_Use of Monosyllables._--The most remarkable instance of the use of
monosyllables that I remember to have met with in our poets, occurs in the
Fire-worshippers in _Lalla Rookh_. It is as follows:--
"I knew, I knew it could not last--
'Twas bright, 'twas heav'nly, but 'tis past!
Oh! ever thus, from childhood's hour,
I've seen my fondest hopes decay;
I never lov'd a tree or flow'r
But 'twas the first to fade away.
I never nurs'd a dear gazelle
To glad me with its soft black eye,
But when it came to know me well,
And love me, it was sure to die!
Now, too--the joy most like divine
Of all I ever dreamt or knew,
To see thee, hear thee, call thee mine,--
Oh misery! must I lose _that_ too?
Yet go! On peril's brink we meet;--
Those frightful rocks--that treach'rous sea--
No, never come again--tho' sweet,
Tho' Heav'n, it may be death to thee!"
This passage contains 126 words, 110 of which are monosyllables, and the
remainder words of only two syllables. The sentiment embodied throughout is
that of violent mental emotion; and it affords a further illustration of
the correctness of MR. C. FORBES'S theory (Vol. i., p. 228.) that "the
language of passion is almost invariably broken and abrupt."