For example, Milton speaks of his poem as if it were a bird soaring high in air (P. L. I. 14), because the suggestion of a likeness between objects in most respects so diverse seems to him a beautiful thought. Again, he calls the glossy slag that encrusts the slope of a volcanic hill a scurf, not because the likeness suggested is beautiful, but because it adds vividness to our mental image of the object described.

The second figure is Synecdoche. In this the underlying principle is that of substituting for the general name of an object of thought the name of some special portion of it, by which means the mental image is given more definite outlines than it would have if the name of the whole object were used.

For example, in P. L. I. 203, Milton speaks of a whale as slumbering on the "Norway foam." Note the suggestiveness of this word "foam" as compared with any general word for the sea. The turbulent winds that drive the fisherman to seek for shelter, the illusion of breaking waves that assists the belief that the object perceived is an island, the impression of the peaceful shelter "under the lee," are all suggested by this single synecdoche.

It is evident that the use of this ornament aids in securing condensation in the style.

A third kind of figurative expression is Metonymy. In this, as in the others, a substitution of names takes place, but the objects involved are related not through resemblance or through partial identity, but through habitual association in thought. As such associations are very largely the result of special intellectual training, the figure is less intelligible to the general reader than either of the others previously mentioned. his great learning, is prone to its use.

Milton, because of

For example, in P. L. I. 15, wishing to call up in his readers' minds an image of the splendid epics of the Greek poets, and to assert his intention of surpassing them, he declares that his song intends to soar "above the Aonian mount." The reader's comprehension of this passage is conditioned upon his knowing that the Greek poets claimed to be inspired by Muses who dwelt on Mount Helicon, which was situated in a district of Boeotia in Greece called Aonia. If the phrase just quoted provokes this series of associated ideas in his mind, he perceives that it has been substituted for the phrase, "above the works of the Greek poets."

This figure is employed, like synecdoche, to please the mind by its rich suggestiveness, and by its appeals to man's inherent love for symbolism, but unless sparingly used it is likely to produce obscurity in the style.

The last kind of figurative adornment that we shall consider is the Transferred Epithet, a favorite ornament with Milton. In this figure, a descriptive word whose application is clearly evident from the context is transferred from its normal place in the sentence and made to modify grammatically some word which it does not really qualify. An instance occurs in P. L. I. 120, where it is clear that it is the anticipated "war" that is thought of as "successful," and not the "hope" (to which the adjective is grammatically related). This figure, like the others, lends condensation to the style, and reflection upon all four will make clear wherein lies the force and the beauty of imaginative expression,

"Where more is meant than meets the ear."

We have mentioned as elements of style diction and sentence structure. The student should train himself (1)

to observe the character of the words habitually used by Milton, asking himself whether they are native to the English language or importations, are learned or colloquial, are chosen for directness of import or for subtlety of suggestion, and (2) to note foreign idioms, unusual turns of expression, and inversions of the natural order of sentences. He thus gains in appreciation of how language may be made more expressive by art, and gains in that power over his fellow-men which comes from effective speech.

As the rhythmic form is the attribute which especially distinguishes poetry, it is necessary for the student to keep that element constantly within the sphere of his observation. The technical knowledge required for its appreciation is very limited in amount. In brief, it is necessary to know that rhythm is based on recurring stresses or accents in spoken words, and since certain groups of stressed and unstressed syllables bear special names for convenience of reference, it is also necessary to learn to recognize the leading groups by name. One of these groups is called a poetic foot, and a definite number of feet constituting a single line of poetry is called a verse.

Verses are named from their predominating foot, and their normal number of feet. The feet most frequently used by English poets are the Iambus, consisting of an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable, and its counterpart in reverse, the Trochee. Next in importance

come the Anapest, consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable, and its counterpart in reverse, the Dactyl.

These four types are exemplified in the initial feet of the four following lines :

:

Iambus, — Of Man's | first disobedience and the fruit

Trochee, Favored | of Heaven so highly, to fall off

Anapest, Shook the Arsenal and fulmined over Greece

Dactyl,― Myriads | though bright—if he whom mutual league --.

These four kinds of feet form the theoretical basis of all Milton's versification. Where he seems to use feet of two unstressed or of two equally stressed syllables, it is generally evident either that one of the two is of predominant importance in the thought, or that it is followed by a natural pause in utterance which lends to it an artificial importance. The foot thus resolves itself into an iambus or a trochee. (The word "stress" has been employed in preference to the common term "accent," because it comprehends within its scope syllables made prominent by the delay attending their pronunciation, as well as by the force with which they are uttered.)

Milton employs in his minor poems iambic dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, and hexameter. His favorite lyric form is iambic tetrameter, which he varies by very frequently omitting the initial (unaccented) syllable of the first foot. His favorite measure for more dignified work is iambic pentameter, which he varies by occasionally adding an extra (unaccented) syllable after the fifth foot. It must be noted that the verse is named from its predominating foot, but rarely does a verse contain nothing but this kind. Adopting five

iambic feet, for example, as a basis of construction, the poet exchanges one, two, sometimes three of these for other kinds, skilfully distributing the substituted feet in different parts of successive verses, so as to produce a pleasing variety of accent, to enhance the expressiveness of the language, and yet never to take away the distinctive movement of the measure. The art of the versification consists in the "aptness" of the distribution of the feet, in connection with the immediate subject of thought.

The versification of Paradise Lost is of the type known as blank verse. Its normal line consists of five iambic feet, and therefore contains ten syllables. An extra unaccented syllable appears not infrequently at the end of a line, thus giving it what is called a weak ending. (See P. L. I. 38.) The substitution of a dactyl or an anapæst for the normal foot would also increase the number of syllables to eleven, and this variation often occurs. In this connection it is to be noted that the use of the different feet is so skilfully regulated that the movement is hastened or retarded in harmony with the sentiment expressed. If, in addition to this, words are selected. whose consonant and vowel sounds are also in harmony with the thought, we have the device called Onomatopaia, which is used to intensify the impression made upon the reader's mind. For example, in the passage P. L. I. 169–177, the trochee "wing'd with" at the beginning of verse 175, by its powerful stress on the first syllable when the mind naturally expects an unaccented syllable, suggests to the ear the extreme velocity with which the lightning shafts begin their flight, and then the broken, jerky movement of the rest of the verse, the hiss