syllables commonly open the verse) "descending rhythm." Ascending rhythm is very greatly in predominance in English poetry. The normal verse of any poem is therefore described by indicating the name of the foot and the number of feet in the verse. The number of feet is always indicated by the number of stresses or principal accents in the normal verse. As the light or unaccented syllables may vary from the typical number, it may also be necessary to indicate that the line is longer than its name would imply, by reason of Feminine Ending (a light syllable added at the end) or Anacrusis (a light syllable prefixed); or that it is shorter than its name would indicate by reason of Catalexis or Truncation (the light syllable at the endfrequently at the beginning — being omitted). or less In like manner, any particular verse or line is fully described by indicating: (1) the typical foot; (2) the number of feet; (3) the place of the cesura; (4) the presence or absence of a pause ("end-stopped or "run-on"); (5) the presence of such irregularities as final (a) Anacrusis or feminine ending, (b) Catalexis (or truncation), (c) Substitution of exceptional feet for the typical foot, (d) Pauses other than the cesural. (HERRICK: Upon his Departure Hence. 1648.) (In combination with two-stress and three-stress :) No more I'll vaunt, For now I see To find And bind A heart that's free, And slave it in an hour. (HERRICK: His Recantation. 1648.) (DRAYTON: Amouret Anacreontic. ab. 1600.) Because I do Begin to woo, Sweet singing Lark, Be thou the clerk, And know thy when Το say Amen. (HERRICK: To the Lark. 1648. › The raging rocks, And shivering shocks, Shall break the locks Of prison-gates; And Phibbus' car Shall shine from far, And make and mar The foolish Fates. (SHAKSPERE: Bottom's song, in Midsummer Night's Dream, I. ii. ab. 1595.) (In combination with three-stress :) Only a little more I have to write; Then I'll give o'er, And bid the world good-night. 'Tis but a flying minute That I must stay, Or linger in it; And then I must away. (HERRICK: His Poetry his Pillar. 1648.) In the second stanza we have the same measure with feminine ending. (In combination with four-stress :) Thus let me live, unseen, unknown, Thus unlamented let me die; Steal from the world, and not a stone (POPE: Ode on Solitude. ab. 1700.) Two-stress trochaic. Could I catch that Nimble traitor, Scornful Laura, Swift-foot Laura, Soon then would I Seek avengement. (CAMPION: Anacreontics, in Observations in the Art of English Poesie. 1602.) (In combination with four-stress :) Dust that covers Long dead lovers Song blows off with breath that brightens ; At its flashes Their white ashes Burst in bloom that lives and lightens. (SWINBURNE: Song in Season.) (Catalectic, and in combination with three-stress :) Summer's crest Red-gold tressed, Corn-flowers peeping under ; Idle noons, Lingering moons, Sudden cloud, Lightning's shroud, Sudden rain, Quick again Smiles where late was thunder. (GEORGE ELIOT: Song from The Spanish Gypsy, Bk. i. 1868.) The trochaic measures in The Spanish Gypsy are in imitation cf the similar forms in Spanish poetry. Two-stress anapestic. (In combination with three-stress :) Like a gloomy stain See p. 114, below. On the emerald main A dove to its ruin Down the streams of the cloudy wind. (SHELLEY: Arethusa. 1820.) (With feminine ending :) He is gone on the mountain, He is lost to the forest, Like a summer-dried fountain, When our need was the sorest. The font, reappearing, From the raindrops shall borrow, But to us comes no cheering, To Duncan no morrow! (SCOTT: Coronach, from The Lady of the Lake, Canto 3. 1810.) (In combination with four-stress :) Fear death? - to feel the fog in my throat, The mist in my face, When the snows begin, and the blasts denote The power of the night, the press of the storm, The post of the foe; Where he stands, the Arch Fear in a visible form, Yet the strong man must go. (BROWNING: Prospice. 1864.) These specimens, as is usual in anapestic verse, show considerable freedom in the treatment of the part of the foot containing the light syllables, substituted iambi being very common. Note the iambi in the Shelley stanza, line 1, second foot, and line 5, first foot. In the latter case, however, the first light syllable of line 5 is really supplied by the syllable added to make the feminine ending of line 4. In like manner, in the Scott stanza, the first syllable of line 8 is really supplied by the -ing of line 7; and where we have both feminine ending (in line 1) and a full anapest following, the effect is that of a hypermetrical syllable which must be hurried over in the reading. In the specimen from Browning |