§ =210.= The hexameter is a six-foot catalectic verse theoretically consisting of five successive dactyls and a trochee. But the greatest rhythmical variety is given to this verse by the rule which allows a spondee to be used instead of any of the dactyls; in the fifth foot, however, this rarely occurs. In the sixth foot, moreover, the spondee is admissible instead of the trochee. The structure of the verse may thus be expressed by the following formula: –́ ⏑͞⏑ –́ ⏑͞⏑ –́ ⏑͞⏑ –́ ⏑͞⏑ –́ ⏑ ⏑ –́ ⏑̄. The main difficulty in imitating this metre in English is caused by the large number of monosyllabic words in the English language, and especially by its lack of words with a spondaic measurement. Some recent attempts to imitate the hexameter in English according to the principles of quantity have been altogether unsuccessful, as e.g. Cayley's (_Transactions of the Philological Society_, 1862-3, Part i, pp. 67-85). Matthew Arnold's method too proved impracticable (_On Translating Homer_, London, 1862); he attempted and recommended the regulation of the rhythm of the verse by the accent and at the same time sought not to neglect the quantity altogether. But the only successful method of adapting the hexameter to English use is that adopted by William Taylor, who followed the example of the Germans in observing only the accentual system and substituting the accentual trochee for the spondee. Sir John Herschel in his translation of Homer and Longfellow in his original poems have done the same. Even with these modifications a certain harshness now and then is inevitable in hexameters both in German and particularly in English, where many lines occur consisting nearly throughout of monosyllables only, as e.g. the following lines from Longfellow's _Evangeline_: _Whíte as the snów were his lócks, and his chéeks as brówn as the óak-leaves. Ánd the great séal of the láw was sét like a sún on a márgin._ Other passages, however, prove the English hexameter to be as capable of harmony as the German if treated in this way; cf. e.g. the introductory verses of the same poem:[179] _Thís is the fórest priméval. The múrmuring pínes and the hémlocks, Béarded with móss, and in gárments gréen, indistínct in the twílight, Stánd like Drúids of éld, with vóices sád and prophétic, Stánd like hárpers hóar, with béards that rést on their bósoms. Lóud from its rócky cáverns, the déep-voiced néighbouring ócean Spéaks, and in áccents discónsolate ánswers the wáil of the fórest._