We may note here instances of the special features of Provençal versification mentioned above. The i in i'a, the equivalent of the French il y a, is really a consonant. This i occurs again in the fourth of the lines quoted, so that there is no hiatus between que and ié. In like manner the u of belèu, in the last line, stands with the sound of the English w between this and elo. The e of ounte is elided. It will be observed that there is a cæsura between the seventh and eighth syllables of the long line, and that the verse has a marked rhythmic beat, with decided trochaic movement,—
In his use of French Alexandrine, or twelve-syllable verse, Mistral takes few liberties as to cæsura. No ternary verses are found in Mirèio, that is, verses that fall into three equal parts. In general, it may be said that his Alexandrines, except in the play La Rèino Jano, represent the classical type of the French poets. To be noted, however, is the presence of feminine cæsuras. These occur, not theoretically or intentionally, but as a consequence of pronunciation, and are an additional beauty in that they vary the movement of the lines. The unstressed vowel at the hemistich, theoretically elided, is pronounced because of the natural pause intervening between the two parts of the verse.
"Per óuliva tant d'aubre!—Hòu, tout acò se fai!"
(Mirèio, Canto I.)
In one of the divisions of Lou Tambour d'Arcolo (The Drummer of Arcole), the poet uses ten-syllable verse with the cæsura after the sixth syllable, an exceedingly unusual cæsura, imitated from the poem Girard de Roussillon.
"Ah! lou pichot tambour | devenguè flòri!
Davans touto l'arma | —do en plen soulèu,
Pèr estelà soun front | d'un rai de glòri," etc.
Elsewhere he uses this verse divided after the fourth syllable, and less frequently after the fifth.