The Symbolists employ such rimes with still greater freedom. Most liberty among modern poets is taken in the case where the final mute consonants are preceded by a nasal vowel, frequent rimes being: sang: champ plomb: sillon lien: vient commun : emprunt, &c. VI. It follows from the general principle, that two riming words should be perfectly homophonous, that a short vowel does not constitute a good rime with the corresponding long vowel. Such rimes, however, are used even by the most exact poets of the seventeenth century: Je sais sans me flatter, que de sa seule audace (Racine, Bajazet, 1. 1393.) Et, dans tous ces écrits la déclarant infâme, (Boileau, Art Poét., Canto ii. 1. 125.) Also quite commonly by those of the eighteenth and nineteenth century : Rivale de personne et sans demander grâce, (A. Chénier, Poésies, p. 199.) Et rien ne reste là qu'un Christ pensif et pale, (V. Hugo, Contemplations, i. p. 136.) The first French poet to raise a distinct objection to such rimes was Jean Bouchet in the Epistres Morales et Familieres (1545)1: J'entends qui veult toutes reigles garder De rimerie, & bien y regarder, (Epistre, cvii.) Du Bellay also protested in the Deffence et Illustration de la Langue Françoyse 2, and Malherbe in the Commentary on Desportes' poems, but, probably because they saw that their protests were of no avail, theorists became more lenient in this respect, and were content to recommend a sparing use of such rimes. Thus in Port-Royal (ch. ii. art. 3) we read: Il faut éviter autant qu'on peut d'allier les rimes féminines qui ont la pénultième longue avec celles qui l'ont brève. Néanmoins il y en a de supportables, surtout dans l'a, parce que cette voyelle étant toujours assez pleine de sa nature la différence du bref au long n'est pas si grande qu'elle ne puisse être facilement aidée et corrigée par la prononciation. Rimes between è:é, not uncommon in modern poets, but never found in the classicists, also infringe the rule of strict homophony: It should be noticed that the spelling ai does not invariably denote an open pronunciation, notably in the future and preterite of verbs in -er. Thus the following rimes fulfil the conditions of the most exact prosody: 1 Epistres morales et familieres du Traverseur (nom de plume of Jean Bouchet). Poitiers, 1545, fol. xxi. vo. 2 Cf. p. 133 (ed. Person) : Et feray fin à ce propos, t'ayant sans plus averty de ce mot en passant, c'est, que tu te gardes de rythmer les motz manifestement longs avecques les brefz, aussi manifestement brefz, comme un' pásse,' et trace,' un máitre,' et' mettre,' une ' chevelúre,' et 'hure,' un bast,' et' bat, et ainsi des autres. VII. Diphthongs can perfectly well be made to rime with. the simple vowels which correspond to their second element— ie : é, ui: i, &c.: Un juge, l'an passé, me prit à son service; (Racine, Plaideurs, l. 4.) Enfin qu'il me renvoie, ou bien qu'il vous le livre. (Id., Andromaque, 1. 590.) La licence à rimer alors n'eut plus de frein; (Boileau, Art Poét., Canto i. 1. 85.) (A. de Musset, Prem. Poés., p. 149.) Ce que j'écris est bon pour les buveurs de bière Qui jettent la bouteille après le premier verre. (Ibid., p. 137.) Sans peser, sans rester, ne demandant aux dieux Que le temps de chanter ton chant libre et joyeux! (V. Hugo, Contemplations, p. 39.) VIII. Diphthongs can also be coupled with the corresponding dissyllabic combinations of the same vowel, naturally without the latter ceasing to be dissyllabic: Je ne vous ferai point ce reproche odi-eux, Que si vous aimiez bien, vous conseilleriez mieux. (Corneille, Edipe, 1. 91.) Je te fis prisonnier pour te combler de biens: (Id., Cinna, 1. 1447.) N'en doutez point, Seigneur, il fut votre soutien. (Racine, Esther, 1. 1114.) Rayonne, étourdissant ce qui s'évanou-it; (V. Hugo, Contemplations, p. 112.) Les harpes s'emplissaient d'un souffle harmoni-eux ; (Leconte de Lisle, Poèm. Barb., p. 130.) IX. Two final syllables, although spelt alike, do not form a correct rime if they are differently pronounced. Some liberty, however, is allowed in the case of words of rare occurrence for which there are no rimes or only very few rimes. This is especially the case with masculine rimes that have a final sounded consonant. As such words are rare in French, poets not infrequently couple them to other masculine words the final consonant of which is silent, so that lines like the following really only satisfy the conditions of assonance but not of full rime: Que de fois sur vos traits, par ma muse polis, (A. Chénier, Poésies, p. 274.) Il tombe de cheval, et, morne, épuisé, las, (V. Hugo, Légende des Siècles, ii. p. 148.) (Id., Contemplations, i. p. 66.) Une corne de buffle ou de rhinocéros; (Id., Légende des Siècles, i. p. 45.) To the same category belong the following: L'éléphant aux pieds lourds, Le lion, ce grand front de l'antre, l'aigle, l'ours. (V. Hugo, Contemplations, i. p. 164.) Jette tout à ses pieds; apprends-lui qui je suis ; Dis-lui que je me meurs, que tu n'as plus de fils. (A. Chénier, Poésies, p. 55.) In the last case, however, it is possible to read the word as fi, adopting a pronunciation that is now old-fashioned, but which was the usual one at the end of the eighteenth century. Still more frequent are the instances in which one of the two words is a proper (chiefly classical) name: Le Tibre, fleuve-roi; Rome, fille de Mars, (A. Chénier, Poésies, p. 182.) Il se passa deux ans, durant lesquels Cassius (A. de Musset, Prem. Poés., p. 138.) (V. Hugo, Contemplations, i. p. 60.) Et qui peuvent, baisant la blessure du Christ, Croire que tout s'est fait comme il était écrit. (Gautier, Poés. Compl., i. p. 204.) Others of the same kind are: Pathmos: mots, Cydnus: inconnus, Atropos: repos, Adonis : punis, &c.—all in Victor Hugo. Numerous examples can be quoted from the classical poets, although it is not certain that the final consonant of such proper names was sounded in the seventeenth century. The following cases occur in Racine alone: Porus: perdus, Titus: vertus, Lesbos: flots, Joas: soldats, Pallas: pas, &c. X. If in two riming words the identity of sound comprises also the consonant preceding the accented vowel, then the rime is said technically to be rich. Thus : main: demain prit: esprit violence: balance, &c. Even such rimes as peuplier: sanglier or trembler : parler, in which the accented syllable begins with a mute (c, t, p, g, d, b, f, v) followed by a liquid (1, r), but in which the identity of sound does not extend to the mute, are likewise regarded as rich rimes. Rich rime is left to the option of the poet, but it is almost compulsory in modern poetry when ordinary rime (rime suffisante) is formed by endings of frequent occurrence, such as the following: é(s), ée(s), er(s); ié(s), iée(s), ier(s), i, ¿(s), ie(s); u, ue, ue(s). Rich rime is also required for most words ending in -a, -ir, -on, -ent, -ant, -eur, -eux, except, however, in the case where one of the riming words is a monosyllable. Thus, peur humeur is irreproachable. This remark concerning monosyllabic words also applies to the other endings, quoted above, and which ordinarily require rich rime. Accordingly the following are blameless: Mais à qui prétend-on que je le sacrifie? La Grèce a-t-elle encor quelque droit sur sa vie? (Racine, Andromaque, Act i. Sc. 2.) Ame lâche, et trop digne enfin d'être déçue, Peux-tu souffrir encor qu'il paraisse à ta vue? (Id., Bajazet, Act v. Sc. 3.) Et d'avoir quelque part un journal inconnu (A. de Musset, Poés. Nouv., p. 115.) |