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What place is here!
What scenes appear!
To me the rose

No longer glows.

It sometimes takes, or it may take, an additional short syllable; as,
Ŏpōn ǎ mountain,

Beside a fountain.

Ex. 3.-The third form consists of three Iambuses.

In places far or near,

Or famous or obscure,

Where wholesome is the air,

Or where the most impure.

It sometimes admits of an additional short syllable; as,

Our hearts no longer languish.

Ex. 4.-The fourth form is made up of four Iambuses.

And may at last my weary age,

Find out the peaceful hermitage.

Ex. 5.-The fifth species of Iambic consists of five Iambuses; and is called Iambic Pentameter.

How loved, how valŭed once, ǎvails thee not,

To whom related, or by whom begot:

A heap of dust alone remains of thee;

'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.

Bě wise to-day, 'tīs mādness tō děfer;
Next day the fatal precedent will plead;
Thus on, till wisdom is push'd out of life.

This is called the heroic measure. In its simplest form it consists of five Iambuses; but by the admission of other feet, as Trochees, Dactyles, Anapæsts, &c., it is capable of many varieties. Indeed, most of the English common measures may be varied in the same way, as well as by the different position of their pauses.

Ex. 6. The sixth form of Iambic, is commonly called the Alexandrine measure. It consists of six Iambuses.

For thou art būt of düst: bě humble and be wise.

The Alexandrine is sometimes introduced into heroic rhyme; and when used sparingly, and with judgment, occasions an agreeable variety.

The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his saving power remains:

Thy realm forever lasts, thy oron Messiah reigns.

Ex. 7.-The seventh and last form of Iambic measure, is made up of seven Iambuses.

The Lord descended from ăbove, ănd bōw'd the heavens high.

This was anciently written in one line; but it is now broken into two, the first containing four feet, and the second three.

When all thy mercies, O my God!
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I'm lost
In wonder, love, and praise.

The stanza last given, is called common metre, or measure. When the verse (line) contains four iambuses, it is called long metre; but short metre when it has three iambuses in the first, second, and fourth verses, and four iambuses in the third.

In all these measures the accent or stress falls on the even syllables (second, fourth, &c.); and every line, considered by itself, is, for most part, melodious in proportion to the strictness of the ob servance of this rule.

In short, the wrong location of the accent is a great fault in versification. The words should be so disposed as to create a certain melody in the ear, without labor to the tongue in pronunciation, or violence to the sense.

The Elegiac form of verse consists of four heroic lines, rhyming alternately; as that of Gray:

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,

The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

The Spenserian stanza contains eight lines in heroic measure, followed by an Alexandrine line. The first and third lines rhyme with each other; the second, fourth, fifth, and seventh; the sixth, eighth, and ninth. It is the stanza in which Spenser wrote his great poem, "The Faery Queen." Beattie's "Minstrel" is written in the same measure, from which is extracted the following stanza:

Oft when the winter-storm had ceased to rave,
He roam'd the snowy waste at even, to view
The cloud stupendous, from the Atlantic wave
High towering, sail along the horizon blue;

When, 'midst the changeful scenery ever new,
Fancy a thousand wondrous forms descries,
More wildly great than ever pencil drew;

Rocks, torrents, gulfs, and shapes of giant size,

And glittering cliffs on cliffs, and fiery ramparts rise."

Trochaic verse is of several kinds.

Ex. 1.-The shortest Trochaic verse consists of one Trochee and a long syllable.

Tümǎlt cease,

Sink to peace.

This measure is defective in dignity, and can seldom be used on serious

occasions.

Ex. 2.-The second form of the Trochaic consists of two feet; and is likewise so brief, that it is rarely used for any very serious purpose.

Ōn the mountain,
By a fountain.

It sometimes contains two feet or trochees, with an additional long syllable; as,

In the days of ōld,
Fables plainly told.

