McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader. William Holmes McGuffey

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СКАЧАТЬ PAUSES. (43)

      In order to make the measure of poetry perceptible to the ear, there should generally be a slight pause at the end of each line, even where the sense does not require it.

      There is, also, in almost every line of poetry, a pause at or near its middle, which is called the caesura.

      This should, however, never be so placed as to injure the sense of the passage. It is indeed reckoned a great beauty, where it naturally coincides with the pause required by the sense. The caesura, though generally placed near the middle, may be placed at other intervals.

      There are sometimes, also, two additional pauses in each line, called demi-caesuras.

      The caesura is marked (||), and the demi-caesura thus, (|), in the examples given.

      There should be a marked accent upon the long syllable next preceding the caesura, and a slighter one upon that next before each of the demi-caesuras. When made too prominent, these pauses lead to a singsong style, which should be carefully avoided.

      In the following examples, the caesura is marked in each line; the demi-caesura is not marked in every case.

      EXAMPLES. (44)

      1. Nature | to all things || fixed | the limits fit,

       And wisely | curbed || proud man's | pretending wit.

      2. Then from his closing eyes || thy form shall part,

       And the last pang || shall tear thee from his heart.

      3. Warms in the sun, || refreshes in the breeze,

       Glows in the stars, || and blossoms in the trees.

      4. There is a land || of every land the pride,

       Beloved by Heaven || o'er all the world beside,

       Where brighter suns || dispense serener light,

       And milder moons || imparadise the night;

       Oh, thou shalt find, || howe'er thy footsteps roam,

       That land—thy country, || and that spot—thy home.

      5. In slumbers | of midnight || the sailor | boy lay;

       His hammock | swung loose || at the sport | of the wind;

       But, watch-worn | and weary, || his cares | flew away,

       And visions | of happiness || danced | o'er his mind.

      6. She said, | and struck; || deep entered | in her side

       The piercing steel, || with reeking purple dyed:

       Clogged | in the wound || the cruel | weapon stands,

       The spouting blood || came streaming o'er her hands.

       Her sad attendants || saw the deadly stroke,

       And with loud cries || the sounding palace shook.

SIMILE. (44)

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      Simile is the likening of anything to another object of a different class; it is a poetical or imaginative comparison.

      A simile, in poetry, should usually he read in a lower key and more rapidly than other parts of the passage—somewhat as a parenthesis is read.

      EXAMPLES. (45)

      1. Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal

       With rapid wheels, or fronted brigades form.

       As when, to warn proud cities, war appears,

       Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush

       To battle in the clouds.

       Others with vast Typhoean rage more fell,

       Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air

       In whirlwind. Hell scarce holds the wild uproar.

       As when Alcides felt the envenomed robe, and tore,

       Through pain, up by the roots, Thessialian pines,

       And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw

       Into the Euboic sea.

      2. Each at the head,

       Leveled his deadly aim; their fatal hands

       No second stroke intend; and such a frown

       Each cast at th' other, as when two black clouds,

       With heaven's artillery fraught, came rolling on

       Over the Caspian, there stand front to front,

       Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow

       To join the dark encounter, in mid-air:

       So frowned the mighty combatants.

      3. Then pleased and thankful from the porch they go

       And, but the landlord, none had cause of woe:

       His cup was vanished; for, in secret guise,

       The younger guest purloined the glittering prize.

       As one who spies a serpent in his way,

       Glistening and basking in the summer ray,

       Disordered, stops to shun the danger near,

       Then walks with faintness on, and looks with fear—

       So seemed the sire, when, far upon the road,

       The shining spoil his wily partner showed.

V. THE VOICE. (46)

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      PITCH AND COMPASS.

      The natural pitch of the voice is its keynote, or governing note. It is that on which the voice usually dwells, and to which it most frequently returns when wearied. It is also the pitch used in conversation, and the one which a reader or speaker naturally adopts—when he reads or speaks—most easily and agreeably.

      The compass of the voice is its range above and below this pitch. To avoid monotony in reading or speaking, the voice should rise above or fall below this keynote, but always with reference to the sense or character of that which is read or spoken. The proper natural pitch is that above and СКАЧАТЬ