The Grammar of English Grammars Part 192

"The Pet-Lamb," a modern pastoral, by Wordsworth, has sixty-eight lines, all probably meant for Alexandrines; most of which have twelve syllables, though some have thirteen, and others, fourteen. But it were a great pity, that versification so faulty and unsuitable should ever be imitated. About half of the said lines, as they appear in the poet's royal octave, or "the First Complete American, from the Last London Edition," are as sheer prose as can be written, it being quite impossible to read them into any proper rhythm. The poem being designed for children, the measure should have been reduced to iambic trimeter, and made exact at that. The story commences thus:--

"The dew | was fall | -ing fast, | the stars | began | to blink; I heard | a voice; | it said, | 'Drink, pret | -ty crea | -ture, drink!'

And, look | -ing o'er | the hedge, | before | me I | espied A snow | -white moun | -tain Lamb | w=ith =a M=aid | -en at | its side."

All this is regular, with the exception of one foot; but who can make any thing but _prose_ of the following?

"Thy limbs will shortly be twice as stout as they are now, Then I'll yoke thee to my cart like a pony in the plough."

"Here thou needest not dread the raven in the sky; Night and day thou art safe,--our cottage is hard by."

WORDSWORTH'S _Poems_, New-Haven Ed., 1836, p. 4.

In some very ancient English poetry, we find lines of twelve syllables combined in couplets with others of fourteen; that is, six iambic feet are alternated with seven, in lines that rhyme. The following is an example, taken from a piece of fifty lines, which Dr. Johnson ascribes to the _Earl of Surry_, one of the wits that flourished in the reign of Henry VIII:--

"Such way | -ward wayes | hath Love, | that most | part in | discord, Our willes | do stand, | whereby | our hartes | but sel | -dom do | accord; Decyte | is hys | delighte, | and to | begyle | and mocke, The sim | ple hartes | which he | doth strike | with fro | -ward di | -vers stroke.

He caus | -eth th' one | to rage | with gold | -en burn | -ing darte, And doth | allay | with lead | -en cold, | again | the oth | -er's harte; Whose gleames | of burn | -ing fyre | and eas | -y sparkes | of flame, In bal | -ance of | ~un=e | -qual weyght | he pon | -dereth | by ame."

See _Johnson's Quarto Dict., History of the Eng. Lang._, p. 4.

MEASURE IV.--IAMBIC OF FIVE FEET, OR PENTAMETER.

_Example I.--Hector to Andromache._

"Andr=om | -~ach=e! | m=y s=oul's | f~ar b=et | -t~er p=art, _Wh=y w~ith_ | untime | -ly | sor | -rows heaves | thy heart?

No hos | -tile hand | can an | -tedate | my doom, Till fate | condemns | me to | the si | -lent tomb.

Fix'd is | the term | to all | the race | of earth; And such | the hard | conditi | -on of | our birth, No force | can then | resist, | no flight | can save; All sink | alike, | the fear | -ful and | the brave."

POPE'S HOMER: _Iliad_, B. vi, l. 624-632.

_Example II.--Angels' Worship._

"No soon | -er had | th' Almight | -y ceas'd | _but_ all The mul | -t.i.tude | of an | -gels with | a shout Loud as | from num | -bers with' | -out num | -ber, sweet As from | blest voi | -ces ut | _t~er ~ing j=oy_, | heav'n rung With ju | -bilee, | and loud | hosan | -nas fill'd Th' eter | -nal | re | -gions; low | -ly rev | -erent Tow'rds ei | -ther throne | they bow, | and to | the ground With sol | -emn ad | -ora | -tion down | they cast Their crowns | inwove | with am | -arant | and gold."

MILTON: _Paradise Lost_, B. iii, l. 344.

_Example III.--Deceptive Glosses_.

"The world | is still | deceiv'd | with or | -nament.

In law, | what plea | so taint | -ed and | corrupt, But, be | -ing sea | -son'd with | a gra | -cious voice, Obscures | the show | of e | -vil? In | _religi~on_, What dam |--n~ed er | -ror, but | some so | -ber brow Will bless | it, and | approve | it with | a text, _Hid~ing_ | the gross | -ness with | fair or | -nament?"

SHAKSPEARE: _Merch. of Venice_, Act iii, Sc. 2.

_Example IV.--Praise G.o.d_.

"Ye head | -long tor | -rents, rap | -id, and | profound; Ye soft | -er floods, | that lead | the hu | -mid maze Along | the vale; | and thou, | majes | -tic main, A se | -cret world | of won | -ders in | thyself, Sound His | stupen | -dous | praise; | whose great | -er voice Or bids | you roar, | or bids | your roar | -ings fall."

THOMSON: _Hymn to the Seasons_.

_Example V.--The Christian Spirit_.

"Like him | the soul, | thus kin | -dled from | above, Spreads wide | her arms | of u | -niver | -sal love; And, still | enlarg'd | as she | receives | the grace, Includes | cr~e=a | -tion in | her close | embrace.

Behold | a Chris | -tian! and | without | the fires The found | -_~er ~of_ | that name | alone | inspires, Though all | accom | -plishment, | all knowl | -edge meet, To make | the shin | -ing prod | -igy | complete, Whoev | -er boasts | that name-- | behold | a cheat!"

COWPER: _Charity; Poems_, Vol. i, p. 135.

_Example VI.--To London_.

"Ten right | -eous would | have sav'd | a cit | -y once, And thou | hast man | -y right | -eous.--Well | for thee-- That salt | preserves | thee; more | corrupt | -ed else, And there | -fore more | obnox | -ious, at | this hour, Than Sod | -om in | her day | had pow'r | to be, For whom | G.o.d heard | his Abr' | -ham plead | in vain."

IDEM: _The Task_, Book iii, at the end.

This verse, the iambic pentameter, is the regular English _heroic_--a stately species, and that in which most of our great poems are composed, whether epic, dramatic, or descriptive. It is well adapted to rhyme, to the composition of sonnets, to the formation of stanzas of several sorts; and yet is, perhaps, the only measure suitable for blank verse--which latter form always demands a subject of some dignity or sublimity.

The _Elegiac Stanza_, or the form of verse most commonly used by elegists, consists of four heroics rhyming alternately; as,

"Thou knowst | how trans | -port thrills | the ten | -der breast, Where love | and fan | -cy fix | their ope | -ning reign; How na | -ture shines | in live | -lier col | -ours dress'd, To bless | their un | -ion, and | to grace | their train."

SHENSTONE: _British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 106.

Iambic verse is seldom continued perfectly pure through a long succession of lines. Among its most frequent diversifications, are the following; and others may perhaps be noticed hereafter:--

(1.) The first foot is often varied by a subst.i.tutional trochee; as,

"_Bacchus_, | that first | from out | the pur | -ple grape _Crush'd the_ | sweet poi | -son of | mis-=us | -~ed wine, _After_ | the Tus | -can mar | -iners | transform'd, _Coasting_ | the Tyr | -rhene sh.o.r.e, | ~as th~e | winds list_~ed_, On Cir | -ce's isl | -and fell. | Who knows | not Cir_c~e_, The daugh | -ter of | the sun? | whose charm | -~ed cup Whoev | -er tast | -ed, lost | his up | -right shape, And down | -ward fell | _=int~o_ a grov | -elling swine."

MILTON: _Comus; British Poets_, Vol. ii, p. 147.

(2.) By a synaeresis of the two short syllables, an anapest may sometimes be employed for an iambus; or a dactyl, for a trochee. This occurs chiefly where one unaccented vowel precedes an other in what we usually regard as separate syllables, and both are clearly heard, though uttered perhaps in so quick succession that both syllables may occupy only half the time of a long one. Some prosodists, however, choose to regard these subst.i.tutions as instances of trissyllabic feet mixed with the others; and, doubtless, it is in general easy to make them such, by an utterance that avoids, rather than favours, the coalescence. The following are examples:--

"No rest: | through man | _-y a dark_ | and drear | -y vale They pa.s.s'd, | and man | _-y a re_ | -gion dol | -orous, _O'er man_ | _-y a fro_ | -zen, man | _-y a fi_ | _-ery Alp_."

