Andersen. — Classifcafion of Verse. 515 



unit ; and so crude are they generally that it is thought to be sufficient 

 to note their existence. 



Section V. 



1. The units hitherto considered have mainly been those containing 

 one stressed syllable. Units containing two syllables neither stressed nor 

 accented are, however, of frequent occurrence. These, in classic nomen- 

 clature, are " pyrrhics," but may be better named '• light duple." In the 

 following examples a stress has been suppressed in each verse, so that each 

 contains a light dup'.e unit : — 



(1.) a. Man hath h's daily work of body or mind 

 Appointed, which declares his dignity, 

 A?id the/ regard/ of Heav'n/ on all/ his ways/; (P.L., iv, 620.) 



b. iaXr/est of' crea/tion, last/ and best/ 



Of all God's works, (P.L.. ix, 896.) 



c. 'Tis good/ you know/ not that/ you are/ his heirs/; 



(Jul. Caes., Ill, ii, 150.) 



d. He/ shall but bear/ them as/ the ass/ bears gold/, 



(Jul. Caes., IV, i, 21.) 



In the following examples two stresses are suppressed in each verse : — 



(2.) a. It is/ a cvea,/ture that' I teach/ to fight/. 



(Jul. Caes., IV, i, 31.) 



b. And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar, 



It will/ inflame/ you, it; will make/ you mad/ : 



(Jul. Caes., Ill, ii, 149.) 



c. To-mor/raw, and/ to-m.bv/row, and/ to-mor/row. 

 Creeps in this petty pace from day to day. 



To the' last svljllable of/ rec6r/ded time/ ; 



(Macb., V, V, 19-21.) 



d. They did/ so, to/ the a.m.k/zement of/ mine eyes//, 



That look'd upon't. (Macb., II, iv, 19.) 



A unit of four or five syllables might be inferred, were it not for the fact 

 that the verses would then lack their normal five units. It is questionable, 

 however, if there is any great material difference between theie apparently 

 quadruple and the actual quadruple units. The fourth unit in 



(3.) Our ar/my lies/ xh^Jdy to give up/ the ghost/, 

 seems temporally almost equal to units three and four in 



(3«.) Of dire/ cornhnH/tion and/ confused/ events/ 



If it be equal, then (3a) and verses like it must be regarded as verses of 

 only four stresses, when, also, blank verse must be regarded as not uni- 

 formly composed of verses of five stresses. A four-stressed line and a verse 

 from " Paradise Lost " may be juxtaposed : — 



(4.) And the rose like a nymph to the bath addrest, 

 O fairest of creation, last and best 



Here, however, the latter appears to be too much hurried, so that it is pre- 

 sumable that the time taken from the second unit is divided amongst the 

 others, leaving the verse of comparatively the same temporal length as 

 those of five normal stresses. Example (3) will more readily transform 

 to a four-stressed line — 



C^b.) Our ar/my lies rea/dy to give/ up the ghost/ 



— since the loss of a pause is not so noticeable in this instance as the cramp- 

 ing of syllables in (4| The whole question of the relationship between 

 17* — Trans. 



