To these I may add, as a rider, this piece of advice (somewhat in the style of the whist maxim, "When in doubt, play a trump"): If you have reason to choose between two styles of versification, select the more difficult.
It is only by sustaining your verse at the highest elevation that you can hope even to approach poetry.
"Be bold—be bold—but not too bold!"
And bear in mind the words of Sir Philip Sidney:—"Who shootes at the midday Sonne, though he be sure he shall neuer hit the marke; yet as sure he is, he shall shoote higher than who aymes but at a bush."
T. H.
CONTENTS.
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
| I. | Verse Generally, | [1] |
| II. | Classic Versification, | [8] |
| III. | Guides and Handbooks, | [16] |
| IV. | Of Feet and Cæsura, | [23] |
| V. | Of Metre and Rhythm, | [27] |
| VI. | Of Rhyme, | [44] |
| VII. | Of Figures, | [49] |
| VIII. | Of Burlesque and Comic Verse, and Vers de Société, | [54] |
| IX. | Of Song-writing, | [61] |
| The Dictionary of Rhymes, | [65] | |
| APPENDIX. | ||
| 1. | An Essay on English Versification, | [151] |
| 2. | Bysshe's "Rules for making English Verse," | [207] |
| Chapter I.—Of the Structure of English Verses. | ||
| Sect. 1. | Of the several Sorts of Verses; and, first, of those of Ten Syllables: of the due Observation of the Accents, and of the Pause. | [209] |
| Sect. 2. | Of the other Sorts of Verses that are used in our Poetry. | [213] |
| Sect. 3. | Several Rules conducing to the Beauty of our Versification. | [215] |
| Sect. 4. | Doubts concerning the number of Syllables of certain Words. | [217] |
| Sect. 5. | Of the Elisions that are allowed in our Versification. | [219] |
| Chapter II.—Of Rhyme. | ||
| Sect. 1. | What Rhyme is, and the Several Sorts of it. | [223] |
| Sect. 2. | Of Double and Treble Rhyme. | [224] |
| Sect. 3. | Further Instructions concerning Rhyme. | [224] |
| Chapter III.—Of the Several Sorts of Poems, or Composition in Verse. | ||
| Sect. 1. | Of the Poems composed in Couplets. | [227] |
| Sect. 2. | Of the Poems composed in Stanzas; and, first, of the Stanzas consisting of Three, and of Four Verses. | [228] |
| Sect. 3. | Of the Stanzas of Six Verses. | [230] |
| Sect. 4. | Of the Stanzas of Eight Verses. | [231] |
| Sect. 5. | Of the Stanzas of Ten and of Twelve Verses. | [233] |
| Sect. 6. | Of the Stanzas that consist of an odd Number of Verses. | [234] |
| Sect. 7. | Of Pindaric Odes, and Poems in Blank Verse. | [236] |