138 FORMS OF HEBREW POETRY
pany a stressed syllable neither less nor more
than the number of syllables in the longest
Hebrew word with inseparable attachments such
as a preposition at the beginning and a suffix at
the close? In other words, is the general rule :
one word, one stress, to which words of more than
a certain number of syllables, say four, so far
form an exception that they may receive a second
stress? Or, to put it otherwise, in such longer
words may the counter-tone as well as the tone
count as a full stress? I incline to the opinion
that by the rule that words of a certain length
may, but do not necessarily, receive a double
stress, we at least approximate closely to an
actual law of Hebrew rhythm. But there is a
second question : does every single word receive
a stress, or, as in several lines of Christabel,
may we in Hebrew poetry have not only several
syllables but also more words than one to each
stress?
We obtain some light on both these questions
from certain characteristics of the Massoretic
punctuation, and on the second of them from
Assyrian analogy also. The effect of makkeph
in the Massoretie system is to render unaccented
any word which is thus joined to a succeeding
word. We may believe that the principle of
the Massoretic makkeph corresponds to a principle
in the ancient language without accepting every
particular use of makkeph in the Massoretic text