Chapter XXI The Metrical Tests — II . . . . 231

The three remaining metrical tests — weak-ending lines in The Tempest — division into weak and light endings not neces- sary here — weak-ending is really a sort of run-on line — reason for treating it separately is that Shakspere' s use of it begins ab- ruptly, at Macbeth — Professor Ingram's conclusions regarding this test — Shakspere evidently quite changed his mind regarding this verse form about Macbeth or a little earlier — nature of the double-ending line illustrated musically — like the other later developments just studied, this is a variation of the normal form
— this double-ending test confirms all the others — though Shakspere' s use of it increased noticeably in the later plays, his enormous self-control is evidenced by the fact that it never ran away with him, as it did with some of his contemporaries — ex- ample of this in John Fletcher's work — interesting application of this in determining authorship of special parts of Henry Fill
— Emerson's acute surmises on this point and the conjectures of
xii CONTENTS
Others authoritatively checked by the double-ending test — same process in The Two Noble Kinsmen — the rhythmic accent test — three wholly different icinds of accent : the pronunciation accent^ the logical accent, and the rhythmic accent — the last marks off barSy or equal groups of sounds, in both poetry and music — as in music so in verse the position of this accent may be changed for the sake of variety — effect of this change is to vary the nor- mal rhythmic pattern — it is therefore, like the double-ending, a device against monotony — confusion among scholars regarding these accents — as we should expect, Shakspere in his later plays made freer use of this accent variation — no exact reductions to numbers in this case, as the test is one formulated by the writer, but the general change is very apparent — cumulative effect of all this evidence obtained from such different sources — metrical tests invaluable in checking conclusions as to Shakspere' s artistic growth — all the five tests unite in showing a tendency towards freedom, relief from monotony, and individuality — that is, the poet's advance is clearly a more artistic balancing of the op- positions which constitute verse — we can now see a poem as form in art, a generalisation as form in science, a balanced char- acter as form in morals — opposition underlies all the phases of this balance — a table of oppositions or balances in Shakspere's artistic and moral development — in next lectures to prove by contrasting certain typical plays that the poet's advance in art and morals is one and the same growth — man's three lines of outlook are to God, man, and nature — admirable adaptation of the plays selected to the illustration of all these points in Shakspere's work.