be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.

"For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.

"Though the night was made for loving
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon."

Just exactly where the singing quality of a song lies it is hard to
tell. It is not altogether in the open vowels or the meter or the flow
of thought, though dependent on all three. It is impossible to formulate
any rule for the construction of the song except the general laws of
good taste. The only plan is to try and try again until the result
contains something of the singing quality. Very often it is helpful to
fit the words to some air imaginary or otherwise which runs in the head.
The song may be long or short, tell little or a great deal. In practice,
as a rule, it is less than twenty-four lines in length and expresses a
single thought or emotion. Its only two essentials are that it be
graceful and that it sing.

IX

TYPES OF MODERN VERSE

CHAPTER IX

TYPES OF MODERN VERSE

_Vers de Societe_

Vers de societe, "society verse," is a development of the last century;
almost, one might say, of the last twenty-five years. In that time there
has been composed a great volume of this sort of verse upon which a
number of the minor poets have based their claims to remembrance. It is
difficult to define _vers de societe_; in fact, the only way it can be
described is through examples. Its characteristics are a gracefulness of
thought and style, a fluency in expression, a vein of delicate humor or
sentiment and a subject which falls within the limits of "polite
conversation." It sparkles or should sparkle with clever turns of
thought and at times even descends to a sort of punning. No attempt is
made to reach the sublime, but serious _vers de societe_ is often
written and is the more effective because of its contrasted setting. The
ballade, rondeau and triolet are favorite expressions of this style of
verse, for in general its writers seek difficult stanza forms with
rhymes natural but never hackneyed.

As an exercise its making is both profitable and difficult. On trial, it
will be found no easy matter to write line after line of every-day
English into balanced verse that is not commonplace, but once well done
it is a much easier task to find a market.

Cal