Part 194 (1/2)
_Exauese Air_”
”Flow on, | thou shi+n | -ing _river_, But ere | thou reach | the sea, Seek El | -la's bower, | and _give her_ The wreaths | I fling | o'er thee
But, if | in wand' | -ring _thither_, Thou find | she mocks | my pray'r, Then leave | those wreaths | to _wither_ Upon | the cold | bank there”
MOORE: _Sanation_
”O Res | -igna | -tion! yet | unsung, Untouch'd | by for | - ev | -_ery mu_ | -se's smile, And ev | -_ery po_ | -et's pains!
All oth | -er du | -ties cres | -cents are Of vir | -tue faint | -ly bright; The glo | -_rious con_ | -suht!”
YOUNG: _British Poets_, Vol viii, p 377
MEASURE VII--IAMBIC OF TWO FEET, OR DIMETER
_Exa Wife_
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”There was | a man Whose name | was Dan, Who sel | -doreet, Without | a joke;
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My love | -ly wife, Thou art | the life Of all | my joys; Without | thee, I Should sure | -ly die For want | of noise
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O, prec | -ious one, Let thy | tongue run In a | sweet fret; And this | will give A chance | to live, A long | time yet
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When thou | dost scold So loud | and bold, I'rieve, Till life | forsake
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Then said | his wife, I'll have | no strife With you, | sweet Dan; As 'tis | your mind, I'll let | you find I am | your man
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And fret | I will, To keep | you still Enjoy | -ing life; So you |wife”
ANONYMOUS: _Cincinnati Herald_, 1844
Iambic dimeter, like the metre of three iambs, is er lines; but the preceding example is a refutation of the idea, that no piece is ever composed wholly of this measure, or that the two feet cannot constitute a line In Huraph; which is not only defective in style, but erroneous in all its averments:--
”Poems are never composed of lines of two [-] feet metre, in succession: they [combinations of two feet] are only used occasionally in poems, hymns, odes, &c to diversify the metre; and are, in no case, lines of poetry, or verses; but hemistics, [_hemistichs_,] or half lines The shortest metre of which iambic verse is composed, in lines successively, is that of three feet; and this is the shortest metre _which_ can be denominated lines, or verses; and _this is not frequently used_”
In ballads, ditties, hymns, and versified psalms, scarcely any line is _more common_ than the iambic trimeter, here denied to be ”frequently used;” of which species, there are about seventy lines anation,” has eight hundred and twenty such lines, and as many more of iambic tetrameter His ”Ocean” has one hundred and forty-five of the latter, and two hundred and ninety-two of the species now under consideration; ie, iambic dimeter But how can the metre which predominates by two to one, be called, in such a case, an occasional diversification of that which is less frequent?
Lines of two iambs are not very uncommon, even in psalmody; and, since we have soths of all are deter, there is, surely, no propriety in calling dimeters ”he are soer ones:--
_Example I--From Psalm CXLVIII_
1, 2