The English Language Part 98

-- 642. The nature of measures may, as we have already seen, be determined by the proportion of the accented and unaccented syllables. It may also be determined by the proportion of the long and short syllables.--In the one case we measure by the accent, in the other by the quant.i.ty. Measures determined by the quant.i.ty are called _feet_. The word _foot_ being thus defined, we have no _feet_ in the English metres; since in English we determine our measures by accent only.

The cla.s.sical grammarians express their feet by symbols; [-] denoting length, [U] shortness. Forms like [U- -U -UU U-U UU-] &c., are the symbolical representations of the cla.s.sical feet.

The cla.s.sical grammarians have names for their feet; _e.g._, _iambic_ is the name of [U-], _trochee_ of [-U], _dactyle_ of [-UU], _amphibrachys_ of [U-U], _Anapaest_ of [UU-], &c.

The English grammarians have no symbols for their feet: since they have no form for expressing the absence of the accent. Sometimes they borrow the cla.s.sical forms [U] and [-]. These, however, being originally meant for the expression of _quant.i.ty_, confusion arises from the use of them.

Neither have the English grammarians names for their measures. Sometimes, they borrow the cla.s.sical terms _iambic_, _trochee_, &c. These, however, being meant for the expression of _quant.i.ty_, confusion arises from the use of them.

As symbols for the English measures, I indicate the use of _a_ as denoting an accented, _x_ an unaccented syllable; or else that of + as denoting an accented, - an unaccented syllable. Finally, ' may denote the accent, the absence of it.

As names for the English measures I have nothing to offer. At times it is convenient to suppose that they have a definite order of arrangement, and to call words like _trant_ the _first_ measure, and words like _presume_ the second measure. In like manner, _merrily_ is measure 3; _disable_, 4; and _cavalier_, 5. As the number of measures is (from the necessity of the case) limited, this can be done conveniently. The cla.s.sical {506} names are never used with impunity. Their adoption invariably engenders confusion. It is very true that, _mutatis mutandis_ (_i. e._, accent being subst.i.tuted for quant.i.ty), words like _trant_ and _presume_ are trochees and iambics; but it is also true that, with the common nomenclature, the full extent of the change is rarely appreciated.

Symbolically expressed, the following forms denote the following measures:

1. + - , or ' , or _a x_ = _trant_.

2. - + , or ', or _x a_ = _presume_.

3. + - -, or ' , or _a x x_ = _merrily_.

4. - + -, or ' , or _x a x_ = _disable_.

5. - - +, or ', or _x x a_ = _cavalier_.

On these measures the following general a.s.sertions may be made; _viz._

That the dissyllabic measures are, in English, commoner than the trisyllabic.

That, of the dissyllabic measures, the second is commoner than the first.

That of the trisyllabic measures, No. 3 is the least common.

That however much one measure may predominate in a series of verses, it is rarely unmixed with others. In

_Trants_ swim safest in a purple flood--

MARLOWE--

the measure _a x_ appears in the place of _x a_. This is but a single example of a very general fact, and of a subject liable to a multiplicity of rules.

-- 643. Grouped together according to certain rules, measures const.i.tute lines or verses; and grouped together according to certain rules, lines const.i.tute couplets, triplets, stanzas, &c.

The absence or the presence of rhyme const.i.tutes blank verse, or rhyming verse.

The succession, or periodic return, of rhymes const.i.tutes stanzas, or continuous metre as the case may be.

The quant.i.ty of rhymes in succession const.i.tutes couplets, or triplets.

The quant.i.ty of _accents_ in a line const.i.tutes the nature of the verse, taken by itself. {507}

The succession, or periodic return, of verses of the same length has the same effect with the succession, or periodic return, of rhymes; _viz._, it const.i.tutes stanzas, or continuous metre, as the case may be.

This leads to the nomenclature of the English metres. Of these, none in any of the trisyllabic measures have recognized and technical names; neither have any that are referable to the measure _a x_.

-- 644. Taking, however, those that are named, we have the following list of terms.

1. _Octosyllabics._--Four measures _x a_, and (unless the rhyme be double) eight syllables. Common in Sir W. Scott's poetry.

The way was long the wind was cold.

_Lay of the Last Minstrel._

2. _Heroics._--Five measures _x a_. This is the common measure in narrative and didactic poetry.

To err is human, to forgive divine.

3. _Alexandrines._--Six measures _x a_. This name is said to be taken from the early romances on the deeds of Alexander the Great.

He lifted up his hand | that back againe did start.--SPENSER.

4. _Service metre._--Seven measures _x a_. This is the common metre of the psalm-versions. Thence its name.

But one request I made to him | that sits the skies above, That I were freely out of debt | as I were out of love.

SIR JOHN SUCKLING.

-- 645. Such are the names of certain lines or verses taken by themselves.

Combined or divided they form--

1. _Heroic couplets._--Heroics, in rhyming couplets, successive.--

'Tis hard to say if greater want of skill Appear in writing or in judging ill.

_Essay on Criticism._

The heroic couplet is called also _riding rhyme_; it being the metre wherein Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (told by a party riding to Canterbury) are chiefly written. {508}

2. _Heroic triplets._--Same as the preceding, except that three rhymes come in succession.

3. _Blank verse._--Heroics without rhyme.

4. _Elegiacs._--The metre of Gray's Elegy. Heroics in four-line stanzas with alternate rhymes.

5. _Rhyme royal._--Seven lines of heroics, with the last two rhymes successive, and the first five recurring at intervals. Sometimes the last line is an Alexandrine. There are varieties in this metre according to the intervals of the first five rhymes:--

This Troilus in gift of curtesie With hauke on hond, and with a huge rout Of knights, rode and did her companie Pa.s.sing all the valey far without, And ferther would have ridden out of doubt, Full faine, and wo was him to gone so sone, And tourne he must, and it was eke to doen.

CHAUCER'S _Troilus_.

6. _Ottava rima._--The metre in Italian for narrative poetry. Eight lines of heroics; the first six rhyming alternately, the last two in succession.--Byron's Don Juan in English, Orlando Furioso, &c., in Italian.

7. _Spenserian stanza._--Eight lines of heroics closed by an Alexandrine.