The Grammar of English Grammars Part 200

"Lauded | be thy | name for | ever, Thou, of | life the | guard and | giver!

Thou canst | guard thy | creatures | sleeping, Heal the | heart long | broke with | weeping, Rule the | =ouphes ~and | =elves ~at | w=ill _Th~at v=ex_ | _th~e =air_ | _~or h=aunt_ | _th~e h=ill_, _~And =all_ | _th~e f=u_ | _-r~y s=ub_ | _-j~ect k=eep_ _~Of b=oil_ | _-~ing cl=oud_ | _~and ch=af_ | _-~ed d=eep!_

I h~ave | s=een, ~and | w=ell I | kn=ow ~it!

Thou hast | done, and | Thou wilt | do it!

G.o.d of | stillness | and of | motion!

Of the | rainbow | and the | ocean!

Of the | mountain, | rock, and | river!

Blessed | be Thy | name for | ever!

I have | seen thy | wondrous | might Through the | shadows | of this | night!

Thou, who | slumber'st | not, nor | sleepest!

Blest are | they thou | kindly | keepest!

Spirits, | from the | ocean | under, Liquid | flame, and | levell'd | thunder, Need not | waken | nor a |-larm them-- All com |-bined, they | cannot | harm them.

G.o.d of | evening's | yellow | ray, G.o.d of | yonder | dawning | day, Thine the | flaming | sphere of | light!

Thine the | darkness | of the | night!

Thine are | all the | gems of | even, G.o.d of | angels! | G.o.d of | heaven!"

JAMES HOGG: _Mador of the Moor, Poems_, p. 206.

_Example VIII--A Short Song, of Two Stanzas_.

"Stay, my | charmer, | can you | leave me?

Cruel, | cruel, | to de |-ceive me!

Well you | know how | much you | grieve me: Cruel | charmer, | can you | go?

Cruel | charmer, | can you | go?

By my | love, so | ill re |-quited; By the | faith you | fondly plighted; By the | pangs of | lovers slighted; Do not, | do not | leave me | so!

Do not, | do not | leave me | so!"

ROBERT BURNS: _Select Works_, Vol. ii, p. 129.

_Example IX.--Lingering Courts.h.i.+p_.

1.

"Never | wedding, | ever | wooing, Still | lovelorn | heart pur |-suing, Read you | not the | wrong you're | doing, In my | cheek's pale | hue?

All my | life with | sorrow | strewing, Wed, or | cease to | woo.

2.

Rivals | banish'd, | bosoms | plighted, Still our | days are | disu |-nited; Now the | lamp of | hope is | lighted, Now half | quench'd ap | -pears, Damp'd, and | _wavering_, and be | -nighted, Midst my | sighs and | tears.

3.

Charms you | call your | dearest | blessing, Lips that | thrill at | your ca | -ressing, Eyes a | _mutual_ soul con | -fessing, Soon you'll | make them | grow Dim, and | worthless | your pos | -sessing, Not with | age, but | woe!"

CAMPBELL: _Everett's System of Versification_, p. 91.

_Example X.--"Boadicea"--Four Stanzas from Eleven_.

1.

"When the | British | warrior | queen, Bleeding | from the | Roman | rods, Sought, with | an in | -dignant | mien, Counsel | of her | country's | G.o.ds,

2.

Sage be | -neath the | spreading | oak, Sat the | Druid, | h.o.a.ry | chief; _Every_ burning | word he | spoke Full of | rage, and | full of | grief.

3.

Princess! | if our | aged | eyes Weep up | -on thy | matchless | wrongs, 'Tis be | -cause re | -sentment | ties All the | terrors | of our | tongues.

4.

ROME SHALL | PERISH-- | write that | word In the | blood that | she hath | spilt; Perish, | hopeless | and ab | -horr'd, Deep in | ruin | as in | guilt."

WILLIAM COWPER: _Poems_, Vol. ii, p. 244.

_Example XI--"The Thunder Storm"--Two Stanzas from Ten_.

"Now in | deep and | dreadful | gloom, Clouds on | clouds por | -tentous | spread, Black as | if the | day of | doom Hung o'er | Nature's | shrinking | head: Lo! the | lightning | breaks from | high, G.o.d is | coming! |--G.o.d is | nigh!

Hear ye | not his | _chariot_ | wheels, As the | mighty | thunder | rolls?

Nature, | startled | Nature | reels, From the | centre | to the | poles: Tremble! | --Ocean, | Earth, and | Sky!

Tremble! | --G.o.d is | pa.s.sing | by!"

J. MONTGOMERY: _Wanderer of Switzerland, and other Poems_, p. 130.

_Example XII.--"The Triumphs of Owen," King of North Wales._[513]

"Owen's | praise de | -mands my song, Owen | swift and | Owen | strong; Fairest | flow'r of | _Roderick's_ | stem, Gwyneth's | s.h.i.+eld, and | Britain's | gem.

He nor | heaps his | brooded | stores, Nor the | whole pro | -fusely | pours; Lord of | _every_ | regal | art, _Liberal_ | hand and | open | heart.

