A tetrameter, a line of four feet.

No littlě stārs shine out to-night.

A pentameter, a line of five feet.

How glad to feēl thǎt jõyoŭs night is here.

A hexameter, a line of six feet.

Come haste! and 'mid the darkness fleē ǎwāy, ǎway!

A heptameter, a line of seven feet.

Ere soon again the light of still ånōther tell-tǎle day.

An octometer, a line of eight feet.

I hear the sound of hoōf ǎfär! Tŏ ārms! To ārms!
'Tis war! 'Tis war!.

Lines in this measure, written in trochees or in iambuses are usually too lengthy for the ordinary page, hence, are frequently written in tetrameter.

It is more important in writing poetry to preserve the same number of accents in lines of like measure than the same number of syllables. An exception to this rule is in our ballad measure, where feet of three syllables are sometimes intermingled with the ordinary feet of two syllables. The redundant syllable in that case should be unaccented and devoid of stress, and capable of being pronounced rapidly. The time of the trisyllabic foot and the time of the dissyllabic foot should be equal. Each syllable should be pronounced distinctly, but with greater rapidity. Our best writers prefer the use of words in their natural state, to words used as follows: flowers to flow'rs, silvery to silv'ry, glistening to glist'ning, murmuring to murm'ring, th' for the, i' for in, a' for an. We have here a stanza from Whittier.

Bright flag åt yönder tapering mast!
Fling out your field of āzure blue;
Lět står ånd stripe bě westwărd căst,
And point as freēdŏm's ēaglĕ flēw !

Străin hōme! Ŏh, lithe and quivering spārs!
Point hōme, mỹ country's flag of stārs !
"Lines on Leaving Europe."

From Tennyson :

Begins the clash and clãng thắt tells

The joy to every wandering breēze ;
The blind wall röcks, ånd ōn the trees
The dead leaf trembles to the bells.

"In Memoriam."

In the first stanza, the words obedient, superfluous and flowers are used by the writer making lines of nine syllables, instead of syncopating the words; in the second stanza, māny a, and gēnerous, not gen'rous; in the third, tapering and quivering are used and not syncopated ; in the fourth stanza, ēvery and wandering are used in their full form instead of being contracted to the forms ev'ry and wand'ring as is often the case in some poems. Elision and

syncope, as a rule is no longer in use where it can be avoided, nevertheless, it is true, in some cases it is a help to the writer, and lends a charm to the rhythm.

Time is essentially the basis of all true rhythm, and true rhythm is in fact frequently destroyed to the cultivated ear by the syncopation of words that properly belong in the line, and that only need to be spoken in quicker time, which the ear is always ready to recognize. Not only is the ear offended, but the eye, that other organ that enables us to perceive the beauty of written verse.

POETIC PAUSES.

In addition to the regular pauses that occur in the verse or line of poetry, there are other pauses, known as the cesural, and the final pause. The Cesural pause is a natural suspension of the voice, which occurs in the verse, and is readily perceived when the verse is properly read. It is found in long lines, and usually occurs about the middle of the line. The art of the poet is shown in making these pauses occur where the thought requires them. Iambic pentameters usually have the cesural pause come after the fourth or fifth syllables. In Alexandrine, or iambic hexameter, the cesural pause usually occurs after the third foot. Two or more cesurals may sometimes occur in the same line. The cesura is indicated by two parallel lines; thus, ||. The final pause occurs at the end of every poetic line, and should always be observed in reading, even when not required by the grammatical construction.

We have selected the following lines from Pope, to illustrate the position of the cesura. Pope's ear was exceedingly accurate in matters of euphony, and the cesural pause

usually occurs after the fourth or fifth syllable in his verse Observe their position in the following lines:

or line.

But most by numbers || jūdge ǎ põět's sōng,

And smooth or rough,

with them, is right or wrong;

These equal syllables || ǎlōne require,

Tho' oft the ear || the ōpěn vōwels tire;

While explětivēs || thĕir feēblě aid dŏ jõin ;
And ten long wōrds || Ŏft creep in one dull line :
While they ring round || the same invāried chimes,
With sūre returns || of still recurring rhymes;
Where 'er you find || 'the cooling western breeze,'
In the next line || it 'whispers through the trees: '
If crystal streams || 'with pleasing murmurs creep,'
The reader's threat'něd ||—nōt în väin—with 'sleep.'
Then at the last || ănd only couplět, fraught

With some unmeaning thing || they call ǎ thought,
A needless Alexandrine || ends the song,

That, like ǎ wounded snake, || drags its slow length ălōng.
Leave such to tūne || their own dull rhymes, to know
What's roundly smooth, || Ŏr languishingly slōw;
And praise the ĕasỹ vigor || ōf ă line

Where Denham's strength || ǎnd Waller's sweetness jõin.
True ease in writing || comes from art, not chance,
Ås thōse move easiest || whō håve learned tŏ dance.

'T ĭs nōt ĕnōugh || nŏ hārshness gives öffense,

The sound müst seem ăn ếchš || to the sense.

"Essay on Criticism."

Let us take next an iambic hexameter by William Wordsworth.

The dew was falling fast, || the stārs began to blink;

I heard ǎ voice; it said, || “Drink, pretty creaturě, drink!”
And, loōking ō'er the hēdge, || běforé mě Ĭ ĕspied

A snow-white mōuntăin lãmb, || with ǎ maiden at its side.

It will be observed the pause occurs after the third foot. It is difficult to lay down absolute rules for the use of the cesura in English poetry. In a decasyllable line, it may

occur after any foot, and it is by shifting its place, that verse is rendered less monotonous. In shorter poems, especially of the amatory or lyric nature, it generally falls midway in the line or verse. The cesura should not divide a word; neither should it separate an adjective and its noun; nor an adverb and verb, when in either case, the latter immediately follows the former. The cesura is also counted a foot in poetry.

A single emphatic syllable is used frequently in variegated forms of verse, and when thus taken by itself it is termed a cesura. To illustrate, let us take a stanza in iambic rhythm -iambic trimeter :

Break, break, break.

Ŏn thy cōld grăy stōnes, Ŏ sẽa !

And I would that my tongue could utter

The thoughts that ǎrise în mē.

Tennyson-"Break, Break, Break."

We select the following stanza. It is trochaic rhythm, one of the best of a fastidious poet's productions. Nothing in its line has ever excelled it. We give the second

stanza :

Hear the mellow wedding bells,

Golden bells!

What ǎ world of happiness their harmony företells!

Through the bālmỹ air of night,

How they ring out their delight!
From the mōltěn gölděn nōtes,
And all in tune,

What ǎ liquid ditty floats