Chapter 7

Chapter 76,121 wordsPublic domain

NATURE AND STRUCTURE OF POETRY

+44. Definition.+ We may approximately define poetry as the metrical expression of lofty or beautiful thought, feeling, or action, in imaginative and artistic form. Its metrical character distinguishes it from prose; for there is no such thing as prose poetry, though we sometimes find, as in the best passages of Ruskin, poetical prose. Its æsthetic idea or content, its exquisite diction, and its artistic form distinguish genuine poetry from mere verse, which is the mechanical or unartistic expression of commonplace thought, feeling, or incident. Poetry is, in large measure, a product of the creative imagination; and in its highest forms there must be energy of passion, intensity yet delicacy of feeling, loftiness of thought, depth and clearness of intuitive vision. It is the metrical expression of an exaltation of soul, which sometimes suffuses the objects of nature and the scenes of human life with a beauty and glory of its own,--

"The light that never was on sea or land, The consecration and the poet's dream."

+45. Poetry and Prose.+ Poetry occupies a region above prose. While prose in its highest flights approaches the plane of poetry, and poetry in its lowest descent touches the level of prose, they are yet essentially different. The one is commonplace, the other elevated or ideal. This truth is brought out clearly when we compare the same fact or incident of history as related in poetry and prose. The "Æneid" is very unlike a prose account of the founding of Rome. We sometimes say in plain prose, "The evening passed pleasantly and quickly"; but when the poet describes it, there is an elevation of thought and glow of feeling that make it ideal:

"The twilight hours like birds flew by, As lightly and as free; Ten thousand stars were in the sky, Ten thousand in the sea. For every wave with dimpled face That leaped upon the air, Had caught a star in its embrace, And held it trembling there."

+46. Sources of Poetry.+ Nature is filled with poetry. The great poet is God, and he has filled the universe with rhythm, harmony, beauty. Human poems are but faulty shells gathered on the shore of the divine ocean of poetry. The stars are the poetry of the skies. The planets and stellar systems that circle in their glorious orbits preserve a sublime harmony of movement. The light that reaches us from distant worlds comes to us in rhythmical wavelets. Every human life is a poem,--often an amusing comedy, but still oftener a moving tragedy. The tender friendships, the innocent joys, the noble aspirations, the high achievements of men, form the lyric poetry of human existence. The rippling of the forest stream within its shady banks of fern, the rhythmical roll and heavy roar of the ocean surges, are the poetry of the sparkling waters. The audible silence and mysterious whisperings of the dark and majestic forest, the modest hiding of the little violet that gives charm to some neglected spot,--this is the poetry of the woods and fields. Whether we look upon earth, or air, or sky, we may be sure that the unwritten poetry of God is there. In our best moments we feel its presence,--its mute yet eloquent appeal to our higher natures. It lifts us up into fellowship with Him who thus speaks to us.

+47. The Poet.+ When material interests dominate the life of a people, the poet is generally undervalued. He is apt to be regarded as an unpractical, or even an eccentric and valueless member of society. Too often the eccentricities of genius afford some basis for this prejudice; but it is wholly groundless in the case of the largest and most gifted of the poetic race. High poetic gifts are favorable to the noblest types of manhood. The great poet, beyond all other men, possesses an intuitive insight into truth, depth of feeling, and appreciation of beauty. These gifts lift the poet out of the rank of common men, and make him, in his moments of highest inspiration, a prophet to his people. In the language of Bailey in his "Festus,"--

"Poetry is itself a thing of God; He made His prophets poets, and the more We feel of poesy, do we become Like God in love and power--under makers."

Among the greatest of every nation, whether ancient or modern, poets stand almost preëminent. In the Old Testament history there is no one greater than "the sweet Psalmist of Israel." Homer stands in almost solitary grandeur in the early annals of Greece. In the history of Italy, what name is to be placed above that of Dante? In England there are, perhaps, no names to be ranked above those of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Tennyson, whose imperishable works abide with us, and in no small degree mould the thought and feeling of each succeeding generation. And among the illustrious citizens of our own country there are few or none who have reached a higher nobility of character than its great singers,--Longfellow, Bryant, Whittier, Hayne, and Lowell. Their lives were no less sane than beautiful.

+48. The Poet as Seer.+ The poet is preëminently a seer. He discerns the divine beauty and truth of life which escape the common sight; and because he reveals them to us in his melodious art he becomes an exalted teacher. In the midst of the tumults of greed and gain he lifts up his voice to witness of higher things. In the presence of what seemed to her a sordid generation, Mrs. Browning calls poets

"The only truth-tellers now left to God, The only speakers of essential truth, Opposed to relative, comparative, And temporal truths; the only holders by His sun-skirts, through conventional gray glooms; The only teachers who instruct mankind, From just a shadow on a charnel-wall, To find man's veritable stature out, Erect, sublime--the measure of a man."

The poet, with his intenser nature, gives expression to our deepest thoughts and feelings. What we have often felt but vaguely, he utters for us in imperishable forms. In how many things Shakespeare has voiced the human soul! While poetry has rippling measures suited to our smiles, it belongs, in its richest form, to the deeper side of our nature. Its loftiest numbers are given to truth and righteousness, to the tragic strivings and sorrows of life, and to the mysteries of deathless love.

+49. Versification.+ Versification is the science of making verse. The unit or starting point in versification is the syllable, which may be _long_ or _short_, according to the time it requires in pronouncing, and _accented_ or _unaccented_, according to the stress of tone with which it is pronounced. _Quantity_, by which is meant the length of syllables, formed the basis of versification in Latin and Greek poetry; but in English poetry it is used to give variety, music, or some other element of effectiveness to the verse. This may be illustrated in a well-known passage from Pope:

"When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line, too, labors, and the words move slow; Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main."

The first two lines occupy more time in reading than the last two, the sound in each case corresponding in some measure to the sense. An examination of the lines will show that the first two have more long vowel sounds than the last two, and that these and other vowel sounds are lengthened in pronunciation by the presence of difficult consonant combinations. "Ajax strives" and "rock's vast weight" are not phrases that slip quickly from the tongue. Furthermore, the second line is lengthened by no fewer than three pauses.

The principle of English verse is _accent_, and not _quantity_. In the line,

"The mossy marbles rest,"

it will be observed that every other syllable receives a stress of voice or is accented. The scheme of the verse may be represented as follows:

u-'|u-'|u-',

the line being broken up into three equal and similar parts, each of which is called a _foot_. The foot consisting of an unaccented followed by an accented syllable is called an _iambus_.

In the line,

"Home they brought her warrior dead,"

we observe that beginning with the first syllable every other one is accented, giving us the following as the scheme of the verse:

-'u|-'u|-'u|-'.

The last foot is obviously incomplete or _catalectic_. The foot that consists of two syllables, the first of which is accented, is called a _trochee_. It is the opposite of the _iambus_.

Again, in the line,

"This is the forest primeval; the murmuring pines and the hemlocks,"

it will be noticed that, beginning with the first, each accented syllable is followed by two unaccented syllables, except in the last foot, which is a _trochee_. The scheme of the verse is as follows:

-'uu|-'uu|-'uu|-'uu|-'uu|-'u.

This foot, consisting of one accented syllable, followed by two unaccented syllables, is called a _dactyl_.

Once more, in the line,

"Through the depths of Loch Katrine the steed shall career,"

the third syllable is accented, and the scheme of the verse may be thus indicated:

uu-'|uu-'|uu-'|uu-'.

This foot, which is the opposite of the dactyl, is known as the _anapest_.

A _spondee_ is a foot of two equally accented syllables; as, _mainspring_, _sea-maid_. There is still another foot, known as the _amphibrach_, which consists of three syllables, the second of which is accented, as in the word _de-ni'-al_. The scheme of the following line,

"The flesh was a picture for painters to study,"

may be indicated thus:

u-'u|u-'u|u-'u|u-'u.

But nearly all English poetry is based upon the four feet,--_iambus_, _trochee_, _dactyl_, and _anapest_,--first given.

+50. Meters.+ A verse is named from the number of prevailing feet. A verse containing one iambic foot is called _iambic monometer_; two feet, _iambic dimeter_; three feet, _iambic trimeter_; four feet, _iambic tetrameter_; five feet, _iambic pentameter_; six feet, _iambic hexameter_. The line,

"The twilight hours like birds flew by,"

is made up of four iambic feet, and is therefore an _iambic tetrameter_. _Iambic pentameter_, in which Milton's "Paradise Lost," much of Pope's poetry, Shakespeare's dramas, and, indeed, a large proportion of English verse, are written, is called _heroic measure_.

