresses the individual emotions of the poet. It naturally takes a form fitted to be sung, but is found in a wide variety of metres. Madrigal. — A brief love poem, not so subtle as an epi- gram, nor so regular as a sonnet, containing some simple and tender thought. 144 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. OPERA. — A musical drama, consisting of airs, choru and recitations, and representing some passionate action. < >i:atohio. — A sacred composition, consisting of airs, reci- tatives, duets, trios, choruses. Its subject is usually taken from the Sacred Scriptures. Palinode. — Literally, a song repeated, or taken back. A satirical poem, retracting or apologizing for what was said in a former one. Sec page L60. Pabody. — A writing, usually in verse, in which the metre and style of an author i ely imitated, while the subject matter is changed into something humorous. imple: "Rejected Addre by Horace and .lames Smith. A '• ESolopoesis, or American Rejected Addresses." PASQUINADE. — Another name for lampoon. PROLOGUE. — A short poem spoken before a dramatic per- formance. Psalm. — A sacred Bong used in worship. Originally applied to those in the Bible, used in the Jewish Temple. StbOPHE. — That part of a soic_: or dance which was per- formed while turning from the righl to the left, around the altar. It was SUCt 'led by the antistrophe and tic epode. Travesty. — A burlesque translation or imitation of a work. aple: tic travesties of mythological Legends, by d. <; Vers db Sooiste. — Light i ma, playfully dealing with themes of fashionable life. Wki \- mi. A< i i \r. — This term is used when tin- metrical thrown upon a syllable which would not ordinarily he accented. : Pat I rick Spent I is the beat | nil6r | Thai ever sailed ti APPENDIX. 145 ACROSTICS. In this example, the first letters of the line, read in order, form the name of the subject : Friendship, thou'rt false! I hate thy flattering smile! Return to me those years I spent in vain. In early youth the victim of thy guile, Each joy took wing ne'er to return again, — Ne'er to return; for, chilled by hopes deceived, Dully the slow-paced hours now move along; So changed the times when thoughtless I believed Her honeyed words, and heard her siren song. If e'er, as me, she lure some youth to stray, Perhaps, before too late, he'll listen to my lay. In the next, read the first letter of the first line in connec- tion with the second letter of the second line, the third letter of the third Hue, and so on to the end. A VALENTINE. For her this line is penned whose luminous eyes, Brightly expressive as the twins of Loeda, Shall find her own sweet name, that, nestling, lies Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader. Search narrowly the lines ! — they hold a treasure Divine, — a talisman, — an amulet That must be worn at heart. Search well the measure, The words, the syllables! Do not forget The trivialest point, or you may lose your labor! And yet there is in this no Gordian knot, Which one might not undo without a sabre, If one could merely comprehend the plot. Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering Eyes scintillating soul, there lie /» nlns, Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing Of poets, by poets, — as the name is a poet's too. ' Its letters although naturally lying Like the knight Pinto — Mendez Fmlinando, Still form a synonym for Truth. Cease trying! You will not read the riddle though you do the best you can do. — E. A. !••<, lit; J.NCI.ISII VERSIFICATION. ALLITERATION. An Austrian army, awfully arrayed. Boldly by battery besieged Belgrade. Cossack commanders cannonading come, Dealing destruction's devastating doom. Every endeavor engineers essay. For fame, for fortune fighting, — furious fray! Generals 'gainst generals grapple, — gracious God! How bonors Beaven beroic bardibood! Infuriate, Indiscriminate in ill, Kindred kill kinsmen, kinsmen kindred kill. Labor low levels loftiest, longest lines; M.