of this
breaking of the line for dramatic purposes is found in I, 3-123 where
Shylock suddenly stops after "say this" as if to draw breath and arrange
his features. (Sic!)

2. A verse may be abnormally long and contain six feet. This is
frequently accidental, but in _M of V_ it is used at least once
deliberately--in the oracular inscriptions on the caskets:

"Who chooseth me shall gain what men desire."
"Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves."
"Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he has."

Collin explains that putting these formulas into Alexandrines gives them
a stiffness and formality appropriate to their purpose.

3. Frequently one or two light syllables are added to the close of the
verse:

Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster.

or

Sleep when he wakes and creep into the jaundice.

Again, in III, 2-214 we have two unstressed syllables:

But who comes here? Lorenzo and his infidel?

"Shakespeare uses this unaccented gliding ending more in his later works
to give an easier more unconstrained movement."

4. Occasionally a syllable is lacking, and the foot seems to halt as in
V, 1-17:

As far as Belmont. In such a night, etc.

Here a syllable is lacking in the third foot. But artistically this is
no defect. We cannot ask that Jessica and Lorenzo always have the right
word at hand. The defective line simply means a pause and, therefore,
instead of being a blemish, is exactly right.

5. On the other hand, there is often an extra light syllable before the
caesura. (I, 1-48):

Because you are not merry; and 'twere as easy, etc.

This extra syllable before the pause gives the effect of a slight
retardation. It was another device to make the verse easy and
unconstrained.

6. Though the prevailing verse is iambic pentameter, we rarely find
more than three or four real accents. The iambic movement is constantly
broken and compelled to fight its way through. This gives an added
delight, since the ear, attuned to the iambic beat, readily recognizes
it when it recurs. The presence of a trochee is no blemish, but a
relief:

Vailing her high tops higher than her ribs. (I, 1-28)

This inverted stress occurs frequently in Norwegian poetry. Wergeland
was a master of it and used it with great effect, for instance, in his
poem to Ludvig Daa beginning:

Med doden i mit hjerte,
og smilet om min mund,--

All this gives to Shakespeare's verse a marvellous flexibility and