EXERCISE. Tell what kind of feet in each of the following; also the number of feet in a line. 1. Green be the graves where her martyrs are lying. 2 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er, Sleep the sleep that knows no waking. "Tis the vice of the slave. If solid happiness we prize, Within our breast the jewel lies. His brow was sad; his eye beneath Land where my fathers died, MIXED VERSE. The prevailing law in English verse is that all feet in a line shall be of the same kind; that is, all iambic, all trochaic, all anapestic, etc.; but much of modern verse is mixed by the substitution of other feet occasionally for the prevailing foot in the line. The following are the authorized substitutions, allowing the amphibrach foot to have a place: 1. In iambic verse a trochee may be substituted for the first iambus, and an amphibrach or an anapest for any iambus. 2. In trochaic verse an iambus may be substituted for the last trochee, and a dactyl or an amphibrach for any trochee. 3. In dactylic verse an amphibrach may be substituted for the first dactyl, and a trochee for any dactyl. 4. In anapestic verse an iambus may be substituted for any anapest, or an amphibrach for the last. 5. In amphibrachic verse an anapest may be substituted for the first amphibrach, a trochee or an iambus for any amphibrach, or a dactyl for the last. The longest English poem that is a specimen of mixed verse is Longfellow's "Evangeline," but, in general, the writing of extended poems in mixed verse has not been successful. Mixed verse seems to be most successful in comparatively short lines that rhyme. The following are excellent specimens: The first is from "Sheridan's Ride," by Read: Up from the South ǎt | break of | dãy, Bringing to Winchester | fresh dĭs | māy, Like ǎ her ǎld în haste, | to the chief | tain's door | And Sher | Idǎn twen | ty miles | ǎ way. | The second is from "The Ivory-Carver," by Boker: Carving ǎ | Christ from thě | ivory | bōne. He won his way | through the sight | less grain | Till the work | stood up | ǎ grow | Ing thought. | Note.-Let the student name the feet in each of these stanzas, and criticise any imperfections he may find. 3. Rhyme. Rhyme is a similarity of sound in final syllables that begin differently. It usually occurs at the ends of the lines; as, "It shall come in empire's groans, Burning temples, trampled thrones !" But rhyme may occur also in the middle of a verse; as, "For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee." Rhyme may be single, double, triple, etc., according to the number of syllables that are similar. A single rhyme is where but one syllable rhymes with another; as, "Vital spark of heavenly flame, Quit, oh quit, this mortal frame.” A double rhyme is where two syllables rhyme with two in another line; as,— A triple rhyme is where the three final syllables rhyme with three in another line; as, "Take her up tenderly, Lift her with care, Double rhymes occur in trochaic verse, and triple rhymes in dactylic verse. Alliteration is the repetition of the same letter or letters at the beginning of words; as, "There lived in Lombardy, as authors write, In days of old a wise and worthy knight." Conditions of Rhyme. 1. The rhyming syllables should be accented. 2. A syllable cannot rhyme with itself. The following is faulty: "We go from Ilium's ruined walls away, Wherever favoring fortune points the way." 3. The vowel of a rhyming syllable, together with the consonants that follow the vowel, must be the same in both rhyming syllables. For this reason aught and fault cannot rhyme, nor can breath and health, nor death and heath. 4. The vowel in each of the rhyming syllables should be preceded by a consonant. Double and triple rhymes are subject to the same laws as single rhymes, beginning with the accented syllable in each, all that follows the accented syllable being of the same form in each of the rhyming lines. The following, therefore, make good rhymes: tenderly, slenderly; pleasure, treasure; reason, season, etc. A perfect rhyme is one in which the closing vowels and the consonants which follow them are the same in sound, while the consonants that precede these vowels are different, as in the following: “ "True art is nature to advantage dressed; What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed." An admissible rhyme is one in which the closing vowels, while not the same, closely resemble each other, as in the following: "Good nature and good sense must ever join; To err is human; to forgive, divine.” The number of lines rhyming in a stanza varies. Usually it is two, but it may be three or more. Sometimes successive lines rhyme; as,— "Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife, And let me languish into life." More frequently alternate lines rhyme; as, "Lives of great men all remind us BLANK VERSE. Blank Verse is verse that does not rhyme. It is usually written in what is known as heroic verse; that is, iambic pentameter, so called because most poems celebrating the deeds of heroes are written in this verse. The following is an example from Milton: "Yet higher than their tops The verdurous walls of Paradise upsprung, When God hath showered earth." Among the most noted writings in blank verse are Milton's Paradise Lost, the plays of Shakespeare, and most of the other heroic and dramatic verse in our language. Longfellow's Hiawatha, written in trochaic tetrameter, and Evangeline, mainly in dactylic hexameter, are two |