354 The Future Poetry
of its strength by a similar treatment of all its syllables except
the opening long sound. All are disabled from coming out in
relief on the dactylic background and so cannot do their work
as modulating variants; for that they should enter in their own
right as themselves and not as false dactyls and with their full
metrical value. Even among the three available feet the trochee
gives poor service; for it rarely fits in, — its effect, when it is
used mechanically as a device and with no meaningful appro-
priateness or rhythmic beauty, disturbs the dactylic flow without
giving any relief to the dactylic monotone. Dactyl and spondee
by themselves, pure and unmodulated, or the dactyl by itself
cannot, unhelped and unrelieved, bear successfully the burden
of a long poem in accentual metre.
Longfellow treats us to a non-stop flow of even hexame-
ters with few overlappings and insufficient use of pauses; such
overlappings as there are are hardly noticeable, so mechanical is
their intervention, so entirely uncalled by rhythmic necessity and
unburdened with meaning; the pauses are sometimes well-done
but the whole tone of the rhythm is so mechanical that even
then they lose their effect and seem almost artificial. The result
on the rhythmic whole is disastrous; a smooth even sing-song
is the constant note, a movement without nobility or beauty or
power or swiftness. Sometimes we come across passages that are
adequate and achieve a quiet and subdued beauty —
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light, and the landscape
Lay as if new-created in all the freshness of childhood.
Peace seemed to reign upon earth and the restless heart of the ocean
Was for a moment consoled. All sounds were in harmony blended.In such passages, the metre, though accentual, satisfies the quan-
titative demand and so escapes from its deficiencies, but the
rhythm is too flatly smooth and still indistinctive; it fails to
support and achieve fully by the something more behind the
metrical movement the beauty that the words intended. Some
charm of delicacy is achieved, but it lacks power, height and
depth; here certainly is not the tread of the great Olympian
measure. Ordinarily, the note sinks lower and even descends to