Composition-Rhetoric by Stratton D. Brooks

4. Transition and summary paragraphs may occur in compositions.

VI. LETTER WRITING

+94. Importance of Good Letter Writing.+–Letter writing is the form of written language used by most of us more frequently than any other form. The importance of good letter writing is therefore obvious. Business, personal, and social relations necessitate the writing of letters. We are judged by those letters; and in order that we may be considered businesslike, educated, and cultured, it is necessary that we should be able to write good letters, not only as regards the form but also as regards the subject-matter. The writing of good letters is often the means of securing desirable positions and of keeping up pleasant and helpful friendships. Since this form of composition plays so important a part in our lives and the lives of those about us, it is worthy of careful study.

The subject-matter is the most important part of the letter, but adherence to usages generally adopted is essential to successful letter writing. Some of these usages may seem trivial in themselves, but a lack of attention to them shows either ignorance or carelessness on the part of the writer, and the consequences resulting from this inattention are often anything but trivial. Applicants for good positions have been rejected either because they did not know the correct usages of letter writing, or because they did not heed them. In no other form of composition are the rules concerning form so rigid; hence the need of knowledge and carefulness concerning them.

+95. Paper.+–The nature of the letter determines to some extent our choice of paper. Business letters are usually written on large paper, about ten by eight inches in size, while letters of friendship and notes of various kinds are written on paper of smaller size. White or delicately tinted paper is always in good taste for all kinds of letters. The use of highly tinted paper is occasionally in vogue with some people, but failure to use it is never an offense against the laws of good taste. It is customary now to use unruled paper for all kinds of letters as well as for other forms of compositions. For letters of friendship four-page paper is preferred to that in tablet form. The order in which the pages are used may vary; but whatever the order is, it should not be confusing to the reader.

Black ink should always be used. The writing should be neat and legible. Attention should be paid to margin, paragraphs, and indentation. In fact, all the rules of theme writing apply to letter writing, and to these are added several others.

+96. The Beginning of a Letter.+–Certain forms for the beginning of letters have been agreed upon, and these forms should be followed. The beginning of a letter usually includes the heading, the address of the person or persons to whom the letter is sent, and the salutation.

Notice the following examples:–

(2)
______________________________________________________ | |
| Ottawa, Ill. | | Nov. 9, 1905. |
| Dear Harold, | | |

(7)
______________________________________________________ | |
| New Hartford, Conn. | | Nov. 3, 1905. |
| My dear Henry, | | |

The heading of a letter includes the address of the writer and the date of the writing. When numerous letters are sent from one place to another, the street and number may after a time be omitted from the heading. Example (5) illustrates this. A son living in Boston has written to his mother frequently and no longer considers it necessary to write the street and number in every letter. If there is any doubt in the writer’s mind as to whether his address will be remembered or not, he should include it in the letter. If the writer lives in a small place where the street and number will not be needed in a reply sent to him, it is unnecessary for him to make use of it in his letter. When the street and number are omitted, the heading may be written on one line, as in example (5), but the use of two lines is preferable.

Custom has decreed that the proper place for the heading is in the right-hand upper corner of the first page. Sometimes, especially in business letters, we find the writer’s address at the close of the letter, but for the sake of convenience it is preferably placed at the beginning. The first line should be about one inch and a half from the top of the page. The second line should begin a little to the right of the first line, and the third line, a little to the right of the second line. Attention should be paid to proper punctuation in each line.

In a comparatively few cases we may find that the omission of the date of the letter will make no difference to the recipient, but in most cases it will cause annoyance at least, and in many cases result in serious trouble both to ourselves and to those who receive our letters. We should not allow ourselves to neglect the date even in letters of apparently no great importance. If we allow the careless habit of omitting dates to develop, we may some day omit a date when the omission will affect affairs of great importance. This date should include the day, month, and year. It is better to write out the entire year, as 1905, not ’05.

In business letters it is customary to write the address of the person or persons addressed at the left side of the page. Either two or three lines may be used. The first line of this address should be one line lower than the last line of the heading. Notice examples (1), (3), and (6). When the address is thus written, the salutation is commonly written one line below it. Sometimes the salutation is commenced at the margin, and sometimes a little to the right of the address. Where there is no address, the salutation is written a line below the date and begins with the margin, as in examples (2), (4), (5), and (7).

The form of salutation naturally depends upon the relations existing between the correspondents. The forms _Dear Sir, My dear Sir, Madam, My dear Madam, Dear Sirs, Gentlemen_, are used in formal business letters. The forms _Dear Miss Robinson, My dear Mrs. Hobart, Dear Mr. Fraser, My dear Mr. Scott_, are used in business letters when the correspondents are acquainted with each other. The same forms are also used in letters of friendship when the correspondents are not well enough acquainted with each other to warrant the use of the more familiar forms, _My dear Mary, Dear Edmund, My dear Friend, Dear Cousin, My dear little Niece_.

There is no set rule concerning the punctuation of the salutation. The comma, the colon, or the semicolon may be used either alone or in connection with the dash. The comma alone seems to be the least formal of all, and the colon the most so. Hence the former is used more frequently in letters of friendship, and the latter more frequently in business letters.

+97. Body of the Letter.+–The body of the letter is the important part; in fact, it is the letter itself, since it contains the subject-matter. It will be discussed under another head later, and is only mentioned here in order to show its place in connection with the beginning of a letter. As a rule, it is best to begin the body of our letters one line below, and either directly underneath or to the right of the salutation. It is not improper, however, especially in business letters, to begin it on the same line with the salutation. A few examples will be sufficient to show the variations of the place for beginning the main part of the letter.

+98. Conclusion of a Letter.+–The conclusion of a letter includes what is termed the complimentary close and the signature. Certain forms have been agreed upon, which should be closely followed.

Our choice of a complimentary close, like that of a salutation, depends upon the relations existing between us and those to whom we are writing. Such forms as _Your loving daughter, With love, Ever your friend, Your affectionate mother_, should be used only when intimate relations exist between correspondents. In letters where existing relations are not so intimate and in some kinds of business letters the forms _Sincerely yours, Yours very sincerely,_ may be used appropriately. The most common forms in business letters are _Yours truly_ and _Very truly yours_. The forms _Respectfully yours,_ or _Yours very respectfully,_ should be used only when there is occasion for some special respect, as in writing to a person of high rank or position.

The complimentary close should be written one line below the last line of the main part of the letter, and toward the right-hand side of the page. Its first word should commence with a capital, and a comma should be placed at its close.

The signature properly belongs below and a little to the right of the complimentary close. Except in cases of familiar relationship, the name should be signed in full. It is difficult to determine the spelling of unfamiliar proper names if they are carelessly written. It is therefore important in writing to strangers that the signature should be made plainly legible in order that they may know how to address the writer in their reply. A lady should make it plain whether she is to be addressed as _Miss_ or _Mrs._ This can be done either by placing the title _Miss_ or _Mrs._ in parentheses before the name, or by writing the whole address below and to the left of the signature. Boys and men may often avoid confusion by signing their first name instead of using only initials.

Notice the following examples of the complimentary close and signature:–

EXERCISE

Write suitable headings, salutations, complimentary endings, and signatures for the following letters:–

1. To Spaulding & Co., Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill., ordering their rules for basket ball.

2. To your older brother.

3. To the school board, asking for a gymnasium.

4. To some business house, making application for a position.

5. To the governor of your state.

6. From one stranger to another.

7. From an older brother to his little sister.

8. From a boy living in New Orleans to the father of his most intimate friend.

+99. The Envelope.+–The direction on the envelope, commonly called the superscription, consists of the name and address of the person or persons to whom the letter is sent. This direction should be written in a careful and _courteous manner_, and should include all that is necessary to insure the prompt delivery of the letter to the proper destination.

The superscription may be arranged in three or four lines, each line beginning a little to the right of the preceding line. The name should be written about midway between the upper and lower edges of the envelope, and there should be nearly an equal amount of space left at each side. If there is any difference, there should be less space at the right than at the left. The street and number may be written below the name, and the city or town and state below. The street and number may be properly written in the lower left-hand corner. This is also the place for any special direction that may be necessary for the speedy transmission of the letter; for example, “In care of Mr. Charles R. Brown.”

Women should be addressed as _Miss_ or _Mrs._ In case the woman is married, her husband’s first name and middle initial are commonly used, unless it is known that she prefers to have her own first name used. Men should be addressed as _Mr._, and a firm may in many cases be addressed as _Messrs._ It is considered proper to use the titles _Dr._, _Rev._, etc., in directing an envelope to a man bearing such a title, but it would be entirely out of place to address the wife of a physician or clergyman as _Mrs. Dr._ or _Mrs. Rev._

The names of states may be abbreviated, but care should be taken that these abbreviations be plainly written, especially when there are other similar abbreviations. In compound names, as North Dakota and West Virginia, do not abbreviate one part of the compound and write out the other. Either abbreviate both or write out both. If any punctuation besides the period after abbreviations is used, it consists of a comma after each line. It is the custom now to omit such punctuation. Either form is in good taste, but whichever form is adopted, it should be employed throughout the entire superscription. The comma should not be used in one line and omitted in another.

Notice the following forms of correct superscriptions:–

(2)
______________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
| Mr. John D. Clark
| New York
| N.Y.
|
| Teachers College
| Columbia University.
|______________________________________________________

(4)
______________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
| Miss Louise M. Baker
| Nottingham
| Ohio.
|
| Box 129.
|______________________________________________________

(5)
______________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
| Dr. James M. Postle
| De Kalb
| Ill.
|
|______________________________________________________

(6)
______________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
| Miss Ida Morrison
| Chicago
| Ill.
|
|
| 1048 Warren Ave.
|______________________________________________________

EXERCISE

Write proper superscriptions to letters written to the following:–

1. Thaddeus Bolton, living at 524 Q Street, Lincoln, Nebraska.

2. The wife of a physician of your acquaintance.

3. James B. Angell, President of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

4. Your mother, visiting some relative or friend.

5. The publishers Allyn and Bacon, 878 Wabash Avenue, Chicago, Ill.

6. Edward Harrington, living at 1962 Seventh Avenue, New York.

7. To a friend at a seaside resort.

8. To a friend visiting your uncle in Oakland, California.

+100. The Great Rule of Letter Writing.+–The great rule of letter writing is, Never write a letter which you would not be willing to see in print over your own signature. That which you _say_ in anger may be discourteous and of little credit to you, but it may in time be forgotten; that which you _write_, however, may be in existence an untold number of years. Thousands of letters are now on exhibition whose authors never had such a use of them in mind. If you ever feel like writing at the end of a letter, “Burn this as soon as you read it,” do not send it, but burn the letter yourself. Before you sign your name to any letter read it over and ask yourself, “Is this letter in form and contents one which would do me credit if it should be published?”

