A HISTORY OF '0^3;-
ENGLISH VERSIFICATION
BY
JAKOB SCHIPP.ER, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH PHILOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA
MEMBER OF THE KAISERLICHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, VIENNA
HON. D.LITT. OXON. ; HON. LITT.D. CANTAB.
HON. LL.D. EDINBURGH AND ABERDEEN
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1910
^X^^V
t^jO'
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK
TORONTO AND MELBOURNE
PREFACE
K- It is now more than twenty years since a reviewer
of the author's Englische Metrik^ in three volumes,
expressed the opinion that 'an English translation of it
would do a service to English philology '. At that time,
however, it seemed doubtful whether such a voluminous
work, which probably would have interested only a com-
paratively small circle of English scholars, would have
found a market. Even in Germany, although the work
was favourably reviewed, and although at the time when
it appeared great interest was felt in metrical research,
the sale was comparatively slow.
Much livelier, on the other hand, was the demand for
an abridged edition of it which appeared under the title
Grundriss der englischen Metrik (Wien, 1895). It was
therefore found possible, several years after its publica-
tion, to make arrangements with the Delegates of the
Clarendon Press for an English edition of this smaller
book. Unfortunately, however, the printing of the manu-
script, which was submitted to the supervision of the late
Professor York Powell, was delayed, first by the illness
and the untimely death of that eminent scholar, and
afterwards by other circumstances which it is not
necessary to mention here.
On the whole the English text of the present volume
is a close rendering of the German book, except in the
first few chapters, which have been somewhat more fully
iv PREFACE
worked out. It may also be mentioned that one or two
modem English poets who seemed to be unduly neglected
in the German book have received a larger share of atten-
tion in the English edition. Some errors of the original
work have, of course, also been corrected here.
The treatment of the subject in this handbook is the
same as in the author's larger work. The systematic
arrangement of the different kinds of verse in Book I,
and of the varieties of stanzas in Book II, will enable
the reader easily to find the appropriate place for any
new forms of verse or stanza that may come in his way,
and will also facilitate the use of the large German work,
. to which frequent references are given, for the benefit of
those students who may desire more detailed informa-
tion.
From the Preface to the German edition of the present
work some remarks on the accents, chiefly in Part II
of Book I, may be repeated here in order to prevent
misunderstanding.
These accents on particular syllables in equal-measured
rhythms are merely meant to facilitate the scansion of
the verse according to the author's view of its rhythmical
movement, and to enable the student to apprehend more
readily the precise meaning of the descriptions. They
are by no means intended to dictate a schematic scansion
to the reader, as it is obvious that the finer shades of the
rhythm cannot be indicated by such a mode of accentua-
tion. The safer and easier way undoubtedly would have
been to put no accents at all ; but this would have been
less convenient for the reader, to whose own judgement
it may be left in every case to be guided by the accents
just so far as he may think proper.
In making this statement, however, I may be allowed
to mention that none of the English friends who kindly
PREFACE V
assisted me in revising my manuscript has found fault
with my system of accentuation.
My sincerest thanks for their kind help and advice are
due to Dr. Francis J. Curtis, now Professor of English
Philology in the Mercantile Academy at Frankfort on the
Main, and in a still higher degree to Dr. James Morison,
of Shotover Cottage, Headington Quarry, Oxford, Ex-
aminer in Sanskrit and German, both of them formerly
Lectors of English in the University of Vienna. I am
under equally great obligations to Dr. Henry Bradley,
to whose care the final revision of the MS. was entrusted
by the Delegates of the Clarendon Press, and who also
had the great kindness to superintend the printing of it.
To him I am indebted for several useful suggestions
regarding the typographical arrangement, and still more
for his valuable help in regard to the style of the book.
To the Delegates and the Secretary of the Clarendon
Press I feel greatly obliged not only for undertaking
the publication, but also for the patient consideration
they have shown me during the slow progress of this
work.
J. SCHIPPER.
Vienna, Feb. 6, 1910.
CONTENTS
BOOK I. THE LINE
PART I. THE NATIVE METRE
CHAPTER I
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF METRE
AND THE STRUCTURE OF VERSE
PAGE
1. Uses of the Study of English metre i
2. Object of the science of metre i
3. Definition of rhythm 2
4. Distinction between prose and poetry 3
5. Phonetic qualities of syllables 4
6. Definition and use of the word accent 4
7. Classification of accent ......•• 5
8. Marks indicating position of accent 8
9. Principles of versification and their terms .... 9
10. Rhyme; its twofold purpose . . . • • • .11
11. End-rhyme, or full-rhyme 12
I a. Vocalic assonance ... 12
13. Alliteration '3
CHAPTER II
THE ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN OLD ENGLISH
14. General remarks 15
15. Theories on the metrical form of the alliterative line . . 15
16. The four-beat theory 16
17. The two-beat theory 19
18. Accentuation of Old English 24
19. The secondary accent 28
20. Division and metrical value of syllables 29
21. Structure of the whole alliterative line 3°
22. The structure of the hemistich in the normal alliterative line . 31
23. Number of unaccented syllables of the thesis . • . • 33
24. Order of the verse-members in the hemistich .... 35
Analysis of the Verse Types.
I. Hemistichs of four members.
^5* Type A, with sub-types A 1-3 3^
j6. Type B, with sub-types B i, 2 41
CONTENTS vii
§ 27. Type C, with sub-types C 1-3 43
38. Type D, with sub-types D 1-4 42
29. Type E, with sub-types E i, 2 43
II. Hemistichs of Jive members.
30. Type A*, with sub-types A* i , 2 ; Type B* ; Type C* ; Type D*,
with sub-types D* 1-3 44
31. Principles adopted in classification 45
33. Combination of hemistichs by means of alliteration . . , 45
Principles of Alliteration.
33. Quality of the alliteration 46
34. Position of the alliterative words 48
35. Alliteration in relation to the parts of speech and to the order
of words 50
. 36. Arrangement and relationship of verse and sentence ... 54
The Lengthened Verse.
37. The lengthened line ; alliteration 55
38. The origin and structure of the lengthened verse . . .57
39. Examples of commonly occurring forms of the lengthened
hemistich 59
Formation of Stanzas and Rhyme.
40. Classification and examples 62
CHAPTER III
THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE FREER FORM OF
THE ALLITERATIVE LINE IN LATE OLD ENGLISH AND
EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH
A. Transitional Forms.
41. Increasing frequency of rhyme
42. Combination of alliteration and rhyme ....
B. The 'Proverbs of Alfred' and Layamon's 'Brut'
43. Development of the progressive form of the alliterative line
44. Nature and origin of the four-beat short-lined metre
45. Number of stresses ....
46. Analysis of verse-types .
47. Extended types ....
48. Verse-forms rhythmically equivalent
64
65
67
69
7a
74
76
78
C. The Progressive Form of the Alliterative Line,
RHYMED throughout. ' KING HORN.'
49. Further development of the Layamon-verse .... 79
50. The metre of King Horn and its affinity to the alliterative line 82
51. Characteristics of King Horn and Layamon compared . . 84
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER IV
THE ALLITERATIVE LINE IN ITS CONSERVATIVE FORM
DURING THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES
A. The Alliterative Verse without Rhyme.
§ 53. Homilies and lives of the saints in rhythmical prose. Poems
in regular alliterative verse 85
53. Use and treatment of words in alliterative verse . . .87
54. Examples of alliteration 88
55. Comparison of Middle and Old English alliterative verse . 90
56. The versification of Piers Plowman 93
57. Modification of forms in the North of England and in the
Midlands 95
B. The Alliterative Line combined with Rhyme.
58. Growing influence of verse formed on foreign models . . 97
59. Lyrical stanzas : four- beat and two-beat lines . . . -97
60. Forms of structure and versification ..... 99
61. Narrative verse loi
62. Relation between rhyme and alliteration 102
63. Features of alliterative-rhyming lines 105
64. Structures of the cauda 105
65. Two-beat lines in tail-rhyme stanzas 106
66. Rhyming alliterative lines in Mystery Plays . . . .108
67. Alliteration in Moralities and Interludes 109
68. Four-beat scansion of Bale's verses no
69. Examples of the presence or absence of anacrusis in the two
hemisticbs no
70. Entire tail-rhyme stanzas 113
71. Irregular tail-rhyme stanzas : Skeltonic verse . . . .114
C. Revival of the Four-beat Alliterative Verse in the
Modern English Period.
72. Examples from Gascoigne, Wyatt, Spenser, &c. . . .117
73. Attempted modern revival of the old four-beat alliterative line
without rhyme 119
74. Examples of the development of the four-beat alliterative line
in reversed chronological order 1 20
75. Summing-up of the evidence 134
PART II. FOREIGN METRES
Division I. The Foreign Metres in General
CHAPTER V
INTRODUCTION
§ 76. Influence of French and Low Latin metres . . . .126
77. The different kinds of line ....... 137
78. The breaking up of long lines 128
CONTENTS ix
79. Heroic verse; tail-rhyme staves 131
80. Different kinds of caesura 131
81. Causes of variation in the structure of metres of equal measures 133
CHAPTER VI
VERSE-RHYTHM
§82. Lines with and without diaeresis 135
83. Effect of diaeresis on modulation 136
84. Suppression of the anacrusis 137
85. Level stress, or * hovering accent ' 138
S6. Absence of thesis in the interior of a line . . . • 1 39
87. Lengthening of a word by introduction of unaccented extra
syllable 141
88. Inversion of rhythm 141
89. Disyllabic or polysyllabic thesis 143
90. Epic caesura 145
91. Double or feminine endings 146
92. Enjambement, or run-on line 147
93. Rhyme-breaking . , 148
94. Alliteration I49
CHAPTER VH
THE METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES
I 95. General remarks on formative and inflexional syllables . .151
96. Treatment of the imaccented e of words of three and four
syllables in Middle English 152
97. Special remarks on individual inflexional endings . . '154
98. Treatment of -tf« in Middle and Modern English . . .155
99. The comparative and superlative endings -er, -est . . .156
100. The ending -tfj/ • • • ^57
loi. The endings -etk, -es {'s) 158
102. The ending -g^ (W, /) 158
103. The ending -ed {-od, -ud) of the ist and 3rd pers. sing. pret. and
plur. pret. of weak verbs 159
104. The final -^ in Middle English poetry 160
105. Examples of the arbitrary use of final -^ 161
106. The final -g in later poetry of the North 162
107. Formative endings of Romanic origin . . . . . 163
108. Contraction of words ordinarily pronounced in full . . . 165
109. Amalgamation of two syllables for metrical purposes . .166
no. Examples of slurring or contraction 167
111. Other examples of contraction ; apocopation .... 168
112. Lengthening of words for metrical purposes . . . .169
X CONTENTS
CHAPTER VIII
WORD-ACCENT
§113. General remarks • 171
I. Word-accent in Middle English.
A. Germanic words.
114. Alleged difference in degree of stress among inflexional end-
ings containing ^ 172
115. Accent in trisyllables and compounds 174
116. Pronunciation of parathetic compounds 175
117. Rhythmical treatment of trisyllables and words of four syllables 1 75
B. Romanic words.
118. Disyllabic words I77
119. Trisyllabic words . . . 178
1 30. Words of four and five syllables . . . . . • 1 79
II. Word-accent in Modern English.
121. Romanic accentuation still continued 180
122. Disyllabic words 181
123. Trisyllabic and polysyllabic words 181
124. Parathetic compounds 182
Division II. Verse-forms common to the Middle and
Modern English Periods
CHAPTER IX
LINES OF EIGHT FEET, FOUR FEET, TWO FEET, AND
ONE FOOT
§125. The eight-foot line and its resolution into four-foot lines . 183
126. Examples of the four-foot line 183
127. Treatment of the caesura in four- foot verse . . . .185
128. Treatment of four-foot verse in North English and Scottish
writings 186
129. Its treatment in the Midlands and the South . . . .187
130. Combinations of four- foot and three-foot verse in Middle English 1 88
131-2. Freer variety of this metre in Modern English . . . 188
133. Two-foot verse 190
134. One-foot verse 191
CHAPTER X
THE SEPTENARY, THE ALEXANDRINE, AND THE THREE-
FOOT LINE
§135. The septenary 192
136. Irregularity of structure of the septenary rhyming line as shown
in the Moral Ode 193
137" Regularity of the rhymeless septenary verse of the Ormithim . 193
CONTENTS xi
§138. The septenary with a masculine ending 194
139. The septenary as employed in early lyrical poems and ballads 195
140. Use of the septenary in Modern English 196
14T-4. Intermixture of septenaries, alexandrines, and four-beat lines 197
145,146. Origin of the ' Poulter's Measure ' 202
147. The alexandrine : its first use 204
148. vStructure of the alexandrine in Mysteries and Moral Plays . 205
149. The alexandrine in Modem English 205
150. The three-foot line . . 306
CHAPTER XI
THE RHYMED FIVE-FOOT VERSE
§151. Rhymed five-foot verse in Middle English .... 209
152. Sixteen types of five-foot verse 210
153. Earliest specimens of this metre 212
154. Chaucer's five-foot verse ; treatment of the caesura . . .213
155. Masculine and feminine endings ; rhythmic licences . . 214
156. Gower's five-foot verse ; its decline 315
157. Rhymed five-foot verse in Modem English . . . .216
158. Its use in narrative poetry and by Shakespeare . . .217
159. The heroic verse of Dryden, Pope, and later writers . . 218
Division III. Verse-forms occurring in Modern English
Poetry only
CHAPTER XII
BLANK VERSE
160. The beginnings of Modern English poetry
219
161. Blank verse first adopted by the Earl of Surrey . . .219
162. Characteristics of Surrey's blank verse 221
163. Further development of this metre in the drama . . .222
164. The blank verse of Shakespeare 223
165. Rhymed and unrhymed lines in Shakespeare's plays . .224
166. Numerical proportion of masculine and feminine endings . 225
167. Numerical proportion of weak' and 'light' endings . . 225
168. Proportion of unstopt or * run-on ' and * end-stopt' lines . 226
169. Shakespeare's use of the full syllabic forms of -est, -es, -eth, -ed 227
1 70. Other rhythmical characteristics of Shakespeare's plays . .228
171. Alexandrines and other metres occurring in combination with
blank verse in Shakespeare 230
172. Example of the metrical differences between the earlier and later
periods of Shakespeare's work 232
173. The blank verse of Ben Jonson 333
174. The blank verse of Fletcher 334
175. Characteristics of Beaumont's style and versification . . 235
1 76. The blank verse of Massinger . 336
177. The blank verse of Milton 337
178. The dramatic blank verse of the Restoration .... 339
1 79. Blank verse of the eighteenth century 240
180. Blank verse of the nineteenth century 240
m
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XIII
TROCHAIC METRES
§i8i. General remarks ; the eight-foot trochaic line . . . .243
i8a. The seven-foot trochaic line 243
183. The six-foot trochaic line 244
184. The five-foot trochaic line 245
185. The four-foot trochaic line 246
186. The three-foot trochaic line 246
187. The two-foot trochaic line 247
1 88. The one-foot trochaic line 247
CHAPTER XIV
IAMBIC-ANAPAESTIC AND TROCHAIC-DACTYLIC METRES
§189. General remarks 249
I. lAMlJiC-ANAPAESTIC METRES.
190. Eight-foot iambic-anapaestic verse 250
191. Seven-foot iambic-anapaestic verse . . . . . .250
192. Six-foot iambic-anapaestic verse 251
193. Five-foot iambic-anapaestic verse 251
194. Four-foot iambic-anapaestic verse 252
195. Three-foot iambic-anapaestic verse 253
196. Two-foot iambic-anapaestic verse 253
197. One-foot iambic-anapaestic verse 254
II. Trochaic-dactylic Metres.
198. Eight-foot trochaic-dactylic verse 254
199. Seven-foot trochaic-dactylic verse 255
200. Six-foot trochaic-dactylic verse 255
201. Five-foot trochaic-dactylic verse 256
202. Four-foot trochaic-dactylic verse . . . . . . 256
203. Three-foot trochaic-dactylic verse 257
204. Two-foot dactylic or trochaic-dactylic verse . . . .257
205. One-foot dactylic verse 258
CHAPTER XV
NON-STROPHIC, ANISOMETRICAL COMBINATIONS OF
RHYMED VERSE
§206. Varieties of this metre; Poulters measure . . . .259
207-8. Other anisometrical combinations 260
CHAPTER XVI
IMITATIONS OF CLASSICAL FORMS OF VERSE AND STANZA
§209, The English hexameter 262
210. Structure of the hexameter 263
CONTENTS xiii
§211, Elegiac verse ; the minor Asclepiad ; the six-foot iambic line ;
Phaleuciac verse ; Hendecasyllabics ; rhymed Choriambics . 264
212. Classical stanzas: — the Sapphic metre ; the Alcaic metre ; Ana-
creontic stanzas 266
213. Other imitations of classical verses and stanzas without rhyme. 267
BOOK II
THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS
PART I
CHAPTER I. DEFINITIONS
STANZA, RHYME, VARIETIES OF RHYME
§214. Structure of the stanza 270
215. Influence of lyrical forms of Provence and of Northern France
on Middle English poetry . . . . . . .271
216. Classification of rhyme according to the number of the rhyming
syllables : (i) the monosyllabic or masculine rhyme; (2) the
disyllabic or feminine rhyme ; (3) the trisyllabic, triple, or
tumbling rhyme 272
217. Classification according to the quality of the rhyming syllables :
(i) the rich rhyme; (2) the identical rhyme; (3) the
broken rhyme ; (4) the double rhyme ; (5) the extended
rhyme ; (6) the unaccented rhyme 273
218. Classification according to the position of the rhyming syllables :
(i) the sectional rhyme; (2) the inverse rhyme; (3) the
Leonine rhyme or middle rhyme ; (4) the interlaced rhyme ;
(5) the intermittent rhyme ; (6) the enclosing rhyme ; (7) the
tail-rhyme 276
219. Imperfect or * eye-rhymes ' .278
CHAPTER II
THE RHYME AS A STRUCTURAL ELEMENT OF
THE STANZA
§220. Formation of the stanza in Middle English and Romanic poetry 279
221. Rhyme-linking or * concatenation ' in Middle English . . 280
222. The refrain or burthen ; the wheel and the bob-veheel . 280
223. Divisible and indivisible stanzas 281
224. Bipartite equal -membered stanzas 282
225. Bipartite unequal-membered stanzas . . . . . 282
226. Tripartite stanzas 283
227. Specimens illustrating tripartition 284
228. The envoi 286
229. Real envois and concluding stanzas 286
r
xiv . CONTENTS
PART II. STANZAS COMMON TO MIDDLE AND
MODERN ENGLISH, AND OTHERS FORMED
ON THE ANALOGY OF THESE
CHAPTER III
BIPARTITE EQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS
I. ISOMETRICAL STANZAS.
§230. Two-line stanzas 288
331. Four-line stanzas, consisting of couplets 288
232. The double stanza (eight lines of the same structure) . . 289
233. Stanzas of four isometrical lines with intermittent rhyme . . 290
234. Stanzas of eight lines resulting from this stanza by doubling . 290
235. Stanzas developed from long-lined couplets by inserted rhyme 291
236. Stanzas of eight lines resulting from the four-lined, cross-
rhyming stanza and by other modes of doubling . .292
237. Other examples of doubling four-lined stanzas . . . 293
238. Six-lined isometrical stanzas 294
239. Modifications of the six-lined stanza ; twelve-lined and sixteen-
lined stanzas 295
II. Anisometrical Stanzas.
240. Chief species of the tail-rhyme stanza 296
241. Enlargement of this stanza to twelve lines .... 297
242. Further development of the tail-rhyme stanza .... 298
243. Variant forms of enlarged eight and ten-lined tail-rhyme stanzas 298
244. Tail-rhyme stanzas with principal verses shorter than tail-verses 299
245. Other varieties of the tail-rhyme stanza 300
246. Stanzas modelled on the tail-rhyme stanza .... 300
247. Stanzas formed of two septenary verses 301
248. Analogical developments from this type 302
249. Eight-lined (doubled) forms of the different four-lined stanzas . 302
250. Other stanzas of similar structure 303
CHAPTER IV
ONE-RHYMED INDIVISIBLE AND BIPARTITE UNEQUAL-
MEMBERED STANZAS
I. One-rhymed and Indivisible Stanzas.
§251. Three-lined stanzas of one rhyme 305
253. Four-lined stanzas of one rhyme 306
253. Other stanzas connected with the above 307
II. Bipartite Unequal-membered Isometrical Stanzas.
254. Four-lined stanzas . 308
255. Five-lined stanzas 308
256. Four-lined stanzas of one rhyme extended by the addition of a
couplet 310
CONTENTS XV
Til. Bipartite Unequal-membered Anisometrical Stanzas.
J357-8. Four-lined stanzas ; Poulter's measure and other stanzas . 311
259. Five-lined stanzas . . . ' 314
260. Shortened tail-rhyme stanzas 316
261. Six-lined stanzas 317
262. Seven-lined stanzas 319
263. Eight-, nine-, and ten-lined stanzas 320
264. The bob- wheel stanzas in the Middle English period . .321
265. Bob-wheel stanzas of four-stressed rhyming verses . . .322
266. Modern English bob-wheel stanzas 323
CHAPTER V
TRIPARTITE STANZAS
I. ISOMETRICAL StANZAS.
J 267. Six-lined stanzas 326
268. Seven-lined stanzas ; the Rhyme Royal stanza . . .327
269. Eight-lined stanzas 329
270. Nine-lined stanzas 330
271. Ten-lined stanzas 331
272. Eleven-, twelve-, and thirteen-lined stanzas .... 332
II. Anisometrical Stanzas.
273-4. Six-lined stanzas 333
275. Seven-lined stanzas 335
276-8. Eight-lined stanzas 337
279. Nine-lined stanzas 339
280-1, Ten-lined stanzas 341
282. Eleven -lined stanzas 343
283. Twelve-lined stanzas . 344
284. Thirteen-lined stanzas 345
285. Fourteen-lined stanzas 346
286. Stanzas of fifteen to twenty lines 347
PART III. MODERN STANZAS AND METRES OF
FIXED FORM ORIGINATING UNDER THE IN-
FLUENCE OF THE RENASCENCE, OR INTRO-
DUCED LATER
CHAPTER VI
STANZAS OF THREE AND MORE PARTS CONSISTING OF
UNEQUAL PARTS ONLY^^
§287. Introductory remark . . . . . . . . 348
288. Six -lined stanzas 349
289. Seven-lined stanzas ■ . . . .351
xvi CONTENTS
§290-2. Eight-lined stanzas; the Italian <'//^«'rt' r/w^ . . . 352
293. Nine-lined stanzas 355
294. Ten-lined stanzas 355
295. Eleven-lined stanzas 356
296. Twelve-lined stanzas 356
CHAPTER VII
THE SPENSERIAN STANZA AND THE FORMS DERIVED
~" ' FROM IT
§297. First used in the Faerie Queene 358
298-300. Imitations and analogous forms 359
CHAPTER VIII
THE EPITHALAMIUM STANZA AND OTHER ODIC STANZAS
§301. The Epithalamium stanza 363
302. Imitations of the Epithalamium stanza 365
303-5. Pindaric Odes, regular and irregular 366
CHAPTER IX
THE SONNET
§306. Origin of the English sonnet 371
307. The Italian sonnet 371
308. Structure of the Italian form illustrated by Watts-Dunton . 373
309. The first English sonnet-writers, Surrey and Wyatt . . 373
310. Surrey's transformation of the Italian sonnet, and the form
adopted by Shakespeare 374
311. Another form used by Spenser in ^w(7r^//? .... 375
312. The form adopted by Milton 375
313. Revival of sonnet writing in the latter half of the eighteenth
century 376
314. The sonnets of Wordsworth 377
315. The sonnet in the nineteenth century 379
CHAPTER X
OTHER ITALIAN AND FRENCH POETICAL FORMS OF A
FIXED CHARACTER
316-7. The madrigal . 380
318-9. The terza-rima .381
320-1. The sextain 383
322. The virelay 385
323. The roundel 385
324. The rondeau 387
325. The triolet ! 3S8
326. The villanelle 388
327. The ballade 389
328. The Chant Royal ^90
LIST OF EDITIONS REFERRED TO
The quotations of Old English poetry are taken from Grein-Wtilker,
Bibliothek der Angehdchsischen Foesie, Strassburg, 1883-94. For the
Middle English poets the editions used have been specified in the text.
Most of the poets of the Modern English period down to the eighteenth
century are quoted from the collection of R. Anderson, The Works of the
British Poets, Edinburgh, 1795 (15 vols.), which is cited (under the title
Poets') by volume and page. The remaining Modern English poets are
quoted (except when some other edition is specified) from the editions men-
tioned in the following list.
Arnold, Matthew. Poetical Works, London, Macmillan & Co.,
1890. 8vo.
Beaumont, Francis, and Fletcher, John. Dramatick Works.
London, 1778. 10 vols. 8vo.
Bowles, W. L. Sonnets and other Poems. London, 1802-3.
2 vols. 8vo.
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Poetical Works. London, Chap-
man & Hall, 1866. 5 vols. 8vo.
Browning, Robert. Poetical Works. London, Smith, Elder & Co.,
1868. 6 vols. 8vo.
Bulwer Lytton, Sir E. (afterwards Lord Lytton). The Lost
Tales of Miletus. London, John Murray, 1866. 8vo.
Burns, Robert. Complete Works^ ed. Alexander Smith. London,
Macmillan & Co., 1870. (Globe Edition.)
Byron, Lord. Poetical Works. London, H. Frowde, 1896. Svj.
(Oxford Edition.)
Campbell, Thomas. Poetical Works, ed. W. A. Hill. London,
G. Bell & Sons, 1875.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Poems, ed. Derwent and Sara Cole-
ridge. London, E. Moxon & Co., 1863.
Cowper, William. Poetical Works, ed. W. Benham. London,
Macmillan & Co., 1870. (Globe Edition.)
Dryden, John. Comedies^ Tragedies, and Operas. London, 1 701.
fol.
Poetical Works, ed. W. D. Christie. London, Macmillan
& Co., 1870. (Globe Edition.)
Fletcher, John. See Beaumont.
xviii LIST OF EDITIONS REFERRED TO
Goldsmith, Oliver. Miscellaneous Works, ed. Prof. Masson.
London, Macmillan & Co., 1 87 1. 8vo. (Globe Edition.)
Gorboduc, or Ferrex andPorrex, a Tragedy, by Thomas Norton and
Thomas Sackville, ed. L. Toulmin Smith. {Englische Sprach-
und Litteraturdenkmale des 16., 17. und 18. Jahrhimderts,
herausgegeben von K. Vollmoller, I.) Heilbronn, Gebr. Hen-
ninger, 1883. 8vo.
Hemans, Felicia. The Works of Mrs. Hemans, with a Memoir of
her life by her sister. Edinburgh, W. Blackwood & Sons, 1839.
7 vols.
Herbert, George. Works, ed. R. A. Willmott. London, G. Rout-
ledge & Co., 1854. 8vo.
Hood, Thomas. Poetical Works, ed. Thornton Hunt. London,
Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, i860. 8vo.
Hyjnns, Ancient and Modern, for Use in the Services of the Church.
Revised and Enlarged Edition. London, n.d.
Jonson, Ben. Chiefly cited from the edition in Poets iv. 532-618
(see the note prefixed to this list) ; less frequently (after Wilke,
Metr. Unters. zu B. /., Halle, 1884) from the folio edition,
London, 18 16 (vol. i), or from the edition by Barry Cornwall,
London, 1842. A few of the references are to the edition of
F. Cunningham, London, J. C. Hotten, n.d. (3 vols.)
Keats, John. Poetical Works. London, F. Warne & Co.
(Chandos Classics.)
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Poetical Works. Edinburgh,
W. P. Nimmo. 8vo. (Crown Edition.)
Lytton. See Bulwer Lytton.
Marlowe, Christopher. Works, ed. A. Dyce. London, 1850.
3 vols. 8vo.
Works, ed. F. Cunningham. London, F. Warne & Co.,
1870. 8vo.
Massinger, Philip. Plays, ed. F. Cunningham. London, F.
Warne & Co., 1870. 8vo.
Milton, John. Poetical Works, ed. D. Masson. London, Macmillan
& Co., 1874. 3 vols. 8vo.
English Poems, ed. R. C. Browne. Second Edition.
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1872. 3 vols. 8vo.
Moore, Thomas. Poetical Works. London, Longmans, 1867. 8vo.
Morris, William. Love is Enough. Third Edition. London,
Ellis & White, 1873. 8vo.
Norton, Thomas. See Gorboduc.
Percy, Thomas. Reliques of Ancient Poetry. London, H. Wash-
bourne, 1847. 3 vols. 8vo.
Poe, Edgar Allan. Poetical Works. London, Sampson Low, Son
& Co., 1858. 8vo.
LIST OF EDITIONS REFERRED TO xix
Pope, Alexander. Poetical Works, ed. A. W. Ward. London,
Macmillan «& Co., 1870. 8vo. .(Globe Edition.)
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. Poems. London, F. S. Ellis, 1870.
Sackville, Thomas, and Norton, Thomas. See Gorboduc.
Scott, Sir Walter. Poetical Works, ed. F. T. Palgrave. London,
Macmillan & Co., 1869. 8vo. (Globe Edition.)
Shakespeare, William. Works, ed. W. G. Clark and W. Aldis
Wright. London and Cambridge, Macmillan & Co., 1866.
8vo. (Globe Edition.)
Shelley, Percy Bysshe. Poetical Works. London, Chatto &
Windus, 1873-1875. 3 vols. 8vo. (Golden Library.)
Sidney, Sir Philip. Arcadia. London, 1633. fol.
Complete Poems, ed. A. B. Grosart. 1873. 2 vols.
Southey, Robert. Poetical Works. London, Longman, Orme,
Brown, Green & Longmans, 1837. 10 vols. 8vo.
Spenser, Edmund. Complete Works, ed. R. Morris. London,
Macmillan & Co., 1869. 8vo. (Globe Edition.)
Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of. Poems. London, Bell & Daldy.
8vo. (Aldine Edition.)
Swinburne, Algernon Charles. Poe?ns and Ballads. Third Edi-
tion. London, J. C. Hotten, 1868. 8vo.
Poems and Ballads, Second Series. Fourth Edition.
London, Chatto & Windus, 1884. 8vo.
— - -- — A Century of Roundels. London, Chatto & Windus,
1883. 8vo.
A Midsummer Holiday and other Poems. London,
Chatto & Windus, 1884. 8vo.
Tennyson, Alfred. Works. London, Kegan Paul & Co., 1880.
8vo.
Thackeray, William Makepeace. Ballads and The Rose and the
Ring. London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1879. 8vo.
Tusser, Thomas. Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie, ed.
W. Payne and S. J. Herrtage, English Dialect Soc, 1878.
Wordsworth, William. Poetical Works, ed. W. Knight. Edin-
burgh, W. Paterson, 1886. 8 vols. 8vo.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas. Poetical Works. London, Bell & Daldy.
(Aldine Edition.) The references marked N. are to vol. ii. of
The Works of Surrey and Wyatt, ed. Nott, London, 1815.
2 vols. 4to.
ERRATA
p. 268. In the references to Bulwer, for p. 227 read p. 147 ; for
p. 217 read^, 140 ; for p. 71 readp, 45 ; for p. 115 read p. 73.
P. 315, 1. 14. For p. 123 readp. 78.
P. 340, 1. 34. For p. 273 read p. 72.
P- 353, 1- 15- ^^^ 89 ^^^rtf 5.
P. 381, 1. 12. /^£7r ii. 137-40 read Poetical Works^ London, 1891,
pp. 330-32.
I
BOOK I. THE LINE
PART I. THE NATIVE METRE
CHAPTER I
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF
METRE AND THE STRUCTURE OF VERSE
§ 1. The study of English Metre is an integral part of English
Philology. It is indispensable to the investigator of the history
of the language, since it suppHes sometimes the only (or at all
events the surest) means of restoring the older pronunciation of
word-stems, and of inflexional terminations. In many cases,
indeed, the very existence of such terminations can be proved
only by the ascertained requirements of metre. As an aid to
the study of English literature in its aesthetic aspects the science
of metre is no less important. It exhibits the gradual develop-
ment of the artistic forms of poetical composition, explains the
conditions under which they took their rise, and by formulating
the laws of their structure affords valuable help in the textual
criticism of poems which have been transmitted in a corrupt or
imperfect condition.
§ 2. The object of the science of metre is to describe and analyse
the various rhythmical forms of speech that are characteristic of
poetry in contradistinction to prose.
Poetry is one of the fine arts, and the fine arts admit of a
I division into Plastic and Rhythmic; the Plastic arts compre-
I hending Sculpture, Architecture, and Painting, the Rhythmic
j arts, on the other hand, comprehending Dancing, Music, and
i Poetry. The chief points of difference between these classes
I are as follows. In the first place, the productions of the Plastic
' arts can be enjoyed by the beholder directly on their completion
I by the artist without the interposition of any help, while those of
i the Rhythmic arts demand, after the original creative artist has
I done his work, the services of a second or executive artist, who
; is usually termed the performer, in order that these productions
I may be fully enjoyed by the spectator or hearer. A piece of
2 THE LINE BOOK I
music requires a singer or player, a pantomime a dancer, and
poetry a reciter or actor. In early times the function of execu-
tive artist was commonly discharged by the creative artist himself.
In the second place, the Plastic arts have no concern with the
relations of time ; a work of painting or sculpture presents to
the beholder an unchanging object or represents a single moment
of action. The Rhythmic arts, on the other hand, are, in their
very essence, connected with temporal succession. Dancing
implies a succession of movements of the human body, Music
a succession of inarticulate sounds. Poetry a succession of
articulate sounds or words and syllables. The Plastic arts,
therefore, may be called the arts of space and rest, and the
Rhythmic arts the arts of time and movement. In this definition,
it must be remembered, the intrinsic quality of the movements
in each of these rhythmical arts is left out of account ; in the
case of poetry, for instance, it does not take into consideration
the choice and position of the words, nor the thought expressed
by them; it is restricted to the external characteristic which
these arts have in common.
§ 3. This common characteristic, however, requires to be
defined somewhat more precisely. It is not merely succession
of movements, but succession of different kinds of movement in
a definite and recurring order. In the dance, the measure,
or succession and alternation of quick and slow movements in
regular and fixed order, is the essential point. This is also the
foundation of music and poetry. But another elementary
principle enters into these two arts. They are not founded,
as dancing is, upon mere silent movements, but on movements
of audible sounds, whether inarticulate, as in music, or articulate,
as in poetry. These sounds are not all on a level in respect
of their audibility, but vary in intensity : broadly speaking, they
may be said to be either loud or soft. There is, it is true,
something analogous to this in the movements of the dance;
the steps differ in degree of intensity or force. Dancing indeed
may be looked upon as the typical form and source of all
rhythmic movement. Scherer brings this point out very well.*
He says: 'Rhythm is produced by regular movements of the
body. Walking becomes dancing by a definite relation of
the steps to one another — of long and short in time or fast
and slow in motion. A regular rhythm has never been reached ;
by races among which irregular jumping, instead of walking,
* Zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache, zweite Ausgabe, p. 624, Berlin,
1868.
THAP. I GENERAL INTRODUCTION 3
has been the original form of the dance. Each pair of steps
forms a unity, and a repetition begins with the third step. This
unity is the bar or measure. The- physical difference between
the comparative strength of the right foot and the weakness
of the left foot is the origin of the distinction between elevation
and depression, i. e. between relatively loud and soft, the "good "
and the '' bad " part of the measure/
Westphal ^ gives a similar explanation : ' That the stamp of
the foot or the clap of the hands in beating time coincides with
the strong part of the measure, and the raising of the foot or
hand coincides with the weak part of it, originates, without
doubt, in the ancient orchestic' At the strong part of the bar
the dancer puts his foot to the ground and raises it at the weak
part. This is the meaning and original Greek usage of the
terms 'arsis' and 'thesis', which are nowadays used in an
exactly opposite sense. Arsis in its ancient signification meant
the raising of the foot or hand, to indicate the weak part of the
measure ; thesis was the putting down of the foot, or the stamp,
to mark the strong part of the measure. Now, however, it is
ahnost the universal custom to use arsis to indicate the syllable
uilered with a raised or loud voice, and thesis to indicate the
syllable uttered with lower or soft voice. From the practice
of beating time the term ictus is also borrowed ; it is commonly
used to designate the increase of voice which occurs at the
siiong, or so-called rhythmical accent.
All rhythm therefore in our dancing, poetry, and music, comes
to us from ancient times, and is of the same nature in these
three arts: it is regular order in the succession of different
kinds of motion.
§ 4. The distinction between prose and poetry in their external
aspects may be stated thus : in prose the words follow each
other in an order determined entirely, or almost entirely, by the
sense, while in poetry the order is largely determined by fixed
and regular rhythmic schemes.
Even in prose a certain influence of rhythmical order may be
sometimes observable, and where this is marked we have what is
called rhythmical or artistic prose. But in such prose the
rhythmic order must be so loosely constructed that it does not
at once obtrude itself on the ear, or recur regularly as it does in
poetry. Wherever we have intelligible words following each
other in groups marked by a rhythmical order which is at once
recognizable as intentionally chosen with a view to symmetry,
^ Metrik der Griechen, i*, 500.
B 2
4- THE LINE book i
there we may be said to have poetry, at least on its formal side.
Poetical rhythm may accordingly be defined as a special sym-
metry, easily recognizable as such, in the succession of syllables
of differing phonetic quality, which convey a sense, and are so
arranged as to be uttered in divisions of time which are sym-
metrical in their relation to one another.
§ 5. At this point we have to note that there are two kinds of
phonetic difference between syllables, either of which may serve
as a foundation for rhythm. In the first place, syllables differ
in respect of their quantity ; they are either ' long ' or ' short ',
according to the length of time required to pronounce them.
In the second place, they differ in respect of the greater or less
degree of force or stress with which they are uttered ; or, as it is
commonly expressed, in respect of their accent.
All the poetic rhythms of the Indogermanic or Aryan languages
are based on one or other of these phonetic qualities of syllables,
one group observing mainly the quantitative, and the other the
accentual principle. Sanskrit, Greek, and Roman poetry is
regulated by the principle of the quantity of the syllable, while
the Teutonic nations follow the principle of stress or accent.^
With the Greeks, Romans, and Hindoos the natural quantity of
the syllables is made the basis of the rhythmic measures, the
rhythmical ictus being fixed without regard to the word-accent.
Among the Teutonic nations, on the other hand, the rhythmical
ictus coincides normally with the word-accent, and the order in
which long and short syllables succeed each other is (with certain
exceptions in the early stages of the language) left to be deter-
mined by the poet's sense of harmony or euphony.
§ e. Before going further it will be well to define exactly the
meaning of the word accent, and to give an account of its
different uses. Accent is generally defined as ' the stronger
emphasis put on a syllable, the stress laid on it ', or, as Sweet "^
puts it, ' the comparative force with which the separate syllables
of a sound-group are pronounced.' According to Briicke ^ it is
produced by increasing the pressure of the breath. The
stronger the pressure with which the air passes from the lungs
through the glottis, the louder will be the tone of voice, the
^ It should be remarked tha,t in Sanskrit, as in the classical languages,
that prominence of one of the syllables of a word, which is denoted by the
term * accent ', was originally marked by pitch or elevation of tone, and
that in the Teutonic languages the word-accent is one of stress or
emphasis. ^ '^ Handbook of Phonetics, § 263.
' Die physiotogischen Grundlagen der neuhochdeutschen Verskunst^
1871, p. 2.
1
CHAP.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
louder will be the sound of the consonants which the stream
of air produces in the cavity of the mouth. This increase of
tone and sound is what is called 'accent*. Briicke seems to
use tone and sound as almost synonymous, but in metric we
must distinguish between them. Sound {sonus) is the more
general, tone (t6vo<s) the more specific expression. Sound, in
this general sense, may have a stronger or weaker tone. This
strengthening of the tone is usually, not invariably, accom-
panied by a rise in the pitch of the voice, just as the weakening
of the tone is accompanied by a lowering of the pitch. In
the Teutonic languages these variations of stress or accent
serve to bring into prominence the relative importance logically
of the various syllables of which words are composed. As
an almost invariable rule, the accent falls in these languages
on the root-syllable, which determines the sense of the word,
and not on the formative elements which modify that sense.
This accent is an expiratory or stress accent.
It must be noted that we cannot, using the term in this
sense, speak of the accent of a monosyllabic word when isolated,
but only of its sound; nor can we use the word accent with
reference to two or more syllables in juxtaposition, when they
are all uttered with precisely the same force of voice. The
term is significant only in relation to a variation in the audible
stress with which the different syllables of a word or a sentence
are spoken. This variation of stress affects monosyllables only
in connected speech, where they receive an accentuation relative
to the other words of the sentence. An absolute uniformity
I of stress in a sentence is unnatural, though the amount of
variation in stress differs greatly in different languages. ' The
distinctions of stress in some languages are less marked than
jin others. Thus in French the syllables are all pronounced
with a nearly uniform stress, the strong syllables rising only
a little above the general level, its occurrence being also un-
jcertain and fluctuating. This makes Frenchmen unable without
Isystematic training to master the accentuation of foreign
jlanguages.' ^ English and the other Teutonic languages, on
jthe other hand, show a marked tendency to alternate weak
!and strong stress.
I § 7. With regard to the function which it discharges in
(connected speech, we may classify accent or stress under four
[different categories. P'irst comes what may be called the
isyntactical accent, which marks the logical importance of a
^ Sweet, Handbook of Phonetics, Oxford, 1877, p. 92.
6 THE LINE book i
word in relation to other words of the sentence. In a sentence
like 'the birds are singing', the substantive 'birds' has, as
denoting the subject of the sentence, the strongest accent;
next in logical or syntactical importance comes the word
'singing', denoting an activity of the subject, and this has a
comparatively strong accent ; the auxiliary * are ' being a word
of minor importance is uttered with very little force of voice ;
the article 'the', being the least emphatic or significant, is
uttered accordingly with the slightest perceptible stress of all.
Secondly, we have the rhetorical accent, or as it might be
called, the subjective accent, inasmuch as it depends upon the
emphasis which the speaker wishes to give to that particular
word of the sentence which he desires to bring prominently
before the hearer. Thus in the sentence, ' you have done this,'
the rhetorical accent may fall on any of the four words which
the speaker desires to bring into prominence, e.g. 'you (and
no one else) have done this,' or ' you have done this (though you
deny it), or you have dSne this ' (you have not left it undone),
or, finally, 'you have done this^ (and not what you were told).
This kind of accent could also be termed the emphatic accent.
Thirdly, we have the rhythmical accent, which properly speak-
ing belongs to poetry only, and often gives a word or syllable an
amount of stress which it would not naturally have in prose, as,
for instance, in the following line of Hamlet (iii. iii. 27) —
My lord, he's going to his mothers closet,
the unimportant word 'to' receives a stronger accent, due to
the influence of the rhythm, than it would have in prose.
Similarly in the following line of Chaucer's Troilus and Cryseide,
1. 1816—
For thSusande's his hSndes mdden dye,
the inflexional syllable es was certainly not ordinarily pro-
nounced with so much stress as it must have here under the
influence of the accent as determined by the rhythm of the
line. Or again the word 'writyng', in the following couplet
of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (Prol. 325-6) —
Therto he couthe endite and make a thing,'
Ther couthe no wight pynche at his writyng,
was certainly not pronounced in ordinary speech with the same
stress on the last syllable as is here demanded both by the
rhythm and rhyme.
CHAP. I GENERAL INTRODUCTION 7
As a rule, however, the rhythmical accent in English coin-
cides with the fourth kind of accent, the etymological or
word-accent, which we now have to deal with, and in greater
detail.
Just as the different words of a sentence are pronounced,
as we have seen, with varying degrees of stress, so similarly
the different syllables of a single word are uttered with a varying
intensity of the force of the breath. One of the syllables of the
individual word is always marked off from the rest by a greater
force of tone, and these others are again differentiated from
each other by subordinate gradations of intensity of utterance,
which may sometimes be so weak as to lead to a certain
amount of indistinctness, especially in English. In the Teutonic
languages, the root-syllable, as the most important element
of the word, and that which conveys the meaning, always bears
the chief accent, the other syllables bearing accents which are
subordinate to this chief accent. As the etymology of a word
is always closely associated with the form of the root-syllable,
this syllabic accent may be called the etymological accent. It
naturally happens that this syllabic accent coincides very often
with the syntactical accent, as the syntactical stress must be laid
on the syllable which has the etymological accent.
The degrees of stress on the various syllables may be as many
in number as the number of the syllables of the word in question.
It is sufficient, however, for purposes of metre and historical
grammar, to distinguish only four degrees of accent in poly-
syllabic words. These four degrees of syllabic and etymological
accent are as follows : i. the chief accent {Hochfon, Haupiton)\
2. the subsidiary accent {Tie/ion, Nebenton) ; 3. the absence of
accent, or the unaccented degree {Tonlosigkeif) \ 4. the mute
degree, or absence of sound iStummheii). These last three
varieties of accent arise from the nature of the Teutonic accent,
which is, it must always be remembered, a stress-accent in
which the volume of breath is expended mainly on the first
or chief syllable. The full meaning of these terms can most
easily be explained and understood by means of examples
chosen either from English or German, whose accentual basis
is essentially the same. In the word, wonderful^ the first
syllable has the chief accent (i), the last has the subsidiary
accent (2), and the middle syllable is unaccented (3). The
fourth or mute degree may be seen in such a word as wondrous,
shortened from wonderous. This fuller form may still be used,
for metrical purposes, as a trisyllable in which the first syllable has
8 THE LINE 'booki
the chief accent, the last the subsidiary accent, and the middle
syllable is unaccented, though audible. The usual pronunciation
is, however, in agreement with the usual spelling, disyllabic, and
is wondrous \ in other words, ihe vowel e which originally
formed the middle syllable, has been dropped altogether in
speech as in writing. From the point of view of the accent,
it has passed from the unaccented state to the stale of muteness ;
but may be restored to the unaccented, though audible, state,
wherever emphasis or metre requires the full syllable. We have
the line : * And it grew wondrous cold,' for which we might
have * The cold grew wonderous '. In other cases the vowel is
retained in writing but is often dropped in colloquial pronuncia-
tion, or for metrical convenience. Thus, in Shakespeare, we find
sometimes the full form —
why ihe sepulchre
Has oped his ponderous mid marble jaws.
Hamlet, i. iv. 50.
and sometimes the curtailed form —
To draw with idle spiders' strings
Most ponderous and substantial things.
Measure for Measure, iii. ii. 290.
This passing of an unaccented syllable into complete mute-
ness is very frequent in English, as compared with other cognate
languages. It has led, in the historical development of the
language, to a gradual weakening, and finally, in many in-
stances, to a total loss of the inflexional endings. Very
frequently, an inflexional vowel that has become mute is
retained in the current spelling; thus in the verbal forms
gives, lives, the e of the termination, though no longer pro-
nounced, is still retained in writing. Sometimes, in poetical
texts, it is omitted, but its position is indicated by an apostrophe,
as in the spellings robb'd, belovd. In many words, on the other
hand, the silent vowel has ceased to be written, as in grown,
sworn, of which the original forms were growen, sworen.
§ 8. Written marks to indicate the position of the accent were
employed in early German poetry as early as the first half of the
ninth century, when they were introduced, it is supposed, by
Hrabanus Maurus of Fulda and his pupil Otfrid. The similar
marks that are found in certain Early English MSS., as the
Ormulwn, are usually signs of vowel-quantity. They may pos-
sibly have sometimes been intended to denote stress, but their
use for this purpose is so irregular and uncertain that they give
little help towards determining the varying degrees of accent in
CHAP. I GENERAL INTRODUCTION 9
^\ Olds during the earliest stages of the language. For this pur-
pose we must look for other and less ambiguous means, and
these are found (in the case of Old English words and forms)
first, in the alliteration, secondly, in comparison with related
words of the other Teutonic languages, and, thirdly, in the
development in the later stages of English itself. After the
Norman Conquest, the introduction of rhyme, and of new forms
of metre imitated from the French and mediaeval Latin poetry,
affords further help in investigating the different degrees of
syllabic accent in Middle English words. None of these means,
however, can be considered as yielding results of absolute cer-
tainty, chiefly because during this period the accentuation of the
language was passing through a stage of transition or compro-
mise between the radically different principles which characterize
the Romanic and Teutonic families of languages. This will be
explained more fully in a subsequent chapter.
Notwithstanding this period of fluctuation the fundamental law
of accentuation remained unaltered, namely, that the chief
accent falls on the root of the word, which is in most cases the
first syllable. For purposes of notation the acute (') will be
used in this work to denote the chief accent, the grave Q the
subsidiary accent of the single word ; to indicate the rhythmical
or metrical accent the acute alone will be sufficient.
§ 9. In English poetry, as in the poetry of the other Teutonic
nations, the rhythmical accent coincides normally with the
syllabic or etymological accent, and this, therefore, determines
and regulates the rhythm. In the oldest form of Teutonic
poetry, the original alliterative line, the rhythm is indicated by a
definite number of strongly accented syllables, accompanied by
a less definite number of syllables which do not bear the same
emphatic stress. This principle of versification prevails not
only in Old English and Old and Middle High German poetry,
but also, to a certain extent, in the period of Middle English,
where, in the same manner, the number of beats or accented
syllables indicates the number of 'feet' or metrical units, and
a single strongly accented syllable can by itself constitute a
' foot '. This practice is a feature which distinguishes early
English and German poetry, not only from the classical poetry,
in which a foot or measure must consist of at least two syllables,
but also from that of the Romanic, modern German, and modern
English languages, which has been influenced by classical
example, and in which, accordingly, a foot must contain one
accented and at least one unaccented syllable following one
10 THE LINE BOOK I
another in a regular order. The classical terms 'foot' and
'measure' have, in their strict sense, relation to the quantity!
of the syllables, and can therefore be applied to the modern
metres only by analogy. In poetry which is based on the
principle of accent or stress, the proper term is bar (in
German Takt). The general resemblances between modern
accentual and ancient quantitative metres are, however, so strong,
that it is hardly desirable to discontinue the application of old
and generally understood technical terms of the classical versi-
fication to modern metres, provided the fundamental distinction
between quantity and accent is always borne in mind.
Setting aside for the present the old Teutonic alliterative line,
in which a ' bar ' might permissibly consist of a single syllable,
we may retain the names of the feet of the classical quantitative
versification for the ' bars ' of modern versification, using them
in modified senses. A group consisting of one unaccented
followed by an accented syllable may be called an iambus ; one
accented followed by an unaccented syllable a trochee ; two un-
accented syllables followed by an accented syllable an anapaest;
one accented syllable followed by two Unaccented syllables a
dactyl. These four measures might also be described according
to the length of the intervals separating the accents, and ac-
cording as the rhythm is ascending (passing from an unaccented
to an accented syllable) or descending (passing from an accented
to an unaccented syllable). We should then have the terms,
(i) ascending disyllabic (iambus), (2) descending disyllabic {trochee),
(3) ascending trisyllabic (anapaest), and (4) descending trisyllabic
(dactyl).^ But we may agree with Prof. Mayor that * it is cer-
tainly more convenient to speak of iambic than of ascending
disyllabic '.^ It is, however, only in the case of these four feet or
measures that it is desirable to adhere to the terminology of the
ancient metres, and as a matter of fact iambus, trochee, anapaest,
and dactyl are the only names of classical feet that are com-
monly recognized in English prosody.^ As to the employment
in the treatment of English metre of less familiar technical terms
derived from classical prosody, we agree with Prof. Mayor, when
he says : ' I can sympathize with Mr. Ellis in his objection to
the classicists who would force upon us such terms as choriambic
and proceleusmatic to explain the rhythm of Milton. I do not
* Cf. Transactions of the Philological Society, 1875-6, London, 1877,
pp. 397 ff. ; Chapters on English Metre, by Prof. J. B. Mayor, 2nd ed.,
PP- 5 ff« ^ Transact., p. 398.
3 They are used byPuttenham, The Arte of English Poesy, 1589, Arber's
reprint, p. 141.
(HAP. I GENERAL INTRODUCTION ii
deny that the effect of his rhythm might sometimes be repre-
sented by such terms ; but if we seriously adopt them to explain
his metre, we are attempting an impossibility, to express in
technical language the infinite variety of measured sound which
a genius like Milton could draw out of the little five-stringed
instrument on which he chose to play/ The use of these and
other classical terms is justifiable only when we have to deal
with professed imitations of ancient forms of verse in English.
Whatever names may be chosen to denote the metrical forms,
the vieasure o'^ foot always remains the unity which is the basis
of all modern metrical systems, and of all investigation into
metre. For a line or verse is built up by the succession of
a limited number of feet or measures, equal or unequal. With
regard to the limit of the number of feet permissible in a line or
verse, no fixed rule can be laid down. In no case must a line
contain more feet than the ear may without difficulty apprehend
as a rhythmic whole; or, if the number of feet is too great
for this, the line must be divided by a pause or break (caesura)
into two or more parts which we may then call rhythmical
sections. This break is a characteristic mark of the typical
Old English alliterative line, which is made up of two
rhythmical sections. The structure of this verse was at one
time obscured through the practice of printing each of these
sections by itself as a short line; but Grimm's example is
now universally followed, and the two sections are printed as
parts of one long line.^ Before entering into a detailed con-
sideration of the alliterative long line, it will be needful to make
a few general remarks on rhyme and its different species.
§ 10. Modern metre is not only differentiated from metre of
the classical languages by the principle of accent as opposed
to quafitity ; it has added a new metrical principle foreign to the
ancient systems. This principle is Rhyme. Instances of what
looks like rhyme are found in the classical poets from Homer
onwards, but they are sporadic, and are probably due to
accident.^
Rhyme was not in use as an accessory to metre in Latin till
the quantitative principle had given way to the accentual
principle in the later hymns of the Church, and it has passed
thence into all European systems of metre.
In our poetry it serves a twofold purpose: it is used either
simply as an ornament, or as a tie to connect single hues into
1 J. Grimm's ed. o{ Andreas and Elene, 1840, pp. Iv ff.
^ Cf. Lehrs, de Aristarchi studiis Homericis^ 1865, P* 475*
12
THE LINE BOOK
the larger metrical unity of stanza or stave, by the recurrence of
similar sounds at various intervals.
In its widest sense rhyme is an agreement or consonance of
sounds in syllables or words, and falls into several subdivisions,
according to the extent and position of this agreement. As to
its position, this consonance may occur in the beginning of a
syllable or word, or in the middle, or in both middle and end
at the same time. As to its extent, it may comprehend one
or two or more syllables. Out of these various possibilities of
likeness or consonance there arise three chief kinds of rhyme in
this wide sense, alliteration, assonance, and end-rhyme, or rhyme
simply in the more limited and usual acceptation of the word.
§ 11. This last, end-rhyme, or full-rhyme, or rhyme proper,
consists in a perfect agreement or consonance of syllables or
words except in their initial sounds, which as a rule are different.
Generally speaking, the agreement of sounds falls on the last
accented syllable of a word, or on the last accented syllable
and a following unaccented syllable or syllables. End-rhyme
or full-rhyme seems to have arisen independently and without
historical connexion in several nations, but as far as our present
purpose goes we may confine ourselves to its development in
Europe among the nations of Romanic speech at the begin-
ning of the Middle Ages. Its adoption into all modern literature
is due to the extensive use made of it in the hymns of the
Church. Full-rhyme or end-rhyme therefore is a characteristic
of modern European poetry, and though it cannot be denied
that unrhymed verse, or blank verse, is much used in English
poetry, the fact remains that this metre is an exotic product of
the Renaissance, and has never become thoroughly popular. Its
use is limited to cerfain kinds of poetic composition, whereas rhyme
prevails over the wider part of the realm of modern poetry.
§ 12. The second kind of rhyme (taking the word in its
broader sense), namely, vocalic assonance, is of minor impor-
tance in the treatment of English metre. It consists in a
similarity between the vowel-sounds only of diiferent words;
the surrounding consonants do not count. The following
groups of words are assonant together : give, thick, fish, win ;
sell, step, net ; thorn, storm, horse. This kind of rhyme was
very popular among the Romanic nations, and among them
alone. Its first beginnings are found in the Latin ecclesiastical
hymns, and these soon developed into' real or full-rhyme.^ It
^ Cf. J. Huemer, Untersuchungen iiber die dltesten lateinisch-christlichen
Rhythnen, Vienna, 1879, ?• 60.
CHAP. I GENERAL INTRODUCTION 13
passed thence into Proven9al, Old French, and Spanish poetry,
and has continued in use in the last named. It is very rarely
found in English verse, it has in fact never been used deliberately,
as far as we know, except in certain recent experiments in
metre. Where it does seem to occur it is safest to look upon
it as imperfect rhyme only. Instances are found in the Early
English metrical romances, Lives of Saints, and popular ballad
poetry, where the technique of the metre is not of a high order ;
examples such 2i^flete, wepe ; brake, gate ; slepe,ymete from King
Horn might be looked on as assonances, but were probably
intended for real rhymes. The consistent use of the full-rhyme
being difficult, the poets, in such instances as these, contented
themselves with the simpler harmony between the vowels alone,
which represents a transition stage between the older rhymeless
alliterative verse, and the newer Romanic metres with real and
complete rhyme. Another possible form of assonance, in which
the consonants alone agree while the vowels may differ, might
be called consonantal assonance as distinguished from vocalic
assonance, or assonance simply. This form of assonance is not
found in English poetry, though it is employed in Cekic and
Icelandic metres.^
§ 13. The third species of rhyme, to use the word still in its
widest sense, is known as alliteration (German Stabreim or
Anreim). It is common to all Teutonic nations, and is found
fully developed in the oldest poetical monuments of Old Norse,
Old High German, Old Saxon, and Old English. Even in
classical poetry, especially in the remains of archaic Latin, it
is not unfrequently met with, but serves only as a means for
giving to combinations of words a rhetorical emphasis, and
is not a formal principle of the metre bound by strict rules, as it
is in Teutonic poetry. Alliteration consists in a consonance
or agreement of the sounds at the beginning of a word or
syllable, as in love and liking, house and home, woe and weal.
The alliteration of vowels and diphthongs has this peculiarity that
the agreement need not be exact as in ' apt alliteration's artful
aid ', but can exist, at least in the oldest stages of the language,
between all vowels indiscriminately. Thus in the oldest English
not only were ellen and ende, denig and der, eac and cage allitera-
tions, but eage and idel, denig and ellen, eallum and cedelingum
were employed in the strictest forms of verse as words which
perfectly alliterated with each other.
^ In the Icelandic terminology this is skothending, MObius, Hdttatal,
ii, p. 2.
14 THE LINE
This apparent confusion of vowel-sounds so different in their
quantity and quality is probably to be explained by the fact that
originally in English, as now in German, all the vowels were
preceded by a ' glottal catch ' which is the real alliterating sound. ^
The harmony or consonance of the unlike vowels is hardly
perceptible in Modern English and does not count as alliteration.
The most general law of the normal alliterative line is that
three or at least two of the four strongly accented syllables
which occur in every long line (two in each section) must begin
with an alliterative letter, for example, in the following Old
English lines :
vjereda vruldorcining \ wordum hert'gen. Gen. 2.
Tddduni lufien \ he is vacEgna sped. Gen. 3.
2BSC hid oferheah \ Mum dyre. Run. 26.
on 2i,ndsware \ and on Qlne strong. Gu. 264.
or in early Modern English :
For myschefe will vdayster us \ yf Treasure us forsake.
Skelton, Magnif. 156.
How sodenly worldly \ welth doth dekqy. ib. 1518.
I am your eldest son \ "Esau by name. Dodsl. Coll. ii. 249.
The history of the primitive alliterative line follows very
different lines of development in the various Teutonic nations.
In Old High German, after a period in which the strict laws of
the verse were largely neglected, it was abandoned in favour
of rhyme by Otfrid (circa 868). In Old English it kept its
place as the only form of verse for all classes of poetical
composition, and continued in use, even after the introduction
of Romanic forms of metre, during the Middle English period,
and did not totally die out till the beginning of the seventeenth
century. The partial revival of it is due to the increased
interest in Old English studies, but has been confined largely
to translations. . As an occasional rhetorical or stylistic ornament
of both rhymed and unrhymed verse, alliteration has always
been made use of by English poets.
^ Cf. Sievers, Altgermanische Metrik, § 18. 2.
CHAPTER II
THE ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN OLD ENGLISH
§ 14. General remarks. It is highly probable that allitera-
tion was the earliest kind of poetic form employed by the
English people. There is no trace in the extant monuments
of the language of any more primitive or simpler system.
A predilection for alliteration existed even in prose, as in the
names of heroes and families like Scyld and Sceaf, Hengist and
Horsa, Finn and Folcwald, pairs that alliterate in the same way
, as the family names of other Teutonic nations : the names of
I the three sons of Mannus, Ingo, Isto, Irmino, conform to this
I type.' The earliest monuments of Old English poetry, as the
fragmentary hymn of Caedmon in the More MS. (Cambridge)
and the inscription on the Ruthwell Cross, are composed in the
I long alliterative line. The great body of Old English verse is
' in this metre, the only exceptions being the ' Rhyming Poem *
(in the Exeter BooJi)^ and a few other late pieces, in which
. alliteration and rhyme are combined. This Old English poetry,
I therefore, together with the Old Norse and Old Saxon remains (the
' Heliand with 5,985 lines, and the recently discovered fragment
of the Old Saxon Genesis^ edited by Zangemeister and Braune,
1894, with 335 lines), affords ample and trustworthy material
for determining the laws of the alliterative verse as used by
I the Teutonic nations. In comparison with these the remains
!of Old High German alliterative verse are both scanty and lax
in structure.
§ 15. Theories on the metrical form of the alliterative
Hue. Notwithstanding their comparative scantiness, the Old
High German fragments {Hildebrandslied, Wessohrunner Gebei,
Miispilli and two magical formulae, with a total of some no
lines) formed the basis of the earliest theories of the laws of
the accentuation and general character of the original alliterative
line. They were assumed to have preserved the features of the
^ Tacitus, Germania, cap. 2. ' Grein-Wulker, iii. i, p. 156.
1 6 THE LINE
BOOK I
primitive metre, and conclusions were drawn from them as to
the typical form of the verse. When examined closely, the
Old High German remains (and this is true also of the longer
monuments in Old Saxon) are found to differ widely from Old
Norse and Old English verse in one respect. While the general
and dominating features of the line remain the same, the Old
High German and Old Saxon lines are much longer than the
Old Norse or Old English lines. In Old Norse or Old English
the half line frequently contains no more than four syllables,
in marked contrast to Old High German and Old Saxon, where
the half line or section is considerably longer.
The first attempt at a theory of the metrical structure of the
alliterative line" was made by Lachmann. He based his theory
on the form of verse created by Otfrid, in imitation of Latin
models, which consists of a long line of eight accents, separated
by leonine rhyme into two sections each of four accents alter-
nately strong and weak.* The laws of the rhyming and strophic
verse of Otfrid were applied by Lachmann to the purely
alliterative verses of the Old High German HildehrandsUed, and
this system of scanning was further applied by his followers
to the alliterative verse of Old English, the true nature of which
was long misunderstood on the Continent. In England itself a
sounder view of the native alliterative verse was propounded
by Bishop Percy as early as 1765, in his Essay on the Metre of
Pierce Plowman published along with his well-known Reliques
of Ancient English Poetry y not to speak of the earlier writings of
G. Gascoigne (1575) and James VI (1585). But the number
and authority of some of Lachmann's followers are such that
some detailed account of their theories must be given.^
§ 16. The four-beat theory of the alliterative verse, based
on the assumption that each of the two sections must have
had four accented syllables to bring out a regular rhythm, was
applied by Lachmann himself only to the Old High German
Hildebrandslied^ while on the other hand he recognized a freer
variety with two chief accents only in each section, for the
Old Norse, Old Saxon, and Old English. The four-beat theory
was further applied to the Old High German Muspilli by
* The influence of the Latin system on Otfrid is clear from his own
words, I. i. 21.
2 For a review of recent metrical theories see Sievers, Altgennanische
Metrik^ 1893, pp. 2-17, and his article on metre in Paul's Grundriss, ii. 2.
^ Cf. Lachmann, ' tJber althochdeutsche Betonung und Verskunst,'
Schriften, ii. 358 ff., and 'Uber das Hildebrandslied ', ib,., ii. 407 ff.
I
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O.E. 17
Jkrtsch,^ and to the rest of the smaller relics of Old High
German verse by Miillenhoff.^ The next step was to bring
the Old Saxon Heliand and the Old English Beowulf under
this system of scansion; and this was taken by M. Heyne in
1866 and 1867. But the metre of Beoivulf 6oqs not differ from
that of the other alliterative poems in Old English, and these
in their turn were claimed for the four-beat theory by Schubert,^
but with this important modification, made before by Bartsch,
that side by side with the usual four-beat sections there were
also to be found sections of three beats only. One obvious
difficulty in applying the theory of four strongly marked beats to
the Old English half-lines or hemistichs is this, that in Old
English these hemistichs consist in very many cases of not more
than four syllables altogether, each one of which would on this
theory have an accent to itself. To meet these cases E. Jessen *
started the theory that in certain cases pauses had to be sub-
istituted for 'beats not realized'. A further modification of
ithe four-beat doctrine was introduced by Amelung,^ who main-
tained that in the metre of the Heliaiid each hemistich had two
primary or chief accents and two secondary or subordinate
accents. In order to bring the verse under this scansion he
assumes that certain syllables admitted of being lengthened.
