we take the accented syllable and its corresponding unaccented syllable, and, grouping the two together, deal with the pair at once. Now a Group of syllables, taken together, is called a MEASURE or a Foot. Thus, hast thou (x a) is one measure, a charm (x a) another, and so on throughout. The line itself consists of five measures. Measures, being the same as musical bars, received the name of Feet, because their time was regulated by the foot of the Corypheus or director of the Greek choirs. This action was called beating time. A foot or measure composed of an unaccented and an accented syllable (x a) is an Iambus. A foot composed of an accented and an unaccented syllable (a x) is a Trochee. A foot composed of two accented syllables (a a) is called a Spondee. A foot composed of two unaccented syllables (xx) is called a Pyrrhic. A foot composed of one accented and two unaccented syllables (a x x) is a Dactyl. A foot composed of one unaccented syllable and one accented and one unaccented (x a x) is an Amphibrach. A foot composed of two unaccented syllables and one accented (x x a) is an Anapest. DISSYLLABIC MEASURES. 1. The following is composed of Iambics, according to the formula xa:— "Sweet Thir'/sa! wak'/ing as' / in sleep', Thou art'/ but now' / a love'/ly dream'; But he' / who through' / life's drear'/y way' Must pass'/when heaven' / is veiled' / in wrath', Will long/lament' / the van'/ished ray' That scat'/tered glad'/ness o'er' / his path'."-BYRON. 2. The following is composed of Trochees. The accented syllable comes first, the unaccented one follows, the formula being a x:— "Lay' thy/bow' of pearl' a/part', Give' un/to' the /fly'ing / hart' Time' to breathe' how / short' so/ev'er; God'dess!/ex'quis/ite'ly / bright'."-BEN JONSON. TRISYLLABIC MEASURES. The number of these is limited to three, the Dactyl, the Amphibrach, the Anapest. 1. The first of these, the Dactyl, is exhibited in the word merrily (α x x). "Mer'rily, /mer'rily / shall' I live / now', Un'der the/blos'som that /hangs' on the / bough'."-SHAKESPEARE. 2. The second, the Amphibrach, is exhibited in the word disable (x a x). "But vain'ly / thou war'rest: For this' is/ alone' in Thy power/to/ declare', That in' the dim for'est Thou heard'st' a low moan'ing, And saw'st' a bright la'dy / surpass'ing/ly fair'."-COLERIDGE. 3. The third, the Anapest, is exhibited in the word cavalier (x x α). "There's a beau'/ty forev'/er unfad'/ingly bright', Like the long sunny lapse' / of a sum'/mer day's light': Till love' falls asleep' / in the same'/ness of splen'/dour."-MOORE. A CESURA is a pause in a verse. "Warms in the sun, || refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, || and blossoms in the trees."-POPE. SECTION DCXXIII.-RHYME. RHYME has been defined as the correspondence which exists between syllables containing sounds similarly modified. It is not a mere ornament: it marks and defines the accent, and thereby strengthens and supports the rhythm. Its advantages have been felt so strongly, that no people have ever adopted an accented rhythm without also adopting rhyme. "The moon is in her summer glow, But hoarse and high the breezes blow; Varies the tincture of her shroud."-SCOTT. Here the last syllables of each line in the two couplets are said to rhyme with each other. "Fair queen! I will not blame thee now, As once by Greta's fairy side; Each little cloud that dimm'd thy brow Here the rhyming lines come alternately. "What is grandeur? what is power? What the bright reward we gain ? Sweet is the breath of vernal shower; The bee's collected treasure's sweet; Sweet music's melting fall; but sweeter yet Here the rhymes occur at wider intervals. For two or more words to rhyme with each other, it is necessary, 1. That the vowel be the same in both. 2. That the parts following the vowel be the same. 3. That the parts preceding the vowel be different. Beyond this, it is necessary that the syllables, to form a full and perfect rhyme, should be accented syllables. Sky and lie form good rhymes, but sky and merrily bad ones, and merrily and silly worse. See LATHAM. SECTION DCXXIV.-IMPERFECT RHYMES. 1. None and own are better rhymes than none and man, because there are degrees in amount to which vowels differ from one another, and the sounds of the o in none and o in own are more alike than the sounds of o in none and the a in man. In like manner, breathe and teeth are nearer to rhymes than breathe and tease; and breathe and tease are more alike in sound than breathe and teal. All this is because the sound of th in teeth is more allied to that of th in breathe than that of s in tease; and the s in tease is more allied to the same sound (th) than the in teal. This shows that in imperfect rhymes there are degrees, and that some approach the nature of true rhymes more than others. 