The Grammar of English Grammars

MEASURE VIII.—DACTYLIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER.

"Fearfully,
Tearfully."

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—A single dactyl, set as a line, can scarcely be used otherwise than as part of a stanza, and in connexion with longer verses. The initial accent and triple rhyme make it necessary to have something else with it. Hence this short measure is much less common than the others, which are accented differently. Besides, the line of three syllables, as was noticed in the observations on Anapestic Monometer, is often peculiarly uncertain in regard to the measure which it should make. A little difference in the laying of emphasis or accent may, in many instances, change it from one species of verse to an other. Even what seems to be dactylic of two feet, if the last syllable be sufficiently lengthened to admit of single rhyme with the full metre, becomes somewhat doubtful in its scansion; because, in such case, the last foot maybe reckoned an amphimac, or amphimacer. Of this, the following stanzas from Barton's lines "to the Gallic Eagle," (or to Bonaparte on St. Helena,) though different from all the rest of the piece, may serve as a specimen:—

   "Far from the | battle's shock,
      Fate hath fast | bound thee;
    Chain'd to the | rugged rock,
      Waves warring | round thee.

    [Now, for] the | trumpet's sound,
      Sea-birds are | shrieking;
    Hoarse on thy | rampart's bound,
      Billows are | breaking."

OBS. 2.—This may be regarded as verse of the Composite Order; and, perhaps, more properly so, than as Dactylic with mere incidental variations. Lines like those in which the questionable foot is here Italicized, may be united with longer dactylics, and thus produce a stanza of great beauty and harmony. The following is a specimen. It is a song, written by I know not whom, but set to music by Dempster. The twelfth line is varied to a different measure.

"ADDRESS TO THE SKYLARK."

OBS. 3.—It is observed by Churchill, (New Gram., p. 387,) that, "Shakspeare has used the dactyl, as appropriate to mournful occasions." The chief example which he cites, is the following:—

OBS. 4.—These six lines of Dactylic (or Composite) Dimeter are subjoined by the poet to four of Trochaic Tetrameter. There does not appear to me to be any particular adaptation of either measure to mournful subjects, more than to others; but later instances of this metre may be cited, in which such is the character of the topic treated. The following long example consists of lines of two feet, most of them dactylic only; but, of the seventy-six, there are twelve which may be otherwise divided, and as many more which must be, because they commence with a short syllable.

"THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS."—BY THOMAS HOOD.

    Alas, for the rarity
    Of Christian charity
      Under the | sun!
    O, it was | pitiful!
    Near a whole | city full,
      Home she had | none.

    Where the lamps | quiver
    So far in the river,
      With many a light,
    From window and casement,
    From garret to basement,
    She stood, with amazement,
      Houseless, by | night.

    The bleak wind of March
      Made her tremble and shiver;
    But not the dark arch,
      Or the black-flowing river:
    Mad from life's | history,
    Glad to death's | mystery,
      Swift to be | hurled,—
    Anywhere, | anywhere,
      Out of the | world!

OBS. 5.—As each of our principal feet,—the Iambus, the Trochee, the Anapest, and the Dactyl,—has always one, and only one long syllable; it should follow, that, in each of our principal orders of verse,—the Iambic, the Trochaic, the Anapestic, and the Dactylic,—any line, not diversified by a secondary foot, must be reckoned to contain just as many feet as long syllables. So, too, of the Amphibrach, and any line reckoned Amphibrachic. But it happens, that the common error by which single-rhymed Trochaics have so often been counted a foot shorter than they are, is also extended by some writers to single-rhymed Dactylics—the rhyming syllable, if long, being esteemed supernumerary! For example, three dactylic stanzas, in each of which a pentameter couplet is followed by a hexameter line, and this again by a heptameter, are introduced by Prof. Hart thus: "The Dactylic Tetrameter, Pentameter, and Hexameter, with the additional or hypermeter syllable, are all found combined in the following extraordinary specimen of versification. * * * This is the only specimen of Dactylic hexameter or even pentameter verse that the author recollects to have seen."

LAMENT OF ADAM.

OBS. 6.—Of Dactylic verse, our prosodists and grammarians in general have taken but very little notice; a majority of them appearing by their silence, to have been utterly ignorant of the whole species. By many, the dactyl is expressly set down as an inferior foot, which they imagine is used only for the occasional diversification of an iambic, trochaic, or anapestic line. Thus Everett: "It is never used except as a secondary foot, and then in the first place of the line."—English Versification, p. 122. On this order of verse, Lindley Murray bestowed only the following words: "The DACTYLIC measure being very uncommon, we shall give only one example of one species of it:—

Fr=om th~e l~ow pl=eas~ures ~of th=is f~all~en n=at~ure,
Rise we to higher, &c."—Gram., 12mo, p. 207; 8vo, p. 257.

Read this example with "we rise" for "Rise we," and all the poetry of it is gone! Humphrey says, "Dactyle verse is seldom used, as remarked heretofore; but is used occasionally, and has three metres; viz. of 2, 3, and 4 feet. Specimens follow. 2 feet. Free from anxiety. 3 feet. Singing most sweetly and merrily. 4 feet. Dactylic measures are wanting in energy."—English Prosody, p. 18. Here the prosodist has made his own examples; and the last one, which unjustly impeaches all dactylics, he has made very badly—very prosaically; for the word "Dactylic," though it has three syllables, is properly no dactyl, but rather an amphibrach.

OBS. 7.—By the Rev. David Blair, this order of poetic numbers is utterly misconceived and misrepresented. He says of it, "DACTYLIC verse consists of a short syllable, with one, two, or three feet, and a long syllable; as,

'D~istr=act~ed w~ith w=oe,
'I'll r=ush ~on th~e f=oe.' ADDISON."—Blair's Pract. Gram., p. 119.

    "'Y~e sh=eph~erds s~o ch=eerf~ul ~and g=ay,
    'Wh~ose fl=ocks n~ev~er c=arel~essl~y r=oam;
    'Sh~ould C=or~yd~on's h=app~en t~o str=ay,
    'Oh! c=all th~e p=oor w=and~er~ers h=ome.' SHENSTONE."—Ib., p. 120.

It is manifest, that these lines are not dactylic at all. There is not a dactyl in them. They are composed of iambs and anapests. The order of the versification is Anapestic; but it is here varied by the very common diversification of dropping the first short syllable. The longer example is from a ballad of 216 lines, of which 99 are thus varied, and 117 are full anapestics.

OBS. 8.—The makers of school-books are quite as apt to copy blunders, as to originate them; and, when an error is once started in a grammar, as it passes with the user for good learning, no one can guess where it will stop. It seems worth while, therefore, in a work of this nature, to be liberal in the citation of such faults as have linked themselves, from time to time, with the several topics of our great subject. It is not probable, that the false scansion just criticised originated with Blair; for the Comprehensive Grammar, a British work, republished in its third edition, by Dobson, of Philadelphia, in 1789, teaches the same doctrine, thus: "Dactylic measure may consist of one, two, or three Dactyls, introduced by a feeble syllable, and terminated by a strong one; as,

To this, the author adds, "Dactylic measure becomes Anapestic by setting off an Iambic foot in the beginning of the line."—Ib. These verses, all but the last one, unquestionably have an iambic foot at the beginning; and, for that reason, they are not, and by no measurement can be, dactylics. The last one is purely anapestic. All the divisional bars, in either example, are placed wrong.

ORDER V.—COMPOSITE VERSE.

Composite verse is that which consists of various metres, or different feet, combined,—not accidentally, or promiscuously, but by design, and with some regularity. In Composite verse, of any form, the stress must be laid rhythmically, as in the simple orders, else the composition will be nothing better than unnatural prose. The possible variety of combinations in this sort of numbers is unlimited; but, the pure and simple kinds being generally preferred, any stated mixture of feet is comparatively uncommon. Certain forms which may be scanned by other methods, are susceptible also of division as Composites. Hence there cannot be an exact enumeration of the measures of this order, but instances, as they occur, may be cited to exemplify it.

Example I.—From Swift's Irish Feast.

Here the measure is tetrameter; and it seems to have been the design of the poet, that each hemistich should consist of one iamb and one anapest. Such, with a few exceptions, is the arrangement throughout the piece; but the hemistichs which have double rhyme, may each be divided into two amphibrachs. In Everett's Versification, at p. 100, the first six lines of this example are broken into twelve, and set in three stanzas, being given to exemplify "The Line of a single Anapest preceded by an Iambus," or what he improperly calls "The first and shortest species of Anapestic lines." His other instance of the same metre is also Composite verse, rather than Anapestic, even by his own showing. "In the following example," says he, "we have this measure alternating with Amphibrachic lines:"

Example II.—From Byron's Manfred.

Here the last two lines, which are not cited by Everett, are pure anapestic tetrameters; and it may be observed, that, if each two of the short lines were printed as one, the eight which are here scanned otherwise, would become four of the same sort, except that these would each begin with an iambus. Hence the specimen sounds essentially as anapestic verse.

Example III.—Woman on the Field of Battle.

   "Gentle and | lovely form,
      What didst | thou here,
    When the fierce | battle storm
      Bore down | the spear?

    Banner and | shiver'd crest,
      Beside | thee strown,
    Tell that a |-midst the best
      Thy work was done!

    Low lies the | stately head,
      Earth-bound | the free:
    How gave those | haughty dead
      A place | to thee?

    Slumb'rer! thine | early bier
      Friends should | have crown'd,
    Many a |flow'r and tear
      Shedding | around.

    Soft voices, | dear and young,
      Mingling | their swell,
    Should o'er thy | dust have sung
      Earth's last | farewell.

    Sisters a |-bove the grave
      Of thy | repose
    Should have bid | vi'lets wave
      With the | white rose.

