This poem is also attributed to Alexander Pope and it is

published in his works.

Measure, Trimeter.

Rhythm, Trochaic.

Formula, Ab × 3.

Sign,X 3.

EXAMPLE (1).

Gō not, happy day,

From the shining fields,

Gō not, happy day,

Till the maiden yields.

Rōsy is the Wēst,

Rōsy is the South,

Rōses are her cheeks,

And å rōse her mouth.

When the happy Yes

Fälters from her lips,
Pass and blush the news

Ō'er the blowing ships,
Övěr blowing seas,
Ōvěr seas åt rēst,

Pass the happy news,

Blush it thro' the West,
Till the red mån dance

By his red cedǎr-tree,
And the red man's babe
Leap, beyond the sea.
Blush from West to East,

Blush from East to West,

Till the West is East,

Blush it thro' the West.

Rōsy is the West,

Rōsy is the South,

Rōses are her cheeks,

And ǎ rōse her mouth.

Alfred Tennyson-"Maud."

EXAMPLE (2).

LYRICS AND EPICS.

I would be the Lyric,
Ever on the lip,
Rather than the Epic
Memory lěts slip!

I would be the diamond
At my lady's ear,
Rather than the June-rose

Wōrn but once ǎ year!

Thomas Bailey Aldrich—“Lyrics and Epics."

EXAMPLE (3).

Swinging on ǎ birch-tree

Tō ǎ sleepy tūne,

Hummed by all thě breēzēs
In the month of June!
Little leaves ǎ-flutter,

Sound like dancing drōps

Of ǎ brook on pebbles;

Sōng that never stops.

Lucy Larcom-“Swinging On a Birch Tree.”

Another poem that will never die illustrates this measure. In addition to its perfect versification there is something of heaven's own music, something supernal, in the poem. Its lines are so elevating and pure, with a sweet tenderness of expression unsurpassed :

"Every tinkle on the shingles

Has an echo in the heart."

EXAMPLE (3).

The fifth of six stanzas is here given :

And another cōmes, to thrill mě
With her eyes' dělicious blue;
And I mind not—mūsing ōn hĕr,
That her heart was all untrue;

I remember būt to love her

With ǎ passion kin tŎ păin,

And my heart's quick pulses vibrǎte
Tō the patter of the rain.

Measure, Pentameter.

Rhythm, Trochaic.

Formula, Ab X 5.

Coates Kinney-" Rain on the Roof."

Sign,X 5.

EXAMPLE (1).

Tall thě plūmǎge of the rush-flower tōsses;
Sharp and soft in many ǎ curve and line,
Gleam and glow the sea-colored mărsh-mōsses,
Salt and splendid from the circling brine;
Streak Ŏn streak of glimmering sea shine crōsses
All the land sea-săturăte as with wine.

A. C. Swinburne-" By the North Sea."

EXAMPLE (2).

Mother, dear, what is the water saying?
Mother, dear, why does the wild sea roar?"
Cry the children on the white sănd playing,-
On the white sånd, hälf å mile from shōre,
"Little ōnes, I fear å stōrm is growing.

Cōme ǎway! Ŏh, lēt ŭs hāstěn hōme!”
Calls the mother; and the wind is blowing;
Flashing up ǎ million eyes of fōam.

The following poem is by one of our best authors, and the poem from which selection is taken one of his best lyrics. The measures are mixed and present an example of :

Ist, Dimeter; 2nd, Trimeter; 3rd, Pentameter; 4th, Dimeter; 5th, Pentameter.

EXAMPLE (3).

Jingle! Jinglě!

How the fields go by!

Earth and air in snowy sheen commingle,

Får ånd nigh;

Is the ground beneath ŭs, ōr the skỹ?

Edmund Clarence Stedman “The Sleigh Ride."

Něvěr yết hăs poět sũng a perfect song,

But his life was rooted like ǎ tree's, ǎmōng

Earth's great feeding fōrcès-ēven ås crāgs and mould,
Rhythms that stir the fōrest by firm fibres hōld.

Lucy Larcom-"The Trees."

From the works of the same author we take another example—the first and third stanzas :

EXAMPLE (2).

Happy fields of summer, all your airy grāsses
Whispering and bōwing when the West wind passes,
Happy lark and nestling, hid běnēath thě mōwing,
Root sweet music in yoŭ, tō the white clouds growing.

Happy little children, skies åre bright ǎbōve yoŭ,

Trees bend down to kiss yoŭ, breeze ănd blōssom lōve you;
And we bless you, playing in the field-păths māzỹ,
Swinging with the hārebĕll, dancing with the daisy !

Lucy Larcom—“Happy Fields of Summer."