time, that the quantities employ’d in verse are but two, the one double
of the other; that every syllable is reducible to one or other of these
standards; and that a syllable of the larger quantity is termed _long_,
and of the lesser quantity _short_. It belongs more to the present
article, to examine what peculiarities there may be in the English
language as to long and short syllables. In every language, there are
syllables that may be pronounced long or short at pleasure; but the
English above all abounds in syllables of that kind. In words of three
or more syllables, the quantity for the most part is invariable. The
exceptions are more frequent in dissyllables; but as to monosyllables,
they may without many exceptions be pronounced either long or short. Nor
is the ear hurt by this liberty; being accustomed to the variation of
quantity in the same word. This shows that the melody of English verse
must depend less upon quantity, than upon other circumstances. In that
particular it differs widely from Latin verse. There, every syllable
having but one sound, strikes the ear constantly with its accustomed
impression; and a reader must be delighted to find a number of such
syllables, disposed so artfully as to raise a lively sense of melody.
Syllables variable in quantity cannot possess this power. Custom may
render familiar, both a long and short pronunciation of the same word;
but the mind constantly wavering betwixt the two sounds, cannot be so
much affected with a syllable of this kind as with one which bears
always the same sound. What I have further to say upon quantity, will
come in more properly under the following head, of arrangement.
And with respect to arrangement, which may be brought within a narrow
compass, the English heroic line is commonly Iambic, the first syllable
short, the second long, and so on alternately through the whole line.
One exception there is, pretty frequent. Many lines commence with a
Trochæus, _viz._ a long and a short syllable. But this affects not the
order of the following syllables. These go on alternately as usual, one
short and one long. The following couplet affords an example of each
kind:
Sōme ĭn thĕ fīelds ŏf pūrĕst ǣthĕr plāy,
Ănd bāsk ănd whītĕn īn thĕ blāze ŏf dāy.
It is unhappy in the construction of English verse, that it excludes the
bulk of polysyllables, though the most sounding words in our language;
for upon examination it will be found, that very few of them are
composed of such alternation of long and short syllables as to
correspond to either of the arrangements mentioned. English verse
accordingly is almost totally reduced to dissyllables and monosyllables.
_Magnanimity_ is a sounding word totally excluded. _Impetuosity_ is
still a finer word by the resemblance of the sound and sense; and yet a
negative is put upon it, as well as upon numberless words of the same
kind. Polysyllables composed of syllables long and short alternately,
make a good figure in verse; for example, _observance_, _opponent_,
_ostensive_, _pindaric_, _productive_, _prolific_, and such others of
three syllables. _Imitation_, _imperfection_, _misdemeanour_,
_mitigation_, _moderation_, _observator_, _ornamental_, _regulator_, and
others similar of four syllables, beginning with two short syllables,
the third long, and the fourth short, may find a place in a line
commencing with a Trochæus. I know not if there be any of five
syllables. One I know of six, _viz._ _misinterpretation_. But words so
composed are not frequent in our language.
One would not imagine without trial, how uncouth false quantity appears
in verse; not less than a provincial tone or idiom. The article _the_ is
one of the few monosyllables that is invariably short. See how harsh it
makes a line where it must be pronounced long:
Thĭs nȳmph, tŏ thē dĕstrūctiŏn ōf mănkīnd,
Again:
Th’ ădvēnt’rŏus bārŏn thē brĭght lōcks ădmīr’d.
Let the article be pronounced short, and it reduces the melody almost to
nothing. Better so however than a false quantity. In the following
examples we perceive the same defect.
And old impertinence || expel by new.
With varying vanities || from ev’ry part.
Love in these labyrinths || his slaves detains.
New stratagems || the radiant lock to gain.
Her eyes half-languishing || half-drown’d in tears.
Roar’d for the handkerchief || that caus’d his pain.
Passions like elements || though born to fight.
The great variety of modulation conspicuous in English verse, will be
found upon trial to arise chiefly from the pauses and accents; and
therefore these circumstances are of greater importance than is commonly
thought. There is a degree of intricacy in this branch of our subject,
and it will require some pains to give a distinct view of it. But we
must not be discouraged by difficulties. The pause, which paves the way
to the accent, offers itself first to our examination. From a very short
trial, the following facts will be verified. 1st, A line admits but one
capital pause. 2d, In different lines, we find this pause after the
fourth syllable, after the fifth, after the sixth, and after the
seventh. These particulars lay a solid foundation for dividing English
heroic lines into four sorts, distinguished by the different places of
the pause. Nor is this an idle distinction. On the contrary, unless it
be kept in view, we cannot have any just notion of the richness and
variety of English versification. Each sort or order hath a melody
peculiar to itself, readily distinguishable by a good ear; and, in the
sequel, I am not without hopes to make the cause of this peculiarity
sufficiently evident. It must be observed, at the same time, that the
pause cannot be made indifferently at any of the places mentioned. It is
the sense that regulates the pause, as will be seen more fully
afterward; and consequently, it is the sense that determines of what
order every line must be. There can be but one capital musical pause in
a line; and this pause ought to coincide, if possible, with a pause in
the sense; in order that the sound may accord with the sense.
What is said must be illustrated by examples of each sort or order. And
first of the pause after the fourth syllable:
Back through the paths || of pleasing sense I ran
Again,
Profuse of bliss || and pregnant with delight
After the 5th:
So when an angel || by divine command,
With rising tempests || shakes a guilty land,
After the 6th:
Speed the soft intercourse || from soul to soul
Again,
Then from his closing eyes || thy form shall part
After the 7th:
And taught the doubtful battle || where to rage
Again,
And in the smooth description || murmur still
Beside the capital pause now mentioned, other inferior or semipauses
will be discovered by a nice ear. Of these there are commonly two in
each line; one before the capital pause, and one after it. The former is
invariably placed after the first long syllable, whether the line begin
with a long syllable or a short. The other in its variety imitates the
capital pause. In some lines it follows the 6th syllable, in some the
7th, and in some the 8th. Of these semipauses take the following
examples.
* * * * *
1st and 8th:
Led | through a sad || variety | of wo.
1st and 7th:
Still | on that breast || enamour’d | let me lie
2d and 8th:
From storms | a shelter || and from heat | a shade
2d and 6th:
Let wealth | let honour || wait | the wedded dame
2d and 7th:
Above | all pain || all passion | and all pride
Even from these few examples, it appears, that the place of the last
semipause, like that of the full pause, is directed in a good measure by
the sense. Its proper place with respect to the melody is after the
eighth syllable, so as to finish the line with an Iambus distinctly
pronounced, which, by a long syllable after a short, is a preparation
for rest. If this hold, the placing this semipause after the 6th or
after the 7th syllable, must be directed by the sense, in order to avoid
a pause in the middle of a word, or betwixt two words intimately
connected; and so far melody is justly sacrificed to sense.
In discoursing of the full pause in a Hexameter line, it is laid down as
a rule, That it ought never to divide a word. Such licence deviates too
far from the connection that ought to be betwixt the pauses of sense
and of melody. And in an English line, it is for the same reason equally
wrong to divide a word by a full pause. Let us justify this reason by
experiments.
A noble super||fluity it craves
Abhor, a perpe||tuity should stand
Are these lines distinguishable from prose? Scarcely, I think.
The same rule is not applicable to a semipause, which being short and
faint, is not sensibly disagreeable when it divides a word.
Relent|less walls || whose darksome round | contains
For her | white virgins || hyme|neals sing
In these | deep solitudes || and aw|ful cells
It must however be acknowledged, that the melody here suffers in some
degree. A word ought to be pronounced without any rest betwixt its
component syllables. The semipause must bend to this rule, and thereby
vanisheth almost altogether.
With regard to the capital pause, it is so essential to the melody, that
a poet cannot be too nice in the choice of its place, in order to have
it full, clear, and distinct. It cannot be placed more happily than with
a pause in the sense; and if the sense require but a comma after the
fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh syllable, there can be no difficulty
about this musical pause. But to make such coincidence essential, would
cramp versification too much; and we have experience for our authority,
that there may be a pause in the melody where the sense requires none.
