Practical Guide to English Versification / With a Compendious Dictionary of Rhymes, an Examination / of Classical Measures, and Comments Upon Burlesque and / Comic Verse, Vers de Société, and Song-writing

by Tom Hood

Tall oaks´, branch-charmèd by the earnest stars,

´ Dream', and so dream all night without a stir,

Save from one gradual´ solitary gust

Which comes upon the silence´, and dies off,

As if the ebbing air´ had but one wave;

So came these words and went."

Before adverting to other characters and peculiarities of English Versification generally, a very few words may be said in reference to those measures that exceed the decasyllabic in length. Lines of eleven feet have never been used in the composition of great or extended poems. When employed in lyrics and occasional pieces, the rhythm has usually been thus regulated:—

"Oh! breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade,

Where, cold and unhonour'd, his relics are laid;

Sad, silent, and dark be the tears which we shed