“Across the grass I see her pass;
She comes with tripping pace,—
A maid I know, the March winds blow
Her hair across her face;—
With a hey, Dolly! ho Dolly!
Dolly shall be mine,
Before the spray is white with May
Or blooms the eglantine.”
In all of Kipling the singing quality is dominant. He is to be marked especially because in his songs he has combined the old meters so as to give the effect of absolute novelty. The Scotch poets of Burns’ time and before, offer many excellent chances for imitation and study. Shakespeare’s occasional songs are always true. A seldom quoted poem of Lord Byron’s is full of melody:
“So we’ll go no more a roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.
“For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.
“Though the night was made for loving
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we’ll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon.”
Just exactly where the singing quality of a song lies it is hard to tell. It is not altogether in the open vowels or the meter or the flow of thought, though dependent on all three. It is impossible to formulate any rule for the construction of the song except the general laws of good taste. The only plan is to try and try again until the result contains something of the singing quality. Very often it is helpful to fit the words to some air imaginary or otherwise which runs in the head. The song may be long or short, tell little or a great deal. In practice, as a rule, it is less than twenty-four lines in length and expresses a single thought or emotion. Its only two essentials are that it be graceful and that it sing.