Elsie.
Ónward and ónward the híghway rúns || to the dístant cíty, | impátiently béaring
Tídings of húman jóy and disáster, || of lóve and of háte, | of dóing and dáring!
Prince Henry.
This lífe of óurs | is a wíld aeólian hárp | of mány a jóyous stráin,
But únder them áll there rúns | a lóud perpétual wáil, | as of sóuls in páin.
Elsie.
Fáith alóne can intérpret lífe, || and the héart that áches and bléeds with the stígma
Of pain, | alóne bears the likeness of Chríst, || and cán comprehénd its dárk enígma.
There are, as appears from this specimen, a great many licences in these verses; the caesura, mostly in the fourth foot, is masculine in lines 1, 5, 6, feminine in 2; so that the second half of the line has an iambic-anapaestic rhythm. Besides this most of the lines have secondary caesuras in different places of the verse; iambic-anapaestic verses (like 3, 4, 6) are decidedly in the minority. The rhymes are both feminine and masculine, but there is no regular alternation between them, as might be supposed from the above short specimen.