THE SHE KING; OR, THE BOOK OF ANCIENT POETRY

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32
THE RHYME AND METRE OF THE PIECES.
frequently quatrains; but the authors allowed themselves
as much liberty in the length of the stanza as in that of
the line. Stanzas of two lines are very rare ; and those
of three lines, or triplets, are only less so. One ode
occurs, made up of stanzas of two lines, and in another
three such stanzas follow three quatrains. We have three
odes made up of triplets, and this stanza is occasionally
introduced among others of greater length. Stanzas of
five lines occur, but not often. They sometimes form the
structure of whole pieces, and are sometimes intermixed
with others. Stanzas of six lines, of eight, of ten, and of
twelve are frequently met with. Some are found extend
ing to fourteen lines, and even to sixteen and seventeen.
Those of seven lines, of nine, and of eleven, are all un
usual. Generally speaking, stanzas with an even num
ber of lines greatly outnumber those with an odd.
In the present metrical version, wherever I could con
veniently attain to it, I have made the stanzas of the
same length as in the original Chinese. Some expansion,
however, has frequently seemed to be necessary; con
densation has seldom been possible.
3. The manner in which the rhymes are disposed has
Disposition of received much attention from the Chinese
tiie Rhymes, critics; and the following cases, among
others, have been pointed out:—
[i.] Where lines rhyme in succession; two, three, four
lines, &c., occasionally up to twelve.
[ii.] Where the rhyming lines are interrupted by one ov
more lines intervening, which do not rhyme with them ;
those intervening lines rhyming differently together, or
not rhyming at all.
[iii.] Where the stanza contains only one rhyme.
[iv.J Where the stanza contains two or more rhymes,
[v.] AVhere the different rhymes alternate, with more
or less of regularity. Some pieces are made up of
quatrains proper, the first and third lines rhyming to
gether, and the second and fourth. In. stauzas of five
lines, the first and third will sometimes rhyme, and then
the second, fourth, and fifth. In others of six lines, the
first and third will rhyme, and then the second, fourth,
fifth, and sixth. The regularities, or rather irregularities,
of this kind are very numerous.
THE RHYME AND METEE OF THE PIECES. 33
[vi.] Where one or more lines at the commencement
of the different stanzas of a piece, or their concluding
lines, rhyme with one another. In all the instances
adduced to illustrate this case, however, we have not
merely a concord of the rhymes, but the repetition of the
whole lines.
[vii.] What we call medial rhymes occur occasionally;
and in a few instances the members of different lines
rhyme in this way at the csesural pause.
Without specifying other characteristics, I may say
that there are throughout the pieces multitudes of lines,
sometimes one, and sometimes more, which do not rhyme
with any others in the same stanza. The pieces of Part
IV. have several peculiarities. Many of them do not
admit of a stanzaic arrangement; and there are at least
eight in which there is no attempt at rhyme. We may
consider such disregard of rhyme as an approach to the
structure of blank verse; but while every other irregu
larity in the ancient odes has found imitators, I am not
aware that this has received any favour. So far from the
Chinese having any contempt for rhyming, such as
Milton expressed when he called it "a jingling sound of
like endings," " a troublesome bondage," they consider
it essential to poetry.
In the present version, as in the prose one of my larger
work, I have made no attempt to adhere to the length of
the original lines, or to adopt their rhymes. The dif
ferent attributes of the Chinese and English languages
made it impossible to do so. In passing from this sub
ject, I will venture to say that the nature of Chinese is
at the best but ill adapted for the purpose of agreeable
rhyme. It does not admit the variety that is found in an
alphabetical language, and which is to us one of the
charms of poetical composition. The single rhyming
endings in English are about 360; and if we add to them
the double and triple rhymes, where the accent falls on
the penultimate syllables, they cannot come short of 400.
In Chinese, on the other hand, the rhyming endings are
very few. Those of the Book of Poetry are under twenty.
There is, indeed, in Chinese a greater number of words
or characters to any one ending than in other languages,
and scholars have produced compositions in which the
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