The Grammar of English Grammars, Goold Brown [ebook reader for manga txt] 📗

foot an anapest still?—or to that of commencing the measurement of a line by including a syllable not used by the poet? The preceding stanza from Glover, is trochaic of four feet; the odd lines full, and of course making double rhyme; the even lines catalectic, and of course ending with a long syllable counted as a foot. Johnson cited it merely as an example of "double endings" imagining in it no "additional syllable," except perhaps the two which terminate the two trochees, "fear none" and "Vernon." These, it may be inferred, he improperly conceived to be additional to the regular measure; because he reckoned measures by the number of syllables, and probably supposed single rhyme to be the normal form of all rhyming verse.

OBS. 8.—There is false scansion in many a school grammar, but perhaps none more uncouthly false, than Churchill's pretended amendments of Johnson's. The second of these—wherein "the old seven[-]foot iambic" is professedly found in two lines of Glover's trochaic tetrameter—I shall quote:—

"In the anapæstic measure, Johnson himself allows, that a syllable is often retrenched from the first foot; yet he gives as an example of trochaics with an additional syllable at the end of the even lines a stanza, which, by adopting the same principle, would be in the iambic measure:

   "For | resis- | tance I | could fear | none,
      But | with twen | ty ships | had done,
    What | thou, brave | and hap | py Ver- | non,
      Hast | achiev'd | with six | alone.

In fact, the second and fourth lines here stamp the character of the measure; [Fist] which is the old seven[-]foot iambic broken into four and three, WITH AN ADDITIONAL SYLLABLE AT THE BEGINNING."—Churchill's New Gram., p. 391.

After these observations and criticisms concerning the trochaic order of verse, I proceed to say, trochaics consist of the following measures, or metres:—

MEASURE I.—TROCHAIC OF EIGHT FEET, OR OCTOMETER.

Example I.—"The Raven"—First Two out of Eighteen Stanzas.

1.
   "Once up | -on a | midnight | dreary, | while I | pondered, | weak and
                                                               | weary,
    Over | m=any ~a | quaint and | c=ur~io~us | volume | of for
                                                          | -gotten | lore,
    While I | nodded, | nearly | napping, | sudden |-ly there | came a
                                                               | tapping,
    As of | some one | gently | rapping, | rapping | at my | chamber
                                                               | door.
    ''Tis some | visit |-or,' I | muttered, | 'tapping | at my | chamber
                                                               | door—
        Only | this, and |nothing | more."

2.
    Ah! dis |-tinctly | I re |-member | it was | in the | bleak De
                                                               |-cember,
    And each | s=ep~ar~ate | dying | ember | wrought its | ghost up
                                                         |-on the | floor;
    Eager |-ly I | wished the | morrow; | vainly | had I | tried to
                                                               | borrow
    From my | books sur |-cease of | sorrow—| sorrow | for the | lost Le
                                                               |-nore—
    For the | rare and | r=ad~i~ant | maiden, | whom the | angels
                                                         | name Le |-nore—
          Nameless | here for | ever |-more."
       EDGAR A. POE: American Review for February, 1845.

Double rhymes being less common than single ones, in the same proportion, is this long verse less frequently terminated with a full trochee, than with a single long syllable counted as a foot. The species of measure is, however, to be reckoned the same, though catalectic. By Lindley Murray, and a number who implicitly re-utter what he teaches, the verse of six trochees, in which are twelve syllables only, is said "to be the longest Trochaic line that our language admits."—Murray's Octavo Gram., p. 257; Weld's E. Gram., p. 211. The examples produced here will sufficiently show the inaccuracy of their assertion.

Example II.—"The Shadow of the Obelisk."—Last two Stanzas.

   "Herds are | feeding |in the | Forum, | as in | old E | -vander's
                                                               | time:
    Tumbled | from the | steep Tar |-peian | every | pile that
                                                      | sprang sub |-lime.
    Strange! that | what seemed | most in |-constant | should the | most a
                                                      | -biding | prove;
    Strange! that |what is | hourly | moving | no mu |-tation | can re
                                                               |-move:
    Ruined | lies the | cirque! the | chariots, | long a |-go, have
                                                      | ceased to | roll—
    E'en the | Obe |-lisk is | broken |—but the | shadow | still is
                                                               | whole.

9.

    Out a |—las! if | mightiest | empires | leave so | little | mark be
                                                               |-hind,
    How much | less must | heroes | hope for, | in the | wreck of | human
                                                               | kind!
    Less than | e'en this | darksome | picture, | which I | tread be
                                                       |-neath my | feet,
    Copied | by a | lifeless | moonbeam | on the | pebbles | of the
                                                               | street;
    Since if | Cæsar's | best am |-bition, | living, | was, to | be re
                                                               |-nowned,
    What shall | Cassar | leave be |-hind him, | save the | shadow | of a
                                                               | sound?"
        T. W. PARSONS: Lowell and Carter's "Pioneer," Vol. i, p. 120.

Example III.—"The Slaves of Martinique."—Nine Couplets out of Thirty-six.

   "Beams of | noon, like | burning | lances, | through the | tree-tops
                                                   | flash and | glisten,
    As she | stands be | -fore her | lover, | with raised | face to
                                                   | look and | listen.

    Dark, but | comely, | like the | maiden | in the | ancient | Jewish
                                                               | song,
    Scarcely | has the | toil of | task-fields | done her graceful | beauty
                                                               | wrong.

    He, the | strong one, | and the | manly, | with the | vassal's
                                                     | garb and | hue,
    Holding | still his | spirit's | birthright, | to his | higher | nature
                                                               | true;

    Hiding | deep the | strengthening | purpose | of a | freeman | in his
                                                               | heart,
    As the | Greegree | holds his | Fetish | from the | white man's
                                                      | gaze a | -part.

