In blank verse it is an important general rule that each line shall close with an important word, e. g.:

What though the field be lost,
All is not lost; the unconquerable will
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield,
And what is also not to be overcome;
That glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me.

Paradise Lost.

LESSON CLXVII.

PRELIMINARIES TO VERSIFICATION.

1. The easiest preliminary is to scan various kinds of verse, and to render the measures of each familiar to the mind.

It will be best to confine the attention at first to one kind, the Iambic measures, as being those in most common use. The Heroic is adapted to every kind of subject, and is fitted equally for rhyme or blank verse.

2. Another preliminary, is that of arranging words in proper order to meet the conditions of certain kinds of verse, without regard to the sense of the passage. These are called nonsense verses. Example:

Heroic verse.

Their robes obsequious at their wholesome fare,
O'er hill supply their beds and cheerful cups.

3. Another useful preliminary, is the providing of epithets suitable to any words that may be assigned, as they constitute so important a feature in every good description.

An epithet (descriptive of the qualities or properties of any object) consists either of single words, as gloomy cavern, extended plain; or of compound words, such as half-filled vase, whitewashed room, laughter-loving nymph, meek-eyed moon, headstrong passion, &c.

If passion were the word, such epithets as the following might be selected as applicable: strong, impetuous, boiling, ardent, vehement, ungovernable, irregular, boisterous, horrid, gloomy, sad, morose, implacable, dreadful, severe, secret, blind, flaming, unbridled, unruly, cruel, untunable, headstrong, &c., &c.

Much of the beauty of descriptive poetry depends on a right choice of epithets, and hence good care should be observed in the use of them. They should not be mere expletives, to fill out a line or to make the rhyme correspond. Every epithet should either add a new idea to the word it qualifies, or at least serve to elevate its known signification.

General epithets, that leave the signification of the word undetermined, and are become trite and hackneyed in poetical language, are not to be used. They may indeed raise the style above that of prose, but they fail to illustrate and make prominent and impressive the object described. On the other hand, it is in the power of a man of genius, by one well-chosen epithet to execute a description, and by means of a single word to paint an entire scene to the imagination. The best descriptions are simple and concise; they give us ideas which a painter or statuary could work after; and this is the best test of merit in any description.

LESSON CLXVIII.

PRELIMINARIES TO VERSIFICATION.

4. Another preliminary is the finding of rhymes to correspond with words prescribed, of which, for this purpose, the teacher may give out a list—an exercise to be often repeated, until considerable facility shall be acquired. To those who intend to make versification a pursuit and a practice, such a work as "Walker's Rhyming Dictionary" would prove a great saving of time and labor.

(1.) Thus if the word assigned were blame, the following are among those which rhyme with it: came, dame, same, game, name, tame, frame, shame, inflame, became, overcame, defame, misname, &c.

Perfect rhymes are, aim, claim, maim, acclaim, declaim, exclaim, proclaim, reclaim. Admissible rhymes are, dam, ham, clam, sham, dram, &c.; hem, them, phlegm, &c.; theme, scheme, ream, dream, gleam, &c.

(2.) Find rhymes, perfect and imperfect, for the following words: Lakes, lands, voice, rapture, soar, hour, sing, cloud, knew, bathe, lays, bend, fear, adore, forgiven, born, complain, day, reign, led, rage, horn, heap, returr, lyre, poor, lust, care, &c., &c.

5. Change the words in italics and substitute others that will form rhymes and give the same sense.

Now I gain the mountain's summit,
What a landscape lies below!
No clouds, no vapors intervene,
But the gay, the open view
Does the face of nature show,
In all the hues of heaven's arch;
And, swelling to embrace the light,
Spreads around beneath the prospect.
Old castles on the cliffs arise,
Proudly towering in the heavens!
Rushing from the woods, the spires
Seem from hence ascending flames!
Half his beams Apollo pours
On the yellow mountain heads!
Gilds the fleeces of the sheep
And glitters on the broken rocks!

