Chapter XXVII: Section VI: Of the stanzas that consist of an odd

number of verses._

We have also stanzas that consist of odd numbers of verses, as of five, seven, nine, and eleven; in all which it of necessity follows that three verses of the stanza rhyme to one another, or that one of them be a blank verse.

In the stanzas of five verses the first and third may rhyme, and the
second and two last; as,

"See not my Love how Time resumes
The Beauty which he lent these Flow'rs:
Tho' none should taste of their Perfumes,
Yet they must live but some few Hours:
Time what we forbear devours."—_Waller._

Which is only a stanza of four verses in alternate rhyme, to which a fifth verse is added that rhymes to the second and fourth.

See also an instance of a stanza of five verses, where the rhymes are intermixed in the manner as the former, but the first and third verses are composed but of four syllables each.

"Go, lovely Rose,
Tell her that wastes her time and me,
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be."—_Waller._

In the following example the two first verses rhyme, and the three
last.

"'Tis well, 'tis well with them, said I,
Whose short-liv'd Passions with themselves can die.
For none can be unhappy, who }
'Midst all his Ills a Time does know, }
Tho' ne'er so long, when he shall not be so."—_Cowley._ }

In this stanza the two first and the last, and the third and fourth
rhyme to one another.

"It is enough, enough of Time and Pain
Hast thou consum'd in vain;
Leave, wretched Cowley, leave,
Thy self with Shadows to deceive.
Think that already lost which thou must never gain."—_Cowley._

The stanzas of seven verses are frequent enough in our poetry, especially among the ancients, who composed many of their poems in this sort of stanza; see the example of one of them taken from Spenser in the "Ruins of Time," where the first and third verses rhyme to one another, the second, fourth, and fifth, and the two last.

"But Fame with golden Wings aloft does fly
Above the Reach of ruinous Decay,
And with brave Plumes does beat the Azure Sky,
Admir'd of base-born Men from far away:
Then whoso will with virtuous Deeds assay,
To mount to Heaven, on Pegasus must ride,
And in sweet Poets verse be glorify'd."

I have rather chosen to take notice of this stanza, because that poet and Chaucer have made use of it in many of their poems, though they have not been followed in it by any of the moderns, whose stanzas of seven verses are generally composed as follows.

Either the four first verses are a quadran in alternate rhyme, and the
three last rhyme to one another; as,

"Now by my Love, the greatest Oath that is,
None loves you half so well as I;
I do not ask your Love for this;
But for Heav'ns sake believe me or I die.
No Servant sure but did deserve }
His Master should believe that he did serve; }
And I'll ask no more Wages, tho' I starve." }

Or the four first two couplets, and the three last a triplet; as,

"Indeed I must confess
When Souls mix 'tis a Happiness,
But not compleat 'till Bodies too combine,
And closely as our Minds together join.
But half of Heav'n the Souls in Glory taste }
'Till by Love in Heav'n at last }
Their Bodies too are plac'd." }

Or, on the contrary, the three first may rhyme, and the four last be in rhymes that follow one another; as,

"From Hate, Fear, Hope, Anger, and Envy free, }
And all the Passions else that be, }
In vain I boast of Liberty: }
In vain this State a Freedom call,
Since I have Love; and Love is all.
Sot that I am! who think it fit to brag
That I have no Disease besides the Plague."—_Cowley._

Or the first may rhyme to the two last, the second to the fifth, and third and fourth to one another; as,

"In vain thou drowsy God I thee invoke,
For thou who dost from Fumes arise,
Thou who Man's Soul dost overshade
With a thick Cloud by Vapours made,
Canst have no Pow'r to shut his Eyes,
Or Passage of his Spirits to choak,
Whose Flame's so pure, that it sends up no Smoak."—_Cowley._

Or lastly, the four first and two last may be in the following rhyme, and the fifth a blank verse; as,

"Thou robb'st my Days of Bus'ness and Delights,
Of Sleep thou robb'st my Nights.
Ah lovely Thief! what wilt thou do?
What, rob me of Heav'n too!
Thou e'en my Prayers dost from me steal,
And I with wild Idolatry
Begin to God, and end them all in thee."—_Cowley._

The stanzas of nine and of eleven syllables are not so frequent as those of five and seven. Spenser has composed his "Fairy Queen" in stanzas of nine verses, where the first rhymes to the third, the second to the fourth, fifth and seventh, and the sixth to the last; but this stanza is very difficult to maintain, and the unlucky choice of it reduced him often to the necessity of making use of many exploded words; nor has he, I think, been followed in it by any of the moderns, whose six first verses of the stanzas that consist of nine are generally in rhymes that follow one another, and the three last a triplet; as,

"Beauty, Love's Scene and Masquerade,
So well by well-plac'd Lights, and Distance made;
False Coin! with which th' Imposter cheats us still,
The Stamp and Colour good, but Metal ill:
Which light or base we find, when we
Weigh by Enjoyment, and examine thee.
For tho' thy Being be but Show,
'Tis chiefly Night which Men to thee allow,
And chuse t' enjoy thee, when thou least art thou."
—_Cowley._

In the following example the like rhyme is to be observed, but the
verses differ in measure from the former,

"Beneath this gloomy Shade,
By Nature only for my Sorrows made,
I'll spend this Voice in Cries;
In Tears I'll waste these Eyes,
By Love so vainly fed;
So Lust of old the Deluge punished.
Ah wretched Youth! said I;
Ah wretched Youth! twice did I sadly cry;
Ah wretched Youth! the Fields and Floods reply."—_Cowley._

The stanzas consisting of eleven verses are yet less frequent than those of nine, and have nothing particular to be observed in them. Take an example of one of them, where the six first are three couplets, the three next a triplet, the two last a couplet; and where the fourth, the seventh, and the last verses are of ten syllables each, the others of eight,

"No, to what Purpose should I speak?
No, wretched Heart, swell till you break:
She cannot love me if she would,
And, to say Truth, 'twere Pity that she should.
No, to the Grave thy Sorrows bear,
As silent as they will be there;
Since that lov'd Hand this mortal Wound does give.
So handsomely the Thing contrive,
That she may guiltless of it live:
So perish, that her killing thee
May a Chance-Medley, and no Murder be."—_Cowley._