3. Verbosity. The difference between Verbosity and Pleonasm is, that in the former there are words which add nothing to the sense; and in the latter, not only single words, but whole clauses may have a meaning, and yet it were bet ter to omit them, because what they mean is unimportant. Instead of enlivening the expression, they make it languish. III. Liveliness of Expression as depending on the ARRANGE MENT of words. "Fallen, fallen is Babylon, that great city!" How much more lively is the impression which it produces is this arrangement of the words than the following: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city!" The first is the or der of the original Greek; the second, that of the received version. This is the arrangement adapted to the speaker's purpose. How much superior it is in liveliness of expression to the same words in the following Grammatical arrangement: "A more damned devil in the legions of horrid hell can not come to top Macbeth in ills!" The general rule for the arrangement of words is, that the thought which is prominent in the speaker's mind should be the prominent thought in the sentence. § 660. Sentences rhetorically considered are of two kinds: PERIODIC SENTENCES, and LOOSE SENTENCES. } A PERIODIC SENTENCE, or a Period, is a Sentence so framed that the Grammatical structure will not admit of a close before the end of it; or it is one in which the meaning remains suspended until the whole is finished. "I am not of the mind of those speculators who seem assured that all states have the same period of infancy, manhood, and decrepitude that are found in individuals." Here the sense remains suspended until the close of the sentence. So in the following sentence: "But if there be reason to be slow in rejecting the new proposition, still more is there necessity for caution in its adoption. A LOOSE SENTENCE is any one that is not a period; as, "I have told you already of mental ailments; and it is a very 122 possible thing, also, that I may be bodily ill again in town, which I would not choose to be in a dirty, inconvenient lodging, where, perhaps, my nurse might stifle me with a pillow; and, therefore, it is no wonder if I prefer your house." In all loose sentences, as in this, there is always one place at least before the end, at which if you make a stop, the construction of the preceding part will render it a complete sentence. The Period, as being the most vigorous and lively, is especially adapted to certain parts of an oration, and certain species of writing, where force and finish are necessary. The sense being suspended, keeps the attention awake until the close of the sentence. Of all parts of speech, remarks Campbell, Conjunctions are the most unfriendly to vivacity, and, next to them, the relative pronouns, as partaking of the nature of the conjunction. Introduce the Conjunction and between the different members of the following passage, and you greatly lessen its remarkable liveliness: "And the enemy said, I will pursue; I will overtake; I will divide the spoil; my revenge will be satiated upon them; I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them: Thou blewest with Thy breath; the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters!" THE CONSTITUENT PARTS OF A DISCOURSE. § 661. I. The EXORDIUM, OF INTRODUCTION. II. The ENUN CIATION and DIVISION of the subject. III. The NARRATION OF EXPLICATION. IV. The REAsoning or ARGUMENTS. V. The PATHETIC part. VI. The PERORATION OF CONCLUSION. It does not fall within the limits of the present work to exhibit specimens and illustrations of these several parts. PART VIII. POETICAL FORM S. CHAPTER I PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. DEFINITIONS. § 662. POETICAL FORMS are those combinations of language which are characterized by certain specific differences between them and composition in general. These differences relate to the laws of Versification. Poetry, besides holding much in common with Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, has certain laws of its own. Grammar aims at the correct use of language for the common understanding of those who speak and write it. Logic addresses the reasoning faculty. Rhet oric endeavors to persuade the will to action. The aim of Poetry is to Please, by addressing the imagination, the taste, the sensibilities. In order to give pleasure, it uses the Forms of Grammar, of Logic, of Rhetoric, and also those Peculiar Forms which are indicated by Prosody. PROSODY. § 663. PROSODY, from the Greek IIpoowdia (Latin accentus), originally signified accent. It is now used in a wider sense, doctrines of accent and quantity, but also the laws of meter and versification. and includes not only the ACCENT. § 664. ACCENT bears the same relation to poetry in mod ern languages which Quantity does to that of the Sanscrit, the Greek, and Latin. In the great family of languages called the Indo-European, three made time the index of their Rhythm, while all the rest employed accent. It is remarkable that those Dialects which now represent the Sanscrit, the Greek, the Latin, have lost their Temporal, and possess merely the Accentual Rhythm. So gradual was the change in the Greek, that even as late as the eleventh century there were authors who wrote indifferently in either rhythm. Ēt cantare părēs ēt respōndērē părāti.—VIRGIL. Here the Rhythm is formed by Long and Short syllables. Moreover, in the Classical languages, quantity was measured by the length of the Syllables, while in the English language quantity is measured by the length of the Vowels. Thus both syllables of the word index in Latin are long; both vowels of the same word in English are short. Accordingly, the word forms a Spondee in Latin, and, being accented on the first syllable, a Trochee in English. It is, indeed, true, that in English some syllables are longer than others; for every addition of a consonant must lengthen the syllable, whether the consonant be added at the beginning of a syllable; as, Ass, lass, glass; or at the end; as, Ask, asks, ask'st. The poet, if his ear is good, will regard this in the choice of his words, just as he employs imitative sounds; still accent must form the law of his rhythm. See Part III., chap. v., vii., and viii. METER. § 665. METER or METRE is a general term for the recurrence, within certain intervals, of syllables similarly affected. The meters of the Classical languages consist essentially in the recurrence of similar quantities. English meter essentially consists in the recurrence of syllables similarly accented. VERSE has been defined as a succession of articulate sounds, regulated by a rhythm so definite that we can readily foresee the results which follow from its application. There is, indeed, also a rhythm met with in prose'; but in the latter its range is so wide that we can never anticipate its flow, while the pleasure we derive from verse is founded on the We'll keep' our Christ'mas mer'ry still': Each age' has deem'ed the new-born year' The fit'test time' for fes'tal cheer'!-SCOTT. Here every other syllable is accented, and every other sylla ble unaccented. When we understand that this is the law of the rhythm, we know what to expect in each successive syllable. It should be added, that it is more important to preserve the same number of accents in lines intended to be of the same measure than the same number of syllables. "Pa'tience is a virtue that shines' bright' in adversity." Here the accent follows no law, but falls on the 1st, 5th, 8th, 9th, 12th. You can not predict the character of the suc cessive syllables from the law of the rhythm. The measured extract is POETRY; the unmeasured is PROSE. A DISTICH Or Couplet consists of two verses; a Triplet of three. MEASURES. § 666. For every accented syllable in the following line write the letter a, and for every unaccented one the letter x, so that a stands for an accent, and x for the absence of one: Hast thou' a charm' to stay' the morn'ing star'?-Coleridge. Or, expressed symbolically : xa, xa, xa, xa, xa. When x coincides with hast, and a with thou, you may determine the length of the line in two ways: you may either measure by the syllable, and say that the line consists of ten syllables; or by the accents, and say that it consists of five accents. In this latter case, we take the accented syllable and its corresponding unaccented syllable, and, grouping the two together, deal with the pair at once. Now a Group of syllables, taken together, is called a MEASURE or a Foot. Thus, hast thou (x a) is one measure, a charm (x a) anoth |