NOTES ON RHYTHM
Stanza I
l. 1-2.—Normal rhythm.
l. 3.—Note the emphasis imparted to the call by the trochees.
l. 4-6.—The effect of the internal rhymes Howard—coward, here—gear, sick—quick, is very marked. Similar effects are frequently introduced in the poem.
Stanza II
l. 10.—The two emphatic syllables, I’ve and nine-, coming in succession, add force to Sir Richard’s statement.
Stanza III
l. 13.—Note how the author retards his movement and hence impresses us with the slow moving picture, by drawing his emphatic syllables together, as So Lord How-; five ships; and that day. This effect is one of the commonest in literature, and one of the most natural. This line will scan as a normal line; but let us bear in mind that sense accent determines the rhythm in English, not quantity.