The Grammar of English Grammars by Gould Brown

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.–Trochaic verse without the final short syllable, is the same as iambic would be without the _initial_ short syllable;–it being quite plain, that iambic, so changed, _becomes trochaic, and_ is iambic no longer. But trochaic, retrenched of its last short syllable, is trochaic still; and can no otherwise be made iambic, than by the prefixing of a short syllable to the line. Feet, and the orders of verse, are distinguished one from an other by two things, and in general by two only; the number of syllables taken as a foot, and the order of their quantities. Trochaic verse is always as distinguishable from iambic, as iambic is from any other. Yet have we several grammarians and prosodies who contrive to confound them–or who, at least, mistake catalectic trochaic for catalectic iambic; and that too, where the syllable wanting affects only the last foot, and makes it perhaps but a common and needful caesura.

OBS. 2.–To suppose that iambic verse may drop its initial short syllable, and still be iambic, still be measured as before, is not only to take a single long syllable for a foot, not only to recognize a pedal caesura at the _beginning_ of each line, but utterly to destroy the only principles on which iambics and trochaics can be discriminated. Yet Hiley, of Leeds, and Wells, of Andover, while they are careful to treat separately of these two orders of verse, not only teach that any order may take at the end “an additional syllable,” but also suggest that the iambic _may drop_ a syllable “from the first foot,” without diminishing the number of feet,–without changing the succession of quantities,–without disturbing the mode of scansion! “Sometimes,” say they, (in treating of iambics,) “a syllable is cut off from the first foot; as,

OBS. 3.–Now this couplet is the precise exemplar, not only of the thirty-six lines of which it is a part, but also of the most common of our trochaic metres; and if this may be thus scanned into iambic verse, so may all other trochaic lines in existence: distinction between the two orders must then be worse than useless. But I reject this doctrine, and trust that most readers will easily see its absurdity. A prosodist might just as well scan all iambics into trochaics, by pronouncing each initial short syllable to be hypermeter. For, surely, if deficiency may be discovered at the _beginning_ of measurement, so may redundance. But if neither is to be looked for before the measurement ends, (which supposition is certainly more reasonable,) then is the distinction already vindicated, and the scansion above-cited is shown to be erroneous.

OBS. 4.–But there are yet other objections to this doctrine, other errors and inconsistencies in the teaching of it. Exactly the same kind of verse as this, which is said to consist of “_four iambuses_” from one of which “a syllable _is cut off_,” is subsequently scanned by the same authors as being composed of “_three trochees_ and an _additional_ syllable; as,

There is, in the works here cited, not only the inconsistency of teaching two very different modes of scanning the same species of verse, but in each instance the scansion is wrong; for all the lines in question are _trochaic of four feet_,–single-rhymed, and, of course, catalectic, and ending with a caesura, or elision. In no metre that lacks but one syllable, can this sort of foot occur _at the beginning_ of a line; yet, as we see, it is sometimes _imagined_ to be there, by those who have never been able to find it _at the end_, where it oftenest exists!

OBS. 5.–I have hinted, in the main paragraph above, that it is a common error of our prosodists, to underrate, by one foot, the measure of all trochaic lines, when they terminate with single rhyme; an error into which they are led by an other as gross, that of taking for hypermeter, or mere surplus, the whole rhyme itself, the sound or syllable most indispensable to the verse.

“(For rhyme the _rudder_ is of verses, With which, like ships, they steer their courses.)”–_Hudibras._

Iambics and trochaics, of corresponding metres, and exact in them, agree of course in both the number of feet and the number of syllables; but as the former are slightly redundant with double rhyme, so the latter are deficient as much, with single rhyme; yet, the number of feet may, and should, in these cases, be reckoned the same. An estimable author now living says, “Trochaic verse, with an additional long syllable, is the same as iambic verse, without the initial short syllable.”–_N. Butler’s Practical Gram._, p. 193. This instruction is not quite accurate. Nor would it be right, even if there could be “iambic verse without the initial short syllable,” and if it were universally _true_, that, “Trochaic verse may take an additional _long_ syllable.”–_Ibid._ For the addition and subtraction here suggested, will inevitably make the difference of a foot, between the measures or verses said to be the same!

