Books and other items printed in Gaelic from 1841 to 1870 > Double grammar, of English and Gaelic, in which the principles of both languages are clearly explained

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PROSODY.
RANNACHADH.
EXERCISES ON SCANNING.
Scan the following verses, dividing each line into feet, and
marking the accented syllables :—
IAMBIC MEASURE.
Assist me O ye tuneful nine
With ease to form the flowing line*
Declare O Muse in what ill-fated hour
Sprung the fierce strife from what offended pow’r
TROCHAIC.
Round a holy calm diffusing
Love of peace and lonely musing
Sweetest warblers of the skies
Soon as morning’s purple dies
ANAPAESTIC.
I would hide with the beasts of the chase
I would vanish from every eye
From the knaves and the fools and the fops of the time
From the drudges in prose and the triflers in rhyme
GAELIC VERSIFICATION.
The Gaelic, which is a branch
of the primeval tongue, pos¬
sesses poetical qualities of trans¬
cendent beauty. It is the lan¬
guage of nature herself, and has
been, in all ages, distinguished
for its power and success in
descriptive poetry, and for ef¬
fectually addressing and im¬
pressing the passions.
RANNTACHD GTIAELTG.
Tha aig a’ Ghaelig, a ta ’na
geug de chanain na sean-aimsire,
( buadhan bardail sar-mhaiseach.
Is i cainnt naduir fein ; agustha
j i ainmeil anns gach linn air son
a’ cumhachd/s a h-agh ’am bard-
achd dhealbhaich ; agus gu co-
labhairt ri cailibh na h-inntinn,
’us gu druidheadh orra le buaidh
agus eifeachd.
The ancient Gaelic Bards had peculiar facilities in composing
their verses, and in describing their subjects, because they were
not so much fettered by fixed laws of versification as modern
poets. In pouring forth their poetical strains, their chief aim
• These verses are left unpointed, in order to be used as exercises for the learner
on Punctuation.