The essence of the system of versification which the poet has adopted is,
briefly, that every line shall have _four accented_ syllables in it; the
_unaccented_ syllables being left in some measure, as it were, to take care
of themselves.
The words which Coleridge prefixed to his poem of "Christabel" are by no
means inapplicable here. He says, "I have only to add, that the metre of
the 'Christabel' is not, properly speaking, irregular, though it may seem
to be 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."
The normal form of the line of the present poem is that simple one of eight
syllables, consisting of four (so-called) iambics, which is so common in
English poetry. But it should be remembered that this line is at all times
convertible with one of _seven_ syllables, generally described as
consisting of three trochees and a long syllable. This is easily
exemplified by taking the first two lines of the Conclusion to the Second
Part of Coleridge's "Christabel."
\/ —— \/ —— \/ —— \/ ——
A lit | tle child | a lim | ber elf ||
—— \/ —— \/ —— \/ ——
Singing | dancing | to it | self ||
This is adopting the common form of scansion given in English prosodies,
which is far from being a very correct method; since to make _trochaic_ and
_iambic_ metres convertible is to introduce all sorts of confusion.
The fact is, that the _seven-syllable_ line, though _trochaic_ to the
_ear_, is really an _iambic_ line, of which the _first_ syllable is
_deficient_, i.e., supplied by a _pause_; and the truer scansion is,
A lit | tle child | a lim | ber elf ||
— Sing | ing danc | ing to | itself ||
At any rate, to adopt this latter method (of beginning to mark off the feet
from the _end_, instead of from the _beginning_ of the line) will be found
to be far more convenient in practice; since the accented syllables,
instead of drifting about, will thus always be placed at the end of a foot.
We should thus, for instance, introduce the same marking off of syllables
in the line,
Ánd | ðe séx | te dá | is ligt || l. 167,
as we have in the line,
ðo cám | ðe fíf | te dá | is ligt || l. 158.
Examples of couplets containing a line of each kind are not uncommon; thus,
ll. 29, 30:—
Fá | der gód | of ál | le ðhínge ||
Almíg | tin lóu | erd hég | est kínge ||
Also lines 289, 290.
And gét | ne kú | ðe hé | nogt blínne ||
Fór | to dón | an óð | er ſínne ||
See also ll. 309, 310; 439, 440, etc.
The introduction of these seven-syllable lines, far from being a defect, is
a natural and agreeable variation, adopted by all our best poets.
The next chief variation to be noted is that two very rapid syllables are
often (as in other English metres) substituted for an unaccented one, as in
l. 88:—
Ór | ðe nígt | and áf | ter ðe dáy ||
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