III. All the kinds of Pauses used in the reading of prose are also common to poetry, as well as those described in the last section as peculiar to verse. IV. The short syllables which would be pronounced in the reading of prose, even though apostrophized by the writer or the printer, should be pronounced also in poetry. The occurrence of such syllables varies the melody; and is most common with the best poets. The ductyl often adds a short syllable in the first foot of the verse, thus:— Furious he spoke, the angry chief replied. Mūrmuring, and with him fled the shades of night. The tribrach occurs frequently in the third and fourth feet, thus: And rolls impetuous to the subject plain. And thunders down impetuous to the plain. And the anapast is of frequent occurrence in any place in the line, except the first. Witness the following :— On evěry side with shadowy squadrons deep. And hosts infuriate shake the shuddering ground. V. In the reading of RHYME in particular, it may be remarked, that there should be the same variety in the Phrases of Melody and the Cadence, as in the reading of blank verse, or prose. The regular recurrence of similar sounds, superadded to the measure, exposes the reader to the danger of too great uniformity in the employment of the phrases of melody, or of a return to the same note at the end of the lines. It will often require great care and attention on the part of the learner, to rid himself of bad habits of reading poetry, acquired in early life. In view of the kind of instruction usually given to children in our schools, and the real difficulties attending the reading of verse, it is perhaps not remarkable that so few read it well.-The following exercises will introduce the learner to the practice on the pauses peculiar to poetry, which he may carry to any extent on examples of his own selection. The dots.... indicate merely a vocal rest, with no expressive intonation; and are hence a fit emblem of the musical pause. EXAMPLES. .... 1. Of Man's first disobedience, . . . . and the fruit... Of that forbidden tree, . . . . whose mortal taste... Brought death into the world,.... and all our wo, With loss of Eden, . . . . till one greater Man... 5 Restore us,. . . . and regain the blissful seat, Sing, heavenly Muse, . . . . that on the secret top. Of Oreb, or of Sinai, . didst inspire. .... .... ... ... That shepherd, . . . . who first taught the chosen seed, In the beginning.... how the Heavens and Earth ... 10 Rose out of Chaos! . . . . Or, if Sion hill ... .... Delight thee more, . . . . and Siloa's brook, that flowed... Invoke thy aid. . . . to my adventurous song, That with no middle flight. . . . intends to soar... 15 Above th' Aonian mount .... while it pursues Things unattempted yet. . . . in prose or rhyme. ... 2. O Muse!.... the causes and the crimes relate; 5 Involved his anxious life. . . . in endless cares, Can heavenly minds. such high resentment show, 3. Oh! Sacred Truth!.... thy triumph ceased awhile, And Hope, thy sister,.... ceased with thee to smile, When leagued Oppression . . . . poured to northern wars ... Her whiskered pandoors. and her fierce hussars, to the breeze of morn, 5 Waved her dread standard ... .... .... Pealed her loud drum, and twanged her trumpet horn; .... Warsaw's last champion,.... from her height surveyed, 10 Wide o'er the fields. . . . a waste of ruin laid.Oh! Heaven! he cried, my bleeding country save; Is there no hand on high .... to shield the brave? Yet, though destruction. . . . sweep these lovely plains, Rise, fellow-men!.... our country yet remains! 15 By that dread name, . . . . we wave the sword on high, And swear for her to live! with her to die! 4. Lo, the poor Indian!.... whose untutored mind... Sees God in clouds, . . . . or hears him in the wind; .... His soul, proud Science never taught to stray. ... or milky way; Far as the solar walk, 5 Yet simple Nature.. to his hope has given, Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler heaven; Some safer world. . . . in depth of woods embraced, Some happier island. . . . in the watery waste, Where slaves once more. . . . their native land behold, 10 No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold. To Be,.... contents his natural desire, .... He asks no Angel's wing, .... no Seraph's fire; But thinks, . . . . admitted to that equal sky, .... His faithful dog. shall bear him company. SECTION IV. OF THE GROUPING OF SPEECH. THE idea involved in the Grouping of Speech, requires for its full development a careful analysis of written language. Such an analysis shows, that words sustaining a close grammatical relation to each other are often separated by intervening words and clauses. To the eye of the reader the connection may be apparent, and the meaning is generally obvious; but not so with the hearer. There must be expedients adopted by the reader or speaker, to present such sentences to the ear of the hearer as they naturally present themselves to the eye of him who reads, or the sense may often remain obscure; and particularly in poetry, where the greatest involutions and transpositions of style occur. Among these expedients may be enumerated: 1. The application of Emphatic force to words having a close grammatical connection, but separated by other matter. The following will serve as an example: GO PREACH TO THE COWARD, thou death-telling seer! DRAW, dotard, around thy old wavering sight! 2. The same object is secured by an abatement of the force, and a quickening of the time in reading the matter which intervenes between the related words or parts of a sentence. These circumstances of Force and Time, though perfectly distinct, in such cases coincide, and constitute what may be called the Flight of the Voice. We shall present it to the eye thus: Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, Sad instrument of all our we, she took. Let us (since life can little more supply Than just to look about us and to die) Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man. 3. The same principle may extend to the shortening of the pauses which intervene between words closely related to each other. This will be illustrated by a slur over the pause thus shortened : : Say first, for Heaven hides nothing from thy view, 4. Another expedient is, the employment of the Phrase of the Monotone, (and sometimes of the Rising Ditone,) instead of allowing the voice to fall at the pauses which intervene between the related parts. Example: On the other side, Incensed with indignation, Satan stood Though these are distinct elements, and each capable of an independent illustration, no two are opposed to each other, but any or all of them may be combined to secure one common object. This the following examples will sufficiently illustrate :— 1. So spake our sire, and by his countenance seemed Entering on studious thoughts abstruse, which EVE Perceiving, where she sat retired in sight, With lowliness majestic from her seat, And grace that won who saw to wish her stay, ROSE, and went forth among her fruits and flowers, |