In the concluding phrase all these favourite
letters, and even the flat A, a timid preference for which is
just perceptible, are discarded at a blow and in a bundle;
and to make the break more obvious, every word ends with a
dental, and all but one with T, for which we have been
cautiously prepared since the beginning. The singular
dignity of the first clause, and this hammer-stroke of the
last, go far to make the charm of this exquisite sentence.
But it is fair to own that S and R are used a little
coarsely.
'In Xanady did Kubla Khan (KANDL)
A stately pleasure dome decree, (KDLSR)
Where Alph the sacred river ran, (KANDLSR)
Through caverns measureless to man, (KANLSR)
Down to a sunless sea.' (6) (NDLS)
Here I have put the analysis of the main group alongside the
lines; and the more it is looked at, the more interesting it
will seem. But there are further niceties. In lines two and
four, the current S is most delicately varied with Z. In
line three, the current flat A is twice varied with the open
A, already suggested in line two, and both times ('where' and
'sacred') in conjunction with the current R. In the same
line F and V (a harmony in themselves, even when shorn of
their comrade P) are admirably contrasted. And in line four
there is a marked subsidiary M, which again was announced in
line two. I stop from weariness, for more might yet be said.
My next example was recently quoted from Shakespeare as an
example of the poet's colour sense.
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