19
>Je marcherai_--les yeux fixés sur mes pensé_es (p. 121,l. 25.) Seul, inconnu_,--le dos courbé_,--les mains crois_é_es (p. 121, l. 27.)
For examples of enjambement, cf. Leconte de Lisle's Lines--
L'ecclésia_ste a d_i_t:--Un chien viv_a_nt vaut mi_eux Qu'un lion m_o_rt (p. 201, l. 21).
O boucher_i_e!--ô soif du meu_rtre!--acharnem_ent
Horr_i_ble! (p. 210, l. 21).
Unrhymed lines (blank verse) and lines of which only the alternate ones rhyme have been tried but discarded.
Rhyme is therefore an indispensable element of French verse, and is vastly more important as a poetic ornament than it is in English; so important that Sainte-Beuve calls it the sole harmony (_l'unique harmonie_) of verse. Rhyme may be either masculine, when it involves but one syllable (_divinité: majesté_, toi: roi), or feminine, when it involves two syllables the second of which contains mute _e_ (repose: rose_, changées: ravagées_); and lines are called masculine or feminine according to their rhymes. Masculine rhymes must constantly alternate with feminine rhymes; that is, two masculine or feminine lines of different rhymes may never come together; but the younger poets have sought a greater liberty here as elsewhere, and poems with but one kind of rhyme occur (see p. 208). Rhyme to be perfect must satisfy the eye as well as the ear; masculine rhymes must have identity of vowel sound and the final consonants must be the same or such as would have the same sound if pronounced (granit: nid, _héros: bourreaux_; not _différent: tyran_); but silent consonants between the vowel and the final consonant do not count (_essaims: saints_, corps: morts). Feminine rhymes must have identity of rhyming vowels and of following consonant sounds if there be any; and the final consonants must be the same (_fidèles: citadelles_, _jolie: crie_; not nuages: