The mirror., 1916-11-30

Following this passage come one hundred
purely descriptive words, separated only by con-
functions, picturing the fall of the water
1t is needless to say that both The Bells" and
The Cataract OF Lodore'' extremes, and that
neither was intended for anything than it is,
pure description, picture writing Poe is said to
have written The Bells in spirit of play; friend
suggested the first line of each stanza, Hear the
sedges with their bells" Hear the mellow wedding
bels," Hear the loud alarum bels.' etc., and Poe
then described the kind of bells mentioned Sou
they wrote "Lodore," or rather, recited it offhand
to the young Prince of Wales and his sisters
when the poet was Laureate.
Tennyson's Song OF The Brook" of school
reader memory, is good example of onomatopoeia
descriptive of running water it ripples
come from haunts of coot and hern,
1 make sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bcker down valley.
Notice ALTERATION is also used in the above
quotation.
Some critics contend that there is onomatopoeia
of rhythm we'll a Of words Certainly accent
rhythm be manipulated as to be descriptive
but this would be one of the essentials of all
rhythm for the rhythm of verse does not describe
the action help to picture the scene it might as
we'll be left out. Much of the free-verse. of which
we read SO much in the magazines at the present
time depends descriptive rhythm to give mean
ing to otherwise meaningless sentences-as Whit
man did, without thinking of free verse;
To illustrate the of onomatopoetic rhythm
let go to of the older versiers, though.
We have already studied passages from Tenny-
sons Charge OF The Light Brigade" for their rhy-
thin. Tennyson used dactylic meter to give the ef-
feet of swiftly charging horses. Let us now see
how some other poets have portrayed the move
ments of horses.
A seed as black as the steeds of night
Was seen to pass with ca giles flight
AS if he knew the ter ribe need,
He stretched way with the ut most speed
II. B. Reed
Here the poet uses Iambic MEASURE but to sug-
gest the speed and of the horse he has insert
ed Anapestic foot in each line. 1t is the con-
trast between the two-syllable and three-syllabe
feet that is descriptive of the ealoping motion-not
a swift rush, such as Tennyson gives us, but a
steady, grueling gallop.
sprang to the stir rup, and Jor is and he:
1 gal loped. Dirck gal loped, We gal loped all
three;
OOOO speed, | crloO lno WaLcn | as the gate bolts
undrew,
Speed" ech oed the wall to us gal Looping
through
Robert Byo,onng.
In. this example also Iambics and Anapests are
combined, but here we have three Anapests to one
Iambc foot where in Reads verses the order is re-
versed. Increasing the number of three syllable
feet in the line has increased the sense of speed
which get from the reading, a comparison of
the two quotations readily shows. This rhythm of
Browning, then is truly descriptive than that
used by Read.
And under the alders that skirt it's edge,
Now soft on the sand now loud on the ledge
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides
-Lonatelo,c.
In "The Ride Of Paul Revere" Longfellow has
used Amphbrachic and Iambic measure, two of
each kind of feet in each line. This is very much
slower rhythm than any of the three above quoted
and really does not suggest the motion of running
horse at all. One why this rhythm is so un-
satisfactory is that the poet has changed the order of
the foot sequence each line the first line quoted
has two Amphibrach feet followed by two Iamblc
feet in the second line there is first an Amphbrach
then an Iambus, then another Amphibrach. followed
by another Iambus; and in the third line there is an
Iambus, followed by two Amphibrachs, and then