Page images
PDF
EPUB

PROSODY.

1. DEFINITIONS.

I. A Syllable was formerly defined (in Orthography) as any one complete sound. It may now (in Prosody) be defined as the least part of a foot.

1. A long syllable is pronounced slowly, as move, slow. 2. A short syllable is pronounced quickly, as love, ten. 3. An emphatic syllable bears a peculiar stress of voice, as ăbide, lõngĕr.

4. An unemphatic syllable has little or no stress of voice, as the.

II. Quantity properly means the distinction of syllables into long and short; but it is commonly used to distinguish syllables into emphatic and unemphatic,, the former being denominated long, and the latter short,

III. Rythm is that disposition of syllables which constitutes feet or verse. Rythm is produced two ways; first, by a regular intermixture of long and short syllables; or secondly, of emphatic and unemphatic syllables.

IV. A foot is the least part of a verse, consisting of either two or three syllables.

1. An Iambus is a foot of two syllables, the first short
and the second long, as awake, ǎrise, before, behind.
2. A Trochee is a foot of two syllables, the first long,
the second short, as gently, softly, father, mother.

3. A Pyrrhic consists of two short syllables, as from it.
4. A Spondee consists of two long syllables, as leap-
year, āmēn.

5. An Anapest is a foot of three syllables, the two first
short, the last long, as disăpprōve, incorrect, supersēde.
6. A Dactyl is a foot of three syllables, the first long,
the two last short, as flattery, liquorice, verdigris,

7. An Amphibrach has a long syllable in the middle,
and a short syllable at the beginning and end, as
măjēstic, consumption.

8. A Tribrach consists of three short syllables, as Pharisee, grătify, Birminghăm.

V. Verse is a rythmical arrangement of a certain number of syllables, agreeable to the ear, and to the secondary senses. A Hemistich is the half of a verse.

A Distich is a couple of verses.

1. Iambic verses consist principally of Jambuses.
2. Trochaic verses are composed chiefly of Trochees.
3. Anapestic verses are made up of Anapests, or nearly

So.

4. Dactylic verses, which are very rare, are composed of Dactyls.

VI. Rhyme is a similarity of termination in two or more adjacent verses, which may be single, as name, fame; double, as measures, pleasures; or triple, as furious, curious.

1. A Couplet is two verses that rhyme.
2. A Triplet is three verses that rhyme.

VII. Metre denotes the sort of verse, and the number of feet, appertaining to the lines of a poem.

1. Heroics are verses containing five Iambuses, which are peculiarly used in narrative and dramatic poetry, but very seldom in lyrics.

2. Blank verse is the same as Heroics without rhyme. 3. Lyrics are verses which are or may be accompanied with music, and they generally contain six or eight syllables.

4. Common Metre denotes Lyric verses adapted to Common Time in music.

5. Triple Metre or Time denotes Lyric verses adapted to Triple Time.

6. A Stanza, Staff, or Stave, is a sort of poetical sentence, containing all the varieties of metre and rhyme that are to be met with in the same poem. A long stanza, however, contains several sentences, resembles a prose paragraph.

VIII. Scanning is the art of measuring verses by feet.

and

IX. Melody denotes in music an agreeable succession of sounds from a single voice or instrument.-In versification it denotes rythm and sweetness, that is, that the emphatic and unemphatic syllables are regularly disposed, and may be easily articulated, without harshness.

X. Harmony in music denotes an agreeable combination of

sounds from various voices or instruments.-In poetry it denotes that the words are so aptly chosen, and so well arranged, that the sound is as it were an echo to the sense. Alliteration has some effect in producing harmony of verse by imitating sounds of different kinds, as the hissing of serpents by words abounding with the letter s! the snarling of dogs or cynics by words abounding with the letter r; the noise of drums or of thunder and crashing of arms by words denoting din and tumult, &c. Cæsural pauses likewise promote harmony, by dividing one or more verses into similar cadences, that are at once grammatical, metrical, and sententious.

Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full.

Denham.

RULES OF VERSIFICATION.

1. Verses may be long or short within moderate limits, the shortest verse containing not less than three, and the longest not more than fifteen syllables.

2. Verses of less than six or more than ten syllables, occur only in stanzas. Short verses should excel in point and neatness, long ones in ease and dignity.

3. Verses may be Iambic, Trochaic, or Anapestic.

4. Iambic measures are the most natural, because they resemble most of the cadences of common conversation. They are suitable to all subjects, whether grave or gay, and may be used in all poems, whether long or short.

5. Iambic verses of ten syllables or five feet, usually called Heroics, are peculiarly appropriated to Epic, Didactic, and Descriptive Poetry, and also to Tragedy.

