The English Language Part 97

-- 633. The metres of the cla.s.sical languages consist _essentially_ in the recurrence of similar quant.i.ties; accent also playing a part. The incompatibility of the cla.s.sical metres with the English prosody lies in the fact (stated at p. 166), _that the cla.s.sic writer measures quant.i.ty by the length of the syllable taken altogether, while the Englishman measures it by the length of the vowel alone_.

-- 634. The English metres consist essentially of the recurrence of similar accents; the recurrence of similar articulations being sometimes (as in all rhyming poetry) superadded.

-- 635. In the specimen of alliteration lately quoted the only articulation that occurred was the letter c. It is very evident that the _two_, the _three_, or the _four_ first letters, or even the whole syllable, might have coincided. Such is the case with the following lines from Lord Byron:

Already doubled is the cape, the bay Receives the _prow_, that _prou_dly _sp_urns the _sp_ray.

Alliteration, as an ornament, must be distinguished from alliteration as the essential character of metre. Alliteration, as an ornament, is liable to many varieties. {501}

-- 636. _Rhyme._--In _English_ versification, _rhyme_ is, next to accent, the most important element. The true nature of a rhyme may best be exhibited after the a.n.a.lysis of a syllable, and the exhibition of certain recurrent combinations, that look like rhyme without being so.

Let the syllable _told_ be taken to pieces. For metrical purposes it consists of three parts or elements: 1, the vowel (_o_); 2, the part preceding the vowel (_t_); 3, the part following the vowel (_ld_). The same may be done with the word _bold_. The two words can now be compared with each other. The comparison shows that the vowel is in each the same (_o_); that the part following the vowel (_ld_) is the same; and, finally, that the part preceding the vowel is _different_ (_t_ and _b_). This difference between the part preceding the vowel is essential.

_Told_, compared with itself (_told_), is no rhyme, but an _h.o.m.oeoteleuton_ ([Greek: h.o.m.oios], _h.o.m.oios_=_like_, and [Greek: teleute], _teleutae_=_end_) or _like-ending_. It differs from a rhyme in having the parts preceding the vowel alike. Absolute ident.i.ty of termination is not recognized in English poetry, except so far as it is mistaken for rhyme.

The soft-flowing outline that steals from the _eye_, Who threw o'er the surface? did you or did _I_?

WHITEHEAD.

Here the difference in spelling simulates a difference in sound, and a _h.o.m.oeoteleuton_ takes the appearance of a rhyme.

_Bold_ and _note_.--As compared with each other, these words have two of the elements of a rhyme: _viz._ the ident.i.ty of the vowel, and the difference of the parts preceding it. They want, however, the third essential, or the ident.i.ty of the parts following; _ld_ being different from _t_. The coincidence, however, as far as it goes, const.i.tutes a point in metre. The words in question are a.s.sonances in the limited sense of the term; and because the ident.i.ty lies in the _vowels_, they may be named vowel a.s.sonances. Vowel a.s.sonances are recognized in (amongst others) the Spanish and Scandinavian metrical systems. In English they occur only when they pa.s.s as rhymes. {502}

_Bold_ and _mild_.--Here also are two of the elements of a rhyme, viz., the ident.i.ty of the parts following the vowel (_ld_), and the difference of the parts preceding (_b_ and _m_). The ident.i.ty of the vowel (_o_ being different from _i_) is, however, wanting. The words in question are a.s.sonances in the limited sense of the term, and consonantal a.s.sonances.

Recognized in the Scandinavian, they occur in English only when they pa.s.s as rhymes.

Rhymes may consist of a single syllable, as _told_, _bold_, of two syllables, as _water_, _daughter_; of three, as _cheerily_, _wearily_. Now, the rhyme begins where the dissimilarity of parts immediately before the main vowel begins. Then follows the vowel; and, lastly, the parts after the vowel. All the parts after the vowel must be absolutely identical. Mere similarity is insufficient.

