PART IV. PROSODY. Prosody treats of the laws of verse-making or versification. Versification is the art of arranging poetical lines or verses. A Verse, or line of poetry, consists of a certain number of accented and unaccented syllables arranged according to some law. A Couplet, or Distich, consists of two lines or verses taken together. A Triplet consists of three verses rhyming together. A Quatrain consists of four verses rhyming alternately. A Stanza is one of the separate divisions of a poem. It consists of two or more verses. Note. The word verse, which means a single line in poetry, is often improperly used for stanza. Rhyme. Rhyme is the similarity of sound in the last syllables of two or more verses. Poetry is written both with and without rhyme. Blank Verse is verse without rhyme. Note.-I. Rhymes should begin with different letters and end with the same sound or nearly the same sound. Thus, cause and laws is a good rhyme, but cause and caws is faulty. 2. Rhymes may consist of one, two, or three syllables; thus, man, plan; village, pillage; terrify, verify. The rhyme must, however, be gin with the accented syllable. Poetic Feet. Feet are the divisions of a verse, each consisting of two or more syllables arranged according to accent. The dividing of a verse into feet is called Scanning. The macron [], placed over a syllable, shows that the syllable is accented, and the breve [] shows that the syllable is unaccented. Note. The accented syllable is usually called long, and the unaccented short. The following are the principal feet: Iambus, Trochee, Anapest, Dactyl. The lambus consists of a short and a long syllable, as Invite, retain, rèpīne. The Trochee consists of a long and a short syllable, as father, hōly, listěn. The Anapest consists of two short syllables and a long one, as comprehend, entertain, întĕrvēne. The Dactyl consists of one long syllable and two short ones, as beautiful, hēavěnlỹ, innocence. Kinds of Verse. A verse is usually named according to the kind of feet employed in it. Thus, we have Iambic, Trochaic, Anapestic, and Dactylic. Meter, or Measure, is the arrangement of a certain number of poetic feet in a line. When the meter is complete, the verse is said to be Acatalectic. When the meter is deficient, it is called Catalectic. When there is a redundant syllable, the verse is said to be Hypercatalectic or Hypermeter. Verses are named also according to the number of feet they contain, thus: Monometer, a verse of one foot. Dimeter, a verse of two feet. Trimeter, a verse of three feet. Tetrameter, a verse of four feet. Pentameter, a verse of five feet. Heptameter, a verse of seven feet. The principal hymn meters are the following: 1. Long Meter Stanza. Four lines, Iambic Tetrameter. 2. Common Meter Stanza. First line and third line, Iambic Tetrameter. 3. Short Meter Stanza. First line, second line, fourth line, Iambic Trimeter. Remarks. 1. In many cases the foot takes in parts of two words, thus: The curfew tōlls | the knell | of part | ing day, The low | ing herd | winds slow | lý 7er | the lén. 2. When monosyllables are used in poetry, the accent is placed according to the kind of foot used, thus: Wě hail | thěe, Morn, | with rūd | dỹ beam. 3. Iambic Pentameter is often called heroic verse, because it is the verse usually employed in relating the deeds of heroes. Most of the poems of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Cowper, Thomson, Young, and Wordsworth are written in heroic verse. 4. An Iambic Hexameter is also called an Alexandrine, a name derived from a French poem in which the exploits of Alexander were recited. Poetic License. The privilege of using certain words and forms in poetry which are not allowable in prose is called Poetic License. The chief varieties of poetic license are the following: 1. Ellipses; as, "Thy tragic muse gives smiles, thy comic sleep." 2. Substitution of one part of speech for another, as an adjective for an adverb; thus, "They fall successive, and successive rise." 3. Abbreviations and Contractions not allowable in prose; as, morn, eve; 'tis, 'twas. 4. Pleonasm, or the use of superfluous words; as, My friends, do they now and then send A wish or a thought after me? Scanning. Scan the following selections, as in the model: Model. Whěn āll | thy mer | ciěs, Ā | mỹ God! My rising soul | surveys, Some feelings are to mortals given, With less of earth in them than heaven: And the swift-wingéd arrows of light.-Cowper. Nothing useless is, or low; Each thing in its place is best; And what seems but idle show Strengthens and supports the rest.—Longfellow. The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, The paths of glory lead but to the grave.—Gray. Wearily flaggeth my soul in the desert, Wearily, wearily. Sand, ever sand, not a gleam from the fountain; Drearily, drearily.—Bulwer. Our bugles sang truce; for the night-cloud had lowered, |