Te femper anteit dira neceffitas. Alcaic. Hor. Id. To this figure may be referred the changing of i and u into j and v, or pronouncing them in the fame fyllable with the following vowel; as in genva, tenvis; arjetat, tenvia, abjete, pitvita; parjetibus, Nafidjenus; for genua, tenuis, &c. as, Propterea qui corpus aquæ naturaque tenvis. Lucr. Præcipuè fanus, nifi cum pitvita molefta eft. Hor. 4. DIERESIS divides one fyllable into two; as, aulai, for aulæ; Tröiæ, for Troja; Perseus, for Perfeus; milüus, for milvus; folüit, for folvit; volüit, for volvit; aquæ, süetus, süafit, Süevos, relangüit, reliqüas, for aquæ, fuetus, &c. as, Aula in medio libabant pocula Bacchi. Virg. Stamina non ulli diffoluenda Deo. Pentam. Tibullus. Quæ calidum faciunt aqüæ tactum atque vaporem. Lucr. Ovid. Reliquas tamen effe vias in mente patenteis. Lucr. 5. SYSTOLE is when a long fyllable is made short; as the penult in tulerunt; thus, Matri longa decem tulĕrunt fastidia menses. Virg. 6. DIASTŎLE is when a fyllable ufually fhort is made long; as the last syllable in amor, in the following verse : Confidant, fi tantus amōr, et mania condant. To these may be fubjoined the Figures of Didion, as they are called, which are chiefly used by the poets, tho' fome of them likewife frequently occur in profe. 1. When a letter or fyllable is added to the beginning of a word, it is called PROSTHESIS: as, gnavus, for navus ; tetuli, for tuli. When a letter or fyllable is interpofed in the middle of a word, it is called EPENTHESIS; as, relligio, for religio; induperator, for imperator. When a letter or fyllable is added to the end, it is called PARAGŌGE; as, dicier, for dici. 2. If a letter or fyllable be taken from the beginning of a word, it is called APHERESIS; as, natus, for gnatus; tenderant, for tetenderant. If from the middle of a word, it is called SYNCOPE; as, dixti, for dixifli; deûm, for deoIf from the end, APOCOPE; as, viden', for videfne ; Antoni, for Antonii. rum. 3. When a letter or fyllable is tranfpofed, it is called METATHESIS; as, piftris, for priftis; Lybia, for Libya. When one letter is put for another, it is called ANTITHESIS; as, faciundum, for faciendum; elli, for illi; voltis, for vultis. DIFFERENT KINDS OF POEMS. Any work composed in verfe is called a Poem, (Poema or Carmen.} Poems are called by various names, from their subject, their form, the manner of treating the subject, and their style. 1. A poem on the celebration of a marriage is called an EPITHALAMIUM; on a mournful fubject, an ELEGY or LAMENTATION; in praise of the fupreme Being, a HYMN; in praife of any perfon or thing, a PANEGYRIC OR ENCOMIUM; on the vices of any one, a SATIRE OF INVECTIVE; a poem to be infcribed on a tomb, an EriTAPH, &C. 2. A fhort poem adapted to the lyre or harp, is called an ODE, whence fuch compofitions are called Lyric Poems: A poem in the form of a letter is called an EPISTLE; a fhort witty poem, playing on the fancies or conceits, which arife from any fubject, is called an EPIGRAM; as thofe of Catullus and Martial. A sharp, unexpected, lively turn of wit in the end of an epigram, is called its Point. A poem expreffing the moral of any device or picture, is called an EMBLEM. A poem containing an obfcure question to be explained, is called an ENIGMA or RIDDLE. When a character is described fo that the first letters of each verfe, and sometimes the middle and final letters, exprefs the name of the perfon or thing described, it is called an ACROSTIC; as the following on our Saviour; Inter cuncta micans I gniti fidera cœl I, 3. From the manner of treating a subject, a poem is either Exe getic, Dramatic, or Mixt. The Exegetic, where the poet always fpeaks himself, is of three kinds, Hiftorical, Didactic or Instructive, (as the Satire or Epistle ;) and Descriptive. Of the Dramatic, the chief kinds are COMEDY, reprefenting the actions of ordinary life, generally with a happy iffue; and