My worde beynge flesh, from hens shall set hym fre,
Hym teachynge a waye of perfyght ryhteousnesse,
That he shall not nede to perysh in hys weaknesse.
To our ears, at least, the older miracle-plays were greatly superior. It
is interesting to find, however, in this apparently popular mode of
"building the rhyme"--certainly not the _lofty_ rhyme, for no such
crumbling foundation could carry any height of superstructure--the
elements of the most popular rhythm of the present day; a rhythm
admitting of any number of syllables in the line, from four up to
twelve, or even more, and demanding only that there shall be not more
than four accented syllables in the line. A song written with any spirit
in this measure has, other things _not_ being quite equal, yet almost a
certainty of becoming more popular than one written in any other
measure. Most of Barry Cornwall's and Mrs. Heman's songs are written in
it. Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," Coleridge's "Christabel,"
Byron's "Siege of Corinth," Shelley's "Sensitive Plant," are examples of
the rhythm. Spenser is the first who has made good use of it. One of the
months in the "Shepherd's Calendar" is composed in it.
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