The Grammar of English Grammars

by Goold Brown

ORDER III.—ANAPESTIC VERSE.

In full Anapestic verse, the stress is laid on every third syllable, the first two syllables of each foot being short. The first foot of an anapestic line, may be an iambus. This is the most frequent diversification of the order. But, as a diversification, it is, of course, not regular or uniform. The stated or uniform adoption of the iambus for a part of each line, and of the anapest for the residue of it, produces verse of the Composite Order. As the anapest ends with a long syllable, its rhymes are naturally single; and a short syllable after this, producing double rhyme, is, of course, supernumerary: so are the two, when the rhyme is triple. Some prosodists suppose, a surplus at the end of a line may compensate for a deficiency at the beginning of the next line; but this I judge to be an error, or at least the indulgence of a questionable license. The following passage has two examples of what may have been meant for such compensation, the author having used a dash where I have inserted what seems to be a necessary word:—

"Apol | -lo smil'd shrewd | -ly, and bade | him sit down,
With 'Well, | Mr. Scott, | you have man | -aged the town;
Now pray, | copy less— | have a lit | -tle temer | -~it~y—
[And] Try | if you can't | also man | -age poster | -ity.
[For] All | you add now | only les | -sens your cred | -it;
And how | could you think, | too, of tak | -ing to ed | -ite?'"
LEIGH HUNT'S Feast of the Poets, page 20.

The anapestic measures are few; because their feet are long, and no poet has chosen to set a great many in a line. Possibly lines of five anapests, or of four and an initial iambus, might be written; for these would scarcely equal in length some of the iambics and trochaics already exhibited. But I do not find any examples of such metre. The longest anapestics that have gained my notice, are of fourteen syllables, being tetrameters with triple rhyme, or lines of four anapests and two short surplus syllables. This order consists therefore of measures reducible to the following heads:—

MEASURE I.—ANAPESTIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER.

Example I.—A "Postscript."—An Example with Hypermeter.

"Lean Tom, | when I saw | him, last week, | on his horse | awry,
Threaten'd loud | -ly to turn | me to stone | with his sor | -cery.
But, I think, | little Dan, | that, in spite | of what our
| foe says,
He will find | I read Ov | -id and his | Meta_mor_ | -phoses.
For, omit | -ting the first, | (where I make | a com_par_ | -ison,
With a sort | of allu | -sion to Put | -land or Har | -rison,)
Yet, by | my descrip | -tion, you'll find | he in short | is
A pack | and a gar | -ran, a top | and a tor | -toise.
So I hope | from hencefor | -ward you ne'er | will ask, can
| I maul
This teas | -ing, conceit | -ed, rude, in | -solent an | -imal?
And, if | this rebuke | might be turn'd | to his ben | -efit,
(For I pit | -y the man,) | I should | be glad then | of it"
SWIFT'S POEMS: Johnson's British Poets, Vol. v, p. 324.

Example II.—"The Feast of the Poets."—First Twelve Lines.

"T' other day, | as Apol | -lo sat pitch | -ing his darts
Through the clouds | of Novem | -ber, by fits | and by starts,
He began | to consid | -er how long | it had been
Since the bards | of Old Eng | -land had all | been rung in.
'I think,' | said the god, | recollect | -ing, (and then
He fell twid | -dling a sun | -beam as I | may my pen,)
'I think— | let me see— | yes, it is, | I declare,
As long | ago now | as that Buck | -ingham there;
And yet | I can't see | why I've been | so remiss,
Unless | it may be— | and it cer | -tainly is,
That since Dry | -den's fine ver | -ses and Mil | -ton's sublime,
I have fair | -ly been sick | of their sing | -song and rhyme.'"
LEIGH HUNT: Poems, New-York Edition, of 1814.

Example III.—The Crowning of Four Favourites.

"Then, 'Come,' | cried the god | in his el | -egant mirth,
'Let us make | us a heav'n | of our own | upon earth,
And wake, | with the lips | that we dip | in our bowls,
That divin | -est of mu | -sic—conge | -nial souls.'
So say | -ing, he led | through the din | -ing-room door,
And, seat | -ing the po | -ets, cried, 'Lau | -rels for four!'
No soon | -er demand | -ed, than, lo! | they were there,
And each | of the bards | had a wreath | in his hair.
Tom Camp | -bell's with wil | -low and pop | -lar was twin'd,
And South | -ey's, with moun | -tain-ash, pluck'd | in the wind;
And Scott's, | with a heath | from his old | garden stores,
And, with vine | -leaves and jump | -up-and-kiss | -me, Tom Moore's."
LEIGH HUNT: from line 330 to line 342.

Example IV.—"Glenara."—First Two of Eight Stanzas.

"O heard | ye yon pi | -broch sound sad | in the gale,
Where a band | cometh slow | -ly with weep | -ing and wail!
'Tis the chief | of Glena | -ra laments | for his dear;
And her sire, | and the peo | -ple, are called | to her bier.

Glena | -ra came first | with the mourn | -ers and shroud;
Her kins | -men, they fol | -lowed, but mourned | not aloud;
Their plaids | all their bo | -soms were fold | -ed around;
They marched | all in si | -lence—they looked | on the ground."
T. CAMPBELL'S Poetical Works, p. 105.

Example V.—"Lochiel's Warning."—Ten Lines from Eighty-six.

"'Tis the sun | -set of life | gives me mys | -tical lore,
And com | -ing events | cast their shad | -ows before.
I tell | thee, Cullo | -den's dread ech | -oes shall ring
With the blood | -hounds that bark | for thy fu | -gitive king.
Lo! anoint | -ed by Heav'n | with the vi | -als of wrath,
Behold, | where he flies | on his des | -olate path!
Now, in dark | -ness and bil | -lows he sweeps | from my sight;
Rise! rise! | ye wild tem | -pests, and cov | -er his flight!
'Tis fin | -ished. Their thun | -ders are hushed | on the moors;
Cullo | -den is lost, | and my coun | -try deplores."—Ib., p. 89.

Example VI.—"The Exile of Erin."—The First of Five Stanzas.

"There came | to the beach | a poor Ex | -ile of E | -r~in,
The dew | on his thin | robe was heav | -y and chill;
For his coun | -try he sighed, | when at twi | -light repair | -~ing
To wan | -der alone | by the wind | -beaten hill.
But the day | -star attract | -ed his eye's | sad devo | -t~ion,
For it rose | o'er his own | native isle | of the o | -c~ean,
Where once, | in the fire | of his youth | -ful emo | t~ion,
He sang | the bold an | -them of E | -rin go bragh."—Ib., p. 116.

Example VII.—"The Poplar Field."

"The pop | -lars are fell'd, | farewell | to the shade, And the whis | -pering sound | of the cool | colonnade; The winds | play no lon | -ger and sing | in the leaves, Nor Ouse | on his bo | -som their im | -age receives. Twelve years | have elaps'd, | since I last | took a view Of my fa | -vourite field, | and the bank | where they grew; And now | in the grass | behold | they are laid, And the tree | is my seat | that once lent | me a shade. The black | -bird has fled | to anoth | -er retreat, Where the ha | -zels afford | him a screen | from the heat, And the scene, | where his mel | -ody charm'd | me before, Resounds | with his sweet | -flowing dit | -ty no more. My fu | -gitive years | are all hast | -ing away, And I | must ere long | lie as low | -ly as they, With a turf | on my breast, | and a stone | at my head, Ere anoth | -er such grove | shall arise | in its stead. 'Tis a sight | to engage | me, if an | -y thing can, To muse | on the per | -ishing pleas | -ures of man; Though his life | be a dream, | his enjoy | -ments, I see, Have a be | -ing less dur | -able e | -ven than he." COWPER'S Poems, Vol. i, p. 257.