* See the note on this
orthography
in page 41*.
Carey - Practice English Prosody Exercises
Extols | the trea-\-surcs of\ his stormy seas,
And his long nights of revelry and ease. (Goldsmith.
On the sub ject of dactylics, let me observe, that, of fourteen dif-
ferent forms of dactylic metre, which I have described jn my
" Latin Prosody" twelve ate utterly repugnant to the genius of
our language, except indeed that some few of the twelve might
. perhaps, by means of that troublesome expedient, the double
rhime, be rendered tolerable to an English ear. --Some attempts
were made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to intro-
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? Prosody. 15
conck,fourth, and other even syllables ; the odd syl-
lables being un-accented. But the number of pure
dace the] dactylic metre, as witness the following curious
? ample. --
6 Pharaoh, may we go ? Pharaoh said," Gang, an ye can gang"--
bnt it did not succeed. Nor was it more successful in France,
where it -was also attempted about the same period; though it
appears to somewhat less disadvantage in the following speci-
men--a translation from Martial, 8,21--
AubS, rebaillf le jour: pourquoi ndtre aise retiens-tu?
Cesar doit r? v6mr: aubS, rebaille If jour.
An elegant and ingenious poet of the present day has, in one of
his sportive moments, made a new attempt at English dactylics,
without rbime: but he unfortunately chose one of those " un-
Englith" forms of the dactylic, in which he could not reasonably
hope for success; and, though his other poems will undoubtedly
pass to posterity with applause, I venture to predict that his dac-
tylics will not find many admirers or imitators. Captain Morris,
however, has, with ludicrous felicity, employed rhimed dactylic*
in some of his pieces: but neither will he, I presume, have many
imitators: for, as the metre in question consists entirely of dac-
tyls, if we wish to render it in any degree tolerable to an English
ear, we must close the verse with a trisyllabic rhiine, as
thundering, wondering--socieiy, notori? *y; it being necessary,
as I have before observed, that the rhiiue should always begin om
an accented syllable: and what one of a thousand poets will have
the patience to seek, or the ingenuity to find, a sufficient number
of cuch rhimes? Besides, this triplicate rhime, however well it . >>.
may occasionally be suited to light, careless, jocular composi-
tions, would leave our dactylics wholly destitute of poetic dignity
and grace. --There are, however, two forms of the dactylic metre,
which our language might very well admit, the one consisting of
two, and the other of three dactyls, followed, in each case, by an
B2
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? 16 , ' Prosody.
Iambics, found in the writings of our poets, bears a
small proportion to that of the mixed Iambics, in
whose composition are admitted other feet besides the
' Iambus, as I shall hereafter^ show ; contenting myself
accented syllable. Thus constituted, they would be exactly
equivalent, to anaptestics deprived of the first semi-foot, as will
appear by the following exemplification--
Anapastic--
We speak | 8f the' po-|-Sts, wh8 clioose, } for thgir lay,
The me-|-tre dacty-|-llc, s8 llve-|-ly and gay--
The po-l-Sts, who chOose, | for thfe'ir | lay,
A re? -|-trS s5 llve-|-ly and gay--
Dactylic--
Speak 8f the" | poSts, wh8 | choose, for thSir | lay,
Metre' d8c-|-tyllc, s5 | lively and | gay--
PoSts, wh8 | chdbse, for thSir | lay,
Metre s8 1 llve-|-ly and-| gay-- >>
a. rH indeed I have, in different poems, seen some odd verses of
the kind accidentally interspersed among anapasstics; though!
did not think them worthy of notice, accounting them only as
impcrfect anapsestics; which, in facts they were, since it was for
anaplastics that the writers had intended them. But, if adopted
<<s a distinct atid independent metre, and professedly used as
such, I conceive that the longer of the two measures could,
hardly fail to command the approbation of the public. At the
same time, however, I foresee that the poet who adopts either of
^them, will find sufficient exercise for his patience and ingenuity,
. from the diftkulty'of always finding an accented "emphatic
laWe for the beginninsTof his line, where Or, For, To, In, And, or
some equally undignified monosyllable, will often importunately
obtrude itself for admission: and, from this circumstance, he
will frequently find au^ipaistic lines Steal in un-observed among
his dactylics, as Iambic lines steal in upon writers who are com-
posing in Trochaics. --See " Trochaic. "
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? Prosody. 17
meanwhile with describing the different kinds as
pure Iambics.
The following rude line of fourteen monosyllables --
H6w blithe whfin first from far I came, to woo and win the maid--
contains an exemplification of all the regular forms
of English Iambics, amounting to seven, viz.
How blithe, when first from far I came, to woo aud win the maid.
When first from far I came, to woo and win the maid.
From far I came, to woo and win the maid.
I came to woo and win the maid.
To woo and win else maid.
And win the maid.
The maidi
and, with the addition of the un-aecented syllable
EN at the end of each, to convert Maid into Maiden,
it will moreover furnish seven hypermeters--in all?
fourteen forms of the Iambic*.
The seven regular forms are likewise found in *
the following lines f<<--
Behold,
How short a span
Was long enough, of o\Ar
To measure out the life of man.
In those well-temper'd days, his time was then-
Survey'd,cast up, and found but three-score years and tenr
And yet, though brief, how few would wish to live their term again! :
* To which if we add the six regular forms of Trochaic, and
six more with the additional syllable,, this same line will serve
tq exemplify twenty-six different forms of English metre, consist-
ing of alternate long aud short syllables. --See " Trochaic. "
t The first six of these lines are a stanza of a curious oldp6eRi,
published in, the Lady's Magaiine for 1800, page 556--the ae-
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? ]8 Prosody.
Iambic of seven feet, or fourteen syllables.
and thrice [ he rout-|-ed all | Ins foes, | and thrice |
He slew | the slain. (Dryden.
This is the old English ballad-measure, and was
originally intended for a single verse, as appears by
the following line of Cowley, which has not the
casura after the eighth syllable, but which, on that
account, is certainly less pleasing to the ear--
The vessel breaks, and out. the wretched reliquesrun
at last.
It was indeed usual to make the caesura take place
between the eighth and nintli syllables, as we see in
our bid ballads, and likewise in our metrical version
of the Psalms--
The gallant' greyhounds swiftly ran, || to chase the
fallow deer-- (Chevy Chase.
Behold, the wicked borrows much, || aitd payeth
not again-- (Psalms.
from which circumstance, it became easy to divide
the line into two verses, and thus convert each di-
stich into a tetrastich stanza, as modern writers have
done, sometimes without and sometimes with rhime
to the first and third lines, as '
Before the pond'rous earthly globe
In fluid air was stay'd,
venth, an extempore supplement of my own, added merely ? or
the purpose of exemplification.
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? Prosody. - . 19
Before the ocean's mighty springs ^
Their liquid stores display'd (Mrs. Rowe.
But oars alone can ne'er prevail
To reach the distant coast.
The breath of heav'n mu3t swell the sail;
Or all the toil is lost. (Covvper. >
When written with only a single pair of rhimes,
as in the former of these examples, it is by far the
most easy and convenient metre in the English lan-
guage, not only because it has the fewest rhimes, but
because, in that simple and homely form, it admits a
certain degree of quaintness, a familiar simplicity of
thought and diction, which would hardly be allow-
able in any other species of verse. But, when It is
furnished with two pair of rhimes, as in the latter
example, it commonly assumes a higher character,
refuses to stoop so low in quaintness of idea and
language, and may, from the great frequency of its
rhimes, be considered as one of the most difficult of
our metres.
There sometimes occurs, in old ballads, a variety
of this metre, which I should not have deemed
worthy of notice, if it had not been studiously
adopted by some polished writers, who have thus
given to it a degree of consequence, which otherwise
it never would have enjoyed *. The variation con-
,* I purposely omit, in the following pages, several wild irre-
gular violations of metre, occurring particularly in songs written
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? 20 Prosody.
sists in the omissipn of the eighth semifoot, leaving
a single syllable instead of the fourth foot, as
Then clown | she sunk, | despair-\-ing,A || upon the
drifted snow,
And, wrung [ with kill-l-ing an-\-guish, || lamented
loud her woe--
so that, if the line be divided into two verses,
the first contains only three feet and a half, or seven
syllables, while the latter has its due measure of three
feet: e. gr.
Twas when | the seas | were roar-]-2<<g
With hollow blasts of wind,
A dam-|-sel lay | deplo-l-nwg,
All on a rock reclin'd. (Gay.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
When he was dead, and laid in grave, her heart was
struck with sor-\-row.
" O mother! mother! make my bed ; for I shall
die to mor-\-row. " (Ballad of " Barbara Allen. "
2. Iambic of sixfeet, or twelve syllables.
Thy realm | for e-|-ver lasts: || thy own | Messl-I
-ah reigns. (Pope.
by persons either regard less or ignorant of the laws of versifica-
tion. To constitute verse, it is not sufficient that a number of
jarring syllables be ranged in uncouth lines with rhime at the
end: order, regularity, symmetry, harmony, are requisite j
otherwise we might apply the name of verse to Swift's " Petitiott
of Mrs. Harris," because the terminations of the sentences are
made to rhime!
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? Prosody. . 21
This metre is called the, Alexandrine; and the
verse, when properly constructed, ought always to
have the caesura between the sixtli and seventh sylla- u^
bles. ' It is, comparatively, little used in English
composition, though adopted, as their common he-
roic measure, by our French neighbours, who have
in it entire poems, tragedies, comedies, &c. 8cc.
which, from the dull unvaried uniformity of the
caesura perpetually recurring after the third foot,
cannot, to an English ear, be otherwise than disgust-^ -
ingly monotonous*. To my ear, at least, they are so,
though accustomed to them from early youth. --In
our English poetry, the Ajsxandrine appears to much
greatei advantage ; not, being, uniformly continued
in succession f, but employed as the closing line in the
* Why is not oar English ballad-measure equally tiresome
and disgusting, since it is'as regularly divided at a particular
stage of the verse, as the French Alexandrine ? --The difference
is obvious and striking. Our line of fourteen syllables is not di-
vided into exact halves, but into members of unequal lengths,
viz. eight syllables and six; the eight-syllable portion admitting,
moreover, within its own compass, an additional and varied
caesura: and these two circumstances sufficiently guard against
that monotonous sing-song uniformity which is so irksome in the
French heroics, where we find nought but six and six and six aud
six--the same numbers, the same cadences, from the beginning
of a volume t<< the end, without the smallest variety, to relieve
the ennui of a wearied and impatient ear.
11 here speak of our general practice only; for there are>
some particular exceptions of English poems entirely written in
the Alexan diine metre. ,
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? 92 Prosody.
old heroic stanza of Spencer and his imitators, or
sparingly introduced (in single lines) among our ten-
syllable heroics, and in bold, irregular odes; in both
which situations, it often produces a very fine effect,
by giving a strongly impressive weight, emphasis,
and dignity to a concluding sentiment or image.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
. . . . That never thought one thing, || but doubly still
was gui-\-did. (Spencer.
3. Iambic of five feet, or ten syllables.
This is our heroic metre--the principal metre
in our language--and is perhaps* the only species
of English verse which can nobly sustain its dignity
without the artificial jingle of rhime--that meretri-
cious ornament of barbarous origin, wholly unknown
to the immortal bards of ancient Greece and Rome.
The five-loot Iambic is happily adapted to themes of
every color and every degree, from the most exalted
to the most humble and familiar, and is used with or
without rhime, as
The swain | with tears | his frus-l-tratelii-l-bor yields,
and fa-|-mish'd dies | amid \ his ri-l-pen'd fields.
(Pope.
in sable pomp, with all her starry train,
The Night resum'd her throne. Reeall'd from war,
Her long-protracted labors Greece forgets. (Glover.
* I say "perhaps" because Mr. Southey's Thalaba might be
quoted to prove that others also of our metres may sometimes
dispense with rhime. .
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? Prosody. 23
Further on, 1 shall make a few remarks on the
structure and variations of this species of verse.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
- In moderation placing all my glo-\-ry,
While Tories call me Whig, and Whig9 a To-\-ry.
(Pope.
Iambic of four feet, or eight syllables.
of Plea-)-sure's glld-|-ed baits | beware,
Nor tempt | the SI-|-ren's fa-|-tal snare, (Cotton.
This metre is chiefly used in songs, fables, and
other light compositions, and is frequently alternated
in stanzas with the Tambic of six syllables--the two
together constituting,' as before observed, the old
ballad-measure of fourteen: e. gr.
Alas! by some degree of woe,
Weev'ry bliss must gain.
The heart can ne'er a transport know,
That never feels a pain. (Lyttelton.
The four-foot Iambic is sometimes called Hudi-
brastic, from Butler's poem of Hudibras, written in
such measure. But that appellation is not applied to
verses which have any claim to poetic terseness or
harmony: it is only when the lines are carelessly
scribbled in a coarse, uncouth, slovenly, prosaic man-
ner, that they are termed Hudibrastic.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
Exulting, trembling, raging, faird-\-ing,
Possess'd beyond the Muses*paint-\-ing. (Collins.
* See the note on this orthography in page 41*.
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? 24 Prosody.
Iambic of three feet, or six syllables.
Thou lov'st | to lie, | and hear
The roar | of wa-|-ters near. (Southey.
This metre is hardly used, except in stanzas, alter-
nately with the Iambic of eight syllables, and in ir-
regular odes. --Sometimes, however, it is used un-
mixed, and with alternate rhime, as
Our English then in fight
Did foreign foes subdue,
And forc'd them all to flight,
When this old cap was new.
(Song of " Time's Alteration. "
Hypermcter, with double rhime--
'Tvvas when the seas were roar-\-1ng
A damsel lay dep1dr-\-mg. (Gay.
This latter is the measure to which Anacreon tuned
his lyre, in those sweet little songs, which, after the
lapse of above two thousand years, are still univer-
sally admired by all readers of taste. He, however,
made an occasional variation, which would not be
quite so agreeable in our language as it is in the
Greek, and which shall be noticed under the head of
Trocha'ics:
Iambic of two feet, or four syllables.
With ra-l-vish'd ears
The mo-|-narch hears,
assumes | the god,
affects | to nod (Dryden.
This metre is occasionally blended with verses of
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? Prosody. 25
different kinds, to diversify the irregular ode--the
only purpose for which it can be advantageously
employed; for, although it might, as a continued
metre, be well enough suited to light sportive themes^
it would be next to impossible, even in a moderate
number of successive lines, to find a rhime for every
fourth syllable.
Hypermeter, with double rhime --
With other an-\-guish
I scorn to lan-\-guish. (Thomson.
The Iambic of one foot, or two syllables,
cannot be user! as an independent metre, but may,
as an auxiliary, be employed in stanzas of diversified
measure, for the sake of variety--as the following
eight, which are the first lines of as many stanzas in
that curious old poem from which I have quoted one
for an exemplification of the Iambic metres, in
page 17.
Behold !
alas!
ottr days
we spend.
How vain
They be!
How soon
They end!
Hyper meter, with double rhime--
Snrround-\-ed,
ConfoundA ed. . . . (Anou.
Trochaic Verses
are, in reality, only defective Iambics--that is to say
Iambics wanting the first svliable, as
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? \ Prosody.
Vital spark of heav'nly flame. (Pope,
which line, scanned as Iambic, has a broken foot at
the beginning--
A VT-|-tal spark | of heav'n-|-ly flame --
scanned as Trochaic, it has the broken foot at the
end-- ?
Vital | spark of | heav'nly ) flame . --
In like manner, if we cut off the first syllable from
any other form of the Iambic, we shall equally find
that it may be scanned in both ways, with the defi-
ciency of a scmifoot nt the beginning or the end, ac-
cording as we scan it in Iambuses or Trochees.
Thus, the line which I have given as an exempli-
fication of the Iambic metres in page 17, if de-
prived, in each form, of its first syllable, becomes
Trochaic, viz.
how) Blithe, wlign | first from | far I | came, to | woo and | win
thS | maid.
when) First frttm | far Y | came, ttt | woo and | win thg | maid.
from) Jar i | came, ttt | woo and | win the 1 maid,
t) Came, to | woo and | win thg J maid.
to) Woo and | win thfi | maid.
and) Win tl;? | maid.
and thus we see, that what we call Trochales, regu-
larly terminate in an accented syllable, as is the case
in every other form of English metre ; though, like
every other form, they also admit an additional un-
accented syllable at the end, producing a double
rhime ; so that, by changing Mdid to Maiden in each
of the preceding lines (as heretofore in the Iambics,
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? Prosody. 27
page 17) we shall have twelve forms. of Trochaic
metre *.
* It may, at first sight, appear capricious in me, and even
preposterous, to consider the defective verses as the regular Tro-
chaics, and to account those as irregular, which have the addi-
tional un-accented syllable, and are thus divisible into exact tro-
chees, without cither deficiency or redundancy. Had I been un-
acquainted with the Latin Trochai'cs and Iambics, I should cer-
tainly have done just the reverse. But, when I reflected, that,
in Latin versification, the affinity between the Trochaic and the
Iambic is very intimate, as indeed it also is in English--that the
grand Latin Trochaic of seven feet and a half is only the greater
Iambic deprived of its first semifoot, as I have shown in my
" Latin Prosody"--and that those two forms are indiscrimi-
nately blended in the ancient comedies--I naturally paused to
examine how the case stood in our English versification. Here
too I found that the Iambic and the Trochaic were in fact the
same, with only the difference of the first syllable, sometimes
inserted, sometimes omitted, as we very frequently see in our
Anapasstic verses, where the omission of the first syllable hardly
produces any perceptible difference in the measure, and, none iu
the rhythm or cadence; the remainder of the line being accented,
scanned, and pronounced in the same manner, whether the first
foot consist of two syllables or of three. Accordingly, Milton
makes no distinction between the Iambic and the Trochaic. In
the Allegro and the Penseroso, he mixes them without the
smallest discrimination, uniting them even in the same couplet,
of which the one line contains eight syllables, while its fellow is
stinted to seven, accented, however, in the same manner as the
corresponding syllables of the longer line, measured backward
from the end, as, for example--
A Come, | but keep | thy w6ut-|-ed state,|
With ? -l-ven step | and mu-|-sing gait. | (II Penseroso.
In modern times, the practice is the same. To instance from
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? '28
Trasody.
But, of the six tegular forms above exemplified,
and the six hypermeters related to them, the first
an elegant poetess of our own day, we see, in Mrs. Baibauld's
address " to Wisdom,"
K II6pfc|with en-|ger spar-|-kling eyes,|
And ea-|-sy faith,[and fond | surprise. |
With respect to the additional un-accented syllable, making
double rbime and exact trochees, that is a purely adventitious
and accidental circumstance, as is sufficiently proved by the ex-
ample of Milton, who, in one and the same couplet, equally
makes the addition to the complete Iambic, as to the defective
line which we call Trochaic, viz.
A Then I to c6me, | in spite | of i'or-\\-ruze
And at | my win-|-dow bid | good mur-\\-ruze-- (L'Allegro,
for surely nobody can suppose that he intended the lattrr of
these lines for Trochaic. --On the whole, then, as all otir other
metres regularly terminate with an accented syllabic ; as the
addition of the supernumerary un-acccnted syllable is an arbi-
trary licence of the poet, and, in fact, only a privileged anomaly,
which equally takes place in every other form of English verse;
as the omission of the first syllable creates no difference in the
nature of the Anapaestic verse; and as the poets make, in
reality, no distinction between the Iambic line of eight syllables
and the Iambic or Trochaic of seien; I conclude, that what we
rail Trochaics, are only defective Iambics, regularly termina-
ting in an accented syllable; and that those which have the
additional un-accented syllable, are irregular hyr. ermeter lines,
although they accidentally happen to make even trochees, and
although some ports have written entiie pieces in that irregular
measure, as indeed every other kind of defective, redundant, rr
otherwise anomalous metre, has occasionally pleased the fancy o'
some writer, who chose to employ it in his compositions.
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? Prosody. 29
three in each class are either not at all used, or at
least so very rarely, as not to be worthy of further
notice in these pages. Indeed, not one of them
would be at all pleasing to a poetic ear; their too
great length being inconsistent with that rapid easy
lightness and volubility which we wish and expect
from the defalcation of the regular Iambic metre.
The longest regular Trochaic which has any claim
to our attention, is the
Trochaic of three feet and a half.
. Man a-|-lone, tn-|-tent to | stray,
ever | turns from | wisdom's | way. (Moore.
This metre is admirably calculated for light, lively,X
cheerful subjects: but it is an extremely difficult
metre to any poet who wishes to write allTrochaics,
without a mixture of eight-syllable Iambics: and
the cause is obvious--a, the, and, of, for, and other
un-emphatic monosyllables, will frequently present
themselves for admission at the beginning of the line,
where one of them will prove a very aukward stum-
bling-block in the poet's way. ' If he adopt that
puny monosyllable to begin a serai-syllable line, he
spoils his verse, which is thus destitute of the neces-
sary accent and emphasis on the first syllable. If he
seek to avoid that inconvenience, and cannot entirely
discard the obnoxious monosyllable, he must make
the line a perfect Iambic of four feet complete, with
the accent on the even syllables; and such indeed is
c2
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? 30 Prosody.
the practice of our best poets, in whose effusions we
very frequently observe that the perfect Iambic has
un-avoidably and imperceptibly crept in among the
Trochaics, so that it is very rare to find even a score
of Trochaic lines unmixed with perfect Iambics.
This form of the Trochaic is sometimes called
Anacreontic, but very erroneously, as Anacreon's
metre is quite different
* It is easy to account for the error. --Some English poet, ac-
quainted with Anacreon, wrote, like him, on light lively subjects
--like him, also, in light easy style--like him, too, in short
metre, though different from that of the Greek songster. Frooi
those features of partial resemblance, he styled his pieces Ana-
creontic, as we give the name of Pindaric to odes composed in
the bold irregular manner of Pindar, though not written in
Pindar's metre. Hence the English reader,equally unacquainted
with Anacreon in the original Greek, and with the imitations of
his metre in Latin, erroneously conceived, that, in those English
productions, the metre itself was Anacreontic--an egregious
error, excusable however in him, though it would be unpardon-
able in any classical scholar. In short, as already observed in
page 24, the metre in which Anacreon chiefly wrote, and which
alone benrs the title of Anacreontic in Greek and Latin, is our
three-foot Iambic with a supernumerary short syllable, and with
the first foot sometimes an anapaest, as here exemplified in two
of his own lines--
6l6-|-la, ma-|-t8r, ei-|-pen
Sp6l6i-|-t5 pro-|-tfis aO-|-tos. . . .
in the former of which lines, his metre is exactly this--
'Twas when | the" sea9 | we're roar-|-lng. . .
8 dam-|-s? l lay | d8plor-|-Ing--
in the latter,
! t was when 1 the' seas | were roar-|-tng. . .
That a dam-|-sellay | deplor-|-lng
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? Prosody. 31
Hypermeter, with double rid me--
Trembling, | hoping, | llng'itng, \Jlying.
oh ! the | pain, the | bliss, of | dying! (Pope.
Trochaic of two feet and a half.
Prithee, | why s5 ] pale ? (Suckling.
This measure is little used, and cannot be employed
to advantage, except occasionally, for the sake of
variety, in mixed stanzas of various metre.
Hypermeter, with double rhime --
Loudly | roars the J thunder. (Anon.
The Trochaic of one foot and a half
may not unaptly be called the Lilliputian Trochaic,
partly from the brevity of its measure, partly from
the circumstance of its having been so characteristi-
cally employed by Gay in his Lilliputian odes to
Gulliver; e. gr.
See him | stride
Valleys | wide,
5ver J woods,
over | floods, &c.
Except on some Lilliputian occasion of similar
kind, this metre cannot otherwise be employed than
in diversifying mixed stanzas consisting of different
kinds of verse.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
Soft de-\-mals
Are but | trials. (Hughes
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? 32 Prosody.
Anaptestic Verses
properly consist of anapaests alone, as
The misfor-|-tunes that fall | to the lot | of the great.
(Ainsty.
The first foot, however, in all the different forms of
Anapaestic metre, may be a foot of two syllables ;
and, provided that the latter syllable of that foot be
accented, as is the case in the spondee and iambus,
the syllabic difference between either of those feet
and the anapaest, in the first station of the verse,
hardly produces (as before observed under the head
of Trochaics) any perceptible difference in the mea-
sure, and none at all in the rhythm or cadence; the
remainder of the line being accented, scanned, and
pronounced in the same manner, whether the first
foot consist of two syllables or of three. But the
Pyrrhic and Trochee, which have not the second
syllable accented, are, on that account, inadmissible.
The Anapaestic metre is happily adapted to themes
of every kind, except the heroic, for which it does
not possess, in an adequate degree, the necessary
character of masculine energy and dignified eleva-
tion. --In stanzas of four-foot lines with alternate
rhime, it well accords with grave, solemn, melancholy
musings*: in stanzas alternately subjoining verses
of three feet to verses of four, or entirely consisting
of three-foot verses with alternate rhime, it is admi-
* Tis night; and the landscape is lovely no more.
I mourn: but, ye woodlands, I mourn not for . you;
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? Protody. 33
'
rably suited to soft, tender, sentimental, pathetic
subjects; while, in rbimed couplets of the long
measure, it is conveniently subservient to wit, hu-
mour, mirth, festivity, ridicule, satire--to the ani-
mated effusions of martial enthusiasm, or the proud
exultation of triumph *. --On subjects of terrific
complexion, Mr. Lewis has very successfully em-
ployed Anapcestic stanzas of five lines, of four feet
and three.
Anapcestic offour feet.
'Tis the voice | of the slug-|-gard : i hear | hlin
complain:
For morn is nppronching,your charms to restore,
PtrfuiuM with fresh fragrance, unci gliti'ring with (lew.
Nor yet lor the ravage of winter I mourn :--
Kind Nature the embryo blossom shall save :
But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn ?
Oh! when shall it dawn on the night of the grave? (Benttioi
* If, like T)MsEus of old, I had to awake dormant valour with
the totce of sung, 1 would, in preference to every other form
nf English metre, chouse the Anapaestic of four feet in couplets,
which--if well written, in real anapa'Sts un-encumbercd with an
undue weight of heavy syllables, and judiciously aided by appro-
printe music-- could hardly fuil to mnrtinlisc even shivering cow-
ards, and warm them into heroes ; the brisk animating inarch of
the veTse having the same effect on the soul, as the body expe-
riences from the quick lively step, which, by accelerating the
circulation of the blood, at once warms and dilates the heart
and renders the warrior more prompt to deeds of prowess--
"Many lines may be found in Mr.
And his long nights of revelry and ease. (Goldsmith.
On the sub ject of dactylics, let me observe, that, of fourteen dif-
ferent forms of dactylic metre, which I have described jn my
" Latin Prosody" twelve ate utterly repugnant to the genius of
our language, except indeed that some few of the twelve might
. perhaps, by means of that troublesome expedient, the double
rhime, be rendered tolerable to an English ear. --Some attempts
were made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to intro-
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? Prosody. 15
conck,fourth, and other even syllables ; the odd syl-
lables being un-accented. But the number of pure
dace the] dactylic metre, as witness the following curious
? ample. --
6 Pharaoh, may we go ? Pharaoh said," Gang, an ye can gang"--
bnt it did not succeed. Nor was it more successful in France,
where it -was also attempted about the same period; though it
appears to somewhat less disadvantage in the following speci-
men--a translation from Martial, 8,21--
AubS, rebaillf le jour: pourquoi ndtre aise retiens-tu?
Cesar doit r? v6mr: aubS, rebaille If jour.
An elegant and ingenious poet of the present day has, in one of
his sportive moments, made a new attempt at English dactylics,
without rbime: but he unfortunately chose one of those " un-
Englith" forms of the dactylic, in which he could not reasonably
hope for success; and, though his other poems will undoubtedly
pass to posterity with applause, I venture to predict that his dac-
tylics will not find many admirers or imitators. Captain Morris,
however, has, with ludicrous felicity, employed rhimed dactylic*
in some of his pieces: but neither will he, I presume, have many
imitators: for, as the metre in question consists entirely of dac-
tyls, if we wish to render it in any degree tolerable to an English
ear, we must close the verse with a trisyllabic rhiine, as
thundering, wondering--socieiy, notori? *y; it being necessary,
as I have before observed, that the rhiiue should always begin om
an accented syllable: and what one of a thousand poets will have
the patience to seek, or the ingenuity to find, a sufficient number
of cuch rhimes? Besides, this triplicate rhime, however well it . >>.
may occasionally be suited to light, careless, jocular composi-
tions, would leave our dactylics wholly destitute of poetic dignity
and grace. --There are, however, two forms of the dactylic metre,
which our language might very well admit, the one consisting of
two, and the other of three dactyls, followed, in each case, by an
B2
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? 16 , ' Prosody.
Iambics, found in the writings of our poets, bears a
small proportion to that of the mixed Iambics, in
whose composition are admitted other feet besides the
' Iambus, as I shall hereafter^ show ; contenting myself
accented syllable. Thus constituted, they would be exactly
equivalent, to anaptestics deprived of the first semi-foot, as will
appear by the following exemplification--
Anapastic--
We speak | 8f the' po-|-Sts, wh8 clioose, } for thgir lay,
The me-|-tre dacty-|-llc, s8 llve-|-ly and gay--
The po-l-Sts, who chOose, | for thfe'ir | lay,
A re? -|-trS s5 llve-|-ly and gay--
Dactylic--
Speak 8f the" | poSts, wh8 | choose, for thSir | lay,
Metre' d8c-|-tyllc, s5 | lively and | gay--
PoSts, wh8 | chdbse, for thSir | lay,
Metre s8 1 llve-|-ly and-| gay-- >>
a. rH indeed I have, in different poems, seen some odd verses of
the kind accidentally interspersed among anapasstics; though!
did not think them worthy of notice, accounting them only as
impcrfect anapsestics; which, in facts they were, since it was for
anaplastics that the writers had intended them. But, if adopted
<<s a distinct atid independent metre, and professedly used as
such, I conceive that the longer of the two measures could,
hardly fail to command the approbation of the public. At the
same time, however, I foresee that the poet who adopts either of
^them, will find sufficient exercise for his patience and ingenuity,
. from the diftkulty'of always finding an accented "emphatic
laWe for the beginninsTof his line, where Or, For, To, In, And, or
some equally undignified monosyllable, will often importunately
obtrude itself for admission: and, from this circumstance, he
will frequently find au^ipaistic lines Steal in un-observed among
his dactylics, as Iambic lines steal in upon writers who are com-
posing in Trochaics. --See " Trochaic. "
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? Prosody. 17
meanwhile with describing the different kinds as
pure Iambics.
The following rude line of fourteen monosyllables --
H6w blithe whfin first from far I came, to woo and win the maid--
contains an exemplification of all the regular forms
of English Iambics, amounting to seven, viz.
How blithe, when first from far I came, to woo aud win the maid.
When first from far I came, to woo and win the maid.
From far I came, to woo and win the maid.
I came to woo and win the maid.
To woo and win else maid.
And win the maid.
The maidi
and, with the addition of the un-aecented syllable
EN at the end of each, to convert Maid into Maiden,
it will moreover furnish seven hypermeters--in all?
fourteen forms of the Iambic*.
The seven regular forms are likewise found in *
the following lines f<<--
Behold,
How short a span
Was long enough, of o\Ar
To measure out the life of man.
In those well-temper'd days, his time was then-
Survey'd,cast up, and found but three-score years and tenr
And yet, though brief, how few would wish to live their term again! :
* To which if we add the six regular forms of Trochaic, and
six more with the additional syllable,, this same line will serve
tq exemplify twenty-six different forms of English metre, consist-
ing of alternate long aud short syllables. --See " Trochaic. "
t The first six of these lines are a stanza of a curious oldp6eRi,
published in, the Lady's Magaiine for 1800, page 556--the ae-
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? ]8 Prosody.
Iambic of seven feet, or fourteen syllables.
and thrice [ he rout-|-ed all | Ins foes, | and thrice |
He slew | the slain. (Dryden.
This is the old English ballad-measure, and was
originally intended for a single verse, as appears by
the following line of Cowley, which has not the
casura after the eighth syllable, but which, on that
account, is certainly less pleasing to the ear--
The vessel breaks, and out. the wretched reliquesrun
at last.
It was indeed usual to make the caesura take place
between the eighth and nintli syllables, as we see in
our bid ballads, and likewise in our metrical version
of the Psalms--
The gallant' greyhounds swiftly ran, || to chase the
fallow deer-- (Chevy Chase.
Behold, the wicked borrows much, || aitd payeth
not again-- (Psalms.
from which circumstance, it became easy to divide
the line into two verses, and thus convert each di-
stich into a tetrastich stanza, as modern writers have
done, sometimes without and sometimes with rhime
to the first and third lines, as '
Before the pond'rous earthly globe
In fluid air was stay'd,
venth, an extempore supplement of my own, added merely ? or
the purpose of exemplification.
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? Prosody. - . 19
Before the ocean's mighty springs ^
Their liquid stores display'd (Mrs. Rowe.
