Andersen. — Classification of Verse. 487 



(6.) Ana pest ic. 



The Assyrian canui down like a wolf on the fold, 

 And his cohorts were gleaming in ]nirple and gold. 

 And the sheen of his si)ears was like stars on the sea, 

 When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. 



{Byron, " The Destruction of Sennacherib.") 



The third example only is perfect ; (4) to be perfect should have the words 

 '' lea " and " thee " each followed by two unaccented syllables, and (5) to 

 be perfect should have the words " vale " and " gale " each followed by 

 one unaccented syllable. In all three examples each full verse ends on 

 a stressed syllable ; and dividing a verse of each, not in accordance with 

 its supposed metre, but in accordance with (3) above, we have, — 



(4«.) Bird/ of the wil/derness, blithe/sonio and ciim/berless, light/ be thy ma/tin 



o'er wood/land and lea !/ 

 (5a.) The gay/ birds r,re sing/ing, the gay/ Howrets spring/ing o'er mea/dow and 



moun/tain and down/in the vale/. 

 (6a.) The Assy/rian came down/ like a wolf/ on the fold/, and his co/horts were 



glea/raing in ])ur/])le and gold/. 



Each verse is now identical in all but the first unit ; and in examples (4) 

 and (5) it will be noticed that there is a metrical pause after " lea " and 

 " vale," such pause representing in the case of (4) two dropped syllables, 

 and in the case of (5) one dropped syllable. It appears probable, then, 

 that examples (4), (5), and (6) are in reality in the same metre — anapestic ; 

 an important fact to remember being that whilst a poem in anapests 

 almost invariably ends on a stressed syllable, it very rarely opens with 

 two unaccented syllables — in the great majority of cases it opens with one, 

 and sometimes with the stressed syllable, as in such poems as (4) and (5) 

 and the following : — 



(7.) My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, 

 My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer. 



(Burns, " My Heart's in the Highlands.") 



(8.) Hie xipon Hielands 



And low upon Tay, 



Bonnie George Campbell 



Rode out on a day. 



(Anon., " Bonnie George Campbell.") 



5. In their absolutely perfect form, poems in dactylic and amphi- 



brachic measures are not so frecj[uently met with : examples are : — 



(9.) Dactylic. 



Tell me, thou bonny bird. 



When shall I niarry me ? 

 When six braw gentlemen 

 Kirkward shall carry ye. 



(Scott, "Proud Maisie.") 

 (10.) --I iiipli ihrachic. 



And do I then wonder that Julia deceives me, 



When surely there's nothing in nature more common ? 

 She vows to be true, and, while vowing, she leaves me — 

 But could I expect any more from a woman ? 



(Moore, " Inconstancy.") 



The very rarity of such perfect forms shows that, whilst they exist, they are 

 unnatural. 



6. Objection may be made that by the proposed anapestic division 

 of Hogg's verses the w^ords " wilderness," " blithesome," " cumberless," 

 *' matin," &c.. are divided, part being in one unit and part in another ; 

 whereas in a dactylic division the whole of each of these words falls 

 within the unit. This objection has already been met in paragraph 8 of 



