150

Measure, Dimeter.

Rhythm, Iambic.

Formula, bA X 2.

Sign,X 2.

EXAMPLE (1).

Ŏnce through the fōrest
Alōne I went ;

To seek for nothing

My thoughts were bent.

I saw in the shadow

A flower stånd there;

Ås stārs it glistened,
Ås ēyes 'twas fāir.

I sought to pluck ĭt,—
It gently said:
“Shăll Ī bě gāthĕred
Ōnly to fāde?"

With all its roots

I dug it with care,
And took it hōme
To my garden fair.

In silent corner
Soon it was sēt;
There grows it ēvĕr—

There blooms it yet.

EXAMPLE (2).

Though care and strife

Elsewhere be rife,

Goethe-"Found.”

Upon my word I do not heed 'em ;

In bed I lie

With books hård by,

Ånd with increasing zēst Í rēad 'ěm.

Eugene Field-"De Amicitiis."

Measure, Trimeter.

Rhythm, Iambic.

Formula, bA X 3.

Sign,X 3.

EXAMPLE (I).

Ŏh you the virgins nine,
That dō our souls incline

To nōble discipline.

Nŏd to this vōw of mine!
Come then, ǎnd now inspire
My viol and my lyre
With your ĕternal fire,
And make me one entire
Composer in your chōir.
Then I'll your altǎrs strēw
With roses sweet and new,
And ever live ǎ true

Acknowledger of yoū.

Robert Herrick-"A Hymn to the Muses."

EXAMPLE (2).

Löst! löst ! löst !

A gem of countless price
Cut from the living rōck,

And graved in Părădise,

Sět round with three times eight

Large diamonds, clear and bright,

And each with sixty smaller ōnes,

All changeful as the light.

Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney-"A Lost Day.”

EXAMPLE (3).

Come, all yě jōlly shepherds

That whistle through the glen,
I'll tell you of ǎ secrèt

That courtiers dīnnă kēn:

What is the greatest bliss

Thắt thể tongue of mãn căn name?

'Tis to woo ǎ bōnnie lässiĕ

When thě kye comes hāme!

James Hogg-" When the Kye Comes Hame."

Measure, Tetrameter.

Rhythm, Iambic.

Formula, bA X 4.

Sign, X 4.

EXAMPLE (I).

For while thou lingerěst in delight,—
An idlě pōět, with thy rhyme,

The summer hōurs will take their flight
And leave theĕ in ǎ barren clime.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich-"Song Time."

EXAMPLE (2).

I once knew all the birds that came

And nested in our ōrchård trees;

For every flower I had ǎ name—

My friends were wood-chucks, tōads, ånd bees;

I knew where thrived in yōnder glēn

What plants would soothe ǎ stōne-bruised tõe

Ŏh! I was very learned thēn ;

But that was vērỳ lōng ǎgō!

Eugene Field-"Long Ago."

EXAMPLE (3).

Have you not heard the pōěts tēll
How came the dainty Baby Bell
Into this world of ōurs?

The gates of heaven wĕre lēft ǎjār:
With folded hands and dreamy eyes,
Wandering out of Pārădise,

She saw this plānět, like ǎ stār,

Hung in the glistening depths of evěn–
Its bridges, running tō ănd frō,

Ŏ'er which the white-winged Angels gō,
Bearing the hōly dead to heaven.

She touched ǎ bridge of flōwers-those feet
So light they did not bẽnd the bells
Of the celestial asphŏdēls,

They fell like dēw upōn the flowers;

Then all the air grew strangely sweet!

And thus căme dainty Bāby Bell

Into this world of ōurs.

153

Thomas Bailey Aldrich-" Baby Bell."

EXAMPLE (4).

"Man wants but little here below,

Nor wants that little lōng."

'Tis not with mẽ ĕxactly sō,
But 'tis so in the song.

My wants ǎre mănỹ, and if tōld,

Would muster many ǎ score:

And were each wish ǎ mint Ŏf gōld,

I still should lōng för mōre.

John Quincy Adams, "The Wants of Man."

EXAMPLE (5).

Mỹ days ămōng the dead ăre passed ;
Ăroūnd mě Ĭ běhōld,

Where'er these căsăăl eyes ǎre cast,

The mighty minds of ōld: