GLOSSARIAL INDEX

I'm sittin' on the stile, Mary,Where we sat side by sideOn a bright May mornin' long ago,When first you were my bride.The corn was springin' fresh and green,And the lark sang loud and high,And the red was on your lip, Mary,And the love-light in your eye.Lady Dufferin, Lament of the Irish Emigrant.

Allied to this practice of inversion, or apparent inversion, are two other phenomena: the deliberate violationof normal word-accent to fit the metrical stress,[96]and an analogous violation of phrasal stress. The former is not such an entirely arbitrary procedure as it might at first seem; for at one period in the history of the language the accent of many words (especially those of French origin) was uncertain. Chaucer could say, without forcing, eithernáture, or natúre. The revival of English poetry in the sixteenth century owed a great deal to Chaucerian example, and thus a tradition of variable accent was accepted and became practically a convention, not limited to those words in which it had originally occurred. Parallels to Milton's "but extreme shift" (Comus, 273) are very frequent in Spenser and Shakespeare: the rhythm is not ◡ _̷ ◡ _̷ nor ◡ ◡ _̷ _̷ but a sort of compromise between the two. So in Shelley's To a Skylark—

Inprofusestrains of unpremeditated art,

and in verse of all kinds.

The wrenching of accent for metrical purposes, moreover, is not confined to the dissyllabic words which show the simple recession of accent. Some poets, especially the moderns (among others, Rossetti and Swinburne) have deliberately forced the word accent to conform to the metrical pattern in a way that can scarcely be called adaptation or adjustment; that is to say, the irregularities cannot successfully be 'organized' by syncopation and substitution so as to produce a true rhythmic movement. For example—

But coloured leaves of latter rose-blossom,Stems of soft grass, some withered red and someFair and fresh-blooded, and spoil splendiderOf marigold and great spent sunflower.Swinburne, The Two Dreams.

So Keats has—

The enchantment that afterwards befell.

Those whose taste sanctions suchoutréeffects probably find pleasure in the strangeness and daring of the rhythm.

An analogous case to this distributed stress but with monosyllables instead of polysyllabic words is the familiar line in Lycidas—

The hungry sheep look up and are not fed.

One does not read: "butarenotfed" nor "but arenot fed"but rather something midway between. This variation, common with all poets, was a special favorite of Shelley's—

To deck with their bright hues his withered hair.... His eyes beheldTheir own wan light through the reflected linesOf his thin hair, distinct in the dark depthOf that still fountain....Mingling its solemn song, whilst the broad river.Alastor.

The monosyllabic foot in which the unstressed element is missing offers no difficulty. The familiar example of

Break, break, break,

has been discussed above (pages 63 f.). Compare also Tennyson's Sweet and Low; Fletcher's song—

Lay a garland on my hearseOf the dismal yew;Maidens, willow branches bear;Say, I died true;

and Yeats's—

We sat grown quiet at the name of love;We saw the last embers of daylight die.Adam's Curse.

Shelley has—

And wild roses and ivy serpentine.The Question.

and Swinburne—

Fragrance of pine-leaves and odorous breath.Song for the Centenary of Walter Savage Landor.

(where it would be absurd to make two syllables of "pine"), and a debated but perfectly intelligible hexameter—

Full-sailed, wide-winged, poised softly forever asway.

where the whole music of the line depends upon giving due time-emphasis to "poised." There is one odd case, not to be made too much of because one cannot be entirely sure of the text, in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, II, ii, of the omission of the stressed element of a foot—

Than the soft myrtle; ‸ but man, proud man.

The versification of the whole play, however, is peculiar, and this metrical anomaly may have been deliberate.

The older writers on versification, leaning heavily on the traditional prosody of Greek and Latin, made much of the cæsura or pause, especially in blank verse.As has already been frequently suggested, the varied placing of the pause is one of the commonest means of avoiding monotony and giving freedom and fluency to the verse, but it is often also a means of fitting the verse to the meaning. Since the pause comes most frequently near the middle of the line, when it occurs within the first or the last foot there is some special emphasis intended, as in Milton's—

Before him, such as in their souls infix'dPlagues.Paradise Lost, VI, 837 f.LastRose as in dance the stately trees, and spread.Ibid., VII, 323 f.

Before him, such as in their souls infix'dPlagues.Paradise Lost, VI, 837 f.

LastRose as in dance the stately trees, and spread.Ibid., VII, 323 f.

For Milton these were rather bold and unusual. Later poets have made them familiar, but no less effective. Note Swinburne's repeated use in Atalanta in Calydon—

His helmet as a windy and withering moonSeen through blown cloud and plume-like drift, when shipsDrive, and men strive with all the sea, and oarsBreak, and the beaks dip under, drinking death.[97]

Except in these two places, however, there is seldom a very particular effect sought. That there can be even a good deal of regularity without stiffness or monotony is plain from a passage like Paradise Lost, II, 344 ff.[98]The presence of several pauses in a line produces a broken, halting, retarded effect, as—

Through wood, through waste, o'er hill, o'er dale, his roam.Paradise Lost, IV, 538.

and is admirably used by Milton in describing Satan's arduous flight through Chaos—

O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.Paradise Lost, II, 948 ff.

Theoretically each rhythmic stress is of equal force or strength, but in verse there is the greatest variety, some stresses being so strong as to dominate a whole line, others so light as hardly to be felt. Thus it happens sometimes that in a 5-stress line there are actually only four or three stresses: the rhythmic result being a syncopation of four or three against five. Sometimes the word which contains the weak stress receives unusual emphasis, as—

Which if not victory is yet revenge.Paradise Lost, II, 105.Fall'n cherub, to be weak is miserable.Ibid., I, 157.Me miserable! which way shall I fly.Ibid., IV, 73.Low-seated she leans forward massively.Thomson, City of Dreadful Night.Like earth's own voice lifted unconquerable.Shelley, Revolt of Islam, IX, 3.

Which if not victory is yet revenge.Paradise Lost, II, 105.

Fall'n cherub, to be weak is miserable.Ibid., I, 157.

Me miserable! which way shall I fly.Ibid., IV, 73.

Low-seated she leans forward massively.Thomson, City of Dreadful Night.

Like earth's own voice lifted unconquerable.Shelley, Revolt of Islam, IX, 3.

Sometimes the emphasis seems distributed, as—

As he our darkness, cannot we his light.Paradise Lost, II, 269.Passion and apathy and glory and shame.Ibid, II, 567.Eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves.Samson Agonistes, 41.Envy and calumny and hate and pain.Shelley, Adonais, xl.

As he our darkness, cannot we his light.Paradise Lost, II, 269.

Passion and apathy and glory and shame.Ibid, II, 567.

Eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves.Samson Agonistes, 41.

Envy and calumny and hate and pain.Shelley, Adonais, xl.

And sometimes no special emphasis is apparent, as—

Servile to all the skyey influences.Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, III, i.Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed.Milton, Comus, 189.Gorgons and hydras and chimæras dire.Paradise Lost, II, 628.But fooled by hope, men favor the deceit.Dryden.The friar hooded and the monarch crowned.By strangers honour'd and by strangers mourn'd.Pope.With forest branches and the trodden weed.Keats.

Servile to all the skyey influences.Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, III, i.

Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed.Milton, Comus, 189.

Gorgons and hydras and chimæras dire.Paradise Lost, II, 628.

But fooled by hope, men favor the deceit.Dryden.

The friar hooded and the monarch crowned.By strangers honour'd and by strangers mourn'd.Pope.

With forest branches and the trodden weed.Keats.

The rhythm of the last four examples is very common in all English verse. Occasionally the metre becomes almost ambiguous—according to its metrical context the line may be either 4-stress or 5-stress, as—

To the garden of bliss, thy seat prepar'd.Paradise Lost, VIII, 299.By the waters of life, where'er they sat.Ibid., IX, 79.In the visions of God. It was a hill.Ibid., XI, 377.

To the garden of bliss, thy seat prepar'd.Paradise Lost, VIII, 299.

By the waters of life, where'er they sat.Ibid., IX, 79.

In the visions of God. It was a hill.Ibid., XI, 377.

Three-stress lines in blank verse are less frequent, but the more striking when they do occur. There is Shakespeare's famous—

To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow.

Milton's

Omnipotent,Immutable, immortal, infinite,Eternal King.Paradise Lost, III, 372 ff.

(where the heaping up of the polysyllabic epithets adds greatly to the effect); and

Of difficulty or danger could deter.Paradise Lost, II, 499.Of happiness and final misery.Ibid., II, 563.Abominable, inutterable, and worse.Ibid., II, 626.His ministers of vengeance and pursuit.Ibid., I, 170.

Of difficulty or danger could deter.Paradise Lost, II, 499.

Of happiness and final misery.Ibid., II, 563.

Abominable, inutterable, and worse.Ibid., II, 626.

His ministers of vengeance and pursuit.Ibid., I, 170.

and Meredith's

The army of unalterable law.Lucifer in Starlight.

and such lines as—

Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved.Paradise Lost, II, 185.

for which parallels may be found in several other poets before and after Milton.

There is no reason why a metrically 5-stress line should not contain only two prose stresses, but examples are of course rare. Such an unusual rhythm would be seldom demanded. The phrase "acidulation of perversity" might do, for it is easily modulated to the metrical form. Occasionally, as in the last line of Christina Rossetti's sonnet quoted on pages 120 f., a series of monosyllables with almost level inflection will reduce the prose emphasis of a line and force attention on the important words—

Than that you shouldrememberand besad.

