網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

sensibly longer time than the latter, and whatever may be the true proportion between the two when standing together or near each other, it is certain that long syllables are not always of equal length, nor short syllables of equal shortness. Some syllables are very long, when compared even with other long ones, and some very short in comparison with other short ones. In languages which have not our mode of accentuation, a syllable is long or short according to the time which is taken up in pronouncing the vowel or diphthong which it contains. Thus, a syllable which contains a long vowel is long; a syllable which contains only a short vowel is short. In our language, the vowel in an accented syllable is always short; yet, in consequence of the smarter and firmer percussion of the organs in uttering the final consonant,* and the detention of them longer in the requisite position for giving the sound, as much time is consumed, in the whole, in pronouncing an accented syllable as a long one, so that in poetry, where the measurement of time is important, these two syllables rank 'together in quantity. A long syllable, in poetry, therefore, must either be accented or have a long vowel, and an accented syllable will always be long, as to quantity, while its vowel wil. be short. An unaccented syllable may be either short or long, as the vowel which it contains is one or the other. A short syllable, then, is one which is neither accented nor has a long vowel; that is, a short syllable contains a short vowel, and has

no accent.

It will be seen here that I differ materially in describing the quantity of syllables from writers in general, who make accented and long to imply the same thing. Thus, in the syllable late they teach us that a is accented; in let, they say that the syllable, instead of the vowel, is short, and that the t is accented. Some, however, say, contrary to all truth, that a monosyllable is never accented; and yet all will teach us that late and let have the same power in poetic measure. This inconsistency arises from ascribing accent indiscriminately to both vowels and consonants, and not perceiving that a syllable may be long while the vowel which it contains may be short, as is the case in all syllables which are accented.†

A poetical foot is a combination of a certain number of sylla

* See what has already been said on the subject of accent, page 24. + Murray says that " a vowel or syllable is long when the accent is on the vowel," and that "a syllable is short when the accent is on the consonant." In the word "bonnet," he makes both syllables equal in quantity by calling them both short! so too in hunger! He says, too, that "mate" and "note" "should be pronounced as slowly again as met and not!"-See his large Grammar, under Prosody.

measures.

bles, so arranged as to produce harmony of sounds in regular All poetical feet consist of either two syllables, or of three syllables. A long syllable is usually marked thus-, a short syllable thus U1 over each.

[blocks in formation]

The marks annexed to each foot denote the number of syllables and the quantity of them respectively. A trochee has one long and one short syllable; an iambus one short and one long, and so on.

Of all these feet, the iambus is most used; after that, the trochee and anapest. The spondee and pyrrhic are used but occasionally, and as substitutes for other feet, either from inattention, or for the sake of variety and euphony; we have no species of verse made up entirely of either. The dactylic measure (that is, a measure consisting of pure dactyls) very seldom occurs. The anapestic verse is of frequent occurrence, and forms one of our most pleasing varieties. We have no real use for the amphibrach and tribrach in our versification.

Verse properly means a number of poetical feet or syllables contained in one line. It is named from the Latin verb verto, signifying to turn, by which is denoted, that, having completed a line, we turn back to begin another. It is sometimes used to denote the same thing as stanza, which signifies a regular number of lines, after which there comes a pause, when the same number of similar lines is repeated, or a new series is introduced, differing from the former both in number and measure. Every collection of psalms or hymns furnishes examples of the kind. As verse properly denotes a single line or turn in the measure, this division of a poem would be better expressed by the word stanza than verse.

Different kinds of Iambic verse.

I. The shortest form of iambic verse or measure consists of one iambus, with an additional short syllable, as, Dividing -; Confiding. Astounded.

[ocr errors]

Confounded.

This species of verse, though usually ranked under iambic measure, properly consists of a single amphibrach. It occurs

only in single stanzas, or parts of stanzas, and never in poems of any length.

II. The second form of iambic verse consists of two iambic feet, and, like the first, is found only in short

stanzas.

Unheard, unknown,
He makes his mōan.
With ravished eārs,

The monarch hears.

To this form a short syllable is sometimes, though very seldom, added; but, in such a case, the verse, strictly speaking, would consist of one iambus and one amphibrach, thus,

With what commōtion

Is heaved the ocean!

III. The third form consists of three iambic feet, to which sometimes is added one long syllable; but this latter verse might also be divided into two iambuses and one amphibrach.

No burning heats by day,
Nor blasts of evening air,
Shǎll take my health ǎway,
If God be with me there.
Sălvation! Ō Sălvation!
The joyful news proclaim,
Till earth's remōtěst nātiōn
Hǎs learned Messiah's name.

This measure sometimes admits a spondee or a trochee for the first foot, as,

Thōu sun, with dazzling rays,
And moon, that rūl'st thě night,
Shine to your Maker's praise,
With stars of twinkling light.

Before proceeding further, it may be well to mention that we have many monosyllables which are usually long in prose, but by poetic custom may be either long or short in poetry. Among prepositions and other particles, pronouns, and auxiliary parts of verbs, examples are frequent. On the other hand, some words which in prose are usually short, in poetry are occasionally made long, examples of which, out of the same classes of words, are quite common. Emphasis is a frequent cause of a change from short to long. A similar change is sometimes made in

the quantity of a syllable in polysyllabic* words. An accented syllable may be accented so slightly as to be short. For example, let is an accented syllable, but is short in this verse, "Let all the heathen writers join," and long in the following, "And let them speed their flight."

IV. The fourth kind of iambic measure consists of four feet.

With dying hand, ǎbōve his head

He shook the fragment of his blade.

This kind of measure admits a spondee or trochee, instead of an iambus, for every foot except the last. It is seldom that more than two or three lines of pure iambuses follow each other in succession, and it is not uncommon to find a number of lines, one after another, all of which admit the other feet.

How deep yōn azure dyes the sky,
Where ōrbs of gōld unnumbered lie,
While through their ranks, in silver pride,
The nether crescent seems to glide!

Clap the glad wing, and tower ǎway,
And mingle with the blāze of day.

As,

The second foot in the last line may be read either as an iambus or a pyrrhic.

V. The fifth species has five iambuses; but a trochee or spondee, and sometimes a pyrrhic, may be substituted for an iambus in any place but the last; the last admits only a spondee or pyrrhic, and neither of them but seldom. We sometimes find an additional short syllable at the end of a line; but this addition is generally considered a blemish, though some poets appear to have been fond of it. This measure constitutes our heroic verse, and English epic poetry allows no other.

EXAMPLES.

Thy forests, Windsor, and thy green retreāts,
At once the mōnărch's and the mūsĕs' seats,
Invite my lays. Bě present, sylvăn māids!

Unlock your springs, and open all your shades.

NOTE. The first foot in the first line may be read either as an iambus or spondee, the third as a pyrrhic, and the fourth as a spondee; but I have marked the line with the regular feet as preferable.

* Polysyllable is a word of several syllables.

Variations.

Granville commands-your aid, O mūsěs, bring:
What muse for Granville can refuse to sing?

In that soft season when descending showers
Call forth the greens, and wake the rising flowers.
Drive from my breast that wretched lūst of praise.
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps ǎrise.

Should Fate command me to the farthest vērge
Of the green earth, to distănt barb'rous climes.
Oft in unfeeling hearts the shaft is spent:

Though strōng th' example, weak the punishment. This termination of a line, however, is not to be imitated. And fruits and blossoms blushed

In sōcial sweetness on the self-sāme bōugh.

Běhōld, yōn wretch, by impious passion driven,
Bělieves and trembles while he scoffs ǎt heaven.

This last measure, with an additional syllable, is more admissible in a chorus, at the end of a stanza, than elsewhere. For example:

Then join the saints; wake every cheerful passion; When Christ returns, hě cōmes for your sălvation. This kind of iambic measure occasionally admits, besides the trochee and pyrrhic, an anapest. Anapests may also be interspersed with iambuses in other measures of iambic verse. When this is done judiciously, and not too often, it adds to the variety and beauty of the whole. Variety is in itself a beauty, provided there is no sacrifice of harmoniousness; and to this great scope is given by the number of changes which can be made on so many different feet.

EXAMPLES OF AN ANAPEST INTERMIXED WITH IAMBUSES.

Iambic measure of two feet.

Its glittering spires

To catch the firēs.

Three feet.

By these our fathers' hōst
Was led to victory first.

Four feet.

Hě laid ǎside his radiant crown.
I burn thy glorious face to see

« 上一頁繼續 »