FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1849   1850   1851   1852   1853   1854   1855   1856   1857   1858   1859   1860   1861   1862   1863   1864   1865   1866   1867   1868   1869   1870   1871   1872   1873  
1874   1875   1876   1877   1878   1879   1880   1881   1882   1883   1884   1885   1886   1887   1888   1889   1890   1891   1892   1893   1894   1895   1896   1897   1898   >>   >|  
egoing formule of quantities and feet. Those which I have seen, are generally, if not in every instance, susceptible of a more natural scansion as being composed of trochees, with a dactyl, or some other foot of three syllables, at the _beginning_ of each line. The caesural pause falls sometimes after the fourth syllable, but more generally, and much more agreeably, after the fifth. Let the reader inspect the following example, and see if he do not agree with me in laying the accent on only the first syllable of each foot, as the feet are here divided. The accent, too, must be carefully laid. Without considerable care in the reading, the hearer will not suppose the composition to be any thing but prose:-- "THE WIDOW."--(IN "SAPPHICS.") "Cold was the | night-wind, | drifting | fast the | snow fell, Wide were the | downs, and | shelter | -less and | naked, When a poor | Wanderer | struggled | on her | journey, Weary and | way-sore. Drear were the | downs, more | dreary | her re | -flections; Cold was the | night-wind, | colder | was her | bosom; She had no | home, the | world was | all be | -fore her; She had no | shelter. Fast o'er the | heath a | chariot | rattlee | by her; 'Pity me!' | feebly | cried the | lonely | wanderer; 'Pity me, | strangers! | lest, with | cold and | hunger, Here I should | perish. 'Once I had | friends,--though | now by | all for | -saken! 'Once I had | parents, | --they are | now in | heaven! 'I had a | home once, | --I had | once a | husband-- Pity me, | strangers! 'I had a | home once, | --I had | once a | husband-- 'I am a | widow, | poor and | broken | -hearted!' Loud blew the | wind; un | -heard was | her com | -plaining; On drove the | chariot. Then on the | snow she | laid her | down to | rest her; She heard a | horseman; | 'Pity | me!' she | groan'd out; Loud was the | wind; un | -heard was | her com | -plaining; On went the | horseman. Worn out with | anguish, | toil, and | cold, and | hunger, Down sunk the | Wanderer; | sleep had | seized her | senses; There did the | traveller | find her | in the | morning; God had re | -leased her." ROBERT SOUTHEY: _Poems_, Philad., 1843, p. 251. Among the lyric poems of Dr. Watts, is one, entitled, "THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT; _an Ode attempted in English Sapphic
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1849   1850   1851   1852   1853   1854   1855   1856   1857   1858   1859   1860   1861   1862   1863   1864   1865   1866   1867   1868   1869   1870   1871   1872   1873  
1874   1875   1876   1877   1878   1879   1880   1881   1882   1883   1884   1885   1886   1887   1888   1889   1890   1891   1892   1893   1894   1895   1896   1897   1898   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

horseman

 

shelter

 
husband
 

accent

 

chariot

 

strangers

 

hunger

 

plaining

 

Wanderer

 

generally


syllable
 

scansion

 
formule
 

quantities

 

natural

 

hearted

 

parents

 

heaven

 

instance

 

susceptible


broken
 

perish

 

friends

 

entitled

 

attempted

 

English

 

Sapphic

 

JUDGEMENT

 
Philad
 
seized

wanderer

 
anguish
 

senses

 

leased

 

ROBERT

 
SOUTHEY
 
morning
 

traveller

 
egoing
 
suppose

composition

 
fourth
 
hearer
 

considerable

 
reading
 
caesural
 

SAPPHICS

 

Without

 
carefully
 

reader