Volume 2 / Part 2 / Act 4 — METRICAL EXPERIMENTS[1014:1]
Reading edition
METRICAL EXPERIMENTS[1014:1]
1
AN EXPERIMENT FOR A METRE
I heard a voice pealing loud triumph to-day: The voice of the Triumph, O Freedom, was thine! Sumptuous Tyranny challeng'd the fray,[1014:2] 'Drunk with Idolatry, drunk with wine.' Whose could the Triumph be Freedom but thine? Stars of the Heaven shine to feed thee; Hush'd are the Whirl-blasts and heed thee;— By her depth, by her height, Nature swears thou art mine!
1. Amphibrach tetrameter catalectic ˘ ¯ ˘ | ˘ ¯ ˘ | ˘ ¯ ˘ | ˘ ¯
2. Ditto.
3. Three pseudo amphimacers, and one long syllable.
4. Two dactyls, and one perfect Amphimacer.
5. = 1 and 2.
6. ¯ ˘ ¯ | ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ |
7. ¯ ˘ ¯ | ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ |
8. ¯ ˘ ¯ | ¯ ˘ ¯, ¯ ˘ ¯, ¯ ˘ ¯
1801. Now first published from an MS.
2
TROCHAICS
Thus she said, and, all around, Her diviner spirit, gan to borrow; Earthly Hearings hear unearthly sound, Hearts heroic faint, and sink aswound. Welcome, welcome, spite of pain and sorrow, Love to-day, and Thought to-morrow.
1801. Now first published from an MS.
3
THE PROPER UNMODIFIED DOCHMIUS
(i. e. antispastic Catalectic)
Bĕnīgn shōōtĭng stārs, ĕcstātīc dĕlīght.
or
The Lord's throne in Heaven ămīd āngĕl troops Amid troops of Angels God throned on high.
1801. Now first published from an MS.
4
IAMBICS
No cold shall thee benumb, Nor darkness stain thy sight; To thee new Heat, new Light Shall from this object come, Whose Praises if thou now wilt sound aright, My Pen shall give thee leave hereafter to be dumb.
1801. Now first published from an MS.
5
NONSENSE
Sing impassionate Soul! of Mohammed the complicate story: Sing, unfearful of Man, groaning and ending in care. Short the Command and the Toil, but endlessly mighty the Glory! Standing aloof if it chance, vainly our enemy's scare: What tho' we wretchedly fare, wearily drawing the Breath—, Malice in wonder may stare; merrily move we to Death.
Now first published from an MS.
6
A PLAINTIVE MOVEMENT
[11´ 4` 11´ 4` | 10´ 6` 4´ 10`]
Go little Pipe! for ever I must leave thee, Ah, vainly true! Never, ah never! must I more receive thee? Adieu! adieu! Well, thou art gone! and what remains behind, Soothing the soul to Hope? The moaning Wind— Hide with sere leaves my Grave's undaisied Slope.
(?) October. 1814.
[It would be better to alter this metre—
10´ 6` 6´ 10` | 11´ 4` 11´ 4`:
and still more plaintive if the 1st and 4th were 11´ 11´ as well as the 5th and 7th.]
Now first published from an MS.
7
AN EXPERIMENT FOR A METRE
˘ ˘ ¯, ˘ ˘ ¯
˘ ˘ ¯, ˘ ˘ ¯
˘ ¯ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯; ˘ ˘ ¯, ˘ ˘ ¯
˘ ¯ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯, ˘ ˘ ¯, ˘ ˘ ¯
˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯, ˘ ˘ ¯
When thy Beauty appears, In its graces and airs, All bright as an Angel new dight from the Sky, At distance I gaze, and am awed by my fears, So strangely you dazzle my Eye.
Now first published from an MS.
8
NONSENSE VERSES
[AN EXPERIMENT FOR A METRE]
Ye fowls of ill presage, Go vanish into Night! Let all things sweet and fair Yield homage to the pair: From Infancy to Age Each Brow be smooth and bright, As Lake in evening light. To-day be Joy! and Sorrow Devoid of Blame (The widow'd Dame) Shall welcome be to-morrow. Thou, too, dull Night! may'st come unchid: This wall of Flame the Dark hath hid With turrets each a Pyramid;— For the Tears that we shed, are Gladness, A mockery of Sadness!
Now first published from an MS.
9
NONSENSE
[AN EXPERIMENT FOR A METRE]
I wish on earth to sing
Of Jove the bounteous store,
That all the Earth may ring
With Tale of Wrong no more.
I fear no foe in field or tent,
Tho' weak our cause yet strong his Grace:
As Polar roamers clad in Fur,
Unweeting whither we were bent
We found as 'twere a native place,
Where not a Blast could stir:
For Jove had his Almighty Presence lent: Each eye beheld, in each transfigured Face, The radiant light of Joy, and Hope's forgotten Trace.
or
O then I sing Jove's bounteous store— On rushing wing while sea-mews roar, And raking Tides roll Thunder on the shore.
Now first published from an MS.
10
EXPERIMENTS IN METRE
There in some darksome shade Methinks I'd weep Myself asleep, And there forgotten fade.
First published from an MS. in 1893.
11
Once again, sweet Willow, wave thee! Why stays my Love? Bend, and in yon streamlet—lave thee! Why stays my Love? Oft have I at evening straying, Stood, thy branches long surveying, Graceful in the light breeze playing,— Why stays my Love?
1. Four Trochees /.
2. One spondee, Iambic \.
3. Four Trochees 1.
4. Repeated from 2.
5, 6, 7. A triplet of 4 Trochees—8 repeated.
First published from an MS. in 1893.
12
¯ ˘, ¯ ˘ ˘, ¯ ˘ ˘, ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘, ¯ ˘ ˘, ¯ ˘ ˘, ¯ ˘, ¯ ˘ ˘, ¯ ˘ ˘, ¯ ˘ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘, ¯ ˘ ˘, ¯ ˘ ˘, ¯ ¯ ˘ ˘, ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘, ¯ ˘ etc.
Songs of Shepherds and rustical Roundelays, Forms of Fancies and whistled on Reeds, Songs to solace young Nymphs upon Holidays Are too unworthy for wonderful deeds— [1019] Round about, hornéd Lucinda they swarméd, And her they informéd, How minded they were, Each God and Goddess, To take human Bodies As Lords and Ladies to follow the Hare.
Now first published from an MS.
13
A METRICAL ACCIDENT
Curious instance of casual metre and rhyme in a prose narrative (The Life of Jerome of Prague). The metre is Amphibrach dimeter Catalectic ˘ ¯ ˘ | ˘ ¯, and the rhymes antistrophic.
Then Jerome did call a From his flame-pointed Fence; b Which under he trod, c As upward to mount d From the fiery flood,—e 'I summon you all, a A hundred years hence, b To appear before God, c To give an account d Of my innocent blood!' e
July 7, 1826. Now first published from an MS.
NOTES BY PROFESSOR SAINTSBURY
1. I think most ears would take these as anapaestic throughout. But the introduction of Milton's
Drunk with Idolatry, drunk with wine
as a leit-motiv is of the first interest.
Description of it, l. 4, very curious. I should have thought no one could have run 'drunk with wine' together as one foot.
2. Admirable! I hardly know better trochaics.
3. Very interesting: but the terminology odd. The dochmius, a five-syllabled foot, is (in one form—there are about thirty!) an antispast ˘ ¯ ¯ ˘ plus a syllable. Catalectic means (properly) minus a syllable. But the verses as quantified are really dochmiac, and the only attempts I have seen. Shall I own I can't get any English Rhythm on them?
4. More ordinary: but a good arrangement and wonderful for the date.
5. Not nonsense at all: but, metrically, really his usual elegiac.
6. This, if early, is almost priceless. It is not only lovely in itself, but an obvious attempt to recover the zig-zag outline and varied cadence of seventeenth century born—the things that Shelley to some extent, Beddoes and Darley more, and Tennyson and Browning most were to master. I subscribe (most humbly) to his suggestions, especially his second.
7. Very like some late seventeenth-century (Dryden time) motives and a leetle 'Moorish'.
8. Like 6, and charming.
9. A sort of recurrence to Pindaric—again pioneer, as the soul of S. T. C. had to be always.
10 and 11. Ditto.
13. Again, I should say, anapaestic—but this anapaest and amphibrach quarrel is ἄσπονδος.