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PHYSIOLOGICAL ÆSTHETICS.
Greek ; accentual, as in English and German ; or syllabic,
as in French. It is also often marked by other modes of
expected repetition, such as perfect rhyme, or assonance of
vowels and consonants, found in most modern verse ; im¬
perfect rhyme, or assonance of vowels alone, which is the
ordinary rule of Spanish poets ; and alliteration, which is
systematic in so-called Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic songs,
while it is employed as an occasional beauty in all languages
and ages. Besides these various mechanical devices, Poetry
may further gratify the ear by smoothness of flow, which is
obtained through high vocalization and the rejection of harsh
consonantal combinations, awkward hiatus, and excessive
sibilants or trills. Certain words are in themselves, apart
from the suggested idea, harsh and disagreeable, while others
are soft and pleasing ; though of course these distinctions
can only be observed by a cultivated and highly discrimina¬
tive ear. Poetry seeks, so far as possible, to avoid the
former and cumulate the latter : but this principle may be
interfered with by considerations of intellectual or emotional
effect. The various presentative elements thus shortly
enumerated are commonly summed up as the form of Poetry,
while the far more important representative elements, to
which we next proceed, are known in contradistinction as its
matter.
§ 3. Representative Elements of Poetry.
We all know that verse is not necessarily Poetry, and even
that Poetry is not necessarily in verse. In reading fourth-
rate rhymes we feel that they differ from prose only in their