A better example is Shelley's

A sepulchre for its eternity.Epipsychidion, 173.

In direct contrast to these lines whose effectiveness springs from a lack of the normal quantity of stress are those which are metrically overweighted. A single stressed monosyllable, supported or unsupported by a pause, may occupy the place of a whole rhythmic beat, or it may be compressed to the value of a theoretically unstressed element. Thus Milton's well-known line—

Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death.Paradise Lost, II, 621.

might if it stood by itself equally well be taken as an 8-stress or as a 5-stress line; and obviously in a blank verse context it produces a very marked retardation of the tempo. No one would dream of reading it in the same space of time as the rapid line which just precedes it and to which it stands in such striking contrast—

O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp.

Similar are—

Light-armed, or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift or slow.Paradise Lost, II, 902.Stains the dead, blank, cold air with a warm shade.Shelley, Epipsychidion, 92.Of waves, flowers, clouds, woods, rocks, and all that weRead in their smiles, and call reality.Ibid., 511 f.We have lov'd, prais'd, pitied, crown'd, and done thee wrong.Swinburne, On the Cliffs.

Light-armed, or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift or slow.Paradise Lost, II, 902.

Stains the dead, blank, cold air with a warm shade.Shelley, Epipsychidion, 92.

Of waves, flowers, clouds, woods, rocks, and all that weRead in their smiles, and call reality.Ibid., 511 f.

We have lov'd, prais'd, pitied, crown'd, and done thee wrong.Swinburne, On the Cliffs.

For extreme examples of the accelerandos and ritenutos which our metrical ear seems willing to accept easily,one might compare two 4-stress lines by contemporary poets—

In the mystery of life.Robert Bridges.On the highest peak of the tired gray world.Sara Teasdale.

In the mystery of life.Robert Bridges.

On the highest peak of the tired gray world.Sara Teasdale.

or Swinburne's—

The four boards of the coffin lidHeard all the dead man did....The dead man asked of them:"Is the green land stained brown with flame?"After Death.

The four boards of the coffin lidHeard all the dead man did....

The dead man asked of them:"Is the green land stained brown with flame?"After Death.

These few general classifications by no means exhaust the possibilities of metrical variations and adjustments. In a real sense, every line is rhythmically different from every other line; but many of these differences are subjective, that is, they are determined by the individual training, tastes, habits, of each reader, his familiarity with few or many poets, the physical constitution of his organs of hearing, even the temporary mood in which he reads. The actual, objective peculiarities of a line are always significant, if the poet is a true master, but such is the variableness of experience and of life itself that unless we possess the poet's understanding and his sensitiveness—or can cultivate them—we lose a certain part of the significance. For one person, therefore, to dogmatize is both impertinent and misleading: the following specimens of peculiar rhythm are accordingly left without special comment. Some of them have long been bones of contention among prosodists; some of them are almost self-explanatory, others are subtle and difficult(and must be felt rather than explained), others have perhaps only their unusualness to recommend them to one's attention. In every case, however, they should be studied both in their metrical context and by themselves. They should be approached not only as technical problems in the accommodation of natural speech emphasis to the formal patterns of verse, but also—and this is the more important point of view—as adjustments in the second degree, adjustments of the prose-and-verse harmonies to the fullest expressiveness of which language is capable. It is a common observation that emotional language tends of itself to become rhythmical; the emotional and highly wrought language of poetry requires the restraint of verse as a standard by which its rhythms may be more powerfully realized and its significant deviations therefrom measured. And it is almost a constant 'law' that the more acute or profound the emotion, the more complex is the rhythm which gives it fit and adequate expression in words. 'Complex' does not necessarily mean arcane or supersubtle orrecherché. On the contrary, simplification (though not simplicity) is one of the characteristics of the best and greatest art. But to simplify beyond a certain point the various entangled implications of a poignant emotion is merely to rob it of some of its fundamental qualities. Nor is it childish to reason that a peculiar or extraordinary idea is most naturally expressed by a peculiar or extraordinary rhythm. Argument aside, it is an observable and verifiable fact.

That we may so suffice his vengeful ire.Milton, Paradise Lost, I, 148.A mind not to be changed by time or place.Ibid., I, 253.Behold me then, me for him, life for life.Ibid., III, 236.Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man.Ibid., III, 316.As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heav'n rung.Ibid., III, 347.Infinite wrath and infinite despair.Ibid., IV, 74.Raphael, the sociable spirit, that deign'd.Ibid., V, 221.Of truth, in word mightier than they in arms.Ibid., VI, 32.Before thy fellows, ambitious to win.Ibid., VI, 160.On me already lost, me than thyselfMore miserable. Both have sinned; but thouAgainst God only; I against God and thee.Ibid., N, 929 ff.O miserable mankind, to what fall.Ibid., XI, 500.And made him bow to the gods of his wives.Paradise Regained, II, 171.Hail, Son of the Most High, heir of both worlds.Ibid., IV, 633.Wilt thou then serve the Philistines with that gift?Samson Agonistes, 576.Thea! Thea! Thea! where is Saturn?Keats, Hyperion, I, 134.When night makes a weird sound of its own stillness.Shelley, Alastor, 30Yielding one only response, at each pause.Shelley, Alastor, 564.Touch, mingle, are transfigured; ever stillBurning, yet ever inconsumable.Shelley, Epipsychidion, 578 f.Lies to God, lies to man, every way lies.Browning, The Ring and the Book, IV, 216.'Do I live, am I dead?' Peace, peace seems all.Browning, The Bishop Orders his Tomb.Good strong thick stupefying incense-smoke.Ibid.I cry 'Life!' 'Death,' he groans, 'our better life!'Browning, Aristophanes' Apology, 1953.Setebos, Setebos, and Setebos.Browning, Caliban upon Setebos.Even to the last dip of the vanishing sail.Tennyson, Enoch Arden, 244.Saying gently, Annie, when I spoke to you.Ibid., 445.Palpitated, her hand shook, and we heard.Tennyson, The Princess, IV, 389.Bearing all down, in thy precipitancy.Tennyson, Gareth, 8.First as in fear, step after step, she stoleDown the long tower stairs, hesitating.Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine, 342 f.

That we may so suffice his vengeful ire.Milton, Paradise Lost, I, 148.

A mind not to be changed by time or place.Ibid., I, 253.

Behold me then, me for him, life for life.Ibid., III, 236.

Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man.Ibid., III, 316.

As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heav'n rung.Ibid., III, 347.

Infinite wrath and infinite despair.Ibid., IV, 74.

Raphael, the sociable spirit, that deign'd.Ibid., V, 221.

Of truth, in word mightier than they in arms.Ibid., VI, 32.

Before thy fellows, ambitious to win.Ibid., VI, 160.

On me already lost, me than thyselfMore miserable. Both have sinned; but thouAgainst God only; I against God and thee.Ibid., N, 929 ff.

O miserable mankind, to what fall.Ibid., XI, 500.

And made him bow to the gods of his wives.Paradise Regained, II, 171.

Hail, Son of the Most High, heir of both worlds.Ibid., IV, 633.

Wilt thou then serve the Philistines with that gift?Samson Agonistes, 576.

Thea! Thea! Thea! where is Saturn?Keats, Hyperion, I, 134.

When night makes a weird sound of its own stillness.Shelley, Alastor, 30

Yielding one only response, at each pause.Shelley, Alastor, 564.

Touch, mingle, are transfigured; ever stillBurning, yet ever inconsumable.Shelley, Epipsychidion, 578 f.

Lies to God, lies to man, every way lies.Browning, The Ring and the Book, IV, 216.

'Do I live, am I dead?' Peace, peace seems all.Browning, The Bishop Orders his Tomb.

Good strong thick stupefying incense-smoke.Ibid.

I cry 'Life!' 'Death,' he groans, 'our better life!'Browning, Aristophanes' Apology, 1953.

Setebos, Setebos, and Setebos.Browning, Caliban upon Setebos.

Even to the last dip of the vanishing sail.Tennyson, Enoch Arden, 244.

Saying gently, Annie, when I spoke to you.Ibid., 445.

Palpitated, her hand shook, and we heard.Tennyson, The Princess, IV, 389.

Bearing all down, in thy precipitancy.Tennyson, Gareth, 8.

First as in fear, step after step, she stoleDown the long tower stairs, hesitating.Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine, 342 f.

This from Surrey's Æneid, because of its early date:

He with his hands strave to unloose the knots.

These two from Elizabethan drama—hundreds of interesting lines may be culled from this source, but the field is to be trodden with caution because of the uncertainties of the texts; though we quote 'Hamlet' wecannot be sure we are quoting Shakespeare, and in such a matter as thiscertaintyis indispensable—

Do more than this in sport.—Father, father.King Lear, II, i.Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died young.Webster, Duchess of Malfi, IV, ii.

Do more than this in sport.—Father, father.King Lear, II, i.

Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died young.Webster, Duchess of Malfi, IV, ii.

And finally, three examples from Samson Agonistes of interwoven tunes, a sort of counterpoint of two melodies sounding simultaneously—

My griefs not only pain meAs a lingering disease,But, finding no redress, ferment and rage.617 ff.To boastAgain in safety what thou would'st have doneTo Samson, but shalt never see Gath more.1127 ff.Force with forceIs well ejected when the conqueror can.1206 f.He all their ammunitionAnd feats of war defeats,With plain heroic magnitude of mind.1277 ff.

My griefs not only pain meAs a lingering disease,But, finding no redress, ferment and rage.617 ff.

To boastAgain in safety what thou would'st have doneTo Samson, but shalt never see Gath more.1127 ff.

Force with forceIs well ejected when the conqueror can.1206 f.

He all their ammunitionAnd feats of war defeats,With plain heroic magnitude of mind.1277 ff.

Stevenson compared the writer of verse with a juggler who cleverly keeps several balls in the air at one time. The comparison is suggestive, but is true only so far as it indicates the difficulty of the operation for those who are not jugglers. The juggler does not devote conscious attention to each individual ball. He has learned to keep them all moving at once, and when he starts them they goof their own accord. Now and then, by conscious effort, he shoots one higher than the others—but there is no need to labor the illustration. The technique of versification is a mechanical thing tobe learned like any mechanical thing. The poet learns it—in sundry different ways, to be sure—and when he has mastered it he is no more conscious of its complex details while he is composing than the pianist is conscious of his ten fingers while he is interpreting a Chopin concerto. There is a feeling, an idea, a poetic conception, which demands expression in words. The compound of direct intellectual activity and of automatic responses from a reservoir of intuitions long since filled by practice and experience no poet has ever been able to analyze—much less a psychologist who is not a poet. Often the best ideas, the best phrases, the perfect harmony of thought and expressionemergespontaneously; sometimes they have to be sought, diligently and laboriously sought.

"When one studies a prosody or a metrical form," says M. Verrier, "one may well ask if these alliterations, these assonances, these consonances, these rimes, these rhythmic movements, these metres, which one coldly describes in technical terms—if they actually produce the designated effects and especially if the poet 'thought of all that.' So it is when an amateur opens a scientific treatise on music and learns by what series of chords one modulates from one key to another, or even how the chord of the dominant seventh is resolved to the tonic in its fundamental form.... That the poet has not 'thought of all that' is evident, but not in the ordinary sense. When the illiterate countryman makes use of the subjunctive, he is not aware that a subjunctive exists, still less that one uses it for historical and logical and also perhaps for emotionalreasons. But the subjunctive exists nevertheless, and the reasons too."[99]

The analogy is helpful, though not altogether persuasive. There is the familiar story of Browning's reply to the puzzled admirer: "Madam, I have no idea what I meant when I wrote those lines." So much for warning to the oversedulous. But if I honestly find and feel a marvelous rhythmic effect where Robert Browning did not plan one, then such effect certainly exists—for me, at least, and for all whom I can persuade of its presence. On the other hand, there is a potent warning in the following exuberance:

But the thought of the king and his villainies stings him into rage again, and the rhythm slowly rises on three secondary stresses—or ere thisI should have fatted all the region kitesWith this slave's offal.The last phrase twists and writhes through a series of secondary stresses with an intensity of hatred and bitterness that takes shape in a following series of peculiar falling rhythm waves, each one of which has a foam-covered crest 'white as the bitten lip of hate.' This rhythm, curling, hissing, tense, topful of venom, Alecto's serpents coiling and twisting through it, makes one of the most awful passages in all English poetry—Bloody, bawdy villain!Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!and culminates in Hamlet's cryO vengeance!which, with its peculiar sustained falling close, vibrates through the rest of the verse.[100]

But the thought of the king and his villainies stings him into rage again, and the rhythm slowly rises on three secondary stresses—

or ere thisI should have fatted all the region kitesWith this slave's offal.

The last phrase twists and writhes through a series of secondary stresses with an intensity of hatred and bitterness that takes shape in a following series of peculiar falling rhythm waves, each one of which has a foam-covered crest 'white as the bitten lip of hate.' This rhythm, curling, hissing, tense, topful of venom, Alecto's serpents coiling and twisting through it, makes one of the most awful passages in all English poetry—

Bloody, bawdy villain!Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!

and culminates in Hamlet's cry

O vengeance!

which, with its peculiar sustained falling close, vibrates through the rest of the verse.[100]

Professional prosodists doubt and dispute one another with the zeal and confidence of metaphysicians and editors of classical texts. They are all blind guides—perhaps even the present one!—if followed slavishly. There is only one means (a threefold unity) to the right understanding of the metrical elementin poetry: a knowledge of the simple facts of metrical form, a careful scrutiny of the existent phenomena of ordinary language rhythms, and a study of the ways in which the best poets have fitted the one to the other with the most satisfying and most moving results.

A few terms not mentioned in the text are included here for the sake of completeness.

Accent, the greater emphasis placed, in normal speech, on one syllable of a work as compared with the other syllables,6,34f.,37f.See alsoStress; it is convenient to distinguish the two terms, but they are sometimes used interchangeably.

Acephalous, headless; used to describe a line which lacks the unstressed element of the first foot.SeeTruncation.

