Can our eyes Reach thy size?
May my lays Swell with praise, Worthy thee, Worthy me!
Muse, in -spire All thy fire!
Bards of old Of him told, When they said Atlas' head Propp'd the skies: See! and _believe_ _your eyes!_
II.
"See him stride Valleys wide: Over woods, Over floods, When he treads, Mountains' heads Groan and shake: Armies quake, Lest his spurn Over -turn Man and steed: Troops, take heed!
Left and right Speed your flight!
Lest an host _Beneath_ _his foot_ _be lost_.
III.
"Turn'd a -side From his hide, Safe from wound, Darts re -bound.
From his nose, Clouds he blows; When he speaks, Thunder breaks!
When he eats, Famine threats!
When he drinks, Neptune shrinks!
Nigh thy ear, In mid air, On thy hand, Let me stand.
So shall I (Lofty poet!) touch the sky."
JOHN GAY: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 376.
_Example III.--Two Feet with Four._
"Oh, the pleasing, pleasing anguish, When we love, and when we languish!
Wishes rising!
Thoughts sur -prising!
Pleasure courting!
Charms trans -porting!
Fancy viewing Joys en -suing!
Oh, the pleasing, pleasing anguish!"
ADDISON'S _Rosamond_, Act i, Scene 6.
_Example IV.--Lines of Three Syllables with Longer Metres_.
1. WITH TROCHAICS.
"Or we sometimes pass an hour Under a green willow, That de -fends us from the shower, Making earth our pillow; Where we may Think and pray, B=e'fore death Stops our breath: Other joys, Are but toys, And to be la -mented." [515]
2. WITH IAMBICS.
"What sounds were heard, What scenes appear'd, O'er all the drear -y coasts!
Dreadful gleams, Dismal screams, Fires that glow, Shrieks of wo, Sullen moans, Hollow groans, And cries of tor -tur'd ghosts!"
POPE: _Johnson's Brit. Poets_, Vol. vi, p. 315.
_Example V.--"The Shower."--In Four Regular Stanzas_.
1.
"In a valley that I know-- Happy scene!
There are meadows sloping low, There the fairest flowers blow, And the brightest waters flow.
All se -rene; But the sweetest thing to see, If you ask the dripping tree, Or the harvest -hoping swain, Is the Rain.
2.
Ah, the dwellers of the town, How they sigh,-- How un -grateful -ly they frown, When the cloud-king shakes his crown, And the pearls come pouring down From the sky!
They de -scry no charm at all Where the sparkling jewels fall, And each moment of the shower, Seems an hour!
3.
Yet there's something very sweet In the sight, When the crystal currents meet In the dry and dusty street, And they wrestle with the heat, In their might!
While they seem to hold a talk With the stones a -long the walk, And re -mind them of the rule, To 'keep cool!'
4.
Ay, but in that quiet dell, Ever fair, Still the Lord doth all things well, When his clouds with blessings swell, And they break a brimming shell On the air; There the shower hath its charms, Sweet and welcome to the farms As they listen to its voice, And re -joice!"
Rev. RALPH HOYT'S _Poems: The Examiner_, Nov. 6, 1847.
_Example VI.--"A Good Name?"--Two Beautiful Little Stanzas_.
1.
"Children, choose it, Don't re -fuse it, 'Tis a precious dia -dem; Highly prize it, Don't de -spise it, You will need it when you're men.
2.
Love and cherish, Keep and nourish, 'Tis more precious far than gold; Watch and guard it, Don't dis -card it, You will need it when you're old."
_The Family Christian Almanac, for 1850_, p. 20.
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.--Trochaics of two feet, like those of three, are, more frequently than otherwise, found in connexion with longer lines, as in some of the examples above cited. The trochaic line of three syllables, which our prosodists in general describe as consisting, not of two feet; but "of one Trochee and a long syllable," may, when it stands alone, be supposed to consist of one _amphimac_; but, since this species of foot is not admitted by all, and is reckoned a secondary one by those who do admit it, the better practice is, to divide even the three syllables into two feet, as above.
OBS. 2.--Murray, Hart, Weld, and many others, erroneously affirm, that, "The _shortest_ Trochaic verse in our language, consists of one Trochee and a long syllable."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 256; _Hart's, First Edition_, p.
186; _Weld's, Second Edition_, p. 210. The error of this will be shown by examples below--examples of _true "Trochaic Monometer_," and not of Dimeter mistaken for it, like Weld's, Hart's, or Murray's.
OBS. 3.--These authors also aver, that, "This measure is _defective in dignity_, and can seldom be used on serious occasions."--_Same places_.
"Trochaic of _two feet_--is likewise so _brief_, that," in their opinion, "it is rarely used for any very serious purpose."--_Same places_. Whether the expression of love, or of its disappointment, is "any very serious purpose" or not, I leave to the decision of the reader. What lack of dignity or seriousness there is, in several of the foregoing examples, especially the last two, I think it not easy to discover.
MEASURE VIII.--TROCHAIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER.
_Examples with Longer Metres_.
1. WITH IAMBICS.
"Fr~om w=alk t~o w=alk, fr~om sh=ade t~o sh=ade, From stream to purl -ing stream convey'd, Through all the ma -zes of the grove, Through all the ming -ling tracks I rove, Turning, Burning, Changing, Ranging, F=ull ~of gri=ef ~and f=ull ~of l=ove."
ADDISON'S _Rosamond_, Act I, Sc. 4: _Everett's Versification_, p. 81.
2. WITH ANAPESTICS, &c.