The Arte of English Poesie Part 4

THE SECOND BOOKE, OF PROPORTION POETICAL.

_CHAP. I._

_Of Proportion Poeticall._

It is said by such as professe the Mathematicall sciences, that all things stand by proportion, and that without it nothing could stand to be good or beautiful. The Doctors of our Theologie to the same effect, but in other termes, say: that G.o.d made the world by number, measure and weight: some for weight say tune; and peraduenture better. For weight is a kind of measure or of much conueniencie with it: and therefore in their descriptions be alwayes coupled together (_statica & metrica_) weight and measures. Hereupon it seemeth the Philosopher gathers a triple proportion, to wit, the Arithmeticall, the Geometricall, and the Musical. And by one of these three is euery other proportion guided of the things that haue conueniencie by relation, as the visible by light colour and shadow: the audible by stirres, times and accents: the odorable by smelles of sundry temperaments: the tastible by sauours to the rate: the tangible by his obiectes in this or that regard. Of all which we leaue to speake, returning to our poeticall proportion, which holdeth of the Musical, because as we sayd before Poesie is a skill to speake & write harmonically: and verses or rime be a kind of Musicall vtterance, by reason of a certaine congruitie in sounds pleasing the eare, though not perchance so exquisitely as the harmonicall concerts of the artificial Musicke, consisting in strained tunes, as is the vocall Musike, or that of melodious instruments, as Lutes, Harpes, Regals, Records and such like.

And this our proportion Poeticall resteth in fiue points: Staffe, Measure, Concord, Scituation and figure all which shall be spoken of in their places.

_CHAP. II._

_Of proportion in Staffe._

Staffe in our vulgare Poesie I know not why it should be so called, unless it be for that we vnderstand it for a bearer or supporter of a song or ballad, not vnlike the old weake bodie, that is stayed vp by his staffe, and were not otherwise able to walke or to stand vpright. The Italian called it _Stanza_, as if we should say a resting place: and if we consider well the forme of this Poeticall staffe, we shall finde it to be a certaine number of verses allowed to go altogether and ioyne without any intermission, and doe or should finish vp all the sentences of the same with a full period, vnlesse it be in som special cases, & there to stay till another staffe follow of like sort: and the shortest staffe conteineth not vnder foure verses, nor the longest aboue ten, if it pa.s.se that number it is rather a whole ditty then properly a staffe. Also for the more part the staues stand rather vpon the euen nomber of verses then the odde, though there be of both sorts. The first proportion then of a staffe is by _quadrien_ or foure verses. The second of fiue verses, and is seldome vsed. The third by _sizeine_ or sixe verses, and is not only most vsual, but also very pleasant to th'eare. The fourth is in seven verses, & is the chiefe of our ancient proportions vsed by any rimer writing any thing of historical or graue poeme, as ye may see in _Chaucer_ and _Lidgate_ th'one writing the loues of _Troylus_ and _Cresseida_, th'other of the fall of Princes: both by them translated not deuised. The first proportion is of eight verses very stately and _Heroicke_, and which I like better then that of seuen, because it receaueth better band. The fixt is of nine verses, rare but very graue. The seuenth proportion is of tenne verses, very stately, but in many mens opinion too long: neuerthelesse of very good grace & much grauitie. Of eleuen and twelue I find none ordinary staues vsed in any vulgar language, neither doth it serue well to continue any historicall report or ballade, or other song: but is a dittie of it self, and no staffe, yet some moderne writers haue vsed it but very seldome. Then last of all haue ye a proportion to be vsed in the number of your staues, as to a caroll and a ballade, to a song, & a round, or virelay. For to an historicall poeme no certain number is limited, but as the matter fals out: also a _distick_ or couple of verses is not to be accompted a staffe, but serues for a continuance as we see in Elegie, Epitaph, Epigramme or such meetres, of plaine concord not harmonically entertangled, as some other songs of more delicate musick be.

A staffe of foure verses containeth in it selfe matter sufficient to make a full periode or complement of sence, though it doe not alwayes so, and therefore may go by diuisions.

A staffe of fiue verses, is not much vsed because he that can not comprehend his periode in foure verses, will rather driue it into six then leaue it in fiue, for that the euen number is more agreeable to the eare then the odde is.

A staffe of sixe verses, is very pleasant to the eare, and also serueth for a greater complement then the inferiour staues, which maketh him more commonly to be vsed.

A staffe of seuen verses, most vsuall with our auncient makers, also the staffe of eight, nine and ten of larger complement then the rest, are onely vsed by the later makers, & vnlesse they go with very good bande, do not so well as the inferiour staues. Therefore if ye make your staffe of eight, by two fowers not entertangled, it is not a huitaine or a staffe of eight, but two quadreins, so is it in ten verses, not being entertangled they be but two staues of fiue.

_CHAP. III._

_Of proportion in measure._

Meeter and measure is all one, for what the Greekes call [Greek: metron], the Latines call _Mensura_, and is but the quant.i.tie of a verse, either long or short. This quant.i.tie with them consisteth in the number of their feete: & with vs in the number of sillables, which are comprehended in euery verse, not regarding his feete, otherwise then that we allow in scanning our verse, two sillables to make one short portion (suppose it a foote) in euery verse. And after that sort ye may say, we haue feete in our vulgare rymes, but that is improperly: for a foote by his sence naturall is a member of office and function, and serueth to three purposes, that is to say, to go, to runne, & to stand still so as he must be sometimes swift, sometimes slow, sometime vnegally marching or peraduenture steddy. And if our feete Poeticall want these qualities it can not be sayd a foote in sence translatiue as here. And this commeth to pa.s.se, by reason of the euident motion and stirre, which is perceiued in the sounding of our wordes not alwayes egall: for some aske longer, some shorter time to be vttered in, & so by the Philosophers definition, stirre is the true measure of time. The Greekes & Latines because their wordes hapned to be of many sillables, and very few of one sillable, it fell out right with them to conceiue and also to perceiue, a notable diuersitie of motion and times in the p.r.o.nuntiation of their wordes, and therefore to euery _bissillable_ they allowed two times, & to a _trissillable_ three times, & to euery _polisillable_ more, according to his quant.i.tie, & their times were some long, some short according as their motions were slow or swift. For the sound of some sillable stayd the eare a great while, and others slid away so quickly, as if they had not bene p.r.o.nounced, then euery sillable being allowed one time, either short or long, it fell out that euery _tetrasillable_ had foure times, euery _trissillable_ three, and the _bissillable_ two by which obseruation euery word, not vnder that sise, as he ranne or stood in a verse, was called by them a foote of such and so many times, namely the _bissillable_ was either of two long times as the _spondeus_, or two short, as the _pirchius_, or of a long & a short as the _trocheus_, or of a short and a long as the _iambus_: the like rule did they set vpon the word _trissillable_, calling him a foote of three times: as the _dactilus_ of a long and two short: the _mollossus_ of three long, the _tribracchus_ of three short, the _amphibracchus_ of two long and a short, the _amphimacer_ of two short and a long. The word of foure sillables they called a foote of foure times, some or all of them, either long or short: and yet not so content they mounted higher, and because their wordes serued well thereto, they made feete of sixe times: but this proceeded more of curiositie, then otherwise: for whatsoeuer foote pa.s.se the _trissillable_ is compounded of his inferiour as euery number Arithmeticall aboue three, is compounded of the inferiour numbers as twise two make foure, but the three is made of one number, videl. of two and an vnitie. Now because our naturall & primitiue language of the _Saxon English_, beares not any wordes (at least very few) of moe sillables then one (for whatsoeuer we see exceede, commeth to vs by the alterations of our language growen vpon many conquestes and otherwise) there could be no such obseruation of times in the sound of our wordes, & for that cause we could not haue the feete which the Greeks and Latines haue in their meetres: but of this stirre & motion of their deuised feete, nothing can better shew the qualitie then these runners at common games, who setting forth from the first goale, one giueth the start speedely & perhaps before he come half way to th'other goale, decayeth his pace, as a man weary & fainting: another is slow at the start, but by amending his pace keepes euen with his fellow or perchance gets before him: another one while gets ground, another while loseth it again, either in the beginning, or middle of his race, and so proceedes vnegally sometimes swift somtimes slow as his breath or forces serue him: another sort there be that plod on, & will neuer change their pace, whether they win or lose the game: in this maner doth the Greeke _dactilus_ begin slowly and keepe on swifter till th'end, for his race being deuided into three parts, he spends one, & that is the first slowly, the other twaine swiftly: the _anapestus_ his two first parts swiftly, his last slowly: the _Molossus_ spends all three parts of his race slowly and egally _Bacchius_ his first part swiftly, & two last parts slowly. The _tribrachus_ all his three parts swiftly: the _antibacchius_ his two first partes slowly, his last & third swiftly: the _amphimacer_, his first & last part slowly & his middle part swiftly: the _amphibracus_ his first and last parts swiftly but his midle part slowly, & so of others by like proportion. This was a pretie phantasticall obseruation of them, & yet brought their meetres to haue a maruelous good grace, which was in Greeke called [Greek: rithmos]: whence we haue deriued this word ryme, but improperly & not wel because we haue no such feete or times or stirres in our meeters, by whose _simpathie_, or pleasant conueniencie with th'eare, we could take any delight: this _rithmus_ of theirs, is not therfore our rime, but a certaine musicall numerositie in vtterance, and not a bare number as that of the Arithmeticall computation is, which therefore is not called _rithmus_ but _arithmus_. Take this away from them, I meane the running of their feete, there is nothing of curiositie among them more then with vs nor yet so much.

_CHAP. III._

_How many sorts of measures we use in our vulgar._

To returne from rime to our measure againe, it hath bene sayd that according to the number of the sillables contained in euery verse, the same is sayd a long or short meeter, and his shortest proportion is of foure sillables, and his longest of twelue, they that vse it aboue, pa.s.se the bounds of good proportion. And euery meeter may be aswel in the odde as in the euen sillable, but better in the euen, and one verse may begin in the euen, & another follow in the odde, and so keepe a commendable proportion. The verse that containeth but two silables which may be in one word, is not vsuall: therefore many do deny him to be a verse, saying that it is but a foot, and that a meeter can haue no lesse then two feete at the least, but I find it otherwise aswell among the best Italian Poets, as also with our vulgar makers, and that two sillables serue wel for a short measure in the first place, and midle, and end of a staffe: and also in diuerse scituations and by sundry distances, and is very pa.s.sionate and of good grace, as shalbe declared more at large in the Chapter of proportion by scituation.

The next measure is of two feete or of foure sillables, and then one word _tetrasillable_ diuided in the middest makes vp the whole meeter, as thus _Re-ue- re-ntli-e_

Or a trissillable and one monosillable thus. _Soueraine G.o.d_, or two bissillables and that is plesant thus, _Restore againe_, or with foure monosillables, and that is best of all thus, _When I doe thinke_, I finde no fauour in a meetre of three sillables nor in effect in any odde, but they may be vsed for varietie sake, and specially being enterlaced with others the meetre of six sillables is very sweete and dilicate as thus.

_O G.o.d when I behold This bright heauen so hye By thine owne hands of old Contrivd so cunningly._

The meter of seuen sillables is not vsual, no more is that of nine and eleuen, yet if they be well composed, that is, their _Cesure_ well appointed, and their last accent which makes the concord, they are commendable inough, as in this ditty where one verse is of eight an other is of seuen, and in the one the accent vpon the last, in the other vpon the last saue on.

_The smoakie sighes, the bitter teares That I in vaine haue wasted The broken sleepes, the woe and feares That long time haue lasted Will be my death, all by thy guilt And not by my deseruing Since so inconstantly thou wilt Not loue but still be sweruing_.

And all the reason why these meeters in all sillable are allowable is, for that the sharpe accent falles vpon the _penulitma_ or last saue one sillable of the verse, which doth so drowne the last, as he seemeth to pa.s.se away in maner vnp.r.o.nounced, & so make the verse seeme euen: but if the accent fall vpon the last and leaue two flat to finish the verse, it will not feeme so: for the odnes will more notoriously appeare, as for example in the last verse before recited _Not loue but still be sweruing_, say thus _Loue it is a maruelous thing._ Both verses be of egall quant.i.tie, vidz. seauen sillables a peece, and yet the first seemes shorter then the later, who shewes a more odnesse then the former by reason of his sharpe accent which is vpon the last sillable, and makes him more audible then if he had slid away with a flat accent, as the word _sweruing._

Your ordinarie rimers vse very much their measures in the odde as nine and eleuen, and the sharpe accent vpon the last sillable, which therefore makes him go ill fauouredly and like a minstrels musicke. Thus sayd one in a meeter of eleven very harshly in mine eare, whether it be for lacke of good rime or of good reason, or of both I wot not.

_Now sucke childe and sleepe childe, thy mothers owne ioy Her only sweete comfort, to drowne all annoy For beauty surpa.s.sing the azured skie I loue thee my darling, as ball of mine eye._

This sort of compot.i.tion in the odde I like not, vnlesse it be holpen by the _Cesure_ or by the accent as I sayd before.

The meeter of eight is no lesse pleasant then that of sixe, and the _Cesure_ fals iust in the middle, as this of the Earle of Surreyes.

_When raging loue, with extreme payne._

The meeter of ten sillables is very stately and Heroicall, and must haue his _Cesure_ fall vpon the fourth sillable, and leaue sixe behind him thus.

_I serue at ease, and gouerne all with woe._

This meeter of twelue sillables the French man calleth a verse _Alexandrine_, and is with our moderne rimers most usuall: with the auncient makers it was not so. For before Sir _Thomas Wiats_ time they were not vsed in our vulgar, they be for graue and stately matters fitter than for any other ditty of pleasure. Some makers write in verses of foureteene sillables giuing the _Cesure_ at the first eight, which proportion is tedious, for the length of the verse kepeth the eare too long from his delight, which is to heare the cadence or the tuneable accent in the ende of the verse. Neuerthelesse that of twelue if his _Cesure_ be iust in the middle, and that ye suffer him to runne at full length, and do not as the common rimers do; or their Printer for sparing of paper, cut them of in the middest, wherin they make in two verses but halfe rime. They do very wel as wrote the Earle of Surrey translating the booke of the preacher.

_Salomon Davids sonne, king of Ierusalem._

This verse is a very good _Alexandrine_, but perchaunce woulde haue sounded more musically, if the first word had bene a dissillable, or two monosillables and not a trissillable: hauing his sharpe accent vppon the _Antepenultima_ as it hath, by which occasion it runnes like a _Dactill_, and carries the two later sillables away so speedily as it seemes but one foote in our vulgar measure, and by that meanes makes the verse seeme but of eleuen sillables, which odnesse is nothing pleasant to the eare. Iudge some body whether it would haue done better (if it might) haue bene fayd thus, _Roboham Dauids sonne, king of Ierusalem._ Letting the sharpe accent fall vpon _bo_, or thus _Restore king Dauids sonne vnto Ierusalem_.

For now the sharpe accent falles vpon _bo_, and so doth it vpon the last in _restore_, which was not in th'other verse. But because we haue seemed to make mention of _Cesure_, and to appoint his place in euery measure, it shall not be amisse to say somewhat more of it, & also of such pauses as are vsed in vtterance, & what commoditie or delectation they bring either to the speakers or to the hearers.

_CHAP. IIII._

_Of Cesure._

There is no greater difference betwixt a ciuill and brutish vtteraunce then cleare distinction of voices: and the most laudable languages are alwaies most plaine and distinct, and the barbarous most confuse and indistinct: it is therefore requisit that leasure be taken in p.r.o.nuntiation, such as may make our wordes plaine & most audible and agreable to the eare: also the breath asketh to be now and then releeued with some pause or stay more or lesse: besides that the very nature of speach (because it goeth by clauses of seuerall construction & sence) requireth some s.p.a.ce betwixt them with intermission of sound, to th'end they may not huddle one vpon another so rudly & so fast that th'eare may not perceiue their difference. For these respectes the auncient reformers of language, inuented, three maner of pauses, one of lesse leasure then another, and such seuerall intermissions of sound to serue( besides easment to the breath) for a treble distinction of sentences or parts of speach, as they happened to be more or lesse perfect in sence. The shortest pause or intermission they called _comma_ as who would say a peece of a speach cut of. The second they called _colon_, not a peece but as it were a member for his larger length, because it occupied twice as much time as the _comma_. The third they called _periodus_, for a complement or full pause, and as a resting place and perfection of so much former speach as had bene vttered, and from whence they needed not to pa.s.se any further vnles it were to renew more matter to enlarge the tale.

This cannot be better represented then by example of these common trauailers by the hie ways, where they seeme to allow themselues three maner of staies or eas.e.m.e.nts: one a horsebacke calling perchaunce for a cup of beere or wine, and hauing dronken it vp rides away and neuer lights: about noone he commeth to his Inne, & there baites him selfe and his horse an houre or more: at night when he can conueniently trauaile no further, he taketh vp his lodging, and rests him selfe till the morrow: from whence he followeth the course of a further voyage, if his business be such. Euen so our Poet when he hath made one verse, hath as it were finished one dayes iourney, & the while easeth him selfe with one baite at the least, which is a _Comma_ or _Cesure_ in the mid way, if the verse be euen and not odde, otherwise in some other place, and not iust in the middle. If there be no _Cesure_ at all, and the verse long, the lesse is the makers skill and hearers delight. Therefore in a verse of twelue sillables the _Cesure_ ought to fall right vpon the sixt sillable: in a verse of eleuen vpon the sixt also leauing fiue to follow. In a verse of ten vpon the fourth, leaving sixe to follow. In a verse of nine vpon the fourth, leauing fiue to follow. In a verse of eight iust in the middest, that is, vpon the fourth. In a verse of seauen, either vpon the fourth or none at all, the meeter very ill brooking any pause. In a verse of sixe sillables and vnder is needefull no _Cesure_ at all, because the breath asketh no reliefe: yet if ye giue any _Comma_, it is to make distinction of sense more then for any thing else: and such _Cesure_ must neuer be made in the middest of any word, if it be well appointed. So may you see that the vse of these pawses or distinctions is not generally with the vulgar Poet as it is with the Prose writer because the Poetes cheife Musicke lying in his rime or concorde to heare the Simphonie, he maketh all the hast he can to be at an end of his verse, and delights not in many stayes by the way, and therefore giueth but one _Cesure_ to any verse: and thus much for the sounding of a meetre. Neuerthelesse he may vse in any verse both his _comma, colon_, and _interrogatiue_ point, as well as in prose. But our auncient rymers, as _Chaucer, Lydgate_ & others, vsed these _Cesures_ either very seldome, or not at all, or else very licentiously, and many times made their meetres (they called them riding ryme) of such vnshapely wordes as would allow no conuenient _Cesure_, and therefore did let their rymes runne out at length, and neuer stayd till they came to the end: which maner though it were not to be misliked in some sort of meetre, yet in euery long verse the _Cesure_ ought to be kept precisely, if it were but to serue as a law to correct the licentiousnesse of rymers, besides that it pleaseth the eare better, & sheweth more cunning in the maker by following the rule of his restraint. For a rymer that will be tyed to no rules at all, but range as he list, may easily vtter what he will: but such maner of Poesie is called in our vulgar, ryme dogrell, with which rebuke we will in no case our maker should be touched. Therfore before all other things let his ryme and concordes be true, cleare, and audible with no lesse delight, then almost the strayned note of a Musicians mouth, & not darke or wrenched by wrong writing as many doe to patch vp their meetres, and so follow in their arte neither rule, reason, nor ryme. Much more might be sayd for the vse of your three pauses, _comma_, _colon_, & _periode_, for perchance it be not all a matter to vse many _commas_, and few, nor _colons_ likewise, or long or short _periodes_, for it is diuersly vsed, by diuers good writers. But because it apperteineth more to the oratour or writer in prose then in verse, I will say no more in it, then thus, that they be vsed for a commodious and sensible distinction of clauses in prose, since euery verse is as it were a clause of it selfe and limited with a _Cesure_ howsoeuer the sence beare, perfect or imperfect, which difference is obseruable betwixt the prose and the meeter.

_CHAP. V._

_Of Proportion in Concord, called Symphonie or rime._