    Ever | foremost | of the | toilers, | when the | driver's | morning
                                                               | horn
    Calls a | -way to | stifling | millhouse, | or to | fields of
                                                   | cane and | corn;

    Fall the | keen and | burning | lashes | never | on his | back or
                                                               | limb;
    Scarce with | look or | word of | censure, | turns the | driver | unto
                                                               | him.

    Yet his | brow is | always | thoughtful, | and his | eye is | hard and
                                                               | stern;
    Slavery's | last and | humblest | lesson | he has | never
                                                   | deigned to | learn."

    "And, at evening | when his | comrades | dance be | -fore their
                                                   | master's | door,
    Folding arms and | knitting | forehead, | stands he | silent | ever
                                                                |-more.

    God be | praised for | every instinct | which re | -bels a | -gainst a
                                                                | lot
    Where the | brute sur |-vives the | human, | and man's | upright
                                                         | form is | not!"
        —J. G. WHITTIER: National Era, and other Newspapers, Jan. 1848.

Example IV.—"The Present Crisis"—Two Stanzas out of sixteen.

   "Once to | every | man and | nation | comes the | moment | to de
                                                              |-cide,
    In the | strife of | Truth with | Falsehood, | for the | good or | evil
                                                              | side;
    Some great | cause, God's | new Mes |-siah, | offering | each the
                                                       | bloom or | blight,
    Parts the | goats up | -on the | left hand, | and the | sheep up
                                                       | -on the | right,
    And the | choice goes | by for | -ever |'twixt that | darkness
                                                       | and that | light.

    Have ye | chosen, | O my | people, | on whose | party | ye shall
                                                                 | stand,
    Ere the | Doom from | its worn | sandals | shakes the | dust a
                                                      | -gainst our | land?
    Though the | cause of | evil | prosper, | yet the | Truth a | -lone is
                                                                 | strong,
    And, al | beit she | wander | outcast | now, I | see a | -round her
                                                                 | throng
    Troops of | beauti | -ful tall | angels | to en | -shield her
                                                      | from all | wrong."
        JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL: Liberator, September 4th, 1846.

Example V.—The Season of Love.—A short Extract.

   "In the | Spring, a | fuller | crimson | comes up | -on the | robin's
                                                               | breast;
    In the | Spring, the | wanton | lapwing | gets him | -self an | other
                                                               | crest;
    In the | Spring, a | livelier | iris | changes | on the | burnished
                                                               | dove;
    In the | Spring, a | young man's | fancy | lightly | turns to
                                                    | thoughts of | love.

    Then her | cheek was | pale, and | thinner | than should | be for
                                                    | one so | young;
    And her | eyes on | all my | motions, | with a | mute ob | -servance,
                                                               | hung.
    And I | said, 'My | cousin | Amy, | speak, and | speak the | truth to
                                                               | me;
    Trust me, | cousin, | all the | current | of my | being | sets to
                                                               | thee.'"
       Poems by ALFRED TENNYSON, Vol. ii, p. 35.

Trochaic of eight feet, as these sundry examples will suggest, is much oftener met with than iambic of the same number; and yet it is not a form very frequently adopted. The reader will observe that it requires a considerable pause after the fourth foot; at which place one might divide it, and so reduce each couplet to a stanza of four lines, similar to the following examples:—

PART OF A SONG, IN DIALOGUE. SYLVIA.

    "Corin, | cease this | idle | teasing;
      Love that's | forc'd is | harsh and | sour;
    If the | lover | be dis | -pleasing,
      To per | -sist dis | -gusts the | more."

CORIN.

    "'Tis in | vain, in | vain to | fly me,
      Sylvia, | I will | still pur | -sue;
    Twenty | thousand | times de | -ny me,
      I will | kneel and | weep a | -new."

SYLVIA.

    "Cupid | ne'er shall | make me | languish,
      I was | born a | -verse to | love;
    Lovers' | sighs, and | tears, and | anguish,
      Mirth and | pastime | to me | prove."

CORIN.

    "Still I | vow with | patient | duty
      Thus to | meet your | proudest | scorn;
    You for | unre | -lenting | beauty
      I for | constant | love was | born."

Poems by ANNA LÆTITIA BARBAULD, p. 56.

PART OF A CHARITY HYMN.

1.

    "Lord of | life, all | praise ex | -celling,
      thou, in | glory | uncon | -fin'd,
    Deign'st to | make thy | humble | dwelling
      with the | poor of | humble | mind.

2.

    As thy | love, through | all cre | -ation,
      beams like | thy dif | -fusive | light;
    So the | scorn'd and | humble | station
      shrinks be | -fore thine | equal | sight.

3.

    Thus thy | care, for | all pro | -viding,
      warm'd thy | faithful | prophet's | tongue;
    Who, the | lot of | all de | -ciding,
      to thy | chosen | Israel | sung:

4.

    'When thine | harvest | yields thee | pleasure,
      thou the | golden | sheaf shalt | bind;
    To the | poor be | -longs the | treasure
      of the | scatter'd | ears be | -hind.'"
       Psalms and Hymns of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Hymn LV.

A still more common form is that which reduces all these tetrameters to single rhymes, preserving their alternate succession. In such metre and stanza, is Montgomery's "Wanderer of Switzerland, a Poem, in Six Parts," and with an aggregate of eight hundred and forty-four lines. Example:—

1.

    "'Wanderer, | whither | wouldst thou | roam?
      To what | region | far a | -way,
    Bend thy | steps to | find a | home,
      In the | twilight | of thy | day?'

2.

    'In the | twilight | of my | day,
      I am | hastening | to the | west;
    There my | weary limbs | to lay,
      Where the | sun re | -tires to | rest.