    Now must the | trumpet's note.
      Savage | and shrill,
    For requi'm | o'er thee float,
      Thou fair | and still!

    And the swift | charger sweep,
      In full | career,
    Trampling thy | place of sleep—
      Why cam'st | thou here?

    Why?—Ask the | true heart why
      Woman | hath been
    Ever, where | brave men die,
      Unshrink |-ing seen.

    Unto this | harvest ground,
      Proud reap |-ers came,
    Some for that | stirring sound,
      A warr |-ior's name:

    Some for the | stormy play,
      And joy | of strife,
    And some to | fling away
      A wea |-ry life.

    But thou, pale | sleeper, thou,
      With the | slight frame,
    And the rich | locks, whose glow
      Death can |-not tame;

    Only one | thought, one pow'r,
     Thee could | have led,
    So through the | tempest's hour
     To lift | thy head!

    Only the | true, the strong,
     The love | whose trust
    Woman's deep | soul too long
     Pours on | the dust."

HEMANS: Poetical Works, Vol. ii, p. 157.

Here are fourteen stanzas of composite dimeter, each having two sorts of lines; the first sort consisting, with a few exceptions, of a dactyl and an amphimac; the second, mostly, of two iambs; but, in some instances, of a trochee and an iamb;—the latter being, in such a connexion, much the more harmonious and agreeable combination of quantities.

Example IV.—Airs from a "Serenata."

Air 1.

Air 2.

GAY'S POEMS: Johnson's Works of the Poets, VoL vii, p. 378.

These verses are essentially either anapestic or amphibrachic. The anapest divides two of them in the middle; the amphibrach will so divide eight. But either division will give many iambs. By the present scansion, the first foot is an iamb in all of them but the two anapestics.

Example V.—"The Last Leaf."

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—Composite verse, especially if the lines be short, is peculiarly liable to uncertainty, and diversity of scansion; and that which does not always abide by one chosen order of quantities, can scarcely be found agreeable; it must be more apt to puzzle than to please the reader. The eight stanzas of this last example, have eight lines of iambic trimeter; and, since seven times in eight, this metre holds the first place in the stanza, it is a double fault, that one such line seems strayed from its proper position. It would be better to prefix the word Now to the fourth line, and to mend the forty-third thus:—

"And should | I live | to be"—

The trissyllabic feet of this piece, as I scan it, are numerous; being the sixteen short lines of monometer, and the twenty-four initial feet of the lines of seven syllables. Every one of the forty—(except the thirty-sixth, "The last leaf"—) begins with a monosyllable which may be varied in quantity; so that, with stress laid on this monosyllable, the foot becomes an amphimac; without such stress, an anapest.

OBS. 2.—I incline to read this piece as composed of iambs and anapests; but E. A. Poe, who has commended "the effective harmony of these lines," and called the example "an excellently well conceived and well managed specimen of versification," counts many syllables long, which such a reading makes short, and he also divides all but the iambics in a way quite different from mine, thus: "Let us scan the first stanza.

This," says he, "is the general scansion of the poem. We have first three iambuses. The second line shifts the rhythm into the trochaic, giving us three trochees, with a cæsura equivalent, in this case, to a trochee. The third line is a trochee and equivalent cæsura."—POE'S NOTES UPON ENGLISH VERSE: Pioneer, p. 109. These quantities are the same as those by which the whole piece is made to consist of iambs and amphimacs.

OBS. 3.—In its rhythmical effect upon the ear, a supernumerary short syllable at the end of a line, may sometimes, perhaps, compensate for the want of such a syllable at the beginning of the next line, as may be seen in the fourth example above; but still it is unusual, and seems improper, to suppose such syllables to belong to the scansion of the subsequent line; for the division of lines, with their harmonic pauses, is greater than the division of feet, and implies that no foot can ever actually be split by it. Poe has suggested that the division into lines may be disregarded in scanning, and sometimes must be. He cites for an example the beginning of Byron's "Bride of Abydos,"—a passage which has been admired for its easy flow, and which, he says, has greatly puzzled those who have attempted to scan it. Regarding it as essentially anapestic tetrameter, yet as having some initial iambs, and the first and fifth lines dactylic, I shall here divide it accordingly, thus:—

OBS. 4.—These lines this ingenious prosodist divides not thus, but, throwing them together like prose unpunctuated, finds in them "a regular succession of dactylic rhythms, varied only at three points by equivalent spondees, and separated into two distinct divisions by equivalent terminating cæsuras." He imagines that, "By all who have ears—not over long—this will be acknowledged as the true and the sole true scansion."—E. A. Poe: Pioneer, p. 107. So it may, for aught I know; but, having dared to show there is an other way quite as simple and plain, and less objectionable, I submit both to the judgement of the reader:—

OBS. 5.—In the sum and proportion of their quantities, the anapest, the dactyl, and the amphibrach, are equal, each having two syllables short to one long; and, with two short quantities between two long ones, lines may be tolerably accordant in rhythm, though the order, at the commencement, be varied, and their number of syllables be not equal. Of the following sixteen lines, nine are pure anapestic tetrameters; one may be reckoned dactylic, but it may quite as well be said to have a trochee, an iambus, and two anapests or two amphimacs; one is a spondee and three anapests; and the rest may be scanned as amphibrachics ending with an iambus, but are more properly anapestics commencing with an iambus. Like the preceding example from Byron, they lack the uniformity of proper composites, and are rather to be regarded as anapestics irregularly diversified.

THE ALBATROSS.

"'Tis said the Albatross never rests."—Buffon.

OBS. 6.—It appears that the most noted measures of the Greek and Latin poets were not of any simple order, but either composites, or mixtures too various to be called composites. It is not to be denied, that we have much difficulty in reading them rhythmically, according to their stated feet and scansion; and so we should have, in reading our own language rhythmically, in any similar succession of feet. Noticing this in respect to the Latin Hexameter, or Heroic verse, Poe says, "Now the discrepancy in question is not observable in English metres; where the scansion coincides with the reading, so far as the rhythm is concerned—that is to say, if we pay no attention to the sense of the passage. But these facts indicate a radical difference in the genius of the two languages, as regards their capacity for modulation. In truth, * * * the Latin is a far more stately tongue than our own. It is essentially spondaic; the English is as essentially dactylic."—Pioneer, p. 110. (See the marginal note in §3d. at Obs. 22d, above.) Notwithstanding this difference, discrepance, or difficulty, whatever it may be, some of our poets have, in a few instances, attempted imitations of certain Latin metres; which imitations it may be proper briefly to notice under the present head. The Greek or Latin Hexameter line has, of course, six feet, or pulsations. According to the Prosodies, the first four of these may be either dactyls or spondees; the fifth is always, or nearly always, a dactyl; and the sixth, or last, is always a spondee: as,

Of this sort of verse, in English, somebody has framed the following very fair example:—

OBS. 7.—Of this species of versification, which may be called Mixed or Composite Hexameter, the most considerable specimen that I have seen in English, is Longfellow's Evangeline, a poem of one thousand three hundred and eighty-two of these long lines, or verses. This work has found admirers, and not a few; for, of these, nothing written by so distinguished a scholar could fail: but, surely, not many of the verses in question exhibit truly the feet of the ancient Hexameters; or, if they do, the ancients contented themselves with very imperfect rhythms, even in their noblest heroics. In short, I incline to the opinion of Poe, that, "Nothing less than the deservedly high reputation of Professor Longfellow, could have sufficed to give currency to his lines as to Greek Hexameters. In general, they are neither one thing nor another. Some few of them are dactylic verses—English dactylics. But do away with the division into lines, and the most astute critic would never have suspected them of any thing more than prose."—Pioneer, p. 111. The following are the last ten lines of the volume, with such a division into feet as the poet is presumed to have contemplated:—

OBS. 8.—An other form of verse, common to the Greeks and Romans, which has sometimes been imitated—or, rather, which some writers have attempted to imitate—in English, is the line or stanza called Sapphic, from the inventress, Sappho, a Greek poetess. The Sapphic verse, according to Fabricius, Smetius, and all good authorities, has eleven syllables, making "five feet—the first a trochee, the second a spondee, the third a dactyl, and the fourth and fifth trochees." The Sapphic stanza, or what is sometimes so called, consists of three Sapphic lines and an Adonian, or Adonic,—this last being a short line composed of "a dactyl and a spondee." Example from Horace:—

To arrange eleven syllables in a line, and have half or more of them to form trochees, is no difficult matter; but, to find rhythm in the succession of "a trochee, a spondee, and a dactyl," as we read words, seems hardly practicable. Hence few are the English Sapphics, if there be any, which abide by the foregoing formule of quantities and feet. Those which I have seen, are generally, if not in every instance, susceptible of a more natural scansion as being composed of trochees, with a dactyl, or some other foot of three syllables, at the beginning of each line. The cæsural pause falls sometimes after the fourth syllable, but more generally, and much more agreeably, after the fifth. Let the reader inspect the following example, and see if he do not agree with me in laying the accent on only the first syllable of each foot, as the feet are here divided. The accent, too, must be carefully laid. Without considerable care in the reading, the hearer will not suppose the composition to be any thing but prose:—

"THE WIDOW."—(IN "SAPPHICS.")

