English poem, as in Drayton's Polyolbion; but, couplets of this length being generally esteemed too clumsy for our language, the Alexandrine has been little used by English versifiers, except to complete certain stanzas beginning with shorter iambics, or, occasionally, to close a period in heroic rhyme. French heroics are similar to this; and if, as some assert, we have obtained it thence, the original poem was doubtless a French one, detailing the exploits of the hero "Alexandre." The phrase, "an Alexandrine verse," is, in French, "un vers Alexandrin." Dr. Gregory, in his Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, copies Johnson's Quarto Dictionary, which says, "Alexandrine, a kind of verse borrowed from the French, first used in a poem called Alexander. They [Alexandrines] consist, among the French, of twelve and thirteen syllables, in alternate couplets; and, among us, of twelve." Dr. Webster, in his American Dictionary, improperly (as I think) gives to the name two forms, and seems also to acknowledge two sorts of the English verse: "ALEXAN'DRINE, or ALEXAN'DRIAN, n. A kind of verse, consisting of twelve syllables, or of twelve and thirteen alternately." "The Pet-Lamb," a modern pastoral, by Wordsworth, has sixty-eight lines, all probably meant for Alexandrines; most of which have twelve syllables, though some have thirteen, and others, fourteen. But it were a great pity, that versification so faulty and unsuitable should ever be imitated. About half of the said lines, as they appear in the poet's royal octave, or "the First Complete American, from the Last London Edition," are as sheer prose as can be written, it being quite impossible to read them into any proper rhythm. The poem being designed for children, the measure should have been reduced to iambic trimeter, and made exact at that. The story commences thus:
"The dew \ was fall\-ing fast, \ the stars \ began \ to blink;
I heard \ a voice; \ it said, \ 'Drink, pret\-ty crea\-ture, drink!'
And, look\-ing o'er \ the hedge, \ before \ me I \ espied
A snow\-white moun\-tain Lamb \ wīth ā Māid\-en at \ its side."
All this is regular, with the exception of one foot; but who can make any thing but prose of the following?
"Thy limbs will shortly be twice as stout as they are now,
Then I'll yoke thee to my cart like a pony in the plough."
"Here thou needest not dread the raven in the sky;
Night and day thou art safe,—our cottage is hard by."
Wordsworth's Poems, New-Haven Ed., 1836, p. 4.
In some very ancient English poetry, we find lines of twelve syllables combined in couplets with others of fourteen; that is, six iambic feet are alternated with seven, in lines that rhyme. The following is an example, taken from a piece of fifty lines, which Dr. Johnson ascribes to the Earl of Surry, one of the wits that flourished in the reign of Henry VIII:
"Such way\-ward wayes \ hath Love, \ that most \ part in \ discord,
Our willes \ do stand, \ whereby \ our hartes \ but sel\-dom do \ accord;
Decyte \ is hys \ delighte, \ and to \ begyle \ and mocke,
The sim \ ple hartes \ which he \ doth strike \ with fro\-ward di\-vers stroke.
He caus\-eth th' one \ to rage \ with gold\-en burn\-ing darte,
And doth \ allay \ with lead\-en cold, \ again \ the oth\-er's harte;
Whose gleames \ of burn\-ing fyre \ and eas\-y sparkes \ of flame,
In bal\-ance of \ ŭnē\-qual weyght \ he pon\-dereth \ by ame."
See Johnson's Quarto Dict., History of the Eng. Lang., p. 4.
MEASURE IV.—IAMBIC OF FIVE FEET, OR PENTAMETER.
Example I.—Hector to Andromache.
"Andrōm\-ăchē! \ mȳ sōul's \ făr bēt\-tĕr pārt,
Whȳ wĭth \ untime\-ly \ sor\-rows heaves \ thy heart?
No hos\-tile hand \ can an\-tedate \ my doom,
Till fate \ condemns \ me to \ the si\-lent tomb.
Fix'd is \ the term \ to all \ the race \ of earth;
And such \ the hard \ conditi\-on of \ our birth,
No force \ can then \ resist, \ no flight \ can save;
All sink \ alike, \ the fear\-ful and \ the brave."
Pope's Homer: Iliad, B. vi, l. 624-632.
Example II.—Angels' Worship.
"No soon\-er had \ th' Almight\-y ceas'd \ but all
The mul\-titude \ of an\-gels with \ a shout
Loud as \ from num\-bers with'\-out num\-ber, sweet
As from \ blest voi\-ces ut \ tĕr ĭng jōy, \ heav'n rung
With ju\-bilee, \ and loud \ hosan\-nas fill'd
Th' eter\-nal \ re\-gions; low\-ly rev\-erent
Tow'rds ei\-ther throne \ they bow, \ and to \ the ground
With sol\-emn ad\-ora\-tion down \ they cast
Their crowns \ inwove \ with am\-arant \ and gold."
Milton: Paradise Lost, B. iii, l. 344.
