The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It crack'd and growl'd, and roar'd and howl'd Like noises in a swound.-Coleridge. SECTIONAL RHYME. § 627. SECTIONAL RHYME is that which exists between syllables contained in the same section. Will stoode for skill, and law obeyed lust; Might trode down right; | of king there was no feare.-FERRERS. The morning from her mantle gray.—BYRON. So many as love me, and use me aright, With treasure and pleasure I richly requite.-TUSSER. INVERSE RHYME. § 628. INVERSE RHYME is that which exists between the last accented syllable of the first section and the first accented syllable of the second. The piper loud and louder blew; The dancers quick and quicker flew.—Burns. WORD-MATCHING. § 629. "There is in Eastern poetry a kind of word-rhyming or word-matching, in which every word of a line is answered by another of the same measure and rhyme in the other line of the distich." She drove her flock o'er mountains, Joy once fled can ne'er return. ALLITERATION. § 630. ALLITERATION is the repetition of the same letter at the commencement of two or more words, or at short intervals; as, Who often, but without success, have pray'd For apt alliteration's artful aid. Alliteration is the distinctive characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon, and, indeed, of all the Gothic metres. Rathe was gefylled Heah cyninge's has, him was haling leoht. Quick was fulfill'd The high king's 'hest, around him was holy light.-CADMON. On last legdun, lathum leodum. At foot they laid on the loathed bonds. Brunanburgh War Song. As one that runnes beyond his race and rows beyond his reach. § 631. The following is a task poem of George Herbert's. The task is, that the last words of the latter two lines of each verse are formed by dropping letters from the last words of the former ones: Inclose me still, for fear I start, Be to me rather sharp and tart, Than let me want thy hand and art. Such sharpness shows the sweetest friend, Such cuttings rather heal than rend, And such beginnings touch their end. The following task distich is formed of three lines of the fragments of words, so that those of the middle one read with either of the other two: It is an or § 632. Rhyme is not essential to English verse. nament, and something more. Final rhyme has been called a "time-beater:" it separates each verse from the others by a distinct boundary, and thus contributes to the measure. Still, it is not essential. Measures, where there are no rhymes, are called BLANK VERSE. It is a general rule that every verse shall end with an important word. All night the dreadless angel, unpursued, Through heaven's wide champaign held his way; till Morn, Unbarr'd the gates of light.-MILTON. The rolling year Is full of Thee. Forth in the pleasing spring Echo the mountains round, the forest smiles, And every sense and every heart is joy.-THOMSON. POETICAL LICENSE. § 633. The Rules of Syntax are sometimes traversed by the practice of the poets. 1. The verb precedes the nominative; as, Sunk was the sun, and up the eastern heaven, Moved the meek star of eve.-MILMAN. . The verb follows the accusative; as, His prayer he saith, this holy man.—KEATS. 3. The noun precedes the adjective; as, 'Twas in youth, that hour of dreaming, Round me visions fair were beaming.-Mrs. NORton. 4. The infinitive mode precedes the governing word; as, When first thy sire, to send on earth Virtue, his darling child, designed.—GRAY. 5. An intransitive verb is placed at the beginning of a sen tence; as, Air blacken'd, roll'd the thunder, groan'd the ground.-Dryden. 6. Adverbs precede the words which they qualify; as, The plowman homeward plods his weary way.-GRAY. 7. The preposition follows its governing word; as, "Where echo walks steep hills among.” 8. The article is often omitted; as, "What dreadful pleasure! there to stand, sublime, 9. Compound epithets are frequently used; as, O music! sphere-descended maid!-Collins. 10. A positive is joined with a comparative; as, 11. After a pronoun its representative noun is repeated; as, "It ceased the melancholy sound.” 12. The relative is omitted; as, ""Tis Fancy, in her fiery car, Transports me to the thickest war!" 13. The antecedent is omitted; as, "Who never fasts, no banquet e'er enjoys." 14. Intransitive verbs are made to govern the objective; as, "Still in harmonious intercourse they lived The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart." 15. The uncompounded form of the first and third persons imperative is used; as, "Turn we a moment Fancy's rapid flight." "Fall he who must beneath a rival's arms. 16. In the compound tenses the auxiliary only is used; as, "What for ourselves we can is always ours." 17. The idioms of other languages are used; as, "For not to have been dipp'd in Lethe's lake "He came; and, standing in the midst, explain'd 18. Antiquated words and modes of expression are used; as, "Shall I receive by gift what of my own, When where likes me best I can command." "In sooth, he was a strange and wayward wight." Some of these forms are not peculiar to poetry. ELISION. § 634. ELISION, Latin elido, to strike off, is a general term for certain Euphonic Figures, in which there is an omission of a letter or letters. See § 160. 'Twas theirs alone to dive into the plan That truth and mercy had reveal'd to man.-Cowper. Hence British poets, too, the priesthood shared, And ev'ry hallow'd Druid was a bard.-CowPER. For want of faith, Down the steep precipice of wrong he slides: ?MILTON. Z z CHAPTER II. IAMBIC MEASURES. IAMBIC MONOMETER. Formula'x a. $635. In the following extract the two accented lines are each composed of a single Iambus. 'Twas on a day, When the immortals at their banquet lay, Sparkled with starry dew; The weeping of those myriad urns of light, Stored the rich fluid of ethereal soul! Around' Soft odorous clouds that upward wing their flight Formula xa+. In the following stanzas the three accented lines consist of an Jambus and an additional syllable. § 636. In the following extract the accented lines are com 'posed of two Iambics. |