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HANDBOOK OF POETRY; A CLEAK AND EASY GUIDE, DIVESTED OF TECHNICALITIES, TO THE %xt af glahing $nglisjr Wmt. J. E. CAEPEXTEE, KD1TOR OF "PENNY READINGS IN PROSE AND VERSE," "POPULAR READINGS," ETC. AUTHOR OF TWO THOUSAND SONGS AND BALLADS, ETC. ETC. TO WHICH IS ADDED A NEW POETICAL ANTHOLOGY, AND A CONCISE DICTIONABY OF PEOPEB, EHYMES, WITH LISTS OF DOUBLE AND SINGLE RHYMES, AND TEPvMS USED IN POETRY. V LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MARSTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, FLEET STREET. 18(18. [All rights resi • ■■■. ^ D^> £> PREFACE. T a time when " Handbooks of History," "Handbooks of Chemistry," "Handy Books of the Law," and other short cuts to general knowledge or useful information, find a ready acceptance on the part of the public, the little treatise contained in the following pages may not be without its utility, or un- acceptable to that large class who now, in the thousand- and-one periodicals of the day, cultivate the Muses for pleasure and recreation, if with no higher aim and object. So totally devoid of anything like even an approach to " inspired verse " are most of the effusions admitted by too willing editors, so faulty in construction and false in rhyme are most of the verses of " The Poets' Corner " and the magazine column, that the authors themselves must not unfrequently be cognizant of their deformity, when they see them reflected in the light and glare of leaded or double-leaded print. And yet, with a little care and study, how easily might vi PREFACE. this be avoided. Not that any treatise on Poetry can make an Inspired Bard, any more than conld the mere pernsal of a few books make an individual of feeble mind a deep thinker; but it can, at least, do this — it can make him write correctly, if not forcibly ; and a care- ful study of the following pages, it is to be hoped, will enable all but the wilfully ignorant to judge of their own writings, and so to remodel and correct them as, at least, to render them free from those objections so offensive to a fine ear and a cultivated taste. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. Introductory 1 « II. On Rhymes . . . ■ . . . 7 III. On Rhythm  POETICAL ANTHOLOGY . . 93 A CONCISE DICTIONARY OF PROPER RHYMES 197 A LIST OF DOUBLE RHYMES . . .258 A LIST OF TREBLE RHYMES . . .277 TERMS USED IN POETRY AND POETICAL CRITICISM 283 HANDBOOK OF POETRY. CHAPTEE I. INTRODUCTORY. OETRT is the art of expressing our ideas in verse, or musical cadences. It is formed by dividing the language employed into lengths, called measures or rhythm, which lengths (except in blank verse) are terminated by a word having the same sound as the word which concludes its corresponding line. This is called Ehyme. Nothing is easier than to rhyme correctly; yet in nothing has this first principle of the art of poetry been so frequently departed from, and this even by many of our standard poets. To a great extent this is no doubt to be accounted for by an auscultatory defect on the part of the rhymer ; the same individual who could not detect when he, or another, was singing out of tune, would not detect a false rhyme if he made or read it; and this remark will apply with equal force to rhythm. It is not always necessary that a line and its corresponding line 2 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. should contain precisely the same nnmber of words or syllables; but it is necessary that there should be the same accent in both, the same rise and fall, the same musical flow, so to speak ; and this is determined by what is called " scanning." I shall not in this treatise, which is intended for the purely uninitiated, adopt many of the old technical terms in accordance with which our fathers built up their poems and formed their versification : most of these have long since been exploded. Poetry is no longer confined to any arbitrary form of verse ; she may take a hundred varied shapes, as in Southey, or the poet may invent new measures if he can; but there are first principles from which he can never depart. Like the musician, he must know how and when to resolve his discords, for in both cases perfect harmony must pervade the whole. That there are exceptions to the rules for making verse, I am not prepared to deny ; but if I am asked why these exceptions are not pointed out, I must reply that the strictest rules that can be obtained are the best by which to study any art. The exceptions will present themselves as difficulties occur: to point out an easy means of getting over them would be to make the student careless, and cause him to avail himself of them habitually, rather than to face and overcome them. ]STo one, not even an inspired poet, a born one, can commence without some knowledge of what rhythm is capable of, of what others have done before him. Burns,. A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. 