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lish verse, are often used as occasional substitutes for some of the feet already described. These are called the spondee (--), consisting of two strong syllables; and the pyrrhic (~~), consisting of two weak syllables. Some call these secondary feet.

We exhibit all these feet together in the following table:

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NOTE. Some introduce a third trisyllabic foot, the amphibrach ~~~ consisting of a strong syllable flanked by two weak ones. We think it unnecessary to introduce this either as a primary or a secondary measure. Most of the examples adduced of its use come under the class of mere double rhymes at the end of iambic verses. Such verses as the first and third in the following four from Burns ought, if we have regard to rhyme, to be written each as two verses, consisting of a single iambus with an additional weak syllable, and having, as all iambics ending with a weak syllable must have, double rhymes.

"It warms me, it charms me,

To mention but her name;

It heats me, it beats me,

And sets me a' on flame."

To exhibit the rhymes we must write thus:

"It warms me,

It charms me,

To mention but her name:" &c.

The examples of measure consisting of amphibrachs selected by Dr. Latham (Eng. gram. pp. 204–206) we should regard as anapaests having an iambus substituted for the first foot. This substitution is common, even in the purest specimens of anapaestic measure. (See Beattie's Hermit.) The movements in such verses as,

"I've found out ǎ gift | for my fair;

I've found where the wood pigeons breed:" &c.

is surely undistinguishable from the anapaestic movement. The lines, we think, are more properly printed thus,

"I have found out ǎ gift | for my fair;" &c.

in which form they appear to be what they really are-pure anapaests. Dr. Latham seems to have presented the lines in a form to suit his purpose. That the anapaest and iambic admit readily of interchange we shall have occasion again to observe.

(19) Verses formed of iambic measures may be said to have iam

(19) Repeat what is said of the different species of movement, or rhythm of verse.

bic movement, or iambic rhythm; verses formed of trochees, of a:apaests, of dactyles, trochaic, anapaestic and dactylic movement respectively.

REMARKS. (20) These different movements or species of rhythm affect the ear and mind very differently, and are consequently, suited to different classes of subjects. The anapaestic and dactylic measures having two weak (or light) syllables to each strong (or heavy) syllable, may be regarded as less adapted to grave and solemn subjects than the other measures. The iambic seems of all our English measures the one best adapted to solemn subjects. The poets in choosing measures have not always attended sufficiently to these facts.

2d. PAUSES.—(21) A pause or rest of the voice determines the end of a verse. This is usually called the final pause of a verse. (22) The place of this pause is marked in written verse by turning to a new line, each separate verse being contained in a separate line.

NOTE. The name VERSE has originated from this fact: Verse (in Latin versus) means a turning, so called because the end of it is indicated by turning back to a new line.

(23) But, besides the pause in reading which marks the termination of a verse, other pauses occur in the course of each verse, of considerable length. These (at least the chief pauses of this kind in each verse), are called cæsural pauses, because they cut the verse. We shall have more to say of these pauses, when we come to treat of the number of measures, or feet contained in a verse.

NOTE. The word verse is often employed in ordinary language as the name of what is more definitely called a stanza. At the end of a stanza, as at the end of a verse properly so called, there is a turning, but, in this case, a turning not only to another line, but to the recommencement of a form of poetical composition consisting of a number of verses arranged in a fixed order.

Verse is also employed as the name of a well-known division of the Sacred Scriptures, adopted in modern times for the purpose of securing easy reference to any particular passage. These divisions are called verses, because in most printed editions each of them begins on a new line, and consequently there is a turning (versus) at their termination.

3d. RHYME.—(24) Rhyme consists in a certain correspondence of sounds, or the chiming of the last syllables of two or more verses with one another. For example:

(20) Repeat the substance of the remark in reference to different species of rhythm. (21) What is said of the final pause? (22) How is its place indicated in written poetry! (23) Repeat what is said of the casural pause.

(24) What constitutes rhyme? Illustrate by an example.

"As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,

Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,

Eternal sunshine settles on its head."

At the close of these verses the words "form" and "storm" rhyme with each other; and in like manner "spread" and "head.” Endings like these are called rhymes.

(25) Three things are essential to perfect rhymes: the syllables which constitute such rhymes must be strong (heavy), or, generally speaking, what are called accented syllables; the vowel sounds of these syllables and the modifying consonantal sounds which follow them, when these syllables are closed by consonants, must be the same; and, lastly, the consonantal modifications which precede the vowel sounds must be different. Thus, in the rhymes closing the first two lines of the above example, the vowel sound in form is the same as in storm; the consonantal modification which follows is the same in both cases, namely, the modification represented by the consonants rm; and the modifications which precede the vowel sound are different, being the modification represented by the letter ƒ in one verse, and that represented by st in the other. In other words, syllables, to form perfect rhymes, must end with the same vowel sound, closing (if modified in the close) with similar modifications, and must be unlike in their commencement. The last mentioned circumstance is indispensable to a good rhyme. Every one will discover the awkwardness in the rhymes of the following verses from Spenser:

"Dan Chaucer, well of English undefyled,

On fame's eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled."

NOTE. It is to be observed that many of the rhymes employed in verse do not conform perfectly to these conditions. The poets feel themselves often compelled to have recourse to imperfect rhymes, that is, rhymes formed with syllables in which the vowel sounds and the following consonants are not precisely the same, but more or less similar. But the more perfect the rhymes, the more pleasing the versification, so far as rhyme is concerned. The frequent recurrence of imperfect rhymes, especially of rhymes very imperfect (for the imperfection of rhyme admits of various degrees), is a great blemish in poetical compositions. Rhyme may be regarded as an ornament; and every thing intended as an ornament, if not excellent of its kind, utterly fails of its purpose.

(25) Mention three things essential to perfect rhymes, and illustrate by reference to the example given above.

It ought to be remarked that rhymes which, when written, seem perfect to the eye, are not always perfect to the ear. If we would form good rhymes, we must attend exclusively to sound and not to orthography. Examples: head and bead are not perfect rhymes, while head and bed (though unlike in writing), are perfect rhymes.

(26) "An accented syllable followed by an unaccented one, and coming under the condition given above" (namely, that the accented vowel sound and all that follows it shall be the same, and what precedes diverse), "constitutes a double rhyme."-Lathan's Eng. Gram. p. 187. Examples:

"So she strove against her weakness,"

"Shaped her heart with woman's meekness!"
"When the praise thou meetest

To thine ear is sweetest,

Oh! then remember me.'

See other examples in the verses quoted from Burns in a preceding note: "It warms me," &c.

(27) In the same manner, a strong syllable followed by two weak syllables, coming under the same condition, constitutes a triple rhyme. Such rhymes rarely occur in serious poetry. Mr. Moore has introduced a whimsical assortment of them in some of his satirical pieces. For example:

"I suspect the word 'crucified' must be made 'crucible,'
Before this fine image of mine is producible."

"Who lived just to witness the Deluge-was gratified
Much by the sight, and has since been found stratified.”

It now remains to exhibit some of the principal kinds of English verse formed by the combination of the three elements considered; namely, the several species of measure variously repeated, pauses and rhyme.

1st. JAMBIO MEASURES.-(28) By far the largest proportion of our English poetry consists of iambic measures; and of English iambic poetry far the largest proportion consists of verses containing each five measures; in other words, verses containing ten syllables alternately weak and strong, commencing with a weak and ending with a strong syllable. This verse may be called IAMBIO PENTAMETER

(26) Describe double rhymes, and repeat examples. (27) Describe triple rhymes, and repeat examples.

(28) Repeat the remark about the prevalence of iambic measure in English poetry.

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Iambic five metre VERSE. It is often called HEROIC VERSE, because Heroic or Epic Poetry is written in this verse.

(29) The following scale represents this species of verse so far as regards the measures or feet:

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(30) Nearly all the verse without rhyme in our language is of this form. Such verse for the sake of distinction is called BLANK VERSE. Much of our rhyme verse is of the same form. To distinguish this from blank verse, it is sometimes called rhyme.

(31) A perfectly regular verse of this kind, besides admitting a final pause without violence to the grammatical arrangement and sense of the language, should also admit a pause either after the second or third measure or between the syllables of the third measure. That is, one or other of these places should coincide with the ending of a word which can, without impropriety, be separated from the following word by a moderate pause. When a pause is not only allowable, but demanded by the sense, the beauty of the verse is enhanced.

NOTE.—This cœsural or principal pause is sometimes deferred, both in rhyme and blank verse, till we come to the middle of the fourth foot; sometimes again it occurs (all that is allowed for it), so early as the middle of the second foot. These pauses have a less pleasing effect-are less melodious than the three legitimate pauses first mentioned. This failure of melody is more perceptible in rhyme, especially in heroic couplets, than in blank verse. In blank verse the only cæsural pause occurs sometimes even so early as after the first, and again, so late as after the fourth measure. Such unequal division of the verse injures the melody, and if too frequently repeated, detracts greatly from the pleasure which good versification yields. A little harshness when it does not recur too often, may contribute to variety. When the cœsural pause falls so near the beginning or the end of the verse, the final pause in reading sometimes becomes scarcely perceptible, so that the hearer cannot always distinguish where a verse ends; especially when the reader takes care not to sacrifice the sense to the melody. All really good readers and reciters of blank verse follow the sense in the employment of pauses, leaving the poet himself to look out for the melody.

(32) Besides the caesural pause each verse of this form usually admits of one—generally of more than one secondary pause. Much of the

(29) Write a copy of the scale and explain it.

(80) Repeat what is said about verse without rhyme. How is it named?
(81) Repeat the substance of the remarks on the pauses of this kind of verse.
(32) What is said of secondary pauses?

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