English: Composition and Literature

by W. F. Webster

^			^		^		^		^
Far	from	res	ort	of	peo	ple	that	did	pass

	^		^		^		^		^
In	trav	el	to	and	fro;	a	lit	tle	wide

	^		^		^		^		^
There	was	a	ho	ly	chap	el	ed	i	fied,

	^		^		^		^		^
Where	in	a	her	mit	du	ly	wont	to	say

	^		^		^		^		^
His	ho	ly	things	each	morn	and	ev	en	tide;

	^		^		^		^		^
There	by	a	crys	tal	stream	did	gent	ly	play,

^			^		^		^		^		^
Which	from	a	sac	red	foun	tain	wel	léd	forth	al	way.”

First and Last Foot. From the lines on “The Burial of Sir John Moore,” another fact about metres may be derived. The second and fourth lines apparently have one too many syllables. This may occur when the accent is upon the last syllable of the foot; that is, when the foot is an iambus or an anapest.

Again, the last foot of each line may be one syllable short. This may occur when the accent is on the first syllable of a foot; that is, when the foot is trochaic or dactylic. The scheme is like this:

^		^		^		^
quarter note	eighth note	quarter note	eighth note	quarter note	eighth note	quarter note	eighth note
“Tell	me	not	in	mourn	ful	num	bers

^		^		^		^
quarter note	eighth note	quarter note	eighth note	quarter note	eighth note	quarter note	eighth rest
Life	is	but	an	emp	ty	dream.”