OBS. 16.—The lexicographer here claims to have "shewn" or "proved," what he had only affirmed, or asserted. Erroneously taking the quality of the vowel for the quantity of the syllable, he had suggested, in his confident way, that short quantity springs from the accenting of consonants, and long quantity, from the accenting of vowels—a doctrine which has been amply noticed and refuted in a preceding section of the present chapter. Nor is he, in what is here cited, consistent with himself. For, in the first place, nothing comes nearer than this doctrine of his, to an "endeavour to establish the proportion of long and short, as immutably fixed to the syllables of words constructed in a certain way"! Next, although he elsewhere contrasts accent and emphasis, and supposes them different, he either confounds them in reference to verse, or contradicts himself by ascribing to each the chief control over quantity. And, lastly, if our poetic feet are not quantitative, not formed of syllables long and short, as were the Roman, what "advantage over the ancients," can we derive from the fact, that quantity is regulated by stress, whether accent or emphasis?
OBS. 17.—We have, I think, no prosodial treatise of higher pretensions than Erastus Everett's "System of English Versification," first published in 1848. This gentleman professes to have borrowed no idea but what he has regularly quoted. "He mentions this, that it may not be supposed that this work is a compilation. It will be seen," says he, "how great a share of it is original; and the author, having deduced his rules from the usage of the great poets, has the best reason for being confident of their correctness."—Preface, p. 5. Of the place to be filled by this System, he has the following conception: "It is thought to supply an important desideratum. It is a matter of surprise to the foreign student, who attempts the study of English poetry and the structure of its verse, to find that we have no work on which he can rely as authority on this subject. In the other modern languages, the most learned philologers have treated of the subject of versification, in all its parts. In English alone, in a language which possesses a body of poetical literature more extensive, as well as more valuable than any other modern language, not excepting the Italian, the student has no rules to guide him, but a few meagre and incorrect outlines appended to elementary text-books." Then follows this singularly inconsistent exception: "We must except from this remark two works, published in the latter part of the sixteenth century. But as they were written before the poetical language of the English tongue was fixed, and as the rules of verse were not then settled, these works can be of little practical utility."—Preface, p. 1. The works thus excepted as of reliable authority without practical utility, are "a short tract by Gascoyne," doubtless George Gascoigne's 'Notes of Instruction concerning the making of Verse or Rhyme in English,' published in 1575, and Webbe's 'Discourse of English Poetry,' dated 1586, neither of which does the kind exceptor appear to have ever seen! Mention is next made, successively, of Dr. Carey, of Dryden, of Dr. Johnson, of Blair, and of Lord Kames. "To these guides," or at least to the last two, "the author is indebted for many valuable hints;" yet he scruples not to say, "Blair betrays a paucity of knowledge on this subject;"—"Lord Kames has slurred over the subject of Quantity," and "shown an unpardonable ignorance of the first principles of Quantity in our verse;"—and, "Even Dr. Johnson speaks of syllables in such a manner as would lead us to suppose that he was in the same error as Kames. These inaccuracies," it is added, "can be accounted for only from the fact that Prosodians have not thought Quantity of sufficient importance to merit their attention."—See Preface, p. 4-6.
OBS. 18.—Everett's Versification consists of seventeen chapters, numbered consecutively, but divided into two parts, under the two titles Quantity and Construction. Its specimens of verse are numerous, various, and beautiful. Its modes of scansion—the things chiefly to be taught—though perhaps generally correct, are sometimes questionable, and not always consonant with the writer's own rules of quantity. From the citations above, one might expect from this author such an exposition of quantity, as nobody could either mistake or gainsay; but, as the following platform will show, his treatment of this point is singularly curt and incomplete. He is so sparing of words as not even to have given a definition of quantity. He opens his subject thus: "VERSIFICATION is the proper arrangement of words in a line according to their quantity, and the disposition of these lines in couplets, stanzas, or in blank verse, in such order, and according to such rules, as are sanctioned by usage.—A FOOT is a combination of two or more syllables, whether long or short.—A LINE is one foot, or more than one.—The QUANTITY of each word depends on its accent. In words of more than one syllable, all accented syllables are long, and all unaccented syllables are short. Monosyllables are long or short, according to the following Rules:—1st. All Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, and Participles are long.—2nd. The articles are always short.—3rd, The Pronouns are long or short, according to emphasis.—4th. Interjections and Adverbs are generally long, but sometimes made short by emphasis.—5th. Prepositions and Conjunctions are almost always short, but sometimes made long by emphasis."—English Versification, p. 13. None of these principles of quantity are unexceptionable; and whoever follows them implicitly, will often differ not only from what is right, but from their author himself in the analysis of verses. Nor are they free from important antagonisms. "Emphasis," as here spoken of, not only clashes with "accent," but contradicts itself, by making some syllables long and some short; and, what is more mysteriously absurd, the author says, "It frequently happens that syllables long by QUANTITY become short by EMPHASIS."—Everett's Eng. Versif., 1st Ed., p. 99. Of this, he takes the first syllable of the following line, namely, "the word bids," to be an example:
"B~ids m~e l=ive b~ut t=o h=ope f~or p~ost=er~it~y's pr=aise."
OBS. 19.—In the American Review, for May, 1848, Everett's System of Versification is named as "an apology and occasion"—not for a critical examination of this or any other scheme of prosody—but for the promulgation of a new one, a rival theory of English metres, "the principles and laws" of which the writer promises, "at an other time" more fully "to develop." The article referred to is entitled, "The Art of Measuring Verses." The writer, being designated by his initials, "J. D. W.," is understood to be James D. Whelpley, editor of the Review. Believing Everett's principal doctrines to be radically erroneous, this critic nevertheless excuses them, because he thinks we have nothing better! "The views supported in the work itself," says his closing paragraph, "are not, indeed, such as we would subscribe to, nor can we admit the numerous analyses of the English metres which it contains to be correct; yet, as it is as complete in design and execution as anything that has yet appeared on the subject, and well calculated to excite the attention, and direct the inquiries, of English scholars, to the study of our own metres, we shall even pass it by without a word of criticism."—American Review, New Series, Vol. I, p. 492.
