...rhyme is "no necessary adjunct or true ornament of poem or good verse, in longer works especially, but the invention of a barbarous age, to set off wretched matter and lame metre" (ibid). Moreover, Cowper fully endorsed the analogical argument: he firmly believed that blank verse...

..."Rime" was "no necessary Adjunct or true Ornament of Poem or good Verse, in longer Works especially, but the Invention of a barbarous Age, to set off wretched matter and lame Meeter" (see Mathieu; the underlining is Melville's in his copy). True "musical delight," Milton declared,...

...being no necessary Adjunct or true Ornament of Poem or good Verse, in longer works especially, but the Invention of a barbarous Age, to set off wretched matter and lame Meter; grac't indeed since by the use of some famous modern Poets, carried away by custom, but much...