-ii march 'mid mounds, 'mid moles, 'mid murderous mines; Now noisy aoxiotlfl numbers notice nongbt Of outward obstacles, opposing ought; Poor patriots, partly pun-based, partly pressed, Quite quaking, quickly "Quarter! Quarter!" quest. Season returns, religious ritS redounds, Buwarrow stops sucb sanguinary sounds. Truce to the Turk! Triumph to tby train, Unjust, unwise, uuiuereiful Ukraine 1 Vanish, vain victory! vanish victory vain! Why •fish we warfare'.' ^Vberefore welcome war? Xerxes, Xinienes, Xanthus, Kavierf Vii'ld, yield, ye youths! ye yeomen, yield your yell I Zeno's, Zarpater's, Zoroaster's seal, And all, attracting, against arms appeal. — Anonymous. AMI I'll ONE. < HOB1 B. Let all the world In every corner sing, My God and King. VII Tbe heavens are not too hlghf 1 1 - praise may tbither 1 1 1 • • : The • arth Is not too low, 11. praises there may grow. APPENDIX. 147 CUOKUS. Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King. VERSE. The church with psalms must shout, No door can keep them out: But above all, the heart Must bear the longest part. CUOKUS. Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King. — George Herbert. CENTO VERSE. One kiss, dear maid, I said and sighed, — Coleridge. Out of those lips unshorn; —Longfellow. She shook her ringlets round her head, —Stoddard. And laughed in merry scorn. — Tennyson. The laughing bridal roses blow, — Patmore. To dress her dark-brown hair; —Bayard Taylor. My heart is breaking with my woe, — Tennyson. Most beautiful! most rare! —Bead. I shut it inside the sweet, cold hand, — Browning. The precious golden link ! — Smith. I calmed her fears, and she was calm ; — Coleridge. "Drink, pretty creature, drink." — Wordsworth. And so I won my Genevieve, And walked in Paradise; The fairest thing thai ever grew Atween me and the skies. — Coleridge, — Bern //. — Wordsworth, — Osgood. — From Bryanfa Library of Poetry and Song: Fordt, Howard, .1 Bulbert, 1 186. 1 \8 ENGLISH VERS IFICATION. COl'UTIMi IN Till: CITY. The proper place for courting, Bj Mi.' story book's reporting, Is sonic lane or meadow pathway, out of Bight of town; With tin 1 sweetness blowing over From the Belds of beans and clover, And tlic skylark dropping westward as the sun goes down. l>ut I've met my little Sally At th>- month of Dawson's Alloy, And we'vi walked along together toward the Dome of Paul's; 'Mid tin- jostling crowd that passes 'Neath the flaring lamps and ".■ And the shouting of the drivers, and the newsboys 1 calls. And the lily of the valley That I gave my little Sally, Was the faded penny bouquel that i flower-girl sells: She has never seen one grow ing, As it's easy to be Bhowlng, For its birthplace is the Dreamland that's b< yond Bow Bells. Oh! it pains me in our walking — All the oaths ami shameful talking, Ami the folks that brush her passing, ami 1 1 1 • - glances bold! Hut though evil things may touch b< r, They can never hurt or smutch her, For li'- turns the dirt to sweetness ai a flowi t the mould. : It's not in country places, '.Mnl the fields and simple fa© Out of sight and BOUnd of evil, that I pure heart grows; li is here in London city, In the sin ami shame and pity; the pure heart draws its put om the wrong it knows. When my Sally* found me, I wai like the men around m> ■; i and low and selfish aa the beast thai I>mi her grace bi sn to w in me, And my lean was changed within i Ami I learned to pray from gazing In my darlln (jumyMMU aitendix. 