+101. Business Letters.+–Since the purpose of business letters is to inform, they should, first of all, be characterized by clearness. In asking for information, be sure that you state your questions so that there shall be no doubt in the mind of the recipient concerning the information that you desire. In giving information, be equally sure to state facts so clearly that there can be no possibility of a mistake.

Brevity is the soul of business letters as well as of wit. Business men are busy men. They have no time to waste in reading long letters, but wish to gain their information quickly. Hence we should aim to state the desired facts in as concise a manner as possible, and we should give only pertinent facts. Short explanations may sometimes be necessary, but nothing foreign to the subject-matter should ever be introduced. While we should aim to make our letters short, they should not be so brief as to appear abrupt and discourteous. It shows lack of courtesy to omit important words or to make too frequent use of abbreviations.

We should answer a business letter as soon as possible. This answer, besides giving the desired information, should include a reference to the letter received and an acknowledgment of inclosures, if there were any. All questions should receive courteous replies. The facts should be arranged in a form that will be convenient for the recipient. As a rule it is best to follow the order which the writer has used in his letter, but in some cases we may be able to state our facts more definitely and concisely if we follow some other order.

What has been said in general about attention to forms in letter writing might well be emphasized here, for business men are keen critics concerning letters received. Be careful to use the correct forms already suggested. Also pay attention to punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Write only on one side of the paper and fold the letter correctly. In fact, be businesslike in everything connected with the writing of business letters.

A few examples are here given for your notice:–

EXERCISE

Write at least three of the following suggested letters, paying attention to the rules for writing business letters:–

1. Write to a dry goods firm, asking them to send you one of their catalogues.

2. Write to the manager of a football team of some town near yours, proposing a game.

3. Write the reply.

4. In reply to an advertisement, write an application for the position of clerk or bookkeeper.

5. Write to the publishers of some magazine, asking them to change your address from 27 K Street, Toledo, Ohio, to 2011 Prospect Avenue, Beatrice, Nebraska.

6. Suppose yourself doing postgraduate work in your high school. Write to the president of some college, asking him concerning advanced credit.

+102. Letters of Friendship.+–While a great deal of information may be obtained from some letters of friendship, the real purpose of such letters is, usually, not to give information, but to entertain. You will notice that the information derived from letters of friendship differs from that found in business letters. Its nature is such that of itself it gives pleasure. Our letters to our relatives, friends, and acquaintances are but visits on paper, and it should be our purpose to make these visits as enjoyable as possible.

So much depends upon the circumstances attendant upon the writing of letters of friendship, that it is impossible to make any definite statement as to what they should contain. We may say in general that they should contain matter interesting to the recipient, and that they should be characterized by vividness and naturalness. Interesting material is a requisite, but that of itself is not sufficient to make an entertaining letter. Interesting material may be presented in so unattractive and lifeless a manner that much of its power to please is lost. Let your letters be full of life and spirit. In your descriptions, narrations, and explanations, express yourself so clearly and so vividly that those who read your letters will be able to understand exactly what you mean.

EXERCISES

1. Write a letter to a classmate who has moved to another town, telling him of the school of which he was once a member.

2. Write to a friend, describing your visit to the World’s Fair at St. Louis.

3. Suppose yourself away from home. Write a letter to your little brother or sister at home.

4. If you have ever been abroad, describe in a letter some place of interest that you have visited.

5. Write to a friend who is fond of camping, about your camping experience.

6. Suppose your mother is away from home on a visit. Write her about the home life.

7. Write to a friend, describing a party that you recently attended.

8. Suppose you have moved from one town to another. In a letter compare the two towns.

+103. Adaptation to the Reader.+–The golden rule of letter writing is, Adapt the letter to the reader. Although the letter is an expression of yourself, yet it should be that kind of expression which shall most interest and please your correspondent. In business letters the necessity of brevity and clearness forces attention to the selection and arrangement of details. In letters to members of the family or to intimate friends we must include many very minor things, because we know that our correspondent will be interested in them, but a rambling, disjointed jumble of poorly selected and ill-arranged details becomes tedious. What we should mention is determined by the interests of the readers, and the successful letter writer will endeavor to know what they wish to have mentioned. In writing letters to our friends we ought to show that sympathetic interest in them and their affairs which we should have if we were visiting with them. On occasion, our congratulations should be prompt and sincere.

In reading letters we must not be hasty to take offense. Many good friendships have been broken because some statement in a letter was misconstrued. The written words convey a meaning very different from that which would have been given by the spoken word, the tone of voice, the smile, and the personal presence. So in our writing we must avoid all that which even borders on complaint, or which may seem critical or fault-finding to the most sensitive.

+104. Notes.+–Notes may be divided in a general way into two classes, formal and informal. Formal notes include formal invitations, replies, requests, and announcements. Informal notes include informal invitations and replies, and also other short communications of a personal nature on almost every possible subject.

+105. Formal Notes.+–A formal invitation is always written in the third person. The lines may be of the same length, or they may be so arranged that the lines shall be of different lengths, thus giving the page a somewhat more pleasing appearance. The heading, salutation, complimentary close, and signature are all omitted. The address of the sender may be written below the body of the letter. Many prefer it a little to the left, and the date is sometimes written below it. Others, however, prefer it directly below or a little to the right.

