The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1916-10-05
VERSE STUDIES ::
A Series of Lessons on the Study
of Verse Construction: No.
By Beau Esprita

Robert Louis Stevenson of the greatest
stylists who ever welded pen, writing of verse
construction in his book, "On Some Technical Ee-
ments Of Style In Literature" says: 1t does not
matter what principle the law (of construc-
tom is based, SO 1T BE A LAW
Here is simple truth simply stated, and one
which any one who would write poetry should al
ways bear in mind. There must be law governing
the technical form of writing or it is not verse but
prose. Rhythm does not make verse; rhyme does
not make verse; division into lines of equal or un.
equal length, or into stanzas of equal or unequal
proportions does not make verse.
j. w. Macka in his Lectures On POETRY
says: The technical art of poetry consists of max
ing patterns out of language" To write verse or
poetry, then, the first technical essential is know
ledge of the patterns is follow of how to use
them most effectively to express the thought one has
in mind, and, if necessary, how to alter or improve
them to fit that thought.
AS the earliest formal poetry was that of the
Greeks, the poetry of nearly all other nations has
been influenced in form by the dissemination of
Greek culture, and most of the technical terms
used in English poetic literature are the same as
used by the Greeks with such slight al
terations of meaning the differences between
the English and Greek languages made neces-
sary.
Greek poetry first came into general as an
accompaniment to dancing being chanted or sung by
the dancers themselves by the spectators Thus it
gained it's rhythmical character from the rythm of
the dance. The beat of the timed to the
beat of the dancers footsteps, and from this the first
simple poetic division gained its name THE
FOOT-meanng the number of words or syllables
that could be pronounced during the time required
for the raising and setting down of the dancers feet
The poetic foot of the Greeks divided into LONG
and SHORT syllables the LONG syllable coming on the
setting down of the foot, and the SHORT syllable on
the raising of the foot of the dancer.
The English language, unlike the Greek, is not
composed of syllabes Of equal length owing to the
different tonal values of the English vowel sounds,
and also to unequal combinations of consonants
To illustrate what by the different tonal val
of the English vowel sounds, the long sound of
''o' as heared in 'wrote'' consists of but single
tonal value, while the long sound of i heared in
write" consists of two tona values, 'ah-ee'' that
is, long ~ is really dipthong. This is true also
of long "a, while long e" contains but one tonal
value For these reasons it is impossible to divide
English poetic measures into LONG and SHORT sylla-
DleS Dut EuSllSu language TAILS naturally into
divisions of ACCENTED and UNACCENTED syllables
the English ACCENTED syllable being equal to the
Greek LONG syllable, and the English UNAccENTED
syllable equal to the Greek SHORT syllable.
Definition: A poetic foot is definite
group of accented and unaccented syla-
bes, used to shape the rhythm of metrical
composition.
Now the poetic foot was timed to the steps
of the dance, and all dance steps did not require
equal length of time for their execution it natur-
ally followed that there should be different foot
forms in composition. The names of the
Greek feet have been adopted to the English feet of
like measure. We will take up the different
1ooforms, or poetic feet the order Of their i'm.
portance in English versi6cation.
The Iambus, Iambic Foot.
When win ter winds are pierc ing shrill
And through the haw thorne blows the gale
With sol emn feet 1 tread the hill
That yer looks the lone ly dale.
-Longelows, Woods in Winter.
In this quotation from Longfellow we see that
each line falls regularly into succession of unac
accented and accented syllabes These syllables
naturally divide into groups of two. the first syllable
OF each group being unaccented, the second syllable