_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 _aeneid_ 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.
MEASURE III.--IAMBIC OF SIX FEET, OR HEXAMETER.
_Example I.--A Couplet_.
"S~o v=a _-r~y~ing still_ th~eir m=oods, ~obs=erv -~ing =yet ~in =all Their quan -tities, their rests, their cen -sures met -rical."
MICHAEL DRAYTON: _Johnson's Quarto Dict., w. Quantity_.
_Example II.--From a Description of a Stag-Hunt_.
"And through the cumb -rous thicks, as fear -fully he makes, He with his branch -ed head the ten -der sap -lings shakes, That sprink -ling their moist pearl do seem for him to weep; When aft -er goes the cry, with yell -ings loud and deep, That all the for -est rings, and ev -ery neigh -bouring place: And there is not a hound but fall -eth to the chase."
DRAYTON: _Three Couplets from twenty-three, in Everett's Versif._, p. 66.
_Example III.--An Extract from Shakespeare_.
"If love make me forsworn, how shall I swear to love?
O, nev -er faith could hold, if not to beau -ty vow'd: Though to myself forsworn, to thee I'll con -stant prove; Those thoughts, to me like oaks, to thee like o -siers bow'd.
_St=ud~y_ his bi -as leaves, and makes his book thine eyes, Where all those pleas -ures live, that art can com -prehend.
If knowl -edge be the mark, to know thee shall suffice; Well learn -ed is that tongue that well can thee commend; All ig -norant that soul that sees thee with' _o~ut wonder_; Which is to me some praise, that I thy parts admire: Thine eye Jove's light -ning seems, thy voice his dread _-ful thunder_, Which (not to an -ger bent) is mu -sic and sweet fire.
Celes -tial as thou art, O, do not love that wrong, To sing the heav -ens' praise with such an earth -ly tongue."
_The Passionate Pilgrim, Stanza IX_; SINGER'S SHAK., Vol. ii, p. 594.
_Example IV.--The Ten Commandments Versified_.
"Adore no God besides me, to provoke mine eyes; Nor wor -ship me in shapes and forms that men devise; With rev 'rence use my name, nor turn my words to jest; Observe my sab -bath well, nor dare profane my rest; Honor and due obe -dience to thy pa -rents give; Nor spill the guilt -less blood, nor let the guilt -y live;[507]
Preserve thy bod -y chaste, and flee th' unlaw -ful bed; Nor steal thy neigh -bor's gold, his gar -ment, or his bread; Forbear to blast his name with false -hood or deceit; Nor let thy wish -es loose upon his large estate."
DR. ISAAC WATTS: _Lyric Poems_, p. 46.
This verse, consisting, when entirely regular, of twelve syllables in six iambs, is the _Alexandrine_; said to have been so named because it was "first used in a poem called _Alexander_."--_Worcester's Dict._ Such metre has sometimes been written, with little diversity, through an entire English poem, as in Drayton's Polyolbion; but, couplets of this length being generally esteemed too clumsy for our language, the Alexandrine has been little used by English versifiers, except to complete certain stanzas beginning with shorter iambics, or, occasionally, to close a period in heroic rhyme. French heroics are similar to this; and if, as some assert, we have obtained it thence, the original poem was doubtless a French one, detailing the exploits of the hero "_Alexandre_." The phrase, "_an Alexandrine verse_," is, in French, "_un vers Alexandrin_." Dr. Gregory, in his Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, copies Johnson's Quarto Dictionary, which says, "ALEXANDRINE, a kind of verse borrowed from the French, first used in a poem called Alexander. They [Alexandrines] consist, among the French, of twelve and thirteen syllables, in alternate couplets; and, among us, of twelve." Dr. Webster, in his American Dictionary, _improperly_ (as I think) gives to the name two forms, and seems also to acknowledge two sorts of the English verse: "ALEXAN'DRINE, or ALEXAN'DRIAN, _n._ A kind of verse, consisting of twelve syllables, or of twelve and thirteen alternately."