--MILTON: _P. L._, B. ii, l. 618.

"Rejoice | ye na | -tions, vin | -dicate | the sway Ordain'd | for com | -mon hap | -piness. | Wide, o'er The globe | terra | _-queous, let_ | Britan | _-nia pour_ The fruits | of plen | -ty from | her co | _-pious horn_."

--DYER: _Fleece_, B. iv, l. 658.

"_Myriads_ | of souls | that knew | one pa | -rent mold, See sad | -ly sev | er'd by | the laws | of chance!

_Myriads_, | in time's | peren | _-nial list_ | enroll'd, Forbid | by fate | to change | one tran | _-sient glance!_"

SHENSTONE: _British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 109.

(3.) In plays, and light or humorous descriptions, the last foot of an iambic line is often varied or followed by an additional short syllable; and, sometimes, in verses of triple rhyme, there is an addition of two short syllables, after the princ.i.p.al rhyming syllable. Some prosodists call the variant foot, in die former instance, an _amphibrach_, and would probably, in the latter, suppose either an _additional pyrrhic_, or an amphibrach with still a _surplus syllable_; but others scan, in these cases, by the iambus only, calling what remains after the last long syllable _hypermeter_; and this is, I think, the better way. The following examples show these and some other variations from pure iambic measure:--

_Example I.--Grief._

"Each sub | st~ance ~of | a grief | hath twen | -ty shad_~ows_, Which show | like grief | itself, | but are | not so: For sor | -row's eye, | gl=az~ed | with blind | -ing tears, Divides one thing | entire | to man |--y ob_j~ects_; Like per | -spectives, | which, right | -ly gaz'd | upon, Show noth | -ing but | confu | -sion; ey'd | awry, Distin | -guish form: | so your | sweet maj | -esty, Lo=ok~ing | awry | upon | your lord's | depart_~ure_, Finds shapes | of grief, | more than | himself, | to wail; Which, look'd | on as | it is, | is nought | but shad_~ows_."

SHAKSPEARE: _Richard II_, Act ii, Sc. 2.

_Example II.--A Wish to Please_.

"O, that | I had | the art | of eas | -y _writing_ What should | be eas | -y read | -ing | could | I scale Parnas | -sus, where | the Mus | -es sit | in_diting_ Those pret | -ty po | -ems nev | -er known | to fail, How quick | -ly would | I print | (the world | de_lighting_) A Gre | -cian, Syr | -ian, or | a.s.sy | -ian tale; And sell | you, mix'd | with west | -ern sen | -ti_mentalism_, Some sam | -ples of | the fin | -est O | -ri_entalism_."

LORD BYRON: _Beppo_, Stanza XLVIII.

MEASURE V.--IAMBIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER.

_Example I.--Presidents of the United States of America_.

"First stands | the loft | -y Wash | -ington, That no | -ble, great, | immor | -tal one; The eld | -er Ad | -ams next | we see; And Jef | -ferson | comes num | -ber three; Then Mad | -ison | is fourth, | you know; The fifth | one on | the list, | Monroe; The sixth | an Ad | -ams comes | again; And Jack | -son, sev | -enth in | the train; Van Bu | -ren, eighth | upon | the line; And Har | -rison | counts num | -ber nine; The tenth | is Ty | -ler, in | his turn; And Polk, | elev | -enth, as | we learn; The twelfth | is Tay | -lor, peo | -ple say; The next | we learn | some fu | -ture day."

ANONYMOUS: _From Newspaper_, 1849.

_Example II.--The Shepherd Bard_.