644 't^raiis(icti07t$ '.-' 



He has added a syllable to the first hne. such syllable falling in the mid- 

 pause of the verse ; but the hearer is not conscious of the same demand for 

 the repetition of this variatio)i, and the stanza could as well have run,^ — 

 (3a.) Graceful Acacia ! slender, brittle, I think I know the like of thee ; 



But thou art tall, and she is small — what God shall call lier his own tree ? 



Some God must be the last to change her ; from him alone she will not flee ; 



may he fix to earth the maid, and may he lend her shade to me ! 



Nevertheless, the fact that the poet repeats the variation is sufficient 

 indication that there is a degree of expectancy ; and, if repeated, this 

 first repetition creates a demand for the second. Whoi present at the 

 beginning of the verse the variation consists of the dropping or adding 

 of syllables in the first unit. If the metre be ordinary duple, the natural 

 metre, the dropping of one syllal)le makes it "abrupt " (trochaic), and it is 

 usual, though by no means obligatory, to continue it as abrupt. If tlic 

 metre be triple, the dropping of two syllables makes it abrupt (dactylic), 

 whilst the dropping of only one syllable simply gives it an ordinary duple 

 opening ; and this is the common opening of triple measures. There is 

 not quite the same demand for regularity in the opening of a verse as in its 

 close, for which fact the rime is responsible ; in the example from Shelley's 

 " Sensitive Plant," No. (1) of this section, the verses open either in duple 

 or in triple units, and the poem contains many verses with abrupt opening. 

 If a poem be regularly duple or triple, however, it usually continues as it 

 begins ; if it opens ordinarily, it will be ordinary throughout ; if abruptly, 

 it will be abrupt throughout. 



3. These three regular variations, then, are taken as the index of 

 " varieties " in poems. The verse-end variation, as the most important, 

 distinguishes the varieties ; the beginning-variation and the mid-variation 

 distinguish subvaricties. The duple unit being taken as tlie natural type of 

 unit, the natural Romance verse will be a duple verse of eight stress-units :— 



../ ../ ../ ../ ../ ../ ../ ../ 

 This, expanding in all units, may become full triple :■ — 



.../.•■/.•"./.•./.■./.../•••/..•/ 

 Here each dot represents a syllable ; the bars divide the verse into its 

 constituent stress-units, every syllable preceding a bar bearing a stress. 

 It will be remembered that whilst the stress-units may be unequal syllabic- 

 ally, they are equal temporally. The natural Romance verse may expand 

 to the full triple by three different intermediate stages : — 



(1.) ../ ../ ../ ../ ../ ../ ../ ../ (2, 2, 2, 2 ; 2, 2, 2, 2) (Normal). 



(2.) ../.../.../.../../.../.../.../ (2. 3, .3. 3 ; 2. 3. 3, 3) 



(3.) ../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../ (2, 3, 3, 3; 3. 3. 3, 3) 



(4.) .../.../.../.../../.../.../.../ (3,3,3,3:2,3,3,3) 



(5.) .../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../ (3, 3, 3, 3 ; 3, 3, 3. 3) 



No. (1) is ordinary duple, every unit containing two syllables, as indicated 

 by the figures on the right ; No. (2) is duple in the first unit of both half- 

 verses, triple in the remainder ; No. (3) is duple in the first unit only ; 

 No. (4) is duple in first unit of the second half-verse only ; No. (5) is triple 

 throughout. These variations may appear very slight, l)ut they are regular, 

 and they form the basic verse-unit of entire stanzas, examples of which 

 follow : — 



(1.) O they/ rade on/, and far/ther on/, the steed/ gaed swif/ter than/ the 

 wind/ ; 

 Until/ they reached/ a de/sert wide/, and li/ving land/ was left/ be- 

 hind/. 



(" Thomas the Rlij-mer," stanza 9.) 



