English Verse Part 4

English verse is commonly measured by feet, a determinate number of which go to form a verse or line. The foot is determined by the distance from one accented syllable to another in the regular scheme of the metre. The usual metrical feet are either dissyllabic or trisyllabic.

The dissyllabic foot is commonly called an _iambus_ (or _iamb_) if the unaccented syllable precedes the accented, and a _trochee_ if the accented precedes the unaccented. The trisyllabic foot is commonly called an _anapest_ if the two unaccented syllables precede the accented syllable, and a _dactyl_ if they follow the accented syllable.[6] It will be observed that the fundamental rhythm of both iambic and trochaic verse is the same, as is also that of both anapestic and dactylic verse; the distinction belonging only to the metre as measured into regular lines. Iambic and anapestic verse (in which the light syllables commonly open the verse) are sometimes called "ascending rhythm"; trochaic and dactylic verse (in which the accented 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 princ.i.p.al 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 end--or less frequently at the beginning--being omitted).

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 final pause ("end-stopped" or "run-on"); (5) the presence of such irregularities as

(_a_) Anacrusis or feminine ending, (_b_) Catalexis (or truncation), (_c_) Subst.i.tution of exceptional feet for the typical foot, (_d_) Pauses other than the cesural.

_One-stress iambic_.

Thus I Pa.s.s by And die As one Unknown And gone.

(HERRICK: _Upon his Departure Hence_. 1648.)

(In combination with two-stress and three-stress:)

No more I'll vaunt, For now I see Thou only hast the power To find And bind A heart that's free, And slave it in an hour.

(HERRICK: _His Recantation._ 1648.)

_Two-stress iambic_.

Most good, most fair, Or things as rare To call you 's lost; For all the cost Words can bestow So poorly show,...

(DRAYTON: _Amouret Anacreontic._ ab. 1600.)

Because I do Begin to woo, Sweet singing Lark, Be thou the clerk, And know thy when To say Amen.

(HERRICK: _To the Lark._ 1648.)

The raging rocks, And s.h.i.+vering shocks, Shall break the locks Of prison-gates; And Phibbus' car Shall s.h.i.+ne 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 Tell where I lie.

(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 of the similar forms in Spanish poetry. See p. 114, below.

_Two-stress anapestic._

(In combination with three-stress:)

Like a gloomy stain On the emerald main Alpheus rushed behind,-- As an eagle pursuing A dove to its ruin Down the streams of the cloudy wind.

(Sh.e.l.lEY: _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 I am nearing the place, 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.)