The Grammar Of English Grammars - The Grammar of English Grammars Part 201
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The Grammar of English Grammars Part 201

"Crabbed age and youth Cannot live to -gether; Youth is full of pleasance, Age is full of care: Youth, like summer morn, Age, like winter weather; Youth, like summer, brave; Age, like winter, bare.

Youth is full of sport, Age's breath is short, Youth is nimble, age is lame; Youth is hot and bold, Age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, and age is tame."

_The Passionate Pilgrim_; SINGER'S SHAKSPEARE, Vol. ii p. 594.

_Example II--Common Sense and Genius_.

3.

"While I touch the string, Wreathe my brows with laurel; For the tale I sing, Has, for once, a moral!

4.

Common Sense went on, Many wise things saying; While the light that shone, Soon set Genius straying.

5.

One his eye ne'er rais'd From the path be -fore him; T' other idly gaz'd On each night-cloud o'er him.

6.

While I touch the string, Wreathe my brows with laurel; For the tale I sing, Has, for once, a moral!

7.

So they came, at last, To a shady river; Common Sense soon pass'd Safe,--as he doth ever.

8.

While the boy whose look Was in heav'n that minute, Never saw the brook,-- _But tum_ _-bled head_ _-long in it_."

_Six Stanzas from Twelve_.--MOORE'S MELODIES, p. 271.

This short measure is much oftener used in stanzas, than in couplets. It is, in many instances, combined with some different order or metre of verse, as in the following:--

_Example III.--Part of a Song_.

"Go where glory waits thee, But while fame e -lates thee, _Oh! still remem -ber me_.

When the praise thou meetest, To thine ear is sweetest, _Oh! then remem -ber me_.

Other arms may press thee, Dearer friends ca -ress thee, All the joys that bless thee, Sweeter far may be: But when friends are nearest, And when joys are dearest, _Oh! then remem -ber me._

When, at eve, thou rovest, By the star thou lovest, _Oh! then remem -ber me_.

Think when home re -turning, Bright we've seen it burning; _Oh! thus remem -ber me_.

Oft as summer closes, When thine eye re -poses On its ling'ring roses, Once so loved by thee, Think of her who wove them, Her who made thee love them; _Oh! then remem -ber me_."

MOORE'S _Melodies, Songs, and Airs_, p. 107.

_Example IV.--From an Ode to the Thames_.

"On thy shady margin, Care its load dis -charging, _Is lull'd to gen -tle rest_:

Britain thus dis -arming, Nothing her a -larming, _Shall sleep on Cae -sar's breast_."

See ROWE'S POEMS: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. iv, p. 58.

_Example V.--"The True Poet"--First Two of Nine Stanzas_.

1.

"Poet of the heart, Delving in its mine, From man -kind a -part, Yet where jewels shine; Heaving upward to the light, Precious wealth that charms the sight;

2.

Toil thou still, deep down, For earth's hidden gems; They shall deck a crown, Blaze in dia -dems; _And when thy hand shall fall to rest_, Brightly jewel beauty's breast."

JANE B. LOCKE: _N. Y. Evening Post; The Examiner, No. 98_.

_Example VI.--"Summer Longings"--First Two of Five Stanzas_.

"Ah! my heart is ever waiting, Waiting for the May,-- Waiting for the pleasant rambles Where the fragrant hawthorn brambles, With the woodbine alter -nating, Scent the dewy way.

Ah! my heart is weary waiting, Waiting for the May.

Ah! my heart is sick with longing, Longing for the May,-- Longing to e -scape from study, To the young face fair and ruddy, And the thousand charms be -longing To the Summer's day.

Ah! my heart is sick with longing, Longing for the May."

"D. F. M. C.:" _Dublin University Magazine; Liberator, No_. 952.

MEASURE VII.--TROCHAIC OF TWO FEET, OR DIMETER.

_Example I.--Three Short Excerpts._

1.

"My flocks feed not, My ewes breed not, My rams speed not, All is _amiss_: Love's de -nying, Faith's de -fying, Heart's re -nying, Causer _of this_."

2.

"In black mourn I, All fears scorn I, Love hath lorn me, Living _in thrall_: Heart is bleeding, All help needing.

(Cruel speeding,) Fraughted _with gall_."

3.

"Clear wells spring not.

Sweet birds sing not, Loud bells ring not _Cheerfully_; Herds stand weeping, Flocks all sleeping, Nymphs back creeping _Fearfully_."

SHAKSPEARE: _The Passionate Pilgrim_. See Sec. xv.

_Example II.--Specimen with Single Rhyme.

"To Quinbus Flestrin, the Man-Mountain"_

A LILLIPUTIAN ODE

I.

"In a -maze, Lost, I gaze.