sions into two feet, we prefer to scan in this manner, because it usually alternates with pure iambics. Twelve such lines occur in the following extract:
LOVE TRANSITORY
"Could Love \ for ever
Run like \ a river,
And Time's \ endeavour
Be tried \ in vain,—
No oth\-er pleasure
With this \ could measure;
And like \ a treasure
We'd hug \ the chain.
But since \ our sighing
Ends not \ in dying,
And, formed \ for flying,
Love plumes \ his wing;
Then for \ this reason
Let's love \ a season;
But let \ that season
Be on\-ly spring."
LORD BYRON: See Everett's Versification, p. 19;
Fowler's E. Gram., p. 650.
MEASURE VIII.—IAMBIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER.
"The shortest form of the English Iambic," says Lindley Murray, "consists of an Iambus with an additional short syllable: as,
Disdaining,
Complaining,
Consenting,
Repenting.
We have no poem of this measure, but it may be met with in stanzas. The Iambus, with this addition, coincides with the Amphibrach."—Murray's Gram., 12mo, p. 204; 8vo, p. 254. This, or the substance of it, has been repeated by many other authors. Everett varies the language and illustration, but teaches the same doctrine. See E. Versif., p. 15.
Now there are sundry examples which may be cited to show, that the iambus,without any additional syllable, and without the liability of being confounded with an other foot, may, and sometimes does, stand as a line, and sustain a regular rhyme. The following pieces contain instances of this sort:
Example I.—"How to Keep Lent."
"Is this \ a Fast, \ to keep
The lard\-er lean
And clean
From fat \ of neats \ and sheep?
Is it \ to quit \ the dish
Of flesh, \ yet still
To fill
The plat\-ter high \ with fish?
Is it \ to fast \ an hour,
Or ragg'd \ to go,
Or show
A down\-cast look \ and sour?
No:—'Tis \ a Fast \ to dole
Thy sheaf \ of wheat,
And meat,
Unto \ the hun\-gry soul.
It is \ to fast \ from strife,
From old \ debate,
And hate;
To cir\-cumcise \ thy life;
To show \ a heart \ grief-rent;
To starve \ thy sin,
Not bin:
Ay, that's \ to keep \ thy Lent."
ROBERT HERRICK: Clapp's Pioneer, p. 48.
Example II.—"To Mary Ann."
[This singular arrangement of seventy-two separate iambic feet, I find without intermediate points, and leave it so. It seems intended to be read in three or more different ways, and the punctuation required by one mode of reading would not wholly suit an other.]
"Your face Your tongue Your wit
So fair So sweet So sharp
First bent Then drew Then hit
Mine eye Mine ear Mine heart
Mine eye Mine ear Mine heart
To like To learn To love
Your face Your tongue Your wit
Doth lead Doth teach Doth move
Your face Your tongue Your wit
With beams With sound With art
Doth blind Doth charm Doth rule
Mine eye Mine ear Mine heart
Mine eye Mine ear Mine heart
With life With hope With skill
Your face Your tongue Your wit
Doth feed Doth feast Doth fill
O face O tongue O wit
With frowns With cheek With smart
Wrong not Vex not Wound not
Mine eye Mine ear Mine heart
