The Octet is a stanza of eight verses, interrhymed. Usually the octet consists of two quatrains, independent of each other in rhyme, but connected in thought. In the illustration below, however, we see a continuation of both : The pea is but a wanton witch, That always mourns the dead; With her cheeks of tender red! a b C b d b e b THOMAS HOOD's Flowers. The Spenserian stanza is a stanza of nine verses, interrhymed, the first eight of which are iambic pentameter and the ninth, iambic hexameter. This long ninth verse is sometimes called an Alexandrine. The stanza was used by Spenser in his Faerie Queene; hence its name: Under thy mantle black there hidden lie α b a b b с b C And light do shun for fear of being shent: с A Sonnet is a poem-stanza of fourteen verses of iambic pentameter. The thought is usually complete unto itself, hence our above definition, poem-stanza. Sometimes sonnets are written in sequence, but even then each one may be culled out and found to be more or less independent of the rest. The sonnet consists of two distinct parts, the octet or octave, and the sestet, each with its subdivision of the thought. Sonnets are variously named according to the rhyming system employed in them. The Shakespearian or English consists of three quatrains and a final couplet; thus: abab, cdcd, efef, gg The Petrarchan or Italian sonnet consists of two interrhymed In Memoriam quatrains and a sestet of various form, thus: The Omar sonnet consists of three Omar quatrains, interrhymed, and a final couplet which is again attuned to the third verse of the last quatrain; thus: съ, aaba, bbc b, c c d c, d d The Spenserian sonnet is made up of three Spenserian stanzas and concluded with a couplet, sometimes in the same meter, sometimes with the last line an Alexandrine : abab, bc bc, cd cd, e e A Refrain is the repetition of certain words, phrases, verses, or of whole stanzas at stated intervals in the poem. sponds to the refrain or chorus in a song: Here's to him that grows it, Drink, lads, drink! That lays it in and mows it, Clink, jugs, clink! To him that mows and makes it, It corre That scatters it and shakes it, That turns and teds and rakes it, Clink, jugs, clink! AUSTIN'S The Haymaker's Song. OTHER POETICAL DEVICES Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound in a succession of words. This sound may be at the beginnings of successive words; as in: Some sat, some stood, some slowly strayed; or at various places, as in: The sulphurous rifts of passion and woe. 66 Onomatopoeia is the adaptation of the sounds of words to the sense or meaning conveyed by them. It is often aided by alliteration, as in our second illustration above. Suiting the sound to the sense," is the alliterative definition often used for onomatopoeia. Such words as "bang," ""clang,' "jingle," "tingle," "ugh," and many others like them, all sound like the thing they mean, and hence are onomatopoeic. Perhaps the finest onomatopoeic passage in all of English blank verse is the following from Tennyson's The Passing of Arthur: But, as he walk'd, King Arthur panted hard, When all the house is mute. So sigh'd the King, But the other swiftly strode from ridge to ridge, He heard the deep behind him, and a cry Before. His own thought drove him like a goad. Dry clash'd his harness in the icy caves And barren chasms, and all to left and right The bare black cliff clang'd round him, as he based Sharp-smitten with the dint of armed heels And the long glories of the winter moon. EXERCISES I. Scan the following verses and name the meter. Point out also whatever poetic license may be found in them. 1. Love's horn doth blow. 2. He is coming! he is coming! Like a bridegroom from his room. 3. The gossips leave the little inn; the households kneel to pray. 4. He sat one winter 'neath a linden tree. 5. "But mine, but mine," so I sware to the rose," Forever and ever mine.". 6. He sendeth sun, he sendeth shower. 7. 'Twas in the calm and silent night! 8. Rest here at last, The long way over past. 9. O d'you hear the seas complainin', and complainin' while it's rainin'? III. Bring to class examples of as many different stanza forms as you can find. IV. Try to construct verses in: Blank verse Iambic pentameter Couplets of any meter Quatrain of any meter Limericks. V. Take some poem you have been reading and examine its meter, stanza, refrain (if any), license, and other general poetic qualities. SECTION VII PROOF READING By Manuscript is meant the carefully prepared copy of your work which you present to the printer to be set up in type. It is essential of course that this manuscript should be in as final and as perfect form as possible. Paragraphing, punctuation, quotation, margining, all mechanical details, should be exactly as you wish them to appear in print. If your first proof, that is, the first printing from your manuscript, is marked on the margin with? or Qy., you may know that something has not been clear to the typesetter. There are certain special marks that must be used in prepared manuscript in order to indicate special form and arrangement. If there are footnotes they should be separated from the other material by a line; they should be written in smaller letters or with closer spacing, and they should be referred to from the text by means of conventional marks. The first note may be marked by an asterisk (*) in the text, and another at the beginning of the note; the second by a dagger (†); the third by a double dagger (#); the fourth |