Prosody.
Trochaics.

To his ancestors restored;

Like a reappearing star,

Like a glory from afar,

Spondaic.

First shall head the flock of war."

WORDSWORTH.

The odd lines of the following piece are of four trochees each; the even, of three trochees and a syllable over :—

"Though the torrents | from their | fountains, |

Roar down many a | craggy | steep; |

Yet they find among the mountains

Resting places calm and deep."

WORDSWORTH.

The trochaic verse admits the spondee occa

sionally :

"Though the sea-horse | in the ocean |

Own no dear domestic cave;

Yet he slumbers without motion

On the calm and silent wave."

WORDSWORTH.

Spondaic. This verse is seldom found alone. Spondaic lines are often inserted in the other measures to give slowness or solemnity to them, as in the following:

"These equal syllables alone require,
Tho' oft the ear the open vowels tire,
While expletives their feeble aid do join,

And ten low words | oft creep | in one | dull line." |

POPE.

Prosody.

"When Ajax strives | some rock's | vast weight | to Spondaic.

throw,

The line, too, la bours, and the words | move

slow."-POPE.

"With how sad steps, | O moon, | thou climb'st | the sky." |-SIR PHILIP SYDNEY.

It is evident from the above, that to produce a spondaic line, as many monosyllables as possible should be used; since dissyllables and longer words, only carrying one accent each as a general rule, would not afford the close position of the accent that spondees require.

Dactylics. This verse is seldom used. The Dactylics. subjoined is a specimen of it :

|"

"Talk not of genius | baffled; | Genius, | master of

man;

| Genius does what it must, and | talent | does

what it can." —O. MEREDITH.

The dactylic foot, however, is often used to give quickness and life to the iambic metre. Anapasts.-This verse usually consists of Anapæsts. either two, three, or four anapæsts in each line:

I "See the furies arise; |

I See the snakes that they rear,

How they hiss in their hair,

Of two feet.

| And the spark | les that flash | from their eyes !" |

Of three.

DRYDEN.

Prosody.

Anapests of "O ye woods, | spread your branch | es apace,

three feet.

Of four.

Cæsura.

"At the corner of Wood | Street when day | light

| There's a thrush | that sings loud, it has sung |
there for years: |

Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard,
In the silence of morning, the song of the bird."
WORDSWORTH.

This verse often admits a spondee or iambic, especially at the beginning; as,

"Green pastures she views in the midst of the 1

dale,

| Down which she so often has tripped | with her

pail, |

And a simple small cottage, a nest like a

dove's, |

The one

one | only dwelling on earth that she loves." | WORDSWORTH.

Casura (a cutting, Lat.) is the pause or rest of the voice in reading a verse.

The position of the cæsura varies with the different kinds of measures, but in general it is placed as near the middle of the line as possible. Its position is marked thus, ||; as,

"And now | I see || with eye | serene,

serene," | etc.

"Now the hungry || lion | roars," | etc.

| "A per | fect wo | man, || no | bly planned,” | etc.

Prosody.
Cæsura.

After 2-feet.

After 2 feet.

| " King, fá | ther, Roy | al Dane: || O an | swer me." | After 3 feet.

The position of the cæsura is variable with each line, within the above limits; and the grace and dignity of verses depend very much on a proper management of this pause. Its position is greatly varied in the following consecutive lines from "Paradise Lost :"

"When straight behold the throne

Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread
Wide o'er the wasteful deep; with him enthroned
Sat sable-vested Night, || eldest of things,

The consort of his reign; || and by them stood

Orcus and Ades, || and the dreaded name

Of Demo-gorgon! || Rumour next, and Chance
And Tumult and Confusion | all embroiled,

And Discord || with a thousand various mouths."

Bk. ii.

The subjoined advice for versifiers is taken from POPE'S Essay on Criticism :—

"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest that have learned to dance.
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence;
The sound must seem an echo of the sense.
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse, rough verse should like a torrent roar.
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line, too, labours, and the words move slow;
Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain,

Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the
main.

Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise,

And bid alternate passions fall and rise;

L

Prosody.

Punctuation.

Comma.

Semicolon.

Colon.

Full Stop.

Interrogation, excla

dash.

While at each change the son of Libyan Jove
Now burns with glory, and then melts with love;
Now his fierce eyes with sparkling fury glow,
Now sighs steal out, and tears begin to flow:
Persians and Greeks like turns of nature found,
And the world's victor stooped, subdued by sound!
The power of music all our hearts allow,
And what Timotheus was is Dryden now."

PUNCTUATION.

Punctuation (punctum a point, Lat.) treats of the division of words into sentences, or parts of sentences, by means of stops, in order to show the logical connection between them.

The stops used in English are the Comma, the Semicolon, the Colon, and the Full Stop. The Comma (that which is cut off, Greek) is the shortest stop, and is marked (,).

The Semicolon (half a limb, Lat., Greek) is the next greater stop after the comma, and is marked (;).

The Colon (a limb, Greek) is twice as great a pause as the semicolon, and is written (:). The Full Stop, or Period (a circuit, Greek), is the longest stop, and is written ().

Besides these stops, the Note of Interrogation, mation, and written (?), is used at the end of a direct question; the Note of Exclamation (!), to point out surprise; and the Dash (-), to mark a sudden transition.

Rule I.

RULE I. The subject, predicate, and simple adjuncts of a sentence are not separated from one another by any stop; as,

"The thought of our past years in me doth breed
Perpetual benedictions."-WORDSWORTH.