PART VI.
ON THE PROSODY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
s. 630. Prosody deals with metre; and with accent, quantity and the articulate sounds, as subordinate to metre. For these the reader is referred to Part III. Chapters 1. 6. 7.
_Metre_ is a general term for the recurrence, within certain intervals, of syllables similarly affected.
Syllables may be similarly affected: 1. in respect to their quantities; 2. in respect to their accents; 3. in respect to their articulations.
1.
P[)a]l[=a]i k[)y]naeg[)e]to[=u]nt[)a] k[=a]i m[)e]tro[=u]m[)e]n[=o]n. [Greek: Palai kunegetounta kai metroumenon.]--SOPH. _Ajax_, 3.
Here there is the recurrence of similar quantities.
2.
The w['a]y was l['o]ng, the w['i]nd was c['o]ld.
_Lay of the Last Minstrel._
Here there is the recurrence of similar accents.
3.
The way was long, the wind was _cold_, The minstrel was infirm and _old_.--_Ditto._
Here, besides the recurrence of similar accents, there is a recurrence of the same articulate sounds; _viz._ of _o_ + _ld_.
s. 631. Metres founded upon the periodic recurrence of similar articulations are of two sorts.
1. _Alliterative metres._--In alliterative metres a certain {500} number of words, within a certain period, must _begin_ with a similar articulation.
In Caines cynne thone cwealm gewraec.
CAEDMON.
Alliteration is the general character of all the _early_ Gothic metres. (See Rask's _Anglo-Saxon Grammar_, Rask, _On the Icelandic Prosody_, and Conybeare, _On Anglo-Saxon Poetry_.)
2. _Assonant metres._--In assonant metres a certain number of words, within a certain period, must _end_ with a similar articulation. All _rhymes_ and all approaches to rhyme, form the assonant metres. The word _assonant_ has a limited as well as a general sense.
s. 632. All metre goes by the name of poetry, although all poetry is not metrical. The Hebrew poetry (_see_ Lowth, _De Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum_) is characterized by the recurrence of similar _ideas_.
s. 633. The metres of the classical languages consist _essentially_ in the recurrence of similar quantities; accent also playing a part. The incompatibility of the classical metres with the English prosody lies in the fact (stated at p. 166), _that the classic writer measures quantity by the length of the syllable taken altogether, while the Englishman measures it by the length of the vowel alone_.
s. 634. The English metres consist essentially of the recurrence of similar accents; the recurrence of similar articulations being sometimes (as in all rhyming poetry) superadded.
s. 635. In the specimen of alliteration lately quoted the only articulation that occurred was the letter c. It is very evident that the _two_, the _three_, or the _four_ first letters, or even the whole syllable, might have coincided. Such is the case with the following lines from Lord Byron:
Already doubled is the cape, the bay Receives the _prow_, that _prou_dly _sp_urns the _sp_ray.
Alliteration, as an ornament, must be distinguished from alliteration as the essential character of metre. Alliteration, as an ornament, is liable to many varieties. {501}
s. 636. _Rhyme._--In _English_ versification, _rhyme_ is, next to accent, the most important element. The true nature of a rhyme may best be exhibited after the analysis of a syllable, and the exhibition of certain recurrent combinations, that look like rhyme without being so.
Let the syllable _told_ be taken to pieces. For metrical purposes it consists of three parts or elements: 1, the vowel (_o_); 2, the part preceding the vowel (_t_); 3, the part following the vowel (_ld_). The same may be done with the word _bold_. The two words can now be compared with each other. The comparison shows that the vowel is in each the same (_o_); that the part following the vowel (_ld_) is the same; and, finally, that the part preceding the vowel is _different_ (_t_ and _b_). This difference between the part preceding the vowel is essential.
_Told_, compared with itself (_told_), is no rhyme, but an _homoeoteleuton_ ([Greek: homoios], _homoios_=_like_, and [Greek: teleute], _teleutae_=_end_) or _like-ending_. It differs from a rhyme in having the parts preceding the vowel alike. Absolute identity of termination is not recognized in English poetry, except so far as it is mistaken for rhyme.
The soft-flowing outline that steals from the _eye_, Who threw o'er the surface? did you or did _I_?
WHITEHEAD.
Here the difference in spelling simulates a difference in sound, and a _homoeoteleuton_ takes the appearance of a rhyme.
_Bold_ and _note_.--As compared with each other, these words have two of the elements of a rhyme: _viz._ the identity of the vowel, and the difference of the parts preceding it. They want, however, the third essential, or the identity of the parts following; _ld_ being different from _t_. The coincidence, however, as far as it goes, constitutes a point in metre. The words in question are assonances in the limited sense of the term; and because the identity lies in the _vowels_, they may be named vowel assonances. Vowel assonances are recognized in (amongst others) the Spanish and Scandinavian metrical systems. In English they occur only when they pass as rhymes. {502}
_Bold_ and _mild_.--Here also are two of the elements of a rhyme, viz., the identity of the parts following the vowel (_ld_), and the difference of the parts preceding (_b_ and _m_). The identity of the vowel (_o_ being different from _i_) is, however, wanting. The words in question are assonances in the limited sense of the term, and consonantal assonances. Recognized in the Scandinavian, they occur in English only when they pass as rhymes.
Rhymes may consist of a single syllable, as _told_, _bold_, of two syllables, as _water_, _daughter_; of three, as _cheerily_, _wearily_. Now, the rhyme begins where the dissimilarity of parts immediately before the main vowel begins. Then follows the vowel; and, lastly, the parts after the vowel. All the parts after the vowel must be absolutely identical. Mere similarity is insufficient.
Then come ere a _minute's_ gone, For the long summer day Puts its wings, swift as _linnets'_ on, For flying away.--CLARE.[68]
In the lines just quoted there is no rhyme, but an assonance. The identity of the parts after the main syllable is destroyed by the single sound of _g in gone_.
A rhyme, to be perfect, must fall on syllables equally accented.--To make _sky_ and the last syllable of merri_ly_ serve as rhymes, is to couple an accented syllable with an unaccented one.
A rhyme, to be perfect, must fall upon syllables absolutely accented.--To make the last syllables of words like fligh_ty_ and merri_ly_ serve as rhymes, is to couple together two unaccented syllables.
Hence there may be (as in the case of blank verse) accent without rhyme; but there cannot be rhyme without accent.
A rhyme consists in the combination of like and unlike _sounds_.--Words like _I_ and _eye_ (_homoeoteleuta_), _ease_ and _cease_ (vowel assonances), _love_ and _grove_ (consonantal assonances), are printers' rhymes; or mere combinations of like and unlike letters.
{503}
A rhyme, moreover, consists in the combination of like and unlike _articulate_ sounds. _Hit_ and _it_ are not rhymes, but identical endings; the _h_ being no articulation. To my ear, at least, the pair of words, _hit_ and _it_, comes under a different class from the pair _hit_ (or _it_) and _pit_.
s. 637. A full and perfect rhyme (the term being stringently defined) consists in _the recurrence of one or more final syllables equally and absolutely accented, wherein the vowel and the part following the vowel shall be identical, whilst the part preceding the vowel shall be different. It is also necessary that the part preceding the vowel be articulate._[69]
The deviations from the above-given rule, so common in the poetry of all languages, constitute not rhymes, but assonances, &c., that, by poetic licence, are recognized as equivalents to rhymes.
s. 638. _Measure._--In lines like the following, the accent occurs on every second syllable; in other words, every accented syllable is accompanied by an unaccented one.
The w['a]y was l['o]ng, the w['i]nd was c['o]ld.
This accented syllable and its accompanying unaccented one constitute a _measure_. The number of the syllables being two, the measure in question is dissyllabic.
s. 639. In lines like the following the accent falls on every third syllable, so that the number of syllables to the measure is three, and the measure is trisyllabic.
At the cl['o]se of the d['a]y when the h['a]mlet is st['i]ll.--BEATTIE.
The primary division of the English measures is into the dissyllabic and the trisyllabic.
{504}
s. 640. _Dissyllabic measures._--The words _t['y]rant_ and _pres['u]me_ are equally dissyllabic measures; in one, however, the accent falls on the first, in the other on the second syllable. This leads us to a farther division of the English measures.
A measure like _pres['u]me_ (where the accent lies on the second syllable) may be repeated throughout a whole verse, or a whole series of verses; as,
Then f['a]re thee w['e]ll mine ['o]wn dear l['o]ve; The w['o]rld has n['o]w for ['u]s No gr['e]ater gr['i]ef, no pa['i]n ab['o]ve, The p['a]in of p['a]rting th['u]s.--MOORE.
Here the accent falls on the second syllable of the measure.
A measure like _t['y]rant_ (where the accent lies on the first syllable) may be repeated throughout a whole verse, or a whole series of verses; as,
H['e]ed! O h['e]ed, my f['a]tal st['o]ry; ['I] am H['o]sier's ['i]njured gh['o]st; C['o]me to s['e]ek for f['a]me and gl['o]ry, F['o]r the gl['o]ry ['I] have l['o]st.--GLOVER.
The number of dissyllabic measures is, of necessity, limited to two.
s. 641. _Trisyllabic measures._--The words _m['e]rrily_, _dis['a]ble_, _cavali['e]r_, are equally trisyllabic, but not similarly accented. Each constitutes a separate measure, which may be continued through a whole verse, or a whole series of verses; as,
1.
M['e]rrily, m['e]rrily, sh['a]ll I live n['o]w, ['U]nder the bl['o]ssom that h['a]ngs on the b['o]ugh.
_Tempest._
2.
But v['a]inly thou w['a]rrest; For th['i]s is al['o]ne in Thy p['o]wer to decl['a]re: That ['i]n the dim f['o]rest Thou he['a]rd'st a low mo['a]ning, And s['a]w'st a bright l['a]dy surp['a]ssingly fa['i]r.
_Christabel._
{505} There's a be['a]uty for ['e]ver unf['a]dingly br['i]ght; Like the l['o]ng ruddy l['a]pse of a s['u]mmer-day's n['i]ght.
_Lalla Rookh._
The number of trisyllabic measures is, of necessity, limited to three.
s. 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 quantity. Measures determined by the quantity 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 classical 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 classical feet.
The classical 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 classical forms [U] and [-]. These, however, being originally meant for the expression of _quantity_, confusion arises from the use of them.
Neither have the English grammarians names for their measures. Sometimes, they borrow the classical terms _iambic_, _trochee_, &c. These, however, being meant for the expression of _quantity_, 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 _t['y]rant_ the _first_ measure, and words like _pres['u]me_ the second measure. In like manner, _m['e]rrily_ is measure 3; _dis['a]ble_, 4; and _cavali['e]r_, 5. As the number of measures is (from the necessity of the case) limited, this can be done conveniently. The classical {506} names are never used with impunity. Their adoption invariably engenders confusion. It is very true that, _mutatis mutandis_ (_i. e._, accent being substituted for quantity), words like _t['y]rant_ and _pres['u]me_ 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_ = _t['y]rant_. 2. - + , or " ', or _x a_ = _pres['u]me_. 3. + - -, or ' " ", or _a x x_ = _m['e]rrily_. 4. - + -, or " ' ", or _x a x_ = _dis['a]ble_. 5. - - +, or " " ', or _x x a_ = _cavali['e]r_.
On these measures the following general assertions 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
_T['y]rants_ swim s['a]fest in a p['u]rple flo['o]d--
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.
s. 643. Grouped together according to certain rules, measures constitute lines or verses; and grouped together according to certain rules, lines constitute couplets, triplets, stanzas, &c.
The absence or the presence of rhyme constitutes blank verse, or rhyming verse.
The succession, or periodic return, of rhymes constitutes stanzas, or continuous metre as the case may be.
The quantity of rhymes in succession constitutes couplets, or triplets.
The quantity of _accents_ in a line constitutes 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 constitutes 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_.
s. 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.
s. 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 Passing 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. There are varieties of this metre according to the interval of the rhymes.
8. _Terza rima._--Taken from the Italian, where it is the metre of Dante's Divina Commedia. Heroics with _three_ rhymes recurring at intervals.--Lord Byron's Prophecy of Dante.
9. _Poulterer's measure._--Alexandrines and service measures alternately. Found in the poetry of Henry the Eighth's time.
10. _Ballad metre._--Stanzas of four lines; the first and third having four, the second and fourth having three measures each. Rhymes alternate.
Turn, gentle hermit of the dale, And guide thy lonely way, To where yon taper cheers the vale With hospitable ray.
_Edwin and Angelina._
{509}
s. 646. _Scansion._--Let the stanza just quoted be read as two lines, and it will be seen that a couplet of ballad metre is equivalent to a line of service metre. Such, indeed, was the origin of the ballad metre. Observe also the pause (marked |) both in the Alexandrine and the service metres. This indicates a question as to where lines _end_; in other words, how can we distinguish one long line from two short ones.
It may, perhaps, partake of the nature of a metrical fiction to consider that (in all rhyming poetry) the length of the verse is determined by the occurrence of the rhyme. Nevertheless, as the matter cannot be left to the printer only, and as some definition is requisite, the one in point is attended by as few inconveniences as any other. It must not, however, be concealed that lines as short as
It screamed and growled, | and cracked and howled--
it treats as _two_; and that lines as long as
Where Virtue wants and Vice abounds, And Wealth is but a baited hook--
it reduces to a single verse.
s. 647. In metres of measure _a x_, the number of syllables is double the number of accents, unless the final rhyme be single; in which case the syllables are the fewest.
In metres of measure _x a_ the number of syllables is double the number of accents, unless the rhyme be double (or treble); in which case the syllables are the most numerous.
Now this view (which may be carried throughout the whole five measures) of the proportion between the accents and the syllables, taken with the fact that it is determined by the nature of the final syllable, indicates a division of our metres into symmetrical (where the number of the syllables is the multiple of the number of accents), and unsymmetrical (where it is not so).
For practical purposes, however, the length of the last measure may be considered as indifferent, and the terms indicated may be reserved for the forthcoming class of metres. {510}
s. 648. Of the metres in question, Coleridge's Christabel and Byron's Siege of Corinth are the current specimens. In the latter we have the couplet:
He s['a]t him d['o]wn at a p['i]llar's b['a]se, And dr['e]w his h['a]nd athw['a]rt his f['a]ce.
In the second of these lines, the accents and the syllables are symmetrical; which is not the case with the first. Now to every, or any, accent in the second line an additional unaccented syllable may be added, and the movement be still preserved. It is the fact of the accents and syllables (irrespective of the latitude allowed to the final measure) being here unsymmetrical (or, if symmetrical, only so by accident) that gives to the metres in question their peculiar character. Added to this, the change from _x x a_, to _x a x_, and _a x x_, is more frequent than elsewhere. One point respecting them must be borne in mind; _viz._, that they are essentially trisyllabic metres from which unaccented syllables are withdrawn, rather than dissyllabic ones wherein unaccented syllables are inserted.
s. 649. Of measures of one, and of measures of four syllables the occurrence is rare, and perhaps equivocal.
s. 650. The majority of English _words_ are of the form _a x_; that is, words like _t['y]rant_ are commoner than words like _pres['u]me_.
The majority of English _metres_ are of the form _x a_; that is, lines like
_The w['a]y was l['o]ng, the w['i]nd was c['o]ld_
are commoner than lines like
_Q['u]een and h['u]ntress ch['a]ste and f['a]ir._
The multitude of unaccentuated words like _the_, _from_, &c., taken along with the fact that they _precede_ the words with which they agree, or which they govern, accounts for the apparent antagonism between the formulae of our _words_ and the formulae of our _metres_. The contrast between a Swedish line of the form _a x_, and its literal English version (_x a_), {511} shows this. In Swedish, the secondary part of the construction _follows_, in English it _precedes_, the main word:--
_Swedish._ V['a]r_en_ k['o]mm_er_; f['u]gl_en_ qvittr_ar_; sk['o]v_en_ l['o]fv_as_; s['o]l_en_ l['e]r.
_English._ _The_ spr['i]ng _is_ c['o]me; _the_ b['i]rd _is_ bl['y]the; _the_ w['o]od _is_ gr['e]en; _the_ s['u]n _is_ br['i]ght.
This is quoted for the sake of showing the bearing of the etymology and syntax of a language upon its prosody.
s. 651. _The classical metres as read by Englishmen._--In p. 500 it is stated that "the metres of the classical languages consist essentially in the recurrence of similar quantities; _accent playing a part_." Now there are reasons for investigating the facts involved in this statement more closely than has hitherto been done; since the following circumstances make some inquiry into the extent of the differences between the English and the classical systems of metre, an appropriate element of a work upon the English language.
1. The classical poets are authors preeminently familiarized to the educated English reader.
2. The notions imbibed from a study of the classical prosodies have been unduly mixed up with those which should have been derived more especially from the poetry of the Gothic nations.
3. The attempt to introduce (so-called) Latin and Greek metres into the Gothic tongues, has been partially successful on the Continent, and not unattempted in Great Britain.
s. 652. The first of these statements requires no comment.
The second, viz., "that the notions imbibed, &c." will bear some illustration; an illustration which verifies the assertion made in p. 505, that the English grammarians "sometimes borrow the classical terms _iambic_, _trochee_," &c., and apply them to their own metres.
How is this done? In two ways, one of which is wholly incorrect, the other partially correct, but inconvenient.
To imagine that we have in English, for the practical purposes of prosody, syllables _long in quantity_ or _short in quantity_, syllables capable of being arranged in groups {512} constituting feet, and feet adapted for the construction of hexametres, pentametres, sapphics, and alcaics, just as the Latins and Greeks had, is wholly incorrect. The English system of versification is founded, not upon the periodic recurrence of similar _quantities_, but upon the periodic recurrence of similar accents.
The less incorrect method consists in giving up all ideas of the existence of _quantity_, in the proper sense of the word, as an essential element in English metre; whilst we admit _accent_ as its equivalent; in which case the presence of an accent is supposed to have the same import as the lengthening and the absence of one, as the shortening of a syllable; so that, _mutatis mutandis_, _a_ is the equivalent to [-], and _x_ to [U].
In this case the metrical notation for--
The w['a]y was l['o]ng, the w['i]nd was c['o]ld-- M['e]rrily, m['e]rrily, sh['a]ll I live n['o]w--
would be, not--
_x a, x a, x a, x a,_ _a x x, a x x, a x x, a_
respectively, but--
[U - U - U - U -] [- U U - U U - U U -]
Again--
As they spl['a]sh in the bl['o]od of the sl['i]ppery stre['e]t,
is not--
_x x a, x x a, x x a, x x a_,
but
[U U - U U - U U - U U -]
s. 653. With this view there are a certain number of classical _feet_, with their syllables affected in the way of _quantity_, to which they are equivalent English _measures_ with their syllables affected in the way of _accent_. Thus if the formula
A, [- U] be a classical, the formula _a x_ is an English _trochee_. B, [U -] " " _x a_ " _iambus_. C, [- U U] " " _a x x_ " _dactyle_. D, [U - U] " " _x a x_ " _amphibrachys_. E, [U U -] " " _x x a_ " _anapaest_.
{513}
And so on in respect to the larger groups of similarly affected syllables which constitute whole lines and stanzas; verses like
A. C['o]me to s['e]ek for f['a]me and gl['o]ry-- B. The w['a]y was l['o]ng, the w['i]nd was c['o]ld-- C. M['e]rrily, m['e]rrily sh['a]ll I live n['o]w-- D. But v['a]inly thou w['a]rrest-- E. At the cl['o]se of the d['a]y when the h['a]mlet is st['i]ll--
are (A), trochaic; (B), iambic; (C), dactylic; (D), amphibrachych; and (E), anapaestic, respectively.
And so, with the exception of the word _amphibrachych_ (which I do not remember to have seen) the terms have been used. And so, with the same exception, systems of versification have been classified.
s. 654. _Reasons against the classical nomenclature as applied to English metres._--These lie in the two following facts:--
1. Certain English metres have often a very different character from their supposed classical analogues.
2. Certain classical _feet_ have no English equivalents.
s. 655. _Certain English metres have often a very different metrical character, &c._--Compare such a so-called English anapaest as--
As they spl['a]sh in the bl['o]od of the sl['i]ppery str['e]et--
with
[Greek: Dekaton men etos tod' epei Priamou.]
For the latter line to have the same movement as the former, it must be read thus--
Dekat['o]n men et['o]s to d' ep['e]i Priam['o]u.
Now we well know that, whatever may be any English scholar's notions of the Greek accents, this is not the way in which he reads Greek anapaests.
Again the _trochaic_ movement of the _iambic_ senarius is a point upon which the most exclusive Greek metrists have insisted; urging the necessity of reading (for example) the first line in the Hecuba--
H['ae]ko n['e]kron keuthm['o]na kai sk['o]tou p['y]las.
