It  is  possible  still  further  to  distinguish  differences  in
aesthetic  character  and  effect  within  the  two  groups  ;
and  thus  we  find  critics  describing  the  iambic  measure
as  smooth,  dignified,  and  stately,  and  the  trochaic  as
energetic  and  abrupt ;  the  anapaestic  as  swift  and
forcible,  the  dactylic  as  airy  and  graceful,  and  the
amphibrachic  as  swinging  and  free.  On  these  matters,
it  is  true,  it  is  rather  hazardous  to  generalise,  for  we  do
not  have  to  go  far  in  our  practical  study  of  poetry  before
we  discover  that  every  form  of  metre  has  a  much  wider
range  of  power  than  such  abstract  statements  would
suggest.  Iambic  measure,  for  instance — the  standard
verse  of  English  poetry — has  been  used  with  complete
success  for  all  kinds  of  subjects  "  from  grave  to  gay,
from  lively  to  severe  "  ;  while  examples  are  not  want-
ing to  prove  that  the  lighter  trisyllabic  metres  are  often
(as  in  Tennyson's  Vastness,  Arnold's  The  Future^  and
Cosmo  Monkhouse's  A  Dead  March)  singularly  effec-
tive as  vehicles  for  solemn  meditation  and  feelings  of
tenderness  and  sorrow.  On  the  principle  that  the
connection  between  matter  and  form  in  poetry  is  an
organic  one,  the  question  of  the  propriety  and  aesthetic
value  of  the  verse  employed  in  a  given  case  is,  there-
fore, of  the  utmost  interest.  Similarly,  in  our  study
of  any  poet  it  will  always  be  worth  while  to  consider
the  measures  most  frequently  and  most  successfully
used  by  him,  and  their  relation  to  the  characteristic
qualities  of  his  temper  and  genius.
