the pronunciation of every front or back vowel-sound naturally tends to the production of a high or low musical note. Donders first made the discovery that the cavity of the mouth, when whispering each of the different vowels, is tuned to a different pitch. This fact gives the vowel its peculiar quality. Instruments, moreover, have been constructed, by means of which most sounds can be analyzed, and their component tones distinctly and definitely noted; and now the theory is accepted that the voice, when pronouncing vowel-sounds, at whatever key in the musical scale it may start them, has a tendency to suggest-if not through its main, or what is termed its prime tone, at least through associated, or what are termed its partial tones-that pitch which is peculiar to the vowel uttered. Exactly what this pitch is, in the case of each vowel, it is not important for us to know here. In fact, it has not yet been definitely determined. Helmholtz, in his "Sensations of Tone," says, for instance, that the series, which may be represented in English by a in father, a in man, e in there, and i in machine, forms an ascending minor chord of G"-thus: d'"'—g'"'—b'"' flat-d'""'; and the following represents the results of Merkel's experiments with the German vowels given in his "Physiologie der Menschlichen Sprache": U O Oa A Ö Ü ÄE I But what concerns us, at present, is merely the fact that there is a pitch peculiar to the sound of each letter, and that the pitch of the sounds approximating long u is actually, and not ideally, lower in tone than that of the sounds approximating the long English e. With this understanding of the actual connection existing between the sounds represented by certain letters and pitch, it follows, as a matter of natural law, that elocutionary high pitch-to begin with this-should find its poetic analogue in a predominating use of the latter class of vowel-sounds, especially when connected with consonantsounds that cannot be prolonged, and therefore cannot introduce into the tone other strong elements of pitch. Poetic passages, therefore, composed of vowels and consonants of this character are suited, like elocutionary high pitch, to represent light, gay, and lively effects, a fact which, as will be noticed, sustains and puts upon a scientific basis all that has been said with reference to the unimportant, or— what is the same thing-the light, gay, and lively character of the ideas represented by what are usually the same sounds in short quantity. With these explanations, the reader will understand in what sense the following illustrate high pitch as used in poetry : He took a life preserver, and he hit him on the head, -Gentle Alice Brown: Gilbert. Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee Jest and youthful Jollity, Quips, and Cranks, and wanton Wiles, Nods, and Becks, and wreathed Smiles, Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, And love to live in dimple sleek; Sport that wrinkled Care derides And Laughter holding both his sides. -L'Allegro: Milton. Vowels of the same kind together with unprolonged consonant-sounds are used also to imitate sounds that Sounds of the nature of ū, ō, â, on the contrary, especially when combined with consonant-sounds that can easily be prolonged, produce the serious, grave and dignified effects of low pitch, as in the following: Insulted, chained, and all the world our foe, Our God alone is all we boast below. -The Captivity: "Goldsmith. Then dying of a mortal stroke, -Two Voices: Tennyson. Or as in these imitative effects: Thus long ago, Ere heaving bellows learned to blow, Timotheous to his breathing flute And sounding lyre Could swell the soul to rage or kindle soft desire. -Alexander's Feast: Dryden. And waft across the waves' tumultuous roar -Pleasures of Hope: Campbell. Notice how Swinburne, with his exquisite sense of the meanings of sounds, passes from low pitch to high pitch, or the reverse, in order to bring out the changes in sentiment in the following: |