Here is a specimen of the Longfellow hexameter:
Also the / church with / in was a / dorned for / this was the /
season /
In which the / young their / parent's / hope and the / loved ones of
/ Heaven /
Should at the / foot of the / altar re / new the / vows of their /
baptism /
Therefore each / nook and / corner was / swept and / cleaned and the
/ dust was /
Blown from the / walls and / ceiling and / from the / oil-painted /
benches. /
Mr. Longfellow is a man of imagination, but can he imagine that any
individual, with a proper understanding of the danger of lockjaw,
would make the attempt of twisting his mouth into the shape
necessary for the emission of such spondees as "parents," and "from
the," or such dactyls as "cleaned and the," and "loved ones of"?
"Baptism" is by no means a bad spondee- perhaps because it happens
to be a dactyl- of all the rest, however, I am dreadfully ashamed.
But these feet, dactyls and spondees, all together, should thus be
put at once into their proper position:
"Also the church within was adorned; for this was the season in
which the young, their parents' hope, and the loved ones of Heaven,
should, at the foot of the altar, renew the vows of their baptism.
Therefore, each nook and corner was swept and cleaned; and the dust
was blown from the walls and ceiling, and from the oil-painted
benches?
There!- That is respectable prose, and it will incur no danger of
ever getting its character ruined by anybody's mistaking it for verse.
Pages:
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305