[Previous page]...le of the line belongs to the next, being amalgamated with that
into one.
I am not able to recollect another instance of this kind of
verse and a single example cannot form a class. It is not worth
while, therefore, to provide a foreigner with a critical
investigation of its character.
OF ELISION.
The vowels only suffer elision except that "v" is also omitted
in the word over and "w" in will, "h" in have. This is actually made
in most cases, as it was with the Greeks. Sometimes, however, it is
neglected to be done, and in those cases the reader must make it for
himself, as in the following examples:
Thou yet
mightest act the friendly part
And lass
unnoticed from malignant right
And
fallen to save his injur'd land
Impatient for
it is past the promis'd hour.
He
also against the house of God was bold
Anguish and doubt and fear and sorr_ow
and pain
Of Phlegma with
the he_roic race was joined
Damasco, or Maroc_co,
or Trebisond
All her
original brightness, nor appear'd
Open or understood must be resolv'd.
OF SYNECPHONESIS.
Diphthongs are considered as forming one syllable. But vowels
belonging to different syllables are sometimes forced to coalesce
into a diphthong if the measure requires it. Nor is this coalescence
prevented by the intervention of an "h," a "w" or a liquid. In this
case the two syllables are run into one another with such rapidity as
to take but the time of one.
The following are examples:
And wish th_e
a_venging fight
B_e i_t so, for I submit, his doom is fair.
When wint'ry winds deform the plent_eo_us year
Droop'd their fair leaves, nor knew th_e u_nfriendly soil
The rad_ia_nt morn resumed her orient pride
While born to bring the Muse's happ_ie_r days
A patr_io_t's hand protects a poet's lays
Ye midnight lamps, ye cur_iou_s homes
That eagle gen_iu_s! had he let fall --
Fair fancy wept; and ech_oi_ng sighs confest
The sounding forest fluct_ua_tes in the storm
Thy greatest infl_ue_nce own
Iss_ue_ing from out the portals of the morn
What groves nor streams bestow a virt_uou_s mind
With man_y a proof of recollected love.
With kind concern our pit_yi_ng eyes o'erflow
Lies yet a little embr_yo unperceiv'd --
Now Marg_are_t's curse is fall'n upon our heads
And ev_en
a Shakespeare to her fame be born
When min_era_l fountains vainly bear
O how self-fettered was my grov_eli_ng soul!
To ev_ery sod which wraps the dead
And beam protection on a wand_eri_ng maid
Him or his children, ev_il
he may be sure
Love unlibid_inou_s resigned, nor jealousy
And left t_o
he_rself, if evil thence ensue.
Big swell'd my heart and own'd the p_owe_rful maid
Proceeding, runs low bell_owi_ng round the hills
Thy cherishing, thy hon_ouri_ng, and thy love
With all its shad_owy shapes is shown
The shepherd's so civil y_ou
ha_ve nothing to fear.
The elision of a vowel is often actually made where the
coalescence before noted be more musical. Perhaps a vowel should
never suffer elision when it is followed by a vowel or where only an
"h," a "w" or a liquid intervenes between that and a next vowel, or
in other words there should never be an elision where synecphonesis
may take place. Consider the following instances:
Full of the dear ecstatic pow'r, and sick
Dare not th' infectious sigh; thy pleading look
While ev'ning draws her crimson curtains round
And fright the tim'rous game
Fills ev'ry nerve, and pants in ev'ry vein.
Full of the dear ecstatic power, and sick
Dare not the infectious sigh; thy pleading look
While evening draws her crimson curtains round
And fright the timorous game
Fills every nerve, and pants in every vein.
The pronunciation in these instances with the actual elision is
less agreeable to my ear than by synecphonesis.
OF RULES FOR THE ACCENT.
Accent deciding the measure of English verse as quantity does
that of the Latin, and rules having been formed for teaching the
quantity of the Latins it would be expected that rules should also be
offered for indicating to foreigners the accented syllable of every
word in English. Such rules have been attempted. Were they to be so
completely formed as that the rules and their necessary exceptions
would reach every word in the language, they would be too great a
charge on the memory and too complicated for use either in reading or
conversation. In the imperfect manner in which they have been
hitherto proposed they would lead into infinite errors. It is usage
which has established the accent of every word, or rather I might say
it has been caprice or chance, for nothing can be more arbitrary or
less consistent. I am of opinion it is easier for a foreigner to
learn the accent of every word individually, than the rules which
would teach it. This his dictionary will teach him, if, when he
recurs to it for the meaning of a word, he will recollect that he
should notice also on which syllable is its accent. Or he may learn
the accent by reading poetry, which differs our language from Greek
and Latin, wherein you must learn their prosody in order to read
their poetry. Knowing that with us the accent is on every odd
syllable or on every even one or on every third, he has only to
examine of which of these measures the verse is to be able to read it
correctly. But how shall he distinguish the measure to which the
verse belongs?
If he can find in the piece any one word the accent of which he
already knows, that word will enable him to distinguish if it be
parisyllabic or imparisyllabic. Let us suppose, for example, he
would read the following piece:
How sleep the brave, who sink to rest,
By all their country's wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallowed mould,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod.
By fairy hands their knell is rung;
By forms unseen their dirge is sung;
There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay;
And Freedom shall a while repair,
To dwell a weeping hermit there!
-- COLLINS
He finds the word sweeter, the accent of which he has already
learned to be on the first syllable, sweet. He observes that that is
an even syllable, being the sixth of the line. He knows then that it
is parisyllabic verse and from that he can accent the whole piece.
If he does not already know the accent of a single word he must look
in his dictionary for some one, and that will be a key to the whole
piece. He should take care not to rely on the first foot of any
line, because, as has been before observed, that is often a trochee
even in the parisyllabic verse. Without consulting his dictionary at
all, or knowing a single accent, the following observation will
enable him to distinguish between these two species of verse when
they are in rhyme. An odd number of syllables with a single rhyme,
or an even number with a double rhyme, prove the verse to be
imparisyllabic. An even number of syllables with a single rhyme, or
an odd number with a double one, prove it to be parisyllabic, e.
g.:
Learn by this unguarded lover
When your secret sighs prevail
Not to let your tongue discover
Raptures that you should conceal.
-- CUNNINGHAM
He sung and hell consented
To hear the poet's prayer
Stern Proserpine relented
And gave him back the fair.
-- POPE
If in thus examining the seat of the accent he finds it is
alternately on an odd and an even syllable, that is to say, on the
third, sixth, ninth, twelfth syllables, the verse is trisyllabic.
With her how I stray'd amid fountains and bowers!
Or loiter'd behind, and collected the flowers!
Then breathless with arduor my fair one pursued,
And to think with what kindness my garland she view'd!
But be still, my fond heart! this emotion give o'er;
Fain wouldst thou forget thou must love her no more.
-- SHENSTONE
It must be stated that in this kind of verse we should count
backward from the last syllable, if it be a single rhyme, or the last
but one if it be double; because one of the unaccented syllables
which should begin the verse is so often omitted. This last syllable
in the preceding example should be the twelfth. When the line is
full it is accented of course. Consulting the dictionary, therefore,
we find in the first line the ninth syllable accented; in the second,
the sixth; in the third line the accented syllables there being
alternately odd and even, to wit, the third, sixth, ninth and
twelfth, we know the verse must be trisyllabic.
The foreigner then first determining the measure of the verse,
may read it boldly. He will commit a few errors, indeed; let us see
what they are likely to be. In imparisyllabic verse none, because
that consists of trochees invariably; if an unaccented syllable
happens to be prefixed to the verse, he will discover it by the
number of syllables. In parisyllabic verse, when a trochee begins
the verse, he will pronounce that foot wrong. This will perhaps
happen once in ten lines; in some authors more, in others less. In
like manner he will pronounce wrong the trochee in the middle of the
line. But this he will encounter once in some hundreds of times. In
the trisyllabic verse he can never commit an error if he counts from
the end of the line. These imperfections are as few as a foreigner
can possibly expect in the beginning; and he will reduce their number
in proportion as he acquires by practice a knowledge of the accents.
The subject of accent cannot be quitted till we apprise him of
another imperfection which will show itself in his reading, and which
will be longer removing. Though there be accents on the first, the
second or the third syllables of the foot, as has been before
explained, yet is there subordination among these accents, a
modulation in their tone of which it is impossible to give a precise
idea in writing. This is intimately connected with the sense; and
though a foreigner will readily find to what words that would give
distinguished emphasis, yet nothing but habit can enable him to give
actually the different shades of emphasis which his judgment would
dictate to him. Even natives have very different powers as to this
article. This difference exists both in the organ and the judgment.
Foote is known to have read Milton so exquisitely that he received
great sums of money for reading him to audiences who attended him
regularly for that purpose. This difference, too, enters deeply into
the merit of theatrical actors. The foreigner, therefore, must
acquiesce under a want of perfection which is the lot of natives in
common with himself.
We will proceed to give examples which may explain what is here
meant, distinguishing the accents into four shades by these marks
'''' ''' '' ' the greater number of marks denoting the strongest
accents.
Oh when the growling winds contend and all
The sounding forest fluctuates in the storm
To sink in warm repose, and hear the din
Howl o'er the steady battlements, delights
Above the luxury of vulgar sleep.
-- ARMSTRONG
Life's cares are comforts; such by heav'n design'd
He that has none, must make them or be wretched
Cares are employments; and without employ
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