Pare Iambics, 63, 70
Iambics, with examples of Syn-
aeresis, 73, 75
Iambics, with a Mixture of dif-
ferent Feet, 76, 83
Exercises in Versification.
Iambics, with examples of Syn-
aeresis, 73, 75
Iambics, with a Mixture of dif-
ferent Feet, 76, 83
Exercises in Versification.
Carey - Practice English Prosody Exercises
Indeed every person, whether
poet or not, who has received any tolerable educa-
tion, and pretends to write decent prose, ought like-
wise to be qualified for the occasional production of
a few verses, smooth, at least, and metrically correct,
whatever may be their merit or demerit in other re-
spects.
That the practice of versification materially im-
proves the style for prose composition, there cannot
be a doubt. The ear which is acutely sensible to
the harmonies of verse, will naturally revolt against
inharmonious harshness in prose ; and the pains, be-
stowed in searching for a variety of words of diffe-
rent lengths, quantities, and terminations, to suit the
exigencies of the metre--
the shifts and turns,
Th'expedients and inventions multiform,
To which the mind resorts in chase of terms,. . . '
T' arrest the fleeting images, that fill
The mirror of the mind*--
* Cowper, Task, book 2.
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? vi Preface.
will copiously enlarge the writer's stock of expres-
sions-- will enable him to array his thoughts in a
more elegant and attractive garb, and to vary that
garb at pleasure, by the ready aid of a diversified
phraseology. It will at the same time produce a
more important and beneficial effect -- it will enrich
the intellectual store of thought: for, while in search
of an epithet, for example, or a periphrate, he is
obliged to view the subject in all its possible bear-
ings and relations, that he may choose such parti-
cular word or phrase as shall exhibit it in the most
advantageous point of light. And what study more
effectual to call into action the powers of the mind, to
exercise the judgement, to whet the sagacity, and
give birth to a variety of ideas, which might other-
wise have lain for-ever dormant, like those deep-
buried seeds, which sleep inert and barren in the
womb of earth, until the hand of Industry have
turned them up, to feel the genial influence of the
sun and air*?
? I have some-where read, that earth, turned up from deep
[. its, produces plants before unknown in the vicinity. -- Have the
seeds of those plants lain dormant in their dark recesses, from
the time when the general deluge, or some later inundation,
providentially overwhelmed the forests of our isle, to preserve
them for remote posterity under the more convenient form of
pit-coal ? -- That question, if answerable by any other than the
Creator alone, I leave to be answered by those who are better
qualified, than I, to investigate and explain the wondrous opera-
tions of almighty wisdom and power.
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? Preface. vii
For these weighty considerations, the practice of
verse-making has been recommended by Locte,
Chesterfield, Franklin, 8tc, and, although it has not
yet been publicly adopted as a necessary part of an
English education, it is to be hoped that every
teacher who aspires to eminence in the profession,
? will henceforward bestow on it that serious attention
which it so evidently deserves. Indeed, from the
opinions which I have heard on the subject, I en-
tertain not a doubt, that those heads of seminaries
who shall make it a regular branch in their system
of instruction, will, in the estimation of all good
judges, gain a decided preference over those who
neglect it*.
Nor is the business a matter of any difficulty, if
the following simple plan be pursued. 1. Let the
learner begin with single lines, which, without any
mixture of alien feet, have all the even syllables re-
gularly accented, and the odd syllables un-accented ;
and in which the words, barely transposed from their
poetic order, require only metrical arrangement, to
produce the proper feet, which shall stand the test of
scansion. ? . Let him have transposed single lines,
containing other feet besides the Iambus. Let him
be directed to mark every such foot in each verse
* I do not say this with the interested view of recommending
my book : for the simple method, which t point out in the en-
suing paragraph, may be pursued by any teacher, without the
assistance of my book, or any other publication of the kind.
a3
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? viii Preface.
that he has made, and thus to lay a foundation for
correct and elegant reading; being taught, of course,
in repeating his lines, to give no emphasis to un-ac-
cented syllables, but to lay the chief stress of utter-
ance on those which are accented -- and carefully to
observe the caesura, with its attendant pause*. 3. Let
him have distichs, in which the words of the two
lines are blended together. 4. When his ear is well
attuned to metre--when he thoroughly understands
all the admissible variations of the feet, and has suf-
ficiently accustomed and reconciled his ideas to those
frequent deviations from the natural order of syntax,
produced by the poetic inversions of style -- let him
undertake single lines, and afterwards blended distichs,
in wliich, besides the derangement of the words, the
teacher has suppressed one or more epithets f, to be
supplied by the pupil; as, for example, the following
distich--
Hear, how the birds, on ev'ry bloomy spray,
With joyous music wake the dawning day--
may thus be given for an exercise --
Hear, how, on ev'ry spray, the birds
Wake the day with music --
care being taken to point out the particular words
which require epithets. 5. At a more advanced
stage of the pupil's progress, besides the derange-
* See page 56.
t See the note in page 177.
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? Preface. ix
ment of words, and the suppression of epithets, let
an occasional word or phrase be altered ; and, in lieu
of the new word or phrase introduced, let the pupil
be directed to substitute a word or phrase of his own,
either synonymous, or in some degree equivalent, as
-- to exemplify again in the same distich --
Hear, how, on every bush, the birds
Wake the day with music.
Some of my readers may perhaps be surprised that
I have not made nonsense verses a preliminary part of
my plan. Of that expedient, or of another practice
which usually follows it in our British system of
education -- I mean the practice of writing themes --
it would ill become me to speak with disrespect,
since both have long enjoyed the sanction of so many
teachers in this country. I hope, nevertheless, that I
may, without offence to any person, be allowed to state
a simple, but important fact, which is well entitled to
serious consideration. In some highly and justly cele-
brated schools on the continent, where the delicate and
difficult art of education has been carefully studied
and systematically cultivated, both the nonsense verses
and the themes (though calculated to save trouble to
the preceptor) have long since been exploded, as less
useful, less efficacious, than other methods, which at
once prove more simple, easy, and pleasant to the
learner, and are found perfectly to answer the de-
sired purpose in each respective case. With all due
deference, therefore, to the advocates of nonsense
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? x Preface.
verses and theme-writing, I must take the liberty of
saying, that, when I consider the simplicity, the
Utility, and the success of the continental methods, I
cannot witb-hold from them my approbation, though
I am far from presuming to censure the practice of
those teachers who differ from me in opinion, and
who still continue to follow the old modes. -- But, to
return to my subject --
The mode, above proposed, is perfectly easy and
simple : it is the mode in which I myself was taught
Latin versification in my youth, and have since taught
it to others. From my experience of the pleasant-
ness^and efficacy of the method in Latin, I thought
I could not do btetter than adopt the Same in English;
and, accordingly, such is the plan that J have pur-
sued both in private practice, and in the versificatory
Exercises which here follow the Prosody*-* Easy as
the first of those Exercises are, I have studied to
render the task still more easy, by premising near
thirty pages of Scanning Exercises, that the learner's
ear may be formed to the metre, and he may under-
stand the poetic licences in the different variations of
feet, before he attempt to make a single verse.
In the Exercises, "in consequence of my necessary
transposition of the original words, the reader will
find occasional instances of harsh or ambiguous
phraseology -- sometimes perhaps an auk ward anti-
* And on a plan as nearly similar as the difference of the two
languages will allow, I am preparing for the press " Exercises
in Latin Versification. "
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? Preface. xi
climax, or other violation of the rules of elegaut
writing: but it is to be remembered that these Ex-
ercises are not given as models of style: they are
only the rude materials, from which, by a new and
belter arrangement, the young student is to produce
more polished and harmonious lines; and those de-
fects were absolutely un-avoidable, unless I had fas-
tidiously determined to reject every verse, however
elegant in its poeLic form, which should not appear
equally elegant when deranged into prose. To have
indulged in that over-nice delicacy of selection, al-
though it would have multiplied my labor ten or
twenty fold, could not have benefited the student,
who, when once apprised of the nature and design
of those transpositions, incurs no greater danger of
having his taste corrupted by them, than the young
grammarian incurs from the exercises in bad English,
which are everywhere put into his hands to be cor-
rected.
With respect to the pupil's performance in the
latter stages of bis progress, where he has to furnish
epithets, to alter terms, and supply poetic peri-
phrases, it cannot be expected that lie shall always
give the same words which appear in the original
lines. Every object is capable of being viewed in
various points of light; and, according to the light
in which he views it, he will characterise it by an
epithet, or describe it by a term or phrase, which,
though it happen to differ from that in the " KEY,"
may be equally good and commendable i or, if gifted
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? xii Preface. y
with a poetic genius, he may, in some cases, surpass
the original. And here the teacher will have an op-
portunity of exercising his own judgement, guiding
that of the pupil, developing, appreciating, and im-
proving his talents^ and forming his youthful taste
on principles of sound criticism.
In my selection of examples for exercise, I have
labored under a very aukward and unpleasant diffi-
culty, more particularly in the first half of the book,
where the words are barely displaced from their
metrical arrangement in the verse. I have fre-
quently been compelled to omit the very best lines of
a passage, because I could not satisfactorily transpose
the language from the order in which I found it;
and it would have been useless to the end which I had
in view, to present the pupil with ready-made verses,
which he could only transcribe. And, although, in
some few instances, I have, for the sake of preserving
the continuity of a piece, admitted a ready-made
distich, it is what I do not myself approve, and
would, as far as possible, wish to avoid; the object
of this publication being, not to produce a selection
of the best poetry, but a selection of poetry best
calculated to instruct and exercise the learner in ver-
sification.
Respecting the sources from which I have derived
those examples, I am sorry that I cannot, by affixing
to each piece the writer's name, gratify that very
natural wish, felt by every reader, to know the
author of what he reads. A compliance with that
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? Preface. xiii
wish was impossible, for two reasons--1. Many of
the pieces, from which I have made extracts, are
anonymous. 2. It would have been treating an
author very unfairly, to give, under his name, a
garbled extract of a few lines, when (for the reason
above mentioned) I had omitted some verses imme-
diately connected with them, which are perhaps far
superior to those that I quote, and without which,
the passage must necessarily appear to very great
disadvantage. Any author, whom I had thus mis-
represented, would, I presume, be far from pleased
with me for taking such unjustifiable liberty with
his writings and his name. So at least I judge from
my own feelings: for, although I have occasionally
inserted some extracts from poetic trifles of my own,
I should be very unwilling to set my name to them
in that mutilated condition.
But some authors may perhaps be offended with
me upon a different ground. They may fancy that
they see their verses altered in my pages, and con-
demn me for having taken the liberty of making the
supposed alterations. I beg leave to remove that
mistaken idea. I do not presume to alter or amend
any man's lines: J do not arrogate to myself that
superiority of taste and judgement which is requisite
to any person undertaking the invidious task; nor
have I a sufficiency of leisure time to bestow on the
'thankless employment. The case is simply this -- If
a line from one author, and a line from another, to-
gether made a distich better calculated for an exer-
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? xiv Preface.
cise than either poet's lines could separately furnish,
I made no scruple to unite tbem : and, if a line and
half, or a line and three quarters, suited my purpose,
-- in borrowing so much from one writer, I held
myself equally at liberty to take from another, or to
supply from my own stock, a half or quarter line to
complete the distich, without meaning to pass any
censure on what I did not think it necessary to
borrow*. Had I not thus acted, I should, on many
occasions, have been forced to omit a good couplet,
from the circumstance of its not making complete
sense, when detached from the context; whereas, by
taking only a part of the original couplet, and sup-
plying a word or two from another source, I obtained
what I wanted.
It remains to say a few words relative to the marking
of the feet in tbe KEY. -- I have thought it wholly
superfluous to mark the regular and principal feet,
which every child can discover, and have confined
my marks to poetic licences in the introduction of
the alien or auxiliary feet, which are thus rendered
more conspicuous. If, in doing this, I have perhaps,
through haste or oversight, occasionally suffered a
foot to pass, otherwise marked than a censorious
critic might wish, I am willing to hope that such
deviations are neither very numerous, nor likely to be
* Whoever will take the trouble of making the experiment,
will find that he may often read many hundred lines, without
gleaning a single distich, in every respect fit to be given as aa
exercise in versification.
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? Preface. xv
attended with any ill consequences to the youthful
reader, as they will probably occur only in a few
cases, which may fairly admit a difference of opinion,
and where, though one person may condemn, an-
other will approve. And, with respect to such cases
as Mawy a, Virtuous, Happier, &c. -- in which some
prosodians would make dactyls or anapaests, but /
would make dissyllabic feet by the aid of synaeresis
-- I have sometimes marked such combinations as
two syllables, sometimes as one; not choosing, by an
invariable observance of the one or the other mode,
either to force my own opinion upon the reader, or
to give my unqualified sanction to a doctrine which
I disapprove; and thus leaving him an opportunity of
- exercising his own judgement on a point in which he
will perceive that I have not scrupulously studied uni-
formity, though I have clearly enough expressed my
sentiments on the subject in page 50 of the Prosody,
to which I refer him. Neither have I deemed it
necessary to be very particular in always marking a
Pyrrhic at the close of the line, where the final pause
and emphasis will render such foot almost an Iambus.
Though 1 have, in some places, marked such feet,
that I might not appear to have entirely overlooked
thut licence, I have perhaps as often left them un-
marked; not thinking it of any consequence whether
they were marked or not, as the youngest reader c. t-. i
easily discover a Pyrrhic in that station, without
having it pointed out to him.
b
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? xvi Preface.
I now conclude with a request, that, as this is (I
believe) the first attempt which has yet been publicly
made to introduce English versification into our
school system -- and a3 absolute perfection cannot
reasonably be expected in first attempts of any kind --
the public will indulgently excuse whatever imper-
fections may be found to blemish my pages, and will
give me credit for zeal at least, if not for complete
success in the outset of my undertaking.
Of this new Edition, I shall only say, that I have
taken pains to improve my work, and hope it will
enjoy a continuance of that approbation which was
bestowed on it by the readers of the former very
limited impresssion.
May 10, 1816. J. CAREY.
tjf Addition to the remark on Growen, Grown, &c. in page 6.
To a similar syncope we are indebted for the word Own, in
the phrases, " My own". " Your own," &c. which (though
considered by some grammarians as an adjective, and, in some
dictionaries, most un-accountably marked as a substttntive ! ) is,
in reality, the contracted preterite participle of the verb Owe,
vit. Owen, Ow'n, which, in other phrases, is still universally
sotinded as two distinct syllables, though improperly pronounced
Oxing, as the plural Shippen is corrupted to Shipping : ex. gr.
" It is owing [instead of owen] to you, that this happens"--
" There is money owing" [instead of otccn. ]
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? CONTENTS.
Quantity--Accent---Verse,/>. 1
Metre -- Scanning -- Rhime, 2
HypermeterVerses--Caesura, 3
Poetic Feet, 4
Elisions'- Aphaeresis-- Synco-
pe--Apocope, 6
Synaeresis, 7, 54
Diaeresis, 9
Verses--how terminated, 12
Their Classes, 13
Iambic Verses, 14. -- Ballad
Measure, 18. -- Alexan-
drine, 21. --Hudibrastic, 23
--Anacreontic, 24, 30
Trochaic Verses, 25
Anapaestic Verses, 32. --Ain-
steian, 34
Mixture of Feet in the Iambic
Metre, 37
The Caesura, 56
Hint on Song-writing, 60
Exercises in Scanning.
Pare Iambics, 63, 70
Iambics, with examples of Syn-
aeresis, 73, 75
Iambics, with a Mixture of dif-
ferent Feet, 76, 83
Exercises in Versification.
Pure Iambics to be made, 91,
112
Iambics, with a Mixture of dif-
ferent Feet, 115
Iambics, with examples of Syn-
aeresis, 134
Iambic stanzas of different
kinds, 136 145
Paragraphs of two verses
blended together, 153 176
Iambics, to have Epithets
added, 177 192
Iambics, with Words to be
altered, 196 214
Iambics requiring both the Al-
teration of Words, and the
Addition of Epithets, 209 221
Trochaic Verses to be scasned,
222
Trochaics to be made, 223 230
Anapasstic Verses to bescanned,
230
Anapaestics to be made, 233
Blank Verse, 242
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? CONTENTS -- PART II.
MUcellaneous Subjects treated in the Notes.
Acrostich, page 2
Greek and Latin Quantity, 4,
49
Spirit, Sp'rit, 6
Growen, Owen, 6, xvi.
Diphthong -- Two successive
Aspirations, 7
The UI in Puissant, kc. 10
Mute E formerly sounded, 10
Words of doable Termina-
tion, 11
English Dactylic Verses, 13
Aukward modern Imitations of
ancient Metre, 15
The French Alexandrine, 21
Anacreontic Measure--Miscon-
ception respecting it, 30
Pindarics, 30
Martial Metre--The Poet Tyr-
txas, 33
Exceeding fair--Passing rich,
38
Poetic Licences of the An-
cients, 39, 50, 56
The Genitive ES -- Queen
Besses chin, 44
Many a 52
Never so rich--not Ever so, 64
Lesser and Woiser, 67
Mistaken, not Mistaking, 68
The EU in Orpheus, kc. 112
Had rather -- I were, 116
Booby--whence derived, 117
Satellites, 118
Tauris, net Taurida, 120
Italian Derivations, 121
Practitioner, improper, 122
Patroclos, Damocks,&c. --how
accented, 125, 129
Effect of Mute and Liquid in
Greek and Latin, 126
ApSme, ApSniea, 12S
Folk, not Folks, 128
Androcles or Androclus, 129
Adjectives in ACEOUS and
ACIOUS, materially dif-
ferent in signification, 130
Aloe,, how pronounced, 134
Epithet--Meaning and Use of
the term, 177
Solecism in Pope's Homer, 181
Adjectives elegantly substitu-
ted for Adverbs, 185
Thou and You -- Change o?
Number improper, 195
Rapt, not Wrapped, 199
Hyphen--Where to be inserted
or omitted, 199
Born, and Borne, 220
Robinson Crusoe, 232
The Y a distinct syllable in
Greek naiiMs, 240
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? PROSODY.
Prosody teaches the proper quantity and accent
of syllables and words, and the measures of verses.
Quantity, in prosody, means the length of sylla-
bles in pronunciation --that is to say, the length of
time necessary for the proper utterance of each syl-
lable:
Some syllables are long,. as Note, Hate, Neat;
others are short, as Not, Hat, Net: but the quantity
or length of syllables is little regarded in English
poetry, which is entirely regulated by their number
and accent.
Accent is the emphatic tone with which some one
syllable of a word is more forcibly sounded than the
other syllable or syllables; as, in the words Lovely,
Loveliness, Beauty, Beautiful, the first syllable of each
is accented; and, in Adbre, Al6ne, Remain, theaccent
is laid on the final syllable.
. A verse is a single line of poetry,
A hemistich is a half verse *.
. * In strict propriety, it means an exact half verse : but, in the
Greek and Latin prosodies, whence the term is borrowed, it is
A
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? 2 Prosody.
A distich, or couplet, is two verses; and the name
is generally applied to two verses comprising a com-
plete sentence.
A stanza (called likewise a stave) is a combination
of several verses, wholly dependent on /the poet's
will, with respect to number, metre, and rhime, and
forming a regular portion or division of a song, or
other poem. -
Metre is the measure by which verses are com-
posed, and by which they are divided in scanning;
and, in English poetry, this measure consists in the
number of the syllables, and the position of the ac-
\ cents.
To scan * a verse is to divide it into its component
parts, or feet.
Rhime is a similarity and agreement of sound in
also applied to a portion of a verse exceeding or falling short of
the half, by one half foot. --The word Hemistich, and likewise
Tetrastich and Acrostich, being sometimes erroneously written
with CK, merely in consequence of a typographic error in John-
son's Dictionary, I wish my young readers to observe, that
the former three, derived from the same Greek source with Di-
stich, ought, like it, to terminate with CH, pronounced, of course,
hard, as in Epoch, Stomach, Aniioch. -- Having incidentally
mentioned the Acrostich, let me add to Dr. Johnson's definition
of it, that the acrostich law extends to the final, as well as the
initial, letter of each verse; there being still extant some ancient
trifles of that description, in which the same words are acro-
stichally displayed at both extremities of the lines.
? Originally, to Karat, from the Latin scando (to climb) the
term used for this process by the aneient Latin grammarians.
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? Prosody. 3
final syllables, as adore, deplore,--ovet throws, inter*
pose. In regular verses, it includes only one syl-
lable, as
Ye nymphs of Solyma, begin the song!
To heav'nly themes sublimer strains belong.
(Pope.
In hypermtter or redundant verses, i. e. verses ex-
ceeding the regular measure, it extends to two, the
penultimate accented, the other not, as
For what has Virro painted, built, andplant-\-edf
Only to show how many tastes he wantA-ed. (Pope,
and, in careless burlesque versification, as that of
Swift ami Butler, we sometimes find redundant lines
with a triplicate rhime,--the accent falling on the
antepenultimate, which terminates the regular mea-
sure, and no accent on either of the two supernume-
rary syllables, as
Uniting all, to show their a-\-mity,
As in a general cala-\-mtty*. (Swift,
but such triplicate rhime is wholly inadmissible in
any verse which at all aspires to the praise of dignity
or harmony.
Blank verse is verse without rhime.
The Casura (which means a cut or division) is the
separation, or pause, which takes place in the body
of a verse in the utterance--dividing the line, as it
were, into two members: and, in different species of
* These were not intended for regular ten-syllable lines: the
piece from which they are quoted, is in eight-syllable verse.
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? 4 Prosody.
verse, or different verses of the same species, this
pause occurs in different parts of the line, as, for ex-
ample--
How empty learning,s|| and how vain is art,
But as it mends the life,6|| and guides the heart!
. Poetic Feet.
A foot is a part of a verse, and consists of two or
three syllables.
A semifoot is a half-foot.
The feet, chiefly used in English poetry, are the
following*--
* The names, here given to the feet and verses, are ncrt, in
strict propriety, applicable to English versification. In the
Creek and Latin languages, from which they are borrowed, they
have no reference to accent; the feet being there solely deter-
mined by the quantity, or length of syllables, and consisting--
the Iambus, of one short syllable, and one long;--the Trochee,
of one long and one short;--the Spondee, of two long;--the
Pyrrhic, of two short;--the Anapast, of two short and one long;
--the Dactyl, of one long and two short;--the Tribrachys, of
three short;--and the AmphibraQhys, of one long between two
short. --However, as these Greek and Roman names of feet and
verses have (with the substitution of English accent for Greek
and Latin quantity) been applied to English versification by
other writers before me, and as they are convenient terms to
save circumlocution, I have deemed it expedient to adopt them
after the example of my predecessors, and to apply to our ac-
cented and un-accented syllables the marks generally employed
to indicate long and short syllables in the Greek and Latin pros-
odies; as, for-example, the marks, thus applied to the Greek
Pegasbs, or the Latin PegHstis, signify that the first syllable
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? Prosody. 5
The Iambus *, consisting of two syllables, the first
un-accented, and the latter accented, as adore, be-
hind.
The Trochee, of two syllables, the first accented,
the latter un-accented, as holy, thunder.
The Spondee, of two syllables, both accented, as
why charge in the following line--
Why charge I we heav'n in those, in these acquit ?
(Pope.
The Pyrrhic, of two un-accented, as is to in the
following verse--
A choice collection ! what | is to \ be done? (Young.
The Anapast, of two un-accented, and one ac-
cented, as each of the four feet in the following line--
at the close I of the day, \ whin the ham-\-let is still. *.
(Bcattie.
The Dactyl, of one accented, and two un-accented,
as holiness, thundering.
of that animal's name is long, and the other two short;
whereas, in English prosody, the same marks are to be under-
stood as simply meaning, that the first syllable in Peg&sUs is
accented, and the other two un-accented. This observation
applies to every other case.
* This foot is sometimes improperly called an Iambie ; which
is equally wrong, as to say a Boyish or a Girlish, for a Hoy or a
Girl. --Iambus, Trochee, Anapeest, &c. are the substantive names
of the feet themselves : but Iambic, Troeha'ic, Anapastic, &c. are
adjectives, solely applicable to the metre, verse, or poem, con-
tisting of such feet*
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? 6 Prosody.
The Tribrachys, of three un-accented, as -ritual in
the word Spiritual.
The Amphibrachys, of one accented, between two
un-accented, as removal coeval.
Elision. --Syneeresis. --Diaresis.
In our versification, we have very frequent exam-
ples of elision and synteresis--none, or very few, of
diaeresis.
Elision is of three kinds, viz.
1. Apharisis, which cuts off the initial letter or
syllable of a word, as 'squire, 'gainst, 'gan, for esquire,
against, began.
2. Syncope *, which strikes out a letter or syllable
from the body of a word, as sp'rit-f for spirit--lov'd,
thund'ring, lab'rer, for loved, thundering, laborer--
se'nnieht for sevennisht.
* The use of syncope is not confined to verse: in prose also,
numberless instances of it occur, as don't for do not--wond'rous
for wonderous--hast, hath, for the obsolete havest, haveth--
grown, sown, for the antique growen, sowen--midst, for middest,
an old superlative from mid, &c. &c.
Right in the middest of that paradise,
There stood a stately mount (Spencer.
The barren ground was full of wicked weeds,
Which she herself had sowen all about,
Now growen great, at first of little seeds. (Spencer.
. ). Converted, by the addition of E to lengthen the sound, into
Sprite, which, together with Sprightly, proves that the syncope
took place in the first syllable, and that the syncopated word
was intended to be Sp'rit, rhiming with Grit, not Spir't, rhiming
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? Prosody. 7
3, Apocope', which cuts off a final vowel or syl-
lable, or one or more letters, as Gi' for give, Fro' for
from, O' for of, Th' evening for the evening, Philomel
for Philomela.
Si/neeresis is the contraction of two syllables into
one, by rapidly pronouncing, in one syllable, two or
more vowels whicli properly belong to separate syl-
lables, as AE in Israel, IE in Alienate, EE in E'en
and E'er, 10 in Nation r for, though the 10, in such
terminations, be usually accounted a diphthong*,
with Squirt, as I have seen it printed in the following line of
Milton, Par. L. 5, 877--
O alienate from God ! O spirit accurst!
* Diphthong. --Some late writers have directed us to pro-
nounce this word as Dipthong, and some have even adopted that
mode of spelling it; because, as one of them observes, "two
aspirations in succession are disagn eable to an English ear. "
This may be partly true in some cases, on account of the ac-
companying consonants, as " worth their while," " bofA those
men," " come forfA thence :" but, in " woriA Ais while," " both
his eyes," " he led forth his army," the double aspiration will, I
believe, be found more easy to the tongue, and more grateful
to the ear, than the single one in " wor/A is esteemed," " the
merit of bofA is equal," " the Fori A is a Scottish river;" the
continued aspiration more softly blending and combining the
syllables in " worrA Ais," " both Ais," " for<A Ais," without lea-
ving that disagreeable chiism, or requiring that effort of the voice,
which necessarily attend the utterance of " worth is," " both is,"
Fort A is. " But, to return to PHTH, let us see how the doctrine
of the double aspiration applies to it. That the Greek consonant,
which we render by PH, was an aspirated P, is certain; and that,
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? 8 Prosody.
and HON, of course, a single syllable, yet, in strict
propriety, TI-ON are two distinct syllables; and
instead of writing, as we do, stop hm, up hill, kept him, a Greek
would have written staph him, uph hill, kephth him How he
pronounced the P thus aspirated, is of no consequence to us :
but, in our pronunciation, the Greek Pif and the English fare
sounded so exactly alike, that any objection, which lies against
the PH, will hear with equal force against F. Now [ submit to
any of my readers, young or old, whether, in the following com-
binations with TH, the F (or its equivalent G H) be not in reality
much less difficult to the tongue, and less grating to the ear,
than P--Charles the fifth, Charles the fipth--a tougA tAong,
tup fAong--a si\ff thorn, slip iAorn--a rougA rAimhle, rap f Aimble
--the gruff tAunderer, grup fAunderer--you have not enougA
tAought on it, enup Mought--put off their clothes, op rAeir--a
whi^iArough a pipe, whip through--quajf <Aick beer, quap rAick
--acougA (Areatens a consumption, cop iArentens--i/TAeodore's
wife fAinks, ip TAeodore's wipe iAinks. In all ihese examples, I
confidently anticipate the unanimous vote of my readers in favor
of F: and so far indeed is the English ear or tongue from being
shocked or embarrassed by the sound of F before TH, tl at the
vulgar (whom one of the advocates of Dip thong holds up to us
as " no contemptible guides" in pronunciation) are often heard to
aspirate the 2', in after, laughter, left her, pronouncing afther,
lufiher, lefth her; to which may be added the Yorkshire " thrujf
the world,'' for " through the world. " Hence it would appear,
that the harsh and irregular diplhong did not originate from any
repugnance of the English tongue or ear to the more smooth and
Tegular difthong, but from some other cause--very probably
from the ignorance of some of those village dames of former days
who initiated children in spelling--and who, not knowing the
power of the H added to P, taught the younglings to convert
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? Prosody. Q
the same remark applies to Dubious, Duteous, Plen-
teous, Warrior, 8cc. Besides these, and similar ex-
amples of synseresis, which take place in prose, the
licence is carried further in poetry, where we find
Virtuous, Arduous, Gradual, Patriot, used as dissyl-
lables, with many others which will occur in the
following pages.
Diaresis is the division of one syllable into two, as
when Puissant, Puissance, which are properly dis-
Seraph into Syrup, A nymph into An imp, Pheasant into Pea-
sant, Diphthong into Dipthong, &c. --From them the corrup-
tion spread among the lower class of the community, until
at length their example was held up for the imitation of their
betters, as a late writer has seriously recommended to us to
adopt their Sparrozo-grass instead of Asparagus. If the natural
order of things is to be thus inverted--if the vulgar, instead of
learning from their superiors, are to become their models and
their teachers--then let Sphinx also be altered to Spink, which
I suppose to be the prevalent pronunciation among the private
soldiers of his majesty's foot guards; for so I have heard the
word very distinctly pronounced by one of them, who was ex-
plaining to the bystanders the i rnaments on the carriage of the
Egyptian gun in St. James's Park. I hope, however, that none
of my young readers will ever adopt either Spink, Sparrow-grats,
or Dipthong, but invariably pronounce PH as F, win rtver they
can so pronounce it; which they always can do in the body of a
word, as Diphthong, Naphtha, Ophthalmia, &c. There may
indeed be some excuse for not so pronouncing it before TH at
the beginning of words, as Phthisis, Phthia, Phthiriasis, because
it is there thought to be difficult of pronunciation; though, for
my part, I see no difficulty in it, if custom would only allow us
to utter those words with the sound of FTH.
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? 10 Prosody.
syllables, are (by a licence hardly allowable even in
poetry) sounded pu-issant, pu-issance *, as in Somer-
ville's Hobbinol,3, 131-- /
Though great the force
Of this pu-issant aria, as all must own--
* In the original French, the VI of Puissant and Puissance
(as is well known to all who pronounce that language with pro-
priety) is an inseparable diphthong, though very difficult of ut-
terance to those who have not, in early youth, enjoyed good
opportunities of acquiring the genuine French pronunciation.
Witness the broad W in our Etwee, instead of the thin delicate
French Vin the original Etui--and the words Suite, Cuisse, and
Cuirass, which even our pronouncing dictionaries pervert into
Sxeet, Quits, and Queer-ais; by which pronunciation, the true
sound of the French diphthong is destroyed. --But, notwith-
standing the difficulty of utterance, Milton has used the word as
a dissyllable--
Qurpuissance is out own: our own right band. . . (P.
poet or not, who has received any tolerable educa-
tion, and pretends to write decent prose, ought like-
wise to be qualified for the occasional production of
a few verses, smooth, at least, and metrically correct,
whatever may be their merit or demerit in other re-
spects.
That the practice of versification materially im-
proves the style for prose composition, there cannot
be a doubt. The ear which is acutely sensible to
the harmonies of verse, will naturally revolt against
inharmonious harshness in prose ; and the pains, be-
stowed in searching for a variety of words of diffe-
rent lengths, quantities, and terminations, to suit the
exigencies of the metre--
the shifts and turns,
Th'expedients and inventions multiform,
To which the mind resorts in chase of terms,. . . '
T' arrest the fleeting images, that fill
The mirror of the mind*--
* Cowper, Task, book 2.
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? vi Preface.
will copiously enlarge the writer's stock of expres-
sions-- will enable him to array his thoughts in a
more elegant and attractive garb, and to vary that
garb at pleasure, by the ready aid of a diversified
phraseology. It will at the same time produce a
more important and beneficial effect -- it will enrich
the intellectual store of thought: for, while in search
of an epithet, for example, or a periphrate, he is
obliged to view the subject in all its possible bear-
ings and relations, that he may choose such parti-
cular word or phrase as shall exhibit it in the most
advantageous point of light. And what study more
effectual to call into action the powers of the mind, to
exercise the judgement, to whet the sagacity, and
give birth to a variety of ideas, which might other-
wise have lain for-ever dormant, like those deep-
buried seeds, which sleep inert and barren in the
womb of earth, until the hand of Industry have
turned them up, to feel the genial influence of the
sun and air*?
? I have some-where read, that earth, turned up from deep
[. its, produces plants before unknown in the vicinity. -- Have the
seeds of those plants lain dormant in their dark recesses, from
the time when the general deluge, or some later inundation,
providentially overwhelmed the forests of our isle, to preserve
them for remote posterity under the more convenient form of
pit-coal ? -- That question, if answerable by any other than the
Creator alone, I leave to be answered by those who are better
qualified, than I, to investigate and explain the wondrous opera-
tions of almighty wisdom and power.
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? Preface. vii
For these weighty considerations, the practice of
verse-making has been recommended by Locte,
Chesterfield, Franklin, 8tc, and, although it has not
yet been publicly adopted as a necessary part of an
English education, it is to be hoped that every
teacher who aspires to eminence in the profession,
? will henceforward bestow on it that serious attention
which it so evidently deserves. Indeed, from the
opinions which I have heard on the subject, I en-
tertain not a doubt, that those heads of seminaries
who shall make it a regular branch in their system
of instruction, will, in the estimation of all good
judges, gain a decided preference over those who
neglect it*.
Nor is the business a matter of any difficulty, if
the following simple plan be pursued. 1. Let the
learner begin with single lines, which, without any
mixture of alien feet, have all the even syllables re-
gularly accented, and the odd syllables un-accented ;
and in which the words, barely transposed from their
poetic order, require only metrical arrangement, to
produce the proper feet, which shall stand the test of
scansion. ? . Let him have transposed single lines,
containing other feet besides the Iambus. Let him
be directed to mark every such foot in each verse
* I do not say this with the interested view of recommending
my book : for the simple method, which t point out in the en-
suing paragraph, may be pursued by any teacher, without the
assistance of my book, or any other publication of the kind.
a3
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? viii Preface.
that he has made, and thus to lay a foundation for
correct and elegant reading; being taught, of course,
in repeating his lines, to give no emphasis to un-ac-
cented syllables, but to lay the chief stress of utter-
ance on those which are accented -- and carefully to
observe the caesura, with its attendant pause*. 3. Let
him have distichs, in which the words of the two
lines are blended together. 4. When his ear is well
attuned to metre--when he thoroughly understands
all the admissible variations of the feet, and has suf-
ficiently accustomed and reconciled his ideas to those
frequent deviations from the natural order of syntax,
produced by the poetic inversions of style -- let him
undertake single lines, and afterwards blended distichs,
in wliich, besides the derangement of the words, the
teacher has suppressed one or more epithets f, to be
supplied by the pupil; as, for example, the following
distich--
Hear, how the birds, on ev'ry bloomy spray,
With joyous music wake the dawning day--
may thus be given for an exercise --
Hear, how, on ev'ry spray, the birds
Wake the day with music --
care being taken to point out the particular words
which require epithets. 5. At a more advanced
stage of the pupil's progress, besides the derange-
* See page 56.
t See the note in page 177.
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? Preface. ix
ment of words, and the suppression of epithets, let
an occasional word or phrase be altered ; and, in lieu
of the new word or phrase introduced, let the pupil
be directed to substitute a word or phrase of his own,
either synonymous, or in some degree equivalent, as
-- to exemplify again in the same distich --
Hear, how, on every bush, the birds
Wake the day with music.
Some of my readers may perhaps be surprised that
I have not made nonsense verses a preliminary part of
my plan. Of that expedient, or of another practice
which usually follows it in our British system of
education -- I mean the practice of writing themes --
it would ill become me to speak with disrespect,
since both have long enjoyed the sanction of so many
teachers in this country. I hope, nevertheless, that I
may, without offence to any person, be allowed to state
a simple, but important fact, which is well entitled to
serious consideration. In some highly and justly cele-
brated schools on the continent, where the delicate and
difficult art of education has been carefully studied
and systematically cultivated, both the nonsense verses
and the themes (though calculated to save trouble to
the preceptor) have long since been exploded, as less
useful, less efficacious, than other methods, which at
once prove more simple, easy, and pleasant to the
learner, and are found perfectly to answer the de-
sired purpose in each respective case. With all due
deference, therefore, to the advocates of nonsense
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? x Preface.
verses and theme-writing, I must take the liberty of
saying, that, when I consider the simplicity, the
Utility, and the success of the continental methods, I
cannot witb-hold from them my approbation, though
I am far from presuming to censure the practice of
those teachers who differ from me in opinion, and
who still continue to follow the old modes. -- But, to
return to my subject --
The mode, above proposed, is perfectly easy and
simple : it is the mode in which I myself was taught
Latin versification in my youth, and have since taught
it to others. From my experience of the pleasant-
ness^and efficacy of the method in Latin, I thought
I could not do btetter than adopt the Same in English;
and, accordingly, such is the plan that J have pur-
sued both in private practice, and in the versificatory
Exercises which here follow the Prosody*-* Easy as
the first of those Exercises are, I have studied to
render the task still more easy, by premising near
thirty pages of Scanning Exercises, that the learner's
ear may be formed to the metre, and he may under-
stand the poetic licences in the different variations of
feet, before he attempt to make a single verse.
In the Exercises, "in consequence of my necessary
transposition of the original words, the reader will
find occasional instances of harsh or ambiguous
phraseology -- sometimes perhaps an auk ward anti-
* And on a plan as nearly similar as the difference of the two
languages will allow, I am preparing for the press " Exercises
in Latin Versification. "
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? Preface. xi
climax, or other violation of the rules of elegaut
writing: but it is to be remembered that these Ex-
ercises are not given as models of style: they are
only the rude materials, from which, by a new and
belter arrangement, the young student is to produce
more polished and harmonious lines; and those de-
fects were absolutely un-avoidable, unless I had fas-
tidiously determined to reject every verse, however
elegant in its poeLic form, which should not appear
equally elegant when deranged into prose. To have
indulged in that over-nice delicacy of selection, al-
though it would have multiplied my labor ten or
twenty fold, could not have benefited the student,
who, when once apprised of the nature and design
of those transpositions, incurs no greater danger of
having his taste corrupted by them, than the young
grammarian incurs from the exercises in bad English,
which are everywhere put into his hands to be cor-
rected.
With respect to the pupil's performance in the
latter stages of bis progress, where he has to furnish
epithets, to alter terms, and supply poetic peri-
phrases, it cannot be expected that lie shall always
give the same words which appear in the original
lines. Every object is capable of being viewed in
various points of light; and, according to the light
in which he views it, he will characterise it by an
epithet, or describe it by a term or phrase, which,
though it happen to differ from that in the " KEY,"
may be equally good and commendable i or, if gifted
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? xii Preface. y
with a poetic genius, he may, in some cases, surpass
the original. And here the teacher will have an op-
portunity of exercising his own judgement, guiding
that of the pupil, developing, appreciating, and im-
proving his talents^ and forming his youthful taste
on principles of sound criticism.
In my selection of examples for exercise, I have
labored under a very aukward and unpleasant diffi-
culty, more particularly in the first half of the book,
where the words are barely displaced from their
metrical arrangement in the verse. I have fre-
quently been compelled to omit the very best lines of
a passage, because I could not satisfactorily transpose
the language from the order in which I found it;
and it would have been useless to the end which I had
in view, to present the pupil with ready-made verses,
which he could only transcribe. And, although, in
some few instances, I have, for the sake of preserving
the continuity of a piece, admitted a ready-made
distich, it is what I do not myself approve, and
would, as far as possible, wish to avoid; the object
of this publication being, not to produce a selection
of the best poetry, but a selection of poetry best
calculated to instruct and exercise the learner in ver-
sification.
Respecting the sources from which I have derived
those examples, I am sorry that I cannot, by affixing
to each piece the writer's name, gratify that very
natural wish, felt by every reader, to know the
author of what he reads. A compliance with that
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? Preface. xiii
wish was impossible, for two reasons--1. Many of
the pieces, from which I have made extracts, are
anonymous. 2. It would have been treating an
author very unfairly, to give, under his name, a
garbled extract of a few lines, when (for the reason
above mentioned) I had omitted some verses imme-
diately connected with them, which are perhaps far
superior to those that I quote, and without which,
the passage must necessarily appear to very great
disadvantage. Any author, whom I had thus mis-
represented, would, I presume, be far from pleased
with me for taking such unjustifiable liberty with
his writings and his name. So at least I judge from
my own feelings: for, although I have occasionally
inserted some extracts from poetic trifles of my own,
I should be very unwilling to set my name to them
in that mutilated condition.
But some authors may perhaps be offended with
me upon a different ground. They may fancy that
they see their verses altered in my pages, and con-
demn me for having taken the liberty of making the
supposed alterations. I beg leave to remove that
mistaken idea. I do not presume to alter or amend
any man's lines: J do not arrogate to myself that
superiority of taste and judgement which is requisite
to any person undertaking the invidious task; nor
have I a sufficiency of leisure time to bestow on the
'thankless employment. The case is simply this -- If
a line from one author, and a line from another, to-
gether made a distich better calculated for an exer-
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? xiv Preface.
cise than either poet's lines could separately furnish,
I made no scruple to unite tbem : and, if a line and
half, or a line and three quarters, suited my purpose,
-- in borrowing so much from one writer, I held
myself equally at liberty to take from another, or to
supply from my own stock, a half or quarter line to
complete the distich, without meaning to pass any
censure on what I did not think it necessary to
borrow*. Had I not thus acted, I should, on many
occasions, have been forced to omit a good couplet,
from the circumstance of its not making complete
sense, when detached from the context; whereas, by
taking only a part of the original couplet, and sup-
plying a word or two from another source, I obtained
what I wanted.
It remains to say a few words relative to the marking
of the feet in tbe KEY. -- I have thought it wholly
superfluous to mark the regular and principal feet,
which every child can discover, and have confined
my marks to poetic licences in the introduction of
the alien or auxiliary feet, which are thus rendered
more conspicuous. If, in doing this, I have perhaps,
through haste or oversight, occasionally suffered a
foot to pass, otherwise marked than a censorious
critic might wish, I am willing to hope that such
deviations are neither very numerous, nor likely to be
* Whoever will take the trouble of making the experiment,
will find that he may often read many hundred lines, without
gleaning a single distich, in every respect fit to be given as aa
exercise in versification.
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? Preface. xv
attended with any ill consequences to the youthful
reader, as they will probably occur only in a few
cases, which may fairly admit a difference of opinion,
and where, though one person may condemn, an-
other will approve. And, with respect to such cases
as Mawy a, Virtuous, Happier, &c. -- in which some
prosodians would make dactyls or anapaests, but /
would make dissyllabic feet by the aid of synaeresis
-- I have sometimes marked such combinations as
two syllables, sometimes as one; not choosing, by an
invariable observance of the one or the other mode,
either to force my own opinion upon the reader, or
to give my unqualified sanction to a doctrine which
I disapprove; and thus leaving him an opportunity of
- exercising his own judgement on a point in which he
will perceive that I have not scrupulously studied uni-
formity, though I have clearly enough expressed my
sentiments on the subject in page 50 of the Prosody,
to which I refer him. Neither have I deemed it
necessary to be very particular in always marking a
Pyrrhic at the close of the line, where the final pause
and emphasis will render such foot almost an Iambus.
Though 1 have, in some places, marked such feet,
that I might not appear to have entirely overlooked
thut licence, I have perhaps as often left them un-
marked; not thinking it of any consequence whether
they were marked or not, as the youngest reader c. t-. i
easily discover a Pyrrhic in that station, without
having it pointed out to him.
b
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? xvi Preface.
I now conclude with a request, that, as this is (I
believe) the first attempt which has yet been publicly
made to introduce English versification into our
school system -- and a3 absolute perfection cannot
reasonably be expected in first attempts of any kind --
the public will indulgently excuse whatever imper-
fections may be found to blemish my pages, and will
give me credit for zeal at least, if not for complete
success in the outset of my undertaking.
Of this new Edition, I shall only say, that I have
taken pains to improve my work, and hope it will
enjoy a continuance of that approbation which was
bestowed on it by the readers of the former very
limited impresssion.
May 10, 1816. J. CAREY.
tjf Addition to the remark on Growen, Grown, &c. in page 6.
To a similar syncope we are indebted for the word Own, in
the phrases, " My own". " Your own," &c. which (though
considered by some grammarians as an adjective, and, in some
dictionaries, most un-accountably marked as a substttntive ! ) is,
in reality, the contracted preterite participle of the verb Owe,
vit. Owen, Ow'n, which, in other phrases, is still universally
sotinded as two distinct syllables, though improperly pronounced
Oxing, as the plural Shippen is corrupted to Shipping : ex. gr.
" It is owing [instead of owen] to you, that this happens"--
" There is money owing" [instead of otccn. ]
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? CONTENTS.
Quantity--Accent---Verse,/>. 1
Metre -- Scanning -- Rhime, 2
HypermeterVerses--Caesura, 3
Poetic Feet, 4
Elisions'- Aphaeresis-- Synco-
pe--Apocope, 6
Synaeresis, 7, 54
Diaeresis, 9
Verses--how terminated, 12
Their Classes, 13
Iambic Verses, 14. -- Ballad
Measure, 18. -- Alexan-
drine, 21. --Hudibrastic, 23
--Anacreontic, 24, 30
Trochaic Verses, 25
Anapaestic Verses, 32. --Ain-
steian, 34
Mixture of Feet in the Iambic
Metre, 37
The Caesura, 56
Hint on Song-writing, 60
Exercises in Scanning.
Pare Iambics, 63, 70
Iambics, with examples of Syn-
aeresis, 73, 75
Iambics, with a Mixture of dif-
ferent Feet, 76, 83
Exercises in Versification.
Pure Iambics to be made, 91,
112
Iambics, with a Mixture of dif-
ferent Feet, 115
Iambics, with examples of Syn-
aeresis, 134
Iambic stanzas of different
kinds, 136 145
Paragraphs of two verses
blended together, 153 176
Iambics, to have Epithets
added, 177 192
Iambics, with Words to be
altered, 196 214
Iambics requiring both the Al-
teration of Words, and the
Addition of Epithets, 209 221
Trochaic Verses to be scasned,
222
Trochaics to be made, 223 230
Anapasstic Verses to bescanned,
230
Anapaestics to be made, 233
Blank Verse, 242
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? CONTENTS -- PART II.
