Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism

by F. V. N. Painter

"Take her up tenderly,
Lift her with care;
Fashioned so slenderly,
Young and so fair."

Triple rhyme is usually employed only in a light, satirical, or mocking vein. Byron uses it frequently in his frivolous or reckless moods; for example,—

"O world that was and is! What is cosmogony?
Some people have accused me of misanthropy,
And yet I know no more than the mahogany
That forms this desk of what they mean; lycanthropy
I comprehend; for, without transformation
Men become wolves on any slight occasion."

Middle rhyme is that which exists between the middle and final words or syllables of a verse. It is frequently used in the "The Ancient Mariner:"

"The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea."

Sectional rhyme is that occurring in the first half or section of a verse; as,—

"Lightly and brightly breaks away
The morning from her mantle gray."

Alliteration is the use of the same letter at the beginning of two or more words or syllables in the same verse or successive verses. It was the determining principle in Anglo-Saxon poetry, and has remained ever since a source of harmony in English verse. Its effects are sometimes most pleasing when the alliteration turns on one or more internal syllables. The following from Mrs. Browning's "Romance of the Swan's Nest" will serve for illustration:

"Little Ellie sits alone,
And the smile she softly uses
Fills the silence like a speech,
While she thinks what shall be done,
And the sweetest pleasure chooses
For her future within reach."