{514} rather than--
Haek['o] nekr['o]n keuthm['o]na kai skot['o]u pyl['a]s.
s. 656. I have said that _certain English metres have often a very different metrical character_, &c. I can strengthen the reasons against the use of classical terms in English prosody, by enlarging upon the word _often_. The frequency of the occurrence of a difference of character between classical and English metres similarly named is not a matter of _accident_, but is, in many cases, a necessity arising out of the structure of the English language as compared with that of the Greek and Latin--especially the Greek.
With the exception of the so-called second futures, there is no word in Greek whereof the _last_ syllable is accented. Hence, no English line ending with an accented syllable can have a Greek equivalent. Accent for accent--
GREEK. LATIN. ENGLISH.
_T['y]pto_, _V['o]co_ = _T['y]rant_, _T['y]ptomen_, _Scr['i]bere_ = _M['e]rrily_, _Keuthm['o]na_, _Vid['i]stis_ = _Dis['a]ble_,
but no Greek word (with the exception of the so-called second futures like [Greek: nemo]=_nem[^o]_) and (probably) no Latin word at all, is accented like _pres['u]me_ and _caval['i]er_.
From this it follows that although the first three measures of such so-called English anapaests as--
As they spl['a]sh in the bl['o]od of the sl['i]ppery str['e]et,
may be represented by Greek equivalents (_i. e._, equivalents in the way of accent)--
Ep' om['o]isi fero['u]si ta kle['i]na--
a parallel to the last measure (_-ery str['e]et_) can only be got at by one of two methods; _i. e._, by making the verse end in a so-called second future, or else in a vowel preceded by an accented syllable, and cut off--
Ep' om['o]isi fer['o]usi ta kle['i]na nem['o]--
{515} or,
Ep' om['o]isi fer['o]usi ta kle['i]na pros['o]p'.[70]
Now it is clear that when, over and above the fact of certain Greek metres having a different movement from their supposed English equivalents, there is the additional circumstance of such an incompatibility being less an accident than a necessary effect of difference of character in the two languages, the use of terms suggestive of a closer likeness than either does or ever can exist is to be condemned; and this is the case with the words, _dactylic_, _trochaic_, _iambic_, _anapaestic_, as applied to English versification.
s. 657. _Certain classical feet have no English equivalents._--Whoever has considered the principles of English prosody, must have realized the important fact that, _ex vi termini, no English measure can have either more or less than _one_ accented syllable_.
On the other hand, the classical metrists have several measures in both predicaments. Thus to go no farther than the trisyllabic feet, we have the pyrrhic ([U U]) and tribrach ([U U U]) without a long syllable at all, and the spondee ([- -]), amphimacer ([- U -]), and molossus ([- - -]) with more than one long syllable. It follows, then that (even _mutatis mutandis_, _i.e._, with the accent considered as the equivalent to the long syllable) English pyrrhics, English tribrachs, English amphimacers, English spondees, and English molossi are, each and all, prosodial impossibilities.
It is submitted to the reader that the latter reason (based wholly upon the limitations that arise out of the structure of language) strengthens the objections of the previous section.
s. 658. _The classical metres metrical even to English readers._ The attention of the reader is directed to the difficulty involved in the following (apparently or partially) contradictory facts.
1. Accent and quantity differ; and the metrical systems founded upon them differ also.
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2. The classical systems are founded upon quantity.
3. The English upon accent.
4. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the difference of the principle upon which they are constructed, the classical metres, even as read by Englishmen, and read _accentually_, are metrical to English ears.
s. 659. Preliminary to the investigation of the problem in question it is necessary to remark--
1. That, the correctness or incorrectness of the English pronunciation of the dead languages has nothing to do with the matter. Whether we read Homer exactly, as Homer would read his own immortal poems, or whether we read them in such a way as would be unintelligible to Homer reappearing upon earth, is perfectly indifferent.
2. That whether, as was indicated by the author of [Greek: Metron ariston], we pronounce the anapaest _p[)a]t[)u]lae_, precisely as we pronounce the dactyle _T[=i]t[)y]r[)e]_, or draw a distinction between them is also indifferent. However much, as is done in some of the schools, we may say _scri-bere_ rather than _scrib-ere_, or _am-or_, rather than _a-mor_, under the notion that we are lengthening or shortening certain syllables, one unsurmountable dilemma still remains, viz., that the shorter we pronounce the vowel, the more we suggest the notion of the consonant which follows it being doubled; whilst double consonants _lengthen_ the vowel which precedes them. Hence, whilst it is certain that _patulae_ and _Tityre_ may be pronounced (and that without hurting the metre) so as to be both of the same _quantity_, it is doubtful what that _quantity_ is. Sound for sound _T[)i]tyre_ may be as short as _p[)a]tulae_. Sound for sound _p[=a]ttulae_ may be as long as _T[=i]ttyre_.
Hence, the only assumptions requisite are--
_a._ That Englishmen do _not_ read the classical metres according to their quantities.
_b._ That, nevertheless, they find metre in them.
s. 660. _Why are the classical metres metrical to English readers?_--Notwithstanding the extent to which quantity differs from accent, there is no metre so exclusively founded upon the former as to be without a certain amount of the {517} latter; and in the majority (at least) of the classical (and probably other) metres _there is a sufficient amount of accentual elements to constitute metre; even independent of the quantitative ones._
s. 661. _Latitude in respect to the periodicity of the recurrence of similarly accented syllables in English._--Metre (as stated in p. 499), "is the recurrence, within certain intervals, of syllables similarly affected."
The particular way in which syllables are _affected_ in English metre is that of _accent_.
The more regular the period at which similar accents recur the more typical the metre.
Nevertheless absolute regularity is not requisite.
This leads to the difference between symmetrical and unsymmetrical metres.
s. 662. _Symmetrical metres._--Allowing for indifference of the number of syllables in the last measure, it is evident that in all lines where the measures are dissyllabic the syllables will be a multiple of the accents, _i. e._, they will be twice as numerous. Hence, with three accents there are six syllables; with four accents, eight syllables, &c.
Similarly, in all lines where the measures are trisyllabic the syllables will also be multiples of the accents, _i. e._, they will be thrice as numerous. Hence, with three accents there will be nine syllables, with four accents, twelve syllables, and with seven accents, twenty-one syllables.
Lines of this sort may be called symmetrical.
s. 663. _Unsymmetrical metres._--Lines, where the syllables are _not_ a multiple of the accents, may be called unsymmetrical. Occasional specimens of such lines occur interspersed amongst others of symmetrical character. Where this occurs the general character of the versification may be considered as symmetrical also.
The case, however, is different where the whole character of the versification is unsymmetrical, as it is in the greater part of Coleridge's Christabel, and Byron's Siege of Corinth. {518}
In the y['e]ar since J['e]sus di['e]d for m['e]n, E['i]ghteen h['u]ndred ye['a]rs and t['e]n, W['e] were a g['a]llant c['o]mpan['y], R['i]ding o'er l['a]nd and s['a]iling o'er s['e]a. ['O]h! but w['e] went m['e]rril['y]! We f['o]rded the r['i]ver, and cl['o]mb the high h['i]ll, N['e]ver our ste['e]ds for a d['a]y stood st['i]ll. Wh['e]ther we l['a]y in the c['a]ve or the sh['e]d, Our sle['e]p fell s['o]ft on the h['a]rdest b['e]d; Wh['e]ther we c['o]uch'd on our r['o]ugh cap['o]te, Or the r['o]ugher pl['a]nk of our gl['i]ding b['o]at; Or str['e]tch'd on the be['a]ch or our s['a]ddles spr['e]ad As a p['i]llow bene['a]th the r['e]sting h['e]ad, Fr['e]sh we w['o]ke up['o]n the m['o]rrow. ['A]ll our th['o]ughts and w['o]rds had sc['o]pe, W['e] had h['e]alth and w['e] had h['o]pe, T['o]il and tr['a]vel, b['u]t no s['o]rrow.
s. 664. _Many_ (_perhaps all_) _classical metres on a level with the unsymmetrical English ones_.--The following is the notation of the extract in the preceding section.
_x x a x a x a x a_ _a x a x a x a_ _a x x a x a x a_ _a x x a x a x x a_ _a x a x a x x_ _x a x x a x x a x x a_ _a x x a x x a x a_ _a x x a x x a x x a_ _x a x a x x a x a_ _a x x a x x a x a_ _x x a x a x x a x a_ _x a x x a x x a x a_ _x x a x x a x a x a_ _a x a x a x a x_ _a x a x a x a_ _a x a x a x a_ _a x a x a x a x_
Now many Latin metres present a recurrence of accent little more irregular than the quotation just analysed. The following is the accentual formula of the first two stanzas of the second ode of the first Book of Horace. {519}
_Accentual Formula of the Latin Sapphic._
_a a x a x | a x a x a x_ _a x x a x | a x a x a x_ _a x x a x | a x a x a x_ _ a x x a x_
_a x x a x | a x a x a x_ _a x x a x | a x a x a x_ _a x x a x | a x a x a x_ _ a x x a x_
_Latin Asclepiad._
_Horace, Od._ I. I., 1-6.
_ x a x a x x | a x x a x x_ _ a x x a x x | a x a x a x_ _ a x a x a x x | a x x a x x_ _ a x a x a x | a x x a x x_ _ a x a x a x | a x x a x x_ _ x a x a x x | a x x a x a x_
_Latin Hexameter._
_Aen._ I., 1-5.
_a x x a x a x a x x a x x a x_ _x a x x a x a x x x a x x a x_ _a x x x a x a x x x a x x a x_ _x a x x a x a x x x a x x a x._
A longer list of examples would show us that, throughout the whole of the classical metres the same accents recur, sometimes with less, and sometimes with but very little more irregularity than they recur in the _unsymmetrical_ metres of our own language.
s. 665. _Conversion of English into classical metres._--In the preface to his Translation of Aristophanes, Mr. Walsh has shown (and, I believe, for the first time), that, by a different distribution of lines, very fair hexameters may be made out of the well-known lines on the Burial of Sir John Moore:--
Not a drum was Heard, not a funeral note as his corse to the rampart we hurried, Not a soldier dis- Charged his farewell shot o'er the grave where our hero we buried.
{520} We buried him Darkly at dead of night, the sods with our bayonets turning; By the struggling Moonbeams' misty light and the lantern dimly burning.
Lightly they'll Talk of the spirit that's gone, and o'er his cold ashes upbraid him, But little he'll Reck if they let him sleep on in the grave where a Briton has laid him.
s. 666. Again, such lines as Coleridge's--
1. Make r['e]ady my gr['a]ve clothes to-m['o]rrow;
or Shelly's--
2. L['i]quid P['e]neus was fl['o]wing,
are the exact analogues of lines like--
1. Jam l['a]cte dep['u]lsum le['o]nem,
and
2. Gr['a]to P['y]rrha sub ['a]ntro.
s. 667. The rationale of so remarkable a phaenomenon as _regularity of accent in verses considered to have been composed with a view to quantity only_ has yet to be investigated. That it was necessary to the structure of the metres in question is certain.
s. 668. _Caesura._--The _caesura_ of the classical metrists is the result of--
1. The necessity in the classical metres (as just indicated) of an accented syllable in certain parts of the verses.
2. The nearly total absence in the classical languages of words with an accent on the last syllable.
From the joint effect of these two causes, it follows that in certain parts of a verse no final syllable can occur, or (changing the expression) no word can terminate.
Thus, in a language consisting chiefly of dissyllables, of which the first alone was accented, and in a metre which required the sixth syllable to be accented, the fifth and seventh would each be at end of words, and that simply because the sixth was not.
Whilst in a language consisting chiefly of either dissyllables or trisyllables, and in a metre of the same sort as before, {521} if the fifth were not final, the seventh would be so, or _vice versa_.
s. 669. _Caesura_ means _cutting_. In a language destitute of words accented on the last syllable, and in a metre requiring the sixth syllable to be accented, a measure (foot) of either the formula _x a_, or _x x a_ (_i. e._, a measure with the accent at the end), except in the case of words of four or more syllables, must always be either itself divided, or else cause the division of the following measures--_division_ meaning the distribution of the syllables of the measure (foot) over two or more words. Thus--
_a._ If the accented syllable (the sixth) be the first of a word of any length, the preceding one (the fifth) must be the final one of the word which went before; in which case the first and last parts belong to different words, and the measure (foot) is divided or _cut_.
_b._ If the accented syllable (the sixth) be the second of a word of three syllables, the succeeding one which is at the end of the word, is the first part of the measure which follows; in which case the first and last parts of the measure (foot) which follows the accented syllable is divided or _cut_.
As the _caesura_, or the necessity for dividing certain measures between two words, arises out of the structure of language, it only occurs in tongues where there is a notable absence of words accented on the last syllable. Consequently there is no caesura[71] in the English.
s. 670. As far as accent is concerned, the classical poets write in _measures_ rather than _feet_. See p. 505.
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s. 671. Although the idea of writing English hexameters, &c., on the principle of an accent in a measure taking the place of the long syllables in a foot, is chimerical; it is perfectly practicable to write English verses upon the same {523} principle which the classics themselves have written on, _i.e._, with accents recurring within certain limits; in which case the so-called classical metre is merely an unsymmetrical verse of a new kind. This may be either blank verse or rhyme.
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s. 672. The chief reason against the naturalization of metres of the sort in question (over and above the practical one of our having another kind in use already), lies in the fact of their being perplexing to the readers who have _not_ been {525} trained to classical cadences, whilst they suggest and violate the idea of _quantity_ to those who have.
_Why_ his idea of quantity is violated may be seen in p. 165.
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s. 673. _Convertible metres._--Such a line as--
Ere her faithless sons betray'd her,
may be read in two ways. We may either lay full stress upon the word _ere_, and read--
['E]re her fa['i]thless s['o]ns betr['a]y'd her;
or we may lay little or no stress upon either _ere_ or _her_, reserving the full accentuation for the syllable _faith-_ in _faithless_, in which case the reading would be
Ere her fa['i]thless s['o]ns betr['a]y'd her.
Lines of this sort may be called examples of _convertible metres_, since by changing the accent a dissyllabic line may be converted into one partially trisyllabic, and _vice vers[^a]_.
This property of convertibility is explained by the fact of accentuation being _a relative quality_. In the example before us _ere_ is sufficiently strongly accented to stand in contrast to _her_, but it is not sufficiently strongly accented to stand upon a par with the _faith-_ in _faithless_ if decidedly pronounced.
The real character of convertible lines is determined from the character of the lines with which they are associated. {527} That the second mode of reading the line in question is the proper one, may be shown by reference to the stanza wherein it occurs.
Let ['E]rin rem['e]mber her d['a]ys of ['o]ld, Ere her fa['i]thless s['o]ns betr['a]y'd her, When M['a]lachi w['o]re the c['o]llar of g['o]ld, Which he w['o]n from the pr['o]ud inv['a]der.
Again, such a line as
For the glory I have lost,
although it may be read
For the gl['o]ry I have l['o]st,
would be read improperly. The stanza wherein it occurs is essentially dissyllabic (_a x_).
He['e]d, oh he['e]d my f['a]tal st['o]ry! ['I] am H['o]sier's ['i]njured gh['o]st, C['o]me to se['e]k for f['a]me and gl['o]ry-- F['o]r the gl['o]ry ['I] have l['o]st.
s. 674. _Metrical and grammatical combinations._--Words, or parts of words, that are combined as measures, are words, or parts of words, combined _metrically_, or in _metrical combination_.
