Note 84 — Chapter III · FROM SHAKESPEARE TO MILTON—THE CLOSE OF THE FORMATIVE PERIOD
Reading edition
To give a thoroughly satisfactory discussion of Milton's prosody would need space quite out of proportion here. The writer has done what he could, in this direction, in the long chapter devoted to the subject in his larger History. But some examples, illustrations, and parallel scannings under different systems may be added to the text of this Manual. And first in regard to printing:
(a) In the printed Paradise Lost the line
Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
appears with the apostrophe; but below—
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed—
has no attempt to indicate elision by printing.
(b)
And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer—
if this is to be made strictly dissyllabic, we must pronounce "spir't," though not so printed; but, a little lower—
Innu|mera|ble force | of spir|its armed
absolutely requires the full value.
(c)
Sing, Heav'nly Muse, that, on the secret top
favours the idea that Milton, as most Elizabethans certainly did, thought "Heaven" a monosyllable. But compare line 297—
On Hea|ven's a|zure; and | the tor|rid clime.
(d) Note, too, words like "ominous," "popular," "delicate," printed without attempt to apostrophate, though the middle syllabic makes a trisyllabic foot.
Again, consider the comparative euphony of the following lines:
(e)
Of glo|ry̆ ŏbscūred | ăs whēn | thĕ Sūn | nĕw rīsĕn,
or
Of glor|y̆obscūred, | etc.
(f)
The form | attempt|ing. Where|fŏre dŏ Ī | ăssūme,
or
Thĕ̄ fōrm | ăttēmpt|ĭng. Whēre|fŏre d'Ī | ăssūme,
or
The form | attempt| Wherefore | do I | assume, (ing).
with the "-ing" sunk or swallowed somehow "extrametrically."
(g)
Thĕ ănĭ|măl spĭrĭts | thăt frōm | pŭ̄re blōod | ărīse,
or
Th'ănĭ|măl spīr'ts | thăt frōm | pŭ̄re | blōod | ărīse.
(h)
Bĕcāuse | thŏu hăst hār|kĕned tō | thĕ vōice | ŏf thy̆ wīfe,
or
Because | thou'st har|kened to | th' vōice ō̆f | thy wife.