The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown (read books for money TXT) 📖

the drear | -y coasts!
        Dreadful | gleams,
        Dismal | screams,
        Fires that | glow,
        Shrieks of | wo,
        Sullen | moans,
        Hollow | groans,
      And cries | of tor | -tur'd ghosts!"
        POPE: Johnson's Brit. Poets, Vol. vi, p. 315.

Example V.—"The Shower."—In Four Regular Stanzas.

1.

    "In a | valley | that I | know—
        Happy | scene!
    There are | meadows | sloping | low,
    There the | fairest | flowers | blow,
    And the | brightest | waters | flow.
        All se | -rene;
    But the | sweetest | thing to | see,
    If you | ask the | dripping | tree,
    Or the | harvest | -hoping | swain,
        Is the | Rain.

2.

    Ah, the | dwellers | of the | town,
        How they | sigh,—
    How un | -grateful | -ly they | frown,
    When the | cloud-king | shakes his | crown,
    And the | pearls come | pouring | down
        From the | sky!
    They de | -scry no | charm at | all
    Where the | sparkling | jewels | fall,
    And each | moment | of the | shower,
        Seems an | hour!

3.

    Yet there's | something | very | sweet
        In the | sight,
    When the | crystal | currents | meet
    In the | dry and | dusty | street,
    And they | wrestle | with the | heat,
        In their | might!
    While they | seem to | hold a | talk
    With the | stones a | -long the | walk,
    And re | -mind them | of the | rule,
        To 'keep | cool!'

4.

    Ay, but | in that | quiet | dell,
        Ever | fair,
    Still the | Lord doth | all things | well,
    When his | clouds with | blessings | swell,
    And they | break a | brimming | shell
        On the | air;
    There the | shower | hath its | charms,
    Sweet and | welcome | to the | farms
    As they | listen | to its | voice,
        And re | -joice!"
        Rev. RALPH HOYT'S Poems: The Examiner, Nov. 6, 1847.

Example VI.—"A Good Name?"—Two Beautiful Little Stanzas.

1.

      "Children, | choose it,
       Don't re | -fuse it,
    'Tis a | precious | dia | -dem;
       Highly | prize it,
       Don't de | -spise it,
    You will | need it | when you're | men.

2.

       Love and | cherish,
       Keep and | nourish,
    'Tis more | precious | far than | gold;
       Watch and | guard it,
       Don't dis | -card it,
    You will | need it | when you're | old."
       The Family Christian Almanac, for 1850, p. 20.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—Trochaics of two feet, like those of three, are, more frequently than otherwise, found in connexion with longer lines, as in some of the examples above cited. The trochaic line of three syllables, which our prosodists in general describe as consisting, not of two feet; but "of one Trochee and a long syllable," may, when it stands alone, be supposed to consist of one amphimac; but, since this species of foot is not admitted by all, and is reckoned a secondary one by those who do admit it, the better practice is, to divide even the three syllables into two feet, as above.

OBS. 2.—Murray, Hart, Weld, and many others, erroneously affirm, that, "The shortest Trochaic verse in our language, consists of one Trochee and a long syllable."—Murray's Gram., p. 256; Hart's, First Edition, p. 186; Weld's, Second Edition, p. 210. The error of this will be shown by examples below—examples of true "Trochaic Monometer," and not of Dimeter mistaken for it, like Weld's, Hart's, or Murray's.

OBS. 3.—These authors also aver, that, "This measure is defective in dignity, and can seldom be used on serious occasions."—Same places. "Trochaic of two feet—is likewise so brief, that," in their opinion, "it is rarely used for any very serious purpose."—Same places. Whether the expression of love, or of its disappointment, is "any very serious purpose" or not, I leave to the decision of the reader. What lack of dignity or seriousness there is, in several of the foregoing examples, especially the last two, I think it not easy to discover.

MEASURE VIII.—TROCHAIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER.

Examples with Longer Metres.

