consists of three syllables, the first one accented, the other two unaccented (~_~~). The other foot is the spondee; it is made up of two syllables, both long, or with equal accent ( ). Many spondees are really trochaic in character.

"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring | pines
and the hemlocks."
1

The scanning here shows that the first five are dactyls and the sixth a spondee.

"Bearded with moss, and in | garments | green, indis- |

tinct in the twilight."

Here the first, second, fourth and fifth are dactyls; the third and sixth, spondees.

A more extended examination will show that the dactyl is the predominating foot; hence the name of the metre, 66 dactylic hexameter.”

Other factors on which the movement of the verse depends are the pauses (usually called cæsuras), the stress required by the sense, and the musical qualities of the words themselves. In the first line there is a cæsural pause after the word "primeval." Counting the feet and syllables that precede it, this pause would be marked 23. In the second line a pause follows "moss" (13) and “ green (31).

"

It will be noticed further, that in reading the first line there is a tendency to let the voice dwell with more weight on the words " primeval," "pines," and "hemlocks," than on any of the others; so also in the second line, "moss," 'green," and "twilight" take the sense stress. Again, the

66

tone qualities of the words give a character to the lines that determines their music and rhythm. In the line,

"Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean," there is something in the tone-quality of the words themselves that moves in close harmony with the thought,something that aids in bringing up before the mind the roll and swell of the ocean.

The exercises that follow are chosen with the view of making clear the main elements on which the rhythm depends.

Prepare a scheme for lines 1-19 in which the syllables and feet are marked according to the scheme of lines 1 and 2 of the preceding discussion.

Represent by numbers the feet and fractional part of a foot that precede the cæsural pause.

Compare lines made up of dactyls with lines made up chiefly of spondees, and determine the difference in movement.

Which of the six feet of the hexameter cannot be substituted by any other foot?

Find ten lines in which the movement is light and rapid; find also ten lines in which it is decidedly heavy. Discuss and explain, so far as possible, the causes of this difference.

THIS is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,

1

Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.

Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring

ocean

5

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.

This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath it

Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman ?

Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers,

Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the wood

lands,

10

Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of

heaven?

Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever

departed!

Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of

October

Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far o'er the ocean.

Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of

Grand-Pré.

15

Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, and

is patient,

Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of women's

devotion,

List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines of the forest;

List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy.

PART THE FIRST.

I.

IN the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of

Minas,

Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pré

20

Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched to the

eastward,

Giving the village its name, and pasture to flocks without

number.

Dikes, that the hands of the farmers had raised with labor incessant,

Shut out the turbulent tides; but at stated seasons the

flood-gates

25

Opened, and welcomed the sea to wander at will o'er the

meadows.

West and south there were fields of flax, and orchards and cornfields

Spreading afar and unfenced o'er the plain; and away to the northward

Blomidon rose, and the forests old, and aloft on the mountains

Sea-fogs pitched their tents, and mists from the mighty.

Atlantic

30

Looked on the happy valley, but ne'er from their station

descended.

There, in the midst of its farms, reposed the Acadian vil

lage.

Strongly built were the houses, with frames of oak and of

hemlock,

Such as the peasants of Normandy built in the reign of the Henries.

Thatched were the roofs, with dormer-windows; and gables

projecting

35

Over the basement below protected and shaded the doorway. There in the tranquil evenings of summer, when brightly the sunset

Lighted the village street, and gilded the vanes on the chimneys,

Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps and in kirtles Scarlet and blue and green, with distaffs spinning the

golden

40

Flax for the gossipping looms, whose noisy shuttles within

doors

Mingled their sound with the whir of the wheels and the songs of the maidens.

Solemnly down the street came the parish priest, and the children

Paused in their play to kiss the hand he extended to bless them.