Among the lyric poems of Dr. Watts, is one, entitled, "THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT; an Ode attempted in English Sapphic." It is perhaps as good an example as we have of the species. It consists of nine stanzas, of which I shall here cite the first three, dividing them into feet as above:—

"These lines," says Humphrey, who had cited the first four, "are good English Sapphics, and contain the essential traits of the original as nearly as the two languages, Greek and English, correspond to each other. This stanza, together with the poem, from which this was taken, may stand for a model, in our English compositions."—Humphrey's E. Prosody, p. 19. This author erroneously supposed, that the trissyllabic foot, in any line of the Sapphic stanza, must occupy the second place: and, judging of the ancient feet and quantities by what he found, or supposed he found, in the English imitations, and not by what the ancient prosodists say of them, yet knowing that the ancient and the modern Sapphics are in several respects unlike, he presented forms of scansion for both, which are not only peculiar to himself, but not well adapted to either. "We have," says he, "no established rule for this kind of verse, in our English compositions, which has been uniformly adhered to. The rule for which, in Greek and Latin verse, as far as I can ascertain, was this: = ~ | = = = | ~ ~ |= ~ | = = a trochee, a moloss, a pyrrhic, a trochee, and [a] spondee; and sometimes, occasionally, a trochee, instead of a spondee, at the end. But as our language is not favourable to the use of the spondee and moloss, the moloss is seldom or never used in our English Sapphics; but, instead of which, some other trissyllable foot is used. Also, instead of the spondee, a trochee is commonly used; and sometimes a trochee instead of the pyrrhic, in the third place. As some prescribed rule, or model for imitation, may be necessary, in this case, I will cite a stanza from one of our best English poets, which may serve for a model.

OBS. 12.—In "the Works of George Canning," a small book published in 1829, there is a poetical dialogue of nine stanzas, entitled, "The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder," said to be "a burlesque on Mr. Southey's Sapphics." The metre appears to be near enough like to the foregoing. But these verses I divide, as I have divided the others, into trochees with initial dactyls. At the commencement, the luckier party salutes the other thus:—

OBS. 13.—Among the humorous poems of Thomas Green Fessenden, published under the sobriquet of Dr. Caustic, or "Christopher Caustic, M. D.," may be seen an other comical example of Sapphics, which extends to eleven stanzas. It describes a contra-dance, and is entitled, "Horace Surpassed." The conclusion is as follows:—

   "Willy Wagnimble dancing with Flirtilla,
    Almost as light as air-balloon inflated,
    Rigadoons around her, 'till the lady's heart is
                    Forced to surrender.

    Benny Bamboozle cuts the drollest capers,
    Just like a camel, or a hippopot'mus;
    Jolly Jack Jumble makes as big a rout as
                    Forty Dutch horses.

    See Angelina lead the mazy dance down;
    Never did fairy trip it so fantastic;
    How my heart flutters, while my tongue pronounces,
                    'Sweet little seraph!'

    Such are the joys that flow from contra-dancing,
    Pure as the primal happiness of Eden,
    Love, mirth, and music, kindle in accordance
                    Raptures extatic."—Poems, p. 208.

SECTION V.—ORAL EXERCISES.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE PROSODY, OR ERRORS OF METRE.

LESSON I.—RESTORE THE RHYTHM.

"The lion is laid down in his lair."—O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 134.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the word "lion," here put for Cowper's word "beast" destroys the metre, and changes the line to prose. But, according to the definition given on p. 827, "Verse, in opposition to prose, is language arranged into metrical lines of some determinate length and rhythm—language so ordered as to produce harmony by a due succession of poetic feet." This line was composed of one iamb and two anapests; and, to such form, it should be restored, thus: "The beast is laid down in his lair."—Cowper's Poems, Vol. i, p. 201.]

"Where is thy true treasure? Gold says, not in me."
—Hallock's Gram., 1842, p. 66.

"Canst thou grow sad, thou sayest, as earth grows bright?"
—Frazee's Gram., 1845, p. 140.

"It must be so, Plato, thou reasonest well."
—Wells's Gram., 1846, p. 122.

"Slow rises merit, when by poverty depressed."
—Ib., p. 195; Hiley, 132; Hart, 179.

"Rapt in future times, the bard begun."
—Wells's Gram., 1846, p. 153.

   "Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
    To wash it white as snow? Whereunto serves mercy,
    But to confront the visage of offence!"
        —Hallock's Gram., 1842, p. 118.

"Look! in this place ran Cassius's dagger through."
—Kames, El. of Cr., Vol. i, p. 74.

    "——When they list their lean and flashy songs,
    Harsh grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw."
        —Jamieson's Rhet., p. 135.

"Did not great Julius bleed for justice's sake?"
—Dodd's Beauties of Shak., p. 253.

"Did not great Julius bleed for justice sake?"
—Singer's Shakspeare, Vol. ii, p. 266.

"May I, unblam'd, express thee? Since God is light."
—O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 290.

"Or hearest thou, rather, pure ethereal stream!"
—2d Perversion, ib.

    "Republics; kingdoms; empires, may decay;
    Princes, heroes, sages, sink to nought."
        —O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 287.

    "Thou bringest, gay creature as thou art,
    A solemn image to my heart."
        —E. J. Hallock's Gram., p. 197.

    "Know thyself presume not God to scan;
    The proper study of mankind is Man."
        —O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 285.

"Raised on a hundred pilasters of gold."
—Charlemagne, C. i, St. 40.

"Love in Adalgise's breast has fixed his sting."
—Ib., C. i, St. 30.

    "Thirty days hath September,
    April, June, and November,
    February twenty-eight alone,
    All the rest thirty and one."
        Colet's Grammar, or Paul's Accidence. Lond., 1793, p. 75.

LESSON II.—RESTORE THE RHYTHM.

   "'Twas not the fame of what he once had been,
    Or tales in old records and annals seen."
        —Rowe's Lucan, B. i, l. 274.

    "And Asia now and Afric are explor'd,
    For high-priced dainties, and citron board."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. i, l. 311.

    "Who knows not, how the trembling judge beheld
    The peaceful court with arm'd legions fill'd?"
        —Eng. Poets; ib., B. i, l. 578.

    "With thee the Scythian wilds we'll wander o'er,
    With thee burning Libyan sands explore."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. i, l. 661.

    "Hasty and headlong different paths they tread,
    As blind impulse and wild distraction lead."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. i, l. 858.

    "But Fate reserv'd to perform its doom,
    And be the minister of wrath to Rome."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 136.

    "Thus spoke the youth. When Cato thus exprest
    The sacred counsels of his most inmost breast."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 435.

    "These were the strict manners of the man,
    And this the stubborn course in which they ran;
    The golden mean unchanging to pursue,
    Constant to keep the proposed end in view."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 580.

    "What greater grief can a Roman seize,
    Than to be forc'd to live on terms like these!"
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 782.

    "He views the naked town with joyful eyes,
    While from his rage an arm'd people flies."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 880.

    "For planks and beams he ravages the wood,
    And the tough bottom extends across the flood."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 1040.

    "A narrow pass the horned mole divides,
    Narrow as that where Euripus' strong tides
    Beat on Euboean Chalcis' rocky sides."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 1095.

    "No force, no fears their hands unarm'd bear,
    But looks of peace and gentleness they wear."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. iii, l. 112.

    "The ready warriors all aboard them ride,
    And wait the return of the retiring tide."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. iv, l. 716.

    "He saw those troops that long had faithful stood,
    Friends to his cause, and enemies to good,
    Grown weary of their chief, and satiated with blood."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. v, l. 337.

CHAPTER V.—QUESTIONS.

ORDER OF REHEARSAL, AND METHOD OF EXAMINATION.

PART FOURTH, PROSODY.

[Fist][The following questions call the attention of the student to the main doctrines in the foregoing code of Prosody, and embrace or demand those facts which it is most important for him to fix in his memory; they may, therefore, serve not only to aid the teacher in the process of examining his classes, but also to direct the learner in his manner of preparation for recital.]

LESSON I.—OF PUNCTUATION.

1. Of what does Prosody treat? 2. What is Punctuation? 3. What are the principal points, or marks? 4. What pauses are denoted by the first four points? 5. What pauses are required by the other four? 6. What is the general use of the Comma? 7. How many rules for the Comma are there, and what are their heads? 8. What says Rule 1st of Simple Sentences? 9. What says Rule 2d of Simple Members? 10. What says Rule 3d of More than Two Words? 11. What says Rule 4th of Only Two Words? 12. What says Rule 5th of Words in Pairs? 13. What says Rule 6th of Words put Absolute? 14. What says Rule 7th of Words in Apposition? 15. What says Rule 8th of Adjectives? 16. What says Rule 9th of Finite Verbs? 17. What says Rule 10th of Infinitives? 18. What says Rule 11th of Participles? 19. What says Rule 12th of Adverbs? 20. What says Rule 13th of Conjunctions? 21. What says Rule 14th of Prepositions? 22. What says Rule 15th of Interjections? 23. What says Rule 16th of Words Repeated? 24. What says Rule 17th of Dependent Quotations?

LESSON II.—OF THE COMMA.

1. How many exceptions, or forms of exception, are there to Rule 1st for the comma? 2.—to Rule 2d? 3.—to Rule 3d? 4.—to Rule 4th? 5.—to Rule 5th? 6.—to Rule 6th? 7.—to Rule 7th? 8.—to Rule 8th? 9.—to Rule 9th? 10.—to Rule 10th? 11.—to Rule 11th? 12.—to Rule 12th? 13.—to Rule 13th? 14.—to Rule 14th? 15.—to Rule 15th? 16.—to Rule 16th? 17.—to Rule 17th? 18. What says the Exception to Rule 1st of a Long Simple Sentence? 19. What says Exception 1st to Rule 2d of Restrictive Relatives? 20. What says Exception 2d to Rule 2d of Short Terms closely Connected? 21. What says Exception 3d to Rule 2d of Elliptical Members United? 22. What says Exception 1st to Rule 4th of Two Words with Adjuncts? 23. What says Exception 2d to Rule 4th of Two Terms Contrasted? 24. What says Exception 3d to Rule 4th of a mere Alternative of Words? 25. What says Exception 4th to Rule 4th of Conjunctions Understood?