OBS. 6.–“I doubt,” says T. O. Churchill, “whether the _trochaic_ can be considered as a legitimate English measure. All the examples of it given by Johnson have an additional long syllable at the end: but these are _iambics_, if we look upon the additional syllable to be at the beginning, which is much more agreeable to the analogy of music.”–_Churchill’s New Gram._, p. 390. This doubt, ridiculous as must be all reasoning in support of it, the author seriously endeavours to raise into a general conviction _that we have no trochaic order of verse!_ It can hardly be worth while to notice here all his remarks. _”An additional long syllable”_ Johnson never dreamed of–“at the end”–“at the beginning”–or anywhere else. For he discriminated metres, not by the number of feet, as he ought to have done, but by the number of _syllables_ he found in each line. His doctrine is this: “Our _iambick_ measure comprises verses–Of four syllables,–Of six,–Of eight,–Of ten. Our _trochaick_ measures are–Of three syllables,–Of five,–Of seven. These are the measures _which are now in use_, and above the rest those of seven, eight and ten syllables. Our ancient poets wrote verses sometimes of twelve syllables, as Drayton’s Polyolbion; and of fourteen, as Chapman’s Homer.” “We have another measure very quick and lively, and therefore much used in songs, which may be called the _anapestick_.

‘May I govern my passion with absolute sway, And grow wiser and better as life wears away.’ _Dr. Pope_.

“In this measure a syllable is often retrenched from the first foot, [;] as [,]

‘When present we love, and when absent agree, I th’nk not of I’ris [.] nor I’ris of me.’ _Dryden_.

“These measures are varied by many combinations, and sometimes by _double endings_, either with or without rhyme, as in the _heroick_ measure.

”Tis the divinity that stirs _within us_, ‘Tis heaven itself that points out an _hereafter._.’ _Addison_.

“So in that of eight syllables,

‘They neither added nor confounded, They neither wanted nor abounded.’ _Prior_.

“In that of seven,

‘For resistance I could _fear none_, But with twenty ships had done,
What thou, brave and happy _Vernon_, Hast achieved with six alone.’ _Glover_.

“To these measures and their laws, may be reduced every species of English verse.”–_Dr. Johnson’s Grammar of the English Tongue_, p. 14. See his _Quarto Dict._ Here, except a few less important remarks, and sundry examples of the metres named, is Johnson’s _whole scheme_ of versification.

OBS. 7.–How, when a prosodist judges certain examples to “have an additional long syllable at the end,” he can “look upon the additional syllable to be at the beginning,” is a matter of marvel; yet, to abolish trochaics, Churchill not only does and advises this, but imagines short syllables removed sometimes from the beginning of lines; while sometimes he couples final short syllables with initial long ones, to make iambs, and yet does not always count these as feet in the verse, when he has done so! Johnson’s instructions are both misunderstood and misrepresented by this grammarian. I have therefore cited them the more fully. The first syllable being retrenched from an _anapest_, there remains an _iambus_. But what countenance has Johnson lent to the gross error of reckoning such a foot an anapest still?–or to that of commencing the measurement of a line by including a syllable not used by the poet? The preceding stanza from Glover, is _trochaic of four feet_; the odd lines full, and of course making double rhyme; the even lines catalectic, and of course ending with a long syllable counted as a foot. Johnson cited it merely as an example of “_double endings_” imagining in it no “additional syllable,” except perhaps the two which terminate the two trochees, “fear none” and “Vernon.” These, it may be inferred, he improperly conceived to be additional to the regular measure; because he reckoned measures by the number of syllables, and probably supposed single rhyme to be the normal form of all rhyming verse.

