The mirror., 1916-10-26

it is possible to divide Amphbrachc lines into the
better known Anapests. with an Iambic variation In
every line following Catalectic line, or of every
other line, if regular.
This division into Anapests and Iambuses is IL
lustra,ed below, using the Envoy of Mrs. Wilcox's
ballade quoted above.
Nso rb, N,hm hail it, though crit les assa it
And hold melting rhymes as an insult to
NFor oh!N.he sweet swing of it, oh! the dear ring
of it
Oh! the strong pulse of it, right from the
HhA Art or no Ar,!NN
Scanned in this manner, the first foot of the
first aud third lines contains two syables with the
accent the second syllable. A foot 80 composed
is. we have seen, Iambus. The other feet in
the four lines have three syables each with the &C.
cent the third syllable; that is they Anapests.
Notice that the unrhymed lines carry over one unac.
cened syllable the first foot in each OF the rbym-
ed lines. The adendum Art no Art" which is
properly speaking, part Of the envoy for the en-
voy may only have four llnes) single foot of four
sylables, of which the first and fourth are accented
the second and third unaccented. This is a Chori-
amb, Choriambic Foot. and such foot is gener-
ally used in this case. to apart refrain from
the body of a sanza of which it is net necessary
part. This Choramb would remain the same whe,h.
er the poem were scanned Anapesrs ilh Iambic
varia,lon above; Amphibrachs, as in the case
of the proceeding sanza. Chnriambs are also used
IN few of the English renderings of classic verse
forms, TO which separate study will be devoted
There furtLer point to be considered in
connection with the Foot before we proceed to the
consideration of rhythm. The Greek poets measur-
ed their me,rical feet, not by accent, but by LONG
and SHORT syllables As has been explained the
nature of the English language made the measure
ment of English merical feet by this method i'm
practical. aud ACCENTED and uNAccENTED syllabes
substituted for the Greek 10: and sHoRt syl-
lables, respectively. But of English poetry
have found that retain the Greek standard of
measurement occasionally lends beauty and grace, as
we'll as variety, to their verses
Therefore, The occasional use of long sylla-
be-a syllable that actually requires a relatively
longer time to pronounce than the usually accented
syllabe-in place of accented syllable is pernis
sable, az long sucn is not carried Or it
is possible at times to insert pause between words
in poe'c line in such a way that the pause will
take the place of syllable and round out the
foot. This use of the pause often applies to Caa-
lectic lines, where syllables dropped
from the iua foot, and the reader nstinclvey pro-
longs the pronunciation Of the preceding syallbes
to round out the measure.
This may be illustrated by further quotation
from Tennyson's "Locksev Hail." from which l
quoted to illustrate the Trochaic Foot.
locksley Hall, that in the distance over looks
the sandy tracks,
And the hollow ocean ridges roaring into
cata racts.-
This is Trochaic measure, and each line drops
the unaccented syllable from the final foot; but in
reading aloud the voice fingers slightly on the &C.
cented syables with which each line ends, and
there is just perceptb!e pause before taking up
the next line. Tennyson made use of this prolong-
ed syllable and rest to give a quiet dignity to the
turning of the couples, which could not have been
secured had the final unaccrned soft syllable been
retained further lllusl of the use of an ex-
ira short syllable the line lmmedatly fol-
lowing those just quoted.
Ma ny a night l the Plei ads ris ing
through the mel low shade;-
Here the first foo, has three syllables but the
two syllable word many really is not az long as
the two syllable word, "Peials.' for instance; in
fact, often hear it pronounced as a single sya-
be, and it really requires no longer time in pronun-
cia,iOn than the single syllable word night" which
follows it in the line. AS Mary Eleanor Roberts
says her treatise verse construction. this pro-
longalion of foot on the in much the same
manner as The Of grace note in mnslc and does
not interfere with the flow of the meter unless
it occurs too frequently Tennyson uses it here to
cnuneract the +ff-ct of the following line which
the long sound of l'-reay dlprhong, "ah. pe"-
occurs twice. BY making be first foot of the line
little long, the poe, has equalized the following foot