In like manner we have _trochaic monometer_, _dimeter_, _trimeter_, _tetrameter_, _pentameter_, and _hexameter_. The following line,

"As unto the bow the cord is,"

is _trochaic tetrameter_, which is the meter of "Hiawatha."

The foregoing are called dissyllabic meters; but the trisyllabic measures have the same names according to the number of feet. A verse consisting of a single dactyl is thus _dactylic monometer_; of two dactyls, _dactylic dimeter_; and so on up to _dactylic hexameter_, which is the meter of Homer's "Iliad," Vergil's "Æneid," and Longfellow's "Evangeline" and "Courtship of Miles Standish." The line,

"Softly the breezes descend in the valley,"

is _dactylic tetrameter_, though the last foot is a trochee.

In like manner we have anapestic lines of all lengths from monometer to hexameter. The line,

"How she smiled, and I could not but love,"

contains three anapests, and is therefore _anapestic trimeter_.

But the time element of a poetic foot is important, as it explains the seeming irregularities often met with in verse. An additional syllable may be added to a foot or subtracted from it when the _time_ of the foot or verse is not changed. By rapid utterance two syllables are often equal to one, and in this way an anapest is frequently used with the _time_ value of an iambus. In like manner a pause may sometimes take the place of an unaccented syllable. Both cases are fully illustrated in Tennyson's well-known lyric,--

"Break, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, O sea!"

In spite of the seeming irregularity of this poem, the presence of the proper _time_ element, together with the regular accents, preserves its metrical harmony.

There are few poems without slight metrical irregularities. The meter is varied to prevent monotony, to give emphasis to a word, or to respond better to some turn of the thought or feeling. Take, for example, the following couplet from Wordsworth:

"To me the meanest flower that blows can give _Thoughts that_ do often lie too deep for tears."

The meter is iambic pentameter; but the first foot of the second line is a trochee, and emphasizes _thoughts_ with fine effect. The time of the line remains unchanged.

In Milton we read,--

"Leviathan, which God of all his works Created _hugest that swim_ the ocean stream."

This is likewise iambic pentameter; but in the second line a clumsy anapestic foot is inserted to correspond to the nature of the monster described. No doubt irregularities sometimes occur by oversight or from lack of skill; but with our greater poets, whose thought and emotion instinctively assume the proper metrical form, the irregularities are motived.

+51. Rhyme.+ _Rhyme_, or as it is more correctly spelled _rime_, is a similarity of sound between words or syllables. Identity of sound, as _heir_, _air_, _site_, _sight_, is not rhyme. It usually occurs between words at the end of a verse, and serves to lend both beauty and emphasis to poetry. The order in which rhymes occur is various. They may be found in succeeding lines; as,--

"The tear down childhood's cheek that flows Is like the dewdrop on the rose; When next the summer breeze comes by, And shakes the bush, the flower is dry."

They may occur in alternate lines; as,--

"The sun has long been set; The stars are out by twos and threes; The little birds are piping yet Among the bushes and the trees."

Or the rhymes may occur at longer intervals; as,--

"I envy not in any _moods_ The captive void of noble rage, The linnet born within the cage, That never knew the summer _woods_."

In _double rhyme_ the correspondence of sound extends to two syllables, and in _triple rhyme_ to three. A _double rhyme_, as _pleasure_, _measure_, is also called _feminine_, while single rhymes are called _masculine_. The following illustrates both _double_, or _feminine_, and _masculine_ rhymes:

"'Tis the hour when happy faces Smile around the taper's light; Who will fill our vacant places? Who will sing our songs to-night?"

The following from Hood illustrates _triple rhyme_:

"Take her up _tenderly_, Lift her with care; Fashioned so _slenderly_, Young and so fair."

_Triple rhyme_ is usually employed only in a light, satirical, or mocking vein. Byron uses it frequently in his frivolous or reckless moods; for example,--

"O world that was and is! What is _cosmogony_? Some people have accused me of _misanthropy_, And yet I know no more than the _mahogany_ That forms this desk of what they mean; _lycanthropy_ I comprehend; for, without transformation Men become wolves on any slight occasion."

_Middle rhyme_ is that which exists between the middle and final words or syllables of a verse. It is frequently used in the "The Ancient Mariner:"

"The fair breeze _blew_, the white foam _flew_, The furrow followed free; We were the _first_ that ever _burst_ Into that silent sea."

_Sectional rhyme_ is that occurring in the first half or section of a verse; as,--

"_Lightly_ and _brightly_ breaks away The morning from her mantle gray."

_Alliteration_ is the use of the same letter at the beginning of two or more words or syllables in the same verse or successive verses. It was the determining principle in Anglo-Saxon poetry, and has remained ever since a source of harmony in English verse. Its effects are sometimes most pleasing when the alliteration turns on one or more internal syllables. The following from Mrs. Browning's "Romance of the Swan's Nest" will serve for illustration:

"_L_ittle E_ll_ie sits a_l_one, And the _s_mile _s_he _s_oftly uses Fi_ll_s the _s_ilence _l_ike a _s_peech, _W_hile _s_he thinks _w_hat _s_hall be done, And the sweetest plea_s_ure choo_s_es _F_or her _f_uture within reach."

The light rippling melody of this stanza is due, in considerable measure, to its fine alliterative structure.

Tennyson likewise makes effective use of alliteration, as may be noted especially in the matchless lyrics interspersed throughout "The Princess." A single stanza will make this clear:

"The _s_plendor falls on ca_s_tle walls And _s_nowy _s_ummits old in _s_tory; The _l_ong _l_ight shakes across the _l_akes And the wi_l_d cataract _l_eaps in g_l_ory. _B_low, _b_ugle, _b_low, set the wild echoes flying, _B_low, _b_ugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying."

+52. Stanzas.+ A stanza is a separate division of a poem, and contains two or more lines or verses. A stanza of two lines is called a _couplet_; of three lines, a _triplet_; of four lines, a _quatrain_. Tennyson's "Locksley Hall" is in two-line stanza:

"Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping something new; That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do."

His "Two Voices" is in the triplet stanza:

"A still small voice spake unto me, 'Thou art so full of misery, Were it not better not to be?'

"Then to the still small voice I said, 'Let me not cast in endless shade What is so wonderfully made.'"

Numerous examples of the four-line stanza have already been given.

_Rhyme royal_ is a seven-line stanza invented by Chaucer. As will be seen from the following example, it is made up of iambic pentameter lines, the first four forming a quatrain of alternate rhymes, the fifth line repeating the rhyme of the fourth, and the last two lines forming a rhyming couplet. Its scheme is _a b a b b c c_, in which the same letters indicate rhymes.

"For lo! the sea that fleets about the land, And like a girdle clips her solid waist, Music and measure both doth understand, For his great crystal eye is always cast Up to the moon, and on her fixeth fast; And as she circles in her pallid sphere, So danceth he about the centre here."

_Ottava rima_ is composed of eight iambic pentameter verses with alternate rhymes, except the last two lines, which form a rhymed couplet. Byron's "Don Juan" is written in this stanza. The scheme of rhyme is _a b a b a b a c_.

"'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near home; 'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark Our coming, and look brighter when we come; 'Tis sweet to be awakened by the lark Or lulled by falling waters; sweet the hum Of bees, the voice of girls, the song of birds, The lisp of children, and their earliest words."

The _Spenserian stanza_, invented by Edmund Spenser and employed by him in the "Faerie Queene," is a difficult but effective form of poetry. It consists of nine verses, the first eight being iambic pentameter, and the ninth line iambic hexameter, or Alexandrine. Its rhyme scheme is _a b a b b c b c c_. The following from Byron's "Childe Harold" will serve for illustration:

"To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell, To slowly trace the forest's shady scene, Where things that own not man's dominion dwell, And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been; To climb the trackless mountain all unseen, With the wild flock that never needs a fold; Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean; This is not solitude; 'tis but to hold Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled."

The principal hymn stanzas are known as _long meter_, _common meter_, and _short meter_. The _long-meter_ stanza is composed of four iambic tetrameter lines, rhyming either alternately or in couplets; as,

"Wide as the world is Thy command; Vast as eternity Thy love; Firm as a rock Thy truth must stand, When rolling years shall cease to move."

The _common-meter_ stanza contains four iambic lines, the first and third being tetrameter, and the second and fourth trimeter. The rhymes are alternate; as,

"Eternity, with all its years, Stands present to Thy view; To Thee there's nothing old appears, To Thee there's nothing new."

