480 Transactions. 



In both. each, leonine has two accents, the odd line three — the 

 common measure of ballad-metre. The simple metre of " The 

 Cloud " is, of course, further disguised by its triple feet. 



As has been said, double rimes occur only once in " A Lyttel 

 G-este of Robyn-Hood," eight fytte of 461 stanzas, but they 

 become more and more frequent as time goes on. 



Once printing became common, this variation of the ballad 

 stanza became more and more frequent and complicated, until 

 now many stanzas that read well enough to the eye read roughly 

 aloud ; but still the most popular poems are those written in 

 metre more nearly approximating to the old ballad. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Metre. 



1. Coming now to the last chapter, a few words will be said 

 concerning metre itself. All blank verse, all ballad verse — which 

 two include by far the greatest bulk of English poetry — is essen- 

 tially iambic — that is, each foot contains two syllables, the 

 stress falling on the second. Is there any reason why two 

 syllables should be the natural number to a foot ? for the pre- 

 ponderance of two-syllabled feet, and of iambic, show the iambic 

 to be the natural foot. 



Speech in poetry being an expression of the emotions, it is 

 natural that speech should be regulated by those emotions ; 

 and so it is, as was shown by the quotations in Chapter IV : 

 as the emotion deepens or strengthens, the speech becomes more 

 rapidly and forcibly uttered, the sentences being proportionately 

 shorter. Directly, the voice is produced by the lungs ; in- 

 directly, it is affected by the heart : more rapid breathing, 

 if involuntary, implies more rapid heart-action ; and increased 

 heart-action, besides being caused by increased physical ex- 

 ertion, is also caused by emotional excitement. Hamlet, accused 

 by his mother of madness, says, — 



My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keepjtime, 

 And makes as healthful music ; 



and between calm contemplation and emotional terror there 

 is a whole gamut finding expression not only in the voice, but 

 in the beating and throbbing of the heart. 



Reading aloud, or reciting, say, the speech of Antony over 

 the body of Caesar, it will be found that an average of from 

 140 to 160 syllables are uttered in one minute. In ordinary 

 speech, 120 words is the average number spoken in a minute 

 — say, 190 syllables. But no man recites so fast as he speaks, 

 more especially verse, for every beat must be regarded or the 

 rhythm will be lost. The heart makes, normally, an average 



