A Further Study of the Heroic Tetrameter

Author(s): Charles W. Cobb

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Modern Philology, Vol. 14, No. 9 (Jan., 1917), pp. 559-567
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/433155 .
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 A FURTHER STUDY OF THE HEROIC TETRAMETER
There is a typeof line in heroicversewhich,like the restof heroic
verse, is usually classed as a pentameter,but whichto my mind is
properlya tetrameter. Examples of thistype are foundin the lines:
A thingofbeautyis a joy forever;
To pointa moraloradorna tale;
The boastofheraldry, thepompofpower;
Battle'smagnificentlysternarray;
Andall wentmerry as a marriagebell;
Tripthepertfairiesand thedapperelves;
And,likeLimander, am I trustystill.
AndI, likeHelen,tilltheFatesmekill;
Andsometimes lurkI in a gossip'sbowl
In verylikenessofa roastedcrab;
Remouldit,nearerto theheart'sdesire;
Nowis thewinter ofourdiscontent
Made glorious summer by thissunofYork;
In thedeepbosomoftheoceanburied.
In two earlierpapers' I have presentedevidence that the line is
a tetrameter, and in this paper furtherevidencewill be presentedto
support the same position.
But ifthe line is a tetrameter, whatthen? Why,to say that the
line is a tetrameterimpliesa fundamentalcriticismof the commonly
accepted ways of studyingmetrics. It means that we have been
using a systemof measurementwhichhas not enabled us to distin-
guish betweenfourand fivefeetexceptin simple cases, say between
The stagat eve had drunkhisfill
and
The curfew tollstheknellofpartingday.
In the more difficultcase, to be discussed, we have accepted the
judgmentof traditionthat the line is a pentameter,withoutques-
tioningthisjudgmentany too closely. We have definedpentameter
lines as those lines whichtraditionhas called pentameter.
"
i A Type of Four-Stress Verse in Shakespeare," New Shakespeareana, January, 1911;
"A Scientific Basis for Metrics," Modern Language Notes, May, 1913.
559] 175 [MODERN PHILOLOGY, January, 1917

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176 CHARLES W. COBB

But now, in departingfromtradition,let us state at once the

definitions and assumptionson whichour work is based. They are
as follows:
1. A line may not be classed until it has been read, or at least
is supposed to have been read. In defenseof this principle,we may
say that it is verse as it soundswhichconcernsus; verse as it looks
has nothingto do with meters. In termsof printit is difficult to
say what tetrameter means. In terms of sound, then:
2. A line will be called tetrameter
if a givenreadingsuggestsfour
equal time-parts,calledfeetor measures. Here is a definition which
means something,no matter how objectionable it may be to some
readers,forwe can read lines so as to suggestfourequal time-parts.
A crudeway of doingthis would be to read the line
The stagat eve had drunkhisfill
so as to make the stressedvowels(that is, the vowelswhichdividethe
verse) coincide with consecutivebeats of a metronome. But it is
not necessaryto read our poetryto a metronomein orderto suggest
equal time-partsany more than to play our music in this way.
Gabrilowitschbringsout Chopin's rhythmsratherwell,but he would
make a poor showingby the side of a metronome,if we should allow
the metronometo judge.
The objection may be raised that time-partsand measures are
all very well for music, but we are dealing with verse, and the
phenomenaof versemay not be explainedin termsof time-partsand
measures. Anyonewho believesthis,and thinkswithMr. Saintsbury
that time is "a word of fearin prosody" and that by its use "great
and unnecessarymischiefis likelyto be done," will not be interested
furtherin this paper, forit will seem to him that a classificationof
verse withrespectto time is of no importance.
But, taking the time basis for granted,let us definethe given
type' as a tetrameterwhichbecomesa heroicpentameterifthe second
footis read as two feetof two syllableseach. For example,
A thingofbeautyis a joy forever
1 Professor Gummere (F. B. Gummere, "On the Translation of Beowulf," American
Journal of Philology,VII [1896], 57 if.), writing from a differentpoint of view and on a
differentproblem, describes lines of this type by saying that they have four strong stresses,
a heaping up of light syllables in the middle of the line, and a weak stress. He would
count this weak stress in the middle of the line as one of five stresses, still calling the lines
pentameter. Without discussing Professor Gummere's definitions,or his interestingand
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 A FURTHER STUDY OF THE HEROIC TETRAMETER 177

is a heroictetrameter,
because if we read the secondfootas two feet,
A thingofbeautyis a joy forever,
we have the familiarheroicpentameter.'
Let us distinguishthe heroictetrameterfromcertainother lines.
In generalit has ten syllables,but the definition"a tetrameterline
of ten syllables" would not be exact, forthe reason that thereare
otherten-syllabletetrameters, forexample,the doggerelline
Fell overthethreshold
and brokemyshin.
[Love'sLabour's Lost.]
Again, not in heroicverse,
To a speeding
windand a bounding
wave;
[Browning,Song, Paracelsus.]
Sentencing
to exilethebright
Sun-God.
[Meredith,Phoebus.]
In heroicverse,Shakespeareand Miltonwritea numberoften-syllable
tetrametersthat are not of our type; forexample:
norproudmeno prouds;
Thankme no thankings,
[Romeoand Juliet.]
To thegardenofbliss,thyseatprepared;
[Paradise Lost.]
and Donne is fondof usingin heroicversea tetrameterwhichagain
is not of our type,forexample:
Willhavemecutup to surveyeachpart.
The reason we discard these lines in formingour definitionis that
no one of them is used oftenenoughto give it the distinctionof a
norm,while the line that we are consideringis foundin everytype
of heroicverse,in blank verse,couplets,quatrains,sonnets.
valuable article, I reach a differentconclusion in terms of my own definitions,since I
make these lines tetrameters, and Professor Gummere's "weak stress" becomes in my
classification no stress at all. This does not mean necessarily a contradiction of Professor
Gummere's results, since I am using the word "stress" in a differentsense.
1 It would be quite possible, of course, to turn a
pentameter into a tetrameter by
doubling up, say, the third and fourth feet instead of the second and third, for example:
Here falling houses thunder on your heads
(cf. Gummere, loc. cit.; the stresses are mine), but the usage among readers is not so
common. Readers do not make heroic lines tetrameters just because they happen to
have four "strong stresses," for if so, about two-thirds of heroic verse would be read
tetrameterand this is not the case (Gummere, loc. cit.; also E. A. Abbott, A Shakespearean
Grammar, p. 330). Instead of two lines in three only about one line in ten is read
tetrameter.
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178 CHARLES W. COBB

So much in orderto distinguishthe givenlinefromothertetram-

eters. But may the line be fairly called a tetrameter ? It is a
tetrameterif readersand poets make it so. What evidencehave we
at hand?
First, an experimentin the psychologicallaboratory1showed
that, as a matterof actual time taken in the reading,threereaders
divided lines of the giventype into fourparts approximatelyequal,
ratherthan into five,thus making certain readings of heroiclines
tetrameterson the objective evidence of the recordinginstrument.
Let us consideralso evidence on the subjective side. As faras my
observationhas gone duringthe last eight years, every reader of
heroic verse makes heroic tetrameterof certain lines; but this
muchis noteworthy, that,in general(withthe exceptionofmusicians,
who are accustomedto measuretime-valueswiththe ear), the more
clearlya line has been read tetrameter,the more stoutlythe reader
insiststhat he has read it pentameter. In general,the betterthe
readerthe worse his analysis,until his attentionis caught by some
such device as the following. ConsiderMilton's couplet
Andfromrebellion shallderivehisname
Thoughofrebellion othershe accuse.
The metricalimportanceof "others" is so great that the line con-
tainingit is read pentameter. The metricalimportanceof "shall"
is so slightthat the line containingit is read tetrameter. To show
the difference betweenthelines,supposethat we reversethe scansion:
Andfromrebellion shallderivehisname
Thoughofrebellion othershe accuse.
The readingwill probablybe foundunnaturaland highlyartificial,
and probably we should never hear the passage read in this way,
except as an exercise. We should all read as pentameterMilton's
line of eleven syllables
Disturbednot,waitingclosetheapproachofmorn.
[Paradise Lost.]
But suppose that we omitthe syllable "close." The remainingline,
Disturbed not,waitingtheapproachofmorn,
is a heroicline in good and regularstanding-but a tetrameter.
1 University of Michigan, August, 1912. The readers were Professors Meader and
Sheppard and the writer,and twenty-two readings were taken, most of them by Meader
and Sheppard. See "A ScientificBasis forMetrics," Modern Language Notes, May, 1913.
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 A FURTHER STUDY OF THE HEROIC TETRAMETER 179

We have noticedthat readers,more or less unconsciously,have

made our line a tetrameter. It is probablethat poets also, more or
less unconsciously, have made it a tetrameter. A readeroftenargues
that the line is pentameterbecause he can scan it as pentameter,
Tee-tumtee-tum tee-tum tee-tum
tee-tum
A thingofbeautyis a joyforever,
beingwhollyinfluencedby the bugaboo of classic scansion,and quite
regardlessof the fact that he does not readthe line in this way at all.
So, probably,a poet using heroic tetrametersunconsciously,calls
thempentametersbecause theymightbe read so, and not because he
would like to have themread so.
The firstevidencethat poets have used the heroictetrameteras a
tetrameteris one stated in an earlierpaper, that Shakespeareseems
to have used the line as a formalrelieffrommonotonywhenhis verse
was most rigid. It occurs oftener,therefore,in the earlierplays,
and so furnishesa chronologytest forthe plays.' When therewere
1 New Shakespeareana, January, 1911, p. 14.

Play Approximate
Date Percentage
*Love's Labour's Lost.......... 1589 12.1
Titus Andronicus. ............ 1584-89 13.4
Comedy of Errors ............ 1589-91 15.2
2 Henry VI .................. 1591-92 14.8
8 Henry VI ................. 1591-92 13.8
Two Gentlemen of Verona ..... 1593 14.2
Richard III .................. 1593 16
Richard II................... 1593 14.2
Midsummer-Night's Dream.... 1594 13.2
Romeo and Juliet ............ 1594 11.4
King John .................. 1595 14.2
1 Henry IV................. 1596 14.6
Merchant of Venice........... 1596 11.9
2 Henry IV .................. 1598 14.5
Henry V.. ................... 1599 12.9
As You Like It ............. 1599 10.8
tMerry Wives of Windsor....... . 1599 6.4
Much Ado about Nothing ...... 1599 12
Twelfth Night ............... 1600 10.9
Hamlet. .................... 1600 10.4
Julius Caesar ............... 1600 10.2
All's Well .....................1601 10.1
Troilus and Cressida......... 1599-1605 10.6
Measure for Measure......... 1603 9.7
Othello ...................... 1604 9.5
King Lear ................... 1605 7.1
Macbeth ..................... 1606 8.6
Antony and Cleopatra ........ 1608 7.7
Coriolanus ................... 1609 6.2
Winter's Tale............... . 1610 7.4
Cymbeline. .................. .. 1610 6.9
+Henry VIII................ 1611 7.3
Tempest ...................... 1612 6.1

* Corrected in 1597.
t 266 verses.
$ Act I, scenes 1, 2; Act II, scene 3; Act III, scene 2 to
King's exit; Act V, scene 1.
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 180 CHARLESW. COBB

fewerrun-onlines, fewerlineswithlightendings,and so on, Shake-

speare relieved his verse by occasionallypassing to anothermeter,
using a line that had been allowed in heroicverse fromthe time of
Chaucer.
In orderto appreciatethe value of this relief,let us considera
passage that neglectsit entirely,takenfromthe SteeleGlas by George
Gascoigne,1576. So faras I have read (not far) Gascoignedoes not
use the heroic tetrameterat all. He followsconsistentlythe rule
that "we vse none other orderbut a foote of two sillables,wherof
the firstis depressedor made short,and the second is eleuate or
made long: and that sound or scanningcontinueththroughoutthe
verse." Gascoigne himselfmust have been consciousof the monot-
ony of his verses,for he says a few lines later, "And surelyI can
lamentthat wee are falleninto suche a playne and simplemannerof
wrything,that there is none other foote vsed but one. .... But
since it is so, let vs take the fordeas we findeit." As a resultof
takingthe fordas he findsit, Gascoignewriteshundredsof versesof
whichthe followingare typical:
The Nightingale,whosehappynoblehart,
No dolecan daunt,norfearefulforceaffright,
Whosechereful voice,dothcomfort saddestwights,
Whenshehirself,hathlittlecauseto sing.
Whomlouersloue,bicausesheplainestheirgreues,
She wraiestheirwoes,and yetrelieuestheirpayne,
Whomworthy mindes,alwayesesteemed much,
Andgrauestyears,hauenotdisdaindehirnotes;
(Onlythatking,proudTereusbyhisname,
Withmurdring did caruehirpleasanttong,
knife,
To couerso,hisownefoulefilthy fault).
The openinglines of RichardIII are practicallyall end-stopped,like
the Gascoigne lines, but in the firstthirteenlines Shakespeare has
put five heroic tetrameters, so that any Gascoigne monotonyis at
once out of the question. This monotonycould be restored,in large
measure,by arbitrarilyreading all the tetrametersas pentameters:
Now is thewinter ofourdiscontent
Made glorious summer by thissunofYork-
a thingwe are by no meanswillingto do, althoughwe have been quite
willingto scan the lines as pentameters.
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 A FURTHER STUDY OF THE HEROIC TETRAMETER 181

As a secondevidencethat poets have consideredourlinea tetram-

eter,we may notice certaincases in whichtwo consecutivedimeter
lines combined make a heroic tetrameter. Then, if twice two is
fourin this fieldof investigation,we have an illustrationof our law.
We have in recognizeddimeterthe followingcouplets:
Comesthiswaysailing
Likea statelyship;
[Milton,Samson.]
The pleasantwaters
OftheriverLee

