Composition-Rhetoric Part 32

_ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U Hexameter. This is the forest primeval; the murmuring pines and U | _ U | the hemlocks.

When we say that a verse is of any particular kind, we do not mean that every foot in that line is necessarily of the same kind. Verse is named by stating first the prevailing foot which composes it, and second the number of feet in a line. A verse having four iambic feet is called iambic tetrameter. So we have dactylic hexameter, trochaic pentameter, iambic trimeter, anapestic dimeter, etc.

EXERCISES

_A._ Mark the accented and unaccented syllables in the following selections, and name the kind of verse:--

1.

Build me straight, O worthy Master!

Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel That shall laugh at all disaster And with wave and whirlwind wrestle.

--Longfellow.

2.

I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air, I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care.

--Whittier.

3.

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.

--Tennyson.

4.

Chanting of labor and craft, and of Wealth in the pot and the garner; Chanting of valor and fame, and the man who can, fall with the foremost, Fighting for children and wife, and the field which his father bequeathed him, Sweetly and solemnly sang she, and planned new lessons for mortals.

--Kingsley.

5.

Have you read in the Talmud of old, In the Legends the Rabbins have told, Of the limitless realms of the air, Have you read it,--the marvelous story Of Sandalphon, the Angel of Glory, Of Sandalphon, the Angel of Prayer?

--Longfellow.

_B._ 1. Find three poems written in iambic verse, and three written in trochaic verse.

2. Write at least one stanza, using iambic verse.

3. Write at least one stanza, using the same kind of verse that you find in Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade."

4. Write two anapestic lines.

+111. Variation in Rhythm.+--The name given to a verse is determined by the foot which prevails, but not every foot in the line needs to be of the same kind. Just as in music we may subst.i.tute a quarter for two eighth notes, so may we in poetry subst.i.tute one foot for another, provided it is given the same amount of time.

Notice in the following that the rhythm is perfect and the beat regular, although a three-syllable anapest has been subst.i.tuted in the second line for a two-syllable iambus:--

U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ | Beneath those rugged elms, that yew tree's shade, U _ | U _ | U _| U U _ | U _ | Where heaves the turf in many a moldring heap, _ U | U _ | U _ | U _ |U _ | Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ | The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The following from _Evangeline_ ill.u.s.trates the subst.i.tution of trochees for dactyls:--

_ U U | _ U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U | Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever departed.

_ U U | _ U | _ U U | _ U | _ U U|_ U Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of October

_ U U | _ U U |_ U | _ U U | _ U U |_ U | Seize them and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far o'er the ocean.

_ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pre.

It is evident that one foot can be subst.i.tuted for another if the accent is not changed. Since both the iambus and the anapest are accented on the last syllable, they may be interchanged. The trochee and the dactyl are both accented on the first syllable and may, therefore, be interchanged.

There are some exceptions to the general rule that in subst.i.tuting one foot for another the accented syllable must be kept in the same part of the foot. Occasionally a poem in which the prevailing foot is iambic has a trochee for the first foot of a line in order that it may begin with an accented syllable. At the beginning of a line the change of accent is scarcely noticeable.

_ U | U _ | U _ |U _ | Over the rail my hand I trail.

_ U | U _ | U _ | U _ | Silent the crumbling bridge we cross!

But if the reader has once fallen into the swing of iambic verse, the subst.i.tution of a trochee will bring the accent at an unexpected place, interrupt the smooth flow of the rhythm, and produce a harsh and jarring effect. Such a change of accent is justified only when the sense of the verse leads the reader to expect the changed accent, or when the emphasis thus given to the sense of the poem more than compensates for the break in the rhythm produced by the change of accent.

Another form of metrical variation is that in which there are too few or too many syllables in a foot. This generally occurs at the end of a line, but may occur at the beginning. If a syllable is added or omitted skillfully, the rhythm will be unbroken.

When the feet are accented on the last syllable,--that is, when the verse is iambic or anapestic,--an extra syllable may be added at the end of a line.

U _ |U U _ |U _ | U I stood on the bridge at midnight,

U U _ | U _ |U U _ | As the clocks were striking the hour;

U U _ | U _ | U _|U And the Moon rose o'er the city,