The Grammar of English Grammars Part 191

_Example III.--The Shepherd's Hymn_.

"Oh, when | I rove | the des | -ert waste, | and 'neath | the hot | sun pant, The Lord | shall be | my Shep | -herd then, | he will | not let | me want; He'll lead | me where | the past | -ures are | of soft | and shad | -y green, And where | the gen | -tle wa | -ters rove, | the qui | -et hills | between.

And when | the sav | -age shall | pursue, | and in | his grasp | I sink, He will | prepare | the feast | for me, | and bring | the cool | -ing drink, And save | me harm | -less from | his hands, and strength | -en me | in toil, And bless | my home | and cot | -tage lands, and crown | my head | with oil.

With such | a Shep | -herd to | protect, | to guide | and guard | me still, And bless | my heart | with ev | -'ry good, | and keep | from ev | -'ry ill, _Surely_ | I shall | not turn | aside, | and scorn | his kind | -ly care, But keep | the path | he points | me out, | and dwell | for ev | -er there."

W. GILMORE SIMMS: _North American Reader_, p. 376.

_Example IV.--"The Far, Far Fast."--First six Lines._

"It was | a dream | of earl | -y years, | the long | -est and | the last, And still | it ling | -ers bright | and lone | amid | the drear | -y past; When I | was sick | and sad | at heart | and faint | with grief | and care, It threw | its ra | -diant smile | athwart | the shad | -ows of | despair: And still | when falls | the hour | of gloom | upon | this way | -ward breast, Unto | THE FAR, | FAR EAST | I turn | for sol | -ace and | for rest."

_Edinburgh Journal_; and _The Examiner_,

_Example V.--"Lament of the Slave."--Eight Lines from thirty-four._

"Behold | the sun | which gilds | _yon heaven_, how love | -ly it | appears!

And must | it s.h.i.+ne | to light | a world | of war | -fare and | of tears?

Shall hu | -man pas | -sion ev | -er sway | this glo | _-rious world_ | of G.o.d, And beau | -ty, wis | -dom, hap | -piness, | sleep with | the tram | -pled sod?

Shall peace | ne'er lift | her ban | -ner up, | shall truth | and rea | -son cry, And men | oppress | them down | with worse | than an | -cient tyr | -anny?

Shall all | the les | -sons time | has taught, | be so | long taught | in vain; And earth | be steeped | in hu | -man tears, | and groan | with hu | -man pain?"

ALONZO LEWIS: _Freedom's Amulet_, Dec. 6, 1848.

_Example VI.--"Greek Funeral Chant."--First four of sixty-four Lines._

"A wail | was heard | around | the bed, | the death | -bed of | the young; Amidst | her tears, | the Fu | _-neral Chant_ | a mourn | -ful moth | -er sung.

'I-an | -this dost | thou sleep?-- | Thou sleepst!-- | but this | is not | the rest, The breath | -ing, warm, | and ros | -y calm, | I've pil | -low'd on | my breast!'"

FELICIA HEMANS: _Poetical Works_, Vol. ii, p. 37.

Everett observes, "The _Iliad_ was translated into this measure by CHAPMAN, and the _aeneid_ by PHAER."--_Eng. Versif._, p. 68. Prior, who has a ballad of one hundred and eighty such lines, intimates in a note the great antiquity of the verse. Measures of this length, though not very uncommon, are much less frequently used than shorter ones. A practice has long prevailed of dividing this kind of verse into alternate lines of four and of three feet, thus:--

"To such | as fear | thy ho | -ly name, myself | I close | -ly join; To all | who their | obe | -dient wills to thy | commands | resign."

_Psalms with Com. Prayer: Psalm_ cxix, 63.

This, according to the critics, is the most soft and pleasing of our lyric measures. With the slight change of setting a capital at the head of each line, it becomes the regular ballad-metre of our language. Being also adapted to hymns, as well as to lighter songs, and, more particularly, to quaint details of no great length, this stanza, or a similar one more ornamented with rhymes, is found in many choice pieces of English poetry.

The following are a few popular examples:--

"When all | thy mer | -cies, O | my G.o.d!

My ris | -ing soul | surveys, Transport | -ed with | the view | I'm lost In won | -der, love, | and praise."

_Addison's Hymn of Grat.i.tude_.

"John Gil | -pin was | a cit | -izen Of cred | -it and | renown, A train | -band cap | -tain eke | was he Of fam | -ous Lon | -don town."

_Cowper's Poems_, Vol. i, p. 275.

"G.o.d pros | -per long | our no | -ble king, Our lives | and safe | -ties all; A wo | -ful hunt | -ing once | there did In Chev | -y Chase | befall,"

_Later Reading of Chevy Chase_.

"Turn, An | -geli | -na, ev | -er dear, My charm | -er, turn | to see Thy own, | thy long | -lost Ed | -win here, Restored | to love | and thee."

_Goldsmith's Poems_, p. 67.

"'Come back! | come back!' | he cried | in grief, Across | this storm | -y wa_ter_: 'And I'll | forgive | your High | -land chief, My daugh | -ter!--oh | my daugh_ter_!

'Twas vain: | the loud | waves lashed | the sh.o.r.e, Return | or aid | prevent_ing_:-- The wa | -ters wild | went o'er | his child,-- And he | was left | lament_ing_."--_Campbell's Poems_, p. 110.

