2. Judgment must sometimes be used in striking the bars to divide the verse into feet: for, as we have seen in the foregoing examples, we may change the feet and order of the verse, by placing the bars differently. Iambic verse may be changed in this way to another kind; as, in the following examples: "Shall wisdom | cry aloud." "The stormy | March is | come at last." " Go now and | stüdy | tūnefül | vērse at Rome." In like manner, trochaic verse or any other may be changed to something else; but some cases of the kind are so plain that no one need to exercise his judgment therein, and others not so; and there is a propriety, and there may be an impropriety, in many cases; and, in cases which are dubious, judgment may be used. As a general rule, that mode of division is preferable which is most natural, or most conformable to the main order of the poem; as, for example: "In slumbers of midnight the sailor boy lay." This line is of a species of verse which may be considered of dubious or ambiguous scansion, as with equal propriety it may be called a species of anapæstic, or a species of amphibrachic; by the movement, it more naturally inclines to the latter. But, on reviewing the poem from which this was cited, we perceive that it contains several lines which are sheer anapæstic; and also, the general movement of the verse being not repugnant thereto, we may hence infer that the main order of the poem was intended for anapæstic. But, in cases of this kind, it may not be material if some lines in the poem be called anapæstic, and others amphibrachic, in scansion. We have other kinds of verse, which are also of dubious scansion; of which the following stanza is an example. "What heavy-hoof'd coursers the wilderness roam, This is from a poem which is irregular in its order: the main order of the verse may be called amphibrachic, or anapæstic and amphibrachic in alternate succession. Some lines in the poem are sheer amphibrachic, and some are sheer anapæstic; some are of the ambiguous species; and some, whether we call them amphibrachic or anapæstic, contain some odd syllables; as, for example, the second line of the stanza here cited must be scanned in the manner following, or have an odd syllable, at the beginning or at the end. "To the | war-blast | indignant | ly tramping." The line may be scanned thus, or, perhaps as properly, the other way, by making an odd syllable. And by scanning the poem, from which this was cited, a uniform process cannot be pursued; and so with other poems, which are thus irregular. Questions and Exercises on the foregoing. What is scansion? What its use, and what does it teach? On what principles is it founded? How is it performed? What constitutes long and short quantity? What kind of words (of two syllables each) are entitled to two accents each, and are capable of making spondees, and half spondees, in verse? What monosyllable words, which, coming in contact, will make spondees in verse? Have we some long words in our vocabulary which are not properly admissible in poetic composition? What may be done with them? Have we some words, some of whose syllables, being not fully accented, are of intermediate lengths, and whose quantities are sometimes of dubious scansion? What may we do in such cases? What is the general mode of accentuation in our words of two syllables? What are the general modes of accentuation in our words of more than two syllables ? Is the accentuation of our English words generally favourable to the composition of verse? Is there any thing else, in the pronunciation of our language, except accent, which, in any case, may constitute long quantity? Cite one or more examples of the kind, in single words, or words in composition. Proceed to scan a few lines of iambic verse, in the different metres, and remark on the same, noting the metres, anomalies, diversifications, &c. Proceed to scan a few lines of trochaic verse, of the different metres, and different species, and remark, &c. Proceed to scan a few lines of anapæstic and amphibrachic verse, and remark, &c. Proceed to scan a few lines of different kinds of verse, of composite order, and remark, &c. Proceed to scan a stanza of a Sapphic ode, and remark, &c. CHAPTER VIII. READING. Preliminary Remarks, General Rules, &c. Verse is composed for reading and oratory, as well as for singing and vocal music; and hence, some prescribed rules may be necessary for the former, as well as for the latter. And the rules for reading verse, we may observe, are founded on the same general principles with the foregoing rules of versification and scansion. As prosody is founded on orthography, so the rules of orthography, including orthoepy and accentuation, are to be adhered to, in reading verse, in like manner as in reading prose. It is necessary that the rules for reading verse should be simple and plain. I shall therefore, in treating on this branch of prosody, endeavor to be as plain and explicit as the subject will admit of, and commence by laying down a few simple rules, embracing the fundamental principles of reading, which should never be violated, and, in but few cases, varied. 1. Give every syllable its proper sound, according to the rules of orthoepy. 2. Give every word its proper emphasis, and every syllable its proper accent and cadence. 3. Give due attention to the regulation of your tones of voice, pathetic, plaintive, animated, interrogative, responsive, &c., as the sense and sentiments expressed may require. 4. Give due observance to the syntax pauses, as in reading prose. 5. Give due attention to observe the poetic pauses, the cæsural pause and final pause, as time and harmony occasionally require. 6. Give attention to regulate the movement of your voice, according to the movement of the numbers, in the order of their arrangement, as they apparently move by feet, iambie, trochaic, anapæstic, &c. 7. When verse is diversified by other kinds of feet, by trochees, by spondees, or any other, give due attention, in reading, to give these, each, their proper sounds. These are the principal rules, necessary to be observed in reading verse: a due observance of these will constitute melody; but, in order thereto, some prerequisites are necessary, viz., a knowledge of the foregoing rules of orthography and prosody; a poetical genius; a good voice; and a good understanding of what you read. Without these four, united, a reader must necessarily be, in some degree deficient; but, with them, nothing more is wanting to constitute the essential properties of a good reader. It is undoubtedly true that the same art, and same native genius, are wanting to constitute a reader of verse, as are wanting to constitute a poet. And hence, the inference follows, which, on observation, we find true, that we have as few good readers of verse, as we have good poets. And we may say also, it was by the happy endowment of art and nature, united, that Garrick, on the stage, could display the latent beauties of Shakespeare, which were unseen and undiscoverable by common readers. But we do not expect to make good readers of every one, by rules and precepts, any more than we expect to make poets. Rules and precepts, however, are necessary, for versification and also for reading; for the latter, perhaps, more generally so, than for the former; for, unless we can have readers, our writers may write in vain. But by a little attention to this subject, which is but little attended to on this side of the Atlantic, many may improve their taste for the beauties of poetry, and be willing to adopt the sentiment of the bard: "Thou guide by which the nobler arts excel." Our rules and precepts are intended for general use, and in this way they may be beneficial to some. I have known many pretty good readers of prose, who were awkward in reading verse: such, with a little attention, may improve their talents in this respect. I have known some also, who, in the humble walks of life, and without the advantages of education, were natural readers of verse, and for which they had a taste and genius. In regard to such, I could respond to the sentiment of the poet: "Some mute, inglorious Milton, here may rest." I have also regretted that such could not have some more advantages of education. For those of this class, among others, I am writing. The foregoing rules may stand as general rules for reading verse; but as these are somewhat comprehensive, and in some cases variable, as they extend to various cases, some further explication, and some additional precepts, may be necessary. I will hence proceed in this way, by taking the rules singly, but not in the order in which they are numbered above. Some of these may need more explication, and some less; rule 1 may need no explication, and no com ment. Rule 2. Give every word its proper emphasis, and every syllable its proper accent and cadence. This rule is not to be observed in every case, in reading verse, as in reading prose; but may need some variation in a few certain cases. 1. In reading some of our bards of elder date, we find now and then a word which the poet has accented differently from the present mode of accentuation; as, in the following line: "My journey strange, with clamourous uproar." In this line, we perceive, the last word, uproar, which is now accented on the first syllable, was accented on the last syllable by the poet. In this and similar cases, it may be proper to follow the example of the poet; as, otherwise the verse would sound discordant, by making the word a trochee instead of an iambus. Cases of this kind were noticed in the preceding chapter, on scansion; in which, for reasons here stated, it was judged proper, that the mode of accentuation adopted by the poet, instead of the present mode, should be followed in reading and scansion. 2. It sometimes occurs in the compositions of our best poets, that some monosyllable word of small relative import, and demanding little or no emphasis, happens to fall in a place where long quantity is wanting to make numbers; as: "Let no presuming, impious railer tax In the second line of this quotation, the word as presents an example as above specified. (This is an anomaly in the verse, which should be guarded against by the poet, and which also does but seldom occur.) In this case, the word as, requiring little or no emphasis, must be, in scansion, a short syllable; but, being situated where long quantity is needed, we cannot read it so and preserve the iambic movement. Hence, in reading lines of verse, in which such anomalies occur, necessity compels us to sound such words a little differently from what we should sound them in prose reading; and yet, the violation of rule 2 should be guarded against withal, by not laying an emphasis on such words. 3. The following line also contains one anomaly, in reading which, rule 2 must be varied from a little. "Awake my Saint-John, leave all meaner things." In this line, the word Saint-John, which is entitled to two accents nearly equal, or perhaps with the heavier accent on the last syllable, when spoken in plain prose; but, in its situation in the verse, it is found necessary to lay the heavier stress of accent on the first syllable, to preserve the iambic movement, which, in reading iambie werse, cannot be easily diverged from. |