The mirror., 1916-11-02
VERSE STUDIE No. S
Constructive Lessons In
Verse:-Rhythm.
By Beau Esprita

b
B. Gummere saya, somewhere, Rhythm IS not arti-
fcial not an inven,ion it lies at the heart of things,
and in rhythm the noblest emotions find their no.
bles expression' This is merely the natural ex-
preston Of mans response to nature. From earliest
infancy made aware Of this inner essence of
existence through its manifold outward manifesto.
,ious In ourselves the beat of the heart the inha-
laion and exhala,ion of the breath, are rhythmic
The free of the body and limbs in walk is
rhythmic. The measured procession of day and
night the movement of earth and the celestial bodies
that constitute universe, rhythmic. The
swaying of the and grasses in the wind, the
ebb aud flow of tides upon the water, the budding.
fowe erng, and fruition Of plants the conception,
maturing, and dt tclne of animal life, all are rby,h-
mic. Aud SO of all the things which man has made
rhythm greater less degree is essential part.
In the tick Of the clock the exhaus of engine,
in the revolution Of cogs and pueys there is
rhy thin: it is the first law Of music and rby thin Of
line and contour, of light and shade is behind the
beauty of sculptur; and above all, in language.
which has created for the expression Of his in
thought and feeling, rhythm is present.
The function of rhythm in verse Is both des-
crptve and interpretatve; it may be used not only
to describe The location of the action in the verse;
but also create it were, that action. This
of rhythm in its interpretative function could
be better illustrated than by the quotation from
Tenpysons Charge OF The Light Brigade" already
made in these studies.
Kipling has a wonderfully sensitive feeling for
,hm, and his are splendid material for
study in this connection. Sou,hey, Wordsworth and
Tennyson also used rhythm with telling effect both
for descriptive and inlerpretative purposes.
1t Is a fascinating study, and one well worth
the time required, to select half dozen poems and
analyse their rby,hms. Take this from Kiplips's
Danny Deever."
For they're done with Dan ny Dee yer, you
hear the quick step play.
The reg imen,s in col umn au they're march
in us away;
no! The young recruits are shak in, an they
ii want their beer today.
After hangiu' Danny Deever in the mornin
Read this yourself and see what move
ment it suggests you. The first line opens with
Anapes'ic foot, (hree syllables, accented on the
,hird) and finishes in Iambics. The second line is
all lambIcs. The third line opens with sugle &C.
cen,ed syllable, very strong All exclamation, and
then continues in Iarnbics. But in the fourth line
the bea, is exactly reversed, the accent coming on
the first syllable and following regularly on every
Other syable This line, then. is Trochalc But hen
you read il you do notice that The fourth line is
.fferen frt the ,blee preceding it, /, does no,
sound irregular the ear. Why IS this? 1t is be-
cause while the accent does not tall regularly that
ls, while there different kinds of feet used to
max. up the lines The rhythm is perfectly regular
We recognizelt as sound which we have heared
before and III jus, that tempo just that 1t is
march-,lme, played by the reglmen,a band. Read
the lines over again now. and listen for the drums
You hear The roll of the in that first three
syllable foot follow ed by the regular beat-trr r.rr
-r-rata, ia ia, ta-ta ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta. ta And
when you that single ejaculaory syllable at
the begnning of the third llne you get the + beat
of the bass, drum and clash of the cymbals in the
word Ho! 1t is the of this single strong syl.
liable al the beginning of the third line too, that
makes the change from Iambcs to Trochees which
follows in the next line mperceptibe to the ear, by
preparing for intial-accented foot In this Sc
lection the poet has combined four different foot
forms in order to get the right rhythm to describe
and visualize to the reader the action upon which
the poem is founded; first the Anapestic foot that
opens the stanza, corresponding the roll of the
drums; second the ambic feet Of the first three
lInes-march time, in which the feet of the marcbers
are Set down with each accented syllable; third,
foot of three sylables, the first and third accent
ed, the second unaccented in which get the
strong beat of the bass drum and clash of cymbas
heralding the approaching change IN the time beat
that comes with the fourth line; and fourth. Tro-
chees, simply another variation of the march.ime