Note 125 — Chapter VI · THE LAST STAGE—TENNYSON TO SWINBURNE
Reading edition
Examples of lyric:
(1)You have cho|sen and clung | to the chance | they sent | you, Life sweet | as per|fume, and pure | as prayer; But will | it not one | day in heav|en repent | you? Will they sol|ace you whol|ly, the days | that were? Will you lift | up your eyes | between sad|ness and bliss? Meet mine | and see | where the great | love is, And trem|ble and turn | and be changed? | Content | you, The gate | is strait; | I shall not | be there.
(Anapæstic dimeter with iambic substitution and redundance. A most perfect combination.)
(2)If love | were what | the rose | is And I | were like | the leaf, Our lives | would grow | togeth|er In sad | or sing|ing wea|ther, Blown fields | or flower|ful clo|ses, Green plea|sure or | grey grief: If love | were what | the rose | is And I | were like | the leaf.
(Pure iambics. Dimeter catalectic and brachycatalectic by turns.)
(3)When the | game be|gan be|tween them | for a | jest, He played | king and | she played | queen to | match the | best. Laughter | soft as | tears, and | tears that | turned to | laughter, These were | things she | sought for | years and | sorrowed | after.
(Trochaic trimeter catalectic; quite pure throughout.)