MUcellaneous Subjects treated in the Notes.
Acrostich, page 2
Greek and Latin Quantity, 4,
49
Spirit, Sp'rit, 6
Growen, Owen, 6, xvi.
Diphthong -- Two successive
Aspirations, 7
The UI in Puissant, kc. 10
Mute E formerly sounded, 10
Words of doable Termina-
tion, 11
English Dactylic Verses, 13
Aukward modern Imitations of
ancient Metre, 15
The French Alexandrine, 21
Anacreontic Measure--Miscon-
ception respecting it, 30
Pindarics, 30
Martial Metre--The Poet Tyr-
txas, 33
Exceeding fair--Passing rich,
38
Poetic Licences of the An-
cients, 39, 50, 56
The Genitive ES -- Queen
Besses chin, 44
Many a 52
Never so rich--not Ever so, 64
Lesser and Woiser, 67
Mistaken, not Mistaking, 68
The EU in Orpheus, kc. 112
Had rather -- I were, 116
Booby--whence derived, 117
Satellites, 118
Tauris, net Taurida, 120
Italian Derivations, 121
Practitioner, improper, 122
Patroclos, Damocks,&c. --how
accented, 125, 129
Effect of Mute and Liquid in
Greek and Latin, 126
ApSme, ApSniea, 12S
Folk, not Folks, 128
Androcles or Androclus, 129
Adjectives in ACEOUS and
ACIOUS, materially dif-
ferent in signification, 130
Aloe,, how pronounced, 134
Epithet--Meaning and Use of
the term, 177
Solecism in Pope's Homer, 181
Adjectives elegantly substitu-
ted for Adverbs, 185
Thou and You -- Change o?
Number improper, 195
Rapt, not Wrapped, 199
Hyphen--Where to be inserted
or omitted, 199
Born, and Borne, 220
Robinson Crusoe, 232
The Y a distinct syllable in
Greek naiiMs, 240
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? PROSODY.
Prosody teaches the proper quantity and accent
of syllables and words, and the measures of verses.
Quantity, in prosody, means the length of sylla-
bles in pronunciation --that is to say, the length of
time necessary for the proper utterance of each syl-
lable:
Some syllables are long,. as Note, Hate, Neat;
others are short, as Not, Hat, Net: but the quantity
or length of syllables is little regarded in English
poetry, which is entirely regulated by their number
and accent.
Accent is the emphatic tone with which some one
syllable of a word is more forcibly sounded than the
other syllable or syllables; as, in the words Lovely,
Loveliness, Beauty, Beautiful, the first syllable of each
is accented; and, in Adbre, Al6ne, Remain, theaccent
is laid on the final syllable.
. A verse is a single line of poetry,
A hemistich is a half verse *.
. * In strict propriety, it means an exact half verse : but, in the
Greek and Latin prosodies, whence the term is borrowed, it is
A
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? 2 Prosody.
A distich, or couplet, is two verses; and the name
is generally applied to two verses comprising a com-
plete sentence.
A stanza (called likewise a stave) is a combination
of several verses, wholly dependent on /the poet's
will, with respect to number, metre, and rhime, and
forming a regular portion or division of a song, or
other poem. -
Metre is the measure by which verses are com-
posed, and by which they are divided in scanning;
and, in English poetry, this measure consists in the
number of the syllables, and the position of the ac-
\ cents.
To scan * a verse is to divide it into its component
parts, or feet.
Rhime is a similarity and agreement of sound in
also applied to a portion of a verse exceeding or falling short of
the half, by one half foot. --The word Hemistich, and likewise
Tetrastich and Acrostich, being sometimes erroneously written
with CK, merely in consequence of a typographic error in John-
son's Dictionary, I wish my young readers to observe, that
the former three, derived from the same Greek source with Di-
stich, ought, like it, to terminate with CH, pronounced, of course,
hard, as in Epoch, Stomach, Aniioch. -- Having incidentally
mentioned the Acrostich, let me add to Dr. Johnson's definition
of it, that the acrostich law extends to the final, as well as the
initial, letter of each verse; there being still extant some ancient
trifles of that description, in which the same words are acro-
stichally displayed at both extremities of the lines.
? Originally, to Karat, from the Latin scando (to climb) the
term used for this process by the aneient Latin grammarians.
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? Prosody. 3
final syllables, as adore, deplore,--ovet throws, inter*
pose. In regular verses, it includes only one syl-
lable, as
Ye nymphs of Solyma, begin the song!
To heav'nly themes sublimer strains belong.
(Pope.
In hypermtter or redundant verses, i. e. verses ex-
ceeding the regular measure, it extends to two, the
penultimate accented, the other not, as
For what has Virro painted, built, andplant-\-edf
Only to show how many tastes he wantA-ed. (Pope,
and, in careless burlesque versification, as that of
Swift ami Butler, we sometimes find redundant lines
with a triplicate rhime,--the accent falling on the
antepenultimate, which terminates the regular mea-
sure, and no accent on either of the two supernume-
rary syllables, as
Uniting all, to show their a-\-mity,
As in a general cala-\-mtty*. (Swift,
but such triplicate rhime is wholly inadmissible in
any verse which at all aspires to the praise of dignity
or harmony.
Blank verse is verse without rhime.
The Casura (which means a cut or division) is the
separation, or pause, which takes place in the body
of a verse in the utterance--dividing the line, as it
were, into two members: and, in different species of
* These were not intended for regular ten-syllable lines: the
piece from which they are quoted, is in eight-syllable verse.
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? 4 Prosody.
verse, or different verses of the same species, this
pause occurs in different parts of the line, as, for ex-
ample--
How empty learning,s|| and how vain is art,
But as it mends the life,6|| and guides the heart!
. Poetic Feet.
A foot is a part of a verse, and consists of two or
three syllables.
A semifoot is a half-foot.
The feet, chiefly used in English poetry, are the
following*--
* The names, here given to the feet and verses, are ncrt, in
strict propriety, applicable to English versification. In the
Creek and Latin languages, from which they are borrowed, they
have no reference to accent; the feet being there solely deter-
mined by the quantity, or length of syllables, and consisting--
the Iambus, of one short syllable, and one long;--the Trochee,
of one long and one short;--the Spondee, of two long;--the
Pyrrhic, of two short;--the Anapast, of two short and one long;
--the Dactyl, of one long and two short;--the Tribrachys, of
three short;--and the AmphibraQhys, of one long between two
short. --However, as these Greek and Roman names of feet and
verses have (with the substitution of English accent for Greek
and Latin quantity) been applied to English versification by
other writers before me, and as they are convenient terms to
save circumlocution, I have deemed it expedient to adopt them
after the example of my predecessors, and to apply to our ac-
cented and un-accented syllables the marks generally employed
to indicate long and short syllables in the Greek and Latin pros-
odies; as, for-example, the marks, thus applied to the Greek
Pegasbs, or the Latin PegHstis, signify that the first syllable
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? Prosody. 5
The Iambus *, consisting of two syllables, the first
un-accented, and the latter accented, as adore, be-
hind.
The Trochee, of two syllables, the first accented,
the latter un-accented, as holy, thunder.
The Spondee, of two syllables, both accented, as
why charge in the following line--
Why charge I we heav'n in those, in these acquit ?
(Pope.
The Pyrrhic, of two un-accented, as is to in the
following verse--
A choice collection ! what | is to \ be done? (Young.
The Anapast, of two un-accented, and one ac-
cented, as each of the four feet in the following line--
at the close I of the day, \ whin the ham-\-let is still. *.
(Bcattie.
The Dactyl, of one accented, and two un-accented,
as holiness, thundering.
of that animal's name is long, and the other two short;
whereas, in English prosody, the same marks are to be under-
stood as simply meaning, that the first syllable in Peg&sUs is
accented, and the other two un-accented. This observation
applies to every other case.
