Dissyllable. In po-êsie, po-ème, po-ète, po-étiqùe
Oin. — Monosyyllable. As in loin, soin, besoin, moins, point.
Oua, oue,f ouer, ouette. — 1. Monosyllable. In fouet, fouetter. So the interjection ouais.
2. Generally Dissyllable. Il avou-a, il lou-ait, ou-aiïles, secou-ant, lou-er, dou-é, nou-eux, jou-et, alou-ette, pirou-ette, chou-ette. So Rou-en; also sou-hait and its compounds.
Oui. — 1. Monosyllable. In the affirmative adverb oui. 2. Generally Dissyllable. Ou-ïr, ou-ï, s'évanou-ir, jou-ir, éblou-ir, and the substantive Lou-is.
Ouin. — Monosyllable. Ba-bouin, bara-gouin.
Ua, ué,t lier. — 1. Monosyllable. In ê-cuelle.
2. Generally Dissyllable. Il tu-a, persua-der, immu-able, chat-huant, tu-er, remu-er, attribu-er, hu-é, nu-ée, su-eur, lu-eur, cru-el, du-el, ru- elle, mu- et.
TTim — 1. Monosyllable. In aujour-d'hui, lui, ce-lui, ap-pui, fruit, sui-vre, bruit, rê-duire, fuir, puits.
2. Dissyllable. In jlu-ide, ru-ine, ru-iner, bru-ine, su-icide.
Y, I (with a diaeresis). — 1. F and ï are not counted as a syllable in payable, effrayant, payé, foyer, frayeur, moyen, citoyen, royaume, païen, aïeux ; nor the letters yi in the subjunctive, as voyions, voyiez. Thèse words are thus pronounced pai-ya-ble, voi-yons, etc.
2. Y and ï make a distinct syllable in paysan (pai-i-san), abbaye (ab-bai-i), Ina-ï, sto-ïque.
Rem. 1. The e mute in the body of certain words, after a vowel, lengthens that vowel, but does not count as a separate syllable. Je paie-rai, je loue-rai, nous avoue-rons, je me fie-rai, je remue-rai, dénue-ment. At présent this e is often replaced by a circumflex accent.
Rem. 2. In the words Saône, août, Aaron, the first vowel is not pronounced.
* So oê and oè, that is, when e, being followed by a consonant, has the sound of
è, as in moelle.
t So ouè, as explained in the note on the previous page; also oueu. X So uè and ueu. See the above note.
CESURA.
Rem. 3. The syllabication, or " syllabic quantity," of some of the foregoing combinations formerly varied, but at présent it is fixed.
§ 8. French verses cannot have more than twelve syllables. Verses of ten, eight, and seven are also of common occurrence. Those of nine and less than seven are more rare, and will be referred to hereafter.
Rem. The e mute at the end of a verse does not count in the measure.
Ex. Verse of twelve Syllables. (Eexameter.) Des fleurs et de l'ombrage, et tout ce que j'aimai. Chénier. Verse of ten Syllables. (Pentameter.) Cris de l'enfer î voix qui hurle et qui pleure ! Hugo.
Verse of eight Syllables. (Tetrameter.) Quels chants sur ces flots retentissent ? * Lamartine. Verse of seven Syllables.
Les morts des temps écoulés. Nodier.
§ 9. A foot is a corabination of two syllables ; hence the first three of the above verses contain six, five, and four feet respectively, whence their names, mètre being used as synonymous with foot. The term mètre also applies to the entire measure of a verse, and this is its ordinary signification.
Rem. 1. The verse of six feet, or twelve syllables, is called heroic, from its adaptability to epic poetry; and also alexandrine, from a French poem written in the twelfth century, of which Alexander is the hero.
Rem. 2. A verse is said to be sur ses pieds (upon its feet), when it has the required number of syllables.
CESURA.
§ !©• Cesura means a cutting, and the cesura of a verse is the place where it is eut. The word hémistiche derived from the Greek, signifies half a verse ; but it is applied only to the alexandrine.
*The filial nt of the 3d person plural of verbs beiut^always silent when preeeded by e, this verse realiy ends in e mute, which does not count in the measure.
Rem. h In heroic verse there is always a cesura after the sixth syllable, thus dividing the verse into two equal parts : *
Ex. La terre était riante | et dans sa fleur première. De Vigny.
Rem. 2. In the pentameter there is always a cesura after the fourth syllable.
Ex. La maison crie | et chancèle penchée. Hugo.
Rem. 3. The hexameter and pentameter are the only species of verse in which a regular cesura is required.
Rem. 4. The place of the cesura does not necessarily require a punctuation mark. This principle is both stated and illustrated in the following lines of Boileau :
Que toujours dans vos vers | le sens, coupant les mots, Suspende l'hémistiche, | en marque le repos.
§ llo Accent in French is of two kinds, written and tonic (accent tonique). The tonic accent may fall on certain important monosyllables, and in words of more than one syllable, only upon the finale or the penult when the final is a mute syllable. Ex. voyez-la ; nous y serons tous y solcto, guerre.
Rem. 1. In French, as in ail languages, certain words, especially monosyllables, and, in particular, pronouns and prépositions, lose their accent in connected discourse, being united in pronunciation with the following word.
Ex. Nous sommes ; par toi. In thèse phrases, the two words being pronounced as one, the final takes the accent ; but when the words are transposed, the accent will fall on the monosyllable, as sommes-nous ; soyez-le.
§ 12m General Rule for the Cesura. The cesura should not immediately follow an unaccented f syllable.
Rem. 1. A mute e should not immediately précède a cesura, unless a vowel follow it, in which case it is elided in the pronunciation. Ex. Oui, je viens dans son temple | adorer l'Éternel. Racine.
Note. The mute terminations of the plural of nouns and verbs, as in livres, viennent, should not immediately précède the cesura, because they cannot be elided. The terminations aient (see 5) are excepted, as
* Although the alexandrine verse may be eut in différent places, and consequently have différent cesuras, when we speak of the cesura we mean that of the hemistich, and in the pentameter that which occurs after the fourth syllable.
f This refers, of course, to the tonic accent.
RHYME
the last three letters of thèse do not count in the measure, being suppressed in pronunciation.
Ex. Les prêtres ne pouvaient | suffire aux sacrifices.
Rem. 2. The séparation, by the cesura, of words closély united in pronunciation or construction, should be avoided ; i. e., a cesura should not be introduced where the sensé absolutely forbids a slight suspension of the voice.
The following verses are given as illustrations of cesuras defective in this particular :
Mais il n'importe : il faut suivre ma destinée. Molière. Mon frère, vous serez charmé de le connaître. Id. Crois-tu qu'un juge n'ait qu'à faire bonne chère. Racine. Voyez cet autre, avec sa face de carême. Id. Elle et moi, n'avons eu garde de l'oublier. La Fontaine.
Rem. 3. Comedy, stories, fables, familiar epistles, etc., allow of cesuras which would be considered a blemish in epic poetry, tragedy, or serious narration, which require a more dignified style.
RHYME
§ 13, There are, ïn French, two species of rhyme, called masculine and féminine ; the latter taking place between syllables which contain an e mute, the former between thôse which do not.
Masculine Rhymes. — Loisir, plaisir ; bonté, santé ; vertus, abattus.
Féminine Rhymes. — Belle, rebelle; infernale, fatale; alarmes, larmes.
Rem. 1. In féminine rhymes it is upon the penult that the rhyme must fall, as it occurs upon the accented syllable. (See 11.)
Rem. 2. The termination aient in verbs (see 5) is classed with masculine rhymes, the ent not counting in the measure.
§ 14. The rhyme is said to be " rieh " or " sufficient." It is rich when the sound of the rhyming syllables is precisely the same, whether spelled alike or differently (but see 24) ; sufficient when the sounds are similar ; thus père, prospère ; content, attend; austère, salutaire; paisible, risible; are «rich; " and recevoir, espoir ; doux, nous ; are " sufficient " rhymes.
The sufficient rhymes are more agreeable to an English ear.
§ ISm Sometimes the rhyme takes place between the last two syllables of words, as insensée, pensée/ auteur, hauteur. Thèse double rhynies, when occurring frequently, are regarded as an affectation.
§ 16. The rhyme, being intended for the ear, demands similar sounds, rather than similar letters; thus, terre, mystère; prix, appris ; exige, dis-je (or di-je by poetical license) ; permets, jamais, etc., are legitimate rhymes.
Rem. As lately as the âge of Louis XIV., " rhymes for the eye 99 were still tolerated, as enfer, triompher ; foyers, fiers ; connoitre (connaître), croître ; because of their similarity of spelling, notwithstanding the différence of pronunciation. Such rhymes are no longer perniitted.
§17. A word should not rhyme with itself, though two words spelled and pronounced alike, with différent meanings, may rhyme together.
Ex. Notre malheur est grand ; il est au plus haut point :
Je l'envisage entier, mais je n'en frémis point. Corneille.
§ !§• A substantive should not rhyme with its verb, a simple word with its compound, nor two compounds which have preserved a similarity of signification. Thus, such rhymes as the following should be avoided : une arme, il s^arme ; jeter, rejeter ; bonheur, malheur.