Replies to formal invitations should always be written in the third person, and should in general follow the style of the invitation. The date and the hour of the invitation should be repeated in the reply, and this reply should be sent immediately after receiving the invitation.

A few examples are here given to show the correct forms of both invitations and replies:–

(2)
______________________________________________________ | |
| Miss Barrows accepts with pleasure Mr. and | | Mrs. Thompson’s invitation for Monday evening, | | December thirtieth, at half-past eight o’clock. | | |

(3)
______________________________________________________ | |
| Mr. Morris regrets that a previous engagement | | prevents his accepting Mr. and Mrs. Thompson’s | | kind invitation for Monday evening, December | | the thirtieth. |
| |

(4)
______________________________________________________ | |
| Mr. and Mrs. Albert W. Elliott request the | | pleasure of Mr. John Barker’s company at dinner | | on Wednesday, December sixth, at seven o’clock. | | |
| 1068 Euclid Ave. | | |

EXERCISE

1. Write an invitation to a golden wedding.

2. Mrs. Homer A. Payne invites Miss Eva Milton to dine with her next week Thursday at eight o’clock. Write out a formal invitation.

3. Write regrets to Mrs. Payne’s invitation.

4. Write an acceptance of the same invitation.

5. Write a formal invitation to a party to be given in honor of your guest, Miss Grace Mason.

+106. Informal Notes.+–Informal invitations and replies may contain the same subject-matter as formal invitations and replies. The only difference is in the form in which they are written. The informal invitation is in form similar to a letter except that the same exactness about the heading is not required. Sometimes the heading is written and sometimes it is omitted entirely. The address of the one sending the invitation and the date may be written below the body of the note to the left of the signature. The reply to an informal invitation should always be informal, but the date and hour should be repeated as in replies to formal invitations.

A great many informal notes not included in invitations and replies are constantly written. These are simply brief letters of friendship, and the purposes for which they are written are exceedingly varied. When we write congratulations or words of condolence, when we introduce one friend to another, when we thank some one for a gift, and when we give words of advice, and in many other instances, we make use of informal notes. They should be simple, personal, and as a rule confined to but one subject.

Notice the following examples of informal notes:–

EXERCISE

Write the following informal notes:–

1. Write to a friend, asking him or her to lend you a book.

2. Write an invitation to an informal trolley, tennis, or golf party.

3. Write the reply.

4. Invite one of your friends to spend his or her vacation with you.

5. Write a note to your sister, asking her to send you your theme that you left at home this morning.

6. Mrs. Edgar A. Snow invites Miss Mabel Minard to dine with her. Write out the invitation.

7. Write the acceptance.

VII. POETRY

[Footnote: _To the Teacher._–Since the expression of ideas in metrical form is seldom the one best suited to the conditions of modern life, it has not seemed desirable to continue the themes throughout this chapter. The study of this chapter, with suitable illustrations from the poems to which the pupils have access, may serve to aid them in their appreciation of poetry. This appreciation of poetry will be increased if the pupils attempt some constructive work. It is recommended, therefore, that one or more of the simpler kinds of metrical composition be tried. For example, one or two good ballads may be read and the pupils asked to write similar ones. Some pupils may be able to write blank verse.]

+107. Purpose of Poetry.+–All writing aims to give information or to furnish entertainment (Section 54). Often the same theme may both inform and entertain, though one of these purposes may be more prominent than the other. Prose may merely entertain, or it may so distinctly attempt to set forth ideas clearly that the giving of pleasure is entirely neglected. In poetry the entertainment side is never thus subordinated. Poetry always aims to please by the presentation of that which is beautiful. All real poetry produces an aesthetic effect by appealing to our aesthetic sense; that is, to our love of the beautiful.

In making this appeal to our love of the beautiful, poetry depends both upon the ideas it contains and upon the forms it uses. Like prose, it may increase its aesthetic effect by appropriate phrasing, effective arrangement, and subtle suggestiveness, but it also makes use of certain devices of language such as rhythm, rhyme, etc., which, though they may occur in writings that would be classed as prose, are characteristic of poetry. Much depends upon the ideas that poetry contains; for mere nonsense, though in perfect rhyme and rhythm, is not poetry. But it is not the idea alone which makes a poem beautiful; it is the form as well. The merely trivial cannot be made beautiful by giving it poetical form, but there are many poems containing ideas of small importance which please us because of the perfection of form. We enjoy them as we do the singing of the birds or the murmuring of the brooks. In fact, poetry is inseparable from its characteristic forms. To sort out, re-arrange, and paraphrase into second-class prose the ideas which a poem contains is a profitless and harmful exercise, because it emphasizes the intellectual side of a work which was created for the purpose of appealing to our aesthetic sense.

+108. Rhythm.+–There are several forms characteristic of poetry, by the use of which its beauty and effectiveness are enhanced. Of these, rhythm is the most prominent one, without which no poetry is possible. In its widest sense, rhythm indicates a regular succession of motions, impulses, sounds, accents, etc., producing an agreeable effect. Rhythm in poetry consists of the recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables in regular succession. In poetry, care must be taken to make the accented syllable of a word come at the place where the rhythm demands an accent. The regular recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables produces a harmony which appeals to our aesthetic sense and thus enhances for us the beauty of poetry. Read the following selections so as to show the rhythm:–

We were crowded in the cabin;
Not a soul would dare to speak;
It was midnight on the waters
And a storm was on the deep.

