A Handbook of the English Language Part 61

The stanza consists of eight lines of heroics, the six first rhyming alternately, the last two in succession.

Arrived there, a prodigious noise he hears, Which suddenly along the forest spread; Whereat from out his quiver he prepares An arrow for his bow, and lifts his head; And, lo! a monstrous herd of swine appears, And onward rushes with tempestuous tread, And to the fountain's brink precisely pours, So that the giant's join'd by all the boars.

_Morgante Maggiore_ (LD. BYRON'S _Translation_.)

11. _Terza rima._--Like the last, borrowed both in name and nature from the Italian, and scarcely yet naturalized in England.

The Spirit of the fervent days of old, When words were things that came to pa.s.s, and Thought Flash'd o'er the future, bidding men behold Their children's children's doom already brought Forth from the abyss of Time which is to be, The chaos of events where lie half-wrought Shapes that must undergo mortality: What the great seers of Israel wore within, That Spirit was on them and is on me: And if, Ca.s.sandra-like, amidst the din Of conflicts, none will hear, or hearing heed This voice from out the wilderness, the sin Be theirs, and my own feelings be my meed, The only guerdon I have ever known.

12. _Alexandrines._--Six measures, x a, generally (perhaps always) with rhyme. The name is said to be taken from the fact that early romances upon the deeds of Alexander of Macedon, of great popularity, were written in this metre. One of the longest poems in the English language is in the Alexandrines, viz. Drayton's Poly-olbion, quoted above.

13. _Spenserian stanza._--A stanza consisting of nine lines, the first eight heroics, the last an Alexandrine.

It hath been through all ages ever seen, That with the prize of arms and chivalrie The prize of beauty still hath joined been, And that for reason's special privitie; For either doth on other much rely.

For he meseems most fit the fair to serve That can her best defend from villanie; And she most fit his service doth deserve, That fairest is, and from her faith will never swerve.--SPENSER.

Childe Harold and other important poems are composed in the Spenserian stanza.

14. _Service metre._--Couplets of seven measures, x a. This is the common metre of the Psalm versions. It is also called common measure, or long measure. In this metre there is always a pause after the fourth measure, and many grammarians consider that with that pause the line ends. According to this view, the service metre does not consist of two long lines with seven measures each; but of four short ones, with four and three measures each alternately. The Psalm versions are printed so as to exhibit this pause or break.

The Lord descended from above, | and bow'd the heavens most high, And underneath his feet He cast | the darkness of the sky.

On Cherubs and on Seraphim | full royally He rode, And on the wings of mighty winds | came flying all abroad.

STERNHOLD AND HOPKINS.

In this matter the following distinction is convenient. When the last syllable of the fourth measure (i.e. the eighth syllable in the line) in the one verse _rhymes_ with the corresponding syllable in the other, the long verse should be looked upon as broken up into two short ones; in other words, the couplets should be dealt with as a stanza. Where there is no rhyme except at the seventh measure, the verse should remain undivided.

Thus:

Turn, gentle hermit of the glen, | and guide thy lonely way To where yon taper cheers the vale | with hospitable ray--

const.i.tute a single couplet of two lines, the number of rhymes being two.

But,

Turn, gentle hermit of the dale, And guide thy lonely way To where yon taper cheers the vale With hospitable ray--(GOLDSMITH)

const.i.tute a stanza of four lines, the number of rhymes being four.

15. _Ballad stanza._--Service metre broken up in the way just indicated.

Goldsmith's Edwin and Angelina, &c.

16. _Poulterer's measure._--Alexandrines and service metre alternately.

Found in the poetry of Henry the Eighth's time.

PART VII.

THE DIALECTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

-- 541. Certain parts of England are named as if their population were preeminently _Saxon_ rather than _Angle_; viz., Wes-s.e.x ( = West _Saxons_), Es-s.e.x ( = East _Saxons_), Sus-s.e.x ( = South _Saxons_), and Middle-s.e.x, ( = Middle _Saxons_).

Others are named as if their population were preeminently _Angle_ rather than _Saxon_; thus, the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk once const.i.tuted the kingdom of the East Angles, and even at the present moment, are often spoken of as _East Anglia_.

-- 542. It is safe to say that the dialects of the English language do _not_ coincide with the distribution of these terms. That parts of the Angle differ from parts of the Saxon districts in respect to the character of their provincialisms is true; but it is by no means evident that they differ on that account.

Thus, that the dialect of Hamps.h.i.+re, which was part of Wes-s.e.x, should differ from that of Norfolk, which was part of East _Anglia_, is but natural. There is a great s.p.a.ce of country between them--a fact sufficient to account for their respective characteristics, without a.s.suming an original difference of population. Between the _Saxons_ of Es-s.e.x and the _Anglians_ of Suffolk, no one has professed to find any notable difference.

Hence, no division of the English dialects into those of _Saxon_ or those of _Angle_ origin, has been successful.

Neither have any peculiarities in the dialect of Kent, or the Isle of Wight, verified the notion of the population for those parts having been originally _Jute_.

Nor yet has any portion of England been shown by the evidence of its dialects, to have been _Frisian_.

-- 543. Yet the solution of such problems is one of the great objects of the study of provincial modes of speech.

-- 544. That _Jute_ characteristics will be sought in vain is the inference from ---- 7-13.

That differential points between the _Angles_ and _Saxons_ will be sought in vain is also probable.

On the other hand, differential points between the _Frisians_ and _Angles_ are likely to be discovered.

-- 545. The traces of the Danes, or Northmen, are distinct; the following forms of local names being _prima facie_ evidence (at least) of Danish or Norse occupancy.

a. The combination Sk-, rather than the sound of Sh-, in such names as Skip-ton, rather than s.h.i.+p-ton.

b. The combination Ca-, rather than Ch-, in such names as Carl-ton rather than Charl-ton.

c. The termination -by ( = _town_, _habitation_, _occupancy_,) rather than -ton, as Ash-by, Demble-by, Spills-by, Grims-by, &c.

d. The form _Kirk_ rather than _Church_.

e. The form _Orm_ rather than _Worm_, as in _Orms-head_.

In _Orms-kirk_ and _Kir-by_ we have a combination of Danish characteristics.

-- 546. In respect to their distribution, the Danish forms are--

At their _maximum_ on the sea-coast of Lincolns.h.i.+re; i.e., in the parts about Spills-by.

Common, but less frequent, in Yorks.h.i.+re, the Northern counties of England, the South-eastern parts of Scotland, Lancas.h.i.+re, (_Ormskirk_, _Horn-by_), and parts of South Wales (_Orms-head_, _Ten-by_).

In Orkney, and the northern parts of Scotland, the Norse had originally the same influence that the Anglo-Saxon had in the south.--See the chapter of the Lowland Scotch.

This explains the peculiar distribution of the Norse forms. Rare, or non-existent, in central and southern England, they appear on the opposite sides of the island, and on its northern extremity; showing that the stream of the Norse population went _round the island rather than across it_.

-- 547. Next to the search after traces of the original differences in the speech of the Continental invaders of Great Britain, the question as to the origin of the _written_ language of England is the most important.

Mr. Guest has given good reasons for believing it to have arisen out of a Mercian, rather than a West-Saxon dialect--although of the _Anglo-Saxon_ the West-Saxon was the most cultivated form.

This is confirmed by the present state of the Mercian dialects.