The rhyming of this last stanza is irregular and remarkable, yet not unpleasant. It is contrary to rule, to omit any rhyme which the current of the verse leads the reader to expect. Yet here the word "_sh.o.r.e_" ending the first line, has no correspondent sound, where twelve examples of such correspondence had just preceded; while the third line, without previous example, is so rhymed within itself that one scarcely perceives the omission. Double rhymes are said by some to unfit this metre for serious subjects, and to adapt it only to what is meant to be burlesque, humorous, or satiric. The example above does not confirm this opinion, yet the rule, as a general one, may still be just. Ballad verse may in some degree imitate the language of a simpleton, and become popular by clownishness, more than by elegance: as,

"Father | and I | went down | to the camp Along | with cap | -tain Goodwin, And there | we saw | the men | and boys As thick | as hast | -y pudding;

And there | we saw | a thun | -dering gun,-- It took | a horn | of powder,-- It made | a noise | like fa | -ther's gun, Only | a na | -tion louder."

_Original Song of Yankee Doodle_.

Even the line of seven feet may still be lengthened a little by a double rhyme: as,

How gay | -ly, o | -ver fell | and fen, | yon sports | -man light | is _das.h.i.+ng_!

And gay | -ly, in | the sun | -beams bright, | the mow |--er's blade | is _flas.h.i.+ng_!

Of this length, T. O. Churchill reckons the following couplet; but by the general usage of the day, the final _ed_ is not made a separate syllable:--

"With _hic_ | and _hoec_, | as Pris | -cian tells, | _sacer | -dos_ was | de_cli | -n~ed_; But now | its gen | -der by | the pope | far bet | -ter is | de_fi | -n~ed_."

_Churchill's New Grammar_, p. 188.

MEASURE III.--IAMBIC OF SIX FEET, OR HEXAMETER.

_Example I.--A Couplet_.

"S~o v=a | _-r~y~ing still_ | th~eir m=oods, | ~obs=erv | -~ing =yet | ~in =all Their quan | -t.i.ties, | their rests, | their cen | -sures met | -rical."

MICHAEL DRAYTON: _Johnson's Quarto Dict., w. Quant.i.ty_.

_Example II.--From a Description of a Stag-Hunt_.

"And through | the c.u.mb | -rous thicks, | as fear | -fully | he makes, He with | his branch | -ed head | the ten | -der sap | -lings shakes, That sprink | -ling their | moist pearl | do seem | for him | to weep; When aft | -er goes | the cry, | with yell | -ings loud | and deep, That all | the for | -est rings, | and ev | -ery neigh | -bouring place: And there | is not | a hound | but fall | -eth to | the chase."

DRAYTON: _Three Couplets from twenty-three, in Everett's Versif._, p. 66.

_Example III.--An Extract from Shakespeare_.

"If love | make me | forsworn, | how shall | I swear | to love?

O, nev | -er faith | could hold, | if not | to beau | -ty vow'd: Though to | myself | forsworn, | to thee | I'll con | -stant prove; Those thoughts, | to me | like oaks, | to thee | like o | -siers bow'd.

_St=ud~y_ | his bi | -as leaves, | and makes | his book | thine eyes, Where all | those pleas | -ures live, | that art | can com | -prehend.

If knowl | -edge be | the mark, | to know | thee shall | suffice; Well learn | -ed is | that tongue | that well | can thee | commend; All ig | -norant | that soul | that sees | thee with' | _o~ut wonder_; Which is | to me | some praise, | that I | thy parts | admire: Thine eye | Jove's light | -ning seems, | thy voice | his dread | _-ful thunder_, Which (not | to an | -ger bent) | is mu | -sic and | sweet fire.

Celes | -tial as | thou art, | O, do | not love | that wrong, To sing | the heav | -ens' praise | with such | an earth | -ly tongue."

_The Pa.s.sionate Pilgrim, Stanza IX_; SINGER'S SHAK., Vol. ii, p. 594.

_Example IV.--The Ten Commandments Versified_.

"Adore | no G.o.d | besides | me, to | provoke | mine eyes; Nor wor | -s.h.i.+p me | in shapes | and forms | that men | devise; With rev | 'rence use | my name, | nor turn | my words | to jest; Observe | my sab | -bath well, | nor dare | profane | my rest; Honor | and due | obe | -dience to | thy pa | -rents give; Nor spill | the guilt | -less blood, | nor let | the guilt | -y live;[507]

Preserve | thy bod | -y chaste, | and flee | th' unlaw | -ful bed; Nor steal | thy neigh | -bor's gold, | his gar | -ment, or | his bread; Forbear | to blast | his name | with false | -hood or deceit; Nor let | thy wish | -es loose | upon | his large | estate."

DR. ISAAC WATTS: _Lyric Poems_, p. 46.

This verse, consisting, when entirely regular, of twelve syllables in six iambs, is the _Alexandrine_; said to have been so named because it was "first used in a poem called _Alexander_."--_Worcester's Dict._ Such metre has sometimes been written, with little diversity, through an entire English poem, as in Drayton's Polyolbion; but, couplets of this length being generally esteemed too clumsy for our language, the Alexandrine has been little used by English versifiers, except to complete certain stanzas beginning with shorter iambics, or, occasionally, to close a period in heroic rhyme. French heroics are similar to this; and if, as some a.s.sert, we have obtained it thence, the original poem was doubtless a French one, detailing the exploits of the hero "_Alexandre_." The phrase, "_an Alexandrine verse_," is, in French, "_un vers Alexandrin_." Dr. Gregory, in his Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, copies Johnson's Quarto Dictionary, which says, "ALEXANDRINE, a kind of verse borrowed from the French, first used in a poem called Alexander. They [Alexandrines] consist, among the French, of twelve and thirteen syllables, in alternate couplets; and, among us, of twelve." Dr. Webster, in his American Dictionary, _improperly_ (as I think) gives to the name two forms, and seems also to acknowledge two sorts of the English verse: "ALEXAN'DRINE, or ALEXAN'DRIAN, _n._ A kind of verse, consisting of twelve syllables, or of twelve and thirteen alternately."