We must not however imagine, that a musical pause may be placed at the
end of any word indifferently. Some words, like syllables of the same
word, are so intimately connected as not to bear a separation even by a
pause. No good poet ever attempted to separate a substantive from its
article: the dividing such intimate companions, would be harsh and
unpleasant. The following line, for example, cannot be pronounced with
a pause as marked.
If Delia smile, the || flow’rs begin to spring
But ought to be pronounced in the following manner.
If Delia smile, || the flow’rs begin to spring.
If then it be not a matter of indifferency where to make the pause,
there ought to be rules for determining what words may be separated by a
pause and what are incapable of such separation. I shall endeavour to
unfold these rules; not chiefly for their utility, but in order to
exemplify some latent principles that tend to regulate our taste even
where we are scarce sensible of them. And to that end, it seems the
eligible method to run over the verbal relations, beginning with the
most intimate. The first that presents itself, is that of adjective and
substantive, being the relation of substance and quality, the most
intimate of all. A quality cannot exist independent of a substance, nor
is it separable from it even in imagination, because they make parts of
the same idea; and for that reason, it must, with regard to melody, be
disagreeable, to bestow upon the adjective a sort of independent
existence, by interjecting a pause betwixt it and its substantive. I
cannot therefore approve the following lines, nor any of the sort; for
to my taste they are harsh and unpleasant.
Of thousand bright || inhabitants of air
The sprites of fiery || termagants inflame
The rest, his many-colour’d || robe conceal’d
The same, his ancient || personage to deck
Ev’n here, where frozen || Chastity retires
I sit, with sad || civility, I read
Back to my native || moderation slide
Or shall we ev’ry || decency confound
Time was, a sober || Englishman wou’d knock
And place, on good || security, his gold
Taste, that eternal || wanderer, which flies
But ere the tenth || revolving day was run
First let the just || equivalent be paid
Go, threat thy earth-born || Myrmidons; but here
Haste to the fierce || Achilles’ tent (he cries)
All but the ever-wakeful || eyes of Jove
Your own resistless || eloquence employ
I have upon this article multiplied examples, that in a case where I
have the misfortune to dislike what passes current in practice, every
man upon the spot may judge by his own taste. The foregoing reasoning,
it is true, appears to me just: it is however too subtile, to afford
conviction in opposition to taste.
Considering this matter in a superficial view, one might be apt to
imagine, that it must be the same, whether the adjective go first, which
is the natural order, or the substantive, which is indulged by the laws
of inversion. But we soon discover this to be a mistake. Colour cannot
be conceived independent of the surface coloured; but a tree may be
conceived, as growing in a certain spot, as of a certain kind, and as
spreading its extended branches all around, without ever thinking of the
colour. In a word, qualities, though related all to one subject, may be
considered separately, and the subject may be considered with some of
its qualities independent of others; though we cannot form an image of
any single quality independent of the subject. Thus then, though an
adjective named first be inseparable from the substantive, the
proposition does not reciprocate. An image can be formed of the
substantive independent of the adjective; and for this reason, they may
be separated by a pause, when the former is introduced before the
latter:
For thee, the fates || severely kind ordain
And curs’d with hearts || unknowing how to yield.
The verb and adverb are precisely in the same condition with the
substantive and adjective. An adverb, which expresses a certain
modification of the action expressed by the verb, is not separable from
it even in imagination. And therefore I must also give up the following
lines.
And which it much || becomes you to forget
’Tis one thing madly || to disperse my store
But an action may be conceived leaving out a particular modification,
precisely as a subject may be conceived leaving out a particular
quality; and therefore when by inversion the verb is first introduced,
it has no bad effect to interject a pause betwixt it and the adverb
which follows. This may be done at the close of a line, where the pause
is at least as full as that is which divides the line:
While yet he spoke, the Prince advancing drew
Nigh to the lodge, _&c._
The agent and its action come next, expressed in grammar by the active
substantive and its verb. Betwixt these, placed in their natural order,
there is no difficulty of interjecting a pause. An active being is not
always in motion, and therefore it is easily separable in idea from its
action. When in a sentence the substantive takes the lead, we know not
that action is to follow; and as rest must precede the commencement of
motion, this interval is a proper opportunity for a pause.
