The Dickinson press., 1888-12-01
FANCIES IN VERSE.
CURIOUS METHODS OF RHYMlNe
WHICH ARE THE FASHION.
i List of %SinEular Little Songs Con.
>tructc,i After the Methods of the
I'ruubaiours -I:alladc, Isondcau, Triolct
aud Nirc!ai : For Winter Evenings.

i List of Singular Little Songs Con.
>tructcd After the Methods of the
northumberland, Iondcau, Triolct
and Nirr!ai For Winter Evenings.
Sung %: or readers OF Il literary turn may
l, interested in the new forms of verse,
vih":i ready are immensely old, but which. |
.is'' many odd things adopted into the new,
.rv .iis! HOW quite the fashion among poets
ur lnsastrr>. Many of these forms, with
jl.r..' o,!t.'ils repeated rhymes, and half mai
i.icrWVtNIng "f rhymes. originated with the
lHo;itl,ioiir> and trouvcrcs and Provencul
-tl.rrs generally: hut they nave been
r~..:.i.ci III process of growth till their orig
.utt@l> would hardly know them. OF these
ior!l-. adapted, ut any rate, from the old
Fgt!r!i. those enjoying most prominence to-
day are the halladc, the chant royal. the
kyr.rl.c. the p%antominc, the rondcl, rondcau
and r~".lc.rt. the CLOSE, the %scstina, the trio
let, the willamette, the lay and the virelai.
lie refrain or burden has Il great deal to
d, with li!esa singular little songs. In other
poetry. say, Il critic, an ordinary refrain is
kept To one note %resouMding through the
wtoir poem, much as the dronc bass in pif-
f.iari a. muSc,te music is kept going through
o!.;."
Nj, .iustin Dobson is said to have written
Il iir>i hailalc which VIC have in English.
Tho ia.ia'lc. according to rule, has three
cIrii line s~tamZis. and Il Verse called the en-
80. at the close. Of four lines; or it can
D,l,ist of three S,anzas of ten lines and an
rly"y OF five. The same set of rhymes must
h. used in every Verse. but never the same
w1!al a"ain, except in the refrain which
..li;,, close each stanZa, aud the envoy, the
clvoN having the rhymes of the last half of
lii" last Verse. The whole is governed des-
politically by the refrain, an eight syllablcd
refrain requiring an eight line stanza, Il ten
>yilablcd Il ten line %stanza, and the sense of
the stunza must not pause in the middle,
hut must continue to lie capped by tho re-
FRAN. The envoy always remembers the old
fashion of addressing the verse to Il person.
a person of distinction, as the prince or lord
t.ir whole.
Another quaint verso form is the kyrielle,
Il four lined v,rse Of eight syllabled lines,
lsaH.ng each last line the same. Another is
tic lantoum, which, so far from being Of
old French, is of Asiatic or Malay descent;
il consists Of four lined stanzas, the second
and fourth lines of each making the first and
third of the next, and so on indefinitely,
closing 10y making the second and fourth
Ii n, OF the last stanZa from tho first and
third of the first one. The ronlel, the old
form of the word rondean, came directly
from Provence, and greatly resembles tho
iilolet. Tho rondeau is written on two
rhymes; it has thirteen lines and two I'M
rlN me- refrain lines, the refrain usually be-
m, Il repetition of the frs. half of the first
line, but being OF especial Importance, tho
climax of the whole arrangement, and of
Spontaneous and hot laborcd effect, being in
Produced rs ii the lines flowed into it of their
own accord. The ROUNDED, another slight
variation, is thought to be the invention Of
Mr. S%winburnc.
The rondelct is just n little matter of seven
lines, used To express any brief fancy, open
ing with Il line of four syllables, which is re-
Ieated after one eight syllabled line, and
a-uin after three others, the first of which
three lines rhymes with tho repeat, the others
viii, the second line. Tho CLOSE, another
freak, is used moro in Spanish and Portu-
gurse than in French; it begins with Il
q|,;atrain called 4 teXtc, which it amplifiei
i'll four stanzas Of ten lines, each closing with
one of the lines Of the opening quatrain, in
every verse the sixth, ninth and tenth lines
rhyming with each other, other lines taking
any rhymes. The sestina was invented by
the ,roubadour Arnaut Daniel. and was used
by Dante and Petrarch; it is of six stanZas
of six lines each: tho six words that end the
six lines do not rhyme, but the same 81,
words end every line throughout the poem
closing with Il three line starza which use.
the six words, three at the end and three il
the middle.
The triolet is the play of words and tun,
which has been most popular, because mos
easy, probably. 1t consists of eight lines
and keeps to two rhymes; the first pair o
rhymes are again the seventh and eighth
and the first is also tho fourth; the third
sixth with the second. Tho triolet has t
tel! its story in five lines, and carry tho re
peat SO easily as to he charming and TIC
English was by Mr.. Robert Bridges. Til
willamette, of which species Mr.. Edmun
Gossr wrote tho first i'll English, has bee
called Tho most ravishing jewel Worn h
the muse Erato;" it was originally a She
herds song; it is complete in nineteen line
t five three lined stanzas and an ending OF
, of four lines; eight lines given up to the r
+. frain, which consists of tho first and thil
. lines used alternately, and at tho close boi
l together. There remain the lay and tt
t virelai. The lay is of couplets Of five syll
0 bled lines, all the same recurring rhyme, i
j, tersperscd by single lines of two syllabl
4 rhyming; thus only two rhymes ere use
/ each new stanza taking new rhymes. B
l. i'll the virelai there is u sequence of the sal
y rhymes throughout all the s~tanzas, the ST
a ond verse taking tho short line rhymes I
II its own long lines, and a new rhyme for t
short ones.
We have been thus minute in describe
ic these forms of word play OH account of t
general interest in them. Their compositi
doubtless will afford much amusing ent
tainment TO social gatherings of winter ev'
to ings Oh OF summer mornings OF hotel piazz
t, but it does not seem to us that verses tt
lg arliticially mado up bear much relation
the poetry of Milton and Shakespeare,
st Byron md Tennyson.-Harper's Bazar.