§ 517. Position of Pronouns in Optative Sentences, etc. Combien un avocat bien payé par avance trouve-t-il plus juste la cause dont il est chargé. (PASCAL.) Que ne puis-je aussi presser sur mon sein mon vertueux et bon père. (FLORIAN.) Dussé-je me condamner moi-même, je ne puis m'empêcher de dire la vérité. (ROLLIN.) Pourquoi un chien de basse-cour hurle-t-il la nuit à la simple odeur d'un loup qui lui ressemble. (BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE.) L'évangile ne prèche que la tolérance et la paix, aussi les Chrétiens supportèrent-ils pendant 764 ans tous les maux que le fanatisme des Sarrasins leur voulut faire souffrir. (CHÂTEAUBRIAND.) § 518. Pronouns not immediately before their own Verb. Pronouns are usually placed immediately before the verb which governs them. When this verb is infinitive, the following arrangement is common: L'un voulait le garder, l'autre le voulait prendre. (LA FONTAINE.) Soleil, je te viens voir pour la dernière fois. (RACINE.) Trajan, dans sa réponse au gouverneur, dit qu'on ne doit pas chercher les Chrétiens; mais que s'ils sont dénoncés et vaincus, il les faut punir. (CHÂTEAUBRIAND.) Ah! s'il vous faut tout expliquer. (DROZ.) § 519. Pronouns in Imperative Affirmative Sentences. Vous, attendez le roi, parlez et lui montrez Peignez-les-moi, dit l'aigle, ou bien me les montrez. (LA FONTAINE.) Conservez bien votre courage et m'en envoyez un peu dans vos lettres. (SÉVIGNÉ.) Allez, La Fleur, trouvez-le et lui portez trois cents louis que je crois bien comptés. (VOLTAIRE.) § 520. Position of y and en. 1. Y = a dative, en = a genitive (p. 166, note): therefore y goes before en (§ 513 B.) L'on me dit tant de mal de ces hommes et j'y en vois si peu. (LA BRUYÈRE.) 2. If y and lui or leur occur together, lui, leur, take the precedence: Ne lui y en envoyez pas. Je le lui y envoie mes livres. But the hiatus is too great: such phrases had better be avoided. 3. The necessity of having a sonant syllable upon which to place the tonic accent has given rise to the use of moi instead of me and te in donnez-moi, lève-toi, etc. When en is also present, the me or te and en combine, and form a syllable of sufficient strength (§ 299). Donnez-m'en. Va-t'en. With the less sonant y it is difficult to lay down any rule. Examples can be given in which y is treated like en, and is made to bear the tonic accent: Mène-m'y. Confie-t'y. Ne te compare pas aux autres, mais à moi (Dieu); si tu m'y trouves (dans les autres) compare -t'y. (PASCAL.) But generally a return is made to the moi, toi; and y bears no accent.* Mènes-y-moi. Tiens-y-toi. Te voilà bien, cadet, tiens-y-toi. (CORNEILLE.) *This is preferable. No one disputes donnez-moi, lève-toi. Menes-ymoi, tiens-y-toi, have the same origin, and can be defended on the same ground. Moreover, such euphony as is found in these combinations is on their side. M. Littré says that mènes-moi-y, confie-toi-y, are the regular forms, but that the hiatus prevents their use. He has overlooked apparently the origin of the use of moi and toi in imperative sentences. is not a question of hiatus, but of tonic accent. When moi and toi cease to have the accent, their raison d'être ceases too. é The regular' forms are mènes-m'y, confie-t'y. Jt, BOOK V.-PROSODY. § 521. Rhythm and Metre. An easy-flowing and therefore pleasing admixture of accented and unaccented syllables produces rhythm. When this rhythm is subject to definite rules, it is called metre.* Prose may or may not have rhythm, but cannot have metre. Verse has metre. French verse is based upon accent, and therefore has rhythm.+ It is subject to fixed rules, and therefore has metre. § 522. Phrase-accent. In French the unaccented syllables in a word are more distinctly pronounced than in English. In fact, in the mouth of the best speakers, there is little or no difference between the accented and unaccented syllables (§ 52). The monotony which would result from such pronunciation is relieved by an additional accent dependent upon the sense (§ 53). The recurrence of this sense or phrase accent at certain intervals forms the basis of the metre of modern French verse. Most French poetry is written in lines of twelve syllables, called Alexandrines.