Theirthunder rolling
FromtheVatican;
[Mahony,BellsofShandon]
Theysee theCentaurs
In theupperglens;
[M. Arnold,Strayed
Reveller.]
The threeblindsisters
Withtheirlampsofgold.
Translation
[Schiitze, ofMaeterlinck.]
Each of the foregoingillustrationsgives us a pair of dimeterlines
which may be read as a single heroicline, and in this line it is the
"evident intentionof the poet" that thereshould be fourfeetand
not five. We have evidence,then, that certain poets have recog-
nized the heroictetrameter,albeit in two parts.
This evidence is particularlyclear in the followingillustration,
taken fromMatthew Arnold's"Voice." We have the passage
Prayersthattomorrow shallin vainbe sped,
and ten lines later,
Strainsofgladmusicat a funeral.
Now one ofthesepassages is writtenby the poet as a dimetercouplet
and one as a singleheroicline. If the readeris not too familiarwith
the poem, it mightinteresthim to determinewhich is the couplet
and whichthe singleline,and to ask himselfwhetherthe two forms
mightnot be interchangedwithoutaffecting the sound ofthe passage
in the least.
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182 CHARLES W. COBB

Besides the dimetercouplets,thereare linesof our type in recog-

nized tetrameterwhichwould pass forheroiclines if foundin heroic
verse. Considerthe line
Threedaystheflowers ofthegardenfair
in connectionwiththe line
To raina showerofcommanded
tears.
If the contextwerenot known,I doubtifone could tell withcertainty
whetherboth lines occur in tetrameter,or both in pentameter,or
whetherone line is of one kind and one of the other. In orderto
strengthen this impression,I omit the references,
and onlywishthat
the lines wereless familiar.
If the reader has satisfiedhimselfwith regardto these lines, let
him considerthe following:
Whenspiteofcormorant devouringTime
and
Blackas a cormorantthescreamingblast,
and let himanswerto his own satisfactionthe same questionsregard-
ing them: Arebothlines in pentameteror bothin tetrameter ? And
if one is in pentameterand one in tetrameter,whichis which?
But the followinglines are surelyheroictetrametersin the midst
of ordinarytetrameters:
I shakethehoursin thehourglass;
[A. Symons, DanceofSevenDeadlySins.]
Each evolution
ofperfecting plan;
[R. H. McCarthney, Anti-Christ.]
WhenFrancewas glorious and bloodred,fair;
[Swinburne,Les Noyades.]
That he wasneveron a womanborn;
[FromPercyFol. MS (modernized).]
Carryus overon yournicewhiteback;
[Grimm'sHouseholdStories,trans.by LucyCrane.]
I maypraydifferentfromothermen

To hellwithTexasand theskew-ball
black.
[Lomax,Cowboy Songs.]
Such use, however,is not common. To findthe line used morefre-
quently in this way, we turn to "The Congo" by Vachel Lindsay.
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 A FURTHER STUDY OF THE HEROIC TETRAMETER 183

The rhythmof this poem is set up as tetrameterby such uncom-

promisinglines as:
Mumbo-jumbo willhoo-dooyou
and
Boom-lay, boom-lay,boom-lay boom.
In the thirdpart of the poem,stilltetrameter, we have a passage
wherethe heroic tetrametersfolloweach otherin rapid succession
(the themeat thispointis not heroic):
A goodold negroin theslumsofthetown
Preachedat a sisterforhervelvetgown.
Howledat a brother forhislow-down ways
His prowling,guzzling,sneak-thief days.
Beat on theBibletillhe woreit out
Starting thejubileerevivalshout.
Andsomehad visions,as theystoodon chairs
AndsangofJacob,and thegoldenstairs.
Lindsayalso uses theheroictetrameter in heroicverse. For example:
Intotheacresofthenew-born state
He pouredhisstrength and plowedhisancientname;
[TheProudFarmer.]
Wornoutwithhonorsand apartfromher
Theydiedas manya selfmadeexiledies.
[TheHearthEternal.]
There is anotherinteresting evidenceof a poet's usingthe heroic
tetrameteras a tetrameter. In his poem of fivestanzas, "Corinna's
Going A-Maying," Herrickwritesa heroiccouplet in the middle of
each stanza withthe exceptionofthefifth, but in the fifththefirstline
is a heroictetrameter,and the second an eight-syllabletetrameter:
Andas a vapourora dropofrain
Oncelostcan ne'erbe foundagain.
Inasmuchas thisis the onlymetricalirregularity in the poem,and as
Herrick'sverseis well knownforits finenessof finish,is it not clear
that the second line was written,consciouslyor unconsciously,as a
metricalequivalent forthe first? If this is so, the poet must have
conceivedof the line
Andas a vapouror a dropofrain
as a tetrameter.
CHARLES W. COBB
AMHERST, MASS.
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