But oars alone can ne'er prevail
To reach the distant coast.
The breath of heav'n mu3t swell the sail;
Or all the toil is lost. (Covvper. >
When written with only a single pair of rhimes,
as in the former of these examples, it is by far the
most easy and convenient metre in the English lan-
guage, not only because it has the fewest rhimes, but
because, in that simple and homely form, it admits a
certain degree of quaintness, a familiar simplicity of
thought and diction, which would hardly be allow-
able in any other species of verse. But, when It is
furnished with two pair of rhimes, as in the latter
example, it commonly assumes a higher character,
refuses to stoop so low in quaintness of idea and
language, and may, from the great frequency of its
rhimes, be considered as one of the most difficult of
our metres.
There sometimes occurs, in old ballads, a variety
of this metre, which I should not have deemed
worthy of notice, if it had not been studiously
adopted by some polished writers, who have thus
given to it a degree of consequence, which otherwise
it never would have enjoyed *. The variation con-
,* I purposely omit, in the following pages, several wild irre-
gular violations of metre, occurring particularly in songs written
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? 20 Prosody.
sists in the omissipn of the eighth semifoot, leaving
a single syllable instead of the fourth foot, as
Then clown | she sunk, | despair-\-ing,A || upon the
drifted snow,
And, wrung [ with kill-l-ing an-\-guish, || lamented
loud her woe--
so that, if the line be divided into two verses,
the first contains only three feet and a half, or seven
syllables, while the latter has its due measure of three
feet: e. gr.
Twas when | the seas | were roar-]-2<<g
With hollow blasts of wind,
A dam-|-sel lay | deplo-l-nwg,
All on a rock reclin'd. (Gay.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
When he was dead, and laid in grave, her heart was
struck with sor-\-row.
" O mother! mother! make my bed ; for I shall
die to mor-\-row. " (Ballad of " Barbara Allen. "
2. Iambic of sixfeet, or twelve syllables.
Thy realm | for e-|-ver lasts: || thy own | Messl-I
-ah reigns. (Pope.
by persons either regard less or ignorant of the laws of versifica-
tion. To constitute verse, it is not sufficient that a number of
jarring syllables be ranged in uncouth lines with rhime at the
end: order, regularity, symmetry, harmony, are requisite j
otherwise we might apply the name of verse to Swift's " Petitiott
of Mrs. Harris," because the terminations of the sentences are
made to rhime!
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? Prosody. . 21
This metre is called the, Alexandrine; and the
verse, when properly constructed, ought always to
have the caesura between the sixtli and seventh sylla- u^
bles. ' It is, comparatively, little used in English
composition, though adopted, as their common he-
roic measure, by our French neighbours, who have
in it entire poems, tragedies, comedies, &c. 8cc.
which, from the dull unvaried uniformity of the
caesura perpetually recurring after the third foot,
cannot, to an English ear, be otherwise than disgust-^ -
ingly monotonous*. To my ear, at least, they are so,
though accustomed to them from early youth. --In
our English poetry, the Ajsxandrine appears to much
greatei advantage ; not, being, uniformly continued
in succession f, but employed as the closing line in the
* Why is not oar English ballad-measure equally tiresome
and disgusting, since it is'as regularly divided at a particular
stage of the verse, as the French Alexandrine ? --The difference
is obvious and striking. Our line of fourteen syllables is not di-
vided into exact halves, but into members of unequal lengths,
viz. eight syllables and six; the eight-syllable portion admitting,
moreover, within its own compass, an additional and varied
caesura: and these two circumstances sufficiently guard against
that monotonous sing-song uniformity which is so irksome in the
French heroics, where we find nought but six and six and six aud
six--the same numbers, the same cadences, from the beginning
of a volume t<< the end, without the smallest variety, to relieve
the ennui of a wearied and impatient ear.
11 here speak of our general practice only; for there are>
some particular exceptions of English poems entirely written in
the Alexan diine metre. ,
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? 92 Prosody.
old heroic stanza of Spencer and his imitators, or
sparingly introduced (in single lines) among our ten-
syllable heroics, and in bold, irregular odes; in both
which situations, it often produces a very fine effect,
by giving a strongly impressive weight, emphasis,
and dignity to a concluding sentiment or image.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
. . . . That never thought one thing, || but doubly still
was gui-\-did. (Spencer.
3. Iambic of five feet, or ten syllables.
This is our heroic metre--the principal metre
in our language--and is perhaps* the only species
of English verse which can nobly sustain its dignity
without the artificial jingle of rhime--that meretri-
cious ornament of barbarous origin, wholly unknown
to the immortal bards of ancient Greece and Rome.
The five-loot Iambic is happily adapted to themes of
every color and every degree, from the most exalted
to the most humble and familiar, and is used with or
without rhime, as
The swain | with tears | his frus-l-tratelii-l-bor yields,
and fa-|-mish'd dies | amid \ his ri-l-pen'd fields.
(Pope.
in sable pomp, with all her starry train,
The Night resum'd her throne. Reeall'd from war,
Her long-protracted labors Greece forgets. (Glover.
* I say "perhaps" because Mr. Southey's Thalaba might be
quoted to prove that others also of our metres may sometimes
dispense with rhime. .
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? Prosody. 23
Further on, 1 shall make a few remarks on the
structure and variations of this species of verse.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
- In moderation placing all my glo-\-ry,
While Tories call me Whig, and Whig9 a To-\-ry.
(Pope.
Iambic of four feet, or eight syllables.
of Plea-)-sure's glld-|-ed baits | beware,
Nor tempt | the SI-|-ren's fa-|-tal snare, (Cotton.
This metre is chiefly used in songs, fables, and
other light compositions, and is frequently alternated
in stanzas with the Tambic of six syllables--the two
together constituting,' as before observed, the old
ballad-measure of fourteen: e. gr.
Alas! by some degree of woe,
Weev'ry bliss must gain.
The heart can ne'er a transport know,
That never feels a pain. (Lyttelton.
The four-foot Iambic is sometimes called Hudi-
brastic, from Butler's poem of Hudibras, written in
such measure. But that appellation is not applied to
verses which have any claim to poetic terseness or
harmony: it is only when the lines are carelessly
scribbled in a coarse, uncouth, slovenly, prosaic man-
ner, that they are termed Hudibrastic.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
Exulting, trembling, raging, faird-\-ing,
Possess'd beyond the Muses*paint-\-ing. (Collins.
* See the note on this orthography in page 41*.
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? 24 Prosody.
Iambic of three feet, or six syllables.
Thou lov'st | to lie, | and hear
The roar | of wa-|-ters near. (Southey.
This metre is hardly used, except in stanzas, alter-
nately with the Iambic of eight syllables, and in ir-
regular odes. --Sometimes, however, it is used un-
mixed, and with alternate rhime, as
Our English then in fight
Did foreign foes subdue,
And forc'd them all to flight,
When this old cap was new.
(Song of " Time's Alteration. "
Hypermcter, with double rhime--
'Tvvas when the seas were roar-\-1ng
A damsel lay dep1dr-\-mg. (Gay.
This latter is the measure to which Anacreon tuned
his lyre, in those sweet little songs, which, after the
lapse of above two thousand years, are still univer-
sally admired by all readers of taste. He, however,
made an occasional variation, which would not be
quite so agreeable in our language as it is in the
Greek, and which shall be noticed under the head of
Trocha'ics:
Iambic of two feet, or four syllables.
With ra-l-vish'd ears
The mo-|-narch hears,
assumes | the god,
affects | to nod (Dryden.
This metre is occasionally blended with verses of
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? Prosody. 25
different kinds, to diversify the irregular ode--the
only purpose for which it can be advantageously
employed; for, although it might, as a continued
metre, be well enough suited to light sportive themes^
it would be next to impossible, even in a moderate
number of successive lines, to find a rhime for every
fourth syllable.
Hypermeter, with double rhime --
With other an-\-guish
I scorn to lan-\-guish. (Thomson.
The Iambic of one foot, or two syllables,
cannot be user! as an independent metre, but may,
as an auxiliary, be employed in stanzas of diversified
measure, for the sake of variety--as the following
eight, which are the first lines of as many stanzas in
that curious old poem from which I have quoted one
for an exemplification of the Iambic metres, in
page 17.
Behold !
alas!
ottr days
we spend.
How vain
They be!
How soon
They end!
Hyper meter, with double rhime--
Snrround-\-ed,
ConfoundA ed. . . . (Anou.
Trochaic Verses
are, in reality, only defective Iambics--that is to say
Iambics wanting the first svliable, as
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? \ Prosody.
Vital spark of heav'nly flame. (Pope,
which line, scanned as Iambic, has a broken foot at
the beginning--
A VT-|-tal spark | of heav'n-|-ly flame --
scanned as Trochaic, it has the broken foot at the
end-- ?
Vital | spark of | heav'nly ) flame . --
In like manner, if we cut off the first syllable from
any other form of the Iambic, we shall equally find
that it may be scanned in both ways, with the defi-
ciency of a scmifoot nt the beginning or the end, ac-
cording as we scan it in Iambuses or Trochees.
Thus, the line which I have given as an exempli-
fication of the Iambic metres in page 17, if de-
prived, in each form, of its first syllable, becomes
Trochaic, viz.
how) Blithe, wlign | first from | far I | came, to | woo and | win
thS | maid.
when) First frttm | far Y | came, ttt | woo and | win thg | maid.
from) Jar i | came, ttt | woo and | win the 1 maid,
t) Came, to | woo and | win thg J maid.
to) Woo and | win thfi | maid.
and) Win tl;? | maid.
and thus we see, that what we call Trochales, regu-
larly terminate in an accented syllable, as is the case
in every other form of English metre ; though, like
every other form, they also admit an additional un-
accented syllable at the end, producing a double
rhime ; so that, by changing Mdid to Maiden in each
of the preceding lines (as heretofore in the Iambics,
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? Prosody. 27
page 17) we shall have twelve forms. of Trochaic
metre *.
* It may, at first sight, appear capricious in me, and even
preposterous, to consider the defective verses as the regular Tro-
chaics, and to account those as irregular, which have the addi-
tional un-accented syllable, and are thus divisible into exact tro-
chees, without cither deficiency or redundancy. Had I been un-
acquainted with the Latin Trochai'cs and Iambics, I should cer-
tainly have done just the reverse. But, when I reflected, that,
in Latin versification, the affinity between the Trochaic and the
Iambic is very intimate, as indeed it also is in English--that the
grand Latin Trochaic of seven feet and a half is only the greater
Iambic deprived of its first semifoot, as I have shown in my
" Latin Prosody"--and that those two forms are indiscrimi-
nately blended in the ancient comedies--I naturally paused to
examine how the case stood in our English versification. Here
too I found that the Iambic and the Trochaic were in fact the
same, with only the difference of the first syllable, sometimes
inserted, sometimes omitted, as we very frequently see in our
Anapasstic verses, where the omission of the first syllable hardly
produces any perceptible difference in the measure, and, none iu
the rhythm or cadence; the remainder of the line being accented,
scanned, and pronounced in the same manner, whether the first
foot consist of two syllables or of three. Accordingly, Milton
makes no distinction between the Iambic and the Trochaic. In
the Allegro and the Penseroso, he mixes them without the
smallest discrimination, uniting them even in the same couplet,
of which the one line contains eight syllables, while its fellow is
stinted to seven, accented, however, in the same manner as the
corresponding syllables of the longer line, measured backward
from the end, as, for example--
A Come, | but keep | thy w6ut-|-ed state,|
With ? -l-ven step | and mu-|-sing gait. | (II Penseroso.
In modern times, the practice is the same. To instance from
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? '28
Trasody.
But, of the six tegular forms above exemplified,
and the six hypermeters related to them, the first
an elegant poetess of our own day, we see, in Mrs. Baibauld's
address " to Wisdom,"
K II6pfc|with en-|ger spar-|-kling eyes,|
And ea-|-sy faith,[and fond | surprise. |
With respect to the additional un-accented syllable, making
double rbime and exact trochees, that is a purely adventitious
and accidental circumstance, as is sufficiently proved by the ex-
ample of Milton, who, in one and the same couplet, equally
makes the addition to the complete Iambic, as to the defective
line which we call Trochaic, viz.
A Then I to c6me, | in spite | of i'or-\\-ruze
And at | my win-|-dow bid | good mur-\\-ruze-- (L'Allegro,
for surely nobody can suppose that he intended the lattrr of
these lines for Trochaic. --On the whole, then, as all otir other
metres regularly terminate with an accented syllabic ; as the
addition of the supernumerary un-acccnted syllable is an arbi-
trary licence of the poet, and, in fact, only a privileged anomaly,
which equally takes place in every other form of English verse;
as the omission of the first syllable creates no difference in the
nature of the Anapaestic verse; and as the poets make, in
reality, no distinction between the Iambic line of eight syllables
and the Iambic or Trochaic of seien; I conclude, that what we
rail Trochaics, are only defective Iambics, regularly termina-
ting in an accented syllable; and that those which have the
additional un-accented syllable, are irregular hyr. ermeter lines,
although they accidentally happen to make even trochees, and
although some ports have written entiie pieces in that irregular
measure, as indeed every other kind of defective, redundant, rr
otherwise anomalous metre, has occasionally pleased the fancy o'
some writer, who chose to employ it in his compositions.
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? Prosody. 29
three in each class are either not at all used, or at
least so very rarely, as not to be worthy of further
notice in these pages. Indeed, not one of them
would be at all pleasing to a poetic ear; their too
great length being inconsistent with that rapid easy
lightness and volubility which we wish and expect
from the defalcation of the regular Iambic metre.
The longest regular Trochaic which has any claim
to our attention, is the
Trochaic of three feet and a half.
. Man a-|-lone, tn-|-tent to | stray,
ever | turns from | wisdom's | way. (Moore.
This metre is admirably calculated for light, lively,X
cheerful subjects: but it is an extremely difficult
metre to any poet who wishes to write allTrochaics,
without a mixture of eight-syllable Iambics: and
the cause is obvious--a, the, and, of, for, and other
un-emphatic monosyllables, will frequently present
themselves for admission at the beginning of the line,
where one of them will prove a very aukward stum-
bling-block in the poet's way. ' If he adopt that
puny monosyllable to begin a serai-syllable line, he
spoils his verse, which is thus destitute of the neces-
sary accent and emphasis on the first syllable. If he
seek to avoid that inconvenience, and cannot entirely
discard the obnoxious monosyllable, he must make
the line a perfect Iambic of four feet complete, with
the accent on the even syllables; and such indeed is
c2
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? 30 Prosody.
the practice of our best poets, in whose effusions we
very frequently observe that the perfect Iambic has
un-avoidably and imperceptibly crept in among the
Trochaics, so that it is very rare to find even a score
of Trochaic lines unmixed with perfect Iambics.
This form of the Trochaic is sometimes called
Anacreontic, but very erroneously, as Anacreon's
metre is quite different
* It is easy to account for the error. --Some English poet, ac-
quainted with Anacreon, wrote, like him, on light lively subjects
--like him, also, in light easy style--like him, too, in short
metre, though different from that of the Greek songster. Frooi
those features of partial resemblance, he styled his pieces Ana-
creontic, as we give the name of Pindaric to odes composed in
the bold irregular manner of Pindar, though not written in
Pindar's metre. Hence the English reader,equally unacquainted
with Anacreon in the original Greek, and with the imitations of
his metre in Latin, erroneously conceived, that, in those English
productions, the metre itself was Anacreontic--an egregious
error, excusable however in him, though it would be unpardon-
able in any classical scholar. In short, as already observed in
page 24, the metre in which Anacreon chiefly wrote, and which
alone benrs the title of Anacreontic in Greek and Latin, is our
three-foot Iambic with a supernumerary short syllable, and with
the first foot sometimes an anapaest, as here exemplified in two
of his own lines--
6l6-|-la, ma-|-t8r, ei-|-pen
Sp6l6i-|-t5 pro-|-tfis aO-|-tos. . . .
in the former of which lines, his metre is exactly this--
'Twas when | the" sea9 | we're roar-|-lng. . .
8 dam-|-s? l lay | d8plor-|-Ing--
in the latter,
! t was when 1 the' seas | were roar-|-tng. . .
That a dam-|-sellay | deplor-|-lng
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? Prosody. 31
Hypermeter, with double rid me--
Trembling, | hoping, | llng'itng, \Jlying.
oh ! the | pain, the | bliss, of | dying! (Pope.
Trochaic of two feet and a half.
Prithee, | why s5 ] pale ? (Suckling.
This measure is little used, and cannot be employed
to advantage, except occasionally, for the sake of
variety, in mixed stanzas of various metre.
Hypermeter, with double rhime --
Loudly | roars the J thunder. (Anon.
The Trochaic of one foot and a half
may not unaptly be called the Lilliputian Trochaic,
partly from the brevity of its measure, partly from
the circumstance of its having been so characteristi-
cally employed by Gay in his Lilliputian odes to
Gulliver; e. gr.
See him | stride
Valleys | wide,
5ver J woods,
over | floods, &c.
Except on some Lilliputian occasion of similar
kind, this metre cannot otherwise be employed than
in diversifying mixed stanzas consisting of different
kinds of verse.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
Soft de-\-mals
Are but | trials. (Hughes
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? 32 Prosody.
Anaptestic Verses
properly consist of anapaests alone, as
The misfor-|-tunes that fall | to the lot | of the great.
(Ainsty.
The first foot, however, in all the different forms of
Anapaestic metre, may be a foot of two syllables ;
and, provided that the latter syllable of that foot be
accented, as is the case in the spondee and iambus,
the syllabic difference between either of those feet
and the anapaest, in the first station of the verse,
hardly produces (as before observed under the head
of Trochaics) any perceptible difference in the mea-
sure, and none at all in the rhythm or cadence; the
remainder of the line being accented, scanned, and
pronounced in the same manner, whether the first
foot consist of two syllables or of three. But the
Pyrrhic and Trochee, which have not the second
syllable accented, are, on that account, inadmissible.
The Anapaestic metre is happily adapted to themes
of every kind, except the heroic, for which it does
not possess, in an adequate degree, the necessary
character of masculine energy and dignified eleva-
tion. --In stanzas of four-foot lines with alternate
rhime, it well accords with grave, solemn, melancholy
musings*: in stanzas alternately subjoining verses
of three feet to verses of four, or entirely consisting
of three-foot verses with alternate rhime, it is admi-
* Tis night; and the landscape is lovely no more.
I mourn: but, ye woodlands, I mourn not for . you;
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? Protody. 33
'
rably suited to soft, tender, sentimental, pathetic
subjects; while, in rbimed couplets of the long
measure, it is conveniently subservient to wit, hu-
mour, mirth, festivity, ridicule, satire--to the ani-
mated effusions of martial enthusiasm, or the proud
exultation of triumph *. --On subjects of terrific
complexion, Mr. Lewis has very successfully em-
ployed Anapcestic stanzas of five lines, of four feet
and three.
Anapcestic offour feet.
'Tis the voice | of the slug-|-gard : i hear | hlin
complain:
For morn is nppronching,your charms to restore,
PtrfuiuM with fresh fragrance, unci gliti'ring with (lew.
Nor yet lor the ravage of winter I mourn :--
Kind Nature the embryo blossom shall save :
But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn ?
Oh! when shall it dawn on the night of the grave? (Benttioi
* If, like T)MsEus of old, I had to awake dormant valour with
the totce of sung, 1 would, in preference to every other form
nf English metre, chouse the Anapaestic of four feet in couplets,
which--if well written, in real anapa'Sts un-encumbercd with an
undue weight of heavy syllables, and judiciously aided by appro-
printe music-- could hardly fuil to mnrtinlisc even shivering cow-
ards, and warm them into heroes ; the brisk animating inarch of
the veTse having the same effect on the soul, as the body expe-
riences from the quick lively step, which, by accelerating the
circulation of the blood, at once warms and dilates the heart
and renders the warrior more prompt to deeds of prowess--
"Many lines may be found in Mr.
