In all these cases, the line begins with a weak syllable; and if the lines are regarded as dactylics, this syllable must be taken as a fragment of foot. When the line begins with a strong syllable, the dactylic character is more decided: as if the lines were,—
Know ye the land of the cypress and myrtle?
Emblems of deeds that are done in their clime?
Now, in such examples, along with the trissyllable feet, dissyllable feet are often mixed, as their metrical equivalents: as
“When in | death I shall | calm re | cline,
O | bear my | heart to my | mistress | dear;
Tell her it | lived upon | smiles and | wine
Of the | brightest | hue, while it | lingered | here.”
We may observe that there is, in this example, a kind of symmetry shown in preserving the dissyllable feet always in the second place, which is not without its effect on the ear. Some of these feet may be made two or three syllables at pleasure, as linger’d or lingerèd. I will add the next stanza as a further example:—
“Bid her not | shed one | tear of | sorrow,
To | sully a | heart so | brilliant and | bright;
But | drops of | kind re | membrance | borrow,
To | bathe the | relic from | morn to | night.”
That the verse so constructed is perfectly rhythmical, we know, by the exactness with which it lends itself to music. The musical bars would point out the divisions, or the number at least, of the feet, if we had any doubt upon that subject.
In order that we may the more distinctly perceive the mixture of two kinds of feet in this example, let us reduce it entirely to trissyllable feet, by slight changes in the expression:—
When in my tomb I shall calmly be | lying,
O | carry my heart to my conqueror dear:
Tell her it liv’d upon smiles and on | nectar
Of | brilliant hue, while it lingered here.
Bid her not shed any token of | sorrow
To | sully a heart so resplendant and | glowing;
But | fountains of loving rememberance | borrow,
To | water the relic from morning to even.
I have arranged this variation so that the incomplete feet at the end of one line and the beginning of the next in each distich, as well as the rest, make up a complete dactyl; and thus, the measure runs on through each two written lines in a long line of seven dactyls and a strong syllable. But it will be easily perceived, that if the feet had been left incomplete at the end of each written line, the pause in the metre would have supplied what was wanting, and would have prevented the verse from being perceived as irregular. Thus these are still true dactylic lines:——