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ENGLISH POETRY

BY

CHARLES F. JOHNSON, L.H.D.

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN TRINITY COLLEGE,
HARTFORD

Author of "Elements of Literary Criticism," "Outline History
of English and American Literature," etc.

NEW YORK: CINCINNATI .:. CHICAGO
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

821

J7f

COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY

CHARLES F. JOHNSON.

ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL, LONDON.

FORMS OF ENG. POETRY.

W. P. I

1

PREFACE

THIS book contains nothing more than every young person should know about the construction of English verse, and its main divisions both by forms and by subject-matter. The historical development of eight of these divisions is sketched. and briefly illustrated by examples, but the true character of poetry as an art and a social force has always been in the writer's mind. The study of prosody pure and simple is to most students of an average class wearisome and fruitless, though there are but few who do not become interested in poetry if the technical side is not exclusively regarded by the teacher. Such an interest naturally acquired in youth is of great value. It becomes part of character. It usually results from the atmosphere of the family, but it may be cultivated in the class room, and it is the object of this book to aid the teacher in doing so, either by its use as a text-book or by setting examinations on the chapters in connection with courses of reading. The study and analysis of a classic text to fulfill the requirements of admission to college frequently has the effect of creating a rooted distaste of literature and a sense of hopelessness of ever understanding why it is considered admirable. This is a regrettable result; for a love of imaginative literature, if not artificial or sentimental, is a valuable tonic in modern life, perfectly compatible with practical energy, and far more needed in intellectual development now than it was in the more romantic and credulous ages.

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Only the elements of prosody are given, only enough to show that verse has elements and a structure, - for any one can catch the beat of a line of verse accurately, and that is all that is necessary to æsthetic comprehension. Moreover, an ingenious physicist may at any time prove that the acoustic basis of verse is something different from what it has been supposed to be. Should he do so, his discovery would not in the least affect our method of reading nor the pleasure we take in poetry, though it might give us a "metric" and a "rhythmic based on fact. Helmholtz's discovery of the overtones had no effect on the art of music nor on the pleasure its votaries take in hearing a symphony, although it amplified the science of sound. It is only the elements of the science of verse of which we can be sure. Beyond them it is hardly prudent to venture at present and certainly not necessary.

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This book is addressed to young people and to general readers. Still, the outline view of several departments that may be obtained from it may serve to render subsequent minute historical study of some one form more fruitful in coördinated ideas and less apt to result in partial conceptions. The writer has reason to think that there is room for a book of this character even in these days of careful specialization.

The author's thanks are due to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin, and Co. for permission to print illustrative extracts from Mr. Lowell's odes, and to Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons for similar courtesy in the case of passages from Sidney Lanier's Centennial Cantata, and Miss Hapgood's Epic Songs of Russia.

C. F. J.

VI

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