–James T. Fields.

Break, break, break,
At the foot of thy crags, O sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead Will never come back to me.

–Tennyson.

Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor

–Poe.

Sweet and low, sweet and low,
Wind of the western sea,
Low, low, breathe and blow,
Wind of the western sea!

Over the rolling waters go,
Come from the dying moon and blow, Blow him again to me;
While my little one, while my pretty one sleeps.

–Tennyson.

Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for a hermitage.

–Lovelace.

Merrily swinging on brier and weed,
Near to the nest of his little dame, Over the mountain side or mead,
Robert of Lincoln is telling his name: Bob-o’-link, bob-o’-link,
Spink, spank, spink,
Snug and safe is this nest of ours, Hidden among the summer flowers.
Chee, chee, chee.

–Bryant.

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made: Our times are in His hand
Who saith, “A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!”

–Browning.

+109. Feet.+–The metrical effect of the preceding selections is produced by the regular recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables. A group of accented and unaccented syllables is called a foot. There are four regular feet in English verse, the iambus, the anapest, the trochee, and the dactyl. Three irregular feet, the pyrrhic, the spondee, the amphibrach, are occasionally found in lines, but not in entire poems, and are often considered merely as substitutes for regular feet. For the sake of convenience the accented syllables are indicated thus: _, and the unaccented syllables thus: U.

_An iambus_ is a foot consisting of two syllables with the accent on the last.

U _| U _| U _| U _| U _|
Let not ambition mock their useful toil.

–Gray.

U _|U _| U _|U _|
He prayeth best who loveth best

U _| U _| U _|
All things both great and small;

_ U | U _| U _|U _|
For the dear God who loveth us,

U _| U _|U _|
He made and loveth all.

–Coleridge.

_An anapest_ is a foot consisting of three syllables with the accent on the last.

U U _| U U _|U U _|
I am monarch of all I survey.
U U _ | U U _ | U U _ |
I would hide with the beasts of the chase.

_A trochee_ is a foot consisting of two syllables with the accent on the first.

_ U | _ U | _ U | _ U|
Double, double, toil and trouble.

–Shakespeare.

_ U | _ U |_ U |_ U |
Let us then be up and doing,
_ U| _ U | _U | _ |
With a heart for any fate,
_ U |_ U | _ U|_ U |
Still achieving, still pursuing,
_ U | _ U |_ U | _ |
Learn to labor and to wait.

–Longfellow.

_A dactyl_ is a foot consisting of three syllables with the accent on the first.

_ U U | _ U U |
Cannon to right of them,
_ U U | _ U U |
Cannon to left of them,
_ U U | _ U U |
Cannon in front of them,
_ U U |_ U |
Volleyed and thundered.

–Tennyson.

It will be convenient to remember that two of these, the iambus and the anapest, have the accent on the last syllable, and that two, the trochee and the dactyl, have the accent on the first syllable.

_A spondee_ is a foot consisting of two syllables, both of which are accented about equally. It is an unusual foot in English poetry.

U _ | _ _ | U _| U _ |
Come now, blow, Wind, and waft us o’er.

_A pyrrhic_ is a foot consisting of two syllables both of which are unaccented. It is frequently found at the end of a line.

U _ | U _ | U _|U U
Life is so full of misery.

_An amphibrach_ is a foot consisting of three syllables, with the accent on the second.

U _ U U _ U| U _ U| U _ |
Creator, Preserver, Redeemer and friend.

+110. Names of Verse.+–A single line of poetry is called a verse. A stanza is composed of several verses. When a verse consists of one foot, it is called a monometer; of two feet, a dimeter; of three feet, a trimeter; of four feet, a tetrameter; of five feet, a pentameter; and of six feet, a hexameter.

_ U
Monometer. Slowly.

_ U U| _ U U |
Dimeter. Emblem of happiness.

_ U| _U| _ U |
Trimeter. Like a poet hidden.

_ U| _ U| _ U | _ U |
Tetrameter. Tell me not in mournful numbers.

U _ |U _ |U _| U _ | U _ | Pentameter. O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath.

_ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U Hexameter. This is the forest primeval; the murmuring pines and U | _ U |
the hemlocks.

When we say that a verse is of any particular kind, we do not mean that every foot in that line is necessarily of the same kind. Verse is named by stating first the prevailing foot which composes it, and second the number of feet in a line. A verse having four iambic feet is called iambic tetrameter. So we have dactylic hexameter, trochaic pentameter, iambic trimeter, anapestic dimeter, etc.

EXERCISES

_A._ Mark the accented and unaccented syllables in the following selections, and name the kind of verse:–

Build me straight, O worthy Master!
Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel That shall laugh at all disaster
And with wave and whirlwind wrestle.

–Longfellow.

I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air,
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.

–Whittier.

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.

–Tennyson.

Chanting of labor and craft, and of Wealth in the pot and the garner;
Chanting of valor and fame, and the man who can, fall with the foremost,
Fighting for children and wife, and the field which his father bequeathed him,
Sweetly and solemnly sang she, and planned new lessons for mortals.

–Kingsley.