He further regarded the Heliand verse as a metre regulated
by strict time, and not as a measure intended for free recitation
and depending only on the number of accented syllables.
i A few other more recent attempts at solving the problem
jmust be mentioned before we pass on to explain and discuss
iSievers's system in the next paragraph. The views of Prof. Moller
of Copenhagen' have found an adherent in Lawrence, from
whose book '^ we may quote the following summary of Moller's
:heory. According to Prof. Moller the hemistich consists theo-
retically of two measures [Takle), each of four morae x x X X
'a f7tora, X, being the time required for one short syllable), and
herefore the whole verse of four measures, thus :
xxxx|xxxx|lxxxx|xxxx||.
* Germania, iii, p. 7.
' Zeitschrift fiir deutsches Alterlum, i, p. 318, and de Carmine Wesso/on-
\ano, 1 861, p. 10.
' De Anglo-Sax ottum arte metrica, 1871.
* * GrundzUge der altgermanischen Metrik/ Zeitschrift fiir deutsche
'hilologie, ii. 114 ff. * Ibid., iii. 280 ff.
* Zur althochdeutschen Alliterationspoesie, Kiel and Leipzig.
' John Lawrence, Chapters on Alliterative Verse, JuOndLon, 1893; reviewed
)y K. Luick, Anglia, Beiblatt iv, pp. 193, 201.
SCHIPPKR C
1 8 THE LINE book i
Where, in a verse, the morae are not filled by actual syllables,
their time must be occupied by rests (represented by r*) in
reciting, by holding on the note in singing.^ A long syllable,
— , is equivalent to two morae. Thus v. 208 oS. Beowulf
silnd-wudu . sohte . s^cg , wishde,
would be symbolically represented as follows : 1
-^X x|-^xrl|-^rr|^X X.
According to this system the pause at secg will be twice as long
as that at sohte, whilst at wudu there will be no real pause and
the point will merely indicate the end of the measure.
Others reverted to the view of Bartsch and Schubert that
there could be hemistichs with only three accents alongside of
the hemistichs with the normal number of four. Among these
may be mentioned H. Hirt,'^ whose view is that three beats to a
hemistich is the normal number, four being less usual, the long
line having thus mostly six beats, against the eight of Lach-
mann's theory; K. Fuhr,^ who holds that every hemistich,
whether it stands first or second in the verse, has four beats
if the last syllable is unaccented (klingend; in that case the final
unaccented syllable receives a secondary rhythmical accent, for
QX2im.^\Q^ feond mdncynnes) and has three beats if it is accented
(stump/, for example, ^r^/ /^r^ gewat, or milrninde mod, &c.);
and B. ten Brink,* who calls the hemistichs with four beats fulL
or * complete' (e.g. hyran scolde), but admits hemistichs withi
three beats only, calling them 'incomplete' from the want of.
a secondary accent (e. g. twe'lf wintra ttd, ham gesohte, &c.). '
The four-beat theory was reverted to by M. Kaluza, whoi
endeavours to reconcile it with the results of Sievers and
others." A somewhat similar view is taken by R. Kogel.^
^ Moller's own notation ; Lawrence's sign for the rest is a small point,
and his sign for the end of a section is a thick point.
^ Untersuchungen zur westgermanischen Verskunsi I, Leipzig, 1889;
* Zur Metrik des alts, und althochd. Alliterationsverses,' Germania, xxxvi.
139 ff., 279 ff. ; 'Der altdeutsche Reimvers und sein Verhaltnis zi
Alliterationspoesie,' Zeitschrift fiir deutsches Altertum, xxxviii. 304 ff.
^ Die Metrik des westgermanischen Alliterationsverses, Marburg, 1892,
* Paul's Grundriss der germanischen Philologie, ed. i, ii. i. 518.
^ Der altenglische Vers-. I. Kritik der bisherigen Theorien, 1894; 11. Die
Metrik des Beowulfliedes, 1894; III. Die Metrik der sog. Caedmonischen
Dichtungen, &c., 1895. This last part is by F. Graz. These are reviewed
by K.Luick, Anglia, Beiblatt iv. 294; M. Trautmann, ib., iv. 131 ; vi. 1-4;
Saran, Zeitschrift fiir deutsche Philologie, xxvii. 539.
^ Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur^ 1894, i. 228, and Ergdnzungsheft
zu Band I, Die altsdchsische Genesis, 1895, p. 28 ff.
i
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O.E. 19
jTrautmann* takes Amelung's view that certain words and
' jsyllables must be lengthened in orcjer to get the four accented
~ jsyllables necessary for each hemistich. Thus, according to
jTrautmann's scansion,
sprecad fmgere befdran
would run x X | X X [ x x |v^ X , and
6nd pii him m/k sylest
iwould also have the formula x x|x x|x x|^x,
\pnd being protracted to two units. Another instance of this
ilengthening would, on this theory, occur in the final syllable of
' Ithe word radores in the hemistich Under rddorh ryne^ while in a
Isection like gud-rinc monig, or of /old-grde/e, the words rinc
and 0/ would be extended to two, and gu9 and fold would
each be extended to four units, in order to fit in with the
i jscansion x x|x x|x x|v^X. Most of the partisans of the
'■ [four-beat theory for the hemistich agree in making two of these
•. ibeats primary, and two secondary ; Trautmann, however, does
" Inot seem to recognize any such difference in the force of the
- {four accents. All the supporters of the four-beat theory have
ithis in common, that the rhythm of the verse is assumed to be
jbased on time {takiterend), but in other respects differ widely
from each other ; Hirt, for example, in his last discussion of the
subject,^ claiming that his own view is fundamentally different
from that of Kaluza, which again he looks on as at variance
with those of Moller and Heusler.
§ 17. The two-beat theory, on the other hand, is that each
of the two hemistichs of the alliterative line need have only two
accented syllables. In England this view was taken by two
sixteenth-century writers on verse, George Gascoigne* who
quotes the line.
No Wight in this world, that wealth can attain,
giving as the accentual scheme ; and by King
James VI, whose example is —
Fetching /ude /or to feid it fast fur th of the Farie.^
' * Zur Kenntniss des germanischen Verses, vornehmlich des altenglischen,'
in Anglia, Beiblatt v. 87 ff. ^ Z.f.d. A,, xxxviii. 304.
^ Certayne notes of Instruction concerning the making of verse or ryme in
English, 1575; Arber's reprint, London, 1868, p. 34.
* Ane Schort Treatise, conteining some Revlis and Cautelis to be obseruit
and eschewit in Scottis poesie, 1585, pp. 63 ff. of Arber's reprint. The
scheme would be ^ v ' ^ ^ ' ^ v ' n ^ ' \
C 2
20
THE LINE BOOK i
111 1765, Percy, in his Essay on Pierce Plowmatis Visionsi
pointed out ' that the author of this poem will not be found fa
have invented any new mode of versification, as some hav
supposed, but only to have retained that of the old Saxon an
Gothick poets, which was probably never wholly laid aside, bi
occasionally used at different intervals '. After quoting ^ two 01
Norse, he gives two Old English verses : —
Sceop pa and scyrede scyppend ure (Gen. 65),
ham and heahsetl heofena rices (ib. 33);
he continues : * Now if we examine the versification of Pierce
Plowman's Visions ' (from which he quotes the beginning —
In a somer season \ when softe was the sonne
I schop me into a schroud \ a scheep as I were, <SfC.)
* we shall find it constructed exactly by these rules ', which are,
in his own words, * that every distich [i. e. complete long line]
should contain at least three words beginning with the same
letter or sound; two of these correspondent sounds might be placed^
either in the first or second line of the distich, and one in the
other, but all three were not regularly to be crowded into one'
line.' He then goes on to quote further specimens of alliterative
verse from Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, The Sege 0/ Jerusalem,
The Chevalere Assigne, Death and Liffe and Scottish Fielde,
which latter ends with a rhyming couplet :
And his ancestors of old time \ have yearded theire longe
Be/ore William conquerour \ this cuntry did inhabitt.
Jesus bring them to blisse \ that brought us forth of bale ^
That hath hearkened me heare \ or heard my tale.
Taken as a whole his dissertation on the history of alliterative
verse is remarkably correct, and his final remarks are note-
worthy :
Thus we have traced the alliterative measure so low as the sixteenth
century. It is remarkable that all such poets as used this kind of metre,
retained along with it many peculiar Saxon idioms, particularly such as
were appropriated to poetry : this deserves the attention of those who are
desirous to recover the laws of the ancient Saxon poesy, usually given up as
inexplicable: I am of opinion that they will find what they seek in the
metre of Pierce Plowman. About the beginning of the sixteenth century,
this kind of versification began to change its form ; the author of Scottish
Field, we see, concludes his poem with a couplet of rhymes ; this was an
innovation "^ that did but prepare the way for the general admission of that
* From Hickes's Antiq. Literal. Septentrional., tom. i, p. 217.
" It is now well known that this innovation was introduced much earlierr
:hap.ii alliterative VERSE IN O.E. 21
more modish ornament. When rhyme began to be superadded, all the
niceties of alliteration were at first retained with it: the song of Little
John Nobody exhibits this union very closely. ... To proceed ; the old
uncouth verse of the ancient writers would no longer go down without the
,more fashionable ornament of rhyme, and therefore rhyme was superadded.
This correspondence of final sounds engrossing the whole attention of the
poet and fully satisfying the reader, the internal imbellishment of allitera-
tion was no longer studied, and thus was this kind of metre at length
swallowed up and lost in our common burlesque alexandrine, now never
used but in songs and pieces of low humour, as in the following ballad ;
and that well-known doggrel :
' A cobler there was and he lived in a stall '.
Now it is clear that this verse is of exactly the same structure
|as the verses quoted by Gascoigne :
No wight in this world that wealth can attayne,
Unless he bUe'ue^ thht all \s hut vayne,
where the scheme of accents is Gascoigne's own, showing that
he read them as verses of four accents in all, two in each hemistich.
They show the same rhythmical structure as the ' tumbling ' or
alliterative line given by James VI * (1585) :
Fetching fude for to feid it fast furth of the Faricy
and described by him as having ' twa [feit, i. e. syllables] short,
and ane lang throuch all the lyne ', in other words with four
accented syllables in the verse.
Percy detected very acutely that the Middle English alliterative
line stood in close connexion with the Old English alliterative
iine, and suggested as highly probable that the metre of Pierce
Plowman would give a key to the rhythm of that older form of
verse, which would have to be read with two accented syllables
n the hemistich, and therefore four in the whole line.
Had this essay of Percy's been known to Lachmann's followers,
many of the forced attempts at reconciling the Old English
^erse with a scheme that involved a fixed number of syllables
m the line would not have been made. Lachmann himself,
it must be remembered, admitted the two-beat scansion for Old
Norse, Old Saxon, and Old English. Meanwhile other investi-
Ijators were at work on independent lines. In 1844 A. Schmeller,
|:he editor of the Heliand, formulated the law that, in the Teutonic
[languages, it is the force with which the different syllables are
Jttered that regulates the rhythm of the verse, and not the
^ From Alexander Montgomery, The Fly ting, Sec, 1. 476.
22
THE LINE BOOK i
number or length of the syllables (which are of minor impor-
tance), and established the fact that this alliterative verse was not
meant to be sung but to be recited.^ He does not enter into
the details of the rhythm of the verse, except by pointing out
the two-beat cadence of each section. Somewhat later,
W. Wackernagel ^ declared himself in favour of the two-beat
theory for all Teutonic alliterative verse. In every hemistich
of the verse there are according to Wackernagel two syllables
with a grammatical or logical emphasis, and consequently a
strong accent, the number of less strongly accented syllables
not being fixed. The two-beat theory was again ably supported
by F. Vetter^ and by K. Hildebrand, who approached the subject
by a study of the Old Norse alliterative verse,"* and by M. Rieger
in his instructive essay on Old Saxon and Old English versifica-
tion." In this essay Rieger pointed out the rules prevailing in
the poetry of those two closely related Teutonic nations, dealt
with the distribution and quality of the alliteration, the relation
of the alliteration to the noun, adjective, and verb, and to the
order of words, with the caesura and the close of the verse.
and, finally, with the question of the accented syllables anc
the limits of the use of unaccented syllables.^ Other scholars
as Horn, Ries, and Sievers, contributed further elucidation'
of the details of this metre on the basis of Rieger's re-
searches.^
Next to Rieger's short essay the most important contributiori
made to the accurate and scientific study of alliterative vers(
was that made by Sievers in his article on the rhythm of th(
Germanic alliterative verse.^ In this he shows, to use his owr
words, * that a statistical classification of groups of words witl
* * IJber den Versbau der alliterierenden Poesie, besonders der Altsachsen,
Bay. Akademie der Wissenschaften, philos.-histor. Ciasse, iv. i, p. 207 ff.
^ Litteraturgeschichte, p. 45 ff., second ed., p. 57.
' Ober die germanische Alliterationspoesiey Vienna, 1872, and Zui
Muspilliy «Scc., Vienna, 1872.
* 'Uber die Verstheilung der Edda,' Zeitschr. fur deutsche Phil
Erganzungsband, p. 74.
* Die Alt- und Angehdchsische VerskunsL Halle, 1876, reprinted fror
Z.f.d.Fh.,vo\.y±
* The author's larger work on English Metre was indebted in paragraph
28-33 to Rieger's essay; succeeding paragraphs (34-39) of the sam
work exhibited in detail the further development or rather decay of the 01
English alliterative line.
' C. R. Horn, Paul und Braune's Beitrdge, v. 164 ; J. Ries, Quellen utt
Forschungen, xli. 112; E. Sievers, Zeitschr. f. deutsche Phil., xix. 43.
^ Paul und Braune's Beitrdge, x, 1885, pp. 209-314 and 491-545.
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 23
their natural accentuation in both sections of the alliterative line
makes it clear that this metre, in spite of its variety, is not so
irregular as to the unaccented syllables at the beginning or in
the middle of the verse as has been commonly thought, but
that it has a range of a limited number of definite forms which
may be all reduced to five primary types.' These five types
or chief variations in the relative position of the accented and
unaccented syllables are, as Sievers points out, of such a nature
jand so arbitrarily combined in the verse, that they cannot
possibly be regarded as symmetrical feet of a line evenly
measured and counted by the number of syllables. * The
fundamental principle, therefore, of the structure of the allitera-
tive line, as we find it in historical times, is that of a free change
of rhythm which can only be understood if the verse was meant
to be recited, not to be sung.' * Soon after the publication of
Sievers's essay on the rhythm of the Germanic verse, the first
part of which contained a complete classification of all the forms
of the line occurring in Beowulf^ other scholars applied his
method and confirmed his results by examining in detail the
other important Old English texts ; Luick dealt with Judith,^
Frucht with the poems of Cynewulf,^ and Cremer with Andreas^
&c.* Sievers himself, after contributing to the pages of Paul's
Grundriss der germanischen Philologie a concise account of his
theories and results, expounded them in greater detail in his
work on Old Germanic Metre ^ in which he emphasizes the fact
that his five-type theory cannot properly be called a theory
at all, but is simply an expression of the rules of the alliterative
verse obtained by a statistical method of observation. In spite
of the criticisms of his opponents, MoUer, Heusler, Hirt, Fuhr,
and others, he maintained his former views. In principle these
views are in conformity with the manner of reading or scanning
Ithe alliterative verse explained by English writers on the subject
from the sixteenth century downwards, though their terminology
naturally is not the same as Sievers's. We may, therefore, accept
them on the whole as sound.
It would be out of place here to enter into the question
I
I * Sievers, Paul's Grundriss, ii. i, p. 863, or ii. 2, p. 4, second ed.
^ Paul und Braune's Beitrage, xi. 470.
^ Ph. Frucht, Metrisches und Sprachliches zu Cynewulfs Elene, Juliana
und Crist, Greifswald, 1887.
j * M. Cremer, Metrische und sprachliche Untersuchung der altengl.
Gedichte Andreas y GMlAc, Phoenix, Bonn, 1888.
' Altgermattische Metrik, Halle, 1893.
24
THE LINE BOOK i
of prehistoric forms of Teutonic poetry. It will be enough to
say that in Sievers's opinion a primitive form of this poetry was
composed in strophes or stanzas, intended to be sung and not
merely to be recited; that at a very early period this sung
strophic poetry gave way to a recited stichic form suitable to
epic narrations ; and that his five-type forms are the result of
this development. As all the attempts to show that certain Old
English poems were originally composed in strophic form ^ have
proved failures, we may confidently assent to Sievers's conclusion
that the alliterative lines (as a rule) followed one upon another
in unbroken succession, and that in historic times they were not
composed in even and symmetrical measures {takiierend), and
were not meant to be sung to fixed tunes.
The impossibility of assuming such symmetrical measures for
the Old English poetry is evident from the mere fact that the
end of the line does not as a rule coincide with the end of
the sentence, as would certainly be the case had the lines been
arranged in staves or stanzas meant for singing. The structure
of the alliterative line obeys only the requirements of free
recitation and is built up of two hemistichs which have a
rhythmical likeness to one another resulting from the presence
in each of two accented syllables, but which need not have, and
as a matter of fact very rarely have, complete identity of rhythm,
because the number and situation of the unaccented syllables
may vary greatly in the two sections.
§ 18. Accentuation of Old English. As the versification
of Old English is based on the natural accentuation of the
language, it will be necessary to state the laws of this accentua-
tion before giving an account of the five types to which the
structure of the hemistich has been reduced.
In simple polysyllables the chief or primary accent, in this
work marked by an acute ('), is as a rule on the root-syllable,
and the inflexional and other elements of the word have a
less marked accent varying from a secondary accent, here
marked by a grave ( ' ), to the weakest grade of accent, which is
generally left unmarked : thus wHldor^ he'ofon^ witig^ wunode,
sedelingas, &c.
In the aUiterative line, as a general rule, only syllables with
the chief accent carry either the alliterating sounds or the four
rhythmical accents of the verse. All other syllables, even those
* Mainly by H. Moller, Das Volksepos in der ursprunglichen strophischm
/i^rw, Kiel, 1883.
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 25
with secondary accent, count ordinarily as the 'theses' {Sen-
kungen) of the verse ^ : .
sindon pa hearwas hledum gehSngene
wWigum Wdeslmum: pder no wdnia^ 6
hd/ge under lieq/onum "hSltes /rsetwe. Phoenix 71-73.
In compound words (certain combinations with unaccented
prefixes excepted) the first element of the compound (which
modifies or determines the meaning of the second element)
has the primary accent, the second element having only a
secondary accent, e.g. willdor-cyning, heah-setl^ sod-fkst? If
therefore the compound has, as is mostly the case, only one
alliterative sound, that alliteration must necessarily fall on the
first part of the compound :
witig wHldorcym'ng vrSrlde and heo/ona. Dan. 427.
Sometimes it happens that in hemistichs of no great length
the second part of the compound carries one of the two rhyth-
mical accents of the hemistich, e. g.
on "heah-selle h.eo/ones wdldend. Cri. 555.
and in a particular form of alliteration^ it may even contain
one of the alliterating sounds, as in the verse :
hwdetl we Gcdr^ena in gearddgum. Beow. i.
The less strongly accented derivational and inflexional suffixes,
I though they are not allowed to alliterate, may occasionally have
|the rhythmical accent, on condition that they immediately follow
'upon a long accented syllable, e. g.
mid Wyl/zngum, pa hine Wdra cyn, Beow. 461.
ne miahie ic det YiUde mid 'H.riinttnge. ib. 1659.
The rhythmical value of syllables with a secondary accent will
be considered more fully later on.
These general rules for the accent of compound words
formed of noun 4-^noun or adjective + noun require modification
for the cases where a prefix (adverb or preposition) stands in
jclose juxtaposition with a verb or noun. The preposition
jStanding before and depending on a noun coalesces so closely
^ Besides the unaccented syllables of polysyllabic words, many mono-
syllables, such as prepositions, pronouns, &c., are unstressed, and occur
bnly in the theses.
■' ' This rule applies to modern English also, as in words like birth-right.
^ If this cross alliteration is intentional. See Sievers, Altger. Metrik^ p. 41.
26 THE LINE book i
with it that the two words express a single notion, the noun having
the chief accent, e.g. onweg, dweg (away), mtsomne (together),
of dune (down), tonihte (to-night), onmiddum (amid) ; examples in
verse are :
gehdd viintra wSrn der he onw^g hwiir/e. Beow. 264.
std detsSmne pa gesHndrod wdes. Gen. 162.
But while the prepositional prefix thus does not carry the
alliteration owing to its want of accent, some of the adverbs
used in composition are accented, others are unaccented, and
others again may be treated either way. When the adverbial
prefix originally stood by itself side by side with the verb, and
may in certain cases still be disjoined from it, it has then the
primary accent, because it is felt as a modifying element of the
compound. When, however, the prefix and the verb have
become so intimately united as to express one single notion, the
verb takes the accent and the prefix is treated as proclitic, and
there is a third class of these compounds which are used
indifferently with accent on the prefix or on the verb.
Some of the commonest prefixes used in alliteration are * :
aftd, defter, eft, ed, fore, ford, from, hider, in, hin, mid, mis, nider,
ongean, or, up, id, efne, as in compounds like dndsufarian,
ingong, sefterweard, &c. :
on andswdre and on ^Ine strSng, Gu. 264.
iidelic ingong 6al Wdes gebUnden. Cri. 308.
a7td ea<: para ffela 6rsorh ivUnad. Met. vii. 43.
uplang gestod wid Vsraheluvi. Ex. 303.
Prefixes which do not take the alliteration are : a, ge, for,
geond, od, e. g.
ahon and ahe'bban on 'h.eahne beam. Jul. 228.
hdefde pa gefohten fSrcmderne bided. Jud. 122.
hronde forhdernan ne on hdet hlddan. Beow. 2126.
The following fluctuate : det, an, hi {big), bi {be), of, ofer, on, to,
under, purh, tvid, wider, ymb. These are generally accented
and alliterate, if compounded with substantives or adjectives,
but are not accented and do not alliterate if compounded with
* See Koch, Historische Gramtnatik der englischen Sprache, Weimar^
1863, i. 156.
I
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 27
verbs or other particles,^ e. g. dferheah^ Sferhyd^ but ofercHman,
o/crbfdan. The following lines will illustrate this :
{a) prefixes which alliterate :
para pe purh 6/erhyd up dstiged. Dan. 495.
a/^/ is pin dnseon hdbbad we 6alle swd, Satan 61.
Y?nbe-sillendra 2dnig pclra, Beow. 2734.
(<^) prefixes which do not alliterate :
odddet he pa hysgu oferbiden hde/de. Gu. 518.
ne willad eow ondrdedan 6.eade/e^an. Exod. 266.
^ymbel ymb^deton sxgrunde neah. Beow. 564.^
When prepositions precede other prepositions or adverbs in
composition, the accent rests on that part of the whole com-
pound which is felt to be the most important. Such compounds
fall into three classes : (i) if a preposition or adverb is preceded
by the prepositions be, on, to^ purh, wid, these latter are not
accented, since they only slightly modify the sense of the follow-
ing adverb. Compounds of this kind are: bex/tan, befdran,
bfgeondan, behindan, betnnan, beneodan, bufan, butan, onii/an,
cmiippan, toforan, widinnan, widutan, underneo'dan? Only the
second part of the compound is allowed to alliterate in these
words :
he iedra sUm beforan gengde. Beow. 141 2.
ne pe behindan Idet ponne pu h/onan cyrre. Cri. 155.
Most of these words do not seem to occur in the poetry.
(ii) In compounds of/5e/- + preposition the preposition is accented
and takes the alliteration :
swd he pderinne d^ndlangne dseg. Beow. 2 11 5.
pe pder6n sindon Qce dr^hien. Hy. iv. 3.
(iii) weard, as in de/terweard,/oreweard, hindanweard, niderweard,
i/feweard, Sec, is not accented :
hwii \^?tdanweard and se hdis grene. Ph. 298.
modoiveard and Hfeweard and pdet nebb lixed. ib. 299.
iede-ge'stum Wt innanweard. Beow. 1977.
^ Compare Streitberg, Urgermanische Grammatik, 1900, § 143, p. 167,
or Wilmanns, Deutsche Grammatik, 1897, i, p. 407, § 349.
'^ For exceptions to these rules see Englische Metrik, i, pp. 43, 45.
^ Koch adds wiQkftan, wibfdran^ witSneo^an,
28 THE LINE book i
§ 19. The secondary accent. The secondary or subordi-
nate accent is of as great importance as the chief or primary
accent in determining the rhythmical character of the alHterative
line. It is found in the following classes of words :
(i) In all compounds of noun + noun, or adjective + noun, or
adjective + adjective, the second element of the compound has
the subordinate accent, e. g. heah-setl, gud-rinc, hring-nh, sod-fkst.
Syllables with this secondary accent are necessary in certain
cases as links between the arsis and thesis, as in forms like
pegn Hrodgares (-Z | ^ x X ) or fyrsi fdrd gewat {J.\^x k).
(ii) In proper names like Hrodgar, Beowulf, Hygelac, this
secondary accent may sometimes count as one of the four chief
metrical accents of the line, as in
teornas on hldncum pder Wdes Beozviilfes. Beow. 857.
contrasted with
6orl Beowulf es ^alde lafe, Beow. 797.
(iii) When the second element has ceased to be felt as a distinct
part of the compound, and is little more than a suffix, it loses
the secondary accent altogether ; as hld/ord, deghwylc, inwit, and
the large class of words compounded with -lie and sum.
pdet he 'B.^ardrede Waford Wdere. Beow. 2375.
la/sum and If^e leo/um monnum. Cri. 914.
(iv) In words of three syllables, the second syllable when long
and following a long root-syllable with the chief accent, has,
especially in the early stage of Old English, a well-marked
secondary accent: thus, deresta, oderra, se'mnmgay ehtende; the
third syllable in words of the form Metinga gets the same
secondary accent. This secondary accent can count as one of
the four rhythmic accents of the Hne, e. g.
pa Bdr^stan ddlda cynnes, Gu. 948.
sige/olca aweg od pdet semninga. Beow. 644.
Words of this class, not compounded, are comparatively rare,
but compounds with secondary accent are frequent.
These second syllables with a marked secondary accent in
the best examples of Old English verse mostly form by them-
selves a member of the verse, i. e. are not treated as simple theses
as in certain compositions of later date, e. g.
dygelra gesceafia. Great. 18.
dgenne hrodor. Metr. ix. 28. /
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O.E. 29
(v) After a long root-syllable of a trisyllabic word a short
second syllable (whether its vowel was originally short or long)
may bear one of the chief accents of the line, e, g. bdche, biscope :
pder hisceopas and hoUras. An. 607.
or may stand in the thesis and be unaccented, as
g6des hisceope pa sprdec gud caning. Gen. 2123.
This shows that in common speech these syllables had only a
slight secondary accent.
(vi) Final syllables (whether long or short) are as a rule not
accented even though a long root-syllable precede them.
§ 20. Division and metrical value of syllables. Some
other points must be noticed with reference to the division
and metrical value of the syllables of some classes of words.
The formative element / in the present stem of the second
class of weak verbs always counts as a syllable when it follows
I a long root-syllable, thus fund-i-an^ fund-i-ende not fund-yauy
&c. In verbs with a short root-syllable it is metrically
indifferent whether this i is treated as forming a syllable by
itself or coalescing as a consonant with the following vowel,
so that we may divide either ner-i-an^ or ner-yan ; in verbs of
the first and third class the consonantal pronunciation was
according to Sievers probably the usual one, hence neryan
{nenan), lifyan {lifz^an), but for verbs of the second class the
syllable remained vocalic, ^kiW's, polian}
In foreign names like Assyria^ Eusebius^ the i is generally
treated as a vowel, but in longer words possibly as a consonant,
as Macedonya {Macedonia). As to the epenthetic vowels de-
veloped from a w, the question whether we are to pronounce
gearowe or gearwe, bealowes or bealwes cannot be decided by
metre. Syllabic /, ;//, n (/, 1^, n) following a short root-vowel
lose their syllabic character, thus setl^ hrdegl, swefn are mono-
syllables, but er coming from original r as in wdeter, leger may
be either consonantal or vocalic. After a long root-syllable
vocalic pronunciation is the rule, but occasionally words of this
kind, as tUngl^ bosm, tacn, are used as monosyllables, and the /,
w, and n are consonants. Hiatus is allowed; but in many
cases elision of an unaccented syllable takes place, though no
fixed rule can be laid down owing to the fluctuating number of
unaccented syllables permissible in the hemistich or whole line.
* Sievers, Beitrdge, x. 225, and Angehachsische Grammatik^y §§ 410,
411,415.
30 THE LINE book i
In some cases the metre requires us to expunge vowels which
have crept into the texts by the carelessness of copyists, e. g.
we must write idles instead of edeles, engles instead of engeles,
deofles instead of deo/eles, and in other cases we musj restore
the older and fuller forms such as oderra for o^rd, eowere for
eowre} The resolution of long syllables with the chief accent
in the arsis, and of long syllables with the secondary accent in
the thesis, affects very greatly the number of syllables in the
line. Instead of the one long syllable which as a rule bears
one of the four chief accents of the verse, we not unfrequently
meet with a short accented syllable plus an unaccented syllable
either long or short (v^ x ). This is what is termed the resolution
of an accented syllable. A word accordingly Vik.^ fdrode with
one short accented syllable and two unaccented syllables has
the same rhythmical value as foron with one long accented an^
one unaccented syllable, or a combination like se pe ivdes is
rhythmically equivalent to secg wdes.
§ 21. We now come to the structure of the whole allite-
rative line. The regular alliterative line or verse is made up of
two hemistichs or sections. These two sections are separated from
each other by a pause or break, but united by means of allitera-
tion so that they form a rhythmical unity. Each hemistich
must have two syllables which predominate over the rest in
virtue of their logical and syntactical importance and have on
this account a stronger stress. These stressed syllables, four
in number for the whole line, count as the rhythmical accents of
the verse. The force given to these accented syllables is more
marked when they carry at the same time the alliteration, which
happens at least once in each hemistich, frequently twice in the
first and once in the second hemistich, and in a number of
instances twice in both hemistichs. The effect of the emphasis
given to these four words or syllables by the syntax, etymology,
rhythm, and sometimes alliteration, is that the other words and
syllables may for metrical purposes be looked upon as in
comparison unaccented, even though they may have a main
or secondary word- accent.
In certain cases, in consequence of the particular structure of
the hemistich, there is found a rhythmical secondary accent,
generally coinciding with an etymological secondary accent, or
with a monosyllable, or with the root-syllable of a disyllabic
* For details on these points and on the question of the treatment of
forms in which vowel contraction is exhibited in the MSS. see Sievers,
Altgermanische Metrik^ §§ 74-77, and Beitrdge, x. 475 ff.
II
CHAP. 11 ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 31
word. Sievers looks on these syllables as having in the rhythm
of the verse the nature of a minor arsis (Nehenhebung)\ they
rather belong to the class of sylkbles standing in thesis but
with a slight degree of accent {tieftonige Senkung).
The two sections of the alliterative line rarely exhibit a
strict symmetry as to the number of the unaccented syllables
and their position with regard to the accented syllables. In
the great majority of cases their similarity consists merely in
their having each two accented syllables, their divergence in
other respects being very considerable. It is to be noted
that certain combinations of accented and unaccented syllable
occur with more frequency in one hemistich than in the other,
or are even limited to one of the two hemistichs only.
Besides the ordinary or normal alliterative line with four
accents, there exists in Old English and in other West-Germanic
poetry a variety of the alliterative line called the lengthened line
{Schwellvers or Streckvers). In this line each hemistich has
three accented syllables, the unaccented syllables standing in the
same relation to the accented ones as they do in the normal
two-beat hemistich.
§ 22. The structure of the hemistich in the normal
alliterative line. The normal hemistich consists of four, seldom
of five members^ {Glteder), two of which are strongly accented
(arses), the others unaccented or less strongly accented (theses).
Each arsis is formed, as a rule, of a long accented syllable (-^), but
the second part of a compound, and (less frequently) the second
syllable with a secondary accent of a trisyllabic or disyllabic
word, is allowed to stand as an arsis. By resolution a long
accented syllable may be replaced by two short syllables, the
first of which is accented. This is denoted by the symbol \i X .
The less strongly accented members of the hemistich fall into
two classes according as they are unaccented or have the
secondary accent. • This division depends ultimately on the
logical or etymological importance of the syllables. Unaccented
syllables (marked in Sievers's notation by x ) whether long or
short by etymology, are mostly inflexional endings, formative
plements, or proclitic and enclitic words.
j Secondarily accented verse-members, mostly monosyllabic and
ilong (denoted by x , and occasionally, when short, by V), are
jroot-syllables in the second part of compounds, long second
syllables of trisyllabic words whose root-syllable is long, and
* * Elements,' Sweet, Anglo-Saxon Reader^ § 365.
32 THE LINE book i
other syllables where in ordinary speech the presence of a
secondary accent is unmistakable. The rhythmical value of
these syllables with secondary accent is not always the same.
When they stand in a foot or measure of two members and are
preceded by an accented syllable they count as simply un-
accented, and the foot is practically identical with the normal
type represented by the notation -^ X (as in the hemistich wtsra
w6rda)y but these half-accented syllables may be called heavy
theses, and the feet which contain them may be denoted by the
formula -^ x , as in wisfdest w6rdum (-^ x | — X ). A hemistich
like the last is called by Sievers strengthened {gesteigert), or if it
has two heavy unaccented syllables in both feet, doubly
strengthened, as in the section gudrinc gSldwlanc ( — X | — X ).
In these examples the occurrence of a heavy unaccented syllable
is permissible but not necessary; but in feet or measures of
three members they are obligatory, being required as an inter-
mediate degree between the arsis and thesis, or strongly accented
and unaccented member, as in J?/gn Hrodgares (_^ | -£ x X ), or
fyrst ford gewat (-^|_ilx x), or healkrna mxst (-^X x|— ).
In these cases Sievers gives the verse-member with this second-
ary accent the character of a subordinate arsis, or beat
(Nebenhebung), But it is better, in view of the strongly marked
two-beat swing of the hemistich, to look on such members with
a secondary accent as having only the rhythmical value of
unaccented syllables, and to call them theses with a slight accent.
The two-beat rhythm of the hemistich is its main characteristic,
for though the two beats are not always of exactly equal force ^
they are always prominently distinguished from the unaccented
members of the hemistich, the rhythm of which would be
marred by the introduction of an additional beat however
slightly marked.
Cases in which the two chief beats of the hemistich are not of
exactly the same force occur when two accented syllables, either
both with chief accent or one with chief and the other with
secondary accent, stand in immediate juxtaposition, not separated
by an unaccented syllable. The second of these two accented
syllables may be a short syllable with chief accent, instead of
a long* syllable as is the rule. But in either case, whether
long or short, this second beat following at once on the first
beat is usually uttered with somewhat less force than the first, as
can be seen from examples like gebun hde/dotty Beow. 117; id
^ Sievers, Altgerm. Metrik, § 9, 3. 4.
JCHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 33
ham /dran, 121 ; vn'd ^rddege, 126. The second beat rarely
predominates over the first. The cause of this variation in the
force of the two beats is to be sought in the laws of the
syntactical accent.
In other respects verse-members with a secondary accent
obey the same laws as those with a primary accent. They
usually consist of one long syllable, but if a member which
has the arsis immediately precedes, a short syllable with a
secondary accent may be substituted. Resolution of such verse
members is rare, which shows that they are more closely
related to the thesis than to the arsis of the hemistich. One
unaccented syllable is sufficient to form the thesis ( x ), but
the thesis may also have two or more unaccented syllables
( X X , X X X . .), their number increasing in proportion to their
shortness and the ease with which they can be pronounced,
provided always that no secondary accent intervenes. All of
Ithese unaccented syllables are reckoned together as one thesis,
|as against the accented syllable or arsis. The single com-
ponents of such a longer thesis may exhibit a certain gradation
of force when compared with one another, but this degree of
force must never equal the force with which the arsis is
pronounced, though we sometimes find that, owing to the
varying character of the syntactical or sentence accent, a
monosyllable which in one case stands in the thesis, may in
another connexion bear the secondary or even the primary accent.
§ 23. The number of the unaccented syllables of the thesis
was formerly believed to depend entirely on the choice of the
individual poet.^ Sievers first put this matter in its right light
by the statistics of the metre. '■^ He showed that the hemistich
'of the Old English alliterative line is similar to the Old Norse
ifour-syllable verse, and is as a rule of a trochaic rhythm
'(_£ X — X ). The proof of this is that in Beowulf^ for instance,
(there are 592 hemistichs of the type -^ X | — X (as hyran scolde,
10), and that in the same text there are 238 of the type
Lx x\ — X (as gode gewyrcean^ 20; Mold penden If/de, 57),
[making 830 hemistichs with trochaic or dactylic rhythm, as
jagainst eleven hemistichs of similar structure but with an
iunaccented syllable at the beginning, x|-^X(x)|^X, and
(sven four or five of these eleven are of doubtful correctness,
prom these figures it seems almost beyond doubt that in the
^ See, for example, Rieger, AH- und Angelsachsische Versktmstj p. 62.
^ Paul-Braune's Beitrdge, x, p. 209.
SCHIPPER D
\1
34
THE LINE BOOK i
type _£ X { X ) I — X the licence of letting the hemistich begin
with an unaccented syllable before the first accented syllable
was, generally speaking, avoided. On the other hand, when the
first accented syllable is short with only one unaccented syllable
as thesis (J x ), we find this initial unaccented syllable to be the
rule, 2JS> genHmen hxfdon Beow. 3167 (x|wX|-^x), of which
form there are 130 examples, while, as Rieger noticed, o5 x | -^X
is rare, as in cyning mdenan Beow. 3173. It is perhaps still
more remarkable that while the form -^ x X | -^ X occurs some
238 times, a verse of the form X | v^ X X | -^ X is never found
at all. The numerical proportion of the form -ix|-^X (592
cases) to-^XX| — X (238 cases) is roughly 5 to 2, and that
of X I »J X |-^X (130 cases) to x |v^ x x | -^ x (no cases) is 130
to nothing. The quantity of the second arsis is, as bearing on
the prefixing of unaccented syllables to the hemistich, much
less important than the quantity of the first arsis. Hemistichs
of the type -^ x | w x occur 34 times, and in 29 cases the last
unaccented syllable is a full word, either a monosyllable or
a part of a compound. The same type, with an initial un-
accented syllable x| — x|\Jx also occurs 34 times, but then
the last syllable is quite unaccented. The proportion of the
form -^ X I — X to the form x | — X | — X is 592 to 1 1, and that
of the form^x|wX to x|-^x | ^x is 34 to 34, a noticeable
difference.
Further, it was formerly supposed that the number of un-
accented syllables following the accented syllable was indifferent.
This is not the case. The form -^ x X |-^ X is found 238 times,
and the form -^ x | -^ X X only 2 2 times. Many of the examples
of the latter form are doubtful, but even counting all these the
proportion of the two forms is 11 to i.
If the two accented syllables are not separated by an un-
accented syllable, that is to say, if the two beats are in immediate
juxtaposition, then either two unaccented syllables must stand
after the second arsis, thus JL\J.x X (a form that occurs 120
times in Beowulf \ or an unaccented syllable must precede the
first arsis and one unaccented syllable must follow the second
arsis, thus x -^ | -^ X (127 times in Beowulf \ or with the second
arsis short x-^|v^x (257 times); the form J-\J.y. does not
occur. I
From these statistics it results that hemistichs of the form;
-^X l-^X are met with about 17 times to one occurrence
of the form _£ x | ^ X , and that on the other hand, the forn^
X -^ ! w X is about twice as frequent as x -^ I ^ X .
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 35
§ 24. The order of the verse-members in the hemistichi
Every hemistich consists of two feet or measures, each con-
taining an accented syllable. Usually these two feet or measures
together contain four verse members, seldom five. In the
hemistich of four members, which first falls to be considered,
the measures may consist of two members each (2 + 2), or one
may contain one member and the other three (1 + 3 or 3 + 1).
A measure of one member has a single accented syllable only
(J) ; a measure of two members has an accented and an un^
accented syllable, which may stand either in the order ^ x or
X — ; a measure of three members has one accented and two
unaccented syllables, one of which has a secondary accent, and
the order may be either -^ x X or -^ x x . Measures of two
members may be grouped in three diff"erent ways so as to form
a hemistich : i. -^ X | -^ X (descending rhythm) ; ii. x — | X —
(ascending) ; iii. x — | -^ X (ascending-descending) ^ ; i. and ii.
are symmetrical, iii. is unsymmetrical, but as the number of
members in the feet of these three types (2 + 2 members) is
the same, we may call them, as Sievers does, types with equal
feet {gleichfiissige Typeii), while the others (1+3 members or
3 + 1 members) may be called types with unequal feet or
measures.
j The normal hemistich, then, which consists of four verse-
members, will fall, according to the relative position of these
measures or feet, into the following five chief types :
j a. Types with equal feet (2 + 2 members)
1 I. A. -^x|-^x double descending.
2. B. X — |x— double ascending.
3. C. X — |-^X ascending-descending.
b. Types with unequal feet
4- ^' ULx^} (1+3 members).
^- ^- tx^Lzl (3+1 members).
Theoretically type E might be looked on as a type with equal
cet, if divided thus, -^ x | x -^, but by far the greatest number of
nstances of this type show at the beginning of the hemistich
)ne trisyllabic word which forbids such a division of feet, as
^ For the type Jl X X | — see below, § 29, and Sievers, Fanl-Braune's
'Jeitrdge, x, p. 262.
D 2
36 THE LINE book i
weordmyndum pah, Beow. 8.^ Types like X X-^- and x X-^^,
which we might expect to find, do not occur in Old English
poetry. In addition to these ordinary four-membered hemistichs
there are others lengthened by the addition of one syllable,
which may be unaccented, or have the secondary accent.
These extended forms {erweitcrte Formen) '^ may be composed
either of 2 + 3 members or of 3 + 2 members. These extended
hemistichs must be carefully distinguished from the hemistichs
which have one or more unaccented syllables before the first
accented syllable, in types A, D, and E ; such a prefix of one or
more syllables is called an anacrusis (Auftakt).^
The simple five types of the hemistich admit of variation:
i. by extension (as above); ii. by resolution ( J X for ~) and
shortening of the long accented syllable (w) ; iii. by strengthen-
ing of thesis by means of a secondary accent {Steigerung) ;
iv. by increase in the number of unaccented syllables form-
ing the thesis; also (less frequently) v. by variation in the
position of the alliteration, and vi. by the admission of
anacruses ; the varieties produced by the last-mentioned
means are not sub-types but parallel forms to those without
anacruses.
In describing and analysing the different combinations which
arise out of these means of variation, and especially the peculiar
forms of the sub- types, the arrangement and nomenclature of
Sievers will be followed.*
Analysis of the verse types.
I. Hemistichs of four members,
§ 25. Type A has three sub-types, A i, A 2, A 3.
The sub-type A 1 (-^ x | -^ x ) is the normal form with alli-
teration of the first arsis in each hemistich, or with alliteration ol
both arses in the first hemistich and one in the second, anc
with syllables in the thesis which are unaccented according
to the usual practice of the language ; examples are, peodnei
* Sievers, Faul-Braunis Beitrdge, x, p. 262.
^ As Sievers calls them, Altgerm^ Metrik, § 13. 2 ; they are marked A*^
B*, &c. ;
^ The notation of Sievers for hemistichs with anacrusis {auftaktige Verse
is aA, aD, aE, &c.
* Sievers, Altgermanische Metrik, pp. 33 ff.
HAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 37
\begnas An. 3, hyran scdlde Beow. 106, gSmban gjldan Beow. 11.
iThis is the commonest of all the types ; it occurs in Beowulf,
according to Sievers, 471 times in the first and 575 times in the
second hemistich, and with the like frequency in the other
poems.
The simplest modification of this type arises from the
resolution of one or two long accented syllables. Examples
of resolution of the first arsis are very numerous, cyninga wHldor
El. 5, sceadena preatum Beow. 4, seofon niht swuficon Beow.
517,^ nider gewited Beow. 1361. Examples of the resolution
of the second arsis are less numerous, as wuldor cyninge
El. 291, ellefi fre'medon Beow. 3, Scyldes eaferan Beow. 19,
oft gefremede Beow. 165; resolution of both in the same
hemistich is rare, but is found, as gdmena geogode An. 161 7,
\>imgenes Deniga Beow. 155, gumum detg^edere Beow. 132 1.
The chief type is further modified by making the thesis after
.he first arsis disyllabic (rarely trisyllabic) ; the formula is then
^ X X I — X . This modification is frequent, as rihia gehwylces
Kl. 910, gode gewyrcean Beow. 20, sw^ordum dswibbaii An. 72,
\iintian ond monan Beow. g^, /dice to fr of re Beow. 14, weox
'mder wolaium Beow. 8.
Resolution of the arsis may be combined with this disyllabic
;hesis, as (in the first arsis) wirum on pam wonge An. 22, ^otenas
md ylfe Beow. 112, or (in the second arsis) haltg of heofenuni
\n. 89, he'lpe gefrimede Beow. 551, or (in both) diigu^e ond
^e'ogiide Beow. 160, hx,led under heofenum Beow. 52.
The first thesis rarely exceeds two syllables ; a thesis of three
jiyllables is occasionally found, as s^gde se pe cude Beow. 90,
^wilum hie geheton Beow. 175, and this can be combined with
jesoluiion of the first arsis, as swe'otulra ond gesynra An. 565,
\ntere ond geholgne Beow. 1431 ; or with resolution of the second
jirsis, as utari ymbe sedelne An. 873, ivfge under wsetere Beow.
([657 ; or with resolution of both, as re'ceda under rSderum Beow.
}io. Examples of thesis of four syllables are (in the first thesis)
\ealde pdm pe he wolde Beow. 3056, s^cge ic pe to sode Beow. 591.
\ thesis with five syllables is slill less common, as Ideddon hine
HI oflyfte Gu. 398, stoponpd topdere stowe El. 716.
I'he cases in which the second thesis has two syllables are
are and to some extent doubtful, as wHndor sceawian Beow. 841
nd 3033.2
^ It must be remembered that ea, eo^ &c., are diphthongs, and have not
he vahie of two vowels.
^ Sievers, Paul-Braune's Beitrdge, x, p. 233.
58 " " THE LINE book i
The anacrusis before the type -^ x ( X )^| -^ X is also of
rare occurrence: examples are swd sde bebugerf Beow. 1224,
or, with resolution of the first arsis, sivd wd&ter bebuged Beow.
93. Most of the instances occur in the first hemistich ; in this
position the anacrusis may be polysyllabic (extending sometimes
to four syllables), sometimes with resolution of the arsis, or with
polysyllabic thesis. Examples: forcom dei cdmpe An. 1327,
gewdt det wfge Beow. 2630; with resolution, dboden in burgum
An. 78; genered wiS nf^^e Beow. 828; disyllabic anacrusis tc
wdes endesdela Beow. 241 ; with resolution, pder wdes hdeleda
hUahtor Beow. 612; trisyllabic anacrusis, odde him Ongenpeowes
Beow. 2475; four-syllable anacrusis, pdet we him pa gudgeaiwa
Beow. 2637; monosyllabic anacrusis with disyllabic thesis, as
in videgde gehwdere Beow. 25, dblended in hh'gum An. 78;
disyllabic anacrusis with disyllabic thesis, ge det ham ge on
Mrge Beow. 1249; trisyllabic anacrusis with disyllabic thesis,
pit scealt pa fore geferan An. 216 ; monosyllabic anacrusis
with trisyllabic thesis, gemUnde Pm se goda Beow. 759 ; mono-
syllabic anacrusis with resolution of first arsis and trisyllabic
thesis, ne ?ndgon hie and ne moton An. 12 17; with resolution of
second arsis, gewat him pa to wdrode Beow. 234; disyllabic
anacrusis, ne gefiah he pdere fdekde Beow. 109; combined with
thesis of four syllables, o/slohpd det pdere ssecce Beow. 1666.
The sub-type A 2 is type A with strengthened thesis (i. e.
a thesis with secondary accent) and with alliteration on the first
arsis only. This sub-type has several varieties :
(i) A2«, with the first thesis strengthened (Jlx| — x);
frequent in the second hemistich. The second arsis may be<
either long or short (./ x | — X , or -^ x | w X ). We denote
Zx|-^X by A2^/and-^x| w X by A2 « j-^, or, for brevity, A 2/,.
A 2 sh. Examples of A 2 / are, gddspel derest An. 1 2, iV7s/kst\
wSrdum Beow. 626, hringnet bderofi Beow. 1 890; with resolution ofi
the first arsis, me'duseld buan Beow. 3066 ; with resolution of theJ
second arsis, garsecg hlynede An. 238, hordburh hdele^a Beow,i
467; with resolution oi hoih, fr^o^obtlrh fdegere Beow. 522;
with resolution of the strengthened thesis, siindwudu sohte Beow.^
208 ; resolution of the first arsis and thesis, nidegenwudu niiindum\
Beow. 236 ; resolution of the first thesis and the second arsis,i
gti^searogiimena Beow. -^28.
Examples of A 2 sh are numerous, as Wder/aest cyning An.
416, gud7-\nc mdnig Beow. 8^(), preanyd pSlai Beow. 284; it
is exceptional to find the second arsis short when the thesis;
which precedes has no secondary accent, as Hredel cyning Beow^
1
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 39
2436, Hruniing ndma Beow. 1458, deMt'ng boren Beow. 2431;
with resolution of the first arsis, searonet siowad An. 64, snStor
ceorl mSnig Beow. 909, sigerof cyning Beow. 619, mdgodrlht
micel Beow. 67, &c. Most of the hemistichs which fall under
this head have double alliteration.
(ii) A 2 ^, with the second thesis strengthened (Jix| — x).
Most of the cases of this type occur in the first hemistich;
when they occur in the second hemistich the measure -^x is
usually a proper name, not a real compound. Examples :
Grendles gudcrdeft Beow. 127, Uofa Beowulf 'Beovf, 855; with
resolution of the first arsis, gdmol ond gudreow Beow. 58 ; with
resolution of the second arsis, be'orna b/aducrkf I A.r\, 219; with
resolution of both, sefa swd seafogrtm Beow. 595; with resolu-
tion of the strengthened thesis, lond ond leodbyrig Beow. 2472 ;
with resolution of both the second arsis and thesis mdeg ond
magopegn Beow. 408.^
This type may still further be varied by a first thesis of two or
]iiore syllables, ut on pdei igland An. i^^/olc oMefreoburh Beow.
694, re'sie hine pa rumheort ^tov^ . 1800; by resolution of the
first arsis, glidon ofer gdrsecg Beow. 515, of the second, lad
ofer Idgustream An. 423, symbel on se'leful Beow. 620 ; by re-
solution of the thesis with secondary accent, ^ahtodon eorlsctpe
Beow. 3173; the anacrusis is rarely found, as gesawon se'ledream
Beow. 2253, and double alliteration (in the first hemistich) is
the rule in this form of type A.
(iii) A 2 ab, with both theses strengthened -^ X | -^ X , banhus
hlodfag An. 1407, gudrlnc gSldwlanc Beow. 1882, ^nltc dnsyn
Beow. 251 ; with resolution of first arsis, wliteseon wrdellic Beow.
1651, and of the second arsis, gleawmod gSde leof An. 1581,
i^udswhrd ge'atolic Beow. 2155, and of both first and second
arsis, heorowearh heielic Beow. 1268 ; with resolution of the first
(strengthened) thesis, nydwracu mdgrtm Beow. 193; with re-
solution of both the first arsis and the first thesis, b^relade bryd
geong Gu. 842 ; with resolution of the second strengthened thesis,
e'geslu eorddraca "Btow. 2826; with resolution of the first and
jsecond \hQS\s, fyrdsearu fuslicu Beow. 232. This form of the
itype has also as a rule double alliteration.
The sub-type A 3 is type A with alliteration on the second
arsis only and is limited almost entirely to the first hemistich.
A strengthened thesis occurs only after the second arsis ; this
sub-type might therefore be designated A 3 /5.
^ Here n counts as a syllable, see Sievers, Angelsachsische Gram., § 141,
and Altgerm. Metrik, § 79.
40
THE LINE BOOK i
Verses falling under this head, with their alliteration always
on the last syllable but one, or (in the case of resolution) on
the last syllable but two, are distinguished by the frequent
occurrence of polysyllabic theses extending to five syllables, in
marked contrast to types A i and A 2 where theses of one |
or two syllables are the rule, longer theses the exception. In I
A 3, however, shorter theses are met with along with the usual
resolutions : a monosyllabic thesis in hwAr se ])eoden El. 563, eow
hei secgan Beovv. 391 ; with resolution of first arsis, wuton nii
^fstan Beow. 3102; with resolution of the second arsis, /^.y vie
fdeder min El. 528, ic pdet 'h.dgode Beow. 633; with disyllabic;]
thesis, hehtpd on uhtan El. 105, hdefde se goda Beow. 205 ; with
resolution of the first arsis, pdnon he gesohie Beow. 463 ; with
resolution of the second arsis, we'ard him on 'H.e'oroie Beow. 1331 ;
with strengthened second thesis, eart pu se "Beowulf Beow. 506 ;
with trisyllabic ihesis^ gif J?e psei gelimpe El. /i^\\, fundon pa on
mnde Beow. 3034; with resolution of the first arsis, hwde^ere me
ge^delde Beow. 574, of the second arsis, syddan ic for &ilgedum
Beow. 2502 ; with strengthened second thesis, no he pone gifstol
Beow. 168 ; with thesis of four syllables, swyl'ce hi me gehlendon
Cri. 1438, hdbbad we to pdem vs\.deran Beow. 270; with resolution
of the first arsis, Utan Us to pxre hy^e Cri. 865 ; with resolution
of the first and second arsis, pone pe him on wwe'ofote Beow.
2296; wilh strengthened second thesis, no py der pone 'h.eadorinc
Beow. 2466; with thesis of five syllables, syddan he hine to gude
Beow. 1473; with thesis of six syllables, hyrde ic pdet he pone
Yie'alsbeah Beow. 2173. These forms are also varied by mono-
syllabic anacrusis combined with monosyllabic thesis, pe eow of
wergde El. 2 9 5, /as/ hine on fide Beow. 22 ; with strengthened
second thesis, /ae/ hine seo hrimwylf^QOw. 1600; with disyllabic
thesis, nepe'arft pu swd swfde El. 940, gesprxc pa se goda Beow. I
676 ; the same with resolution of the first arsis, gewitan him pa i
gongan Cri. 533 ; disyllabic anacrusis and disyllabic thesis, ne
gefrsegn ic pa rxixgde Beow. 1012 ; with resolution of the second
2irsh, gese'ah he in ve'cede Beow. 728; with strengthened second
thesis, ge swylce seo herepadBeo'w. 2259 ; monosyllabic anacrusis
with trisyllabic thesis, on hwylcumpdra heama El. 851; with four-
syllable thesis, gewtted ponne on sealmafi Beow. 2461 ; with
resolution of the first arsis, ne magon hi pojtne gehynan Cri.
1525; with resolution of the second arsis, gesawon pa defter
•Wcktere Beow. 1426. The last measure may be shortened
exceptionally to 6 X, as wxs min fdeder Beow. 262.
On the whole type A seems to occur more frequently in the
CHAP. 11 ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 41
first than in the second hemistich ; in Beowulf out of the 6366
hemistichs of which the poem consists, 2819 fall under this type,
and of these 1701 are first and 1118 second hemistichs.^
§ 26. The chief type B, x — | X— , has apart from resolu-
tions only one form. But as the second thesis may consist of
either one or two syllables, we may distinguish between two sub-
types, B I (with monosyllabic second thesis) andB 2 (with disyllabic
second thesis). The commonest variation of the type occurs in
the first thesis, which may be polysyllabic.
(i) The simplest form, sub-type B i, x^|x-^, is not very
common; according to Sievers there are only 59 instances in
the whole of Beowulf, as ond Halga HI Beow. 61, pdm halig god
An. 14 ; with resolution of the first arsis z>/ sele pdm heart Beow.
714, and of the second arsis, /^^r/^ rumne sefan Beow. 278, and
of both, der simeres cyme El. 1228. Hemistichs of this type, on
the other hand, with a disyllabic first thesis are not uncommon,
syddan fdrdum weox Beow. 914, him pa Scyld gewat Beow. 26;
with resolution of the first arsis, under Heorotes hro/Bto^. 403 ;
with resolution of the SQCondi, pdel seo ce'asier hider An. 207, and
of both, defter hdeleda hryre Beow. 2053 ; a trisyllabic first thesis
is also common, peak pe he aires drync An. 53, ^^ p^et him eft
onwoc Beow. 56, se pe on hdnda bder Beow. 495 ; with resolution
of the first arsis, fordan hie mdegenes crdeft Beow. 418; of the
second arsis, ond hU py priddan ddege El. 185 ; of both,/ae/ he pa
ge'ogude wite Beov,\ 1182; with first thesis of four syllables, ne
hyrde ic sid ne der El. 240, swylce hie det Finnes ham Beow. 1 157 j
with first thesis of five syllables (rare) siddan he hirefolmum hran
Beow. 723, and with resolution of second 2a^h ponne hy him
Jnirh minne noman Cri. 1351.
(ii) The sub-type B 2, or B with disyllabic second thesis, is
rarely found when the first thesis has only one syllable,/^ drfhtnes
hibod Cri. 1159, pic wast gif hit is Beow. 2^2, pdm wife pd word
Beow. 640; with resolution of the first 2iY?,\?,, purh ddroda gedre'p
An. 1446, and of the second, /z^r^ nihta genipu Gu. 321 ; it is
commoner with a disyllabic first thesis, y^a ofwe'alle gese'ah Beow.
229, he pdes frofre gebad Beow. 76 ; with resolution of the first
arsis, mid his hMeda gedriht Beow. 663, ofer wdroda geweorp
(An. 306 ; with trisyllabic first thesis, ponne he ^r odde sid El. 74,
^es pa Us larena god Beow. 269; with resolution of the first
m^x^jpeah he pder mdnige ges^ah Beow. 16 14, and of the second
iarsis,/5«/ ?idefre Grendel swdfda Beow. 592 ; with first thesis of
^ See the statistics in Sievers, Paul-B ratine' s Beiirage, x, p. 290.
I
42 THE LINE book i
four and five syllables, hwdecfre he in breosium pa git An. ^i,pdes
be hire se willa geldmp Beow. 627.
Verses with trisyllabic second thesis are extremely rare and
doubtful.* It should be noticed that, in this second type too, the
thesis seldom consists of a second part of a compound, as
hine fyrwlt brdec Beow. 232, the exceptions are proper names,
as na ic Beowulf pe'c Beow. 947, ne weard He'remod swa Beow.
1710.
Type B, according to Sievers, occurs 10 14 times in Beowulf,
of which 293 are in the first hemistich and 721 in the second.
§ 27. The Type C has three sub-types: (i) C i, the normals
type X — I -^ X , without resolution, as oft Scyld Scefing Beow. 4,"
gebwt hsefdon 117. Here too the first thesis may consist of two,
three, four, or five syllables, pdet hie xghwjlcne An. 26, pone god
sehde Beow. 13, ofer hronrade Beow. 10, der he onwe'g hwHrfe
Beow. 264, midpdere wMfylle Beow. 125,/^ ic him to sece El. 319,
pdrape mid BeowUlfe Beow. 1052, od pdet hine s^mninga An. 821,
pdrape he him mid hdefde Beow. 1625, swylce hie ofer sde comon.
An. 247. (ii) C 2 is the normal type C with resolution of-
the first arsis, and is of such frequent occurrence that it may bei
looked on as a special type, on herefelda An. 10, forscrif en hdefde\
Beow. 106, in worold wocun Beow. 60; a less common form is
that with resolution of the first and second arsis, to brimes fdroh'
Beow. 285 swd fHa f-frena Beow. 164; sometimes with resolu-
tion of the second arsis only, to sdes fdrode An. 236 and 1660,
forfrean egesan An. 457, but not in Beowulf. The first thesis
may have two, three, or four syllables, pa wid gSde wunnon
Beow. 113, ofer Idgustrxte] with two resolutions, ic pdes wint
Deniga Beow. 350, hit se mdga fre'mede An. 639, pdet him his
winemdgas Beow. 65, ne Me hiiru winedrihten Beow. 863^
(iii) C 3 is type C with short second arsis, x -^ | w X , and is
pretty common, in gearddgum Beow. i, of feoi'we'gum Beow. 37;
the first thesis may have from two to five syllables, pdet Wdes god
cyning Beow. 11, pdet hie in beorsile Beow. 482, se pe hine dea$
nime^ Beo-w. 441, ne meaht pit pdes sidfdetes An. 2\i^ponne he on
pdet sine stdracf Bqow . i486. Resolution seems to be avoided,
though it occurs here and there, of hlides ndsan Beow. 1892, on
pxm m/Selstede Beow. 1083. Thesis with secondary accent is
not found. The number of hemistichs of type C in Beowulf is,
according to Sievers, 564.
§ 28. The type D always ends with a disyllabic thesis, oi
which the first is generally the second syllable of a compound
^ Sievers, Paul-Braune's Beitrage, x. 241 and 294.
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 43
and has the secondary accent. There are four sub-types.
(i) D I is the normal form, -^ | -^ x X , as Mhn delwthia An. 118,
feotid mdncynnes Beow. 164, wigweordunga Beow. 176, weard
\Scyldinga Beow. 95, Idndbuendum Beow. 95, hring g^ldenne,
IBeow. 2810, hof modHgra Beow. '^12,/rean userne Beow. 3003.
The chief variations arise from resolution of the first arsis, cyning
dehnihtig El. 1 ^^, /deder dlwalda Beow. 316, meretidende Beow.
2^^,floian eowerne Beow. 294, cyning den\gne Beow. 1851, or of
the second arsis, hean hygegeomor An. 1089, nmg Higelaces
Beow. 738 and 759; resolution of first and second sltsiSj Ji/dden
herewkdum Beow. 1898, nefan Hererices Beow. 2207. Hemi-
stichs like wiht tinhdelo Beow. 120, which have compounds with
iin, may be read wiht iinhklo according to type D 2, or wiht
unhdelo according to type A, -^ x | -^ X (Sievers, Paul-Braune's
Beitrdge, x. 251, and Kluge in Paul's Grundriss, \^, p. 1051).
(ii) D 2 is the same form, but with the thesis short and with
secondary accent, Jl | -^ ^ X , beorht bldedgi/a An. 84, leo/ land-
fruma Beow. 31, stream ut ponan Beow. 2546, rxd /ahtedon
'Beow. 172 ; with resolution of the first arsis, mdegen sdmnode
\i\. 55, mdga Heal/denes Beow. 189; with resolution of the
jsecond arsis, hdrd opentan Beow. 3057, the only example.
(iii) D 3 is the normal type, but with short second arsis
(rare), -^| c^X X, eordcyninga El. 11 74; with resolution of the
ifirst arsis, rddorcynlnges El. 624. (iv) D4 has the form
-^!^X X, and is closely allied to the type E (.^x x|-^),
as it has the secondary accent on the last syllable of the thesis
i(Sievers, Paul-Braunes Beitrdge, x. 256), breost innanweard
'An. 649, holm up aetbkr Beow. 519, f^rst ford gewat ib. 210;
varied by resolution of the first arsis, ^/^r^? gude fram An. 234^
llotafamigheals Beow. 218, sunn dead fornam Beow. 2120; by
resolution of the second arsis, wldnc We'dera leod 341, and of
both first and second arsis, wlitig weoruda heap Kn.^12', and
resolution of the last thesis with secondary accent, wop up dhafen
Heow. 128, wHnad wintra fela Ph. 580. Certain hemistichs
w hich may belong to this sub-type admit of an alternative accen-
tuation, and may belong to the following type; for example,
scop hwilum sang Beow. 496 may be read -^| — X X, or as E
- X X I -^, so werod eall drds Beow. 652.
§ 29. The type E has two sub-types, distinguished by the
I'osition of the syllable bearing the secondary accent ; this syllable
is generally the second syllable of a compound or the heavy
middle syllable of a trisyllabic word with a long root-syllable.
E I has the form -^ x x | -^, the syllable with secondary
44
THE LINE BOOK i
accent standing first in the thesis, modshrge wxg El. 6i, weord-
myndum pah Beow. 8, Suddena /die Beow. 463, ehiende Wdes
Beow. 159, hdeSenra hyht Beow. 179, ^fttgne pone Cri. 1498,
wordhord onleac Beow. 259, iiplang ds/od Beow. 760, scdp hwMum
sang Beow. 496 (cf. above, § 29); varied by resolution of the
first arsis, heofonrices wedrd El. 445, Scedelandum in Beow. 19,
wliteheorhtne wdng Beow. 93, Ufigende cwom Beow. 1974,
dedellnges weox El. 12, uiedo/ul dethder Beow. 625, diigud eall dras
Beow. 1791 ; resolution of the second arsis is rare, iireadge haeled
An. 2 (the MS. reading eadige must be corrected to eadge, see
Sievers, Beilrdge, x. 459 on these middle vowels after long root-
syllable), helpegnes ^//^ Beow. 142; resolution of both is rare,
se'leweard ds^ted Beow. 668, winedryhten frxgen An. 921 ; resolu-
tion of the accented thesis, gledegesa grim Beow. 2651.