§ All that follows applies primarily to such lines. The *Metre means simply measure. That the lines should be of a certain length is one of these definite rules, but not at all the only one. following lines, for instance, contain rhythm, but no metre: Qu'est devenue la beauté, qu'est devenu l'orgueil de tes domaines? Où sont tes anciennes forêts, les vieux bois qu'avaient plantés tes ancêtres, où ils chassaient, où ils invoquaient leurs dieux ?—(Kérouac.) That the rhythm is not only unequal, but that at times it is altogether wanting, will be shown further on; it is only meant that French verse at its best contains regulated rhythm or metre. This is usually denied. Often called 'oratorical accent.' § The tragedies of Corneille, Racine, Voltaire, etc., and most of the comedies of Molière, are written in lines of twelve syllables. French verse is also written in lines of ten syllables, which scarcely differ from lines of twelve, except that the full accents are usually placed on the fourth and tenth syllables; in lines of nine syllables, in which the full accents are usually placed on the third and ninth syllables; in lines of eight, seven, six, and five syllables, in which the accent within the line is movable. The odes and choruses of Racine, the fables of La Fontaine, etc., are familiar examples. The rules in respect to hiatus, e mute, etc., apply to such lines, as well as to lines of twelve syllables, and need no special explanation. 1. The sense must admit of an accent upon the sixth syllable.* 2. The sense must admit of an accent upon the twelfth syllable.* 3. In the first half-line the sense must admit of an accent upon some syllable beside the sixth; and in the second halfline upon some syllable beside the twelfth.* Every line has therefore two fixed accents and two movable ones. The two fixed accents are stronger than the two movable ones, and may be spoken of as full accents in comparison with the other minor accents. If for a syllable with the full accent we write a', for a syllable with the minor accent a, and for an unaccented syllable x, each half-line may be thus represented : :- If we may compare accent and quantity, the above may be roughly represented thus : The first half-line may or may not correspond with the second in its accentuation. Hence twenty-five different arrangements are possible.+ *This, except the word end in e mute (see however § 526. 2), must be the end of a word: therefore wherever there is a phrase-accent, there is of necessity a word-accent too, but for the sake of convenience, throughout the Prosody, accented means having the phraseaccent; unaccented, not having the phrase-accent; the word-accent is ignored. † As the rule of the minor accents is only loosely observed (§ 525), the number might be increased, but this is sufficiently accurate for the present purpose. 66 § 523. The Full Accent at the Sixth Syllable. CESURA. The full accent at the sixth syllable must be helped by a pause in the sense. To signify this pause it is said that the cœsura "must be observed.* The term cæsura has been adopted from the Latin, but is not in French verse employed with the same meaning as in Latin verse. In French it means, not the cutting of a foot, but the cutting of the line into two equal parts, each of which is called a hemistich (half-line). 1. The necessity for a pause in the sense at the sixth syllable renders it impossible for the casura to occur― (a) In the body of a word; + Therefore these lines would be faulty: Du temple, partout orné de festons magnifiques. Du temple orné partout de festons magnifiques, (b) Between two words in close grammatical connexion ; Therefore the following lines would be faulty : Portant les nouveaux fruits | de leurs champs dans leurs mains Selon l'usage antique | et solennel je viens. They are thus written by Racine : De leurs champs dans leurs mains portant les nouveaux fruits. Je viens selon l'usage | antique et solennel. 2. But the cæsura is allowable in the following cases, for the grammatical connexion is not sufficiently close for a pause not to be allowed: (a). Between the substantive subject and its predicate : Je vois que l'injustice | en secret vous irrite. (b) Between a verb and its object: Avant qu'on eût conclu | ce fatal hyménée. (RACINE.) (RACINE.) (c) When the auxiliary and participle are separated by other words: Et fut de ses sujets | le vainqueur et le père. (VOLTAIRE.) *This is really equivalent to saying that enjambement is forbidden ($ 524). † Except sometimes when the word ends in e mute (§ 526. 2). |