Direction. — Study this extract from Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal," and note how these three points are illustrated: Within the hall are song and laughter, The cheeks of Christmas glow red and jolly, And belly and tug as a flag in the wind; Hunted to death in its galleries blind; Now pausing, now scattering away as in fear, III. Its Form. In treating of the form of poetry, we shall group all we have to say under the three heads of rhythm, meter, and rhyme. 1. Rhythm.-Rhythm is that arrangement of words which allows and requires the alternate stress and remission of the voice in reading. For each sequence of stress and remission, of strong and weak impulse of the voice, two or three syllables are regularly required. The rhythm-accent is the stroke, stress, or strong impulse of the voice which falls upon certain syllables. In English and in other modern poetry, the rhythm-accent must agree with the word-accent-must fall upon the syllable of the word which is accented in prose. For this reason ours is called an accentual rhythm. In Latin and Greek the rhythm-accent falls upon a long syllable, a syllable whose vowel is long by nature or by position, a syllable requiring a long time for its enunciation. Hence ancient rhythm is based upon quantity. It is thought that these two rhyth mical systems, theirs and ours, are so unlike as to be in antagonism. But we must remember that, in the ordinary pronunciation of an English word, we dwell longer upon the accented syllable than upon one not accented; that the syllable becomes long by this detention of the voice upon it, and hence presents itself as long for the rhythm-accent. Rhythm, then, in English, even if we call it accentual, rests ultimately upon time-the syllable receiving the rhythmaccent taking long time for its enunciation, the unaccented syllable or syllables short time. It may turn out, as our greatest American philologist, Prof. Hadley, virtually claims, that, in their ordinary speech, the Greeks did not pronounce the accented syllables with any, or with any striking, increase of force. It is inconceivable that, in reciting his poetry, the Greek or the Roman should give both rhythmic-stress and word-stress when these did not fall upon the same syllable; and it is also inconceivable that he should neglect the word-stress, in the recitation, if, in ordinary speech, it was as marked in his language as in ours. In the one case there would be no proportion, no music, in the verse thus read; in the other, the word, robbed of its customary strong accent, would not be recognized by the hearer. The rhythm-accent in English falls upon the syllable which receives the word-accent- the syllable made long by that accent. The two accents harmonize. The rhythmaccent in Greek falls upon a syllable long by nature or position, whether receiving the word-accent or not. But, if the word-accent could not have been distinguished by marked stress of voice, the two accents could not noticeably have clashed with each other when falling upon different sylla bles. The alleged antagonism, the radical difference, between the ancient rhythmical system and our own, is then, as it seems to us, somewhat imaginary. It is to be noted that this alternation of long syllables with short, or of short with long, and the accompanying variety of force and volume of voice in the reading of poetry give it, in part, its musical quality, and make it so delightful to the ear. A foot is the combination of two or three syllables that requires this compound movement of the voice in the reading. Any syllable of the foot may receive the rhythmaccent. A trochee,, is a dissyllabic foot accented on the first syllable; an iambus, ~ -, is a dissyllabic foot accented on the second syllable; a dactyl, ́~~, is a trisyllabic foot accented on the first syllable; an amphibrach, ~ ́~, is a trisyllabic foot accented on the second syllable; and an anapæst,, is a trisyllabic foot accented on the third syllable. Verse is poetry, and a verse is a single line of poetry. His bōōks | wĕre rí | vers, wōōds | ănd skies, The meadow and | the mōōr. Verses with dactylic feet: Flashed all their | sabres băre, Flashed as they | túrned în ǎir, Sabring the gunners there. Verses with amphibrachic feet: The waters are flashing, The white hail | is dáshing, The hoar-spray | is dancing. Verses with anapæstic feet: The volcanoes ǎre dím | ănd the stars | reel and swim A stanza is a group of two, three, four, or more verses separated from other verses on the page. A poem is a collection of verses, grouped into stanzas or not, written on some one topic. Scansion is the reading of poetry so as to mark the rhythm. It must not be supposed that all the feet of a poem, a stanza, or even of a single verse, are necessarily of the same kind. It is not always easy for the poet to compose a succession of such verses; it would be tiresome to the ear to listen long to lines so monotonous in their structure. A succession of verses so constructed would be rare; witness, for example, the poems in the next Lesson. The kind of foot beginning the poem should continue till the tongue and ear have caught the prevailing rhythm, then here and there other feet may be substituted for it. The substitutions should not be so frequent as to lead one to doubt what the prevailing rhythm is meant to be. Substituted Feet. If a foot accented on the last syllable, an iambus or an anapæst, cannot, without a pause after it, be followed by a foot accented on the first syllable, a trochee or a dactyl, because this would bring two accented syllables together: and, if, as Abbott and Seeley assert, three clearly pronounced unaccented syllables cannot stand together; and so an anapæst cannot follow a trochee, an iambus or an amphibrach or an anapæst cannot follow a dactyl, and an anapæst cannot follow an amphibrach; then the substitutions will be somewhat limited. rechaic verse, an iambus may be substituted for the last thee, and a dactyl or an amphibrach for any trochee, represented thus:, Uf; Lu, or In a In an iambic verse, a trochee may be substituted for the first iambus, and an amphibrach or an anapæst for any iambus, represented thus:, ul; u ́, In a dactylic verse, an amphibrach may be substituted for the first dactyl and a trochee for any dactyl, represented thus: In an amphibrachic verse, an anapæst may be substituted for the first amphibrach, a trochee or an iambus for any amphibrach, or a dactyl for the last, represented thus: ~~ ́~ ́u; ulu, In an anapæstic verse, an iambus may be substituted for any anapæst, or an amphibrach for the last, represented thus:, ~ ≤ or ~ - ~ ~ -; uU÷U÷U. These are the possible substitutions of feet, if we do not allow the claim that a foot accented on the last syllable may be followed by a foot accented on the first; and if we do allow, as we must, the claim made by Abbott and Seeley. Poetry is full of these substitutions. But we have purposely passed by the monosyllabic foot. It is found at the beginning of a verse, in the middle, at the end, and now and then a whole verse is made up of such feet. These words in Italics illustrate its use: 3. Strike | for your al | tărs and your fires. 4. Bury the Great | Duke. Direction. Scan these verses so as to illustrate all but one of the possible substitutions described above: |