Time in English Verse Rhythm; An Empirical Study of Typical Verses by the Graphic Method (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 Excerpt: ...the right number of accents, and in this respect Abbott finds most verses regular although it is sometimes necessary to throw the accent upon a weak monosyllable in order to make up the number. In this connection Coleridge's expression22 with regard to the meter of some of his poems is significant. ' The meter of Christabel is not, strictly speaking, irregular though it may seem so for its being founded on a new principle, namely, that of counting in each line the accents, not the syllables. Though the latter may vary from "Philolog. Soc. Trans., 1895-8, p. 485. 20 " The Power of Sound," 1880, p. 429. 21 "English Lessons for English People," 1871. 23 Preface to " Christabel," 1816. seven to twelve yet in each line the accents will be found to be only four." This "new principle" though more new in form of expression than in actual practise was of great importance in the subsequent usage of the English poets of the nineteenth century. For us one of the most instructive things about the statement is not the "new principle" but the old with which it is contrasted. Nothing is said about regularity of time but it is assumed that regularity generally is found in the alternation of long (accented) and short (unaccented) syllables for that is what is meant by counting the syllables. For Coleridge and his friends the accent was the basis of both the old and the new principles. Nothing else was even thought of. That the ordinary routine scansions will last as long as there are children and common people is the verdict of Mayor.23 He is "in favor of scanning by feet" and attempts to put the ordinary accented feet of the grammars on a scientific basis; and if he does not succeed in his attempt to be s...