ON RHYTHM IN ENGLISH VERSE 169 



I' from the o'rient : to the droop'ing We'st 

 Ma/king the wln'd : my post'htfrse still' unfol'd. 



In seventeen cases Shakespeare used sections of five syllables ; 



but they seem to be accidentally employed, contributing little to 



any special effect, as 



tJpon my ton'gues : cOntln'ual slan'ders rl'de 

 The which' in ev'ery lan'giiage : I prOnoun'ce. 



The division of lines into sections, although well known long 

 since (vide Sheridan's ' Art of Reading '), has fallen much into 

 oblivion; so much so, that we may be accused of putting 

 arbitrary pauses where the ear detects none. We submitted, 

 however, farther back, an experiment by which the reality of the 

 sectional pause can be proved ; and we will now give another 

 experiment, showing that it is of the very essence of verse. If 

 we wish to read blank verse as prose, to take all verse quality 

 out of it, we have only to cancel the greater number of the 

 pauses, running several short verse sections into long prose 

 sections. The iambic grouping of the syllables will not then be 

 detected by the ear. Thus, let us read the following passage in 

 a natural straightforward way, with no pauses except those 

 rigidly required to make the meaning clear : ' Sing Heavenly 

 Muse that on the secret top of O'reb or of Sinai didst 

 inspire that shepherd.' Where is the verse? Or let us try 

 another plan, keeping time to a regular beat on each long 

 syllable of the iamb or trochee, but still omitting all unnecessary 

 pauses : ' Sing Heavenly Muse that on the secret top of 

 Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire that shepherd.' All the 

 iambs are there much clearer than when the verse is properly 

 read ; the continuous beat is painfully obtrusive, but the sound 

 is not even English, much less is it that of English verse. Now 

 let us try the effect of making the prescribed pauses, but with 

 no conscious attention to beat or scanning : ' Sing Heavenly 

 Muse : that on the secret top : of Oreb * or of Sinai : didst 

 inspire : that shepherd.' We think that, however badly the words 

 are read, some trace of blank verse will be discernible. Some 

 readers neglect the true phrasing, and introduce false pauses at 

 the end of each foot, as : c Sing Heav nly Muse that on the 

 secret top.' This style is sometimes heard upon the stage, and 