On the other hand, when by inversion the verb is placed first, is it
lawful to separate it by a pause from the active substantive? I answer
not, because an action is not in idea separable from the agent, more
than a quality from the substance to which it belongs. Two lines of the
first rate for beauty have always appeared to me exceptionable, upon
account of the pause thus interjected betwixt the verb and the
consequent substantive; and I have now discovered a reason to support my
taste:
In these deep solitudes and awful cells,
Where heav’nly-pensive || Contemplation dwells,
And ever-musing || Melancholy reigns.
The point of the greatest delicacy regards the active verb and the
passive substantive placed in their natural order. On the one side it
will be observed, that these words signify things which are not
separable in idea. Killing cannot be conceived without some being that
is put to death, nor painting without a surface upon which the colours
are spread. On the other side, an action and the thing on which it is
exerted, are not, like substance and quality, united in one individual
subject. The active subject is perfectly distinct from that which is
passive; and they are connected by one circumstance only, that the
action exerted by the former, is exerted upon the latter. This makes it
possible to take the action to pieces, and to consider it first with
relation to the agent, and next with relation to the patient. But after
all, so intimately connected are the parts of the thought, that it
requires an effort to make a separation even for a moment. The
subtilising to such a degree is not agreeable, especially in works of
imagination. The best poets however, taking advantage of this subtilty,
scruple not to separate by a pause an active verb from its passive
subject. Such pauses in a long work may be indulged; but taken singly,
they certainly are not agreeable. I appeal to the following examples.
The peer now spreads || the glitt’ring forfex wide
As ever sully’d || the fair face of light
Repair’d to search || the gloomy cave of Spleen
Nothing, to make || philosophy thy friend
Shou’d chance to make || the well-dress’d rabble stare
Or cross, to plunder || provinces, the main
These madmen never hurt || the church or state
How shall we fill || a library with wit
What better teach || a foreigner the tongue?
Sure, if I spare || the minister, no rules
Of honour bind me, not to maul his tools.
On the other hand, when the passive subject by inversion is first named,
there is no difficulty of interjecting a pause betwixt it and the verb,
more than when the active subject is first named. The same reason holds
in both, that though a verb cannot be separated in idea from the
substantive which governs it, and scarcely from the substantive it
governs; yet a substantive may always be conceived independent of the
verb. When the passive subject is introduced before the verb, we know
not that an action is to be exerted upon it; therefore we may rest till
the action commences. For the sake of illustration take the following
examples.
Shrines! where their vigils || pale-ey’d virgins keep
Soon as thy letters || trembling I unclose
No happier task || these faded eyes pursue
What is said about placing the pause, leads to a general observation,
which I shall have occasion for afterwards. The natural order of placing
the active substantive and its verb, is more friendly to a pause than
the inverted order. But in all the other connections, inversion affords
by far a better opportunity for a pause. Upon this depends one of the
great advantages that blank verse hath over rhyme. The privilege of
inversion, in which it far excels rhyme, gives it a much greater choice
of pauses, than can be had in the natural order of arrangement.
We now proceed to the slighter connections, which shall be discussed in
one general article. Words connected by conjunctions and prepositions
freely admit a pause betwixt them, which will be clear from the
following instances.
Assume what sexes || and what shape they please
The light militia || of the lower sky
Connecting particles were invented to unite in a period two substantives
signifying things occasionally united in the thought, but which have no
natural union. And betwixt two things not only separable in idea, but
really distinct, the mind, for the sake of melody, chearfully admits by
a pause a momentary disjunction of their occasional union.