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Syllables combined as words, or words combined as portions of a sentence, are syllables and words _grammatically combined_, or in _grammatical combination_.
The syllables _ere her faith-_ form a metrical combination.
The words _her faithless sons_ form a grammatical combination.
When the syllables contained in the same measure (or connected metrically) are also contained in the same construction (or connected grammatically), the metrical and the grammatical combinations coincide. Such is the case with the line
Rem['e]mber | the gl['o]ries | of Br['i]an | the Br['a]ve;
where the same division separates both the measure and the subdivisions of the sense, inasmuch as the word _the_ is connected with the word _glories_ equally in grammar and in metre, in syntax and in prosody. So is _of_ with _Brian_, and _the_ with _Brave_.
Contrast with this such a line as
A chieftain to the Highlands bound.
Here the metrical division is one thing, the grammatical division another, and there is no coincidence.
_Metrical_,
A ch['i]ef | tain t['o] | the H['i]gh | lands b['o]und.
_Grammatical_,
A chieftain | to the Highlands | bound.
In the following stanza the coincidence of the metrical and grammatical combination is nearly complete:--
To ['a]rms! to ['a]rms! The s['e]rfs, they r['o]am O'er h['i]ll, and d['a]le, and gl['e]n: The k['i]ng is de['a]d, and t['i]me is c['o]me To cho['o]se a chi['e]f ag['a]in.
In
W['a]rriors or chi['e]fs, should the sh['a]ft or the sw['o]rd Pi['e]rce me in l['e]ading the h['o]st of the L['o]rd, He['e]d not the c['o]rse, though a k['i]ng's in your p['a]th, B['u]ry your st['e]el in the b['o]soms of G['a]th.--BYRON.
there is a non-coincidence equally complete.
s. 675. _Rhythm._--The character of a metre is marked and prominent in proportion as the metrical and the grammatical {529} combinations coincide. The extent to which the measure _a x x_ is the basis of the stanza last quoted is concealed by the antagonism of the metre and the construction. If it were not for the axiom, that _every metre is to be considered uniform until there is proof to the contrary_, the lines might be divided thus:--
_a x, x a, x x a, x x a,_ _a x, x a x, x a x, x a,_ _a x, x a, x x a, x x a,_ _a x, x a x, x a x, x a._
The variety which arises in versification from the different degrees of the coincidence and non-coincidence between the metrical and grammatical combinations may be called _rhythm_.
s. 676. _Constant and inconstant parts of a rhythm._--See s. 636. Of the three parts or elements of a rhyme, the vowel and the part which follows the vowel are _constant_, _i.e._, they cannot be changed without changing or destroying the rhyme. In _told_ and _bold_, _plunder_, _blunder_, both the _o_ or _u_ on one side, and the _-ld_ or _-nder_ on the other are immutable.
Of the three parts, or elements, of a rhyme the part which precedes the vowel is _inconstant_, _i.e_, it must be changed in order to effect the rhyme. Thus, _old_ and _old_, _told_ and _told_, _bold_ and _bold_, do _not_ rhyme with each other; although _old_, _bold_, _told_, _scold_, &c. do.
_Rule 1._ In two or more syllables that rhyme with each other, neither the vowel nor the sounds which _follow_ it can be _different_.
_Rule 2._ In two or more syllables that rhyme with each other, the sounds which _precede_ the vowel cannot be _alike_.
Now the number of sounds which can precede a vowel is limited: it is that of the consonants and consonantal combinations; of which a list can be made _a priori_.
_p_ _pl_ _pr_ _b_ _bl_ _br_ _f_ _fl_ _fr_ _v_ _vl_ _vr_ _t_ _tl_ _tr_ _d_ _dl_ _dr_ _th_ _thl_ _thr_ _dh_ _dhl_ _dhr_ _k_ _kl_ _kr_ _g_ _gl_ _gr_ _s_ _sp_ _sf_ _st_ _sth,_ _&c._
and so on, the combinations of s being the most complex. {530}
This gives us the following method (or receipt) for the discovery of rhymes:--
1. Divide the word to which a rhyme is required, into its _constant_ and _inconstant_ elements.
2. Make up the inconstant element by the different consonants and consonantal combinations until they are exhausted.
3. In the list of words so formed, mark off those which have an existence in the language; these will all rhyme with each other; and if the list of combinations be exhaustive, there are no other words which will do so.
_Example._--From the word _told_, separate the _o_ and _-ld_, which are constant.
Instead of the inconstant element _t_, write successively, _p_, _pl_, _pr_, _b_, _bl_, _br_, &c.: so that you have the following list:--_t-old_, _p-old_, _pl-old_, _pr-old_, _b-old_, _bl-old_, _br-old_, &c.
Of these _plold_, _blold_, and _brold_, have no existence in the language; the rest, however, are rhymes.
s. 677. All words have the same number of possible, but not the same number of actual rhymes. Thus, _silver_ is a word amenable to the same process as _told--pilver_, _plilver_, _prilver_, _bilver_, &c.; yet _silver_ is a word without a corresponding rhyme. This is because the combinations which answer to it do not constitute words, or combinations of words in the English language.
This has been written, not for the sake of showing poets how to manufacture rhymes, but in order to prove that a result which apparently depends on the ingenuity of writers, is reducible to a very humble mechanical process, founded upon the nature of rhyme and the limits to the combinations of consonants.
* * * * *
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