LESSON III.—OF THE COMMA.

1. What rule speaks of the separation of Words in Apposition? 2. What says Exception 1st to Rule 7th of Complex Names? 3. What says Exception 2d to Rule 7th of Close Apposition? 4. What says Exception 3d to Rule 7th of a Pronoun without a Pause? 5. What says Exception 4th to Rule 7th of Names Acquired? 6. What says the Exception to Rule 8th of Adjectives Restrictive? 7. What is the rule which speaks of a finite Verb Understood? 8. What says the Exception to Rule 9th of a Very Slight Pause? 9. What is the Rule for the pointing of Participles? 10. What says the Exception to Rule 11th of Participles Restrictive?

[Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules given, some or all of the various examples of False Punctuation, which are arranged under the rules for the Comma in Section First.]

LESSON IV.—OF THE SEMICOLON.

1. What is the general use of the Semicolon? 2. How many rules are there for the Semicolon? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of Complex Members? 5. What says Rule 2d of Simple Members? 6. What says Rule 3d of Apposition, &c.?

LESSON V.—OF THE COLON.

1. What is the general use of the Colon? 2. How many rules are there for the Colon? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of Additional Remarks? 5. What says Rule 2d of Greater Pauses? 6. What says Rule 3d of Independent Quotations?

LESSON VI.—OF THE PERIOD.

1. What is the general use of the Period? 2. How many rules are there for the Period? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of Distinct Sentences? 5. What says Rule 2d of Allied Sentences? 6. What says Rule 3d of Abbreviations?

LESSON VII.—OF THE DASH.

1. What is the general use of the Dash? 2. How many rules are there for the
Dash? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of Abrupt Pauses? 5.
What says Rule 2d of Emphatic Pauses? 6. What says Rule 3d of Faulty
Dashes?

LESSON VIII.—OF THE EROTEME.

1. What is the use of the Eroteme, or Note of Interrogation? 2. How many rules are there for this mark? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of Questions Direct? 5. What says Rule 2d of Questions United? 6. What says Rule 3d of Questions Indirect?

LESSON IX—OF THE ECPHONEME.

1. What is the use of the Ecphoneme, or Note of Exclamation? 2. How many rules are there for this mark? 2. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of Interjections? 5. What says Rule 2d of Invocations? 6. What says Rule 3d of Exclamatory Questions?

LESSON X.—OF THE CURVES.

1. What is the use of the Curves, or Marks of Parenthesis? 2. How many rules are there for the Curves? 3. What are their titles, or heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of the Parenthesis? 5. What says Rule 2d of Included Points?

LESSON XI.—OF THE OTHER MARKS.

1. What is the use of the Apostrophe? 2. What is the use of the Hyphen? 3. What is the use of the Diæresis, or Dialysis? 4. What is the use of the Acute Accent? 5. What is the use of the Grave Accent? 6. What is the use of the Circumflex? 7. What is the use of the Breve, or Stenotone? 8. What is the use of the Macron, or Macrotone? 9. What is the use of the Ellipsis, or Suppression? 10. What is the use of the Caret? 11. What is the use of the Brace? 12. What is the use of the Section? 13. What is the use of the Paragraph? 14. What is the use of the Guillemets, or Quotation Points? 15. How do we mark a quotation within a quotation? 16. What is the use of the Crotchets, or Brackets? 17. What is the use of the Index, or Hand? 18. What are the six Marks of Reference in their usual order? 19. How can references be otherwise made? 20. What is the use of the Asterism, or the Three Stars? 21. What is the use of the Cedilla?

[Having correctly answered the foregoing questions, the pupil should be taught to apply the principles of punctuation; and, for this purpose, he may be required to read a portion of some accurately pointed book, or may be directed to turn to the Fourteenth Praxis, beginning on p. 821,—and to assign a reason for every mark he finds.]

LESSON XII.—OF UTTERANCE.

1. What is Utterance? 2. What does it include? 3. What is articulation? 4. How does articulation differ from pronunciation? 5. How does Comstock define it? 6. What, in his view, is a good articulation? 7. How does Bolles define articulation? 8. Is a good articulation important? 9. What are the faults opposite to it? 10. What says Sheridan, of a good articulation? 11. Upon what does distinctness depend? 13. Why is just articulation better than mere loudness? 13. Do we learn to articulate in learning to speak or read?

LESSON XIII.—OF PRONUNCIATION.

1. What is pronunciation? 2. What is it that is called Orthoëpy? 3. What knowledge does pronunciation require? 4. What are the just powers of the letters? 5. How are these learned? 6. Are the just powers of the letters in any degree variable? 7. What is quantity? 8. Are all long syllables equally long, and all short ones equally short? 9. What has stress of voice to do with quantity? 10. What is accent? 11. Is every word accented? 12. Do we ever lay two equal accents on one word? 13. Have we more than one sort of accent? 14. Can any word have the secondary accent, and not the primary? 15. Can monosyllables have either? 16. What regulates accent? 17. What four things distinguish the elegant speaker?

