While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps, The king stood still Thou, who wert made so beautifully fair ! And leave his stillness in this clustering hair! My proud boy, Absalom! As to my bosom I have tried to press thee. Like a rich harp-string, yearning to caress thee, The grave hath won thee. I shall hear the gush Of music, and the voices of the young ; And the dark tresses to the soft winds flung ;- To meet me, Absalom ! Like a bruised reed, is waiting to be broken, Yearn for thine ear to drink its last deep token! To see thee, Absalom! With death so like a gentle slumber on thee :- If from this wo its bitterness had won thee. My erring Absalom !” Pain. Mental Suffering and Bodily Pain, when not excessive, employ the vocal symbols of deep plaintiveness, even the Semitone, the Tremor, the Aspiration, and the Broken Melody Excessive bodily pain however, often substitutes for feebleness of voice great Force--sometimes even on the Falsette. EXAMPLE. SECRECY, APPREHENSION, FEAR, &c. Secrecy is expressed by that perfect Aspiration which we call the Whisper. Apprehension and Mystery combine the Aspiration with a suppressed voice. Curiosity, Suspicion, Eagerness, and Hope employ the same elements. Suppressed Fear speaks in an under tone, and combines with this kind of vocality both the Tremor and the Aspiration. EXAMPLES. Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damned, You heavenly guards !—What would your gracious figure ? 2. Hah! dost thou not see, by the moon's trembling light, Directing his steps, where advances a knight, His eye big with vengeance and fate? 3. Then first, with amazement, fair Imogene found, That a stranger was placed by her side ; His air was terrific, he uttered no sound; But earnestly gazed on the bride. Draws on apace, four happy days brings in Long-withering out a young man's revenue. 5. Alas! I am afraid they have awaked, And 'tis not done ; the attempt, and not the deed, TERROR, HORROR. When danger becomes imminent, fear bursts through all restraints, and the state of mind ensues which is called Terror; and this is expressed by great Force of voice combined with the Downward Inflection and a strongly marked Aspiration. The voice of Terror sometimes breaks on the ear in the scream of the Falsette. Horror combines Force of voice and the Aspiration with the Guttural Harshness, which as an element of speech is never properly used but to give expression to the highest emotions of the mind. INTERROGATION. In Section V, of Chap. I, we deduced the principle that the Rising Slide is the prime element in Interrogation ; and though this is the universal symbol of doubt and uncertainty, yet that the Thorough Interrogative Intonation is given only in the case of the Direct Question. We are now to show how this Thorough form of Intonation is modified by the conditions under which it is employed. The Unimpassioned Interrogation should employ the Concrete Third and the Radical Stress. The more earnest question carries the voice through the Fifth, and may employ the Vanishing Stress; as in the following example: What! shall one of us, Than such a Roman. Dignity or Solemnity of expression will never allow the use of a wider interval than the Fifth ; and where the question is characterized by these, Long Quantity and the Median Stress should prevail, and the Inverted Wave may take the place of the simple concrete.--Example: Are these the pompous tidings ye proclaim, Lights of the world, and demi-gods of Fame ? Is this your triumph-this your proud applause, Children of Truth, and champions of her cause ? For this hath science searched, on weary wing, By shore and sea—each mute and living thing ? Launched with Iberia's pilot from the steep, To worlds unknown, and isles beyond the deep? Or round the cope her living chariot driven, And wheeled in triumph through the signs of Heaven? Oh! star-eyed science, hast thou wandered there, To waft us home the message of despair ? Vaunting or Mirthful Interrogation carries the voice through an Octave; and the Vanishing Stress increases the intensity of the inquiry, as in the following : |