E 2 has the last syllable of the thesis with secondary accent,
and is very rare, -^X x| — , niordorbed sired Beow. 2437 ; with
resolution of last arsis, gmnorgidd wrecen An. 1550, b^ron ut
hrde.de An. 1223.
II. Heniistichs of five members,
§ 30. Hemistichs of five members (extended) occur much more
rarely than the normal types of four members. The extended
types are denoted by the letters A*, B*, C*, &c.
Type A* has two sub-types distinguished by the position of
the syllable with the secondary accent.
(i) A* I, J^x x|-^X occurs chiefly in the first hemistich,
godbearn oft gdlgan El. 719 ; with resolution of first arsis,
ge'olorand to gude Beow. 438 ; with thesis of two unaccented
syllables following on the secondary accent, glded?nbd on gesih^e
Cri. 911, fdestrkdne gepoht Beow. 611; with final thesis
strengthened by secondary accent, gastlicne gSddream Gu. 602,:
gdmolfeax ond gu^ro/Btovf. 609.
(ii) A* 2 Z, X X I -^ X may possibly occur in maddum/ki
mdere Beow. 2405, wHldorlean weorca Cri. 1080; with resolutioni
of the thesis with secondary accent, viSrdorbealo mdga Beow. 1079*
Possibly, however, the syllables um in vidddum and or in wuldor
and mordor are to be written m and r, so that the scansion of
the hemistich would be A 2 -^ ^ | -^ X and -L)j x |-^ x .^
Type B* x X-^ | X-^ does not seem to occur in O.E. poetry,
though it does in Old Norse.
^ Sievers, Altgerm. Metrik, § 85, 2, Anm. 3.
i
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 45
Type C* in the forms x x-^|-^X,x Xv^x|-^x,x X-^|wX
are also not found in O.E.
Type D* on the other hand does occur, but almost exclusively
in the first hemistich. It has three sub-types : (i)D*i-ix| — X X,
side sdenkssas Beow. 223, dldres orwena Beow. 1002 ; with resolu-
tion of the first arsis, dedeling anhydig Beow. 2668 ; more com-
monly with resolution of the second arsis, mdeton vierestrkta
Ikow. 514; with resolution of both, IScene leodosyrcan Beow.
1506. (ii) D* 2 -^X | — ^X, vmre viearcsiapa Beow. 103,
\ealdor iasidena Beow. 392 ; with resolution of the first arsis,
de,dele ordfruvia Beow. 263; with resolution of the second arsis,
modges merefaran Beow. 502, Beowulf viddeVode Beow. 505, &c.
(iii) D* 3 -^x| Jx X is not found, (iv) D* 4 -Zx|-ix X is
rare, gretie Geata leod Beow. 625, prydlic pe'gna heap Beow.
400; with resolution of first arsis, /a/oran ellorsid Beow.
2452; with resolution of the second, J/^ij/^ iotena cyn Beow.
421; with resolution of the secondarily accented syllable, win
of wHndorfatum Beow. 11 6 3; this type is varied by anacrusis,
'onginned geomormod Beow. 2045, ^^^ by anacrusis together
jwith disyllabic thesis in the second foot, oferswdm pa sioleda
higong Beow. 2368.
Type E* does not occur in O.E. poetry .^
§ 31. To assign the different hemistichs of a poem to these
various types we have to follow as a regulating principle the
natural word accent and syntactical accent of each sentence. In
some cases the similarity or relation with one another of the
jtypes renders it a matter of difficulty to determine exactly to
what particular type a hemistich may belong. Systematic inves-
tigations as to the principles which govern the combinations
of the five types in pairs to form the long line have not yet been
made. From such observations as have been made it would
appear that by preference hemistichs of different rhythmical
structure (ascending and descending) were combined with a view
'o avoid a monotonous likeness between the two halves of the
rcrse.'^
^ Cf. Sievers, Altgermanische Metrik, § 15> 3C, and § 116. 9.
'^ See Max Cremer, Metrische und sprachliche Untersuchungen der alt-
uglischen Gedichie Andreas, Giid/dc, /^/loemx, See, iSS8,Tpp.zi ff.; Sievers,
Altgermanische Metrik, § 86 ; and chiefly Eduard Sokoll, * Zur Technik
les altgermanischen Alliterationsverses,' in Beitrdge zur neueren Philologies
Vienna, 1902, pp. 351-65,
46 THE LINE book i
§ 32. The combination of two hemistichs so as to form a long
line is effected by means of alliteration, one at least of the two
fully accented syllables being the bearer of an alliterative sound.
In no case is an unaccented syllable or even a syllable with
a secondary accent allowed to take part in the alliteration.
This fact, that secondarily accented syllables are debarred from
alliterating, is another proof that it is better to look on them as
belonging to the thesis rather than to the arsis of the verse.
The Principles of Alliteration.
§ 33. Quality of the Alliteration. It is an all but invariable
rule that the correspondence of sounds must be exact and not
merely approximate. A g must alliterate to a g^ not to a >, d. d
to a ^5 not to a /, and so on. There is, however, one remark-
able exception, namely, that no distinction is made between the
guttural c (as in cude) and the palatal c (as in ceosan), nor between
the guttural g (as in god) and the palatal g (as in gterede), nol
even when the latter represents Germanic j (as in geojtg, gear)
With exceptions hereafter to be noted, a consonant followed b)
a vowel may alliterate with itself followed by another consonant
thus cude alliterates not only with words like cymng, but will
words like crde/f, cwellan \ and hus alliterates not only with heofoi
but with hleapan^ hndegan, &c. The fact that different vowels
as t, Uj and de in istg ond utfits dedelinges fder Beow. 33
alliterate together is only an apparent exception to the strictnes
of the rule, as it is really the glottal catch or spiritus lenis
before all vowels which alliterates here. Wherever a vowe
seems to alliterate with an h we are justified in assumin|
a corruption of the text, as in oretmecgas defter hMedumfrdegi
Beow. 332, where Grein improves both sense and metre h\
substituting dedelum for hdeledum ; other examples are Beow. 49«l
1 542, 2095, 2930. In some cases where foreign names beginnin!|
with /i occur we occasionally find instances of this inexact alliteraj
tion, as lldlofernus Unlyfigendes Jud. 180 and 7, 2 1, 46, contrastef
with Holofernus hSgedon dninga 250 ; in later works as in ^Ifric',
Metrical Homilies we find alliteration of h with a vowel not onl]
in foreign names but with native words, as
* But on this last expression see Sievers, Phonetik*, § 359.
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 47
and he ^fre his fyrde pavi h.'^lende heidehte.
M\ix. Judges^ 417.
and h before consonants (viz. r, /, w) is disregarded as
and he hig dhxedde of pdm Sedan peowte. ^Ifr. Judges 1 6.
on hwdm his sirengd Wdes and his vjundorlice miht. ibid. 306.
It is important to observe that the combinations st, sc, sp are
not allowed to alliterate with each other or with words beginning
with s not followed by a consonant, but si can alliterate only with
st, sc only with sc, sp only with sp ; thus spere and scyld, stiUari
and springan, s^ and sty r man do not count as alliterations.
The invariable practice is seen in the following lines: —
het stream/are sWan, stormas restan. An. 1578.
he sceaf J>d mid pam ^Qylde, pdet se sceatt tdbdersi
and pdet spere sprengde, pdet hit sprang ongean.
Byrhtnoth 136-7.
In later times this rule was not so strictly observed. The
metrical Psalms alliterate sc with s and sw with j, as
hi hine him mmnuncga &c/a?pum strelum. Ps. Ixiii. 4.
on pine pa swt^ran, ond pe ne SQeaded xnig. Ps. xc. 7.
but sp and st do not alliterate with each other or with s. In
iElfric all these combinations of consonants alliterate indif-
ferently with each other or with s + another consonant or with
simple J, as in
wt3^ pdm pe heo beswice damson pone strdngan.
. iElfr. Judges 308.
Sometimes in ^Ifric the alliterating letter does not stand at the
beginning of the word,
and he hdefde Mora geweald ealles twentig gear a. ibid. 85.
iind the aUiteration may even fall on an unaccented particle
IS in
tram his geleafan and his x forsdwon. ibid. 51.
For a full account of ^Ifric's alliteration the reader may be
referred to an interesting essay by Dr. Arthur Brandeis, Die
Alliteration in Aelfrics metrischen Homilien, 1897 (Programm
ier Staatsrealschule im VII. Bezirk in Wien).
* Edited by Grein in Anglia, ii. 141 ff.
48 THE LINE book
§ 34. Position of the alliterative words. Out of the
four accented syllables of the line two at least, and commonl)
three, must begin with an alliterative sound, and this alliteration
still further increases the stress which these syllables have ir
virtue of their syntactical and rhythmical accent.
The position of these alliterative sounds in the line may var)
in the same way as their number. The general laws which
govern the position of the alliteration are the following: — (i]
One alliterating sound must^ and two may occur in the firsi
hemistich; (ii) In the second hemistich the alliterating sounc
(called the head-stave ^) must fall on the first of the twc
accented syllables of that hemistich, and the second accented
syllable in the second hemistich does not take part in the allitera-
tion at all ; (iii) When there are three alliterating sounds in the
whole line two of them must be in the first hemistich and only one
in the second. Examples of lines with three alliterating sounds :
B>eolfa he ge^itte Biinnan ond monan. Sat. 4.
\\fan ond vJan him Wdes ddghwxr wd. Sat. 342.
Lines with only two alliterative sounds, the first of which
may coincide with either of the accented syllables of the first
hemistich (the second of course coinciding with the first
accented syllable of the second hemistich) are very common :
hea/bd ealra "heahgesc^a/ta. Gen. 4.
hi hjne pa de/bxron to "brtmes /drocfe, Beow. 28.
If the first hemistich contains only one alliterative sound this
alliteration generally falls on the more emphatic of the two
accented syllables of the hemistich which is usually the first, as
on tlodes xhi Uor gewitan, Beow. 42.
In the type A the single alliteration of the first hemistich not
unfrequently falls on the second accented syllable, such cases
being distinguished, as A 3
pa wxs on hUrgum "Beowulf Scyldtnga, Beow. 53.
In types C and D the single alliteration of the first section
must always fall on the first accented syllable which in these
types is more emphatic than the second. In types B and ^
* The Old Norse hpfu6stafr. Germ. Hauptstab. The alliterations in th«
first hemistich are called in Old Norse stutSlar (sing. stuHilt) ' supporters *,
Germ. Stollen or Stiiizen.
CHAP, n ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O.E. 49
alliteration on the second arsis would bring the alliteration too
near to the end of the hemistich, and is therefore rare.
Double alliteration in the first hemistich occurs in all of the
five types, and chiefly when the two accented syllables have
lequally strong accents. It is, therefore, least common in C
X — I — X where the first arsis predominates over the second,
and is most frequent in the strengthened hemistichs, in D, E, A 2,
ind in the five-membered D* types, where it is the rule.^
A third form of alliteration, though much less important and
frequent than these two, occurs when the second accented
syllable of the second hemistich shares in alliteration, in addi-
ion to the first accented syllable. There are then two different
)airs of alliterative sounds distributed alternately between the
wo hemistichs. The commonest form of this double alliteration
)f the whole line is represented by the formula a b | a b, as
hwdet I we Ocarina in gearddgum. Beow. i.
Scyldes 6aferan Soede/anduffi in. Beow. 19.
hildewxpnum ond WaBowxdum. Beow. 39 ;
ess commonly by the formula a b | b a :
pa wxron mdnige pe his mse^ wridon. Beow. 2982.
hivflum /or diigiiSe 6.6hior "H-ro^gares. Beow. 2020;
erses corresponding to the formula a a | b b are not found in
ally poetry. No doubt certain instances of this double allitera-
ion may be accidental, but others seem intentional.
The foregoing rules as to alliteration are strictly observed in
le early and classic poetry, but in later times certain licences
rept in. Three of these may be noticed, (i) The second
ccented syllable of the second hemistich is allowed to carry the
lliteration instead of the first accented syllable,
\dstas \egde odd^t he gelxdde. Gen. 2536.
1) Both accented syllables of the second hemistich alliterate
ith one accented syllable of the first hemistich,'^
me ^/ndon to pe ^xmen sne'lle. Byrhtnoth 29.
^ Sievex?,, Altgerm. Metrik, % 20.
' This is not very common in poetry of the more regular metrical
ructure, but is found in y^lfric's lines, in which we find hemistichs without
ly alliterating letter, and others where the alliteration is continued in
le following line; two-thirds, however, of his lines are formed quite
)rrectly.
50 THE LINE book i
(iii) The four accented syllables of the line all alliterate together
GSdwine ond Oddwig %ude ne ^ymdon. Byrhtn. 192.
In the majority of cases the same alliterative letter is no
employed in two successive lines, but we find cases like
J?d tobrxd Samson hegen his earmas
pdGt pa rapas idbHrsion pe he viid gehiinden Wdes,
M\i. Judges 269
and earlier in Andreas 70, 197, 372, 796, 815, 1087, &c., or h
Beowulf 403, 489, 644, 799, 865, 898, &c.
And even three lines in succession, as
swylce he aiedde of tixum iwam
ond of fif hldfum ttra cynnes
fffpusefido; teSan sxlon. An. 589 ff. 1
This usage, which in Middle English became very popular, ii f
noticeably frequent in the poem of Judith, probably with a view
to emphasis. Many examples of such pairs of verses are to bt
found collected by Dr. A. Brandeis from -^Ifric.
The unaccented words may begin with the same letter as tht
accented words which bear the alliteration proper,^ as
jie hie hum heofona helm herian ne cudon, Beow. 182,
or one of the unaccented words may begin with the same lettei
as an accented word which does not alliterate, as
pdet fram ham ge/rsegn "Htgeldces begn. Beow. 194;
this of course has nothing to do with alliteration, though in later
times it was often mistaken for it.
Verses without 9,ny alliteration at all, as
he helped piarfan swylce eac wxdlan. Ps. Ixxi. 13,
occur only in late OE. poetry like ^Ifric's Homilies, and when,
rhyme was beginning to creep in.
§ 35. Alliteration in relation to the parts of speecb
and to the order of words. Both alliteration and the whole
structure of the alliterative line depend in the first place on the-
natural or etymological accent of the single words, and next
on the syntactical accent which these words bear in their
^ Snorri, the Icelandic metrician, permits this in the case of certain
monosyllabic words, but looks on it as a licence {leyji en cigi rett seining^
Hattatal, p. 596).
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O.E. 51
relation to one another in the sentence. Just as only the
accented syllable of a single word can take part in the
alliteration, so only can those words take part in it which are
marked out in the sentence as important and therefore strongly
accented.
The relative degree of stress is influenced at times by the
rhetorical accent, but generally speaking we find a certain
gradation of accent among the accented words depending on
itheir intrinsic and not on their rhetorical importance in building
ap the sentence.
Two general principles may be laid down: (i) If the syn-
tactical value of the two accented syllables of the hemistich
is not equal, then the word which has the stronger accent
of the two is chosen to alliterate. In the second hemistich
it is always the first accented word (the ' head stave '), in
the first hemistich it is generally the first accented word, though
:he second accented word may alliterate as well. (2) If the two
iccented syllables of the section are equal in syntactical value,
ihen the first alliterates, and when double aUiteration is allowed
he second may also alliterate.
The various grammatical classes of words are treated in
egard to the alliteration in the following way : —
Nouns, including adjectives and the infinitives and participles
)f verbs, have the strongest accent of all words in the sentence.
V noun therefore takes precedence over the other parts of speech
imong which it occurs and has the alliteration, as
ne in pa ceaslre beGiiman m^ahte. An. 931.
hire pa A.dam Q,ndswdrode. Gen. 827.
If two nouns occur in the same hemistich it is always the
irst which alliterates,
"husa selest. Wdes seo hwfi micel. Beow. 146.
\dnge hwile. Him Wdes \fffrea. Beow. 16.
%eongum ond ^aldum, swylc him god sealde. Beow. 72.
The only exceptions are when a special rhetorical emphasis is
jiveh to the second word.
When a noun and two adjectives or two nouns and an
-djective occur in the same hemistich, one of these is always
ubordinated to the other, and the two together are treated as
. combination, In such cases, where there is double alliteration
£ 2
52 THE LINE booki
in the hemistich, the position of the alliterating words may
either a a x^ ox a x a^ the subordinate element {x) standil
either in the last or the second place in the hemistich,
he or hi heacen Godes hrimu swddredon. Beow. 570.
twe'lf wintra tid tSrn gepSlode. ■ Beow. 147.
In the case of single alliteration, it is always the first of th«
nouns or adjectives which alliterates.
The verb (excluding the infinitive and participles) is usuallj
less strongly accented than the noun. It may therefore prC;
cede or follow the noun or adjective without alliteration, eith©
in the arsis or thesis, as
le/ se Yiiarda 'B.tgeldces p^gn. Beow. 2977.
him pa Soyld gewai to ge&c^p-hwile. Beow. 26.
gewat pa twilfa sUm tSrne gebSlhen. Beow. 2401.
On the other hand, when a hemistich consists only of om
noun and one verb, the verb may alliterate, as
gjodtie ge^j^rwan cwded he ^ud-cyning. Beow. 199.
hweiton "higerofne hse/ sceawedon. Beow. 204.
When a substantive and an adjective are closely combined
a verb in the same hemistich may alliterate, as
hjred hlodig Wdely hjrgean pe'nced. Beow. 448.
^e'ofon niht ^wCncon ; he pe mt Biinde oferflat, Beow. 51*1
In formulas consisting of noun + verb the noun predominate
over the verb and takes the alliteration, as
"W erodes wfsa wSrdhord onleac, Beow. 259.
But if the verb is emphatic it may alliterate though there i
a noun in the same hemistich ; this occurs chiefly in the seconc
hemistich, as
ond be Walse gendvi ; hriiron him tear as. Beow. 1872.
^ryrelicne gisL Gyrede hine Beowulf, ib. 1441,
but a few instances are found iii the first hemistich, as
gevaiinde pa se %6da vcJeg Higelaces. Beow. 758.
iCHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 53
When one of two verbs in the hemistich is subordinate to the
other the verb in the subordinate clause alliterates, having a
stronger accent than the verb in the main clause,
mynte pdet he ge^lde der pon 6.deg cwome. Beow. 731.
If the two verbs are co-ordinate the first alliterates,
"^oroide If/es: wyrce se pe mote, Beow. 1387;
n the first hemistich both verbs commonly alliterate,
se'omade ond syrede Binnlhte Mold, Beow. 161.
, The adverb. Adverbs of degree like viicle^ swi^e,ful, &c.,
are commonly found in the thesis, and even if they stand in the
arsis they usually do not alliterate, as
6/'/or micle ponne on ^enne sicf. Beow. 1580,
When adverbs of this kind have a special rhetorical emphasis
they may of course alliterate, as >
{/he swd m.zck swd bid mseg^a crdeft. Beow. 1284.
ac he is ^ne'l and ^wtft and mmde leoht. Phoen. 317.
Adverbs which modify the meaning of the word which they
precede alliterate, as
^scholt ufan grkg : wdes se irenpreat. Beow. 330.
Adverbial prepositions preceding the verb also alliterate,
het pa up beran ^detinga gestreon. Beow. 1920,
Dut not when they follow the verb,
Qctat Wdes ^Ixdnidd, %e'ong sona io. Beow. 1785.
Adverbs derived from nouns are more strongly accented than
he verb which they modify and therefore alliterate,
dlegdon pa toTdiddes Toixrne peoden. Beow. 31 41.
Pronouns (and pronominal adjectives like monig, eall, fela)
ire usually enclitic, and precede or follow the noun without
illiterating, as
manigu tdru gesceaft ^fnswtde him. Metr. xi. 44.
ealne middangeard od vaerestreamas. Dan. 503.
fela ic mdnna ge/rdegn xa^gduni we'aldan. Wid. 10.
,i
54 THE LINE book
With a special rhetorical accent they may alliterate even if
they precede the noun,
on \d&m dckge Ipysses lifes. Beow. 197.
The pronoun self and the pronouns compounded with the
prefix se {peghwd, deghwylc, &c.) are usually accented, and
alliterate if they form the first arsis of the hemistich, as
^elran gesohte pdem be him sel/a deah. Beow. 1840.
hx/de ^ghwdeder 6nde gefered. Beow. 2845.
Prepositions, conjunctions, and particles are not as a
rule accented, but prepositions if followed by an enclitic pronoun
take the accent and alHterate, as
6aldum 6arne and ik/ter p6n, Phoen. 238.
nis under Pie ^nig ohr. Riddle xli. 86.
Whether words of these classes, standing in the first arsis of.
the first hemistich along with another alliterating word, were
intended also to alliterate is somewhat uncertain, but it is)
probable that they were so, as in
mid py vcidestait vcLckgenprymme cjme^. Crist 1009.
These laws of accentuation are strictly observed only in the
older poetry ; by the end of the tenth century, in Byrhtnoth, the
Metres of Boethius and the Psalms, they are frequently neglected.
§ 36. Arrangement and relationship of verse and sen-
tence. The following rules hold good in general for the
distribution of the sentence or parts of the sentence between,
the hemistichs of the verse. Two distinct pauses occur m\
every alliterative line, one (commonly called the caesura) between
the first and second hemistichs, the other at the end of the line,
and these pauses are determined by the syntactical construction ;
that is to say, they coincide with the end of a clause or lesser
member of the sentence. The hemistich must contain such parts;
of the sentence as belong closely together ; and such coherent;
parts, as, for example, a pronoun and noun to which it refers or^
adverb with adjective, must not be separated from one another
by the caesura, unless the pronoun or adverb is placed in the
second arsis of the hemistich, as
vrj^rd defter pissum wSrdgem^arcum, Gen. 2355.
gif ge wtlldd minre mi/ife gelefan. Sat. 251.
In Beowulf this separation of closely connected words ia
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 55
permitted only if the word standing in the arsis alliterates at
the same time. Longer parts of a sentence may be separated
both by the caesura and the pause at the end of the line» The
syntactical connexion between the parts of a sentence thus
broken up makes the unity of the parts clear, and when the
j division occurs in the caesura between the two halves of the
'verse, the alliteration common to both hemistichs serves further
to emphasize this unity.
The single alliterative lines are connected with one another
by the prevailing usage of ending the sentence not at the end
of the completed line, but at the end of the first hemistich or in
I the middle of the line, and of beginning a new sentence with
I the second hemistich. The great variety of expression, and the
Ipredilection for paraphrase by means of synonyms which is so
I characteristic of OE. poetry, contribute to make such breaks in
Ithe line easy. Whatever may be the explanation, it is certainly
Jthe fact that in the OE. poetry the metrical and syntactical
I members do sometimes coincide, but at other times overlap in
f a way which does not admit of being reduced to rule.*
The Lengthened Verse.
§ 37. Besides the normal four-beat line (with two beats to
each hemistich) there is in OE. and Old Saxon another variety,
the lengthened line {Schwellvers) with three beats in each
hemistich.^ These verses occur in almost all OE. poems, either
[isolated or more commonly in groups, and occasionally we find
lines with one hemistich of two beats and the second hemistich
of three, like.
pastes dugedtim pdera pe mid gares 6rde. Gen. 1522,
and Jud, 96, Crist 1461, &c., or with a lengthened hemistich
of three beats and a normal hemistich of two beats, like
hderon "brdndas on hryne hldcan fyres. Dan. 246,
and Sat. 605, Gnom. Ex. 200, &c.
In the Psalms and in Cynewulfs Juliana they are wanting
entirely, in Cynewulfs Elene out of 13 21 verses there are only
fourteen lengthened whole lines, and three lengthened hemistichs.
^ The subject of the preceding paragraphs was first investigated by
M. Rieger in his essay Ali- und Angels dchsische Verskunsff ip. 18, where
many details will be found.
^ Cf. Sievers in Patd-Braune's Beitrdge, xii. 455; K. Luick, ib., xiii.
389, XV. 441 ; F. Kaufmann, ib., xv. 360 ; Sievers, in PauFs Grwidriss,
Pl\ 891 ff., and in Altgemianische Metrik, §§ 88-96.
56 THE LINE booki
Examples of groups of these lengthened verses will be found in
Gen. 44-46, 1015-1019, 2167-2169, 2854-2858; Exodus
569-573, Dan. 59-106, 203-205, 226-228, 238-246, 262-
271, 435-438, 441, 448, 452-458; Judith 2-12, 16-21, 30-34,
54-61, 63-68, 88-99, 272-274, 289-291, 338-349 ; Satan 202,
232, 237, 605, Crist 621, 889, 922, 1050, 1382-1386, &c., and
in many of the smaller poems.^
Lengthened verses of a looser type occur in Salomon and
Saturn, and Genesis B ; they have unusually long theses of four
or five unaccented syllables after the first accented syllable, as
^nne hde/de he swd swi^ne gewdrhtne. Gen. 252,
or have equally long anacruses before the first accented^
syllable, as
pdei we him on pam Idnde lad ge/remedon. Gen. 392.^
It is not always possible to draw a sharp distinction between!
regular lines with somewhat long first theses and lengthened lines.
The general tone and rhythm of the passage in question help to
determine whether we have the normal or the lengthened line^
before us. The lengthened line occurs in places where the sense
demands a solemn and slow rhythm, in other cases where the«
movement of the passage is quicker we may assume a normal)
four-beat line with a long anacrusis, or a polysyllabic thesis ins
the middle of the hemistich. What distinguishes clearly un-
doubted examples of the lengthened verse is that in each hemistich
we find three beats and three feet of equal and independents
value. But, as in the usual two-beat hemistich of the normal
line, both beats need not be equally strong, so in the three-beatt
hemistich the three beats do not always stand on the same
footing as regards stress, nor does the position of the stronger
beat require to be always the same in the two hemistichs.
The beats which are accompanied by alliteration are, generally
speaking, stronger than those without alliteration. In the
employment of alliteration and in the structure of the hemistich!
the lengthened line is closely allied to the normal line.
Alliteration, i. The first hemistich has commonly two<
alliterative sounds, which fall as a rule on the first and second
beats:
geseod Borga mdeste. Crist 1209;
^ In Faul-Braune' s Beiti'dge, xii, pp. 454, 455, Sievers gives a list of
the undoubted regular lengthened verses occurring in OE. poetry.
'^ Sievers discusses the lengthened verses of these poems in Beiirdge, xii.
479-
I
eHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 57
more rarely on the second and third beats, as in
wderon hyra vxdas vice, Dan. 497 ;
sometimes on the first and third beats, as
\t/ her men for\.eosad. Rhyming Poem 56.
Now and then we find hemistichs with three alliterations :
d^/ hid se pe him drihien ne ond.rxded. Seafarer 106,
^py sceal on peode gelpeon. Gnom. Ex. 50 ;
and others with one alliteration only, in which case the allitera-
tion falls more rarely on the first beat, as
oyning sceal rue healdan ceastra beod feorran gesyne.
Gnom. Ex. i,
than on the second, as
pdet se wxre m.thta wdldend se pe hie ofpdm rairce generede,
Dan. 448.
2. In the second hemistich the chief alliterative sound, the
j head-stave, generally falls on the second accented syllable, as in
I the last example, and only exceptionally on the first accented
syllable, as
^\,yran sceal mon ^trSngum mode. Storm oft hdlm gehringed.
Gnom. Ex. 51.
§ 38. The origin and structure of the lengthened verse.
It is clear from the comparative infrequency and the special use
to which it is put that the lengthened line must be looked upon
as originating in some way from the normal four-beat line.
Two explanations of its development have been given. The
jfirst, which is Sievers's original view,^ is that a foot or measure
Hvith the form -^ . . . (i. e. ^ne accented syllable plus several
unaccented ones) was prefixed to one of the five normal types;
hence -^ X prefixed to A would give the form -^ x | -^ X -^ X , and
— X prefixed to B would give -^ x | X -^ X — . The other explana-
lion, given by Luick,'^ is that the lengthened hemistich is due to
1 blending of several types of the normal kind in this way.
The hemistich starts with the beginning of one of the normal
:ypes A, B, C, then with the second accented syllable another type
^ Beitrdgey xii. 458. ^ Beitrdge^ xiii. 388, xv. 445.
58 THE LINE book i
is begun and continued, as if the poet found the original begin-
ning inadequate to express his emotion.
The manner in which the blending of two normal types
results in new lengthened types of three beats will be seen in the
following illustrations :
A
+c
gives A C
A
+ D
-^x-^x
x-^-^x
-^x-^-^x ;
-^-ik X
gives AD
B
+c
_x-^-^x X ;
x-^x-^
x-^-^x
gives B C
B
+ A
X-LxA-^X'y
x-^x^
-^x-^x
gives B A
C
+ A
X-^X-^X-^X
x-^^x
-^x-^x
gives C A
A
+ A
x^-^x-^x ;
-^x-^x
-:^X-^X
gives A A
_£X-^X — X .
As Prof. Sievers himself^ has accepted this theory (or, at
least, has recognized it as a convenient method of exhibiting
the structural varieties of the lengthened line), we shall adopt it :
here.
Of the fifteen different possible combinations of the original;
types, some do not actually occur, but with the sub-types to be ;
taken into consideration we get no less than eighteen different
types of the regular lengthened whole line, and these again admil
of variations by means of resolution of accented syllables, poly-
syllabic theses, &c.
Only the most commonly occurring forms of the lengthenec
hemistich will be given here ; for the others the reader may '
referred to Sievers.'^
^ Altgermanische Metrik, § 94. 3. ^ Altgertnanische Metrik, § 95.
CHAP. 11 ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O.E. 59
§ 39. By far the most common type is A A (some 525
examples),
-X ix.^x,
as in •
vieaxan wftebrogan. (Hmfden hie vjrohtgeteme). Gen. 45 ;
or with resolution of the first accented syllable in the first
hemistich,
^Unu viid sweordes /cge. Gen. 2857,
and in the second hemistich,
tela bid fyrwet-geornra. Gnom. Ex. 102 ;
with resolution of the second accented syllable in the second
hemistich,
pder pu p6lades ^iddan. Crist 1410;
or of each of the three accented syllables in the second hemistich,
hyre pdes tdkder on rdderum. Jud. 5.
The chief variation of this type arises from the prolongation of
the first thesis, which may run from one to six syllables. At the
same time the usual resolutions may be introduced, as in the
following examples : Ordinary type, -^X xl| — X| — X, very
common,
%rimme wtd g^d ges6mnod. Gen. 46 ;
with resolution of the first accented syllable,
xiced ofer readum gdlde. Gen. 2404;
with resolution of the last two accented syllables,
^vJide pa sndteran idese. Jud. 55 ;
lype with trisyllabic thesis, -ixxx||— x|-^x,
m.eda syndon rcucla pina. Gen. 2167;
with resolution of the first accented syllable,
witon hyra hyht mid dryhten. Gu. 61 ;
hcsis of four to six syllables, (^ X || Jl x | -^ X ),
^led hy mid py Mdan lige. Crist 1547,
^iddan he hde/de his gas/ ona/nded. Cross 49,
W/re him zvdere pdef he hrohr ahte. Gnom. Ex. 175.
6o THE LINE book i
Less frequently the second foot has two unaccented syllables,
and in that case the first foot has either one or sometimes two
unaccented syllables, thus
(i) _1 X II -^ X X I -^ X , or (ii) -^x xll-^x X|-^X,
as (i) swa pu K'bele wurde. Gen. 1019;
with resolution of the first arsis,
^igor and so^ne geleafan. Jud. 89. .
(ii) tinea to tune gegdngan. Jud. 54.
Type A2A, -Ix — X — X, which is type A A with secondary
accent on the first thesis, occurs, according to Sievers, some
twenty times, and always in the first hemistich. Examples are,
vjderfkst willan mines. Gen. 2168;
with resolution of the last arsis,
^t^arlnibd "peoden gi^mena. Jud. 66 ;
with disyllabic second thesis,
treobearn tdedmum bepe'ahte. Gen. 2867.
Type A* A, -.X x] — X.| — x, which is A A strengthened;
and with disyllabic first thesis, is nearly as common as A 2 A,
and is always in the first hemistich, as for example,
Q,rleas of Qarde pinnm. Gen. 10 19,
healqful his he'ddes neosan. Jud. 63 ;
with trisyllabic first thesis,
\ireohmbd wdes se hdel^ena peoden. Dan. 242.
Type A B, -^ X . . . -^ X . -^, some thirty instances equally
distributed between the first and second hemistichs. Examples
are,
Jordan -Y^umpiaht. Riddle xvii. 3,
WdesceB his warig hrdegl. Gnom. Ex. 99.
Type AC, -i x . . . — — X , about twenty-nine instances, of
which more than the half occur in the first hemistich, as
hrineg pdes hean Idndes.. Gen. 2854,
vrlitige id woruldnyiie. Gen. 1016.
Type AD, — X.. — ~xx, is rarer, occurring about twelve
times, apparently only in the first hemistich, as
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 6i
healde hyrnwtggende. Jud. 17,
Judas hire on^en pingode. El. 609.
Type A E, — X . . — X X . — , somewhat mbre common than
the last, and in both hemistichs, as
sweord and swaHgne helm, Jud. 338,
sd^de him xinlytel spell. Gen. 2405.
Type BA, x.-^x ...-^x.^x, about 120 instances, has
as its simplest form, x-^X-^X-^X, as
aXdeton Ifges gdnga, Dan. 263 ;
with disyllabic thesis after the first arsis, X-^x x-^X-^X, as
dwyrged to wfdan dldre. Gen. 1015;
with trisyllabic thesis, x-^xxX-^X — x,as
hy twegen sceolon Xdefle ymbsittan. Gnom. Ex. 182;
ithe initial thesis or anacrusis is rarely disyllabic.
Type B B, x .-^ X ^ X . -^, about nine times and mostly
in the first hemistichs, as
gehidan pdes he gebdedan fte mdeg, Gnom. Ex. 105;
\\ ith resolution of two of the accented syllables,
oferaHmen bid he mr he dcwele. Gnom. Ex. 114.
Type BC, x..-^x. . ,-^-^x, nearly as common as the last
and nearly always in the first hemistich, as
and nahte ^aldfeondum, Dan. 454,
begoten of pdes Oilman stdan. Cross 49.
Type BD, x.^x..^ — XX, about sixteen times, and in
either hemistich, as
on Jordan unswdeslkne. Jud. 65,
aledon hie pder limwer\g7ie. Cross 63.
Type CA, X — -^X. — X, with some fifteen examples, of
A'hich eight are in the first hemistich, as
ge^eod Qorga mdeste, Crist 1209,
to cwdle Qnihta feorum. Dan. 226.
Type CC, X ljL^x, occurs only nine times, of which
jix are in the second hemistich, as
pdet Wdes gdd aelmfhtig. Cross 396 ;
62 THE LINE book i
with resolution of the first accented syllable,
ne se hrjne heoinidecgum. Dan. 265,
J>e J>dei we ore stddoldde. And* 800.
Other combinations are given by Sievers, Altgermanische
Metrik, § 95, but these occur so rarely or are so doubtful that
they need not be mentioned here, A few lengthened hemistichs
have four beats, as
engel in potte S/n innan becwom. Dan. 238,
and others in Sievers's Altgermanische Meirik, § 96.
Formation of Stanzas and Rhyme.
§ 40. OE. poetry is mainly narrative, and does not run into
any kind of recurring stanza or strophe, but is entirely stichic.
Traces of an arrangement of Hnes so as to form a stanza are
found in Deor, the Runic Poem, the Psalms and Hymns, the
so-called First Riddle, and in the Gnomic verses of the Exeter
Book, which may be compared to the Old French ' tirades '}
On the other hand, end-rhyme of the two hemistichs, com-
bined with alliteration, is not very uncommon, though in most
cases it seems only an incidental ornament, as
fylle geldegon ; tsegere geJ?xgon. Beow. 1014.
vrord-gyd wr/can ond ymb w/r spre'can. Beow. 3172.
In the Rhyming Poem of the Exeter Book we have eighty-
seven Unes in which the first and second hemistichs rhyme
throughout, and in some passages of other poems, noticeabfy in
the Elene^w. 11 4-1 15, and vv. 1 237-1 251, in which Cyne-
wulf speaks in his own person, or Crist 591-595, And. 869-
871, 890, Guthl. 801, Phoen. 15-16, 54-55; assonance is
found not unfrequently alongside of perfect rhyme, as in Guthl.
802, Phoen. 53. These places are sufficient to prove a syste-'
matic and deliberate use of rhyme, which serves to accentuate
the lyrical tone of the passages.
Monosyllabic rhymes such as ndn-.tdn (Rhym. Poem 78),,
rdd'.gebdd (ib. 16), onlah \ onwrah (ib. i) are called masculine,i
and disyllabic rhymes like wSngum'.gSngum (ib. 7), gengdonv
m^ngdon (ib. li), or trisyllabic hl^nede : dynede (ib. 28), swinsadel
minsade (ib. 29), bifade : hlifade (ib. 30), are called feminine.
According to their position in the hemistich, rhymes fall intoi
* See Sievers, Altgerm, Metrik, § 97.
CHAP. II ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN O. E. 63
two classes (a) interior rhymes like kdnd r6nd gefeng Beow.
2609, stidmod gestod Beow. 2567, in compounds wSrd-hdrd
ontiac Beow. 259, in co-ordinate formulae like pa wdes sdbl and
iiml Beow. 1008, wdrdum and hordum El. 2^, grund ond sund
And. 747, and as so-called grammatical rhymes lad wid ladum
Beow. 440, Mam defter bearne, Gen. 1070 ; {b) sectional rhymes
joining the two halves of one line, as
^ecgas viec sxgojt symbel ne dldegon, Rhym. P. 5 ;
|not unfrequently, very often in the Rhyming Poem, two, three,
four or more alliterative lines are connected in this fashion.
The OE. end rhymes are either {a) complete rhymes as
^,iond : rond, ge/xgon : gepxgon, or [b) assonances, in which only
:he vowels correspond, as wdef-.ldes El. 1238; wraSum'.arum
Drist. 595; lUfodon'.wHinedon And. 870; that the assonances
ire not accidental is clear from the fact that they occur along-
side of perfect rhymes.^
^ For other subdivisions of rhyme see Sievers, Altgerm. Metrik^ §§ 99-102,
Mth the treatises on the subject, and Bk. II, sect, ii, eh. i of this work.
CHAPTER III
THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE FREER
FORM OF THE ALLITERATIVE LINE IN LATE
OLD ENGLISH AND EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH
A. Transitional Forms. »"
§ 41. Increasing frequency of Rhyme. The alliterative |
line was, as we have seen, the only kind of verse known in
English poetry down to the end of the Old English period.
In the eleventh century, however, the strict conventions which
governed the use of alliteration began to be relaxed and, at the
same time, end-rhyme began to invade the alliterative line, and
by this means it was resolved in the course of time into two
separate lines. The process by which this came about is of
great importance in enabling us to follow the further develop-
ment of English versification. It has two varieties : —
1. Systematic combination of end-rhyme and alliteration.
2. Unintentional or accidental combination of rhyme and
alliteration.
The former — the intentional combination of rhyme with alli-
teration— never became popular in Old English; indeed, the
few examples previously quoted are all that have been pre-
served. In these examples the hemistichs of each line con-
form to the ancient rules with regard to their rhythmic and
alliterative structure, but are more uniform in type than was
usual in the older poetry, and are more closely paired together
by the use of final rhyme, which occurs in all its three varieties,
monosyllabic, disyllabic, and trisyllabic. .^
wiiniende vjdbr vrilbec biscd&r. •
^Qealcas Wderon BCearpe, scyl Wdes hearpe,
hlude hXynede; hl/offor dynede. Rhyming Poem 26-28.
The rhythm of the verse is mostly descending, Type A being
the prevalent form, while Types D and E occur more rarely.
The Types B and C, however, are also found. Possibly this
kind of verse was formed on the model of certain Mediaeva'
Latin rhymed verses, or, somewhat more probably, on that
the Old Norse * runhenda ', as this poetic form may have beei
;vaf
CHAP. Ill THE MODIFIED ALLITERATIVE LINE 65
made known in England by the Old Norse poet, Egil Skalla-
grimsson, who in the tenth century had lived in England and
twice stayed at the court of King ^'Selstan.
§ 42. Of greater interest than this systematic combination of
alliteration and rhyme is the irregular and more or less unin-
tentional occurrence of rhyme which in the eleventh century is
found frequently in the native metre.
Isolated instances of rhyme or assonance may be met
with even in the oldest Old English poems. For certain
islanding expressions linked by such a similarity of sound, mostly
Icausing interior rhyme (i. e. rhyme within a hemistich), were
admitted now and then in alliterative poetry, e. g.
sippan ic "hond and rond \ "hebban mihte. Beow. 656.
s^/a and mxla ; \pai is ao3^ m^tod. ib. 161 1.
In other cases such rhymes are to be found at the end of two
bemistichs,
Hrodgdr mdMode, \ hilt sceawode. Beow. 1687.
Wyrmum bewitnden, \ wftuin gebUnden. Judith 115.
Examples of this kind occur not unfrequently in several
parly OE. poems, but their number increases decidedly in the
course of time from Beowulf, Andreas, Judith, up to Byrhtnoth.
md Be Domes ddege.
From the two last-mentioned poems, still written in pure
lUiterative verse, a few examples of rhyming-alliterative verses,
)r of simply rhymed verses occurring accidentally among the
lormal alliterative lines, may also be quoted here :
"Byrhtno^ mdMode, \ hord hdfenode. Byrhtn. 42.
^fre embe attinde | he a/alde sume wiinde. ib. 271.
J>der pa wskterbHrnan \ swegdon and Urnon. Dom. 3.
I innon pam gemSnge \ on ^nlicum wdnge. ib. 6.
nu pu scealt %reotan, \ tear as ^eotan, ib. 82.
Thus it may be taken for granted that end-rhyme would
ave come into use in England, even if Norman-French poetry
fad never been introduced, although it is certainly not to be
[enied that it only became popular in England owing to French
ifluence.
But can this influence explain the gradually increasing use
66 THE LINE book i •.
of end-rhyme in some OE. poems written shortly before the
Norman Conquest (as e.g. Byrhtnoth^ Be Domes ddege, the
poetical passage in the Saxon Chronicle of the year 1036), or
are we to attribute it to the influence of mediaeval hymn poetry,
or, lastly, to the lingering influence of the above-mentioned Oldi
Norse * runhenda ' .? It is not easy to give a decided answer to
these questions.
In any case it would appear that towards the end of the
Old English period combined Mediaeval Latin and French'
influence on English metre became of considerable importance
on account of the constantly growing intercourse between the
British isles and the continent. This may be seen in the more,
frequent use of rhyme, as indeed was only to be expected in
consequence of the increasing popularity of Norman-French
and Mediaeval-Latin poetry in England and the reception of
Norman-French words into the language.
This combination of alliteration and rhyme, however, only
becomes conspicuous to a considerable extent for the first time
in the above-mentioned passage of the Saxon Chronicle, and
in another passage of the year 1087.^
The chief difference between these verses and those of the
Rhyming Poem is this, that the former have not such a sym-
metrical structure as the latter, and that rhyme and alliteration
are not combined in all of them, but that regular alliterative
lines, rhyming-alliterative lines, and lines with rhyme only occur 1
promiscuously, as e.g. in the following lines (4-7) of the
above-mentioned passage of the Chronicle of the year 1036 :
^Hme hi man he'nde, \ siime hi man hlende,
siime man hdmelode \ and sii??ie heanlice hse/lode ;
ne wearp &reorticre dxd \ gedon on pisan e'arde,
siddan Dene comon \ and her fryd namon.
The verses of the year 1087 of the Saxon Chronicle have
a similar but on the whole less rhythmical structure. In some
of the lines the hemistichs are neither joined by alliteration,
nor by end-rhyme, but merely by the two-beat rhythm of each
of them ; cf. 11. 1-5 :
Castelas he lei wyrcean \ and earme men swide swencean.
Se cyng wes swa swide stearc \ and benamof his under-peoddan
* Some less important examples, of which the metrical character is not
quite dear, are mentioned by Luick, Paul's Grundriss, ed. 2, II. ii. p. 144*
CHAP. Ill THE MODIFIED ALLITERATIVE LINE 67
manig marc goldes \ and ma hundred punda seolfres ;
pat he nam be ivihte \ and mid mycelan unrihte
of his landleode \ for \itelre neode>
I On the other hand, the poetical piece of the Saxon Chronicle
on Eadweard of the year 1065 is written in perfectly regular
(alliterative lines.
These two ways of treating the old alliterative line which
occur in the latter part of the Saxon Chronicle, and which we
will call the progressive and the conservative treatment, indicate
the course which this metre was to take in its further develop-
ment. Out of the long alliterative line, separated by the caesura
into two hemistichs, again connected by rhyme, there sprang
into existence a short rhyming couplet. This was by no means
dentical with the three-beat couplet evolved from two rhyming
emistichs of a line on the model of the French Alexandrine,
or with the short four-beat couplets modelled on the French
')ers octosyllabe, but had points of similarity enough to both,
ispecially to the former one, to be easily used in conjunction
ivith them, as several Early English poems show.
1 The conservative treatment of the old alliterative line, which
probably at no time was altogether discontinued, was revived
n the thirteenth and especially in the fourteenth and fifteenth
cnturies, when it degenerated again in the same way as the
ogressive line had done several centuries before.
3. The 'Proverbs of Alfred' and Layamon's 'Brut*.
§ 43. The first subject which we have to consider here is the
lurther development of the progressive form of the alliterative
me, the representatives of which "^ are closely connected in their
Ihythmic form with the two specimens of the poetical parts of
fie Saxon Chronicle quoted above. From Alfred's Proverbs we
\ke No. XV (11. 247-66):
pus quep Alured :
Ne schal-Hc neuere pi viif \ by hire vrlyte cheose, 247-8
for neuer none pinge \ pat heo t6 pe bryngep ;
ac home hire ciiste, \ heo Giipep hi wel s6ne ;
^ In this passage and for the future we refrain from indicating the quantity
f the vowels. The rhythmic accentuation is omitted, as being very uncertain
I this passage.
^ Viz. the so-called /V<w^^3j^A'm^^//r^fl? (ed. by R.Morris, E.E.T.S.,
^1. XLIX), and Layamon's Brut, ed. by Sir Frederic Madden, London,
H7> 2 vols.
F 2
68 THE LINE ^ book
for m6ny mon for kyhie \ xivele ikuhtep,
and 6fte mon of fay re \ frdMe t'cheosej?. 255-6
W6 is him pat Hvel w\f \ bryngep to his cotlyf ;
so is him alyve \ pat Hvele ywfuep.
For hi schal uppen eorpe \ driori i-wHrpe.
MSnymon singep \ pat wif horn bryngep
Wiste he hwat he brSuhie \ we'pen he myhte, 265-6
The metre of Layamon's Brut may be illustrated by the
following passage (11. 13841-13882):
pa i>nswerede pe 6der \ pat was pe kldeste brScfer
' Lust me nii, lauerd \ing \ and ich pe wullen Qiiden
what onihtes we be'od, \ and whanene we iciimen siod.
Ich hdtte "ELe'ngest, \ 'H.Srs is mi brdder ;
we beocf of Aflemdinne, \ kdelest aire I6nde ; 13849-50
of pat ilkexi ^nde \ pe Afngles is ihdten.
Beod in ure Idnde \ se'lcude tidlnde:
vmbe iiftene j& \ pat idle is isomned^
al ure l/dene fdlc, \ and heore \6ten w&ped ;
uppen pdn pe hit toiled, \ he seal udren oflonde; 1 3859-6 c
bilseuen scullen pa fine, \ pa se'xte seal tdrd-llde
u/ of pan \iode \ to unMe Idnde ;
ne beo he nd swa \/of mon \ vSrd he seal li^en.
For per is fdlc swide miichel, \ m.3ere pene heo wdlden ;
ha VJif fared mid childe \ swa pe de'or wilde ; 13869-7C
seueralche ^&e \ heo bired child per e.
pdt beod an us Hole \ pat we fxren scdlden ;
ne mihte we biixue \ for Hue ne for dde'ffe,
ne for nduer nane pinge, \ for pan fSlc-klnge.
'piis we uerden "p/re \ and for \i beod nu here, 13879-861
to sichen vnder liifte \ \6nd and godne lauerd.
These extracts illustrate only the general metrical charactei
of the two literary monuments, the versification of which in man)
passages considerably deviates from the type here exhibited. Ii
frequently shows a still more arbitrary mixture of the differeni
kinds of verse, or a decided preference for some of them ovei
the others. But the examples given will suffice to show thai
here, as in the two passages from the Saxon Chronicle quotec
above, we have four different kinds of verse distinguished by thf
different use of rhyme and alliteration, viz. :
I. Regular alliterative lines, which are very numerous, and al
least in the first half of Layamon's Brut, possibly throughoui
U
CHAP. Ill THE MODIFIED ALLITERATIVE LINE 69
the poem, form the bulk, e.g. Prov, xv. 247-8, Layamon,
13847-8, 13851-2, 13855-6, 13859-60, 13867-8, 13881-2,01
"Bule if he heo \ in hSke ilered. Prov. iii. 65-6.
pat his y^Ud and his lor din \ ha weoren ioddscte. Lay. 1468-9.
2. Rhyme (or assonance) and alliteration combined ; equally
numerous, e.g. Prov. xv. 253-4, Lay. 13841-2, 13845-6,
13869-70, &c., or
pat pe Qhiriche habbe gryp \ and the che'brl beo in fry p.
Prov. V. 93.
his Q^des to sSwen, \ his vaides to mowen. ib. 95.
biuoren wende 'H./ngest, | and "H-Srs him aire hdendest.
Lay. 13973-4.
Jleo cSmen into lidlle \ "hsendeliche dlle. ib. 1398 1-2.
3. Verses with rhyme (or assonance) only, without allitera-
tion, also not unfrequent, e.g. Prov. xv. 249-50 ff., or Lay.
13853-4, &c.
And his plSuh beo idryue \ to ure dire bihSue. Prov. v. 97-8.
pe pSure and pe riche \ de'men ilyche. ib. iv. 80-1.
On Itdlje heo comen to Idnde, \ per R6me nou on stSndep.
Lay. 106-7.
fele ^er under siinnan \ nas ^et Rome biwSnnen. ib. 108-9.
4. Four-beat verses without either rhyme or alliteration, occur-
ing comparatively rarely, and in most cases probably to be
ittributed to corruption of the text. Examples :
he may bion on dde \ wenliche lorpeu. Prov. vi. 101-2.
we habbed sioue pusund \ of gode cnihten. Lay. 365-6.
It is certain that these four different forms of verse cannot have
ira*>een felt by the poets themselves as rhythmically unlike ; their
•hythmic movement must have been apprehended as essentially
)ne and the same.
§ 44. Nature and origin of this metre. Theories of
n (•rautmann and Luick. We need not here discuss the
heory of Prof. Trautmann, who endeavours to show that the
qiwl lemistichs of Layamon's verse were composed in imitation of
by he four-beat short-lined metre in which the Old High German
)oet Otfrid had written his religious poem Krist, a form
d vhich, according to Trautmann and his followers, had been
iDgii requently employed in late Old English and early Middle
'9^
}^
70 THE LINE booki
English poetry. References to the criticisms of this hypothesis,
by the present writer and others, are given by G. Korting in his
Encyklopddie der EngUschen Philologie^ p. 388, and by K. Luick
in Paul's Grundriss der Gennanischen Philologie, ed. 2, II. ii.
152. The author of this book, in his larger work on the subject
{EngUscheMetrik, i.§§ 67-73), ^as shown, as English and German
scholars had done before him, that Layamon's verse has its
roots in the Old English alliterative line. Twelve years after
the publication of that work this theory received further con-
firmation at the hands of Prof. Luick, who has shown in Paul's
Grundriss (I.e.) that the five types of the Old English alliterative
line, discovered by Prof. Sievers, reappear (although in a modi-
fied form) in the lines of Layamon's Brut. But we are unable
wholly to agree with Prof. Luick's view on the origin and nature
of this metre.
In order to explain the origin of Layamon's verse he starts
from the hypothesis of Prof. Sievers^ that the Old Germanic
alliterative verse, as historically known, which was intended to be
recited^ and therefore not restricted to uniformity of rhythm,
originated from a primitive Old Germanic verse meant to be sung,
and therefore characterized by rhythmic regularity. According
to Prof. Luick this primitive metre, although not represented by
any extant example in Old English, had never quite died out,?
and forms the basis of the metre of Layamon and his preden
cessors in early Middle English. For this ingenious hypothesis,!
however, no real evidence exists. On the contrary, the fact thaft
the beginnings of the peculiar kind of metre used by Layamo»
can be traced back to purely alliterative Old English poems,
where they occur amongst regular alliterative lines, and therefore
undoubtedly must be of the same rhythmical structure, seems to
be decisive against Prof. Luick's theory.
For the same reason it is impossible to follow Prof. Luick in
regarding Layamon's line as having an even-beat rhythm, and
containing not only two primary accents, but two secondary
accents as well. A further strong objection to this view is to be
found in the circumstance, that in the early part of Layamon's
Brut, although rhyme already occurs not unfrequently, alliterative
lines decidedly predominate ; in the passage consisting of forty
long lines (11. 106-185, quoted in our AltengUsche Metrik, pp.
152-3), we have thirty-three regular alliterative lines and only
five rhymed lines, two of which are alliterative at the same time.
1 Paul's Grundriss, ed. 2, II. ii. p. 10, and Altgermanische Metrik
p. 139-
CHAP. Ill THE MODIFIED ALLITERATIVE LINE 71
Even in the middle portion of Layamon's Chronicle, where the
poet, as Prof. Luick thinks, must have attained to a certain skill in
handling his metre, alliterative lines are in some passages quite
as numerous as rhymed ones. In the passage quoted above
(p. 68)5 for example, which consists of twenty-one long lines,
eleven of them are alliterative and ten are rhymed. On the
other hand, in the continuation of this passage (quoted Altengl.
Metrik, p. 156), containing twenty-nine long lines, the reverse is
the case, the number of alliterative lines being only seven, and
that of rhymed and assonant lines twenty-two in all ; of the
latter, however, eleven are alliterative at the same time.
While then it might be admissible to speak of progressive
neglect of alliteration and of increasing predilection for end-
rhyme on the part of the poet, as he advances with his work, it
is not in accordance with the facts to assert that ' alliteration
had ceased to play its former part, and had been reduced to
the level of a mere ornament of the verse '. On the contrary, in
the first part of the Chronicle alliteration is the predominant
form, and, as the work advances, it is still used to a considerable
extent as a means to connect the two hemistichs or short lines so
as to form one long line. The strict laws formerly observed in
the use of alliteration, it is true, are not unfrequently dis-
regarded, chiefly with respect to the head-stave, which often
falls on the fourth accented syllable of the long line; and
other licences (first occurring in ^Ifric's Metrical Homilies)
may be met with. Nevertheless both Alfreds Proverbs and
Layamon's Brut (as is sufficiently shown by the many speci-
mens quoted in our Altenglische Metrik, pp. 150 ff.), contain
a great number of perfectly regular alliterative lines. The fact
that, in the second half of Layamon's Chronicle, end-rhyme is
used more and more frequently as a means to connect the two
hemistichs, is with much more probability to be explained by
the continual occupation of the poet with the Norman-French
original poem, and by the increasing influence which its short
octosyllabic couplets must naturally have exercised upon his
own rhythms, than by a supposed intention of the poet to write
in ' primitive Germanic four-beat song-metre ', the very existence
of which is hypothetical. Furthermore, the fact that in some (not
all or even most) of the passages, where end-rhyme is used almost
exclusively, e.g. in the passage quoted above (11. 13883-940),
an even-beat rhythm is distinctly noticeable, can be explained
quite naturally by the influence of the Norman-French original,
the even-measured verses of which the poet was translating.
72 THE LINE book
But even supposing that Layamon intended to use the primitiv(
Germanic four-beat song-metre in his translation of Wace'j
Chronicle, although it certainly was not intended for singing
what can have been his reason for composing the first half o:
his work, and a very considerable portion of the rest, in s
rhythmical form which only to a small extent shows the peculiari-
ties of a rhyming even-beat metre, whereas the main part of ii
consists of the native unevenly stressed alliterative verse ? It is
quite incorrect to say that the author in the course of his worl^
not unfrequently fell back into the alliterative verse. The facl
is just the opposite: the author started by using the native
alliterative verse to which he was accustomed, and gradually
came to adopt the rhymed verse of the Norman-French chronicle
which he was translating, without, however, entirely giving up
the former metre. Alliteration and end-rhyme, which he used
sometimes separately and sometimes in combination, were evi-
dently looked upon by Layamon as equally legitimate means
for connecting his hemistichs or short lines.
§ 45. Number of stresses. Quite as unfounded as the
assertion that Layamon's verse is of an even-beat nature is the
other assertion that it contains two primary and two secondary
accents, and that the second of these secondary accents in verses
with disyllabic endings may fall on a syllable which by its
etymology ought to have no accent.
This statement is refuted by the treatment of rhyme in
Layamon's Brut and in some earlier poems of a similar form
or containing the same kind of verse.
Not only in the Brut, but also in several Old English and
earlier Middle Enghsh poems, we meet both with regular rhymes
and with simple assonances and other still more imperfect
correspondences in sound intended to serve as rhymes.
Examples of actual rhyme in the Brut are the monosyllabic
pairs: seon : beon 13837-8, king : ping 13883-4, cniht : riht
13887-8; besides inexact rhymes like mon : andn 13605-6,
13615-16, mon : don 13665-6, 13677-8 ,win : in 14349-50,
i4^()^~g, chin: win 14994-5; disyllabic rhymes : icut7ien : gumen
13787-8, gode : flode 1 3791-2, sohten : rohten 13803-4, oder :
broker 13841-2, childe : wtlde 1 -^^^ 0-1, per e : here 13871-2,
hdlle : dlle 1398 1-2. We see no reason to accent these last-
mentioned rhymes differently from similar rhymes occurring in
Old English poems, as e.g. wedd" : aspedde Andr. 1633, wunne :
bliinne ib. 1382, bewiinden : gebunden Jud. 115, sttinde : wHnde
Byrhtn. 271, &c.
i| CHAP. Ill THE MODIFIED ALLITERATIVE LINE 73
1
Examples of the more numerous group formed by assonances
are id : idon 1 3801-2, lond : gold 13959-60, strong : lond
13969-70, and disyllabic assonances like cnihten : kfnges 1 3793-4,
w6lden:londe 1382 1-2, &c.
These are strictly parallel with instances like waef.'ldes El.
1238, onlag : had ib. 1246, or like wradum : arum Crist 595,
lyre : cyme Phoen. 53, rdedde : tdbhte^y . i^, Jlanes : gendme ib. 71,
hleorum : tearum Be Domes daege 28, &c., and must, in our
opinion, be metrically interpreted in exactly the same way.
That is to say, the root-syllable must, not only in real assonances
like cnihten : kinges, Idnde : stronge, but also in consonances like
i'l I P/ohtes : cnihtes, mSnnen : tnnen, be looked upon as the chief
part of the rhyme, and the flexional endings, whether rhyming
Jf I correctly or incorrectly, must be regarded as forming only an
unessential, unaccented, indistinctly heard part of the rhyme,
just as they admittedly do in the similar Old English assonances
quoted above.
Now, as it is inconsistent with the two-beat rhythm of the
hemistich in Old English verse, to attribute a secondary accent
to those endings, although they were in some cases more dis-
tinctly pronounced than the Middle English endings, it is im-
possible to suppose that the Middle English endings bore a
secondary accent. A further objection is that although the
syllables which, according to Luick's theory, are supposed to
bear a secondary accent are of course usually preceded by a
long root-syllable, it not unfrequently happens that a disyllabic
jword with long root-syllable rhymes with one having a short
id Iroot-syllable, in which case the ending is not suited to bear a
-3 Secondary accent at all, e.g.Jliijen -.Unnifoge 14043-4, to-fSren :
'ii\reten 140"] 1-2, sxres : wdlde 1421^-16, /arei^ : meren 14335-6,
'ciUmen :pre'oien 14337-8, Idgen (= laws):l6nde 14339-40, hun-
ok ien dHuien 1 4480-1, sc6me:sone i\()0 \-^^c{cmen:halden 1 46 1 2-13,
,4 'cipe : hrohie 14862-3, fader : unrxdes 14832-3, fader : r^des
\ [ 4<)io-ii, foten :bisc6peni 4^ 2 1-2, iwiten : scipen 1 42^1-2, witen :
%venden 1 5060-1, gume : hiside7i 1^224-^, freo7tdsclpe : se'oluen
;j:i[5226-7, wude : we'ien-ldeten 15508-9, iboren : be'arne 1 5670-1,
/:\\n)dte : w/orlde-rtche 15732-3, scdde:f6lh 15784-5, biswihen
-:,hpret. pi.) : cr^/^« 29016-17, a^iuen : )elden 29052-3, biuoren :
• 'usen 291 14-15, s{ine :peode 29175-6, idriuen : kmertchen 29177-
8, grUpen (pret. pi.) ; mu^en 29279-80, siuden {=. places) : be'rnen
^9285-6, &c.
The only cases in which a secondary accent seems to be
cquired for an unaccented final syllable are such rhymes as the
74 THE LINE book i
following: — hatiiforpi 139 15-16 (cf. Altengl. Metrik, p. 160);
men : cSmen 1 3997-8 (MS. B : men : here), men : d/den 13975-6,
isomned we's : ISndes 25390-1, and so forth.* But rhymes of this
kind are in comparison to the ordinary disyllabic or feminine
endings so very rare (occurring, for the most part, in lines which
admit of a purely alliterative scansion, or which have come down
to us in an incorrect state), that they have no bearing on the
general rhythmic accentuation of those final syllables, or on
the rhythmic character of Layamon's verses in general (cf.
p. 78, end of § 47)-
§ 46. Analysis of verse-types. In turning now to a closer
examination of the rhythmic structure of the metre in Layamon's
Brut and in the somewhat earlier Proverbs of Alfred ^ we are
glad to find ourselves more nearly than hitherto (though still
not altogether) in agreement with the views of Prof. Luick.
It is no small merit of his to have shown for the first time
that the five types of rhythmic forms pointed out by Sievers as
existing in the alliterative line are met with also in each of the
four forms of verse of Layamon's Brut and of the Proverbs.
And here it is of interest to note that not only are the normal
types of frequent occurrence (chiefly in the Proverbs), but the
extended types also, especially in Layamon's Brut^ are met with
even more frequently.
On account of our limited space only a few examples of each
of the five types can be given in this handbook.
Instead of quoting hemistichs or isolated short lines as
examples of each of the single types A, B, C, D, E, we prefer
always to cite two connected short lines, and to designate the
rhythmic character of the long line thus originating by the types
of the two hemistichs, as follows: A + A, A* + B, B* + C,
C* + E, &c., where A*, B*, C* signify the extended types, to
be discussed more fully below, and A, B, C, &c., the normal
types. This mode of treatment is necessary in order that our
examples may adequately represent the structure of the verse.
The short lines are always connected — either by alliteration, by
rhyme (or assonance), or by both combined, or sometimes
merely by identity of rhythm — into pairs. These pairs of short
lines are regarded by Luick as even-measured couplets, while
we regard them as alliterative long lines; but on either view
each of them forms a coherent unity. We believe that an
examination of the couplet or long line as an undivided whole
* On the nature of these rhymes, cf. § 53 and the author's paper, * Metrischf
Randglossen,' in Englische StudieUt x. 192 ff., chiefly pp. 199-200. 11
CHAP. Ill THE MODIFIED ALLITERATIVE LINE 75
will show unmistakably that the assumption of the even-
measured character of Layamon's verse is erroneous, or at least
that it applies only in certain cases, when the metre is strongly
influenced by Romanic principles of versification. The examples
are for the most part the same as those which Prof. Luick has
quoted,^ but we have in all cases added the complementary
hemistichs, which are generally of somewhat greater length :
A + A : Ich 'h.dtte "S-engest, \ Bidrs is my hrdder. Lay. 13847-8.
A* 4- A : and ich pe wulle Vdechen \ deorne vHnen. ib. 14079-80.
B + A : pder pa sdexisce men \ pde Sde i^Shten. ib. 14738-9.
B(E?) + A: hiuhi heore\i/\ lede scholde. Prov. i. 15-16.
A +B : \6nges lyves, \ ac him lyep pe wrench, ib. x. 16 1-2.
B* + A : vmbe fi/iene ^& \pat idle is isomned. Lay. 13855-6.
B + C : and eoure le'o/ue godd \ pe )e to \tited. ib. 1389 1-2.
B + C : ne ivurd pu never so vjod, \ ne so wyn-drilnke. Prov. xi.
269-70.
A +C : mi gdst hitte iwdrdeB \ and "wir^ stille. Lay. 17 136-7.
C + C : for pat iviorc stSnded \ inne Irlonde. ib. 1 7 176-7.
A* + D : \L6men to pan ^ninge \ wil-tipende. ib. 17089-90.
;D +A*: vole u7iimeie \ of mSni ane I6nde, ib. 161 88-9.
K •\-Yr, fif pusend men \ wdrched per 6n. ib. 158 16-17.
B * + E : pdet he hefde to iwiten \ se'ouen hundred scipen. ib. 1 5 1 o 2 -3 .
D + *A: for nys no vrrt uexynde \ a "wiide ne a we'lde. Prov. x.
168-9.
A* + D : pat 6uer mvwe pas teye \ fiirp yp-holde. ib. 170-1.
1 It is easy to observe that it is only when two identical types,
jlike A 4- A, C + C, E + E, are combined, that an even-beat
irhythm (to some extent at least) can be recognized; in all the
'other combinations this character is entirely absent.
§ 47. Extended types. We now turn to the more numerous
class of such couplets or long lines which in both their component
hemistichs exhibit extended variations of the five types, resulting
from anacrusis or from the insertion of unstressed syllables in
the interior of the line. These verses, it is true, are somewhat
jmore homogeneous, and have a certain resemblance to an even-
beat rhythm in consequence of the greater number of un-
^ III Paul's Grundriss, ed. 2, II. ii. pp. 145-7.
76 THE LINE book i
accented syllables, one of which (rarely two or more) may, under
the influence of the even-beat metre of the Norman-French
original, have been meant by the poet to be read with a some-
what stronger accentuation. We are convinced, however, that in
feminine endings, in so far as these are formed, which is usually
the case, by the unaccented endings -e, -en, -es, ej^, &c., these
final syllables never, or at most only in isolated cases, which do
not affect the general character of the rhythm, have a stronger
accent or, as Prof. Luick thinks, form a secondary arsis. As little
do we admit the likelihood of such a rhythmic accentuation of
these syllables when they occur in the middle of the line, generally
of such lines as belong to the normal types mentioned above.
It is convenient, however, to adopt Luick's formulas for these'
common forms of Layamon's verse, with this necessary modifi-
cation, that we discard the secondary accent attributed by him
to the last syllable of the types A, C, D, accepting only his
types B and E without any change. We therefore regard the
normally constructed short lines of Layamon's metre — so far as
they are not purely alliterative lines of two accents, but coupled
together by rhyme or assonance, or by alliteration and rhyme
combined — as belonging to one or other of the following two
classes : (i) lines with four accents and masculine or mono-
syllabic endings (types B and E) ; and (2) lines of three accents
and feminine or disyllabic endings (types A, C, D). In this
classification those unaccented syllables which receive a secon-
dary stress are, for the sake of brevity, treated as full stresses —
which, indeed, they actually came to be in the later development
of the metre, and possibly to some extent even in Layamon's
own verse.
Assuming the correctness of this view, the chief types of Laya
mon s verse may be expressed by the following formulas, in
which the bracketed theses are to be considered optional :
Type A: ( x)-^( x) X X-^X . TypeB:(x)x X^(x)x X-^.
TypeC: (x)x x-^^X. Type D : (x) -^ X-^x x .
Type E:x-^(X)XXXX-.
As these types may be varied by resolutions in the same way
as the primary types, there arise various additional formulas
such as the following :
A: (x)^x(x)xxj^x. B: (x)xx^(x)xx^x
C:(x)xx^x^x,&c.
Other variations may be effected by disyllabic or even poly
CHAP. Ill THE MODIFIED ALLITERATIVE LINE 77
syllabic theses in the beginning {' anacruses ') or in the middle
of the verse instead of monosyllabic theses.
Apart from these another frequently occurring variation of
type C must be mentioned which corresponds to the formula
(x)x x~X-lx, and maybe designated (with Professors Paul
and Luick) as type C^, because the position of its accented
syllables points to type C, while on the other hand it bears a
certain resemblance to type A.
The following examples, many of which have been quoted
before by Luick, may serve to illustrate these types of short lines
or rather hemistichs and their combination in couplets or
long lines, in which a normal hemistich is often followed by a
lengthened one and vice versa :
A* + A* : Strong hit h to r6we \ ayeyn pe see pat fldwep. Prov.
X. 145-6.
\* + A* : And swd heo gunnen wenden \/drcf th pan hinge.
Lay. 13811-12.
A + A* : ne mihte we bildeue \/or Hue n^for ddepe. ib. 1 3875-6.
B + A* : umbe fi/tene ^er \ pat folc h isdmned. ib. 1 3855-6.
A* + C* : deverhlche ^/re \ heo bhed child pere. ib. 1387 1-2.
B* + B* : per com 'S.^ngest, per com "KSrs, \ per com mini mm
ful 6ht, ib. 14009-10.
[]*4-B* : and pe clerek and pe knyht, \ he schulle d/men euelyche
riht. Prov. iv. 78-9.
^ii^C* : pif j)gs Gnihtes Gomen \ bi/hren pan /6lc-']siinge.
Lay. 13817-18.
^* + A* : ^\f heo griff sdhten, \ and of his fr^ondscipe rShten /^
ib. 13803-4.
"* + C** : h\t beodtidinde \ \nne Sdexelonde, ib. 14325-6.
V* + C*:y^r he wSlde w\d pan kinge \ holden rUninge.
ib. 14069-70.
\.*-|-D*: heo sdeden th pan kinge \ niowe tidenden. ib. 13996-7.
V*+D*: and mid him brhuhte here \ an hUndred ridkren.
ib. 15088-9.
L* + B* : Hckngest wes pan kinge liof\ hnd him Lindesa^e gef.
ib. 14049-50.
Types with resolutions :
^* + A*: and pUs pine dii^epe \ sttllehlfor^meff. ib. 141 23-4.
^* + B* : W6den hehde pa hMste lh}e \ an tire ^Iderne ddejen.
ib. 1 392 1-2.
78 THE LINE book i
The first hemistich of the last line offers a specimen of a
variation of the ordinary types with feminine endings (chiefly of
A, C, and C^\ designated by Prof. Luick as Aj, C^ C^, and
showing the peculiarity that instead of the ending -i X some-
what fuller forms occur, consisting either of two separate words
or of a compound word, and thus corresponding either to the
formula -1 X , or, if there are three syllables, to the formula
Z. X X , or in case of a resolution (as in the above example) to
the formula J^ x l> X. We differ from Prof. Luick, how-
ever, in admitting also endings corresponding to the formula
^ X X.
As a rule, if not always, such forms of verse are occasioned
by the requirements of rhyme. This is not the case, it is true
in the following purely alliterative line :
Ai* + A*: J^e king sone Up stod \ and siite hine bl him s/oluen.
Lay. 14073-4
but in other verses it is so, e. g. :
B* + A|*: Ah of ^ou ich ivulle iwiten \ J>urh soden eouwer
wUr^sdpen. ib. 13835-6
and similarly (not corresponding to — X X, as Prof. Luick
thinks) :
Ai* + B*: bidden us to fiiMme \ pat is Crist godes sUne.
ib. 14618-19
but the formula — X x is represented by the following verses :
Aj* -}- Aj* : pe \ilnre heo }\ven ^pUnresdxi \ for\i pat hh heoih
helpen mki. ib. 13929-30,
Aj* 4- Aj* : pe ^orl and pe ^pelyng \ ibHrep under gddne king
Prov. iv. 74-5
Ci* + C^i* : nes per nan cristindom, \per pe king pat mdide mm
Lay. 14387-8
In the last but one of these examples this accentuation is cor-
roborated in the Jesus College MS. by the written accent on the
word gddne, whereby ngt only the rhyme -lyng : king is showr
to be an unaccented one, but at the same time the two-beai
rhythm of the hemistich is proved as well as that of the preceding
hemistich. Moreover, the alliteration in all these examples is
a further proof of the two-beat character of their rhythm.
§ 48. It was owing to the use of these two more strongly ac-
cented syllables in each verse which predominate over the othei
syllables, whether with secondary accents or unaccented, that thf
J
jcHAP. Ill THE MODIFIED ALLITERATIVE LINE 79
Ipoets, who wrote in this metre, found it possible to regard the
idifferent kinds of verse they employed as rhythmically equivalent.
iThese were as follows: (i) purely alliterative lines with hemi-
kichs of two stresses, (2) extended lines of this kind with
Ijecondary accents in the middle of the hemistich, (3) rhyming-
jilliterative or merely rhyming lines with a feminine ending and
ji secondary accent in the middle of the verse, or with a
nasculine ending and two secondary accents, one on the last
;yllable, as is also the case with the corresponding verses
nentioned under the second heading. These two last-men-
ioned verse-forms are very similar to two popular metres formed
)n the model of Romanic metres. The former of them — the
jiemistich with three stresses (one of which is secondary) and
eminine ending, together with the much rarer variety that has
. masculine ending — resembles the sections of the Alexandrine ;
V Ind the hemistich with a masculine ending (more rarely a feminine)
. ind four stresses (two of which have secondary accents only) is
Similar to the short four-beat couplet, and also to the first section
;T ttf the Septenary line (the second section being similar to the
4 prmer three-beat group). It is, therefore, not to be wondered
t that this metre of Layamon in its different forms (that of the
•urely alliterative line included) is in several Middle English
oems, chiefly in The Bestiary, employed concurrently (both in
jleparate passages and in the same passage) with the above-
lentioned foreign metres formed on Romanic or mediaeval-
/atin models. By this fact the influence of the Romanic versi-
cation on the origin and development of this form of the
iative verse gains increased probability.^
The limits of our space do not permit of further discussion
f this peculiar metre, which, as presented in the extant
samples, appears rather as in process of development than as
finished product, and of which a complete understanding can
I attained only by elaborate statistical investigation.
J. The progressive form of the alliterative line,
^' rhymed throughout. *KiDg Horn/
J I § 49. The further development of the Layamon-
. Iprse is very simple and such as might naturally be expected
ibm its previous history.
The use of final rhyme becomes constant, and consequently
i^ Cf. our remarks in Book I, Part IT, on the Septenary Verse in com-
..j Ination with other metres.
8o THE LINE ' book i
alliteration, although remnants of it still are noticeable even
short lines connected together, becomes more and more scarce
The unaccented syllables are interposed between the accente
ones with greater regularity ; and among the unaccented sy!
lables the one (or, in some sub-species of the verse, more thj
one) which is relatively stronger than the rest receives fu
metrical stress, or at least nearly approaches the fully-stressei
syllables in rhythmical value.
This form of the metre is represented by a short poem
consisting of only twelve lines, belonging to the first half
the thirteenth century, and by the well-known poem King Horn\
(1530 lines) which belongs to the middle of the same century,
The prevailing rhythmical form of this poem is exemplified
by the following verses, which for the sake of convenience we
print here, not in the form of couplets (as the editors, quite
justifiably, have done), but in that of long lines as they are
written in the Harleian MS. :
Horn pu art wel kine \ and pat is wel is^ne. 91-2.
pe sibighn to fldwe \ and H6r?i child to rdwe. 1 17-18
This form occurs in more than 1300 out of the 1530 shorl
lines of which the poem consists. It is evident that the rhythn:
of these lines is nearly the same as in the following taken froir
earlier poems :
defre emhe stiinde \ he sealde sume wHnde. Byrhtn. 271.
innon pam gemdnge \ on dbnlicum w6nge. Dom. 6.
sUme hi man Mnde \ siime hi man blende. Chron. 1036. 4.
p>dt he nam be wihte | and mid my c elan unrihte. ib. 1087. 4.
wippSuere and wip riche \ wip dlle monne ilyche. Pro v. 375-6,
ne mihte we bila&ve \for live nefor daepe. Lay. 13875-6.
If those syllables which have the strongest accent in the un
accented parts of these verses are uttered a little more loudlj
than was usual in the alliterative line the rhythm become}
exactly the same as in the corresponding verses of King Horn
where the three-beat rhythm already has become the rule.
This rule, however, is by no means without exceptions, anc
even the old two-beat rhythm (which may have been the origina
* Cf. Wissmann, King Horn, pp. 59-62, and Metrik, i, pp. 189-90.
3 Signs of Death in Old Engl. Misc. (E. E. T. S.), p. loi.
8 Cf. Hall's edition (Clar. Press, 1901), pp. xlv-l, where our views on tjb
origin and structure of the metre are adopted. jg
|cHAP.iii THE MODIFIED ALLITERATIVE LINE 8i
Irhythm) is, in the oldest form of the poem, sometimes clearly
perceptible, rarely, it is true, in both hemistichs, as e. g. in the
following line :
Hi slojen ajid/Hpen \ pe ntjt and pe iipen, 1375-6,
but somewhat oftener in one of them, as in the following :
HiwMen to wisse | of here It/to misse. 12 1-2.
So schalpi name springe \from ktnge to kinge. 211-12.
In Homes Hike \ pH schalt hure beswike. 289-90.
Hi rUnge pe belle \ pe wMak/br tofelle. 1 253-4.
Of this type of verse a great many examples are of course to
je met with in the earlier alliterative poems :
vUldres w^dde \ witum dspedde. An. 1633.
vyr??ium bewtinden, \ witum gebUnden, Jud. 115.
■ctd and rdedde \ rincum tdehte, Byrhtn. 18.
7/ middan geh^ge \ /al swd ic secge. Dom. 4.
mt I6nd to Uden \ mid Idweliche deden. Prov. 75-6.
'e poure and pe riche \ demen iliche, ib. 80-1.
iv or en pan kinge \ fairest aire pinge. Lay. 14303-4.
The third type (three beats with masculine ending), which is
if rarer occurrence, is represented by the following lines :
>ii art gret and strongs \ fair and euene I6ng. 93-4.
^u schhlt be diibbed knight | are come seue nijt. 447-8.
'Jue at hire he nam \ and into hdlle cam. 585-6.
As corresponding lines of earlier poems may be quoted :
urn deses georn, \ wdes on dorpan cyrm. Byrhtn. 107.
'Aat pe chirche hahbe gr^d \ and pe cheorl beo infr'^d. Prov. 93-4.
' merd king wdes hdeil I \ for pine kime tch dem vmn.
Lay. 14309-10.
' The fourth type (four beats with masculine ending), which
ccurs somewhat oftener, has the following form :
^fie hadde Horn beo w6, \ ac neure wiirs pan him was p6, 1 1 5-1 6.
..'^ siHard was in herte wo, \for he nuste what to do. 275-6.
SCHIPPER G
I
^2 THE LINE BOOK I
The corresponding rhythm of the earlier poems occurs in
verses like :
andhisgeferan hefordraf, \ andsume mislice o/sloh. Chr. 1036. 2.
be eorl andps epeling \ iMrep under gSdne king. Prov. 74-5.
and s^/de wiirp he hlype and gled \ pe mSn pat Is his wives qued.
ib. 304-5.
pe pUnre heo fiven pUnres dki, \ forpi pat Keo heoni Mlpen mki.
Lay. 13931-2.
The fifth type (four beats with feminine endings) is repre-
sented by the following verses :
To depe he hem dlle brdpe, \ his fader dep wel dere hi hope. 883-4.
Tom6re^e bepe/iplnge, \ whanepe lip of day e springe. 817-18.
As corresponding verses of earlier poems we quote :
^{ime hi man wip feo se'alde, \ sUme hreowUce dcwe'alde.
Chron. 1036. 3.
and sSttes bolt is sone iscbte, \forpi ich holde Mne for dote.
Prov. 421-2,
inpkre sde heofunden utldwen, \pa Mnnestepa weoren bpon ddwen.
Lay. 1 2 83-4. J
The circumstance that these different types of verse occur ij
different poems promiscuously makes it evident that they mu3
all have been developed from one original rhythmical form,
is clear that this fundamental type can only be found in the olj
two-beat alliterative hemistich, the more so as this kind of vers
is the very metre in which the earlier poems Byrhtnoth and
Domes Ddege for the greatest part are written, and which
exemplified in about a third part of the poetical piece of the*
Saxon Chronicle of 1036 and a fifth part of the later piece of
1087, and again very frequently in Alfred's Proverbs and in
Layamon's Brut^ and which still can be traced as the original
rhythm of King Horn.
§ 50. The evidence of the metre of this poem, showing its
affinity to the alliterative line and its historical origin from it, is
so cogent that it is unnecessary to discuss the theories of Prof.^
Trautmann and the late Dr. Wissmann, both of whom, although
from different points of view, agree in ascribing a four-bea
rhythm to this metre.^
^ See Paul's Grundriss, ed. 2, II. ii. p. 156.
CHAP. Ill THE MODIFIED ALLITERATIVE LINE 83
The frequent use again in this poem of the types of line
occurring in Layamon's Brut, as pointed out by Prof. Luick
(1. c), puts the close connexion of the metre of King Horn with
that form of the alliterative line beyond doubt. We cannot,
however, in conformity with the view we have taken of Laya-
mon's verse, agree with Prof. Luick in assigning a secondary
accent to the last syllable of the feminine ending of the ordinary
three-beat verse, in which the greater part of King Horn is
written. Prof. Luick himself does not insist upon that par-
ticular point so strongly for this poem as he did for the earlier
poems written in a similar metre.
The following examples serve to show that the same ex-
tended types of line which were found to be the commonest
in Layamon's Brut (cp. p. 77) recur as the most usual types
also in this poem :
A + C : Alle beon he bltpe \ pat to my song type I 1-2.
A + A: A sdng ihc schal ^ou singe \ of MUrry pe kinge. 2-3.
A + A: He/Snd bi pe strdnde, \ ariued on his I6nde, 35-6.
B-l-C: All pe ddy and hi pe nip, \ til hit sprdng ddi lip.
123-4.
B + B : Fairer nis non pane he wds, \ he was brijt sd pe glds.
13-14.
+ C : Bipe si side, \ ase he was, wdned (*^ X) rtde. 33-4.
-}-A: 0/ pine mister e, \ o/wUde and ofriv&e. 229-30.
D-f-A: Schipesfiftene \ with sdrazin\e\s kine. 37-8.
y + A: Pe child him dnsw&de, \ sSne so he hit he'rde. 199-200.
^ + E : He was whit sbpefliir, \ rSse-red was his coldr. 15-16.
i
I In most cases we see that identical or similar types of verse
Ire connected here so as to form a couplet (printed by us as
me long line). Even where this is not so, however, the two chief
ccents in each short line serve to make all the different forms
nd types of verse occurring in this poem sound homogeneous.
his admits of a ready explanation, as the poem, in which no
tanzaic arrangement can be detected, although styled a
song' (line 2), was certainly never meant to be sung to
regular tune. On the contrary, it was undoubtedly recited
ke the * Song ' of Beowulf — probably not without a proper
lusical accompaniment — by the minstrels,
G 3
84 THE LINE book i
At all events the treatment of the words with regard to
their rhythmic use in this poem does not deviate from that of
Layamon.
§ 51. The two poems are of the same period, and in both
the etymological and syntactical accentuation of natural speech
forms the basis of the rhythmic accentuation. Monosyllabic i
words and the accented syllables of polysyllabic words having jl
a strong syntactical accent are placed in the arsis ; unaccented
inflectional syllables as a rule form the theses of a verse ; second
parts of compounds and fully sounding derivative syllables are
commonly used for theses with a somewhat stronger accent,
and may, if placed in the arsis, even bear the alliteration, or, I
if they are less strongly accented, the rhyme : "
per pas cnihies admen | bifdrenpan tSlc-'k.inge. Lay. 13818-19.
Ah 0/ e'ou ich while ivriten \ purh Men eouwer vjHrd^cipen.
ib. 13835-6.
A mdre^e bo pe day gan springe, \ pe king him rod an hunfinge.
Horn 645-6.
He was pejaire'sie, \ and 0/ wit pe Mste. ib. 173-4.
Unaccented inflexional syllables as a rule stand in the
thesis of a verse. Only in exceptional cases, which admit of a
different explanation (see above, pp. 74 and 76), they may bear
the rhythmical accent if the rhyme demands it.
That a thesis in Layamon's Brut and in Alfred's Proverbs
may be disyllabic or even trisyllabic both in the beginning and
the middle of a line is evident from the many examples quoted
above.
In King Horn, where the division of the original long lines
into two short ones has been carried out completely, and where
the rhythm of the verse has consequently become more regular,
the thesis, if not wanting entirely, as usually the case in the
types C, D, E, is generally monosyllabic. But, as the following
examples, /azWr ne rnipe 8, pe pains come to I6nde 58, panm
schSlde withuten 6pe 347, will show, disyllabic theses do alsc
occur, both after the first and second arsis, and in the beginning
of the line.
I
CHAPTER IV
THE ALLITERATIVE LINE IN ITS CONSERVATIVE
FORM DURING THE FOURTEENTH AND FIF-
TEENTH CENTURIES
A. The alliterative verse without rhyme.
§ 62. The progressive or free form of the alliterative line
came to an end as early as the middle of the thirteenth cen-
tury, when it broke up into short rhyming couplets. The
stricter form was for nearly three centuries longer a very popular
metre in English poetry, especially in the North-Western and
Northern districts of England and in the adjacent lowlands of
Scotland. The first traces, however, of its existence after the
Norman Conquest are to be found in the South of England,
where some poetical homilies and lives of saints were written
It the end of the twelfth and in the beginning of the thirteenth
:entury which are of the same character, both as to their
;ubjects and to their metre, as the poetical paraphrases and
lomilies written by ^Ifric. These poems are Hali Meidenhad
a poetical homily), the legends of St. Marharete, St, Juliana,
ind -5*/. Katherine, These poems have been edited for the
larly English Text Society, Nos. i8, 13, 51, 80; the first three
)y Cockayne as prose-texts, the last by Dr. Einenkel, who printed
t in short couplets regarded by him as having the same four-beat
hythm (Otfrid's metre) which he and his teacher. Prof. Traut-
nann, suppose to exist in Layamon and King Horn?- The
lomilies have no rhymes.
The form of these homilies and legends occasionally exhibits
eal alliterative lines, but for the most part is nothing but rhyth-
lical prose, altogether too irregular to call for an investigation
' This view has been combated by the author. The stages of the dis-
iussion are to be found in articles by Einenkel, Anglia, v. Anz. 47 ; Traut-
jiann, ibid. 118 ; Einenkel's edition of St. Katherine, E. E. T. S. 80; the
lithor's 'Metrische Randglossen ', Engl. Studien, ix. 184; ibid. 368 ; and
' iiglta, viii. Anz. 246. According to our opinion Otfrid's verse was never
nitated in England, nor was it known at all in Old or Middle English
mes.
86 THE LINE book i
here. Some remarks on passages written in a form more or less
resembling alliterative verse may be found in our Englische
Meirik, vol. i, § 94.
It is quite out of the question to suppose these Southern works,
with their very irregular use of alliteration and metre, to have
had any influence on the metrical form of the very numerous
alliterative poems written in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen-
turies in the Midland and Northern districts of England. It
is, however, not at all likely that alliterative poetry should have
sprung up there without any medium of tradition, and that it
should have returned to the strict forms of the Old English models.
Nor can we assume that it was handed down by means of
oral tradition only on the part of the minstrels from Old English
times down to the fourteenth century. The channel of tradition of
the genuine alliterative line must be sought for in documents
which for the most part have been lost.
A few small remnants, however, have been preserved, viz.
a charm in a MS. of the twelfth century (cf. Zupitza, Zeit-
schrift filr deuisches Altertum^ xxxi. 49), a short poem, entitled
' Ten Abuses ', belonging to the same period (E. E. T. S. 49,
p. 184), a prophecy of five lines contained in the chronicle of
Benedict of Peterborough {Rerum Britannicarum Scriptores^
49, ii. 139), finally a prophecy ascribed to Thomas of Ercel-
doune (E.E.T.S., vol. 61, xviii. Thorn, of Ere, ed. by A.
Brandl, p. 26). But these pieces, treated by Prof. Luick in
Paul's Grundrtss, ed. 2, II. ii, p. 160, are either too short or
are too uncertain in text to admit of our making definite con-
clusions from them.
But from the middle of the fourteenth century onward we
have a large number of poems composed in regular alliterative
verse, e. g. King Alisaunder (Als.) and William of Palerne (W.),
both in E. E. T. S., Extra-Ser. No. i ; foseph of Arimathie{].k!),
E. E.T. S. 44 ; Sir Gawain and m Green Knight (Or.), E.E. T. S.
4 ; Piers Plowman (P. P.), by W. Langland, E. E. T. S., Nos. 17,
28, 30, 38, 54 ; Pierce the Plowman's Crede (P. P. Cr.), E.E.T.S.
30 ; Richard the Redeles (R. R.), E. E. T. S. 54 ; The Crowned
King (Cr. K.), ibid. ; The Destruction of Troy, E. E.T. S. 39, 56;
Morte Arthur e, E. E. T. S. 8 ; Cleanness and Patience, E. E. T. S.
I ; The Chevalere Assigne, E. E.T. S., Extra-Ser. 6; and others
of the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth
centuries : see Prof. W. W. Skeat's list in ' Bishop Percy's Folio
MS.', London, 1867 (ed. Furnivall and Hales), vol. iii, p. xi, and
many recent publications of the Early English Text Society.
tf
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 87
On the structure of this metre the opinions of scholars
differ a good deal less than on that of the progressive or free
form of the alliterative line. Yet there are a few adherents of
the four-beat theory who apply it to the alliterative line of this
epoch, amongst others Rosenthal (' Die alliterierende englische
Langzeile im 14. Jahrhundert/ Anglia, i. 414 ff.). The two-
beat theory, on the other hand, has been upheld also for this
form of the alliterative line by Prof. W. W. Skeat, Essay on
Alliterative Poetry, Percy Folio MS. 1867 (ed. Furnivall and
Hales), by the present writer in Englische Metrik^ i, pp. 195-212,
and by Prof. Luick, Anglia, xi, pp. 392-443 and 553-618,
and subsequently in Paul's Grtindriss, ed. 2, II. ii, pp. 16 1-3.
§ 53. The use and treatment of the words in the verse
is on the whole the same as in the Old English period. The chief
divergence is, that in this period of the language the difference
between long and short syllables was lost, in consequence of the
lengthening of short vowels in open syllables which had taken
place in the interval, and that consequently the substitution of
a short accented syllable and an unaccented one for a long
accented syllable (the so-called resolution) was no longer ad-
missible. Otherwise syllables with a primary accent, syllables
with a secondary accent, and unaccented syllables are treated
just as in the Old English poetry. Accented syllables are as
a rule placed in the arsis, as are also second parts of com-
pounds. Other syllables with secondary accent (derivative and
■inflectional syllables) are only in exceptional cases placed in
he arsis of a verse.
It is of special interest, however, to notice that words of
Romanic origin which in the course of time had been intro-
luced into the language are in many cases accented according
0 Germanic usage. Words of which the last syllable was
i:\ccented in French have in their Middle-English form the chief
iiccent thrown on a preceding, frequently on the first, syllable,
md in consequence of this the originally fully accented syllable
n trisyllabic words receives the secondary accent and is treated
n the rhythm of the verse in the same way as syllables with
L secondary accent in English words. The laws, too, which
n Old EngHsh affect the subordination and position of the
)arts of speech in their relationship to the rhythm of the verse
nd to the alliteration, remain, generally speaking, in force. It
s remarkable that * if an attributive adjective is joined to a sub-
lantive, and a verb to a prepositional adverb, the first part of
hese groups of words still has the chief accent ' (Luick). Tb§
88 THE LINE book i
relationship, on the other hand, of verse and sentence is changed.
While in Old English poetry run-on-lines were very popular
and new sentences therefore frequently began in the middle of
a line, after the caesura, we find that in Middle English, as a
rule, the end of the sentence coincides with the end of the line.
Hence every line forms a unity by itself, and the chief pause
falls at the end, not, as was frequently the case in Old English
times, after the caesura.
§ 54. Alliteration. On the whole, the same laws regarding
the position of the alliterative sounds are still in force as
before; it is indeed remarkable that they are sometimes even
more strictly observed. In the Destruction of Troy, e.g,.|
triple alliteration according to the formula aaax is employed^
throughout.
Now of ^royforto telle \ is myn entent euyn,
Of the stSure and pe ^trffe, \ when it distroyet was, Prol. 27-8.
Alongside of this order of alliteration we find in most of the
other poems the other schemes of alliteration popular in Old
English times, e. g. axax^ xaax, abab, abba:
Injje fdrmesty^re, \ that he first reigned. Als. 40.
p/nne gonne I ra^eten \ a m/rvelous svevene. P. P. Prol. 11.
I hadminde on my ^Upe \ by "meting of^wiuen. Als. 969.
And fond as pe xae'ssageres \ hade miinged before. W. 4847.
Irregularities, however, in the position of the alliteration are-
frequently met with, e. g. parallel alliteration : aa, bb:
What pis vdduntein bevaenep \ and pis ^erke 6.dle.
P. P. i. I ;
or the chief alliterative sound (the ' head-stave ') may be place
in the last accented syllable {aax a)\
* Now be Orist,' quod the }sSng, \ 'pf I mihte chdcche,
ib. ii. 167;
or it may be wanting entirely, especially in William of Palerne:
Sche Audited itful Isiindly \ and dskes is name, W. 69 ;
and there are even found a certain number of verses without
any alliteration at all mfoseph of Arimathie:
Whan fdseph he'rde per-of \ he bad hem not demdy^en. J. A. 31,
I
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 89
In such cases it may sometimes be noticed that a line which
has no internal alliteration is linked by alliteration with a
preceding or with a following line, in the same way as was to
be observed already in the last century of the Old English
period (cf. p. 50) :
Bot on the Cristynmes ddye, \ whene they were dlle s^mblydey
Thai cStnliche cdnquerour \ commaundez hym selvyne.
Morte Arth. 70-1.
Again an excess of alliteration is found, which happens in
different ways, either by admitting four alliterative sounds in
one line {a a a a) as was sometimes done even in Old English :
In a sSmer seson \ when ^6/te was pe aonne. P. P. Prol. i ;
or by retaining the same alliterative sound in several consecu-
tive lines, e. g. :
/fenne was Conscience loUpet \ to cSfnen and ape'eren
to/ore the Isyng and his cSunsel, \ clerkes and opure.
')&.7ie'olynge Qdnscience \ to the "kyng ISutede. ib. iii. 1 09-11 ;
or, finally, by allowing the somewhat more strongly accented syl-
lables of the theses to participate in the alliteration :
and ivas a hig hotd \>drn \ and hre'me of his age. W. 18.
By the increasing use of this kind of alliteration it ultimately
j degenerated so much that the real nature of it was completely
I forgotten. This is evident from the general advice which King
James VI gives in his Revlis and Cavtelis to be observit and
eschewit in Scottis Poesie (Arber's Reprint, p. 63) :
Let all your verse be Literati, sa far as may be, quhatsumeuer kynde
Ithey be of, but speciallie Tumbling verse [evidently the alliterative line]
ifor flyting. Be Literati I meane, that the maist pairt of your lyne sail
irynne vpon a letter, as this tumbling lyne rynnis vpon F.
i FetcJiing ftide for to feid it fast furth of the Farie}
He then gives a description of this kind of verse which makes
it evident that he looked upon ' tumbling verse ' as a rhythm of
wo beats in each hemistich or four beats in the full line, for he says :
5e man observe that thir Tumbling verse flowis not on that fassoun as
theris dois. For all vtheris keipis the reule quhilk I gave before, to wit
' This line is inaccurately quoted by King James from the poet Alexander
^lontgomerie, who lived at his court. It should read as follows : —
Syne fetcht food for to feid it, \foorth fra the Pharie, Flyting 476.
90 THE LINE book i
the first fute short the secound lang and sa furth. Quhair as thir hes twa
short and ane lang throuch all the lyne quhen they keip ordour, albeit the
maist pairt of thame be out of ordour and keipis na kynde nor reule of
Flowing and for that cause are callit Tumbling verse.
King James VI was a contemporary of the last poets who
wrote in alliterative lines in the North and therefore undoubtedly
had heard such poems read by reciters who had kept up the
true tradition of their scansion. We have here then the very
best proof we can desire not only of the four-beat rhythm of
the line, but also of the fact that unaccented words, although
they may alliterate intentionally, as they do often in poems
of the fifteenth century, or unintentionally, as earlier, do not
get a full accent in consequence of the alliteration, as some
scholars have thought, but remain unaccented/
As to the quality of the alliteration the same laws on the
whole still prevail as in Old English poetry, but are less
strictly observed. Thus frequently voiced and unvoiced sounds
alliterate together, and the aspiration is neglected ; f alliterates
with V, V with w^ w with wh, s with sh or with combinations of
s and other consonants, g with k, h with ch :
\idrtes and hindes \ and 6J>er bestes mdnye. W. 389.
o/fdhnesse and fasting \ and Yduwes ibrdken. P. P. Prol. 68.
bat he wist witerfy \ it was the Yois of a childe. W. 40.
to acSrde wip pe liLxng \ and ^rdunte his wille. ib. 3657.
I myle now in pe see \ as schip houte mast. ib. 567. ,
stich Ghdstite withouten ohdrite | worp cldymed in h//te I
P. P. i. 168.
On the other hand, sometimes (as e. g. in the Alisaunder\
fragments) greater strictness may be noticed in regard to allitera-
tion of vowels, as only the same vowels^ are allowed to alliterate:
wip pe ^rldam o/^nuye \ ^uer forto Idste. P. P. ii. 63.
Later on, in the fifteenth century, vocalic alliteration in
general falls into disuse more and more. ■
§ 55. Comparison of Middle English and Old English)
alliterative verse. With regard to the rhythmic structure of'
the verse the Middle English alliterative line is not very different j
* Cf. the writer's paper ' Zur Zweihebungstheorie der alliterierenden (
Halbzeile ' in Englische Studien v. 488-93.
2 Cf. Chapters on Allitei-ative Verse by John Lawrence, D.Litt. London ;
H. Frowde. 1893. 8° (chapter iii).
I
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 91
from the corresponding Old English metre. Two beats in
each hemistich are, of course, the rule, and it has been shown
by Dr. K. Luick, in a very valuable paper on the English
alliterative line in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth
centuries/ that all the different types which Prof. Sievers has
discovered for the two sections of the Old English alliterative
line occur here again, but with certain modifications.
The modifications which the five chief types have undergone
originated in the tendency to simplify their many varieties
exactly in the same way as the Old English inflexional forms
of the language were simplified and generalized in the Middle
English period.
Only three of the five old types, viz. those with an even
number of members (A, B, C), are preserved in the second
section of the verse, and those not in their original forms. They
show further a certain tendency to assimilate to each other.
In types B and C the variations with disyllabic anacrusis
occurred most frequently, as was also the case in type A, and
verses of this kind now become predominant. Furthermore, in the
Old English alliterative line, endings consisting of an accented and
an unaccented syllable (feminine endings) prevailed ; and type
B was the only one of the symmetrical types ending with an
accented syllable. In Middle English the use of feminine
lendings goes so far that the original type B has disappeared
{altogether and given place to a new type with an unaccented
last syllable corresponding to the form x x — X ~ X .
Prof. Luick very properly calls this type B C, holding that
it originated from the variations X X — Xv^x and x X^X — X
of the old types B and C in consequence of the lengthening of
the originally short accented syllable. Verse-ends with two un-
accented syllables, which might have arisen in the same way from
^ X = w X X , did not become popular ; and verse-ends with one
maccented syllable predominated. Lastly, an important feature
)f the later verse-technique deserves notice, that a monosyllabic
macrusis (an initial unaccented syllable) is generally allowed in
ypes where it was not permitted in the Old English alliterative
ine. The consequence of these changes is that the rhythm of
he verse which was in Old English a descending rhythm, becomes
n Middle English ascending, and is brought into fine with the
hythm of the contemporary even-beat metres.
^ ' Die englische Stabreimzeile im 14., 15., 16. Jahrhundeit' {Ang^a, xi.
92-443, 553-618).
92 THE LINE book i
This is the state of development presented by the Middle
English alliterative line in one of the earliest poems of this
group, viz. in the fragments of ^/Ǥ* A h'saunder, the versification |
of which, as a rule, is very correct. '^
Here the three types only which we have mentioned occur in
the second hemistich.
Type A is most common, corresponding to the formula
(X)-X X~X :
yrdes and 6oper i, ^'edes of drmes 5, }sad in his time 11, \,&me
of his life 16,
or with anacrusis : it
or sterne was hdlden 10, and s6ne ber after 25.
More than two unaccented syllables may occur after the firstj
accented syllable. These two peculiarities seldom occur together!
in one and the same second hemistich (though frequently in the
first hemistich) ; but there are some examples :
is XHrned too him dlse 165, and "prikeden abSute 382, hee
fdred bn in haste 79 ;
in this last example with a secondary accent on the word on,
also in the verse : pe messengeres pei cdmme 11 26.
Type C, (x)x x-l-^x:
was pe man hdten 13, pat his "kith dsketh 65, as a "king
shdlde 17, withoute mischdunce 11 79.
TypeBC,(x)x x^x^X:
or it tyme were 30, in his fader s life 46, of pis -mery tale 45,
pat pei no oSmme pare 507.
The same types occur in the first hemistich; but type C
disappears almost entirely, and in the other two the last
syllable not unfrequently is accented, especially if a consider-
able number of unaccented syllables occur in the middle of
the hemistich ; such verses may be looked upon as remnants
of types B and E :
po was crSuned "king 28, hee made a uery u6w 281, and\
vreddedpat wight 22^, pe hern couth per by 632, &c.
Type D also seems to occur sometimes :
mduth va^ete Perth 184, what ^eath 6.ry[e'] thou shall 1067.
ll
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 93
Besides these types the first hemistich has, as in Old English
times, some forms of its own. The succession of syllables
-X X — X (type A) is extended either by several unaccented
syllables before the first accented one (polysyllabic anacrusis) or
by the insertion of a secondary accent between the two main
accented syllables, or after the second accented syllable, with a
considerable number of medial unaccented syllables.
{a) That ever ^\/ede bestrode 10,
Hee brought his menne to pe horowe 259.
{b) And QWued /brthe with pe ohilde 78,
pe Qompatiie zvas cdre/ull 359.
(c) a. Qrlisiande as %6ldw\re 180,
pei craked pe Qournales 295.
/?. Hue \6ued so l/cherle 35,
And lBh.iltp pe terse king 276.
y. Stones stirred pei pb 293,
Pe fSlke too fare with him 158.
The examples under {a) show the tendency noticeable already
in the first hemistich of the Old English alliterative line to admit
anacrusis. The examples under {b) and {c) may be looked upon
as extended forms of types E and D.
§ 56. Several poems of somewhat later date deviate more
frequently from these types than the Alisaunder fragments,
chiefly in the following points :
The end of the hemistich sometimes consists of an accented
Isyllable instead of an unaccented one; the thesis is some-
'times monosyllabic instead of polysyllabic, especially in A,
or the anacrusis may be polysyllabic instead of monosyllabic.
Secondary accents are introduced more frequently into the
second hemistich also, but by poets whose technique is careful
they are admitted only between the two accented syllables.
Owing to these licences, and to the introduction of polysyllabic
iheses, the rhythm of the verse sometimes becomes very heavy.
Belonging to this group are William 0/ Palerne, Joseph of
Arimathie^ both belonging to the middle of the fourteenth
:entury, the three editions of William Langland's Vision con-
crning Piers Plowman^ of somewhat later date, and a few
ninor poems. The Romance of the Chevelere Assigne, written in
he East Midland district, at the end of the fourteenth century,
94
THE LINE BOOK if
and the works of the Gawain-poet, viz. Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight, Cleanness, Patience, and the Legend of St.
Erkenwald (Horstmann, Altengl. Legetiden, 1881, p. 265),
form the transition to another group of poems belonging
to the North of England, but differing somewhat from the
preceding with regard to their metre.
The most important amongst these is Langland's great work,
but it is at the same time most unequal in respect to its versifica-
tion. In many passages, especially in the beginning of the several
Passus, as they are called, the flow of the verses is very regular ;
in other passages the theses are frequently of such great length,
and the arsis stands out so indistinctly, that the rhythm of the
verse can only be made out with difficulty. Some examples
taken from the B-text (c. 1377) may serve to illustrate this :
Extended second hemistich (Type A) :
To hdres and to lordckes \ pat hriketh adown viyne higges.
vi. 31.
And so I trowe tr/wly \ by pat men telleth of chdrite.
XV. 158.
Ac ^ut in m.dny mo mdneres \ va.en offenden pe hSligoste.
xvii. 280.
Extended first hemistich (Type A) :
Tteue him noup, for he is lecherous \ and Izkerous of tonge.
vi. 268.
"Ldboreres pat haue no Idnde \ to \yue on hut her hdndes.
ib. 309.
* Now, by pe -p&il of my soUlel' quod Pieres, \ ^ I skat
a-^iyre ^ou dlle!' vi. 173.
Such verses obviously contain only two beats in each hemistich,
although at the same time some of the syllables forming the
thesis may have a somewhat stronger accent than others. For
as a rule such extended verses are succeeded by a normal
line, clearly bringing out again the general four-beat rhythm, as
is the case with the Hne (A + A) following immediately upon;
the last-mentioned example :
And h-duped after "hunger \ pat h/rd hym atte firste. vi. 174,
Type A is in Piers Plowman the usual one, but the types C
and B C frequently occur. In the following examples we have ■
type C in the second hemistich : ^
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 95
And hadden le'ue to lye \ al here IJ/ after. Prol. 49.
/ sei'gh sonwie that Leiden \ pet had yaSujt seyntes. ib. 50 ;
in the first hemistich it occurs rarely :
Ac on a TKdy vciornynge \ on lULdluerne hulles. ib. 5.
Type BC is frequently to be met with in both hemistichs;
e. g. in the first :
In a sSmer ^/son, \ whan ^o/t was the Bonne, ib. i.
And as I lay and lened \ and loked in pe wdteres. ib. 9 ;
in the second :
"Bidders and hugger es \ fast ahoute )e'de. ib. 40.
"Lenten to Wdlsyngham, \ and here "tenches after, ib. 54.
Masculine endings, however (originating from the dropping
of the final -e in the last words of the types A and C, as e. g. in
and d.redfut of sight Prol. i6, Qristened pe 'is.Jnge xv. 437, as pe
kjng hight iii. 9), occur very rarely here. They are, on the
other hand, characteristic forms in another group of alliterative
poems.
§ 57. These belong to the North of England and the
j adjacent parts of the Midlands.
In these districts the final e had by this time become silent,
or was in the course of becoming so. Thus many verses of
I West-Midland poems were shortened in the North by omitting
|the final -e, and then these forms were imitated there. Hence
jthe middle of the line was much less modified than the end
!of it.
Types A, C, B C, therefore, occur not only in the ordinary
forms with unaccented syllables at the end, but also, although
imore rarely, with accented ones, viz. corresponding to the
schemes :
A,,(x)i-xxA d, (x)xx^A BQ,(x)xxXx^.
These forms of the hemistich first occur in the Destruction
>f Troy, a poem written in a West-Midland dialect very like
o the Northern dialect, and in the North-English poems,
^ forte Arthure and The Wars of Alexander (E. E. T. S.,
^'.xtra-Ser. 47). Examples of these types (taken from the
irst-mentioned poem) are : of type Aj in the second hemistich,
'or lerning of Us 32, pat 6nest were ay 48 ; with a polysyllabic
besis, and lympit of the sSthe 36 ; with a secondary accent.
96 THE LINE book i
ivith Qle'ne men of wit ^ go; without anacrusis/ Wnond as gSld
459, Whsid were / 473; in the first hemistich, with disyllabic
anacrusis, pat hen ^repit with ^'th 9, pat with the Gre'kys was
%ret 40; without anacrusis, "Byg y-noghe vnto hed 397, Hryed
men pat were taken 258, &c. ; examples for Q (only occurring
in the second hemistich), pat he fSre with 44, into your lond
hSme 611, ye have mid well 1122, pat ho home was 1388, 0/
my c6rs has 1865 ; examples for B C^, in the second hemistich
(of rare occurrence), when it destrdyet was 28, and to Borow
brdght 1497, pere pe citie was 1534.
The same modification of types took place later in other parts
of the Midlands, as appears from two works of the early sixteenth
century, Scottish Field and Death and Life (Bishop Percy's
Folio MS., edited by Furnivall and Hales, i. 199 and iii. 49),
The last North-English or rather Scottish poem, on the other
hand, written in alliterative lines without rhyme, Dunbar's well-
known Satire, The iwa mariit wemen and the wedoy has, apart
from the normal types occurring in the North-English poems,
many variants, chiefly in the first hemistich, which are cha-
racterized by lengthy unaccented parts both at the beginning
of the line, before the second arsis, and after it; frequently
too syllables forming the thesis have a secondary accent and
even take part in the alliteration, as e.g. in the following
examples :
^aip and '^ing, in the "^dk \ ane y'ir/or to draw. 79.
Is hair of hits andhdilfull, \ and greithdrrat wirkis. 51.
Sometimes the second hemistich participates in this cumulation
of alliterating words, which not unfrequently extends over several,
even as many as six or seven consecutive lines :
He %rdythit me in gay silk \ and gUdlie arrdyis,
In gownis of in%rdnit clayih \ and greit g6ldin chen^eis, 365-6.
This explains how King James VI came to formulate the
metrical rule mentioned above (p. 89) from the misuse oi
aUiteration by the last poets who used the alliterative line, or
the alliterative rhyming line to be discussed in the next para-
graph, which shares the same peculiarity.
1 Prof. Luick, in his longer treatise on the subject {Anglia, xi. 404), dis
tinguishes between two forms of this type with anacrusis ( x — x x — ) aiM
without (—X X—), which he calls A^ and Ag, a distinction he has righ^
now abandoned (Paul's Grundriss, ed. 2, II. ii. p. 165).
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF TtlE NATIVE METRE 97
B. The alliterative line combined with rhyme.
§ 58. In spite of the great popularity which the regular alli-
terative line enjoyed down to the beginning of the Modern
English period, numerous and important rivals had arisen in
the meantime, viz. the many even-beat rhymed kinds of verse
I formed on foreign models ; and these soon began to influence the
j alliterative line. The first mark of this influence was that end-
Irhyme and strophic formation was forced upon many allitera-
|tive poems. In a further stage the alliterative line was compelled
to accommodate its free rhythm of four accents bit by bit to
that of the even-beat metres, especially to the closely-related
four-foot iambic line, and thus to transform itself into a more
or less regular iambic-anapaestic metre. The alliterative line, on
the other hand, exercised a counter influence on the newer
jforms of verse, inasmuch as alliteration, which was formerly
peculiar to native versification, took possession in course of
time to a considerable extent of the even-beat metres, especially
of the four-foot iambic verse. But by this reciprocal influence
Df the two forms of verse the blending of the four-beat allitera-
tive line with that of four equal measures and the ultimate pre-
dominance of the even-beat metres was brought about more
asily and naturally.
Alliterative-rhymed lines, the connexion of which into stanzas
)r staves will be treated of in the second part of this work under
he heading of the 'Bob- wheel-stanza', were used during the
Middle English period alike in lyric, epic, and dramatic poetry.
, § 59. Lyrical stanzas. The earliest stanzas written in
illiterative rhyming lines were lyrical.
We must distinguish between isometric and anisometric stanza
orms. In the former the whole stanza consists of four-beat
illiterative lines, commonly rhyming according to a very
imple scheme (either aaaaoxabah). In the latter four-beat
png lines as a rule are combined with isolated lines of one
jneasure only and with several of two measures to form the
tanza. The two-beat verses frequently have a somewhat
ingthened structure (to be discussed further on sections on
lie epic stanzas), in consequence of which many of them
aving theses with secondary accents can be read either as
ven-beat verses of three measures or as three-beat verses on
le model of those in King Horn. The four-beat alliterative
nes, on the other hand, are mostly of more regular structure,
le distances between the first and second arsis not being
98 THE LINE book i
so unequal and the theses as a rule being disyllabic. The
anacrusis too in these verses admits of a somewhat free treat-
ment. The difference, however, between the first and second
hemistich is less conspicuous than it was in those forms of the
Middle English alliterative line before mentioned. Alliteration,
on the other hand, is abundantly used.
The main rhythmic character of the verse is again indicated
here by the frequent occurrence of the types A and A^. The
types B C, B Cj, C, Cp however, likewise occur pretty often, and
the two last types present serious obstacles to the assumption
that the lines of these poems were ever recited with an even
beat. But how exactly these poems were recited or to what
sort of musical accompaniment can hardly be definitely decided
in the absence of external evidence.
The first verses of a West-Midland poem of the end of the
thirteenth century (Wright's Political Songs, p. 149) may serve
as a specimen :
Ich herde m/« vpo vadld \ make muche jnon,
Hou he bep iiened \ of here ttlynge :
GcSde jeres and c6rn \ bSpe bej? a%Sn,
Ne kepep here no sdwe \ ne no s6ng sfnge.
The second hemistichs in 11. 2 and 4 belong to type C. In
other poems also, with lines of more regular rhythm (chiefly!
type A), this type may be met with now and then, e. g. ini
a poem published in Wright's Specimens of Lyric Poetry, p. 25,
especially in the second hemistich, e.g. hauep pis mdi m/r<f,i
line 9, andpe ^flofre, line ^o,patpe hSrhede, line 44.
It is not difficult to distinguish such rhymed four-be
alliterative lines from those of four measures which have fairl
regular alliteration, for the long line of the native metre alwaj
has a somewhat looser fabric, not the even-beat rhythmic*
cadence peculiar to the iambic verse of four measures, and,
secondly, it always has a caesura after the first hemistich, whereas
the even-beat verse of four measures may either lack distinct
caesura or the caesura may occur in other places in the verse
as well as after the second arsis. This will be evident b)
comparing the following four-beat verses of the last stanza ol
a poem in Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. 3 1 :
"Richard, \ rSte of vesoun r^ght, I
vykening of rjm ant xSn, ■ 1
Of TOididnes vae'ke pou hast voyht, . • I
on va.6lde y holde pe m.iirgest m.6n ; i
1
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 99
with the following first four-beat alliterative lines of another
poem (ibid. p. 25) :
Ichot a hurde in a houre, \ ase he'ryl so hrjghi,
Ase sdpht'r in reiver \ ^emly on syhf^
Ase idspe pe ^/niil, \ pat lemep wip \^hfy
Ase ^ernet in golde, \ and rtidy wel ryht.
In similar lines are written several other poems, as M(?«
in pe m.one (ibid. p. no); Of icibaudz y -cyme (Wright's Pol,
Songs y p. 237) ; and five songs by Laurence Minot (nos. ii, v,
ix, X, xi), written in the middle of the fourteenth century.
§ 60. In other poems the four-beat long lines used in the
main part of the stanza are followed by shorter lines forming
the Cauda, which in part are of a variable rhythmic cadence
either of three beats (or three measures) or of two beats, as e.g.
in the well-known poem in Percy's Reliques, ii, p. i.^ The
first stanza may be quoted here :
Sittep alle stille \ and he'rknep lo m^:
pe k)>ng of Alemdigne, \ hi mi Uaute\
pritti pousent pound \ dskede he
Forte mdke pe pees \ in // countre,
Ant so he diide mSre.
Richard,
pah pou be ^uer trichard,
Tricchen shalt pou ne'uer more.
In the following stanzas of this poem the four-beat rhythm,
ialthough rarely marked by regular alliteration, is (in the main
'part or 'frons') still more distinctly recognizable, in spite of
several rhythmically incorrect lines.
Second hemistichs of the type C^ are not infrequent, e.g.
opon swjvj^ng 9, sire Edwdrd 46, 0 py IJdrd 47. Lines 5 and 7
re of a two-beat rhythm, 1. 8 probably as well (cf. our scan-
ion).
There is a decided similarity in regard to structure and versi-
^cation between this stanza and that of a poem in Wright's
Pol. Songs, p. 153, although .the long lines are divided in
he middle by interlaced rhyme. This may be illustrated by
ts second stanza :
^ Also printed in Ritson's Ancient Songs, i, p. 12; Wright's Pol. Songs,
). 69; Miitzner's Altenglische Sprachproben, i, p. 152; Boddeker's Alt'
ngliscke Dichtungen, Pol. Lieder, no. i.
H 2
lOO THE LINE book i
Nou hap -prtide pe -grts \ in euervche -pldwe, '
By many wymmon onwts \y siigge mi mwe.
For ^ef a \ddy \yue is \ l/id after Idwe,
Vch a strHmpei pat per is \ such ^rdhies wol drdwe.
In prUde
Vch a scr^we wol hire shriide,
poh he ndhbe nout a smSk \ hire fSule ers to hUde.
There is no line here corresponding to 1. 5 of the preceding
poem. Otherwise, however, the cauda of this poem is of a
similar structure to that of the preceding one, at least in this
and possibly in the following stanzas, whereas the last line of
the first stanza has a two-beat rhythm, and in the others the last
lines probably are to be scanned with three beats. The second
line of the cauda of the first stanza of this poem belongs to
type C. Another poem (Wright's Polit. Songs, p. 155; Bod-
deker, P. L. no. iv) shows a very artificial form of stanza, either
corresponding to the formula aa^b^c c^ b^ ddj^b^e e^ b^ffgggf^
(if we look upon the verses as four-beat and two-beat lines, which
the poet probably intended), or corresponding to the formula
aaij).^c c^ b^dd^ b^ e e^ b^f/gggf^ (if we look upon ihe/rons as
consisting of ordinary tail-rhyme-stanza lines of four and three
even-beat measures).
The four- and two-beat cadence of the verses comes out
still more clearly in the stanzas of another poem (Wright's Pol. ,
Songs, p. 187 ; Ritson, Anc. Songs, i. 51 ; Boddeker, P. L. no. v), j
the rhymes of which follow the scheme aaa^b^ccc^b^ (extended
tail-rhyme-stanzas). Some of its long lines, it is true, admit
of being read as even-beat verses of three measures, e. g. and
beo huere che'uent^yn 20, and mdni anSper swiyn 24, but the true
scansion in all probability is and beo huere cheuenteyn (or che-
uenteyn) : ant mdni anoper swfyn, in conformity with the
scansion of the following lines to come to parts : pourh pe fldur
de Us 52-6, ox wip /or I and wip knyht:with hdem forte fyhi
124-8.
As a first step to the epic forms of stanza to be considered
in the next paragraph a poem of the early fourteenth century
(Wright's Pol. Songs, p. 212 ; Ritson, Anc. Songs, p. 28 ; Bod-
deker, P. L. no. vi) may be quoted :
Jifstnep^ JjSrdinges, \ a newe s6ng ichulle bigfnne
Of pe tray tours of Scdtland, \ pat take bep wyp gynne.
Mon pat lovep fdlsnesse, \ and nule n/uer blynne,
SSre may him dr/de \ pe Iff pat he is fnne,
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE loi
|||h Ich vndersionde:
I^K Selde wes he glad,
I^K pat neuer ties asdd
B^B Of n^pe ant of 6nde,
P^The fifth line has one arsis only (as appears more clearly
" iFrom that in the second stanza : wijf L6ue), thus corresponding
to the above-mentioned poems (pp. 99, loo); the other lines of
the Cauda have two stresses.
Prof. Luick ^ looks upon the long lines of this poem and of
several others (e.g. Wright's Pol. Songs, pp. 69 and 187) as
doubled native verses of the progressive or Layamon form,
but rhyming only as long lines. This can hardly be, as the
rhythmic structure of these verses does not differ from that of
the other poems quoted above, which belong, according to
Prof. Luick himself, to the class of the normal, lyric rhyming-
alliterative lines.
§ 61. Narrative verse. Alliterative-rhyming verses occur
in their purest form in narrative poetry, especially in a number
of poems composed during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
in stanzas of thirteen lines, and republished recently in a collec-
tive edition by the Scottish Text Society in vol. 27 under the
title Scottish Alliterative Poems (ed. by F. J. Amours, Edinburgh,
1892). The poems contained in this collection are Golagras
and Gawane (also in Anglia, ii. 395), The Book of the Howlat
by Holland, Rauf Coil^ear (also in E. E. T. S., Extr.-Ser.
vol. xxxix), The Awntyrs off Arthur e at the Terne Wathelyne,
The Pistill of Susan (also in Anglia, i. 93). Douglas's Prologue
to the Eighth Book of his translation of the Aeneid (although
written in the beginning of the sixteenth century) likewise
belongs to this group, as do also the poems of John Audelay,
composed in Shropshire in the fifteenth century (Percy Soc. xiv,
p. 10 ff.), and a poem Of Saynefohn the Euaungelist (E. E. T. S.
26, p. 87) written in stanzas of fourteen lines in the North of
England. The stanzas of all these poems — generally speaking
—consist of two unequal parts, \hQ frons written in alliterative
lines, rhyming according to the formula abababab, and the
':auda which contains five or six lines, the first of which may
either be a long line as in the frons, or, as in The Pistill of
^usan, a short one-beat one, with four two-beat sectional verses
Tollowing. Only in the last-mentioned poem does the cauda
onsist of six two-beat sectional verses.
1 Paul's Grundriss, ed. 2, II. ii, p. 158.
I02 THE LINE BOOK i
The rhythm of this alliterative-rhyming metre may first be
illustrated by the opening lines of Golagras and Gawane:
I.
In the tyme of Arthur, \ as trew men me tdM,
The king XHrnit on ane Xjde \ towart Tdskane,
Hym to ^e'ik our the s^, | that miklese wes ^dld,
The syre that sendts all se't'll, \ siithly to sane ;
With lodnrentes, hdrounis, \ and hernis /ull hdld,
Blggast of hdne and hliide \ hr/d in "Britane.
Thei vrdlit out ^e'rryouris \ with wdpinnis to 'wdld,
The gayest grumys on grilnd, \ with geir that myght gdne ;
DUkis and d,igne Ihrdis, \ ^duchty and ^ir,
^imbillit to his ^Hmmovne,
Tienkis of grete v/nbvne,
Qumly ')eiingis with crdvne
Of gSld that wes cleir.
II.
Thus the royale can remove, \ with his "Round Tdbill,
Of all riches maist rike, \ in Ttall array.
Wes neuer fiindun on tSld, \ but teheeing or tdbill,
Ane fdyrar tldure on ane ieild \ oftre'sche men, in fay ; ^r.
Lines like the four last quoted illustrate the normal structure
of the rhyming-alliterative verse, especially the relationship
of rhyme and alliteration to each other in monosyllabic and
disyllabic words. It will be seen that the rhyming syllable, as
a rule the root-syllable, or at least the accented syllable of the
word, at the same time carries the fourth accent of the line, and
in consequence the fourth alliterative sound. In all other respects
the rhymed- alliterative verse is structurally similar to that without
rhyme, and it is therefore evident that rhyme exercises no decisive i
influence on the rhythm of the verse. In this comparatively pure
form — if we do not take into account the secondary accents
occurring in the first hemistichs of the stanza in the later poem-
are written the great majority of the lines in the earliest of poems
mentioned above, viz. The Awntyrs off Arthur e.
§ 62. The relation, however, between rhyme and alliteration i
and consequently the relation of the rhythmic accentuation of
the words to their natural accentuation is less clear in the firsts
stanza quoted above. The following verses rhyming together'
may serve to elucidate this :
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 103
Than schir Qcdwyne the gay^ \ gi^de and gracilis . . .
Jd/y and geniill, \ and full oheuatlrils. Gol. 389, 391.
Ouer heor h/des gon "hyng
pe vjince and pe wederlyng. Susan, 101-2;
or the verses Gol. 648, 650, 654 :
Thus ^ndit the kuynantis \ with mekil hdnbur ;
Thair hodeis wes heryit \ "bdith in ane hour,
Ane uihir heght "Edmond, \ that ^rSuit "gar amour.
In the first couplet the last syllable of the word grdcius,
although bearing only a secondary accent and forming the last
thesis of the verse, rhymes with the last syllable of the word
ciheuailriis, which likewise in ordinary speech has a secondary
accent, but here is the bearer of the fourth metrical accent of
the verse. In the second couplet the syllable lyng of the word
we'derlyng, which has a secondary accent and forms part of the
thesis, rhymes with the word hyng which has the rhythmical
accent. In the last group of verses the last syllable of the
words paramour, honour having secondary accents rhymes with
the word hour, the bearer of the last rhythmical accent. Similar
rhymes occur even in Modern English poetry, e. g. in the works
of Thomas Moore : Vain were its melody, R6se, without thee or
]yhdt would the Rose hi Unsung by thee .^ ^
It also frequently happens that all the rhyming syllables, which
have a secondary accent and occur in the thesis of a verse,
belong to trisyllabic words, while the accented syllables in the
arsis, whether alliterating or not, do not take part in the
rhyme, e. g.:
pou brak gddes Comdundement,
To sle' such an Innocent
With e'ny fals JUggement. Susan, 321-3.
Similar unaccented rhymes are also met with in disyllabic
words :
' In /dith,' said Schir RSlland,
' That is /ail euill wyn land
To hdue quhill thow ar leuand! Rauf Coil5ear, 917-19.
Other rhymes of the same kind are se'mhland : leuand, con-
^entand : endHrand, Gol. 428 ff., &c.
In all such cases the natural accentuation of the words is not
nterfered with by the rhythm of the verse.
^ Cf. Metriky ii. 146; and Luick, Anglia, xii. 450, 451.
104
THE LINE BOOK i
The kind of irregular rhyme most frequently occurring, how-
ever, is that which is formed by the unaccented syllable of a di-
syllabic word (the first syllable of which alliterates and bears
the last arsis of the verse) rhyming with a monosyllabic word
which likewise bears the fourth rhythmical accent of another
alliterative line (or the second of a short line forming part of
the Cauda) and takes part in the alliteration as well, as e. g. in
the rhymes Tiiskane : sane : "Briiane : gane and siimmovne : re-
novne : crovne of the above-mentioned stanza of the poem
Golagras and Gawane.
It is not likely that a complete shifting of accent in favour of
the rhyming syllable ever took place, as the first syllables of the
words usually take part in the alliteration, and therefore have
a strongly marked accent. Sometimes, it is true, in the poems
of this epoch, unaccented syllables do participate in the allitera-
tion; and in the case of the words Tuskane^ Briiane, summovne,
renovne then- Romance origin would explain the accent on the
last syllable; but these words, both as to their position and as
to their treatment in the line, are exactly on a par with the
Germanic rhyme-words in 11. 870-2 :
For he wes \>yrsii and heft, \ and hrdithly "bk'dand . . .
. Andwdld that he nane h.dr?n hynt \ with hart and with hand.
In both cases we thus have ' accented-unaccented rhymes ' (cf.
Chapter I in Book II), which probably were uttered in oral
recitation with a certain level stress. This is probable for several
reasons. First it is to be borne in mind that Germanic words
in even-beat rhythms of earlier and contemporary poems were
used in the same way, e. g. :
Quhen thai of Ldrne has se'ne the king
Set in hymse'lff sa gret helping. Barbour, Bruce, iii. 147-8.
And bad thame wind intS Scotland
And set a se'ge with stdlward hand. ib. iv. 79-80.
Only in these cases the rhythmical accent supersedes the word
accent which has to accommodate itself to the former, while
in the uneven-beat rhythm of the four-beat alliterative line the ■
word-accent still predominates. In the even-beat lines, therefore, :
the rhythmical accent rests on the last syllable of a disyllabic
rhyme-word, but in the alliterative lines it rests on the penultimate. '
In the case of words of Romance origin, however, which*
during this period of the language could be used either with)
Germanic or with Romanic accentuation, the displacement of thij
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 105
word-accent by the rhythmic accent in non-alliterative words
may in these cases have been somewhat more extensive ; of. e. g.
rhymes like rage : cur age : sudge Gol. 826-8 ; day : gay : Jour nay
ib. 787-9 ; assdill : meUdill : battdil R. Coil5ear, 826-8, &c.
^\x\.}one Wrne in the 'bditale Gol. 806).
As a rule, however, for these too the same level-stress accen-
tuation must be assumed as for the rhyme-words of the first
stanza of Golagras quoted above (p. 102).
§ 63. This is all the more probable because, in these allitera-
tive-rhyming poems, there are many sectional verses corre-
sponding to the old types C and C^, these answering best the
combined requirements of alliteration and of end-rhyme, for
which frequently one and the same Germanic or Romanic word
had to suffice in the second hemistich, as e. g. in the following
sectional verses rhyming together : — What is pi good rede :for his
\inijthe'de : {by Qvosse and by Gvede) Awnt. of Arth. 93-7 ; {and
hldke to pe hone): as a womdne ib. 105-7; enclosed with a
crSwne : 0/ the tresSne ib. 287-91 ; of ane fair -we'll : teirfull to
Xe'll : with ane cdstell : ')Lene and aruell, or, as Prof. Luick scans,
kene aftd cruell (but 1. 92 crtlel and }s,ene) Gol. 40-6; at the
mydddy : (went thai thar way) Howl. 665-7. &c.
Also in the even-beat metres the influence of this type is still
perceptible ; cf. rhymes like
Siimwhat of his dSping
For pe I6ue of he'uene kyng,
Rob. Mannyng, Handl. Sinne, 5703-4.
which are of frequent occurrence.
For the rest both in these alliterative-rhyming poems and in
he poems with alliteration only the types A and Ap B C and
Cj are frequent. These alliterative-rhyming lines have
his feature in common with the pure alliterative lines, that
fhe first hemistich differs materially from the second in having
JDften an anacrusis of several syllables (initial theses) and
Bomewhat lengthened theses in the middle of the line, and in
)eimilting such theses with only a secondary accent to take
rart in the alliteration. All this tends to give a somewhat
leavy rhythmic cadence to the whole line.