LESSON XIV.—OF ELOCUTION.

1. What is elocution? 2. What does elocution require? 3. What is emphasis? 4. What comparative view is taken of accent and emphasis? 5. How does L. Murray connect emphasis with quantity? 6. Does emphasis ever affect accent? 7. What is the guide to a right emphasis? 8. Can one read with too many emphases? 9. What are pauses? 10. How many and what kinds of pauses are there? 11. What is said of the duration of pauses, and the taking of breath? 12. After what manner should pauses be made? 13. What pauses are particularly ungraceful? 14. What is said of rhetorical pauses? 15. How are the harmonic pauses divided? 16. Are such pauses essential to verse?

LESSON XV.—OF ELOCUTION.

17. What are inflections? 18. What is called the rising or upward inflection? 19. What is called the falling or downward inflection? 20. How are these inflections exemplified? 21. How are they used in asking questions? 22. What is said of the notation of them? 23. What constitutes a circumflex? 24. What constitutes the rising, and what the falling, circumflex? 25. Can you give examples? 26. What constitutes a monotone, in elocution? 27. Which kind of inflection is said to be most common? 28. Which is the best adapted to strong emphasis? 29. What says Comstock of rules for inflections? 30. Is the voice to be varied for variety's sake? 31. What should regulate the inflections? 32. What is cadence? 33. What says Rippingham about it? 34. What says Murray? 35. What are tones? 36. Why do they deserve particular attention? 37. What says Blair about tones? 38. What says Hiley?

LESSON XVI.—OF FIGURES.

1. What is a Figure in grammar? 2. How many kinds of figures are there? 3. What is a figure of orthography? 4. What are the principal figures of orthography? 5. What is Mimesis? 6. What is an Archaism? 7. What is a figure of etymology? 8. How many and what are the figures of etymology? 9. What is Aphæresis? 10. What is Prosthesis? 11. What is Syncope? 12. What is Apocope? 13. What is Paragoge? 14. What is Diæresis? 15. What is Synæresis? 16. What is Tmesis? 17. What is a figure of syntax? 18. How many and what are the figures of syntax? 19. What is Ellipsis, in grammar? 20. Are sentences often elliptical? 21. What parts of speech can be omitted, by ellipsis? 22. What is Pleonasm? 23. When is this figure allowable? 24. What is Syllepsis? 25. What is Enallage? 26. What is Hyperbaton? 27. What is said of this figure?

LESSON XVII.—OF FIGURES.

28. What is a figure of rhetoric? 29. What peculiar name have some of these? 30. Do figures of rhetoric often occur? 31. On what are they founded? 32. How many and what are the principal figures of rhetoric? 33. What is a Simile? 34. What is a Metaphor? 35. What is an Allegory? 36. What is a Metonymy? 37. What is Synecdoche? 38. What is Hyperbole? 39. What is Vision? 40. What is Apostrophe? 41. What is Personification? 42. What is Erotesis? 43. What is Ecphonesis? 44. What is Antithesis? 45. What is Climax? 46. What is Irony? 47. What is Apophasis, or Paralipsis? 48. What is Onomatopoeia?

The Grammar of English Grammars

About This Book

MEASURE VIII.—DACTYLIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER.

OBSERVATIONS.

"ADDRESS TO THE SKYLARK."

"THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS."—BY THOMAS HOOD.

LAMENT OF ADAM.

ORDER V.—COMPOSITE VERSE.

OBSERVATIONS.

THE ALBATROSS.

"THE WIDOW."—(IN "SAPPHICS.")

SECTION V.—ORAL EXERCISES.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE PROSODY, OR ERRORS OF METRE.

LESSON I.—RESTORE THE RHYTHM.

LESSON II.—RESTORE THE RHYTHM.

CHAPTER V.—QUESTIONS.

ORDER OF REHEARSAL, AND METHOD OF EXAMINATION.

PART FOURTH, PROSODY.

LESSON I.—OF PUNCTUATION.

LESSON II.—OF THE COMMA.

LESSON III.—OF THE COMMA.

LESSON IV.—OF THE SEMICOLON.

LESSON V.—OF THE COLON.

LESSON VI.—OF THE PERIOD.

LESSON VII.—OF THE DASH.

LESSON VIII.—OF THE EROTEME.

LESSON IX—OF THE ECPHONEME.

LESSON X.—OF THE CURVES.

LESSON XI.—OF THE OTHER MARKS.

LESSON XII.—OF UTTERANCE.

LESSON XIII.—OF PRONUNCIATION.

LESSON XIV.—OF ELOCUTION.

LESSON XV.—OF ELOCUTION.

LESSON XVI.—OF FIGURES.

LESSON XVII.—OF FIGURES.