OBS. 8.–There is false scansion in many a school grammar, but perhaps none more uncouthly false, than Churchill’s pretended amendments of Johnson’s. The second of these–wherein “the old _seven_[-]_foot iambic_” is professedly found in two lines of Glover’s _trochaic tetrameter_–I shall quote:–

“In the anapaestic measure, Johnson himself allows, that a syllable is often retrenched from the first foot; yet he gives _as an example of trochaics with an additional syllable at the end of the even lines_ a stanza, which, by adopting the _same principle_, would be in the iambic measure:

In fact, _the second and fourth lines_ here stamp the character of the measure; [Fist] _which is the old seven[-]foot iambic broken into four and three_, WITH AN ADDITIONAL SYLLABLE AT THE BEGINNING.”–_Churchill’s New Gram._, p. 391.

After these observations and criticisms concerning the trochaic order of verse, I proceed to say, trochaics consist of the following measures, or metres:–

MEASURE I.–TROCHAIC OF EIGHT FEET, OR OCTOMETER.

_Example I.–“The Raven”–First Two out of Eighteen Stanzas_.

Double rhymes being less common than single ones, in the same proportion, is this long verse less frequently terminated with a full trochee, than with a single long syllable counted as a foot. The species of measure is, however, to be reckoned the same, though catalectic. By Lindley Murray, and a number who implicitly re-utter what he teaches, the verse of _six trochees_, in which are _twelve syllables_ only, is said “to be _the longest_ Trochaic line that our language admits.”–_Murray’s Octavo Gram._, p. 257; _Weld’s E. Gram._, p. 211. The examples produced here will sufficiently show the inaccuracy of their assertion.

_Example II.–“The Shadow of the Obelisk.”–Last two Stanzas._

_Example III.–“The Slaves of Martinique.”–Nine Couplets out of Thirty-six._

_Example IV.–“The Present Crisis”–Two Stanzas out of sixteen._

_Example V.–The Season of Love.–A short Extract_.

Trochaic of eight feet, as these sundry examples will suggest, is much oftener met with than iambic of the same number; and yet it is not a form very frequently adopted. The reader will observe that it requires a considerable pause after the fourth foot; at which place one might divide it, and so reduce each couplet to a stanza of four lines, similar to the following examples:–

PART OF A SONG, IN DIALOGUE.

SYLVIA.

CORIN.

SYLVIA.

CORIN.

_Poems by_ ANNA LAETITIA BARBAULD, p. 56.

PART OF A CHARITY HYMN.

A still more common form is that which reduces all these tetrameters to single rhymes, preserving their alternate succession. In such metre and stanza, is Montgomery’s “Wanderer of Switzerland, a Poem, in Six Parts,” and with an aggregate of eight hundred and forty-four lines. Example:–

_First six stanzas of Part VI_, pp. 71 and 72.

MEASURE II.–TROCHAIC OF SEVEN FEET, OR HEPTAMETER.

_Example.–Psalm LXX,[510] Versified._

This verse, like all other that is written in very long lines, requires a caesural pause of proportionate length; and it would scarcely differ at all to the ear, if it were cut in two at the place of this pause–provided the place were never varied. Such metre does not appear to have been at any time much used, though there seems to be no positive reason why it might not have a share of popularity. To commend our versification for its “boundless variety,” and at the same time exclude from it forms either unobjectionable or well authorized, as some have done, is plainly inconsistent. Full trochaics have some inconvenience, because all their rhymes must be double; and, as this inconvenience becomes twice as much when any long line of this sort is reduced to two short ones, there may be a reason why a stanza precisely corresponding to the foregoing couplets is seldom seen. If such lines be divided and rhymed at the middle of the fourth foot, where the caesural pause is apt to fall, the first part of each will be a trochaic line of four feet, single-rhymed and catalectic, while the rest of it will become an iambic line of three feet, with double rhyme and hypermeter. Such are the prosodial characteristics of the following lines; which, if two were written as one, would make exactly our full trochaic of seven feet, the metre exhibited above:–

But trochaic of seven feet may also terminate with single rhyme, as in the following couplet, which is given anonymously, and, after a false custom, erroneously, in N. Butler’s recent Grammar, as “trochaic of _six feet, with an additional long syllable_:–

In Frazee’s Grammar, a separate line or two, similar in metre to these, and rightly reckoned to have _seven feet_, and many lines, (including those above from Tennyson, which W. C. Fowler erroneously gives for _Heptameter_,) being a foot longer, are presented as trochaics of _eight_ feet; but Everett, the surest of our prosodists, remaining, like most others, a total stranger to our octometers, and too little acquainted with trochaic heptameters to believe the species genuine, on finding a couple of stanzas in which two such lines are set with shorter ones of different sorts, and with some which are defective in metre, sagely concludes that all lines of more than “_six trochees_” must necessarily be condemned as prosodial anomalies. It may be worth while to repeat the said stanzas here, adding such corrections and marks as may suggest their proper form and scansion. But since they commence with the shorter metre of six trochees only, and are already placed under that head, I too may take them in the like connexion, by now introducing my third species of trochaics, which is Everett’s tenth.

MEASURE III.–TROCHAIC OF SIX FEET, OR HEXAMETER.

_Example.–Health_.

This metre appears to be no less rare than the preceding; though, as in that case, I know no good reason why it may not be brought into vogue. Professor John S. Hart says of it: “This is the _longest_ Trochaic verse that seems _to have been cultivated_.”–_Hart’s Eng. Gram._, p. 187. The seeming of its cultivation he doubtless found only in sundry modern grammars. Johnson, Bicknell, Burn, Coar, Ward, Adam,–old grammarians, who vainly profess to have illustrated “every species of English verse,”–make no mention of it; and, with all the grammarians who notice it, _one anonymous couplet_, passing from hand to hand, has everywhere served to exemplify it.

Of this, “the line of six Trochees,” Everett says: “This measure _is languishing_, and rarely used. The following example is often cited:

Again: “We have the following from BISHOP HEBER:–

Only the first _and the third_ lines of these stanzas are to our purpose,” remarks the prosodist. That is, only these he conceived to be “lines of six Trochees.” But it is plain, that the third line of the first stanza, having seven long syllables, must have seven feet, and cannot be a trochaic hexameter; and, since the third below should be like it in metre, one can hardly forbear to think the words which I have inserted in brackets, were accidentally omitted.

Further: “It is worthy of remark,” says he, “that the second line of each of these stanzas is composed of _six Trochees_ and an _additional long syllable_. As its corresponding line is an Iambic, and as the piece has some licenses in its construction, it is _far safer_ to conclude that this line is an _anomaly_ than that it forms a distinct species of verse. We must therefore conclude that the tenth [the metre of six trochees] is the longest species of Trochaic line known to English verse.”–_Everett’s Versification_, pp. 95 and 96.

This, in view of the examples above, of our longer trochaics, may serve as a comment on the author’s boast, that, “having deduced his rules from the usage of the great poets, he has the best reason for being confident of their correctness.”–_Ibid._, Pref., p. 5.

Trochaic hexameter, too, may easily be written with _single rhyme_; perhaps more easily than a specimen suited to the purpose can be cited from any thing already written. Let me try:–

_Example I.–The Sorcerer_.

_Example II.–An Example of Hart’s, Corrected_

A couplet of this sort might easily be reduced to a pleasant little stanza, by severing each line after the third foot, thus:–

But a similar succession of eleven syllables, six long and five short, divided after the seventh, leaving two iambs to form the second or shorter line,–(since such a division produces different orders and metres both,–) will, I think, retain but little resemblance in rhythm to the foregoing, though the actual sequence of quantities long and short is the same. If this be so, the particular measure or correspondent length of lines is more essential to the character of a poetic strain than some have supposed. The first four lines of the following extract are an example relevant to this point:–

_Ariel’s Song._

MEASURE IV.–TROCHAIC OF FIVE FEET, OR PENTAMETER

_Example I.–Double Rhymes and Single, Alternated_.

_Example II–Rhymes Otherwise Arranged._

This measure, whether with the final short syllable or without it, is said, by Murray, Everett, and others, to be “_very uncommon_.” Dr. Johnson, and the other old prosodists named with him above, knew nothing of it. Two couplets, exemplifying it, now to be found in sundry grammars, and erroneously reckoned to _differ as to the number of their feet_, were either selected or composed by Murray, for his Grammar, at its origin–or, if not then, at its first reprint, in 1796. They are these:–

(1.)

_L. Murray’s Gram._, 12mo, 175; 8vo, 257; _Chandler’s_, 196; _Churchill’s_, 187; _Hiley’s_, 126; _et al._

(2.)

_Murray, same places; N. Butler’s Gr._, p. 193; _Hallock’s_, 244; _Hart’s_, 187; _Weld’s_, 211; _et al._

Richard Hiley most absurdly scans this last couplet, and all verse like it, into “_the Heroic measure_,” or a form of our _iambic pentameter_; saying, “Sometimes a syllable is cut off from the _first_ foot; as,

J. S. Hart, who, like many others, has mistaken the metre of this last example for “_Trochaic Tetrameter_,” with a surplus “syllable,” after repeating the current though rather questionable assertion, that, “this measure is very uncommon,” proceeds with our “_Trochaic Pentameter_,” thus: “This species is likewise uncommon. It is composed of five trochees; as,

And again: [[Fist]] “_The SAME with an ADDITIONAL accented syllable_; as,

These examples appear to have been made for the occasion; and the latter, together with its introduction, made unskillfully. The lines are of five feet, and so are those about the ruddy farmer; but there is nothing “_additional_” in either case; for, as pentameter, they are all _catalectic_, the final short syllable being dispensed with, and a caesura preferred, for the sake of single rhyme, otherwise not attainable. “Five trochees” and a rhyming “syllable” will make trochaic _hexameter_, a measure perhaps more pleasant than this. See examples above.

MEASURE V.–TROCHAIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER.

_Example I.–A Mournful Song_.

_Example II.–A Song Petitionary_.

_Example III.–Song of Juno and Ceres_.

_Example IV.–On the Vowels_.

_Example V.–Use Time for Good_.

_Example IV.[sic for VI–KTH]–“The Turkish Lady”–First Four Stanzas_.

_Example VII.–The Palmer’s Morning Hymn_.

_Example VIII–A Short Song, of Two Stanzas_.

_Example IX.–Lingering Courtship_.

_Example X.–“Boadicea”–Four Stanzas from Eleven_.

_Example XI–“The Thunder Storm”–Two Stanzas from Ten_.

_Example XII.–“The Triumphs of Owen,” King of North Wales._[513]

_Example XIII.–“Grongar Hill.”–First Twenty-six Lines_.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.–This is the most common of our trochaic measures; and it seems to be equally popular, whether written with single rhyme, or with double; in stanzas, or in couplets; alone, or with some intentional intermixture. By a careful choice of words and style, it may be adapted to all sorts of subjects, grave, or gay; quaint, or pathetic; as may the corresponding iambic metre, with which it is often more or less mingled, as we see in some of the examples above. Milton’s _L’Allegro_, or _Gay Mood_, has one hundred and fifty-two lines; ninety-eight of which are iambics; fifty-four trochaic tetrameters; a very few of each order having double rhymes. These orders the poet has _not_–“very ingeniously _alternated_” as Everett avers; but has simply interspersed, or commingled, with little or no regard to alternation. His _Il Penseroso_, or _Grave Mood_, has twenty-seven trochaic tetrameters, mixed irregularly with one hundred and forty-nine iambics.

OBS. 2.–Everett, who divides our trochaic tetrameters into two species of metre, imagines that the catalectic form, or that which is single-rhymed, “has a _solemn effect_,”–“imparts to all pieces _more dignity_ than any of the other short measures,”–“that no trivial or humorous subject should be treated in this measure,”–and that, “besides dignity, it imparts an air of _sadness_ to the subject.”–_English Verses._, p. 87. Our “line of four trochees” he supposes to be “_difficult_ of construction,”–“not of very _frequent_ occurrence,”–“the most _agreeable_ of all the trochaic measures,”–“remarkably well adapted to lively subjects,”–and “peculiarly expressive of the eagerness and fickleness of the passion of love.”–_Ib._, p. 90. These pretended metrical characteristics seem scarcely more worthy of reliance, than astrological predictions, or the oracular guessings of our modern craniologists.

OBS. 3.–Dr. Campbell repeats a suggestion of the older critics, that gayety belongs naturally to all trochaics, as such, and gravity or grandeur, as naturally, to iambics; and he attempts to find a reason for the fact; while, perhaps, even here–more plausible though the supposition is–the fact may be at least half imaginary. “The iambus,” says he, “is expressive of dignity and grandeur; the trochee, on the contrary, according to Aristotle, (Rhet. Lib. Ill,) is frolicsome and gay. It were difficult to assign a reason of this difference that would be satisfactory; but of the thing itself, I imagine, most people will be sensible on comparing the two kinds together. I know not whether it will be admitted as a sufficient reason, that the distinction into metrical feet hath a much greater influence in poetry on the rise and fall of the voice, than the distinction into words; and if so, when the cadences happen mostly after the long syllables, the verse will naturally have an air of greater gravity than when they happen mostly after the short.”–_Campbell’s Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 354.

MEASURE VI.–TROCHAIC OF THREE FEET, OR TRIMETER.

_Example I.–Youth and Age Contrasted_.

_Example II–Common Sense and Genius_.

This short measure is much oftener used in stanzas, than in couplets. It is, in many instances, combined with some different order or metre of verse, as in the following:–

_Example III.–Part of a Song_.

_Example IV.–From an Ode to the Thames_.

_Example V.–“The True Poet”–First Two of Nine Stanzas_.

_Example VI.–“Summer Longings”–First Two of Five Stanzas_.

MEASURE VII.–TROCHAIC OF TWO FEET, OR DIMETER.

_Example I.–Three Short Excerpts._

_Example II.–Specimen with Single Rhyme.

“To Quinbus Flestrin, the Man-Mountain”_

A LILLIPUTIAN ODE

II.

III.

_Example III.–Two Feet with Four._

_Example IV.–Lines of Three Syllables with Longer Metres_.

1. WITH TROCHAICS.

2. WITH IAMBICS.

_Example V.–“The Shower.”–In Four Regular Stanzas_.

_Example VI.–“A Good Name?”–Two Beautiful Little Stanzas_.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.–Trochaics of two feet, like those of three, are, more frequently than otherwise, found in connexion with longer lines, as in some of the examples above cited. The trochaic line of three syllables, which our prosodists in general describe as consisting, not of two feet; but “of one Trochee and a long syllable,” may, when it stands alone, be supposed to consist of one _amphimac_; but, since this species of foot is not admitted by all, and is reckoned a secondary one by those who do admit it, the better practice is, to divide even the three syllables into two feet, as above.

OBS. 2.–Murray, Hart, Weld, and many others, erroneously affirm, that, “The _shortest_ Trochaic verse in our language, consists of one Trochee and a long syllable.”–_Murray’s Gram._, p. 256; _Hart’s, First Edition_, p. 186; _Weld’s, Second Edition_, p. 210. The error of this will be shown by examples below–examples of _true “Trochaic Monometer_,” and not of Dimeter mistaken for it, like Weld’s, Hart’s, or Murray’s.

OBS. 3.–These authors also aver, that, “This measure is _defective in dignity_, and can seldom be used on serious occasions.”–_Same places_. “Trochaic of _two feet_–is likewise so _brief_, that,” in their opinion, “it is rarely used for any very serious purpose.”–_Same places_. Whether the expression of love, or of its disappointment, is “any very serious purpose” or not, I leave to the decision of the reader. What lack of dignity or seriousness there is, in several of the foregoing examples, especially the last two, I think it not easy to discover.

MEASURE VIII.–TROCHAIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER.

_Examples with Longer Metres_.

1. WITH IAMBICS.

2. WITH ANAPESTICS, &c.

“T~o l=ove ~and t~o l=angu~ish,
T~o s=igh | ~and c~ompl=ain,
H~ow cr=u~el’s th~e =angu~ish!
H~ow t~orm=ent | -~ing th~e p=ain! Suing,
Pursuing,
Flying,
Denying,
O the curse | of disdain!
How torment | -ing’s the pain!”
GEO. GRANVILLE: _Br. Poets_, Vol. v, p. 31.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.–The metres acknowledged in our ordinary schemes of prosody, scarcely amount, with all their “boundless variety,” to more than one half, or three quarters, of what may be found in _actual use_ somewhere. Among the foregoing examples, are some which are longer, and some which are shorter, than what are commonly known to our grammarians; and some, also, which seem easily practicable, though perhaps not so easily quotable. This last trochaic metre, so far as I know, has not been used alone,–that is, without longer lines,–except where grammarians so set examples of it in their prosodies.

OBS. 2.–“Trochaic of One foot,” as well as “Iambic of One foot,” was, I believe, first recognized, prosodically, in Brown’s Institutes of English Grammar, a work first published in 1823. Since that time, both have obtained acknowledgement in sundry schemes of versification, contained in the new grammars; as in Farnum’s, and Hallock’s, of 1842; in Pardon Davis’s, of 1845; in S. W. Clark’s, and S. S. Greene’s, of 1848; in Professor Fowler’s, of 1850. Wells, in his School Grammar, of 1846, and D. C. Allen, in an other, of 1847, give to the _length of lines_ a laxity positively absurd: “_Rhymed_ verses,” say they, “may consist of _any number_ of syllables.”–_Wells_, 1st Ed., p. 187; late Ed., 204; _Allen_, p. 88. Everett has recognized “_The line of a single Trochee_,” though he repudiates some long measures that are much more extensively authorized.

ORDER III.–ANAPESTIC VERSE.

In full Anapestic verse, the stress is laid on every third syllable, the first two syllables of each foot being short. The first foot of an anapestic line, may be an iambus. This is the most frequent diversification of the order. But, as a diversification, it is, of course, not _regular_ or _uniform_. The stated or uniform adoption of the iambus for a part of each line, and of the anapest for the residue of it, produces verse of the _Composite Order_. As the anapest ends with a long syllable, its rhymes are naturally single; and a short syllable after this, producing double rhyme, is, of course, supernumerary: so are the two, when the rhyme is triple. Some prosodists suppose, a surplus at the end of a line may compensate for a deficiency at the beginning of the next line; but this I judge to be an error, or at least the indulgence of a questionable license. The following passage has two examples of what may have been _meant_ for such compensation, the author having used a dash where I have inserted what seems to be a necessary word:–

The anapestic measures are few; because their feet are long, and no poet has chosen to set a great many in a line. Possibly lines of five anapests, or of four and an initial iambus, might be written; for these would scarcely equal in length some of the iambics and trochaics already exhibited. But I do not find any examples of such metre. The longest anapestics that have gained my notice, are of fourteen syllables, being tetrameters with triple rhyme, or lines of four anapests and two short surplus syllables. This order consists therefore of measures reducible to the following heads:–

MEASURE I.–ANAPESTIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER.

_Example I.–A “Postscript.”–An Example with Hypermeter._

_Example II.–“The Feast of the Poets.”–First Twelve Lines._

_Example III.–The Crowning of Four Favourites._

_Example IV.–“Glenara.”–First Two of Eight Stanzas._

_Example V.–“Lochiel’s Warning.”–Ten Lines from Eighty-six._

_Example VI.–“The Exile of Erin.”–The First of Five Stanzas._

_Example VII.–“The Poplar Field.”_

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.–Everett avers, that, “The purely Anapestic measure is more easily constructed than the Trochee, [Trochaic,] and of much more frequent occurrence.”–_English Versification_, p. 97. Both parts of this assertion are at least very questionable; and so are this author’s other suggestions, that, “The Anapest is [necessarily] the vehicle of _gayety and joy_;” that, “Whenever this measure is employed in the treating of _sad_ subjects, _the effect is destroyed_;” that, “Whoever should attempt to write an elegy in this measure, would be _sure to fail_;” that, “The words might express grief, but the measure _would express joy_;” that, “The Anapest should never be employed throughout a _long piece_;” because “buoyancy of spirits can never be supposed to last,”–“sadness _never leaves us_, BUT joy remains but for a moment;” and, again, because, “the measure is _exceedingly monotonous_.”–_Ibid._, pp. 97 and 98.

OBS. 2.–Most anapestic poetry, so far as I know, is in pieces of no great length; but Leigh Hunt’s “Feast of the Poets,” which is thrice cited above, though not a long _poem_, may certainly be regarded as “_a long piece_,” since it extends through fifteen pages, and contains four hundred and thirty-one lines, all, or nearly all, of anapestic tetrameter. And, surely, no poet had ever more need of a metre well suited to his purpose, than he, who, intending a critical as well as a descriptive poem, has found so much fault with the versification of others. Pope, as a versifier, was regarded by this author, “not only as no master of his art, but as a very indifferent practiser.”–_Notes on the Feast of the Poets_, p. 35. His “_monotonous and cloying_” use of numbers, with that of Darwin, Goldsmith, Johnson, Haley, and others of the same “school,” is alleged to have wrought a general corruption of taste in respect to versification–a fashion that has prevailed, not temporarily,

“_But ever since Pope spoil’d the ears of the town With his cuckoo-song verses, half up and half down_”–_Ib._

OBS. 3.–Excessive monotony is thus charged by one critic upon all verse of “the purely Anapestic measure;” and, by an other, the same fault is alleged in general terms against all the poetry “of the school of Pope,” well-nigh the whole of which is iambic. The defect is probably in either case, at least half imaginary; and, as for the inherent joyousness of anapestics, that is perhaps not less ideal. Father Humphrey says, “Anapaestic and amphibrachic verse, being similar in measure and movement, are pleasing to the ear, and well adapted to cheerful and humourous compositions; and _sometimes to elegiac compositions_, and subjects important and solemn.”–_Humphrey’s English Prosody_, p. 17.

OBS. 4.–The anapest, the dactyl, and the amphibrach, have this in common,–that each, with one long syllable, takes two short ones. Hence there is a degree of similarity in their rhythms, or in their several effects upon the ear; and consequently lines of each order, (or of any two, if the amphibrachic be accounted a separate order,) are sometimes commingled. But the propriety of acknowledging an order of “_Amphibrachic verse_,” as does Humphrey, is more than doubtful; because, by so doing, we not only recognize the amphibrach as one of the principal feet, but make a vast number of lines ambiguous in their scansion. For our Amphibrachic order will be _made up_ of lines that are commonly scanned as anapestics–such anapestics as are diversified by an iambus at the beginning, and sometimes also by a surplus short syllable at the end; as in the following verses, better divided as in the sixth example above:–

MEASURE II.–ANAPESTIC OF THREE FEET, OR TRIMETER.

_Example I.–“Alexander Selkirk.”–First Two Stanzas._

II.

_Example II.–“Catharina.”–Two Stanzas from Seven._

IV.

_Example III.–“A Pastoral Ballad.”–Two Stanzas from Twenty-seven._

(8.)

(9)

Anapestic lines of four feet and of three are sometimes alternated in a stanza, as in the following instance:–

_Example IV.–“The Rose.”_

MEASURE III.–ANAPESTIC OF TWO FEET, OR DIMETER.

_Example I.–Lines with Hypermeter and Double Rhyme._

“CORONACH,” OR FUNERAL SONG.

_Example II.–Exact Lines of Two Anapests._

_Example III–An Ode, from the French of Malherbe_.

“Cette Anne si belle,
Qu’on vante si fort,
Pourquoi ne vient elle?
Vraiment, elle a tort!
Son Louis soupire,
Apres ses appas;
Que veut elle dire,
Qu’elle ne vient pas?
S’il ne la possede,
Il s’en va mourir;
Donnons y remede,
Allons la querir.”
WILLIAM KING, LL. D.: _Johnson’s British Poets_, Vol. iii, p. 590.

_Example IV.–‘Tis the Last Rose of Summer_.

I’ll not leave | thee, thou lone | _~one!_

The Grammar of English Grammars by Gould Brown (page 38)