Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

as in music, they are distinct from one another, and no two are necessarily united. Still, there are natural causes which make it likely that they will be combined under certain conditions. Muscular effort, when made to give loudness, naturally requires time, so that loudness and length often go together. Again, if two syllables of the same time are pronounced with the same quantity of breath, there is a mechanical cause why the acute should be the louder. Acuteness and loudness will then go together. Equality of time is a condition of this result.

The Greek language differed from the English in one important point. The quantity or time of separate syllables was far more distinctly ascertained, and measured, and expressed in common pronunciation than it is in English.

It is indeed true that in English some verses are longer than others; for every addition of a consonant must lengthen the syllable, whether the consonant be added at the beginning of a syllable, as Ass, lass, glass; or at the end, as Ask, asks, ask'st.

The poet, if his ear is good, will avail himself of the difference in the length of syllables to vary the rhythm of his verse; but, though the effect of his skill may be felt by the reader, the management of quantity in English verse can not be reduced to technical rules: accent must form the law of his rhythm. See Part III., Chapter IV.

METRE.

§ 621. METRE or METER is a general term for the recurrence, within certain intervals, of syllables similarly affected. The metres of the Classical languages consist essentially in the recurrence of similar quantities. English metre essentially consists in the recurrence of syllables similarly accented.

VERSE has been defined as a succession of articulate sounds, regulated by a rhythm so definite that we can readily foresee the results which follow from its application. There is, indeed, also a rhythm met with in prose; but in the latter its range is so wide that we can never anticipate its flow, while the pleasure we derive from verse is founded on this very anticipation. The metrical arrangement of articulate sounds in verse, and not the superior beauty of thought or expression, is the distinctive characteristic of poetry.

Heap on more wood'! | the wind' | is chill';
But let' it whistle as' | it will',

We'll keep' | our Christ' mas mer' ry still':
Each age' has deemed' | the new'|-born year'
The fittest time' | for fes ́|tal cheer' !—SCOTT.

Here every other syllable is accented, and every other syllable unaccented. When we understand that this is the law of the rhythm, we know what to expect in each successive syllable. It should be added, that it is more important to preserve the same number of accents in lines intended to be of the same measure than the same number of syllables.

"Pa'tience is a virtue that shines' bright' in adver ́sity." Here the accent follows no law, but falls on the 1st, 5th, 8th, 9th, 12th. You can not predict the character of the successive syllables from the law of the rhythm.

The measured extract is POETRY; the unmeasured is PROSE. "There is, however, a partial exception to this law in our ballad metres, where feet of three syllables are frequently intermingled with the ordinary feet of two syllables. When this is the case, the redundant syllables must be devoid of stress and very short, so that they may be pronounced rapidly, and make the time of the trisyllabic foot equal to the time of the common foot. We will take an example from SCOTT's Bridal of Triermaine, from the description of the tournament:

666

'They all' | arise' | to fight' | that prize',

They all' arise' | but three';

And still those lov'ers' fame' | survives',

For faith' so con' stant shown':

There were two' | of them loved' | their neighbors' wives',

And one of them loved' | his own'.'

When this license is taken frequently, the metre becomes of that species which Mr. GUEST has described under the very disrespectful name borrowed from King James of Scotland, who called them 'tumbling metres.' These tumbling metres seem to have led the way to the construction of verse with a regular anapestic rhythm, of which we have a noble specimen in CAMPBELL'S Lochiel."-Professor MALDEN.

A VERSE is a single line of poetry.

A DISTICH or couplet consists of two verses.

A triplet consists of three verses.

Versification is the act of making verses in accordance with the doctrines of accent and quantity, and the laws of metrical arrangement.

MEASURES.

§ 622. For every accented syllable in the following line write the letter a, and for every unaccented one the letter x, so that a stands for an accent, and 2 for the absence of one :

Hast thou a charm' | to stay' | the morning star'?-COLERIDGE.

Or, expressed symbolically:

xa, xa, x A, x а, x a.

When a coincides with hast, and a with thou, you may determine the length of the line in two ways: you may either measure by the syllable, and say that the line consists of ten syllables; or by the accents, and say that it consists of five accents. In this latter case, we take the accented syllable and its corresponding unaccented syllable, and, grouping the two together, deal with the pair at once. Now a Group of syllables, taken together, is called a MEASURE or a Foot. Thus, hast thou (x a) is one measure, a charm (x a) another, and so on throughout. The line itself consists of five measures. Measures, being the same as musical bars, received the name of Feet, because their time was regulated by the foot of the Corypheus or director of the Greek choirs. This action was called beating time.

A foot or measure composed of an unaccented and an accented syllable ( a) is an Iambus. A foot composed of an accented and an unaccented syllable (a x) is a Trochee. A foot composed of two accented syllables (a a) is called a Spondee. A foot composed of two unaccented syllables (xx) is called a Pyrrhic. A foot composed of one accented and two unaccented syllables (a xx) is a Dactyl. A foot composed of one unaccented syllable and one accented and one unaccented (x a x) is an Amphibrach. A foot composed of two unaccented syllables and one accented (xx a) is an Anapest.

DISSYLLABIC MEASURES.

1. The following is composed of Iambics, according to the formula xa:

Sweet Thir' za wak' ing as' | in sleep',

Thou art but now' | a love'lly dream';
A star' that trem'bled o'er' | the deep',

Then turned from earth' | its ten' der beam':

But he who through' | life's dreary way'

Must pass when heaven' | is veiled' | in wrath'.

Will long' | lament' | the van'lished ray'

That scattered glad |ness o'er' | his path'.-BYRON.

2. The following is composed of Trochees. The accented syllable comes first, the unaccented one follows, the formula being

ax:

Lay' thy bow' of pearl' a part',

And thy silver | shin'ing | quiv'er;

Give unto the | fly'ing | hart'

Time' to breathe' how | short' sojev ́er;

Thou' that | mak'st' a | day' of | night',

God'dess! | ex'quisite ́ly | bright'.-BEN JONSON.

[blocks in formation]

The number of these is limited to three, the Dactyl, the Am

phibrach, the Anapest.

1. The first of these, the Dactyl, is exhibited in the word merrily (a x x).

Mer'rily, mer'rily | shall' I live | now',

Un'der the blos'som that | hangs on the bough'.-SHAKSPEARE.
I

2. The second, the Amphibrach, is exhibited in the word disa'ble (x a x).

But vain'ly thou war'rest:

For this' is alone' in

Thy power to declare',

That in' the dim for'est

Thou heard'st a low moan'ing,

And saw'st' a bright la'dy | surpass'ingly fair'.-Coleridge. 3. The third, the Anapest, is exhibited in the word cavalier'

(x x a).

There's a beauty forev'ler unfad' ingly bright',

Like the long | sunny lapse' | of a summer day's light';
Shining on', shining on', | by no shadow made ten'[der,
Till love' | falls asleep' | in the same'|ness of splen'dor.-MOORE.

A CESURA is a pause in a verse.

Warms in the sun, || refreshes in the breeze,

Glows in the stars, || and blossoms in the trees.-POPE.

RHYME.

§ 623. RHYME has been defined as the correspondence which exists between syllables containing sounds similarly modified. It is not a mere ornament: it marks and defines the accent, and thereby strengthens and supports the rhythm. Its advanthave been felt so strongly, that no people have ever adopted an accented rhythm without also adopting rhyme.

ages

The moon is in her summer glow,

But hoarse and high the breezes blow;

And, racking o'er her face, the cloud

Varies the tincture of her shroud.-Scott.

Here the last syllables of each line in the two couplets are said to rhyme with each other.

Fair queen! I will not blame thee now,

As once by Greta's fairy side;

Each little cloud that dimm'd thy brow
Did then an angel's beauty hide.-Rokeby.

Here the rhyming lines come alternately.

What is grandeur? what is power?
Heavier toil, superior pain;
What the bright reward we gain?

The grateful memory of the good.

Sweet is the breath of vernal shower;

The bee's collected treasure's sweet;

Sweet music's melting fall; but sweeter yet

The still, small voice of gratitude.-GRAY.

Here the rhymes occur at wider intervals.

For two or more words to rhyme with each other, it is nec

essary,

1. That the vowel be the same in both.

2. That the parts following the vowel be the same. 3. That the parts preceding the vowel be different. Beyond this, it is necessary that the syllables, to form a full and perfect rhyme, should be accented syllables. Sky and lie form good rhymes, but sky and merrily bad ones, and merrily and silly worse. See LATHAM.

« AnteriorContinuar »