The lines in his Prometheus beginning: are also written in this metre, which moreover is sufficiently Protean to form the basis of several of Gilbert’s most attractive songs, such as, “If[Pg 41] you’re anxious for to shine in the high æsthetic line as a man of culture rare.” There is no reason why this metre should not be developed into a very expressive and subtle instrument, especially if Blake’s experiment be taken as a starting point. Though it may not have the grandeur of Milton’s blank verse, it has more rapidity and lightness, and is not without a beauty and dignity of its own. [Pg 41] Triple time was seldom employed by the Elizabethans, except in lyrics such as Shakespeare’s: The eighteenth century found it an effective comedic rhythm, as in Goldsmith’s: But it was Shelley who first successfully[Pg 42] slowed down triple time, and gave it dignity and variety, as in his Sensitive Plant: [Pg 42] This rhythm has now become, in various forms and disguises, one of our commonest lyrical metres, easily modulating into duple time, and adaptable to lines of various lengths. There is also another slower triple time, quite different to the usual form. Byron used it, probably without knowing what he was doing, in several of his lyrics, such as the Song of the Third Spirit in Manfred, and “There be none of Beauty’s daughters”: but the only instance I know where it has been consciously and deliberately used, is Professor Murray’s translation of an Ionic a minore ode in the Hippolytus: [Pg 43] [Pg 43] It is unlikely that this difficult rhythm will ever become common; but in lyric poetry, by way of occasional contrast, very beautiful effects might well be obtained by it. So far as I can see, these four are the only fundamental rhythms in English poetry. Their true nature, their various disguises, and their difference and relationship with one another, are not always sufficiently understood, and the result has frequently been confused and clumsy workmanship, and a failure to exploit their latent possibilities to the full. There is one further aspect of the poetic craft which I must now mention. The Greek lyrical poets, whose metre was quantitative, and was emphasised by music and dancing movements, were able to build
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