—Adelaide A. Procter.
In the second illustration the extra syllables have the same relative position in the metrical scheme as in the first, though they appear to be in the middle of the line. The pauses fill in the time and preserve the rhythm unbroken.
When the feet are accented on the first syllable—as in trochaic or dactylic verse—a syllable may be omitted from the end of a line as in the second and fourth below.
U U | U U | U U| U | Up with the lark in the first flush of morning,
U U | U U | U U | |
Ere the world wakes to its work or its play;
U U| U U | U U | U |
Off for a spin to the wide-stretching country,
U U | U U | U U| |
Far from the close, stifling city away.
Sometimes we find it necessary to suppress a syllable in order to make the rhythm more nearly perfect. Syllables may be suppressed in two ways: by suppressing a vowel at the end of a word when the next word commences with a vowel; by suppressing a vowel within a word. The former method is termed elision, and the latter, slurring.
U | U |U | U | U _ |
Thou glorious mirror where the Almighty's form
U U
U |U | U _ | U
Glasses itself in tempests.