IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.
FALSE PROSODY, OR ERRORS OF METRE.
LESSON I.—RESTORE THE RHYTHM.
"The lion is laid down in his lair."—O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 134.
[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the word "lion," here put for Cowper's word "beast" destroys the metre, and changes the line to prose. But, according to the definition given on p. 827, "Verse, in opposition to prose, is language arranged into metrical lines of some determinate length and rhythm—language so ordered as to produce harmony by a due succession of poetic feet." This line was composed of one iamb and two anapests; and, to such form, it should be restored, thus: "The beast is laid down in his lair."—Cowper's Poems, Vol. i, p. 201.]
"Where is thy true treasure? Gold says, not in me."
—Hallock's Gram., 1842, p. 66.
"Canst thou grow sad, thou sayest, as earth grows bright?"
—Frazee's Gram., 1845, p. 140.
"It must be so, Plato, thou reasonest well."
—Wells's Gram., 1846, p. 122.
"Slow rises merit, when by poverty depressed."
—Ib., p. 195; Hiley, 132; Hart, 179.
"Rapt in future times, the bard begun."
—Wells's Gram., 1846, p. 153.
"Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereunto serves mercy,
But to confront the visage of offence!"
—Hallock's Gram., 1842, p. 118.
"Look! in this place ran Cassius's dagger through."
—Kames, El. of Cr., Vol. i, p. 74.
"——When they list their lean and flashy songs,
Harsh grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw."
—Jamieson's Rhet., p. 135.
"Did not great Julius bleed for justice's sake?"
—Dodd's Beauties of Shak., p. 253.
"Did not great Julius bleed for justice sake?"
—Singer's Shakspeare, Vol. ii, p. 266.
"May I, unblam'd, express thee? Since God is light."
—O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 290.
"Or hearest thou, rather, pure ethereal stream!"
—2d Perversion, ib.
"Republics; kingdoms; empires, may decay;
Princes, heroes, sages, sink to nought."
—O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 287.
"Thou bringest, gay creature as thou art,
A solemn image to my heart."
—E. J. Hallock's Gram., p. 197.
"Know thyself presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is Man."
—O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 285.
"Raised on a hundred pilasters of gold."
—Charlemagne, C. i, St. 40.
"Love in Adalgise's breast has fixed his sting."
—Ib., C. i, St. 30.
"Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November,
February twenty-eight alone,
All the rest thirty and one."
Colet's Grammar, or Paul's Accidence. Lond., 1793, p. 75.
LESSON II.—RESTORE THE RHYTHM.
"'Twas not the fame of what he once had been,
Or tales in old records and annals seen."
—Rowe's Lucan, B. i, l. 274.
"And Asia now and Afric are explor'd,
For high-priced dainties, and citron board."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. i, l. 311.
"Who knows not, how the trembling judge beheld
The peaceful court with arm'd legions fill'd?"
—Eng. Poets; ib., B. i, l. 578.
"With thee the Scythian wilds we'll wander o'er,
With thee burning Libyan sands explore."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. i, l. 661.
"Hasty and headlong different paths they tread,
As blind impulse and wild distraction lead."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. i, l. 858.
"But Fate reserv'd to perform its doom,
And be the minister of wrath to Rome."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 136.
"Thus spoke the youth. When Cato thus exprest
The sacred counsels of his most inmost breast."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 435.
"These were the strict manners of the man,
And this the stubborn course in which they ran;
The golden mean unchanging to pursue,
Constant to keep the proposed end in view."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 580.
"What greater grief can a Roman seize,
Than to be forc'd to live on terms like these!"
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 782.
"He views the naked town with joyful eyes,
While from his rage an arm'd people flies."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 880.
"For planks and beams he ravages the wood,
And the tough bottom extends across the flood."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 1040.
"A narrow pass the horned mole divides,
Narrow as that where Euripus' strong tides
Beat on Euboean Chalcis' rocky sides."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. ii, l. 1095.
"No force, no fears their hands unarm'd bear,
But looks of peace and gentleness they wear."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. iii, l. 112.
"The ready warriors all aboard them ride,
And wait the return of the retiring tide."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. iv, l. 716.
"He saw those troops that long had faithful stood,
Friends to his cause, and enemies to good,
Grown weary of their chief, and satiated with blood."
—Eng. Poets: ib., B. v, l. 337.