In the first foot of this verse-" Lightly"—we have a double change from the "standard foot." It has but. two syllables, and the accent is on the first. The second syllable of this first foot is very short, yet, as this is the emphatic word of the line, the sense requires the lengthened time on "Light" which fills the measure. In the second foot-"they'll talk”—the two syllables are both long, and so naturally equal in time to the ordinary three (one long and two short).

In the second line,

"And o'er' his cold ash'es | upbraid' him,”

the three feet are regular in the number and length of their syllables, but the accent falls on the middle one of the three. The first foot of the third line also has the middle accent, and the second foot-"he'll reck"-is another of two long syllables in place of the "regular three." The second foot of the last line "where a Briton"-has four syllables, and the last foot has the middle accent.

Yet, through all these changes, the same faultless measure flows. Indeed, in nearly every line of this famous poem we may find some felicitous changes of rhythm, which never fail to accord the sense and the metric time.

It is from this happy union of METRIC REGULARITY and RHYTHMIC VARIETY that such poems derive their double charm. In this rhythmic union of the sense and the measure lies the "open secret" of good poetic reading.

IX.-SINGSONG AND ITS REMEDY.

"Machine poetry," as it is called, is written with re gard for "meter" only, and is therefore painfully regular. Singsong in reading does what it can to turn good poetry into this same mechanical verse, by making the metric

accent too prominent, too uniform, and too regular, regardless of the varying sense and rhythm.

But accent, as we have seen, is not the only or the most prominent part of poetic measure.* Nor is accent uniform in its degree of force. It must vary in loudness with every degree of emphasis, to suit the sense, and with the word accent, and has but the very lightest degree of force when it is merely metric.

Nor is accent always regular-that is, on the first, or last, or middle syllable of the successive feet—but, as we have seen in the quotations given, often varies, in part to accommodate the sense and language, and in part for the pleasure of rhythmic variety itself.

TO AVOID SINGSONG.

1. The metric accent must be subordinate to the logical accent (the emphasis) and to the verbal accent; that is, the sense must be made more prominent than the meter.

2. The rhythm, or kind of regular feet, with their equivalents and substitutes, must be minded more than the mere number of feet.

* I know it has been so often written and repeated, "that accent alone marks the genius of English verse," and that quantity belongs exclusively to the classic poetry of Greece and Rome, that it is generally assumed to be true. But from this merely traditional authority we may safely appeal to the intrinsic nature of poetry as metric composition, and, still better, to any one with a good ear who will read aloud a few melodious lines, and prove for himself that the accent does not distinguish a "monosyllabic" from a 'dissyllabic or a 'trisyllabic foot"-that it does not even measure the accented syllable itself, only so far as time is a part of accent.

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It is true, of course, that we can not apply to English syllables the definite rule of "long and short quantity"; but we can and do measure our "poetic feet" by time in its double character, as quantity and rest, and by making the several "groups" of syllables in the different feet of the same measure equal to each other, as a whole, in time.-M. B.

3. Equal and regular time must be given to the measure of "equivalent feet," rather than equal or regular accent.

4. The imperfect or unaccented feet must be partially suppressed in reading.

5. The general time and movement must be changed with the spirit of the lines, as in this line from "The Battle of Waterloo":

"Since' upon night' so sweet' such aw'ful morn' could rise'."

The faster movement of joy, in the first half of the "hexameter," changes to the slow time of dread and awe, in the last half.

But this need not disturb the metric regularity of associated feet, any more than the change of a march in music to faster or slower time disturbs the equable steps before or after it.

Read a stanza from "Lord Ullin's Daughter," by Campbell. First, as it should not be, with uniform and regular accent. The meter is of "four" and "three" feet, in alternate lines; dissyllabic measure, with accent in the regular foot on the last syllable:

"A chieftain, to the Highlands bound,

Second, as it should be read—with the emphatic accent on "chieftain" and "Highlands" only, in the first line. Give "bound" only a very light metric accent, as it is not an emphatic word, and linger on "to," in the unaccented foot, "-tain, to," just long enough to show the attentive ear that the meter is not wholly lost.

Note that the accent is changed in the first and second feet of the third line to the first syllable, and how agreeably this varies the rhythm. The only other emphatic idea is the uncommon sum offered—“ a silver pound.” To row people o'er the ferry was the boatman's common task, and so is not a differential or emphatic idea, and should receive, therefore, only the delicate metric accent; as,

"A chief'- tain, to | the High'- | lands bound', Cries, Boat'- | man, do' | not tarʼry,

And' I'll

give' thee | a sil'- | ver POUND', To row' us o'er' | the fer'ry.""

Study the measure in Tennyson's great "Ode on the Death of Wellington." The standard foot is dissyllabic, with the meter of four feet in most of the lines, varying to five feet in a part of the after verses. The first line has but three feet. Mark the frequent use of the monosyllabic foot in the opening verse, and the simple dignity it gives, when read with slow time, to the rhythm. Note the long trisyllabic foot used in the fourth line (with one foot of four syllables), and the change of the accent in the fourth and seventh lines, and how naturally these rhythmic changes seem to wed the sense to the measure everywhere with that rare art which conceals art."

With' an empire's | lam'en- | taʼtion!

Let' us | bur'y the | Great' | Duke'

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To the noise' of the mourn'ing | of a might'-|y na'tion-
Mourn'ing when' their | lead'ers | fall'.
War'riors car'ry the war'rior's | pall',

And sorrow dark'- | ens ham'- | let and hall'."

X.- -SUMMARY DIRECTIONS.

I. Keep in mind, that poetry must be read with the natural speaking tones.

II. The ideas, the sense, must be made to stand out as distinctly as in prose.

III. The meter may be determined by the number of accented syllables in a line (except there be an unaccented foot in the line).

IV. The rhythm (with the same exception) may be determined by the number of the unaccented syllables, and the place of the accent in the feet. (a.) The "prevalent foot," which gives the "standard measure." (b.) The "irregular feet," used as substitutes. (c.) The "unaccented feet," if any, to be read as written. (d.) The "changes of accent."

V. That the sense, with all its rhythmic changes, must be read in the "metric time" of the "standard measure." That, when this can not be done, the meter is poor, and may wisely be sacrificed to the sense.

VI. In lines of doubtful rhythm or meter, follow the "standard."

VII. Keep in mind, above all, that this special study of the "musical part" of poetry is only one of many preparatory steps toward good poetic reading; that to this must be added all the elements of good prose reading; and that these elements, though mastered separately, can be fused, at last, into the living whole of eloquent prose or poetic expression only by the imagination and sympathy of the READER.