Excerpt from The Principles of English Metre Before plunging into the detailed work for this book I thought that a formula might be stated which would cover the whole range of modern English verse; but it was soon evident that no such simple formula was possible, that metrists have assumed a degree of homogeneity which is not actually found, that there was more complexity than their generalizations would lead one to expect, that there is an underlying law, but something at once less rigid and more comprehensive than any they had yet stated. Johnson's opinion that 'the essence of verse is regularity, and its ornament is variety' is often quoted with approval; but how is this combination effected? Does it mean now one, now the other; law and order prevailing in one part, Bolshevism asserting itself in another; that is to say, the verse sometimes rhythmical, sometimes not? This position I should be unwilling to accept, and I prefer to consider, with the poets themselves, that rhythm is an essential of poetry, and that the freedom is within the rhythmic law, not a violation of it. The most suggestive theorists, I found, were Patmore, Lanier, and Mr. Omond - for the work of the latter, in particular, I have the greatest admiration - but above all I have valued the dicta of poets themselves, and have quoted them freely. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

A careful study of prosody which involves the history of poetic form as well as metrical theory.

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