The _short-meter_ stanza consists of four iambic lines, the first, second, and fourth being trimeter, and the third tetrameter. The rhymes are alternate; as,

"Let good or ill befall, It must be good for me; Secure of having Thee in all, Of having all in Thee."

+53. Blank Verse.+ Unrhymed poetry, usually in iambic pentameter measure, is known as _blank verse_. It is our ordinary epic and dramatic verse, as exemplified in Shakespeare and Milton. Blank verse has greater freedom than rhymed verse, but the attainment of a high degree of excellence in it is scarcely less difficult. It approaches the ease and freedom of prose, and perhaps for that reason it is apt to sink below a high level of poetry.

Apart from its diction and meter, the harmony of blank verse depends upon two things,--namely, its _pauses_ and its _periods_. The rhythmical pause occurring in a line is called a _cæsura_. Though usually falling near the middle of the line, the cæsural pause may occur at any point, and sometimes there may be two cæsuras. There is generally a rhythmical pause at the end of a verse, and when this pause is stressed by a completion of the sense the line is said to be "end-stopt"; but if the sense awaits completion in the following verse, the line is said to be "run-on." The French name _enjambement_ is sometimes used to designate a "run-on" line. The following extract from Thomson will serve to illustrate the cæsural pauses, as well as "end-stopt" and "run-on" lines:

By _period_ is meant the conclusion of the sentence. The _period_ or end of a sentence may fall at the end of a line or at any point in it. The period serves to break up the poem into longer or shorter parts. In Milton the sentences are generally long, and the periods thus break up the poem into a sort of stanza of varying length. "Run-on" lines are the prevailing type; and this fact, in connection with the length of the sentences and the constant shifting of the pauses, imparts to his "Paradise Lost" its peculiar organ roll. The following passage will serve to make this clear:

These sixteen lines practically make two stanzas. Twelve lines, or three fourths of the whole number, are "run-on." The cæsural _pause_, as will be seen on counting the feet in connection with which they occur, is exceedingly varied.

With the two foregoing extracts may be compared the following from Shelley's "Alastor," in which all the periods are "end-stopt," and divide the selection into clearly recognizable and almost regular stanzas. It will be noted that the movement and effect are very different from those of Thomson and Milton.

"Strangers have wept | to hear his passionate notes; And virgins, | as unknown he passed, | have pined And wasted | for fond love of his wild eyes.

"The fire of those soft orbs | has ceased to burn, And Silence, | too enamored of that voice, Locks its mute music | in her rugged cell."

It will be observed that not only all the periods, but also twelve out of the seventeen lines are "end-stopt."

+54. Poetic Style.+ By poetic style is meant the choice and arrangement of words peculiar to poetry. While in the main poetic and prose diction is the same, still there are words and verbal combinations admissible only in poetry. Poetry strives after concreteness and vividness of expression. Such words as _steed_, _swain_, _wight_, _muse_, _Pegasus_, _yclept_, _a-cold_, _sprent_, _bower_, _meed_, _isle_, _a-field_, _dight_, _sooth_, _hight_, and many others, are hardly ever met with in ordinary prose. Their prose equivalents are generally preferred.

Poetry uses great freedom, called _poetic license_, in the order of words and construction of sentences. The principal deviations from the prose order are as follows:

(1) The verb may precede the subject for the sake of emphasis or meter; as,

"_Came_ a _troop_ with broad swords swinging."

(2) The verb may follow its object; as,

"_Thee_, shepherd, _thee_ the woods, and desert caves, And all their echoes, _mourn_."

(3) The infinitive may precede the word on which it depends; as,

"When first thy sire, _to send_ on earth Virtue, his darling child, _designed_."

(4) Prepositional phrases may precede the verbs they modify; as,

"_Of man's first disobedience_, sing, Heavenly Muse."

(5) The preposition may follow the noun it governs; as,

"From peak to peak, the rattling crags _among_, Leaps the live thunder."

(6) Adverbs may precede the words they modify; as,

"The plowman _homeward_ plods his weary way."

(7) Condensed expressions in the form of compound epithets are frequently used; as,

"O music, _sphere-descended_ maid!"

(8) An expletive pronoun may be used to throw the subject after the verb; as,

"It ceased, the melancholy sound."

(9) The relative pronoun may be omitted; as,

"'Tis fancy, in her fiery car, Transports me to the thickest war."

