Andersen. — Classification of Verse. 483 



These in the full verse would stand, — 



(8a.) Aiid young and old come forth to play tm a sun-shine holy day, 



(Wt. ) Oft listening how the hounds and horn cheerly rouse the slumbering morn. 



A distinct pause breaks the verse into two halves, and such pause is not so 

 much syntactic as rhythmic ; it takes the place of a syllable which is re- 

 quired to complete the metre. This pause gives the clue for the recognition 

 of iambic metre in that which appears to be trochaic : the pause is evi- 

 dent in every instance where a trochaic line follows a stressed syllable, 

 as in examples (8) and (9). It disappears when the line preceding has a 

 double, or, as it is more commonly called, a "feminine" ending, as in the 

 following : — 



(10.) And at my window bid good morrow (1. 46.) 



Through the sweet-briar, or the vine, 



Here the light syntactic pause after " morrow " is quite different from the 

 heavy rhythmic pause after " play " and " horn " in examples (8) and (9) : 

 the rhythmic pause has, in fact, been filled by the last syllable of " morrow." 



7. The pause cannot, of course, be detected at the beginning of a poem 



whose opening is trochaic, but its presence in all subsequent places where 



a trochaic line follows a stressed syllable is indubitable evidence in favour 



of its presence at the opening also. It may occur in other parts of the 



verse than the beginning, as in Shakspeare's — 



(11.) Thou for whom Jove would swear (On a day ... I. 17.) 



Juno but an Ethioii were. 



It is evident that a pause equal to a syllable separates " whom " and 

 " Jove " : is it not equallv evident that a pause equal to a syllable separates 

 " swear " and " Juno " ? ^ 



8. The fact that the ear is conscious of a trochaic effect in many verses 

 is by no means disputed ; but it is contended that it is not the rhythm 

 or the metre which causes this efiect, but the construction of the words 

 themselves. Again quoting from " L' Allegro " : — 



(12.) Shallow brooks, and rivers wide ; 

 (13.) Mountains, on whose barren breast 



The words "shallow," "rivers," "mountains," and "barren" are them- 

 selves trochaic, or are accented on the first syllable, and not on the 

 second, and they impress their own character upon the rhythm in which 

 they float ; for that rhythm, be it remembered, is itself inaudible. In 

 " II Penseroso," however, the following lines occur — 



(14.) With antique pillars massy proof. (1. 158.) 



And storied windows richly dight, 



— where six words out of ten are trochaic, yet they occur in iambic 

 lines. The trochaic effect is still more noticeable when the lines have 

 feminine endings, as in, — 



(15.) Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures, 

 Whilst the landscaiie round it measures ; 

 Russet lawns and fallows gray, 

 Where the nibbling flocks do stray ; (L'All.. 1. 69, &c.) 



The feminine endings give the perfect form to the trochaic measure, 

 and it will be noticed how great is the change w^hen the feminine endings 

 cease. It will also be noticed how^ the first and second lines are run to- 

 gether with absolutely no pause dividing them ; and how the slight syntactic 

 pause after " measures " is widened to the absolute rhythmic pause after 

 16* — Trans. 