141) A PASTORAL. I sat with Doris, the shepherd maiden ; Her crook was laden with wreathed tlowers; I sat and wooed her, through sunlight wheeling, And shadows stealing, for hours and hours. Ami she, ray Doris, whose lap encloses Wild summer roses of faint perfume, The while I sued her, kept hushed and harkened, Till shades had darkened from gloss to gloom. She touched my shoulder with fearful finger; She said, " We linger; we must not stay; My flock's in danger, my sheep will wander; Behold them yonder, — how far they stray." I answered, bolder, " Nay, let me hear you, And still he near you, and still adore; No wolf nor stranger will touch one yearling; Ah! stay, ray darling, a moment more." She whispered, sighing, "There will be sorrow, Beyond to-morrovo, if I lose to-day; My fold unguarded, ray flock unfolded, I shall be scolded and sent, away." Said I replying, " If they do miss you, They ought to kiss you, when you got home; And well rewarded, by friend and neighbor, Should he the labor from which you come." "They might rcmcmber, ,, she answered meekly, "That lambs are weakly, and sheep are wild; But if they love me, it's none so fervent; I am a servant, and not a child." Then each hot ember glowed quick within me, And love did win in' to swift reply; "All! do but prove me, and none shall liliud you. Nor fray i\<>r find you, until I die." 150 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. She blushed and started, ai lavoaith As If / Did rouse and /•< to^etner, Through blooming f and gleaming dews. Thai Biniple duty such grace * 1 i • 1 l< ad //< r, My I >• .ri -^ d ndi r, my Doris true. That I, her loarder, 'li.l always bless In r. And often pr< u /<• r to take her due. An l n.'-.'. in beauty she (ills my dwelli\ Willi love exci lling and nu tki i own! ood Ami oyer t! • »p« "i:- 1 ' ! wait like a dream of I And a lady-bird lit on my tie; And a with the trs APPENDIX. 153 And a butterfly (no one knows why) Mistook my Aunt's cap for a spray; And " next door" and " over the way " The neighbors take wing and fly : Hurrah for the sea and the sky ! To Buxton, the waters to try, To Buxton goes old Mrs. Bligh; And the Captain to Homburg and play Will carry his cane and his eye; And even Miss Morgan Lefay Is flitting— to far Beckham Rye; And my Grocer has gone— in a " Shay," And my Tailor has gone — in a " Fly." Good-bye to the Town! good-bye! And it's O for the sea and the sky! And it's O for the boat and the bay! For the white foam whirling by. And the sharp, salt edge of the spray! For the wharf where the black nets fry, And the wrack and the oar-weed sway ! J"or the stroll when the moon is high To the nook by the Flag-house gray ! For the risus ab angulo shy From the Some-one we designate "Di!" For the moment of silence, — the sigh! "How I dote on a moon!" "So do I!" For the token we snatch on the sly (With nobody there to say Fie!) Hurrah ! for the sea and the sky ! So Bhillis, the fawn-footed, hie For a hansom. Ere close of the day Between us a " world" must lie; Good-bye to the town! Good-bye! Hurrah! for the sea and the Bkyl — Austin Dobton. 154 ENGLISH \ I IISH ICATION. BALLADE, Mr. Gosse quotes tin- following "as an excellent type of all that a ballade Bhould be : " BALLADE OF DB1 ami.a.M). I lii>l my beart in :i Qesl of roses, ( )ut nf tin- sun's way, hidden apart ; In a softer bed than the BOfl white snow's is, Under the rosea I hid my heart. Why slic.nl, 1 it sleep qoI '.' Why Bhould it start When never a leaf nf tie- rose-tree stirred '.' What made sleep flutter his wings and part? ( >nly the soul; of a secret bird. Lie still. I said, for the wind's wing d< And mild leaves muffle the keen sun's dart; I. • till, for thc> wind on the warm -• :i doi And the wind is unquiet* r still than thou art. Doth a thoughl in thee still as a thorn's wound smart '.' I )o. s the pang still fret thee of hope deferred ? What bids the lids of thy sleep dispart ? < inly the song of a secret bird. The green land's name that a charm euelo- It never was writ in the traveller's chart : And sweet as the fruit on its tree that grow It never was sold in the merchant's mart. The swallows id dreams through its dim fields dart. And sleeps are the tunes in its • hi ard; No hound's note waken- the wild-wood hart, < » 1 1 ! > the song of a secrel bird. Envoy. In the world of dreams I ha\e chosen my part, • •;■!"' •:! and hear no word true love's truth or of ||ghl love's art, e (lUI III . APPENDIX. loo VILLANELLE. Wouldst thou not be content to die, When low-hung fruit is hardly clinging, And golden Autumn passes by ? If we could vanish, thou and I, While the last woodland bird is singing, Wouldst thou not be content to die ? Deep drifts of leaves in the forest lie, Red vintage that the frost is flinging, And golden Autumn passes by. Beneath this delicate rose-gray sky, While sunset bells are faintly ringing, Wouldst thou not be content to die ? For wintry webs of mist on high, Out of the mu tiled earth are springing, And golden Autumn passes by. O now when pleasures fade and fly, And Hope her southward flight is winging, Wouldst thou not be content to die ? Lest Winter come, with wailing cry, His cruel icy bondage bringing, When golden Autumn hath passed by, And thou, with many a tear and si.!, r h, While Life her wasted hands is wringing, Shalt pray in vain for leave to die. When golden Autumn hath passed by. — E. W 166 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. 1. tmples of st;m/ 1- of unusual length are the following: Ten line : The Primrose. — Donne, Eleven line : The Raven. — /' Twelve line : A Word for the Nation. — Swinburne, Thirteen line : Fly not yet. — Moon , teen line : Ode to Winter. — Campbell. Twenty-four line : The Last Oracle. —Swinburne. Tail-Ehtmb Stanza, — A Btanza of which the rhyme-order is c c b. The b b is the tail-rhyme, and the lines contain- ing it an- usually, but not always, shorter than the others. There may be more than two lines of each of the sections a >i and bb\ and the lines may be written iii a great variety forms of rhythm and metre. But the typical form, according to Schipper, con list 3 of six lines, — namely, four chief lines of four feet, and two tail-rhyme lines of three feet He gives the following example : Tins.' lyric pieces, short and few, Most worthy Sir, 1 Bend i<> yon ; To read them be not wreai They may become John Hewes lii ^ lyre, Whicb <>ft at Powlsworth by the fire Until made us gravely merry. — Drayton. INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Note. — The numerals refer to pages. The letter/after a numeral signifies that the subject is continued on the following pages. Accent, 1, 6, 08, 101. — hovering, 14.'}. — wrenched, 144. Acrostic. 141, 145. Acrostical Valentine, 119, 145. Alcaics, 1 12/. Alexandrine, 14, 38, 39, 80, S3, 88, 98, 102. Alliteration, 3, 4, 51, 80, 81, 140. — disguised, 54. Amphibrach, 9, 10, 10, 21. Amphimacer, 9, 10, 21. Anacrusis, 26, L33. Anapaest, 9, 20, 74, 90. Anapaestic, 10, 17, 30, 134. — monometer, 10. — dimeter, 10. — trimeter, 16. — tetrameter, 10, SO. — pentameter, 17. — hexameter, 17. — heptameter, 17. Anglo-Saxon, 51, 52, 79. Antiphone, 141, 140. Antistrophe, 42, 111. As onance, 4, 15, 48. Ballad, 84 Ballade, in;/'., 154. Blank Verse, 4:5. 81, 80/. Bouts Rime's. 141. Cesukal Pause, 71, 89, 92, 103, 187. Caesura of the Foot, 28. Caesura of the Line, 28. Cantata, 141. 157 Canto, 141. Catch, 20. Cento Verse, 141, 147. Chain Verse, 127. Chant Royal, 128. Chief Letter, 52. Choriainbic, 114. Choriambus, 'J, 10, 17, 90. Classical Metres, 1U5/. Comedy, 1 12. Comic Forms, 131 ,/". Common Metre, 34. Couplet, 33, 40, 81. Dactyl, 9, 10, 20, 91. Dactylic, 17, 133. — monometer, 17. — dimeter,' 17, 86. — trimeter, 17. — tetrameter, 18. — pentameter, 18. — hexameter, 18, 100/. 1 Hineter, 12. Double Rhythm, 9. Dramatic Poetry, 142. Echo Verses, 139. Eclogue, 142. Eights and .Sevens, 35. Eights, Sevens, and Four, :;.">. Elegiac, ins/;, n_\ Elegy, 1 12. Elevens, 86. Elision, sj. 99. Emphasis, l. 2, 7. 88, 7<>. 75, 76. Enclitics, 7. Endings, Feminine. 71. 92, US, 1U2. 158 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. Endings, light, I — weak, 02, 102. End-rhyme, 1. 43, 51, End- I 102. English Heroic Blank \ I f. Envoy, 116, ISO. Ep ■'. 1 12. »ram, 143. igue, 1 13. Epitlialamiam, 143. Kpode, 4-j, II.:. Expansions, 90. ra-rbythmlcal Syllables, 26, 08, 102, Farce, 1 12. Feet, kinds of, 104. [nine Endings, 74, 92, 98, 102, . 3. i Forms, 1 15/. I inns, . Four-foot Lines, 9S. < I W.I.I \Mi:lr, 1 1 i. n.w.i.i.i.r.i \n METRK, 30. 1 lendecasyllabics, 1 10/. lleptameter, 12. ii tic Vei l, 86/. Hexameter, 12. 1 [overins Accent, 1 13. Ilytnn Metres, 34 I \mkic, 13, 1 1. 20, 23, ,86. — monometer, 12. — dimeter, 18, 97. — trimeter, 13. —tetrameter, 18, 35, 97. —pentameter, 12, 13, 80, 80 — hexameter, 1 1. — heptameter, 1 1. [ambus, 9, I". 20, 71. Idyl, i 13. Indent, 84. Irish Rhythm, 1 lie, 120. Lam 18. 92, 102, . I. Ltng Chaucerian, 39. Long Metre, :;"-. Ix>ng Syllables, 59. Lyric Poetry, 84, 1 13. Madrig \i.. l IS. Melodrama, 1 12. Metre, 3, 4, 12/., 83/. Monometer, 12, NONBl n-i: Yi RSI 9, 186/. Norman Influence, 7'.'. OCTAMKTER, 12. ive, 40. Ode, 41. i inomatopcela, 62. ra, I n. trio, 1 1 1. P \i.i\ '. 1 11, 150. Pantoum, 121. Parody, 139, l n. Pasquinade, 144. »ral, 1 19. Pause, 28, 71. Pentameter, 12. Phrasing, 25. - the Plowman, 52. Pindaric, 11. Poems within Poems, 151. Position, 1".">. Poulter' Mi u ure, B0. Prefixes, Proclitic, 7. Prologue, ill Psalm, l 14. Pyrrh - ,74 Qi urrrnr, 1, 58/., 106, 109, 112. Quatrain, 84, Queer I>'\ Ices, i"'l Rl \\>\\<. Vm: B, 68/. Lative, i i i I Rhyme, 8, 1, 18, 31, 102, 1 17. —complicated, I — double, 1 1 — feminine, 1 1. — identical, 1 1 IXDEX OF SUBJECTS. 159 Rhyme, 3, 4, 43, 80, 101, 137. — masculine, 44. — proper, 4:5. sin ,f le 44. Rhyme-order, 34, 38, 39, 40. Rhythm, 1, 4, 5, 19. Rhythmical Proso, 2, 3. Rime-Royal, 38, 47. Riding-rime, 93. Riming-couplet, 80. Rondeau, 119. Rondeau Redouble", 123. Rondel, 116, 118. Roundel, 119. Run-on Lines, 31, 92, 102. Sapphics, 113. Saturnian, 114. Septenarius, 113. Septenary, 80, 83. Sestette, 40. tina, 116, 124. Sevens, 35. Sevens and Sixes, 30. Short Chaucerian, 38. Short Couplet, 82. Short, Metre, 35. Short Trochaic, 132, Sicilian Octave, 124. Sixes and Four, 30. Six-foot Lines, 98. Slurring, 23, 99. Sonnet, 40, 41. Spenserian, 38, 39. Spondee, 9, 10, 20, 74, 89, 107. Stanza, 3, 4, 33/., 37, 38, 39, 41, 81, — four-line, 37. — five-line, 37. — six-line, 37. — seven-line, 38. — elght-Hne, 38. — nine-line, 39. — of more than nine lines, 15G. — tail-rhyme, 150. Stress, 1, G. — unequal, 09. Strophe, 42, 144. Sub-letter, 52. Substitution, 19. Supernumerary Syllables, 91. Tail-uiiymi': Stanza, 39, 150. Tens, 36. Terza Rima, 50. Tetrameter, 12. Tone-color, 4, 01/., 81. Tragedy, 142. Travesty, 144. Trimeter, 12. Trimeter Couplet, 98. Triolet, 120. Triple Rhythm, 10. Triplet, 33, 40. Trochaic, 14, 35. — monometer, 14. — dimeter, 14. — trimeter, 14, 85. — tetrameter, 15, 80, 97, 133. — pentameter, 15. — hexameter, 15. — heptameter, 15. — octameter, 15. Trochee, 9, 10, 20, 21, 74, 89. Trochee-spondee, 90. Unities, the Three, 142. Unit of Rhythm, S, 19, 21, 33. Vers pe Societe, 144. Verse, 1, 4, 33. Villanelle. 125, 155. Virelai, 121. Virelai Nouveau, 122, 152. YVl-.AK-KNI.INdS. H2, 102. Wrenched Accent, 144. INDEX OF AUTHORS. Abbott, E. A., 87, ns. Aldrich, 'J'. B., 151. Arnold, Matthew, 15, 111. Barham, R. II., 138. Baring-Gould, S., 10. Boker, G. II., 18. Bonar, II., 35. Browning, Mrs., 14, 15, 29, 40, 45, 49, 85, 90, 10:3, 111. Browning, Robert, 10, 17, 21, 25, 48, 54, 65, 84. Bryant, v, 30, 37. Burns, 13, 39, 45, 131. Butler, Samuel, 138. Butler, W. A., 134 Byroua, John, 127. Byron, 10, 14, 17, 20, 24, 27, 29, 39, 75, 83, 80, 89, 138. Campbell, 10, 17, 37, 85, 80. Campion, 14. Canning, George, 137. V, Patrick, 110. Cuv, Phoebe, 10. Catullus, 114. Chapman, 83. Chaucer, 13, 38, 39, 52, 53, 79, 80, 81, 82, 86, 93/., 116, 151. Churchill. 53. Clough, A. II., 108, 109. Coleridge, 11, 21, 41, 45, 40, 47, 73, 106, 107, 108, 110, 1 17. Corson, II., 94. Cowper, 13, 10, 88. Daniel, 40. Dante, 50. Dickens, 2. Dohson, Austin, 110, 118, 120, 153. Drayton, 16, 17, 64, 83, 86, 156. Drummond of Ilawthorndcn, 110. Dryden, 14, 30, 05, 70. Eliot, George, 17, 40. Ellis, A. J., 87. Emerson, It. W., 5, 47. Everett, Edward, 2. Fitzgerald, Edward, 47. Fleay, F. G., 93, 98. Franklin, v. Furness, VV. II., 35. Garnett, Richard, 124. Goldsmith, 46. Gosse, E. \\\, 41, 115, 124, 128, 155. Gower, 82, 116. Gray, '.), 42, 80. Greene, Robert, 52, 83. Guest, 93. Earte, Bret, 131. Heber, IS, 25. Ilemans, Mrs., 15. Henley, W*. P., 116, 120. Herbert, George, 37, 48, 147, 151. Herbert of Cherbury, 47. Ihriick, 13. Hodgson, S. II., 10, 77, 7S, 80, 88, 108. nog?, 10. Holmes, 103, 138. Hood, 12, 20, 27, 48, 132, 134, 130, 138. Horace, 1 12. Hunt, Leigh, 15. Irving, 2. Jonson, Pen. 15, II', IT. 96. 101 1C2 ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. . 10, 16, Kin ' .16,27, 96, 107. Lamb, 111. Lang, Andrew, 1 lfl. banier, Sidi^ Layaiuon, 82. Leland, Charles G., 139. Lever, < !barles, 13 1. I/Ockhart, J. ' >.. 86. . -A. 18, 16, 17. 18, 15, -17. 107,113, 147, 151. Lowell, .1. l:.. 11, 14, 66, 93, 133. Lyte, H. F., Macaulay, 85. lowe, 13, 29, H. 85, 91, M isson, -7. Matthews, Brander, 121. Mayor, .1. B., 26, 95, 96, 103. Milton, 18, --'I. 28, 29, 30, ::■-'. 40, 44, 55, 66, 70, 7''>, - I, 90, vi. 93, 103. Montgomery, J., 36. Moore, 1". i \. 16, Mother < -••. 1 1 1. Munby, A. J., 19, L08, 109, 150. < tni.ir Khayyam, 17. iventry, 1 17. I me, John, 122, 123. pont, J., 35. Pindar, 11. Poe, I. 15, I-. 53, 67, 85, 1 15. Pope, 22, 28, 24 . n. 59, 70, 81, 90, 108. r. id, T. B., 84, 52, 54, E8, 1 17. Ueed, Henry, \. Itnbbins, S. 1 >.. 75. Robert "f Gloucester, n, A. Marj P., 121. i ii . w. j., \ii, ioi. Rosotti, 13. Ruskin, 60, 76, 77. 7-. 86. .1. (i.. 132, 136. I'M'.. Schiller, 106. 108. Schipper, 7'.'. l - Hard, Clin! i >n, 117. Scott, 10, 16, 26, 27, Shakespeare, 20, 21, 24, 80, .".7. 10, •11. 48, 53, 54, 64, 66, 66, 7". B5, 88, 3 '. 90, 92, 93, 96, 97/., 151. Shelley, 16, 20, 50 Sherman, F. I >. 119. Sir Philip, 108, LOO, L16. Skel Smith, Horace, 189. Smith, Jam.-. I Smith, S. 1-'.. 36. Southey, 1 1, 66, 107, 118. Spenser, 1 I, 80, 89, 40. Idard, i;. 11.. 117. Story, W. \\\. is. Surrey, 1". 8 I, 81. 83, 86,01,93, 94/. Swiuburne, 10, 16, 17. 54, 81, 108, lio. US, ii l. 118, 120, 154, Symonds, J. A . B7, 95. Taylor, Bayard, 41, 1 '7. Tennyson, 3, 13, 15, 17. 20, 24 28, 21), 80, 83, 84, 87, 38, 11, 44, 45, W, 17, 18, 62, 54, 64, 66, 67, v ;. - .. -. . .. 90, 91, 103, 108, 109, 110, 112, 111. 117. 16L Thackeray, 185. Trowljrldge, J. T., I III, :.7. Bl. \v irton, 95, Watts, 1 . 8 1. 86. w ley, C, 85. W'liii on, 116. Whlttlor, 151. Williams. W.. : Iworth, S., 16, Isworth, •;. it. ■-"■'. 80,40, U, 117. •-. 10, University of California Los Anoefes L 006 499 68 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 352 329 7