Alexandrine, a 6-stress iambic line,85ff.88.

Alliteration, repetition of the same or closely similar sounds at the beginning of neighboring words or accented syllables (occasionally also unaccented syllables); sometimes calledInitial Rime,166.

Amphibrach, a classical foot, ◡ — ◡,51.

Anacrusis, one or more extra syllables at the beginning of a line,71.

Anapest, a foot consisting of two unstresses and a stress, ◡ ◡ _̷,38,51,70,80ff.

Antistrophe, the counter-turn, or stanza answering to the first, of a Pindaric Ode,131.

Arsis, a confusing term sometimes borrowed from classical prosody for the stressed element of a foot; the unstressed element is calledThesis.

Assonance, the repetition,in final syllables, of the same vowel sound followed by a different consonantal sound,166f.SeeRime.

Ballad Metre(Common Measure, C. M. of the Hymnals), the stanzaa4b3a4b3, but admitting certain variations,87,103.

Ballade, a formal metrical scheme of three stanzas rimingababbcbCwith an EnvoibcbC, keeping the same rimes throughout, and the last line of each stanza (C) being the same. The lines are usually 5-stress,163.

Blank Verse, unrimed 5-stress lines used continuously,94,133ff., ch. V passim;the'single-moulded' line,135f.; Marlow's,137f.; Shakespeare's,138ff., later dramatic,140f.; Milton's,142ff.; conversational,147ff.

Caesura, the classical term for a pause, usually grammatical and extra-metrical (i. e. not reckoned in the time scheme). When it follows an accented syllable it is calledmasculine; when it follows an unaccented syllable it isfeminine; when it occurs within a line it is calledmedial; when it occurs after an 'extra' unstressed syllable it is calledepic(though as frequent in drama as in epic), as—

And earth's base built on stubble. | But come, let's on.Milton, Comus, l. 509

Catalexis;seeTruncation.

Choriamb, a classical foot, — ◡ ◡ —,51.

Common Measure(C. M.), the regularBallad Metre,103f.

Consonance, specifically, in metrics, a form of incomplete rime in which the consonantal sounds agree but the vowel sounds differ,166f.SeeRime.

Coördination, the agreement or coincidence of the natural prose rhythm with the metrical (rhythmical) pattern; the process of making them agree,17f.

Couplet, a group of two lines rimingaa,88;closedcouplet, one which contains an independent clause or sentence and does not run on into the next of the series,91f.;heroiccouplet, one of 5-stress lines, usually iambic (called alsopentametercouplet),89,93ff.;shortcouplet, one of 4-stress iambic or trochaic lines (also calledoctosyllabiccouplet),89ff.

Dactyl, a foot consisting of a stress followed by two unstresses, _̷ ◡ ◡,38,51,70,84.

Decasyllable, a 5-stress (pentameter) line; a term used properly only of syllable-counting metres such as the French.

Distich, couplet; usually in classical prosody the elegiac couplet of a hexameter and a pentameter,162.

Doggerel, any rough irregular metre.

Duple Rhythm, a rhythm of two beats (though corresponding generally to ¾ time in music), one stress and one unstress, _̷ ◡ or ◡ _̷.

Duration, the length of time occupied by the enunciation of speech-sounds, and therefore an element in all language rhythm,5.See alsoTime.

Elegiac Stanza, the quatrainabab5,103,107f.

Elision, the omission or crowding out of unstressed words or unaccented syllables to make the metre smoother; a term belonging to classical prosody and inappropriate in English prosody except where syllable-counting verse is concerned. Various forms of Elision are called Syncope, Synizesis, and Synalœpha.

End-stopped Line, one with a full or strong grammatical pause at the end.

Enjambement, a French term ('long stride') for the continuation of the sense from one line (or couplet) to the next without a grammatical pause,62,92; opposite of End-stopping.SeeOverflow;Run-on Line.

Epode, the third (sixth, ninth) stanza of a Pindaric ode,131.

Feminine Ending, an extra unstressed syllable at the end of an iambic or anapestic line,71.

Foot, the smallest metrical unit of rhythm, composed of a stressed element and one or more unstressed elements (or a pause),49ff.

Free-verse, irregular rhythms, not conforming to a fixed metrical pattern,150ff.

Headless Line, acephalous; andseeTruncation.

Hendecasyllable, a 5-stress line with feminine ending, thus making ordinarily eleven syllables; usually referring to a special metre used by Catullus and others (as in Tennyson's imitation, 'O you chorus of indolent reviewers'),162.

Heroic Line, a 5-stress iambic line.

Hexameter,classicalordactylic, the standard line of Greek and Latin poetry, composed of six feet, the fifth of which is nearly always a dactyl, the sixth a spondee or trochee, the rest either dactyls or spondees; imitated in English with more or less success by substituting stress for quantity,159ff.

