The Grammar of English Grammars Part 193

"The bard | on Ett | -rick's moun | tain green In Na | -ture's bo | -som nursed | had been, And oft | had marked | in for | -est lone Her beau | -ties on | her moun | -tain throne; Had seen | her deck | the wild | -wood tree, And star | with snow | -y gems | the lea; In love | _-li~est c=ol_ | -ours paint | the plain, And sow | the moor | with pur | -ple grain; By gold | -en mead | and moun | -tain sheer, Had viewed | the Ett | -rick wav | -ing clear, Where shad | _-=ow=y fl=ocks_ | of pur | -est snow Seemed graz | -ing in | a world | below."

JAMES HOGG: _The Queen's Wake_, p. 76.

_Example III.--Two Stanzas from Eighteen, Addressed to the Ettrick Shepherd_.

"O Shep | -herd! since | 'tis thine | to boast The fas | -cinat | -ing pow'rs | of song, Far, far | above | the count | -less host, Who swell | the Mus | -es' sup | -_pli~ant throng_,

The GIFT | OF G.o.d | distrust | no more, His in | -spira | -tion be | thy guide; Be heard | thy harp | from sh.o.r.e | to sh.o.r.e, Thy song's | reward | thy coun | -try's pride."

B. BARTON: _Verses prefixed to the Queen's Wake_.

_Example IV.--"Elegiac Stanzas," in Iambics of Four feet and Three_.

"O for | a dirge! | But why | complain?

Ask rath | -er a | trium | -phal strain When FER | MOR'S race | is run; A gar | -land of | immor | -tal boughs To bind | around | the Chris | -tian's brows, Whose glo | _-rious work_ | is done.

We pay | a high | and ho | -ly debt; No tears | of pas | -sionate | regret Shall stain | this vo | -tive lay; Ill-wor | -thy, Beau | -mont! were | the grief That flings | itself | on wild | relief When Saints | have pa.s.sed | away."

W. WORDSWORTH: _Poetical Works_, First complete Amer. Ed., p. 208.

This line, the iambic tetrameter, is a favourite one, with many writers of English verse, and has been much used, both in couplets and in stanzas.

Butler's Hudibras, Gay's Fables, and many allegories, most of Scott's poetical works, and some of Byron's, are written in couplets of this measure. It is liable to the same diversifications as the preceding metre.

The frequent admission of an additional short syllable, forming double rhyme, seems admirably to adapt it to a familiar, humorous, or burlesque style. The following may suffice for an example:--

"First, this | large par | -cel brings | you _tidings_ Of our | good Dean's | eter | -nal _chidings_; Of Nel | -ly's pert | -ness, Rob | -in's _leasings_, And Sher | -idan's | perpet | -ual _teasings_.

This box | is cramm'd | on ev | -ery side With Stel | -la's mag | -iste | -rial pride."

DEAN SWIFT: _British Poets_, Vol. v, p. 334.

The following lines have _ten syllables_ in each, yet the measure is not iambic of five feet, but that of four with hypermeter:--

"There was | ~an =an | -cient sage | phi_losopher_, Who had | read Al | -exan | -der _Ross over_."--_Butler's Hudibras_.

"I'll make | them serve | for per | -pen_diculars_, As true | as e'er | were us'd | by _bricklayers_."

--_Ib._, Part ii, C. iii, l. 1020.

MEASURE VI.--IAMBIC OF THREE FEET, OR TRIMETER.

_Example.--To Evening_.

"Now teach | me, maid | compos'd To breathe | some soft | -en'd strain."--_Collins_, p. 39.

This short measure has seldom, if ever, been used alone in many successive couplets; but it is often found in stanzas, sometimes without other lengths, but most commonly with them. The following are a few examples:--

_Example I.--Two ancient Stanzas, out of Many_,

"This while | we are | abroad, Shall we | not touch | our lyre?

Shall we | not sing | an ode?

Shall now | that ho | -ly fire, In us, | that strong | -ly glow'd, In this | cold air, | expire?

Though in | the ut | -most peak, A while | we do | remain, Amongst | the moun | -tains bleak, Expos'd | to sleet | and rain, No sport | our hours | shall break, To ex | -ercise | our vein."

DRAYTON: _Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 13; _John Burn's_, p. 244.

_Example II.--Acis and Galatea_.

"For us | the zeph | -yr blows, For us | distils | the dew, For us | unfolds | the rose, And flow'rs | display | their hue;

For us | the win | -ters rain, For us | the sum | -mers s.h.i.+ne, Spring swells | for us | the grain, And au | -tumn bleeds | the vine."

JOHN GAY: _British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 376.

_Example III.--"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin_."

"The king | was on | his throne, The sa | -traps thronged | the hall; A thou | -sand bright | lamps shone O'er that | high fes | -tival.

A thou | -sand cups | of gold, In Ju | -dah deemed | divine-- Jeho | -vah's ves | -sels, hold The G.o.d | -less Hea | -then's wine!

In that | same hour | and hall, The fin | -gers of | a hand Came forth | against | the wall, And wrote | as if | on sand: The fin | -gers of | a man,-- A sol | -ita | -ry hand Along | the let | -ters ran, And traced | them like | a wand."

LORD BYRON: _Vision of Belshazzar_.

_Example IV.--Lyric Stanzas_.

"Descend, | celes | -tial fire, And seize | me from | above, Melt me | in flames | of pure | desire, A sac | -rifice | to love.

Let joy | and wor | -s.h.i.+p spend The rem | -nant of | my days, And to | my G.o.d, | my soul | ascend, In sweet | perfumes | of praise."

WATTS: _Poems sacred to Devotion_, p. 50.

_Example V.--Lyric Stanzas_.

"I would | begin | the mu | -sic here, And so | my soul | should rise: O for | some heav'n | -ly notes | to bear My spir | -it to | the skies!

There, ye | that love | my say | -iour, sit, There I | would fain | have place Amongst | your thrones | or at | your feet, So I | might see | his face."

WATTS: _Same work_, "_Horae Lyricae_," p. 71.

_Example VI.--England's Dead_.

"The hur | -ricane | hath might Along | the In | -dian sh.o.r.e, And far, | by Gan | -ges' banks | at night, Is heard | the ti | -ger's roar.

But let | the sound | roll on!

It hath | no tone | of dread For those | that from | their toils | are gone;-- _There_ slum | -ber Eng | -land's dead."

HEMANS: _Poetical Works_, Vol. ii, p. 61.

The following examples have some of the common diversifications already noticed under the longer measures:--

_Example I.--"Languedocian Air_."

"_L=ove ~is_ | a hunt | -er boy, Who makes | young hearts | his prey; _And in_ | his nets | of joy Ensnares | them night | and day.

In vain | conceal'd | they lie, Love tracks | them ev' | -ry where; In vain | aloft | they fly, Love shoots | them fly | -ing there.

But 'tis | his joy | most sweet, At earl | -y dawn | to trace The print | of Beau | -ty's feet, And give | the trem | -bler chase.

And most | he loves | through snow To track | those foot | -steps fair, For then | the boy | doth know, None track'd | before | him there."

MOORE'S _Melodies and National Airs_, p. 274.