Blank Verse. Strictly speaking, any kind of unrhymed verse is Blank Verse. This title, however, is usually reserved for unrhymed lines of five Iambic Feet, or Iambic Pentameters. Shakespeare in his plays, and Milton in his immortal epics, generally utilize this metre. It admits of a few licences, as follows: (a) A Trochee or Anapest may be substituted for an Iambus in any part of the line, but rarely occurs in the second or fifth foot. (6) An extra syllable is frequently added to the last foot“Tis nót | alóne | my ink | y cloák, | good mó | ther.' (c) Shakespeare often writes short lines. (Some irregularities may be explained by the custom of placing ejaculations, appellations, etc., out of the regular verse.) (d) Syllables are dropped or softened, e.g.— 'That made great Jóve | to húm | ble him tó | her hand.' 'Place barrels | of pítch | upón | the fát | al stáke.' (Here barrels is pronounced almost like barls.) 'There are the pár | ents of these chil | d(e)rén.' | In these lines children and angry are pronounced Stanzas. Poetical verses may be grouped in an endless number of ways; but when a particular arrangement regularly recurs, it constitutes a Stanza (Italian stanza, French stanze, Spanish estancia =a pause or stay), at the close of which is generally a rhythmic pause. It is plain, again, that the number of kinds of stanzas that may be invented is simply incalculable; but in practice it is found that a few kinds only are in popular favour. Of these the longest and most important are— The Spenserian Stanza. Spenserian Stanza Ottava Rima. | The Sonnet. This stanza is formed of nine lines, the first eight being Iambic Pentameters, and the last line an Alexandrine. The rhyming lines are the 1st and 3rd; the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 7th; and the 6th, 8th, and 9th. Spenser wrote the Faerie Queen, Byron his Childe Harold, Kirk White his Christiad, and Shelley his Adonais, in this stanza. Ottava Rima is a comparatively simple arrangement of eight heroic lines, the first six of which rhyme alternately, the last two consecutively. The Sonnet It is of Provençal origin, of Italian elaboration, and of Spanish, French, German, and English adoption. Petrarch and Dante in Italy, Goethe in Germany, Shakespeare, Milton, Wharton, and Wordsworth in England, have most successfully attempted its composition. It is apt to degenerate, as in bouts rimes, into a mere plaything. The Sonnet proper is a short poem consisting of fourteen Iambic (originally Hypermetric) Pentameters, and is divided into two chief parts-I. The Octave; II. The Sestette. The Octave is subdivided into Quatrains, and the Sestette into Terzettes. There should be only four rhymes, two in the Octave and two (sometimes three) in the Sestette. Wordsworth's Sonnet written on Westminster Bridge is of Octave. the genuine Italian type, and is of such great beauty that we here give it in full :— Two rhymes. 1. 'Earth has not anything to show more (1) fair Sestette. less air. Never did sun more beautifully steep hill; 11. Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! 12. The river glideth at his own sweet will: Terzette. 13. Dear God! the very houses seem asleep 14. And all that mighty heart is lying still !' Two rhymes used alternately. There are three methods of rhyming the OCTAVE— I. The ordinary method, as in Wordsworth's instanced Sonnet. II. A rarer method, where the eight lines rhyme alternately. III. A very rare method, where the first quatrain is written as in I., and the second quatrain as in II. There are two principal methods of rhyming the SESTETTE I. The ordinary method (employing only two rhymes), as in the given specimen. II. The method which employs three rhymes. The form of the Octave is much less variable than that of the Sestette. In the latter, many poets (two or three) in any order. the Age of Twenty-three,' employ the rhymes See Milton, 'Sonnet on reaching 91 13 } } Sonnet to a Virtuous 10 12 12 13 9 10 11; On the Detraction of my 12 Treatises, 12, 11; To Mr. Lawrence, 2, 12, 13). 14 13 II 14 The bracketed numbers denote the rhyming lines. II. CLASSICAL METRES OR POEMS IN These metres have been frequently attempted in English, and with but indifferent success. They are unsuited to the genius of our language. Longfellow's 'Evangeline' is perhaps the most successful of the longer compositions. The Laureate has indulged in a few imitations, but it can scarcely be said that they rank among his best inspirations. The following is a good specimen of the Homeric Hexameter in English: 'Onward the bridal procession now moved to their new habitation, Happy husband and wife and friends conversing together.' -Longfellow's 'Miles Standish. Coleridge's description of the Hexameter and Pentameter is often quoted : 'In the Hexameter rises the fountain's silvery column: III. ALLITERATIVE POEMS. There remains but one more kind of Metre to be spoken of, viz. the Alliterative. Alliteration Defined. Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial letter in several words (or strongly accented syllables) occurring in close succession, as Many men, many minds,' 'Weave the warp and weave the woof. It is important to contrast it with rhyme which affects the end of words. In the ancient German, Scandinavian, and in the Anglo-Saxon, alliteration and not rhyme was the main feature of poetry, the alliterative syllables being made to recur with a certain regularity in the same position in successive verses. In its strictest form, it takes 1. The couplet form. 2. Three alliterations, two in the first line and one in the second, e.g.— J Swith gesaelige; s Ham and heah-setl Heofena rices. Very happy; Sins they knew not. This alliteration is beautifully imitated, with the addition of Rhyme, in the following, written about A.D. 1600 :— 'Sitting by a river's side, Where a silent stream did glide, Muse I did of many things That the mind in quiet brings.'—Greene. This restriction of the number of alliterations was often discarded. Dunbar's 'Twa Maryit Women and the Wide' (1500), furnishes us with— 'Silver shouris down shook As the sheen cristal, And birdis shouted in the shaw With their shrill notis ; Among the green boughis.' Vowels are looked upon as having the same sound, and any one of them may alliterate with any other, but exactly the same consonantal sound must be repeated. 'Alliteration's artful aid' is still employed in Poetry, c.g. 'The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free.'-Ancient Mariner. |