OBS. 20.—Everett, although, as we have seen, he thought proper to deny that the student of English versification had any well authorized "rules to guide him," still argues that, "The laws of our verse are just as fixed, and may be as clearly laid down, if we but attend to the usage of the great Poets, as are the laws of our syntax."—Preface, p. 7. But this critic, of the American Review, ingenious though he is in many of his remarks, flippantly denies that our English Prosody has either authorities or principles which one ought to respect; and accordingly cares so little whom he contradicts, that he is often inconsistent with himself. Here is a sample: "As there are no established authorities in this art, and, indeed, no acknowledged principles—every rhymester being permitted to invent his own method, and write by instinct or imitation—the critic feels quite at liberty to say just what he pleases, and offer his private observations as though these were really of some moment."—Am. Rev., Vol. i, p. 484. In respect to writing, "to invent," and to "imitate," are repugnant ideas; and so are, after a "method," and "by instinct." Again, what sense is there in making the "liberty" of publishing one's "private observations" to depend on the presumed absence of rivals? That the author did not lack confidence in the general applicability of his speculations, subversive though they are of the best and most popular teaching on this subject, is evident from the following sentence: "We intend, also, that if these principles, with the others previously expressed, are true in the given instances, they are equally true for all languages and all varieties of metre, even to the denial that any poetic metres, founded on other principles, can properly exist."—Ib., p. 491
OBS. 21.—J. D. W. is not one of those who discard quantity and supply accent in expounding the nature of metre; and yet he does not coincide very nearly with any of those who have heretofore made quantity the basis of poetic numbers. His views of the rhythmical elements being in several respects peculiar, I purpose briefly to notice them here, though some of the peculiarities of this new "Art of Measuring Verses," should rather be quoted under the head of Scanning, to which they more properly belong. "Of every species of beauty," says this author, "and more especially of the beauty of sounds, continuousness is the first element; a succession of pulses of sound becomes agreeable, only when the breaks or intervals cease to be heard." Again: "Quantity, or the division into measures of time, is a second element of verse; each line must be stuffed out with sounds, to a certain fullness and plumpness, that will sustain the voice, and force it to dwell upon the sounds."—Rev., p. 485. The first of these positions is subsequently contradicted, or very largely qualified, by the following: "So, the line of significant sounds, in a verse, is also marked by accents, or pulses, and divided into portions called feet. These are necessary and natural for the very simple reason that continuity by itself is tedious; and the greatest pleasure arises from the union of continuity with variety. [That is, with "interruption," as he elsewhere calls it!] In the line,
'Full màny a tàle theír mùsic tèlls,'
there are at least four accents or stresses of the voice, with faint pauses after them, just enough to separate the continuous stream of sound into these four parts, to be read thus:
Fullman—yataleth—eirmus—ictells,[503]
by which, new combinations of sound are produced, of a singularly musical character. It is evident from the inspection of the above line, that the division of the feet by the accents is quite independent of the division of words by the sense. The sounds are melted into continuity, and re-divided again in a manner agreeable to the musical ear."—Ib., p. 486. Undoubtedly, the due formation of our poetic feet occasions both a blending of some words and a dividing of others, in a manner unknown to prose; but still we have the authority of this writer, as well as of earlier ones, for saying, "Good verse requires to be read with the natural quantites [sic—KTH] of the syllables," (p. 487,) a doctrine with which that of the redivision appears to clash. If the example given be read with any regard to the cæsural pause, as undoubtedly it should be, the th of their cannot be joined, as above, to the word tale; nor do I see any propriety in joining the s of music to the third foot rather than to the fourth. Can a theory which turns topsyturvy the whole plan of syllabication, fail to affect "the natural quantities of syllables?"
OBS. 22—Different modes of reading verse, may, without doubt, change the quantities of very many syllables. Hence a correct mode of reading, as well as a just theory of measure, is essential to correct scansion, or a just discrimination of the poetic feet. It is a very common opinion, that English verse has but few spondees; and the doctrine of Brightland has been rarely disputed, that, "Heroic Verses consist of five short, and five long Syllables intermixt, but not so very strictly as never to alter that order."—Gram., 7th Ed., p. 160.[504] J. D. W., being a heavy reader, will have each line so "stuffed out with sounds," and the consonants so syllabled after the vowels, as to give to our heroics three spondees for every two iambuses; and lines like the following, which, with the elisions, I should resolve into four iambuses, and without them, into three iambuses and one anapest, he supposes to consist severally of four spondees:—
"'When coldness wraps this suffering clay,
Ah! whither strays the immortal mind?'
[These are] to be read," according to this prosodian,
"Whencoldn—esswrapsth—issuff'r—ingclay,
Ah! whith—erstraysth'—immort—almind?"
"The verse," he contends, "is perceived to consist of six [probably he meant to say eight] heavy syllables, each composed of a vowel followed by a group of consonantal sounds, the whole measured into four equal feet. The movement is what is called spondaic, a spondee being a foot of two heavy sounds. The absence of short syllables gives the line a peculiar weight and solemnity suited to the sentiment, and doubtless prompted by it."—American Review, Vol. i, p. 487. Of his theory, he subsequently says: "It maintains that good English verse is as thoroughly quantitative as the Greek, though it be much more heavy and spondaic."—Ib., p. 491.[505]
OBS. 23—For the determining of quantities and feet, this author borrows from some old Latin grammar three or four rules, commonly thought inapplicable to our tongue, and, mixing them up with other speculations, satisfies himself with stating that the "Art of Measuring Verses" requires yet the production of many more such! But, these things being the essence of his principles, it is proper to state them in his own words: "A short vowel sound followed by a double consonantal sound, usually makes a long quantity;[506] so also does a long vowel like y in beauty, before a consonant. The metrical accents, which often differ from the prosaic, mostly fall upon the heavy sounds; which must also be prolonged in reading, and never slurred or lightened, unless to help out a bad verse. In our language the groupings of the consonants furnish a great number of spondaic feet, and give the language, especially its more ancient forms, as in the verse of Milton and the prose of Lord Bacon, a grand and solemn character. One vowel followed by another, unless the first be naturally made long in the reading, makes a short quantity, as in th[=e] old. So, also, a short vowel followed by a single short consonant, gives a short time or quantity, as in tö give. [Fist] A great variety of rules for the detection of long and short quantities have yet to be invented, or applied from the Greek and Latin prosody. In all languages they are of course the same, making due allowance for difference of organization; but it is as absurd to suppose that the Greeks should have a system of prosody differing in principle from our own, as that their rules of musical harmony should be different from the modern. Both result from the nature of the ear and of the organ of speech, and are consequently the same in all ages and nations."—Am. Rev., Vol. i, p. 488.
