The hard earth whereon she passes,
With the thymy-scented grasses.

And all hearts do pray, "God love her."

-A Portrait: Mrs. Browning.

The two effects under consideration may not be apparent to the reader in all of these quotations; but if we turn to the stronger methods of securing the same endthose corresponding to the rising and falling circumflex,— none probably will fail to recognize them. Notice, in the

following, how the effect of the rising movement is increased when an accented syllable at the end of one line is followed immediately by an accent at the beginning of the next line:

Comrades, leave me here a little, while as yet 't is early morn;

Leave me here; and when you want me, sound upon the bugle-horn. -Locksley Hall: Tennyson.

In the same way, the checking effect of the falling movement is stronger when an unaccented syllable at the end of one line is followed by another unaccented syllable at the beginning of the next; e. g.:

With deep affection

And recollection,

I often think of

Those Shandon bells;

Whose sounds so wild would,

In the days of childhood,

Fling round my cradle

Their magic spells.

-The Bells of Shandon: F. Mahony.

But the rhythm corresponding to the rising inflection, besides emphatically opening the channel of thought, as if to speed its current onward, should also, according to the principles of elocution, have the effect of representing anticipation, hope. Look at this:

When ends life's transient dream,
When death's cold sullen stream

Shall o'er me roll,

Blest Saviour, then in love,

Fear and distrust remove,

O bear me safe above,

A ransomed soul.

-Hymn: Palmer.

And that corresponding to the falling inflection should

Here again, too, is anticipation, expectancy, hope:

Come, rest in this bosom, my own stricken deer,

Though the herd have fled from thee, thy home is still here;
Here still is the smile that no cloud can o'ercast,
And a heart and a hand all thine own to the last.

-Come, Rest, etc.: Moore.

And here, conclusiveness, confidence, assurance:

Come in the evening, or come in the morning;

Come when you 're looked for, or come without warning;
Kisses and welcome you 'll find here before you,

And the oftener you come here, the more I'll adore you.
-The Welcome: T. Davis.

This again, like the rising inflection, represents in decision, doubt:

That men with knowledge merely played,

I told thee-hardly nigher made,
Though scaling slow from grade to grade;

Much less this dreamer, deaf and blind,
Named man, may hope some truth to find,
That bears relation to the mind.

And this, corresponding to the falling inflection, represents so much decision and disregard of doubtful considerations as to seem flippant :

Ah, but traditions, inventions,

(Say we and make up a visage,)

So many men with such various intentions,

Down the past ages must know more than this age!
Leave the web all its dimensions !

-Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha: Browning.

The old fashioned narrative that dealt with facts, concerning which one could be decided and sure, could find a satisfactory expression in the hexameter; e. g.:

This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath it Leaped like the roe when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman ?

-Evangeline: Longfellow.

But the present age is analytic. Its narratives deal with motives, concerning which no one can be sure. Is this one reason why we prefer a more indecisive, hesitating movement? as in our heroic metre:

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world and all our woe, etc.

-Paradise Lost: Milton.

Or that we feel, instinctively, that the more decisive metre is fitter for the mock heroic?

Tell me whither I may hie me-tell me, dear one, that I may know,
Is it up the highest Andes ? down a horrible volcano ?

-Ferdinando and Elvira: Gilbert.

Or for the pathetic,—in a case like this, in which the very decisiveness of the mood, the remorseless assurance of being right, that is conveyed by the style, enhances the effect? Notice it:

One more unfortunate,
Weary of breath,
Rashly importunate,
Gone to her death.

-Bridge of Sighs: Hood.

CHAPTER X.

POETIC PITCH-MELODY AND RHYME.

Variety and Monotony in Elocution and Poetry representing less or more Control over Self and the Subject-True Significance of Alliteration, Assonance, etc.-Rhyme introducing Element of Sameness-Increases effects of Versification, of Unity of Poetic Form, of Emphasis of all Kinds, of Regularity of Movement, of Rapidity of Thought-Results of Changing the Order of the Occurrence of Rhymes in Tennyson's In Memoriam-Blank Verse admitting of Great Variety Preferable for Long Productions.

PASSING on now, to consider the poetic analogues for

variety and monotony in elocutionary melody, it will be recognized at once that the first is found in verse in which the sounds differ greatly, and the second in that in which they are very similar. The following, therefore, corresponding to varied melody, represent, and very appropriately, too, a buoyant, unrestrained mood, in which the soul is exercising very little control over either itself or its modes of expression (see page 95):

Her feet beneath her petticoat
Like little mice stole in and out,
As if they feared the light :
But oh, she dances such a way
No sun upon an Easter-day

Is half so fine a sight!

-Ballad upon a Wedding: Suckling.

Hast thou seen the down in the air,

When wanton blasts have tossed it?