Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/871

 e, While I \ nodded, \ nearly \ napping, \ sudden\-ly there \ came a \ tapping, As of \ some one \ gently \ rapping, \ rapping \ at my \ chamber \ door. ''Tis some \ visit\-or,' I \ muttered, \ 'tapping \ at my \ chamber \ door&mdash; Only \ this, and \nothing \ more."

2.   Ah! dis\-tinctly \ I re\-member \ it was \ in the \ bleak De\-cember, And each \ sēpărăte \ dying \ ember \ wrought its \ ghost up\-on the \ floor; Eager\-ly I \ wished the \ morrow; \ vainly \ had I \ tried to \ borrow From my \ books sur\-cease of \ sorrow&mdash;\ sorrow \ for the \ lost Le\-nore&mdash; For the \ rare and \ rādĭănt \ maiden, \ whom the \ angels \ name Le\-nore&mdash; Nameless \ here for \ ever\-more."      EDGAR A. POE: American Review for February, 1845. Double rhymes being less common than single ones, in the same proportion, is this long verse less frequently terminated with a full trochee, than with a single long syllable counted as a foot. The species of measure is, however, to be reckoned the same, though catalectic. By Lindley Murray, and a number who implicitly re-utter what he teaches, the verse of six trochees, in which are twelve syllables only, is said "to be the longest Trochaic line that our language admits."&mdash;Murray's Octavo Gram., p. 257; Weld's E. Gram., p. 211. The examples produced here will sufficiently show the inaccuracy of their assertion.

Example II.&mdash;"The Shadow of the Obelisk."&mdash;Last two Stanzas. "Herds are \ feeding \in the \ Forum, \ as in \ old E\-vander's \ time:   Tumbled \ from the \ steep Tar \-peian \ every \ pile that \ sprang sub\-lime.    Strange! that \ what seemed \ most in\-constant \ should the \ most a\-biding \ prove;    Strange! that \what is \ hourly \ moving \ no mu\-tation \ can re\-move:    Ruined \ lies the \ cirque! the \ chariots, \ long a\-go, have \ ceased to \ roll&mdash;    E'en the \ Obe\-lisk is \ broken \&mdash;but the \ shadow \ still is \ whole.

9.

Out a \&mdash;las! if \ mightiest \ empires \ leave so \ little \ mark be\-hind, How much \ less must \ heroes \ hope for, \ in the \ wreck of \ human \ kind! Less than \ e'en this \ darksome \ picture, \ which I \ tread be\-neath my \ feet, Copied \ by a \ lifeless \ moonbeam \ on the \ pebbles \ of the \ street; Since if \ Cæsar's \ best am\-bition, \ living, \ was, to \ be re\-nowned, What shall \ Cassar \ leave be\-hind him, \ save the \ shadow \ of a \ sound?"       T. W. PARSONS: Lowell and Carter's "Pioneer," Vol. i, p. 120. Example III.&mdash;"The Slaves of Martinique."&mdash;Nine Couplets out of Thirty-six.   "Beams of \ noon, like \ burning \ lances, \ through the \ tree-tops \ flash and \ glisten, As she \ stands be\-fore her \ lover, \ with raised \ face to \ look and \ listen.

Dark, but \ comely, \ like the \ maiden \ in the \ ancient \ Jewish \ song, Scarcely \ has the \ toil of \ task-fields \ done her graceful \ beauty \ wrong.

He, the \ strong one, \ and the \ manly, \ with the \ vassal's \ garb and \ hue, Holding \ still his \ spirit's \ birthright, \ to his \ higher \ nature \ true;

Hiding \ deep the \ strengthening \ purpose \ of a \ freeman \ in his \ heart, As the \ Greegree \ holds his \ Fetish \ from the \ white man's \ gaze a\-part.

Ever \ foremost \ of the \ toilers, \ when the \ driver's \ morning \ horn Calls a\-way to \ stifling \ millhouse, \ or to \ fields of \ cane and \ corn;

Fall the \ keen and \ burning \ lashes \ never \ on his \ back or \ limb; Scarce with \ look or \ word of \ censure, \ turns the \ driver \ unto \ him.

Yet his \ brow is \ always \ thoughtful, \ and his \ eye is \ hard and \ stern; Slavery's \ last and \ humblest \ lesson \ he has \ never \ deigned to \ learn."

"And, at evening \ when his \ comrades \ dance be\-fore their \ master's \ door,   Folding arms and \ knitting \ forehead, \ stands he \ silent \ ever\-more.

God be \ praised for \ every instinct \ which re\-bels a\-gainst a \ lot Where the \ brute sur\-vives the \ human, \ and man's \ upright \ form is \ not!"       &mdash;J. G. WHITTIER: National Era, and other Newspapers, Jan. 1848. Example IV.&mdash;"The Present Crisis"&mdash;Two Stanzas out of sixteen.   "Once to \ every \ man and \ nation \ comes the \ moment \ to de\-cide, In the \ strife of \ Truth with \ Falsehood, \ for the \ good or \ evil \ side; Some great \ cause, God's \ new Mes\-siah, \ offering \ each the \ bloom or \ blight, Parts the \ goats up\-on the \ left hand, \ and the \ sheep up\-on the \ right, And the \ choice goes \ by for\-ever \'twixt that \ darkness \ and that \ light.