II. RHYTHM OF PROSE AND VERSE 22
III. METRE 49
IV. METRICAL FORMS:
1. THE LINE 69
2. THE STANZA 88
3. BLANK VERSE 133
4. FREE-VERSE 150
5. EXOTIC FORMS 159
V. MELODY, HARMONY, AND MODULATION 165
GLOSSARIAL INDEX 207

CHAPTER I

RHYTHM

Rhythm, in its simplest sense, is measured motion; but by various
natural extensions of meaning the word has come to be used almost as a
synonym of regularity of variation. Whatever changes or alternates
according to a recognizable system is said to be rhythmic, to possess
rhythm. In this sense, rhythm is one of the universal principles of
nature. We find it in the stripes of the zebra, the indentation of
leaves, the series of teeth or of crystals, the curves of the horizon;
in the tides, the phases of the moon, the rising and setting of the sun,
the recurrence of seasons, the revolutions of planets; in the vibrations
of color, sound, and heat; in breathing, the throbbing of the pulse, the
stride of walking. All action and reaction whatever is rhythmic, both in
nature and in man. "Rhythm is the rule with Nature," said Tyndall; "she
abhors uniformity more than she does a vacuum." So deep-rooted, in
truth, is this principle, that we imagine it and feel it where it does
not exist, as in the clicking of a typewriter. Thus there is both an
_objective rhythm_, which actually exists as rhythm, and a _subjective
rhythm_, which is only the feeling of regularity resulting from a
natural tendency of the mind to 'organize' any irregularity that we
meet.

There are two fundamental forms of rhythm, though these are not
altogether mutually exclusive, (1) spatial, and (2) temporal.

* * * * *

_Spatial Rhythms._ The simplest spatial rhythm is a series of
equidistant points--

. . . . . . . . . .

More complex forms are the succession of repeated designs in mouldings
and wainscotings (for example, the alternation of egg and dart), the
series of windows in a wall, or of the columns of a Greek temple, or of
the black and white keys of a piano. Still more complex is the balanced
arrangement of straight lines and curves in a geometrical design, as in
certain Oriental rugs or the Gothic rose windows. And probably the most
complex spatial rhythms are