OBS. 24.—QUANTITY is here represented as "time" only. In this author's first mention of it, it is called, rather less accurately, "the division into measures of time." With too little regard for either of these conceptions, he next speaks of it as including both "time and accent." But I have already shown that "accents or stresses" cannot pertain to short syllables, and therefore cannot be ingredients of quantity. The whole article lacks that clearness which is a prime requisite of a sound theory. Take all of the writer's next paragraph as an example of this defect: "The two elements of musical metre, time and accent, both together constituting quantity, are equally elements of the metre of verse. Each iambic foot or metre, is marked by a swell of the voice, concluding abruptly in an accent, or interruption, on the last sound of the foot; or, [omit this 'or:' it is improper,] in metres of the trochaic order, in such words as dandy, handy, bottle, favor, labor, it [the foot] begins with a heavy accented sound, and declines to a faint or light one at the close. The line is thus composed of a series of swells or waves of sound, concluding and beginning alike. The accents, or points at which the voice is most forcibly exerted in the feet, being the divisions of time, by which a part of its musical character is given to the verse, are usually made to coincide, in our language, with the accents of the words as they are spoken; which [coincidence] diminishes the musical character of our verse. In Greek hexameters and Latin hexameters, on the contrary, this coincidence is avoided, as tending to monotony and a prosaic character."—Ibid.
OBS. 25.—The passage just cited represents "accent" or "accents" not only as partly constituting quantity, but as being, in its or their turn, "the divisions of time;"—as being also stops, pauses, or "interruptions" of sound else continuous;—as being of two sorts, "metrical" and "prosaic," which "usually coincide," though it is said, they "often differ," and their "interference" is "very frequent;"—as being "the points" of stress "in the feet," but not always such in "the words," of verse;—as striking different feet differently, "each iambic foot" on the latter syllable and every trochee on the former, yet causing, in each line, only such waves of sound as conclude and begin "alike;"—as coinciding with the long quantities and "the prosaic accents," in iambics and trochaics, yet not coinciding with these always;—as giving to verse "a part of its musical character," yet diminishing that character, by their usual coincidence with "the prose accents;"—as being kept distinct in Latin and Greek, "the metrical" from "the prosaic" and their "coincidence avoided," to make poetry more poetical,—though the old prosodists, in all they say of accents, acute, grave, and circumflex, give no hint of this primary distinction! In all this elementary teaching, there seems to be a want of a clear, steady, and consistent notion of the things spoken of. The author's theory led him to several strange combinations of words, some of which it is not easy, even with his whole explanation before us, to regard as other than absurd. With a few examples of his new phraseology, Italicized by myself, I dismiss the subject: "It frequently happens that word and verse accent fall differently."—P. 489. "The verse syllables, like the verse feet, differ in the prosaic and [the] metrical reading of the line."—Ib. "If we read it by the prosaic syllabication, there will be no possibility of measuring the quantities."—Ib. "The metrical are perfectly distinct from the prosaic properties of verse."—Ib. "It may be called an iambic dactyl, formed by the substitution of two short for one long time in the last portion of the foot. Iambic spondees and dactyls are to be distinguished by the metrical accent falling on the last syllable."—P. 491.
SECTION IV.—THE KINDS OF VERSE.
The principal kinds of verse, or orders of poetic numbers, as has already been stated, are four; namely, Iambic, Trochaic, Anapestic, and Dactylic. Besides these, which are sometimes called "the simple orders" being unmixed, or nearly so, some recognize several "Composite orders" or (with a better view of the matter) several kinds of mixed verse, which are said to constitute "the Composite order." In these, one of the four principal kinds of feet must still be used as the basis, some other species being inserted therewith, in each line or stanza, with more or less regularity.
PRINCIPLES AND NAMES.
The diversification of any species of metre, by the occasional change of a foot, or, in certain cases, by the addition or omission of a short syllable, is not usually regarded as sufficient to change the denomination, or stated order, of the verse; and many critics suppose some variety of feet, as well as a studied diversity in the position of the cæsural pause, essential to the highest excellence of poetic composition.
The dividing of verses into the feet which compose them, is called Scanning, or Scansion. In this, according to the technical language of the old prosodists, when a syllable is wanting, the verse is said to be catalectic; when the measure is exact, the line is acatalectic; when there is a redundant syllable, it forms hypermeter.
Since the equal recognition of so many feet as twelve, or even as eight, will often produce different modes of measuring the same lines; and since it is desirable to measure verses with uniformity, and always by the simplest process that will well answer the purpose; we usually scan by the principal feet, in preference to the secondary, where the syllables give us a choice of measures, or may be divided in different ways.
A single foot, especially a foot of only two syllables, can hardly be said to constitute a line, or to have rhythm in itself; yet we sometimes see a foot so placed, and rhyming as a line. Lines of two, three, four, five, six, or seven feet, are common; and these have received the technical denominations of dim'eter, trim'eter, tetram'eter, pentam'eter, hexam'eter, and heptam'eter. On a wide page, iambics and trochaics may possibly be written in octom'eter; but lines of this measure, being very long, are mostly abandoned for alternate tetrameters.
ORDER I.—IAMBIC VERSE.
In Iambic verse, the stress is laid on the even syllables, and the odd ones are short. Any short syllable added to a line of this order, is supernumerary; iambic rhymes, which are naturally single, being made double by one, and triple by two. But the adding of one short syllable, which is much practised in dramatic poetry, may be reckoned to convert the last foot into an amphibrach, though the adding of two cannot. Iambics consist of the following measures:—
MEASURE I.—IAMBIC OF EIGHT FEET, OR OCTOMETER.
Psalm XLVII, 1 and 2.
"O =all | y~e p=eo | -pl~e, cl=ap | y~our h=ands, | ~and w=ith | tr~i=um
| -ph~ant v=oi | -c~es s=ing;
No force | the might | -=y power | withstands | of God, | the u
| -niver | -sal King."
See the "Psalms of David, in Metre," p. 54.
Each couplet of this verse is now commonly reduced to, or exchanged for, a simple stanza of four tetrameter lines, rhyming alternately, and each commencing with a capital; but sometimes, the second line and the fourth are still commenced with a small letter: as,
"Your ut | -most skill | in praise | be shown,
for Him | who all | the world | commands,
Who sits | upon | his right | -eous throne,
and spreads | his sway | o'er heath | -en lands."
Ib., verses 7 and 8; Edition bound with Com. Prayer,
N. Y., 1819.
An other Example.
"The hour | is come | —the cher | -ish'd hour,
When from | the bus | -y world | set free,
I seek | at length | my lone | -ly bower,
And muse | in si | -lent thought | on thee."
THEODORE HOOK'S REMAINS: The Examiner, No. 82.
MEASURE II.—IAMBIC OF SEVEN FEET, OR HEPTAMETER.
Example I.—Hat-Brims.
"It's odd | how hats | expand [ their brims | as youth | begins
| to fade,
As if | when life | had reached | its noon, | it want | -ed them
| for shade."
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES: From a Newspaper.
Example II.—Psalm XLII, 1.
"As pants | the hart | for cool | -ing streams, | when heat | -ed in
| the chase;
So longs | my soul, | O God, | for thee, | and thy | refresh
| -ing grace."
EPISCOPAL PSALM-BOOK: The Rev. W. Allen's Eng. Gram., p. 227.
Example III.—The Shepherd's Hymn.
"Oh, when | I rove | the des | -ert waste, | and 'neath | the hot
| sun pant,
The Lord | shall be | my Shep | -herd then, | he will | not let
| me want;
He'll lead | me where | the past | -ures are | of soft | and shad
| -y green,
And where | the gen | -tle wa | -ters rove, | the qui | -et hills
| between.
And when | the sav | -age shall | pursue, | and in | his grasp
| I sink,
He will | prepare | the feast | for me, | and bring | the cool
| -ing drink,
And save | me harm | -less from | his hands, and strength | -en me
| in toil,
And bless | my home | and cot | -tage lands, and crown | my head
| with oil.
With such | a Shep | -herd to | protect, | to guide | and guard
| me still,
And bless | my heart | with ev | -'ry good, | and keep | from ev
| -'ry ill,
Surely | I shall | not turn | aside, | and scorn | his kind
| -ly care,
But keep | the path | he points | me out, | and dwell | for ev
| -er there."
W. GILMORE SIMMS: North American Reader, p. 376.
Example IV.—"The Far, Far Fast."—First six Lines.
"It was | a dream | of earl | -y years, | the long | -est and
| the last,
And still | it ling | -ers bright | and lone | amid | the drear
| -y past;
When I | was sick | and sad | at heart | and faint | with grief
| and care,
It threw | its ra | -diant smile | athwart | the shad | -ows of
| despair:
And still | when falls | the hour | of gloom | upon | this way
| -ward breast,
Unto | THE FAR, | FAR EAST | I turn | for sol | -ace and | for rest."
Edinburgh Journal; and The Examiner,
Example V.—"Lament of the Slave."—Eight Lines from thirty-four.
"Behold | the sun | which gilds | yon heaven, how love | -ly it
| appears!
And must | it shine | to light | a world | of war | -fare and
| of tears?
Shall hu | -man pas | -sion ev | -er sway | this glo | -rious world
| of God,
And beau | -ty, wis | -dom, hap | -piness, | sleep with | the tram
| -pled sod?
Shall peace | ne'er lift | her ban | -ner up, | shall truth | and rea
| -son cry,
And men | oppress | them down | with worse | than an | -cient tyr
| -anny?
Shall all | the les | -sons time | has taught, | be so | long taught
| in vain;
And earth | be steeped | in hu | -man tears, | and groan | with hu
| -man pain?"
ALONZO LEWIS: Freedom's Amulet, Dec. 6, 1848.
Example VI.—"Greek Funeral Chant."—First four of sixty-four Lines.
"A wail | was heard | around | the bed, | the death | -bed of
| the young;
Amidst | her tears, | the Fu | -neral Chant | a mourn | -ful moth
| -er sung.
'I-an | -this dost | thou sleep?— | Thou sleepst!— | but this
| is not | the rest,
The breath | -ing, warm, | and ros | -y calm, | I've pil | -low'd on
| my breast!'"
FELICIA HEMANS: Poetical Works, Vol. ii, p. 37.
Everett observes, "The Iliad was translated into this measure by CHAPMAN, and the Æneid by PHAER."—Eng. Versif., p. 68. Prior, who has a ballad of one hundred and eighty such lines, intimates in a note the great antiquity of the verse. Measures of this length, though not very uncommon, are much less frequently used than shorter ones. A practice has long prevailed of dividing this kind of verse into alternate lines of four and of three feet, thus:—
"To such | as fear | thy ho | -ly name,
myself | I close | -ly join;
To all | who their | obe | -dient wills
to thy | commands | resign."
Psalms with Com. Prayer: Psalm cxix, 63.
This, according to the critics, is the most soft and pleasing of our lyric measures. With the slight change of setting a capital at the head of each line, it becomes the regular ballad-metre of our language. Being also adapted to hymns, as well as to lighter songs, and, more particularly, to quaint details of no great length, this stanza, or a similar one more ornamented with rhymes, is found in many choice pieces of English poetry. The following are a few popular examples:—
"When all | thy mer | -cies, O | my God!
My ris | -ing soul | surveys,
Transport | -ed with | the view | I'm lost
In won | -der, love, | and praise."
Addison's Hymn of Gratitude.
"John Gil | -pin was | a cit | -izen
Of cred | -it and | renown,
A train | -band cap | -tain eke | was he
Of fam | -ous Lon | -don town."
Cowper's Poems, Vol. i, p. 275.
"God pros | -per long | our no | -ble king,
Our lives | and safe | -ties all;
A wo | -ful hunt | -ing once | there did
In Chev | -y Chase | befall,"
Later Reading of Chevy Chase.
"Turn, An | -geli | -na, ev | -er dear,
My charm | -er, turn | to see
Thy own, | thy long | -lost Ed | -win here,
Restored | to love | and thee."
Goldsmith's Poems, p. 67.
"'Come back! | come back!' | he cried | in grief,
Across | this storm | -y wa_ter_:
'And I'll | forgive | your High | -land chief,
My daugh | -ter!—oh | my daugh_ter_!
'Twas vain: | the loud | waves lashed | the shore,
Return | or aid | prevent_ing_:—
The wa | -ters wild | went o'er | his child,—
And he | was left | lament_ing_."—Campbell's Poems, p. 110.
The rhyming of this last stanza is irregular and remarkable, yet not unpleasant. It is contrary to rule, to omit any rhyme which the current of the verse leads the reader to expect. Yet here the word "shore" ending the first line, has no correspondent sound, where twelve examples of such correspondence had just preceded; while the third line, without previous example, is so rhymed within itself that one scarcely perceives the omission. Double rhymes are said by some to unfit this metre for serious subjects, and to adapt it only to what is meant to be burlesque, humorous, or satiric. The example above does not confirm this opinion, yet the rule, as a general one, may still be just. Ballad verse may in some degree imitate the language of a simpleton, and become popular by clownishness, more than by elegance: as,
"Father | and I | went down | to the camp
Along | with cap | -tain Goodwin,
And there | we saw | the men | and boys
As thick | as hast | -y pudding;
And there | we saw | a thun | -dering gun,—
It took | a horn | of powder,—
It made | a noise | like fa | -ther's gun,
Only | a na | -tion louder."
Original Song of Yankee Doodle.
Even the line of seven feet may still be lengthened a little by a double rhyme: as,
How gay | -ly, o | -ver fell | and fen, | yon sports | -man light
| is dashing!
And gay | -ly, in | the sun | -beams bright, | the mow |—er's blade
| is flashing!
Of this length, T. O. Churchill reckons the following couplet; but by the general usage of the day, the final ed is not made a separate syllable:—
"With hic | and hoec, | as Pris | -cian tells, | sacer | -dos was
| de_cli | -n~ed_;
But now | its gen | -der by | the pope | far bet | -ter is | de_fi
| -n~ed_."
Churchill's New Grammar, p. 188.
MEASURE III.—IAMBIC OF SIX FEET, OR HEXAMETER.
Example I.—A Couplet.
"S~o v=a | -r~y~ing still | th~eir m=oods, | ~obs=erv | -~ing =yet
| ~in =all
Their quan | -tities, | their rests, | their cen | -sures met
| -rical."
MICHAEL DRAYTON: Johnson's Quarto Dict., w. Quantity.
Example II.—From a Description of a Stag-Hunt.
"And through | the cumb | -rous thicks, | as fear | -fully | he makes,
He with | his branch | -ed head | the ten | -der sap | -lings shakes,
That sprink | -ling their | moist pearl | do seem | for him | to weep;
When aft | -er goes | the cry, | with yell | -ings loud | and deep,
That all | the for | -est rings, | and ev | -ery neigh
| -bouring place:
And there | is not | a hound | but fall | -eth to | the chase."
DRAYTON: Three Couplets from twenty-three,
in Everett's Versif., p. 66.
Example III.—An Extract from Shakespeare.
"If love | make me | forsworn, | how shall | I swear | to love?
O, nev | -er faith | could hold, | if not | to beau | -ty vow'd:
Though to | myself | forsworn, | to thee | I'll con | -stant prove;
Those thoughts, | to me | like oaks, | to thee | like o | -siers bow'd.
St=ud~y | his bi | -as leaves, | and makes | his book | thine eyes,
Where all | those pleas | -ures live, | that art | can com | -prehend.
If knowl | -edge be | the mark, | to know | thee shall | suffice;
Well learn | -ed is | that tongue | that well | can thee | commend;
All ig | -norant | that soul | that sees | thee with' | o~ut wonder;
Which is | to me | some praise, | that I | thy parts | admire:
Thine eye | Jove's light | -ning seems, | thy voice | his dread
| -ful thunder,
Which (not | to an | -ger bent) | is mu | -sic and | sweet fire.
Celes | -tial as | thou art, | O, do | not love | that wrong,
To sing | the heav | -ens' praise | with such | an earth | -ly tongue."
The Passionate Pilgrim, Stanza IX;
SINGER'S SHAK., Vol. ii, p. 594.
Example IV.—The Ten Commandments Versified.
"Adore | no God | besides | me, to | provoke | mine eyes;
Nor wor | -ship me | in shapes | and forms | that men | devise;
With rev | 'rence use | my name, | nor turn | my words | to jest;
Observe | my sab | -bath well, | nor dare | profane | my rest;
Honor | and due | obe | -dience to | thy pa | -rents give;
Nor spill | the guilt | -less blood, | nor let | the guilt
| -y live;[507]
Preserve | thy bod | -y chaste, | and flee | th' unlaw | -ful bed;
Nor steal | thy neigh | -bor's gold, | his gar | -ment, or | his bread;
Forbear | to blast | his name | with false | -hood or deceit;
Nor let | thy wish | -es loose | upon | his large | estate."
DR. ISAAC WATTS: Lyric Poems, p. 46.
This verse, consisting, when entirely regular, of twelve syllables in six iambs, is the Alexandrine; said to have been so named because it was "first used in a poem called Alexander."—Worcester's Dict. Such metre has sometimes been written, with little diversity, through an entire English poem, as in Drayton's Polyolbion; but, couplets of this length being generally esteemed too clumsy for our language, the Alexandrine has been little used by English versifiers, except to complete certain stanzas beginning with shorter iambics, or, occasionally, to close a period in heroic rhyme. French heroics are similar to this; and if, as some assert, we have obtained it thence, the original poem was doubtless a French one, detailing the exploits of the hero "Alexandre." The phrase, "an Alexandrine verse," is, in French, "un vers Alexandrin." Dr. Gregory, in his Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, copies Johnson's Quarto Dictionary, which says, "ALEXANDRINE, a kind of verse borrowed from the French, first used in a poem called Alexander. They [Alexandrines] consist, among the French, of twelve and thirteen syllables, in alternate couplets; and, among us, of twelve." Dr. Webster, in his American Dictionary, improperly (as I think) gives to the name two forms, and seems also to acknowledge two sorts of the English verse: "ALEXAN'DRINE, or ALEXAN'DRIAN, n. A kind of verse, consisting of twelve syllables, or of twelve and thirteen alternately." "The Pet-Lamb," a modern pastoral, by Wordsworth, has sixty-eight lines, all probably meant for Alexandrines; most of which have twelve syllables, though some have thirteen, and others, fourteen. But it were a great pity, that versification so faulty and unsuitable should ever be imitated. About half of the said lines, as they appear in the poet's royal octave, or "the First Complete American, from the Last London Edition," are as sheer prose as can be written, it being quite impossible to read them into any proper rhythm. The poem being designed for children, the measure should have been reduced to iambic trimeter, and made exact at that. The story commences thus:—
"The dew | was fall | -ing fast, | the stars | began | to blink;
I heard | a voice; | it said, | 'Drink, pret | -ty crea
| -ture, drink!'
And, look | -ing o'er | the hedge, | before | me I | espied
A snow | -white moun | -tain Lamb | w=ith =a M=aid | -en at
| its side."
All this is regular, with the exception of one foot; but who can make any thing but prose of the following?
"Thy limbs will shortly be twice as stout as they are now,
Then I'll yoke thee to my cart like a pony in the plough."
"Here thou needest not dread the raven in the sky;
Night and day thou art safe,—our cottage is hard by."
WORDSWORTH'S Poems, New-Haven Ed., 1836, p. 4.
In some very ancient English poetry, we find lines of twelve syllables combined in couplets with others of fourteen; that is, six iambic feet are alternated with seven, in lines that rhyme. The following is an example, taken from a piece of fifty lines, which Dr. Johnson ascribes to the Earl of Surry, one of the wits that flourished in the reign of Henry VIII:—
"Such way | -ward wayes | hath Love, | that most | part in | discord,
Our willes | do stand, | whereby | our hartes | but sel | -dom do
| accord;
Decyte | is hys | delighte, | and to | begyle | and mocke,
The sim | ple hartes | which he | doth strike | with fro | -ward di
| -vers stroke.