TRAGEDY, representing the actions and diftreffes of illustrious perfonages, commonly with an unhappy iffue. To which may be added Paftoral Poems or BUCOLICS, representing the actions and converfations of fhepherds; as most of the eclogues of Virgil, The Mixt kind is where the poet fometimes fpeaks in his own person, and sometimes makes other characters to speak. Of this kind is chiefly the EPIC or HEROIC poem, which treats of fome one great tranfaction of fome great illuftrious perfon, with its various circumstances; as, the wrath of Achilles in the Iliad of Homer; the settlement of Æneas in Italy in the Æneid of Virgil; the fall of man in the Paradife Loft of Milton, &c. 4. The style of poetry, as of profe, is of three kinds, the simple,` ornate, and fublime. COMBINATION OF VERSES IN POEMS. In long poems there is commonly but one kind of verfe ufed. Thus Virgil, Lucretius, Horace in his Satyres and Epiftles, Ovid in his Metamorphofis, Lucan, Silius Italicus, Valerius Flaccus, Juvenal, &c. always ufe Hexameter verfe: Plautus, Terence, and other writers of Comedy, generally use the Iambic, and fometimes the Trochaic. It is chiefly in fhorter poems, particularly those which are called Lyric poems, as the Odes of Horace and the Pfalms of Buchanan, that various kinds of verse are combined. A Poem which has only one kind of verfe, is called by a Greek name, MONOCOLON, fc. poema v. carmen; or MONOCOLOS, fc. ode that which has two kinds, DicoLON; and that which has three kinds of verfe, Trico LON. If the fame fort of verfe return after the fecond line, it is called DiCOLON DISTROPHON; as when a fingle Pentameter is alternately placed after an Hexameter, which is named Elegiac verfe (carmen Elegiacum,) because it was first applied to mournful fubjects; thus, Flebilis indignos, Elegëia, folve capillos; Ah! nimis ex vero nunc tibi nomen erit. Ovid. This kind of verfe is used by Ovid in all his other works except the Metamorphofes; and alfo for the most part by Tibullus, Propertius, &c. When a poem confifts of two kinds of verfe, and after three lines returns to the first, it is called Dicolon Triflrăphon; when after four lines, Dicolon Tetraftrophon; as, When a poem confists of three kinds of verfe, and af ter three lines always returns to the firft, it is called Tri colon Triftrophon; but if it returns after four lines, it is called Tricolon Tetraftrophon; as when after two greater dactylic alcaic verfes are fubjoined an archilochian iambic and a leffer dactylic alcaic, which is named the Carmen Horatianum, or Horatian verfe, because frequently ufed by Horace; thus, Virtus recludens immeritis mori Cœlum, negatâ tentat iter viâ; Spernit humum fugiente pennâ. Any one of these parts of a poem, in which the different kinds of verfe are comprehended, when taken by itfelf, is called a Strophe, Stanza, or Staff. DIFFERENT kinds of VERSE in HORACE and BUCHANAN. I. ODES and PSALMS of one kind of Verse. 1. Afclepiadean, See N° 3, page 272. Hor. I. 1. IV. 8. III. 30-Buch. Pf. 28, 40, 80. 2. Choriambic Alcaic Pentameter, confifting of a spondee, three choriambuses, and a pyrrychius or iambus: Hor. I. 11. 18. IV. 10. 3. Iambic trimeter, N° 11.-Hor. Epod. 17.-Buch. Pf. 25, 94, 106. 4. Hexameter, N° 1. Hor. Satyres and Epiftles. Buch. Pf. 1, 18, 45, 78, 85, 89, 104, 107, 132, 135. 5. Iambic Dimeter, N° 12.-Buch. Pf. 13, 31, 37, 47, 52, 54, 59, 86, 96, 98, 117, 148, 149, 150. 6. The Greater Dadylic Alcaic, N° 8.-Buch. Pf. 26, 29, 32, 49, 61, 71, 73, 143. 7. Trochaic, çonfifting of feven trochees and a fyllable; admitting alfo a tribrachys in the uneven places, i. e. in the first, third, fifth, and feventh foot; and in the even places, a tribrachys, fpondee, dactyle, and anapestus,Buch. Pf. 105, 119, 124, 129. 8. Anapeftic, confifting of four anapestuses, admitting alfo a fpondee or dactyle; and in the laft place, fometimes a tribrachys, amphimăcer, or trochee.-PL 113. |