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Page 45
METRE.
The "heroic verse," or _grand vers_ in French, is the _hexam�tre_, or
_vers alexandrin_: the former name being due to the fact that this line
consists of two halves or _h�mistiches_ of six syllables each; the
latter a name derived from the poet Alexandre de Bernay, who, in the
latter half of the twelfth century, first used this metre in his
celebrated epic of "_Alexandre_."
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
E.g., Esth. l. 2.: _Que b�ni soit le ciel || qui te rend � mes voeux_!
Lyric poetry may have lines of any number of syllables.
E.g., Esth. l. 1241: _Rompez vos fers_ 4 sylls.
l. 970: _Ses criminels attentats_ 7 "
l. 722: _En un moment s'est-il �vanoui_ 10 "
All syllables, mute or otherwise, are counted except, (1) when a 'mute
e' is elided before a word beginning with a vowel or 'mute h,' e.g.,
1 2 3 4 5 6
l. 1: _Est-ce toi, ch�r(e) �lis(e)?_ = 6 sylls.;
(2) at the end of a line, where the 'mute e' is reckoned with the
preceding sounded syllable, which is thus made a "feminine rhyme," e.g.;
1 2 3 4 5 6
l. 7 . . . || _est cher � ma m�moire!_ = 6 sylls.
It is for this reason that Racine avails himself (ll. 92, 436, 514,
1232) of the license to spell _encor_ instead of _encore_, thereby
reducing the word by one syllable:
1 2 3 4 5 6
l. 436 . . . || _le voit encor la nuit_;
and conversely he writes _jusques_ for _jusque_ before _au_, to prevent
the elision and keep the word dissyllabic, in
1 2 3 4 5 6
l. 136 _Sion, jusques au ciel_: || . . . .
Similarly in l. 426, for the simpler expression
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
_Tous r�v�rent � genoux_,
he writes,
1 2 3 4 5 6
_Tout r�v�r(e) � genoux_, ||
reducing the seven syllables of the former to a correct hemistich.
CAESURA.
Between the two hemistiches of an hexameter there must be a pause,
called _la c�sure_, or 'caesura.'
RHYME.
French poetry being less rhythmical than English, owing to the absence
of strong word-accents, makes up the deficiency by much greater stress
on rhyme. In French verse, rhyme not only is almost indispensable, but
must, in a measure, satisfy the eye as well as the ear. For instance,
words ending in 's' 'x' or 'z' can only rhyme with words also ending in
one of these three letters. Hence, the use of such obsolete forms as
_voi_ for _vois_ (ll. 890, 947); the latter could not rhyme with _moi_
or _roi_.
French rhymes are called "feminine" when they have a 'mute e' in or
after their last sounded syllable; e.g., _descendue_, _m�moire_,
_arm�es_, _coururent_, _cabales_, _assassinaient_ are feminine rhymes.
In all other cases they are called 'masculine' rhymes.
In heroic verse the masculine and feminine rhymes are generally found
in alternating pairs. In lyrics, however, they are freely crossed, but
with this restriction, that one rhyme of either kind is never found
next to a different one of the same kind, i.e., two _different_
masculines or feminines are never found in juxtaposition.
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