Macb. I. ii. 7.
Thínk on lord Hástings. –́ || Despáir and díe!
Rich. III, V. iii. 134.
Isolated two- and three-foot lines occur mostly at the beginning or at the end of a speech, or in pathetic passages of monologues; this usually causes a somewhat longer pause, such as is suitable to the state of feeling of the speaker.
Short exclamations as Why, Fie, Alack, Farewell are often to be regarded as extra-metrical.
Prose also is often used for common speeches not requiring poetic diction.[163].
§ 172. One passage from an early play of Shakespeare, and another, chosen from one of his last plays, will sufficiently exhibit the metrical differences between these periods of his work. (For other specimens cf. Metrik, ii, §166.)
Capulet. But Móntagúe | is bóund as wéll as Í,
In pénaltý alíke; | and ’tis not hárd, I thínk,
For mén so óld as wé | to kéep the péace.
Paris. Of hónouráble réckoning | áre you bóth;
And píty ’tís | you líved at ódds so lóng.
But nów, my lórd, | what sáy you tó my súit?