3 who sought for his inspirations in natural objects, could not have written if he had not previously heard the peasant songs of his native land. To one less inspired than he, a long course of study, and that of the best writers, would be necessary to inform him what rhymed and measured language is capable of achieving ; hence, to those who would draw music from the mystic lyre, I would say, read the best poetry you can procure, and read every style, before you attempt to form one for yourself. When you think you can do so, write directly from your own feelings ; work after the best models if you will, but let the material be your own. By these means, and by avoiding those solecisms upon which others have blundered, and which I shall endeavour to point out, you will be able to write correctly. In choosing your subject, avoid, if possible, those that have been treated of by others : life is so full of variety, and natural objects are so abundant, that there can never be a dearth of subjects for poetry. Of course there are subjects upon which all poets have exercised their talents, and which are common property; with such it is not so much the object, as the method of treating it, that constitutes the poem. The thought it inspires, the association it awakes, must be your own; and the language in which you clothe it must spring from within, and not be, as is too frequently the case, a mere paraphrase of what others have thought and written upon the same subject. b 2 4 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. The various kinds of poetry have their distinct appel- lations, but they are sometimes run into and blended with each other, so as to render their classification difficult. They may be said, generally, to be : — Dramatic Poetry. That which is capable of being represented on the stage, and divided into acts and scenes ; and also poetry written in the dramatic form, but not intended for representation. Blank verse is the medium usually employed in forming the language of the persons represented. The Epic, or long narrative poem, generally heroic in its nature, but sometimes purely imaginary. Inci- dent, scenery, action, and the reflections of the author, form the whole, which may be in blank verse, couplets, or irregular rhythm. Lyric Poetry, which includes the ode, the song, the ballad, and the sonnet, as well as those trifles in verse in which the author gives expression to his thoughts and feelings. Didactic Poetry is that upon which the perceptive powers of the poet are brought to bear, and in which a moral precept is inculcated. Pastorals, peculiar to the older writers, were idyls, or short poems, devoted to pastoral objects, sometimes called Eclogues. Narrative Poems, imaginary tales, and historical ballads, differ from each other only as their designation implies. A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. 5 The student, having made choice of a subject, will determine under which of these classes he proposes to carry it out, and direct his studies accordingly. Never be deterred from writing on a subject because it does not, at the first blush, appear to be a poetical one: there are objects which are poetical in themselves from their own innate simple beauty, as a star, a snow-flake, a rose, a waterfall, a bird, a flower, or a rivulet. Others from their grandeur, as a storm, a mountain, the sun, the ocean, or a battle ; but, on the other hand, the most common-place objects have afforded scope for poetry of a very high order. An oak table, a walking-stick, a shilling, a bucket, a lamp, a bundle of rags, an old horse, all have been treated of successfully ; but it must be remembered that mere des- cription won't do ; your poem must contain a sentiment — the picture must call up some feeling, call back some memory. The association that your own mind may invent, or your experience suggest, will supply this. If my reader imagines that this " handbook " will make him a poet, let him undeceive him self at once. It professes to do nothing of the sort; its object is to assist him in the cultivation of his genius, if he has that within him which may lead to future excellence, by pointing out to him what to avoid, that he may become his own critic, and so spare himself the humiliation of having errors pointed out when too late to mend them. The method of writing poetry he may to a certain 6 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. extent learn by rule ; the manner must be the reflection of the light that shines from himself. It is by the man- ner rather than the method that one poet surpasses another in power, grace, feeling, fancy, and all that constitutes the attributes of a true poet. CHAPTER II. ON RHYMES. RHYME is the word which terminates a line of poetiy, when it agrees in sound with a cor- responding line preceding it. Rhymes may be single, double, or treble, as — "Loye" and "Dove," single ; " Sorrow" and " Morrow," double ; " Tenderly " and " Slenderly," treble. It is not absolutely necessary, in writing lyric poetry, that every line should have its rhyme ; many poets rhyme only tke alternate lines. It is better, however, that all the lines should have their rhymes, either in couplets, i.e., folbwing each other, or in alternate lines (of triplets and suspended rhymes I shall speak hereafter), and in writing verses that are intended to be set to music, especially so. Strictly speaking, nearly all those terminations which are called double or treble rhymes (i.e., when words of two or three syllables are employed) are not so. A rhyme is a simple or single sound, corresponding with another single sound with which it vibrates in unison, as so many notes struck upon an instrument correspond with the same notes struck an octave above or below them. 8 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. Two words or syllables precisely alike are not rhymes, hence in " sorrow" and "morrow," the rhymes are "sor" and"mor," and in "slenderly" and "tenderly," "slen" and " ten ; " the concluding syllables, being the same word, are not rhymes. It is always on the first syllable of double and treble rhymes that the accent falls ; and they, of course, constitute the rhymes. Where a word of three syllables is employed to rhyme with a monosyllable, the accent must be on the last syllable, as " shade " and " colonnade ; " the rhymes being " shade " and " nade," both single rhymes. When a word is used where the accent does not fall on the last syllable, a ludicrous effect is produced, as the following example, notwithstanding "rain" and "cane" would be good rhymes, the accent agreeing, will show: — Pelting, undermining, loosening, came the rain ; Through its topmost branches roared the Aitm-cane. Words of two syllables having their second syllable the same as the word to be rhymed to, as G-ipsey's "tent" to "content," cannot be used. There are many words that ought not to be used as rhymes, and consequently ought never to end a line, viz., the particles an, and, as, of, the, is, &c. Borne of these have been used by the old poets, but theyi are not admissible into modern verse. Beaumont and Fletcher have the line — Every little flower that is, A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. 9 and rhyme "is" to "kiss," which is a false rhyme, according to modern accent. Words of more than three syllables, which have their accents far removed from the final syllable, should never be nsed as rhymes. Such words as "vindicated" having their accent on the last syllable but one, are allowable, because they will come in with the double rhymes, as " stated," " mated ; " and the three- syllable words having a similar accent, as " debated," " elated," &c. The simple rhyme in all these is the " ate," the other sounds being weak and languishing, or unaccented. There are many words ending in "ove," which have three distinct sounds, but which are used by some writers, as rhymes, indiscriminately : this is incorrect, and should at all times be especially avoided. Love, Prove, and Rove, though they rhyme to the eye, do not rhyme to the ear, and there is a sufficiency of rhymes to each of these for all practical purposes in poetry. It is better to reconstruct a line, finding another terminal, than to let a false or slovenly rhyme pass. All obsolete words, many of which are to be found in the old poets, are inadmissible. In professedly imita- tions of the older poets, they may, of course, be used ; but I advise no young writer to attempt such imitations ; they would only convey modern thought clothed in an antique garb. The poetry of an age reflects its character, and is a landmark by. which we can judge of the condi- tion of the language of the period. Since the ancients 10 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. wrote, thousands of words have been incorporated with our language ; what necessity, then, to go back to that which was poor and weak, when we have a far richer abundance to glean from ? The best poem that could be written in the style of the ancients would be but an imitation after all. Of words which are exactly the same in sound, but of different meanings, we have many examples ; — these are not rhymes, and, though the student may point out scores of instances where they have been used by great poets, their use is not the less to be avoided. A great writer may commit a solecism which would not be tolerated by " a 'prentice hand." To plead precedent for an error is only to perpetuate it. The most used, and, consequently, the most abused of these rhymes, which are no rhymes, is the word " art " with " heart." I will furnish the reader, as a matter of curiosity, with a few of the many instances where it has been used by great authorities, not one of whom would, I think, were they living, venture to defend it : — As there is music uninformed by art, In those wild notes with which a merry heart. — Dryden. Mingling with wonders of profounder art, Woman's dear helps to mystify the heart.— Croly. Oh ! that the chemist's magic art Long should it glitter near my heart. — Rogers. And fear in every heart O'ercame the pilot's art. — Addison. A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. 11 Where is thy native simple heart, ' Devote to virtue, fancy, art ? — Collins. Dear lost companion of my tuneful art, Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart. — Gray. And all thy threads with magic art Have wound themselves about this heart. — Cowper. It dies upon my heart 0, beloved as thou art. — Shelley. If thou would' st stay, e'en as thou art, I still might press thy silent heart. — Rev. Charles Wolfe. Instances like these might be cited ad infinitum. The poems from which they are taken are so beautiful that, in them, they become but slight blemishes; but to the beginner, who wishes to command smoothness of versi- fication, and with whom power and passion are yet to be acquired, they ought to be avoided, not imitated. "Ear" and "hear," "hair" and "air," "boy" and "buoy," "seas" and "seize," "ale" and "hale," "vane" and "vein," and all similar words having the same sound, though of different meanings, are inadmissible. It may appear unnecessary to warn beginners against imperfect rhymes, but, as these pass so frequently undetected in amateur poetry, it may be as well to point some of them out, assuring my readers, however, that I have actually found them in print. A very frequent oversight is the rhyming of words ending with the letter "n" with those ending with "m," as " green " with " beam," " stream " with " seen." Again, 12 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. "more" with "poor," "earth" with "hearth:" these are more than blemishes, they are positive faults, and I should not have alluded to them had I not, as I have said, frequently met with them. Of double rhymes, formed of compound words, there are hardly any instances. " Wild- wood," to rhyme with "childhood," has done duty in so many modern ballad verses, that it would be as well to avoid it in future: a hackneyed rhyme like this is almost as objectionable using a hackneyed idea. The greatest care must be taken in forming double and treble rhymes, or the reverse of a pleasing effect will be produced. I recently found, in a poem of great pretension, "Milton" made to rhyme with "guilt on," and, in a comic poem, to rhyme with the cheese called " Stilton." I think both rhymes were on a par with each other. In a young author's first volume I found " Italy " made to rhyme with " bitterly." ISTow, " Iterly," in the mouth of a public speaker, would condemn him as a thorough cockney. " Armies " with " calm is," was another of the same writer's cockney rhymes. I also found some very had words (for rhymes) used in the poetry of " Good Words," a very successful and popular periodical: — Come in your beauty of promise ; Let your sun-smile scatter from us. For examples of false rhyming, any collection of psalms and hymns in use at most of our churches will supply A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. 13 you with abundance. I turn over the first few pages of the one before me, and find " feet " rhyming, or rather pretending to rhyme, 'with "straight;" "love" with "prove;" "lead" with "fade;" "abode" with "God;" "faint "with "pant;" "song" with "tongue;" "clad" with "spread;" "come" with "down;" and scores of similar instances. In some cases rhymes are recklessly abandoned, as in this : — Upon the glorious cherubim Full royally he rode ; And on the wings of mighty winds Came flying from above. Elisions that are not admissible are also constantly made use of, as "num'rous," "shew'st," &c. These psalms and hymns being written to be sung, the falseness of the rhymes becomes more apparent and dis- agreeable. The examples are given to convince the student how necessary it is that his rhymes should be perfect. The sound "ou" is one of the most perplexing the poet has to deal with. The word "wound" has often been made to rhyme with " sound ; " to pronounce it so in speaking would be to commit a vulgarism, and not to pronounce it so when it occurs in a stanza, would be to abolish the rhyme altogether. It follows, then, that it cannot be properly used as a rhyme to " sound : " " wound " and " swooned " would be correct rhymes, but "swooned" is objectionable from its hissing properties. Words ending in " ed " are generally the participles of 14 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. the regular verbs, of which there are two sorts ; one that will admit of the elision of the "e" that precedes the consonant, and one that will not. Those that will admit of the elision should always be used so, as " lov'd," which must always be used as a single rhyme ; the others, that will not suffer the elision, as "to grant," "to hate," forming their participles "granted" and "hated," remain as double rhymes. The words " flower " and " bower " must also be always used as single rhymes (though there is no necessity to print them "flow'r" and "bow'r"), and rhyme with "hour," "lour," and the like. The following elisions, which will frequently be found in the older poets, are not now allowable, viz : — that of the " o " before a noun beginning with a vowel — as fair, t'every; or before a verb beginning with a vowel, as t'amaze, t'undo, &c. " Taken " sometimes loses its " k," as ta'en, but should only be used so when quite unavoidable. Before using a word as a rhyme, be sure to consider if it is pronounced as spelt. Some words are not so pro- nounced, as "again" (a-gen), which ought not to be rhymed with "rain," "pain," &c, but with "pen," "men," and the other rhymes in "en." Walker, whose object was apparently to make a big book, divides rhymes, in his "Dictionary of Ehymes," into two classes — " perfect " and " allowable rhymes." This idea I entirely repudiate : a rhyme is a rhyme or it is not. A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. 15 Lyric poetry should be especially music in words, and perfect harmony admits of no discords. I cannot agree with him that "whatever has been constantly practised by our most harmonious poets may be safely pronounced to be agreeable to the genius of our poetry," any more than I can when he says, "there seems to be sometimes a beauty in departing from a perfect exactness of rhyme, as it agreeably breaks that sameness of returning sounds on the expecting ears." If the expecting ears are disappointed, how can it agreeably break the sameness? Nor do I think his farther defence of this defect is logical when he says, " a want of perfect rhyme, if a real imperfection, is fully compensated by gaining access to a more eligible turn of thought; the most exact and harmonious rhyme would be dearly purchased at the expense of the most delicate abatement in the strength and beauty of an expression." Is the more eligible turn of thought, then, to turn poetry into prose ? for such it becomes if divested of rhyme. But it is not necessary to abandon a happy turn of thought because a suitable rhyme cannot be hit upon at the moment. Our language is not so poor but that a score of ways may be found to give expression to the same thought, and no false rhyme need remain where an author will give himself the trouble to reconstruct his stanza or his couplet. If many of our poets can, as they do, put the thoughts of others into their own verse, what difficulty need they have in 16 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. reconstructing a passage that originates with them- selves ? Take a line or two from a very graceful poet recently deceased, to illustrate this ; one, too, who was lauded as the most original poet after Tennyson : — Oh ! there are men who linger on the stage To gather crumbs and fragments of applause. Alex. Smith. Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage. — Johnson. My head is grey, my blood is young, Red-leaping in my veins. — Alex. Smith. And said I that my limbs were old, And said I that my blood was cold, &c. Sir Walter Scott. You need not tinker at this leaking world, 'Tis ruined past all cure. — Alex. Smith. There's something in this world amiss, Shall be unriddled by-and-by. — Tennyson. A tender sadness drops upon my soul, Like the soft twilight dropping on the world. Alex. Smith. And leave the world to darkness and to me. — Gray. I clasp thy waist, I feel thy bosom's beat — Oh, kiss me into faintness sweet and dim. Alex. Smith. I die, I faint, I fail ! Let thy love in kisses rain On my lips and eyelids pale. — Shelley. A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. 