Words; Their Use and Abuse

by William Mathews

I hear the far-off curlew sound,

Over some wide-watered shore,

Swinging slow with sullen roar.”

How admirably does the quick and joyous movement of the following lines from “L’Allegro” portray the thing described!—

“Let the merry bells resound

And the jocund rebecks sound,

To many a youth, and many a maid,

Dancing in the chequered shade.”

Huge, unwieldy bulk, implying slowness of movement, has been happily expressed by Milton in the subjoined passages: