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DIRECTIONS FOR READING VERSE.

The following excellent observations on this subject are from Walker's "Elements of Elocution."

"Whatever difficulties we may find in reading prose, they are greatly increased when the composition is in verse; and more particuarly if the verse be rhyme. The regularity of the feet, and the sameness of sound in rhyming verse, strongly solicits the voice to a sameness of tone; and tone, unless directed by a judicious ear, is apt to degenerate into a song, and a song, of all others, the most disgusting to a person of just taste. If, therefore, there are few who read prose with propriety, there are still fewer who succeed in verse: they either want that equable and harmonious flow of sound which distinguishes it from loose, unmeasured composition, or they have not a sufficient delicacy of ear to keep the harmonious smoothness of verse from sliding into a whining cant; nay, so agreeable is this cant to many readers, that a simple and natural des livery of verse seems tame and insipid, and much too familiar for the dignity of the language. So pernicious are bad habits in every exercise of the faculties, that they not only lead us to false objects of beauty and propriety, but at last deprive us of the very power of perceiving the mistake. For those, therefore, whose ears are not just, and who are totally deficient in a true taste for the music of poetry, the best method of avoiding this impropriety is to read verse exactly as if it were prose; for though this may be said to be an error, it is certainly an error on the safer side.

"To say, however, as some do, that the pronunciation of verse is entirely destitute of song, and that it is no more than a just pronunciation of prose, is as distant from truth, as the whining cant we have been speaking of, is from true poetic harmony. Poetry without song is a body without a soul. The tune of this song is, indeed, difficult to hit; but when once it is hit, it is sure to give the most exquisite pleasure. It excites in the hearer the most eager desire of imitation; and if this desire be not accompanied by a just taste or good instruction, it generally substitutes the tum ti, tum ti, as it is called, for simple, elegant, poetic harmony.

"It must however, be confessed that elegant readers of verse often verge so nearly on what is called sing song, without falling into it, that it is no wonder those who attempt to imitate them, slide into that blemish which borders so nearly on a beauty. And indeed, as an ingenious author observes, there is such an affinity between poetry and music, that they were in the earlier ages never separated; and though modern refinement has in a great measure destroyed this union, yet it is with some degree of difficulty, in rehearsing these divine compositions, that we forget the singing of the Muse.'*

"The truth is, the pronunciation of verse is a species of elocution very distinct from the pronunciation of prose: both of them have nature for their basis; but one is common, familiar, and practical nature; the other beautiful, elevated, and ideal nature; the latter as different from

*

Philosophical Essay on the Delivery of Written Language.

the former as the elegant step of a minuet is from the common motions in walking. Accordingly, we find, there are many who can read prose well, who are entirely at a loss for the pronunciation of verse.'

PRACTICAL RULES FOR READING VERSE.

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RULE I. The first general rule in reading VERSE is, that we ought to give it that measured and harmonious flow of sound which distinguishes it from PROSE, without falling into that bombastic and chanting pronunciation which renders it ridiculous.

RULE II. In verse every syllable should have the same accent, and every word the same emphasis, as in prose; for though the rhythmical arrangement of the accent and emphasis is the very definition of poetry, yet, if this arrangement tends to give an emphasis to words which would have none in prose, or an accent to such syllables as have properly no accent, the rhythmus, or music of the verse, must in such cases be entirely neglected. Thus the words or syllables marked in italics in the following sentences should have no accent or stress, though placed in that part of the verse where the ear requires it.

EXAMPLES.

1. Of all the causes which conspire to blind

Man's erring judgment and misguide the mind,
What the weak head with strongest bias rules,
Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools.

2. Ask of thy mother earth, why oaks are made
Taller and stronger than the weeds they shade.
3. Eye nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies,
And catch the manners living as they rise.
4. False eloquence, like the prismatic glass,
Its gaudy colours spreads on every place.
5. Their praise is still, the style is excellent:

The sense they humbly take upon, content.

In the first of the preceding sentences, for example, an injudicious reader of verse would be very apt to lay a stress upon the article the in the third line, because the ear, in conformity with the measure of the verse, expects an accented syllable in that position; but a good reader would be sure to disregard the metrical accent in this case, and give the word the pronunciation it would have in prose. The same may be observed with regard to the words and syllables marked in italics in the other examples.

In some cases, however, it seems judicious to make a kind of compromise between the metrical and prosaic accent, that is, so to pronounce the syllable that neither of them shall be predominant, thus

Our súpréme foe, in time may much relent.

Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing.

But in cases like the following, in which the poet has purposely violated the harmony of his numbers, in order to make the harshness of the words correspond to the ideas they suggest, no attempt should be made to rectify the metrical accentuation. On a sudden open fly,

With impetuous recoil, and jarring sound,

The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder!

RULE III.-The vowels e and o when omitted by apostrophe, should nevertheless be preserved in the pronunciation. And it will be easy to do this, both in these, and in many other cases, without increasing the number of syllables to the ear, or sensibly affecting the harmony of the verse.

EXAMPLES.

1. 'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill
Appear in writing or in judging ill;
But of the two less dang'rous is th' offence,
To tire our patience, than mislead our sense.
2. Say what the use, were finer optics given,
Tinspect a mite, not comprehend the heaven.
3. Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot,
To pour the fresh instruction on the mind,
To breathe th' enliv'ning spirit, and to fix
The gen'rous purpose in the glowing breast.
And had bade

4.

Thy flood to chronicle the ages back,

And notch His cent'ries in th' eternal rocks.

RULE IV.-Almost every line of verse admits of a pause in or near the middle of it, which is called the CESURA. * In reading verse this pause must be carefully observed, otherwise much of the distinctness, and almost all the harmony will be lost.

*The usual and best place for the cæsura is about the middle of the line, but it may occur in any part of it; and in some lines it does not occur at all, for if the sense forbids it, no pause should be made. The shorter kinds of measure are entirely without it.

EXAMPLES.

1. 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.

2. Our plenteous streams/ a various race supply;
The bright-eyed perch/ with fins of Tyrian dye;
The silver eel/ in shining volumes rolled;

The yellow carp/ in scales bedropped with gold.
3. So when an angel/ by divine command,

With rising tempests/ shakes a guilty land.

RULE V.-Though the sense may require no pause at the end of a line in poetry, there should notwithstanding be a slight pause made, so as to give notice that the line is ended. Such a pause is called the FINAL PAUSE; and in most cases, a slight protraction and suspension of the voice on the closing syllable will be sufficient to mark it.

EXAMPLES.

1. "Tis with our judgments as our watches; none/
Go just alike, yet each believes his own.

2. So much they hate the crowd, that if the throng/
By chance go right, they purposely go wrong.

3. And over them triumphant death his dart/
Shook, but delayed to strike.

4. At his command th' uprooted hills retired/

Each to his place; they heard his voice and went/
Obsequious; heaven his wonted face renewed,
And with pale flow'rets hill and valley smiled.

RULE VI.-Verses which rhyme should obviously be so read as to make the ends of the lines quite perceptible to the ear. With regard to the FINAL PAUSE in poetry Walker observes. "Mr. Sheridan in his 'Art of Reading' has insisted largely on the necessity of making a pause at the end of a line in poetry whether the sense requires it or not, which he says has hitherto escaped the observation of all writers on the subject; and this he observes is so necessary, that without it we change the verse into prose. It is with diffidence that I dissent from such an authority, especially as I have heard it approved by persons of great judgment and taste. I must own, however, that the necessity of this pause, where the sense does not require it, is not so evident to me as to remove every doubt about it."

*"I asked Dr. Louth, Mr. Garrick, and Dr. Johnson about the propriety of this pause, and they all agreed with Mr. Sheridan; but great names are nothing where the matter in question is open to experiment, and to this experiment I appeal."

RULE VII.-A SIMILE in poetry should be read in a lower tone of voice than that part of the passage which precedes it.

EXAMPLES.

"Twas then great Marlb'rough's mighty soul was proved,
That in the shock of charging hosts unmoved,
Amidst confusion, horror, and despair,
Examined all the dreadful scenes of war;
In peaceful thought the field of death surveyed,
To fainting squadrons sent the timely aid;
Inspired repulsed battalions to engage,
And taught the doubtful battle where to rage.
So when an angel by divine command,
With rising tempests shakes a guilty land,
(Such as of late o'er pale Britannia past,)
Calm and serene he drives the furious blast;
And pleased th' Almighty's order to perform,
Rides on the whirlwind, and directs the storm.

He above the rest,

In shape and gesture proudly eminent,
Stood like a tower. His form had not yet lost
All her original brightness, nor appeared
Less than archangel ruined, and the excess
Of glory obscured; as when the sun new risen
Looks through the horizontal misty air

Shorn of his beams: or from behind the moon
In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds

On half the nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes monarchs.

In the preceding example there are two similes in succession, the first beginning as when the sun; the second, or from behind the moon. The latter should be pronounced in a still lower tone than the former, and both nearly in a monotone. See page 62, b.

RULE VIII. In sublime, grand, and magnificent descriptions in poetry the voice has less variety of inflection, and is more inclined to the monotone.

EXAMPLES.

High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Inde,
Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand,
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted sat.

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