[Only a superficial view would banish it. It is implied in
the demand that the medium should be elaborated by Art and
that the realm entered should be other than every-day life]
(_a_) Rhythmical Versification (that is, without rhyme)
[(_α_) Made by time-duration and the movement. Starting
point in the natural length and shortness of syllables.
The distinctions of the sound of words in consonants and
vowels contribute the basis of this. Description and
illustration. Poetry regulates the accidental interchange
of various syllables and words. Time-duration. Nature of
dactyl, anapaest, etc. It further regulates the particular
time-relations in a series of verse-lines. The iambic metre,
etc. Problem of time-beats in the metre of the ancients. No
necessity as in music for abstract time-beat
(_β_) The accent and caesura. Every time-relation has its
particular accent. Particular feet ought not with abstract
precision to be identical with beginning and conclusion of
single words. The caesura checks the monotony of measure.
Further independent verbal accent. Fundamental influence
on the measure of the poetical idea. Also a definite type
of content corresponds with the entire character of a
particular verse-measure. The use of hexameter, elegiacs,
and iambics in this respect
(_γ_) Rhythmical versification embraces the actual musical
sound of syllables and words. The stem-syllable in the Greek
and Latin languages. Aspects of the German language in this
respect. In modern languages the element of rhythm less room
for display. This in itself necessitates the alternative of
rhyme as a resistant against the too exclusive assertion of
ideal content]
(_b_) Rhyme
[(_α_) Rhyme a necessary feature of romantic poetry. Closer
approximation to music. Reaction against the stringent
character of Roman poetry. Source of rhyme in Germanic
languages
(_β_) Difference between two systems. Rhythmical
versification supreme in Hellenic poetry. Most important
change effected that of the validity of the national
quantity in the older system. This replaced by the intrinsic
meaning of syllables and words. French and Italian poetry an
extreme example of the collapse of the former system. The
necessity of rhyme and its character analysed
(_γ_) The types of modern romantic poetry. Its alliteration,
assonance, and ordinary rhyme. Scandinavian poetry. Not
necessary for assonant words to come only at conclusion of
line. Rhyme is the fulfilment of alliteration and assonance.
Pre-eminently the form of lyric poetry. Examples]
(_c_) The union of rhythm and rhyme
[(_α_) Attempt made in modern times to return to the
natural quantity of syllables. Not generally successful.
Overwhelming importance in modern verse of intelligible
significance and the accent thus asserted
(_β_) Not possible to retain the plastic consistency of
the metrical medium as secured by classical poetry. Modern
languages do not possess the stable quantitative basis
(_γ_) The combination equivalent to the absorption by modern
versification of the older system. The significance of
the identical repetition of the same time-measure. Modern
imitation of sapphics and alcaics based on a contradiction]