20 feb 2003

"But most of all, it must be remembered that the most perfect blank verse is (from certain points of view) a tissue of exceptions and irregularities, and that it requires but a very little blundering in the use of these to make it a complete failure." --Saintsbury

I cannot say I wish I had written this sentence, because it is not something I can imagine having written. I do admire the fineness of the perception though. What makes Saintsbury perceptive is that he has such a vast experience with inept versification. Here is his example of "a succession of single-moulded lines with redundant endings" that "is one of the most monotonous and one of the ugliest things possible in blank-verse making."

If I had swelled the soldier, or intended
An act in person leaning to dishonour,
As you would fain have forced me, witness Heaven,
Where clearest understanding of all truth is
(For men are spiteful men, and know no pity.
When Olin, came, grim Olin, when his marches .... (Beaumont and Fletcher)

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