Have you read in the Talmud of old,
In the Legends the Rabbins have told, Of the limitless realms of the air,
Have you read it,–the marvelous story Of Sandalphon, the Angel of Glory,
Of Sandalphon, the Angel of Prayer?

–Longfellow.

_B._ 1. Find three poems written in iambic verse, and three written in trochaic verse.

2. Write at least one stanza, using iambic verse.

3. Write at least one stanza, using the same kind of verse that you find in Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade.”

4. Write two anapestic lines.

+111. Variation in Rhythm.+–The name given to a verse is determined by the foot which prevails, but not every foot in the line needs to be of the same kind. Just as in music we may substitute a quarter for two eighth notes, so may we in poetry substitute one foot for another, provided it is given the same amount of time.

Notice in the following that the rhythm is perfect and the beat regular, although a three-syllable anapest has been substituted in the second line for a two-syllable iambus:–

U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ | Beneath those rugged elms, that yew tree’s shade, U _ | U _ | U _| U U _ | U _ |
Where heaves the turf in many a moldring heap, _ U | U _ | U _ | U _ |U _ |
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ |
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The following from _Evangeline_ illustrates the substitution of trochees for dactyls:–

_ U U | _ U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U | Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever departed.

_ U U | _ U | _ U U | _ U | _ U U|_ U Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of October

_ U U | _ U U |_ U | _ U U | _ U U |_ U | Seize them and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far o’er the ocean.

_ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ U Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pre.

It is evident that one foot can be substituted for another if the accent is not changed. Since both the iambus and the anapest are accented on the last syllable, they may be interchanged. The trochee and the dactyl are both accented on the first syllable and may, therefore, be interchanged.

There are some exceptions to the general rule that in substituting one foot for another the accented syllable must be kept in the same part of the foot. Occasionally a poem in which the prevailing foot is iambic has a trochee for the first foot of a line in order that it may begin with an accented syllable. At the beginning of a line the change of accent is scarcely noticeable.

_ U | U _ | U _ |U _ |
Over the rail my hand I trail.

_ U | U _ | U _ | U _ |
Silent the crumbling bridge we cross!

But if the reader has once fallen into the swing of iambic verse, the substitution of a trochee will bring the accent at an unexpected place, interrupt the smooth flow of the rhythm, and produce a harsh and jarring effect. Such a change of accent is justified only when the sense of the verse leads the reader to expect the changed accent, or when the emphasis thus given to the sense of the poem more than compensates for the break in the rhythm produced by the change of accent.

Another form of metrical variation is that in which there are too few or too many syllables in a foot. This generally occurs at the end of a line, but may occur at the beginning. If a syllable is added or omitted skillfully, the rhythm will be unbroken.

When the feet are accented on the last syllable,–that is, when the verse is iambic or anapestic,–an extra syllable may be added at the end of a line.

U _ |U U _ |U _ | U
I stood on the bridge at midnight,

U U _ | U _ |U U _ |
As the clocks were striking the hour;

U U _ | U _ | U _|U
And the Moon rose o’er the city,

U _ | U _ | U _ |
Behind the dark church tower.

–Longfellow.

U _ | U _ |U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ | Girt round with rugged moun[tains], the fair Lake Constance lies,

U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ |U _ | In her blue heart reflect[ed] shine back the starry skies;

U _ | U _ | U _ | U _ |U _ | U _ | And watching each white cloud[let] float silently and slow,

U _ | U _ | U _ | U _| U _ | U _| You think a piece of heav[en] lies on our earth below.

–Adelaide A. Procter.

In the second illustration the extra syllables have the same relative position in the metrical scheme as in the first, though they appear to be in the middle of the line. The pauses fill in the time and preserve the rhythm unbroken.

When the feet are accented on the first syllable–as in trochaic or dactylic verse–a syllable may be omitted from the end of a line as in the second and fourth below.

_ U U | _ U U | _ U U| _ U |
Up with the lark in the first flush of morning,

_ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ |
Ere the world wakes to its work or its play;

_ U U| _ U U | _ U U | _ U |
Off for a spin to the wide-stretching country,

_ U U | _ U U | _ U U|_ |
Far from the close, stifling city away.

Sometimes we find it necessary to suppress a syllable in order to make the rhythm more nearly perfect. Syllables may be suppressed in two ways: by suppressing a vowel at the end of a word when the next word commences with a vowel; by suppressing a vowel within a word. The former method is termed elision, and the latter, slurring.

U _ | U _ |U _ | U _ | U _ |
Thou glorious mirror where the Almighty’s form U U

_ U |U _| U _ | U
Glasses itself in tempests.

–Byron.

An accented syllable often takes the place of an entire foot. This occurs most frequently at the end of a line, but it is sometimes found at the beginning. Occasionally whole lines are formed in this way. If a pause or rest is made, the rhythm will be unbroken.

u _ | u _ | u _ |
Break, break, break,

U U _ | U _ | U _ |
On thy cold gray stones, O sea!

U U _ | U U _ | U _|U
And I would that my tongue could utter

U _ | U U _ |U _|
The thoughts that arise in me.

–Tennyson.

We frequently find verses in which a syllable is lacking at the close of the line; we also find many verses in which an extra syllable is added. Verse that contains the number of syllables required by its meter is said to be acatalectic; if it contains more than the required number of syllables, it is said to be hypercatalectic; and if it lacks a syllable, it is termed catalectic. It is difficult to tell whether a line has the required number of syllables or not when it is taken by itself; but by comparing it with the line prevailing in the rest of the stanza we are enabled to tell whether it is complete or not. Shakespeare’s _Julius Caesar_ is written in iambic pentameter verse. Knowing this, we can detect the hypercatalectic and catalectic lines.

U _| U _ | U _| U _| U _ |
You all did see that on the Lupercal

U _ | U _| U _ |U _| U _|
I thrice presented him a kingly crown

U _| U _ |U _ | U _ | U _| U
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?

U _| U _ | U _ | U _ | U
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious.

–Shakespeare.

+112. Cesura.+–Besides the pauses caused by rests or silences there is the cesural pause which needs to be considered in reading verse. A cesura is a pause determined by the sense. It coincides with some break in the sense. It is found in different parts of the verse and may be entirely lacking. Its observance does not noticeably interfere with the rhythm. In the following selection it is marked thus: ||.

U _ | U _ | U _| U _ |
The sun came up || upon the left,

_ U| U _ | U _ |
Out of the sea || came he;

U _| U _ | U _| U _|
And he shone bright, || and on the right

U _ | U_ | U _ |
Went down || into the sea

–Coleridge.

Lives of great men || all remind us
We can make our lives || sublime,
And, departing, || leave behind us, Footprints || on the sands of time.

–Longfellow.

Read the selections on page 197 so as to indicate the position of the cesural pauses.

+113. Scansion.+–Scansion is the separation of a line into the feet which compose it. In order to scan a line we must determine the rhythmic movement of it. The rhythmic movement determines the accented syllables. Sometimes in scanning, merely the accented syllables are marked. Usually the whole metrical scheme is indicated, as in the examples on page 199.

EXERCISE

Scan the following selections. Note substitutions and elusions.

The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies With the dying sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is gone.

–Francis W. Bourdillon.

Laugh, and the world laughs with you, Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own.

–Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Hear the robin in the rain,
Not a note does he complain.
But he fills the storm refrain
With music of his own.

–Charles Coke Woode.

The mistletoe hung in the castle hall, The holly branch shone on the old back wall And the baron’s retainers are blithe and gay, And keeping their Christmas holiday.

–Thomas Haynes Bagley.

+114. Rhyme.+–Rhyme is a regular recurrence of similar sounds. In a broad sense, it may include sounds either terminal or not, but as here used it refers to terminal sounds.

Just as we expect a recurrence of accent in a line, so may we expect a recurrence of similar sounds at the end of certain lines of poetry. The interval between the rhymes may be of different lengths in different poems, but when the interval is once established, it should be followed throughout the poem. A rhyme out of place jars upon the rhythmic perfection of a stanza just as an accent out of place interferes with the rhythm of the verse.

Not only should the rhymes occur at expected places, but they should be the expected rhymes; that is, real rhymes. If we are expecting a word which will rhyme with _blossom_ and find _bosom_, or if we are expecting a rhyme for _breath_ and find _beneath_, the effect is unpleasant. The rhymes named above are based on spelling, while a real rhyme is based on sound. A correct rhyme should have precisely the same vowel sounds and the final consonants should be the same, but the initial consonant should be different. For example: _death, breath; home, roam; tongue, young; debating, relating_.

Notice the arrangement of the rhymes in the following selections:–

My soul to-day is far away,
Sailing the Vesuvian Bay;
My winged boat, a bird afloat,
Swims round the purple peaks remote.

–T. Buchanan Read.

I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down the valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorps, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.

–Tennyson.

I know it is a sin
For me to sit and grin
At him here;
But the old three-cornered hat
And the breeches, and all that,
Are so queer!

–Holmes.

The splendor falls on castle walls
And snowy summits old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying; Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

–Tennyson.

Breathes there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne’er within him burned As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering in a foreign strand! If such there be, go mark him well:
For him no minstrel raptures swell; High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim: Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch concentered all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.

–Scott.

+115. Blank Verse.+–When rhyme is omitted, we have blank verse. This is the most dignified of all kinds of verse, and is, therefore, appropriate for epic and dramatic poetry, where it is chiefly found. Most blank verse makes use of the iambic pentameter measure, but we find many exceptions. Read the following examples of blank verse so as to show the rhythm:–

So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan that moves
To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not like the quarry slave at night Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach the grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

–Bryant.

I stood upon the steps–
The last who left the door–and there I found The lady and her friend. The elder turned And with a cordial greeting took my hand, And rallied me on my forgetfulness.
Her eyes, her smile, her manner, and her voice. Touched the quick springs of memory, and I spoke Her name. She was my mother’s early friend Whose face I had not seen in all the years That had flown over us, since, from her door, I chased her lamb to where I found–myself.

–Holland.

+116. The Stanza.+–Some of our verse is continuous like Milton’s _Paradise Lost_ or Shakespeare’s plays, but much of it is divided into groups called stanzas. The lines or verses composing a stanza are bound together by definite principles of rhythm and rhyme. Usually stanzas of the same poem have the same structure, but stanzas of different poems show a variety of structure.

Two of the most simple forms are the couplet and the triplet. They often form a part of a continuous poem, but they are occasionally found in divided poems.

The western waves of ebbing day
Roll’d o’er the glen their level way.

–Scott.

A chieftain’s daughter seemed the maid; Her satin snood, her silken plaid,
Her golden brooch such birth betray’d.

–Scott.

A stanza of four lines is called a quatrain. The lines of quatrains show a variety in the arrangement of their rhymes. The first two lines may rhyme with each other and the last two with each other; the first and fourth may rhyme and the second and third; or the rhymes may alternate. Notice the example on page 208, and also the following:–

I ask not wealth, but power to take
And use the things I have aright.
Not years, but wisdom that shall make My life a profit and delight.

–Phoebe Cary.

I count this thing to be grandly true: That a noble deed is a step toward God,– Lifting the soul from the common sod
To a purer air and a broader view.

–Holland.

A quatrain consisting of iambic pentameter verse with alternate rhymes is called an elegiac stanza.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds.

–Gray.

The Tennysonian stanza consists of four iambic tetrameter lines in which the first line rhymes with the fourth, and the second with the third.

Let knowledge grow from more to more, But more of reverence in us dwell;
That mind and soul, according well, May make one music as before.

–Tennyson.

Five and six line stanzas are found in a great variety. The following are examples:–

We look before and after,
And pine for what is not;
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

–Shelley.

And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring.
Let them smile as I do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling.

–Holmes.

The upper air burst into life;
And a hundred fire flags sheen,
To and fro they were hurried about; And to and fro, and in and out,
The wan stars danced between.

–Coleridge.

The Spenserian stanza consists of nine lines: the first eight are iambic pentameters, and the last line is an iambic hexameter or Alexandrine. Burns makes use of this stanza in _The Cotter’s Saturday Night._ The following stanza from that poem shows the plan of the rhymes:–

O Scotia! my dear, my native soil!
For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent! Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil
Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content! And oh! may Heaven their simple lives prevent From luxury’s contagion, weak and vile!
Then, howe’er crowns and coronets be rent, A virtuous populace may rise the while,
And stand a wall of fire around their much beloved isle.

EXERCISES

_A._ Scan the following:–

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The soul that rises with us, our life’s star, Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home.

–Wordsworth.

Into the sunshine,
Full of light,
Leaping and flashing
From morn to night!

–Lowell.

_B._ Name each verse in the following stanza:–

Hear the sledges with the bells–
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight–
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells–
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

–Poe.

+117. Kinds of Poetry.+-There are three general classes of poetry: narrative, lyric, and dramatic.

_A. Narrative poetry_, as may be inferred from its name, relates events which may be either real or imaginary. Its chief varieties are the epic, the metrical romance or lesser epic, the tale, and the ballad.

_An epic_ poem is an extended narrative of an elevated character that deals with heroic exploits which are frequently under supernatural control. This kind of poetry is characterized by the intricacy of plot, by the delineation of noble types of character, by its descriptive effects, by its elevated language, and by its seriousness of tone. The epic is considered as the highest effort of man’s poetic genius. It is so difficult to produce an epic that but few literatures contain more than one. Homer’s _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, Virgil’s _Aeneid_, the German _Nibelungenlied_, the Spanish _Cid_, Dante’s _Divine Comedy_, and Milton’s _Paradise Lost_ are important epics found in different literatures.

A _metrical romance_ or lesser epic is a narrative poem, shorter and less dignified than the epic. Longfellow’s _Evangeline_ and Scott’s _Marmion_ and _Lady of the Lake_ are examples of this kind of poetry.

_A metrical tale is_ a narrative poem somewhat simpler and shorter than the metrical romance, but more complex than the ballad. Longfellow’s _Tales of a Wayside Inn_, Tennyson’s _Enoch Arden_, and Lowell’s _Vision of Sir Launfal_ are examples of the tale.

_A ballad_ is the shortest and most simple of all narrative poems. It relates but a single incident and has a very simple structure. In this kind of poetry the interest centers upon the incident rather than upon any beauty or elegance of language. Many of the Robin Hood Ballads are well known. Macaulay’s _Lays of Ancient Rome_ and Longfellow’s _Wreck of the Hesperus_ are other examples of the ballad. It may be well to note here that it is not always possible to draw definite lines between two different kinds of narrative poetry. In fact, there will sometimes be a difference of opinion as regards the classification.

_B. Lyric poetry_ was the name originally applied to poetry that was to be sung to the accompaniment of the lyre, but now the name is often applied to poems that are not intended to be sung at all. Lyric poetry deals primarily with the feelings and emotions. Love, hate, jealousy, grief, hope, and praise are emotions that may be expressed in lyric poetry. Its chief varieties are the song, the ode, the elegy, and the sonnet.

A _song_ is a short poem intended to be sung. Songs may be divided into sacred and secular. _Jerusalem, the Golden_, and _Lead, Kindly Light_, are examples of sacred songs. Secular songs may be patriotic, convivial, or sentimental.

An _ode_ expresses exalted emotion and is more complex in structure than the song. Some of the best odes in our language are Dryden’s _Ode to St. Cecilia_, Wordsworth’s _Ode on Intimations of Immortality_, Keats’s _Ode on a Grecian Urn_, Shelley’s _Ode to a Skylark_, and Lowell’s _Commemoration Ode_.

An _elegy_ is a lyric pervaded by the feeling of grief or melancholy. Milton’s _Lycidas_, Tennyson’s _In Memoriam_, and Gray’s _Elegy in a Country Churchyard_ are all noted elegies.

Composition-Rhetoric by Stratton D. Brooks (page 4)