On a mountain, stretched beneath a hoary willow.

Anapastic verse consisting of one Anapæst.

At the close of the day when the hamlet is still.

Hypermeter of four Anaposts.

On the warm cheek of youth, smiles and roses are blending.

VERSES IN WHICH THE SECONDARY FEET ARE ADMITTED TO GIVE VARIETY TO THE MELODY.

The student will observe, by the marks on the vowels, what the secondary feet are, which are introduced in the following lines; the first foct is a spondee.

There soon the sufferer sinks to rest.

There too was he, who nobly stemmed the tide.
That breast the seat of sentiment refined.

Hail, long lost Peace! hail, dōve-eyed maid divine.

This measure is ambiguous, for by accenting the first and third sylla bles we may make it Trochaic.

A Pyrrhic occurs in the following.

If aught be welcome to our sylvan shed,
Be it the the trav'ller who has lost his way.
I sought the beauties of the painted vale,
The flowers I often watered with my tears.
And loaded with my sighs the passing gale

Spondees and Pyrrhics with Iambuses.

Gō pious offspring and restrain those tears;
I fly to regions of eternal bliss.

Heaven in your favor hears my dying prayers;
Take my last blessing in this clay cold kiss.

A Dactyl with Iambuses.

Mūrmuring, and with him fled the shades of night.

Amphibrachs mixed with Iambuses.

O'ĕr many a frozen, many a fiěry ǎlp.

A Spondee and a Tribrach, with Iambuses.

Innumerable before th' Almighty throne.

It will thus be perceived, that by the mixture of different kinds of feet, all that variety is produced, which renders poetry agreeable to the ear. To constitute verse, it is not sufficient that a number of jarring syllables should be ranged in uncouth lines, with rhyme at the end. Order, regularity, symmetry, and harmony are requisite, while the taste and judgment of the poet are displayed by the proper mixture of accented and unac cented syllables to form an harmonious line.*

The student, having now been made acquainted with the different kinds of verse, may be required to compose verses himself in all the different kinds of measure. As a first exercise in versification, he may be permitted to write words in verses without regard to their signification, making what may be called nonsense verses, as in the following

Example.

Five foot Iambus or Heroic Verse.

Thus man attempts some nobler end to scan.
Bestrides the flood in horror at the plan.

*The harmony of a verse may sometimes be utterly destroyed by the misplacing of a single monosyllable; thus,

"Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just,
And he but naked, though locked up in steel,
Whose conscience is with injustice corrupted."

In this extract, the measure of the third line is utterly destroyed by the misplacing of the word is. It should be,

"Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted."

Trochaic.

Boiling in the troubled sea.
Full of mirthful hope to be.

Anapastic.

From the brow of the hill see the hermit appear,
And with joy in his face mark the waters so clear, &c.

Exercises.

Having previously attempted to form verses in all the different sorts of measure that have been described, with words without reference to sense, the student may arrange the following lines in regular order. The lines themselves contain all the words necessary both for the harmonious construction and the expression of the sense. The order of them is, however, disturbed, as will be seen by the following

Example.

Adieu to the woodlands, where, gay and sportive,
The cattle play so frolicsome, light bounding.
Adieu to the woodlands where I have roved oft,
And, with the friend that I loved, conversed so sweetly
Same words properly arranged.

Adieu to the woodlands, where, sportive and gay,
The cattle light bounding so frolicsome play.
Adieu to the woodlands where oft I have roved,
And sweetly conversed with the friend I have loved.

Exercises.

Verses to be arranged by the Student in Anapœstic * lines of four feet.

Content and joy are now fled from our dwellings,
And, instead, disease and want are our inmates.

* Dr. Carey, in his English Prosody, says, "If, like Tertæus of old, I had to awake dormant valor with the voice of song, I would in preference to every other form of English metre, choose the Anapæstic, of four feet in couplets, which, if well written, in real anapæsts, unincumbered with an undue weight of heavy syllables, and judiciously aided by appropriate music, could hardly fail to martialize even shivering cowards, and warm them into heroes; the brisk, animating march of the verse having the same effect on the soul, as the body experiences from the quick, lively step, which, by accelerating the circulation of the blood, at once warms and dilates the heart, and renders the warrior more prompt to deeds of prowess." If any one would test the justness of Dr. Carey's opinion, as thus expressed, his doubts will be resolved by the perusal of Campbell's beautiful piece, enti tled "Lochiel's Warning."

Noy chivalry is dead, and Gallia ruined,
And the glory of Europe is fled for ever.

'Tis woman, whose charms impart every rapture,
And to the pulse of the heart add a soft spring.
Her sway is so supreme, the miser himself
Resigns her his key, and to love grows a convert.
Sorrow lifts up his head at the sound of her voice
And, from his shed, Poverty well pleased listens.
Even age, hobbling along, in an ecstasy

Beats time to the tune of her song with her crutch.

How sweet is the thought of to-morrow to the heart,
When Hope's fairy pictures display bright colors,
How sweet when we can borrow from futurity
A balm for the griefs that to-day afflict us.

To be made into Iambic verses with four feet.

And while I feel thy gracious gifts
My song shall reveal all thy praise.

The search shall teach thee to prize life,
And make thee good, wise, and grateful.
With ease you wear a thousand shapes,
And still you please in every shape.

Neither wealth I pursue, nor power,
Nor hold in view forbidden joys.

The prudent nymph, whose cheeks disclose
The blushing rose and the lily,

Will screen her charms from public view,
And rarely be seen in the crowd.

Iambic verses of five feet, or the Heroic measure.

As Orpheus tunes his song in Thracian wilds,
The raptured beasts throng around him in crowds.

Seek not thou to find, with vain endeavor,
Of Almighty mind the secret counsels;
The great decree lies involved in darkness;
Nor can the depths of fate by thee be pierced.

O could some poet rise, bold in wisdom,
And unfold half thy beauties to the world,
Roving on fancy's wing, impart thy fire,
And feel thy genius beaming on his heart, -
I'd wish humbly, though the wish would be vain,
That on me some small portion might alight.

This is the principal metre of our language, and it is happily adapted to every kind of subject, from the most exalted to the most humble and fa miliar, and it may be used with or without rhyme.

Trochaic verses.

Where spreads the rising forest,
For the lordly dome shelter,
To their airy beds high built,
See returning home the rooks.

Now battle glows with fury
In torrents flows hostile blood.

Here you'll find mental pleasures,
Pleasures that the mind adorn.
The joys of sense are transient,
They dispense no solid bliss.

The shepherd dines by the brook
Heat the fierce meridian from
By the branching pines sheltered
O'er his grassy seat pendent.

But from stream, dell, or mountain
Springs not a fluttering zephyr,
Lest the noontide beam, fearful
His silken, his soft wings scorch.

RHYME.

Rhyme is a similarity, or agreement, in the sound of final syllables.

Verse without rhyme is called blank verse.*

It is a general rule in poetry, with regard to rhymes, that they should begin on the accented syllable.

In the forming of verses with rhyme, it is a good rule to let the weaker line stand first.†

* Rhyme is by no means to be considered as an essential constituent in English poetry. Much poetry has been written, and that, too, of the choicest description, in which rhyme has no part. The poetry of Milton, Shakspeare, Thomson, Young, and a host of others, whose writings have contributed so much to the literature of the language, seldom admits this "meretricious" ornament, as it has been called. But it has been said, that, although, in the five feet Iambic measure, the measured dignity of the verse supplies the place of rhyme, in the other forms of English versification it is absolutely essential. Whoever will be at the pains to convince himself that this is an erroneous opinion, may easily do so by the perusal of the works of Dr. Southey, especially, his " Thalaba, or the Destroyer."

†The student, in his first attempts at versification, should be cautioned against the injudicious use of expletives. An expletive is a word introduced merely to fill out the line, while it not only contributes nothing to the sense, but absolutely weakens it. Pope, in his Essay on Criticism, exemplifies, while he condemns this fault.

"While expletives their feeble aid do join,
And ten low words oft creep in one dull line."