Never ending, still beginning, Think, oh! think it worth enjoying: Take the goods the gods provide thee. Poe's Raven is in trochaic measure: Once upon ǎ | midnight | dreary, | | thy realm | fōrēv|ĕr lāsts | thỹ ōwn | Měssi¦ăh rẻigns | |ōn ǎ | mountain | stretched bě | néath ă | hōary | willow | Anapests have been in current use for a long time. Dactylic verse was almost unknown in English until the present century. Even yet it is not in general use, although we have had some brilliant examples of it. | when repō sing that night | on mỹ păl lět of straw | | Ŏn the warm | cheek of youth | the găy smile | ǎnd the rōse but the leaves | ǎre beginning to with ĕr and droop | faded thě | vapors thăt | seemed to encompass him | life hath Its | pleasures but | fading are they as the |ōvěr thě | valley with | speed like the | wind all the Witness the Boat Song in Scott's Lady of the Lake: | Hail to the chief who în | triumph ǎd|vānces! Earth lend it sap anew, Gayly to bourgeon, and broadly to grow, Sends our shout back again, Roderick Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe! Hood's Bridge of Sighs: One more un förtǎnǎte, | Weary of breath, Rashly importunate, Gone to her death! Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade: | Cannon to right of them, | Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them, Volleyed and thundered: Stormed at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of death, Into the mouth of hell, Rode the six hundred! Heber's Epiphany Hymn: | Brightest ǎnd | best of thě | sōns of the | mōrning, | Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid, Star of the East, the horizon adorning, Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid. II. RHYME. The mechanical arrangements which have been described in the last few pages are for the purpose of perfecting the Rhythm, which is one leading source of the pleasure derived from the form of poetry. There is, however, in modern verse, an additional source of pleasure, of the same nature as rhythm, so far at least that equally with rhythm it depends upon sound, though quite unlike it in other respects. I mean RHYME. Origin of Rhyme. — The origin of Rhyme is involved in some obscurity. It has been attributed to the nations of Northern Europe, to the Arabians, and to the early Christians. Rhyming hymns are found among the writings of the Latin Fathers as early as the fourth century. Some of the Latin hymns composed by the monks of the middle ages are very sweet and beautiful. The following lines are from a hymn on the Nativity, written by a German monk of the ninth century. Tribus signis Deo dignis Tria signa Laude digna Cœtus his persequitur. Stella magos Duxit vagos Ad praesepe Domini; Congaudentes Omnes gentes Ejus psallunt nomini. Etymology of Rhyme.-The word "rhyme" is of doubtful etymology. It is sometimes traced to the Greek rheo, (péw,) which, however, would make rheum, not rhyme. The word is spelled by some distinguished scholars "rhime." Whatever be its orthography or its etymology, its meaning is not a matter of doubt. Definition. Rhyme is a correspondence in sound between syllables which, in the scheme of the verse, have some relation to each other. Explanation. Not every correspondence in sound makes a rhyme. It is only when the syllables so consounding are in some way related to each other, as, for instance, each marking the end of a line, or marking one part of a line corresponding to another part, and so on. It is too much, we daily hear, To wive and thrive both in one year.-Tusser. In this example, "hear" and "year" are related to each other as each marking the end of a line, and “wive" and "thrive" are related as marking corresponding parts of the same line. Location of Rhyme not Limited. There is nothing in the nature of Rhyme to limit its use to the end of a word, or to the end of a line. It may be used legitimately at the beginning of a word, or at the beginning, the middle, or even in the quarters of a line, and his torically it is found in all these positions; and in each it is subject to laws which do not necessarily govern it elsewhere. Rhyme Single, Double, etc.-Rhyme may be single, double, triple, quadruple, etc., according to the number of syllables that chime together. Double rhymes are common. Look not thou on beauty's charming, Speak not when the people listens.- Scott. Triple rhymes are more rare, and are mostly imitated from the Italian, in which they abound. Oh ye immortal gods, what is theogony? Oh thou too mortal man, what is philanthropy? Some people have accused me of misanthropy: And yet I know no more than the mahogany That forms this desk, of what they mean:-Lycanthropy I comprehend, for without transformation Men become wolves on every slight occasion.—Byron. More Extended Rhymes.-Rhymes extending to more than three syllables are found only among the Arabians and Persians, where sometimes every line in a whole poem ends in the same sound, and that sound extends to four and even five syllables. Rhyme at the Beginning of a Word.- This is usually called Alliteration, and it admits of three varieties. (1.) Where the correspondence of sound is between two initial consonants; as, And now is religion a rider, a roamer by the streets, A leader of love-days, and a land-buyer.-Piers Plowman. This is the old Saxon alliteration. It prevailed universally in the Anglo-Saxon verse, and in that of many of the other northern nations cognate to the Saxons, and formed indeed the governing law of their verse. In modern English this consonantal alliteration is never used as a prevailing law of the verse, but occurs frequently as an occasional variety, and often with striking and beautiful effect. Silently sat the artist alone, Carving a Christ from the ivory bone. Little by little, with toil and pain, He won his way through the sightless grain. Boker's Ivory-Carver, The strength he gains is from the embrace he gives.-Pope. |