Expression
One article more in the construction of verse deserves our observation, which is Expression. Expression consists in such a choice and distribution of poetic feet as are best adapted to the subject, and best calculated to impress sentiments upon the mind. Those poetic feet, which end in an accented syllable, are the most forcible. Hence the Iambic measure is best adapted to solemn and sublime subjects. This is the measure of the Epic, of poems on grave moral subjects, of elegies, &c. The Spondee, a foot of two long syllables, when admitted into the Iambic measure, adds much to the solemnity of the movement.
“While the clear sun, rejoicing still to rise,
In pomp rolls round immeasurable skies.”
Dwight.
The Dactyl, rolls round, expresses beautifully the majesty of the sun in his course.
It is a general rule, that the more important syllables there are in a passage, whether of prose or verse, the more heavy is the stile. For example:
“A past, vamp’d, future, old, reviv’d new piece.”
“Men, bearded, bald, cowl’d, uncowl’d, shod, unshod.”
Such lines are destitute of melody and are admissible only when they suit the sound to the sense. In the high burlesque stile, of which kind is Pope’s Dunciad, they give the sentiment an ironical air of importance, and from this circumstance derive a beauty. On the other hand, a large proportion of unaccented syllables or particles, deprives language of energy; and it is this circumstance principally which in prose constitutes the difference between the grave historical, and the familiar stile. The greatest number of long syllables ever admitted into a heroic verse, is seven, as in the foregoing; the smallest number is three.
“Or to a sād varīety of wōe.”
The Trochaic measure, in which every foot closes with a weak syllable, is well calculated for lively subjects.
“Softly sweet in Lydian measures
Soon he sooth’d his soul to pleasures;
War he sung is toil and trouble,
Honor but an empty bubble,” &c.
The Anapæstic measure, in which there are two short syllables to one long, is best adapted to express the impetuosity of passion or action. Shenstone has used it to great advantage, in his inimitable pastoral ballad. It describes beautifully the strong and lively emotions which agitate the lover, and his anxiety to please, which continually hurries him from one object and one exertion to another.
“I have found out a gift for my fair,
I have found where the wood pigeons breed;
Yet let me that plunder forbear,
She will say ’twas a barbarous deed.
For he ne’er could prove true, she averr’d,
Who could rob a poor bird of her young:
And I lov’d her the more when I heard
Such tenderness fall from her tongue.”
The Amphibrachic measure, in which there is a long syllable between two short ones, is best adapted to lively comic subjects; as in Addison’s Rosamond.
“Since conjugal passion
Has come into fashion,
And marriage so blest on the throne is,
Like Venus I’ll shine,
Be fond and be fine,
And Sir Trusty shall be my Adonis.”
Such a measure gives sentiment a ludicrous air, and consequently is ill adapted to serious subjects.
Great art may be used by a poet in choosing words and feet adapted to his subject. Take the following specimen.
“Now here, now there, the warriors fall; amain
Groans murmur, armor sounds, and shouts convulse the plain.”
The feet in the last line are happily chosen. The slow Spondee, in the beginning of the verse, fixes the mind upon the dismal scene of woe; the solemnity is heightened by the pauses in the middle of the second and at the end of the third foot. But when the poet comes to shake the plains, he closes the line with three forcible Iambics.
Of a similar beauty take the following example.
“She all night long, her amorous descant sung.”
The poet here designs to describe the length of the night, and the music of the Nightingale’s song. The first he does by two slow Spondees, and the last by four very rapid syllables.
The following lines, from Gray’s Elegy, written in a country church yard, are distinguished by a happy choice of words.
“For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e’er resign’d?
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing lingering look behind?”
The words longing and lingering express most forcibly the reluctance with which mankind quit this state of existence.
Pope has many beauties of this kind.
“And grace and reason, sense and virtue split,
With all the rash dexterity of wit.”
The mute consonants, with which these lines end, express the idea of rending asunder, with great energy and effect. The words rash and dexterity are also judiciously chosen.
In describing the delicate sensations of the most refined love, he is remarkable for his choice of smooth flowing words. There are some passages in his Eloisa and Abelard, which are extended to considerable length, without a single mute consonant or harsh word.