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"Untwist-ing all' | the chains' | that tie'
The hid'- | den soul' | of har'- | mony."

The last feet in these couplets from Scott and Milton are wanting in accent and time, as well as in perfect rhyme, and the reader must not attempt to mend them by changing the words to "chivalree" and "harmoni.” We may find the same defective foot in Shakespeare occasionally, as in the second foot of the opening line of Portia's speech in "The Merchant of Venice":

"The qual'- | ity | of mer'- | cy is' | not strained';" or in the third foot of this line from Tennyson's Ode on the Death of Wellington":

"In' his | simplic'- | ity | sublime'."

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Such feet are used for the sake of the words which best express the poet's thoughts, as the idea is more important than the measure; and the reader is not called on to show more wit in rendering, than the author has in writing, such lines.

But these unaccented feet are the rare exceptions, remember, and when read as they are written, to accommodate the sense, may serve, like the irregular feet, to break the monotony of the full measure.

VI.-EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT METERS.

"The Sky-Lark," by Shelley, is written in stanzas of five lines. Four have the metre of three feet, and the fifth is a double line of six feet. The standard measure is "dissyllabic," with the accent on the first syllable in the foot (trochaic), which changes to the last syllable in most of the longer lines, and elsewhere often enough to give rhythmic variety.

"Hail' to thee, | blithe' | spir'it—
Bird' thou nev'er | wert'-

That' from heaven', or | near' it,
Pour'est thy | full' | heart'

In' pro- | fuse' strains of un'- | premed'- | itat'- | ed art'!" The feet in the third line only are regular, with two syllables in each foot, and the accent on the first.

Note the feet in the first and fourth lines. The first foot has three syllables, and the second, one. Mark how the accent brings two long accented syllables together (in separate feet), and thus gives a peculiar dignity to the rhythm. This occurs in several other lines in the poem; as,

"The blue' | deep' thou | wing'est."

"The pale' | pur'ple | e'ven.”

"In' the broad' | day'light."

"From one' | lone'ly cloud'."
"Bet'ter than all' | meas'ures."

"The moon' | rains' out | her beams'."

A whole line is sometimes made of the monosyllabic foot, as in Hood's "Song of the Shirt":

"Work', | work', | work',

Till the brain' | begins' | to swim'."

The line has the three regular accents of the line following it, and should be read in the same time. The metre is three feet, dissyllabic measure. When such monosyllabic feet are made of a syllable which cannot, in good taste, be prolonged, the time of the standard measure must be filled out by a rest after the word. Its unrelieved monotony fitly "echoes the sense" of the dolorous song. So, too, in Tennyson's

"Break', break', | break',

On thy cold', gray stones', | O sea'!”

The three emphatic syllables must fill, by quantity and rest, the metric time of the line which follows them. The monotone of the recurring waves, and of the poet's tender grief, is most effectively expressed by this repeated monosyllabic foot."

Lines of more than five feet are usually but combinations of two shorter lines; as in Macaulay's "Battle of Ivry":

"Now glo'ry to' the Lord' of hosts', from whom' all glo’ries are',"

of seven dissyllabic feet, with the accent on the last syllable. It might as well have been printed in lines of four and three feet; as,

"And glo'ry to' our sov'reign liege',

King Hen'ry of' Navarre'!"

Tennyson's "Locksley Hall" is written in long lines of fifteen syllables, with "seven dissyllabic feet" and one "monosyllabic foot,” accent on the first (trochaic).

"Com'rades, leave' me here' a lit'tle, while' as yet' 'tis early morn'."

But this is the same measure as two lines of four feet meter; as thus,

"Yet' I doubt' not through' the a'ges

One' increas'ing pur'pose runs',

And' the thoughts' of men' are wi'dened
With' the pro'cess of' the suns'."

In this same rhythm and meter "The Raven," by Poe, is written, except that the long lines (or two short ones) have sixteen syllables.

VII. THE CESURAL PAUSE.

The pause which usually separates one line from another, and which often comes in the middle of a line, is not an arbitrary part of verse, but simply the natural pause, used in prose as well, which separates important. ideas. This pause, called "the Casura" (the break, or rest), is not to be counted in the metric time of the feet. Its length depends on the emphasis and the independence of the ideas.

When a poem is very regular in rhythm, as "The Raven" and "Locksley Hall" are (that is, when the number of syllables and the accent of the feet are but rarely changed), this pause after the emphatic ideas is of very great use in calling the attention away from the too regular measure, and fixing it on the SENSE.

As an example of a pleasing VARIETY OF METER, read "Ye Mariners of England," by Campbell. It is composed in stanzas of ten lines. Six of them are in three feet meter, three of them in four feet, and one line—the seventh-is in the meter of two feet. This seventh line has the trisyllabic measure, and rhythm also; while the standard measure is dissyllabic, with the accent on the last syllable:

"Ye mar'iners' of Eng'land,

That guard' our naʼtive seas',

Whose flag' has braved', a thou'sand years',
The bat'tle and' the breeze',

Your glorious stand'ard launch' again',
To match' anoth'er foe'!

And sweep' through the deep',
While the storm'y winds' do blow';
While the bat'tle ra'ges loud' and long',
And the storm'y winds' do blow'."

XCIX. PUCK AND THE FAIRY.

Puck-How now, Spirit-whither wander you?

Fairy-Over hill, over dale,

Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moonés sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green;
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favors;

In those freckles live their savors.
I must go seek some dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits! I'll be gone;
Our queen and all her elves come here anon.

Puck-The king doth keep his revels here to-night:
Take heed the queen come not within his sight;
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy stolen from an Indian king:
She never had so sweet a changeling;
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild;
But she, perforce, withholds the loved boy,
Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy:
And now they never meet in grove, or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled star-light sheen,
But they do square; that all their elves, for fear,
Creep into acorn-cups, and hide them there.

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