Below me trees unnumber'd rise,
Beautiful in various colors:
The gloomy pine, the poplar blue,
The yellow beach, the sable yew,
The slender fir that taper grows,

The sturdy oak with broad-spread branches ;
And beyond the purple forest,

Haunt of Phillis, queen of love!
Gaudy as the opening morning,

Lies a long and level lawn,

On which a dark hill, steep and elevated,
Holds and charms the wondering eye!

I hate that drum's discordant noise,
Parading round and round and round:
To thoughtless youth it pleasure gives,
And lures from cities and from fields,
To sell their liberty for charms
Of tawdry lace and glittering weapons;
And when Ambition's voice enjoins,

To march, and fight, and fall in foreign lands.

I hate that drum's discordant din,

Parading round and round and round;

To me it talks of ravaged plains,

And burning towns, and ruined rustics,
And mangled limbs and dying groans,
And widows' tears, and orphans' sobs,
And all that misery's hand confers

To fill the catalogue of human woes.

The multiplication of exercises of this kind would greatly assist in preparing one to write original verses in rhyme. Teachers will find no difficulty in preparing the exercise as above indicated.

LESSON CLXIX.

VERSIFICATION (CONTINUED).

6. Another preliminary to Versification, is the adjustment of lines to the demands of verse, the words of which have been disarranged. The words must be restored to such order as the measure, or the rhyme also, may require. (1.) Replace the words in the following lines so as to conform to the rhymes peculiar to the Sonnet:

When I roved last these green winding wood-walks,
Shady sweet pathways and green winding walks,
Anna would oft-times seek the silent scene,

In the lone retreat her beauties shrouding.
I hear no more in the shade her footsteps;
Only her image in these pleasant ways
Me self-wandering meets, where in happier days
With the fair-haired maid I free converse held.
The little cottage which she loved I pass'd,
The cottage which did once my all contain;

Of days it spake which come again must ne'er

To my heart spake, and my heart was moved much.
"Gentle maid, now fair befall thee," said I,

And turned me from the cottage with a sigh.

To prepare the way for performing the exercise just given, it may be necessary to anticipate what was intended for another chapter, and describe the SONNET, of which an example is furnished above.

It is a composition of fourteen lines of the same length. These lines are Iambic, of eleven syllables each, and divided into two divisions, the first embracing the first eight lines, which contain but two rhymes; the second division is subdivided into two parts, of three lines each, containing two inore rhymes. The rhymes in these parts, however, are not uniformly governed by the same rules. The best arrangement is where the first line rhymes with the fourth, the fifth, and the eighth: and the second rhymes with the third, sixth, and seventh.

Another approved arrangement is this: rhymes are formed in respect to the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth; the second and third; the sixth and seventh; the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth; and the tenth, twelfth, and fourteenth.

In the above example, the rhymes do not exactly conform to either of the arrangements just described.

(2.) Put the words of the following verses in their proper places, so as to conform to the principles of the Iambic Tetrameter:

Night closed the conqueror's way around,
And lightnings show'd the distant hill
Where those that dreadful day who lost
Stood, faint and few, but still fearless!
The patriot's zeal, the soldier's hope,
Dimm'd forever, and forever cross'd-
Oh! who what heroes feel shall say,
When all's lost but life and honor!

Of freedom's dream the sad last hour,
And slowly by moved valor's task,
While they watch'd mute till morning's beam
And give them light to die should rise !—
There is a world where souls are free,

Where tyrants nature's bliss taint not;
If death be that world's bright opening,
Oh! who in this would live a slave?

(3.) Place in right order the words of the following Spenserian Stanza :

All earth are still and heaven-though not in sleep,
But as when feeling most breathless we grow;
And as we stand silent too deep in thoughts :-
Still we are all earth and heaven: from the high host
To the lull'd lake of stars and mountain coast,
All concentred is in a life intense,