SECTIONAL RHYME.

§ 674. SECTIONAL RHYME is that which exists between syl lables contained in the same section.

Will stoode for skill, | and law obeyed lust;

Might trode down right; | of King there was no feare.-FERRERS.
Lightly and brightly breaks away

The morning from her mantle gray.-BYRON.

So many as love me, and use me aright,

With treasure and pleasure I richly requite.-TUSSER.

INVERSE RHYME.

$675. INVERSE RHYME is that which exists between the last accented syllable of the first section and the first accented syllable of the second.

The piper loud, and louder blew;

The dancers quick, and quicker flew.-BURNS.

These steps both reach, and teach thee shall
To come by thrift, to shift withal.-TUSSER.

ALLITERATION.

§ 676. ALLITERATION is the repetition of the same letter at the commencement of two or more words, or at short intervals; as,

"Who often, but without success, have pray'd

For apt alliteration's artful aid."

Alliteration is the distinctive characteristic of the Anglo Saxon, and, indeed, of all the Gothic meters.

-Rathe was gefylled

Heah cyninge's has, him was haling leoht.

-Quick was fulfill'd

The high king's 'hest, around him was holy light.-CÆDMON.

On last legdun, lathum leodum.

At foot they laid on the loathed bonds.-Brunanburgh War Song.

BLANK VERSE.

It is an

§ 677. Rhyme is not essential to English verse. ornament, and something more. Final rhyme has been called a time-beater:" it separates each verse from the others by

a distinct boundary, and thus contributes to the measure. Still it is not essential. Measures, where there are no rhymes, are called BLANK VERSE.

All night the dreadless Angel, unpursued,

Through Heaven's wide champaign held his way; till Morn,
Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand

Unbarr'd the gates of light.-MILTON.

POETICAL LICENSE.

§ 678. The Rules of Syntax are sometimes traversed by the practice of the poets.

1. The Verb precedes the Nominative; as,

Sunk was the sun, and up the eastern heaven,
Like maiden on a lonely pilgrimage,

Moved the meek star of eve.-MILMAN.

2. The verb follows the Accusative; as,

His prayer he saith, this holy man. KEATS.

3. The Noun precedes the Adjective; as,

"Twas in youth, that hour of dreaming,

Round me visions fair were beaming.-MRS. NORTON.

4. The Infinitive Mode precedes the governing word; as, When first thy sire, to send on earth,

Virtue, his darling child, designed.—GRAY.

5. An Intransitive verb is placed at the beginning of a sentence; as,

Air blacken'd, roll'd the thunder, groan'd the ground.-DRYDEN.
6. Adverbs precede the words which they qualify; as,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way.-GRAY.

7. The Preposition follows its governing word; as,
"Where echo walks steep hills among."

8. The article is often omitted; as,

"What dreadful pleasure! there to stand, sublime,
Like shipwreck'd mariner on desert coast."

9. Compound epithets are frequently used; as,
O music! sphere-descended maid !-COLLINS.

10. A positive is joined with a comparative; as,
"Near, and more near, the intrepid beauty press'd."

11. After a Pronoun its represented noun is repeated; as, "It ceased the melancholy sound."

12. The Relative is omitted; as,

""Tis Fancy, in her fiery car,

Transports me to the thickest war!"

13. The Antecedent is omitted; as,

"Who never fasts, no banquet e'er enjoys.”

14. Intransitive verbs are made to govern the objective; as, "Still in harmonious intercourse they lived

The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart."

15. The Uncompounded form of the first and third per sons Imperative is used; as,

"Turn we a moment Fancy's rapid flight."

"Fall he who must beneath a rival's arms."

16. In the compound Tenses the auxiliary only is used; as,

"What for ourselves we can is always ours."

17. The Idioms of other languages are used; as,
"For not to have been dipp'd in Lethe's lake
Could save the son of Thetis from to die."

"He came; and, standing in the midst, explain'd
The peace rejected, but the truce detain'd."

18. Antiquated words and modes of expression are used; as,
"Shall I receive by gift what of my own,
When where likes me best, I can command?"

"In sooth, he was a strange and wayward wight."
Some of these Forms are not peculiar to poetry.

ELISION.

$679. ELISION, Latin elido, to strike off, is a general term for certain Euphonic Figures, in which there is an omission of a letter or letters. See § 78.

'Twas theirs alone to dive into the plan

That truth and mercy had reveal'd to man.-CowPER.

Hence British poets, too, the priesthood shared,
And ev'ry hallow'd Druid was a bard.—CowPER.

For want of faith,

Down the steep precipice of wrong he slides:
There's nothing to support him in the right.-YOUNG.
Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms?-MILTON.

Because the Father, whom in heaven supreme ?-MILTON.

§ 680. In the following extract the two accented lines are each composed of a single Iambus.

'Twas on a day,

When the immortals at their banquet lay,
The bowl'

Sparkled with starry dew;

The weeping of those myriad Urns of light,
Within whose orbs the almighty Power,
At Nature's dawning hour,

Stored the rich fluid of ethereal soul!

Around'

Soft odorous clouds that upward wing their flight

From Eastern Isles, &c.-MOORE.

Formula xa+.

In the following stanzas the three accented lines consist of an Iambus and an additional syllable.

POETICAL FORMS.

IAMBIC DIMETER.

Formula x ax2.

§ 681. In the following extract the accented lines are composed of two Iambics.

Wheel the wild dance

While lightnings glance,

And thunders rattle loud!

And call' the brave'

To blood'y grave'

To sleep without a shroud!

Our ai'ry feet',

So light' and fleet',

They do not bend the rye

That sinks its head when whirlwinds rave,

And swells again in eddying wave,

As each wild gust goes by;

But still' the corn',

At dawn' of morn'

Our fatal steps that bore,

At eve' lies waste',

A tram'pled paste'

Of black'ning mud and gore!-SCOTT.

Formula x a×2+.

In this extract the accented lines are composed of two Iambics and an additional syllable.

Could love' forev'er

Run like' a riv'er,
And Time's' endeav'or

Be tried in vain,
No oth'er pleas'ure

With this' could meas'ure,

And, like' a treas'ure,

We'd hug' the chain'.

But since' our sigh'ing
Ends not' in dy'ing,
And, form'd' for fly'ing,

Love plumes his wing;
Then, for this rea'son,
Let's love' a sea'son,

But let that season

Be only spring.-BYRON.