1. WITH IAMBICS.

   "Fr~om w=alk | t~o w=alk, | fr~om sh=ade | t~o sh=ade,
    From stream to purl | -ing stream | convey'd,
    Through all | the ma | -zes of | the grove,
    Through all | the ming | -ling tracks | I rove,
        Turning,
        Burning,
        Changing,
        Ranging,
    F=ull ~of | gri=ef ~and | f=ull ~of | l=ove."
       ADDISON'S Rosamond, Act I, Sc. 4:
           Everett's Versification, p. 81.

2. WITH ANAPESTICS, &c.

   "T~o l=ove ~and t~o l=angu~ish,
      T~o s=igh | ~and c~ompl=ain,
    H~ow cr=u~el's th~e =angu~ish!
      H~ow t~orm=ent | -~ing th~e p=ain!
        Suing,
        Pursuing,
        Flying,
        Denying,
      O the curse | of disdain!
      How torment | -ing's the pain!"
        GEO. GRANVILLE: Br. Poets, Vol. v, p. 31.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—The metres acknowledged in our ordinary schemes of prosody, scarcely amount, with all their "boundless variety," to more than one half, or three quarters, of what may be found in actual use somewhere. Among the foregoing examples, are some which are longer, and some which are shorter, than what are commonly known to our grammarians; and some, also, which seem easily practicable, though perhaps not so easily quotable. This last trochaic metre, so far as I know, has not been used alone,—that is, without longer lines,—except where grammarians so set examples of it in their prosodies.

OBS. 2.—"Trochaic of One foot," as well as "Iambic of One foot," was, I believe, first recognized, prosodically, in Brown's Institutes of English Grammar, a work first published in 1823. Since that time, both have obtained acknowledgement in sundry schemes of versification, contained in the new grammars; as in Farnum's, and Hallock's, of 1842; in Pardon Davis's, of 1845; in S. W. Clark's, and S. S. Greene's, of 1848; in Professor Fowler's, of 1850. Wells, in his School Grammar, of 1846, and D. C. Allen, in an other, of 1847, give to the length of lines a laxity positively absurd: "Rhymed verses," say they, "may consist of any number of syllables."—Wells, 1st Ed., p. 187; late Ed., 204; Allen, p. 88. Everett has recognized "The line of a single Trochee," though he repudiates some long measures that are much more extensively authorized.

ORDER III.—ANAPESTIC VERSE.

In full Anapestic verse, the stress is laid on every third syllable, the first two syllables of each foot being short. The first foot of an anapestic line, may be an iambus. This is the most frequent diversification of the order. But, as a diversification, it is, of course, not regular or uniform. The stated or uniform adoption of the iambus for a part of each line, and of the anapest for the residue of it, produces verse of the Composite Order. As the anapest ends with a long syllable, its rhymes are naturally single; and a short syllable after this, producing double rhyme, is, of course, supernumerary: so are the two, when the rhyme is triple. Some prosodists suppose, a surplus at the end of a line may compensate for a deficiency at the beginning of the next line; but this I judge to be an error, or at least the indulgence of a questionable license. The following passage has two examples of what may have been meant for such compensation, the author having used a dash where I have inserted what seems to be a necessary word:—

   "Apol | -lo smil'd shrewd | -ly, and bade | him sit down,
    With 'Well, | Mr. Scott, | you have man | -aged the town;
    Now pray, | copy less— | have a lit | -tle temer | -~it~y—
    [And] Try | if you can't | also man | -age poster | -ity.
    [For] All | you add now | only les | -sens your cred | -it;
    And how | could you think, | too, of tak | -ing to ed | -ite?'"
        LEIGH HUNT'S Feast of the Poets, page 20.