Hiatus, unexpected absence of elision.

Hold, pause on a word or syllable,62f.

Hovering Accent, a term sometimes used for the coordination of the metrical rhythm ◡ _̷ ◡ _̷ with the prose rhythm ◡ ◡ _̷ _̷ as in "and serene air" (Comus, l. 4); the accent is thought of as 'hovering' over the first syllable ofserene,182.

Hypermetric, used of a syllable which is not reckoned or expected in the regular metrical pattern.

Iamb,Iambus, a foot consisting of an unstress and a stress, ◡ _̷,38,51,69,84ff.

In Memoriam Stanza, a quatrain rimingabba4,103,105ff.

Inversion, the substitution of a trochee for an iamb or of a dactyl for an anapest (or vice versa),51,187ff.; a misleading term; seeSubstitution.

Length, the comparative duration of the enunciation of syllables,33f. In classical prosody syllables were regarded by convention as either 'long' or 'short' (a 'long' being theoretically equal to two 'shorts'), and this usage has been sometimes (not successfully, and yet not entirely without reason) super-imposed upon English verse.

Line, a metrical division composed of one or more feet and either used continuously or combined in stanzas,52f.,69ff.SeeVerse(1).

Loudness, the comparative strength or volume of a sound,6.

Long Measure(L. M. of the Hymnals) the quatrain rimingabab4orabcb4,103.

Metre, a regular, artificial, rhythmic pattern, the formal basis of versification.

Octosyllable, an 8-syllable or 4-stress line.SeeDecasyllable.

Octave, a stanza of eight lines; especially the two quatrains of an Italian sonnet,120.

Ode, a kind of exalted lyric poem, not strictly a metrical term but often used as such to describe the simple stanzaic structure of the 'Horatian' ode or the complex system of strophe, antistrophe and epode of the 'Pindaric' ode,131ff.

Onomatopoeia, primarily a rhetorical figure but of much wider application, covering all cases from single words to phrases and lines of verse in which there is agreement, by echo or suggestions, between the sound of the words and their meaning; as a metrical term, the agreement of the verse rhythm with the idea expressed,177ff.

Ottava Rima, the stanza (of Italian origin) rimingabababcc5,111f.

Overflow, the running over of the parts of a sentence from one line to the next without a pause at the end of the line,62.SeeEnjambement,Run-on.

Paeon, a classical foot, — ◡ ◡ ◡,51,76ff.

Pause, (1)logicalorgrammatical, that which separates the formal parts of a sentence,61,63; (2)rhythmical, that which separates the breath-groups of spoken sentences,61ff.; (3)metrical, (a) that which separates the parts of a metrical pattern, as at the end of a line,62, and also (b) that which takes the place of an unstressed element of a foot, being equivalent to the rest in music (indicated by the sign ‸ ),62ff.

Pentameter, a 5-stress line,52. (This term is well established, but open to objection.)

Phrase, a group of words held together either by their meaning (or content) or by their sound,32f;37ff.

Pindaric,seeOde.

Pitch, the characteristic of a sound dependent upon its number of vibrations per second; (usually indicated by its place in the musical scale; high or 'acute,' low or 'grave');5f.,35ff.; sometimes functions in verse for emphasis or for stress,8,35ff.,181ff.

Poulter's Measure, an old-fashioned couplet, composed of an alexandrine and a septenary,a6a7,88f.

Prose,Characteristic, prose with natural and varied rhythms,23ff.;Cadenced, prose with carefully sought rhythmic movements,27ff.;Metrical, a hybrid of prose and verse,29ff.

Pyrrhic, a classical foot, ◡ ◡,51.

Quantity, the length of a syllable; established by convention in classical prosody; in English prosody very uncertain but always present.SeeLength.

Quatrain, a stanza of four lines,103ff.

Refrain, a line or part of a line repeated according to the metrical pattern,184f.; the termrepetendis occasionally used.

Rest,seePause(3,b).

Rhythm, regular arrangement or repetition of varied parts,seech. I, ch. II, and passim;objective, having external concrete existence,3ff.;subjective, felt by the individual,3,12ff.;spatial, in which the units are spaces,4;temporal, in which the units are periods of time,4ff.;rising, beginning with the stressed element,38;falling, beginning with the unstressed element,38;duple, having a stress and one unstressed element (syllable),38;triple, having a stress and two unstressed elements (syllables),38.

Rime, repetition of the same sound (or sounds) usually at the end of the line,165ff.;Masculine, when the repeated sound consists of one stressed syllable;Feminine, when a stressed + one or more unstressed syllables;Triple, when a stressed + two unstressed syllables;EchoorIdentical, when the preceding consonantal sound also agrees;Eye-rime, when the words agree in spelling but not in pronunciation,174. As distinct from end-rime, there isInternalorLeoninerime, which occurs within the line (sometimes merely a matter of printing).See alsoAssonance,Consonance.

