"Common Metre" Stanza: Alternate Lines of Eight and Six Syllables. “Thỹ love | the power of thought | běstōwed; | Thy mercy o'er | my life has flowed; | "Short Metre " " Stanza: Two Lines of Six, one of Eight, and one of Six Syllables. “Tõ ēv | ĕr frā | grant meads, | Where rich abūn | dance grows, | His gracious hand | ĭndŭl | gent lēads, | And guards | my sweet | rěpōse." "Iambic " verse occurs, likewise, in the form of the "elegiac" stanza, so called from the circumstance of its having been employed for the purposes of elegy. Elegiac Stanza: Lines of Ten Syllables, rhyming alternately. “ Füll män | ỹ ǎ gēm, | ŏf pūr | ĕst 1āy | sērēne, | The dārk | ŭnfāth | ŏmed cāves | of ō | ceăn bēar. | Full many a flower is bōrn | to blush | unseen, | And waste its sweet | ness on | the dēs | ĕrt āir." | Another form of the " iambic " verse, of frequent occurrence in reading, is that of the "Spenserian ” stanza, so called from the poet Spenser, who was the first to use it, in a continuous poem of considerable length. "Spenserian "Stanza: Eight Lines of Ten Syllables and one of Twelve: the Rhymes occurring as follows: on the 1st and 3d, on the 2d, 4th, 5th, and 7th, and on the 6th, 8th, and 9th. "Where'er we tread, | 't is haunt | ed hō | ly ground: | Each hill and dāle, | each dēep | ening glēn | ănd wōld, | Defies the power which crushed I thy temples güne: Age shakes Athena's tower, but spares | giay Marathon." There are many other forms of " iambic verse; but they occur less frequently; and most of them can be easily analyzed after scanning the preceding specimens.* * For farther examples, and a more extended statement, regarding the "reading of poetry," see "American Elocutionist." This species of verse derives its name from its predominating foot, the "trochee," which consists, as mentioned before, of a long syllable followed by a short, as in the word fütăl. "Trochaic" verse is exemplified in the following lines from Dryden's Ode for Saint Cecilia's Day. "Softly sweet, în | Lydiăn | measures, Soon he soothed his soul to pleasures. This species of verse is seldom used in long or continuous poems, but principally in occasional passages for variety of effect. It is found usually in octosyllabic lines of rhyming "couplets," as above. This form of verse takes its name from its prevalent foot, the "anapæst," consisting of two short syllables followed by one long, as in the word intervene. 66 Anapæstic" verse is found usually in the two following forms: 1. Stanza of Four or Eight Lines of Three "anapasts," or equivalent * feet. "How fleet | is a glance of the mind! Compared with the speed of its flight, | And the swift winged ār- | rows of light." 2. Stanza of Four Lines of Four " anapests," or equivalent feet. “Thě ēven- * | ing was glō- | rious; and light | through the trees | Played the sun | shine and rain | drops, the birds | ǎnd the breeze; | The land-scape, outstretch- ing in love- | liness, lāy | IV. · Rhythmical and Prosodial Accent combined. The preceding examples of verse have all, it will here be per * An "iambus" sometimes occurs as the first foot in an "anapæstic" line. ceived, been marked with the characters used in prosody. But, for the purposes of elocution, it is important to the control of the voice, in the reading of verse, that the student should accustom himself to the practice of marking the accentuation of verse to the - a process in which the actual "rhythm" of the voice is decided, as in prose, by the position of accent. The mere prosodial “quantities ” must, in elocution, be regarded as but subordinate and tributary means of effect to rhythmical accent," and as contributing to secure its perfect ascendency. ear, 66 Metre, then, in reading, is to be considered as but precision of "rhythm" by which utterance is brought more perceptibly under the control of "time," than in prose. Verse, accordingly, is scored for accent, exactly as prose is. Here, also, the student may be reminded that, in practising on metre, whilst, for the sake of distinct impression, he indulges its effect to the full extent, at first, he must accustom himself to reduce it gradually within those limits which shall render it chaste and delicate. The peculiar effects of measure " in music, do not exceed those of metre, in good reading and recitation; and they are indispensable in the reading of all forms of verse, but, particularly, in lyric strains. In these,- as even a slight attention will suffice to prove, poet often changes the mood of his metre along with that of his theme. The Ode on the Passions, and all similar pieces, require numerous changes of "rhythm" and prosodial effect, as the descriptive or expressive strain shifts from passion to passion, and from measure to measure. It is by no means desirable, however, that the metre should be marked in that overdone style of chanting excess, which offends the ear, by obtruding the syllabic structure of the verse, and forcing upon our notice the machinery of prosodial effect. - the The subjoined example may serve to suggest, to the teacher and the student, the mode of marking on the black board, or with pencil, similar exercises selected from the pages of this volume, or any other, at choice. It was deemed preferable to use, for our present purpose, the same examples which have been analyzed for the study of the prosodial structure of verse, so as to show, as impressively as possible, the difference between the literal accent of the mere mechanism of verse as such, and the free, varied, and noble "rhythm," which it acquires when, in reading and recitation, the object in view is to render verse tributary to meaning and sentiment, or to vivid emotion. The servile style of reading verse which follows its sound rather than its sense, is no worse fault than a literal practising of prosody, a fair and honest but most gratuitous scanning of the lines, rather than the reading of them. The strict metrical marking, however, and due practice on it, may be very useful to students whose habit, in reading, is to turn verse into prose, through want of ear for metre. They | fall successive, and suc | cessive | rise." |99|99| "The way cold; Octosyllabic" Couplet." was | long, the | wind | was | The | minstrel | was in | firm | and old: " | 91991 "Quatrain" Stanza: Octosyllabic Couplets." "The | spacious | firmament on high,|7| With all the blue e | thereal | sky, || And spangled | heavens, a | shining | frame, Their great O | riginal | pro | claim." || 9| Quatrain Stanza: Octosyllabic Lines, rhyming alternately. "The heavens | de | clare thy | glory, | Lord, || In every | star | thy | wisdom | shines; | But when our | eyes be | hold thy | word, | We read thy | name |in| fairer | lines." | * "Demi-cæsural" pause. +"Final" pause. "Cæsural" pause. The pauses marked with the asterisk, &c. are founded primarily and necessarily on the sense; but the prosodial pauses, indispensable to the "rhythm" of every well-constructed verse, happen in the present instance, to coincide with the pauses of the meaning. Every line of verse has a "final pause," which detaches it from the following line, and a "cæsural" pause which divides it into two parts, equal or unequal, or two " demi-cæsural" pauses, which divide it into three parts. The "demi-cæsural" pauses are sometimes used in addition to the "casural," to subdivide the two parts which it separates. "To | ever | fragrant | meads, |99| Elegiac Stanza. "Full | many a | gem, |of| purest | ray |se| rene, | dark | un | fathomed | caves of | ocean The Full many a | flower | is | born to | blush un | seen, || ≈ And | waste | its sweetness on the | desert | air." "Where'er we | tread, 'tis | haunted, | | holy ♬| ground: 1991 | No | earth | of thine is lost in | vulgar | mould! But one vast | realm of wonder || spreads a | round; | I And all the Muse's | tales seem | truly | told, || Till the sense | aches with | gazing | to be | hold | The scenes | our earliest | dreams | upon.91 I have | dwelt | | | | Each hill and | dale, each deepening | glen and wold, Defies the power | which | crushed thy | temples | gone: Age | shakes Athena's | tower, | Marathon."|99| but spares gray | |