Ex. 8.-The third species consists of three trochees; as,

When our hearts ǎre mōurning;

or of three trochees, with an additional long syllable; as,

Restless mõrtǎls tõil för nånght;

Bliss in vain from earth is sought;
Bliss, a native of the sky,

Never wanders. Mortals, try;

There you cannot seek in vain,

For to seek her is to gain.

Ex. 4.-The fourth Trochaic species consists of four trochees; as,

Round us rōars the tempest lõudĕr.

This form may take an additional long syllable, as follows:

Idle after dinner in his chair,

Sat a farmer, ruddy, fat, and fair.

But this measure is very uncommon.

Ex. 5.-The fifth Trochaic species is likewise uncommon. It is oumposed

of five tro chees.

All that walk on foot or ride in chariots,

All that dwell in palaces and garrets.

Ex. 6.-The sixth Trochaic form consists of six trochees; as,

Ōn ă mountăin, stretch'd bĕneãth ǎ hōary willow,

Lay a shepherd swain, and view'd the rolling billow.

This seems to be the longest Trochaic line that our language admits. In all these Trochaic measures, the accent is to be placed on the odd syllables.

The Dactylic verse being very uncommon, we shall give only one example of one species of it:

From the low pleasures of this fallen nåtăre,

Rise we to higher, &c.

Anapastic verses are divided into several species.

Ex 1.-The shortest anapæstic verse must be a single anapæst; as,

But in vain,

They complain.

This measure is, however, ambiguous; for, by laying the stress of the voice on the first and third syllables, we might make it a trochaic. And therefore the first and simplest form of our genuine Anapastic verse is made up of two Anapasts; as,

But his courage 'găn fail,

For no arts could avail.

This form admits of an additional short syllable:

Then his courǎge 'găn fail him,

For no arts could avail him.

Ex. 2.-The second species consists of three Anapests

Ŏ ye woods, spread your branches ǎpāce;

To your deepest recesses I fly;

I would hide with the beasts of the chase;

I would vanish from every eye.

This is a very pleasing measure, and much used, both in solemn and cheerful subjects.

Ex. 3.-The third kind of the English Anapæstic consists of four Anapæsts.

May I gōvěrn my passions with absŏlüte sway;

And grow wiser and better as life wears away.

This measure will admit of a short syllable at the end; as,

Ŏn the warm cheek of youth, smiles and rōses are blending.

Poetry is varied and improved, by the admission of secondary feet into its composition; for example:

Mármuring, and with him fled the shades of night.

The first foot here is a Dactyle; the rest are Iambics.

O'er mány ǎ frōzen, mány a fiery Alp.

This line contains three Amphibrachs mixed with Iambics.
Innůměrǎble before th' Almighty's throne.

Here, in the second foot, we find a Tribach.

See the bold youth stráin up the threat'ning steep.

In this line, the first foot is a Trochee; the second, a genuine Spondee by quantity; the third, a Spondee by accent.

5. In the following line, the first foot is a Pyrrhic, the second a Sponde. Thăt on weak wings from far pursues your flight.

LESSON CLXI.

POETICAL PAUSES.

There should be a pause at the close of every line, even where no pause is required by the sense. The pause for sense, or cæsural pause, is at, or not far from, the middle of the verse, and is naturally made by the voice in a correct reading of the verse. If it always occurred in the same place, monotony would be the result.

It is a distinguishing advantage of English verse, that it allows the pause to be varied through four different syllables in the line.

The pause may fall after the 4th, the 5th, the 6th, or the 7th syllables; and according as the pause is placed after one or other of these syllables the melody of the verse is much changed, its air and cadence are diversified. By this means, uncommon richness and variety are added to verse.

When the pause falls earliest, that is, after the fourth syllable, the briskest melody is thereby formed, and the most spirited air given to the line.

EXAMPLE.-In the following lines of the Rape of the Lock, Mr. Pope has, with exquisite propriety, suited the construction of the verse to the subject:

On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore
Which Jews might kiss | and infidels adore ⚫
Her lively looks | a sprightly mind disclose,
Quick as her eyes and as unfix'd as those;

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