THE LOOKING -GLASS
39
The fourth , to draw her kisses and to keep ;
The fifth , for love ; the sixth , in sweet despair ;
The seventh , to destroy us unaware ;
The eighth , to dive within the infernal deep .'
would
scan
better ;
but
by
replacing
it
by
“ within ” we can
feel
the
dark waters close over
us
as
we
are
borne
down
their
unfathomable
depths .
Similarly
in the following
:
Aching with
all
the pangs
of
night
My shuddering body swoons
;
my eyes
Absorb her eyelids
'
lazy light
,
And read her bosom
2
The extra half
-
step
in
“
shuddering
”
in
place
of
dis
cordantly jarring
on
the metre produces
a
keener
sense
of
agony
in
the
reader's mind
than
a
word
which
scanned correctly would
do
.
In
the next passage
,
taken from
“
Tannhäuser
,
”
we
find
the introduction
of
a
spondee carrying
with
it
a
curious sensation of slowness
:
Chaos
,
a
speck
;
and space
,
a
span
;
Ruinous cycles fallen
in,
And Darkness
on
the Deep
of
Time
.
Murmurous voices call and climb
;
Faces
,
half
-
formed
,
arise
;
and He
Looked from the shadow
of
His throne
,
The curtain
of
Eternity
;:
whilst
in
the last verse
of
“
The Palace
of
the World
"
the sudden dropping
of
a
whole foot produces with
it
a
sudden
sense
of
finality
:
|
The Temple
of
the Holy Ghost
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
183
.
2
Jezebel
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
131
.
3
Tannhäuser
,
vol
.
I,
p
.
251.
(
The italics are mine
.)