,,rhymes ,,and ,,meters ,a ,,practical ,,manual ,,for ,,versifiers ,,by ,,horatio ,,winslow ,,the ,,editor ,,publishing ,,company ,deposit1 ,n4 ,y4 #aiji ,,copyright1 #aijf1 ,,by ,,the ,,editor ,,publishing ,,company ,,the ,,outing ,,press ,,deposit1 ,n4 ,y4 ,,preface ,throughout the following pages verse stands for any kind of metrical composition as distinguished from prose4 ,it is not used as a synonym for poetry4 ,though most poetry is in verse form1 most verse is not poetry4 ,the ability to write verse can be acquired2 only a poet can write poetry4 ,at the same time1 even a poet must learn to handle his verse with some degree of skill or his work is apt to fall very flat1 and the mere verse writer who cannot rhyme correctly and fit his lines together in meter had much better stick to prose4 ,this book has been compiled with one end in view3 to arrange in a convenient and inexpensive form the fundamentals of verse--enough for the student who takes up verse as a literary exercise or for the older verse writer who has fallen into a rut or who is a bit shaky on theory4 ,it is even hoped that there may be a word of help for some embryo poet4 ,in construction the plan has been to suggest rather than to explain in detail and as far as possible to help the reader to help himself4 ,no verse has been quoted except where the illustration of a point made it necessary4 ,with the increasing number of libraries it ought to be an easy matter for any one to refer to most of the lesser verse writers as well as all the standard poets4 ,,contents ,,chapter ,i ,,verse ,,making ,,in ,,general #i ,,chapter ,,ii ,,meter #ag ,,chapter ,,iii ,,rhyme #be ,,chapter ,,iv ,,stanza ,,forms #ca ,,chapter ,v ,,subtleties ,,of ,,versification #cg ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,quatrain ,,and ,,sonnet #de ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,ballade ,,and ,,other ,,french ,,forms #ec ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,song #fg ,,chapter ,,ix ,,types ,,of ,,modern ,,verse #ge ,,chapter ,x ,,verse ,,translation #he ,,chapter ,,xi ,,about ,,reading #ic ,,chapter ,,xii ,,hints ,,for ,,beginners #aja ,,appendix 7a7 ,,the ,,verse ,,market #aaa 7b7 ,,suggestions ,,for ,,reading #aad ,i ,,verse ,,making ,,in ,,general ,,chapter ,i ,,verse ,,making ,,in ,,general ,it is scarcely necessary to write a defense of verse making4 ,as a literary exercise it has been recommended and practiced by every well-known ,english writer and as a literary asset it has been of practical value at one time or another to most of the authors of to-day4 ,indirectly it helps one's prose and is an essential to the understanding of the greatest literature4 ,the fact that courses in ,poetics have been established at all the large universities shows the interest which verse making has aroused in ,america4 ,in ,england the ability to write metrical verse has long been considered one of the component parts of the education of a university man4 ,looked at from the purely practical side1 even though not a single line be sold1 verse making has its value4 ,it strengthens the vocabulary2 teaches niceness in the choice of words2 invigorates the imagination and disciplines the mind far more than a dozen times the amount of prose4 ,but1 though careful verse is much more difficult to write than careful prose1 slipshod verse is not worth the ink that shapes it4 ,in taking up verse writing the student must solemnly resolve on one thing3 to consider no composition complete until it proves up--until the rhymes and meter are perfect4 ,this perfection is not as unattainable as it sounds1 for the laws of rhyme and meter are as fixed as the laws of the ,medes and the ,persians4 ,any one may not be able to write artistic verse1 but any one can write true verse1 and the only way to make a course in verse writing count is to live up to all the rules2 to banish all ideas of poetic license2 to write and rewrite till the composition is as near perfect as lies in one1 and finally to lay aside and rewrite again4 ,after the line scans and the rhymes are proved should come the effort to put the thought clearly4 ,it is often hard to say what one means in prose4 ,it is harder in verse4 ,in fact1 one of the greatest difficulties any verse maker can overcome is the tendency to be obscure in his meaning4 ,with the surmounting of this obstacle comes simplicity of diction2 to present the thought without superfluous words2 to avoid the threadbare phrases and to put the idea in a new way and yet in plain speech4 ,how far the verse maker will go in clearness and simplicity depends largely on his natural good taste and discrimination4 ,the better he is able to appreciate the work of others the better his own will become1 and this appreciation1 though it cannot be created1 can be cultivated as well as good manners4 ,to-day more than ever before good reading is one of the prime essentials to good writing4 ,stevenson has recommended imitation as a road to originality and few have disagreed with him on this point4 ,it is undoubtedly easier to write a sonnet if one is familiar with ,wordsworth or to write a ballade if one has read ,dobson4 ,at the same time to be of value the imitation must be done broadly and systematically4 ,the artist does not learn to draw by copying ,gibson heads nor the verse maker to write by diluting ,kipling4 ,an imitation should always be made with the idea of reproducing some one quality which the imitator wishes to develop in himself2 the verse maker should copy not one style but many1 and aim at methods rather than mannerisms4 ,for a first step in imitation it is well to select a subject akin to the original and follow the author's construction and trend of thought as closely as possible4 ,for instance1 there is a sonnet on ,milton--write a companion sonnet on ,shakespeare or ,dante4 ,match stanzas to ,washington with similar stanzas to ,lincoln or ,cromwell or any other character who can be treated in the same general manner4 ,gray's ,elegy in a ,country ,churchyard suggests other elegies in other churchyards4 ,one may even parody a poem--not broadly1 line for line in the ,american fashion--but in the more delicate ,calverley way1 which applies the spirit and meter of the poem to a lighter subject4 ,one must imitate before one can originate1 but haphazard imitation leads nowhere4 ,in conclusion it may be said that verse making is no mystic art hidden from the many4 ,it is to be acquired by any one who is willing to work at it steadily and consistently4 ,first1 a start in the right direction1 and then practice--practice--practice4 ,nothing dashed off or turned out1 but every composition saved from the wastebasket made-- ,correct in construction1 ,clear in thought1 ,simple in diction4 ,,ii ,,meter ,,chapter ,,ii ,,meter ,a metrical composition is divided into lines1 each line containing a definite number of syllables4 ,these syllables are grouped by twos and threes into feet which1 by their makeup1 determine the meter or movement of the line4 ,meter in ,english verse is built up through accent alone1 but1 though this principle differs entirely from that of the ancients1 who depended on the length of the syllable1 we still cling to the names with which they distinguished the different feet4 ,it will be discovered that by combining accented and unaccented syllables into groups of two1 three and four an immense variety of feet can be produced4 ,in fact the ,roman poets made use of about thirty4 ,in ,english verse we disregard the four-syllabled foot altogether and make use only of the two and three syllabled4 ,those commonly accepted are3 ,iambus u- ,dactyl -uu ,trochee -u ,anapest uu- ,spondee -- ,amphimacer -u- ,amphibrach u-u ,the dash stands for the accented syllable4 ,an idea of the use of these meters in verse may be gained from the following examples3 ,,iambic u -- u ---- u -- u - u ----- ,from low to high doth dis solu tion climb u - u ---- u - u - u -- ,and sink from high to low along a scale4 ,,trochaic ---- u --- u -- u -- u ,tell us1 ,master1 of thy wisdom -- u --- u ---- u ---- u ,ere the chains of darkness bind thee4 ,,dactyllic ---- u u -- u u ,take her up tenderly -- u u -- ,lift her with care4 ,,anapestic u u ---- u u -- u u ---- u ,if he talks of his bak ing or brew ing u u ----- u u --- u u --- ,if he comes to you rid ing a cob4 ,a line of spondees is rarely found in our ,english because a succession of accented syllables is almost impossible with us and the amphimacer and amphibrach are seldom more than secondary feet in a dactyllic or anapestic line4 ,where more than one combination of syllables is used the line takes its name from the foot predominating4 ,as to number1 the feet in a single line are practically unlimited though one rarely comes across a line containing more than eight4 ,lines of three and four are more common4 ,indeed1 in some lyrical poems we have lines made up of a single syllable4 ,the classic names for lines of varying length are perhaps necessary4 ,the line of two feet is a dimeter2 three--trimeter2 four--tetrameter2 five--pentameter2 six--hexameter2 seven--heptameter and eight--octameter4 ,thus ,pope's ,iliad is written in iambic pentameter1 in lines made up of five iambics2 and ,longfellow's ,hiawatha is trochaic tetrameter1 each line containing four trochees4 ,it will be noticed that many lines lack the syllable or two necessary to complete the last foot4 ,for instance3 -- u -- u -- u -- u ,airly ,beacon ,airly ,beacon1 - u ---- u -- u --- ,o the pleasant sight to see4 and -- u u --- u u ---- ,ah but things more than po lite4 ,this privilege of ending in the middle of a foot is in no way a poetic license but lends a flexibility to the use of all meters which would otherwise be wofully lacking4 ,again we find1 especially in dactyllic and anapestic lines1 a trochee or spondee thrown in to vary the movement4 ,in this anapestic line the meter is varied by a spondee3 u u -- --- ---- u u --- u u --- ,not a drum was heard not a fun eral note4 ,this insertion of a foot is always allowable if it helps the proper movement of the line and if it is put in voluntarily4 ,with a beginner whose ear is none too well trained it is better to try only pure lines--lines made up of but one kind of foot4 ,in this way the false extra syllable or foot is sooner found out and corrected4 ,a first-class exercise is to write verse without rhyme or very much reason1 whose only virtue shall be lines of exact length with meter regular to the verge of singsongness4 ,as an exercise1 too1 it is helpful to take a dozen lines or more of good verse and break them up into feet4 ,the greatest poets are not necessarily the best for this purpose1 owing to the irregularity of much of their work4 ,it is better for the beginner to steer clear of ,browning and try the simpler and more regular constructions of ,dobson and ,praed4 ,,iii ,,rhyme ,,chapter ,,iii ,,rhyme ,the rhyme most commonly used in verse is the single rhyme--the rhyme of one syllable4 ,a single rhyme is perfect when the rhymed syllables are accented2 when the vowel sounds and the following consonant sounds are identical and when the preceding consonant sounds are different4 ,less rhymes with mess and caress but not with unless1 because in this last case the preceding consonant sounds are the same4 ,it will rhyme with bless because the b and l are so joined that the combined sound differs from the simple l of less4 ,less does not rhyme with best because the t makes the concluding consonant sounds unlike4 ,nor does it rhyme with abbess because the accent in this word falls on the first syllable4 ,a double or triple rhyme follows in construction the rules laid down for the single rhyme4 ,the accents must be alike2 the preceding consonants must differ and the vowels and the remaining syllables of the words be identical4 ,double goes perfectly with trouble and bubble1 while charity1 clarity and rarity all rhyme4 ,the spelling of a word does not affect its rhyming use4 ,it is rhymed as it is pronounced4 ,move and prove do not rhyme with love--all the poets in ,christendom to the contrary4 ,neither does come rhyme with home4 ,the pronunciation is all in all and that must be decided not by local usage but by some standard authority4 ,there are1 however1 certain words which have one pronunciation in prose and another in poetry4 ,for instance1 said1 again and wind4 ,it is permissible to take advantage of this special pronunciation and rhyme them with raid1 lain and blind4 ,to be strict is better than to be lax in pronunciation and it is absolutely necessary to rise above provincialism4 ,maria is not a rhyming companion for fire except in dialect verse1 though this pairing sounds natural enough in some localities4 ,in a piece of verse it is best not to have the same vowel sounds too close to one another in adjacent rhyming words4 ,lines ending fain1 made1 pain1 laid would1 of course1 be correct1 but the similar vowel sounds cause a lack of variety4 ,an arrangement such as through1 made1 drew1 laid would be better4 ,nothing disgusts the reader of verse more than an imperfect rhyme4 ,if one is anxious to write well he should make it his business to see that every rhyme is absolutely right before a manuscript leaves his hands4 ,whatever sins may be original with a versifier at least he has no excuse for an unmetrical line or an untrue rhyme4 ,to acquire facility in rhyming it is necessary to write much and to try all styles of endings from the single rhyme to the triple4 ,as good practice as any will be found in the use of the ,french forms described in ,chapter ,,vii4 ,but above all one must avoid the rhyming dictionary4 ,when the verse maker once gets the habit of referring to its pages there is more hope for the amateur popular song writer than for him4 ,better to think half an hour and get the right word one's self than to tread the primrose path of the rhyming dictionary4 ,it has one use1 nevertheless1 which is perhaps allowable4 ,there are certain words1 such as chimney1 scarf1 crimson1 window1 widow1 and others which have no rhyme4 ,to ascertain whether a word belongs to this class or not the dictionary is useful1 though still a trifle dangerous4 ,verse makers will rejoice to hear that month1 once a prominent figure in this non-rhyming company1 has fallen from the ranks4 ,a new variety of butterfly has been named the monolunth4 ,,iv ,,stanza ,,forms ,,chapter ,,iv ,,stanza ,,forms ,roughly speaking1 the stanza in verse corresponds to the paragraph in prose4 ,it is a fixed division of the composition containing a certain number of lines arranged in a certain rhyming order4 ,very often each stanza contains a distinct and rounded thought1 such as is found in a paragraph1 though this plan of construction is not universally followed by any means4 ,in sharp dramatic verse one must use a simple stanza form built so that each thought ends with the last word of the last line4 ,but when the movement is languid the meter and stanza form may be more intricate and it is sometimes best to let the thought flow from one stanza to another without even the jerk of the period4 ,the effect to be produced is everything and should determine not only the stanza to be used but the details of the treatment as well4 ,the great poet can bend any meter or stanza form to his use1 as witness ,thomas ,hood with his galloping stanzas in the ,bridge of ,sighs1 but an ordinary mortal must produce his effects more obviously4 ,the greater skill one has the greater liberties one can take in his choice of materials1 just as a clever after-dinner speaker may say many things which from a less tactful person would be deemed offensive4 ,thomas ,hood can write his dirges in dactylics with triple rhymes1 but we must model ours on ,gray's ,elegy or ,in ,memoriam4 ,still the variety of stanzas is so large that one should be able to fit almost any verse mood without the necessity of inventing a new form or turning an old one out of its beaten track4 ,there are little dimeter couplets like ,herrick's3 ,there thou shalt be ,high priest to me4 ,and there is the three-line stanza in many forms1 of which this from ,landor is an example3 ,children1 keep up that harmless play1 ,your kindred angels plainly say ,by ,god's authority ye may4 ,and the four-line stanza--its name is legion4 ,the whole question resolves itself into the suitability of the form to the matter4 ,the vehicle which carries the thought best is the one to be selected4 ,the more appropriate the construction of the poem--the rhymes1 the meter and the stanza--the better it will carry out the writer's intention4 ,instead of hampering his thought it will assist it4 ,as a means of becoming acquainted with the wide resources which wait the verse maker1 the student should copy and imitate every stanza form not familiar to him4 ,in this way he will learn for himself why the ,spenserian stanza used by ,keats in his ,eve of ,st4 ,agnes is good for one sort of narrative and why the ballad stanza used by ,coleridge in his ,ancient ,mariner is good for another2 why one sort of stanza sings merrily and why another is fitted for funeral hymns4 ,best of all1 he will learn that he does not have to choose among long meter1 short meter and ,hallelujah meter1 but that an almost indefinite field lies open for him4 ,also he will discover that it is not necessary to create a new stanza form in order to write a great poem4 ,the sonnet1 at which every poet has thrummed1 still waits for a new master1 and the ,recessional1 perhaps the greatest poem of the last quarter century1 was written in one of the simplest and oldest of stanzas4 ,v ,,subtleties ,,of ,,versification ,,chapter ,v ,,subtleties ,,of ,,versification ,the more one writes the better he becomes acquainted with what might be called the tricks of the trade4 ,these tricks1 helps1 or devices can be explained only in a general way4 ,most of them each verse maker must learn for himself1 but there are some broader strokes which can be more easily traced and pointed out and which are governed by fixed rules4 ,perhaps the most noticeable of these is alliteration4 ,by alliteration is meant the succession of two or more words whose initial sounds are identical or very similar4 ,the rich1 ripe rose as with incense streams is a good example4 ,through alliteration certain effects are produced which would otherwise be impossible4 ,instances will occur to every reader4 ,to quote only one example3 ,when dandelions fleck the green ,and robins' songs throb through the trees4 ,in these two lines by ,william ,allen ,white1 the two ths1 though out of place in most verse1 here express the throbbing idea perfectly4 ,alliteration at the beginning of accented syllables is very useful in humorous verse1 helping along the rhythm and binding the lines together4 ,the use of onomatopoetic words1 words whose sound signifies the sense1 is so common that we seldom give it a thought4 ,we have the splash of water2 the bang of a gun2 the crackle of branches and so on indefinitely4 ,in verse this idea is carried a step farther4 ,lines are constructed not only with the purpose of conveying a given idea1 as in prose1 but with the additional end of strengthening this idea and impressing it on the mind of the reader through the choice and arrangement of the words4 ,up a high hill he heaves a huge round stone4 ,in this the successive h sounds suggest the hard breathing and labor of the ascent4 ,browning imitates the sound of galloping in the meter of his ride from ,ghent to ,aix4 ,i sprang to the stirrup and ,joris and he1 ,i galloped1 ,dirck galloped1 we galloped all three4 ,tennyson is full of such turns as this3 ,where lay the bones of ancient men1 ,old knights1 and over them the sea-wind sang1 ,shrill1 chill1 with flakes of foam4 ,the two words certainly give a most wonderful impression of the shriek of the cold sea-wind4 ,instances of this sort might be added indefinitely but these are enough to give the general idea4 ,as a rule the best use of any device of this purpose is served when it is not too apparent2 when it produces the effect without calling attention to the means4 ,in a certain sort of languishing verse of the mystical type an effect of quaintness and dreaminess is produced by emphasizing the last syllables of words whose accent by right falls on a previous syllable4 ,this is done by pairing them with pronounced rhymes4 ,for instance1 tears rhymes with barriers1 her with well-water and so on4 ,it must be understood that1 as an attempt to rhyme1 this sort of thing is not to be countenanced1 but it is perfectly allowable when it is used to obtain a certain effect4 ,take this stanza from ,whitman's ,song of the ,broad-,axe1 one of the few specimens we have of his attempts at rhyme and meter4 ,it is a true barbaric chant whose full-mouthed syllables reproduce in little the blows of the axe4 ,weapon shapely1 naked1 wan1 ,head from the mother's bowels drawn1 ,wooded flesh and metal bone1 limb only one and lip only one1 ,gray blue leaf by red-heat grown1 helve produced from a little seed sown1 ,resting the grass amid and upon1 ,to be leaned and to lean on4 ,though our ,english verse largely disregards the quantity or length of a syllable1 in some lines this must be considered as well as accent4 ,a light meter and stanza may very easily be spoiled by the introduction of a too-strong word4 ,for instance1 gnarled1 strength1 thrust1 and so on are very much longer than may1 well1 the1 for1 and many other of the one-syllabled words4 ,when a line scans correctly but somehow sounds wrong1 in nine cases out of ten the fault can be traced to a long syllable that should have been short or a short syllable that should have been long4 ,,vi ,,the ,,quatrain ,,and ,,sonnet ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,quatrain ,,and ,,sonnet ,the ,quatrain ,in the seventeenth century the quatrain was a favorite tool of the old ,english writers who wished to embody a stinging epigram or epitaph in verse4 ,the works of ,robert ,herrick contain several1 most of them1 unfortunately1 not fit for print4 ,nor was he the only unblushing exponent of the questionable quatrain4 ,but times have changed and like everything else the quatrain has grown respectable4 ,from the disuse and misuse into which it had fallen the modern magazine editor rescued it and by creating a market revived the art of quatrain making4 ,to-day sometimes the four lines are descriptive2 again they contain a kindly or clever epigram1 or perhaps an unexpected twist at the end that makes for a joke4 ,the average quatrain is in iambic pentameter with alternate lines rhyming4 ,sometimes the first and fourth lines rhyme and the second and third1 and occasionally one sees a detached ,omaric stanza4 ,it all depends upon the thought and the way it is to be expressed4 ,one thing is certain1 that the quatrain because of its very brevity demands more care and polishing than a longer piece of verse4 ,the thought must not only be concise and clearly expressed but the four lines must contain nothing else4 ,the following example by ,frank ,dempster ,sherman not only describes this form of verse but is an excellent quatrain in itself3 ,hark at the lips of this pink whorl of shell ,and you shall hear the ocean's surge and roar3 ,so in the quatrain's measure1 written well ,a thousand lines shall all be sung in four4 ,the ,sonnet ,it is the ambition of many a versifier to be known as a maker of sonnets4 ,doubtless this love for the form is prompted not only by its possibilities but even more by its traditions4 ,shakespeare1 ,milton1 ,wordsworth and ,rossetti1 to mention only a few of the celebrated names1 were masters of the sonnet1 though it must be said that the version used by the earlier ,english writers was not the one we know to-day4 ,shakespeare's seventy-third sonnet may serve as a fair example of the arrangement of the lines in the early ,elizabethan period1 though even in his day the present rhyming order was passing gradually into use4 ,that time of year thou may'st in me behold ,when yellow leaves or few or none do hang ,upon the boughs which shake against the cold1 ,bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang4 ,in me thou see'st the twilight of such day ,as after sunset fadeth in the west1 ,which by and by black night doth take away1 ,death's second self that seals up all in rest4 ,in me thou see'st the glowing of such fire ,that on the ashes of his youth doth lie1 ,as the death bed whereon it must expire1 ,consumed with that which it was nourished by4 ,this thou perceivest which makes thy love more strong1 ,to love that well which thou must leave ere long4 ,this fourteen lines1 as an examination will discover1 might be written in three four-line stanzas with an additional two lines as an epigrammatic envoy4 ,in fact it can scarcely be called a sonnet at all1 and the last two lines come out with such force as to offend the ear accustomed to the more modern form4 ,the sonnet by ,keats1 ,on ,first ,looking into ,chapman's ,homer1 is an excellent illustration of the change in the rhyming system and emphasis4 ,much have ,i travelled in the realms of gold1 ,and many goodly states and kingdoms seen2 ,round many western islands have ,i been ,which bards in fealty to ,apollo hold4 ,oft of one wide expanse had ,i been told ,that deep-browed ,homer ruled as his demesne3 ,yet did ,i never breathe its pure serene ,till ,i heard ,chapman speak out loud and bold3 ,then felt ,i like some watcher of the skies ,when a new planet swims into his ken2 ,or like stout ,cortez when with eagle eyes ,he stared at the ,pacific--and all his men ,looked at each other with a wild surmise-- ,silent1 upon a peak in ,darien4 ,the first eight lines rhyme3 a1 b1 b1 a1 a1 b1 b1 a2 the last six3 c1 d1 c1 d1 c1 d4 ,thus the sonnet halts only at one place1 the interval between the eighth and the sixth lines1 where the rest is welcome1 while the emphasis1 instead of coming out so brazenly at the end1 reaches its climax in the next to the last line1 dying away gradually4 ,the order of the eight lines in the modern sonnet is almost invariably unchanged1 but the sestet is varied as the movement of the thought dictates4 ,as to sonnet construction little can be said here or1 if one wished to go into detail1 so much could be said that it would fill this volume a dozen times4 ,keats1 ,wordsworth and ,rossetti1 to say nothing of a dozen or more modern sonneteers1 are safe models to follow4 ,one trifling suggestion seems in order4 ,there are so many really good sonnets now that a second-rate production is a drug on the market4 ,except as an exercise it is altogether superfluous4 ,a first-class sonnet must be grounded first on an idea and then rewritten and worked over until the idea has found a fit setting4 ,commonplaceness either in the idea or its expression is alike fatal4 ,,vii ,,the ,,ballade ,,and ,,other ,,french ,,forms ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,ballade ,,and ,,other ,,french ,,forms ,the ,anglo ,saxons were a hard-drinking race whose bards chanted interminable battle songs to tables of uncritical1 mead-filled heroes4 ,as a result the ,english language grew up without many of the finer points of verse and bare especially of all fixed forms4 ,it was this latter lack which ,austin ,dobson sought to supply by imitating in ,english the ballade1 triolet1 villanelle and other verse arrangements at that time used only by the ,french and not very generally among them4 ,the ,ballade ,of these the ballade is the best known1 and ,dobson's ,ballade of the ,pompadour's ,fan is subjoined as one of the most popular and most easily imitated4 ,chicken skin1 delicate1 white1 ,painted by ,carlo ,van ,loo1 ,loves in a riot of light1 ,roses and vaporous blue2 ,hark to the dainty frou-frou6 ,picture above if you can ,eyes that would melt like the dew-- ,this was the ,pompadour's fan6 ,see how they rise at the sight1 ,thronging the ,o,eil de ,boeuf through1 ,courtiers as butterflies bright1 ,beauties that ,fragonard drew2 ,talon rouge1 falbala1 queue1 ,cardinal ,duke1--to a man1 ,eager to sigh or to sue1-- ,this was the ,pompadour's fan4 ,ah1 but things more than polite ,hung on this toy1 voyez vous6 ,matters of state and of might1 ,things that great ministers do4 ,things that maybe overthrew ,those in whose brains they began2 ,here was the sign and the cue1-- ,this was the ,pompadour's fan4 ,,envoy ,where are the secrets it knew8 ,weavings of plot and of plan8 ,but where is the ,pompadour1 too8 ,this was the ,pompadour's fan4 ,it will be noticed that there are but three rhyming sounds1 also that the last line of the first stanza is repeated as the last line of the other two and the envoy4 ,the lines rhyme together a1 b1 a1 b1 b1 c1 b1 c1 in each stanza and in the envoy b1 c1 b1 c4 ,the most frequent rhyme occurs fourteen times2 the next six and the c rhyme five4 ,with the exception of the refrain there is no repetition of rhymes in the proper ballade4 ,even ,dobson's use of cue and queue is1 in the strictest sense1 an error4 ,with its difficult rhymes the ballade is an excellent school in which to learn smooth-flowing verse4 ,if one is able to write a simple and natural ballade the ordinary stanza forms will appear ridiculously easy4 ,but the ballade has two bugbears3 the first the refrain which refuses to come in naturally1 and the second the envoy which insists on appearing as a disjointed after thought4 ,the refrain in a good ballade makes its bow each time with a slight change in the significance and comes in not because it has been predestined for the end of the stanza1 but because it is the only combination of words possible to round out the eight lines4 ,the envoy contains the gist of the whole matter and at the same time must be written to be read not as an appendix but as a component part of the ballade4 ,it must always come out with a ring that leaves the spirit of the verse stamped on the reader's mind4 ,for overcoming these two bugbears--practice will conquer the most recalcitrant refrain and one may often circumvent an envoy by writing it first4 ,when the sound chosen for the most frequent rhyme has but some sixteen or seventeen companion words an envoy written in the beginning will save much pondering later4 ,it is easier to fit the unused rhymes into an eight-line stanza than into a four-line envoy1 especially when the four lines are called on to sum up the thought of the whole production and give a clever turn to it as well4 ,the ,rondeau ',in teacup times6' ,the style of dress ,would suit your beauty1 ,i confess4 ,belinda-like the patch you'd wear2 ,i picture you with powdered hair1-- ,you'd made a splendid shepherdess6 ,and ,i1 no doubt1 could well express ,sir ,plume's complete conceitedness1-- ,could poise a clouded cane with care ',in teacup times4' ,the parts would fit precisely--yes3 ,we should achieve a huge success6 ,you should disdain and ,i despair ,with quite the true ,augustan air2 ,but 444 could ,i love you more or less1-- ',in teacup times'8 ,the rondeau's difficulties lie in its two-rhyme limitation and the handling of the refrain4 ,this refrain either rounds the stanzas beautifully or else plays dog in the manger with the sense4 ,in the common form of the rondeau it is made up of the first four syllables of the first line and is repeated after the eighth and thirteenth lines4 ,a simpler form of the rondeau devised or at least introduced by ,austin ,dobson is to be found in the ,may ,book4 ,this gives an idea of the rondeau's possibilities as a medium for more serious verse4 ,,in ,,angel ,,court ,in ,angel ,court the sunless air ,grows faint and sick2 to left and right1 ,the cowering houses shrink from sight1 ,huddling and hopeless1 eyeless1 bare4 ,misnamed1 you say1 for surely rare ,must be the ,angel shapes that light ,in ,angel ,court4 ,nay1 the ,eternities are there4 ,death by the doorway stands to smite2 ,life in its garrets leaps to light2 ,and ,love has climbed the crumbling stair ,in ,angel ,court4 ,villon has varied the rondeau so as to use for a refrain a single syllable4 ,this form1 though not so flexible as the others1 has its use and is very apt for obtaining certain effects4 ,the ,triolet ,in the matter of triolets ,austin ,dobson is again an authority1 though his experiments in this form are scarcely as successful as his ballades and rondeaus4 ,,to ,,rose ,,austin ,,dobson ,in the school of ,coquettes ,madam ,rose is a scholar3 ,o1 they fish with all nets ,in the school of ,coquettes6 ,when her brooch she forgets ',tis to show her new collar3 ,in the school of ,coquettes ,madam ,rose is a scholar4 ,here the first line is also the fourth and the seventh1 while the second is duplicated in the last4 ,this is another of the two-rhyme forms4 ,the triolet seems simple enough1 and1 for that matter1 a certain kind of triolet can be written by the ream4 ,but to put the eight lines together in such a way that the refrain comes in freshly each time1 is often a day's work4 ,in a much lighter vein it is permissible to pun in the repeated lines so that the last repetition comes in with a different meaning4 ,though intended for the delicately humorous the triolet is sober-going enough to carry a thread of sentiment4 ,nothing could be daintier or more suggestively pathetic than these lines by ,h4 ,c4 ,bunner3 ,a pitcher of mignonette1 ,in a tenement's highest casement3 ,queer sort of a flower-pot--yet ,that pitcher of mignonette ,is a garden in heaven set ,to the little sick child in the basement-- ,the pitcher of mignonette1 ,in the tenement's highest casement4 ,the ,rondel ,,ready ,,for ,,the ,,ride ,h4 ,c4 ,,bunner ,through the fresh fairness of the ,spring