On an óð | er daí | ðis míd | del érd ||
~~~~~
and in l. 474:—
To sché | ten áf | ter ðe wíl | de dér ||
~~~~~~
See also ll. 321, 503, 505, 656, etc.; and compare the line from
"Christabel:"
"That shá | dowy in | the moon | light shone ||"
~~~~
The syllables thus most frequently _slurred over_—the term _elided_ is but
weak and improper, explaining nothing—are the final syllables _-en_, _-er_,
_-et_, etc., as in ll. 96 and 116:—
Ál | abú | ten ðis wálk | ne sént ||
~~~~~~~
Was wá | ter and érðe | o ſún | der ſád ||
~~~~~~~
Some lines—and these sound rather harshly—require a little _forcing_ to
make them conform to the strict type; as, _e.g._, l. 66, which, to make it
agree with the rest, must be written,
Ín | to ðis ðhíſ | terneſſe hér | bi-néðen ||
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
A poet's business is, in fact, to take care that the syllables which _are_
to be rapidly pronounced are such as easily _can_ be so; and that the
syllables which are to be heavily accented are naturally those that _ought_
to be. If he gives attention to this it does not much matter whether each
foot has _two_ or _three_ syllables in it.