But harmony is
not the sole aim- not even the principal one. In the construction of
verse, melody should never be left out of view; yet this is a point
which all our Prosodies have most unaccountably forborne to touch.
Reasoned rules on this topic should form a portion of all systems of
rhythm.
"So as to produce harmony," says the definition, "by the regular
alternation," etc. A regular alternation, as described, forms no
part of any principle of versification. The arrangement of spondees
and dactyls, for example, in the Greek hexameter, is an arrangement
which may be termed at random. At least it is arbitrary. Without
interference with the line as a whole, a dactyl may be substituted for
a spondee, or the converse, at any point other than the ultimate and
penultimate feet, of which the former is always a spondee, the
latter nearly always a dactyl. Here, it is clear, we have no
"regular alternation of syllables differing in quantity."
"So as to produce harmony," proceeds the definition "by the
regular alternation of syllables differing in quantity,"- in other
words by the alternation of long and short syllables; for in rhythm
all syllables are necessarily either short or long. But not only do
I deny the necessity of any regularity in the succession of feet
and, by consequence, of syllables, but dispute the essentiality of any
alternation regular or irregular, of syllables long and short.
Pages:
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260