The Grammar of English Grammars Part 198

6.

Thither, | thither | would I | roam; There my | children | may be | free; I for | them will | find a | home; They shall | find a | grave for | me.'"

_First six stanzas of Part VI_, pp. 71 and 72.

MEASURE II.--TROCHAIC OF SEVEN FEET, OR HEPTAMETER.

_Example.--Psalm LXX,[510] Versified._

Hasten, | Lord, to | rescue | me, and | set me | safe from | trouble; Shame thou | those who | seek my | soul, re | -ward their | mischief | double.

Turn the | taunting | scorners | back, who | cry, 'A | -ha!' so | loudly; Backward | in con | -fusion | hurl the | foe that | mocks me | proudly.

Then in | thee let | those re | -joice, who | seek thee, | self-de | -nying; All who | thy sal | -vation | love, thy | name be | glory | -fying.

So let | G.o.d be | magni | -fied. But | I am | poor and | needy: Hasten, | Lord, who | art my | Helper; | let thine | aid be | speedy.

This verse, like all other that is written in very long lines, requires a caesural pause of proportionate length; and it would scarcely differ at all to the ear, if it were cut in two at the place of this pause--provided the place were never varied. Such metre does not appear to have been at any time much used, though there seems to be no positive reason why it might not have a share of popularity. To commend our versification for its "boundless variety," and at the same time exclude from it forms either un.o.bjectionable or well authorized, as some have done, is plainly inconsistent. Full trochaics have some inconvenience, because all their rhymes must be double; and, as this inconvenience becomes twice as much when any long line of this sort is reduced to two short ones, there may be a reason why a stanza precisely corresponding to the foregoing couplets is seldom seen. If such lines be divided and rhymed at the middle of the fourth foot, where the caesural pause is apt to fall, the first part of each will be a trochaic line of four feet, single-rhymed and catalectic, while the rest of it will become an iambic line of three feet, with double rhyme and hypermeter. Such are the prosodial characteristics of the following lines; which, if two were written as one, would make exactly our full trochaic of seven feet, the metre exhibited above:--

"Whisp'ring, | heard by | wakeful | maids, To whom | the night | stars _guide_ | _us_, Stolen | walk, through | moonlight | shades, With those | we love | _beside_ | _us_"--_Moore's Melodies_, p. 276.

But trochaic of seven feet may also terminate with single rhyme, as in the following couplet, which is given anonymously, and, after a false custom, erroneously, in N. Butler's recent Grammar, as "trochaic of _six feet, with an additional long syllable_:--

"Night and | morning | were at | meeting | over | Water | -loo; c.o.c.ks had | sung their | _earliest_ | greeting; | faint and | low they | crew." [511]

In Frazee's Grammar, a separate line or two, similar in metre to these, and rightly reckoned to have _seven feet_, and many lines, (including those above from Tennyson, which W. C. Fowler erroneously gives for _Heptameter_,) being a foot longer, are presented as trochaics of _eight_ feet; but Everett, the surest of our prosodists, remaining, like most others, a total stranger to our octometers, and too little acquainted with trochaic heptameters to believe the species genuine, on finding a couple of stanzas in which two such lines are set with shorter ones of different sorts, and with some which are defective in metre, sagely concludes that all lines of more than "_six trochees_" must necessarily be condemned as prosodial anomalies. It may be worth while to repeat the said stanzas here, adding such corrections and marks as may suggest their proper form and scansion. But since they commence with the shorter metre of six trochees only, and are already placed under that head, I too may take them in the like connexion, by now introducing my third species of trochaics, which is Everett's tenth.

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

_Example.--Health_.

"Up the | dewy | mountain, | Health is | bounding | lightly; On her | brows a | garland, | twin'd with | richest | posies: Gay is | she, e | -late with | hope, and | smiling | sprighthly; Redder | is her | cheek, and | sweeter | than the | rose is."

G. BROWN: _The Inst.i.tutes of English Grammar_, p. 258.

This metre appears to be no less rare than the preceding; though, as in that case, I know no good reason why it may not be brought into vogue.

Professor John S. Hart says of it: "This is the _longest_ Trochaic verse that seems _to have been cultivated_."--_Hart's Eng. Gram._, p. 187. The seeming of its cultivation he doubtless found only in sundry modern grammars. Johnson, Bicknell, Burn, Coar, Ward, Adam,--old grammarians, who vainly profess to have ill.u.s.trated "every species of English verse,"--make no mention of it; and, with all the grammarians who notice it, _one anonymous couplet_, pa.s.sing from hand to hand, has everywhere served to exemplify it.

Of this, "the line of six Trochees," Everett says: "This measure _is languis.h.i.+ng_, and rarely used. The following example is often cited:

'On a | mountain, | stretched be | -neath a | h.o.a.ry | willow, Lay a | shepherd | swain, and | view'd the | rolling | billow.'"[512]

Again: "We have the following from BISHOP HEBER:--

'H=ol~y, | h=ol~y | h=ol~y! | =all th~e | s=aints ~a | -d=ore th~ee, C=ast~ing | d=own th~eir | g=old~en | cr=owns ~a | -r=ound th~e | gl=a.s.s~y | s=ea; Ch=er~u | -b=im ~and | s=er~a | -ph=im [~_are_,] | f=all~ing | d=own b~e | -f=ore th~ee, _Wh~ich_ w=ert, | ~and =art, | ~and =ev | -~erm=ore | sh~alt b=e!

Holy, | holy, | holy! | though the | darkness | hide thee, Though the | eye of | sinful | man thy | glory | may not | see, Only | thou, [_O | G.o.d_,] art | holy; | there is | none be | -side thee, P=erf~ect | ~in p=ow'r, | ~in l=ove, | ~and p=u | -r~it=y.'

Only the first _and the third_ lines of these stanzas are to our purpose,"

remarks the prosodist. That is, only these he conceived to be "lines of six Trochees." But it is plain, that the third line of the first stanza, having seven long syllables, must have seven feet, and cannot be a trochaic hexameter; and, since the third below should be like it in metre, one can hardly forbear to think the words which I have inserted in brackets, were accidentally omitted.

Further: "It is worthy of remark," says he, "that the second line of each of these stanzas is composed of _six Trochees_ and an _additional long syllable_. As its corresponding line is an Iambic, and as the piece has some licenses in its construction, it is _far safer_ to conclude that this line is an _anomaly_ than that it forms a distinct species of verse. We must therefore conclude that the tenth [the metre of six trochees] is the longest species of Trochaic line known to English verse."--_Everett's Versification_, pp. 95 and 96.

This, in view of the examples above, of our longer trochaics, may serve as a comment on the author's boast, that, "having deduced his rules from the usage of the great poets, he has the best reason for being confident of their correctness."--_Ibid._, Pref., p. 5.

Trochaic hexameter, too, may easily be written with _single rhyme_; perhaps more easily than a specimen suited to the purpose can be cited from any thing already written. Let me try:--

_Example I.--The Sorcerer_.

Lonely | in the | forest, | subtle | from his | birth, Lived a | necro | -mancer, | wondrous | son of | earth.

More of | him in | -quire not, | than I | choose to | say; Nymph or | dryad | bore him-- | else 'twas | witch or | fay; Ask you | who his | father?-- | haply | he might | be Wood-G.o.d, | satyr, | sylvan; | --such his | pedi | -gree.

Reared mid | fauns and | fairies, | knew he | no com | -peers; Neither | cared he | for them, | saving | ghostly | seers.

Mistress | of the | black-art, | "wizard | gaunt and | grim,"

Nightly | on the | hill-top, | "read the | stars to | him."

These were | welcome | teachers; | drank he | in their | lore; Witchcraft | so en | -ticed him, | still to | thirst for | more.

Spectres | he would | play with, | phantoms | raise or | quell; Gnomes from | earth's deep | centre | knew his | potent | spell.

Augur | or a | -ruspex | had not | half his | art; Master | deep of | magic, | spirits | played his | part; Demons, | imps in | -fernal, | conjured | from be | -low, Shaped his | grand en | -chantments | with im | -posing | show.

_Example II.--An Example of Hart's, Corrected_

"Where the | wood is | waving, | _shady_, | green, and | high, Fauns and | dryads, | _nightly_, | watch the | starry | sky."

See _Hart's E. Gram._, p. 187; or _the citation thence below_.

A couplet of this sort might easily be reduced to a pleasant little stanza, by severing each line after the third foot, thus:--

Hearken! | hearken! | hear ye; Voices | meet my | ear.

Listen, | never | fear ye; Friends--or | foes--are | near.

Friends! "So | -ho!" they're | shouting.-- "Ho! so | -ho, a | -hoy!"-- 'Tis no | Indian, | scouting.

Cry, _so | -ho_! with | joy.

But a similar succession of eleven syllables, six long and five short, divided after the seventh, leaving two iambs to form the second or shorter line,--(since such a division produces different orders and metres both,--) will, I think, retain but little resemblance in rhythm to the foregoing, though the actual sequence of quant.i.ties long and short is the same. If this be so, the particular measure or correspondent length of lines is more essential to the character of a poetic strain than some have supposed. The first four lines of the following extract are an example relevant to this point:--

_Ariel's Song._

"C=ome ~un |-t=o' th~ese | y=ell~ow | s=ands, And th=en | t~ake h=ands: Court'sied | when you | have and | kiss'd, (The wild | waves whist,) Foot it | featly | here and | there; And, sweet | sprites, the | burden | bear."

SINGER'S SHAKSPEARE: _Tempest_, Act i, Sc. 2.

MEASURE IV.--TROCHAIC OF FIVE FEET, OR PENTAMETER

_Example I.--Double Rhymes and Single, Alternated_.

"Mountain | winds! oh! | whither | do ye | call me?

Vainly, | vainly, | would my | steps pur |-sue: Chains of | care to | lower | earth en |-thrall me, Wherefore | thus my | weary | spirit | woo?

Oh! the | strife of | this di |-vided | being!

Is there | peace where | ye are | borne, on | high?

Could we | soar to | your proud | eyries | fleeing, In our | hearts, would | haunting | _m=em~or~ies_ | die?"

FELICIA HEMANS: "_To the Mountain Winds:" Everet's Versif._, p. 95.