He caus | -eth th' one | to rage | with gold | -en burn | -ing darte,
And doth | allay | with lead | -en cold, | again | the oth
| -er's harte;
Whose gleames | of burn | -ing fyre | and eas | -y sparkes | of flame,
In bal | -ance of | ~un=e | -qual weyght | he pon | -dereth | by ame."
See Johnson's Quarto Dict., History of the Eng. Lang., p. 4.
MEASURE IV.—IAMBIC OF FIVE FEET, OR PENTAMETER.
Example I.—Hector to Andromache.
"Andr=om | -~ach=e! | m=y s=oul's | f~ar b=et | -t~er p=art,
Wh=y w~ith | untime | -ly | sor | -rows heaves | thy heart?
No hos | -tile hand | can an | -tedate | my doom,
Till fate | condemns | me to | the si | -lent tomb.
Fix'd is | the term | to all | the race | of earth;
And such | the hard | conditi | -on of | our birth,
No force | can then | resist, | no flight | can save;
All sink | alike, | the fear | -ful and | the brave."
POPE'S HOMER: Iliad, B. vi, l. 624-632.
Example II.—Angels' Worship.
"No soon | -er had | th' Almight | -y ceas'd | but all
The mul | -titude | of an | -gels with | a shout
Loud as | from num | -bers with' | -out num | -ber, sweet
As from | blest voi | -ces ut | t~er ~ing j=oy, | heav'n rung
With ju | -bilee, | and loud | hosan | -nas fill'd
Th' eter | -nal | re | -gions; low | -ly rev | -erent
Tow'rds ei | -ther throne | they bow, | and to | the ground
With sol | -emn ad | -ora | -tion down | they cast
Their crowns | inwove | with am | -arant | and gold."
MILTON: Paradise Lost, B. iii, l. 344.
Example III.—Deceptive Glosses.
"The world | is still | deceiv'd | with or | -nament.
In law, | what plea | so taint | -ed and | corrupt,
But, be | -ing sea | -son'd with | a gra | -cious voice,
Obscures | the show | of e | -vil? In | religi~on,
What dam |—n~ed er | -ror, but | some so | -ber brow
Will bless | it, and | approve | it with | a text,
Hid~ing | the gross | -ness with | fair or | -nament?"
SHAKSPEARE: Merch. of Venice, Act iii, Sc. 2.
Example IV.—Praise God.
"Ye head | -long tor | -rents, rap | -id, and | profound;
Ye soft | -er floods, | that lead | the hu | -mid maze
Along | the vale; | and thou, | majes | -tic main,
A se | -cret world | of won | -ders in | thyself,
Sound His | stupen | -dous | praise; | whose great | -er voice
Or bids | you roar, | or bids | your roar | -ings fall."
THOMSON: Hymn to the Seasons.
Example V.—The Christian Spirit.
"Like him | the soul, | thus kin | -dled from | above,
Spreads wide | her arms | of u | -niver | -sal love;
And, still | enlarg'd | as she | receives | the grace,
Includes | cr~e=a | -tion in | her close | embrace.
Behold | a Chris | -tian! and | without | the fires
The found | -~er ~of | that name | alone | inspires,
Though all | accom | -plishment, | all knowl | -edge meet,
To make | the shin | -ing prod | -igy | complete,
Whoev | -er boasts | that name— | behold | a cheat!"
COWPER: Charity; Poems, Vol. i, p. 135.
Example VI.—To London.
"Ten right | -eous would | have sav'd | a cit | -y once,
And thou | hast man | -y right | -eous.—Well | for thee—
That salt | preserves | thee; more | corrupt | -ed else,
And there | -fore more | obnox | -ious, at | this hour,
Than Sod | -om in | her day | had pow'r | to be,
For whom | God heard | his Abr' | -ham plead | in vain."
IDEM: The Task, Book iii, at the end.
This verse, the iambic pentameter, is the regular English heroic—a stately species, and that in which most of our great poems are composed, whether epic, dramatic, or descriptive. It is well adapted to rhyme, to the composition of sonnets, to the formation of stanzas of several sorts; and yet is, perhaps, the only measure suitable for blank verse—which latter form always demands a subject of some dignity or sublimity.
The Elegiac Stanza, or the form of verse most commonly used by elegists, consists of four heroics rhyming alternately; as,
"Thou knowst | how trans | -port thrills | the ten | -der breast,
Where love | and fan | -cy fix | their ope | -ning reign;
How na | -ture shines | in live | -lier col | -ours dress'd,
To bless | their un | -ion, and | to grace | their train."
SHENSTONE: British Poets, Vol. vii, p. 106.
Iambic verse is seldom continued perfectly pure through a long succession of lines. Among its most frequent diversifications, are the following; and others may perhaps be noticed hereafter:—
(1.) The first foot is often varied by a substitutional trochee; as,
"Bacchus, | that first | from out | the pur | -ple grape Crush'd the | sweet poi | -son of | mis-=us | -~ed wine, After | the Tus | -can mar | -iners | transform'd, Coasting | the Tyr | -rhene shore, | ~as th~e | winds list_~ed_, On Cir | -ce's isl | -and fell. | Who knows | not Cir_c~e_, The daugh | -ter of | the sun? | whose charm | -~ed cup Whoev | -er tast | -ed, lost | his up | -right shape, And down | -ward fell | =int~o a grov | -elling swine." MILTON: Comus; British Poets, Vol. ii, p. 147.
(2.) By a synæresis of the two short syllables, an anapest may sometimes be employed for an iambus; or a dactyl, for a trochee. This occurs chiefly where one unaccented vowel precedes an other in what we usually regard as separate syllables, and both are clearly heard, though uttered perhaps in so quick succession that both syllables may occupy only half the time of a long one. Some prosodists, however, choose to regard these substitutions as instances of trissyllabic feet mixed with the others; and, doubtless, it is in general easy to make them such, by an utterance that avoids, rather than favours, the coalescence. The following are examples:—
"No rest: | through man | -y a dark | and drear | -y vale
They pass'd, | and man | -y a re | -gion dol | -orous,
O'er man | -y a fro | -zen, man | -y a fi | -ery Alp."
—MILTON: P. L., B. ii, l. 618.
"Rejoice | ye na | -tions, vin | -dicate | the sway
Ordain'd | for com | -mon hap | -piness. | Wide, o'er
The globe | terra | -queous, let | Britan | -nia pour
The fruits | of plen | -ty from | her co | -pious horn."
—DYER: Fleece, B. iv, l. 658.
"Myriads | of souls | that knew | one pa | -rent mold,
See sad | -ly sev | er'd by | the laws | of chance!
Myriads, | in time's | peren | -nial list | enroll'd,
Forbid | by fate | to change | one tran | -sient glance!"
SHENSTONE: British Poets, Vol. vii, p. 109.
