IV TROCHAIC VERSE English poets have composed verses in this rhythm, of different lengths, from one foot to eight feet. Verses of one foot are rare, used mostly in lyrical poetry and mixed with longer verses, as in the following example. Through all the mazes of the grove, Through all the mingling tracks I rove, Túrning, Búrning, Changing, Ránging, Full of grief and full of love. ADDISON. Trochaic verses of one foot followed by an additional syllable are less rare. These also are generally mixed with longer verses, mostly in humorous poems. Here is an example, taken from Gay's Lilliputian ode to the Man Mountain, of a verse formed of a trochee followed by an accented syllable. Trochaic verses of two feet are scarcely found except in short lyrical pieces, where they are mixed with other measures, in serious or comic poetry : Hére's a ráscal Cóme to tásk all, Prýing | from the | cústom-house; Trúnks un pácking, Cáses | crácking, Nót a córner | fór a | móuse 'Scapes un séarched a míd the | rácket, Ere we sail on | board the | pácket. Rich the treasure, Sweet the pleasure; Sweet is pleasure | áfter | páin. BYRON. DRYDEN. Verses composed of two trochees followed by an accented syllable are, like the preceding, rarely used except in short lyrical pieces, intermixed with other verses. In the following passage they alternate with verses of three trochees : Crabbed |áge and | youth We have in this passage two trochaic verses of three feet followed by an accented syllable. and Youth is nímble, | áge is | láme, Youth is wild, and | áge is | táme. The following passage, taken from Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' affords us a beautiful specimen of this measure. Nów the hungry | líon | róars, And the wolf be|hówls the | móon; Nów the wasted | bránds do | glów, Whilst the scréech-owl |, scréeching | loud, Púts the wrétch that | líes in woe In re mémbrance of a shroud. Now it is the | tíme of | night That the graves áll | gáping | wide, Every one léts❘ fórth his sprite, In the church-way | páths to | glide, etc. There are a few irregularities in this passage the third foot of the eighth line, of a, is a pyrrhic. In the last line but one every is a dactyl, and one lets is a spondee; and the first foot of the last line, in the, is a pyrrhic. But these irregularities do not affect the harmony of the verse. This measure, as we have already observed, is often mixed with iambic verses of four feet (see page 32). We come now to trochaic verses of four feet. Longfellow has written a poem of considerable length, 'Hiawatha,' in verses of this measure. The following passage is taken from it. In the | vále of | Táwa|séntha, In the | gréen and | sílent | válley, Spread the méadows | and the | córn-fields, And beyond them | stood the forest, Stóod the groves of | sínging | pine-trees, Gréen in súmmer, | white in | winter, And the pleasant| wáter-courses, You could tráce them | through the | válley, In the green and | sílent | válley (1). In the fifteenth and sixteenth lines the feet white fog and black line are spondees. (1) Longfellow said that the metre in which this poem is written was suggested to him by the Spanish romances of the Cid. Trochaic verses of four feet with an additional accented syllable are little used. Here is a specimen of these verses, borrowed from The 'Vision of Sin,' by Lord Ten nyson. Thén me thought I|héard a | méllow | sound, There are four irregular verses in this passage, the second line begins with a dactyl, gathering; but it might be scanned as an iambic verse of five feet by dividing the word gathering after the second syllable and adding the final syllable ing to up, so as to form an iambus, the three remaining feet would then be iambuses, and the line would run thus: Gáther|ing úp | from áll | the lów|er gróund |. By a similar division of the word narrowing in the following line we should have another iambic verse of five feet with an additional unaccented syllable: Nárrowing in to where they sát | assém bled. The next verse Low voluptuous music, etc., is a regular trochaic verse of five feet. |