LESSON CXXXVI. I. AFFECTATION IN THE PULPIT. IN man or woman, but far most in man, What! will a man play tricks ?-will he indulge COWPER. II. MASSILLON AT THE FUNERAL OF LOUIS XIV. 1. The beginning of Massillon's funeral oration upon Louis the Fourteenth produced a wonderful effect. The church was hung with black; a magnificent mausoleum was raised over the bier; the edifice was filled with trophies and other memorials of the monarch's past glories; daylight was excluded, but innumerable tapers supplied its place, and the ceremony was attended by the most illustrious persons in the kingdom. 2. Massillon ascended the pulpit, contemplated, for some moments, the scene before him, then raised his arms to heaven, looked down on the scene beneath, and, after a short pause, slowly said, in a solemn, subdued tone, "GOD ONLY IS GREAT!" With one impulse all the auditory rose from their seats, turned to the altar, and slowly and reverently bowed. THE NATURE AND KINDS OF POETRY. [Analysis.-1. How POETRY may be described. Its two leading divisions, Rhyme and Blank Verse.-2, 3, 4. Examples of each from Young and Pope.-5. In what respects these examples are alike. How poetry is a guide to the pronunciation of proper names. (Illustrations.)-6. The metrical principles on which English poetry is based. (Extended illustrations in note.) Poetic pauses.-7. Where the principal cæsu'ral pause falls.-8. Illustrations of the cæsu'ral pause.-9. Variety of rhyming poetry in our language. In other languages.-10. The most important classification of poetry.-11. Pastoral Poetry described.-12. Lyric Poetry.-13. An Epic Poem.14. Dramatic Poetry.] 1. POETRY may be described as measured or metrical language that which is governed by certain rules for the combination of accented and unaccented syllables. Of the two leading divisions of poetry, Rhyme is that form in which there is not only a measured arrangement of words and syllables, but also a recurrence of similar sounds at the end of certain lines; while Blank Verse is that poetry which depends upon measure alone to distinguish it from prose, each line being composed of ten alternate short and long syllables-the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth being accented. 2. In the two following examples, taken from two eminent poets, it would be difficult to say which is the more poetical, although one is in blank verse, and the other in rhyme. TIME PRESENT, TIME PAST, AND TIME TO COME. 3. The bell strikes one. We take no note of time- I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright, Where are they? With the years beyond the flood. It is the signal that demands dispatch: How much is to be done'! My hopes and fears And can eternity belong to me', Poor pensioner on the bounties of an hour' ?—YOUNG. PRIDE PERSONIFIED. 4. Ask for what end the heavenly bodies shine'; My footstool earth', my canopy the skies."-POPE. 5. In both of these examples there are ten syllables to a line, when read in poetic measure—the same number in the blank verse as in the rhyming poetry; and in both cases, with one or two minor exceptions, the lines are composed of alternate unaccented and accented syllables. All poetry has a regular system of accentuation, differing, in rhyming poetry, according to the different kinds of verse; and as none of it can be read with ease or elegance without giving it the right metre or rhythm, it follows that, when proper names are contained in it, their correct pronunciation is easily determined, inasmuch as all great poets are supposed so to arrange all such words that each will receive the right accentuationa. Thus, from the following examples, it will be seen that we must pronounce Gin'o ä (gen'wä), Gra nä ́dä, Ga líčia, Ar is toph'a nēs, Men e lā'us, Ie'a rus, etc. : "How quick they carved their victims, and how well, Let Saxony, let injured Genoa tell."-Moore. "Granada caught it in her Moorish hall, Galicia bade her children fight or fall."-SoOTT. "The Muses, seeking for a shrine Whose glories ne'er should cease, 6. In English poetry all syllables may be regarded as being accented or unaccented; each line contains a certain number of poetic feet, the divisions of which correspond to bars in music; a certain number of connected syllables Found, as they strayed, the soul divine Of Aristophanes."-MERIVALE. "The hero ceased, and silence still prevailed, Till warlike Menelaus thus replied."-CowPER's Iliad. "Here hapless Icarus had found his part, Had not the father's grief restrained his art."-DRYDEN. b The different kinds of verse are named according to the arrangement of long and short syllables in a line, and their divisions into what are called poetic feet. They are called feet, because it is by their aid that the voice steps through the verse in a measured pace. All syllables are either accented or unaccented. The different poetic feet, which are either of two or of three syllables, may be represented by the marks for the long and short sounds; the former denoting the accented, and the latter the unaccented syllables. I am'bus,- as, bě tray. Tro'ehee, Spon'dee, Pyr'rhic, "bōld něss. "pāle sūns. " on it. Dae'tyl, as, rēg ŭ lǎr. "in ter vene. Of these several poetic feet, those most used in English are the Iam'bus, the Tro'ehee, the Dae-tyl, and the An'apest, but each is found in lines of different length. The several kinds are not always kept pure and distinct. It is only of one or more of these four kinds that a poem of any length can be wholly or in great part formed; and according as either may prevail, the verse is called I am'bic, Tro chā'ic, Anapest'ic, or Dac tyl'ic. 10 Syllables. With solemn ād|õrā|tion down | they cast 12 Syllables. English Their crowns, inwōve | with ām|ăranth | ănd gōld. Heroic Verse. 14 Syllables. The Lord | descended from | abōve, | ănd bōw'd | the Heavens high. . 10 Syllables. 12 Syllables. As of some one | gently rapping. Virtue's bright'ning | rãy shall | bēam för | ēvēr. forming a foot in the one, as a certain number of notes make a bar in the other. In each line, also, are certain poetic pauses, which the good reader naturally makes without instruction, because he finds them necessary for preserving the melody. These pauses are the final pause, which is a slight pause at the end of a line, whether the sense require it or not; and one or more slight cæsu'ral pauses in the harmonic divisions of the line. 7. The principal cæsu'ral pause in English heroic verse 3 Syllables. Fearfully, Tearfully. III. PURE DACTYL'IC VERSE. 6 Syllables. Free from să tiěty, Care and anxiety. 9 Syllables. Ever sing | merrily | mērrily. 12 Syllables. 2d and 4th lines deficient in the last foot. Boys will ăn ticipăte, | lavish and Scōrnfully, Bird of the wilderness, dissipăte All that your ❘ būsă păte | hōarded with | cāre; And in their foolishness, | passion, and | mūlishness, Charge you with | chūrlishness, | spurning your | prāy'r. DACTYLIC HEXAMETER. Each line has five dactyls, with a spondee at the end: 17 syllables. This is the fōrěst pri mēvăl; but where are the hearts that beneath it 1st ft. of 2d line defic't. My right | there is nōne | to dispute. With a leap and ă bōund | the swift An|ăpěsts thrōng. There's ǎ language that's mute, | there's ǎ silence that speaks, 12 Syllables. There is some thing that can not be told. At the close of the day, | when the hām lět is still. In any of the foregoing species of poetry, a line may have, from a deficiency in some one metrical foot, a syllable more or a syllable less than the requisite number. Spon'dees, pyr'rhics, am'phibrachs, and tri'brachs are also sometimes brought in, in irregular forms of poetry; but when we pass beyond the four established kinds of poetic measure, the verse becomes difficult of execution, and is generally inharmonious. But see exception in "Alexander's Feast," p. 336, which is mainly, however, in iambic measure. The following is a good specimen of verse that is mostly amphi brach'ic: Third line irregular. "But vainly thou wārrest; For this is alone in Thy power to | declare, That in the dim förěst Thou heard'st ǎ | low moaning, And saw'st ǎ | bright lady | surpassing|ly fair."-COLERIDGE. |