Training in Lyric Poetry & Verse for songwriters.

With Complete Rhyming Dictionary

	MEASURES OF VERSE.	37
	Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Gray. Iambic pentameter unrhymed is the famous Blank verse of literature {see page 184). {f) Iambic Hexameter. Normal line, twelve Syllables This measure has been seldom used by our poets since Drayton composed his Polyolbion in it in 1610. From an old French poem written in this measure detailing the deeds of Alexander the Great, verses of this dimension are known as Alexandrines, and are seldom used except with pentameters to vary the monotony of their rhythm. A notable instance of this is in the use of an Alexandrine to form the ninth line of the Spen­serian stanza. An hundred valiant men had this brave Robin Hood, Still ready at his call, that bowmen were right good, All clad in Lincoln green, with caps of red and blue, Hit fell»w'« winded horn, not one of them but knew. Drayton. When spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil, When summer'6 balmy showers refresh the mower's toil. Hebtr.