A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ENGLISH VERSIFICATION.
PRACTICAL GUIDE
TO
ENGLISH VERSIFICATION.
WITH A COMPENDIOUS DICTIONARY OF RHYMES,
AN EXAMINATION OF CLASSICAL MEASURES
AND COMMENTS UPON BURLESQUE AND COMIC VERSE,
VERS DE SOCIÉTÉ, AND SONG-WRITING.
BY TOM HOOD.
_A New and Enlarged Edition._
TO WHICH ARE ADDED,
BYSSHE'S "RULES FOR MAKING ENGLISH|VERSE," &c.
LONDON:|JOHN HOGG, PATERNOSTER ROW.|1877.
PREFACE.
I am anxious at the first outset that the object of this work should not
be misunderstood. It does not assume to be a handbook for poets, or a
guide to poetry. The attempt to compile such a book as is implied by
either of those titles would be as absurd as pretentious.
A Poet, to paraphrase the Latin, is created, not manufactured. Cicero's
"nascimur poetæ, fimus oratores," is, with some modification, even more
to the point. In a word, poetical genius is a gift, but education and
perseverance will make almost any man a versifier.
All, therefore, that this book aims to teach is the art of
Versification. That art, like Logic, is "ars instrumentalis, dirigens
mentem inter cognitionem rerum." As Logic does not supply you with
arguments, but only defines the mode in which they are to be expressed
or used, so Versification does not teach you how to write poetry, but
how to construct verse. It may be a means to the end, but it does not
pretend to assure its attainment. Versification and Logic are to Poetry
and Reason what a parapet is to a bridge: they do not convey you across,
but prevent you from falling over. The difference is that which exists
between τεχνη and ἐπιστήμη.
This definition is rendered necessary by the Dogberry spirit which is
now abroad, and which insists that "to be a well-favoured man is the
gift of fortune,"—fortune in the sense of wealth, I presume,—"but to
write and read comes by nature;" in fact, that to be "a poet" a man
needs to be advantageously placed in the world, but that any one can
"write poetry."
With this conviction, I have discarded the title of a guide for "Poets,"
feeling that there is much real poetry that is not in verse, and a vast
deal of verse that is not poetry; and that therefore "a hard and fast
line" was of the first importance to mark the boundary of my
undertaking. Poetry is far less a question of manner than of matter,
whereas versification is purely a question of form. I will even venture
to say that some of our noblest poems are in prose; and that many great
poets have been but inferior versifiers. But what these last wrote has
possessed qualities compared with which the mere mechanism of their
verse is as nothing. The poet gives to the world in his sublime thoughts
diamonds of the purest water. It would be idle to quibble about minor
points of the polishing and setting of such gems—they would lose in the
process! But the writer of verse does not—and should not—pretend to give
us diamonds. He offers paste-brilliants; and therefore it the more
behoves him to see to the perfection of the cutting, on which their
beauty depends.
The thoughts presented by the poet may be rough-hewn; the fancies of the
versifier must be accurately finished, and becomingly set. Poetry,
therefore, abounds in licences, while Versification boasts only of laws.
To enumerate, explain, and define these laws is the object of this work.
Nor is such a task a waste of time, as those may be inclined to think,
who argue that if one cannot write poetry, 'tis absurd to try to write
verse. Yet versification is an elegant accomplishment to say the
least—"emollit mores, nec sinit esse feros." But it is something more
than an elegant accomplishment—much more.
In the dead languages—leaving in abeyance the question of classical
_versus_ mathematical education—nothing gives such scholarly finish as
the practice of Greek and Latin verse-writing, nothing such an intimate
knowledge and understanding of the genius of either language.
Were English versification taught in our schools, I believe the boys
would acquire a better understanding and appreciation of their own
tongue. With such training, a lad would shrink from a mispronunciation
as he does from a false quantity in Latin or Greek. He would not fall
into the slipshod way of pronouncing "doing" as if it were spelt
"doin'," "again" as if "agen," and "written and spoken" as if "writtun
and spokun." He would not make dissyllables of words like "fire" and
"mire," or of the trisyllable "really." Nor would he make another
mistake (very common now, as revealed in magazine verse where such words
are put to rhyme, "before" and "more") of pronouncing "ure" as
"ore,"—"shore" and "asshore" for "sure" and "assure," of which, of
course, the correct pronunciation is "shewre," "ashewre."[1]
The purging of our pronunciation would be of general benefit. At present
it is shifting and uncertain—because it is never taught. The dropping of
the "h" is almost the only error in pronunciation that is ever noticed
at school; and there being no standard set up, the pronunciation of
English becomes every day more and more degraded by the mere force of
the majority of uneducated vulgar. The Americanising of our
language—which seems to me a less remote and no less undesirable
possibility than "the Americanising of our institutions," about which we
hear so much—can only be checked by some such educational system. Surely
the deterioration of our language is not a minor matter, and when it can
be removed by the encouragement of verse-writing at our schools,
strictly and clearly taught, it seems astonishing that no effort has
been made in that direction.[2]
However, whether, by establishing a system of English versifying at our
schools, we shall ever endeavour to give fixity to our pronunciation, is
a question hardly likely, I fear, to be brought to the test yet awhile.
That English versifying is a strong educational power, I do not doubt,
and in that belief, have endeavoured to render this handbook as complete
as possible. I have therefore laid down the most stringent rules and the
clearest formulæ in my power.
Verse is but the A B C of Poetry, and the student must learn his
alphabet correctly. We should not allow a child to arrange the letters
as he chose,—"A, Z, B, G, C,"—nor must the beginner in verse dream of
using any licences of a similar kind. I should fail in my duty if I
admitted anything of the kind; for while it would be presumption to lay
down laws for poets, it would be incapacity to frame licences for
versifiers.
I therefore conclude these prefatory remarks by adducing the two chief
regulations for the student.
First, That he must use such rhymes only as
are perfect to the ear, when correctly pronounced.
Second, That he must never write a line
which will not sooner or later in the
stanza have a line to correspond with a rhyme.
To these I may add, as a rider, this piece of advice (somewhat in the
style of the whist maxim, "When in doubt, play a trump"): If you have
reason to choose between two styles of versification, select the more
difficult.
It is only by sustaining your verse at the highest elevation that you
can hope even to approach poetry.
"Be bold—be bold—but not too bold!"
And bear in mind the words of Sir Philip Sidney:—"Who shootes at the
midday Sonne, though he be sure he shall neuer hit the marke; yet as
sure he is, he shall shoote higher than who aymes but at a bush."
T. H.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. VERSE GENERALLY, 1
II. CLASSIC VERSIFICATION, 8
III. GUIDES AND HANDBOOKS, 16
IV. OF FEET AND CÆSURA, 23
V. OF METRE AND RHYTHM, 27
VI. OF RHYME, 44
VII. OF FIGURES, 49
VIII. OF BURLESQUE AND COMIC VERSE, AND _VERS DE
SOCIÉTÉ_, 54
IX. OF SONG-WRITING, 61
THE DICTIONARY OF RHYMES, 65
APPENDIX.
1. AN ESSAY ON ENGLISH VERSIFICATION, 151
2. BYSSHE'S "RULES FOR MAKING ENGLISH VERSE," 207
CHAPTER I.—_Of the Structure of English Verses._
SECT. 1. Of the several Sorts of Verses; and, first,
of those of Ten Syllables: of the due
Observation of the Accents, and of the Pause. 209
SECT. 2. Of the other Sorts of Verses that are used in
our Poetry. 213
SECT. 3. Several Rules conducing to the Beauty of our
Versification. 215
SECT. 4. Doubts concerning the number of Syllables of
certain Words. 217
SECT. 5. Of the Elisions that are allowed in our
Versification. 219
CHAPTER II.—_Of Rhyme._
SECT. 1. What Rhyme is, and the Several Sorts of it. 223
SECT. 2. Of Double and Treble Rhyme. 224
SECT. 3. Further Instructions concerning Rhyme. 224
CHAPTER III.—_Of the Several Sorts of Poems, or Composition in
Verse._
SECT. 1. Of the Poems composed in Couplets. 227
SECT. 2. Of the Poems composed in Stanzas; and, first,
of the Stanzas consisting of Three, and of
Four Verses. 228
SECT. 3. Of the Stanzas of Six Verses. 230
SECT. 4. Of the Stanzas of Eight Verses. 231
SECT. 5. Of the Stanzas of Ten and of Twelve Verses. 233
SECT. 6. Of the Stanzas that consist of an odd Number
of Verses. 234
SECT. 7. Of Pindaric Odes, and Poems in Blank Verse. 236
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CHAPTER I.