* * * * *
One capital branch of the subject is still upon hand, to which I am
directed by what is just now said. It concerns those parts of speech
which singly represent no idea, and which become not significant till
they be joined to other words. I mean conjunctions, prepositions,
articles, and such like accessories, passing under the name of
_particles_. Upon these the question occurs, Whether they can be
separated by a pause from the words that make them significant? Whether,
for example, in the following lines, the separation of the accessory
preposition from the principal substantive, be according to rule?
The goddess with || a discontented air
And heighten’d by || the diamond’s circling rays
When victims at || yon altar’s foot we lay
So take it in || the very words of Creech
An ensign of || the delegates of Jove
Two ages o’er || his native realm he reign’d
While angels, with || their silver wings o’ershade
Or separating the conjunction from the word it connects with what goes
before:
Talthybius and || Eurybates the good
It will be obvious at the first glance, that the foregoing reasoning
upon objects naturally connected, are not applicable to words which of
themselves are mere ciphers. We must therefore have recourse to some
other principle for solving the present question. These particles out of
their place are totally insignificant. To give them a meaning, they must
be joined to certain words. The necessity of this junction, together
with custom, forms an artificial connection, which has a strong
influence upon the mind. It cannot bear even a momentary separation,
which destroys the sense, and is at the same time contradictory to
practice. Another circumstance tends still more to make this separation
disagreeable. The long syllable immediately preceding the full pause,
must be accented; for this is required by the melody, as will afterward
appear. But it is ridiculous to accent or put an emphasis upon a low
word that raises no idea, and is confined to the humble province of
connecting words that raise ideas. And for that reason, a line must be
disagreeable where a particle immediately precedes the full pause; for
such construction of a line makes the melody discord with the sense.
* * * * *
Hitherto we have discoursed upon that pause only which divides the line.
Are the same rules applicable to the concluding pause? This must be
answered by making a distinction. In the first line of a couplet, the
concluding pause differs little, if at all, from the pause which divides
the line; and for that reason, the rules are applicable to both equally.
The concluding pause of the couplet, is in a different condition: it
resembles greatly the concluding pause in a Hexameter line. Both of them
indeed are so remarkable, that they never can be graceful, unless when
they accompany a pause in the sense. Hence it follows, that a couplet
ought always to be finished with some close in the sense; if not a
point, at least a comma. The truth is, that this rule is seldom
transgressed. In Pope’s works, upon a cursory search indeed, I found but
the following deviations from the rule.
Nothing is foreign: parts relate to whole;
One all extending, all-preserving soul
Connects each being----
Another:
To draw fresh colours from the vernal flow’rs,
To steal from rainbows ere they drop in show’rs
A brighter wash----
But now, supposing the connection to be so slender as to admit a pause,
it follows not that a pause may always be put. There is one rule to
which every other ought to bend, That the sense must never be wounded or
obscured by the music; and upon that account, I condemn the following
lines:
Ulysses, first || in public cares, she found.
And,
Who rising, high || th’ imperial sceptre rais’d.
With respect to inversion, it appears both from reason and experiments,
that many words which cannot bear a separation in their natural order,
admit a pause when inverted. And it may be added, that when two words,
or two members of a sentence, in their natural order, can be separated
by a pause, such separation can never be amiss in an inverted order. An
inverted period, which runs cross to the natural train of ideas,
requires to be marked in some measure even by pauses in the sense, that
the parts may be distinctly known. Take the following examples.
As with cold lips || I kiss’d the sacred veil.
With other beauties || charm my partial eyes.
Full in my view || set all the bright abode.
With words like these || the troops Ulysses rul’d.
Back to th’ assembly roll || the thronging train.
Not for their grief || the Grecian host I blame.
The same where the separation is made at the close of the first line of
the couplet:
For spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease
Assume what sexes and what shapes they please.
The pause is tolerable even at the close of the couplet, for the reason
just now suggested, that inverted members require some slight pause in
the sense:
’Twas where the plane-tree spread its shades around:
The altars heav’d; and from the crumbling ground
A mighty dragon shot.