"I sent thee late a rosy wreath, ^ ^ ^ q e e q e e e Not so much hon oring thee As giving it a hope that there It could not withered be, But thou thereon didst only breathe And sent'st it back to me; Since when it grows and smells, I swear, Not of itself, but thee."

Of all the great poets, but few have been such masters of the art of making musical verse as Spenser. The following stanza is from "The Faerie Queene;" and the delicate changes from one foot to another are so skillfully made that one has to look twice before he finds them.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ "A little lowly hermitage it was, ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Down in a dale, hard by a forest's side, ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Far from resort of people that did pass ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ In travel to and fro; a little wide ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ There was a holy chapel edified, ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Wherein a hermit duly wont to say ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ His holy things each morn and eventide; ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Thereby a crystal stream did gently play, ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Which from a sacred fountain welled forth alway."

First and Last Foot.

From the lines on "The Burial of Sir John Moore," another fact about metres may be derived. The second and fourth lines apparently have one too many syllables. _This may occur when the accent is upon the last syllable of the foot;_ that is, when the foot is an iambus or an anapest.

Again, the last foot of each line may be one syllable short. _This may occur when the accent is on the first syllable of a foot;_ that is, when the foot is trochaic or dactylic. The scheme is like this:

^ ^ ^ ^ q e q e q e q e "Tell me not in mournful numbers ^ ^ ^ ^ q e q e q e q r Life is but an empty dream."

The last foot of a verse of poetry, then, may have more or fewer syllables than the regular number; still the foot takes up the regular time and cannot be deemed unrhythmical.

The first foot of a line, too, may contain an extra syllable; a good example has been given in the lines on page 273, beginning,--

"Ah, the autumn days fade out, and the nights grow chill."

And the first foot of a line may lack a syllable, as in the first line of "Break, Break, Break," by Tennyson.

In a line like the following, it is sometimes difficult to tell whether the syllable is omitted from the first or the last foot. If from the first, the verse is iambic, and is scanned like this:--

^ ^ ^ ^ r q e q e q e e e "Proud and low ly, beg gar and lord."

If the last foot is not full, the line is trochaic.

^ ^ ^ ^ q e q e e e e q r "Proud and low ly, beg gar and lord."

Now if the whole of "London Bridge," from which this line is quoted, be read, there will be found several lines that are trochaic beyond question; and the last line of the chorus is iambic. The majority of trochaic lines leads us to decide that the verse is trochaic. From this example one learns to appreciate how nearly alike are trochaic and iambic verses. Both are composed of alternating accented and unaccented syllables; and the kind of metre depends upon which comes first in the foot. In Blake's "Tiger, Tiger," there is not a line that clearly shows what kind of verse the poet used. If the unaccented syllable is supplied at the beginning the poem is iambic; if at the end, it is trochaic.

"Tiger, Tiger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Framed thy fearful symmetry?"

Silences may occur in the middle of a verse of poetry as well as at the beginning or the end. In the following nursery rhyme it is clear that the prevailing foot is anapestic, though several feet are iambic, and in the first two lines and the last line a single syllable makes a foot. Silences are introduced here as rests are in music.

r q r q r q "Three blind mice!

r q r q e q See how they run!

^ ^ ^ ^ Hurrah, hurrah for the farm er's wife!

^ ^ ^ ^ She cut off their tails with a carv ing knife!

^ ^ ^ ^ Did you ev er see such a sight in your life e q r q r q As three blind mice!"

Like this is the scansion of Tennyson's "Break, Break, Break."

r q r q r q "Break, break, break!

On thy cold gray stones, O sea!

And I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me."

In scanning, then, it is necessary--

_First._ To determine by reading a number of verses the kind of foot that predominates, and to make this the basis of the metrical scheme.

_Second._ To remember that one kind of foot may be substituted for another, at the will of the poet, introducing into the poem a delicate variety of rhythm.

_Third._ To keep in mind that the first foot of a verse and the last foot may have more or fewer syllables than the regular foot of the poem.

_Fourth._ That silences, like rests in music, may be introduced into a verse and give to it a perfect smoothness of rhythm.

Kinds of Poetry.

It is a difficult thing to give a definition of poetry. Many have done so, yet no one has been fortunate enough to have his definition go without criticism. In general, it may be said that poetry deals with serious subjects, that it appeals to the feelings rather than to the reason, that it employs beautiful language, and that it is written in some metrical form.

Poetry has been divided into three great classes: narrative, lyric, and dramatic.

Narrative poetry deals with events, real or imaginary. It includes, among other varieties, the epic, the metrical romance, the tale, and the ballad.

_The epic is a narrative poem of elevated character telling generally of the exploits of heroes._ The "Iliad" of the Greeks, the "aeneid" of the Romans, the "Nibelungen Lied" of the Germans, "Beowulf" of the Anglo-Saxons, and "Paradise Lost" are good examples of the epic.

_The metrical romance is any fictitious narrative of heroic, marvelous, or supernatural incidents derived from history or legend, and told at considerable length._ "The Idylls of the King" are romances.

The tale is but little different from the romance. It leaves the field of legend and occupies the place in poetry that a story or a novel does in prose. "Marmion" and "Enoch Arden" are tales.

_A ballad is a short narrative poem, generally rehearsing but one incident._ It is usually vigorous in style, and gives but little thought to elegance. "Sir Patrick Spens," "The Battle of Otterburne,"

and "Chevy Chase" are examples.

Lyric poetry finds its source in the author's feelings and emotions.

In this it differs from narrative poems, which find their material in external events and circumstances. Epic poetry is written in a grand style, generally in pentameter, or hexameter; while the lyric adopts any verse that suits the emotion. The principal classes of lyric poetry are the song, the ode, the elegy, and the sonnet.

_The song is a short poem intended to be sung._ It has great variety of metres and is generally divided into stanzas. "Sweet and Low," "Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon," "John Anderson, My Jo, John," are songs.

_An ode is a lyric expressing exalted emotion; it usually has a complex and irregular metrical form._ Collins's "The Passions,"

Wordsworth's "Intimations of Immortality," and Lowell's "Commemoration Ode," are well known.

_An elegy is a serious poem pervaded by a feeling of melancholy._ It is generally written to commemorate the death of some friend. Milton's "Lycidas" and Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" are examples of this form of lyric.

_A sonnet is a lyric that deals with a single thought, idea, or sentiment in a fixed metrical form. The sonnet always contains fourteen lines._ It has, too, a very definite rhyme scheme. Some of the best English sonnets have been written by Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and Mrs. Browning.

Dramatic poetry presents a course of human events, and is generally designed to be spoken on the stage. Because such poetry presents human character in action, the term "dramatic" has come to be applied to any poetry having this quality. Many of Browning's poems are dramatic in this sense. In the first sense of the word, dramatic poetry includes tragedy and comedy.

_Tragedy is a drama in which the diction is dignified, the movement impressive, and the ending unhappy._

_Comedy is a drama of a light and amusing character, with a happy conclusion to its plot._

Exercises in Metres.

Enough of each poem is given below so that the kind of metre can be determined. Always name the verse form and write the verse scheme.

Some hard work will be necessary to work out the irregular lines, but it is only by work on these that any ability in scanning can be gained. Always read a stanza two or three times to get the swing of the rhythm. Remember the silences, and the substitutions that may be made.

1. "I stood on the bridge at midnight As the clocks were striking the hour, And the moon rose over the city, Behind the dark church tower.