reach his sonorous music, his rhythm, his use of verseparagraphing and distribution of pauses, is evident; but who, lacking genius, shall succeed in this, the easiest of all metres to write, but the most difficult to write well?

It is worth observing that Miltonic blank verse was but little influenced by the neo-classic theories of the couplet. Probably the only two English poets who exceeded "Paradise Lost" in having more run-on lines and fewer end-stopt lines were two Augustans, viz. John Philips and Thomas Newcomb ("The Last Judgement of Men and Angels, A Poem in 12 books, after the manner of Milton", 1723) 1). Even Shelley and Swinburne have fewer run-on lines and more end-stopt lines than "Paradise Lost" 1). In Milton's verse there is a steady fall in the proportion of run-on lines. Thus the percentage of run-on lines in "Paradise Lost" is fifty-eight, in the subsequent "Paradise Regained" it is only forty-five. Shenstone, Watts, Cowper, Somerville, Akenside, Newcomb and Philips have more run-on lines than "Paradise Regained". Glover, Mallet, Thomson, Blair and Young have fewer. The lowest point is touched by Thomas Young, whose percentage of run-on lines is only twenty-five. Here the influence of the heroic couplet is unmistakeable; indeed Young used more end-stopt lines in his blank verse than Pope did in his couplets.

It is not necessary to enlarge here upon the prosodic theory of blank verse. There is ample enough illustration of prosodic practice. But since it is so often stated that at first blank verse was despised as much as was the couplet later on, it may be well to refer once more to the first of the Miltonians, John Philips, and to quote a passage from "The Life and Character of Mr. John Philips", by Mr. Sewell. (London, 1714).

1) See "The Technique of English Non-Dramatic Blank Verse", by E. P. Morton. Chicago. 1910.

"There it was (viz. at Oxford) that, following the natural Bent of his Genius, beside other valuable Authors, he became acquainted with Mr. Milton, whom he studied with application, and traced him in all his successful Translations from the Ancients. There was not an Allusion in his Paradise Lost, drawn from the Thoughts, or Expressions of Homer, or Virgil, which he could not immediately refer to, and by that, he perceived what a peculiar Life and Grace their sentiments added to English Poetry, how much their images raised its spirit, and what Weight and Beauty their words, when translated, gave to its language. Nor was he less curious in observing the Force and Elegancy of his Mother tongue, but, by the example of his darling Milton searched backwards into the works of our Old English Poets to furnish himself with proper, sounding, and significant expressions, and prove the due extent and compass of the Language. For this purpose he carefully read over Chaucer and Spenser."

The history of blank verse in the eighteenth century, when contrasted with the history of the heroic couplet, shows that, throughout the century, there ran two parallel streams, the one swelling as the other dwindled. Robert Lloyd (1733-1764), whom Cowper in an "Epistle" addressed to him, called:

"Sole heir, and single,

Of dear Mat Prior's easy jingle,"

sums up as follows the dual nature of eighteenth century poetry in his poem: "On Rhyme":

Some, Milton-mad, (an affectation
Glean'd up from college education)
Approve no verse, but that which flows

In epithetic measur'd prose,

With trim expressions daily drest

PROSODIC THEORY

Stol'n, misapply'd, and not confest,
And call it writing in the style
Of that great Homer of our isle.
Whilom, what time, eftsoons and erst,
(So Prose is oftentimes beverst)
Sprinkled with quaint fantastic phrase,
Uncouth to ears of modern days,
Make up the metre, which they call
Blank, classic blank, their all in all.
Can only blank admit sublime?
Go read and measure Dryden's rhyme.
Admire the magic of his song,

See how his numbers roll along,

With ease and strength and varied pause,
Not cramp'd by sound, nor metre's laws.
Is harmony the gift of rhyme?
Read, if you can, your Milton's chime;
Where, taste, not wantonly severe,
May find the measure, not the ear.

As rhyme, rich rhyme, was Dryden's choice,
And blank has Milton's nobler voice,

I deem it as the subjects lead,

That either measure will succeed.
That rhyme will readily admit

Of fancy, numbers, force and wit;

But though each couplet has its strength
It palls in works of epic length.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

123

BENSON, A. D., Letters concerning Poetical Translations, and Vergil's and Milton's Art of Verse. London, 1739.

BRIDGES, R., Milton's Prosody. Oxford, 1893.

CLAGES, H. O., Der Blankvers in Thomson's Seasons und Young's Night-Thoughts. Diss. Halle 1892.

GOOD, J. W., Studies in the Milton Tradition. University of Illinois Studies in Language and Literature. Vol. I, 3, 4. 1915. LEWIS, C. M., The Foreign Sources of Modern English Versification. Yale Thesis. New York, 1898.

LIDDELL, M. H., An Introduction to the Scientific Study of English Poetry. London, 1902.

MASSON, D., The Poetical Works of John Milton. 3 Vols. London, 1893.

MASSON, D., The Life of John Milton in connection with the History of His Time. 6 Vols. London 1880.

MEAD, W. E., The Versification of Pope in its relation to the 17th century. Leipzig, 1889. Diss.

MORTON, E. P., The Technique of English Non-Dramatic Blank Verse, Chicago, 1910.

OMOND, T. S., A Study of Metre. London, 1903. English Metrists in the 18th Century and 19th Century, Being a Sketch of English Prosodical Criticism during the last 200 years. Oxford, 1907. SMITH, E., The Principles of English Metre. Oxford, 1923. SYMONDS, J. A., Blank Verse. London, 1895.

VERRIER, P., Essai sur les Principes de la Métrique Anglaise. 3 vols. Paris, 1909-10.

CHAPTER IX

MILTONIC DICTION IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea,
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free.

William WORDSWORTH

Milton's vocabulary was not extensive. In his verse it embraces only about eight thousand words, that is, about half the number used by Shakespeare. And yet it is by this very austerity and parsimony that Milton wins his most signal triumphs of sheer verbal power. By applying the "grand style" to a great theme, he provided a lasting vindication of the powers of the English language.

To attempt, within our present limits, an analysis of Milton's diction would be impossible. Its pregnant force, its virile economy, its severe splendour, exemplify as brilliantly as anything else in English literature that mastery of mere language which distinguishes the highest poetry, a quality so ably defined by Myers in his "Essays Classic and Modern":

"And, indeed, in poetry of the first order, almost every word (to use a mathematical metaphor) is raised to a higher power. It continues to be an articulate sound and a logical step in the argument; but it becomes also a musical sound and a centre of emotional force. It becomes a musical sound; that is to say, its consonants and vowels are arranged to bear a relation to the consonants and vowels near it, lation of which accent, quantity, rhyme, assonance,

· a re