The anapestic measures are few; because their feet are long, and no poet has chosen to set a great many in a line. Possibly lines of five anapests, or of four and an initial iambus, might be written; for these would scarcely equal in length some of the iambics and trochaics already exhibited. But I do not find any examples of such metre. The longest anapestics that have gained my notice, are of fourteen syllables, being tetrameters with triple rhyme, or lines of four anapests and two short surplus syllables. This order consists therefore of measures reducible to the following heads:—

MEASURE I.—ANAPESTIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER.

Example I.—A "Postscript."—An Example with Hypermeter.

   "Lean Tom, | when I saw | him, last week, | on his horse | awry,
    Threaten'd loud | -ly to turn | me to stone | with his sor | -cery.
    But, I think, | little Dan, | that, in spite | of what our
                                                           | foe says,
    He will find | I read Ov | -id and his | Meta_mor_ | -phoses.
    For, omit | -ting the first, | (where I make | a com_par_ | -ison,
    With a sort | of allu | -sion to Put | -land or Har | -rison,)
    Yet, by | my descrip | -tion, you'll find | he in short | is
    A pack | and a gar | -ran, a top | and a tor | -toise.
    So I hope | from hencefor | -ward you ne'er | will ask, can
                                                           | I maul
    This teas | -ing, conceit | -ed, rude, in | -solent an | -imal?
    And, if | this rebuke | might be turn'd | to his ben | -efit,
    (For I pit | -y the man,) | I should | be glad then | of it"
        SWIFT'S POEMS: Johnson's British Poets, Vol. v, p. 324.

Example II.—"The Feast of the Poets."—First Twelve Lines.

   "T' other day, | as Apol | -lo sat pitch | -ing his darts
    Through the clouds | of Novem | -ber, by fits | and by starts,
    He began | to consid | -er how long | it had been
    Since the bards | of Old Eng | -land had all | been rung in.
    'I think,' | said the god, | recollect | -ing, (and then
    He fell twid | -dling a sun | -beam as I | may my pen,)
    'I think— | let me see— | yes, it is, | I declare,
    As long | ago now | as that Buck | -ingham there;
    And yet | I can't see | why I've been | so remiss,
    Unless | it may be— | and it cer | -tainly is,
    That since Dry | -den's fine ver | -ses and Mil | -ton's sublime,
    I have fair | -ly been sick | of their sing | -song and rhyme.'"
        LEIGH HUNT: Poems, New-York Edition, of 1814.

Example III.—The Crowning of Four Favourites.

   "Then, 'Come,' | cried the god | in his el | -egant mirth,
    'Let us make | us a heav'n | of our own | upon earth,
    And wake, | with the lips | that we dip | in our bowls,
    That divin | -est of mu | -sic—conge | -nial souls.'
    So say | -ing, he led | through the din | -ing-room door,
    And, seat | -ing the po | -ets, cried, 'Lau | -rels for four!'
    No soon | -er demand | -ed, than, lo! | they were there,
    And each | of the bards | had a wreath | in his hair.
    Tom Camp | -bell's with wil | -low and pop | -lar was twin'd,
    And South | -ey's, with moun | -tain-ash, pluck'd | in the wind;
    And Scott's, | with a heath | from his old | garden stores,
    And, with vine | -leaves and jump | -up-and-kiss | -me, Tom Moore's."
        LEIGH HUNT: from line 330 to line 342.

Example IV.—"Glenara."—First Two of Eight Stanzas.

   "O heard | ye yon pi | -broch sound sad | in the gale,
    Where a band | cometh slow | -ly with weep | -ing and wail!
    'Tis the chief | of Glena | -ra laments | for his dear;
    And her sire, | and the peo | -ple, are called | to her bier.

    Glena | -ra came first | with the mourn | -ers and shroud;
    Her kins | -men, they fol | -lowed, but mourned | not aloud;
    Their plaids | all their bo | -soms were fold | -ed around;
    They marched | all in si | -lence—they looked | on the ground."
        T. CAMPBELL'S Poetical Works, p. 105.

Example V.—"Lochiel's Warning."—Ten Lines from Eighty-six.

   "'Tis the sun | -set of life