17 Far above his head, Up there upon the still and mighty night, God's name was writ in worlds. — Alex. Smith. The heavens declare the glory of God ; and The firmament sheweth his handiwork. — Psalm xix. iv. Alas ! the youth, Earnest as flame, could not so tame his heart As to live quiet days. — Alex. Smith. Quiet to quick bosoms is a hell. — Bykon. I see no trace of God, till in the night, While the vast city lies in dreams of gain, He doth reveal himself to me in heaven : My heart swells to Him as the sea to the moon ; Therefore it is I love the midnight stars. — Alex. Smith. Ye stars, which are the poetry of heaven ! If in your brightness we can read the fate Of men and empires, 'tis to be forgiven That in our aspirations to be great Our destinies o'erleap their mortal state, And claim a kindred with, &c. — Bykon. My heart is weak ; as a great globe, all sea, It finds no shore to break on but thyself. So let it break. — Alex. Smith. Break, break, on thy cold grey stones, 0 sea ! And I would that my tongue could utter, &c. Tennyson. Even if these were unintentional imitations, they are c 18 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. not the less evidence against Walker's dogma, that a false rhyme may he palliated for the sake of preserving an idea. Old Byshe, whose "Art of Poetry" lies in the corner of the room in Hogarth's pictnre of the Distressed Poet, is more honest ; he supposes that " the difficulty of finding rhymes has been the cause that such indifferent ones have "been frequently chosen," but he does not defend them. If we are to admit imperfect rhymes and poetical licenses, then the study of poetry as an art becomes an unnecessary task, and the most random rhymer may take his place beside the most accomplished poet ; but it is not so. The very instances Walker has adduced and defended, because, and only because, they have been found in poets of great repute, would not now be tole- rated by the most lenient critic, and would assuredly bring down upon the writer who would use them his just reprehension. It is well, however, that these solecisms have been pointed out to us. As our mariners are indebted to the early voyagers for those charts which mark out the hidden rocks and shoals from which they are to steer clear, so let us regard these rocks ahead which have been stumbled upon by those hardier chiefs who have sounded the unknown depths before us. What modern writer would dare to pen — Soft yielding minds to water glide away, And sip with nymphs their elemental tea ?— Pope. A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. 19 a rhyme that would be appropriate in an Irish comic song ; as would — Yet still the kindness, from a thirst of praise, Proved the vain flourish of expensive ease. — Parnell. Or take the following : — One sees her thighs transformed ; another views Her arms shoot out, and branching into boughs. — Addison. Fear not to tax an honourable fool. Whose right it is uncensured to be dull. —Pope. Just to thy fame he gives thy genuine thought; So Tully published what Lucretius wrote. — Broome. Green wreaths of bay his length of hair A golden fillet binds his awful brows. — Dryden. In praise so just, let every voice bet And fill the general chorus of Tuanlcind. —Pope. For who did ever in French authors see The comprehensive English energy ? — Roscommon. Did e'er my eye one inward thought reveal, Which angel might not hear, and virgins tell 1 — Prior. Lo, where she sits beneath yon shaggy rock, A cowering shape half hid in curling smoke. — Wordsworth. Blemishes like these in standard poets detract nothing from their fame ; they have borne the heat and burden of their day, and have their reward in the high estimation in which their posterity holds them; but the beginner must be careful of such trippings: the race is to the c 2 20 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. strong, and a fall at first may cause the fleetest to be distanced. ISTo amount of criticism can now remove Pope and Dry den from their pedestals. Granted that these halting lines of theirs are faults, — there are spots in the sun. There are some words that change their accent when they change the grammatical sense in which they are used, as when a noun becomes a verb. The most per- plexing one of all these to the poets appears to have been the word "perfume;" but when the accent of a particular word becomes settled, it should be used as by custom and authority established. Walker has a long note on this word, aud points out the various dictionaries where the accent is placed on the last syl- lable, whether as a substantive or a verb, but he adds : " The analogy of dissyllable nouns and verbs seems now to have fixed the accent of the substantive on the first, and that of the verb on the last" and this is now the generally recognized accentuation. To accent the substantive, as in the following lines by Milton, or the succeeding one by a modern poetess (Mrs. Hemans), would not be correct, according to this decision : — Now gentle gales, Fanning their odoriferous wings, disperse Native perfume, and whisper whence they stole Their balmy sighs. The sunbeam's glow, the citron flower's ■perfume. A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. 21 It must be borne in mind, then, that the noun "per- fume— sweet odour, or fragrance," is accented on the first syllable, as "^>e/-firme," while the verb active "per- fume— to impregnate with sweet scent," is accented on the last, as " perfwwae." By attending to the above rules, the beginner will soon be enabled to perfect himself in the art of forming rhymes. If his ear should be so faulty that he cannot depend on it, let him write his poem as best he may, putting down the thoughts as they occur to him, with- out waiting to examine the rhymes; his poem finished, he should then examine and sound them together, each pair of rhymes separately, to see if they perfectly agree. It may be he will find some false rhymes, then the line must be reconstructed, without altering the original sense, if possible. I give an example to show how this can be accom- plished, though I would not presume to alter a line of so distinguished a poet, supposing the poem came under my observation in an editorial capacity; indeed, what- ever faults or blemishes may occur in a published poem, there they ought to remain, as far as others are con- cerned, when they once leave the author's hands ; hence the greater necessity for a strict personal examination. The example I select shall be the rhyming of " art " to " heart " already referred to. It occurs in a very beau- tiful lyric by Thomas Davis, the Irish bard, entitled " Darling NelL" 22 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. Why should I not take her into my heart? She has not a morsel of guile or art : Why should I not make her my happy wife, And love her and cherish her all my life ? "Which might have been altered thus, — Why should I not take her into my heart, And make her mine own, of my life a part ? Why should I not call her my happy wife, And love her and cherish her all my life ? Or,— Why should I not take her into my heart ? Not a morsel of gxiile could her own impart. which would have been nearer to the original, but not so poetical. I merely give this example to show how easily altera- tions can be made, though I am not unmindful of a certain anecdote related of Thomas Moore. " Sir," said to him an amateur vocalist, who had repeated the first part of the time of one of the Irish Melodies contrary to the notation of the bard, " you perceive the improvements I have made in your song?" "At least," rejoined Moore, " I observe the alterations." To the beginner I would say, never be afraid of alter- ing, never send out to the world an imperfect poem; keep your manuscript by you as long as you can un- published, and look at it at intervals; the longer you keep it, the more likely you will be to discover its im- perfections, if any exist. Many an established poet has regretted rushing too precipitately into print. CHAPTER III. ON RHYTHM. S I have said, I shall in this treatise abandon all those technical terms which, in the old scholastic treatises, under the heads of " Ver- sification," and " B/ules for making verses," have so bothered and bewildered the student, which never made a poet, and which would prescribe art to the condition of a cucumber grown in a tube and generated over a hot-bed. To those who wish to know when they are employing a Trochee, an Iambus, a Spondee, a Phyrric, a Dactyl, an Amphibrach, an Anapaest, or a Tribrach, there is Mr. Murray to refer to ; the student will be better able to study rhythm by considering the best forms of verse that have been adopted and used by the best poets. Ehythm, measure, or metre, is the arrangement of a certain number of syllables into lengths, or musical lines, having other lines of the same length, and with precisely the same accent, to correspond with them. These lines may follow each other, or be alternated 24 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. with other lines of longer, shorter, or similar lengths, which must also have their corresponding lines.