Broad-based or branching as a sea-flower sprays

That side or this dividing.

-Thalassius.

The following are better, because in the sense there is some reason for the alliteration.

O wind, O wingless wind that walk'st the sea,
Weak wind, wing-broken, wearier wind than we.

-On the Cliffs: Swinburne.

And dulled to death with deep dense funeral chime
Of their reiterate rhyme.

-Idem.

Between the two extremes that have been mentioned, however, the poet can find every degree of sameness and change, unity and variety, with which to represent every kind of thought truthfully.

sameness.

It is evident, from what has been said, that the chief effect of rhyme, or the recurrence of similar sounds at the ends of lines, is to introduce into the verse the element of This sameness of itself, as has been intimated in another place, increases the effects of versification by directing attention to the ends of the lines and thus separating them. Besides this, especially if the rhymes be used at like intervals, as is generally the case, they tend to give unity to the form. Their influence in this regard is precisely analogous to that of the cadences and half cadences, which, coming at the ends of musical phrases, give the effect of unity to musical composition. Notice in the following how often the alternate lines, both in the music and words, end at the same pitch. Notice, too, at the close of each line, as in the illustration in the last chapter, how the music of the melody rises with accented or masculine verse-endings, the analogues of rising inflections; and falls with unaccented or feminine verse-endings, the analogues of falling inflections. Of course there are

tunes set to words in which correspondences of this kind are less apparent; but the following represent arrangements sufficiently common to justify what is here said of them.

Lines Ended with Like Effects of Pitch in the Melody of both Music and Verse.
Falling or Feminine Endings.
Rising or Masculine Endings,

Like these similarly ending cadences and half cadences in music, rhymes furnish a framework about which, or rather within which, all the other form-elements of the verse are brought together. This is the reason why it is easier for beginners to write poetry in rhymes than in blank verse. All successful verse must have form, and rhymes of themselves tend to give it this.

Not only so, but-what is of main importance in our present treatment of the subject-they serve equally to furnish a framework for the poetic thought. The rhyming words, especially the last of two or three that rhyme, always appear to be especially emphatic. In fact, they seem to add to the emphasis in almost every possible way. They augment the effects of duration or quantity, because at the end of the line, where the rhyme usually is, the voice, as a rule, pauses; of force, because rhyming syllables, at least the last ones in which a sound is repeated, appear to be pronounced more strongly than others; of pitch, because, as we have found, where the vowel-sounds are the same, the pitch seems the same; and of quality, as we shall find, because the likeness of the rhyming syllables necessarily attracts attention. For all these reasons, rhymes necessarily tend to thrust into prominence the ideas expressed in them. Notice this fact as exemplified in the following:

Know, then, thyself; presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.

-Essay on Man: Pope.

In connection with the effect of unity, and as one factor of it, regularly recurring rhymes also impart an effect of regularity to the movement, as in these :

Vital spark of heavenly flame,
Quit, oh, quit this mortal frame.
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,

Oh, the pain, the bliss of dying!

-Dying Christian to his Soul: Pope.

A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he clad,-

When he put on his clothes.

-Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog: Goldsmith.

Singing through the forests;

Rattling over ridges;

Shooting under arches;

Rumbling over bridges;

Whizzing through the mountains;

Buzzing o'er the vale,

Bless me, this is pleasant,
Riding on the rail.

-Railroad Rhyme: Saxe.

In the degree in which the rhymes are near together, they give an effect of rapidity to the movement—not so much of the form, as in short quantity, as of the thought. It has been said that the rhyming words emphasize strongly the ideas expressed through them. They convey the impression, therefore, that something important has been said; and if they occur frequently, they suggest that many important things have been said, and said in a short time, or what is equivalent to this-that the thought in the poem is moving on rapidly, an effect that could not be produced by the same words arranged differently. Of course, it follows that the nearer together the rhymes are, the more rapid seems to be the movement. Compare these two stanzas, both from Sir Walter Scott's Eve of St. John:

The baron returned in three days' space,

And his looks were sad and sour,

And weary was his courser's pace,

As he reached his rocky tower.

My lady each night sought the lonely light
That burns on the wild Watchfold,

For from height to height the beacons bright
Of the English foemen told.

Perhaps no more interesting study of the different effects of rhyme that have just been mentioned is anywhere afforded than in Tennyson's In Memoriam. In several of the stanzas of this poem the third and fourth lines may change places without detriment to the sense. But if this change be made, the rhymes at the ends of the