6. In English poetry all syllables may be regarded as being accented or unaccented; each line contains a certain number of poetic feet, the divisions of which correspond to bars in music; a certain number of connected syllables Found, as they strayed, the soul divine Of Aristophanes."-MERIVALE. "The hero ceased, and silence still prevailed, Till warlike Menelaus thus replied."-CowPER's Iliad. "Here hapless Icarus had found his part, Had not the father's grief restrained his art."-DRYDEN. The different kinds of verse are named according to the arrangement of long and short syllables in a line, and their divisions into what are called poetic feet. They are called feet, because it is by their aid that the voice steps through the verse in a measured pace. All syllables are either accented or unaccented. The different poetic feet, which are either of two or of three syllables, may be represented by the marks for the long and short sounds; the former denoting the accented, and the latter the unaccented syllables. Of these several poetic feet, those most used in English are the Iam'bus, the Tro'ehee, the Dae-tyl, and the An'apest, but each is found in lines of different length. The several kinds are not always kept pure and distinct. It is only of one or more of these four kinds that a poem of any length can be wholly or in great part formed; and according as either may prevail, the verse is called I am'bic, Tro chā'ic, Anapest'ic, or Dac tyl'ic. 10 Syllables. With sōljĕmn ād|ŏrā|tion down | they cast 12 Syllables. English Their crowns, inwōve | with am|ărānth | ănd gōld. Heroic Verse. 14 Syllables. The Lōrd | děscen❘děd frōm | ăbōve, | ănd bōw'd | the Heavens high. 10 Syllables. Virtue's | bright'ning | rãy shăll | bēam fōr | ēvēr. forming a foot in the one, as a certain number of notes make a bar in the other. In each line, also, are certain poetic pauses, which the good reader naturally makes without instruction, because he finds them necessary for preserving the melody. These pauses are the final pause, which is a slight pause at the end of a line, whether the sense require it or not; and one or more slight casu'ral pauses in the harmonic divisions of the line. 7. The principal cæsu'ral pause in English heroic verse 12 Syllables. 2d and 4th lines deficient in the last foot. Scōrnfully, Bird of the wilderness, Bōys will ăn ticipăte, | lavish ănd | dissipăte All that your | būsă păte | hōarděd with | cāre; And in their foolishness, | passion, and | mūlishness, Charge you with | churlishness, | spurning your | prāy'r. DACTYLIO HEXAMETER. Each line has five dactyls, with a spondee at the end: 17 syllables. This is the fōrěst pri mēvăl; but where are the hearts that beneath it Leap'd like the | rõe when it | hears in the | woodlănd the | võice of the | huntsman ? 12 Syllables. My right | there is nōne | to dispute. LONGFELLOW. With a leap | and ă bōund | the swift An|ăpěsts thrōng. At the close of the day, when the hamlet is still. In any of the foregoing species of poetry, a line may have, from a deficiency in some one metrical foot, a syllable more or a syllable less than the requisite number. Spon'dees, pyr'rhics, am'phibraehs, and tri'brachs are also sometimes brought in, in irregular forms of poetry; but when we pass beyond the four established kinds of poetic measure, the verse becomes difficult of execution, and is generally inharmonious. But see exception in "Alexander's Feast," I 336, which is mainly, however, in iambic measure. The following is a good specimen of verse that is mostly amphi brach'ic: Thou heard'st ǎ | low mōaning, And saw'st ǎ | bright lādỹ | surpassing|ly fair."-COLERIDGE. falls, most melodiously, after the 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th sylla ble; and it is found that the farther the pause is removed, the more is the melody changed, from a brisk and spirited movement, to one of constantly increasing gravity. A good poet will strive so to construct his verse that the pause of melody will always coincide with the pause of sense. 8. The following philosophical verse, in Iambic measure, happily illustrates the several positions of the principal cæsü'ral pause, which requires only a very slight suspension of the voice. Here it falls twice after the ninth syllable: NATURE'S CONTROLLING POWER. "Nature to all things | fix'd the limits fit, And wisely curb'd | proud man's pretending wit: 9. The variety of rhyming poetry in our language is very great. Sometimes the rhyming lines are in couplets; sometimes the first and third, and the second and fourth lines, rhyme; and sometimes the rhyming lines are at a considerable distance from each other. In Greek and Latin, rhyme is almost unknown; in French and Italian, there is hardly such a thing as blank verse; while in English, both forms are nearly alike prevalent. 