You must not expect that you will often find a poem written entirely in one kind of foot. It is very common to combine the two kinds of rising rhythm or the two kinds of falling rhythm. Occasionally a falling foot is found in a poem consisting chiefly of rising feet. Find illustrations of this in Passage 5. Sometimes a foot is incomplete, especially at the beginning or end of a line. Find illustrations of this fact in Passage 6.

The author often introduces irregularities for a definite purpose. After you get the general movement of a poem you will not notice an occasional change. But even a little child is often troubled by a sudden change from verse to prose. A six-year old boy was once entertaining himself by repeating Stevenson's little poem, A Good Play. At first he said :

"And Tom said, 'Let us also take A piece of cake and an apple.'"

But instantly be changed the last line to :

"An apple and a piece of cake."

Do you see two reasons for the change?

Exercise 315

Read each passage slowly. Notice where the stress naturally falls. Mark the accented syllables. Try to divide the lines into feet. See if the class can scan by your marking.

1. Is this a time to be cloudy and sad, When our mother Nature laughs around, When even the deep blue heavens look glad And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground?

2. Far to northward lies a land Where the trees together stand Closer than the blades of wheat When the summer is complete.

3. Oh, I am king of the digging crew! Can a hundred men do the work I do? Can they work all day, and then all night, Without sleeping a wink or eating a bite? Can they work a month on a drink of oil In the arctic blast or the tropic broil?

No men can do the things I do, For I am king of the digging crew!

Ralph Bacon, in The Youth's Companion.

4. There's nothing so kingly as kindness, There's nothing so royal as truth.

5. The oriole swings in her nest, The bough swings high in the breeze; Mother swings Bud in the hammock, And I swing under the trees. It is up, and up, and higher!

With toes 'most reaching the skies; Then down, and down, and slower, The old - cat - dies.

6. Work!

Thank God for the pride of it, For the beautiful conquering tide of it, Sweeping the life in its furious flood, Thrilling the arteries, cleansing the blood, Mastering stupor and dull despair, Moving the dreamer to do and dare, Oh, what is so good as the urge of it, And what is so glad as the surge of it, And what is so strong as the summons deep Rousing the torpid soul from sleep?

Angela Morgan, in The Outlook.

7. Where the pools are bright and deep, Where the gray trout lies asleep, Up the river, and o'er the lea, That's the way for Billy and me.

8. For easy things that may be got at will Most sort of men do set but little store.

9. I see you, Brother, I see you,

With scarlet under your wing,

Flash through the ruddy maples,

Leading the pageant of spring.

Bliss Carman, in The Century.

10. All down the hills of Habersham,

All through the valleys of Hall,

The rushes cried, "Abide, abide,"

The willful waterweeds held me thrall,

The laving laurel turned my tide,

The ferns and the fondling grass said, "Stay,"

The dewberry dipped for to work delay,

And the little reeds sighed, "Abide, abide,

Here in the hills of Habersham,

Here in the valleys of Hall." 1

Sidney Lanier.