Big with | hosts of | mighty | name, Squadrons | three a | -gainst him came; This the | force of | Eirin | hiding, Side by | side as | proudly | riding, On her | shadow | long and | gay, Lochlin | ploughs the | _watery_ | way: There the Norman | sails a | -far Catch the | winds, and | join the | war; Black and | huge, a | -long they | sweep, Burthens | of the | angry | deep.

Dauntless | on his | native | sands, _The Drag | -on-son | of Mo | -na stands;[514]

In glit | -tering arms | and glo | -ry drest_, High he | rears his | ruby | crest.

There the | thundering | stroke be | -gin, There the | press, and | there the | din; Taly | -malfra's | rocky | sh.o.r.e _Echoing_ | to the | battle's | roar; Where his | glowing | eyeb.a.l.l.s | turn, Thousand | banners | round him | burn.

Where he | points his | purple | spear, Hasty, | hasty | rout is | there, Marking | with in | -dignant | eye Fear to | stop, and | shame to | fly.

There Con | -fusion, | Terror's | child, Conflict | fierce, and | Ruin | wild, Ago | -ny, that | pants for | breath, _Despair_, | and HON | -OURA | -BLE DEATH."

THOMAS GRAY: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 285.

_Example XIII.--"Grongar Hill."--First Twenty-six Lines_.

"Silent | Nymph, with | _curious_ | eye, Who, the | purple | eve, dost | lie On the | mountain's | lonely | van, _Beyond_ | _the noise_ | _of bus_ | _-y man_; Painting | fair the | form of | things, While the | yellow | linnet | sings; Or the | tuneful | nightin | -gale Charms the | forest | with her | tale; Come, with | all thy | various hues, Come, and | aid thy | sister | Muse.

Now, while | Phoebus, | riding | high, _Gives lus_ | _-tre to_ | _the land_ | _and sky_, Grongar | Hill in | -vites my | song; Draw the | landscape | bright | and strong; Grongar, | in whose | mossy | cells, Sweetly | -musing | Quiet | dwells; Grongar, | in whose | silent | shade, For the | modest | Muses | made, _So oft_ | _I have_, | _the eve_ | _-ning still_, At the | fountain | of a | rill, Sat up | -on a | _flowery_ | bed, With my | hand be | -neath my | head, _While stray'd_ | _my eyes_ | _o'er Tow_ | _-y's flood_, Over | mead and | over wood, _From house_ | _to house_, | _from hill_ | _to hill_, _Till Con_ | _-templa_ | _-tion had_ | _her fill_."

JOHN DYER: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 65.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--This is the most common of our trochaic measures; and it seems to be equally popular, whether written with single rhyme, or with double; in stanzas, or in couplets; alone, or with some intentional intermixture. By a careful choice of words and style, it may be adapted to all sorts of subjects, grave, or gay; quaint, or pathetic; as may the corresponding iambic metre, with which it is often more or less mingled, as we see in some of the examples above. Milton's _L'Allegro_, or _Gay Mood_, has one hundred and fifty-two lines; ninety-eight of which are iambics; fifty-four trochaic tetrameters; a very few of each order having double rhymes. These orders the poet has _not_--"very ingeniously _alternated_" as Everett avers; but has simply interspersed, or commingled, with little or no regard to alternation. His _Il Penseroso_, or _Grave Mood_, has twenty-seven trochaic tetrameters, mixed irregularly with one hundred and forty-nine iambics.

OBS. 2.--Everett, who divides our trochaic tetrameters into two species of metre, imagines that the catalectic form, or that which is single-rhymed, "has a _solemn effect_,"--"imparts to all pieces _more dignity_ than any of the other short measures,"--"that no trivial or humorous subject should be treated in this measure,"--and that, "besides dignity, it imparts an air of _sadness_ to the subject."--_English Verses._, p. 87. Our "line of four trochees" he supposes to be "_difficult_ of construction,"--"not of very _frequent_ occurrence,"--"the most _agreeable_ of all the trochaic measures,"--"remarkably well adapted to lively subjects,"--and "peculiarly expressive of the eagerness and fickleness of the pa.s.sion of love."--_Ib._, p. 90. These pretended metrical characteristics seem scarcely more worthy of reliance, than astrological predictions, or the oracular guessings of our modern craniologists.

OBS. 3.--Dr. Campbell repeats a suggestion of the older critics, that gayety belongs naturally to all trochaics, as such, and gravity or grandeur, as naturally, to iambics; and he attempts to find a reason for the fact; while, perhaps, even here--more plausible though the supposition is--the fact may be at least half imaginary. "The iambus," says he, "is expressive of dignity and grandeur; the trochee, on the contrary, according to Aristotle, (Rhet. Lib. Ill,) is frolicsome and gay. It were difficult to a.s.sign a reason of this difference that would be satisfactory; but of the thing itself, I imagine, most people will be sensible on comparing the two kinds together. I know not whether it will be admitted as a sufficient reason, that the distinction into metrical feet hath a much greater influence in poetry on the rise and fall of the voice, than the distinction into words; and if so, when the cadences happen mostly after the long syllables, the verse will naturally have an air of greater gravity than when they happen mostly after the short."--_Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 354.

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

_Example I.--Youth and Age Contrasted_.