(3.) In plays, and light or humorous descriptions, the last foot of an iambic line is often varied or followed by an additional short syllable; and, sometimes, in verses of triple rhyme, there is an addition of two short syllables, after the principal rhyming syllable. Some prosodists call the variant foot, in die former instance, an amphibrach, and would probably, in the latter, suppose either an additional pyrrhic, or an amphibrach with still a surplus syllable; but others scan, in these cases, by the iambus only, calling what remains after the last long syllable hypermeter; and this is, I think, the better way. The following examples show these and some other variations from pure iambic measure:—
Example I.—Grief.
"Each sub | st~ance ~of | a grief | hath twen | -ty shad_~ows_,
Which show | like grief | itself, | but are | not so:
For sor | -row's eye, | gl=az~ed | with blind | -ing tears,
Divides one thing | entire | to man |—y ob_j~ects_;
Like per | -spectives, | which, right | -ly gaz'd | upon,
Show noth | -ing but | confu | -sion; ey'd | awry,
Distin | -guish form: | so your | sweet maj | -esty,
Lo=ok~ing | awry | upon | your lord's | depart_~ure_,
Finds shapes | of grief, | more than | himself, | to wail;
Which, look'd | on as | it is, | is nought | but shad_~ows_."
SHAKSPEARE: Richard II, Act ii, Sc. 2.
Example II.—A Wish to Please.
"O, that | I had | the art | of eas | -y writing
What should | be eas | -y read | -ing | could | I scale
Parnas | -sus, where | the Mus | -es sit | in_diting_
Those pret | -ty po | -ems nev | -er known | to fail,
How quick | -ly would | I print | (the world | de_lighting_)
A Gre | -cian, Syr | -ian, or | Assy | -ian tale;
And sell | you, mix'd | with west | -ern sen | -ti_mentalism_,
Some sam | -ples of | the fin | -est O | -ri_entalism_."
LORD BYRON: Beppo, Stanza XLVIII.
MEASURE V.—IAMBIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER.
Example I.—Presidents of the United States of America.
"First stands | the loft | -y Wash | -ington,
That no | -ble, great, | immor | -tal one;
The eld | -er Ad | -ams next | we see;
And Jef | -ferson | comes num | -ber three;
Then Mad | -ison | is fourth, | you know;
The fifth | one on | the list, | Monroe;
The sixth | an Ad | -ams comes | again;
And Jack | -son, sev | -enth in | the train;
Van Bu | -ren, eighth | upon | the line;
And Har | -rison | counts num | -ber nine;
The tenth | is Ty | -ler, in | his turn;
And Polk, | elev | -enth, as | we learn;
The twelfth | is Tay | -lor, peo | -ple say;
The next | we learn | some fu | -ture day."
ANONYMOUS: From Newspaper, 1849.
Example II.—The Shepherd Bard.
"The bard | on Ett | -rick's moun | tain green
In Na | -ture's bo | -som nursed | had been,
And oft | had marked | in for | -est lone
Her beau | -ties on | her moun | -tain throne;
Had seen | her deck | the wild | -wood tree,
And star | with snow | -y gems | the lea;
In love | -li~est c=ol | -ours paint | the plain,
And sow | the moor | with pur | -ple grain;
By gold | -en mead | and moun | -tain sheer,
Had viewed | the Ett | -rick wav | -ing clear,
Where shad | -=ow=y fl=ocks | of pur | -est snow
Seemed graz | -ing in | a world | below."
JAMES HOGG: The Queen's Wake, p. 76.
Example III.—Two Stanzas from Eighteen, Addressed to the Ettrick Shepherd.
"O Shep | -herd! since | 'tis thine | to boast
The fas | -cinat | -ing pow'rs | of song,
Far, far | above | the count | -less host,
Who swell | the Mus | -es' sup | -pli~ant throng,
The GIFT | OF GOD | distrust | no more,
His in | -spira | -tion be | thy guide;
Be heard | thy harp | from shore | to shore,
Thy song's | reward | thy coun | -try's pride."
B. BARTON: Verses prefixed to the Queen's Wake.
Example IV.—"Elegiac Stanzas," in Iambics of Four feet and Three.
"O for | a dirge! | But why | complain?
Ask rath | -er a | trium | -phal strain
When FER | MOR'S race | is run;
A gar | -land of | immor | -tal boughs
To bind | around | the Chris | -tian's brows,
Whose glo | -rious work | is done.
We pay | a high | and ho | -ly debt;
No tears | of pas | -sionate | regret
Shall stain | this vo | -tive lay;
Ill-wor | -thy, Beau | -mont! were | the grief
That flings | itself | on wild | relief
When Saints | have passed | away."
W. WORDSWORTH: Poetical Works, First complete Amer. Ed., p. 208.
This line, the iambic tetrameter, is a favourite one, with many writers of English verse, and has been much used, both in couplets and in stanzas. Butler's Hudibras, Gay's Fables, and many allegories, most of Scott's poetical works, and some of Byron's, are written in couplets of this measure. It is liable to the same diversifications as the preceding metre. The frequent admission of an additional short syllable, forming double rhyme, seems admirably to adapt it to a familiar, humorous, or burlesque style. The following may suffice for an example:—
"First, this | large par | -cel brings | you tidings
Of our | good Dean's | eter | -nal chidings;
Of Nel | -ly's pert | -ness, Rob | -in's leasings,
And Sher | -idan's | perpet | -ual teasings.
This box | is cramm'd | on ev | -ery side
With Stel | -la's mag | -iste | -rial pride."
DEAN SWIFT: British Poets, Vol. v, p. 334.
The following lines have ten syllables in each, yet the measure is not iambic of five feet, but that of four with hypermeter:—
"There was | ~an =an | -cient sage | phi_losopher_,
Who had | read Al | -exan | -der Ross over."—Butler's Hudibras.
"I'll make | them serve | for per | -pen_diculars_,
As true | as e'er | were us'd | by bricklayers."
—Ib., Part ii, C. iii, l. 1020.
MEASURE VI.—IAMBIC OF THREE FEET, OR TRIMETER.
Example.—To Evening.
"Now teach | me, maid | compos'd
To breathe | some soft | -en'd strain."—Collins, p. 39.
This short measure has seldom, if ever, been used alone in many successive couplets; but it is often found in stanzas, sometimes without other lengths, but most commonly with them. The following are a few examples:—
Example I.—Two ancient Stanzas, out of Many,
"This while | we are | abroad,
Shall we | not touch | our lyre?
Shall we | not sing | an ode?
Shall now | that ho | -ly fire,
In us, | that strong | -ly glow'd,
In this | cold air, | expire?
Though in | the ut | -most peak,
A while | we do | remain,
Amongst | the moun | -tains bleak,
Expos'd | to sleet | and rain,
No sport | our hours | shall break,
To ex | -ercise | our vein."
DRAYTON: Dr. Johnson's Gram., p. 13; John Burn's, p. 244.
Example II.—Acis and Galatea.
"For us | the zeph | -yr blows,
For us | distils | the dew,
For us | unfolds | the rose,
And flow'rs | display | their hue;
For us | the win | -ters rain,
For us | the sum | -mers shine,
Spring swells | for us | the grain,
And au | -tumn bleeds | the vine."
JOHN GAY: British Poets, Vol. vii, p. 376.
Example III.—"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin."
"The king | was on | his throne,
The sa | -traps thronged | the hall;
A thou | -sand bright | lamps shone
O'er that | high fes | -tival.
A thou | -sand cups | of gold,
In Ju | -dah deemed | divine—
Jeho | -vah's ves | -sels, hold
The god | -less Hea | -then's wine!
In that | same hour | and hall,
The fin | -gers of | a hand
Came forth | against | the wall,
And wrote | as if | on sand:
The fin | -gers of | a man,—
A sol | -ita | -ry hand
Along | the let | -ters ran,
And traced | them like | a wand."
LORD BYRON: Vision of Belshazzar.
Example IV.—Lyric Stanzas.
"Descend, | celes | -tial fire,
And seize | me from | above,
Melt me | in flames | of pure | desire,
A sac | -rifice | to love.
Let joy | and wor | -ship spend
The rem | -nant of | my days,
And to | my God, | my soul | ascend,
In sweet | perfumes | of praise."
WATTS: Poems sacred to Devotion, p. 50.
Example V.—Lyric Stanzas.
"I would | begin | the mu | -sic here,
And so | my soul | should rise:
O for | some heav'n | -ly notes | to bear
My spir | -it to | the skies!
There, ye | that love | my say | -iour, sit,
There I | would fain | have place
Amongst | your thrones | or at | your feet,
So I | might see | his face."
WATTS: Same work, "Horæ Lyricæ," p. 71.
Example VI.—England's Dead.
"The hur | -ricane | hath might
Along | the In | -dian shore,
And far, | by Gan | -ges' banks | at night,
Is heard | the ti | -ger's roar.
But let | the sound | roll on!
It hath | no tone | of dread
For those | that from | their toils | are gone;—
There slum | -ber Eng | -land's dead."
HEMANS: Poetical Works, Vol. ii, p. 61.
The following examples have some of the common diversifications already noticed under the longer measures:—
Example I.—"Languedocian Air."
"L=ove ~is | a hunt | -er boy,
Who makes | young hearts | his prey;
And in | his nets | of joy
Ensnares | them night | and day.
In vain | conceal'd | they lie,
Love tracks | them ev' | -ry where;
In vain | aloft | they fly,
Love shoots | them fly | -ing there.
But 'tis | his joy | most sweet,
At earl | -y dawn | to trace
The print | of Beau | -ty's feet,
And give | the trem | -bler chase.
And most | he loves | through snow
To track | those foot | -steps fair,
For then | the boy | doth know,
None track'd | before | him there."
MOORE'S Melodies and National Airs, p. 274.
Example II.—From "a Portuguese Air."
"Flow on, | thou shin | -ing river,
But ere | thou reach | the sea,
Seek El | -la's bower, | and give her
The wreaths | I fling | o'er thee.
But, if | in wand' | -ring thither,
Thou find | she mocks | my pray'r,
Then leave | those wreaths | to wither
Upon | the cold | bank there."
MOORE: Same Volume, p. 261.
Example III.—Resignation.
"O Res | -igna | -tion! yet | unsung,
Untouch'd | by for | -mer strains;
Though claim | -ing ev | -ery mu | -se's smile,
And ev | -ery po | -et's pains!
All oth | -er du | -ties cres | -cents are
Of vir | -tue faint | -ly bright;
The glo | -rious con | -summa | -tion, thou,
Which fills | her orb | with light!"
YOUNG: British Poets, Vol. viii, p. 377.
MEASURE VII.—IAMBIC OF TWO FEET, OR DIMETER.
Example—A Scolding Wife.
1.
"There was | a man
Whose name | was Dan,
Who sel | -dom spoke;
His part | -ner sweet
He thus | did greet,
Without | a joke;
2.
My love | -ly wife,
Thou art | the life
Of all | my joys;
Without | thee, I
Should sure | -ly die
For want | of noise.
3.
O, prec | -ious one,
Let thy | tongue run
In a | sweet fret;
And this | will give
A chance | to live,
A long | time yet.
4.
When thou | dost scold
So loud | and bold,
I'm kept | awake;
But if | thou leave,
It will | me grieve,
Till life | forsake.
5.
Then said | his wife,
I'll have | no strife
With you, | sweet Dan;
As 'tis | your mind,
I'll let | you find
I am | your man.
6.
And fret | I will,
To keep | you still
Enjoy | -ing life;
So you | may be
Content | with me,
A scold | -ing wife."
ANONYMOUS: Cincinnati Herald, 1844.
Iambic dimeter, like the metre of three iambs, is much less frequently used alone than in stanzas with longer lines; but the preceding example is a refutation of the idea, that no piece is ever composed wholly of this measure, or that the two feet cannot constitute a line. In Humphrey's English Prosody, on page 16th, is the following paragraph; which is not only defective in style, but erroneous in all its averments:—
"Poems are never composed of lines of two [-] feet metre, in succession: they [combinations of two feet] are only used occasionally in poems, hymns, odes, &c. to diversify the metre; and are, in no case, lines of poetry, or verses; but hemistics, [hemistichs,] or half lines. The shortest metre of which iambic verse is composed, in lines successively, is that of three feet; and this is the shortest metre which can be denominated lines, or verses; and this is not frequently used."
In ballads, ditties, hymns, and versified psalms, scarcely any line is more common than the iambic trimeter, here denied to be "frequently used;" of which species, there are about seventy lines among the examples above. Dr. Young's poem entitled "Resignation," has eight hundred and twenty such lines, and as many more of iambic tetrameter. His "Ocean" has one hundred and forty-five of the latter, and two hundred and ninety-two of the species now under consideration; i.e., iambic dimeter. But how can the metre which predominates by two to one, be called, in such a case, an occasional diversification of that which is less frequent?
Lines of two iambs are not very uncommon, even in psalmody; and, since we have some lines yet shorter, and the lengths of all are determined only by the act of measuring, there is, surely, no propriety in calling dimeters "hemistichs," merely because they are short. The following are some examples of this measure combined with longer ones:—