A Treatise on VersificationF. & J. Rivington, 1852 - 169 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
ab'b ab'b ább áb according admits Alexandrine alliteration amphibrach anapæst ancient measures arising arrangement basis bisecting pause cæsura close common commonly consonant construction couplet cretic dactyl dissyllable divided effect employed English epic poetry example expression fall favourite feet fifth foot former fourth French Georgics gives Greek Greek and Latin harmony Hence heroic hexameter Homer iambic iambus Iliad Italian lable lætas language Latin latter length licence long syllable lyric poetry marked ment metre middle Milton modern tongues monosyllabic monosyllables monotony narrative narrative poetry nature number of pauses number of syllables occur Pindar poem poets pronounced pronunciation proportion prose quæ quantity quatrain recitation recurrence repetition rhyme rule seems segetes sense short syllable song Sophocles sound Spenser spondee stanza stanzaic stop stress substitution tained tercet termination tetrameters third foot tragic tribrach trimeter trochaic pause trochee variety verse versification Virgil vowel word
Popular passages
Page 120 - Selon que notre idée est plus ou moins obscure, L'expression la suit, ou moins nette, ou plus pure. Ce que l'on conçoit bien s'énonce clairement , Et les mots pour le dire arrivent aisément.
Page 120 - Till each with other pleas'd, and loth to part, While in their age they differ, join in heart. Thus stands an aged elm in ivy bound, Thus youthful ivy clasps an elm around. Now sunk the sun ; the closing hour of day Came onward, mantled o'er with sober grey...
Page 50 - Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like, sat'st brooding on the vast abyss, And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark Illumine; what is low, raise and support; That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.
Page 88 - That, changed through all, and yet in all the same; Great in the earth, as in the ethereal frame; Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees; Lives through all life, extends through all extent; Spreads undivided, operates unspent!
Page 94 - GREAT God, what do I see and hear ! The end of things created ! The Judge of mankind doth appear On clouds of glory seated ! The trumpet sounds ! the graves restore The dead which they contained before! Prepare, my soul, to meet him.
Page 105 - The intricate wards, and every bolt and bar Of massy iron or solid rock with ease Unfastens : on a sudden open fly With impetuous recoil and jarring sound The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook Of Erebus.
Page 120 - Nature in silence bid the world repose ; When near the road a stately palace rose : There by the Moon through ranks of trees they pass Whose verdure crown'd their sloping sides of grass. It...
Page 120 - Surtout , qu'en vos écrits la langue révérée Dans vos plus grands excès vous soit toujours sacrée. En vain vous me frappez d'un son mélodieux, Si le terme est impropre ou le tour vicieux. Mon esprit n'admet point un pompeux barbarisme, Ni d'un vers ampoulé l'orgueilleux solécisme.
Page 156 - O heavenly muse, that not with fading bays Deckest thy brow by th' Heliconian spring, But sittest, crown'd with stars' immortal rays, In heaven, where legions of bright angels sing, Inspire life in my wit, my thoughts upraise, My verse ennoble, and forgive the thing, If fictions light I mix with truth divine, And fill these lines with others