"By a synaeresis
of the two short syllables," say the books, "an anapaest may sometimes
be employed for an iambus, or dactyl for a trochee.... In the
beginning of a line a trochee is often used for an iambus."
Blending is the plain English for synaeresis- but there should be no
blending; neither is an anapaest ever employed for an iambus, or a
dactyl for a trochee. These feet differ in time, and no feet so
differing can ever be legitimately used in the same line. An
anapaest is equal to four short syllables- an iambus only to three.
Dactyls and trochees hold the same relation. The principle of
equality, in verse, admits, it is true, of variation at certain
points, for the relief of monotone, as I have already shown, but the
point of time is that point which, being the rudimental one, must
never be tampered with at all.
To explain:- In further efforts for the relief of monotone than
those to which I have alluded in the summary, men soon came to see
that there was no absolute necessity for adhering to the precise
number of syllables, provided the time required for the whole foot was
preserved inviolate. They saw, for instance, that in such a line as
or laugh / and shake / in Rab / elais ea / sy chair /
the equalisation of the three syllables elais ea with the two
syllables composing any of the other feet could be readily effected by
pronouncing the two syllables elais in double quick time.
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