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Poetic Feet. The kinds of feet most used in English are four; namely, the iambus, the trochee, the anapest, the dactyl.

Iambus.-The multitude of angels, with a shout.

In this line the five accents give the character and the meter also of five feet. This foot of two syllables, with the accent on the last, is called an iambus (~-), and the rhythm of such feet, iambic.

Trochee.

Great men | die and | are forgotten.

In this line the number of accents gives a meter of four feet; and the accent, falling on syllables, thus changes the rhythm. trochee (-), and the rhythm of such feet, trochaic.

the first of the two This foot is called a

Anapest. For the sun set of life | gives me mystical lore.

In this line we have twelve syllables, but the same num ber of natural accents as in the line of only eight syllables above, and so the same number of feet, or the same "meter." But the rhythm and the measure are greatly changed by double the number of unaccented syllables in these four feet. This trisyllabic foot, with the accent on the last syllable, is called an anapest (~~-), and the rhythm of such feet, anapestic.

Dactyl.-Bird of the wilderness,

Blithesome and | cumberless,

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Sweet be thy matin o'er | moorland and | lea!

Emblem of happiness,

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Blest is thy dwelling-place!

O, to abide in the desert with | thee!

In these lines, the meter changes from two feet to four

in

every third line; while the rhythm is the same except in the last foot of the longer lines, where "lea" and "thee" -the one long syllable in each line-pleasantly break the monotony of the regular foot. This foot of three syllables, with the accent on the first, is called a dactyl (~~~), and the rhythm of such feet, dactylic.

Every poem in the English language of any character, whatever the meter, is founded on one or another of the

four "regular feet" illustrated above. But this perfect regularity of any standard measure, which so pleases the ear for a while, becomes monotonous if not in some way varied now and then. In many poems the various meters are combined, iambics in one line being followed by trochees in another, and dactyls by anapests. These combinations are almost endless, and yet verse may be still further varied by the introduction of secondary feet. They are as follows:

(1) The spondee, two accented syllables, (--).

(2) The pyrrhic, two unaccented syllables, (~~).

(3) The amphibrach, first unaccented, second accented, third unaccented, (~-~).

(4) The tribrach, three unaccented syllables, (~~~).

Mixed Verse.-Sometimes the verse is so varied by an intermixture of the different kinds of feet that it is difficult to recognize the preponderance of any one kind of foot. Some attempts have been made in English to write continued poems in this kind of verse. Longfellow has given us conspicuous examples in The Courtship of Miles Standish, and the soliloquy of Friar Claus from the Golden Legend. The first may be described as prevailingly dactylic, but with a free intermixture of iambuses, trochees, anapests, and spondees.

Hawtrey, in the following lines, has given perhaps the most successful specimen of this verse ever produced:

Clearly the rest I be|hold of the | dark-eyed | sons of Achaia; Known to me | well are the | faces of | all; their | names I remember; Two, two | only remain, whom I | see not among the commanders, Castor | fleet in the | car, Poly|deuces | brave with the | cestus. Another fine example is found in Boker's Ivory Carver:

Silently sat the | artist alone,

Carving a | Christ from the | ivory | bone.
Little by little, with toil | and pain,

He won | his way | through the sight|less grain,

That held and yet hid | the thing | he sought,

Till the work | stood up, | a growing thought.

Mixed verse seems to succeed best when combined with rhyme, and when the lines are comparatively short

Kinds of Verse.-Verse is named according to two characteristics:

1. According to the kind of foot prevailing in a line. 2. According to the number of feet contained in a line. We have seen how the kind of foot characterizes verse. Now by combining the name of the foot-the metric unit by which the line is measured—and the name for the number of feet in a line, we can accurately describe the meter and the rhythm of any poem.

If the metric unit, or foot, is contained in the line but once, we have Monometer, a line of one foot; if twice, Dimeter, a line of two feet; if three times, Trimeter, a line of three feet; if four times, Tetrameter, a line of four feet;

if five times, Pentameter, a line of five feet; if six times, Hexameter, a line of six feet; if seven times, Heptameter, a line of seven feet; if eight times, Octometer, a line of eight feet.

The combination of kind of foot with number of feet gives rise to such designations as iambic dimeter, iambic trimeter, etc.; trochaic dimeter, trochaic tetrameter, etc.; anapestic dimeter, anapestic trimeter, etc.

Iambic Verse.—Of all measures, the iambic is the most easily continued to great length: hence it is in very common use, and is peculiarly adapted for long poems. Until quite recently, about nine tenths of English verse was iambic, and probably three fourths of it iambic pentameter. Monometer. .How sure.

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Trimeter. . .Ă thousand cups | of gold.

Tetrameter. .Let me | not cast | to endless shadc.

Pentameter. .Roll on, | thou deep | and dark | blue Ocean-roll! Hexameter. .Celestial as | thou art, | O, do not love that wrong. Heptameter. He looked upon | his people, and | a tear | was in | his eye. Octometer.. All people that | on earth | do dwell, sing to the Lord

with cheerful voice.

The iambic monometer and dimeter are too short to be continued through any great number of lines, but as individual lines they are met with in stanzas. Thus:

(Trimeter) No:-'Tis a fast | to dole,

(Dimeter) Thy sheaf of wheat

(Monometer) And meat

(Trimeter) Unto the hungry soul.

The iambic trimeter is rarely used by itself, but is often found in combination with tetrameter, these two alternating,

and with divers unions of rhymes.

Thus:

We build with fruit less cost, | unless

The Lord the pile | sustain;

Unless the Lord | the citly keep,

The watch man wakes | in vain.

Blest be the tie | that binds

Our hearts in Christian love:

The fellowship | of kindred minds

Is like to that | above.

The iambic tetrameter is largely used uncombined; it is the meter of most of Sir Walter Scott's works:

The way was long, | the wind was cold,
The minstrel was | infirm | and old;
His with ered cheek | and tresses gray
Seemed to have known | a better day;
The harp, his sole | remaining joy,
Was carried by | an orphan boy.

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of English

Iambic pentameter is the "heroic measure poetry. Most of our epic, dramatic, and descriptive poetry is written in iambic pentameter. In its rhymed form it is the measure of Chaucer, Spenser, Dryden, Pope, Campbell, and Byron; as,

Three polets in three distant alges born,

Greece, Italy, and England did | adorn.

In its unrhymed form the iambic pentameter is the stately blank verse of Milton and Wordsworth.

The iambic hexameter is commonly called the Alexandrine, from the fact that old French poems in praise of Alexander were written in this measure. It is now sel

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