And sweet, calm days in golden haze -My Psalm : Whittier. With smiling futures glisten ; – To-day and To-morrow : Gerald Massey. When the accented and unaccented syllables are indiscriminately long and short, the accent is least decidedly marked, and we have the poetic equivalent for soft force. This may convey an impression of strength, if it contain several long syllables-e.g. Never any more While I live, As before. Mine may strive,- -In a Year : R. Browning. - Only a Woman : Mulock. But it must convey an impression of weakness, if made up mainly of short syllables—. g.: Though not disordinate, yet causeless suffering -Samson Agonistes : Milton, - Timon 1., 1: Shakespear. -Nothing routs us but -Cymbeline V., 2: Idem. Here are distinctively imitative effects, first, of loudness : And my pulses closed their gates with a shock on my heart, as I heard The shrill-edged shriek of a mother divide the shuddering night. And the vitriol madness flushes up in the ruffian's head, Is it peace or war ? better war ! loud war by land and by sea ! -Maud : Tennyson. And here of loudness with more or less strength: On came the whirlwind,-steel-gleams broke The war was waked anew. Their showers of iron threw. The cohorts' eagles flew. - The Charge at Waterloo : Scott. -Iliad, 23: Pope. Here of weight or strength : When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, -Essay on Criticism : Pope. - The Princess : Tennyson. Here of softness : And let some strange mysterious dream - Il Penseroso : Milton. While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. - The Raven : Poe. Within, the waves in softer murmurs glide, And ships secure without their haulsers ride. -Odyssey, 3: Pope. Than petals from blown roses on the grass, - The Lotus Eaters : Tennyson. And here of weakness : So he with difficulty and labor hard - Par. Lost, 2: Milton. - The Princess : Tennyson. Look once more now at the passage from weak force to strong, as well as from fast time to slow, in the following: The cherubim descended ; on the ground -Par. Lost, 12: Milton. CHAPTER VI. FORCE AS THE SOURCE AND INTERPRETER OF POETIC MEASURES. Gradations of Force or Stress, representing Reflective Influence exerted on Instinctive Tendency-What is represented by the Different kinds of Elocutionary Stress—Why Elocutionary Stress corresponds to Poetic Measure-Classification of English Poetic Measures, and their Classic Analogues-What is represented by Initial Double Measure—Its Classic Form-By Terminal Double Measure-Why used in Our HymnsIts Classic Form-Triple Measures; Median--Its Classic Form-Initial Triple Measure-Could also be termed Compound Measure, corresponding to Compound Stress-Its Classic Forms—Its Use in Greek Pæonics-In Pathos, corresponding to Tremulous Stress Terminal Triple Measure-Can correspond to Thorough Stress-Its Classic Forms-Blending of Different Triple Measures Of Triple and Double Measures to prevent Monotony-Quadruple Measures, Initial and Ter minal-Blending of all kinds of Measures to represent Movements. WE pass on now to the next way, in which the force em ployed in emphasis has been said to differ-namely, in gradation, or what is technically termed stress. In discoursive elocution, the force or exertion necessary for the pronunciation of any given syllable or word may be used because of an internal or an external motive, or of a combination of the two; in other words, either because a man desires to express an idea for his own sake; or because he wishes to impress it upon others; or because he wishes to do both. In the first case, the sound bursts forth explosively, as if the speaker were conscious of nothing but his own |