* An elongation of the last line, as in the metre invented by Spenser, called hence the Spenserian stanza, and adopted by Byron in his " Childe Harold," is also ad- missible. Each line in poetry consists of a certain number of feet, by which they can be measured or scanned. A foot in poetry is determined by the rise and fall of the accent, as — In a wild | tranquil vale | fringed with fo | rests of green, Where na | ture had fash | ioned a soft | sylvan scene ; Another syllable added to the second line of this couplet would not have altered its rhythmical accent, as — Where kind na | ture had, &c. The learned Pundits have reduced poetical feet to eight kinds, designated by the terms enumerated above, but if the beginner has no ear, these will not assist him; if he have one, he can easily measure off the feet for himself, f * There is an exception to this where a foot is dropped in the concluding line, for which see examples of stanzas. + The following ingenious lines "by Coleridge explain the whole system, and are at the service of those who prefer to work by the rule and square : — A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. 25 In scanning the lines it must be borne in mind that every line must agree perfectly with its corresponding line, not only throughout the stanza, but in every subse- quent stanza. In Lyric poetry there ought to be no deviation from this rule. A very simple plan for the beginner to test his rhythm is for him to find some old tune to which his first stanza will sing perfectly, and then to try over the subsequent Metrical Feet. Trochee trips from long to short ; From long to long, in solemn sort, Slow Spondee stalks ; strong foot ! yet ill able Ever to come up with Dactyl trisyllable. Iambics march from short to long ; With a leap and a bound the swift Anapaests throng ; One syllable long, with one short at each side, Amphibrachys hastes with a stately stride ; First and last being long, middle short, Amphimacer Strikes his thundering hoofs like a proud high-bred racer. Coleridge. The following is the scheme of the feet named. The mark" denotes a long, and " a short syllable : — Trochee "* ". Dactyl Spondee " Amphimacer Iambus " Amphibrach ' 26 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. verses without varying the accent of the tune. I have seen thousands of printed stanzas, and marked "for music" too, in which to accomplish this would be a simple impossibility. I will now proceed, still avoiding technicalities, to give the student examples of the various forms of verse and rhythm adopted by the poets, reminding him again, that he is perfectly at liberty to invent a new form of verse, if he can do so correctly, i.e. harmoniously. In descriptive and narrative poetry, the couplet, i.e. verse in which the consecutive lines rhyme with each other, is the style of verse that has been most used. The Homeric Hexameter Described an© Exemplified. (From the German of Schiller.) Strongly it bears us along in swelling and limitless billows, Nothing before and nothing behind but the sky and the ocean. Coleridge. Scheme. The Ovidian Elegiac Metre Described and Exemplified. (From the German of Schiller.) In the Hexameter rises the fountain's silvery column ; In the Pentametre aye falling in melody back. — Coleridge. Scheme. -•-I— |-|---|---|- A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. 27 1. — Couplets op Font Feet in Eight Syllables. When lie who called with thought to birth Ton tented sky — this laughing earth, And drest with springs the forest dell, And poured the main engirting all, Long by the loved enthusiast wooed, Himself in some diviner mood, Retiring, sat with her alone, And placed her on her sapphire throne. — Collins. 2. — Couplets op Five Feet in Tex Syllables. But me, not destined such delights to share, My prime of life in wandering spent and care ; Impelled, with steps unceasing, to pursue Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view ; That, like the circle bounding earth and skies, Allures from far, yet, as I follow, nigs ; My fortune leads to traverse realms alone, And find no spot of all the world my own. Goldsmith. 3. — Couplet op Seven Feet in Fourteen Syllables. Eight sharp and quick the bells all night rang out from Bristol town, And ere the day three hundred horse had met on Clifton down. — Macaulay. 4. — Couplets op Four Feet in Seven Syllables, Come, with all thy varied hues, Come, and aid thy sister muse ; 28 A HANDBOOK OF POETRY. Now Phoebus, riding high, Gives lustre to the land and sky. — Dyer. Blank Verse is measured language minus the rhymes : the finest specimens are to be found in Milton and Shakspeare. Some modern professors of elocution and public readers have adopted the plan of reading blank verse as prose, instead of making every line sensible to the ear. Surely the poets who composed in verse intended that their lines should be read as verse, that the melody and the final pause should be preserved; which it may be without going into the opposite extreme, familiarly known as the " sing-song " style. 