(10) Intransitive verbs are sometimes used with an objective case; as,

"Still in harmonious intercourse they _lived_ The rural _day_, and _talked_ the flowing _heart_."

(11) Archaic or antiquated words and modes of expression may be used; as,

"_Whilome_ in Albion's isle there dwelt a youth Who _ne_ in virtue's ways did take delight."

(12) The noun may precede the adjective modifying it; as,

"The willows, and the hazel _copses green_."

REVIEW QUESTIONS

44. What is poetry? How is it distinguished from prose? What is the difference between poetry and verse? 45. What is the relative position of _poetry_ and _prose_? Illustrate the difference. 46. What is the source of poetry? What is said of human life? What constitutes its lyric poetry? Mention some mental aspects of nature. 47. How is the poet regarded in a materialistic age? With what is the great poet gifted? What is Bailey's estimate of poets? What is said of the rank of great poets? Mention some of the world's greatest poets. 48. Why is the poet called a _seer_? What is his relation to his contemporaries? What does Mrs. Browning say of poets? What is said of Shakespeare? To what class of themes does the best poetry give itself?

49. What is versification? What is its unit? How are syllables distinguished? What is the function of _quantity_ in English verse? Illustrate. What is the principle of English verse? What is a metrical foot? Define _iambus_? Illustrate. Define a _trochee_, with example. When is a verse or foot _catalectic_? Define a _dactyl_, with illustration. Define an _anapest_, with example. Define a _spondee_; _amphibrach_, with example.

50. How is a verse named? What is _iambic trimeter_? What is _iambic pentameter_ called? What is _trochaic tetrameter_? Illustrate. What is _dactylic hexameter_? Illustrate. Mention some well-known poems written in this meter. What is _anapestic trimeter_? Illustrate. On what principle may a syllable be added to a foot or omitted from it? Explain the irregularities in the first two lines of Tennyson's "Break, break, break." What is said of metrical irregularities? What is their purpose? Illustrate from Wordsworth and Tennyson.

51. What is _rhyme_? Of what use is it? In what order may rhymes occur? Illustrate. What is a _double rhyme_? What other name has it? Illustrate. What is a _triple rhyme_? Illustrate. When is triple rhyme usually employed? What is _middle rhyme_? Illustrate. What is _sectional_ rhyme? Illustrate. What is _alliteration_? What is said of it? Give illustrations from Mrs. Browning and Tennyson.

52. What is a stanza? What is a stanza of two lines called? of three? of four? Illustrate. Explain _rhyme royal_; _ottava rima_; Spenserian stanza. Illustrate. Explain the usual hymn meters, illustrating in each case. 53. What is blank verse? What is said of its freedom and difficulty? On what does its harmony depend? What is meant by _cæsura_? What is an "end-stopt" line? A "run-on" line? What French name is used for the latter? What is meant by _period_? Into what does the _period_ practically divide blank verse? On what does Milton's "organ roll" depend? Point out a notable difference between Milton's and Shelley's blank verse.

54. What is meant by poetic style? What is said of poetic diction? Mention some poetic words. State some of the leading deviations in construction?

ILLUSTRATIVE AND PRACTICAL EXERCISES

The following selections should be examined in the light of such questions as these:

Is it _poetry_ or _verse_? What lifts it above prose? Does it treat of nature, man, or God? Is it intellectual, emotional, or both? What is the poet's idea? Is it commonplace, true, elevated, delicate, exquisite? What is the mood of the poet,--serious, playful, humorous, calm, exalted? What imaginative features has it? What concrete pictures? What figures? Is it self-restrained and classic? Is it loose and voluble?

As to structure, what is the fundamental foot? Name each line. What irregularities may exist and for what purpose? Is the movement slow or rapid? Explain the source of slowness or rapidity. What is the order of rhymes? Are they perfect or defective? Are there double, triple, middle, or sectional rhymes? Point out the alliteration. What is the effect? Name the stanza. Is it blank verse? Where does the cæsural pause fall in each line? Is there variety? Are the lines "end-stopt" or "run-on"? Point out the poetic words. What is their effect? What poetic constructions are there? Divide the selections into three classes,--_feeble_, _good_, _excellent_.

Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke, And Christmas blocks are burning; Their ovens they with baked meats choke, And all their spits are turning. Without the door let sorrow lie; And if for cold it hap to die, We'll bury it in a Christmas pie, And evermore be merry.--WITHER.

Silence in love betrays more woe Than words, though ne'er so witty; A beggar that is dumb, you know, May challenge double pity.

Then wrong not, dearest to my heart, My true, though secret passion; He smarteth most that hides his smart, And sues for no compassion.--RALEIGH.

Father, thy hand Hath reared these venerable columns, thou Didst weave this verdant roof. Thou didst look down Upon the naked earth, and forthwith rose All these fair ranks of trees. They, in thy sun, Budded and shook their green leaves in thy breeze, And shot toward heaven. The century-living crow Whose birth was in their tops, grew old and died Among their branches, till at last they stood, As now they stand, mossy, and tall, and dark, Fit shrine for humble worshipper to hold Communion with his Maker.--BRYANT.

But since, O man! thy life and health demand Not food alone, but labor from thy hand, First, in the field, beneath the sun's strong rays, Ask of thy mother Earth the needful maize; She loves the race that courts her yielding soil, And gives her bounties to the sons of toil.--BARLOW.

My days among the dead are passed; Around me I behold, Where'er these casual eyes are cast, The mighty minds of old; My never-failing friends are they, With whom I converse day by day.

With them I take delight in weal, And seek relief in woe; And while I understand and feel How much to them I owe, My cheeks have often been bedewed With tears of thoughtful gratitude.--SOUTHEY.

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free; The holy time is quiet as a nun Breathless with adoration; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquillity; The gentleness of heaven is on the sea; Listen! the mighty being is awake, And doth with his eternal motion make A sound like thunder--everlastingly. WORDSWORTH.

Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And departing leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.--LONGFELLOW.

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Or busy housewife ply her evening care; No children run to lisp their sire's return, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.--GRAY.

And slowly answered Arthur from the barge: "The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfils himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me? I have lived my life, and that which I have done, May He within himself make pure! but thou, If thou shouldst never see my face again, Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God." TENNYSON.

All day thy wings have fanned At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere, Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end; Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest, And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend, Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.--BRYANT.

Then from a neighboring thicket the mocking-bird, wildest of singers, Swinging aloft on a willowy spray that hung o'er the water, Shook from his little throat such floods of delirious music, That the whole air and the woods and the waves seemed silent to listen. Plaintive at first were the tones, and sad; then soaring to madness Seemed they to follow or guide the revel of frenzied Bacchantes. Single notes were then heard, in sorrowful, low lamentation; Till, having gathered them all, he flung them abroad in derision, As when, after a storm, a gust of wind through the tree-tops Shakes down the rattling rain in a crystal shower on the branches. LONGFELLOW.

Over his keys the musing organist, Beginning doubtfully and far away, First lets his fingers wander as they list, And builds a bridge from Dreamland for his lay; Then, as the touch of his loved instrument Gives hope and fervor, nearer draws his theme, First guessed by faint auroral flushes sent Along the wavering vista of his dream.--LOWELL.

And when I am stretched beneath the pines, Where the evening star so holy shines, I laugh at the lore and the pride of man, At the sophist schools, and the learned clan; For what are they all, in their high conceit, When man in the bush with God may meet?--EMERSON.

'Twas twilight and the sunless day went down Over the waste of waters; like a veil Which, if withdrawn, would but disclose the frown Of one whose hate is masked but to assail. Thus to their hopeless eyes the night was shown, And grimly darkled o'er the faces pale, And the dim desolate deep: twelve days had Fear Been their familiar, and now Death was here.--BYRON.

And oft the craggy cliff he loved to climb, When all in mist the world below was lost-- What dreadful pleasure! there to stand sublime, Like shipwrecked mariner on desert coast, And view the enormous waste of vapor, tossed In billows, lengthening to the horizon round, Now scooped in gulfs, with mountains now embossed, And hear the voice of mirth and song rebound, Flocks, herds, and waterfalls, along the hoar profound! BEATTIE.

NOTE

In addition to the foregoing poetical selections, those previously given may be analyzed with reference to form, content, and mood. Their beauty or excellence will now be more clearly understood. Furthermore, it is recommended that the teacher assign brief poems, either from our standard authors or from current literature, for full analysis and criticism. The blank verse of Tennyson, Shelley, Milton, and Shakespeare might be investigated and compared at considerable length in order to determine the average length of their sentences, the place of the cæsural pause, and the proportion of "end-stopt" or "run-on" lines.