Metre

“ Accordingly, the two basal types which lie at the foundation of classical metre are "longs" and "shorts." The convention was that a long syllable was equal to two short ones: accordingly there was a real truth in calling the succession of such "feet" metre, for the length, or weight, of the syllables forming them could be, and was, measured. What has to be realized in speaking of ancient metre is that the value of these feet was defined with exactitude, not left uncertain, as it is in modern European verse, when accent is almost always made the guiding principle. ”

“ From the unit of linear measure of metre is derived the unit of the measure of capacity or Litre. This represents the cube of one-tenth part of a metre, or a cubic decimetre, and its multiples and sub-divisions with their corresponding equivalents in Imperial fluid measure are as follows:—
The unit of weight in the metric system is the Gramme. ”

“ The metre is a length of 40 inches nearly, and by applying to it exclusively the principle of decimal division, no measure corresponding to the ancient foot was provided. A unit of that denomination, though with slightly varied differences of length, was in universal use among all civilised nations, and the type of it is found in the dimensions of the human body. Perhaps for half of the occasions which arise in the life of every individual for a linear measure, the instrument to suit his purpose must be portable, and fit to be carried in his pocket. ”

“ The standards of measurement which every nation possesses are part of its history, and their long survival is at least prima facie evidence of their utility and convenience. If we take the particular instance which the word "metric" itself suggests, it seems to us we are better off with such familiar and convenient measures as the yard, the foot, the inch, and the subdivisions of the latter into halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths, etc., than we should be with the metre divided into centimetres and millimetres—that is, into hundredths and thousandths. ”

“ Hexameter.—The great staple metre of Greek and Latin epic, in which the line consists of six feet, dactyls or spondees at choice for the first four, but normally always a dactyl in the fifth and always a spondee in the sixth—the latter foot being by special licence sometimes allowed in the fifth also (in which case the line is called spondaic) , but never a dactyl in the sixth. To this metre, and to the attempts to imitate it in English, the term should be strictly confined, and never applied to the Alexandrine or iambic trimeter. ”

“ But, if you look on the other side of this tape-measure, there is a different standard of measure. This, on the reverse side, is the [83] metric system, used in France and many other countries. If you were to go into a store in France and wanted to purchase cloth, you would not ask for a yard, you would ask for a metre of cloth, which instead of thirty-six inches, which makes our yard, would be a little over thirty-nine inches; so the standard of measures and values varies in different countries. ”

“ What is written in metre, or rhythm, is so called from metros— a measure, and arithmos— a number, because regulated by certain measures, or numbers of syllables, which please the ear with their smoothness and cadency, and so insinuate the matter the more movingly and powerfully into the fancy. ”

“ No foot in English metre has more than one strong syllable, and the weak syllables are appended to the strong ones, and swept along with them in the current of the metre. The equality between a trissyllable and a consecutive dissyllable foot, which the metre requires, is preserved by adding strength to the short syllable, so as to preserve the balance. Thus, when we say——
Bear my heart to my mistress dear,
There is a strength given to bear, and mistress, which makes them metrically balance carry and conqueror in this verse,
Carry my heart to my conqueror dear. ”

“ Having shown in the preceding pages that in the point of view of scientific accuracy the yard, mètre, and toise standards are on a common level, and that in the matter of comparisons there is no extreme accuracy, I will now refer to the proposed change of our standard from the yard to the mètre.
Theoretically the mètre is the 10,000,000th part of the earth’s quadrant, and the yard the 36/39·13929th part of a seconds pendulum at London. Practically, neither the mètre nor yard could be recovered with exactness from their natural basis. ”

“ The calculation however proved inexact, so that the metre is now really a standard measure of the old sort, but so great is the convenience of using the same measures, that the metre and its fractions are coming more and more into use for scientific work all over the world. The use of scales and weights, and of wet and dry measures, had already begun among the civilized nations in the earliest known times. Our modern standards can even to some extent be traced back to those of the old world, as for instance the pound and ounce, gallon and pint, come from the ancient Roman weights and measures. ”

“ The French themselves, as has been pointed out on more than one occasion, find the metric system too irksome, and they evade it. According to the metric system, one of its great merits is that you can state every required quantity by multiples or submultiples of ten—metre, 1 ”

“ The object of the Bureau is to make and provide prototypes of the metre and kilogramme, for the various subscribing countries.
In England action has frequently been taken both by individuals and by associations of commercial men for the purpose of endeavouring to make the metric system compulsory. ”

“ If there be an error such as is supposed, then the metre ceases to be what it was called originally, one ten-millionth part of the distance from the equator to the north pole.
Even assuming that there is no error, and that the metre is precisely what it purports to be, yet it is not easy to see how the artificial standard can be corrected by recurrence to the standard in Nature. The massive work originally undertaken will not be repeated. ”

“ Some prosodists have taught the absurdity, that two feet are necessary to constitute a metre, and have accordingly applied the terms, monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, and hexameter,—or so many of them as they could so misapply,—in a sense very different from the usual acceptation. The proper principle is, that, "One foot constitutes a metre."—Dr. ”

“ The discussion on the powers of metre, in the Preface, is highly ingenious, and touches at all points on truth. But I cannot find any statement of its powers considered abstractly and separately. On the contrary, Mr. Wordsworth seems always to estimate metre by the powers which it exerts during (and, as I think, in consequence of) its combination with other elements of poetry. ”

“ The metre which I selected for each is the thirteen- syllable trochaic of "Locksley Hall;" and it is curious to observe the different effect of the metre according as it is written in two lines or in four. In the "Locksley Hall" couplet its movement is undoubtedly trochaic; but when it is expanded into a quatrain, as in Mrs. Browning's poem of "Lady Geraldine's Courtship," the movement changes, and instead of a more or less equal stress on the alternate syllables, the full ictus is only felt in one syllable out of every four; in ancient metrical language the metre becomes Ionic a minore. ”

“ Like other instincts, the metric sense has taken on different aspects among different races. Savages show it in its simplest form while dancing to the sound of primitive drums; barbarians display it in their religious and other chantings; civilized peoples utilize it for their formal poetry, either as measured quantity, like that of Greek and Roman verse, or as measured accentual stress, like that of our own English verse. Precision of metre is thus no mere display of meretricious ornament, but a logical evolution from eminently natural sources. ”

“ What gives the metric system pre-eminence is the simplicity and uniformity of its decimal scale, forming part and parcel as it does of the decimal system of notation, and lending itself to a decimal coinage as in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The metre is organically related to all measures of length, surface, capacity, solidity, and weight. A cubic centimetre of water, taken as it melts in a vacuum, at 4° C., the temperature of maximum density, is the gram from which other weights are derived ”

“ In “A railway collision” the metre proved to be very troublesome. It is certainly very modern, the lines being respectively, nine, ten, eleven and twelve syllables long. We do not know the rule which governs such a metre, and are inclined to ascribe it that licence which every true poet sometimes takes.
Considering the difficulty, we were surprised to find from thirty to forty solutions giving the verse correctly. Three out of the four lines were not difficult to solve, but the progressive nature of the metre not being established, the first was not so easy. ”

“ It seems strange that the precise relation existing between the imperial standard yard and the metre of the Archives is not known. Nevertheless, it is true, for the two measures have never been directly compared. No equation can be assigned to them that is not likely to be erroneous by at least ·005 of an inch; but, in the year 1878, Parliament declared that the legal value of the metre, in inches, should be 39·37076. ”

“ Whatever names may be chosen to denote the metrical forms, the measure or foot always remains the unity which is the basis of all modern metrical systems, and of all investigation into metre. For a line or verse is built up by the succession of a limited number of feet or measures, equal or unequal. With regard to the limit of the number of feet permissible in a line or verse, no fixed rule can be laid down. In no case must a line contain more feet than the ear may without difficulty apprehend as a rhythmic whole ”

“ In my version of hexameters and pentameters I have not shirked the metre although it is strangely out of favour in English literature while we read it and enjoy it in German. There is little valid reason for our aversion; the rhythm has been made familiar to our ears by long courses of Greek and Latin and the rarity of spondaic feet is assuredly to be supplied by art and artifice. ”

“ The question now arising is quite another thing, viz.:—Whether we are to throw overboard an existing, established, and, so to speak, ingrained system—adopt the metre as it stands for our standard—adopt, moreover, its decimal subdivisions, and carry out the change into all its train of consequences, to the rejection of our entire system of weights, measures, and coins. If we adopt the metre we can not stop short of this. ”

“ The principle of the system is clearly stated and illustrated by examples; the Method of Forming the Tables is set forth; Tables follow, clearly showing the English equivalent of the French measures of — 1. Length; 2. Surface; 3. Solidity; 4. Weight; 5. Capacity. At the bottom of the Chart is drawn a full-length Metric Measure, subdivided distinctly and intelligibly into Decimetres, Centimetres, and Millimetres. “We do not remember that ever we have seen teaching by a chart more happily carried out.” ”

“ Besides which, the cubit being the unit, the half cubit might serve the purpose of the foot; but the metre, divisible only by two and ten, gave no measure practically corresponding to the foot whatever. It appears to have been considered that decimal arithmetic, although affording great facilities for the computation of numbers, is not equally well suited for the division of material substances. A glance of the eye is sufficient to divide material substances into successive halves, fourths, eighths, and sixteenths. A slight attention will give thirds, sixths, and twelfths. ”

“ We have measured, by means of sixty-three triangles, an arc of more than eight degrees in length; and when we have rigidly corrected our results, we shall know the exact value of the degree, and consequently of the mètre, in this part of the globe.”
A cheer of satisfaction could not be repressed amongst the others. ”

“ It is mathematically equal to the product of the length of the circumference, multiplied by half the radius. To square a circle of a given diameter in mètres, is the same as giving the number of squares, of a mètre in each side, of which the surface is the equivalent. If, the diameter being given, the exact circumference were known by a sort of inspiration, the superficial extent of the circular space would be deducible from the two numbers, by the mere multiplication of the numerical length of the circumference by the fourth of the diameter, or half the radius. ”

“ It was not sufficient to reproduce the ancient metres, unless the ancient quantity was reproduced also. Almost all the modern writers of classical metre had contented themselves with making an accented syllable long, an unaccented short ”

“ The metre, it has been stated, might strike the eye in the external aspect of the sentences; it was designed much more to charm the mind by the harmony and music of the thoughts. But while these general principles are still acknowledged, some further progress has been made in the examination of the structure of the verses, with the result that both more regularity of law and more variety of metre have been discovered. The elegy in particular is found to be shaped on special lines of its own. It has been pointed out that a peculiar metre is reserved for poems of mournful reflection. ”

“ If natural laws of metrical construction be willfully set aside, the reader's attention will be distracted from the soul of the poem to its uncouth and ill-fitting dress. The more nearly perfect the metre, the less conspicuous its presence ”