Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/895

1. in quantity; so that, with stress laid on this monosyllable, the foot becomes an amphimac; without such stress, an anapest.
2. I incline to read this piece as composed of iambs and anapests; but E. A. Poe, who has commended "the effective harmony of these lines," and called the example "an excellently well conceived and well managed specimen of versification," counts many syllables long, which such a reading makes short, and he also divides all but the iambics in a way quite different from mine, thus: "Let us scan the first stanza.
   'I sāw \ hĭm ōnce \ bĕfōre
       As hĕ \ pāssĕd \ bȳ thĕ \ dōor,
           And ă-\gāin
   
   

       Thĕ pāve-\mĕnt stōnes \ rĕsōund
       As hĕ \ tōttĕrs \ ō'er thĕ \ grōund
           Wīth hĭs cāne.'
   
   

   This," says he, "is the general scansion of the poem. We have first three iambuses. The second line shifts the rhythm into the trochaic, giving us three trochees, with a cæsura equivalent, in this case, to a trochee. The third line is a trochee and equivalent cæsura."—POE'S NOTES UPON ENGLISH VERSE: Pioneer, p. 109. These quantities are the same as those by which the whole piece is made to consist of iambs and amphimacs.

3. In its rhythmical effect upon the ear, a supernumerary short syllable at the end of a line, may sometimes, perhaps, compensate for the want of such a syllable at the beginning of the next line, as may be seen in the fourth example above; but still it is unusual, and seems improper, to suppose such syllables to belong to the scansion of the subsequent line; for the division of lines, with their harmonic pauses, is greater than the division of feet, and implies that no foot can ever actually be split by it. Poe has suggested that the division into lines may be disregarded in scanning, and sometimes must be. He cites for an example the beginning of Byron's "Bride of Abydos,"—a passage which has been admired for its easy flow, and which, he says, has greatly puzzled those who have attempted to scan it. Regarding it as essentially anapestic tetrameter, yet as having some initial iambs, and the first and fifth lines dactylic, I shall here divide it accordingly, thus:
   "Knōw yĕ thĕ \ lānd whĕre thĕ \ cȳprĕss ănd \ mȳrtlĕ
         Arĕ ēm\-blĕms ŏf dēeds \ thăt ăre dōne \ ĭn thĕir clīme—
       Where the rage \ of the vul\-ture, the love \ of the tur\-tle,
         Now melt \ into soft\-ness, now mad\-den to crime?
         Know ye the \ land of the \ cedar and \ vine.
         Where the flow'rs \ ever blos\-som, the beams \ ever shine,
         And the light \ wings of Zeph\-yr, oppress'd \ with perfume,
         Wax faint \ o'er the gar\-dens of Gul \ in her bloom?
         Where the cit\-ron and ol\-ive are fair\-est of fruit,
         And the voice \ of the night\-ingale nev\-er is mute?
         Where the vir\-gins are soft as the ros\-es they twine,
         And all, \ save the spir\-it of man, \ is divine?
         'Tis the land \ of the East- \ 't is the clime \ of the Sun—
         Can he smile \ on such deeds \ as his chil\-dren have done?
         Oh, wild \ as the ac\-cents of lov\-ers' farewell,
         Are the hearts \ that they bear, \ and the tales \ that they tell."
   
   
4. These lines this ingenious prosodist divides not thus, but, throwing them together like prose unpunctuated, finds in them "a regular succession of dactylic rhythms, varied only at three points by equivalent spondees, and separated into two distinct divisions by equivalent terminating cæsuras." He imagines that, "By all who have ears—not over long—this will be acknowledged as the true and the sole true scansion."—E. A. Poe: Pioneer, p. 107. So it may, for aught I know; but, having dared to show there is an other way quite as simple and plain, and less objectionable, I submit both to the judgement of the reader:

   "Knōw yĕ thĕ \ lānd whĕre thĕ \ cȳprĕss ănd \ mȳrtlĕ ăre \ ēmblĕms ŏf \ dēeds thăt ăre \ dōne ĭn thĕir \ clīme whĕre thĕ \ rāge ŏf thĕ \ vūltŭre thĕ \ lōve ŏf thĕ \ tūrtlĕ nŏw \ mēlt ĭntŏ \ sōftnĕss nŏw \ maddĕn tŏ \ crime. Knōw yĕ thĕ \ lānd ŏf thĕ \ cēdăr ănd \ vīne whĕre thĕ \ flōw'rs ĕvĕr \ blōssŏm thĕ \ bēams ĕvĕr \ shīne whĕre thē \ līght wĭngs ōf \ zēphȳr ŏp\-prēss'd wĭth pĕr\-fūme wāx \ fāint ŏ'er thĕ \ gārdĕns ŏf \ Gūl ĭn hĕr \ blōom whĕre thĕ \ cītrŏn ănd \ ōlĭve ăre \ fāirĕst ŏf \ frūit ănd thĕ \ vōice ŏf thĕ \ nīghtĭngăle \ nēvĕr ĭs \ mūte whĕre thĕ \ vīrgĭns ăre \ sōft ăs thĕ \ rōsĕs thĕy \ twīne ānd \ āll săve thĕ \ spīrĭt ŏf \ mān ĭs dĭ-\vīne 'tĭs thĕ \ lānd ŏf thĕ \ Eāst 'tĭs thĕ \ clīmĕ ŏf thĕ \ Sūn căn hĕ \ smīle ŏn sŭch \ dēeds ăs hĭs \ chīldrĕn hăve \ dŏne ōh wīld ăs thĕ \ āccĕnts ŏf \ lōvĕrs' făre-\wēll ăre thĕ \ hēarts thăt thĕy \ beār and thĕ \ tāles thăt thĕy \ tēll."—Ib.

5. In the sum and proportion of their quantities, the anapest, the dactyl, and the amphibrach, are equal, each having two syllables short to one long; and, with two short quantities between two long ones, lines may be tolerably accordant in rhythm, though the order, at the commencement, be varied, and their number of syllables be not equal. Of the following sixteen lines, nine are pure anapestic tetrameters; one may be reckoned dactylic, but it may quite as well be said to have a trochee, an iambus, and two anapests or two amphimacs; one is a spondee and three anapests; and the rest may be scanned as amphibrachics ending with an iambus, but are more properly anapestics commencing with an iambus. Like the preceding example from Byron, they lack the uniformity of proper composites, and are rather to be regarded as anapestics irregularly diversified.