6. Lyric verses, consisting generally of six or eight syllables, may be composed of lambics, Trochees, or Anapests.

7. Trochaic and Anapestic measures, being less familiar to the ear, are less natural than Iambics. And on account of the superior difficulty of the versification, they are less fit for long compositions. Anapestic metre is elegant and pleasing, and suits any subject, whether it be serious or gay; but Trochaics are thought to have less of dignity, and are therefore employed only in light compositions, as ballads and songs.

8. Iambic feet are commonly considered as slow, and Trochaic as quick; however true this may be in general, it is not strictly and universally so. Iambics may abound with emphatic short syllables, and Trochaics with unemphatic long ones; and when these circumstances occur, the Iambics become quick and lively, and the Trochaics slow and grave.

9. As in music there are four crotchets to a bar in common time, and three crotchets to a bar in triple time, so in lyrics the dissyllabic rythms are supposed to accord with common time, and the trisyllabic rythms with triple time. Hence it is said that Iambic and Trochaic metres naturally correspond with common time, and Anapestic metres with triple time in music. This is true, so far as asserted; yet it is not the whole truth. Anapestic measures may be adapted to common time either by retrenching a short syllable at the beginning, or adding a short syllable at the close, if the verse consists originally of nine syllables. And again, Jambic and Trochaic verses will accord with triple time, when they consist of six or twelve syllables, or of four feet with an additional syllable at the close. Besides these, there are other methods of accordance, as by occasionally making two crotchets pass to one syllable, or two syllables to one crotchet, methods which it does not properly belong to this place to consider more minutely. It is also worthy of remark, that metre or verse is not essential to words set to music, as prose sentences of different lengths may be sung to the same air and time. There should, however, be some reasonable proportion between the length of the tune and the number of words it is set to. This rule is too often transgressed, as in the celebrated airs of Non nobis, Domine, and Dulce domum, and even in Handel's Messiah, if we may be allowed to judge and speak freely. How much better is the national song of God save the King, than the bare repetition of the words, "God save the King," set to the same or any other tune? We also affirm that it is a species of bad taste to carry a mean, paltry word or termination, with perhaps twelve or sixteen demisemiquavers annexed to it, through all the notes of the gamut. And it is equally faulty and improper to place words of weight and moment in situations where their importance is hid or obscured. When music and poetry act together, it is their business not to counteract or obstruct each other, but mutually to illustrate and adorn the subject to which they relate. Good singers are careful to pronounce their words with fulness and precision, that the whole of what is sung may be understood. A sharp and energetic way of uttering the consonants greatly promotes clearness of delivery.

10. Rhyme is necessary in all sorts of Poetry, except Epic Poetry and Tragedy. In the former it is always agreeable, but in the latter it is scarcely tolerable. The Psalms are so majestic and sublime in the literal translation that all attempts to do them justice in metre and rhyme have failed of success.

11. Single Rhymes must always be emphatic. The words cadence and prudence do not rhyme, because the termination dence is not emphatic. But in French, where syllabic emphasis is unknown, these same words prudence and cadence would rhyme. And as French rhymes are more easily found than English, this may be one reason why rhyme is indispensible in all kinds of French versification: and another reason probably is, that with the few inflexions and limited construction or position of words in the French language, it cannot, like the Greek and Latin languages, command a sufficient intermixture of long and short syllables to make its versification strike the ear without the assistance of rhyme.

12. Double Rhymes have the first syllable emphatic, the second unemphatic. They are less easy to find, and are therefore less common, than single rhymes. The words property and liberty do not rhyme, because the chiming dissyllabic terminations have no emphasis.

When a convenient double rhyme occurs in Iambic or Anapestic verse, they are by poetic licence allowed to avail themselves of it, by assuming the additional short syllable, which is not supposed to vitiate or alter the metre.

When double rhymes are found to be very difficult or troublesome in Trochaic verse, it is allowable to assume an additional long syllable, by which, the rhymes become single, and consequently more easy.

15. Triple Rhymes require the first syllable to be emphatic; the second and third syllables are unemphatic. They are obviously less easy to find than double or single rhymes, and this perhaps is a reason why Dactyls are seldom used at the end of a verse. The words literary and itinerary do not rhyme, because the termination erary is entirely unemphatic.

14. English Rythms are constituted by a regular disposition of emphatic and unemphatic syllables. Long syllables are often emphatic and short ones unemphatic, but not always so. The Greek and Latin metres, on the contrary, depend on quantity, that is, on the length and shortness of syllables, and not on syllabic emphasis and remission. The true pronounciation of these ancient languages has been long lost, but the loss is not of much consequence, at least to an English ear, as

« PreviousContinue »