The Grammar of English Grammars · Chapter 363Order I.—Iambic Verse
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In Iambic verse, the stress is laid on the even syllables, and the odd ones are short. Any short syllable added to a line of this order, is supernumerary; iambic rhymes, which are naturally single, being made double by one, and triple by two. But the adding of one short syllable, which is much practised in dramatic poetry, may be reckoned to convert the last foot into an amphibrach, though the adding of two cannot. Iambics consist of the following measures:—
Psalm XLVII, 1 and 2.
"O =all | y~e p=eo | -pl~e, cl=ap | y~our h=ands, | ~and w=ith | tr~i=um | -ph~ant v=oi | -c~es s=ing; No force | the might | -=y power | withstands | of God, | the u | -niver | -sal King." See the "Psalms of David, in Metre," p. 54.
Each couplet of this verse is now commonly reduced to, or exchanged for, a simple stanza of four tetrameter lines, rhyming alternately, and each commencing with a capital; but sometimes, the second line and the fourth are still commenced with a small letter: as,
"Your ut | -most skill | in praise | be shown, for Him | who all | the world | commands, Who sits | upon | his right | -eous throne, and spreads | his sway | o'er heath | -en lands." Ib., verses 7 and 8; Edition bound with Com. Prayer, N. Y., 1819.
An other Example.
"The hour | is come | —the cher | -ish'd hour, When from | the bus | -y world | set free, I seek | at length | my lone | -ly bower, And muse | in si | -lent thought | on thee." THEODORE HOOK'S REMAINS: The Examiner, No. 82.
Example I.—Hat-Brims.
"It's odd | how hats | expand [ their brims | as youth | begins | to fade, As if | when life | had reached | its noon, | it want | -ed them | for shade." OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES: From a Newspaper.
Example II.—Psalm XLII, 1.
"As pants | the hart | for cool | -ing streams, | when heat | -ed in | the chase; So longs | my soul, | O God, | for thee, | and thy | refresh | -ing grace." EPISCOPAL PSALM-BOOK: The Rev. W. Allen's Eng. Gram., p. 227.
Example III.—The Shepherd's Hymn.
"Oh, when | I rove | the des | -ert waste, | and 'neath | the hot | sun pant, The Lord | shall be | my Shep | -herd then, | he will | not let | me want; He'll lead | me where | the past | -ures are | of soft | and shad | -y green, And where | the gen | -tle wa | -ters rove, | the qui | -et hills | between.
And when | the sav | -age shall | pursue, | and in | his grasp | I sink, He will | prepare | the feast | for me, | and bring | the cool | -ing drink, And save | me harm | -less from | his hands, and strength | -en me | in toil, And bless | my home | and cot | -tage lands, and crown | my head | with oil.
With such | a Shep | -herd to | protect, | to guide | and guard | me still, And bless | my heart | with ev | -'ry good, | and keep | from ev | -'ry ill, Surely | I shall | not turn | aside, | and scorn | his kind | -ly care, But keep | the path | he points | me out, | and dwell | for ev | -er there." W. GILMORE SIMMS: North American Reader, p. 376.
Example IV.—"The Far, Far Fast."—First six Lines.
"It was | a dream | of earl | -y years, | the long | -est and | the last, And still | it ling | -ers bright | and lone | amid | the drear | -y past; When I | was sick | and sad | at heart | and faint | with grief | and care, It threw | its ra | -diant smile | athwart | the shad | -ows of | despair: And still | when falls | the hour | of gloom | upon | this way | -ward breast, Unto | THE FAR, | FAR EAST | I turn | for sol | -ace and | for rest." Edinburgh Journal; and The Examiner,
Example V.—"Lament of the Slave."—Eight Lines from thirty-four.
"Behold | the sun | which gilds | yon heaven, how love | -ly it | appears! And must | it shine | to light | a world | of war | -fare and | of tears? Shall hu | -man pas | -sion ev | -er sway | this glo | -rious world | of God, And beau | -ty, wis | -dom, hap | -piness, | sleep with | the tram | -pled sod? Shall peace | ne'er lift | her ban | -ner up, | shall truth | and rea | -son cry, And men | oppress | them down | with worse | than an | -cient tyr | -anny? Shall all | the les | -sons time | has taught, | be so | long taught | in vain; And earth | be steeped | in hu | -man tears, | and groan | with hu | -man pain?" ALONZO LEWIS: Freedom's Amulet, Dec. 6, 1848.
Example VI.—"Greek Funeral Chant."—First four of sixty-four Lines.
"A wail | was heard | around | the bed, | the death | -bed of | the young; Amidst | her tears, | the Fu | -neral Chant | a mourn | -ful moth | -er sung. 'I-an | -this dost | thou sleep?— | Thou sleepst!— | but this | is not | the rest, The breath | -ing, warm, | and ros | -y calm, | I've pil | -low'd on | my breast!'" FELICIA HEMANS: Poetical Works, Vol. ii, p. 37.
Everett observes, "The Iliad was translated into this measure by CHAPMAN, and the Æneid by PHAER."—Eng. Versif., p. 68. Prior, who has a ballad of one hundred and eighty such lines, intimates in a note the great antiquity of the verse. Measures of this length, though not very uncommon, are much less frequently used than shorter ones. A practice has long prevailed of dividing this kind of verse into alternate lines of four and of three feet, thus:—
"To such | as fear | thy ho | -ly name, myself | I close | -ly join; To all | who their | obe | -dient wills to thy | commands | resign." Psalms with Com. Prayer: Psalm cxix, 63.
This, according to the critics, is the most soft and pleasing of our lyric measures. With the slight change of setting a capital at the head of each line, it becomes the regular ballad-metre of our language. Being also adapted to hymns, as well as to lighter songs, and, more particularly, to quaint details of no great length, this stanza, or a similar one more ornamented with rhymes, is found in many choice pieces of English poetry. The following are a few popular examples:—
"When all | thy mer | -cies, O | my God! My ris | -ing soul | surveys, Transport | -ed with | the view | I'm lost In won | -der, love, | and praise." Addison's Hymn of Gratitude.
"John Gil | -pin was | a cit | -izen Of cred | -it and | renown, A train | -band cap | -tain eke | was he Of fam | -ous Lon | -don town." Cowper's Poems, Vol. i, p. 275.
"God pros | -per long | our no | -ble king, Our lives | and safe | -ties all; A wo | -ful hunt | -ing once | there did In Chev | -y Chase | befall," Later Reading of Chevy Chase.
"Turn, An | -geli | -na, ev | -er dear, My charm | -er, turn | to see Thy own, | thy long | -lost Ed | -win here, Restored | to love | and thee." Goldsmith's Poems, p. 67.
"'Come back! | come back!' | he cried | in grief, Across | this storm | -y wa_ter_: 'And I'll | forgive | your High | -land chief, My daugh | -ter!—oh | my daugh_ter_! 'Twas vain: | the loud | waves lashed | the shore, Return | or aid | prevent_ing_:— The wa | -ters wild | went o'er | his child,— And he | was left | lament_ing_."—Campbell's Poems, p. 110.
The rhyming of this last stanza is irregular and remarkable, yet not unpleasant. It is contrary to rule, to omit any rhyme which the current of the verse leads the reader to expect. Yet here the word "shore" ending the first line, has no correspondent sound, where twelve examples of such correspondence had just preceded; while the third line, without previous example, is so rhymed within itself that one scarcely perceives the omission. Double rhymes are said by some to unfit this metre for serious subjects, and to adapt it only to what is meant to be burlesque, humorous, or satiric. The example above does not confirm this opinion, yet the rule, as a general one, may still be just. Ballad verse may in some degree imitate the language of a simpleton, and become popular by clownishness, more than by elegance: as,
"Father | and I | went down | to the camp Along | with cap | -tain Goodwin, And there | we saw | the men | and boys As thick | as hast | -y pudding;
And there | we saw | a thun | -dering gun,— It took | a horn | of powder,— It made | a noise | like fa | -ther's gun, Only | a na | -tion louder." Original Song of Yankee Doodle.
Even the line of seven feet may still be lengthened a little by a double rhyme: as,
How gay | -ly, o | -ver fell | and fen, | yon sports | -man light | is dashing! And gay | -ly, in | the sun | -beams bright, | the mow |—er's blade | is flashing!
Of this length, T. O. Churchill reckons the following couplet; but by the general usage of the day, the final ed is not made a separate syllable:—
"With hic | and hoec, | as Pris | -cian tells, | sacer | -dos was | de_cli | -n~ed_; But now | its gen | -der by | the pope | far bet | -ter is | de_fi | -n~ed_." Churchill's New Grammar, p. 188.