There is a certain metrical and rhythmical norm of the line which must not be confused by too frequent substitutions.
In no case, or in hardly any case,[20] must such combinations be put together so that a juxtaposition of more than three short syllables results.
But, for the purpose of this present book, illustration and example are of much more value than abstract exposition; and to them we shall now turn.
Here, for instance, is a line from Tennyson's "Brook":
Twinkled the innumerable ear and tail.
The different systems applied to a single verse of Tennyson's,
Now the system which regards syllabic precision first of all, with a minor glance at accent, but rejects "feet," surveys this line and pronounces it passable with the elision
Twinkled th' innumerable ear and tail,
but rather shakes its head at the absence of accent, or the slight and weak accent, in "innumerable," and the "inversion" of accent in "twìnkled."