VERSE GENERALLY.
There is no better text for this chapter than some lines from Pope's
"Essay on Criticism":—
"But most by numbers judge a poet's song,
And smooth or rough, with them, is right or wrong:
These equal syllables alone require,
Tho' oft the ear the open vowels tire;
While expletives their feeble aid do join;
And ten low words oft creep in one dull line:
While they ring round the same unvaried chimes,
With sure returns of still recurring rhymes;
Where'er you find 'the cooling western breeze,'
In the next line it 'whispers through the trees:'
If crystal streams 'with pleasing murmurs creep,'
The reader's threaten'd—not in vain—with 'sleep.'
Then at the last and only couplet, fraught
With some unmeaning thing they call a thought,
A needless Alexandrine ends the song,
That like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.
Leave such to tune their own dull rhymes, to know
What's roundly smooth, or languishingly slow;
And praise the easy vigour of a line
Where Denham's strength, and Waller's sweetness join.
True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learnt to dance.
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar:
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line, too, labours, and the words move slow.
Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main."
Johnson sneers somewhat at the attempt at what he styles "representative
metre." He quotes "one of the most successful attempts,"—
"With many a weary step, and many a groan,
Up a high hill he heaves a huge round stone;
The huge round stone, resulting with a bound,
Thunders impetuous down and smokes along the ground."
After admitting that he sees the stone move slowly upward, and roll
violently back, he says, "try the same numbers to another sense—
"While many a merry tale and many a song
Cheer'd the rough road, we wish'd the rough road long.
The rough road then returning in a round
Mock'd our impatient steps, for all was fairy ground."
"We have now," says the Doctor, "lost much of the delay and much of the
rapidity." Truly so!—but why? The choice of words has really altered the
measure, though not the number of syllables. If we look at the second
line of the first extract, we see how the frequent use of the aspirate,
with a long sound after it, gives the labour of the ascent. There is
nothing of this in the corresponding line, where the "r" gives a run
rather than a halt to the measure. But Johnson more decidedly shows how
he was mistaken when he finds fault with Pope's—
"The varying verse, the full resounding line,
The long majestic march, and energy divine."
His objection to this is, that the same sequence of syllables gives "the
rapid race" and "the march of slow-paced majesty;" and he adds, "the
exact prosodist will find the line of _swiftness_ by one time longer
than that of _tardiness_." By this it is to be presumed he alludes to
the trisyllabic nature of the first foot of the first line—"varying."
But it is just that which gives the rapidity. The other half of the line
is not meant to give rapidity, but "resounding." The second line, by the
repetition of the "a" in "march" and "majesty," gives the tramp of the
march to admiration.
So much for Johnson's objections. We will now see how far the lines of
Pope can guide us in the construction of verse.
LINE THIRD indicates the necessity—which Pope himself, even, did not
adequately recognise—the necessity of varying the fall of the verse on
the ear. Pope did this by graduating his accents. The line should scan
with an accented syllable following an unaccented one—
"And smo´oth or ro´ugh, with the´m, is ri´ght or wro´ng."
Pope varied this by a sort of compromise—
"And the´ smooth strea´m in smo´other nu´mbers flo´ws,"
would be the right scansion. But the accent passes in a subdued form
from "the" to "smooth," which pleasantly modulates the line, and gives
the flow required for the figure treated of.[3]
But there was another means of varying the verse which was not in
those days adopted. It was not then recognised that there were some
cases in which the unaccented syllable might have two "beats." Pope
wrote,
"The gen'rous pleasure to be charm'd with wit."
Had he written "generous," it might have stood, and would have given a
variety. And this would have saved the eyesore of such lines as—
"T' admire superior sense and doubt our own."
LINE FOURTH does not exactly describe the fault it commits. "The open
vowel" is no offence, but rather a beauty, though like all beauty it
must not be too lavishly displayed. The fault of the line really lies in
the repetition of the same broad sound—"o." The same vowel-sounds should
not be repeated in a line.[4] This especially holds good where they are
so associated with consonants as to form a rhyme, or anything
approaching to it.
LINE FIFTH points out an inelegance which no one with any ear could be
guilty of—the use of "do" and "did," to eke out a line or help a rhyme.
LINE SIXTH indicates a practice which those who have studied Latin
versification would avoid without such a hint, since the nature of the
cæsura compels the avoidance of monosyllables.
LINE NINTH, with the following three lines, warns against an error
which naturally becomes the more frequent the longer English verse is
written, since rhymes become more and more hackneyed every day.
LINE SIXTEENTH. The Alexandrine will come under discussion in its
place among metres.
LINE TWENTY-FIRST might well serve for a motto for this little
treatise. If a poet said this of poetry, how much more does it apply to
versification!
LINE TWENTY-FIFTH. Here, and in the following line, by delicate
manipulation of the accent, Pope gets the desired effect. Instead of "So
so´ft the stra´in," he attracts the ear with "So´ft is," and the
unexpected word gives the key-note of the line.
LINE TWENTY-SEVENTH. It is almost needless to point out how in this,
and the next line, the poet, by artful management of accent and careful
selection of onomatopoetic words, gives the required assonance to the
lines.
LINE TWENTY-NINTH. The broad vowels here give the requisite pause and
"deliberation" to the verse. In the following line, the introduction of
"too"—(under some circumstances it might well come under the
condemnation of Line Fifth)—makes the line labour, and the open "o" at
the end of the line "tires the ear."
LINE THIRTY-FIRST. Here the poet gets the slide of the "s" to give the
idea of motion. In the following line by the elision and the apt
introduction of short syllables he repeats the notion. In my opinion the
artistic skill of Pope is peculiarly observable in the last few
couplets. In the first line in each instance the effect is produced by
the use of a different artifice from that employed in the second.
These rules were of course intended by Pope to apply only to the measure
called "heroic," _i.e._, decasyllabic verse. But, _mutatis mutandis_,
they will be equally applicable to general verse.
Coleridge in his "Christabel" struck out what he considered a new metre,
which he describes as "not, properly speaking, irregular, though it may
seem so from its being founded on a new principle: namely, that of
counting in each line the accents, not the syllables. Though the latter
may vary from seven to twelve, yet in each line the accents will be
found to be only four." This was a decided step in the right direction,
being in truth a recognition of the principle that measure in English
was not exhausted—was, indeed, hardly satisfied—by the old rule of
thumb; that, in short, it needed a compromise between _accent_ and
_quantity_.
Southey in his "Thalaba" essayed a new style of versification, of which
he writes as follows:—
"It were easy to make a parade of learning by enumerating the various
feet which it admits; it is only needful to observe that no two lines
are employed in sequence, which can be read into one. Two six-syllable
lines (it will perhaps be answered) compose an Alexandrine; the truth
is, that the Alexandrine, when harmonious, is composed of two
six-syllable lines. One advantage this metre assuredly possesses; the
dullest reader cannot distort it into discord.... I do not wish the
_improvisatore_ time, but something that denotes the sense of harmony;
something like the accent of feeling; like the tone which every poet
necessarily gives to poetry."
Of course, by "six syllables" Southey means "six feet." He was
evidently struggling for emancipation from the old rule of thumb.
Of late many eccentricities of versification have been attempted after
the manner of Mr Whitman, but for these, like the Biblical echo of Mr
Tupper's muse, there seem to be no perceptible rules, even should it be
desirable to imitate them.
I would here add a few words of advice to those who, by the study of
our greatest writers, would endeavour to improve their own style. For
smoothness I should say Waller, in preference even to Pope, because the
former wrote in far more various measures, and may challenge comparison
with Pope, on Pope's own ground, with "The Ode to the Lord Protector,"
in decasyllabic verse. For music—"lilt" is an expressive word that
exactly conveys what I mean—they cannot do better than choose Herrick.
Add to these two George Herbert, and I think the student will have a
valuable guide in small space.