alytical practical grammar - Toronto Public Library

PROSODY-VERSIFICATION.
233
3. Time n has , passed, and the , lady is , pale,
Pale as the , lily that I lolls on the , gale.
1104. By combiDiDg these kind!l, examples of tetrameter, pentamet6r,
nnd even llexameter, nre obtained; but they are seldom used.
1105. A doctylic verse seldom eDds with 0. dactyl; it more commonly
adds a long syllable, sometimes a trochee, as in the follpwiDg lines:-
Brlghtllst and, best Of the , suns Of the , mOrnIng,
Dawn on our , darkness and ,lend us thine , aid.
1106. The following i8 an example of dactyls and spondees aller.
nately:-
Green III the , wIldwood, profldly the, tiill tree ,looks on the ,
brown plain.
The following is an example of pure dactylic hexameter:
Over the, viilley, wUh , speed llke the , WInd, all tM , steeds were
. a-galloptng.
1l07. Con~idering the beauty of this kind of verse, and its peculiar
ndaptednees to gay and cheerful movements, it is surprising that is has
Hot beeu more cultivated.
MIXED VERSES.
1108. Scarcely any poem is perfectly regular in its feet. Iambic
"f'rse, for example, sometimes admits otper feet into the line, particularly
at the beginning, as has been already noticed. The followiDg are exam­
I,les of iambic lines With different feet introduced:-
Trochee. I'rl>phet , of plagues, , forev , er bod , ing ill !
Dactyl. Murmuring, , and with, him fiedlthe shadeslof night.
Anctpo:st. Before I all tem , pIes the up , right heart' and pure.
PY1·rhic. Brought death' tnto I the world, and all-our woo
Tlibrach. And thun-ders down' impet-uous to , the plain.
1109. In iambic verse, the initial short syllable is sometimes omitted;
and the verse becomes trochaic with an additioDal long syllable.
1110. In trochaic versp, the initial long syllable is sometimes omitted;
nnd t.he line becomes iambic with an additional short syllable.
1111. If the two fhort syllables Bre omitted at the beginniDg of an
mlapre.~tic \ine, it becomes dactylic with a long syllable added. So-
1112. If tbe initial long syllable is omitted in a dactylic verse, it be·
comes anapreslic with two short syllables added.
1113 A pleasing movement is produced by intermingling iambuses and
anap(r.!tic, :IS in the following lines :-
" I come, I I come! , ye have ciilled , me long;
I come I o'er the moun , talns with lIght I and song!
Ye m~y trace I my. steps , o~er t~1\ wakJ_enIn~ earth,
By the Winds whlCh tell, of the vI I olet's bIrth,
By the prim , rose stars I of the shad I owy grass,
By the green ,leaves op , aning I as I pass."