The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown (free ebook reader .txt) 📕

wear their | Norman | caps and their | kirtles of
                                                               | homespun,
    And by the | evening | fire re | -peat E | -vangeline's story,
    While from its | rocky | caverns the | deep-voiced, | neighbouring
                                                               | ocean
    Speaks, and in | accents dis | -consolate | answers the | wail of the
                                                               | forest."
       HENRY W. LONGFELLOW: Evangeline, p. 162.

OBS. 8.—An other form of verse, common to the Greeks and Romans, which has sometimes been imitated—or, rather, which some writers have attempted to imitate—in English, is the line or stanza called Sapphic, from the inventress, Sappho, a Greek poetess. The Sapphic verse, according to Fabricius, Smetius, and all good authorities, has eleven syllables, making "five feet—the first a trochee, the second a spondee, the third a dactyl, and the fourth and fifth trochees." The Sapphic stanza, or what is sometimes so called, consists of three Sapphic lines and an Adonian, or Adonic,—this last being a short line composed of "a dactyl and a spondee." Example from Horace:—

   "=Int~e | -g=er v=i | -tæ, sc~el~e | -r=isqu~e | p=ur~us
    Non e | -get Mau | -ri jacu | -lis ne | -qu' arcu,
    Nec ven | -ena | -tis gravi | -dâ sa | -gittis,
        Fusce, pha | -retra."

To arrange eleven syllables in a line, and have half or more of them to form trochees, is no difficult matter; but, to find rhythm in the succession of "a trochee, a spondee, and a dactyl," as we read words, seems hardly practicable. Hence few are the English Sapphics, if there be any, which abide by the foregoing formule of quantities and feet. Those which I have seen, are generally, if not in every instance, susceptible of a more natural scansion as being composed of trochees, with a dactyl, or some other foot of three syllables, at the beginning of each line. The cæsural pause falls sometimes after the fourth syllable, but more generally, and much more agreeably, after the fifth. Let the reader inspect the following example, and see if he do not agree with me in laying the accent on only the first syllable of each foot, as the feet are here divided. The accent, too, must be carefully laid. Without considerable care in the reading, the hearer will not suppose the composition to be any thing but prose:—

"THE WIDOW."—(IN "SAPPHICS.")

   "Cold was the | night-wind, | drifting | fast the | snow fell,
    Wide were the | downs, and | shelter | -less and | naked,
    When a poor | Wanderer | struggled | on her | journey,
           Weary and | way-sore.

    Drear were the | downs, more | dreary | her re | -flections;
    Cold was the | night-wind, | colder | was her | bosom;
    She had no | home, the | world was | all be | -fore her;
           She had no | shelter.

    Fast o'er the | heath a | chariot | rattlee | by her;
    'Pity me!' | feebly | cried the | lonely | wanderer;
    'Pity me, | strangers! | lest, with | cold and | hunger,
           Here I should | perish.

    'Once I had | friends,—though | now by | all for | -saken!
    'Once I had | parents, | —they are | now in | heaven!
    'I had a | home once, | —I had | once a | husband—
           Pity me, | strangers!

    'I had a | home once, | —I had | once a | husband—
    'I am a | widow, | poor and | broken | -hearted!'
    Loud blew the | wind; un | -heard was | her com | -plaining;
           On drove the | chariot.

    Then on the | snow she | laid her | down to | rest her;
    She heard a | horseman; | 'Pity | me!' she | groan'd out;
    Loud was the | wind; un | -heard was | her com | -plaining;
           On went the | horseman.

    Worn out with | anguish, | toil, and | cold, and | hunger,
    Down sunk the | Wanderer; | sleep had | seized her | senses;
    There did the | traveller | find her | in the | morning;
           God had re | -leased her."
             ROBERT SOUTHEY: Poems, Philad., 1843, p. 251.

Among the lyric poems of Dr. Watts, is one, entitled, "THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT; an Ode attempted in English Sapphic." It is perhaps as good an example as we have of the species. It consists of nine stanzas, of which I shall here cite the first three, dividing them into feet as above:—

   "When the fierce | North Wind, | with his | airy | forces,
    Rears up the | Baltic | to a | foaming | fury;
    And the red | lightning | with a | storm of | hail comes
      Rushing a | -main down;

    How the poor | sailors | stand a | -maz'd and | tremble!
    While the hoarse | thunder, | like a bloody | trumpet,
    Roars a loud | onset | to the | gaping | waters,
      Quick to de | -vour them.

    Such shall the | noise be, | and the | wild dis | -order,
    (If things e | -ternal | may be | like these | earthly,)
    Such the dire | terror, | when the | great Arch | -angel
      Shakes the cre | -ation."—Horæ Lyricæ, p. 67.

"These lines," says Humphrey, who had cited the first four, "are good English Sapphics, and contain the essential traits of the original as nearly as the two languages, Greek and English, correspond to each other. This stanza, together with the poem, from which this was taken, may stand for a model, in our English compositions."—Humphrey's E. Prosody, p. 19. This author erroneously supposed, that the trissyllabic foot, in any line of the Sapphic stanza, must occupy the second place: and, judging of the ancient feet and quantities by what he found, or supposed he found, in the English imitations, and not by what the ancient prosodists say of them, yet knowing that the ancient and the modern Sapphics are in several respects unlike, he presented forms of scansion for both, which are not only peculiar to himself, but not well adapted to either. "We have," says he, "no established rule for this kind of verse, in our English compositions, which has been uniformly adhered to. The rule for which, in Greek and Latin verse, as far as I can ascertain, was this: = ~ | = = = | ~ ~ |= ~ | = = a trochee, a moloss, a pyrrhic, a trochee, and [a] spondee; and sometimes, occasionally, a trochee, instead of a spondee, at the end. But as our language is not favourable to the use of the spondee and moloss, the moloss is seldom or never used in our English Sapphics; but, instead of which, some other trissyllable foot is used. Also, instead of the spondee, a trochee is commonly used; and sometimes a trochee instead of the pyrrhic, in the third place. As some prescribed rule, or model for imitation, may be necessary, in this case, I will cite a stanza from one of our best English poets, which may serve for a model.

   'Wh=en th~e | fi=erce n=orth-w~ind, | w~ith h~is | =air~y | f=orc~es [,]
    R=ears ~up | th~e B=alt~ic | t~o ~a | f=oam~ing | f=ur~y;
    And th~e | r=ed l=ightn~ing | w~ith ~a | st=orm ~of | h=ail c~omes
            R=ush~ing | ~am=ain d=own.'—Watts."—Ib., p. 19.

OBS. 12.—In "the Works of George Canning," a small book published in 1829, there is a poetical dialogue of nine stanzas, entitled, "The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder," said to be "a burlesque on Mr. Southey's Sapphics." The metre appears to be near enough like to the foregoing. But these verses I divide, as I have divided the others, into trochees with initial dactyls. At the commencement, the luckier party salutes the other thus:—

   "'Needy knife | -grinder! | whither | are you | going?
     Rough is the | road, your | wheel is | out of | order—
     Bleak blows the | blast;—your | hat has | got a | hole in't,
               So have your | breeches!

    'Weary knife | -grinder! | little | think the | proud ones
     Who in their | coaches | roll a | -long the | turnpike—
     Road, what hard | work 'tis, | crying | all day, | 'Knives and
               Scissors to | grind O!'"—P. 44.

OBS. 13.—Among the humorous poems of Thomas Green Fessenden, published under the sobriquet of Dr. Caustic, or "Christopher Caustic, M. D.," may be seen an other comical example of Sapphics, which extends to eleven stanzas. It describes a contra-dance, and is entitled, "Horace Surpassed." The conclusion is as follows:—

   "Willy Wagnimble dancing with Flirtilla,
    Almost as light as air-balloon inflated,
    Rigadoons around her, 'till the lady's heart is
                    Forced to surrender.

    Benny Bamboozle cuts the drollest capers,
    Just like a camel, or a hippopot'mus;
    Jolly Jack Jumble makes as big a rout as
                    Forty Dutch horses.