10. It has often been said that there may be poetry which is neither in blank verse nor in rhyme; and we sometimes find prose so measured in its cadence, and so much raised in its tone, as to contain nearly all the essentials of poetry— as in the English translation of Ossian. Beautiful thoughts, and elevated and refined sentiments, are also often spoken of as of the essence of true poetry; and in this sense there is much truth in the following views, so happily expressed by our own poet Willis : 11. "There is poetry that is not written. It is living in the hearts of many to whom rhyme is a mystery. As I here use it, it is a delicate perception; something which is in the nature, enabling one man to detect harmony, and know forms of beauty, better than another. It is like a peculiar gift of vision, not creating a new world, but making the world we live in more visible; enabling us to combine, and separate, and arrange elements of beauty into the fair proportions of a picture. The poet hears music in common sounds, and sees loveliness by the wayside. There is not a change in the sky, nor a noise of the water, nor a sweet human voice, which does not bring him pleasure. He sees all the light and hears all the music about him—and this is poetry." 12. The most practically important classification of poetry is that which is based upon the character of the subjects of which it treats. These, beginning with the most simple and natural forms, and ascending to those that are the most dignified, are pastoral, lyric, epic, and dramatic poetry, in addition to narrative, descriptive, and didactic, which have already been referred to. 13. PASTORAL POETRY, from the Latin word pastor, a shepherd, originally meant that poetry in which the scenes and objects of a shepherd's life are celebrated or described; but the term is now generally applied to all poetry descriptive of rural objects and scenes-such as are commonly the delight of childhood and youth; and to which, in more advanced years, most people recur with pleasure. Nothing seems to flow more readily into poetic numbers than descriptions of rivers and mountains, meadows and hills, flocks and trees, and the quiet joys of country life. The best specimens of pastoral poetry are the Bucolics of Virgil, Thomson's Seasons, and most of Walter Scott's poems. 14. LYRIC POETRY, so called from the lyre, an important musical instrument of the ancients, embraces all poetry intended to be set, or that might readily be set to music. The subjects of which it treats may be extremely various, consisting, however, of sentiments rather than of actions; and it is written in a more bold and passionate strain than would be suitable in simple narration. It includes the bal lad, songs, odes, sonnets, psalms, hymns, etc. The Psalms of David, the odes of Anac'reon and Horace, and many of the shorter poems of modern poets, are examples of this kind of composition. As it expresses all varieties of sentiment and feeling, it employs, for its varied purposes, all kinds of poetic measure. 15. An EPIC POEM is the recital of some great enterprise in a poetical form, in which some distinguished hero bears a conspicuous part; and its object is to excite admiration by great and noble deeds, and thereby inspire a love of virtue, bravery, justice, fidelity, and truth. In an Epic poem we look for every thing that is sublime in description, tender in sentiment, and noble in action. The great Epic poems of the world are the Il'iad and Od'yssey of Homer, the Æ në'id of Virgil, the Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, and the Paradise Lost of Milton. 16. DRAMATIC POETRY, which is always founded upon a regular plot or story, contains no narrative on the part of the poet; but every thing is supposed to be spoken or performed on the stage, by the several actors or characters who are introduced. Hence it is always in the form of dialogue or soliloquy. Of this poetry there are two divisions, Tragedy and Comedy, both designed as an exhibition of men and manners; but while the former treats, principally, of the loftier passions, and the greater vices, successes, and distresses of mankind, the latter is limited to an exhibition of their whims, fancies, foibles, and follies. Shakspeare is considered the greatest of dramatic writers. LESSON CXXXVIII. DIFFERENT MEASURES OF POETRY. 1. THE effects produced upon the ear by different kinds of poetic measure are well illustrated in the following extract, in which the short-stepping, firm, and abrupt movement of the words of one and two syllables in the first four lines, is happily contrasted by the sprightly, graceful, and galloping movement of those of three or more syllables in |