Shy as the squirrel and wayward as the swallow,
Swift as the swallow along the river's light

Circleting the surface to meet his mirrored winglets,
Fleeter she seems in her stay than in her flight.
GEORGE MEREDITH: Love in the Valley.

How charming is divine philosophy!

Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose;
But musical as is Apollo's lute.

JOHN MILTON: Comus.

Strike for your altars and your fires;

Strike

for the green graves of your sires;

God, and your native land!

FITZ-GREENE HALLECK: Marco Bozzaris.

And who would force the Soul tilts with a straw
Against a Champion cased in adamant.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH: Ecclesiastical Sonnet iii: 7.

O hark! how it blooms in the falling dark,
That flower of mystical yearning song:
Sad as a hermit thrush, as a lark

Uplifted, glad, 'and strong.

Heart, we have chosen the better part!
Save sacred love and sacred art

Nothing is good for long.

WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY: Song-flower and Poppy.

CHAPTER XVII

TYPES OF POETRY

THERE are three main classes of poetry, epic, lyric, and dramatic. These classes have been evolved from rude beginnings by a slow process of growth and change, and are to be recognized partly by means of the subject-matter and partly by means of the form of each.

I. Epic.* An epic is a narrative poem, usually of some length. The verse form most frequently employed in English is either blank verse or heroic couplet.

The main divisions of the epic are as follows:

1. Heroic Poem. The heroic poem is a recital of a complete story in which a certain end is won by the martial achievements of a hero celebrated for strength and courage. It is one of the oldest and most popular forms of poetry. The heroic poem

In these definitions the effort has been to give certain essential facts, while leaving much for the student to discover for himself. It is suggested, therefore, that various poems be put into the hands of students in order that they may make observations for themselves in regard to the following topics: setting, characters, theme, plot, episodes, digressions, use of dialogue, aphorisms, style, diction, imagery, and versification.

may be a folk epic, i.e., the story may have been handed down by oral tradition, until some one gave it definite shape in writing. The Greek Iliad and our Old English Beowulf are examples of the folk epic.

The heroic poem may be a written epic, composed, in imitation of a folk epic, by a single author. Virgil's Eneid and Milton's Paradise Lost are examples of the written epic.

2. Mock Epic. The mock-epic, or mock-heroic poem, is one in which a trivial subject is treated in the grand heroic style. Examples:

CHAUCER: The Nun's Priest's Tale.
POPE: The Rape of the Lock.

3. Metrical Romance. A metrical romance is a tale in verse, dealing with love, adventure, and mystery. These romances were very popular in the Middle Ages, when people were superstitious enough to believe in giants, dragons, enchantments, and when loosely-constructed stories of improbable events and of exaggeratedly heroic men and beautiful women were eagerly listened to.

Mediæval. Havelok the Dane.

Modern. SCOTT: The Lady of the Lake.

Sometimes the metrical romance is also a romance of chivalry, recounting the adventures of a knight seeking to fulfill his chivalric vows. His duty was to display his strength and honor in the defence of

the church or of his overlord, or in the protection of women. Warfare, ranging from bloody battles to mock tournaments, gave him abundant opportunity to prove himself a true knight. Examples:

Mediæval. Guy of Warwick.

Mediæval. ARTHUR STORY: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Modern. ScOTT: Marmion.

4. The lay was a form popular in the Middle Ages, when it meant a brief tale chiefly devoted to relating some adventure in which mortals and inhabitants of the Celtic fairy world were concerned. Later, lay was applied loosely to stirring tales of love or war. Example:

SCOTT: The Lay of the Last Minstrel.

5. Ballad. The ballad is a brief narrative poem, rugged yet musical, which tells in dramatic fashion some traditional tale, historical, romantic, domestic, or supernatural. That the true ballad was the work of a people, not of a single author, is shown by the constant repetition of the same incidents, epithets, imagery, etc., which were common property. The ballad probably grew out of the songs that accompanied dancing, the well-known story being chanted by one or another of the more musical, while the entire company united in singing the refrain. Later, some person gifted in expression became leader and gradually took the position of single author.

The ballad stanza is usually a definite form (see page 336). Examples of old ballads handed down orally are:

Sir Patrick Spens.

The Battle of Otterburn.

The Twa Sisters of Binnorie.

The Wife of Usher's Well.

Robin Hood Rescuing the Widow's Three Sons.

Examples of later ballads, imitative of the old :

ROSSETTI: The King's Tragedy.

KEATS: La Belle Dame Sans Merci.
COLERIDGE: The Ancient Mariner.

6. The tale is a narrative in verse. Example:

MORRIS: The Earthly Paradise is a series of tales, imitated from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn follow the same tradition.

7. The idyll is a brief descriptive poem which pictures scenes of simple happiness. It is closely connected with dramatic poetry. Examples:

MILTON L'Allegro.

BURNS: The Cotter's Saturday Night.

Formerly the idyll was identified with pastoral, but this was due to error. Pastoral poetry, whose aim is to show the rustic joys and sorrows of those who guard the pasturing herds, may appear in any form, epic, lyric, or dramatic. Examples: