A History of English Versification

by J. Schipper

I dó volítient, nót obédiént. Mrs. Browning, i, p. 6.

The véry chúrches are fúll of sóldiers.

Coleridge, Piccolomini. i. sc. 1.

And áfter hárd condítións of péace. Surrey, p. 173.

Áll the sad spáces óf oblívión. Keats, p. 257.

But Brútus sáys he wás ambítióus.

Shakesp. Caesar, III. ii. 91.

And lóoking róund I sáw, as úsuál. D. G. Rossetti, i. p. 64.

For other examples cf. Metrik, ii. § 40

§ 108. By the side of this artificial attribution of full syllabic value to Romanic endings which in ordinary pronunciation are contracted, there are many examples of the opposite process, namely the contraction, for metrical purposes, of words that are ordinarily pronounced in full. Both these devices serve the same purpose, that of adjusting the number of syllables to the requirements of the rhythm.