I.
"In a | -maze,
Lost, I | gaze.
Can our | eyes
Reach thy | size?
May my | lays
Swell with | praise,
Worthy | thee,
Worthy | me!
Muse, in | -spire
All thy | fire!
Bards of | old
Of him | told,
When they | said
Atlas' | head
Propp'd the | skies:
See! and | believe | your eyes!
II.
"See him | stride
Valleys | wide:
Over | woods,
Over | floods,
When he | treads,
Mountains' | heads
Groan and | shake:
Armies | quake,
Lest his | spurn
Over | -turn
Man and | steed:
Troops, take | heed!
Left and | right
Speed your | flight!
Lest an | host
Beneath | his foot | be lost.
III.
"Turn'd a | -side
From his | hide,
Safe from | wound,
Darts re | -bound.
From his | nose,
Clouds he | blows;
When he | speaks,
Thunder | breaks!
When he | eats,
Famine | threats!
When he | drinks,
Neptune | shrinks!
Nigh thy | ear,
In mid | air,
On thy | hand,
Let me | stand.
So shall | I
(Lofty | poet!) touch the sky."
JOHN GAY: Johnson's British Poets, Vol. vii, p. 376.
Example III.—Two Feet with Four.
"Oh, the | pleasing, | pleasing | anguish,
When we | love, and | when we | languish!
Wishes | rising!
Thoughts sur | -prising!
Pleasure | courting!
Charms trans | -porting!
Fancy | viewing
Joys en | -suing!
Oh, the | pleasing, | pleasing | anguish!"
ADDISON'S Rosamond, Act i, Scene 6.
Example IV.—Lines of Three Syllables with Longer Metres.
1. WITH TROCHAICS.
"Or we | sometimes | pass an | hour
Under | a green | willow,
That de | -fends us | from the | shower,
Making | earth our | pillow;
Where we | may
Think and | pray,
B=e'fore | death
Stops our | breath:
Other | joys,
Are but | toys,
And to | be la | -mented." [515]
2. WITH IAMBICS.
"What sounds | were heard,
What scenes | appear'd,
O'er all | the drear | -y coasts!
Dreadful | gleams,
Dismal | screams,
Fires that | glow,
Shrieks of | wo,
Sullen | moans,
Hollow | groans,
And cries | of tor | -tur'd ghosts!"
POPE: Johnson's Brit. Poets, Vol. vi, p. 315.
Example V.—"The Shower."—In Four Regular Stanzas.
1.
"In a | valley | that I | know—
Happy | scene!
There are | meadows | sloping | low,
There the | fairest | flowers | blow,
And the | brightest | waters | flow.
All se | -rene;
But the | sweetest | thing to | see,
If you | ask the | dripping | tree,
Or the | harvest | -hoping | swain,
Is the | Rain.
2.
Ah, the | dwellers | of the | town,
How they | sigh,—
How un | -grateful | -ly they | frown,
When the | cloud-king | shakes his | crown,
And the | pearls come | pouring | down
From the | sky!
They de | -scry no | charm at | all
Where the | sparkling | jewels | fall,
And each | moment | of the | shower,
Seems an | hour!
3.
Yet there's | something | very | sweet
In the | sight,
When the | crystal | currents | meet
In the | dry and | dusty | street,
And they | wrestle | with the | heat,
In their | might!
While they | seem to | hold a | talk
With the | stones a | -long the | walk,
And re | -mind them | of the | rule,
To 'keep | cool!'
4.
Ay, but | in that | quiet | dell,
Ever | fair,
Still the | Lord doth | all things | well,
When his | clouds with | blessings | swell,
And they | break a | brimming | shell
On the | air;
There the | shower | hath its | charms,
Sweet and | welcome | to the | farms
As they | listen | to its | voice,
And re | -joice!"
Rev. RALPH HOYT'S Poems: The Examiner, Nov. 6, 1847.
Example VI.—"A Good Name?"—Two Beautiful Little Stanzas.
1.
"Children, | choose it,
Don't re | -fuse it,
'Tis a | precious | dia | -dem;
Highly | prize it,
Don't de | -spise it,
You will | need it | when you're | men.
2.
Love and | cherish,
Keep and | nourish,
'Tis more | precious | far than | gold;
Watch and | guard it,
Don't dis | -card it,
You will | need it | when you're | old."
The Family Christian Almanac, for 1850, p. 20.