My fu\-gitive years \ are all hast\-ing away,
And I \ must ere long \ lie as low\-ly as they,
With a turf \ on my breast, \ and a stone \ at my head,
Ere anoth\-er such grove \ shall arise \ in its stead.
'Tis a sight \ to engage \ me, if an\-y thing can,
To muse \ on the per\-ishing pleas\-ures of man;
Though his life \ be a dream, \ his enjoy\-ments, I see,
Have a be\-ing less dur\-able e\-ven than he."
COWPER'S Poems, Vol. i, p. 257.
OBSERVATIONS.
- Everett avers, that, "The purely Anapestic measure is more easily constructed than the Trochee, [Trochaic,] and of much more frequent occurrence."—English Versification, p. 97. Both parts of this assertion are at least very questionable; and so are this author's other suggestions, that, "The Anapest is [necessarily] the vehicle of gayety and joy;" that, "Whenever this measure is employed in the treating of sad subjects, the effect is destroyed;" that, "Whoever should attempt to write an elegy in this measure, would be sure to fail;" that, "The words might express grief, but the measure would express joy;" that, "The Anapest should never be employed throughout a long piece;" because "buoyancy of spirits can never be supposed to last,"—"sadness never leaves us, BUT joy remains but for a moment;" and, again, because, "the measure is exceedingly monotonous."—Ibid., pp. 97 and 98.
- Most anapestic poetry, so far as I know, is in pieces of no great length; but Leigh Hunt's "Feast of the Poets," which is thrice cited above, though not a long poem, may certainly be regarded as "a long piece," since it extends through fifteen pages, and contains four hundred and thirty-one lines, all, or nearly all, of anapestic tetrameter. And, surely, no poet had ever more need of a metre well suited to his purpose, than he, who, intending a critical as well as a descriptive poem, has found so much fault with the versification of others. Pope, as a versifier, was regarded by this author, "not only as no master of his art, but as a very indifferent practiser."—Notes on the Feast of the Poets, p. 35. His "monotonous and cloying" use of numbers, with that of Darwin, Goldsmith, Johnson, Haley, and others of the same "school," is alleged to have wrought a general corruption of taste in respect to versification—a fashion that has prevailed, not temporarily,
"But ever since Pope spoil'd the ears of the town
With his cuckoo-song verses, half up and half down"—Ib. - Excessive monotony is thus charged by one critic upon all verse of "the purely Anapestic measure;" and, by an other, the same fault is alleged in general terms against all the poetry "of the school of Pope," well-nigh the whole of which is iambic. The defect is probably in either case, at least half imaginary; and, as for the inherent joyousness of anapestics, that is perhaps not less ideal. Father Humphrey says, "Anapæstic and amphibrachic verse, being similar in measure and movement, are pleasing to the ear, and well adapted to cheerful and humourous compositions; and sometimes to elegiac compositions, and subjects important and solemn."—Humphrey's English Prosody, p. 17.
- The anapest, the dactyl, and the amphibrach, have this in common,—that each, with one long syllable, takes two short ones. Hence there is a degree of similarity in their rhythms, or in their several effects upon the ear; and consequently lines of each order, (or of any two, if the amphibrachic be accounted a separate order,) are sometimes commingled. But the propriety of acknowledging an order of "Amphibrachic verse," as does Humphrey, is more than doubtful; because, by so doing, we not only recognize the amphibrach as one of the principal feet, but make a vast number of lines ambiguous in their scansion. For our Amphibrachic order will be made up of lines that are commonly scanned as anapestics—such anapestics as are diversified by an iambus at the beginning, and sometimes also by a surplus short syllable at the end; as in the following verses, better divided as in the sixth example above:
"Thĕre cāme tŏ \ thĕ bēach ă \ pŏor Exĭle \ ŏf Erĭn
The dew on \ his thin robe \ was heavy \ and chill:
Fŏr hĭs coūn\-trў hĕ sīghed, \ whēn ăt twī\-lĭght rĕpāir\-ĭng
To wander \ alone by \ the wind-beat\-en hill."
MEASURE II.—ANAPESTIC OF THREE FEET, OR TRIMETER.
Example I.—"Alexander Selkirk."—First Two Stanzas.
I.
"I am mon\-arch of all \ I survey,
My right \ there is none \ to dispute;
From the cen\-tre all round \ to the sea,
I am lord \ of the fowl \ and the brute.
O Sol\-itude! where \ are the charms
That sa\-ges have seen \ in thy face?
Better dwell \ in the midst \ of alarms,
Than reign \ in this hor\-rible place.
II.
I am out \ of human\-ity's reach,
I must fin\-ish my jour\-ney alone,
Never hear \ the sweet mu\-sic of speech,
I start \ at the sound \ of my own.
The beasts \ that roam o\-ver the plain,
My form \ with indif\-ference see;
They are so \ unacquaint\-ed with man,
Their tame\-ness is shock\-ing to me."
COWPER'S Poems, Vol. i, p. 199.