Then come ere a _minute's_ gone, For the long summer day Puts its wings, swift as _linnets'_ on, For flying away.--CLARE.[68]

In the lines just quoted there is no rhyme, but an a.s.sonance. The ident.i.ty of the parts after the main syllable is destroyed by the single sound of _g in gone_.

A rhyme, to be perfect, must fall on syllables equally accented.--To make _sky_ and the last syllable of merri_ly_ serve as rhymes, is to couple an accented syllable with an unaccented one.

A rhyme, to be perfect, must fall upon syllables absolutely accented.--To make the last syllables of words like fligh_ty_ and merri_ly_ serve as rhymes, is to couple together two unaccented syllables.

Hence there may be (as in the case of blank verse) accent without rhyme; but there cannot be rhyme without accent.

A rhyme consists in the combination of like and unlike _sounds_.--Words like _I_ and _eye_ (_h.o.m.oeoteleuta_), _ease_ and _cease_ (vowel a.s.sonances), _love_ and _grove_ (consonantal a.s.sonances), are printers'

rhymes; or mere combinations of like and unlike letters.

{503}

A rhyme, moreover, consists in the combination of like and unlike _articulate_ sounds. _Hit_ and _it_ are not rhymes, but identical endings; the _h_ being no articulation. To my ear, at least, the pair of words, _hit_ and _it_, comes under a different cla.s.s from the pair _hit_ (or _it_) and _pit_.

-- 637. A full and perfect rhyme (the term being stringently defined) consists in _the recurrence of one or more final syllables equally and absolutely accented, wherein the vowel and the part following the vowel shall be identical, whilst the part preceding the vowel shall be different.

It is also necessary that the part preceding the vowel be articulate._[69]

The deviations from the above-given rule, so common in the poetry of all languages, const.i.tute not rhymes, but a.s.sonances, &c., that, by poetic licence, are recognized as equivalents to rhymes.

-- 638. _Measure._--In lines like the following, the accent occurs on every second syllable; in other words, every accented syllable is accompanied by an unaccented one.

The way was long, the wind was cold.

This accented syllable and its accompanying unaccented one const.i.tute a _measure_. The number of the syllables being two, the measure in question is dissyllabic.

-- 639. In lines like the following the accent falls on every third syllable, so that the number of syllables to the measure is three, and the measure is trisyllabic.

At the close of the day when the hamlet is still.--BEATTIE.

The primary division of the English measures is into the dissyllabic and the trisyllabic.

{504}

-- 640. _Dissyllabic measures._--The words _trant_ and _presume_ are equally dissyllabic measures; in one, however, the accent falls on the first, in the other on the second syllable. This leads us to a farther division of the English measures.

A measure like _presume_ (where the accent lies on the second syllable) may be repeated throughout a whole verse, or a whole series of verses; as,

Then fare thee well mine own dear love; The world has now for us No greater grief, no pain above, The pain of parting thus.--MOORE.

Here the accent falls on the second syllable of the measure.

A measure like _trant_ (where the accent lies on the first syllable) may be repeated throughout a whole verse, or a whole series of verses; as,

Heed! O heed, my fatal story; i am Hosier's injured ghost; Come to seek for fame and glory, For the glory i have lost.--GLOVER.

The number of dissyllabic measures is, of necessity, limited to two.

-- 641. _Trisyllabic measures._--The words _merrily_, _disable_, _cavalier_, are equally trisyllabic, but not similarly accented. Each const.i.tutes a separate measure, which may be continued through a whole verse, or a whole series of verses; as,

1.

Merrily, merrily, shall I live now, under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

_Tempest._

2.

But vainly thou warrest; For this is alone in Thy power to declare: That in the dim forest Thou heard'st a low moaning, And saw'st a bright lady surpa.s.singly fair.

_Christabel._

{505} There's a beauty for ever unfadingly bright; Like the long ruddy lapse of a summer-day's night.

_Lalla Rookh._

The number of trisyllabic measures is, of necessity, limited to three.