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(i) The following is from Drayton's "Polyolbion":

Upon the Midlands now the industrious muse doth fall, |=6x2
That shire which we the heart of England well may call.|=6xa

The objection to this kind of verse is its intolerable monotony. It pretends to be hexameter; but it is indeed simply two trimeter verses printed in one long line. The monotony comes from the fact that the pause is always in the middle of the line. There is very little of this kind of verse in English. The line of 6xa is also called an Alexandrine, and is used to close the long stanza employed by Spenser.

19. Trochaic Tetrameter consists of four trochees; and its formula is 4ax.

(i) The following is rhymed trochaic tetrameter :

When the heathen trumpet's clang-|=4ax

Round beleaguered Chester rang, -|=4ax

Veiled nun and friar gray -|=4ax

Marched from Bangor's fair abbaye - |=4ax

It will be noticed that each line has a syllable wanting to make up the four complete feet. But the missing syllable is only an unaccented syllable; and the line contains four accents. (The above extract is from "The Monks of Bangor's March," by Scott.)

(ii) The following is unrhymed trochaic tetrameter :—

Then the little | Hia | watha | =4ax

Learned of ev'ry | bird the | language, |=4ax
Learned their names and | all their | secrets, |=4ax
How they built their | nests in | summer, |=4ax
Where they hid them | selves in | winter, |=4ax
Talked with them when | e'er he | met them, |=4ax
Called them "Hia | watha's | Chickens." |=4ax

It will be observed that, in the above lines from Longfellow's "Hiawatha," each trochee is complete; and this is the case throughout the whole of this poem. "Hiawatha" is the only long poem in the language that is written in unrhymed trochees

20. Trochaic Octometer consists of eight trochees; and its formula is 8ax.

(i) The chief example of it that we have is Tennyson's poem of "Locksley Hall” :

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Com'rades, leave' me | here' a lit'tle, | while' as | yet' 'tis | early | morn'-|=8ax
Leave me here', and, when' you want' me, | sound' up on' the | bu'gle | horn'-|=8ax

(ii) There is a syllable wanting in each line of "Locksley Hall"; but it is only an unaccented syllable. Each line consists of eight accents.

21. Anapæstic Tetrameter consists of four anapæsts; and its formula is 4xxa.

(i) There is very little anapæstic verse in English; and what little there exists is written in tetrameter.

(ii) The following lines, from "Macgregors' Gathering," by Scott, is in anapæstic verse :—

The moon's' on the lake', I and the mist's' | on the brae', | =4xxa
And the clan' has a name' | that is name' | less by day'. | =4xxa

(iii) It will be observed that the first line begins with an iambus. This is admissible; because an iambus and an anapæst, both having the accented syllable last, belong to the same system.

22. Dactylic Dimeter consists of two dactyls; and its formula is 2axx.

(i) A well-known example is Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade."

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(ii) It will be observed that the last two lines want a syllable to make up the two dactyls. Such a line is said to be=2axx - (minus).

(iii) Or we may say that the last foot is a trochee; for a trochee and a dactyl can go together in one line, both belonging to the same system --both having their accented syllable first.

23. Dactylic Tetrameter consists of four dactyls; and its formula is 4axx.

(i) Bishop Heber's hymn is one of the best examples :

:

Bright'est and | best' of the | sons' of the | morn'ing.

(ii) The last foot here again is a trochee.

(iii) There is very little of this kind of verse in English poetry.

24. Amphibrachic Tetrameter consists of four amphibrachs; and its formula is 4xax.

(i) Campbell's well-known poem is a good example ::

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There came' to the beach' a | poor ex'ile | of Eʼrin.

(ii) There are very few examples in English of this kind of verse. 25. The following lines by Coleridge give both examples and descriptions of the most important metres explained in the preceding paragraphs. It must be observed that Coleridge uses the term long for accented; and short for unaccented syllables:Tro'chee trips' from | long' to | short'— |

From long to long in solemn sort,

Slow spon dee1 stalks || strong' foot, yet | ill' able
E'ver to come' up with | dac'tyl tri | syllable | .

Iam' bics march' | from sho'rt | to long' | ;

With a leap' and a bound' | the swift an' | apæsts throng' | ;

One syllable long' with | one short' at | each side- |
Amphi'brachys hastes' with a state'ly | stride.

26. A verse with a syllable over and above the number of feet of which it consists is called Hypermetrical.

(i) Thus, Coleridge has, in his "Ancient Mariner "

Day after day, | day after day, |

We stuck nor breath | nor mo | tion, (hyper)

As idle as a paint | ed ship |

Upon a paint | ed ocean. (hyper)

Here the syllables tion and cean are over from the iambic trimeter and the line is therefore said to be hypermetrical.

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27. A verse with a syllable wanting to the number of feet of which it consists is said to be defective.

(i) Thus, in Scott's "Monks of Bangor "-

Slaugh'tered down' by | heath'en | blade' - | 4ax-
Ban'gor's peace'ful | monks' are | laid'. – | 4ax-

we find a syllable wanting to each line. But that syllable is an unaccented one; and the verse consists of four trochees minus one syllable, or 4ax-.

(ii) Caution!—Some persons confuse the defective with the hypermetrical line. Thus, in the verses

Shall' I wast'ing | in' de | spair', - |

Die' because a wom'an's | fair'?- |

the syllable spair is not hypermetrical. An unaccented syllable is wanting to it; and the lines are 4ax defective or minus.

1 A spondee consists of two long or accented syllables. It is a foot not employed in English; but it exists in the two words amen and farewell.

RHYME.

28. Rhyme has been defined by Milton as the "jingling sound of like endings." It may also be defined as a correspondence in sound at the ends of lines in poetry.

(i) Rhyme is properly spelled rime. The word originally meant number; and the Old English word for arithmetic was rime-craft. It received its present set of letters from a confusion with the Greek word rhythm, which means a flowing.

(ii) Professor Skeat says "it is one of the worst-spelt words in the language." "It is," he says, "impossible to find an instance of the spelling rhyme before 1550." Shakespeare generally wrote rime.

29. No rhyme can be good unless it satisfies four conditions. These are:

1. The rhyming syllable must be accented. rhymes with sing'; but not with think'ing.

2. The vowel sound must be the same though not necessarily to the eye. are not good rhymes.

3. The final consonant must be the same. are good rhymes; because = ks.)

Thus ring'

to the ear, that is; Thus lose and close

4. The preceding consonant must be different.

(Mix and tricks

Beat and feet; jump and pump are good rhymes.

30. The English language is very poor in rhymes, when compared with Italian or German. Accordingly, half-rhymes are admissible, and are frequently employed.

The following rhymes may be used :—

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THE CASURA.

31. The rhythm or musical flow of verse depends on the varied succession of phrases of different lengths. But, most of all, it is upon the Cesura, and the position of the Cæsura, that musical flow depends.

The word cæsura is a Latin word, and means a cutting.

32. The Cæsura in a line is the rest or halt or break or pause for the voice in reading aloud. It is found in short as well as in long lines.

(i) The following is an example from the short lines of 'Marmion' (vi. 332) :

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More pleased that || in a barbarous age

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It will be seen from this that Sir Walter Scott takes care to vary the position of the cæsura in each line-sometimes having it after 11⁄2 feet, sometimes after 2; and so on.

(ii) The following is an example from the long lines of the "Lycidas " of Milton :

:

2 Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more;

1

Henceforth || thou art the genius of the shore

3 In thy large recompense, and shalt be good
2 To all that wander | in that perilous flood.

Milton, too, is careful to vary the position of his cæsura; and most of the music and much of the beauty of his blank verse depend upon the fact that the cæsura appears now at the beginning, now at the middle, now at the end of his lines; and never in the same place in two consecutive verses.

(iii) Of all the great writers of English verse, Pope is the one who places the cæsura worst—worst, because it is almost always in the same place. Let us take an example from his "Rape of the Lock" (canto i.):

:

2 The busy sylphs

2 These set the head,

|| surround their darling care,

and these divide the hair;

2 Some fold the sleeve, || whilst others plait the gown;
2 And Betty's praised | for labours not her own.

And so he goes on for thousands upon thousands of verses.

The symbol

of Pope's cæsura is a straight line; the symbol of Milton's is "the line of beauty"'-a line of perpetually varying and harmonious curves.

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