It is interesting to note that the unaccented element of the trochee comes at the earlier part of the relaxation phase, where it must intensify the relaxation process, and tend to shorten the total length of the cycle. This may be the reason for its peculiar buoyant, vigorous and non-final character. On the other hand the unaccented element of the iamb occurs at a point where it may initiate and intensify the contraction, which gives the limiting sensation; it is, therefore, more closely bound to the limiting sensation, and has the character of intensifying the beat. There is a similar contrast in the cases of the dactyl and anapæst. The accented syllable of the dactyl is longest, and the second unaccented syllable, the last in the group, is shortest. The accented syllable of the anapæst is much longer in proportion than that of the dactyl, and the unaccented syllables are very short, and hence, very close to the accented syllable, as compared with the dactyl.
In the case of the dactyl the first unaccented syllable in the movement cycle occurs at the beginning of the relaxation phase (B), in the same zone as the unaccented of the trochee. The second unaccented syllable of the dactyl appears at the beginning of the next contraction phase (A), in the zone of the unaccented syllable of the iamb. The group seems a sort of combination of the iamb and trochee, and has an element in every possible zone of the movement cycle. Like the trochee the dactyl is a non-final foot.
The unaccented syllables of the anapæst both occur at the beginning of the contraction phase (A). They are both within the zone of the unaccented syllable of the iamb. The group seems an iamb with a duplicated unaccented syllable. It is possible to form a unit group in nonsense syllables where the unaccented syllable of the iamb shall be represented not by two syllables, as in the anapæst, but by even three.
The anapæst and dactyl, if they correspond to this construction, should show a decided difference as to the possibility of prolonging the foot pause. The prolongation of the foot pause would make the dactyl but a modified trochee.
It is significant that in poetry no other types of unit groups are often recognized. The amphibrach, laid out on this scheme, would coincide with the dactyl, as there are but three possible zones for foot elements: the zone of the limiting sensation (always occupied by the accented syllable), the zone of the contraction phase (occupied by the unaccented syllables of the iamb and anapæst), and the zone of the relaxation phase (occupied by the unaccented syllable of the trochee and the middle syllable of the dactyl).
The simple sound series is fairly regular, because of its cyclic and automatic character. It is not a matter of time estimation, and the 'Taktgleichheit' is not observed with accuracy. The primary requisite for the unit groups is that they shall be alike, not that they shall be equal. The normal cycle with a heavy accent is longer than the normal cycle with a lighter accent, for the simple reason that it takes muscles longer to relax from the tenser condition. Time is not mysteriously 'lost'; the objective difference is not noticed, simply because there are no striking differences in the cycles to lead one to a time judgment. Ebhardt's notion that the motor reaction interferes with the time judgment, and that a small amount of time is needed in the rhythmic series in which to make time judgments, is a mere myth.
An unusual irregularity, like a 'lag,' is noted because of the sense of strain and because other events supervene in the interval. But such lags may be large without destroying the rhythm; indeed cæsural and verse pauses are essential to a rhythm, and in no sense rhythm-destroying. An unbroken series of unit groups is an abstraction to which most forms of apparatus have helped us. Between the extreme views of Bolton[24] and Sidney Lanier,[25]who make regularity an essential of the rhythm of verse, and Meumann, on the other hand, who makes the meaning predominate over the rhythm, the choice would fall with Meumann, if one must choose. Bolton comes to the matter after an investigation in which regularity was a characteristic of all the series. Lanier's constructions are in musical terms, and for that very reason open to question. He points out many subtle and interesting relationships, but that verse can be formulated in terms of music is a theory which stands or falls by experimental tests.
TABLE XII.
I saw a ship a sailing
50 16 20 13 9 18 32 23- 132
A sailing on the sea
10 16 45 22 8 15 49 -68
And it was full of pretty things
8 6 20 6 6 27 37 12 8 7 20 12 41 -34
For baby and for me
14 9 27 37 18 20 14 8 46 --
Totals of the feet: --/66/60/187
26/45/45/117
14/59/49/47/75
23/64/60/46--
Who killed Cock Robin
19 34 23 24 17-77
I said the sparrow
45 21 19 3 47 29 --
With my bow and arrow
22 36 25 49 11 38 12 23 33-42
I killed Cock Robin
33 12 33 21 22 5 21 16 - 95
(The first stanza was measured in the Harvard Laboratory. The last is modified from Scripture's measurements of the gramophone record (1899). As the scansion of the last is in doubt with Scripture, no totals of feet are given.)