* This foot is sometimes improperly called an Iambie ; which
is equally wrong, as to say a Boyish or a Girlish, for a Hoy or a
Girl. --Iambus, Trochee, Anapeest, &c. are the substantive names
of the feet themselves : but Iambic, Troeha'ic, Anapastic, &c. are
adjectives, solely applicable to the metre, verse, or poem, con-
tisting of such feet*
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? 6 Prosody.
The Tribrachys, of three un-accented, as -ritual in
the word Spiritual.
The Amphibrachys, of one accented, between two
un-accented, as removal coeval.
Elision. --Syneeresis. --Diaresis.
In our versification, we have very frequent exam-
ples of elision and synteresis--none, or very few, of
diaeresis.
Elision is of three kinds, viz.
1. Apharisis, which cuts off the initial letter or
syllable of a word, as 'squire, 'gainst, 'gan, for esquire,
against, began.
2. Syncope *, which strikes out a letter or syllable
from the body of a word, as sp'rit-f for spirit--lov'd,
thund'ring, lab'rer, for loved, thundering, laborer--
se'nnieht for sevennisht.
* The use of syncope is not confined to verse: in prose also,
numberless instances of it occur, as don't for do not--wond'rous
for wonderous--hast, hath, for the obsolete havest, haveth--
grown, sown, for the antique growen, sowen--midst, for middest,
an old superlative from mid, &c. &c.
Right in the middest of that paradise,
There stood a stately mount (Spencer.
The barren ground was full of wicked weeds,
Which she herself had sowen all about,
Now growen great, at first of little seeds. (Spencer.
. ). Converted, by the addition of E to lengthen the sound, into
Sprite, which, together with Sprightly, proves that the syncope
took place in the first syllable, and that the syncopated word
was intended to be Sp'rit, rhiming with Grit, not Spir't, rhiming
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? Prosody. 7
3, Apocope', which cuts off a final vowel or syl-
lable, or one or more letters, as Gi' for give, Fro' for
from, O' for of, Th' evening for the evening, Philomel
for Philomela.
Si/neeresis is the contraction of two syllables into
one, by rapidly pronouncing, in one syllable, two or
more vowels whicli properly belong to separate syl-
lables, as AE in Israel, IE in Alienate, EE in E'en
and E'er, 10 in Nation r for, though the 10, in such
terminations, be usually accounted a diphthong*,
with Squirt, as I have seen it printed in the following line of
Milton, Par. L. 5, 877--
O alienate from God ! O spirit accurst!
* Diphthong. --Some late writers have directed us to pro-
nounce this word as Dipthong, and some have even adopted that
mode of spelling it; because, as one of them observes, "two
aspirations in succession are disagn eable to an English ear. "
This may be partly true in some cases, on account of the ac-
companying consonants, as " worth their while," " bofA those
men," " come forfA thence :" but, in " woriA Ais while," " both
his eyes," " he led forth his army," the double aspiration will, I
believe, be found more easy to the tongue, and more grateful
to the ear, than the single one in " wor/A is esteemed," " the
merit of bofA is equal," " the Fori A is a Scottish river;" the
continued aspiration more softly blending and combining the
syllables in " worrA Ais," " both Ais," " for<A Ais," without lea-
ving that disagreeable chiism, or requiring that effort of the voice,
which necessarily attend the utterance of " worth is," " both is,"
Fort A is. " But, to return to PHTH, let us see how the doctrine
of the double aspiration applies to it. That the Greek consonant,
which we render by PH, was an aspirated P, is certain; and that,
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? 8 Prosody.
and HON, of course, a single syllable, yet, in strict
propriety, TI-ON are two distinct syllables; and
instead of writing, as we do, stop hm, up hill, kept him, a Greek
would have written staph him, uph hill, kephth him How he
pronounced the P thus aspirated, is of no consequence to us :
but, in our pronunciation, the Greek Pif and the English fare
sounded so exactly alike, that any objection, which lies against
the PH, will hear with equal force against F. Now [ submit to
any of my readers, young or old, whether, in the following com-
binations with TH, the F (or its equivalent G H) be not in reality
much less difficult to the tongue, and less grating to the ear,
than P--Charles the fifth, Charles the fipth--a tougA tAong,
tup fAong--a si\ff thorn, slip iAorn--a rougA rAimhle, rap f Aimble
--the gruff tAunderer, grup fAunderer--you have not enougA
tAought on it, enup Mought--put off their clothes, op rAeir--a
whi^iArough a pipe, whip through--quajf <Aick beer, quap rAick
--acougA (Areatens a consumption, cop iArentens--i/TAeodore's
wife fAinks, ip TAeodore's wipe iAinks. In all ihese examples, I
confidently anticipate the unanimous vote of my readers in favor
of F: and so far indeed is the English ear or tongue from being
shocked or embarrassed by the sound of F before TH, tl at the
vulgar (whom one of the advocates of Dip thong holds up to us
as " no contemptible guides" in pronunciation) are often heard to
aspirate the 2', in after, laughter, left her, pronouncing afther,
lufiher, lefth her; to which may be added the Yorkshire " thrujf
the world,'' for " through the world. " Hence it would appear,
that the harsh and irregular diplhong did not originate from any
repugnance of the English tongue or ear to the more smooth and
Tegular difthong, but from some other cause--very probably
from the ignorance of some of those village dames of former days
who initiated children in spelling--and who, not knowing the
power of the H added to P, taught the younglings to convert
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? Prosody. Q
the same remark applies to Dubious, Duteous, Plen-
teous, Warrior, 8cc. Besides these, and similar ex-
amples of synseresis, which take place in prose, the
licence is carried further in poetry, where we find
Virtuous, Arduous, Gradual, Patriot, used as dissyl-
lables, with many others which will occur in the
following pages.
Diaresis is the division of one syllable into two, as
when Puissant, Puissance, which are properly dis-
Seraph into Syrup, A nymph into An imp, Pheasant into Pea-
sant, Diphthong into Dipthong, &c. --From them the corrup-
tion spread among the lower class of the community, until
at length their example was held up for the imitation of their
betters, as a late writer has seriously recommended to us to
adopt their Sparrozo-grass instead of Asparagus. If the natural
order of things is to be thus inverted--if the vulgar, instead of
learning from their superiors, are to become their models and
their teachers--then let Sphinx also be altered to Spink, which
I suppose to be the prevalent pronunciation among the private
soldiers of his majesty's foot guards; for so I have heard the
word very distinctly pronounced by one of them, who was ex-
plaining to the bystanders the i rnaments on the carriage of the
Egyptian gun in St. James's Park. I hope, however, that none
of my young readers will ever adopt either Spink, Sparrow-grats,
or Dipthong, but invariably pronounce PH as F, win rtver they
can so pronounce it; which they always can do in the body of a
word, as Diphthong, Naphtha, Ophthalmia, &c. There may
indeed be some excuse for not so pronouncing it before TH at
the beginning of words, as Phthisis, Phthia, Phthiriasis, because
it is there thought to be difficult of pronunciation; though, for
my part, I see no difficulty in it, if custom would only allow us
to utter those words with the sound of FTH.
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? 10 Prosody.
syllables, are (by a licence hardly allowable even in
poetry) sounded pu-issant, pu-issance *, as in Somer-
ville's Hobbinol,3, 131-- /
Though great the force
Of this pu-issant aria, as all must own--
* In the original French, the VI of Puissant and Puissance
(as is well known to all who pronounce that language with pro-
priety) is an inseparable diphthong, though very difficult of ut-
terance to those who have not, in early youth, enjoyed good
opportunities of acquiring the genuine French pronunciation.
Witness the broad W in our Etwee, instead of the thin delicate
French Vin the original Etui--and the words Suite, Cuisse, and
Cuirass, which even our pronouncing dictionaries pervert into
Sxeet, Quits, and Queer-ais; by which pronunciation, the true
sound of the French diphthong is destroyed. --But, notwith-
standing the difficulty of utterance, Milton has used the word as
a dissyllable--
Qurpuissance is out own: our own right band. . . (P.
