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The flash of that satiric rage,
Which, bursting on the early stage,
Branded the vices of the age,

And broke the keys of Rome.

On milk-white palfrey forth he pac'd;
His cap of maintenance was grac'd
With the proud heron-plume.

From his steed's shoulder, loin, and breast,
Silk housings swept the ground,

With Scotland's arms, device, and crest,
Embroider'd round and round."—

SCOTT's description of Sir David Lindsay,
in Marmion.

115. In songs and ballads it is frequently used in stanzas of four lines, rhyming alternately; for example, in Scott's "Cadzow Castle." The most impressive form of this measure is the Tennysonian Stanza, first used to any considerable extent in the Laureate's "In Memoriam." In this stanza, two rhyming verses come between other two; e. g. :—

"I held it truth with him who sings

To one clear harp in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping stones
Of their dead selves to higher things.
But who shall so forecast the years

And find in loss a gain to match?

Or reach a hand thro' time to catch

The far-off interest of tears?"-Tennyson.

116. The Simple Regular Trimeter is very rarely used by itself, though there are some examples of it in Shakespeare's lyrics; e. g.

66

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,

Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen,

Because thou art not seen,

Although thy breath be rude."

As you like it, II. 7.

It is most frequently found, as stated above (§ 114), in combination with Tetrameters. These two alternating form the most common of our lyrical measures, that of our ballads and popular songs, as well as of our metrical psalms. Sometimes both the Tetrameters and the Trimeters rhyme; as:

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Thus fares it still in our decay;

And yet the wiser mind

Mourns less for what age takes away,

Than what it leaves behind."- Wordsworth.

Sometimes only the Trimeters rhyme; as :

"Aft hae I rov'd by bonnie Doon,

To see the woodbine twine,
And ilka bird sang o' its love,

And sae did I o' mine."—Burns.

The Trimeter Excessive alternating with the complete Trimeter, form what has been called Gay's Stanza; e.g.:— ""Twas when the seas were roar-ing

With hollow blasts of wind,

A damsel lay deplor-ing

All on a rock reclined."- Gay.

117. The other forms in which the simple regular measure occurs, are either varieties of those already explained, or parts or multiples of them. The long verses of seven and eight feet may generally be written as two verses of four and three, and of four and four feet respectively. Thus the first line of the "Battle of Ivry," which is generally printed as one Heptameter, may be printed as a Tetrameter and a Trimeter :

"Now glory to the Lord of Hosts,

From whom all glorics are!"-Macaulay.

2. Complex (ssa).*

118. The Complex Regular Measure is rarely found pure (§ 95), even in single lines. For example, in Beattie's "Hermit," out of forty-eight lines, only four are pure complex verses; all the others have a simple foot at the commencement; e.g.:

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Sometimes, however, a line thus defective at the beginning, is counterbalanced by an excessive syllable in the preceding line,

thus:

""Tis the last rose of sum
Left bloom-ing alone."

*So-called Anapaestic.

-mer,

-Moore.

in which case the lines printed as one verse would be pure; e. g.:

"'Tis the last | rose of sum | -mer, left bloom | -ing alone."

119. The commonest forms of this complex measure are the Trimeter; as,

"I am monarch of all I survey,

My right there is none to dispute;
From the centre all round to the sea,

I am lord of the fowl and the brute."-Cowper.

and the Tetrameter; as,

"And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;

And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,

Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord."—Byron.

120. Variety is given to regular measure (both simple and complex) in the following ways:

1. By introducing irregular feet; e. g. :—

"Standards on standards, men

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on men."-Scott.
X a Ir. in 1.
the fruit."-Milton.
Ir. in 2.

"Of man's first dis | -obed | -ience and

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3. By contracting the first foot. In this way, the regular measure becomes irregular; e. g. :—

"Or ush | -ered with | a show | -er still,

x When the gust hath | blown his | fill."-Milton.

(88) "Know | ye the land | where the cy | -press and myr | -tle; 8 s | a 8 s | a

a

S sa

X

and in the complex measure the first foot becomes simple; as, -blems of deeds | that are done | in their clime.”—Byron

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4. By making the verse mixed (§ 95); e. g., see the lines last quoted, and

"That held the peach | to the gar | -den wall.”—Tennyson.

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5. By varying the position of the pause; e. g. :

"The quality of mercy | is not strained, ||

It droppeth, || as the gentle rain from heav'n
Upon the place beneath. It is twice bless'd; ||
It blesseth him that gives, || and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The thronéd monarch better than his crown. -Shakespeare.
In this passage, the pauses occur in the different lines re-
spectively after the following syllables:-1st line, 7th and
10th; 2d line, 3d; 3d line, 6th and 10th; 4th line, 7th
and 10th; 5th line, 7th; 6th line, 10th.

6. By combining verses of different lengths, and varying the order of rhymes; e.g.:—

"No war, or battle's sound,

Was heard the world around:

The idle spear and shield were high uphung,
The hooked chariot stood,

Unstain'd with hostile blood;

The trumpet spake not to the armed throng;
And kings sat still with awful eye,

As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by."—

Milton's Ode on the Nativity. 7. In blank verse, broken verses are often introduced, especially in dramatic dialogue, where frequently one part of a verse is spoken by one person, and the rest by another;

e. g.

"SHYLOCK.

If I forgive him!
BASSANIO.

Cursed be my tribe,

Shylock, do you hear ?"-Shakespeare.

Shakespeare often uses these broken verses in the quick
interchange of passionate dialogue, and to indicate abrupt
changes of feeling.

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Exercise 32.

A. Arrange each of the following sentences into Heroic couplets:

1. This man would soar to heaven by his own strength, and would not be obliged for more to God.

2. How art thou misled, vain, wretched creature, to think thy wit bred these God-like notions.

3. She made a little stand at every turn, and thrust her lily hand among the thorns to draw the rose, and she shook the stalk, every rose she drew, and brush'd the dew away. (4 lines.)

4. Whoever thinks to see a faultless piece, thinks what never shall be, nor ever was, nor is.

5. Sometimes men of wit, as men of breeding, must commit less errors, to avoid the great.

6. The hungry judges soon sign the sentence, and that jurymen may dine, wretches hang.

B.-Arrange each of the following into Simple Regular Tetrameters (rhyming):

1. He soon stood on the steep hill's verge, that looks o'er Branksome's towers and wood; and martial murmurs proclaimed from below the southern foe approaching. (4 lines.)

2. Of mild mood was the Earl, and gentle; the vassals were rude, and warlike, and fierce; haughty of word, and of heart high, they recked little of a tame liege lord. (4 lines.)

3. A lion, worn with cares, tired with state affairs, and quite sick of pomp, resolved to pass his latter life in peace, remote from strife and noise. (4 lines.)

4. I felt as, when all the waves that o'er thee dash, on a plank at sea, whelm and upheave at the same time, and towards a desert realm hurl thee. (4 lines.)

5. No more, sweet Teviot, blaze the glaring bale-fires on thy silver tide; steel-clad warriors ride along thy wild and willowed shore no longer. (4 lines, rhyming alternately.)

6. His eyes of swarthy glow he rolls fierce on the hunter's quiver'd hand, spurns the sand with black hoof and horn, and tosses his mane of snow high. (4 lines, rhyming alternately.)

7. Where late the green ruins were blended with the rocks' woodcover'd side, turrets rise in fantastic pride, and between flaunt feudal banners. (4 lines, rhyming alternately.)

8. Whate'er befall, I hold it true; when I sorrow most, I feel it :better than never to have loved at all, 'tis to have loved and lost. (Tennysonian Stanza.)

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