the same word; therefore we cannot have úrgéncy. Again, three unaccented syllables cannot come together; and therefore if úrgency is followed in metre by an unaccented syllable, there must be an accent on the y. In trisyllabic metre, a dactyl—e.g., merrily—would be followed by an accented syllable: — Merrily, merrily, shall I live nów, Únder the blossom that hangs on the bough; The Tempest. and therefore the poetic accent on -y would not be required. But in dissyllabic metre, the accent on -y is necessary if the word is fully pronounced, as in Full merrily the humble bée doth síng. Troilus and Cressida. The same accent is allowed in dissyllabic metre when the word comes at the end of the line: Good gentlemén, look fresh and mérrilý. Julius Cæsar. (ii.) Monosyllables. Again the same rule holds good. All monosyllables are, in themselves, for the purposes of metre, neutral, and can be used either with or without the Metrical Accent. (See 112.) But since three unaccented syllables cannot come together, any monosyllable, however unemphatic, that comes between two unaccented monosyllables, must receive a Metrical Accent in dissyllabic metre. Examples are very common in all poets: That heals the wound and cùres not the disgráce. 1 MILTON. With joy and love triúmphìng 1 ánd fàir truth. Ib. The examples above quoted bring out another rule: when two emphatic monosyllables come together, and one of them receives the metrical accent, the other may be without the metrical accent. Thus quick, rent, first, man, fair, in the above examples, are all emphatic, more emphatic certainly than the, and, a, which receive the metrical accent; but since quick precedes a metrically accented monosyllable, quick is allowed to remain unaccented. It will be noticed that in all these instances an unemphatic accent is followed by an emphatic non-accented syllable. This sequence, so common in our best poets, seems not to be mere accident. The lightness of the unemphatic accent is perhaps compensated by the length and emphasis of the following unaccented syllable. By a rule similar to the above, one or two emphatic syllables in trisyllabic metre are left unaccented after a Metrical Accent: The winds play no longer and sing in the leaves. COWPER.2 1 Milton thus accents the word, not triumphing. 2 See page 216, note. 102. Pope's Use of the Unemphatic Accent. The accent falls more easily on an unemphatic monosyllable when the syllable preceding it is still less emphatic. Now when the last syllable of a polysyllable is unaccented, it is likely to be less emphatic than a monosyllable. For example, the -ing in trembling and the -ure in pleasure are less emphatic than you, he, do, of, to, etc. Hence, where the metre is strict, as in Pope, the unemphatic accent on a monosyllable follows most pleasingly after a polysyllable. Thus the foot is cut into two parts belonging to different words. This cutting is called cœsura; and cæsura is very common in Pope before an unemphatic accent on a monosyllable :· : Often, though a monosyllable precedes, it is so closely connected with some other word as really to form a kind of compound polysyllable: Offend-her, and she knows not to forgive; Oblige-her, and she 'll hate you while you live. POPE. Where there is no cæsura, the accent often begins the verse in Pope: : (a) Love, free as air, at sight of human ties, Spreads his light wings and in a moment flies. (d) Health to himself, and to his infants bread. (e) Paints as you plánt, and, as you work, designs. We may safely assert that Pope would not have written such a line as The lone couch of his everlasting sleep. SHELLEY. 103. Dubious Monosyllabic Accent. In the five cases last quoted, the accent of the monosyllable is doubtful, for it is uncertain whether and to, at a, and as are iambics or trochees. It will be seen (129, 138) that in dissyllabic metre a trochee can be substituted for an iamb, not only at the beginning of a verse, but also in the middle of the verse after The use of the trochee in the middle of the verse is not so common in Pope as in Shakspeare and Milton; but as all the five lines above quoted1 begin unquestionably with a trochee, it seems as though the initial trochee in the examples of the last paragraph was intended to prepare the way for a 1 Paragraph 102 (a), (b), (c), (d), (e). following trochee. On that supposition the accent will be placed on the first syllable in each of the five examples; e.g., and to, not and tó. 104. The Third Accent often unemphatic in Pope.Partly the recurrence of the unemphatic accent in the same position, and partly the almost invariable cæsura, give to many passages in Pope the effect of a metre altogether distinct from that of other writers: Foot. 2 3 3 How happy is the blameless vestal's lot, 3 Each prayer accepted and each wish resigned; 3 Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep. 3 Grace shines around-her with serenest beams, And whispering angels prompt her golden dreams. 105. The use of Unemphatic Accents is to break the monotony which would beset a long continuous poem in the five-accent iambic metre, written with the regular incisiveness which characterizes the rhyming couplet. Hence Mr. Morris, who uses the rhyming couplet in his "Life and Death of Jason," and in some other poems, avoiding the usual effect of the metre, introduces the unemphatic accent very freely, together with long and emphatic unaccented monosyllables: (a) Upon the floor the fresh-plucked róses fall. (b) In hót chase of the honey-lóving beast. (c) That ín white clíffs rose úp on the right hand. |