§ 19. With the following terminations the rhyme should be " rich" and not merely " sufficient : " a (in verbs), é, er, ée, u (except when one of the words is a monosyllable), ment, and generally ant, ent, ir, eux, and eur.
Rem. 1. Rhymes with a final, in verbs, are little used in elevated style, as trouva, cultiva.
Rem. 2. When final é, er, or êe is preceded by two consonants, of which the second is a liquid (Z or r), the liquid alone is required in the rhyming word ; thus troublée and aveuglée are legitimate rhymes ; so gner may rhyme with ner, as confiner, régner.
Rem. 3. É and i, when fbrming syllables of themselves, may rhyme with themselves, thus forming a rhyme of a single letter, as Noé, avoué ; trahi, obéi ; so trahis, pays.
RHYME
§ 20. Final ion (rarely found in good writers) rhymes only with itself; as passion, action.
§ SI. Final es rhy mes well with itself, and it may rhyme also with the plurals ais, aits, êts ; as succès, procès, essais.
§ 22. But few merely " sufficient " masculine rbymes were admitted by the poets of the âge of Louis XIV. They, however, admit them in the following instances : —
When a termination is not fréquent in the language, as égal, fatal, attentats, ingrats ; remords, trésors.
When one of the two words is a proper name ; as Zenon, raison ; JTéraclius, confus.
When one of the words is a monosyllable ; as finis, fils ; ennemis, fils ; but not finis, ennemis, because neither is a monosyllable.
§ 23. The " sufficient" féminine rhyme is frequently met with ; as courage, davantage ; étonne, couronne, etc.
Rem. The terminations ie and ue, in the great poets, require the rhyme to be " ricin" and not merely " sufficient" at least in the elevated style.
§ 24U Resemblance of sound is not always sufficient to authorize the rhyme. Thus the singular does not rhyme with the plural in nouns, adjectives, and verbs; and in gênerai the addition of a final consonant to one of the words, and not to the other, though absolutely silent, prevents the rhyme.
Defective Rhymes. — Arme, larmes ; dard, étendards; tu charmes, alarme ; ils charment, il arme ; ils charment, alarme or alarmes ; pardon, cédons ; témoin, moins ; accord, corps ; lieu, mieux ; vers, découvert ; or, sort; toi, toit ; fer, souffert; loin, point; vœu, veut ; autan, étang or étend ; an, enfant ; Apollon, long ; son, sont; changé, berger.
Rem. 1. The above rule is a remnant of the System formerly in yogue of " rhymes for the eye."
Rem. 2. S, x, and z may be regarded as similar consonants with respect to the rhyme ; thus doux, nous ; ordonnés, entraînez, are legitimate rhymes.
Rem. 3. Rang and sang rhyme with flanc, franc, and banc, but not with parent and reconnaissant. (See § 19.)
Rem. 4. Certain words which présent a defective rhyme in the singular, rhyme well in the plural ; as fers, soufferts ; tyrans, expirants ; rangs, parents ; but the termination ments rhymes only with ments or mants, and vengés does not rhyme with bergers,
§ 25. A simple vowel rhyming with a diphthong, though unsatisfactory,isauthorized; as suivre, vivre; diable, table; etc.
§ S6. A rhyme formed of a long and a short syllable, though found in the great poets, is not to be imitated ; thus, Mycene, sienne; vienne, peine ; the former from Racine, the latter from Molière.
§ 27. The French language does not furnish rhymes for ail words, and, of those which exist, care must be taken to avoid both the uncommon and the trivial ; and also those words which, having but few similar terminations, almost certainly suggest the corresponding rhyme. The following are among the rhymes to be avoided, as being too common : famille, fille ; prince, province ; poudre, foudre ; juste, auguste ; illustre, lustre ; marque, monarque ; song e, mensonge ; sombre, ombre ; hommes, nous sommes ; dieu or adieu, lieu ; etc.
Rem. 1. Of the forms of verbs, the past indefinite, as il leva, il cultiva, the past subjunctive, as aimât, aimassent, the third persons of the future, as aimera, aimeront, and the présent participle, should not be introduced at the end of verses.
Rem. 2. A word once used in the rhyme should not be repeated before about fifteen verses.
Note. § 12, Rem. 3, is applicable to the rhyme as to the cesura.
HIATUS
§ 38. The mute e is the only vowel which should end a Word before a word beginning with a vowel or unaspirated h. Any other vowel in this position produces an hiatus. Thus, we cannot say, in poetry, tu es, tu auras, si elle vient, elle y est.
Rem. The conjunction et before a word beginning with a vowel-sound produces an hiatus, the t of this word being never carried to the next. Thus, we cannot say, in poetry, et il vient ; sage et heureux.
HIATUS
§ 29. The hiatus is permitted in poetry in the following cases :
