English Verse Part 7

The a.s.syrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

(BYRON: _The Destruction of Sennacherib_. 1815.)

(With three-stress:)

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, Which I gaze on so fondly to-day, Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms, Like fairy-gifts fading away, Thou wouldst still be ador'd, as this moment thou art, Let thy loveliness fade as it will, And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart Would entwine itself verdantly still.

(THOMAS MOORE: _Believe me, if all those endearing young charms._ ab.

1825.)

_four-stress dactylic_.

After the pangs of a desperate lover, When day and night I have sighed all in vain; Ah, what a pleasure it is to discover In her eyes pity, who causes my pain!

(DRYDEN: Song in _An Evening's Love_. 1668.)

Of this song Mr. Saintsbury says that it is "one of the rare examples of a real dactylic metre in English, where the dactyls are not, as usual, equally to be scanned as anapests." (_Life of Dryden_, Men of Letters Series, p. 62.) Here, as almost always in English, the measure is catalectic, a final dactyl being instinctively avoided, except in short two-stress lines.

Warriors and chiefs! should the shaft or the sword Pierce me in leading the host of the Lord, Heed not the corse, though a king's, in your path: Bury your steel in the bosoms of Gath!

(BYRON: _Song of Saul before his Last Battle._ 1815.)

Kentish Sir Byng stood for his King, Bidding the crop-headed Parliament swing: And, pressing a troop, unable to stoop And see the rogues flourish and honest folk droop, Marched them along, fifty-score strong, Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song.

(BROWNING: _Cavalier Tunes._ 1843.)

Here the metre is varied interestingly by pauses. Thus in lines 1 and 5 the light syllables of the second foot are wholly wanting.

_Five-stress iambic._

(For specimens, see Part Two.)

_Five-stress trochaic._

What, there's nothing in the moon noteworthy?

Nay: for if that moon could love a mortal, Use, to charm him (so to fit a fancy), All her magic ('tis the old sweet mythos), She would turn a new side to her mortal, Side unseen of herdsman, huntsman, steersman-- Blank to Zoroaster on his terrace, Blind to Galileo on his turret, Dumb to Homer, dumb to Keats--him, even!

(BROWNING: _One Word More._ 1855.)

This is a rare specimen of unrimed verse in other than iambic rhythm.

(Catalectic:)

Then methought I heard a mellow sound, Gathering up from all the lower ground; Narrowing in to where they sat a.s.sembled Low voluptuous music winding trembled, Wov'n in circles: they that heard it sighed, Panted, hand-in-hand with faces pale, Swung themselves, and in low tones replied; Till the fountain spouted, showering wide Sleet of diamond-drift and pearly hail.

(TENNYSON: _The Vision of Sin._ 1842.)

_Five-stress anapestic._

As thy Love is discovered almighty, almighty be proved Thy power, that exists with and for it, of being beloved!

He who did most, shall bear most; the strongest shall stand the most weak.

'Tis the weakness in strength that I cry for! my flesh, that I seek In the G.o.dhead! I seek and I find it. O Saul, it shall be A Face like my face that receives thee; a Man like to me, Thou shalt love and be loved by, forever: a Hand like this hand Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee! See the Christ stand!

(BROWNING: _Saul._ 1845.)

Let it flame or fade, and the war roll down like a wind, We have proved we have hearts in a cause, we are n.o.ble still, And myself have awaked, as it seems, to the better mind; It is better to fight for the good than to rail at the ill; I have felt with my native land, I am one with my kind, I embrace the purpose of G.o.d, and the doom a.s.sign'd.

(TENNYSON: _Maud_, III. vi. 1855.)

Here frequent iambi are subst.i.tuted for anapests; as in line 1, second and fourth feet; lines 2 and 3, fifth foot; line 5, third foot.

_Five-stress dactylic._

This form is almost unknown. In the following lines we find five-stress catalectic verse of dactyls and trochees combined:

Surely the thought in a man's heart hopes or fears Now that forgetfulness needs must here have stricken Anguish, and sweetened the sealed-up springs of tears.

(SWINBURNE: _A Century of Roundels._)

_Six-stress iambic._

(For specimens, see Part Two.)

_Six-stress trochaic._

(With alternate lines catalectic:)

Day by day thy shadow shines in heaven beholden, Even the sun, the shining shadow of thy face: King, the ways of heaven before thy feet grow golden; G.o.d, the soul of earth is kindled with thy grace.

(SWINBURNE: _The Last Oracle._)

_Six-stress anapestic._

For I trust if an enemy's fleet came yonder round by the hill, And the rushing battle-bolt sang from the three-decker out of the foam, That the smooth-faced snubnosed rogue would leap from his counter and till, And strike, if he could, were it but with his cheating yard-wand, home.

(TENNYSON: _Maud_, I. i. 1855.)

(See note on p. 41.)

All under the deeps of the darkness are glimmering: all over impends An immeasurable infinite flower of the dark that dilates and descends, That exalts and expands in its breathless and blind efflorescence of heart As it broadens and bows to the wave-ward, and breathes not, and hearkens apart.