144 EXAMPLE (3). Now the hare is snared and dead beside the snow-yård, And my baby in his cradle in the church-yård Waitĕth there until the bells bring me. Charles Kingsley-"The Merry Lark." Each couplet of the trochaic hexameter is sometimes divided into alternate lines of six and five syllables, forming the trochaic IIS of our hymns. Measure, Heptameter. Rhythm, Trochaic. Iambic heptameter is what is termed ballad meter, being lines of tetrameter and trimeter alternately. There can be no good reason shown why trochaics can not also be used in the same manner. One thing, however, must necessarily be observed, where it is thus divided, every other line becomes iambic While the first and third lines will be trochaic and catalectic, the second and fourth will be iambic and hyper meter. Trochaics of seven feet are exceedingly rare. We find few examples. It is not certainly on account of the extreme length, for trochaics octometer of late years are plentiful and can no longer be termed "prosodial anomalies,” as they were formerly termed. This is the 75 and 6s of our hymns : "Stop, poor sinner, stōp and think," Will you spōrt ŭpōn the brink Of everlasting wōe?" It will be observed the second and fourth lines are iambic. If, however, the lines were not alternated they would be trochaic. EXAMPLE (1). Cleon sees no chārms în nātŭre, în ǎ dãisỹ I ; Cleon hears no anthem ringing in the sea and skỹ; Nature sings to me forever, earnest listener I ; State for state, with all attendants, who would change? Not I. Charles Mackay—“Cleon and I.” EXAMPLE (2). Hōly, hōly, hōly! Though the darkness hide Theě, Reginald Heber-"Trinity Hymn." EXAMPLE (3). Hästen sinner tō rěpēnt theě, tūrn to Gōd ănd live, Seek forgiveness, seek his blessing,haste theĕ, haste ǎway!— Trust Him, sinnĕr, hē will bless thee, onlỹ mērcỹ crāve Christ has left a true religion, that we may not ērr, "Hasten Sinner to Repent Thee." Measure, Octometer. Rhythm, Trochaic. Formula, Ab × 8. Sign, X 8. EXAMPLE (1). She was walking in the spring-time, in the morning-tide of life, For the flowers were peeping cōylỹ, and the sunshine glistened bright, And the dewdrops lingered, quivĕring, like fairy bells of light. "Oh! the world must be å pārădise with promises like these! There's no cănkĕr in thě blössŏms, and nŏ blight upōn thě treēs.” Hunter-"The Curtain." EXAMPLE (2). In the spring ǎ füller crimson cōmes ŭpōn thẻ rõbin's brēast ; EXAMPLE (3). Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak Děcember, And each separăte dying ember wrōught its ghōst ŭpōn the floōr. Eagerly I wished the mōrrow; vãinlỹ Ĩ hăd sõught tŎ bōrrŎw From my books surcease of sorrow, -sōrrow fōr the löst Lenōre, Fōr the rare and rădiănt mãiděn whōm the angels nāme Lenōre,— IAMBIC. As before observed the iambic measure is used more than all others combined. Accent in iambic verse is placed on the even syllables, and the odd ones are unaccented. This measure must always be commenced with a regular foot of two syllables, although the first may be a trochee, and often is. However, the first foot cannot be commenced with a single syllable. By an attempt to commence the first foot of the verse with a single accented syllable, you will simply change the measure to trochaic. A single syllable not accented, frequently is added to the end of the verse. It is, however, not to be reckoned as anything but supernumerary unless we should term the ending an amphibrach. Dactyls and anapests, where they serve to explain the meter of a line of poetry should be used, as it is far better to do so than to have recourse to extra metrical syllables. It is sometimes difficult to tell the prevailing foot. However, only the accents are to be counted, and where a proper scansion is made the introduction of other feet causes no trouble. A dactyl may be often employed instead of a trochee, an anapest for an iambus. This usually occurs where one unaccented vowel precedes another in what we usually regard as separate syllables, and both are clearly heard, although uttered in such quick succession that both syllables occupy only half the time in utterance a long syllable would require,. as : Full many à gēm of pūrěst rãy serene. "Gray's Elegy." The murmuring wind, the quivering leaf, Shall softly tell us thōu art nēar ! Oliver Wendell Holmes-" Hymn of Trust." The words "murmuring" and "quivering" are pronounced naturally with more rapidity. So too “many a in the first example. Lines may contain ten syllables and yet be only iambic The last two syllables being hypermetrical, as: tetrameter. There was an ancient sage Philosopher Who had read Alexander Rōss Ŏvěr. Butler's "Hudibras." Extra metrical syllables can, however, occur, and are permissible only at the end of a line, or verse. Such syllables are always unaccented. Measure, Monometer. Sign, Poems in this measure are very rare. The measure is often used, however, to construct a single line, in combination with other lines in forming a stanza. |