Example VI.—"Greek Funeral Chant."—First four of sixty-four Lines.
"A wail | was heard | around | the bed, | the death | -bed of
| the young;
Amidst | her tears, | the Fu | -neral Chant | a mourn | -ful moth
| -er sung.
'I-an | -this dost | thou sleep?— | Thou sleepst!— | but this
| is not | the rest,
The breath | -ing, warm, | and ros | -y calm, | I've pil | -low'd on
| my breast!'"
FELICIA HEMANS: Poetical Works, Vol. ii, p. 37.
Everett observes, "The Iliad was translated into this measure by CHAPMAN, and the Æneid by PHAER."—Eng. Versif., p. 68. Prior, who has a ballad of one hundred and eighty such lines, intimates in a note the great antiquity of the verse. Measures of this length, though not very uncommon, are much less frequently used than shorter ones. A practice has long prevailed of dividing this kind of verse into alternate lines of four and of three feet, thus:—
"To such | as fear | thy ho | -ly name,
myself | I close | -ly join;
To all | who their | obe | -dient wills
to thy | commands | resign."
Psalms with Com. Prayer: Psalm cxix, 63.
This, according to the critics, is the most soft and pleasing of our lyric measures. With the slight change of setting a capital at the head of each line, it becomes the regular ballad-metre of our language. Being also adapted to hymns, as well as to lighter songs, and, more particularly, to quaint details of no great length, this stanza, or a similar one more ornamented with rhymes, is found in many choice pieces of English poetry. The following are a few popular examples:—
"When all | thy mer | -cies, O | my God!
My ris | -ing soul | surveys,
Transport | -ed with | the view | I'm lost
In won | -der, love, | and praise."
Addison's Hymn of Gratitude.
"John Gil | -pin was | a cit | -izen
Of cred | -it and | renown,
A train | -band cap | -tain eke | was he
Of fam | -ous Lon | -don town."
Cowper's Poems, Vol. i, p. 275.
"God pros | -per long | our no | -ble king,
Our lives | and safe | -ties all;
A wo | -ful hunt | -ing once | there did
In Chev | -y Chase | befall,"
Later Reading of Chevy Chase.
"Turn, An | -geli | -na, ev | -er dear,
My charm | -er, turn | to see
Thy own, | thy long | -lost Ed | -win here,
Restored | to love | and thee."
Goldsmith's Poems, p. 67.
"'Come back! | come back!' | he cried | in grief,
Across | this storm | -y wa_ter_:
'And I'll | forgive | your High | -land chief,
My daugh | -ter!—oh | my daugh_ter_!
'Twas vain: | the loud | waves lashed | the shore,
Return | or aid | prevent_ing_:—
The wa | -ters wild | went o'er | his child,—
And he | was left | lament_ing_."—Campbell's Poems, p. 110.