In his use of French Alexandrine,édé or twelve-syllable verse, Mistral takes few liberties as to cæsura. No ternary verses are found in _Mirèio_, that is, verses that fall into three equal parts. In general, it may be said that his Alexandrines, except in the play _La Rèino Jano_, represent the classical type of the French poets. To be noted, however, is the presence of feminine cæsuras. These occur, not theoretically or intentionally, but as a consequence of pronunciation, and are an additional beauty in that they vary the movement of the lines. The unstressed vowel at the hemistich, theoretically elided, is pronounced because of the natural pause intervening between the two parts of the verse.
"Per óuliva tant d'aubre!--Hòu, tout acò se fai!"
In one of the divisions of _Lou Tambour d'Arcolo_ (The Drummer of Arcole), the poet uses ten-syllable verse with the cæsura after the sixth syllable, an exceedingly unusual cæsura, imitated from the poem _Girard de Roussillon_.
"Ah! lou pichot tambour | devenguè flòri! Davans touto l'arma | --do en plen soulèu, Pèr estelà soun front | d'un rai de glòri," etc.
Elsewhere he uses this verse divided after the fourth syllable, and less frequently after the fifth.
The stanza used by Mistral throughout _Mirèio_ and _Calendau_ is his own invention. Here is the first stanza of the second canto of _Mirèio_:--
"Cantas, cantas, magnanarello, Que la culido es cantarello! Galant soun li magnan e s'endormon di tres: Lis amourié soun plen de fiho Que lou bèu tèms escarrabiho, Coume un vòu de blóundis abiho Que raubon sa melico i roumanin dóu gres."
This certainly is a stanza of great beauty, and eminently adapted to the language. Mistral is exceedingly skilful in the use of it, distributing pauses effectively, breaking the monotony of the repeated feminine verses with enjambements, and continuing the sense from one stanza to the next. This stanza, like the language, is pretty and would scarcely be a suitable vehicle for poetic expression requiring great depth or stateliness. Provençal verse in general cannot be said to possess majesty or the rich _orchestral_ quality Brunetière finds in Victor Hugo. Its qualities are sweetness, daintiness, rapidity, grace, a merry, tripping flow, great smoothness, and very musical rhythm.