to ride1 ,as in the old days when he rode with her1 ,with joy of ,love that had fond ,hope to bride ,one year ago had made her pulses stir4 ,now shall no wish with any day recur 7,for ,love and ,death part year and year full wide71 ,through the fresh fairness of the ,spring to ride1 ,as in the old days when he rode with her4 ,no ghost there lingers of the smile that died ,on the sweet pale lip where his kisses were 444 ,yet still she turns her delicate head aside1 ,if she may hear him come with jingling spur ,through the fresh fairness of the ,spring to ride1 ,as in the old days when he rode with her4 ,this variant of the rondeau contains fourteen lines of which the first two are twice repeated as refrains4 ,but two rhymes are employed4 ,the ,villanelle ,a ,,villanelle ,,at ,,verona ,,austin ,,dobson1 ,in the ,century ,magazine ,a voice in the scented night1 ,a step where the rose trees blow1-- ,o ,love and ,o ,love's delight6 ,cold star at the blue vault's height1 ,what is it that shakes you so8 ,a voice in the scented night4 ,she comes in her beauty bright1 ,she comes in her young love's glow1 ,o ,love and ,o ,love's delight6 ,she bends from her casement white1 ,and she hears it hushed and low1 ,a voice in the scented night4 ,and he climbs by that stairway slight ,her passionate ,romeo3 ,o ,love and ,o ,love's delight6 ,and it stirs us still in spite ,of its 'ever so long ago1' ,that voice in the scented night2 ,o ,love and ,o ,love's delight6 ,the second lines of each stanza rhyme and the first and third lines of the first stanza are alternated as refrains4 ,the sestina has six six-line stanzas and an envoy3 in the stanzas the final words of each line remain the same throughout1 though the order is changed4 ,in the three-line envoy the six words must appear again and in an established order4 ,the sestina is a trifle too long to quote1 but one of the best and sanest examples is to be found in ,kipling's ,seven ,seas--,the ,sestina of the ,tramp ,royal4 ,swinburne's sestinas though poetic are very cloudy in meaning4 ,the pantoum1 another involved arrangement1 is made up of four-line stanzas in which the second and fourth lines of the first verse are used as the first and third lines of the second verse1 and so on ad infinitum until the weary author ends by repeating the first and third lines of the whole production as the second from the last and the last of the concluding stanza4 ,there is great good for the beginner in writing these ,french forms even if he takes up the work only as an exercise4 ,their construction is so certain and fixed that an error is glaring4 ,though it may be brow-wrinkling to build a ballade1 it is a simple matter to see its faults4 ,there is also value in these forms for the advanced student4 ,they embody suggestions for new stanza forms and fresh verse in general4 ,the use of the ballade variant may be found in ,kipling4 ,when varied the triolet may give exactly the right ring for some idea which refuses to fit itself into the conventional molds4 ,when one has served his apprenticeship he may arrange and rearrange as he sees fit1 bending the stanza to his purpose4 ,of the forms he is not the slave but the master4 ,,viii ,,the ,,song ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,song ,a variety of verse which has great vogue now and which has so developed as to be considered almost as individual as the rondeau or sonnet is the modern song4 ,formerly the song was written to music or at least written that it might be set to music1 but now it must sing itself4 ,it may dress in sober iambics if it pleases1 but there must be a lilt and go to the words to suggest music4 ,among the best examples of this form open to the reader are the songs of ,robert ,burns4 ,though written to fit old ,scotch airs the words themselves suggest a melody to any one with the slightest ear for music4 ,for instance3 ,my luve is like a red1 red rose ,that's newly sprung in ,june3 ,my luve is like the melodie ,that's sweetly played in tune4 ,as fair thou art1 my bonnie lass1 ,so deep in luve am ,i3 ,and ,i will luve thee still1 my dear1 ,till a' the seas gang dry4 ,till a' the seas gang dry1 my dear1 ,and the rocks melt in the sun3 ,i will luve thee still1 my dear1 ,while the sands o' life shall run4 ,and fare thee weel1 my only luve6 ,and fare thee weel awhile3 ,and ,i will come again1 my luve1 ,tho' it were ten thousand mile4 ,though not the author of much printed verse ,robert ,louis ,stevenson has written more than one singing stanza3 ,bright is the ring of words ,when the right man rings them1 ,fair is the fall of songs ,when the singer sings them4 ,still they are carolled and said-- ,on wings they are carried-- ,after the singer is dead ,and the maker buried4 ,going to the works of ,w4 ,e4 ,henley we find much very singable verse4 ,in the quoted example he has used in the chorus the suggestion of an old ,scotch stanza3 ,oh ,falmouth is a fine town with ships in the bay1 ,and ,i wish from my heart it's there ,i was to-day3 ,i wish from my heart ,i was far away from here1 ,sitting in my parlor and talking to my dear4 ,for it's home1 dearie1 home--it's home ,i want to be1 ,our topsails are hoisted and we'll away to sea4 ,oh1 the oak and the ash and the bonnie birken tree1 ,they're all growing green in the old countree4 ,austin ,dobson in a longer poem makes use of the following stanza3 ,across the grass ,i see her pass2 ,she comes with tripping pace1-- ,a maid ,i know1 the ,march winds blow ,her hair across her face2-- ,with a hey1 ,dolly6 ho ,dolly6 ,dolly shall be mine1 ,before the spray is white with ,may ,or blooms the eglantine4 ,in all of ,kipling the singing quality is dominant4 ,he is to be marked especially because in his songs he has combined the old meters so as to give the effect of absolute novelty4 ,the ,scotch poets of ,burns' time and before1 offer many excellent chances for imitation and study4 ,shakespeare's occasional songs are always true4 ,a seldom quoted poem of ,lord ,byron's is full of melody3 ,so we'll go no more a roving ,so late into the night1 ,though the heart be still as loving1 ,and the moon be still as bright4 ,for the sword outwears its sheath1 ,and the soul wears out the breast1 ,and the heart must pause to breathe1 ,and love itself have rest4 ,though the night was made for loving ,and the day returns too soon1 ,yet we'll go no more a roving ,by the light of the moon4 ,just exactly where the singing quality of a song lies it is hard to tell4 ,it is not altogether in the open vowels or the meter or the flow of thought1 though dependent on all three4 ,it is impossible to formulate any rule for the construction of the song except the general laws of good taste4 ,the only plan is to try and try again until the result contains something of the singing quality4 ,very often it is helpful to fit the words to some air imaginary or otherwise which runs in the head4 ,the song may be long or short1 tell little or a great deal4 ,in practice1 as a rule1 it is less than twenty-four lines in length and expresses a single thought or emotion4 ,its only two essentials are that it be graceful and that it sing4 ,,ix ,,types ,,of ,,modern ,,verse ,,chapter ,,ix ,,types ,,of ,,modern ,,verse ,vers de ,socit ,vers de socit1 society verse1 is a development of the last century2 almost1 one might say1 of the last twenty-five years4 ,in that time there has been composed a great volume of this sort of verse upon which a number of the minor poets have based their claims to remembrance4 ,it is difficult to define vers de socit2 in fact1 the only way it can be described is through examples4 ,its characteristics are a gracefulness of thought and style1 a fluency in expression1 a vein of delicate humor or sentiment and a subject which falls within the limits of polite conversation4 ,it sparkles or should sparkle with clever turns of thought and at times even descends to a sort of punning4 ,no attempt is made to reach the sublime1 but serious vers de socit is often written and is the more effective because of its contrasted setting4 ,the ballade1 rondeau and triolet are favorite expressions of this style of verse1 for in general its writers seek difficult stanza forms with rhymes natural but never hackneyed4 ,as an exercise its making is both profitable and difficult4 ,on trial1 it will be found no easy matter to write line after line of every-day ,english into balanced verse that is not commonplace1 but once well done it is a much easier task to find a market4 ,calverley's ,fly ,leaves approach the classic of vers de socit4 ,austin ,dobson has worked in a more serious vein4 ,praed has written some delightfully easy specimens of the style1 while in ,america ,john ,g4 ,saxe1 ,oliver ,wendell ,holmes and a number of contemporary writers are responsible for an extensive output ranking well up with ,england's4 ,the ,dramatic ,interlude ,the serious drama in verse nowadays is a drug on the market as far as selling power is concerned1 unless we except the plays of ,stephen ,phillips4 ,there is1 however1 a sort of dramatic interlude which is not only marketable but much more easily and pleasantly written2 a composition on the general order of ,dobson's ,proverbs in ,porcelain4 ,a study of the ,proverbs will go further for an understanding of the subject than pages of explanation4 ,they are written in iambic tetrameter which is kept from singsongness by the action of the dialogue4 ,the characters seldom end their speeches at the end of the line but rather in the middle1 and the line is filled out by the first words of the next speaker4 ,these little play fragments1 built in the form of a delicate comedy1 are not long enough to exhaust either writer or reader and are even to be met with now and then in our modern magazines4 ,their value for the verse maker lies in the premium which they put upon ease and naturalness of expression1 though in addition they present a novel exercise to the student who is tired of writing his narratives in conventional verse4 ,the ,proverbs are suggested not as models to copy absolutely but rather as the base of variations which the verse maker may devise to suit his theme4 ,nonsense ,verse ,nonsense verse in its present development is a fairly modern growth4 ,it began with the limerick which first reached the public under the kindly patronage of ,mother ,goose3 ,there was an old man of ,bombay1 ,who pulled at a pipe made of clay1 ,but a long-legged snipe ,flew away with the pipe ,which vexed that old man of ,bombay4 ,with this as a beginning the limerick has spread far and wide4 ,it has secured a place in modern nonsense verse corresponding to that of the sonnet in more serious efforts4 ,there are even limerick fiends who pride themselves on their writing of limericks and others whose collections of the form total up in the thousands4 ,it is very seldom that one sees a limerick now with the first and last lines identical4 ,as a rule the last line differs from the first and ends in a new rhyme4 ,the following taken from ,life represents the apotheosis of the limerick3 ,a ,german from over the ,rhine ,when asked at what hour he would dine1 ,replied1 ',at ,five1 ,seven1 ,eight1 ,ten and ,eleven1 ,four1 ,six and a ,quarter to ,nine6' ,edward ,lear1 an ,english writer1 began the popularization of the limerick in his nonsense books about #ahej and since his time it has been experimented with by many of the cleverest writers now before the public4 ,but nonsense verse is not confined to this one form4 ,passing from the work of ,lear we come to ,lewis ,carroll's verse in ,alice in ,wonderland4 ,nothing of its kind better than ,jabberwocky has ever been written1 and it would be a bold verse maker who would try to improve on ,the ,walrus and the ,carpenter1 or any of the other ,alice poems4 ,in a different way1 though perhaps as amusing1 is the ,gelett ,burgess style of nonsense verse typified in his noble quatrain to the ,purple ,cow3 ,i never saw a purple cow1 ,i never hope to see one2 ,but this ,i'll tell you anyhow ,i'd rather see than be one4 ,some years ago the college humorous publications originated a bloodthirsty conceit which touched the doings of ,little ,willie3 ,little ,willie yesterday ,when the baby went to play ,filled him full of kerosene4 ,gee6 but isn't ,willie mean6 ,since then the murderous adventures of ,little ,willie have been countless4 ,they are all cannibalistic but rather catchy4 ,the awful thing about nonsense verse is the very fine line that divides a masterpiece from utter drivel4 ,nonsense verse is very good or very bad4 ,when it plays along the edges it is very pleasing but when it oversteps it becomes rot4 ,the ,humorous ,ballad ,a step higher in the ladder is the ,humorous ,ballad4 ,the ,comic ,ballad we have had with us from the days of ,robin ,hood1 but ,w4 ,s4 ,gilbert in his ,bab ,ballads reached heights before his time unsuspected4 ,by the use of catchy stanzas and unusual rhymes he made the type a thing of art4 ,most readers are familiar with the ,yarn of the ,nancy ,bell1 in which the solitary sailor sings3 ,oh1 ,i am the cook and the captain bold ,and the mate of the ,nancy brig2 ,and the bos'n tight and the midshipmite ,and the crew of the captain's gig4 ,since the publication of the ,bab ,ballads a great deal of verse has been produced along the same general lines4 ,mr4 ,wallace ,irwin's ,nautical ,ballads of a ,landsman are the most notable additions of recent years4 ,x ,,verse ,,translation ,,chapter ,x ,,verse ,,translation ,a working knowledge of some foreign language--say ,french or ,german--is often very profitable to the verse maker4 ,with a dictionary and a couple of text books he can make very good translations of the poetry of the language--work which may not bring a money return but which as an exercise is both interesting and valuable4 ,the process is not complicated1 though a good verse translation may be made as hard a task as any falling to the lot of the literary worker4 ,take a poem that strikes the fancy2 read it and reread till every word is clear and then shape the translation into a stanza and meter as near the original as possible4 ,if there are four three-line stanzas in the original1 build the translation into four three-line stanzas as closely line for line as the ease of the verse will permit4 ,in translating from the ,german the original meter can be followed accent for accent1 though this is impossible with the ,french1 whose syllables are without emphasis1 and would scarcely be advisable with any of the more complicated ,latin meters4 ,at first it is a good idea to make the ,english verse rigorously exact in its meaning--to study every word until the verse not only rhymes and runs with some degree of naturalness1 but also is a correct rendering of the cold facts4 ,this is not so hard as it seems if one sits down and thinks the right word out1 and it gives opportunity for an excellent overhauling of the vocabulary4 ,any one who has had a high-school course in ,latin can experiment with ,virgil1 turning it either into couplets like ,pope's ,iliad or into the more appropriate meter used by ,longfellow in his ,evangeline4 ,with a dictionary and a literal translation it is easy enough to puzzle out ,horace1 who is more modern in his thought and who is1 in a way1 the ancestor of our present vers-de-socit writers4 ,there is also this advantage in the translation of ,horace3 ,one finds a chance to compare his translation with the work of many others1 for ,horace has been more widely translated than any other poet unless we except the ,biblical writers4 ,the fame of ,father ,prout rests largely on his renderings of ,horace4 ,austin ,dobson has translated several of the odes into the ,french forms and many other poets have turned their hand to the task4 ,among the ,germans1 ,heine is a favorite with ,english translators1 though many of his songs from their shortness and delicacy are hard to express properly4 ,goethe and ,schiller have also been much translated and any collection of ,german poetry will show a dozen poems with which one has become familiar through the ,english versions4 ,among the ,french it is difficult to specify any particular authors1 as they have not been so widely translated as the ,germans4 ,alfred de ,musset1 ,thophile ,gautier and ,paul ,verlaine are1 perhaps1 as well known as any other of the more modern writers4 ,in making translations with a view to the artistic side the result is apt to differ from the exercise which aims only at accuracy4 ,for practice one should render line for line as nearly as possible4 ,when one can do this it is allowable to take more liberties and reproduce the poem1 not line for line as it stands1 but rather as the author might have written it had he composed in ,english2 to preserve the meter and general arrangement but to sacrifice details when necessary to the spirit of the poem4 ,when the two qualities can be combined and a poem is translated in such a way that the lines correspond and yet do not crowd out the poetry the result is a masterpiece4 ,but such things very rarely happen and require not only hard work but a flash of inspiration and good luck as well4 ,very often a poem can be imitated from its mother tongue4 ,a stanza or two may be expanded into a ballade in ,english containing an elaboration of the original thought4 ,it is perfectly allowable to offer a composition of this sort for sale provided the source is acknowledged4 ,,xi ,,about ,,reading ,,chapter ,,xi ,,about ,,reading ,to write good verse one must read good verse4 ,the world has spun too long for a man to succeed who depends wholly on his own ideas2 he must profit by the work of others4 ,the more poetry and the more kinds of poetry the verse maker reads the broader his knowledge of the subject becomes4 ,first it touches his vocabulary1 then his rhymes and meters and lastly his methods4 ,though all good literature is helpful in this way1 the book which gives the most enjoyment is very apt to bring the most profit4 ,but it should not be forgotten that many authors are unpopular because of a hasty first impression4 ,a rainy day and a disagreeable companion will spoil the effect of the prettiest scenery in the world1 and a bad dinner and a headache may turn a masterpiece into a lasting abomination4 ,any poet whose work has lived must possess some quality which is worth appreciating if not acquiring4 ,given a fair trial without prejudice he will speak for himself4 ,it is not in the compass of this chapter to list the ,poets ,who ,should ,be ,reverenced4 ,it is better for the verse maker to experiment and select his patron saints for himself4 ,yet attention may be called to certain accepted masters with whose work even the beginner should be familiar4 ,at the head of the list stands the ,bible4 ,the beauty and simplicity of its speech fully explain how this book has inspired generation after generation of poets4 ,job1 ,isaiah1 the ,psalms and the writings of ,solomon are in themselves a treasury of phrase and suggestion4 ,shakespeare is to be read for the poetry of his lines and picturesque word-grouping if for nothing else4 ,for that matter1 the songs of all the ,elizabethan dramatists are worthy of study and restudy4 ,they have a lilt and a lightness which make them live even now when so many literary fashions have passed away4 ,the old ,english ballads1 to be found in ,percy's ,reliques1 ,allingham's ,ballad ,book and most collections of ,english ,literature1 are a help toward understanding the construction of a spirited narrative poem4 ,kipling's ,ballad of ,east and ,west shows how effectively this sort of treatment can be applied to a modern theme4 ,robert ,herrick is worth while for the grace and delicacy of his poems2 with him might be classed the better efforts of ,lovelace and ,sir ,john ,suckling4 ,milton's ,paradise ,lost is perhaps the best example we have of continuous blank verse4 ,it should be read but not imitated1 at least not imitated too much4 ,it is hard to distinguish good blank verse from bad and it is so easy to write the bad4 ,dryden's ,alexander's ,feast deserves a perpetual bookmark for the remarkable success with which the trend of emotion is interpreted by the rhythm4 ,the ,bells1 by ,edgar ,allan ,poe1 is another example of this treatment and is held by some critics to be equally good4 ,pope's verse and that of his age generally is too cleverly artificial to be of much use to a modern1 though his mastery of the epigrammatic couplet might be profitably noted4 ,as an exemplification of finished workmanship ,gray's ,elegy in a ,country ,churchyard stands alone4 ,robert ,burns1 for the swing of his songs and the flavor of his words1 should be read continually4 ,much of his ,scotch vocabulary might be used1 judiciously1 in ,english verse4 ,in the ,eve of ,st4 ,agnes1 ,keats has revealed possibilities in the ,spenserian stanza of which ,spenser himself was not aware1 and the ,ode to a ,nightingale and the ,ode on a ,grecian ,urn have a classic beauty which can be recognized though not successfully copied4 ,of the more modern poets ,browning's strange1 uncouth phrasing is full of power2 ,tennyson's mastery is shown in his exquisite choice of words1 and ,swinburne's meters and rhymes are worth close application4 ,and so one might go on for a dozen pages and still have an incomplete list4 ,it is not what one reads but how one reads4 ,the books wait on the shelves and through reading and through reading only can one cultivate that most necessary though indefinable quality--,good ,taste4 ,,xii ,,hints ,,for ,,beginners ,,chapter ,,xii ,,hints ,,for ,,beginners ,for one whose verse runs easily and whose occasional sales are an encouragement1 this last chapter is perhaps unnecessary4 ,yet there may come times in routine1 monotonous production when even he loses in interest1 and with this loss his work falls off in quality4 ,it is only through interest and desire that anything has ever been accomplished1 and if these are not sustained the work must stay at a low level4 ,even the seasoned writer must look forward to his work if he wishes to improve4 ,for the beginner whose airy verse does not trip but rather lumbers1 who is unable to write anything worthy of sale and whose ideas refuse to be crowded into the right number of feet1 it might be an excellent thing occasionally to drop all thought of pentameters and amphibrachs and go back to the old-fashioned rhymed alphabet4 ,a is for ,ant ,that lives in the ground1 ,b is for ,bear-- ,a terror when found---- and so on through the twenty-six harmless letters4 ,it is an exercise in ingenuity if nothing else and if the writer has any skill at drawing it could be converted into a delightful gift for a five-year-old4 ,lear1 the author of the ,nonsense books1 did not think it beneath his dignity to write six of these alphabets in varying stanza forms4 ,a little harder1 but still not too hard1 is the limerick1 examples of which are given in ,chapter ,,ix4 ,as a gift1 a series of illustrated limericks on people you know would have the merit of novelty at least4 ,to see one's productions in print is always an incentive to better work4 ,the type is cheering even when its legibility reveals several faults unnoticed in manuscript4 ,most small newspapers are glad to publish fairly good verse when the poet is willing to let it go for nothing4 ,be sure that rhyme and meter are correct and then send it in and let the ,general ,public stand from under4 ,if it is a lack of verse ideas that bothers you1 try a drama4 ,write it in blank verse and crowd the action with incidental songs4 ,this is not for publication1 of course2 not even to show your dearest friend1 but just for practice4 ,put in a troubadour if you like1 or anything else a romantic imagination may suggest1 and let them sing themselves hoarse in every scene4 ,in this prosaic century you might not be able to write a stirring love song1 but if you become thoroughly identified with the characters1 your troubadour or your fair lady would be bound to get off something creditable4 ,the plot of the drama is a thing of no consequence2 it may have as much or as little as you choose4 ,write the scenes as the mood strikes you and when you have lost interest think of it only as an exercise4 ,tennyson's ,maud shows how a narrative poem may be treated in a series of lyrics and suggests imitation4 ,the ,german poets1 as well as some ,english writers1 have song cycles1 a series of poems all bearing on one central theme4 ,a pedestrian trip2 the life of a bird couple2 the coming of winter1 and innumerable other subjects lie close at hand suitable for such treatment4 ,henley's city types and hospital sketches lead the way for similar verses of things familiar to you4 ,very often a line from a piece of prose or verse sticks in the memory4 ,utilize the line by making it the refrain of a ballade or the ending of some similar verse form4 ,browning composed his ,childe ,roland to the ,dark ,tower ,came1 around that single line taken from a song in ,king ,lear4 ,it is possible to go even further and with a stanza--say from some ,elizabethan song--construct about it the completed poem4 ,rossetti has done this with one of ,ophelia's songs in ,hamlet4 ,but keep up your interest and work for the love of working4 ,there is drudgery in the learning of anything1 but with verse one can at least make it interesting drudgery4 ,never give up2 never be satisfied2 and with all ,english literature to rove in1 don't stick in a rut4 ,now a general summing up for the verse maker--a summing up that applies just as much to painting or modeling as it does to verse writing4 ,remember always that you are your own master and that your highest development must always come from yourself4 ,on all matters of taste you are the court of last resort to decide for the hurt or betterment of your soul4 ,so it is necessary in the beginning to be just with yourself4 ,if your verses are not good1 throw them away or rewrite them4 ,if they are good not only when written but after they have been laid aside for a month2 if the rhymes are true and the meter perfect2 if the words run naturally and clearly and embody a real idea1 then you may be sure that you have something worthy of editorial consideration at least4 ,if the idea is old and put in the form that has endured1 lo6 these many generations--love1 dove1 kiss1 bliss1 very probably it will not be accepted4 ,when it comes back from five magazines be fair enough to recognize that perhaps the fault lies with you and lay the masterpiece away for another two months4 ,then examine it fair-mindedly and try to see just where it falls short of perfection4 ,but you must be you own worst or rather best critic4 ,admit it when you are wrong and when you are right hold your opinion against all comers4 ,you must decide whether to write much verse or little4 ,sometimes improvement comes best with a great deal of carelessly constructed stuff4 ,again a smaller and more carefully regulated output is better4 ,as a general thing1 if your ear is correct and your verse comes easily1 the better way is to write little and write carefully1 spending your time on a few lines4 ,if1 however1 your rhymes come hard and your expression is not fluent1 try a larger output not so carefully revised4 ,analyze and imitate4 ,make the mechanical construction correct4 ,two rhyming words with you should be either good or bad2 you should not recognize half-way rhymes4 ,if they are not worthy to be classed with the best1 throw them out utterly4 ,even in your exercises do not tolerate a false rhyme or a line lacking in syllables4 ,do not attempt too hard a thing at first4 ,you will only be disappointed4 ,do not write a ballade until you can write a limerick4 ,work up gradually4 ,and you must not become discouraged4 ,if you write day in and day out1 you are bound to improve1 though the work of ,wednesday be no better than that of ,tuesday or even of ,saturday4 ,progress goes in jumps4 ,nine times we fail and on the tenth trial we succeed4 ,we cannot all be artists but we can all be good workmen4 ,and the better we are able to handle our materials the better we shall be able1 if it is in us1 to produce something worth while4 ,,appendix ,,appendix ,i ,,market ,,for ,,verse ,there is no market nowadays for the long poem except from writers of established reputation4 ,as a rule the shorter the verse the better its chance of acceptance4 ,verse humorous is easier to dispose of than verse serious because there is a wider field4 ,puck1 ,judge1 ,life1 ,smart ,set1 ,ainslee's1 ,harper's1 ,century1 and an army of others are always willing to buy really amusing verse4 ,serious verse is sold in lesser quantities1 but the price is better--when the production is bought by a high-class publication4 ,the ,atlantic ,monthly is always on the lookout for new writers and other magazines are prompt to recognize what pleases them even in the work of a newcomer4 ,perhaps the most standard popular forms of serious verse are the sonnet and the short love lyric4 ,many editors are glad to buy quatrains and even couplets to fill out a page when a longer form would be rejected4 ,the well-written triolet is also sure of a hearing for this same reason4 ,newspapers pay little or nothing for verse except when a special writer is put on the staff to supply a column of verse a day4 ,occasionally some topical stanza which agrees with the editorial policy will be accepted from an outsider4 ,it may be pointed out here that very often the humor or appropriateness of a production will overbalance faults in the rhyme and meter4 ,in serious verse an exception of this sort will rarely be found and a thing must stand or fall on its real merits4 ,there is no sure way to determine the market except by personal investigation4 ,read the magazines till you find out where the editor's preference lies and then try him with something of your own1 written not in imitation but on the same general lines4 ,do not send out your verse in a hit-or-miss fashion4 ,separate the limericks and the love songs and send them each to their appointed editor4 ,in spite of the protestations of interested publishers the reading public does not interest itself in the volume of collected poems4 ,a book of this sort is rarely looked at unless it runs very much out of the ordinary or comes as the product of some well-known author4 ,,ii ,,suggestions ,,for ,,reading ,this is not intended in any way to be an exhaustive list4 ,it merely suggests the field which each student is bound to explore for himself4 ,,technique ,,of ,,verse4 ,the ,rhymester--,tom ,hood4 ,concise2 with rhyming dictionary appendix4 ,science of ,verse--,sidney ,lanier4 ,worth while for the advanced student4 --,the ,poetic ,principle1 --,philosophy of ,compensation1 --,rationale of ,verse4 ,essays by ,edgar ,allan ,poe2 to be found in his collected works4 ,very interesting as showing the methods and viewpoint of a great poet4 ,,collections ,,of ,,poetry4 ,ward's ,english ,poets4 ,four volumes ranging from ,chaucer to ,tennyson4 ,oxford ,book of ,english ,verse4 ,one large volume containing the work of many of the living writers as well as selections from all the standard poets4 --,victorian ,anthology4 --,american ,anthology4 ,both compiled by ,edmund ,clarence ,stedman4 ,valuable because they contain examples of the best work of to-day's verse makers4 ,,the ,,sonnet4 ,examples of the sonnet are to be found in almost any collection of verse4 ,the older magazines1 especially the ,atlantic ,monthly1 use the form continually4 ,the best known sonnet series are3 ,astrophel and ,stella--,sir ,philip ,sidney4 ,sonnets of ,shakespeare4 ,house of ,life--,rossetti4 ,sonnets from the ,portuguese--,elizabeth ,barrett ,browning4 ,,french ,,forms4 ,examples are to be found in the collected poems of ,austin ,dobson1 ,andrew ,lang1 ,w4 ,e4 ,henley and ,h4 ,c4 ,bunner1 to mention only the more prominent4 ,the ,ballade ,book1 edited by ,gleeson ,white1 ,ex ,libris ,series1 contains examples of all the forms and is probably the most convenient collection to be had4 ,,the ,,song4 ,in this connection see ,burns1 ,moore1 ,tennyson1 together with ,scotch collections and the work of ,w4 ,b4 ,yeats and other modern ,irish writers4 ,for rhythm and a different sort of song see ,kipling4 ,the ,vagabondia ,series by ,bliss ,carman and ,richard ,hovey are worth buying4 ,occasional poems1 falling under this head1 are to be found in almost any volume of the poets4 ,,vers ,,de ,,soci,t4 ,about the best single book is a volume in the ,leisure ,hour ,series entitled ,vers de ,socit4 ,it gives an excellent idea of the field covered4 ,among the strongest writers of this style of verse are ,austin ,dobson1 ,c4 ,s4 ,calverley1 ,andrew ,lang1 ,w4 ,m4 ,praed and ,h4 ,c4 ,bunner4 ,perhaps the best known ,english writer of to-day is ,owen ,seaman1 whose work appears weekly in ,punch4 ,,nonsense ,,verse4 ,mother ,goose4 ,the ,burgess ,nonsense ,book--,gelett ,burgess4 ,a ,nonsense ,anthology--,carolyn ,wells4 ,a ,parody ,anthology--,carolyn ,wells4 ,,humorous ,,ballads4 ,bab ,ballads--,w4 ,s4 ,gilbert4 ,grimm ,tales ,made ,gay--,guy ,wetmore ,carryl4 ,nautical ,ballads of a ,landsman--,wallace ,irwin4 ,,translations4 ,it is difficult to quote any translator in particular who is worth while4 ,most translators are not poets and most poets have not been translators4 ,the book of solid translation is generally very mediocre and tiresome4 ,translations of the greatest foreign poets are to be found in any fair-sized public library4 ,longfellow1 ,swinburne1 ,rossetti1 ,dobson1 ,lang and a few others have left occasional translations which are models of the best of this work4