CHAPTER VIL

POETRY.

LESSON 82.

193. The Pupil, having completed the preceding Lessons on Figurative Language, is now prepared to enter upon the following Exercises on the Mutation of Poetry into Prose. By familiarizing the mind with the idiomatic structural difference existing between Prose and Verse, the propriety and significancy of the words employed become more apparent, and the leading constituents of genuine Poetry more justly and more readily recognized. Thus, a suitable foundation is laid for Descriptive Prose.

194. LANGUAGE OF POETRY.

The Language of Poetry is in general brief, frequently suggestin more than what is expressed. In addition to this, many antiquated words and idioms, as well as irregularities of syntactical construction are allowed, which are altogether inadmissible into good Prose. The peculiar metre and euphony of the verse may sometimes require a deviation from the ordinary grammatical arrangement, but the employment of

antiquated idioms will mostly depend on the poet's own predilection for this mode of expression.

195. The application of certain words in Poetry, contrary to the ordinary rules of Grammar, is called POETICAL LICENSE.

196. The Poets frequently introduce words and constructions which, though found in writers of the Elizabethan and Stuart periods, are now obsolete in good Prose. The following are a few instances:

a. Shall I receive by gift, what of my own

When and where likes me best, I can command = (I like best). b. Him thought he by the brook of Cherith stood =

he, &c.).

(he thought that

c. Long were, to tell what I have seen = (it would be long).

d. Where aye she sits in star-wreath'd lustre crown'd = (always). e. That erst with music, sweetly sung your joy = (formerly).

f. Full soon I ween = (imagine).

197. The Poets sometimes imitate the Latin and Greek mode of construction; as,·

a. Give me to seize rich Nestor's shield = (permit me to seize).

b. There are, who, deaf to mad ambition's call = (there are persons

who, &c.).

c. Yet to their general's voice they all obeyed = (cancel to).

d. How much of knowledge = (omit of).

198. Sometimes words are abbreviated, at other times lengthened; as,

a. Amaze for amazement, lone for lonely, ope for open, oft for often. b. Begirt for girt, evanishes for vanishes.

c. Sometimes they form the Adjective in y; as, Towery height for lowering.

199. The Syntactical order of words is frequently changed :

a. By placing the Adjective after the noun; as," Showers on her kings barbaric"; instead of “barbaric kings."

b. By putting the Nominative after the verb, and the objective before it, as,

No hive hast thou of hoarded sweets," for, "thou hast."

"A transient calm the happy scenes bestow," — instead of — “The happy scenes bestow a transient calm."

c. By placing a neuter verb at the beginning of a sentence; as, "Roar the mountains, thunders all the ground," for "the mountains roar," &c. d. By placing the Infinitive before the word on which it depends; as, "When first thy sire to send on earth

Virtue, his darling child, design'd.”—for "designed to send.”

e. By placing Adverbs before the words which they qualify; as, "The ploughman homeward plods his weary way," for-" plods his weary way homeward.”

f. By placing Prepositions and their cases before the words which they ought to follow; as, "Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul." g. By placing the Preposition after its case; as, "Where Echo walks steep hills among."

h. By removing Relatives and other connectives into the body of their clauses; as,

"A ball parts the fine locks, her graceful head that deck."
"Grieved though thou art, forbear the rash design."

200. The Poets omit, 1. sometimes the Article ; 2. sometimes the Relative; 3. sometimes the Antecedent; 4. sometimes the Principal Verb, retaining only the auxiliary:

1. The Article; as, "The brink of (the) haunted stream."

2. The Relative; as, "For is there aught in sleep (that) can charm the wise?"

3. The Antecedent; as (he), "Who never fasts, no banquet e'er enjoys." 4. The Principal verb omitted, the Auxiliary retained; as, "Angels could (do) no more."

201. The Poets sometimes violate the grammatical propriety of certain words:

1. By connecting adjectives with substantives which they do not properly qualify; as, "The tenants of the warbling shade."

2. By substituting Adjectives for Adverbs; as, "They fall successive and successive rise."

3. By giving neuter verbs an active government; as, " Virtue may hope (for) her promised crown."

4. By giving the uncompounded form of the 1st and 3rd Persons imperative, instead of the regular form; as, “ Turn we a moment; -"Fall he that must."

5. By joining a positive with a comparative, instead of two comparatives; as," Near and more near the billows rise."

6. By employing both the noun and its pronoun to the same verbs; thus, "My banks, they are furnished with trees."

7. By using or, or (for either, or), nor, nor (for neither, nor); as, “ Nor grief nor pain shall break my rest."

For Exercises on this Lesson, a series of Questions may be proposed.

LESSON 83.

METRE, AND different KINDS OF VERSE.

202. Poetry or Verse differs in its construction from Prose, chiefly in requiring a more measured arrangement of words, called versification; and in admitting a peculiar license in the application of them, which has been explained in the previous lesson under Poetical License.

203. Verse is of two kinds; namely, rhyme and blank verse.

Rhyme is a term applied to verses that terminate in syllables of the same sound; as

Indulge the true ambition to excel

In that best art, the art of living well.

b. In Blank Verse the final syllables do not rhyme.

204. a. A Verse is a certain number of syllables, so disposed as to form one line of poetry. —b. A Foot is a portion of a verse, consisting of two or more syllables. c. A couplet or distich consists of two lines or verses; a triplet of three.

205. A Stanza or stave is a combination of several verses, varying in number according to the poet's fancy, and constituting a regular division of a poem or song.

206. a. Scanning, in English, is dividing a verse into its several feet, in order to ascertain whether their position is agreeable to the rules of metre. Metre or Measure is the number of poetical feet which a verse contains.

b. In English, every accented syllable is considered long, every unaccented syllable short; as děfēnd.

207. All feet used in English poetry consist either of two or of three syllables, and are reducible to eight kinds; four of two syllables, and four of three, as follow:

Dissyllable.

1. An Iambus (~~); as, defend. 2. A Trochee (-); as, nöblě.

3. A Spondee (--); as, Vain Män.

4. A Pyrrhic (~~); as, ŏn ă (hill).

208. The Caesura or division, is the pause which takes place in a verse, and which divides it into two parts; as

The dumb shall sing || the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting || like the bounding roe.

Different kinds of Verse.

209. English verse may be divided into three classes, denominated, from the feet of which they principally consist, the Iambic, Trochaic, and Anapaestic.

210. LAMBIC VERSE. · Iambic Verse is adapted to serious and elevated subjects, and has every second, fourth, and other even syllables accented. It is of various lengths.