    See Angelina lead the mazy dance down;
    Never did fairy trip it so fantastic;
    How my heart flutters, while my tongue pronounces,
                    'Sweet little seraph!'

    Such are the joys that flow from contra-dancing,
    Pure as the primal happiness of Eden,
    Love, mirth, and music, kindle in accordance
                    Raptures extatic."—Poems, p. 208.

SECTION V.—ORAL EXERCISES. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE PROSODY, OR ERRORS OF METRE. LESSON I.—RESTORE THE RHYTHM.

"The lion is laid down in his lair."—O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 134.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the word "lion," here put for Cowper's word "beast" destroys the metre, and changes the line to prose. But, according to the definition given on p. 827, "Verse, in opposition to prose, is language arranged into metrical lines of some determinate length and rhythm—language so ordered as to produce harmony by a due succession of poetic feet." This line was composed of one iamb and two anapests; and, to such form, it should be restored, thus: "The beast is laid down in his lair."—Cowper's Poems, Vol. i, p. 201.]

   "Where is thy true treasure? Gold says, not in me."
        —Hallock's Gram., 1842, p. 66.

   "Canst thou grow sad, thou sayest, as earth grows bright?"
        —Frazee's Gram., 1845, p. 140.

   "It must be so, Plato, thou reasonest well."
        —Wells's Gram., 1846, p. 122.

   "Slow rises merit, when by poverty depressed."
        —Ib., p. 195; Hiley, 132; Hart, 179.

   "Rapt in future times, the bard begun."
        —Wells's Gram., 1846, p. 153.

   "Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
    To wash it white as snow? Whereunto serves mercy,
    But to confront the visage of offence!"
        —Hallock's Gram., 1842, p. 118.

   "Look! in this place ran Cassius's dagger through."
        —Kames, El. of Cr., Vol. i, p. 74.

    "——When they list their lean and flashy songs,
    Harsh grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw."
        —Jamieson's Rhet., p. 135.

    "Did not great Julius bleed for justice's sake?"
        —Dodd's Beauties of Shak., p. 253.

    "Did not great Julius bleed for justice sake?"
        —Singer's Shakspeare, Vol. ii, p. 266.

    "May I, unblam'd, express thee? Since God is light."
        —O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 290.

    "Or hearest thou, rather, pure ethereal stream!"
        —2d Perversion, ib.

    "Republics; kingdoms; empires, may decay;
    Princes, heroes, sages, sink to nought."
        —O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 287.

    "Thou bringest, gay creature as thou art,
    A solemn image to my heart."
        —E. J. Hallock's Gram., p. 197.

    "Know thyself presume not God to scan;
    The proper study of mankind is Man."
        —O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 285.

    "Raised on a hundred pilasters of gold."
        —Charlemagne, C. i, St. 40.

    "Love in Adalgise's breast has fixed his sting."
        —Ib., C. i, St. 30.

    "Thirty days hath September,
    April, June, and November,
    February twenty-eight alone,
    All the rest thirty and one."
        Colet's Grammar, or Paul's Accidence. Lond., 1793, p. 75.

LESSON II.—RESTORE THE RHYTHM.

   "'Twas not the fame of what he once had been,
    Or tales in old records and annals seen."
        —Rowe's Lucan, B. i, l. 274.

    "And Asia now and Afric are explor'd,
    For high-priced dainties, and citron board."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. i, l. 311.

    "Who knows not, how the trembling judge beheld
    The peaceful court with arm'd legions fill'd?"
        —Eng. Poets; ib., B. i, l. 578.

    "With thee the Scythian wilds we'll wander o'er,
    With thee burning Libyan sands explore."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. i, l. 661.

    "Hasty and headlong different paths they tread,
    As blind impulse and wild distraction lead."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. i, l. 858.

    "But Fate reserv'd to perform its doom,
    And be the minister of wrath to Rome."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 136.

    "Thus spoke the youth. When Cato thus exprest
    The sacred counsels of his most inmost breast."
        —Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 435.

    "These were the strict manners of the man,
    And this the stubborn course in which they ran;
    The golden mean unchanging to pursue,
    Constant to keep the