Rime Couée,seeTail-rime Stanza.

Rime-royal, a stanza borrowed by Chaucer from the French,ababbcc5; also calledTroilus stanza,Chaucer stanza,109f.

Rondeau,Rondel, French metrical forms characterized by the repetition of the first phrase or lines twice as a refrain, e. g.aabba aabR aabbaR(R being the first phrase of the first line), orABba abAB abbaAB(the capitals indicating the whole lines repeated),163.

Run-on Line, one in which the sense runs over into the following line without a grammatical pause,62,92.SeeEnjambement;Overflow.

Sapphic, a 4-line stanza used by Sappho (and Catullus and Horace) and often imitated in English; the pattern is — ◡ | — ◡ | — ◡ ◡ | — ◡ | — ◡ thrice repeated, then — ◡ ◡ | — ◡,161f.

Septenary,Septenarius(fourteener), the old 14-syllable or 7-stress iambic line, later split up into the Ballad metre,87; and used also with the alexandrine in the Poulter's Measure.

Sestet, a group of six lines, especially the last six of an Italian sonnet,120.

Sestina, an elaborate metrical form consisting of six 6-line stanzas and a 3-line stanza with repetition of the same end-words in different order instead of rime,164.

Short Measure(S. M. of the Hymnals), the Poulter's Measure broken into a quatrain:ab3a4b3, ab3c4b3,89.

Sonnet,118ff., (1)Italian, a 14-line stanza composed of two quatrains rimingabbaand two tercets rimingcde cde(cde dee, etc.),120ff.; (2)English, 14-line stanza of three quatrains rimingabab cdcd efef, and a closing coupletgg,127ff. There are also mixed forms and many variations.

Spenserian Stanza, a 9-line stanza rimingababbcbc5c6; the final alexandrine is the characteristic feature,85f.,112ff.Several variations were used in the seventeenth century consisting of shorter lines with a closing alexandrine,117.

Spondee, a classical prosody a foot of two long syllables; in English prosody a foot of two 'long' or accented or stressed words or syllables,51.

Stanza, a group of lines arranged according to a special pattern, usually marked by rimes,53,88ff.;see alsoVerse (3).

Stress, the comparative emphasis which distinguishes a sound from others not so strongly or plainly emphasized,34f.,37f.,56f.,65f. Then byUnstressor no stress is meant absence or comparative weakness of emphasis.Stressis used in this book for rhythmic and metrical emphasis;seeAccent.

Strophe, same as Stanza,53; in the Pindaric ode, the first (fourth, etc.) stanza,131.

Substitution(1) replacing one rhythmic unit by its temporal equivalent, as an iamb by an anapest or by a trochee, etc.,20; called alsoInversion(q. v.) of the foot; (2) the use of pitch or duration (pause) for a stress or unstress,20,181ff.

Syllable, the smallest and simplest unit of speech-sound,32f.; sometimes used as a metrical unit,49.

Syncopation, the union, or perception of the union, of two or more rhythmic patterns,18ff.

Tail-rime Stanza, one usually of six lines rimingaa4b3cc4b3, but with many variations (e. g. the Burns stanza,aaa4b2a4b2), the general type being a combination of long lines in groups with single short lines,109.

Tailed Sonnet, a sonnet with a tail (coda), or addition. About the only one in English is Milton's On the New Forcers of Conscience: the rimes areabba abba cde dec5c3ff5f3gg5.

Tercet, a group of three lines, especially in the sestet of the Italian sonnet,102,120.

Terza Rima, an Italian rime schemeaba bcb cdc...yzy zz; rarely used in English, but triumphantly (in stanzas) in Shelley's Ode to the West Wind,164.

Tetrameter, a classical term (four 'measures' or eight feet) incorrectly used for the English 4-stress line,52.

Thesis,seeArsis.

Time, an inevitable element in English verse (as well as prose), but not the sole basis,56ff.

Tone-color,Tone Quality, 'timbre,' the characteristic of a sound determined by the number of partial tones (overtones), as richness, sweetness, thinness, stridency; hence sometimes applied to the musical quality of a verse or phrase,6and note,177.

Tribrach, a classical foot, ◡ ◡ ◡,51.

Trimeter, a classical term (three 'measures' or six feet) incorrectly used for the English 3-stress line,52.

Triolet, a French metrical form, mainly for light themes, rimingABaAabAB(the capitals indicating repeated lines) and usually with short lines,163.

Triplet, a group of three lines, especially when rimedaaa,101f.See alsoTercet.

Trochee, a foot consisting of a stress and an unstress, _̷ ◡,38,51,70,82ff.

Back to Index Next