figures of the Masque,-beautiful bright apparitions, fitly indicating the air, the fire, and all the more smiling aspects and subtler forces of nature. These minister with prompt obedience to the magical behests of science, and, when not toiling in appointed service for their great task-master, recreate and refresh his senses and his spirit with the ever-varying pageant of this beautiful Universe.-Lasthighest of all—crowning with a fitful flame of lambent brightness this poetical pyramid of existence, flickers and flashes the beautiful Demon, without whose exquisite companionship we never think of the royal magician with his grave countenance of command.-Ariel seems to me to represent the keenest perceiving intellect, separate from all moral consciousness and' sense of responsibility. His power and knowledge are in some respects greater than those of his master, --he can do what Prospero cannot,―he lashes up the tempest round the island, he saves the king and his companions from shipwreck, -he defeats the conspiracy of Sebastian and Antonio, and discovers the clumsy plot of the beast Caliban,-he wields immediate influence over the elements, and comprehends alike without indignation or sympathy, which are moral results,-the sin and suffering of humanity. Therefore,—because he is only a spirit of knowledge, he is subject to the spirit of love,—and the wild, subtle, keen, beautiful, powerful creature is compelled to serve with mutinous waywardness and unwilling subjection the human soul that pitied and rescued it from its harsher slavery to sin,—and which, though controlling it with a wise severity to the fulfilment of its duties, yearns after it with the tearful eyes of tender human love when its wild wings flash away into its newly recovered realm of lawless liberty.' OUTLINE OF SHAKESPEARE'S PROSODY. §1. Blank Verse.-The governing element of verse structure in English is different from that in Latin and Greek. In the classical languages quantity forms the basis of the prosody; in English its place is taken by stress. In O.E. poetry stress and alliteration had been the regulating factors; afterwards, as a general rule, alliteration disappeared, except as an ornament, and syllabic equality was substituted, accompanied during the M.E. period by rhyme. The Earl of Surrey in his translation of part of the Eneid abandoned rhyme; and introduced blank verse, a sequence of five stressed and five unstressed syllables in rising rhythm (i.e. with the stress on the second syllable) without rhyme. This became the normal metrical form of the Elizabethan drama, e.g. For this', be sure', | to-night' | thou shalt' | have cramps' (i. 2. 325). But a succession of such lines, as is proved by early plays like Gorboduc, has a most monotonous effect, and the beauty of Elizabethan verse is largely due to its variations from this primary type. As Shakespeare's command over his instrument increased, he more and more indulged in such variations, so that in The Tempest, as one of his very last plays, there are comparatively few verses in the purely normal form. §2. Normal Variations.—Among the variations there are several which recur regularly, and which are not to be regarded as departures from a type, but as new types. (i) Stress variation. The classification of syllables into stressed and unstressed is not exhaustive, for there are many shades of gradation between the unstressed and the strongly stressed. Thus a weak or intermediate stress may be substituted for the normal strong stress, by placing a syllable with a very slight natural accent in a normally stressed place, e.g. 1 Put' the wild' wa'ters in' this roar', allay' them (i. 2. 2). And him' he play'd' it for', he needs' will be' (i. 2. 108). This variation is very common, but it is exercised under the following limits: (a) The weak stress is commonest in the fifth foot, e.g. Thy mother was' a piece' of vir'tue, and' (i. 2. 56). (b) There are never more than two weak stresses in a line. (c) The two weak stresses rarely come together. (d) The loss of weight (except in the fifth foot) is generally made up. Either the other syllable has also a slight stress, or one of the neighbouring feet has two stresses, e.g. in the line quoted above. Put' the wild' wa'ters in' this roar', allay' them. (ii) Stress inversion. The alternate order of stress and non-stress may be within limits inverted, thus changing the rhythm, for that foot, from rising to falling. As this causes two stresses to come together, and as these can only be pronounced in succession when a slight pause intervenes, this inversion commonly coincides with a pause in the sense. Hence 1 A strongly stressed syllable is marked (') e.g. wa'ters; a lightly stressed is marked () .g. in. (a) It is commonest in the first, and, after that, in the third and fourth feet, e.g. Like' a good' par' | ent, did' | beget' | of him' (i. 2. 94). Bore' us some leagues' | to sea'; | where' they | prepared' (i. 2. 145). (b) It is unusual in the second foot, e.g. 'Farewell', bro'ther!'- | We split', | we split', we split'! (i. 1. 56). (c) It is very rare in the fifth foot. Of Syc' | or'ax, toads', bee' | tles, bats' | light' on ❘ you! (i. 2. 340). (d) There are never more than two inversions in a line, and we rarely find two inversions together, and never three. Instead of a change from rising to falling rhythm, we often get a spondaic rhythm, through the two syllables of the foot having an approximately equal stress. The fresh' | springs', brine' | -pits' barr' | en place' | and fer' | tile (i. 2. 338). (iii) Omission of syllables. An unstressed syllable is sometimes omitted. This happens especially after a marked pause, thus either in the first foot, or after an emphatic monosyllable, often an imperative: Good' my lord', | give' me | thy fav' | our still' (iv. 1. 201). Mir. O', good sir', | I do'. | I pray' | thee, mark' | me (i. 2. 88). (iv) Extra syllables. An additional unstressed syllable may be inserted anywhere in a line. It is commonest immediately before a pause, and so is most frequently found at the end of a line. These feminine endings, as they are sometimes called, were increasingly used by Shakespeare throughout his career, and they are most frequent in The Tempest, where they amount to 35 per cent. In the hands of Fletcher this species of verse "tended to exclude the simpler type altogether". The first complete blank-verse line in The Tempest is in this form. The king' and prince' | at pray' | ers! let's' | assist' | them (i. 1. 48). and numerous instances may be found on every page. Within the line the extra syllable usually comes after the casura, e.g. Obey' and be' | atten' | tive. Canst thou' | rememb' | er (i. 2. 38). Occasionally there are two extra syllables, but, as a rule, in lines which have this appearance, the last syllable but one is almost entirely slurred, e.g. Was duke dom large enough: | of temp | oral royalties (i. 2. 110). Many of the lines ending with proper names, e.g. Ferdinand, Prospero, Antonio, seem to have two extra syllables, but in these cases the penultimate syllable is slurred. (v) Rhyme. Apart from the Masque, the songs, and the Epilogue, rhyme is not found in The Tempest, except in the couplet with which Ariel closes Act ii. I. §3. Less-usual Variations. —(i) Omission of stresses. Occasionally one of the five stresses, sometimes a whole foot, is omitted in consequence of a pause, e.g. Point to rich ends. | This my mean task (iii. 1. 4). Here the time that would be taken by the pronunciation of the omitted foot is filled up by some action of Ferdinand, such as lifting a log. So also in the following passage (ii. 1. 218-221): Here the foot omitted in 1. 221 is supplied by a pause caused by Antonio's momentary hesitation before unfolding his plan. These lines, which are irregular specimens of the ordinary iambic, are to be carefully distinguished from the short lines of from one to four feet, which are interspersed among the five-foot verses. (a) Occasionally in the later plays they are "imbedded" in the midst of an otherwise normal passage, e.g., Thou dost, and think'st it much to tread the ooze Of the salt deep, and To run upon the sharp wind of the north (i. 2. 252-254); And are upon the Mediterranean flote, Bound sadly home for Naples, Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd (i. 2. 234–236). (b) Frequently they are used, especially at the end of a speech, to give emphasis to declarations: And deeper than did ever plummet sound and quickly, spirit; Thou shalt ere long be free (v. 1. 86, 87). (c) They are used for exclamatory purposes. Thus we have exclamations: "All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!" (i. 1. 46); "Marvellous sweet music!" (iii. 3. 19). Addresses. Ay, sir" (i. 2. 268). 66 Orders. "Approach, my Ariel, come" (i. 2. 188). "Come, thou tortoise! when?" (i. 2. 316). "No tongue! all eyes! be silent" (iv. 1. 59). (d) They occur frequently through some interruption of the dialogue. Thus a line may be left incomplete because the following speaker has not heard it, e.g.: [They wake. Alon. Why, how now? ho, awake! Why are you drawn? or converses with a different person than the first speaker, Or ere your pulse twice beat. Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement (v. 1. 102-104); or interrupts the first speaker: Seb. But, for your conscience? Ant. Ay, sir; where lies that? if 't were a kibe (ii. 1. 265, 266). (ii) Extra stresses. Conversely there are lines with six stresses. These in The Tempest have generally a pause after the third foot, and are divided between two speakers, e.g.: Mir. And yours | it is | against. |_ Pros. and Poor worm, thou art | infect | ed! (iii. 1. 31); Alon. And with | him there | lie mud | ded. But one fiend at a time. §4. Apparent Variations. In addition to the real variations from the normal type of blank verse there are a number of apparent variations, due to differences of pronunciation between modern and Elizabethan English. These may be divided into Accentual and Syllabic. (i) Accentual Variations. There has been little change of accentuation in simple words, but in many compounds and (M 344) |