in, certain lines of a stanza in writing, or preparing it for the printer. The practice varies so greatly that no fixed rule may be stated, but an examination of the stanzas quoted in this chapter will show that the three prevailing arrangements are to indent not at all, indent only the first line, or align the first words of those lines which rhyme with each other. Unless the poet feels secure enough in his mastery to hew out a new way for himself, it is better to follow the scheme of indentation used by some poet who uses the type of stanza which is to be followed in technique.

EXERCISES FOR CLASS USE AND SELF-INSTRUCTION

I. Look up the derivation of the words stanza and

meter.

2. Make a scrap-book collection of every possible form of stanza, beginning with the couplet. So far as you can, give them names and mark the accents.

3. Cut from the magazines ten different sorts of stanza; for example, three several quatrains would be regarded as three kinds if the feet used were different.

4. When a thought comes to mind already moulded in a rhythmic line, is it likely to be cast in a meter appropriate to its expression?

5. In reading a poem for the first time, do you find that the meter and the stanza-forms usually attract your attention?

6. If a meter obtrudes upon your notice, does that suggest that its choice was unfortunate?

7. In your opinion, would some of Hood's serious

poems in jingling meter have been better had he moulded them in forms more popular with other poets?

8. Will more than one meter be thoroughly appropriate to the expression of any given thought?

IO.
II.

Write a line in iambic pentameter.

Write an Alexandrine line.

Select three stanza-forms shown in this chapter and write a stanza in each style, considering fitness first of all.

12. (a) Recast in another stanza-form a stanza from one of the poets. (b) Apart from its poetic language, if that is materially altered, does it suffer by the change?

13. Take an ornate passage from either Burke, Macaulay, Emerson, or Irving, and do it over into verse. Note that exclamatory sentences will often aid you in this sort of translation.

14. Take one of your own quatrains and change it into a tail-rhyme stanza.

15. Select one of your own themes, carefully consider the most suitable meter and stanza-form, and write a series of verses. For practice purposes, do not hesitate. to model your work on that of others, yet seek to cultivate originality. Invent other exercises which will give you a mastery of many metrical and stanza forms. Do a great deal of recasting in order to attain to variety.

CHAPTER XII

IRREGULARITIES

The more inspired the poet may be and the loftier the theme, the less likely are we to turn the crystal over in search of flaws. When we are rapt out of ourselves we fail to notice any little liberties the poet may have taken with the language, and we are ready enough to pardon them if they attract our attention. -BRANDER MATTHEWS, A Study of Versification.

Irregularity should proceed from strength and not from weakness. Great poets used many irregularities, but only because they were so well able to do without them. "Nice customs curtsey to great kings," but ordinary mortals had better observe nice customs. 1. Irregularity is Allowable if it Indicates Difference in Meaning.

When you do dance, I wish you

A wave o' the sea, that you might ever do
Nothing but that.

-SHAKESPEARE, Winter's Tale.

Here the verse dances with the extra syllable in "A wave o' the sea.

The one red leaf, the last of its clan,
That dances as often as dance it can,

Hanging so light, and hanging so high,

On the topmost twig that looks up to the sky.

-COLERIDGE, Christabel.

Here Coleridge makes the red leaf dance with his dancing verse. In his introduction to this poem he says, "The meter of the Christabel is not, properly speaking, irregular, though it may seem so from its being founded on a new principle; namely, that of counting in each line the accents, not the syllables. Though the latter may vary from seven to twelve, yet in each line the accents will be found to be only four. Nevertheless this occasional variation in number of syllables is not introduced wantonly, or for the mere ends of convenience, but in correspondence with some transition, in the nature of the imagery or passion."

Coleridge did good service in delivering English verse from the fetters in which it had been bound by Pope.

A beautiful example of irregularity caused by, and enhancing, the meaning of verse, is found in the exquisite opening lines of Tennyson's "The Sleeping Palace."

The varying year with blade | and sheaf |
Clothes and reclothes | the happy plains. |

There is, you see, an extra syllable in the word varying. Suppose we substitute for it the word changing.

The changing year | with blade | and sheaf |
Clothes and reclothes | the happy plains.

We have here absolute regularity and the same meaning, but the beauty of the line has fled. The slight turn given to Tennyson's line by the extra light syllable in varying, makes us see the change of season, and the sound of the

y gives us pleasure as it is repeated in the sound of the word year.

2. Other Irregularities

Elision is the partial or entire loss of a vowel-sound at the end of a word when the next word begins a vowel, as th' for the, i' th' for in the, and o' th' for of the. It is used not only to avoid a false accent but also to subdue unimportant words in the line.

Slurring is passing lightly over unimportant syllables for the same purposes as in the case of the elision. Thus, radiant, or beauteous may be pronounced in the time of two syllables; the extra syllable is not suppressed but hurried over, giving variety and lightness to the verse. It should be noted, however, that this sort of irregularity, in common with all others, must be used but seldom, or at most with careful intention. Here are two good examples:

From diamond quarries hewn and rocks of gold.

A violet by a mossy stone.

-MILTON.

-WORDSWORTH.

Contraction is the suppression of an entire syllable. Some words, like heaven and power, may be pronounced as one syllable if the meter requires it. Formerly, contracted words were written heav'n, pow'r, but it is now the custom to print them in full.

Expansion is accenting a normally silent syllable for