1pFFjZK

282 THEORIES OF STYLE IN LITERATURE
" Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide seal
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony."
Of course the principle equally applies when the predicate
is a verb or a participle. And as effect is
gained by placing
first
all words indicating the quality, conduct, or condition of
the subject,
it
follows that the copula also should have precedence.
It is true that the general habit of our language
resists this arrangement of predicate, copula, and subject;
but we may readily
find instances of the additional force
gained by conforming to it.
Thus, in the line from " Julius
Caesar "
" Then burst his mighty heart,"
priority is given to a word embodying both predicate and
copula. In a passage contained in " The Battle of Flodden
Field," the like order is systematically employed with great
effect:
" The Border slogan rent the sky !
A home! a Gordon! was the cry;
Loud were the clanging blows :
Advanced, forced back, now low, now high,
The pennon sunk and rose;
As bends the bark's mast in the gale
When rent are rigging, shrouds, and sail,
It wavered 'mid the foes."
Pursuing the principle yet further,
it is obvious that for
producing the greatest effect, not only should the main divisions
of a sentence observe this sequence, but the subdivisions
of these should be similarly arranged. In nearly all cases,
the predicate
is
accompanied by some limit or qualification
called its
complement. Commonly, also, the circumstances of
the subject, which form its
complement, have to be specified.