2. In matters of rhyme the letter h counts as nothing. High and I, hair and air, are imperfect rhymes, because h (being no articulate sound) counts for nothing, and so the parts before the vowels i and a are not different (as they ought to be), but identical. "Whose generous children narrow'd not their hearts With commerce, given alone to arms and arts."—-BYRON. 3. Words where the letters coincide, but the sounds differ, are only rhymes to the eye: breathe and beneath are in this predicament; so also are cease and ease (eaze). "In the fat age of pleasure, wealth, and ease, Sprang the rank weed, and thrived with large increase."-Pope. 4. If the sounds coincide, the difference of the letters is unimportant. "They talk of principles, but notions prize; And all to one loved folly sacrifice.”—POPE. SECTION DCXXV.-DOUBLE AND TRIPLE RHYMES. An accented syllable standing by itself, and coming under the conditions given above, constitutes a SINGLE RHYME. An accented syllable followed by an unaccented one, coming under the conditions given above, constitutes a DOUBLE RHYME. "When Love came first to earth, the SPRING Spread rose-buds to receive lim; And back, he vow'd, his flight he'd wing "The sportive AUTUMN claim'd by rights And even in WINTER's dark, cold nights, "Her routs, and balls, and fireside joy, In short, Young Love's a gallant boy That likes all times and seasons."---CAMPBELL. An accented syllable, followed by two unaccented ones, and coming under the conditions stated above, constitutes a TREBLE RHYME. "Oh ye immortal gods! what is theogony? Oh thou, too, immortal man! what is philanthropy? That forms this desk of what they mean: lycanthropy I comprehend; for, without transformation, Men become wolves on any slight occasion."-BYRON. SECTION DCXXVI.-MIDDLE RHYME. MIDDLE RHYME is that which exists between the last accented syllables of the two sections of a line. "Happy, ye sons of busy life, Who, equal to the bustling strife, Ev'n when the wish'd end's denied; Meet every sad returning night And joyless morn the same! Forget each care and pain! Find every prospect vain!"-BURNS. "And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold; And ice, mast-high, came floating by, The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It crack'd and growl'd, and roar'd and howl'd, Like noises in a swound."-COLERIDGE. SECTION DCXXVII.-SECTIONAL RHYME. SECTIONAL RHYME is that which exists between syllables contained in the same section. "Will stoode for skill, and law obeyed lust; Might trode down right; / of king there was no feare."-FERRERS. SECTION DCXXVIII.-INVERSE RHYME. INVERSE RHYME is that which exists between the last accented syllable of the first section and the first accented syllable of the second. "The piper loud and louder blew ; The dancers quick and quicker flew."-BURNS. "These steps both reach, and teach thee shall SECTION DCXXIX.-WORD-MATCHING. "There is in Eastern poetry a kind of word-rhyming or wordmatching, in which every word of a line is answered by another of the same measure and rhyme in the other line of the distich." "She drove her flock o'er mountains, By grove, or rock, or fountains." "Now, O now, I needs must part, Joy once fled can ne'er return." SECTION DCXXX.-ALLITERATION. ALLITERATION is the repetition of the same letter at the commencement of two or more words, or at short intervals; as, "Who often, but without success, have pray'd Alliteration is the distinctive characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon, and, indeed, of all the Gothic metres. The high king's 'hest, around him was holy light. "On last legdun, lathum leodum."-Brunanburgh War Song. At foot they laid on the loathed bonds. "As one that runnes beyond his race and rows beyond his reach."-BOURCHER. "When bound to some bay In the billowy ocean, O'er sea rolling surges The sailors are steering, God weighs on his waters Their wandering bark, And wafts them with winds On their watery way." SECTION DCXXXI.-TASK POETRY. The following is a task poem of George Herbert's. The task is, that the last words of the latter two lines of each verse are formed by dropping letters from the last words of the former ones:— "Inclose me still, for fear I start, Be to me rather sharp and tart, Than let me want thy hand and art. Such sharpness shows the sweetest friend, The following task distich is formed of three lines of the fragments |