When liberty awoke
New-born, amid those beautiful vales.
Oh Greece, thy flourishing cities were a spoil
Unto each other.
And thou didst drive from thy unnatural breast
Thy just and brave.
Yet her degenerate children sold the crown.
Instead of the pure heart and innocent hands-
Among thy gallant sons that guard thee well
Thou laugh'st at enemies. Who shall then declare-
Far like the comet's way thro' infinite space.
The full region leads
New colonies forth.
Full many a horrible worship that, of old,
Held o'er the shuddering realms unquestioned sway.
All these instances, and some others, occur in a poem of but
thirty-five stanzas- yet in only a very few cases is the license
improperly used. Before quitting this subject it may be as well to
cite a striking example from Wordsworth-
There was a youth whom I had loved so long,
That when I loved him not I cannot say.
Mid the green mountains many and many a song
We two had sung like gladsome birds in May.
Another specimen, and one still more to the purpose may be given
from Milton whose accurate ear (although he cannot justly be called
the best of versifiers) included and balanced without difficulty the
rhythm of the longest passages.
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