§ 64. The same difference is perceptible, as Prof. Luick was
he first to show (Anglia, xii, pp. 438 ff.), in the single two-beat
ines of the cauda, the three first (11. 10-12 of the whole stanza)
laving the looser structure of the extended first hemistichs of
he long lines, while the last two-beat line (line 1 3 of the whole
io6 THE LINE book i
stanza) has the normal structure (commonly type A, Aj, as
e.g. Birnand iliretty and thre Gol. 247; Of gold that wes
cliir ib. i) of second sections of the long line, as is evident
from the first stanza of Golagras and Gawane quoted above
(p. 102). In this concluding line, however, other types of verse
peculiar to the second hemistich of long lines may also be met
with, as e. g. C, Q, B C, B Q, e. g. : For thi mdnhede Avvnt. of
Arth. 350; Wiihoutin distance Gol. 1362; As I am trew knight.
Gol. 169 ; Couth na leid say ib. 920 ; In ony riche reime ib. 1258, ;
Quhen he wes lightit doun ib. 1 30.
In other poems the group of short lines rhyming according
to the scheme a a ah and forming part of the cauda is preceded
neither by a long alliterative line nor by a one-beat half section
of it (as in Susan), but by a complete two-beat sectional verse,
which then, in the same way as the last verse rhyming with it,
corresponds in its structure to that of the second hemistich of
the long line ; as e. g. in The Townavieiit of Tottenham (Ritson's ,
Ancient Songs, i. 85-94), rhyming on the scheme AAAAbcccb
(the capitals signifying the long lines), and in The Ballad of
Kynd Kittok, possibly by W. Dunbar (Laing, ii. 35, 36 ; Small,
i. 52, 53; Schipper, 70).
In Sayne fohn the Euaungelist the ' cauda ' has the structure
of a complete tail-rhyme-stanza, the order of rhymes of the
whole stanza being ABABABABccdccd.
§ 65. In connexion with this it is particularly interesting to
note that such two-beat sections of the alliterative line are also
used by themselves for whole poems written in tail-rhyme-
stanzas (as was first shown by Prof. Luick, Anglia, xii,
pp. 440 ff.); cf. e.g. the translation of the Disticha Catonis
(E. E. T. S. 68), the two first stanzas of which may be quoted
here :
If p6u be made ivittenesse,
For to say pat s6p Is,
Sdue pine hondur,
A Is mikil, as pou may fra blame,
Lame pi fre'ndis shame.
And sdue fra dishondur.
For-s6p tlipers,
And alle fdls Haters
I re'de, sone, pou fie ;
For pen sdlle na gode man,
pat any gdde tare can,
par fore blame pe.
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 107
In the same stanza The Feesi (Hazlitt, Remains, iii. 93) is
written.
Still more frequently such lines were used for extended tail-
rhyme- stanzas rhyming on the ^chQiriQ aaabc ccb dddbee e b^
as e.g. in a poem, The Enemies of Mankind, of the begin-
ning of the fourteenth century, published by Kolbing {Engl.
Studien, ix. 440 ff.).
The first stanza runs as follows :
pe siker aSJ>e who so s^yj,
WiJ> dlol dr/^'e we our days
And walk mdni wil wdys
As wdndrand wij/es.
A I our games ous agds,
So mani tenes on Xds
purch fSnding of fele fas,
pat fast wip ous ftpes.
Our tlesche is tSuled wip pe fend ;
per we finde a fals fre'nde :
pei pai h/uen vp her h/nde,
pai no hdld noujt her hipes.
pis er \re', pat er prdy
^eie pe fe'rp is our fa,
"Dep, pat d/riep ous swd
And diolely ous dipes.
Here, again, the difference between the lines on the pattern
of the first hemistich of the long Hne, which form the body of
he stanza (a a a, bbb, cc c, ddd), and those on the pattern of
he second hemistich used as tail-rhyme lines (b, b, b, b) is
)lainly recognizable.
The same is the case in other poems written in this form
)f stanza, as e. g. in the Metrical Romances, Sir Perceval, Sir
Degrevant (Halliwell, Thornton Romances, Camden Society,
844, pp. I, 177) and others ; cf. Luick, Anglia, xii, pp. 440 ff.,
nd Paul's Grundriss, ii a, p. 1016. But in these later works,
>ne of the latest of which probably is the poem The Droichis
'^art of the Play, possibly by Dunbar (Laing, ii. 37; Small,
. 314; Schipper, 190), the two-beat lines are frequently inter-
lingled and blended with even-beat lines, which from the
eginning of the fifth stanza onward completely take the place
f the two-beat lines in the last-mentioned poem. Likewise
1 the ' Bob-wheel-staves ', i. e. stanzas of the structure of those
ixteenth-century stanzas quoted above (§§ 60, 61), the cauda.
io8 THE LINE book i
as is expressly stated by King James VI in his Revlis and
Cavtelis, is written in even-beat lines of four and three mea-
sures, though the main part of the stanza {\kitfrons) is composed
in four-beat rhyming-alliterative lines (cf. Luick, Anglia, xii,
p. 444).
§ 66. In the contemporary Dramatic Poetry this mixture
of four-beat (or two-beat) alliterative lines with lines of even
measures is still more frequent, and may be used either strophi-
cally or otherwise.
In the first place, we must note that in the earlier collections
of Mystery Plays (Towncley Mysteries, York Plays, and Liidus
Coventrtae) the rhyming alliterative long line, popular, as we
have seen, in lyric and in narrative poetry, is also used in the
same or cognate forms of stanzas.
But the form of verse in these Mysteries, owing to the loss
of regular alliteration, cannot with propriety be described as the
four-beat alliterative long line, but only as the four-beat long
line. In many instances, however, the remnants of alliteration
decidedly point to the four-beat character of this rhythm, as
e. g. in the following stanza of the Towneley Mysteries (p. 140) :
Moste myghty T&.dhowne \ ming you with myrthe,
Both of hUrgh and of towne \ by f/llys and by tyrthe ;
Both "kyng with crowne \ and hdrons of hfrthe,
That vddly wylle vSwne, \ many %re'att %rithe
Shalle be hdpp ;
Take tenderly inte'nt
What sondes ar ^nt,
Els hdrmes shall ye laent
A?id lathes you to Idp.
In this form of stanza the different groups of lines or even
single lines are frequently, as e. g. in the so-called Processus Noe
(the Play of the Flood), very skilfully divided between several
persons taking part in the dialogue. The interlaced rhyme in
the long lines connects it with the stanza form of the lyric
poem quoted above (p. 100), and the form of the 'cauda' relates
it to that of the lyric poem quoted (p. loi), and in this respect
is identical with that of The Pistill of Susan.
The rhythmic treatment of the verses is, both with regard to
the relation between rhyme and the remnants of alliteration
and to the use of the Middle English types of verse, on the whole
the same as was described in §§ 62-4 treating of this form of
verse in narrative poetry. The types A and A^, B C and B Cj,
I
1
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 109
are chiefly met with ; now and then, however, type Cj also occurs
in the second hemistich, as e. g. in the verses that wold v6wch
sdyf \^2^ of the tent mdyne 487, wtlle com agdne sone 488, of the
Play of the Flood mentioned above.
But in the 'cauda' the difference explained in §65 between
first and second short lines forming the close of a stanza is
often very regularly observed.
In other places of the Towneley Mysteries similar stanzas are
written in lines which have almost an alexandrine rhythm (cf.
Metrik, i. 2 29),while, on the other hand, in the Coventry Mysteries
we not unfrequently meet with stanzas of the same form written in
lines which, in consequence of their concise structure, approach
even-beat lines of four measures, or directly pass into this
metre. The intermixture of different kinds of line is even
jcarried here to such a length that to a frons of four-beat lines
lis joined a cauda of even-beat lines of four or three measures
corresponding to King James VI's rule quoted above (p. 108) for
such stanzas ; and on the other hand to a frons of even-beat
ines of four measures is joined a cauda of two-beat short
lines.
§67. The distinctly four-beat line, however, still forms the
staple of the different kinds of verse occurring in these poems,
ind was also used in them for simple forms of stanza. In the
urther development of dramatic poetry it remained much in
ise. Skelton's Moral Play Magnificence, and most of the
Moralities and Interludes contained in Dodsley's Old Plays
ed. Hazlitt), vols, i-iv, are written chiefly in this popular metre.
'\s a rule it rhymes here in couplets, and under the influence of
he even-beat measures used in the same dramatic pieces it
gradually assumes a pretty regular iambic-anapaestic or tro-
bhaic-dactylic rhythm. This applies for the most part to the
mmorous and popular parts; allegorical and historical per-
onages are made to converse in even-beat verses.
Verses of an ascending (iambic-anapaestic) rhythm were
specially favoured, as might be expected from the fact that
he Middle English alliterative line in the preceding centuries
isually begins with one or two unaccented syllables before the
irst accented one.
Of the different types used in the Middle English alliterative
ine type C (Cj), which does not harmonize well with the even-
>eat tendency of the rhythm, and which is only very seldom if
t all to be met with even in the Coventry Plays, becomes very
are and tends to disappear altogether, type A (A,) and (although
no THE LINE book i
these are much less frequent) type B C (B Q) alone remaining
in use.
§ 68. Of the more easily accessible pieces of Bishop John
Bale (i 495-1 563) his Comedye Concernynge Thre Lawes, edited
by A. Schroer (Anglm, v, pp. 137 ff., also separately, Halle,
Niemeyer, 1882), is written in two-beat short lines and four-
beat long lines, and his King Johan (c. 1548) (edited by Collier,
Camden Society, 1838) entirely in this latter metre. The latter
play has a peculiar interest of its own, containing as it does lines
which, as in two Old English poems (cf. pp. 123, 124), con-
sist either half or entirely of Latin words. Now, as the accen-
tuation of the Latin lines or half-lines admits of no uncertainty,
the four-beat scansion of the English verses of this play and of
the long lines in The Three Lawes is put beyond doubt, though
Schroer considers the latter as eight-beat long lines on the basis
of the four-beat theory of the short line.
Some specimens may serve to illustrate the nature of these
* macaronic ' verses, e. g. :
A pena et culpa \ I desire to be cUre. p. 33.
In nSmtne pdtris, \ 0/ all that ever I hard. p. 28.
ludicdte pupillo, \ def indite viduam, p. 6.
Other verses of the same kind occur, pp. 5, 6, 53, 62, 78, 92.
But apart from this irrefutable proof of the four-beat scansion
of the long line, the rhythmic congruity of it with the rhyming
aUiterative lines discussed in § 67 can easily be demonstrated by
the reoccurrence of the same types, although a difference between
the first and the second hemistich no longer seems to exist
Type A, of course, is the most frequent, and occurs in many^
sub-types, which are distinguished chiefly by monosyllabic, disyl
labic, or polysyllabic anacruses, disyllabic or polysyllabic thesel
between the first and second arsis, and monosyllabic, disyllabic, or
trisyllabic theses after the latter. The most usual form of this
type corresponds to the scheme (x)X-lx x^x, while the form
Z, X X — X is rarer. Type Aj likewise admits of polysyllabic
anacruses and theses, corresponding mostly to the formula
(x)XvZx X~, less frequently to -1 x X ~. Type BC
(x)x X-1X/.X is rare, type B Ci(x)x X-^X-^, on the other
hand, very common ; type C(x)x x~-^X still occurs no'
and then, but type C^ ( X ) X X — -1 has become exceeding!
scarce.
§ 69. Statistical investigations as to the frequency of occur
HI
|CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE iii
irence, and especially on the grouping of these different types
are still wanting, and would contribute greatly toward the more
exact knowledge of the development of the iambic-anapaestic and
I the trochaic-dactylic metre out of the four-beat verse. Of course
I in such an investigation the use of anacrusis in the types A and
j A^ should not be neglected. According to the presence or absence
jof anacrusis in the two hemistichs four different kinds of line may
Ibe distinguished :
I. Lines with anacrusis in both hemistichs. These are the
imost numerous of all, and are chiefly represented by the
combinations of types A (Aj) + A (Aj), A (A^) + B C^ (B C) :
A + A : For by measure, i wdrne you, \ we tkfnke to be
gydyd. Skelt. Magn. i86.
A -I- Aj : For noysche/e wyl m.dys/er vs, \ yf vckiasure vs
forsake, ib. 156.
Aj + BC : Full great I do abhdr \ this your wicked saying.
Lusty Juventus, Dodsl. ii. 72.
Aj + B Ci : Vou may say you were sick, \ and your head did
ache,
That you lUsted not this night \ any supper mdke.
Jack Juggler, ib. ii. 119.
iA.j+ Aj : And you nS thing regard \ what of m^ may betide.^
Jacob and Esau, ib. ii. 216.
Vj + B Ci : Our Idwes are all 6ne, \ though you do thre apire.
Bale, Laws, line 63.
\ + A^: Whome ddyly the d/uyll \ to great sj/nne doth
aMre. ib. 747.
\i + BCi: By hym haue I goie \ thys fowle dysease of body e,
\i+ A : And, as ye se here, \ am now thrdwne in a le'prye,
ib. 749-50-
^1 + B C : Regdrde not the p6pe^ \ not yet hys whdrysh
kyngedom. ib. 770.
Vj+ Aji Such libbers, as hdth \ dysgysed "heads in their
"hSodes. Bale, Johan, p. 2.
V + A : Peccdvi mea cHlpa : \ I submyt me to yowr hdlynes.
ib. p. 62.
V + A : V^ith ^11 the 6fsprynge, \ of kntichristes generdcyon.
ib. p. 102.
112 THE LINE BOOK i
A + B Ci : Maisier Rdufe Royster 'Doysler \ is but ^^ad and,
g6n. Roister Doister, i. i. 43.
C + A : And as thr^ teachers, \ to hym we yow dyrect.
Bale, Laws, 1. 67;
C + B Cj : 0/ their first fredome, \ to their most hygh decdye^
ib. 82.;
Aj + Ci : Such an Sther is nSt \ in the whSle sSuth.
ib. 1066.
2. Lines with anacrusis in the first section and without it ini
the second. These are almost exclusively represented by thei
combination A(Ai) + A(Ai); rarely by B Ci(BC) + A(Ai):
A + Aj : For w/lthe without measure \ BSdenly wyll slyde.
Skelton, Magn. 194.1
Howe sodenly vrSrldly \ -we'lth dothe dekdy,
How vrysdom thorowe wdntonnesse \ vdnyisshytk
awdy. ib. 2579-80.
Behold^ I pray you, \ see where they dre.
Four Elements, Dodsl. i. 10.
/ am your Eldest s6n, \ iisau by my ndme,
Jacob and Esau, ib. ii. 249.
3. Lines without anacrusis in the first section and with
anacrusis in the second ; likewise chiefly represented by thei
types A (Ai) + A (A^), rarely by A (A,) + B C (B C^) :
A + Aj : Measure continwyth \ prospe'rite and welthe.
Skelton, Magn. 142.
Ai+ A : Measure and I \ will niuer be devjdyd, ib. 188,
A + Aj : Sighing and Mbing \ they vieep and they vidil.
Gammer Gurton's Needle, Prol.
A + A : Esau is given \ to \6ose and lewd living. \%
Jacob and Esau, Dodsl. ii. 196.
Aj + A^ : Living in this vrSrld \ from the we'st to the east.
Roister Doister, iii. iii. 28.
A + Ai : Chdrge and enforce hym \ in the wdyes of vs to go.
Bale, Laws, line 102.
A + A : Quderite judicium, \ subvenite oppresso.
Bale, Johan, p. 6.
A
+ A,:
A
+ A,i
A
+ A,:
BC + A,:
I CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 113
A + B C : "For by confession \ the holy father knoweth.
ib. p. II.
A + B Ci : Do they so in ^de ? \ Well, they shall not 6.6 so
Idnge. ib. p. 97.
4. Lines without anacrusis in either section, so that they are
wholly dactylic in rhythm, only represented by A (A^) + A^ (A) :
A + A : Sdncte Francis se \ or a pro nSbtsl Bale, Johan, p. 25.
A + A : P /ace, /or with my spe'ctahles \ vddam et vide bo.
ib. p. 30.
A+A : Syr^ without any \ longer delyaunce.
Skelton, Magn. 239.
A+ Aj : Win her or ISse her, \ try you the trap.
Appius and Virginia, Dodsl. iv. 132.
\ + Aj : Likewise for a commonwealth \ decupled is M.
Four Elements, ib. i. 9.
\ + Aj : What, you saucy \ malapert knave.
Jack Juggler, ib. ii. 145.
The numerical preponderance of types A + Aj is at once
"iDerceptible, and usually these two types of hemistichs are com-
iDined in this order to form a long line.
The result is that in the course of time whole passages made
ip of lines of the same rhythmical structure (A + Aj) are
ommon in the dramatic poetry of this period, as e. g. in the
^rologue to Gammer Gurton's Needle :
As Gammer GUrton, with mdnye a w^de stitch.
Sat pe'synge and pdtching of H6dg her mans briche,
By chance or misfSrtune, as, shie her gear tSst,
In HSdge lether brjches her needle shee I6st.
Possibly this preference of the type A, in the second half
ne may go back to the influence of the difference between the
bythmical structure of the first and the second hemistich of the
lliterative line in early Middle English poetry.
§ 70. This view derives additional probability from the manner
1 which lines rhythmically identical with the alliterative hemi-
ich are combined into certain forms of stanza which are used
1 the above-mentioned dramatic poems, especially in Bale's
^hree Lawes.
For in this play those halves of tail-rhyme stanzas, which
114 THE LINE book i
form the * wheels ' of the alliterative-rhyming stanzas previously
described (§§ 6i and 66) as used in narrative poetry and in
the mysteries, are completed so as to form entire tail-rhyme
stanzas (of six or eight lines) similar to those mentioned in
§ 65. This will be evident from the following examples :
With holye 6yle and wdtter,
I can so clqyne and cld//eri
That I can at the latter
Manye sUtteltt'es contryve.
I can worke wyles in battle,
If J do 6nes hut spdttle,
I can make cdrn and cattle,
That th/y shall never thryve. II. 439-446.
/ have chdrmes for the plowgh.
And also for the cdwgh,
She shall geue my Ike ynSwghj
So ISng as I am pleased.
Apace the mylle shall g6,
So shall the cre'dle dS,
And the mUsterde querne also
No mdn therwith dyseased. 11. 463-470.
The difference in rhythm which we have previously pointed
out between the lines of the body of the stanza (corresponding
to first halves of the alliterative line) and those of the tail
(corresponding to second halves) may again be observed in
most of the stanzas of this play, although not in all of them.
In other passages the sequence of rhymes is less regular;
e.g. in U. 190-209, which rhyme according to the formulas
aaahccb, ddbeeb, eee/ggf,
§ 71. Lastly, we must mention another kind of verse or stave
originating in the resolution of the four-beat alliterative line into
two sections, and their combination so as to form irregular tail-
rhyme stanzas, viz. the so-called Skeltonic verse. This kind of
verse, however, was not invented (as is erroneously stated in several
Histories of English Literature) by Skelton, but existed before
him, as is evident from the preceding remarks. The name
came to be given to the metre from the fact that Skelton, poet
laureate of King Henry VII, was fond of this metre, and used it
for several popular poems.
In Skelton's metre the strict form of the alliterative four-beat
line has arrived at the same stage of development which the
freer form had reached about three hundred years earlier in
i CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE ii^
!
I Layamon's Brut^ and afterwards in King Horn. That is to say,
I in Skelton's metre the long line is broken up by sectional
rhyme into two short ones. The first specimens of this verse
which occur in the Towneley Mysteries^ in the Chester Plays,
and in some of the Moralities, e.g. in The World and the Child
iDodsl. i), resemble Layamon's verse in so far as long lines
without sectional rhymes) and short rhyming half-lines occur in
one and the same passage. On the other hand, they differ from it
and approach nearer to the strophic form of the alliterative line
(as occurring in the Miracle Plays) in that the short lines do
not rhyme in couplets, but in a different and varied order of
rhyme, mostly abab ; cf. the following passage (1. c, p. 247) :
Ha, hd, now Lust and Liking is my name.
t am fre'sh as flowers in May,
t am semly-shdpen in same,
And -proudly appareled in garments gay :
My \doks been full \6vely to a lady's eye,
And in \6ve-\6nging my heart is sore set.
Might I find a tSode that were fair and free
To lie in hell till dSmsday /or iSve I would not let.
My love /or to win,
All game and glee.
All mirth and vaelody,
All revel and riot.
And 0/ \i6ast will I never hlin, &c.
In Skelton's Magnificence the short lines rhyme in couplets
jike those of King Horn, in a passage tiaken from p. 257
Ipart of which may be quoted here) :
Nowe let me se abdut,
In all this rSwte,
Yf I can /ynde 6ut
So se'mely a snSwte
Amdnge this prise :
Even a hole me'se —
Pease, man, pease I
I r/de, we sease.
So /arly /dyre as it I6kys,
And her becke so comely crSkys,
Her naylys shdrpe as tenter hokys!
I haue not ke'pt her yet thre wSkys
And howe sty II she dothe syt! &c., &c,
I 2
ii6 THE LINE book i
In other poems Skelton uses short lines of two beats, but
rhyming in a varied order under the influence, it would seem,
of the strophic system of the virelay, which rhymes in the
order a a ah bbbccccd. But the succession of rhymes is
more irregular in the Skeltonic metre, as e. g. in the passage :
What can it audyle
To dryue fSrth a mdyle^
Or to make a sdyle
Of an herynges tdyle ;
To ryme or to rdyle,
To wryte or to endjte,
Eyther for delyte,
Or illes for despyte ;
Or bSkes to compyle
Of divers maner style, &c. ColinCloute(i.3ii).
In other cases short bob-lines of one beat only interchange
with two-beat rhythms, as e.g. in Skelton's poem Caudaios
Anglos (i. 193):
Gup, Sc6t,
Ye but:
Lauddte
Cauddte,
Sit in bitter
Thy pintamiter.
This D'dndds,
This Scdttishe ds,
He rymes and rdyles
That Englishman have tdyles.
SkeltSnus lauredtus,
Anglicus ndtus,
PrSvocat Miisas
CSntra Diindas
Spurcissimum ScStum
undique ndtum, &c. m^
The mingling of Latin and English lines, as in this passage,
is one of the characteristic features of the Skeltonic verse.
In some passages, as e.g. in the humorous poems Phyllyp
Sparowe and Elinour Rummyng, the three-beat rhythm seems
to prevail. In such cases it probably developed out of the two-
beat rhythm in the same way as in King Horn.
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 117
Vet 6ne thynge h hehynde
That now commeth to mynde ;
An epytaphe I wold hdue
For Phyllyppes grdue ;
But for I am a mdyde.
Tumorous, half a/rdyde,
That neuer yet asdyde
0/ Ely cony s we%
Where the Miises dw^ll ; &c.
Phyllyp Sparowe (i. 69).
Skelton's verse was chiefly used by poets of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries for satirical and burlesque poetry. One
of its chief cultivators was John Taylor, the Water-poet. A list
of Skeltonic poems is given in Dyce's edition of Skelton's poems,
i. introduction, pp. cxxviii-cxxix.
C. Revival of the old four-beat alliterative verse
in the Modern English period.
§ 72. If after what precedes any doubt were possible as to
the scansion of the verses quoted on p. 113 from the Prologue
to the Early Modern English comedy of Gammer Gurtons
Needle, this doubt would be removed at once by the following
couplet and by the accents put over the second line of it by the
sixteenth- century metrician, George Gascoigne ^ :
No wight in this world \ that wealth can attayne,
Unle'sse he beUve \ that all h hut vdyne.
For the rhythm of these lines is perfectly identical with that
jof the lines of the above-mentioned prologue, and also with
jthat of the alliterative line quoted ten years later (a. d. 1585),
[and called tumbling-verse by King James VI in his Revlis and
Cavtelis, viz. :
Fetching fiide /or to fe'id it \fastfiirth of the Fdrie,
This is the very same rhythm in which a good many songs
and ballads of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are written,
|as e. g. the well-known ballad of King John and the Abbot of
Canterbury y which begins with the following stanzas "^ :
, ^ See G. Gascoigne, Certayne Notes of Instruction concerning the making
'•^ verse or ryme in English, 1575, in Arber's Reprints, together with The
\Steele Glas, &c., London, 1868, 8vo, p. 34.
"^ Burger's version Der Kaiser tmd der Abt introduces a regular alterna-
ii8 . THE LINE book i
An dncient stSry \ Fie tell you anSn
Of a nStable prince, \ that was called king John ;
And he rilled England \ with mdine and with might.
For he did great wrSng, \ and maintain d little right.
And rie tell you a stSry, \ a stSry so m/rrye,
Concerning the Abbot \ of Canter biiry e ;
How for his hduse-Meping, \ and high rendwne,
They rode pSst for him \ to faire London tSwne.
This four-beat rhythm, which (as is proved by the definition
King James VI gives of it) is the direct descendant of the old
alliterative line, has continued in use in modern English poetry
to the present day.
It occurs in the poem The recur ed Lover, by Sir Thomas Wyatt,
one of the earliest Modern English poets, where it is inter-
mixed sometimes with four-feet rhythms, as was the case also in j
several Early English poems. The general rhythm, however, is |
clearly of an iambic-anapaestic nature. Fifteen years after the j
death of Wyatt Thomas Tusser wrote part of his didactic poem |
A hundred good points of Husbandry in the same metre. In i
Tusser's hands the metre is very regular, the first foot generally 'j
being an iambus and the following feet anapaests :
Whom fancy persuddeth \ among other crops,
To hdve for his spending, \ sufficient of hSps,
Must willingly follow, \ of chSices to choose.
Such lessons approved, \ as skilful do Use.
The four beats of the rhythm and the regular occurrence of
the caesura are as marked characteristics of these verses asl
of the earlier specimens of the metre. \
Spenser has written several tdogwe^oihis Shepheard's Calendar
in this metre (February, May, September), and Shakespeare uses
it in some lyric pieces of his King Henry IV, Part II, but also
for dialogues, as e.g. Err. m. i. 11-84. In more modern,
times Matthew Prior (1664-17 15) wrote a ballad Down Hall\
to the tune, as he says, of Kiiig John and the Abbot of Canter-
bury, which clearly shows that he meant to imitate the ancient
popular four-beat rhythm, which he did with perfect success.
In other poems he used it for stanzas rhyming in the order a bah.
tion of masculine and feminine couplets not observed in the original metre
which he is copying.
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 119
Swift has used the same metre, and it became very popular in
Scottish poetry through Allan Ramsay and Robert Burns, one
of whose most famous poems is written in it, viz. :
My Mart's in the Highlands, \ my Mart is not here ;
My heart's in the Highlands^ \ a-chdsing the deer ;
Chasing the wild deer \ and /Showing the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands \ wherever I g6.
Sir Walter Scott used it frequently for drinking-songs, and
Thomas Moore wrote his Letters 0/ the Fudge Family in it.
By Coleridge and Byron ^this metre was used in the same
way as by Wyatt, viz. intermixed with regular four-foot verse
according to the subject, the four-beat iambic-anapaestic rhythm
for livelier passages, the pure iambic for passages of narration
and reflection. Byron's Prisoner of Chillon and his Siege of
Corinth are good specimens of this kind of metre.^ On the
other hand the regular four-foot rhythm, as will be shown
below, if it is of a looser structure, develops into a kind of
verse similar to the iambic-anapaestic rhythm — an additional
reason for their existing side by side often in one poem.
A few variations of this metre remain to be mentioned, which
occur as early as Tusser. The first variety arises from inter-
laced rhyme, by which the two four-beat verses are broken up
into four two-beat verses rhyming in the order ab ab.
If husbandry brdggeth
To go with the best,
Good husbandry bdggeth
i Up gSld in his chest.
On the model of these stanzas others were afterwards formed
by Tusser consisting of three-beat verses of the same rhythm.
I The same verse was used for eight-line stanzas rhyming
\ababc dcd by Nicholas Rowe, Shenstone, Cowper, and in later
I times by Thackeray in one of his burlesque poems (JMalonys
\ Lament in Ballads, the Rose and the Ring, «fec., p. 225). For
I examples of these variations see the sections treating of the
1 iambic-anapaestic verses of three and two measures.
j § 78. In modern times a few attempts have been made to
I revive the old four-beat alliterative line without rhyme, but also
without a regular use of alliteration. These attempts, however,
! have never become popular.
^ Cf. the chapter on the four-foot iambic verse.
120 THE LINE BOOK I
The following passage from William Morris's dramatic poem ii
Love is enough may give an idea of the structure of this kind of ''
verse :
Fair Master (sliver, \ ihSu who at kll times
Mayst open thy heart \ to our I6rd and master^
Tell us what tidings \ thou hast to deliver ;
For our hearts are grown heavy, \ and where shall we
tUrn to.
If thUs the king's gMry, \ our gain and salvation,
Must gS down the wind \ amid gloom and despairing.
The rhythm, together with the irregular use of alliteration, n
places these four-beat alliterative lines on the same level with n
those of the dramatic poems of the fifteenth and sixteenth |
centuries. '
The same kind of versification is found in Longfellow's trans-
lation of the late Old English poem on The Grave, and in
James M. Garnett's translations of Beowulf and Cynewulf's
Flene. On the other hand, George Stephens, in his translation
of the Old English poem on The Phoenix, published 1844,
not only adheres strictly to the laws of alliteration, but confines
himself to Germanic words, sometimes even using inflexional
forms peculiar to Middle English.
§ 74. We shall conclude this survey of the development of
the four-beat alliterative line by giving a series of examples in
reversed chronological order, beginning with writers of the
present day and ending with the earliest remains of Old English
poetry, in order to illustrate the identity in rhythmic structure
of this metre in all periods of its history.
Nineteenth Century, End :
For nine days the king \ hath sUpt not an hour
A nd tdketh no heed \ of soft w6rds or beseeching.
W. Morris.
Nineteenth Century, Beginning :
So that "wildest of vrdves, \ i7i their angriest mood,
Scarce "break on the hoUnds \ of the land for a rdod.
Byron, Siege of Corinth, 382-4.
Eighteenth Century, End :
My heart's in the TS.ighlands^ \ my heart is not he're ;
My heart's in the Highlands, \ a-chdsing the d^er. Burns. 1
1
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 121
Eighteenth Century, Middle :
A cdbhler there was, \ and he lived in a stall}
Eighteenth Century, Beginning (17 15):
/ smg not old Jason \ who travel' d thro' Greece
To kiss the fair maids \ and possess the rich fleece.
Prior, Down-Hall, to the tune of King John and the Abbot.
Seventeenth Century, Beginning (or Sixteenth Century, End) :
An ancient story \ Fie tell you anon
Of a notable prince, \ that was called king John.
King John and the Abbot of Canterbury.
Sixteenth Century, End (1585) :
Fetching fude for to f/id it \ fast fiirth of the Ydrie?
Montgomery.
Sixteenth Century (1575):
No viight in this world \ that wealth can attdyne
UnXisse he beleve \ that all Is but vdyne.^ G. Gascoigne.
Sixteenth Century (before 1575):
As Gammer Gturton, \ with mdnye a wyde stye he,
Sat -pesynge and -patching \ of Hbdg her mans bryche.
Gammer Gurton's Needle.
Sixteenth Century, Middle (about 1548);
Such lubbers as "hath \ dysgysed "heads in their hdods.
Bale [died 1563), King Johan, p. 2.
Thynke you a Roman \ with the Romans cannot lye?
ibid. p. 84.
For as Ghriste ded say to Ptter, \ Cdro et sanguis
Non reveldvit tibi \ sed Pater mens celhtis. ibid. pp. 92-3.
^ Recognized by Bishop Percy (1765) as rhythmically equivalent to
In a sSmer season, \ when s6ft was the sSnne
I shdpe me into sh7'6udes, \ as I a shepe were (Piers Plowman).
nd
Ham and heahsetl \ hiofena rices (Gen. 33).
Schp Pd and scyrede \ scyppend nre (ibid. 65).
- This alliterative-rhyming long line is scanned by the contemporary
etrist King James VI in the manner indicated by the accents.
^ The second of these lines is thus marked by Gascoigne as having four
resses.
122
THE LINE BOOK i
A pena el Qiilpa \ I desyre to be Glere,
And then all the devylles \ of Mil I wold not fere.
ibid. p. 33.
Judicdte pupillo, \ def indite viduam :
Definde the wjdowe, \ whan she is in dystr/sse. ibid. p. 6.
Sdncte Domim'ce, \ bra pro nobis.
Sdncte pyld mbnache^ \ I be-shrbw vbbis.
Sdncte Francisse, \ bra pro nbbis. ibid. p. 25.
Sixteenth Century, Beginning :
Apbn the xnidsummer evin, \ mirriest of nichtis.
Dunbar, Twa Mariit Wemen, i.
Fifteenth Century, Second Half :
In the oheiftyme of Chdrlis, \ that Qh.bsin ch.tftane.
Rauf Coiljear, i.
Fifteenth Century, ? First Half:
/;/ the tyme of Arthour, \ as treiv men me tdld.
Golagras and Gawane, i.
Fourteenth Century, End :
Afoste mygh/y TsUdhoivne \ meng you with myrthe,
Both of biirgh and of tbwne, \ by felly s and by tyrtlie,
Towneley Mysteries, p. 140.
Otite, aids, I am gone! \ oute apbn the, mans wSnderl
ibid. p. 30. 1
In a ^bmer ^hon, \ whan Bbft was the sbnne.
Piers Plowman, Prol. i.
Fourteenth Century, Second Half :
In a ^bmer sison, | whan abft
pen com a ySIs to Joseph \ and seide him Jn'se vrbrdes.
Joseph of Arimathie, 21 (about 1350).
Fourteenth Century, Beginning:
Ich herde min vpo vabld \ m.dke much Tubn.
Wright's Pol. Songs.
Ttystnep Tabrdynges, \ a newe sbn^ ichulle bigfnne.
ibid. p. 187.
Thirteenth Century, Middle :
Alle heon he hlipe | J?at to my song lipe :
A ^bng ihc schal you &inge \ of MUrry pe kinge.
King Horn, 1-4
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 12.3
Thirteenth Century, Beginning :
And swd heo gunnen wenden \fbrd Co pan kmge.
Layamon, 13811-12.
Vmhe iiftene ^er \ pat iblc is isbmned, ibid. 13855-6.
Twelfth Century :
pat pe chiriche habbe gryp \ and pe ch^orl beo in fryp
his sedes to sbwen, \ his medes to xabwen.
Proverbs of Alfred, 91-4.
\iiite if he heo | in hbke ilered, ibid. 65-6.
Eleventh Century, End :
pat he nam be wihte \ and mid mycelan iinrthte.
Chron. an. 1087.
Eleventh Century, First Half:
siime hi man hhide, \ sUnie hi ?nan hlinde.
Chron. an. 1037.
ne weard 6.reorlure dJed \ ge&on on Jnsan earde. ibid.
Eleventh Century, Beginning :
se of dedelre "wsles \ yirginis pdrth
cid&ne aGenned, \ Christus in brbein.
Oratio Poetica, ed, Lumby.
hwdet! ic a.na sdet \ innan bearwe,
mid "helme bepeaht, \ "hblte to-middes,
■ pder pa wseterbilrnan \ swegdon and itrnon,
on middan gehdege, | eal sivd ic aecge.
Be Domes Dsege.
pdet Samson se strange | swd ofaiean mihte
an pfisend manna | mid pdes assan cinba7ie.
. ^IfriCj Judges, 282-3.
■ Tenth Century, End :
defre embe atHnde \ he aealde sume wHnde,
pa hviile pe he vfmpna \ wSaldan moste. Byrhtnoth, 271-2.
. Ninth Century :
wyrmnm bewUfiden, \ "witum gebiinden,
he'arde gehsefted \ in luelte bryne. Judith, 1 15-16.
124
THE LINE BOOK
Eighth Century :
h.dm and Yieahsetle \ \\eofena rices. Genesis, 33.
vraidre hm-dnden \ in p^re vrliligan byrig,
hdfad us aXyfed \ \ucis dudor
pdet we motun her me'ruerJ^
godddedum begietan gdudia in cxlo. Phoenix, 666-9.
ontengon fUlwihte \ and treodowxre
vriildres -wedde \ witum dspedde. Andreas, 1632-3.
J)der Wdes "bbrda gehrec \ and heorna geprec
h-eard hdndgeswlng \ and Yi.irga gring,
s^ddan Mo ^arhfiere \ ddrest vietton. Elene, 1 14-16.
hiigon pa to hence \ hl^d-dgende
tjlle geidegon. \ fsegene gep^gon
medofull vadnig \ vadgas para, Beowulf, 1 01 3-15.
Seventh Century :
ftu scflun hSrgan \ "he/denrtcdes udrd,
vnHuddes -mdecii \ end his laiodgidanc. Caedmon's Hymn.
§ 75. The evidence contained in this chapter, with regard to
the continuous survival, in its essential rhythmical features, of
the Old English native verse down to modern times, may be
briefly summed up as follows : —
1. In the oldest remains of English poetry {Beowulf^ Elene,
Andreas, Judith, Phoenix, &c.) we already find lines with com-
bined alliteration and rhyme intermixed with, and rhythmically
equivalent to, the purely alliterative lines, exactly as we do in
late Old English and early Middle English poems such as
Byrhtnoth, Be Domes Ddege, Or alio Poetic a, Chronicle an. 1036,
Proverbs of Alfred, and Layamon's Brut.
2. In some of these poems, viz. the Phoenix and the Oratio
Poetica, Latin two-beat hemistichs are combined with English
hemistichs of similar rhythm to form regular long lines, just as
is done in Bale's play of Kinge Johan (sixteenth century).
3. The lines of this play agree in the general principle, and
frequently in the details of their rhythmical structure, with
alliterative-rhyming long lines which occur in lyric and epic
poems of the same period, and which two contemporary metrists,
Gascoigne and King James VI, recognized (independently of
each other) as lines of four accents.
^ We retain the MS. reading; see Sievers, Altgerm. Meirik, p. 17.
CHAP. IV LATER FORMS OF THE NATIVE METRE 125
4. The rhythm of these sixteenth-century lines is indistinguish-
able from that of a four-accent metre which is popular in English
and German poetry down to the present day.
These facts appear to leave no room for doubt that the
Germanic metre has had a continuous history in English poetry
from the earliest times down to the present, and that the long
line, in Old and Middle English as in Modern English, had four
accents (two in each hemistich). The proof acquires additional
force from the fact, established by recent investigations, that the
most important of the metrical types of the Old English hemistich
are found again in Middle and Modern English poetry.
PART II. FOREIGN METRES
DIVISION I. The Foreign Metres in General
CHAPTER V. INTRODUCTION
§ 76. It was not till about 1 50 years after the Norman Con-
quest that foreign metres were introduced in English literature
under the influence of French and Low Latin versification.
For these, too, the general law observed in all accentual
poetry holds good, viz. that the word-accent and the syntactical
accent must coincide with the rhythmical accent. This rule,
however, was easier to observe in the old native four-beat
alHteralive metre, in which the proportion and order of accented
and unaccented syllables admit of many variations, than in
metres consisting of equal measures, which follow stricter
rules in that respect. In the older native verse accordingly
we seldom find deviations from this fundamental rule, whereas
in the newer foreign metres they are more frequent and
striking.
The ordinary native alliterative metre was founded, as we
have seen^ on the principle that four accented syllables had to
occur in each long line, together with an undefined number of
unaccented ones, the position and order of those different 1
syllables admitting many variations. The new metres con- 1
structed on foreign models during the Middle EngHsh period
differ from the earlier rhythmic forms by the regularity of the
alternation of unaccented and accented syllables and by the ||
uniformity of their feet or measures ; they are accordingly styled t|
even-measured or even-beat verses.
Four different^ kinds are to be distinguished, viz. ascending
and descending disyllabic measures, and ascending and de-
scending trisyllabic measures, commonly called iambic^ trochaic^
anapaestic^ and dactylic measures. In Middle English poetry,
however, only iambic rhythms were used. The three other
kinds of rhythms did not come in till the beginning of the
Modern English period.
With regard to the development of various even-measured i
rhythms from these four different kinds of feet, it will suffice
cHAP.v FOREIGN METRES: INTRODUCTION 127
to consider the iambic and trochaic metres only, as these are
the most important, and the formation of the anapaestic and
the dactylic metres is to be explained in the same way.
§ 77. According to the number of feet we may classify the
different kinds of line — retaining the classical nomenclature
— as dimeters, trimeters, tetrameters, &c. ; (one meter always
consisting of two iambic or trochaic, or anapaestic feet), so that,
for instance, an iambic tetrameter contains eight iambic feet.
Lines or rhythmical sections consisting of complete feet, i. e. of
an equal number of accented and unaccented syllables, are
called acaialecHc or complete lines (dimeters, trimeters, i&c).
If, however, the last foot of a line or of a rhythmical section be
characterized by the omission of the last syllable, i. e. by a pause,
the line is called catalectic or incoviplete. The following examples
will serve to illustrate the meaning of these terms :
Acatalectic iambic tetrameter :
Y spike of Ihesu, Marie s6ne^ \ of dlle Kinges he is flour ^
pat sUffred def) for at man-kin, \ he is our alder creatour.
Seynt Katerine, i. 11. 89-92.^
Come listen to my mSurnful tale, \ ye tender hiarts and I6vers
dear ;
Nor will you scorn to hiave a sigh, \ nor will you blitsh to
shed a tear. Shenstone, Jenny Dawson.
Catalectic iambic tetrameter :
Ne sSlde nd man dSn a first \ ne sleuhpen wel to ddnne ;
For many man hehoted wel, \pet hit forget wel sSne.
Moral Ode, 11. 36-7.
They caught their speares, their horses ran, \ as thSugh there
had been thunder,
And struck them each amidst their shields, \ wherewith they
broke in sUnder. Sir Lancelot du Lake, 11. 65-8.^
Acatalectic trochaic tetrameter (not represented in Middle
nglish) :
' Wirther had a love for Charlotte^ \ sUch as words could never
Utter;
Wduld you kndw how first he mit her ? \ she was cutting
bread and butter.
Thackeray, Sorrows of Werther, 11. i, 2.
^ Horstmann, Altenglische Legenden, Nene Folge, p. 244.
2 Percy's Reliques, I. ii. 7.
128 THE LINE ^ book i
Catalectic trochaic tetrameter :
Ah ! what pUasant visions haunt vie, \ as I gaze upSn the sea:
A II the did romantic legends ^ \ all my dreams come back to me
Longfellow, Secret of the Sea, 11. i, 2.
A line in which the whole last foot is supplied by a pause is
called br achy catalectic,
Brachycatalectic iambic tetrameter : Hi
The Britons thUs departed hSnce, \ seven Kingdoms here begone,
Where diversely in divers brSils \ the Saxons I6st and w6n.
Warner, Albion's England.^
Brachycatalectic trochaic tetrameter :
Hasten, L6rd^ to rescue me \ and sit me s due from trSuble;
Shame thou thSse who siek my soul^ \ reivdrd their mischiej
dSuble. Translation of Psalm Ixix.
If both rhythmical sections of a tetrameter are brachycata-
lectic we get one of the four varieties of the Middle English Alex-
andrine— the only one that has continued in use in Modem
English poetry.
Alexandrine :
Mid yvernesse and priide \ and ys sing wes that on
He niiste nouht pat he wes \ bope gSd and mon.
The Passion of our Lord, 11. 35, 361
Of Albion's gUrious isle \ the wonders whilst I write,
The sUndry varying sdils, \ the pleasures infinite.
Drayton, Polyolbion, 11. i, 2 =
These are the principal forms of rhythmical sections made up
of disyllabic feet that occur in Middle English and Moderr
English Poetry.
§ 78. The breaking up of these long lines (consisting 0
two rhythmical sections) into shorter lines is usually effected b}
rhyme. Thus, if both rhythmical sections of the acatalectic
tetrameter are divided by what is called leonine rhyme we gel
the short four-foot couplet imitated from the French vers octo-
syllabe, as in the following verses taken from the Middk
English A lutel soth sermon (11. 17-20):
^ Quoted in Chambers's Cyclop, of Eng. Lit , i. 242.
cHAP.v FOREIGN METRES: INTRODUCTION 129
He made him into helle fdlle,
And efier him his childrett alle ;
per he was for to ure drihte
Hine bbhte mid his mihie.
A Modern English example is —
Amongst the myrtles as I wdlk'd,
Love and my sighs thus intertdlUd:
' Tell me,' said I in deep distress,
' Where I may find my shepherdess.^
Carew, Poets, iii, p. 703.
Another stanza of four lines is formed when the first rhythmical
sections of two tetrameters rhyming together are also connected
in the corresponding place (viz. before the caesura) by another
species of rhyme, called interlaced or crossed rhyme {rime entre-
lade) :
/ spkke of Ihisu of hivene within ;
Off alle kyngys he is flour ;
pat siiffryd dep for alle mankj/n,
He is our Mile criatbur.
Saynt Katerine, ii, 11. 89-92.
Cf. these verses with an earlier version of the same legend
j( quoted p. 127), where only the second sections are connected
by rhyme.
A Modem English example is —
When youth had led me half the race
That Capid's scourge had made me rUn ;
I Iboked hdck to mite the pldce
From whence my wiary course begiin,
Surrey, Restless Lover, p. 4, 11. 1-4.
Corresponding short trochaic lines result from the acatalectic
haic tetrameter broken by leonine or inserted rhyme. In
iddle English poetry, however, they occur but very seldom in
heir pure form, i. e. with disyllabic rhymes ; in most cases
y have monosyllabic or alternate monosyllabic and disyllabic
hymes.
In like manner the catalectic iambic tetrameter is broken up
y inserted rhyme into two short verses, viz. one of four feet with
monosyllabic ending, and one of three feet with a disyllabic
inding, as in the following examples :
1 30 THE LINE BOOK i
Byiwine mirsh aftd dveryl,
When spray bighmep to springe^
pe Wei foul hap hire wfl
On hyre lUd to singe.
Wright's Spec, of Lyric Poetry, p. 27.
A chieftain to the highlands bSund
Cries: * B Salman, d6 7iot tarry,
And til give thee a silver p6und
To r6w us oer the ferry!
. Campbell, Lord Ullin's Daughter, 11. 1-4.
A tetrameter brachycatalectic in both sections may also be
broken up either by leonine or by inserted rhyme. The
following examples illustrate respectively these two methods :
Wip ISnging / am lad.
On mSlde y wdxe mdd,
V gr'ede, y grone, vngldd
For silden y am sdd.
Wright's Spec, of Lyric Poetry, p. 29
Lo, Joseph, it is t,
An dngelle send to the ;
We, leyf, I pray the, why?
What is thy wylle with me?
Towneley Mysteries, p. 135
In the same manner the verse of four feet mentioned abov<
is broken up into two lines of two feet, and the two-feet lim
into two lines of one foot, as in the following examples :
Moost good, most fair,
Or things as rare,
To cdll you's I6st ;
For dll the cost . . . ^r.
Drayton, An Amouret Anacreontic (Poets, iii. 582)
What should I say
Since faith is dead,
I And trUth away
From me is fled? Wyatt, p. 130.
I
cHAP.v FOREIGN METRES: INTRODUCTION m
For might is riht,
Liht is nighty
Andfiht is flihL
Wright's Political Songs,
p. 254.
/ dm the knight^
I come by night.
The Nutbrowne Mayd,
line 33.
§ 79. In the fourteenth century the heroic verse was added to
these Middle English metres ; a rhyming iambic line of five feet,
formed after the model of the French line of ten syllables, e. g. :
A knight ther was, \ and that a worthy man.
Chaucer, Prol. 43.
Finally, the verse used in the tail-rhyme staves {I'ime couee)
must be mentioned. As this verse, however, usually appears
only in that form in which it is broken up into three short
ones which compose one half of the stave, its origin will
be more properly discussed in the second Book, treating of
: the origin and form of the different stanzas. To begin with,
however, it was simply a long line of three rhythmical sections.
Indications of this are here and there found in the way in which
it is arranged in MSS. and early printed books, e. g. in the first
version of the Legend of Alexins^ where it is written in triple
columns on the large folio pages of the Vernon MS. in the
Bodleian Library : .
Sitiep siille withouten strif, \ And t will telle ySu the lif \
Of aft holy man.
Alex was his right name, | To serve gSd thought him no
shame, \ Therof niver hi ne Man.
§ 80. These are the simplest forms of verse used in Middle
English poetry; they can be varied, however, in many ways.
First, they are not restricted to monosyllabic or masculine
endings or rhymes, but like their French models, admit also of
disyllabic or feminine rhymes. Further, the caesura, where it
occurs at all, may be masculine as well as feminine. The
septenary line, however, in its strict form admits only of mono-
syllabic caesura and disyllabic ending.
Caesura and rhyme are in this respect closely analogous.
For the difference between the two kinds of caesura and between
the two kinds of rhyme is, that in the case of a masculine caesura
|or rhyme the pause occurs immediately after the last accented
^ Ed. by J. Schipper, Quellen tmd Forschungen, xx.
K 2
132
THE LINE BOOK i
syllable of the rhythmical section, whereas in the case of a
feminine caesura or rhyme an unaccented syllable (sometimes
even two or more unaccented syllables^) follows upon the last
accented one before the pause takes place. Combinations of
masculine caesura with masculine or with feminine line-endings
or rhymes, or the reverse, are, of course, allowed and of frequent
occurrence.
We quote in the first place some Middle English and Modern
English examples of masculine caesura in the Septenary, in the
Alexandrine, in lines of five and of four measures and — for the
sake of comparison — in the four-beat verse :
They caught their spiares, their hSrses ran, \ as thSugh there
had been thunder. Percy's Rel. (cf p. 127).
The life so shorty so frdil, \ that mSrtal men live here.
^ Wyatt, p. 155.
A knight there was, \ and that a wSrthy man.
Chaucer, Prol. 1. 43.
For want of will \ in w6e I plain. Wyatt, p. 44.
For w6men are shr'ews, \ both shSrt and tall.
Shakesp. 2 Hen. IV, v. iii. 36,
Of the feminine caesura there are two different kinds, viz. the
so-called Epic and Lyric caesura.^ In the Epic caesura ir
Iambic metre the pause occurs, as in the feminine rhyme, aftei
a supernumerary syllable which follows upon the last accentec
one of the section the next iambic foot following upon it in th(
usual manner. In the Lyric caesura in Iambic metre, on th(
other hand, the pause occurs within a foot, i. e. after the regula
unaccented syllable of an iambic foot.
These three different kinds of caesura may be more simpl;
defined as follows : In the ordinary iambic line the caesur;
occurring after a regular unaccented syllable is a feminine Lyri«J
one (thus : . . . w -i w | — ^ Jl . . .) ; the caesura occurring after a|
accented syllable is a masculine one (thus :...w — l^~v^ —
and that which occurs after a supernumerary unaccented syllabll
immediately following upon an accented one is a feminine Epi
caesura (thus : . . . w -1 w | w Jl w .1 . . .).
* In the * tumbling ' — or, to use the German name, |the ' gliding
{gleitend) caesura or rhyme.
' For the introduction and explanation of these technical terms cl
Fr. Diez, * Ober den epischen Vers,' in his Altromanische SprachdenkmaX
Bonn, 1846, 8vo, p. 53, and the author's Englische Metrik, i, pp. 438, 441I
ii, pp. 24-6.
CHAP.v FOREIGN METRES : INTRODUCTION 133
These different kinds of caesura stricdy correspond to their
French models. The Epic caesura, which to some extent dis-
turbs the regular rhythmic flow of a verse, is by far the least
frequent in metres of equal feet.
In the alliterative line, on the other hand, as this metre does
not consist of equal feet, the feminine caesura, which is, from
a rhythmical point of view, identical with the Epic, is commonly
used both in the Old English and in the Middle English period,
being produced by the natural quality of the types A, C, D, and
by the resolution of the last accented syllable in the types B
and D (of the Old English verse). For this reason it also
occurs more frequently than the other kinds of caesura in the
Modern English four-beat line.
This may be illustrated by the following examples :
Epic caesura :
To Cdunterbiiry \ with f id devout courage:
Chaucer, Prol. line 22.
He knoweth how great Airides \ that made Troy fret.
Wyatt, p. 152.
And y it there is another \ between those heavens tw6.
Wyatt, p. 161.
WttSuten grundwall \ to bk t2Lst2Lnd: stand.
Cursor Mundi, line 125.
Lyric caesura :
per he was fSurty ddwes \ at withiite mete. Passion, line 29.
Se sHtled he his kingdom \ and confirmd his right.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, 11. x. 60.
And wet we weren ksed \ dtte beste. Chaucer, Prol. 29.
I pat dire wiirste \ pat hi wicste. Owl and Night., line 10.
I And t should hdve it \ ds me list. Wyatt, p. 30.
I All three kinds of caesura will have to be treated systematically
liter on in connexion with the iambic rhyming verse of five
leasures, the character of which they affect very much.
§ 81. The variety caused by the different kinds of caesura in
iie structure of the metres of equal measures, formed on the
Irinciple of a regular alternation of unaccented and accented
syllables, is much increased by other causes arising from the
jifferent nature of Romanic and Germanic versification. These
iriations came into existence, partly because the poets, in the
134 THE LINE book i
early days of the employment of equal-measured rhythms, found
it difficult, owing to want of practice, to secure the exact co-
incidence of the word-accent and the metrical accent, partly
because for linguistic or (in the case of the later poets) for
artistic reasons they considered it unnecessary to do so. They
therefore either simply suffered the discord between the two kinds
of accentuation to remain, or, in order to avoid it, permitted
themselves licences that did violence either to the rhythmic laws
of the verse itself, or to the customary pronunciation of the
words as regards the value of syllables (i. e. their being elided or
fully sounded) or word-accent.
The changes which the equal-measured rhythms have under-
gone and still undergo from the causes mentioned thus have rela-
tion partly to the rhythmic structure of the verse itself, partly to the
value of syllables, and partly to the word-accent. From these three
points of view we shall first consider the iambic equal-measured
rhythm in general (this being the only species used in Middle
English, and the one which in Modern English is of most
frequent occurrence and influences all the rest), before we
proceed to examine its individual varieties.
CHAPTER VI
VERSE-RHYTHM
§ 82. As in Greek and Latin metre, so also in the equal-
measured rhythms of Middle and Modern English, it is
a general law that the beginning or end of a metrical foot
should, so far as possible, not coincide with the beginning or
end of a word, but should occur in the middle, so that the
individual feet may be more closely connected with each other.
When this law is not observed, there arises what is technically
called diaeresis, that is to say, the breaking up of the line into
separate portions, which as a rule renders the verse inhar-
monious. On this account lines composed entirely of mono-
syllables are to be avoided. This law is more frequently
neglected in Modern English poetry than in that of earlier
times, because the rarity of inflexional endings makes its
constant observance difficult.
Even in Middle English poems, however, we often find lines,
especially if they are short, which are composed of monosyllabic
words only.
These observations may be illustrated by the following ex-
amples :
{a) Lines with diaeresis :
I Ne is no quene so stark ne si6ur.
\ Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. 87, 1. 4.
I A7id he was clad in c6ote and hSod of grine.
! Chaucer, Prol. line 103.
Had cast him 6ut from Hiaven with all his h6st,
Milton, Parad. L. i. 37.
Had shSok his thrSne. What though the field be I6st ?
ib. 105.
(^) Lines without diaeresis :
Nou shrinkep rose and Ij^lie flour.
Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. 87, line 1.
136 THE LINE BOOK i
And smdle fowles mdken melodic. Chaucer, Prol. line 9.
And reassembling 6ur afflicted powers.
Milton, Parad. L. i. 186.
§ 83. With regard to modulation, too, the lines with diaeresis
differ from those without it. In lines with diaeresis all syllables
or words with a rhythmic accent upon them are pronounced
with nearly the same stress, while in lines without diaeresis the
difference between the accented syllables is more noticeable.
The two following examples taken from Milton's Paradise Lost
will serve to illustrate this, the difference of stress being indicated
by different numbers under the accented syllables :
Had cast him 6ut from Heaven with all his hdst
01020 2 0202
And reassembling 6ur afflicted powers.
o 1020 10302
As a general rule, the syllables which stand in an arsis are,
just because they bear the metrical stress, of course more strongly
accented than those which stand in a thesis.
Occasionally, however, a thesis-syllable may be more strongly
accented than an arsis-syllable in the same line which only
carries the rhythmical accent, but neither the word-accent nor
the logical accent of the sentence.
Thus in the following line from Paradise Lost —
Irreconcileable to our grand Foe, j
the word grand, although it stands in a thesis, is certainly,^
because of the rhetorical stress which it has, more strongly
accented than the preceding word our or the syllable -ble, both
of which have the rhythmical accent. Milton's blank verse
abounds in such resolved discords, as they might be called. In
not a few cases, however, they remain unresolved. This occurs
chiefly in lines where the short unaccented syllables or un-
important monosyllabic words must be lengthened beyond their
natural quantity in order to fit in with the rhythm of the verse,
as in the following lines :
Of Thdmuz ykarly wounded: tht love-tale. Par. L. i. 452
Universal reprSach far worse to bear. Par. L. vi. 34.
On the other hand long syllables standing in a thesis may
shortened without harshness, e. g. the words brought and our
the following line :
Brought death into the world and all our woe.
CHAP. VI FOREIGN METRES: VERSE-RHYTHM 137
§ 84. With regard to the treatment of the rhythm the Middle
English even-beat metres in some respects are considerably
different from the Modern English metres, the reason being
that the earlier poets, as yet inexperienced in the art of
composing in even-beat measures, found it more difficult than
Modern English poets to make the rhythmic accent coincide with
the word-accent and the syntactic-accent (cf. pp. 126-7, i34)'
Certain deviations from the ordinary iambic rhythm which
partly disturb the agreement of the number of accented and
unaccented syllables in a line are more frequent in Middle
English than in Modern English poetry. One of these licences
is the suppression of the anacrusis or the absence of the
first unaccented syllable of the line, or of the second rhythmical
section, e.g. ,
J^dn sche seyd : je trSive on him \ pat is I6rd of swiche
pouste.
Horstmann's Altengl. Legend. N. F., p. 250, 11. 333-4.
Gif we Uornid gode^ Idre^
1 penne ofptinche/? hit him sdre. Pater Noster, 15-16.
Unnet lif ic hdhhe iled, \ and ^iet, me pmcd, ic lede.
Moral Ode, 1. 5.
Twenty bookes, \ cldd in hldk and rede. Chaucer, Prol. 294.^
Some, that wdtched | with the murdWers knife. Surrey, p. 59.
Good my Lord, \ give tne thy fdvour still.
Shakesp. Temp. iv. i. 204.
Norfolk sprung thee, \ Lambeth holds thee dead. Surrey, p. 62.
j Vor mdnies mdnnes sdre isivinch \ hdbbed dfte unhdlde.
\ Moral Ode, Ms. D. 1. 34.
I Enhdstyng him, \ til he wds at Idrge.
\ Lydgate, Story of Thebes, 1075.
! The time doth pass, \ yet shall ndt my love / Wyatt, p. 1 30.
While this metrical licence may mostly be attributed to want
f technical skill in, Middle English poets, it is frequently em-
loyed in the Modern English period, as the last example
' The occurrence of this licence in Chaucer's heroic verse has been
sputed by ten Brink {JOhaucer's Sprache und Verskunst, p. 176) and
hers, but see Metrik, i. 462-3, and Freudenberger, Ueber das Fehlen des
Hftaktes in Chaucer's heroischem Verse, Erlangen, 1889.
138 THE LINE pooK 1
shows, with distinct artistic intention of giving a special emphasis
to a particular word. Several Middle English poets, however,
make but scant use of this licence, e. g. the author of The Owl
and the Nightingale and Gower, while some of them, as Orm,
never use it at all.
§ 85. These latter poets, on the other hand, make very
frequent use of another kind of rhythmical licence, viz. level
stress or hovering accent, as Dr. Gummere calls it; i.e. they
subordinate the word-accent or the syntactic accent to the
rhythmic accent, and so far violate the principal law of all
accentual metre, which demands that those three accents should
fall on one and the same syllable.
This licence is found chiefly in metres of a certain length,
e. g. in the Septenary or in the iambic five-foot line, but not so
frequently in shorter metres, as the resulting interruption of the
flow of the rhythm is not so perceptible in long as in short
lines. \
The least sensible irregularity of this kind occurs when the |
(syntactically) less emphatic of two consecutive monosyllabic j
words is placed in the arsis, as in the following lines : {
For wh}' this is more then that cause is.
Chaucer, H. of Fame, 20.
There is a rock in the salt flSod. Wyatt, p. 144.
Nffw seemeth fearful no niore the dark cave, ib. p. 210.
If the accented syllable of a word consisting of two or more
syllables is placed in the thesis, and the unaccented one in
the arsis, the licence is greater. This is a licence often met
with in Middle English poetry, as e. g. :
I wille not Uyf you dlle htlpliss \ as 7?i/n ivithSuten fr^ynd.
Towneley Myst. p. 182.
Of cUth-mzkfng \ she hddde such an haunt. U
Chaucer, Prol. 447^
With blood likewise \ ye mtlst seek ySur return.
Surrey, p. n
The effect is still more harsh, if inflexional endings are usee
in this way, though this does not often occur. The following
are examples :
CHAP. VI FOREIGN METRES:' VERSE-RHYTHM 139
I pa Modes h/ htod^p therinne. Pater Noster, 23.
Annd djj 2iffi6rv pe GSddspell stdnnt. Orm. 33.
All puss iss pdtt hdillghi goddspill. ib. 73.
In most cases dissonant rhythmical accentuations of this sort
are caused by the rhyme, especially in Middle English poetry, e.g.:
Sownytige alwdy tK encres of his wynnfnge.
He ivolde the see were kepi /or e'ny thinge.
Chaucer, Prol. 275.
Cf. also : thing : wrMjng ib. 325-6 ; hr^mstoon : non ib. 629-30 ;
2Je-slike : cake ib. 667-8 ; goddisse :gesse Chaucer, Knightes Tale,
243-4 ; herde :2Lfisw6rde ib. 265-6 ; asstmhljnge : thynge Barclay,
Ship of Fools, p. 20 ; similar examples are even to be met with
in early Modern English poetry, e. g. : nothing : bring Sur. 1 5 ;
bemoaning : king Wysitt, 206; zvel/are : sftare ib. 92; goodn6ss :
access ib. 209; m^Jtere : chere Surrey, 124, &c.
Sometimes it may be doubtful how a line should be scanned.
In some cases of this kind the usage of the poet will decide the
question; we know, for instance, that Orm never allows the
omission of the first unaccented syllable. Where decisive evi-
dence of this kind is wanting, the verse must be scanned in
such a manner as to cause the least rhythmical difficulty. If
a compound, or a word containing a syllable with secondary
•accent, does not fit in with the rhythmical accent, it is to be
read, as a rule, with level stress when it occurs in the middle
of a line (and, of course, always when it is the rhyme-word),
pn the other hand, if according to the rhythmical scheme of the
line an unaccented syllable would be the bearer of the rhythmical
ktress, we must in most cases assume suppression of the
macrusis.
It would not be admissible therefore to scan :
I Love, thdt Vwith \ and r^igneth in my thought,
\ Surrey, p. 12.
>ut : L6ve that liveth \ and r^igneth in viy thdught.
The licence of displacement of accent is an offence against
he fundamental law of accentual verse, and therefore becomes
lore and more rare as the technique of verse becomes more
erfect.
§ 86. Another metrical licence, which is not inadmissible, is
he absence of a thesis in the interior of a line. This
140 THE LINE book i
licence is not of the same origin in Middle English as in Modern
English poetry.
In Middle English it generally appears to be a relic of the
ancient alliterative verse (Types C and D) and to be analogous
to the similar usage of the contemporary Middle English allitera-
tive line, as e. g. :
Ne leve nS mdft to muchel \ to childe ne to wiue.
Moral Ode, line 24.
pet is al s6th fill iwis. Pater Noster, 2.
hdlde we godes Id^e. ib. 21.
6/ the pr ophite \ that hdtte Siynt lohdn. Passion, 26.
Not unfrequently, also, this licence is caused by the rhyme,
as in the following examples :
Myd Hdrald Arfdger^ \ kyng of Northwfy : eye.
Rob. of Glouc. 22.
As was king Rdbert of Scotldnd : hand. Barbour, Bruce, 27.
And gtid Schyr Idmes of DSuglds : was, ib. 29.
Sitmwhat of his ciSping : king.
Rob. Mannyng, Handlyng Sinne, 1. 5703.
The same manner of treatment may be found applied ioi
words which end in -tyng, -esse, -fiesse, and similar syllables,!
and which have a secondary accent on the last syllable and thd
chief accent on the preceding root-syllable. >
In Modern English verse the absence of a thesis between twoj
accented syllables sometimes arises from phonetic conditioi
i.e. from the pause which naturally takes place between X\
words which it is difficult to pronounce successively. Tt
pause supplies the place of the missing thesis, as e. g. in
following lines :
And first cUns us frSm the fiend. Townl. Myst. p. 9.
An did timple there stdnds, \ whereas some time. Surrey, p. 14^
And scorn the Story \ thdt the Knight tdld. Wyatt, p. ij
In other instances the emphasis laid upon a particular wor
compensates for the absence of the unaccented syllable, especiallj
if the accented syllable is long : e. g.
And thou, Father^ \ rece'ive into thy hdnds. Surrey, p. i-
fust as you left them \ all prisoners, sir. Shak. Temp. v. i.
(HAP. VI FOREIGN METRES : " VERSE-RHYTHM 141
My own I6ve^ \ my only dear. Moore.
MSrm'ng, Evening, \ noon and night
Praise God, \ sang TMocrite, R. Browning, ii. 158.
This licence is of frequent occurrence in even-beat measures.
§ 87. Another metrical peculiarity caused by the influence of
the rhythm is the lengthening of a word by the introduction of
an unaccented extra syllable, commonly an e, to supply a thesis
lacking between two accented syllables.
This occurs in Middle English and in Modern English poetry
also, (i) In disyllabic words, commonly those with a first syllable
ending with a mute, the second beginning with a liquid, e. g. :
Of ^ng[e)ldnd | to CdunterhHry they wende.
Chauc. Prol. 16.
If you will tarry, \ hdly pil{e)grim.
Shakesp. All 's Well, iii. v. 43.
[ii) In Modern English poetry only in certain monosyllabic words
mding in r or re, preceded by a diphthong, as e. g. in our, hour,
hre, &c., e. g. :
So dSth he f/el \ his fire mdnifSld, Wyatt, 205.
This peculiarity will be mentioned again in the next chapter.
§ 88. Another deviation from the regular iambic line is the
jinversion of the rhythm ; i. e. the substitution of a trochee for
jm iambus at the beginning of a line or after the caesura. The
[hythmical effect of this Hcence has some resemblance to that
i)f the suppression of anacrusis^ In both cases the rhythmic
ccent has to yield to 'the word^ccent. But while in the latter
lase the whole verse becomes trochaic in consequence of the
jmission of the first syllable, in the former the trochaic cadence
ifects one foot only (generally the first), the rest of the verse
»eing of a regular iambic rhythm. Hence the number of
yllables in each fine is the same as that in all the other
egular lines (including those with level stress), whereas
erses with suppressed anacrusis may easily be distinguished
cm the former by their smaller number of syllables. On the
ither hand, the number of syllables (being the same in both
!ases) aff"ords no help in distinguishing between change of
ord-accent and inversion of rhythm. Which of these two
inds of licence is to be recognized in any particular case can
e determined only by the position which the abnormal foot
ccupies in the line. Inversion of rhythm (i. e. the substitution
142 THE LINE book i
of a trochee for an iambus) occurs, as a rule, only at the
beginning of a line or hemistich, where the flow of the rhythm
has not begun, so that the introduction of a trochee does not
disturb it. If, therefore, the discord between normal word-
stress and iambic rhythm occurs in any other position in the
line, it must be regarded as a case of level stress.
The following examples will serve to illustrate the difference
between these three species of metrical licence :
Omission of anacrusis :
Herknet t6 me gSde men. Hav. i. 7 syll.
N6rfolk spriing thee, Lambeth hdlds thee dead.
Surrey, p. 62. 9 „
Level stress :
A stdlworpi man in a floh, Hav. 24. 8 ,,
And RypheHs that m^t thee by moonlight.
Surrey, p. 126. 10 .,
Inversion of rhythm :
Michel was sUch a king to preyse. Hav. 60. 8 „
Mildly doth flSw along the friiitful fields.
Surrey, p. 145. to ..
ShrSuding themselves Under the desert shore.
Surrey, p. 113. 10 ,.
Inversion of rhythm may be caused in . the interior of a
rhythmical series only when a particularly strong emphasis is
laid upon a word, e. g. to express an antithesis or for similar
reasons :
That if gold ruste | ivhdt shal yren do?
Chaucer, Prol. 500.
And we'll not fail. | When DUncan is asUep.
Shakesp. Macb. i. vii. 61.
We may distinguish between two kinds of inversion of
rhythm, viz. (i) natural inversion, and (2) rhetorical inversion.
The former is caused by word-accent, the latter by the rhetorical
accent, as illustrated by the last examples. The second kind
differs very clearly from level stress, as the word in question or
the first syllable of it (see the second line of the following quota-
tion) is to be uttered with an unusually strong emphasis, e. g. :
■S
Ip.vi foreign metres : VERSE-RHYTHM 143
Sfck, or in health, \ in evil fame or gdod. Surrey, p. 17.
Liisty 0/ schdip, l/'ght of deliverance.
Dunbar, Thriss. and Rois 95.
In the second example inversion of rhythm occurs (as it often
loes) twice over, viz. at the beginning of the verse and after the
caesura.
Not unfrequently also two inversions of rhythm follow imme-
diately upon one another, e. g. :
W6rldly gladnes | is me'lled ivith affray,
Lydgate, Min. Poems, xxii, line 11.
Reigned 6ver | so many peoples and rialms. Surrey, p. 135.
Such verses, however, may also be looked upon as instances
Df the omission of anacrusis combined with epic caesura.
This would be the only admissible explanation in verses the
irst accented word of which is a word which usually does not
aear an accent or is not accented rhetorically, e. g. :
6/ the wordes \ that T^deus had said.
Lydgate, St. of Thebes, line 1082.
16 have lived \ d/ter the city taken. Surrey, p. 139.
3ut in a line with an emphasized first word inversion of
hythm is the more probable explanation : e. g.
Nat astonned, \ nor in his he'rte aff&de.
Lydgate, St. of Thebes, 1069.
God, that sendeth, \ withdrdweth winter shdrp. Surrey, p. 58.
§ 89. Disyllabic or polysyllabic thesis. Another im-
>ortant deviation from the regular iambic rhythm, which is
learly to be distinguished from the double thesis caused by
aversion of rhythm, consists in the use of two or sometimes
ven more unaccented syllables instead of one to form a regular
lesis of a verse. This irregularity, which is almost as common
1 Modern English as it is in Early English poetry, may occur
1 any part of the verse. If it occurs in the first foot, it may
e called disyllabic or polysyllabic anacrusis, as in the following
xamples :
Gif we clepiep hine feder penne. Pater Noster, 19.
•S"^ pe miichel voiced his iivil, \ him se'lue he' biswiked.
Moral Ode, 15.
144 THE LINE book i
To purv^ie pdm a shUkyng, \ on pe English {fl to ride.
Rob. Mannyng, Chron. p. 3, 1. 8.
With a thrMbare cope, \ as is a pdure scol&.
Chaucer, Prol. 260.
And why this is a r/veldciSun. Chaucer, H. of Fame, 1. 8.
My comdundement that k/eps truly ^ \ and d/ter it will d6,
Towneley Myst. p. 182.
There was never ndthing \ mSre me pdind. Wyatt, p. 57.
/ beseech your Grdces \ bdth to pardon m/.
Shakesp. Rich. Ill, i. i. 84.
By thy long grey b^ard and glittering eye.
Coleridge, Anc. Mar. 1. 3.
This metrical licence may occur also immediately after the
caesura, e. g. :
Wei Idte he Utep iifel w^orc \ pe hit ne may don na mdre.
Moral Ode, 128,
And thries hddde sche ben \ at leriisaUm. Chauc. Prol. 463.
My will confirm \ with the spirit of st/adfastnhs.
Wyatt, p. 220,
But tMn we'll try \ what these dastard Frenchmen ddre.
Shakesp. i Hen. VI, i. iv. in.
It most frequently occurs, however, in the interior of the
rhythmical sections, and there it is found in any of the
feet, except the last, as will be seen by the following ex-
amples :
Intd pis ^histernesse Mr benSSen. Gen. and Exod. 66.
For p& we hit mihte finden ift \ and hdbben buten e'nde.
Moral Ode, 52.
In Wessex was than a king, \ his ndme was Sir Ine,
Rob. Mannyng, Chron. p. 2, 1. i.
Of ilngeUnd \ to Cdunterbtiry they wende. Chauc, Prol. 16.
So fervent hSt, \ thy dissolute life. Surrey, p. 68.
And Windsor, aids! \ doth chase mefrSm her sight, ib. p. I4-
Succeeding his father BSlingbroke, \ did r/ign.
Shakesp. i Hen. VI, 11. v. 83.
FOREIGN METRES: VERSE-RHYTHM 145
§ 00. Unaccented extra syllables are found also before a
caesura or at the end of the line. In the former case they
:onstitute what is known as epic caesura^ in the latter they
brm feminine or double endings (if there is only one extra
yllable) or tumbling endings (if there are two extra syllables),
[n both cases this irregularity is softened or excused, so to say,
Dy the pause, except where the accented or masculine ending of
he hemistich is required by the very nature of the metre, viz. in
he first acatalectic half of the Septenary line. It does, however,
lot unfrequently occur in some Early Middle English poems
vritten in Septenary metre, e. g. in the Moral Ode and several
thers, but this may be only owing to want of skill or careless-
less on the part of the authors of these poems. The following
xample taken from the Moral Ode may serve to illustrate this :
Nis nan witnesse e'al se mtichel, | se mdnnes dgen hiorte. 114.
In the Ormulum irregularities of this kind never occur, a
ertain proof that Orm thought them metrically inadmissible,
nd felt that an extra syllable at the end of the first hemistich
^ould disturb the flow of the rhythm.
Epic caesura certainly is more in place, or at any rate more
ommon, in other kinds of verse, especially in the Middle English
lexandrine formed after the Old French model, e. g. :
Unto the Inglis Mnges, \ pat had it in per hSnd.
Robert Mannyng, Chron. p. 2, 1. 4.
In the four-foot and five-foot rhymed verse, and especially in
lank verse, it is of frequent occurrence :
Why this a/dntom, \ why these oracles. Chauc. H. of F. 11.
To Cdunterbthy, \ with fill devout cor age. id. Prol. 22.
What sholde he sttidie \ and make hym siluen woodl ib. 184.^
So crikl prison \ how could betide, alas. Surrey, p. 19.
0 miser dhle sdrrow I \ withouten ctire. Wyatt, p. 124.
With hidden help or vantage, \ or that with both.
■ Shakesp. Macb. i. iv. 113.
' We therefore hold ten Brink to be wrong in asserting {Chaucer^ s
fache und Verskunst, § 307, 3. Anm.) that no redundant or hypermetrical
liable is permissible in the caesural pause of Chaucer's iambic line of
fe accents, although he recognizes that in lines of four accents Chaucer
^Mits the very same irregularity, which moreover has remained in use
M^n to the present day. Cf. Skeat, Chaucer Canon, Oxford, 1900,
I- 31-3. and Schipper in Paul's Grundriss, ed. a, 11. ii, pp, 217-18. On
SCHIPPER L
146 THE LINE book i
But how of Cawdor ? \ The thane of Cawdor lives.
ib. I. iii. 72.
But this deliver d, \ he saw the armies j Sin.
Fletcher, Loyal Subj. 11. i. 333.
For if my husband take you, \ and take you thiis.
id. Rule a Wife, v. 495.
By vision found thee in the Temple, \ and spake.
Milton, Par. Reg. i. 256.
Created htigest \ that swim the Ocean-stream.
id. Par. L. i. 202.
And chiefly thou, O Spirit I \ that dost prefir. ib. i. 17.
Have filled their vials \ with salutary wrath.
Coleridge, Relig. Musings, 84.
§ 91. Double or feminine endings are more frequent than epic
caesuras, especially in Middle English poetry. They become
rarer, however, in the course of time in Modern English in
consequence of the gradual disappearance of the inflexional
endings, e. g. :
pet wi don dlle his ibe'den,
And his wille for to reden. Pater Noster, 7-8.
To my wytte \ that cduseth swevenes
Eyther on morwes \ or on evenes. Chauc. H. of Fame, 3-4.
After Ethelbert \ com Elfrith his brother,
pat was Egbrihtes sSnne, \ and pt ther was an oper.
Robert Mannyng, Chron. p. 21, 11. 7-8.
Withouten 6ther compain^e \ in youthe,
But therof n/edeth n6ught \ to spike as nouthe.
Chauc. Prol. 461-2.
And in her sight \ the seas with din confSunded ? Sur. p. 164.
Or wh6 can tell thy loss, \ if thou mayst once recSver.
Wyatt, p. 154'
this point, as also on several others, Miss M. Bentinck Smith, the
translator of ten Brink's work, is of our opinion (cf. her Remarks on
Chapter III of ten Brink's Chaucer's Sprache und Verskunst in The Modem
Language Quarterly, vol. v, No. i, April, 1902, pp. 13-19). A contrary
view with regard to * extra syllables ' in the heroic and the blank-verse
line (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) is taken by A. P. van Dam and
Cornelis Stoffel, Chapters on English Printing, Prosody, and Pronuncia-
tion (1550-1700), Heidelberg, 1902 (Anglistische Forschungen herausge-
geben von Dr. Johannes Hoops, Heft 9), pp. 48-113.
HAP. VI FOREIGN METRES: VERSE-RHYTHM 147
Lie tMre, my art. \ Wipe thou thine fyes ; have cSntfort,
Shakesp. Temp. i. ii. 25.
The difference 'twixt the cSvetous \ and the prSdigall.
Ben Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 12.
Nothing at dill \ 1*11 teach you to be treacherous.
Fletcher, Mad Lover, iii. 255.
N6, Sir J I / dare not leave her \ t6 that sSlitariness.
id. Rule a Wife, iv. 479.
What young thing 's this P — | Good morrow, beauteous gentle-
woman, id. Loy. Subj. v. ii. 402.
i The two last quotations are noteworthy because the number
)f extra syllables after the last accented one is two, three, or
iven four, a peculiarity which is one of the characteristics of
Fletcher's versification. Other poets, e. g. Shakespeare, preferred
eminine endings in some periods of their literary career, so that
t is possible to use the proportion of masculine and feminine
ndings occurring in a play, compared with others of the same
)oet, as a means of ascertaining the date of its origin.
It is also to be observed that in certain epochs or kinds of
)oetry feminine endings are more in favour than in others. In
he eighteenth century they are very scarce, whereas they become
nore frequent again in the nineteenth century. Byron and
kloore especially use them copiously in their satirical and
lumorous poems to produce burlesque effects.
§ 92. Another metrical licence also connected with the end of
be line is what is known as the enjambement or run-on line —
hat is to say, the carrying over of the end of a sentence into the
allowing line.
The rule that the end of a line must coincide with the end of
t sentence, is, from the nature of the case, more difficult to
ibserve strictly — and, consequendy, the run-on line is more
padily admitted — in verse composed of short lines (which
kten do not afford room for a complete sentence) than where
ihe lines are longer. In blank verse, also, the run-on line is
liore freely allowed than in rhymed verse, where the pause at
le end of the line is more strongly marked.
Generally speaking, enjambement is not allowed to separate
vvo short words that stand in close syntactical connexion and
iolated from the rest of the sentence, though examples of this
o occur (especially in the older poets) in which an adjective is
eparated from its substantive :
L 2
148 THE LINE book
/ will yive him the dlderbhte
Yifte, that ever he abSod his live. Chauc. Blaunche, 246.
Ilfy lute awake, perform ^ the last
Labour, that th6u and I shall waste. Wyatt, p. 29,
or a verb from its subject or object, formed by a monosyllabic
word :
To te'llen sh6rtly^ whan that he'
Was in the see, thtis in this wise, Chauc. Blaunche, 68.
Me ne'ed not long for iS beseech
Her, that hath p6wer vie i6 command. Wyatt, p. 3 1 .
But if, on the other hand, two closely connected parts of i
sentence are each of them long enough to fill up two measures
they may be separated by enjambement :
Whan Z^phirtcs eek with his sw/te br/eihe
Enspired hath in /very hSlte and h^ethe
The t^hdre crSppes, and the yonge sSnne
Hath in the Ram his hdlfe cours irSnne, &c.
Chauc. Prol. 5-8.
There are a sort 0/ 7?ien, whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond.
Shakesp. Merch. i. i. 88-9.:
The admissibility or inadmissibility, however, of run-on lines
depends on many different and complicated considerations, for
which the reader may be referred to ten Brink, Chaucer's
Sprache und Verskunst, §§ 317-20, and to our own larger work,
vol. ii, pp. 59-62.
In Shakespeare's versification, and probably also in that of
other poets, the more or less frequent use of run-on lines is
characteristic of certain periods of their literary career, and is
therefore looked upon as a valuable help in determining the
date of the different plays (cf. § 91). The largest percentage
of run-on lines probably occurs in Milton's epics.
§ 93. The judicious use of run-on lines is often resorted to
for the purpose of avoiding monotony. Another metrical licence ■
connected with the line-end, which is adopted for the same
purpose, is rhyme-breaking. This occurs chiefly in rhyming
couplets, and consists in ending the sentence with the first line
of the couplet, instead of continuing it (as is usually done) till
the end of the second line. Thus the close connexion of the
two lines of the couplet effected by the rhyme is broken up by
the logical or syntactic pause occurring at the end of the first
I
4
TAP. VI FOREIGN METRES: VERSE-RHYTHM 149
ine. This is used rarely, and so to say unconsciously, by the
larlier Middle English poets, but is frequendy applied, and un-
oubtedly with artistic intention, by Chaucer and his successors,
'he following passage contains examples both of rhyme-breaking
nd of the more normal usage :
A Yeman hddde he, and servdniz namS
At that tyme^ f6r him lisle ride sSo ;
And M was clad in cote and hood of gr^ne:
A she/ of pe'cok drives bright and shene
Under his be'lt he bar ful thriftily.
Wei koude he dresse his tdkel ye'manly ; &c.
Chauc. Prol. 11. 101-6.
Rhyme-breaking may, of course, also take place in other
letres, as e. g. in four-foot iambic verses :
Which hdpe I k/ep full stire in me',
As he, that dll my cdnfort is.
On y6u alone^ which dre my bliss, &c.
Surrey, pp. 79-80.
I Chapman, in his translation of Homer, often uses it in
eptenary verses as well as in five-foot iambic verses. In
ertain stanzas rhyme-breaking at particular places is a strict
ale, as e. g. in the Rhyme-Royal stanza (abab ,bcc), in the
iallade-stanza of eight lines (abab .be be), and also between
le two quatrains of the regular Italian sonnet.
On the other hand this licence is rare in the works of the
Gets of the eighteenth century who wrote under French
jifluence, and in modern times (especially at the present day)
I seems to be rather avoided than intentionally admitted.
§ 94. Another peculiarity of frequent but irregular occurrence
1 even-beat verse is alliteration, a feature which is derived from
pe old native metre, and is still (consciously or unconsciously)
mployed by many poets as an ornament of their verse.
The arbitrary use of alliteration in the freer form of the long
ae has been already discussed.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries it is mostly used
lerely to give a stronger emphasis to those words of the verse
hich bear the logical and rhythmical accent,^ but even as early
? this we can observe a decided predilection for accumulated
literation. Sometimes the same alliterative sound is retained
irough several successive lines. In other instances a fourth
Cf. the lines from Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. 31, quoted on p. 98.
I50 THE LINE book i
alliterating word is admitted in the line (as in the example
referred to above). In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries this
striving after accumulation of alliteration was carried to such
a length that it became a rule that as many words in the line as
possible, whether accented or not, should begin with the same
letter. This accounts for King James VI's metrical rule quoted
above (p. 89), that in * Tumbling verse ' the line is to be ' literal '.
Even Chaucer, in spite of his well-known hostile attitude to
regular alliterative poetry,^ allowed his diction to be influenced
strongly by it, e. g. :
/ -creche, "which that wepe and Vfdylie thtU,
Was whilom wy/ to ^nyng Qapdneus. Kn. Tale, 11. 73-4.
And h/ htm hurtleth with "his "hSrs adoun. ib. line 1758.
This accumulation of alliterative sounds occurs in the works
of many Modern English poets, some of whom, as Peele and
Shakespeare, have themselves ridiculed it, but were unable, or
were not careful, to avoid it altogether in their own practice.
And with sharp ahri/h'ng shriekes \ doe bSotlesse cry.
Spens. F. Q. i. iii. 127,
Which with a rtUhy weapon \ I will wound.
Peele, Old Wifes Tale, p. 467.
They love least that let men know their ISve. Shak. Rom. i. 3.
For particulars see Neuengl. Metrik, pp. 68-76, and the
following treatises:
Die Alliteration im Layamon, by K. Kegel; Germanistische Studien,
ed. K. Bartsch, Vienna, 1874, i. 172 ff.
Die Alliteration bei Chancer, by Dr. Y. Lindner, Jahrhuch f. rem. una
engl. Literattir, N. Ser. ii, p. 311 ff.
Die Alliteration in den Werken Chancers mit Ausschluss der Canterbury
Tales, by E. Petzold. Dissertation, Marburg, 1889.
Die alliterierenden Sp7-achformeln in Morris's Early English Allitera-
tive Poems und im Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight, by Job. Fuhrmann,
Dissertation, Kiel, 1886.
Prof. Dr. K. Seitz, Die Alliteration im Englischen vor und bei
Shakspere, and Zur Alliteration im Neuenglischen. Realschulprogramme
i-iii, Mame, 1875, Itzehoe, 1883, 1884.
M. Zeuner, Die Alliteration bei neuenglischen Dichtern. Dissertation.
Halle, 1880.
Die stabreimenden Wortverbindungen in den Dichtungen Walter Scoifs
by Georg Apitz. Dissertation, Breslau, 1893.
1 Cf. Parson^ s Prologue, 42-3.
CHAPTER VII
THE METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES
§ 95. As the root-syllables of words (leaving out of account
the words of Romanic origin) almost universally retain their full
syllabic value, whether occurring in arsis or in thesis, they
require no notice in this chapter. We therefore confine our
remarks to the formative and inflexional syllables, which, though
as a rule found only in thesis, admit of being treated metrically
in three different ways, (i) A syllable of this kind may retain
its full value, so as to form by itself the entire thesis of a foot.
(2) It may be slurred, so that it combines with another unac-
cented syllable to form a thesis. (3) It may lose its syllabic
value altogether, its vowel being elided and its consonantal part
(if it has any) being attracted to the root-syllable. By the last-
mentioned process, as is well known, the number of inflexional
syllables has been greatly reduced in Modern as compared with
Middle and Old English.
The inflexional endings which in Middle English (we are
here considering chiefly the language of Chaucer) have ordinarily
the value of independent syllables are the following : —
-es (-z>, -us) in the gen. sing, and the plur. of the substantive,
and in certain adverbs.
-en in the nom. plur. of some substantives of the weak declen-
sion, in certain prepositions, in the infinitive, in the strong past
participle, in the plur. of the pres. of strong verbs, and in the
pret. plur. of all verbs.
-er in the comparative.
-est in the superlative and the 2nd person pres.
-eth {-ifh) in the 3rd person pres. sing., in the plur. pres. and
plur. imperative.
-ed (-z'd, -ud) in the past participles of weak verbs, and often
in the ist and 3rd person sing, and the whole plur. pret. of
the weak verbs with short root-syllable, instead of the fuller
endings -ede, -eden, which also occur; in weak verbs with long
root-syllable the endings are -de, -den.
-edest^ or -dest in the 2nd pers. sing. pret. of the weak verb,
152 THE LINE book i
-e in a certain number of inflexional forms of the verb (as;
e.g. in the inf. and in the past part, of strong verbs, where n is
dropped), and of the substantive and adjective, and as an ending
of Romanic words, &c.
Of all these endings only the comparative and superlative suffixes
-er, -est are preserved in an unreduced state in Modern English.
The final -e has disappeared in pronunciation (with some excep-
tions occurring in Early Modern English). The important suffixes
-en, -es, -ed, -est (2nd pers. sing.), -e/h (for which -j, the northern!
ending, instead of -es, is commonly substituted) have been con-
tracted through syncope so as to form one syllable with the root,
except where the nature of the final consonant of the stem
prevents syncope, e. g. in -es and -est after sibilants, in -ed after
dentals, in -en after v, s, /, d, k (as in houses, ended, risen, written,
hidden^ broken, driven). As, however, these are always full syl-
lables they may here be disregarded. The ending -edest has
been shortened into -edst.
It is to be observed that the syncopation of the vowel {e) of
the inflexional endings was not so nearly universal in Early:
Modern English as it is at present ; and further, that it is still ]
much less prevalent in poetry than in prose, because the poets j
for metrical reasons often preserve the fuller endings when in j
ordinary speech they are no longer used.^ In examining thel
metrical treatment of the Early English inflexional endings, we
shall therefore have occasion to consider the usage of the pre-
sent day, notwithstanding the fact that some of these endings
are obsolete in modern prose.
The chief difference between Early and Modern English with
regard to the treatment of the inflexions is that in Early English
poetry the full pronunciation is the rule — in accordance with the
practice in ordinary speech — and the syncopation of the vowel
(e, rarely i or u) is the exception ; while in Modern English it is
the shortened pronunciation that is normal, the full syllabic
form being used only exceptionally as a poetic licence.
§ 98. The first point that requires notice is the treatment of
the unaccented e of words of three and four syllables in Middle
English. The following observations are founded on those of
ten Brink, Chaucer's Sprache und Versliunst, § 256.
I . If each of the two last syllables of a trisyllabic word has
•^ In the reading of the Bible and Liturgy the older syllabic pronunciation
of certain endings is still common, and it is occasionally heard in sermons,
where a more elevated and poetical kind of diction is admissible than would
be used in secular oratory.
cftAP.vii METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES 153
an unaccented ^, one of them is generally elided or slurred over
under the influence of the rhythmical accent. Thus the past
tense singular of the weak verbs clepede^ werede, makede, lovede
may be scanned either ckpte, werde, made, lovde, or cleped, wered^
maked, loved. Just in the same way the plural forms depedeti^
??iakeden, &c., may be read either clepten, maden, &c., or ckped,
maked, &c. ; likewise the plural endings of nouns /adereSj hevenes
may be pronounced fadres, hevnes or fader s, hevens. In Early
Middle English, however, and also in the language of Chaucer,
exceptions to this rule are found, trisyllabic scansion occur-
ring chiefly in the plur. pret., e. g. :
patt Hre Ldverrd le'su Christy swa J?6lede pe d/o/elL
Orm. 1 1822.
/ dSrsie swe're, they weyede'n ten pSunde.
Chauc. Prol. 454.
Velleden, id. N. Pr. Tale, 569; wdneden, id. Leg. 712, &c.
The e following upon an unaccented syllable which is capable
of receiving the accent, whether in a word of Teutonic or
Romanic origin, is commonly mute. E. g. banere^ maiiere^ lovere,
ladyes, housbondes^ thousandes are generally to be pronounced in
verse (as, indeed, they were probably pronounced in prose) as,
hane}\ mane)', lover, ladys, housbonds^ thousands. But this e, on
the other hand, not unfrequently remains syllabic, especially in
the Ormiilum^ where it is dropped only before a vowel or h.
\\.%. cneole'nn meoklik{e) annd Wenn 11392, meocne'ss{e) is prinne
kiness 10699, ^0^^' '^^ godness(e) uss hdvepp don 185. Before
a consonant or at the end of a line, however, it is always
isounded: EnngUsshe menu to Idre 279, God word and gSd
Vipe'nnde 158, forrpi birrp all Criste'ne fSllc 303. Goddsp^lless
\hdlljhe tare 14, 42, 54, pa Goddspelle'ss neh dlle 30. Other
jexamples are: And p6 pet we'ren gitsere's Moral Ode, Ms. D.
1. 269 ; For thousande's his hondes mdden dye Chauc. Troil. v,
1 8i6 ; enlUmine'd id. A B C 73.
In words of four syllables a final e which follows upon an
unaccented syllable with a secondary accent may at pleasure
L'ither become mute or be fully pronounced. So words like dut-
rydhe, soudanesse, /mperbures, drgumentes may be read either as
jthree or four syllables. Examples of e sounded: Biforr pe
^RSmanisshe king Orm. 6902 ; A7jnd stkerrlike trdivwenn ib.
1 141 2; purrh hdll^he gSddspellwrihhtess ib. 160; Till hise
'nninngcnihhiess ib. 235; Annd Pmrrh pin gdddamndne'sse
154 THE LINE book i
ib. 11358; An Godd all unntodMedd ib. 11 518; I gUternesse
fdllenn ib. 11636; purrh flashes nnntrummnesse ib. 11938-; in
strange rdkeieje Moral Ode, 2^1 ] a thing{e) unsi^defe'ste ib. 319;
bifore heovenkmge ib. 352, &c. Examples of e mute: And pa,
pe untreowness{e) dide pan Moral Ode, 267 ; p^osterness{e) and He
ib. 279. Orm has it only before vowels or h\ Forr son se
glt'iterness{e) iss dded 11663, &c.
§ 97. Special remarks on individual inflexional
endings.
-es (gen. sing., nom. plur., and adverbial) is in disyllablesj
(a) as a rule treated as a full syllable, e.g. Ac pe't we d6pfor^
gSdes licue Moral Ode 56 ; from e'uery shires ende Chauc. Prol. 15 ;
And Hies certain we're the'i to blame ib. 375; (b) seldom synco-
pated or slurred over, e. g. Ure dire hlduerd/Sr his prelles Moral
Ode, 189 ; He mdkede fisses in pere si ib. 83 ; I sdugh his sieves
purfiled Chauc. Prol. 193 ; The drmes ofddun Arcite id. Kn. Tale,
2033 ; Or Hies it was id. Sq. Tale, 209.
In trisyllables the reverse is the case ; only Orm, who always,
as is well known, carefully counts his syllables, treats the ending
as a full syllable. Otherwise syncopation or slurring over of the
last syllable is the rule in these words : a sSmeres day Chauc.
Sq. Tale, 64 ; Greyhoundes he hddde id. Prol. 190 ; hSusbondes di
that tdun id. Kn. Tale, 78 ; the tdvernes wel id. Prol. 240.
In Modern English in all these cases elision of the -e is the
rule, those, of course, excepted in which the -e is still sounded at
the present day (after sibilants, dentals, &c.) and which therefore
we need not discuss here. The use of -es as a full syllable is
otherwise quite exceptional, chiefly occurring in the Earlji
Modern English poets, who use the sounded f, occasionally, t
gain an unaccented syllable, e. g. :
The nightes car the stars ahdut doth bring. Surrey, p. 15.
Sometime to live in ISv'es bliss. Wyatt, p. 119.
That like would n6t for all this wSrldes wMth.
Spens. F. Q. i. ix. 31
The heat doth straight forsake the limbes c6ld. Wyatt, p. 205.
Be' your iyes yet moon-prSofe. Ben Jonson, i. 979.
The usual sound of these words is night's, love's, world' i
limbs, eyes, and so in all similar cases.
The syncopation of the -e in the adverbial -es is indicated, ai
4i
CHAP. VII METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES 155
is well known, by the spelling, in certain cases : e. g. in else,
hence, thence, whence (instead of the Middle English forms elles,
hennes, &c.) ; but even in words where it is preserved in writing,
as e. g. in whiles, unawares, it has become mute and has, as a
rule, no metrical value in Modern English poetry. The archaic
certes, however, is still always treated as a disyllabic, e. g.
/ wail, 1 wdilf and certes that is triHe.
Mrs. Browning, i, p. 55.
§ 98. The ending -en (plur. nom. of nouns; prepositions;
infinitive; strong past part.; plur. pres. and pret. of verbs) is
in Middle English (a) commonly treated as a full syllable during
the first period, and later on mostly, although not always, to
avoid hiatus, before vowels and h, e.g. His eyen ste'pe Chauc.
Prol. 201; Biforenn Crist allmdhhtig Gddd Oim. 175; Befdren
and behynde Alexius, ii. 393; aboven dlle ndciouns Chauc. Prol.
53; pu schalt beren him pis ring Floris and Blanch. 547; For
to dilen with no swich pordille Chauc. Prol. 247 ; bifrorenn Orm.
i'^^^6 ', forlorenn ib. 1395; Sche wds arisen dnd at redy dight
Chauc. Kn. T. 183 ; Hir hosen we'ren of^fyn scarlet re'ed id. Prol.
456 ; For this ye knowen dlso wel as I \h. 730 ; Swa pdtt te^^
shulenn wicrrpen pder Orm. 1 1867 ; patt hdffdenn cwe'mmd himm
I piss lif ib. 210; Al pet we misdiden here Moral Ode, 99;
(b) syncopated or slurred, especially in later times, after the
n has been dropped already in prepositions and verbal in-
flexions, e. g. His pore/eren he delde Alexius, ii. 210; Hdlles and
\ boures, 6xen and plSugh ib. 12; Bifdrr pe RSmanisshe king
(instead of biforemi) Orm. 6902; HastSw had Jl/en al nyght
Chauc. Mane. Prol. 1 7 ; She bothe hir yonge children unto hir
cdllep id. CI. T. 108 1 ; is born : pat wenten him biforn id. Man
of Lawes T. 995-7; withinne a litel whyle id. Sq. T. 590;
And tmderfongen his kinedom Flor. and Blanch. 1264; pei
mdde sowen i?i pat a*// Alexius, i. 577; Biddep his men cSmen
him nere ib. 134; Horn : i-born King Horn, i^^j-^ -, forldren :
Horn ib. 479-80; Was risen and rSmede Chauc. Kn. T. 207 ;
my lief is fdren on ISnde id. N. Pr. T. 59 ; And fSrth we riden
a litel mdre than pdas id. Prol. 825 ; pei dryven him S/te tS
skorninge Alexius, i. 308 ; pei risen alle tip with blipe chere
ib. 367; pei cdsten up6n his crSun ib. 312; And wissheden pat
hi were <//d/ Alexius, ii. 335, &c.
In Modern English this ending is much more rare, and is
hardly ever used as a full syllable of the verse. The plural
ending -en of the substantive occurs now and then in Wyatt's
156 THE LINE BOOK i
and Surrey's verse, as e. g. in eyen instead of eyes^ both in rhyme,
e.g. eyen: mine Sur. 14, and in the interior of the line, ib. 126,
128 ; Wyatt 8, 17, &c.
Prepositions ending in -en are scarcely ever used now ; some-
times the archaic withSuten is to be met with in some Early
Modern English poets, and then, of course, as a trisyllable:
withSuten dread Sur. 95 ; withouten ind Spenser, F. Q. 11. ix. 58.
The obsolete infinitives in -en may also be found sometimes in
the writings of the same and other early Modern English poets :
in vayn : sdyen Sur. 31 ; his flScke to view'en wide Spenser, F. Q.
I. i. 23; to killen had Shak. Pericles, 11. Prol. 20. Likewise
certain antiquated plural forms of the verb in -en\ dischdrgen
clean Sur. 30 ; fen : lifeden Spenser, F. Q. 11. x. 7 ; and waxen
in their mirth Shak. M. N. Dr. 11. i. 56. \,
It is only the -en of the past participle that is at all often after'
certain consonants treated as a full syllable, e. g. the/rSzen heart ]
Sur. I ; gotten out ib. lo ; the stricken de'er ib. 54 ; hast taken pain ^
Wyatt, 99. Here the full forms are preserved in the ordinary
language. It is only exceptionally that participles that have
undergone shortening, as come, reassume their n and regain an
extra syllable, e.g. ti/t he comen hath West (Poets, ix. 484).
Contracted forms like grown, ktiown, drawn, always remain
monosyllabic, even in verse, and words like fallen, swolleti,
which are normally disyllabic, are often contracted in poetry:
as grown Sur. 13 ; known ib. 45; swoln ib. 8; befallen ib. 26;
drawn Wyatt, 160. Complete contraction is effected either by
elision of the final consonant of the stem, e. g. taen (instead of
taken) Sur. 44, or by slurring of the ending, e. g. hath given
a place Sur. 108; is beaten with wind and stSr?n ib. 157, &c.
§ 99. The comparative and superlative endings -er, -est are,
as a rule, syllabic. Hdrtt is fairer pane beo he King Horn, 330 ;
No le'nger dwelle hy ne myghte Alexius, ii. 85 ; Btit rather wolde
heydven Chauc. Prol. 487.
These endings are treated, moreover, as full syllables in the
unaccented rhymes Hdengest : fmrest Layamon, 13889-90;
Hikngest : hehdest ib. 13934-5. If an inflexional -e is added to
such words, so as to make them trisyllables, it is commonly
elided or apocopated, e.g. For he is the fdireste man Horn,
787; hire gr/tteste 60th Chauc. Prol. 120; The ferreste in his
pdrisshe ib. 494. Slurring or syncopation takes place in the
following examples, Sche mSst wip Mm no lenger abide Sir Orfeo, ,
line 328 ; No lenger to hile 6f he brake Alexius, ii. 127 ; more
rarely in the superlative, Annd dllre Idttst he wundedd wass
CHAP. VII METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES 157
Orm. 11779,11797; Was th6u notfdrist of angels dlle ? Towneley
Myst. p. 4.
In Modern English these endings are treated similarly. The
comparative-ending -er is mostly syllabic on account of the
phonetic nature of the final r, and even if slurred, it does not
entirely lose its syllabic character, e. g. :
The Higher my comfort is to m/. Surrey, p. 37.
Or dS him mightier service as his thrdlls.
Milton, Par. L. i. 149.
The ending of the superlative -est, too, is commonly
syllabic, e. g.
In longest night, or in the shortest day, Surrey, p. 16.
Now Uss than smallest dwarfs, in narrow rdom.
Milton, P. L. i. 779.
Nevertheless many examples of syncopation are found, chiefly
in the writings of the Early Modern English poets: e.g. the
ine'ekest of mind Sur. 77; the swiet'st companions Shak. Cymb.
V. V. 349 ; the st&n'st good night id. Macb. 11. ii. 4. Such forms
are often used by Ben Jonson.
§ 100. The ending -est (2nd pers. pres. sing. ind. and pret.
sing, of weak verbs) is in Middhe English generally syllabic :
Annd sej^est swillc annd swillc was pH Orm. 151 2 ; Annd jiff
JHi fe'jesst prio wip prh^pa finde&st tii pder se'xe id. 1 1523-4;
That brSughtest Troye Chauc. N. Pr. T. 408 ; Thow wdlkest
now id. Kn. T ; pat g6d pat p6u penkest do me' Alexius, ii.
304; Hou mj^pest pou pus longe w6ne Alexius, i. 445* And
woldest ne'vere ben aknowe ib. 461.
Frequently, however, syncopation or slurring also occurs:
pff pit sejjst tdtt tu lufesst GSdd Orm. 5188 ; pu we'nest pat e'ch
song be'o grislich Owl and Night. 315 ; pu schrichest and ^Sliest
to pine fere ib. 223; Thou kndwest him well Ch^MC. Blaunche,
137 > Trowest thou? by our L6rd, 1 will thee say ib. 551 / pou
M^pest have ben a gret lording Alexius, i. 511.
In Modern English syncopation is extremely common, e. g.
Yaw kndwest thou dll Sur. 27 ; That mdkest but gdme Wyatt,
, 30, &c. ; but the full syllabic pronunciation (in accordance with
I the modern prose usage) is also frequent, both in the poetry of
jthe sixteenth century, e.g. What frdmest thdu Sur. 158; And
\l6okest 16 command Shak. H, VI. i. i. 38 ; and in that of recent
times, e.g. :
158 THE LINE book i
Such as thou sidndest, pale in the drear light.
Mrs. Browning, i. 4.
Wan ScHlpior^ w^epest thou to take the cast?
Tennyson, Early Sonn. 9.
§ 101. The ending -eth, in the North -es, -is (3rd pers. sing,
pres., plur. pres., and 3rd pers. sing, imperative), is in most cases
syllabic in Middle English, especially before the fifteenth cen- '
tury ; e.g. // tHrrnepp hemm till sinne Orm. 150; pat spe'kepp
Sff pe d^ofell ib. 11 944; pat defre annd d&fre stdndepp inn ib.
2617; panne hi cuniep eft Moral Ode, 236; Hi wdlkep e'ure
ib. 239; So prikep hem natfre Chauc. Prol. 11 ; Comep dlle
n6w to ;«/ Alexius, ii. 337 ; And a-fongep )oure mede ib. 375.
But already in the earlier portion of this epoch of the language
slurring or syncopation is often to be met with, and it became
gradually more and more frequent. Boc s/j^p pe birrp wel^emenn
pe' Orm. 11373, 11981; Annd dj^ affterr pe goddspell std?int
ib. 33; And thinkep, here cSmep my niortel enemy C\i2Mc. Kn.
T. 785; Comep ner, quoth he'id. Prol. 839; pat hdvep travdille
Alexius, i. 350 ; Thai hdldis this land agdyne resdune Barbour's
Bruce, i. 488.
In Modern English the endings -eth and -es i^s) were at first
used promiscuously ; later -eth is employed, if a full syllable is
required, -es i^s) if syncopation is intended ; but this rule is not
strictly observed.
The dropping of e on the whole is the more usual : e. g.
begins Sur. i ; seems ib. 2 ; learns Wyatt, i ; also if written -eth :
On him that ISveth not me Wyatt, 57 ; that se'eth the heavens Sur. 2.
Treatment as a full syllable is less usual : But dll too late Love
Uarneth me Sur. 5 ; Love that liveth and re'igneth in my thSught
Sur. 12. Shakespeare and his contemporaries still use it
somewhat frequently (cf. Hertzberg in Shakspeare-Jahrh. xiii,
pp. 255-7), ^"<i occasional instances are found even in later
poets, as for instance in Keats, who rhymes : death : ouershddowM,
p. 336; Chr. Rossetti, death : fas hion/th p. 28, ii. 11. 5-6.
§ 102. The ending -ed, in the North -id, -it (past part, of
weak verbs), is, as a rule, syllabic in Middle English : e. g. Min
Drihhtin hdfepp lenedd Orm. 16; Annd icc itt hdfe fdrpedd te
ib. 25; Annd tckrfore hdfe icc tiirrnedd itt ib. 129; iprdved 6fte
sithes Chauc. Prol. 485; hadde swowned with a dedly che're
ib, Kn. T. 55; NSu is Alex dwelled pSre Alexius, i. 121;
LSverd, ipdnked be' pou ay ib. 157; A w^ile gret quhile thar
duellyt he BsiThour, Bruce, i. 359.
CHAP. VII METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES 159
But slurring and syncopation likewise are of frequent occur-
1 rence : patt hdffdenn cwimmd himm i piss It/'ih. 211 ; pei sclille
I beo to depe idemd Moral Ode, 106 ; His I6nge Mer was kemhd
\behynde his bdk Chauc. Kn. T. 1285; Fulfild of ire ib. 82;
especially in words with the accent on the antepenultima, e. g.
\Ybiiried nor ibre'ni ib. 88; and hdn hem cdried softe ib. 153;
! And ben yhdnowrid ds a kjng Alexius, i. 5, 12 (Ms. N).
In this ending, too, syncopation {-ed, V, /) is the rule already in
the earliest Modern English poets : offer d Sur. 6 ; transgrist ib.
1 1 ; that promised wds to tMe ib. 35. The use of it as a full syl-
lable, however, is very frequently to be met with, chiefly in par-
ticiples used as adjectives: the pdrched green restored is with shade
Sur. I ; by we'll assured moan Wyatt, 4 ; but drmed sighs ib. 4 ;
false feigned grdce ib. 4. The dramatists of the Elizabethan
time (cf Engl, Metrik, ii. 336) similarly often use the full end-
ing ; and even in modern poets it is not uncommon : where wfve
involved others Burns, Remorse, 1. 1 1 ; The chdrmed God begdn
Keats, Lamia, p. 185, &c.
§103. The ending -ed {-od, -ud) of the ist and 3rd pers.
sing. pret. and the whole plur. pret. of weak verbs, which is
shortened from -ede, -ode, -ude, -eden, -oden, -uden (cf. § 96), is in
Middle English usually syllabic : e. g. Mest al pet me liked{e) p6
Moral Ode, 7 ; Oure ISverd pdt al mdked{e) iwis Pop. Science,
2 ; He ended{e) and cUped^e) yt Leicestre Rob. of Glouc, p. 29 ;
The fdder hem loued{e) dlle yno} ib. ; Hire overlippe wypud{e)
sche so dene Chauc. Prol. 107 ; An outrider e pat loved(e) vdner^e
ib. 165; Ne mdked him a spiced cSnscience ib. 526; pei priced
evere n&e and ne're Alexius, i. 583 (Ms. V).
' As several of these examples show, slurring occasionally
j takes place, so that the ending forms part of a disyUabic thesis,
I but real syncopation never occurs; cf further: And ass^git it
ir^gorouslj Barbour, Bruce, i. 88 ; and iver.e I h6ped{e) of pi to
here Alexius, ii. 482.
With regard to these endings from the beginning of the
Modern English epoch onward syncopation ([^]</, V, /) is the
rule; defied Sur. 10; sustain d ib. 15; opprest Wyatt, 107.
liut the full syllable not infrequently occurs : / ISoked bdck
Sur. 4 ; / never proved nSne Wyatt, 39. It is characteristic of
iSpenser's archaistic style, and is often met with in the Elizabethan
[dramatists; Shakespeare, however, uses it much more frequently
m his earlier than in his later plays. The more recent
poets admit it in single cases : said : vdnishe'd Keats, Lamia,
p. 202.
i6o THE LINE hook
4
§104. The final -e is treated in Modern English poetry ir
the same manner as in Modern High German : it may be eiihei
used as a thesis, or be slurred over, or become quite silent. Ir
Middle English, however, the treatment of the final -e depends
much more on the following word than on the etymologica
origin of the -e. It becomes mute, of course, mostly before
^ or a vowel, but is generally preserved (as a thesis) or slurred
before a consonant. This rule has, however, many excep-
tions.
Orm and other poets of the beginning of the thirteenth cen-
tury give the final e its full syllabic value in certain classes oi
words in which Chaucer ^ in the second half of the fourteenth
century generally slurs it.
These words are the pronouns hire^ our€,joure, here, myne
thyne (also spelled without e), if they do not stand in rhyme
the plural forms thise^ some, swiche, whiche\ the past part, oi
strong verbs with an originally short root, the inflexional h
being apocopated, e.g. come, write, stole) the 2nd pers. sing.
of the strong pret., e. g. bare, tooke, except such words as sotige,
founde, and others of the same group ; the preterites were and
made ; the nouns sone, wone ; the French words in -ye, -aye, -eye^
and, finally, the words before, to/ore, there, heere.
In most of these cases it is easy enough to give examples oi
the syllabic use of the -e, both from the earliest and from later
poets : Off are sdwless ne'de Orm. 1 1402 ; patt ure Ldferrd lesu
Crist ib. 11 403, 11803, &c. ; jerne hy ponkede Sure drighit
Alexius, ii. 35; Annd ^Hre sdwless f ode iss e'c Orm. 11 691, &c.;
patt ^Hre pr hostess hdlljhenn ib. 11694 ; Till hise deore peowwess
ib. 1 1 556; Att dlle pine ne'de ib. 11366, Ii9r4, &c. ; Owl and
Nightingale, 220, 221, &c. ; Cdstel god an mine rise ib. 175,
282; Forgive hemm here sinne Orm. 86; Annd wille iss hire
pridde mdhht ib. 1 1 509 ; For hire heorte was so gret Owl and
N. 43, 44, &c. ; At sHrne sipe he'rde ich telle ib. 293; pest
wikkede fdde ib. 333; And made me wip him ride Sir Orfeo,
153, &c.
All these words may, however, also be found with slurring or
syncopation of the e, even in Early Middle English: Annd
peowwtenn we I wipp all pin mdhht Orm. 1 1393 ; /^ wdere he pser
biksechedd ib. 1 1628 ; Annd siime itt all forrwerrpenn ib. 1 1512 ;
Min he'orie atflihp and fait mi tUnge Owl and N. 37 ; par pe ule
song hirtide ib. 26, 441 ; pat ich schUlle to hire fleo ib. 442 ; he
^ See ten Brink, Chaucer's Sprache und Verskimst, § 260.
il
CHAP. VII METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES i6i
wire hchoie ib. 23, 53, &c. In later Middle English this is more
common : Any mage 6/ hire sone Alexius i. 105 ; per of to g6d pei
mdde here mSne ib. 32 ; Somme pat 6/pe inne wire Alexius ii. 325 ;
Paste pey wire ysought porough ib. 14 ; And I6ke sire at ^Sure
pilgrime ib. 394; And thire our 6s t bigdn Chauc. Prol. 827;
EntHned in hire nose ib. 123; Nought griveth Us y cure glorie and
honour id. Kn. T. 59 ; pHrghyoure gintilnisse ib. 62 ; and hire false
wheet ih. 67; And pilgryms wire they dlle Chauc. Prol. 26, 59;
At night was come into that hdstelrie ib. 23 ; With him ther was
his sSne, a young squyir ib. 79; In mdtteleye and high ib. 271 ;
cSmpanye in youthe ib. 461 ; no vilanye is it ib. 740, &c.
§ 105. The following examples serve to show the arbitrary
use of the final -e in other words, either {a) syllabic, or
(<5) slurred or syncopated.
1. Infinitive, (a) And stonde ilpe gddes knyght Alexius ii. 269 ;
io title ydw all the condicidun Chauc. Prol. 38. (b) to take our
wiy ib. 34 ; Min mote ^eve silver ib. 232.
2. Past part, of strong verbs, {a) ydrdwe ni yhdre Sq. T.
336 ; pd pe child ybdre wds Alexius ii. 37 ; (b) Yhdre he wds in
Rome ib. 6 ; Though hi were cdme again Chauc. Sq. T. 96 ;
'me from his vidge id. Prol. 77, &c.
3. Various inflexional endings of the verb, (a) pdt ich
\ede wibeginne Cant. Creat. E. 225 ; Andy it I hdpe,pdr ma fay
thauc. Sir Thopas 1. 2010; and mdde forward id. Prol. 33;
'ud winte fdr to ddon ib. 78 ; yet hddde hi but litel gdld in cdffre
b. 298 ; And siyde td her pits Alexius i. 69 ; glddly wdlde priche
'hauc. Prol. 480. (b) devdutly wdlde he tiche ib. 481 ; I trdwe
her ndwher ndn is ib. 524; I trdwe some min id. Sq. T. 213 ; So
•adde I spdken id. Prol. 31 ; hddde he bi ih. 60; if that sche sdwe
\tndus ib. 144 ; children betwien them hidde pei ndne Alexius i. 31;
^ote mite fdunde pej ndn saunddute Cant. Creat. O. 62.
4. Inflexional endings of Q-ermanic substantives, (a)
lis nekke whit Chauc. Prol. 238 ; Of wdodecrdft ib. 210; whdtt
lie Sonne wds to riste ib. 30 ; a spdnne hrdod ib. 155 ; At mite wil
aught ib. 127 ; Ne df his spiche ddungerdus ib. 517 ; As will in
' ''che as in cdntendnce id. Sq. T. 93 ; of sinne liche Alexius i. 59 ;
A ^ide td a chirche-hii ib. 97 ; dl for love mine Alexius ii. 87 ;
^ hiwe bright ib. 100 ; while gdd in irpe mdde man Cant. Creat.
26. (b) Trduthe and honour Chauc. Prol. 46 ; Thdt no drdpe
/ilk ib. 131 ; In hdpe to stdnden ib. 88; And by his syde a
ird ib. 1X2 ; td the pyne of hi lie Cant. Creat. O. 240 ; purch
idepat in his wdrd was lip ib. E. 14.
5. Romanic substantives, (a) dtte siege hddde he ^/ Chauc.
1 62 THE LINE book i
Prol. 56 ; in hire sauce depe ib. 1 29 ; Is signe that a man ib. 226.
(b) And bathed euery veyne in swich lie our ib. 3; of age he was
ib. 81 ; his benefice to hyre ib. 507.
6. Adjectives, (a) Chiefly after the definite article, pronouns,
and in plural forms : and in the Grete See Chauc. Prol. 59 ;
The tendre croppes and the yonge sonne ib. 7 ; his hdlfe cours
irSnne ib. 8; with his siveete breethe ib. 5; to seken strdunge
strondes ib. 13 ; theferste nip Alexius i. 55 ; pat tike day ib. 159 ;
pe dede cors ib. 420; Pouere men to elope andfe'de ib. 10, 13, 93,
&c. ; cSmen of h^e kinne Alex. ii. 99 ; with milde stevene ib. 72 ;
annd dlle fMe lusstess Orm. 11656. (b) Chiefly after the inde-
finite article, but in other cases as well : Annd dlle pe fldeshess
Mggerlej^c Orm. 1 1655 ; afdyrforheed Chauc. Prol. 254 ; as is
a pSure scoter ib. 260 ; as meke as is a mdyde ib. 69 ; a sheefof
p^cock drwes bright and kene ib. 104.
7. Adverbs and prepositions, (a) Mildeliche he' him gre'tte
Alexius ii. 296; Right abSute none ib. 387; And softe broupe
Mm obedde ib. 23 ; Ful ofte time ib. 52 ; Ful lude songen Chauc.
Sq. T. 55; Aboute prime id. Kn. T. 1331; aboue e'rpe Cant.
Creat. E. 573. (b) Fdste pei we're ysought porUgh Alexius ii. 14 ;
And e'ek as loude as doth Chauc. Prol. 171 ; Ther is namore to
s^yne ib. 314 ; stille as any stSon id. Sq. T. 171 ; Aboute this kyng
id. Kn. T. 1321; Children betw^ne hem hedde pei none Alexius
i. 31 ; wipynne a whyle Cant. Creat. O. 29; pf pt oure lord
abSue pe sky ib. O. 186.
8. Numerals, (a) she hddde fyve Chauc. Prol. 460; FMU
s^vente'ne ^ire Alexius i. 179, 187, 321; of fiue pousende winter
and on Cant. Creat. E. 462 ; nSperfe'rste time ne last ib. O. 356.
(b) and fiue and twenti winter and mS ib. E. 463 ; taken pe tendt
part Sf py gHod ib. O. 332; dlle pe be'stis ib. 173; For se'ventene
^e'r hit is gdn Alexius i. 194.
§ 106. In poems written in more southern dialects the final -i
retains its syllabic value later than in those of the North, in
agreement with the actual usage of the dialects of these districts
Sir Tristrem (c. 1 300) has still many syllabic e's in thesis ; ir
the Cursor Mundi (c. 1320) and the Metrical Homilies (c. 1330'
they are not so numerous, and they are still rarer in the poe
of Laurence Minot (c. 1352) and of Thomas of Erceldoune,
The editor of the last-mentioned poet, Prof. Alois Brandl, reject!
the syllabic final -e altogether in opposition to ten Brink an*
Luick. In Barbour's Bruce (c. 1375) it is entirely silent.^
^ Cf. Luick, Anglia, xi. 591-2,
>.vii METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES 163
But in the later poetry of the North, which was largely under
the influence of southern English models, chiefly of Chaucer,
many inflexional endings, especially various kinds of final -e^
have a metrical value. King James I, one of the most eminent
Scottish poets, e.g., is a strict follower of Chaucer in this
respect, both in versification and language.^ This will be shown
by the following examples : Myn eyen gdn to smeri stanza 8 ; To
seken help 99 ; that never change wold 83 ; Thatfeynen Sutward
136 ; That me'nen we'le 137 ; We we'ren all 24 ; Lyke to an he'rte
schdpin verily 48 ; Thiis sail on the' my charge bene ildid 120 ; in
la/efor a while 134 ; Now, swete bird, say ones to me pe'pe, I dee
for wo ; me think thou gynnis slepe 57 ; And on the smdle gre'ne
twistis sdt ^^; Within a chamber, Idrge, rown, and /dire 77.
Other Scottish poets, like Dunbar, use the final e in the same
way, but much more sparingly: Amdng the gre'ne rispis d?id the re'dis.
Terge 56 ; And gre'ne Uvis doing of de'w doun fle'it Thrissil and
Rois 49 ; scho se'nd the swi/te Ro ib. 78 ; when M&che we's with
vdriand windis pdst ib. i .
Only the inflexional endings of substantives and of verbs are
used by Dunbar somewhat more frequently as full syllables,
e. g. : Had mdid the birdis to begin thair houris Thrissil and Rois
5 ') of flour is for git new ib. 18 ; the bldstis of his home ib. 34 ; In
at the window lUkit by the ddy ib. 10; And hdlsit me ib. 11 ;
Bdlmit in dew ib. 20; The pe'rlit drSppis schiike Terge 14. Even
Lyndesay still uses certain full endings now and then in this way :
Eleme'ntis: intent is Monarchic 247-8; thay cdn nocht Us it:
abiisit Satire 2897-8 ; Quhow t ressdvit confort Monarchic
132; Lyke durient pe'irles 6n the twistis hdng ib. 136. But the
final -e is hardly ever found in his verses forming a thesis.
On the other hand some contemporary authors of the South,
reckoned as included in the Modern English period, continue
to admit in several cases the syllabic final -e, but this can only be
regarded as an exception. E. g. The sole season, that bud and
Worn forth brings Surrey, p. 3 ; Thdt the Gre'eks brought to Trdy'e'
'own ib. 21 ; Herself in shddow of the close night ib. 138 ; Agdinst
'he biilwark 6f the fle'she frdil Wyatt 207 ; But treated dfter a
■iiv&se fashion ib. 7.
Spenser does not seem to admit syllabic final -e, in spite of
lis archaic style.
§ 107. Like the inflexional syllables, the sufiixes of derivatives
nay be treated in a twofold manner. Those of Germanic origin
' Cf. King James I, The Kingis Quair, ed. by W. W. Skeat, 1883-4.
M 2
-er, -le,
in thcT-
lings od
?', e, onl
164 THE LINE BOOK i
for the most part call for little remark, as many of them have
coalesced with the root of the word, and others, as e.g. the
syllables -ing, -ness, -y, -ly, can, on account of their phonetic
character, only be metrically treated as full syllables. Only
a few fluctuate in their metrical treatment, as e. g. -en, -er, -le,
mostly after a consonant; these will be dealt with
section on the slurring of syllables.
Of much greater importance are the formative endings
Romanic origin, especially those which begin with an
« + a vowel, as -mge, -mn, -iaunt^ -tance, -ience, -tent, -ier, -ioun,'
-ious, -eous, -uous, -ial^ -ual, -lat, -tour. Such endings may
either have their full value, or be slurred in rhythm, i. e. they
may be treated either as disyllabic or as monosyllabic.
The full forms do not occur frequently in the interior of the
line, but mostly in the last foot, where the endings bear the last
arsis and offer a convenient rhyme. Hence we conclude, that
the slurred pronunciation (synizesis) had in the later Middle
English period already become general in ordinary speech,
although the full value is in rhyme-words certainly more
common : e. g. vidge :pilgrimdge Chaucer, Prol. 77-8 ; langdge:
mdr ridge ib. 211-12; tercidne : bdne N. Pr. Tale 139-40;
cSrdidl : spe'cidl Prol. 443-4 ; etMridll : imperidll Lyndesay,
Monarchic 139-40; r«rfl/;/z(r/««'(i/Chauc. Prol. 219-20 ; Idste:
ecclesidste ib, 707-8; river^nce : conscience ib. 225-6; offifice :
pdcience Kn. T. 225-6 ; disposiciSun : cdnstelldciSun ib. 229-30;
prisdun : compdssidun ib. 251-2 ; dscendHni : pdcieni Prol. 11 7-18;
ohidiint : assent ib. 851-2 ; drie'nt : resplendent Lyndesay, Monar-
chic 140-2; gloridus : precidus ib. 28-32, 44-5, 48-52, 75-9,
1 5 1-2, &c. ; ymdgyndcidun : impressidun : illusidun James I,
Kingis Quair, st. 12; ndcidun : myliSun : me'ncidun ib. st. 78.
Slurred endings : Ful wil biloved and fdmulier was M Chauc.
Prol. 215; And specially ib. 15; a curious pyn ib. 196;
Perp^tuelljfj not 6nly fSr a yeer Kn. T. 600 ; Suspicious wds the
Clerk's T. 540; This sergeant cdm ib. 575, 582, «fec.
Later on slurring becomes more frequent, mainly in the North,
e. g. in Dunbar's poems : with vdriand windis pdst Thrissil and
Rois I ; with ane Srient bldst, ib. 3 ; So htisteous dr the hldstis
ib. 35; ane inhihitioun thdir-Hb. 64 (but conditioun : renSwn :
fassdun 79-82); A rddius crSwn ib. 132; Lyndesay, Monar-
chic: On s/nsuall Liiste g ] Lyke durient pe'irles i'^6 ] and biirial
bimes 142; his regioun durordll 148; Quhilk situate dr 166;
melddious drmonye 195 ; off thdt mellifluous j/dmous 232 ; And s(c\
vaine stiperstitioun to re/tise 242 ; The quhilk gaifsdpience 249.
CHAP. VII METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES 165
In the Modern English period of the language slurring of
such syllables is the rule, in conformity with the actual pro-
nunciation in prose, contrary to the usage of Chaucer and other
Early Middle English poets. Only exceptionally the unshortened
use obtains chiefly in earlier Modern English, as the following
examples show :
To wSe a maid in way of marriage,
Shakesp. Merch. 11. ix. 13.
My business cannot brook this dalliance, id. Err. iv. i. 59.
Became the accents 6/ the valiant, id. 2 Henry IV, 11. iii. 25.
Andye't V is almost Against my conscience, id. Haml. v. ii. 307.
/ do voWient, nSt obedient. Mrs. Browning, i, p. 6.
The very churches are full of soldiers.
Coleridge, Piccoiomini, i. sc. i.
And after hard conditions of peace. Surrey, p. i73-
All the sad spaces of oblivion. Keats, p. 257.
But Brtitus says he was ambitious.
Shakesp. Caesar, iii. ii. 91.
And looking round I saw, as tUudL D. G. Rossetti, i. p. 64.
For other examples cf. Metrik, ii. § 40.
§ 108. By the side of this artificial attribution of full syllabic
alue to Romanic endings which in ordinary pronunciation are
onlracted, there are many examples of the opposite process,
amely the contraction, for metrical purposes, of words that are
rdinarily pronounced in full. Both these devices serve the
ame purpose, that of adjusting the number of syllables to the
iquirements of the rhythm.
In the former case a syllable which commonly is pronounced
uickly and indistinctly is uttered more distinctly and more
owly than in ordinary speech. In the latter, a couple of
iccessive syllables or words are uttered more indistinctly and
uickly than in ordinary speech, frequently so much so that
syllable may be entirely suppressed. Hence the slurring of
llables results, according to the degree of contraction, either
a disyllabic thesis, or in the complete coalescence of two
^llables. The former takes place if the final unaccented vowel
■ a polysyllable is run into the following unaccented word
insisting of, or beginning with, a vowel, e.g. :
i66 THE LINE book
For mdny a mdn \ so hard is 6/ his h&te. Chauc. Prol. 229.
Nowh^r so hisy a mdn \ as M ther nds. ib. 321.
W^l coude she cdrie a morsel \ dnd wel Mpe, ib. 130.
WUh mticM glorie \ and gr^t soUmpnitee, id. Kn. T. 12.
Oh I hdppy are they \ thai hdve forgiveness gott. Wyatt 211.
My king, my country I se'ek, \for whom I live. ib. 173.
Sorry am t \ to hear what t have heard.
Shakesp. 2 Henry VI, 11. i. 193.
In cases like these it cannot be supposed that there is actual
elision of a syllable, by which many a, busy a, carie a, glorie and,
happy are, country /, sorry am^ would be reduced to regular
disyllabic feet. In several of the instances such an assumption
is forbidden not only by the indistinctness of pronunciation
which it would involve, but also by the caesura.
Further, we find both in Middle and in Modern English
poetry many examples of similar sequences in which there is
neither elision nor slurring, the syllable ending with a vowel
forming the thesis, and the following syllable beginning with
a vowel forming the arsis. Hiatus of this kind has always been
perfectly admissible in English verse.
And y it he was but esy 0/ dispense. Chaucer, Prol. 441.
MSwbrays sins so Mavy in his bSsom.
Shakesp. Rich. II, i. ii. 50.
§ 109. The second possibility, viz. complete amalgamation
of two syllables, may occur if a word with an initial vowel or h
is preceded by a monosyllabic word, standing in thesis, e.g.
th'estat, th' array Chauc. Prol. 716; th' ascendent ib. 117; f allege
{to allege) Kn. T. 2142; nys {ne ys) ib. 43. Even in Modern
English poetry such contractions occur rather frequently:
Th' altar Sur. 118; t' assay Wyatt 157; N' other ib. 21 ; often
also the words are written in full, although the first vowel is
metrically slurred or elided : the only darling Shakesp. All 's
Well, II. i. no. Yet in all such cases the entire loss of the
syllable must not be assumed unless the distinctness of the pro-
nunciation— which must be the only guide in such matters, not
the silent reading with the eyes — be sufficiently preserved.^
^ Cf. Metrik, ii. 101-3 note.
CHAP. VII METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES 167
Accordingly words like 7^^, to are not so often contracted
with the following word, as ne, the amalgamation of which, with
the verb to which it belongs, is in accordance with normal
Middle English usage : nas = ne was, nil = ne wil, nolde = ne
wolde, noot = ne woot, nisie = ne wtste, e. g, :
There nas no dore thai he tiolde heve of harre.
Chauc. Prol. 550.
Neither in Middle English nor in Modern English poetry,
however, is there any compulsion to use such contractions for
the purpose of avoiding the hiatus, which never was prohibited.
They merely serve the momentary need of the poet. Forms
like min and thin, it is true, are regularly used by Middle English
poets before vowels, and my and thy before consonants, and
Chaucer applies — according to ten Brink— ^rc/;?, oon, noon, an,
-lych, -lyche before vowels, and/r^?, a, 0, no, -ly before consonants.
But many examples of epic caesura show that ten Brink goes
too far in maintaining that hiatus was strictly avoided, e. g. :
Whan they were wonne; \ and in the Greete see Prol. 59. This
is still more clearly shown by verses in which the final -e forms
a necessary thesis before a vowel, e. g. :
Fro the sentence] 6/ this tretis lyte. Sir Thopas 2153.
Than had ySur tale \ dl he told in vdyn. N. Pr. Prol. 3983.
§ 110. Slurring or contraction is still more frequently the
result of indistinct pronunciation or entire elision of a vowel
in the interior of a word. This is especially the case with e (or
another vowel) in the sequence: conson. + ^ + r + vowel or h,
where e is slurred over or syncopated: e.g. And bathed ^v{e)ry
vein Chauc. Prol. 3 ; Thy s6v{e)rein temple wol I most honouren
Kn. T. 1549; and ev{e)ry tre'e Sur. 9; the boist{e)rous winds
Sur. 21; if dmio)rous faith Wyatt 15; a ddng{e)rous case
Sur. 4, &c. The full pronunciation is, of course, here also
possible : and dangerous distress Sur. 150. Slurring of a vowel
is also caused by this combination of sounds formed by two
successive words: a be'tre envyned man Chauc. Prol. 342;
Forg^tter 0/ pain Wyatt 33. Other words of the same kind
are adder, after, anger, beggar, chamber, silver, water, &c.^ The
same rule applies to the group ^ + /+ vowel or h (also l+e-\-
vowel or h): hire wympel ipynched was Chauc. Prol. 15 ^ J ^^
I Cf. Ellis, E. E. Pr.y i. 367-8.
1 68 THE LINE book i
many a nSble arrive ib. 60; nSble and high Wyatt 55 ; the needle
his finger pricks Shak. Lucrece 319.
If a consonant takes the place of the vowel or h at the end of
such a group of sounds, we have a disyllabic thesis instead of
slurring : With hSrrible fear as 6ne that greatly driadeth Wyatt
149 ; The common people by numbers swarm to Us Shak. 3 Hen. VI,
IV. ii. 2. Similar slurrings are to be found — although more
seldom and mainly in Modern English poetry — with other
groups of sounds, e.g.: e'n'mies sword Sur. 137; thriafner
ib. 162; prisoners ib. 12. The vowel ?*, also, is sometimes
slurred; Inc6nt{i)nent Wyatt, no; dest{i)ny ib. 8, &c. In all
these cases we must of course recognize only slurring, not
syncopation of the vowel ; and in general these words are
used with their full syllabic value in the rhythm of a verse.
Another kind of slurring — occurring almost exclusively in
Modern English poetry — is effected by contraction of a short
vowel with a preceding long one, so that a disyllabic word
becomes monosyllabic, e. g., flower, lower ^ power, tower, coward,
prayer, jewel, cruel, doing, going, being, seeing, dying, playing,
praying, knowing, &c. : Whose power divine Sur. 118; prayer :
payr Wyatt 26 ; I/is criiel despite Sur. 7.
All these words are, of course, not less frequently used as
disyllables sometimes even when their usual pronunciation is
monosyllabic, e. g. :
How 6ft have /, my dear and criiel foe. Wyatt 14.
ril pray a thousand prayers for thy death.
Shak. Meas. in. i. 146.
There is no power in the tongue of man. id. Merch. iv. i. 241.
§111. Other groups of sounds which allow slurring are:
vowel + r -f vowel, where the second vowel may be slurred, e.g.,
spirit, alarum, warrant, nourish, flourish^ &c. ; My father s spirit
in arms ! Shak. Haml. i. ii. 255; flourishing peopled tSwtis id.
Gentl. V. iv. 3; / warrant, it will id. Haml. i. ii. 243. In the
group vowel + z^ + e(i) + cons, the v is slurred, if a consonant
appears as the initial sound of the following word, and e{i) if
the following word begins with a vowel. Such words are:
heaven, seven, eleven, devil, even, ever, never ^ &c. ; e. g., and e'en tht\
whole Wyatt 80 ; had never his fill id. 108 ; disdain theynPer so[
milch Shak. i Hen. VI, v. iii. 98 ; and drivel on pearls Wyatt ips-j
These words have, of course, not less frequently their fuUJ
CHAP. VII METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES 169
syllabic value : Of Heaven gates Wyatt 222 ; Then se't this drivel
out of door Sur. 79. Also th between vowels may be subjected
to slurring, as in whether, whither, hither, thither, either,
neither, rather, further, &c. ; e. g., go ask him whither he goes
Shak. I Hen. VI, 11. iii. 28 ; Good Sir, say whether you II
answer tne' or not, id. Caes. v. iv. 30 ; Whether ought to iis unknown
id. Haml. 11. ii. 17.
When a syllabic inflexional ending forms one thesis with a
following syllable, as in The images of revolt Shak. Lear, 11. iv. 9 1 ;
I had not quoted him id. Haml. 11. i. 112, &c., it is preferable to
assume a disyllabic thesis rather than a slurring. Sometimes,
however, the -ed of past paiticiples (rarely of preterites) of verbs
ending in / is actually cut oif, as torment instead of tormented
Wyatt 137 ; deject instead o^ dejected Shak. Haml. iii. i. 163.
Contractions of another kind — partly to be explained by neg-
ligent colloquial pronunciation — are: taen {= taken) WydXi 182;
ril {—I will) Shak. Tempest, 11. ii. 419; carry 'em (^=carry
them id. 2 Hen. VI, i. iv. 76, &c. ; Ma{d)am id. Gent. 11. i. 6;
itis (=in his), doff {= do off), dout (=do out), 0' the (=0/" the),
w us {=.with us), lefs {^let us), thou Wt (=.thou art), &c., &c.
Finally, we have to mention the apocopation, for metrical
reasons, of unaccented prefixes, as 'dove {above), 'cause {because),
Uongs {belongs), &c., which on the whole cannot easily be mis-
understood.^
§ 112. A contrast to these various forms of shortening is pre-
(sented by the lengthening of words for metrical purposes,
iwhich we have already in part discussed in the preceding
chapter (see for examples §87). Disyllabic words are made
trisyllabic by inserting an e (or rarely t) between mute and
liquid, e. g., wond{e)rous, pilg{e)rim, count{e)ry, breth{e)ren,
eni{e)rance, child{e)ren, Eng{e)land, troub{e)lous , light{e)ning,
short{e)ly, jugg{e)ler, &c.^
Among the monosyllabic words or accented endings of words
fvhich admit of a disyllabic pronunciation for the sake of metre
ve have mainly to consider such as have a diphthong in their
jioot, as our, sour, devour, hour, desire, fire, ire, sire, hire, squire,
inquire, &c., or such as approach diphthongal pronunciation and
[therefore admit of being treated as disyllables, e. g., dear, fear,
"hear, near, tear, clear, year. The disyllabic use of words of the
j ^ A long list of the words so treated is to be found in Abbott, Shake-
\pearian Grammar, § 460.
I 2 Cf. Abbott, § 477; Ellis, E. E. Pr., iii. 951-2 ; Metrik, ii. 1 17-18.
170
THE LINE
BOOK I
latter class is very rare, though a striking example is afforded
by the rhyme see her : clear Mrs. Browning, iii, p. 57. Some
other words, phonetically analogous to these, but popularly
apprehended as containing a simple long vowel, 2iS/atr,/are,
are^ here, there^ rare, sphere, were, more, door, your, are added to
the list by Abbott, but with doubtful correctness (cf. Metrik, ii.
CHAPTER VIII
WORD-ACCENT
§ 113. In discussing the English Word-accent and its relation-
ship to rhythmic accent it is necessary to consider the Middle
English and the Modern English periods separately, for two
reasons. First, because the inflexional endings which play an
important part in Middle English are almost entirely lost in
Modern English, and secondly, because the word-accent of the
Romanic element of the language differs considerably in the
Middle English period from what it became in Modern English.
In the treatment of each period it will be convenient to separate
Germanic from Romanic words.
I. Word-accent in Middle English.
A. Germanic words. The general laws of Germanic
accentuation of words, as existing in Old English, have been
mentioned above (cf. §§ i8, 19). The same laws are binding
also for Middle English and Modern English.
The main law for all accentual versification is this, that verse-
accent must always coincide with word -accent. This holds
good for all even-beat kinds of verse, as well as for the allitera-
tive line.
The language in all works of the same date and dialect, in
whatever kinds of verse they may be written, must obey the
same laws of accentuation. For this reason the results derived
from the relation in which the word-accent and the metrical
[value of syllables stand to the verse-accent, with regard to the
jgeneral laws of accentuation, and especially those of inflexional
syllables, must be the same for the language of all even-beat
kinds of verse as for that of the contemporary alliterative line,
or the verse of Layamon's Brut and other works written in
a similar form of verse and derived from the ancient native
metre.
Now, when we wish to ascertain the state of accentuation of
forms of words no longer spoken the evidence supplied by
!the even-beat rhythms is especially valuable. This is so, chiefly
jbecause it is much more difficult to make the word-accent
[agree with the verse-accent in this kind of rhythm, in which it
172 THE LINE book i
is essential that accented and unaccented syllables should
alternate continuously, than in the alliterative line, which allows
greater freedom both in the relative position of accented and
unaccented syllables and in the numerical proportion between
the unaccented and the accented syllables.
In the alliterative line the position of the rhythmic accent
depends on the accent of the words which make up the verse.
In the even-beat metres on the other hand the regular succession
of thesis and arsis is the ruling principle of the versification, on
which the rhythmic accent depends, and it is the poet's task to
choose his words according to that requirement. The difficulties
to be surmounted in order to bring the word-accent into con-
formity with the verse-accent will frequently drive the poet using
this kind of rhythm to do violence to the accented and, more
frequently still, to the unaccented syllables of the word. He
will be induced either to contract the unaccented syllables with
the accented ones, or to elide the former altogether, or to leave
it to the reader to make the word-accent agree with the verse-
accent by making use of level stress, or by slurring over
syllables, or by admitting disyllabic or even polysyllabic theses
in a verse. On the other hand, the poet who writes in the
native alliterative long line or in any of its descendants is
allowed as a rule to use the words required for his verse in their
usual accentuation or syllabic value, or at least in a way approxi-
mating very closely to their ordinary treatment in prose. Hence
those unaccented syllables which, in even-beat rhythms, are
found to be subjected to the same treatment (i. e. to be equally
liable to slurring, elision, syncopation, or apocopation, according
to the requirements of the verse) must be presumed to have
been at least approximately equal in degree of accentual force.
Now when we examine the relation between word-accent
and verse-accent in certain poetical works of the first half of the
thirteenth century, viz. the Ormulum (which on account of its
regularity of rhythm is our best guide), the Pater Noster, the
Moral Ode^ the Passion, and other poems, we arrive at the
following results : —
§ 114. The difference in degree of stress among inflexional
endings containing an e (sometimes i or another vowel) which
is alleged by some scholars — viz. that such endings (in disyl-
labic words) have secondary stress when the root-syllable is
long, and are wholly unaccented when it is short — has no
existence: in both cases -the endings are to be regarded as
alike unaccented. For we find that in even-beat measures
CHAP. VIII WORD-ACCENT
173
(especially in the Ormulum) these endings, whether attached to
a long or to a short root-syllable, are treated precisely alike in
the following important respects : —
1. Those inflexional endings which normally occur in the
thesis, and which are naturally suited for that position, are
found in the arsis only in an extremely small number of in-
stances, which must undoubtedly be imputed to lack of skill on
the part of the poet, as e. g. in hall^he Ovm. 70, nemmn^d ib. 75,
whereas this is very frequent in those disyllabic compounds, the
second part of which really has a secondary accent, as e. g.
larspell ib. 51, mannkinn ib. 277.
2. It is no less remarkable, however, that such syllables as
those last mentioned, which undoubtedly bear a secondary
accent, are never used by Orm to form the catalectic end of the
septenary verse, evidently because they would in consequence
of their specially strong accent annul or at least injure the
regular unaccented feminine verse-ending. On the other
hand, inflexional endings and unaccented terminations contain-
ing an e are generally used for that purpose, as on account
of their lightness of sound they do not endanger in any way
the feminine ending of the catalectic section of the verse. In
any case, inflexional syllables following upon long root-syllables
cannot have the same degree of stress, and cannot be used for
the same rhythmic functions, as the end-syllables of disyllabic
compounds, which undoubtedly bear a secondary accent.
The regular rhythmic employment of the two last-mentioned
B^roups of syllables proves their characteristic difference of stress
—the former being wholly unaccented, the latter bearing a
secondary accent. Further inquiry into the irregular rhythmic
employment of the two similar classes of inflexional endings,
;hose following upon long root-syllables, and those following
jpon short ones, tends to prove no less precisely that they do
lot differ in degree of stress, and so that they are both un-
jiccented. For it is easy to show that with regard to syncope, apo-
tope, elision, and slurring they are treated quite in the same way.
j Elision of the final -e before a vowel or an h takes place
iiuite in the same way in those inflexional syllables following
iipon long root-syllables as it does in those less numerous
|iyllables which follow upon short ones, e.g. Annd ^itt ier
(dkenn mare inSh Orm. 37 ; WtJ^p dlle swtllc rime alls hir iss
\/tt ib. 10 1 ; For dllpat ^fre onn ^rpe is nid ib. 121 ; a winire
\nd ic a lore Moral Ode i ; Wei Unge ic hdbhe child ibien ib. 3 ;
^cc hd/e at don forrpi patt all Orm. 115, &c. It is the same
174 THE LINE book i
with apocopation : Forr gluterne'sse wdcnepp all Galnesses Idpe
strenncpe, Annd dlle pe flskshess kdggerle^^c Annd dllefule lussless
Orm. 1 1 653-6; cf. also: pall he wass ho/enn upp to king ib.
8450, and wass ho/enn upp to kinge ib. 8370 ; ofdderr hdll/ih.
2269, and ofdderr hdllfe 2028, &c.; similarly with syncopation,
cf. pffptl sejjsl tdtl ib. 5 188, and annd s/jjesl swillc ib. 151 2 ; pet
sciilen ben to deape ide'md Moral Ode 106 ; for be'tere is an elme'sse
b for en ib. 26, &c. ; and again with the slurring of syllables
following upon long as well as upon short root-syllables, as the
following examples occurring in the first acatalectic sections of
septenary verse will show sufficiently : Alpel be'lste pe'l we hefden
Moral Ode 51 ; Godes wisdom is wel 7nichel ib. 213, &c.
Now as a syllable bearing a secondary accent cannot become
mute, as an unaccented syllable does, if required, it is evident that
those inflexional syllables which follow upon long root-syllables
and frequently do become silent cannot bear that secondary
accent which has been ascribed to them by several scholars;
on the contrary, all syllables subject in the same way to elision,
apocope, syncope, and slurring must have the same degree of
stress (i. e. they must be alike unaccented) whether preceded by
short or by long root-syllables.
Other terminations of disyllabic words which, though not
inflexional, consist, like the inflexional endings, of ^+ consonant,
are treated in the same way, e. g. words XA'^ fader y modern finger,
heven, sadel, giver ^ &c. Only those inflexional and derivational
endings which are of a somewhat fuller sound, as e. g., -ing, -ling,
-ung, -and, -ish, and now and then even the comparative and
superlative endings -er, -est, and the suffixes -lie, -lich, -ly, -y,
may be looked upon as bearing a secondary accent, as they
may be used at will either in the arsis of the verse or lowered
to the state of unaccented syllables as the thesis.
§ 115. In a trisyllabic simple word the root-syllable, of course,
has the primary accent, and of the two following syllables,
that which has the fuller sound, has the secondary accent, as in
dskedest, wrtfinge, ddggere, clennesse, hieste. If, however, the
two last syllables are equally destitute of word-accent, as e. g.
in clepede, lufede, they are both metrically unaccented ; and,
as mentioned before (cf. § 96), may be shortened either to
lufde, clepte, or to lufedy cleped. If they are used, however, as
trisyllables in the iambic rhythm they naturally admit of the
metrical accent on the last syllable.
It is the same with compounds of nouns or adjectives. The
first syllable takes the chief accent, and of the two others that
i
"fAP.viii WORD-ACCENT 175
has the secondary accent which is the root-syllable of the second
part of the compound, as in freendshipe, shirreve, but wodecrh/ty
b6ldely.
In verbal compounds the primary accent, in conformity with
the Old English usage, generally rests on the root-syllable of the
verb, while the first and last syllable are mostly unaccented, as
e. g. alihien, bisechen, forgiven, ibtdden, o/punchen. In denomina-
tives, which in Old English have the primary accent on the first
syllable, as e. g. dndswarian, both kinds of accentuation are
allowed : dnswere and answere.
In disyllabic and trisyllabic compounds of nouns with certain
prefixes, partly accented in Old English, as e. g. «/-, un-, for-,
mis-, J/-, a-, bi', the primary accent does not rest on these
syllables, but on the second syllable, this being the root-syllable
of the word, e. g. almihti, forgetful, unhe'ele, biheeste ; the first
syllable in this case bears a secondary accent if it has a deter-
minative signification, as e. g. al-, mis-, un-, but it is unaccented
if it is indifferent to the meaning, as e.g. a-,y-, bi-.
§ 116. A peculiar rhythmical position is held by those words
which we may call parathetic compounds.^ To these belong certain
compound nouns formed by two words of almost the same. weight
from a syntactical and metrical point of view, as e. g. goodman,
qoodwyf longswerd, and also by similar composite particles, as
e. g. elleswhere, also, into, unto. Although the regular colloquial
pronunciation was probably in the Middle English period, as it
is in Modern English, with the accent on the first syllable,
they may be pronounced with the accent on the second syllable,
or at least with level stress, as e. g. goodmin, also, \nt6, &c. To
this class also belong certain compounds of adverbs with pre-
positions, as e. g. herein, therefore, thereof, the only difference
being that the usual accent rests here on the last syllable, but
ay be placed also on the first, as in herein and h&ein, thereSf
nd thireof &c.
§ 117. These gradations of sound in the different words
egulate their rhythmical treatment in the verse. In disyllabic
vords as a rule the syllable with the primary accent is placed in the
rsis of the verse, the other syllable, whether it be an unaccented
ne, or have a secondary accent, is placed in the thesis. Such
ords as those described in the preceding section may much
I * See ten Brink, The Language and Metre of Chaucer (English transl.),
j§ 280, where the metrical treatment of these words is described. The
'German term used by ten Brink is Anlehnungen,
176 THE LINE book i
more easily be used with level stress than others. In that case
the rhythmical accent rests on the syllable which has the
secondary accent, while the syllable which in ordinary speech
has the chief accent is used as a thesis.
The ordinary as well as the abnormal use of one and the
same word will be illustrated by the following example : —
O mdnnkmn swd patt itt mannkinn. Orm. 277.
With regard to the rhythmical treatment of trisyllables two
classes of such words are to be distinguished, namely, (i) those
in which the syllable bearing the primary accent is followed or
(rarely) preceded by a syllable bearing a secondary accent, as
e. g. gddspelles, enghshe, and (2) those in which the syllable
bearing the primary accent is preceded or followed by a syllable
wholly unaccented, as e.g. biginnen, overcome^ cristendbm,
wiatherchck. In the latter case level stress is hardly ever met
with, as the natural word-accent would be interfered with to an
intolerable extent by accentuations like cristendom^ weathercock,
ov&come, biginnen, fSr gotten, behaviSur, &c.
Words like these therefore can in regular iambic or trochaic
verse be used only with their natural accentuation, and hence
those syllables which either have the primary or the secondary
accent are always placed in the arsis, and the unaccented ones
in the thesis, e. g. : 7o winnenn Unnder CrisstenndSm Orm. Ded.
137 ; ojf pdtt itt wdss bigtinnenn ib. 88 ; Though the seas threaten,
tMy are mercifUl Shakesp. Temp. v. 178 ; Only compound me with
forgdtten dust id. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 116, &c. On the other hand,
when primary and secondary accent occur in two adjacent
syllables level stress is very common, in Middle English,
especially between the first and the second syllable, as godspUles
hdll^he Idre Orm. 14, more rarely between the second and the
third syllable, as pa GSddspell6ss neh dlle ib. 30 ; it also occurs
in Chaucer's poems, as For thouszndis his hondes mdden dye
Troil. V. 1 816; in the same way Modern English words are
treated to fit the rhythm, as e.g. midsummer, fainthearted, in
Farewell, /i\nt-h62ir ted and degenerate king Shak. 3 Hen. VI.
I. i. 138; And gSrgeous as the siin at midsMtnmir i Hen. IV,
IV. i. 102. With the more recent poets this latter kind of
rhythmical accentuation becomes the more usual of the two,
although the nature and the meaning of the compound word
always play an important part in such cases.
With regard to their accentuation and metrical employment
words of four syllables also fall into three classes : i . Inflected
i
HAP. VIII WORD-ACCENT 177
forms of words belonging to the first group of trisyllables, like
risiendomes, which can be used in the rhythm of the verse only
with their natural accentuation; 2. words YikQ ford/mde (first
and last syllable unaccented, the second syllable having the
chief accent) with a determinative prefix, as e. g. Unford^mde ;
these likewise are used in the rhythm of the verse according to
their natural accentuation; 3. words of the third group with a
prefix which either has the secondary accent, or is unaccented,
as unwishce or iwitnhse ; the metrical usage of these is regulated
according to the rules for the trisyllabic words. The same is to
be observed with regard to words of five and six syllables like
Under standing e^ icnm^ieh'che, which, however, are only of rare
occurrence.
§ 118. B. Eomanie words. It was not till the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries that Romanic words passed in con-
siderable numbers into the English language; and they were
then accommodated to the general laws of accentuation of
English. The transition, however, from Romanic to Germanic
accentuation certainly did not take place at once, but gradually,
and earlier in some districts and in some classes of society than
in others ; in educated circles undoubtedly later than amongst
the common people. The accentuation of the newly intro-
duced Romanic words thus being in a vacillating state, we
easily see how the poets writing at that period in foreign even-
beat rhythms, of whom Chaucer may serve as a representative,
:ould use those words with whichever accentuation best suited
iheir need at the moment, admitting the Romanic accentua-
tion chiefly in rhymes, where it afforded them great facilities,
knd the usual Germanic accentuation mostly in the interior of
the line. A few examples will suffice to illustrate this well-
pown fact. We arrange them in five classes according to the
[lumber of syllables in the words; the principles of metrical
liccentuation not being precisely identical in the several classes.
I Disyllabic words. I. Words whose final syllable is
Iccented in French. They are used in even-beat rhythms (i)
vith the original accentuation, e. g. prisSun : raunsSun Kn. T.
;i7-i8; pitousl'^ : merc^ ib. 91-2; pitSus : m6us Prol. 143-4;
2) with the accent on the first syllable according to the
.ccentuation which had already become prevalent in ordinary
ilnglish speech, e.g. This prisoun cdusede me Kn. T. 237 ; With
'&te pttous ib. 95 ; But w^ besiken mercy and socSur ib. 60.
II. Words having in French the accent on the first syllable,
he last syllable being unaccented. These words, partly
178 THE LINE ^ BOOK I i
substantives or adjectives, as people, nombre, propre, partly verbs|
as praye, suffre, crie (in which case the accentuation of the sing^
of the present tense prevails), are always used in verge with th<
original accentuation, the second unaccented syllable either!
(i) forming a full thesis of the verse, as in the pe'ple preseth
thiderward Kn. T. 1672; by his propre god Prol. 581, or
(2) being elided or slurred and forming only part of the thesis,
as in the nombre and e'ek the cause ib. 716; and crye as M were
w6od ib. 636.
As a rule also the original and usual accent is retained
by disyllabic words containing an unaccented prefix, as in
accord^ abet, desyr, defence, &c. Only words composed with
the prefix dts- occur with either accentuation, as discreet and
discreet.
§ 119. Trisyllabic words. I. Words, the last syllable of
which in French has the chief accent, the first having a second-
ary accent. In these words the two accents are transposed in
English, so that the first syllable bears the chief accent, the last
the secondary accent, and both of them as a rule receive the
rhythmical accent : e'mperour, drgument. But if two syllables
of such a word form a disyllabic thesis, generally the last
syllable which has the secondary accent is lowered to the
unaccented grade : drgument, e'mperour.
II. Words which in French have the chief accent on the
middle syllable, the last being unaccented. These are some-
times used with the original accentuation, mostly as feminine
rhymes, e.g.: visage : usage Prol. 109-10; che're : manere ib.
139-40; penance : pitdnce ib. 233-4; pordille : vitdille ib.
247-8; prudence : sentence ib. 305-6; office : accomplice Kn. T.
2005-6, &c. ; more rarely in the interior of the verse, where
the last syllable may either form a thesis as in Al your plesdnce
fe'rme and stable I holde CI. T. 663, or part of it, being elided
or slurred, as in The same lust was hire plesdnce also ib. 717.
In other instances, mostly in the interior of the verse, they have
the accent on the first syllable, the last being always elided or
slurred : And sdugh his visage was in another kynde Kn. T.
543 ; He fit in office with a chdmberleyn ib. 561.
Verbs ending in -ice {-isse), -ishe, -ie, as e. g. cherisse, pUnishe,
stiidie, cdrrie^ tdrrie, nearly always have the accent on the first
syllable, the last syllable being elided or apocopated, except
where it is strengthened by a final consonant, as e. g. che'rish'ed,
tarried. If the first syllable of a trisyllabic word be formed by
,an unaccented particle, the root-syllable of the word, in this
)
CHAP. VIII WORD-ACCENT 179
case the middle one, likewise retains the accent, as e. g. in
despise, rematne.
§120. Four-syllable words of French origin when they
are substantives or adjectives frequently have disyllabic or tri-
syllabic suffixes such as ; -age, -iage, -tan, -tant, -aunce, -tance,
-iaiince, -ence, -ience, -tent, -ier, -toun, -tons, -eous, -uous, -ial, -ual,
'iat, -tour, -ure, -ie {^-ye). As most of these words already have
a trochaic or iambic rhythm, they are used without difficulty in
even-beat disyllabic verses, chiefly in rhymes, and then always
with their full syllabic value, as e. g. : pilgrimage : cordge Prol.
ii-i 2 ; hostelry e : company e ib. 23-4; resoun : condiciSun ib. 37-8;
chyvalrj^e : cHrtesye ib. 45-6; chivachie : Picardie ib. 185-6;
conscience : reverence ib. 141-2 ; toun : confe'ssioun ib. 217-18 ;
curat : licencidt 2 1 9-20 ; governdunce : chivy sdunce ib. 2 9 1-2, &c.
In the interior of a verse also the words not ending in an un-
accented e are always metrically treated according to their full
syllabic value, e. g. ; That hield opinySun that pUyn delyt Prol.
337 ; Of his complexiSun he was sangwyn ib. 333. In those
words, on the other hand, which end in an unaccented e, this
vowel is in the interior of the verse generally elided or apoco-
pated: no vilan^e is it ib. 740; in that ostelrk alight ib. 720;
So moche of ddlidunce and fdir langdge ib. 211; And dl was
cSnscience and tendre herte ib. 1 50.
j Further shortenings, however, which transform an originally
four-syllable word into a disyllabic one, as in the present pro-
nunciation of the word conscience, do not take place in Middle
English before the transition to the Modern English period.
In Lyndesay's Monarchic we meet with accentuations of this
■kind, as e. g. :
The quhilk gaif sdpience tS king Sdlomone. 249.
Be thdy content, mak reverence to the rest. 36.
In a similar way adjectives ending in -able and verbs ending in
'ice^ -ye adapt themselves to the disyllabic rhythm, and likewise
jverbs ending in -ine (Old French -iner^ ; only it must be noticed
that in the preterite and in the past participle verbs of the
latter class tend to throw the accents on the antepenultimate and
last syllables, e. g. enlumine'd, emprisoned.
"Words of five syllables almost without exception have
in iambic rhythm of themselves and are used accordingly in
iven-beat verses, as e. g. expiriince \ the same is the case with
ivords which have Germanic endings, like -ing, -inge, -nesse,
"•'%. disc6nfytynge.
N 2
i8o THE LINE BOOK I
The rhythmic accentuation of foreign proper names both in
disyllables and in polysyllables varies. Thus we may notice the
accentuations Jun6, PlaiS, VenHs, and, on the other hand, Juno,
Plato, ^ Vinus ; Arctie, AtMnes, and Ardte, Athenes ; AniSnte
and Antonie. Wherever in such cases level stress may help to
smooth the rhythm it certainly is to be assumed in reading.
II. Word-accent in Modern English.
§ 121. Modern English accentuation deviates little from that
of the Old English and Middle English ; the inflexional end-
ings, however, play a much less important part ; further, in many
cases the Romanic accentuation of Middle English is still in
existence, or at least has influence, in words of French or
Latin origin. This is evident from many deviations in the
rhythmic accentuation of such words from the modern accen-
tuation which we here regard as normal, though it is to be noted
that in the beginning of the Modern English epoch, i. e. in the
sixteenth century, the actual accentuation in many cases was still
in conformity with the earlier conditions.
Only these real and apparent anomalies are noticed here. We
have first to consider the Romanic endings -ace, -age, -ail, -4
-am, -al, -anct, -ence, -ant, -ent, -er, -ess (Old French -esse), -ice,
-He, -in, -on, -or, -our, -une, -ure, -yii) (in disyllabic words). As
the final e has become mute, all these endings are monosyllabic.
In the works of the earlier Modern English poets some
words ending in these syllables are only exceptionally used
with the accent on the last syllable according to the Old French
or Middle English accentuation, the Modern English accentua-
tion being the usual one ; others are employed more frequently
or even exclusively with the earlier accentuation, e. g. palace
Sur. 174, bondage Wyatt 224, travail Sur. 82, Wyatt 19, ceriditi
ib. 179, mountain Sur. 37, chie/tdin ib. 112, cristdl Wyatt 156
presence ib. 81, grievance ib. 55, penance ib. 209, baldm
ib. 173, pleasant ib. 130, torment {?,\\b?,i) ib. *^2, /ev&, ferv6ta
ib. 210, mistress ib. 109, riches ib. 20^, Justice ib. 229, servia
iK 177, engine Sur. 130, seasSn ib. 149, honSur ib. 166, armSuf
148, colSur : there/Sre Wyatt 6, terrSr : succSur ib. 210, &C.,
fortune : tune ib. 152, Sur. 115, measure Wyatt 125, natiire : unsUri
ib. 1^^, glor^ : merc^ \\). 208.
In almost all these cases and in many other words with the
same endings this accentuation seems to be due to the require-
ments of the rhythm, in which case level stress must be assumed^
CHAP. VIII WORD- ACCENT i8i
§122. It is the same with many other disyllabic words,
especially those both syllables of which are almost of equal
sound-value and degree of stress, as in cases in which two
different meanings of one and the same word are indicated by
different accentuation, a distinction not unfrequently neglected
in the metrical treatment of these words.
So the following adjectives and participles are used by
Shakespeare and other poets with variable accentuation : com-
plete, adverse, benign, contrived, corrupt, despised, dispersed, dis-
tinct, distract, diverse, eterne, exact, exhaled, exiled, expired,
express, extreme, famous, insane, invised, misplaced, misprised,
obscure, perfect, profane, profound, remiss, secure, severe, sincere,
supreme, terrene', and so are also the many adjectives and
participles compounded with the prefix un-, as e.g. unborn,
unchaste, unkind, &c. (cf. Alexander Schmidt, Shakespeare-
Lexicon).
Substantives and verbs are treated in a similar way, e.g.
comfort (subst.) Wyatt 14, record ib. 156, d\sc6rd Sur. 6, conflict
ib. 85, pMrchise ib. 58, ^ni-r/^ie/" Wyatt 78, s^feguird ib. 212,
M2idime ib. 149, promkss ib. 25. So also in Shakespeare (cf.
Alexander Schmidt, 1. c.) : 2icctss, 2isp6ct, commerce, consort,
contract, compact, edict, instinct, outrage, prec6pts, c6ment, c6n-
duct (vb.), c6nfine, pursue, rihpse (cf. Metrik, ii. § 62).
§ 123. Trisyllabic and polysyllabic words, too, of French or
Latin origin are still used frequently in the beginning of the
Modern English period with an accentuation contrary to present
usage. Words e. g. which now have the chief accent on the
second syllable, the first and third syllable being unaccented,
ire often used with the rhythmical accents on these two syllables,
J.g. : c6nfess6r Meas. iv. iii. 133, c6nfmue Wyatt 189 ; d€pz.rture
b. 129 ; r€pentince ib. 205, 6nde2i.v6ur ib. 232 ; ditest2d)le John
II. iv. 29, rh6umditic Ven. 135, &c. Likewise in words the first
nd third syllables of which are now accented and the second
bnaccented, the rhythmical accent is placed on this very syllable,
e.g. character Lucr. 807, confiscate Cymb. v. v. 323, contrary
jWyatt 8, impSrtune Ant. iv. xv. 19, oppSrtune Temp. iv. i. 26,
'^ersiver All's Well iv. ii. ^"j , prescience Troil. i. iii. 199, sinister
rroil. IV. v. 128. Certain verbs also in -ise, -ize are used with
jiuctuating accentuation ; Shakespeare e. g. always has advertise
[Meas. i. 142, authorise Sonn. 35, canSnize Troil. 11. ii. 202 ; some-
imes also solemnize Temp. v. 309 (cf. Metrik, ii. §§ 64, 65).
Foreign proper names especially in many cases are subject,
IS in earlier times, to variable accentuation, as e. g. : kjix Sur.
1 82 THE LINE book i
129, Cxsir Wyatt 191, Ca/6 ib. 191, the more usual accentua-
tion also occurring in the writings of the same poets ; similarly
Airid^s Sur. 129 and Atride ib. 116, Cdrthages ib. 149 and
Carthage 175. Shakespeare has always the unclassical AndrS-
nicus, Hyperion, Cleopatra, but for rhythmical reasons North-
2impt6n Rich. Ill, 11. iv. i instead of Northampton, and so in
several other cases (cf. Metrik, ii. § 67).
§ 124. Amongst the Germanic vocables the parathetic com-
pounds chiefly call for notice, as their accentuation in common
speech also approaches level stress, and for this reason they
may be used with either accentuation. This group includes
compounds like moonlight, welfare, farewell, and some conjunc-
tions, prepositions, and pronouns, as therefore, wherefore, some-
thing, nothing, sometimes, into, unto, towards, without, as e.g.:
therefore Wyatt 24, &c., therefSre \h. 42, nSthing Rich. II, 11. ii. 12,
nothing Rich. Ill, i. i. 236, unto Sur. 125, unto Sur. 117 (cf.
Metrik, ii. § 58).
Greater arbitrariness in the treatment of word-accent, explained
best by the influence of Middle English usage, is shown in the
rhythmical accentuation of the final syllable -ing in words like
ending : thing Wyatt 27 ; and of the suffixes -ness, -ly, -y, -ow,
e.g. goodness : excess Wyatt 206, free : trtily 147; borrow:
sorrow : overthrow ib. 227. Less admissible still are such
accentuations with the endings -er, -est, used on the whole only
by the earlier Modern English poets, e.g. earnest Wyatt 11,
after ib. 207, and least of all with inflexional endings, e.g.
scorn'ed Sur. 170, causeth Wyatt 33 (cf. Metrik, ii. §§ 59-61).
As a rule, however, such unnatural accentuations can be
avoided by assuming the omission of a thesis at the beginning
or in the interior of a line. With regard to trisyllabic and poly-
syllabic words the remarks on pp. 176-7 are to be compared.
DIVISION II
Verse-forms common to the Middle and
Modern English Periods
CHAPTER IX
LINES OF EIGHT FEET, FOUR FEET, TWO FEET,
AND ONE FOOT
§ 125. Among the metres introduced into Middle English
poetry in imitation of foreign models, perhaps the oldest is
the four-foot verse, rhyming in couplets. This metre may be
regarded as having originally arisen by halving the eight-foot
line, although only an isolated example of this, dating from
about the middle of the thirteenth century, quoted above (p. 127),
is known in Middle English poetry. This, however, serves with
special clearness to illustrate the resolution, by means of inserted
rhyme, of the eight-foot long-line couplet into four-foot lines
rhyming alternately (cf. § 78).
In the manuscript the verses, though rhyming in long lines,
are written as short lines, with intermittent rhyme abcbdbeb,
just as the example of Modern English eight-foot iambic verse,
quoted before (p. 127), is found printed with this arrangement,
as is indeed generally the case with most long-line forms of
that type. This metre calls for no other remarks on its
rhythmical structure than will have to be made with regard to
the four-foot verse.
§ 126. The four-foot line, rhyming in couplets, first appears
in a paraphrase of the Pafer Noster of the end of the twelfth
century ,1 doubtless in imitation of the Old French vers octo-
syllahe made known in England by Anglo-Norman poets, such
as Gaimar, Wace, Benoit, &c.
This French metre consists of eight syllables when the ending
is monosyllabic, and nine when it is disyllabic.
I 1 Old English Homilies, ed. R. Morris, First Series, Part I, E. E. T. S.,
No. 29, pp. 55-71.
1 84 THE LINE boo?
The lines are always connected in couplets by rhyme, buj
masculine and feminine rhymes need not alternate with on^
another.
It is exactly the same with the Middle English four-foot line
except that the rising iambic rhythm comes out more clearly ii
it, and that, instead of the Romanic principle of counting th<
syllables, that of the equality of beats is perceptible, so ths
the equality of the number of syllables in the verses is not sc
strictly observed. Hence, all the deviations before mentionec
from the strict formal structure of even-beat verses occur evei
in this early poem, and quite regularly constructed couplets
indeed but rare in it. Examples of this type are the following :
Ah, Idverd god, her ure bine,
Of tire si'mne make us dine,
pet hi us ^iue alswd he mil,
pet lis hihoued lilche dii. 11. 167-170.
The first ten lines of the poem give a sufficient idea of the
structure of the verse, and its characteristics :
Ure feder pit in heouene is,
pet IS all s6p fill iwis !
Weo moten to peas weordes ision,
pet to Hue and to sdule gode bion,
pet wio beon swd his siines iborene,
pet he beo fider and wi him icorene,
pet wi don dlle his ibiden
And his wille for to riden,
Loke weo lis wid him misdon
purh biehebtibes swikedom.
Here we find almost all the rhythmical licences to be found
in even-beat metres. Thus we have suppression of the anacrusis
in line 8 and again in two consecutive lines, such as 15, 16 :
Gif we le'ornid gddes Idre,
pe'nne of-pHnced hit him sdre ;
and very often in the course of the poem, e.g. 11. 22, 29, 30,
37, &c., so that it acquires a loose, iambic-trochaic cadence;
further, the absence of an unaccented syllable in the middle of
the line (line 2); inversion of accent in line 9, and again in
line 81, Ldverd he is of dlle scdfte \ two unaccented syllables at
the beginning and in the interior of the verse in 4 ; light slurrings
11- i> 3j 5; only 11- 7 and 10 are regularly constructed through-
CHAP. IX EIGHT, FOUR, TWO, AND ONE FOOT 185
out. The same proportion of regular to irregular verses runs
through the whole poem, in which, besides the licences men-
tioned, that of level stress is also often to be met with, especially
in rhymes like wwrping : heovenking 99-100 ; hz-ting : king 193-4,
319-20 ; fondiinge : swinMnge 242-3.
§ 127. The treatment of the caesura in this metre also deserves
special mention, for this, as has already been stated, is one of the
chief points in which the four-foot even-beat metre differs from
the four-stress metre, as represented either by the old alliterative
long line or by the later non-alliterating line. For there must
be a caesura in every four-beat verse, and it must always be
found in one definite place, viz. after the second beat next to any
unaccented syllable or syllables that follow the beat, the line
being thus divided into two rhythmically fairly equal halves.
On the other hand, for the four-foot verse, not only in this, its
earliest appearance, but in the rest of Middle and Modern
English literature, the caesura is not obligatory, and when it
does occur it may, theoretically speaking, stand in any place in
the line, although it most frequently appears after the second
foot, particularly in the oldest period.
The caesura may (§ 80) be of three kinds :
(i) Monosyllabic or masculine caesura:
I Ne keped he noht \ pet we heon sune. 18.
(2) Disyllabic or feminine caesura, two kinds of which are to
|be distinguished, viz.
I [a) Lyric caesura, within a foot :
And ^efe us mihte \purh his held. 240.
I {V) Epic caesura caused by a supernumerary unaccented
pyllable before the pause :
I Ure giiltes, Idverd, \ bon iis for^even. 173.
These three kinds of caesura, the last of which, it is true, we
neet here only sporadically, may thus in four-foot verse also
Dccur a/ier, as well as in the other feet. Thus we find in the
ry §rst line, a lyrical caesura after the first foot :
Ure feder \pet in Mouene is.
This, however, seldom happens in the oldest examples, in
vhich caesuras sharply dividing the line are rare, enjambement
'cing only seldom admitted. Examples of verses without
1 86 THE LINE
BOOK I
caesuras are to be found, among others, in the following : purh
beelzebUbes swikedSm lo, IniS pe posternesse hellen 104. As a
rule, in the four-foot verse as well as in French octosyllabics,
a pause does not occur until the end, on account of the short-
ness of this metre, which generally only suffices for one rhythmic
section, while in four-beat verse a regular division into two
rhythmic sections, and consequently the constant occurrence
of a caesura, is rendered possible by the greater number of
unaccented syllables.
The end of the line may, in any order, have either a masculine
rhyme, as in 11. 1-4, 9, 10, or a feminine rhyme, as in 11. 7
and 8. There occur besides, but seldom, trisyllabic rhymes,
such as those in 11. 5-6, or smiegen : munegen 14 1-2.
§ 128. This metre continued to be very popular in Middle
and Modern English poetry, and is still extensively used. As
a rule its structure constantly remained the same ; nevertheless
we may, in both periods, distinguish between two well-marked
ways of treating it. It was, for instance, at the end of the
thirteenth and in the first half of the fourteenth century, very
freely handled in the North of England in the Surtees Psalter,
further by Robert Mannyng in his Handlyng Sinne^ and by
Richard Rolle de Hampole in his Pricke of Conscience. Their
treatment of this verse is characterized, for instance, by the
remarkably frequent occurrence of two and even three un-
accented syllables at the beginning and in the middle of the
line, e. g. :
In pi righlwisenhses hipenke I sal
pine sdghes ndght forgeie ivithdl. Psalm cxviii, v. 16.
4. And rekened pe cUstome houses echone,
At whych pey had gSde and at whyche nojie.
Mannyng, Handlyng Sinne, 11. 5585-6.
Other rhythmical licences, such as the omission of unaccented
syllables in the middle of a verse, and inversion of accent, are
frequent in these compositions. Level stress, on the other:
hand, for the most part is found only in rhyme, as shtnshipe:
kepe Hampole 380-1 ; come : boghsdme ib. 394-5.
The other extreme of strict regularity in the number of
syllables is exhibited in another group of North English and
Scottish compositions of the fourteenth century, such as the
Metrical Homilies, the Cursor Mundi, Barbour's ^r«^^, Wyntoun's
Chronykyl. The metrical licences most frequent here are level
IP?;,
^AP. IX EIGHT, FOUR, TWO, AND ONE FOOT 187
stress, suppression of the anacrusis, and the omission of un-
accented syllables in the middle of the line, in the Metrical
Homilies. The rhythm is, however, as a rule, strictly iambic,
and the number of syllables eight or nine, according as the
rhymes are masculine or feminine.
§ 129. The contemporaneous literary productions of the Mid-
lands and South written in this metre generally observe a mean
between the free and the strict versification of the two northern
groups.
These are inter alia The Story of Genesis and Exodus, The
Owl and Nightingale, The Lay of Havelok, Sir Orfeo, King
Alisander, several compositions of Chaucer's,^ as, for instance,
The Book of the Duchesse, The House of Fame, Gower's Confessio
Amantis, and others. The last work, as well as The Owl and
Nightingale, is written in almost perfectly regular iambic verses,
in which the syllables are strictly counted. The other composi-
tions more frequently admit the familiar rhythmical licences and
have a freer movement, but none to the same extent as the
Pater Noster. In artistic perfection this metre presents itself to
us in Chaucer, who was particularly skilful in employing and
varying the enjambement. A short specimen from his House
of Fame (11. 151-74) will illustrate this :
First sawgh I the destrucciSun
Of Troy, thorgh the Greke Synoun,
With his false forswerynge.
And his chere and his lesynge
Made the hors hroght into Troye,
Thorgh which TrSyens lost dl her joye.
And after this was grave, alias.
How tlyoun assdyled was
And wonne, and kynge Pr\ivi ysldyne
And Polite his sone, certdyne,
Dispitously of ddun Plrrus,
And next that sawgh I how VtfiViS,
Whan that she sawgh the cdstel brende,
Doune fro the hevene gdn descende,
And bad Mr s6ne Eneas flee ;
And how he fled, aiid hSw that he
Escaped was from dl the pres,
And tooke his fader, Anchisis,
^ Cf. Charles L. Crow, On the History of the Short Couplet in Middle
Engtish. Dissert., Gottingen, 1892.
1 88 THE LINE book
And bare hym 6n hys hdkke awdy,
Cryinge ^ Alias and welawdy f
The whiche Anchises in hys hSnde
Bare the goddes 6f the londe,
Thilke that unhrende were.
And t saugh next in dl hys fere, &c.
§ 130. Four-foot verses often occur also in Middle Englis
in connexion with other metrical forms, especially with three-foe
verses, e. g. in the Septenary, which is resolved by the rhyi
into two short lines, and in the tail-rhyme stanza, or rime cou
(cf. §§ 78, 79).
In these combinations the structure of the metre remai
essentially the same, only there are in many poems moi
frequent instances of suppression of the anacrusis, so that tl
metre assumes a variable cadence, partly trochaic, partly iambic
At the end of the Middle English period the four-foot verse wj
along with other metrical forms, employed by preference in tl
earlier dramatic productions, and was skilfully used by Heywoo(
among others, in his interlude. The Four P.'s}
§ 131. In the Modern English period this metre has als
found great favour, and we may, as in the case of other metre
distinguish between a strict and a freer variety of it. The stric
form was, and is, mostly represented in lyric poetry, in verse
rhyming in couplets or in cross rhyme. The rhythm is generally
in this case (since the separation between iambic and trochj"
verse-forms became definitely established) strictly iambic, gene
rally with monosyllabic rhymes.
A greater interest attaches to the freer variety of the metre,
which is to be regarded as a direct continuation of the Middle
English four-foot verse, inasmuch as it was practised by the poets
of the first Modern English period in imitation of earlier models,
and has been further cultivated by their successors down to the
most recent times. The characteristic feature in this treatment
of the four-foot verse is the frequent suppression of the anacrusis,
by which it comes to resemble the four-beat verse, along with
which it is often used. But whilst the latter generally has an
iambic-anapaestic or trochaic-dactylic structure, and is constantly
divided by the caesura into two halves, the Modern English four-
foot verse of the freer type has, as a rule, an alternately iambic and
trochaic rhythm, with a rare occurrence of caesuras. Shakespeare
and other dramatists often employ this metre for lyrical passages ir
* a. John Heywood ah Dramatiker^ von Wilh. Swoboda, 1888, p. 83 fif.
:hap.ix eight, FOUR, TWO, AND ONE FOOT 189
jtheir dramas. Of longer poems in the earlier period Milton's
L' Allegro and // Penseroso are conspicuous examples.
The following passage from L' Allegro (11. 11-16) may serve
as a specimen :
But €07116 thou GSddess fair and free,
In heaven yclept Euphrosyne,
And by men heart-easing Mirth,
Whom lovely Venus, at a birth,
With two sister Grdces mSre,
To ivy-crSwned Bacchus bore, &c.
The structure of the verse is essentially iambic, though the
iambic metre frequently, by suppression of the initial theses, as
in the thirteenth and fifteenth lines of this passage, falls into
a trochaic cadence. Pure trochaic verses, i. e. those that begin
with an accented syllable and end with an unaccented one,
occur in these two poems, in couplets, only once, L' Allegro
(11. 69-70):
Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures,
Whiles the landscape round it measures.
With masculine endings such couplets are frequent, e. g.
// Penseroso, 67-8 :
T6 behSld the wandering m6on,
Riding near the highest n6on ;
further, 11. 75-6, 81-2, 14 1-2, &c.
As a rule, pure iambic lines rhyme together, or an iambic
jwith a line that has a trochaic cadence, as, for instance, in the
above specimen, L! Allegro, 13-14 and 15-16.
Besides initial truncation there also occur here the other
metrical licences observed in iambic rhythm.
I § 132. Many sections of the narrative poems of Coleridge,
[Scott, and Byron, e. g. the latter's Siege of Corinth, are written
lin this form, with which, in especially animated passages, four-
beat verses often alternate. Cf., for instance, the following
Ipassage, xvi, from the last-named poem :
Still by the shore Alp miitely missed.
And w6dd the frhhness night diffHsed.
There shrinks no ebb in that tideless sea^
Which changeless rSlls eternallf ;
So that wildest of wdves, in their angriest mSod,
Scarce break on the bSunds of the land for a r6od ;
I go THE LINE BOOK
And the powerless moon beholds them fl6w
Heedless if she c6me or go:
Calm or high, in main or bay,
6n their cSurse she hath no sway.
Lines 5-7 can be at once recognized as four-stress verses by
the iambic-anapaestic rhythm, as well as by the strongly-marked
caesura, which, in the four-foot verses 4, and especially 8 and 10,
is entirely or almost entirely absent (cf. pp. 98-9); and both
metrical forms, the calmer four-foot verse and the more animated
four-stress metre, are in harmonious agreement with the tone of
this passage.
Four-foot lines, forming component parts of metrically hetero-
geneous types of stanzas, such, for instance, as the tail-rhyme
stave, are generally more regularly constructed than in the
Middle English period.
§ 133. Among the metrical forms which took their rise from
the four-foot line, the most noteworthy are the two-foot and the
one-foot verse, the former the result of halving the four-foot
verse, the latter of dividing the two-foot verse, as a rule, by
means of the rhyme. These verse-forms only seldom occur in
the Middle English period, as a rule in anisometrical stanzas in
connexion with verses of greater length. Thus, in the poem
in Wright's Specimens of Lyric Poetry, p. 38, composed in the
entwined tail-rhyme stanza, the short lines have two accents:
wipSute strif:y wj>te, a w^f 10-12; in toune trewe : while y
may glewe 4-6. The eighteen-lined enlarged tail-rhyme stave
of the ballad. The Nut-brown Maid (Percy's Reliques, iii. 6),
also consists of two- and three-foot lines; in this case the
two-foot lines may be conceived as the result of halving the
first hemistich of the septenary line.
In Modern English two-foot lines are also rare and are chiefly
found in anisometrical stanzas. They do occur, however, here
and there in isometrical poems, either written in couplets or in
stanzas of lines rhyming alternately ; as, for instance, in Drayton,
An Amour et Anacreontic :
Most good, most fair,
Or things as rare
To call you^s ISst ;
For dll the cost
W6rds can bestSw,
S6 poorly shdw
CHAP. IX EIGHT, FOUR, TWO,' AND ONE FOOT 191
Upon your praise
That dll the ways
Sense hath, come short, &c.
The commonest rhythmical licences are inversion of accent
and initial truncation. In stanzas verses of this sort occur, for
the most part it seems, with the rhyme-order ab cb, for instance
in Burns, The Cats like Kitchen, and Moore, When Love is Kind,
so that these verses might be regarded as four-foot lines rhyming
in couplets.
§ 134. One-foot lines, both with single and with double ending,
likewise occur in Middle English only as component parts of
anisometrical stanzas, as a rule as bob-vtxses in what are called
bob-wheel staves ; as, for instance, in a poem in Wright's Songs
and Carols (Percy Society, 1847), the line With dye rhyming
with the three- foot line Aye, dye, I ddr well sdy ; in the Towneley
Mysteries, the verse Aids rhyming with A good mdster he wds ; in
an Easter Carol (Morris, An Old Engl. Miscellany ^ pp. 197-9),
the line So stronge rhyming with Joye htm wit songe, or In londe
and o/honde rhyming with A I with joye pat isfUnde.
Metrical licences can naturally only seldom occur in such
short lines.
One-foot iambic lines occur also in the Modern English
period almost exclusively in anisometrical stanzas. A little
poem entided Upon his Departure hence ^ in Herri ck's Hesperides,
may be quoted as a curiosity, as it is written in continuous one-
foot lines of this kind, rhyming in triplets :
Thus I, As one I'm made T the grave, Where tell
Passe by, Unknown, A shade There have, I dwell.
And die, Aftd gSne, And laid My cave: Farewell.
One-foot lines with feminine ending are employed by Moore
IS the middle member of the stanza in the poem/^j of Youth,
^ow fleeting.
CHAPTER X
THE SEPTENARY, THE ALEXANDRINE, AND THE
THREE-FOOT LINE
§ 135. The Septenary is a favourite Middle English metre,
going back to a Mediaeval Latin model. It cannot, however,
be definitely determined whether this is to be found in the
(accentual) catalectic iambic tetrameter, an example of which
is preserved, among other instances, in the Plandus Bona-
venturae (1221-74) printed by Mone in his Lalin Hymns of
the Middle Ages, which begins as follows :
O crux, frutex salvificus, \ vivo fonte rigatus,
Quern flos exornat fulgidus, \ frucius fecundat gratus,
or possibly in another Latin metre which was a far greater
favourite with the Anglo-Norman Latin poets. This is the
(accentual) brachycatalectic trochaic tetrameter, which frequently
occurs, among other instances, in the poems ascribed to Walter
Map, e. g. in the still popular verses :
Mihi est propositum \ in taberna mori,
Vinum sit appositum \ morientis ori.
The result of an attempt to adopt this metre in Middle
English might, on account of the preference of the language
for iambic rhythm, very naturally be to transform it into the
iambic catalectic tetrameter by the frequent addition of an
unaccented opening syllable at the beginning of each half-line.
Probably the latter verse-form was the model, as may be seen
from Leigh Hunt's Modern English translation of the Latin
drinking-song just quoted.^
Moreover, many mediaeval Latin verses also have a wavering
rhythm resulting in a form at times characterized by level
stress, e. g.
Fortunae rota volvitur ; \ descendo minor atus,
Alter in alium tollitur \ nimis exaltatus.
Rex sedet in vertice, \ caveat ruinam.
Nam sub axe legimus \ ^ Hecubam' reginam.
Carmina Burana, Ixxvii.
* Cf. our metrical notes (' Metrische Randglossen ') in Engl. Studien, x,
p. 192 seq.
iiAP. X THE SEPTENARY 193
136. These verses correspond pretty exactly, in their metrical
structure, to the opening lines of the Moral Ode, which, as far
as is known, is the earliest Middle English poem in septenary
lines, and dates from the twelfth century :
tc am elder panne ic wes, \ a wintre and ec a lore ;
ic ealdi more panne ic dede : \ mi wit o^hte to bi more.
Wei longe ic hdbbe child ibien \ on worde and on dede ;
pejh ic bi on wintren eald, \ to jiung ic dm on rede.
The other common licences of even-beat metre which affect
he rhythm of the line, the metrical value of syllables, and the
word-accent, also occur in the Moral Ode. Suppression of
the anacrusis is very often met with ; it occurs, for instance,
in the first hemistich, in lines i and 4 above ; in the second
hemistich, er ic hit iwiste 1. 17, in both, po pet hdbbed w^l idon |
^fter hire mihte, 1. 175; so that a pure iambic couplet seldom
Dccurs, although the iambic rhythm is, on the whole, pre-
dominant. The omission of unaccented syllables in the middle
3f the line is also often found (although many verses of this
dnd probably require emendation), as Ne leve no mdn to mUchel
24 ; also in the second hemistich, as and wSl iche dede 88.
Transpositions of the accent are quite usual at the beginning of
he first as well as of the second hemistich : Elde me is bestSlen
'« 17 ; si^den ic speke ciide 9. Level stress is also not absent:
For betere is dn elm6sse Ufore 28. We often meet with elision,
ipocope, syncope, slurring of syllables, and the use of a disyl-
abic thesis both at the beginning of the line and in other
►ositions : po pet w/l ne dSep pe wile he mii^e 1 9 ; nis hit biite
dmen and glie 188. A noteworthy indication of want of skill
1 the handling of the Septenary in this first attempt is the
requent occurrence of a superfluous syllable at the close of
le first hemistich, which should only admit of an acatalectic
nding, e. g. : He seal cume on Huele slide \ biite him G6d beo
lilde 26; Ei^er to Mtel dnd to mUchel \ seal piinc hen eft hem
ithe 62, &c. The end of the second hemistich, on the other
and, in accordance with the structure of the metre, is in this
oem always catalectic.
§137. The irregularity of the structure of the Septenary
lyming line of the Moral Ode stands in marked contrast with
le regularity of the rhymeless Septenary verse of the Ormulum.
he first hemistich here is always acatalectic, the second
italectic, and the whole line has never more nor less than
I'teen syllables.
194
THE LINE BOOK r
Hence the only metrical licences that occur here are elision,
syncope, and apocope of the unaccented e of some inflexional
endings, and the very frequent admission of level stress in
disyllabic and polysyllabic words, which are to be found in all
places in the line :
Ice pdtt tiss tnnglissh hafe sett \ Y.nnglisshe menn to Idre,
Ice wdss pder p^r I crisstiiedd wdss \ Orrmin hi ndme nhimnedd,
Annd ice Orrmin full innwarrdli^ \ wipp miid annd ec wipp
herrte. Dedic. 322-7.
In all such cases, in the versification of Orm, whose practice
is to count the syllables, there can only be a question of level
stress, not of inversion of accent. Ennglisshe at the beginning
of the second hemistich of the above line, 322, is no more an
example of inversion of rhythm than in the hemistich Ice hdfe
wennd inntill Yjinglissh 1. 13.
§ 138. After the Moral Ode and the Ormulum the Septenary
often occurs in combination with other metres, especially the
Alexandrine, of which we shall speak later on.
In some works of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
the Septenary was, however, employed in a fairly unmixed form,
as, for instance, in the Lives of Saints, ed. Furnivall, 1862, the
Fragment of Popular Science, ed. Wright in Popular Treatises
on Science, London, 1841, and several others.
The most important deviation from the Septenary of Orm
and of the Moral Ode is the frequent occurrence of long lines
with a masculine instead of the usual feminine ending. Both
forms are to be found in the opening lines of the Fragment of
Popular Science :
The ripe put of he'lle is \ amidde the urpe wipinne,
Oure LSverd pdt al mdkede iwis, \ quiinte is of gymie,
Hfuene and Urpe ymdkede iwis, \ and sippe alle ping pat is,
Urpe is a Ititel hiirfte \ a^e'n heuene iwis.
It may fairly be assumed that the structure of the Alexandrine
(which, according to French models, might have either a mascu-
line or a feminine ending) may have greatly furthered the intru-
sion of monosyllabic feet into the Septenary verse, although the
gradual decay of the final inflexions may likewise have contri-
buted to this end. For the rest, all the rhythmic licences of the
Septenary occurring in the Moral Ode are also to be met with
here ; as, for instance, the suppression of the anacrusis in the
first hemistich of 1. 4 of the passage quoted, and in the second
I
CHAP. X THE SEPTENARY 195
of 1. 2, and the omission of the unaccented syllable in the
second hemistich of the fourth line, the inversion of accent and
disyllabic thesis in the first hemistich of the third line, and
other licences, such as the anapaestic beginning of the line, &c.,
in other places in these poems (cf. Melnk, i, p. 246).
§ 139. In lyrical poems of this time and in later popular
ballad poetry the Septenary is employed in another manner,
namely, in four-lined stanzas of four- and three-foot verse,
rhyming crosswise, each of which must be looked on as consist-
ing of pairs of Septenaries with middle rhyme inserted (inter-
laced rhyme), as is clearly shown by the Latin models of these
metrical forms quoted above (p. 192). Latin and English lines
are thus found connected, so as to form a stanza, in a poem of
the fifteenth century :
Freeres, freeres, w6 ^e be I
Ministri malorum,
For many a mdnnes souk bringe j/
Ad p6enas infernorum. PoHtical Poems, ii. 249.
In many lyrical poems of the older period some stanzas rhyme
in long lines, others rhyme in short lines, which shows the
gradual genesis of the short-lined metre, rhyming throughout.
Thus, in the poem in Wright's Spec, of Lyr. P.y p. 90, the
opening verses of the first stanza rhyme in long lines :
My dep y ISue^ 7ny lyf ich hate, \ for a le'uedy shine,
I Hio is briht so dates liht, \ pat is on me wel sine,
{.vhereas those of the second rhyme in short lines :
Sorewe and syke and' dreri mSd \ b^ndep me' so fdste,
pat y we'ne to wdlke wod, | jef hit me lingore Idste.
Instances of this kind are frequent ; but the four lines of the
ingle stanzas are never completely rhymed throughout as short-
ines, as, for instance, is the case in the opening parts or
frontes ' of the stanzas of the poems in Wright's Spec, of Lyr.
'^.,pp. 27 and 83, the lines of which are far more regularly con-
tracted. The rhymes are in these compositions still generally
isyllabic.
The metrical structure of the old ballads The Battle of Otter-
wn and Chevy Chase is similar to that of the poem just quoted.
|i those ballads some original long lines are provided with
liddle rhyme, others not, so that the stanzas partly rhyme
o 2
196 THE LINE book i
according to the formula ahcb, partly according to the formula
ah ah. The versification is, moreover, very uneven, and the
endings are, as a rule, if not without exception, masculine :
Sir Harry Perssy cam to the walks,
The SkSttish oste for to j/y
And sdyd, and thou hast hrent NorthomherlSnd,
Full sSre it rewyth me.
The ballads of the end of the Middle English period are
generally composed in far more regular lines or stanzas. The
feminine endings of the Septenary are, however, as a rule
replaced by masculine endings, whether the lines rhyme cross-
wise or only in the three-foot verses. Cf. the ballad, The
Ladys Fall (Ritson, ii. no), which, however, was probably
composed as late as the Modern English period :
Mark we'll my he'avy dSleful idle,
You ISyal lovers all,
And Medfully hiar in your hriast
A gallant lady's fdll.
§ 140. In Modern English the Septenary has been exten-
sively used, both in long and in short rhyming lines. One
special variety of it, consisting of stanzas of four lines, alter-
nately of eight and six syllables (always with masculine ending),
is designated in hymn-books by the name of Common Metre.
In the long-hned form this metre occurs at the beginning of
this period in poems of some length, as, for instance, in William
Warner's Alhions England, and in Chapman's translation of
the Iliad. Here, too, the ending of the line is almost without
exception masculine, and the rhythm, on the whole, pretty
regular, although this regularity, especially in Chapman, is, in
accordance with the contemporary practice, only attained by
alternate full pronunciation and slurring of the same syllables
(Romanic -ion, -ious, &c., and Germanic -ed, &c.) and by inversion
of accent. The caesura is always mascuHne at the end of the
first hemistich, but masculine or feminine minor caesuras are
often met with after the second or in the third foot, sometimes
also after the first or in the second :
Occasioned thUs : \ Chryses the priest || came to the jlM io
hHy. i. II.
To plague the army, \ and to d/ath || hy trSops the sSldiers
w/nt. ib. 10.
\
CHAP. X THE SEPTENARY 197
Secondary caesuras also occur, though less frequently, in other
places in the line, particularly in the second hemistich :
Bu/ if thou wilt he safe begone. || This said, \ the sia-heat
shSre. ib. 32.
All men in one arose and said: 1| Air ides, \ now I s/e.
ib. 54.
These last examples suffice to show the rich variety of the
caesura, which may be referred perhaps to the influence of blank
verse, in the management of which Chapman displays great
skill, and to the frequent use which he makes of the enjambe-
ment. Rhyme-breaking also sometimes occurs in his verse.
Occasionally three consecutive lines rhyme together, as in
W. Warner, whose versification is otherwise extremely regular,
similar to that of lyrical poetry. In this branch of poetry the
Septenary, with the simple rhyme-order ab cb and especially
with the more artistic form ab ab, has continued to be very
popular from the time of Wyatt down to the present day. The
three-foot line has naturally in most instances a masculine
ending, but lines also occasionally occur with feminine rhyme.
In many poems the feminine rhyme is, moreover, regularly
employed in this metre; as, for instance, in Burns' s Jo fohn
Taylor (p. IBS):
With P/gasi!s upon a day,
Apdllo weary flying.
Through frosty hills the journey lay,
On foot the way was plying.
In ballad poetry, on the other hand, the Septenary metre
tends to assume a somewhat freer construction, similar to,
though not so capricious as that in the old ballads edited by
Percy. A well-known example is offered by Coleridge's Rime
\ofthe Ancient Mariner :
111 is an ancient Mariner, \ And he stoppeth 6ne of three:
' By thy ISng grey biard and glittering {ye, \ Now wh&e-
j fore stSpp'st thou mi?'
1 Two unaccented opening syllables and two unaccented
jsyllables in the middle of the line are, in particular, often met
with.
1 § 141. The Septenary in combination with other
joietres. After its occurrence in the Moral Ode and the
^rmulum the Septenary, as we have seen, appears at first very
198 THE LINE book i
seldom by itself, but generally in connexion with other metres,ii
especially the old long line in its freer development, the four-
foot metre (though more rarely), and, particularly, the Alexan-
drine.
The Middle English Alexandrine was constructed on the
model of the Old French Alexandrine — except for the use of
Teutonic licences in even-beat rhythm — and it thus possessed
four different types, which the following examples from On god
Ureison of ure Lefdi^ may serve to illustrate. We give the
corresponding Old French metrical types from the Roman
d Alixandre (Bartsch, Chrestomaihie de tancienfrangais^ p. 175).
a. Masculine caesura with masculine line-ending :
En icele forest, \ dont voz m'oez conter. 24.
Nim nu j^me to me\ \ so me be'st a be'o de beo. 129.
b. Feminine (epic) caesura with masculine line-ending :
nesune ?fiale choze \ ne puet laianz entrer. 25.
vor pin is // wurchipe, | pf ich wrecche wel ipeo. 130.
c. Masculine caesura with feminine line-ending :
Moult fut biaus li vregiers \ et genie la pra'ele. i.
pine blisse ne ?nei \ noiviht under stonden. 31.
d. Feminine (epic) caesura with feminine line-ending:
Moult sou'ef i flair oient \ radise et canele. 2.
Vor dl is gSdes riche \ an Under pine hSnden. 32.
Alexandrines of this sort, particularly of the last type, are
found in a group of poems of the close of the twelfth, or begin-
ning of the thirteenth century, intermingled with Septenaries,
and also, though more seldom, combined with four-beat allitera-
tive rhyming long lines and with four-foot verses. Such poems
are On god Ureison of ure Lefdi (quoted above), A Intel soth
sermon {Old English Miscellany, ed. R. Morris, pp. 186 if.),
and A Bestiary (ib. pp. 1-25).
The following lines from A lutel soth sermon may serve to
illustrate this mixture :
He'rknied alle gSde men, \ and stille slttep adUn,
Aiid ich ou wick te'llen \ a Mtel s'bp sermiin.
We'l we wMen dlle, \ pag uh eou nop ne telle,
Hu ddani ure vor me fader \ adun vel mto he'lle.
^ In Old English Homilies, ed. R. Morris, pp. 190 ff.
cHAP.x THE SEPTENARY 199
SchSmeliche he vorles \ pe blisse pat he hedde ;
To ^ivernesse and priide \ none mode he nedde.
He nam pen dppel of the tr^ \ pat Kim forhode was :
So reupful dede idon \ ne'uer non nds.
He made him into h/lle falle^ \ and 0er Kim his children
alle;
pe'r he was fort ure drihte \ Kine bohte niid his mihte.
He Kine ale'sede niid his Mode, \ pat he sche'dde upon the
rSde,
To depe he fef hitn for us a lie, \ po we were7i so stronge
at-fdlle.
Alle bdcbi teres \ we'ndet to helle,
Robheres and reueres, | and pe monquelle,
Le'churs and horlinges \pider sculen wende,
And pe'r heo sculen wunien \ e'vere buten ende.
Here we have Septenaries (11. i, 4, 7) and Alexandrines
(11. 2, 3, 5, 6, 8) intermixed in 11. 1-8, eight-foot long lines
resolved by means of sectional rhyme into four-foot lines in
11. 9-12, and four-beat rhyming alliterative long lines of the freer
type in 11. 13-16. The easy intermixture of metres may be
explained by the fact that in all these different long-lined
metrical forms four principal stresses are prominent amid the
rest, as we have indicated by accents (').
§142. In the Bestiary this mixture of metrical forms has
assumed still greater proportions, inasmuch as alongside of the
long-lined rhyming Septenaries and alliterative long lines there
are found also Layamon's short-lined rhyming verses and
Septenary lines resolved into short verses by middle rhyme.
The following passages may more closely illustrate the
metrical construction of this poem ; in the first place, 11. 384-
97:
A Wilde der is, pat is ful \ of tile wiles,
"FSx is here tS-name, \for hire que'dscipe ;
Husehondes hire Tidten, \for here h.drm-de'des :
pe c6c and te QapUn \ ge flched Sfie %n de tiin,
And te gdridre and te gds, \ b\ de n/cke and b\ de nh,
"ELdled is to hire hole ; \fordi man hire hdtied,
"Eidtien and hulen \ bode m^n and f Hies.
Here we have unmistakable long lines of the freer type.
In other passages the alliterative long lines pass into Septen-
aries, as, for instance, 11. 273-98 :
I
200 THE LINE book
de mire rauned us \ rxi^le to ttlen,
long Izveno^e, \ dis lille wile
de we on dis we'rld vfiinen : \ for 6anne 7ve 6f Vfe'nden^
ddnne is ure winter : \ we sulen hiinger hduen
and hdrde siires, \ buten we ben ivdr here.
Do w//ordi so dod dis de'r, \ Mnne we' be de'rue
6n dat ddi dat dSm sal ben, \ ddi it ne us hdrde re we:
pe c6rn dat gi to cdue bered, \ dll ge it bit otwinne,
de Idge us Ured to don god, \ and forb^ded us sinne, &c.
In a third instance (11. 628-35) Septenary and four-foot
lines run into one another :
HH he rested him dis de'r,
ddnne he wdlked wide,
h&kne wii it telled her,
for he is dl unride.
A tre he seked to fuligewis
ddt is strong and ste'defast is,
and lened him trostlike derbi,
ddnne he is of wdlke weri.
In many passages in the poem one or other of these different
types of verse occurs unmixed with others. Thus we have
short couplets in the section 444-5; in 11. 1-39 alliterative
rhymeless verse, occasionally of marked archaic construction,
concluding with a hemistich (39) which rhymes with the pre-
ceding hemistich so as to form a transition to the following
section (11. 40-52), which again consists of four-foot and
Septenary verses. These are followed by a section (II. 53-87)
in which four-foot and three-foot lines (that is to say, Alexan-
drines) rhyming in couplets are blended ; and this is succeeded
by a further section (11. 88-119) mostly consisting of Sep-
tenaries resolved by the rhyme into short lines. (Cf. Metrik, i,
§§ 79-84.)
Hence we may say that the poet, in accordance with his
Latin model (likewise composed in various metres), has pur-
posely made use of these different metrical forms, and that the
assertion made by Trautmann and others,^ that the Septenary
of the Ormulum and the Moral Ode, which is contemporary
with Layamon, represents the final result of the development of
* Trautmann, Anglia, v, Anz., p. 124; Einenkel, ibid., 74; Menthel,
Anglia, viii, Anz., p. 70.
CHAP. X THE SEPTENARY 201
Layamon's verse (the freer alliterative long line), must be
erroneous.
§143. In On god Ureison of ure Lefdi, on the other hand,
the alliterative long lines play only an insignificant part, a part
which is confined to an occasional use of a two-beat rhythm in
the hemistichs and the frequent introduction of alliteration.
Septenaries and Alexandrines here interchange ad libitum.
The following short passage (11. 23-34) will suffice to illus-
trate these combinations of metres :
Nis no wummen iboren \ pet pe beo ilkhe,
Ne nSn per nis pin {fning \ widinne Mouerkhe.
He'ih is pi MnestSl \ oniippe cherubtne,
Biuoren dine leoue siine \ widimien s&aphine.
Mtirie dre'amed engles \ biuSren pin onse'ne,
Pleiecf and swe'ied \ and singed bitwhnen.
SwUde we'l ham liked \ biuSren pe to beonne,
Vor heo 7ie'uer ne' beod s^ad | pi ueir to isionne.
pine blisse ne mei \ nowiht Under stonden,
Vor dl is godes riche \ anHnder pine honden.
Alle pine ureondes \ pu makes t riche kinges ;
pa ham finest kinescrtid, \ beies and goldringes.
Lines 26 and 34, perhaps also 25 and 30, are Septenaries,
1. 28 is the only line of the poem which contains two beats
in both hemistichs (hemistichs of this sort are further found in
the first hemistich of 11. 3, 12, 44, 72, 77, and in the second of
11- 30> 45, 46, 52, and 70); the remaining lines of this passage
are most naturally scanned as Alexandrines.
§144. Now, this unsystematic combination of Alexandrines
and Septenaries is a metre which was especially in vogue in the
Middle English period. In this metrical form two religious
poems, The Passion of our Lord and The Woman of Saf?iaria
(Morris, Old English Miscellany), were composed so early as
the beginning of the thirteenth century. From the first we
quote 11. 21-4:
L^uedi pu b&e pat b/ste child, \ pat euer wis ibSre ;
Of pe he f7idkede his moder, \ vor M pe Mdde yc6re.
' Adam and his of sprung \ dl hit wire fur lore,
I Yf pi siine nire, \ iblessed pu bio pervSre.
I Many lines of these poems may be scanned in both ways ;
in the third line of the preceding extract, for instance, we may
202 THE LINE
BOOK
either take the second syllable of the word of sprung ^ixv the manner
of the usual even-beat rhythm, to form a thesis (in this case
hypermetrical, yielding an epic caesura), or we may regard it as
forming, according to ancient Germanic usage, a fourth arsis of
the hemistich, which would then belong to a Septenary. At any
rate, this scansion would, in this case, be quite admissible, as
indeed the other licences of even-beat rhythm all occur here.
It is in this metre that the South English Legends of Saints
{Ms. Harleian 2277) and other poems in the same MS., as the
Fragment on Popular Science (fourteenth century), are written.
The same holds good for Robert of Gloucester's Rhyming
Chronicle (cf. Metrik, i, §§ 113, 114). Matzner (in his
Altengl. Sprachproben, p. 155), and Ten Brink {Liter aturge-
schichie^ i, pp. 334, 345) concur in this opinion, while Trautmann
(in Anglia, v; Anz., pp. 123-5), on a theory of metrical accen-
tuation which we hold to be untenable, pronounces the verses
to be Septenaries.
The following passage (Matzner,^//^«^/. SprachprobenXv-'^^^)
may serve to illustrate the versification of Robert of Gloucester :
A/tur kjng Bdthiilf\ Le'ir ys sone was kjng,
And re'gned sixti ^er \ wet poru dlle pjng.
Up pe water of Soure \ a city of gret fame
He e'ndede, and cUpede yt Leicestre^ \ dftur is owne name,
pre dopren pis kyng hddde, | pe eldeste Gornorille,
pe mydfjiost hdtte Re'gan^ \ pe jongost Cordeille.
pe fdder hem louede dlle ynoj, | dc pe ^ongost me'st :
For he'o was best an f direst, \ and to hdutenesse drow lest,
p6 pe kyng to e'lde com, \ dlle pr^ he brSpe
Hys dojtren tofore hym, \ to wyte of here poupe,
§145. At the end of the thirteenth century the Septenary
and Alexandrine were, however, relegated to a subordinate posi-
tion by the new fashionable five-foot iambic verse. But we soon
meet them again in popular works of another kind, viz. in the
Miracle Plays, especially in some plays of the Towneley Collec-
tion, like the Conspiratio et Capcio (p. 182), and actually
employed quite in the arbitrary sequence hitherto observed,
Alexandrine sometimes rhyming with Alexandrine, Septenary
with Septenary, but, more frequently, Alexandrine with Sep-
tenary. A passage from the Towneley Mysteries may make this
clear :
Now hdveye hdrt what t have sdyde, \ I go and com agdyn,
Therfor looke ye be pdyde \ and dlso gldd and fay n,
cHAP.x THE SEPTENARY 203
For to my fader 1 weynd^ \for mSre then t is he',
I lei you wytt, as fdythfulle freynd, \ or thai it done be.
That y^ may trSw when it is done, \ for ce'rtes, I may noght now
Many thfnges so sSyn \ at this tyme speak with you.
This metre is also employed in many Moral Plays with a
similar liberty in the succession of the two metrical forms.
But we may often observe in these works, as, for instance, in
Redford's Marriage of Wit and Science (Dodsley, ii, p. 325 sq.),
that Alexandrines and Septenaries are used interchangeably,
though not according to any fixed plan, so that sometimes
the Septenary and sometimes the Alexandrine precedes in the
couplet, as, for instance, in the last four lines of the following
passage (Dodsley, ii, p. 386) :
0 le't me breathe a while, \ and hold thy heavy hand,
My grievous faults with shame \ enough I Understand,
Take riith and pity 6n my plaint, \ or else I dm forlorn ;
Let not the world continue thiis \ in laughing me' to scorn.
Madam, if t be he', \ to wh6m you once were be'nt.
With whSm to sp^nd your time \ sometime you we're content:
If any hSpe be left, \ if any re'compe'nse
Be able to recover this \forpdssed ne'gligence,
0, help me now poor wre'tch \ in this most he'avy plight.
And furnish me' yet once again \ with Te'diousfte'ss to fight.
§146. In other passages in this drama, e.g. in the speech
of Wit, p. 359, this combination (Alexandrine with Septenary
following) occurs in a sequence of some length. It existed,
however, before Redford's time, as a favourite form of stave, in
lyrical as well as in narrative poetry, and was well known to
the first Tudor English prosodists under the name of The
Poulters Measure}
The opening lines of Surrey's Complaint of a dying Lover
(p. 24) present an example of its cadence :
In winter's just retUrn, \ when Boreas gdn his re'ign,
And e'very trie unclSthedfdst, \ as Nature taught them plain:
In misty mSrning dark, \ as she'ep are the'n in hSld,
1 hied me fast, it sat me on, \ my she'ep for to unfSld.
, Brooke's narrative poem Romeus andfuliet, utilized by Shake-
Ispeare for his drama of the same name, is in this metre. Probably
Ihe strict iambic cadence and the fixed position of the caesura
: * According to Guest (ii. 233) * because the poulterer, as Gascoigne tells
i^ givetli twelve for one dozen and fourteen for another'.
T
204 THE LINE BOOK
caused this metre to appear especially adapted for culturec
poetry, at a time when rising and falling rhythms were firs
sharply distinguished. It was, however, not long popular
though isolated examples are found in modern poets, as, foi
instance, Cowper and Watts. Thackeray uses it for comi<
poems, for which it appears especially suitable, sometime
using the two kinds of verse promiscuously, as Dean Swif
had done before him, and sometimes employing the Alexandria!
and Septenary in regular alternation.
§ 147. The Alexandrine runs more smoothly than th<
Septenary. The Middle English Alexandrine is a six-foo
iambic line with a caesura after the third foot. This caesura
like the end of the line, may be either masculine or feminine.
This metre was probably employed for the first time ii
Robert Mannyng's translation of Peter Langtoft's rhythmical
Chronicle, partly composed in French Alexandrines. The four
metrical types of the model mentioned above (p. 198) naturally
also make their appearance here.
a. Messeng&s he sent \ porghout tnglond
b. Unto the Inglis kynges \ pat had it in per hond.
p. 2, 11. 3-4.
c. After ^thelhert \ co?n ^l/rith his brother,
d. pat was Egbrihtes sonne, \ and ^it per was an oper ;
p. 21, 11. 7-8.
The Germanic licences incidental to even-beat rhythm are
strikingly perceptible throughout.
In the first line we have to note in both hemistichs suppres-
sion of the anacrusis, in the second either the omission of an
unaccented syllable or lengthening of a word {Ing{e)lond). The
second line has a regular structure : in the third the suppression
of the anacrusis is to be noted and the absence of an unaccented
syllable in the second hemistich. The last line has the regular
number of syllables, but double inversion of accent in the first
hemistich. A disyllabic thesis at the beginning or in the middle
of the line also frequently occurs.
To purv^ie pdm a skulking, \ on the English eft to ride;
p. 3, 1. 8.
Bot soiorned pdm a while \ in re'st a BdngSre;
p. 3, 1. 16.
In We'stsex was pan a kjng, \ his name was Sir Ine ;
p. 2, 1. I.
CHAP. X THE ALEXANDRINE 205
There is less freedom of structure in the Alexandrine as used
in the lyrical poems of this period, in which, however, the verse
is generally resolved by middle rhyme into short lines, as may
be seen from the examples in § 150.
§ 148. The structure of the Alexandrine is, on the other
hand, extremely irregular in the late Middle English Mysteries
and the Early English Moral Plays, where, so far as we have
observed, it is not employed in any piece as the exclusive metre,
but mostly occurs either as the first member of the above-
mentioned Poulters Measure^ and occasionally in uninterrupted
sequence in speeches of considerable length. We cannot there-
fore always say with certainty whether we have in many passages
of Jacob and Esau (Dodsley's Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, vol. ii,
pp. 185 ff.) to deal with four-beat Hnes or with unpolished
Alexandrines (cf. Act 11, Sc. i). In other pieces, on the other
hand, the Alexandrine, where it appears in passages of some
length, is pretty regularly constructed, as, for instance, in Red-
ford's Marriage of Wit and Science (Dodsley, ii, pp. 325 ff.),
e.g. in Act 11. Sc. ii (pp. 340-1) :
How many seek, that come \ too short of their desire:
How many do attempt, \ that daily d6 retire.
How many r6ve about \ the mark on /very side:
How many think to hit, \ when thfy are miich too wide:
How many riln too far, \ how many light too low:
How few to good effect \ their travail do bestSw I &c.
The caesura and close of the line are in this passage, which
comprises eighteen lines, monosyllabic throughout.
§ 149. In Modern English the Alexandrine is also found in
a long-lined rhyming form, as, for instance, in the sixteenth
century in certain poems by Sidney, but notably in Drayton's
Polyolbion,
The Modern English Alexandrine is particularly distinguished
from the Middle English variety by the fact that the four types of
the Middle English Alexandrine are reduced to one, the caesura
being regularly masculine and the close of the line nearly
ilways so; further by the very scanty employment of the Teutonic
rhythmical licences; cf. the opening lines of the Polyolbion
[PoetSy iii, pp. 239 ff.) :
I Of Albion's gUrious isle \ the wSnders whilst I write,
\ The sundry vdrying sSils, \ the pleasures infinite,
I Where Mat kills not the cSld, \ nor cSld expels the Mat,
The calms too mildly small, \ nor winds too roughly griat, &c.
2o6 THE LINE
BOOK I
Minor caesuras seldom occur, and generally in the second
hemistich, as, e. g., minor lyric caesuras after the first foot :
Wise genius, \ hy thy Mlp || thai s6 I may descry. 240 a;
or masculine caesura after the second foot :
Ye sacred hards \ that to || your harps melodious strings, ib.
Enjambement is only sporadically met with ; breaking of the
rhyme still more seldom.
Less significance is to be attached to the fact that Brysket, in
a poem on Sidney's death, entitled The Mourning Muse of
Thestylis (printed with Spenser's works, Globe edition, p. 563),
makes Alexandrines rhyme together, not in couplets, but in an
arbitrary order; further, that Surrey and Blennerhasset occa-
sionally composed in similarly constructed rhymeless Alexan-
drines (cf. Metrik, ii, p. 83).
Of greater importance is the structure of the Alexandrine
when used as the concluding line of the Spenserian stanza
and of its imitations.
It is here noteworthy that the lyric caesura, unusual in Middle
English, often occurs in Spenser after the first hemistich :
That such a cHrsed creature || lives so long a space.
F.Q.I. I. 31;
as well as in connexion with minor caesuras :
Up6n his foe, \ a Dragon, || hSrrible and stiarne. ib. i. i. 3.
The closing line of the Spenserian stanza is similarly handled
by other poets, such as Thomson, Scott, Wordsworth, while
poets like Pope, Byron, Shelley, and others admit only masculine
caesuras after the third foot. By itself the Alexandrine has not
often been employed in Modern English.
Connected in couplets it occurs in the nineteenth century in
Wordsworth's verse, e.g. in The Pet Lamb (ii. 149), and is in
this use as well as in the Spenserian stanza treated by this poet
with greater freedom than by others, two opening and medial
disyllabic theses as well as suppression of anacrusis, being fre-
quently admitted, while on the other hand the caesura and close
of the verse are always monosyllabic.
§ 150. The three-foot line has its origin theoretically, and
as a rule also actually, in a halving of the Alexandrine, and this
is effected less frequently by the use of leonine than by cross
rhyme.
Two Alexandrine long lines are, for instance, frequently
CHAP. X THE ALEXANDRINE 207
resolved in this metrical type into four three-foot short lines
with crossed rhymes, as, e.g., in Robert Mannyng's Chronicle,
from p. 69 of Hearne's edition onwards.
From our previous description of the four types of the Middle
English Alexandrine, determined by the caesura and the close
; of the verse, it is clear that the short verses resulting from
! them may rhyme either with masculine or feminine endings,
as, e.g., on p. 78, 11. i, 2:
William the Conquerour Out of his first errour
Chdngis his wicked will ; rep^ntis 6f his ille.
In accordance with the general character of the metre the
verses in this Chronicle are, even when rhyming as short lines,
printed as long lines, especially as this order of rhymes is not
consistently observed in all places in which they occur.
In lyrical poetry this metre is naturally chiefly found arranged
in short Hues, as in the following examples :
Wright's Spec, of L. P., 97 : Minot, ed. Hall, 17 :
Mdyden mSder milde, TSwrenay, ^dw has tight
oie'z eel dreysdun ; To timber tr{y and tine
from shame }>du me shilde, A bdre, with brinis bright
e de' ly mafeldun. Es brdght opdn pwre grine.
With another order of rhymes these verses are also met
with in tail-rhyme stanzas of different kinds, as, for instance,
in Wright's Spec, of L. P., p. 41 :
Of a mdn mdtheu pdhte, In mdrewe m/n he sdhte,
po he' pe wyn^ord wrdhte ; at vnder md he brdhte,
and wrdt hit dnys bdc. and ndm, ant ndnforsdc.
As a rule, the verses in such lyrical compositions intended
|to be sung are more regularly constructed than in those of
narrative poetry, where the usual Germanic metrical licences
[occur more frequently.
I In Modern English the three -foot verse has remained a
Ifavourite, chiefly in lyrical poetry, and occurs there as well with
tonosyllabic as with disyllabic rhymes, which may either follow
, le another or be crossed, e. g. :
Surrey, p. 128 : Surrey, p. 39 :
Me list no mdre to sing Though t regarded ndt
I Of Idve, nor of such thing, The prdmise made by mi ;
1 How sore that it me wring ; Or passed ndt to spdt
j For whdt I sUng or spake, My faith and hdnesty :
f Men did my sdngs mistake. Fit were my fancy strange, &c.
2o8 THE LINE book i
We seldom find three-foot verses with disyllabic rhymes
throughout. There is, on the other hand, in lyrical poetry a
predilection for stanzas in which disyllabic rhymes alternate with
monosyllabic, as, for instance, in Sheffield, On the Loss of an
only Son :
Our morning's gay and shining,
The days our joys declare;
At evening no repining ,
And night's all v6id of care.
A fond transported mother
Was often Mard to cry
Oh, where is siich another
So bless' d by Heaven as t ? &c.
Rhythmical licences, such as suppression of the anacrusis,
seldom occur in such short lines. The species of licence
that is most frequent appears to be inversion of accent.
CHAPTER XI
THE RHYMED FIVE-FOOT VERSE
§ isi. Among all English metres the five-foot verse may be
said to be the metre which has been employed in the greatest
number of poems, and in those of highest merit.
Two forms can be distinguished, namely, the rhymed and
the rhymeless five-foot verse (the latter being known as blank
verse\ which are of equal importance, though not of equal
mtiquity.
The rhymed five-foot verse was known in English poetry as
"ar back as the second half of the thirteenth century, and has
Deen a favourite metre from Chaucer's first poetic attempts
)nward to the present, whilst the blank verse was first intro-
luced into English literature about the year 1540 by the Earl
)f Surrey (1518-47), and has been frequently employed ever
ince that time. The rhymed five-foot verse was, and has
:ontinued to be, mainly preferred for lyrical and epic, the blank
erse for dramatic poetry. The latter, however, has been em-
|>loyed e. g. by Milton, and after him by Thomson and many
thers for the epic and allied species of poetry ; while rhymed
ve-foot verse was used during a certain period for dramatic
oetry, e.g. by Davenant and Dryden, but by the latter only
)r a short time.
Ehymed five-accent verse occurs in Middle English both
1 poems composed in stanza form and (since Chaucer's Legend
^ Good Women, c. 1386) in couplets.
{ This metre, apart from differences in the length of the line
hd in number of accents, is by no means to be looked upon
' different from the remaining even-stressed metres of that
,Tie. For, like the Middle English four-foot verse and the
jlexandrine, it derives its origin from a French source, its pro-
type being the French decasyllabic verse. This is a metre
ih rising rhythm, in which the caesura generally comes after
;e fourth syllable, as e. g. in the line :
^Ja mat's n'ieri tels \ com fui as ancetsors. Saint Alexis, 1. 5.
2IO
THE LINE
BOOK I
To this verse the following line of Chaucer's corresponds
exactly in point of structure :
A knight ther was, \ and that a worthy man.
Cant. Tales, Prol. 43.
§ 152. The English verse, like the French decasyllabic, admits
feminine caesuras and feminine line-endings, and the first thesis
(anacrusis) may be absent ; there are, therefore, sixteen varieties
theoretically possible.
I. Principal Types.
1. \j—\j—
2. w— w— w
3. w—w—
4. \j—\j — w
III. With Internal Truncation
(omission of the thesis after
the caesura).
9. \j—\j— — w— v^— 9 syll.
10. \^—\j—^ I —\j—\j— 10 ,,
11. \j—\j— —\j—yu—yu 10 J,
12. *^— v.-*— v^ ! — vj— v^— w II ,,
II. With Initial Truncation
(omission of the first thesis).
w— w— w— 10 syll.
5-
-w-
\j—\u—\j— 9 syll
w— w— w— II „
6.
— w— w
\j—\u—\j— 10 ,,
\J—\J—^—\J II „
7.
— w—
v^-^-w-uIO „
\j—\j—\j—\j\2 „
8.
—y^—'^
w— w — \J—\J II „
IV. With both Initial and In-
ternal Truncation.
13. -w-
14. — v^— W
15. -w-
16. — w— w
syll.
— \j — \j— 9
■—\j—\j—\u 9
— w— v^— w 10
This table at the same time also contains the formal ex-
position, and indeed possibly the actual explanation (by sup-
pression of the thesis following the epic caesura), of such lines
as may be regarded as lines with lyric caesura, and are identical
with these in regard to rhythm and number of syllables. To
this class belong the forms given under 10, 12, 14, and 16.
The following examples will serve to illustrate these sixteen
types :
I. Principal Types. |
A knight ther was, \ and that a worthy man.
What schUlde he stddie.
Prol. 43'
and make himsilven wood?
ib. 184
But thilke text I held he' not worth an Sysire. ib. 182.
To CdunterhHry \ with fill devout cordge. ib. 22.
CHAP. XI THE RHYMED FIVfe-FOOT VERSE 211
II. With Initial Truncation.
5. tfpon which \ he wil aue'nged y.
Lydgate, Story of Thebes, 1086.
6. 6/ the wordes \ thai Tydeils had said. ib. 1082.
7. Fro the king \ he gdn his /ace tourne. ib. 1068.
8. Nat astSnned^ \ nor in his he'rt aferde. ib. 1069.
III. With Internal Truncation after the caesura.
9. A st&ne pas \ thSrgh the hdlle he gSth. ib. 1072.
10. And which they weren, \ and 0/ what degre'.
Chaucer, Prol. 40.
11. And y^t iherbj; \ shdll they neuer thrive?
Barclay, Ship of Fooles, p. 20.
12. And mdde fSrward \ e'rly for to r^se,
Chaucer, Prol. 33.
IV. With Initial Truncation and Truncation after the caesura.
13. in al hast \ Tydeils to swi.
Lydgate, Story of Thebes, 1093.
14. Twinty bokes, \ clad in bldk and ried.
Chaucer, Prol. 294.
15. Spared ndt \ women greet with chjflde.
Lydgate, Guy of Warwick, 16.
16. For to de'len \ with no siich pordille,
Chaucer, Prol. 247.
In this five-foot metre all the Germanic licences of the even-
beat rhythm may occur in the same way as in the other
ven-beat metres. The caesura, for instance, may occur in both
^or all three) varieties in the five-foot verse of Chaucer and of
nany other poets, either after or within any of the remaining
cet. Hence the structure of this metrical form gains to an
xtraordinary degree in complexity.
, By the mere fact that the variations adduced above may also
j)ccur after the first, third, and fourth foot, the number of verse-
orms produced by the above-mentioned types of caesura in
p 2
212
THE LINE BOOK
combination with initial truncation and the different kinds o
verse-ending rises to sixty-four, to say nothing of the othe:
metrical licences due to inversion of accent, level stress, and the
presence of hypermetrical unaccented syllables at the beginning
or in the middle and the end of the line. At any rate, th(
varieties of even-beat metres, especially of the five-foot verse
resulting from these metrical licences, are much more numerou:
than those connected with the five main types of the alliterativ
hemistich. The great diversity of rhythm allowed by thi
metrical theory has, indeed, been objected to, but evidentl
without sufficient reason, and, as it seems, only because c
the unfamiliarity of the idea.
§ 153. This variable position of the caesura is, however, nc
found in the earliest specimens of this metre presented to us in th
two poems in the Harl. MS. 2253 dating from the second ha;
of the thirteenth century, which are edited in Wright's Specimen
of Lyric Poetry^ Nos. xl and xli (wrongly numbered xlii).^ Thes
are written in tripartite eight-lined, anisometrical stanzas of th
form «4 ^3 a^ b^ c^ c^ d^ dg, in which the fifth, sixth, and eight
lines are evidently of five feet. Ten Brink,^ it is true, says ths
he has not been able ' to convince himself that this was a genuin
instance of a metre which — whether in origin or character-
might be identified with Chaucer's heroic verse, although i
isolated instances it seems to coincide with it '. According t
my conviction, there is not the slightest doubt as to the structui
of these verses as lines of five feet, and Ten Brink has nc
expressed any opinion as to the nature of the verse to whic
they must otherwise be referred.'
In both these poems there occur only verses of the typ
indicated by the formulas 3, 4, 7, 12 :
3. His Mrte hl6d \ he ^tf for dl monkunne. xl. 35.
4. UpSn pe r6de \ why nUlle we taken he'de? ib. 27.
7. j{f bou dSst, I hit w6l me reowe sSre. xli. 20.
12. Bote Mo me ISuye, \ s6re hit wol vie rewe. ib. 27.
1 These poems are also printed in Boddeker, Altengl. Did
Geistl. Lieder, xviii, Welti. Lieder, xiv.
'^ Chauccf^s Sprache und Verskunst, § 305, note.
' The verses he calls five-foot lines have, on the other hand, decide
not this structure, but are four-foot lines with unaccented rhymes:
a final word in the line, such us wricful, as is assumed by Ten Brink, wii;|
the omission of an unaccented syllable between the last two accents, wouj
be utterly inconsistent with the whole character of this metre.
CHAP. XI THE RHYMED FIVE-FOOT VERSE 213
Among the Germanic licences the presence of a disyllabic
initial or internal thesis is most noticeable in these which are, so
far as is known, the earliest five-foot verses in English poetry;
as, e. g. in xli. 33, 34 :
Ase sUrres bep in welkne\ \ and grdses sour ant suite;
Whose I6uep vntrewe, \ his herte is se'lde s/ete.
§ 154. The main difference between Chaucer's five-foot verse
and these early specimens of this metre is that the caesura
does not always occupy a fixed place in it, but is liable
to shift its position.^ It is either masculine, epic, or lyric, and
occurs chiefly after the second or in and after the third foot, or
in the fourth, so that there are thus (in Chaucer's verse and that
of most of the following poets) six main types of caesura :
1. Masculine (monosyllabic) caesura after the second foot;
the principal kind (types i and 3) :
Whan Zephirils \ eek with his swete breethe. Pro!. 5.
2. Feminine (disyllabic) epic caesura after the second foot;
far rarer (types 2 and 4) :
To Cdunterbiiry'^ \ with /ul devout cor age. ib. 22.
3. Feminine (disyllabic) lyric caesura in the third foot ; more
equent than the preceding (types 10 and 12):
And made forward \ erly f6r to ryse. ib. 83.
4. Masculine (monosyllabic) caesura after the third foot (first
subordinate type to i and 3 = i a and 3 a) :
I That slepen dl the night \ with open eye. ib. 10.
' According to Ten Brink, Chaucer's Sprache tmd Verskunst, § 305, the
bifting character of Chaucer's caesura was chiefly caused by his acquaintance
dth the Italian endecasillabo. This influence may have come in later^ but
ven in Chaucer's early Compleynt to Pitee (according to Ten Brink,
"'eschichte der englischen Literatur, ii. p. 49, his first poem written under
lie influence of the French decasyllabic verse) the caesura is here move-
)le, though not to the same extent as in the later poems. The liability of
le caesura to shift its position was certainly considerably increased by the
entual character of English rhythm. On the untenableness of his
ertion, that in Chaucer's five-accent verse the epic caesura is unknown,
p. 145 (footnote), Metrik, ii. ioi-3note, and Schipper m Paul's Grun-
>^, ed. 2, II. ii, pp. 217-21.
^ For the accentuation of the word of. inter alia rhymes such as mirie :
umterbioy, Prol. 801-2, and Schipper, I.e., pp. 217-18.
214 THE LINE B00i?i
5. Feminine (disyllabic) epic caesura after the third foot, rar(
(first subordinate type to 2 and 4= 2 a and 4 a) :
Ther as he was ful merye \ and wel at ese.
Nonne Pr. T. 438
6. Feminine lyric caesura in the fourth foot (first subordinat
type to 10 and 1 2 = 10 a and 12a):
An dnlas and a gipser \ dl of silk, Prol. 357.
Besides these six principal caesuras we also find all the thre
types occurring in rarer instances in the corresponding remain
ing positions of the verse, namely, after the first or in the secon^
fpot, and after the fourth or in the fifth foot. Enjambemer
often gives rise to logical caesuras in unusual positions, alongsid
of which another metrical caesura is generally noticeable in on
of the usual positions :
Byf^l, II that in that sesoun \ 6n a day. Prol. 18.
In SSuthwerk \ at the Tabard || ds I lay. ib. 20.
Farwel, \for t ne may \ no lenger dwelle. Kn. T. i49(
O regne, 1| that wolt no felawe \ hdn with the. ib. 766.
Now certes^ H / wol dS \ my diligence, Prioresse T. i72(
Is in this large \ wdrlde ysprdd\ — quod she. ib. 1644.
To M/des dnd \ to P&ses yiuen || quod M.
Monkes T. 3421
And so/te untS himself \ he seyde \ : Fy. Kn. T. 915.
By the various combinations of such principal and subordinat
caesuras the number of the varieties of this metre is increased t
an almost unlimited extent. Many lines also are devoid of th
caesura completely, or, at most, admit, under the influence (
the general rhythm, a light metrical caesura without any stri'
logical need, as, for instance, when it occurs after a conjunc
tion or a preposition, as in the verses :
By fSrward dnd \ by cSmposicioun. Prol. 848.
That I was of\ here fe'laweschipe an6n. ib. 32.
§ 155. The end also of the line may be either masculine (
feminine. Both kinds occur side by side on a perfectly equ.
footing, the feminine endings probably somewhat oftener i
Chaucer's verse owing to the numerous terminations consistir'
of ^ or ^ + consonant which were still pronounced at his tim
Besides the variety in the caesura and the end of the vers'
d
CHAP. XI THE RHYMED FIVE-FOOT VERSE 215
the well-known licences of even-beat rhythm play a considerable
part ; as, for instance, inversion of accent, ordinary, and rhe-
torical, at the beginning of the verse and after the caesura:
rddy to wenden Prol. 2 1 ; Sj^ngynj;e he was ib. 9 1 ; Schort was his
goune ib. 93 ; Tr6uthe and honour, fr^dom and cSurteisie ib. 46.
Although omission of the anacrusis is on the whole, unfre-
quent, it yet undoubtedly occurs (cf. p. 137, footnote) :
Al hesmotered \ with his hdbergedun. Prol. 76.
Gynglen in a \ whistlyng wynd as clere. ib. 170.
Disyllabic theses are often found initially and internally.
With a thredhare c6pe \ as is a poure schSler. Prol. 262,
0/ ^ngelondj \ to Cdunterhtiry they wende. ib. 16.
Similar rhythmical phenomena are caused by the slurring of
syllables, such, e. g., as Many a, tharray from the array, &c., &c.,
in regard to which reference should be made to the chapter on
the metrical value of syllables.
Level stress occurs most frequently in Chaucer in rhyme :
f\ftine : Trdmassene 61-2 ; d^gg^re: spere 1 1 3-14; thing : writfng
325-6. Enjambement and rhyme-breaking are used by him
with great skill (cf. §§ 92, 93).
§ 156. In later Middle English this metre on the whole
retained the same character, and individual poets vary from one
another only in a few points.
Of Gower's five-foot verse only short specimens are pre-
served. Like his four-foot verse, they are very generally regular.
Inversion of accent is the licence he most often employs.
Gower uses almost exclusively the masculine caesura after the
second foot and the lyric caesura in the third foot. But epic
caesura also occasionally occurs in his verse :
For of batdille \ the final Me is pe's. Praise of Peace, 66.
A decline in the technique of the five-foot verse begins with
Lydgate and Hoccleve.
These writers deprived the caesura of its mobility and
udmilted it almost exclusively after the second beat. Hoccleve
uses hardly any caesuras but the masculine and lyric, whilst in
Lydgate's verse epic caesura is often met with (cf. p. 211).
Both indulge in the licences of initial truncation and omission of
the unaccented syllable after the caesura (cf. 1. c.) as well as level
stress and the admission of several unaccented syllables at the
beginning of the verse and internally ; there are even cases of
21 6 THE LINE book i
the omission of unaccented syllables in the middle of the
verse :
Of hard marble \ they dide another make. Min. P., p. 85, 24.
The slight licence of inversion of accent is also taken advan-
tage of.
Stephen Hawes and Barclay again imparted to this line
greater freedom with regard to the caesura. And yet the metn
exhibits under their hands, in consequence of the frequen
occurrence of disyllabic initial and internal theses, a somewhat
uneven rhythm.
The ablest of the successors of Chaucer, in technique as ir
other respects, are the Scots : Blind Harry, Henrysoun, Kin^
James I, Douglas, and Dunbar. The verse of Dunbar, ir
particular, stands on an equality with Chaucer's in rhythmica.'
euphony, while David Lyndesay often struggles with difficultieij
of form, and, by frequent use of level stress, offends against th(
first principle of even-beat rhythm, viz. the coincidence of th(
metrical accent with the natural accentuation of the word anci
sentence.
§157. In Modern English the rhymed five-foot verse remain;
essentially the same as in the Middle English period. FeminiiK
rhymes are indeed rarer than in Middle English poetry ir
consequence of the disuse of flexional endings.
For the same reason, and owing to the advance in technica
execution, the epic caesura is also rarer. Still, examples of thi:
as well as of the other kind of caesuras employed by Chaucej
are found in Modern English :
I. The nightingale \ with feathers n^w she sings. Sur. p. 3.
II. The sote season \ that bicd and bloom for thbrings. ib. p. 3.
III. Itself from travail \ 6f the days unrest, ib. p. 2.
IV. The siin hath twice brought forth \ his tender green. \
V. He knSweth how great Atrides, \ that made Troy fre't.
Wyatt, 152'
VI. At last she dsked softly^ \ who was th&e. ib. 187.
In positions nearer to the beginning or the end of the lini
the different kinds of caesura are also rare in Modern English,
and occur mostly in consequence of enjambements.
In Wyatt's poems epic caesuras are found in comparativehi
CHAP. XI THE RHYMED FIVE-FOOT VERSE 217
large number ; in Spenser, on the other hand, they are probably
entirely lacking, owing to a finer feeling for the technique of
the verse.
Inversions of accent occur in the usual positions and at all
times with all the poets. Level stress, on the other hand, is
more frequently detected in such poets as do not excel in
technical skill, as, for instance, in Wyatt and Donne, who also
admit initial truncation, and more rarely the omission of a
thesis in the middle of the line. In their poems disyllabic
theses also often occur initially and internally, while more
careful poets more rarely permit themselves these licences. To
Wyatt's charge must be laid further the unusual and uncouth
licence of unaccented rhyme, such rhymes, for example, as
beginning : eclipsing, p. 56, 1-3 ; dreadeih : seeketh, inclosld :
oppressed 54, &c. In other poets this peculiarity is hardly ever
found.
§158. In narrative poetry the five-foot verse rhyming in
couplets, heroic verse, was a favourite metre. As a close in the
sense coincides with that of each couplet, this metre tends to
assume an epigrammatic tone, especially since enjambement
seldom occurs after the Restoration. To avoid the monotony
thus occasioned, many Restoration poets linked three verses
together by one and the same rhyme, whereby the regular
sequence of couplets was then interrupted wherever they pleased.
Sometimes such threefold rhymes (triplets) serve the purpose
of laying a special stress on particular passages, a practice
which is, moreover, to be observed as early as in some con-
temporaries of Shakespeare, e.g. in Donne. A somewhat freer
structure than that of the heroic verse is, as a rule, exhibited
by the five-foot line when employed in poems in stanza form.
In this verse a considerable part is played by enjambement.
This also holds good for the rhymed five-foot verse em-
ployed in dramatic poetry, which usually rhymes in couplets,
hough alternate rhymes are occasionally used.
After Lyly's The Maid's Metamorphosis, entirely written in
lieroic verse, this metre was chiefly employed by Shakespeare
ind his contemporaries for prologues and epilogues. Rhymed
live-foot verses frequently occur in Shakespeare's earlier dramas,
t'.g. in Romeo and Juliet, where their technical structure
:s found to be fairly strict. In his later dramas, on the other
hand, e. g. in the Prologue and Epilogue to Henry VIII, the
heroic verse is, on the analogy of the freer treatment of his later
blank verse, also more loosely constructed. Enjambement, and
I
2i8 THE LINE
BOOK I
the caesuras connected with it after the first and fourth accents,
are often met with.
§ 159. Dryden's dramatic heroic verse does not differ essen-
tially from that of his satirical poems and translations. After
Dryden returned to blank verse for dramatic writing, heroic
verse ceased to be employed for this purpose. Rhymed verse,
rhyming in couplets and stanzas, however, still continued to be
in vogue in lyrical, satirical, didactic, and narrative poetry.
Pope's heroic verse is still more uniformly constructed
than that of Dryden. Both poets hardly ever employ any
caesura but the masculine and the lyric after the second and
third beat, and the end of the line is almost exclusively
masculine. Initial truncation or the absence of an unaccented
syllable internally is hardly to be met with in their poems.
The earlier diversity in the structure of this line was (under
the influence of the French models whom they closely imitated)
considerably restricted. Even transposition of accent occurs
comparatively seldom, so that the word-accent generally exact!}'
coincides with the rhythmical accent. Enjambement is, how-
ever, employed more frequently by Dryden than by Pope ; and
the former, moreover, occasionally admits at the close ofatriplel
a verse of six feet, while Pope, in his original poems, com-
pletely avoids triplets as well as six-accent lines. The breaking
of rhyme both poets purposely exclude.
A similar uniform character is exhibited by the heroic verse
of most of the poets of the eighteenth century. It is not before
the nineteenth century that this metre, in spite of the persistence
of individual poets, e.g. Byron, in adhering to the fashion set b)
Pope, again acquires greater freedom. Shelley and Browning
for instance, are fond of combining lines of heroic verse b}
enjambement so as to form periods of some length. Words-
worth, Coleridge, Southey and others again admit couplets anc
triplets with occasional six-foot lines at the close. But th(
caesura remains nearly always restricted to the places which i
occupies in Pope's verse, and the close of the line is masculine;
Keats only often indulges in feminine rhymes. I
It is, however, remarkable that such rhymes more oftei
occur in five-foot verses combined in stanzas when employe(
for satirical and comic compositions, as e. g. in Byron's Bepp
and Don Juan. In these poems the disyllabic thesis, the slur,
ring of syllables, and other rhythmical licences, also mor
frequently occur.
J
DIVISION III
Verse-Forms occurring in Modern English
Poetry only
CHAPTER XII
BLANK VERSE
§ 160. The Beginnings of Modern English Poetry.
Puttenham, in his Arte of English Poeste, i. 31, speaks of
Surrey and Wyatt as having originated the modern period of
English poetry. This is true in so far as their poems are the
first to show clearly— especially in metrical form — the in-
fluence of the spirit of the Renaissance, which had been making
itself felt in English Literature for some time past. The new
tendencies manifested themselves not only in the actual introduc-
tion of new rhythms and verse-forms borrowed from Classical and
Italian poetry, but also in the endeavour to regulate and reform
the native poetry according to the metrical laws and peculiari-
ties of foreign models, especially of the ancient classics.
There were, indeed, several features of classical poetry which
invited imitation, and the introduction of which produced the
chief differences between Modern EngUsh and Middle English
versification. These features are :
First, the quantitative character of the ancient rhythms as
opposed to the accentual character of English verse. Secondly,
the strict separation of rising and falling rhythms. In Middle
English we have only the rising rhythm, which, however, some-
times becomes a falling one if the first thesis is wanting.
Finally, the absence of rhyme in the poetry of the ancients,
whereas in late Middle English poetry — apart from some North-
English and Scottish productions written in the conservative,
rhymeless form of the alliterative line — rhyme is all but
universal.
§161. The heroic couplet, the most popular and most im-
portant metre in later Middle Enghsh poetry, was, naturally,
first of all influenced by the new classical movement.
220
THE LINE BOOK i
It was the Earl of Surrey who, by dispensing with the rhyme,
first transformed this metre into what is now known as Blank
Verse. He adopted the unrhymed decasyllabic line as the most
suitable vehicle for his translation of the second and fourth
books of the Aeneid, written about 1540. In so doing, he
enriched modern literature with a new form of verse which was
destined to take a far more important place in English poetry
than he can have foreseen for it. In its original function, as
appropriate to the translation of ancient epic poetry, it has
been employed by many late writers, e. g. by Cowper in his
version of Homer; but this is only one, and the least con-
siderable, of its many applications. Shortly after Surrey's time
blank verse was used for court drama by Sackville and Norton
in their tragedy of Gorboduc (1561), and for popular drama by
Marlowe in Tamhurlaine the Great (1587).
From the latter part of the sixteenth century onwards it has
continued to be the prevailing metre for dramatic poetry,
except for a short time, when its supremacy was disputed by
the heroic couplet used by Lord Orrery, Davenant, Dryden,
and others. Meanwhile blank verse had also become the metre
of original epic poetry through Milton's use of it in his Para- ,
dise Lost) and in the eighteenth century it was applied to
descriptive and reflective poetry by Thomson and Young.
It is uncertain whether Surrey invented it himself on the
basis of his studies in classical rhymeless poetry, or whether he
was influenced by the example of the Italian poet Trissino
(i 478-1 550), who, in his epic Italia liber ata dai G^^/z' and in his^
drama Sofom'sba, introduced into Italian poetry the rhymeless,
eleven-syllabled verses known as versi sciolti (sc. delta rma,
i. e. freed from rhyme). There are at least no conclusive
grounds for accepting the latter view, as there are some pecu-,
liarities in Surrey's blank verse which are not met with in
Trissino, e. g. the occurrence of incomplete lines, which may
have been introduced after the model of the unfinished lines
found occasionally amongst Vergil's Latin hexameters.
Blank verse being in its origin only heroic verse without
rhyme,^ we may refer for its general rhythmical structure to
what we have said on this metre. The rhythmical licences of
this and the other iambic metres discussed in §§ 82-8 are
common also to blank verse. But in addition to these, blank
1 This definition is also given by Milton in his introductory note on
'The Verse ' prefixed in 1668 to Paradise Lost.
I
CHAP. XII BLANK Verse 221
verse has several other deviations from the normal rhymed
five-foot iambic verse, the emancipation from rhyme having
had the effect of producing greater variability of metrical
structure. It is for this reason it has been thought advisable
to treat heroic verse and blank verse in separate chapters.
At first, it is true, the two metres are very similar in char-
acter, especially in Surrey ; with the further and independent de-
velopment of blank verse, however, they diverge more and more.
§162. In conformity with Surrey's practice in his heroic
verse, which, as we have seen, usually had masculine rhymes,
his blank verse has also as a rule masculine endings, and is
thus distinguished not only from Chaucer's heroic verse, which
frequently had feminine endings, but from the blank verse of
later poets like Shakespeare and some of his contemporaries.
As to the principal kinds of the caesura after the second and
third foot there is no material difference between Surrey's blank
verse and the heroic verse of the same period (cf. §§ 154, 157).
The Epic caesura occurs occasionally after the second
foot, e. g. :
Like to the adder | with venomous h&bes fe'd. p. 131;
but apparently not after the third, although it does not seem to
have been avoided on principle, as we often find lyric caesuras
in this place, and even after the fourth foot :
His tale with us \ did purchase credit; \\sdme
7 rapt by deceit; \ some forced b^ his tears, p. 120.
The run-on line (or enjambement) is already pretty frequently
used by Surrey (35 times in the first 250 lines), and this is
one of the chief distinctions between blank verse and heroic
verse. In most instances the use of run-on fines is deliberately
adopted with a view to artistic effect. The same may be said
of the frequent inversion of rhythm. On the other hand, it
j seldom happens that the flow of the metre is interrupted by
j level stress, missing thesis, or the use of a disyllabic thesis at
j the beginning or in the Interior of the verse.^
As to the peculiarities of the word-stress and the metrical
treatment of syllables in Surrey, the respective sections of the
introductory reniarks should be consulted. Apart then from
the metrical licences, of which it admits in common with heroic
j verse, the most important peculiarities of Surrey's blank verse
i are the masculine endings, which are almost exclusively used,
and the frequent use of run-on lines.
* Cf. Mttrik, ii. §§ 132-5.
22 2
THE LINE BOOK I
Cf. the opening lines of the fourth book of his Aeneid:
But nSw the wSunded Queen, \ with heavy cdre,
Throughout the viins \ she nSunsheth the pldie,
Surprised with blind flame ; \ and to her mind
'Gan eke resSrt \ the prowess 6f the man,
And honour 6/ his race : \ while in her breast
Imprinted stack his words, \ and pictures form.
Ne to her limbs \ care grdnteth quiet rest.
The next morrow, \ with PhSebus lamp the ^arth
Alighted cle'ar ; \ and ike the dawning ddy
The shadows ddrk \ 'gan frSm the pole remSve :
When dll unsound, \ her sister 6f like mind
Thics spake she to: \ ' O ! Sister Anne, what dreams
Be these, \ that me tormented | thi4S affrdy ?
What new guist is this, \ that tS our realm is come?
What one of che'er ? \ how stSut of heart in arms ?
Truly I think \ (ne vain is my belief)
Of GSddish rdce \ some 6jf spring shSuld he be^
§ 163. With regard to the further development of this metn
in the drama of the second half of the sixteenth and the firs
half of the seventeenth centuries we must restrict ourselves t(
a brief summary of its most important peculiarities, for detail;
referring the reader to Metrik, \\, pp. 256-375; for biblio
graphy see ib., pp. 259-60.
The employment of blank verse in the court drama hardl;^
brought about any change in its structure. In Gorboduc, apai
from a few instances in which a line is divided in the dialogu
between two speakers (generally two and three feet) and tb
occasional (for the most part no doubt accidental) use
rhyme, the blank verse is exceedingly similar to that of Surrey
having masculine endings with hardly any exceptions.
This character was maintained by blank verse in all the oth(
court plays of this time, only occasionally rhyming couplet
are used at the end of a scene in Gascoigne's locasta, an<
prose passages now and then occur in Lyly's The Woman in th
Moon.
The next and greatest step in the further development of th^
metre was its introduction into the popular drama by no les
a poet than Marlowe in his drama Tamburlaine the Great {i^^i.
Marlowe's mastery over this metrical form was supreme. Hi
skill is shown in his use of the inversion of accent, particular!
the rhetorical inversion, to give variety to his rhythm, e. g. : ;
1
1 CHAP. XI
CHAP. XII BLANK VERSE 223
Ahf sacred Mahomet, \ thou that hast seen
Millions of Turks \ pMsh by Tdmburldine. Tarn, ii, p. 213.
But still the p6rts were shUt : \ villain, I say. ib., p. 206.
And hags hSwl for my d/ath \ at Charon's shore.
Vol. ii. 255.
In his practice with regard to the caesura, the suppression of
the anacrusis, and the use of disyllabic theses in the interior
of the verse, he differs Httle from his predecessors. One dis-
tinctive feature of his verse is that he usually gives their full
syllabic value to the Teutonic inflexional endings {-ed, -est), as
well as to the Romanic noun- and adjective-suffixes ; as -iage,
'iance, -ion, -eous, -ial, &c. (cf. §§ 102-7).
By a frequent use of these endings as full syllables which is
not always in conformity with the spoken language of his time,
his verse obtains a certain dignity and pathos ; cf. the following
lines :
y^t in my thSughts | shall Christ be h6nourid.
Tamb. ii, p. 148.
They say, \ we are a scattered \ ndtion. Jew of M. i, Sc. i.
These metaphysics \ 6f magicians, Faust, i, Sc. ii.
Allied with this is the fact that Marlowe still has a great
predilection for masculine endings, although feminine endings
are also met with now and then, especially in his later plays.
Run-on lines do not often occur, but many two- and three-foot
lines as well as heroic couplets are found at the end of longer
speeches, scenes, and acts.
The blank verse qf Greene, Peele, Kyd, and Lodge has a
similar structure to that of Marlowe, especially as regards the
prevalence of masculine endings. The verse of Greene and
Peele, however, is rather monotonous, because generally the
caesura occurs after the second foot. On the other hand, the
metre of Kyd and Lodge stands in this respect much nearer
to that of Marlowe and in general shows greater variety.^
§164. The blank verse of Shakespeare,^ which is of
;reat interest in itself, and moreover has been carefully examined
' Cf. Metrik, ii. §§ 136-46.
^ Cf. on this subject the essays and treatises by T. Mommsen, Abbott,
I'umivall, Ingram, Hertzberg, Fleay, A. J. Ellis {On Early English Pro-
"iticia^ion, in), 8cc. (quoted Metrik, ii,p. 259)]; besides G. Konig, Der Vers
n Shakspere's Dramen, Strassburg, Triibner, 1888, 8" {Quellen und
lorschungen,(i\) ; Der Couplet-Reim in Shakspere's Dramen (Dissertation),
224 THE LINE book i
during the last decades from different points of view, requires
to be discussed somewhat more fully.
It is of the first importance to notice that Shakespeare's
rhythms have different characteristic marks in each of the four
periods of his career which are generally accepted.* For the
determination of the dates of his plays the metrical peculiarities
are often of great value in the absence of other evidence, or as
confirming conclusions based on chronological indications of a
different kind ; but theories on the dates of the plays should not
be built solely upon these metrical tests, as has been done, for
instance, by Fleay. Such criticisms, generally speaking, have only
a subordinate value, as, amongst others, F. J. Furnivall has
shown in his treatise The Succession of Shakespeare s works and
the use of metrical tests in settling it (London, Smith, Elder & Co.,
1877. 80).
The differences in the treatment of the verse which are of
greatest importance as distinctive of the several periods of Shake-
speare's work are the following :
§165. In the first place the numerical proportion of the
rhymed and rhymeless lines in a play deserves attention. Blank
verse, it is true, prevails in all Shakespeare's plays ; but in his
undoubtedly earlier plays we find a very large proportion of!
rhymed verse, while in the later plays the proportion becomes
very small.
Some statistical examples, based on careful researches by
English and German scholars, may be quoted to prove this;
for the rest we refer to the special investigations themselves.
In Lovers Labour 's Lost, one of Shakespeare's earliest plays,
we have 1028 rhymed lines and 579 unrhymed. In The
Tempest, one of his last plays, we find 1458 unrhymed and only
two rhymed five-foot lines. In the plays that lie between the
dates of these two dramas the proportion of rhymed and un-
rhymed verse lies between these two numbers. In Romeo and
Juliety e.g. (which belongs to the end of Shakespeare's first
von J. Heiiser, Marburg, 1893, 8 ; H. Krumm, Die Verwendung des Reims
in dem Blankverse des englischen Dramas zur Zeit Shaksperes, Kiel, 1889;
H. Conrad, Metrische Untersuchungen ziir Feststellung der Abfassungs-
zeit von Shakspere's Dramen {Shakespeare -/ahrbuch, xxx. 318-353) ;
William Shakespeare, Prosody and Text, by B. A. P. van Dam and
C. Stoffel, Leyden, 1900, 8°; Chapters on English Printing Prosody, and
Pronunciation (i 550-1 700),' by B. A. P. van Dam and C. Stoffel, Heidelberg,
1902 {Anglistische Forschungen, ix).
* I. 1587-1592; II. 1593-1600; III. 1600-1606 ; IV. 1606-1613;!
according to Dowden.
J
I CHAP. XII BLANK VERSE 22$
j period, though Fleay thought it a very early play) we have
2 III unrhymed and 486 rhymed five-foot lines; in Havilet
{belonging to the third period) there are 2490 unrhymed and
81 rhymed lines.
In many cases, however, the use of rhyme in a play is con-
nected with its whole tone and character, or with that of certain
scenes in it. The frequency of rhymes in Romeo and Juliet
finds its explanation in the lyrical character of this play. For
the same reason A Midsummer Night's Dream, although it is
certainly later than Love's Labour 's Lost and Romeo and Juliet,
shows a larger proportion of rhymed lines (878 blank: ^31
rhymes). This seems sufficient to show that we cannot rely
lexclusively on the statistical proportion of rhymed and un-
irhymed verses in the different plays in order to determine their
phronological order.
§ 166. The numerical proportion of feminine and masculine
ndings is of similar value. In the early plays we find both
nasculine and feminine endings j the masculine, however, pre-
'ail. The number of feminine endings increases in the later
)lays. On this point Hertzberg has made accurate statistical
esearches. According to him the proportion of feminine to
aasculine endings is as follows :
Loves Labour 's Lost 4 per cent., Romeo and Juliet 7 per
ent., Richard LLL 18 per cent., Hamlet 25 per cent., Henry
77/ 45.6 per cent.^ This proportion, however, as has
een shown by later inquiries,^ does not depend solely on the
ate of the composition, but also on the contents and the tone
fthe diction, lines with masculine endings prevailing in pathetic
jissages, and feminine endings in unemotional dialogue, but also
passionate scenes, in disputations, questions, &c.
§107. The numerical proportion of what are called 'weak'
id * light ' endings to the total number of verses in the diff"er-
it plays is similarly of importance. These are a separate
bdivision of the masculine endings and are not to be confused
th the feminine. They are formed by monosyllabic words,
lich are of subordinate importance in the syntactical structure
I a sentence and therefore stand generally in thesis (some-
jies even forming part of the feminine ending of a line),
|t which under the influence of the rhythm are used to carry
' arsis. To the ' weak ' endings belong the monosyllabic con-
l ^ Cf. Furnivall, p. xxviii.
' Cf. Mayor, Chapters on English Metre, pp. 174-7.
SCHIPPER Q
226 THE LINE book i
junctions and prepositions if used in this way : and, as, at, but
{except), by, for, in, if, on, nor, than, that, to, with ; as e. g. in
the three middle lines of the following passage taken from
Henry VIII {in. ii. 97-101) :
What though I knSw her virtuous
And will deserving ? \ Yit I knSw her f6r
A sple'eny LUtheran, \ and not wholsome to
Our cause, \ that shi should IJe \ i* tU bSsom 0/
Our hdrd-ruVd king.
The * light ' endings include a number of other monosyllabic
words, viz. articles, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, that are used by
Shakespeare in a similar way.
These are, according to Ingram, am, are, art, be, been, but
(=only), can, could, did{2), do{2), does{2), dost[2), ere, had{2),
has (2), hast {2), have (2), he, hoiv{^), I, into, is, like, may, might,
shall, shall, she, should, since, so (4), such (4), they, thou, though,
through, till, upon, was, we, were, what(^), when {s), where {^),
which, while, whilst, who (3), whom{'^), why{^, will, would, yet
{•=itamen), you.
According to Ingram, the words marked (2) are to be re-
garded as light endings ' only when used as auxiliaries ' ; those
marked (3), * when not directly interrogative ' ; those marked
(4), * when followed immediately by as^ Such belongs to this
class, ' when followed by a substantive with an indefinite article,
as Such a man!
There are hardly any weak or light endings in the first and
second periods of Shakespeare's work. In the third they occur
now and then and become more frequent in the last period.
So we have e.g. in Antony and Cleopatra (1600) 3*53 per
cent.; in The T^/^/^j/ (161 o) 4*59 per cent. ; in Winters Tale
(161 1) 5-48 per cent.
In the application of this test we must chiefly keep in mind
that these two groups of words are only to be considered as
' weak ' and * light ' endings when they form the last arsis of the
line, as is the case in the lines quoted from Henry VIII \ but
they are to be looked upon as part of a disyllabic or feminine
ending if they form a supernumerary thesis following upon the
last arsis :
Up67i this groUnd ; \ and mSre it woUld content me.
Wint. II. i. 159*
§168. Intimately connected with the quality of the line-
CHAP. XII BLANK VERSE 227
endings is the proportion of unstopt or ' run-on ' and * end-
stopt' lines, or the frequent or rare use the poet makes of
enjambement. Like the feminine, weak, and light endings, this
metrical peculiarity also occurs much more rarely in Shake-
speare's earlier than in his later plays. According to Furni-
vall's statistics, e. g. in Loves Labour 's Lost one run-on line
occurs in i8'i4 lines ; in The Tempest^ on the other hand, we have
one run-on line in 3.02 lines ; in Winter's Tale the proportion
rises to one in 2- 12.
As in the later plays run-on lines are often the result of
the use of weak and light endings, we may perhaps assume
with Hertzberg that at times the poet deliberately intended to
give a greater regularity to the verse, if only by introducing
the more customary masculine endings. From this point of
view, then, both the weak and light endings and the run-on
lines would have much less importance as metrical and chrono^
logical tests than they otherwise might have had.
§169. But there is another peculiarity of Shakespeare's
rhythms noticed by Hertzberg which is of greater value as a
metrical test; viz. the use of the full syllabic forms of the
suffixes -esty and especially of -es or -eth in the second and
third pers. sing., as well as that of -ed of the preterite and of the
past participle. These tests are all the more trustworthy be-
cause they do not so much arise from a conscious choice on
the part of the poet as from the historical development of the
language. This is indicated by the fact that the slurring of
these endings prevails more and more in the later plays.
According to Hertzberg's statistics the proportion of fully
sounded and slurred e is as follows :
I H. VI.
T. Andr.
I H. IV. H. VIII.
3 Pers. Sing.
Pret. and P. P.
16-58%
20.9%
6-4%
21-72%
2-25% 0%
15.41% . 4.2%
It thus appears that in this respect also there is a decided
progress from a more archaic and rigorous to a more modern
usage.
These are the five chief distinctive marks of Shakespeare's
verse in the different periods of his dramatic work. Besides
these, Fleay has pointed out some other characteristics distinc-
tive of the first period, namely, the more sparing use of Alexan-
drines, of shortened verses, and of prose, and the more frequent
use of doggerel verses, stanzas, sonnets, and crossed rhymes.
Q 2
228 THE LINE book i
§170. There are, however, some other rhythmical character-
istics that have not yet been sufficiently noticed by English or
German scholars, probably because they cannot be so easily
represented by means of statistics.
The caesura is of special importance. Although from the first
Shakespeare always allowed himself a great degree of variety
in the caesura, he prefers during his first and second period the
masculine and lyrical caesura after the second foot ; in his third
period, in Macbeth especially, both the masculine and lyrical
caesura occur as frequently after the third foot, and side by
side with these the epic caesura after the second and third foot
pretty often (§ 90) ; during the fourth period a great many double
caesuras occur corresponding to the numerous run-on lines.^
The old-fashioned disyllabic pronunciation of certain Romanic
terminations (as -ion, -ier, -I'age, -ial, &c.), so often met with in
Marlowe, is not uncommon in Shakespeare, chiefly in his early!
plays, but also in those of later date (cf. § 107).
As to inversion of rhythm (cf. § 88), it is a noteworthy feature
that during the first period it occurs chiefly in the first foot
and afterwards often in the third also.
Disyllabic theses may be found in each of the five feet,
sometimes even two at the same time :
Having GSd, her cSnsci'ence, \ and these bars against me.
R. Ill, I. ii. 235.
Succeeding his father BSlingbroke, \ did re'ign.
I H. VI, II. v. 83.
But tMn we'll try \ what these dastard Frenchmen dare.
I H. VI, I. iii. III.
Then is he mSre behSlding \ to you than t. R. Ill, iii. i. 107.
Piit in their hands \ thy brUising irons of wrdth.
R. Ill, v. iii. no. J
My surveyor is false ; I the o'ergreat cdrdindl. \
H. VIII, I. i. 222.
Disyllabic or polysyllabic line-endings are likewise of fre-
quent occurrence :
I dare avSuch it, sir, what, fifty followers ? Ijt2ir,ii.\v. 2^0.
, To your own cSnscience, sir, before Polixenes. Wint. iii. ii. 47'
^ Cf. Metrik, ii, § 154.
CHAP. XII BLANK VERSE 229
Slurring and other modifications of words to make them fit
into the rhythm are very numerous and of great variety in
Shakespeare; we have referred to them before, §§ 108-11; here
only some examples may be repeated, as {a)bove, {be)cause,
{ar)rested, tK other, th! earth, whe{fh)er, ha{v)ing, e{v)il, eas(i)ly,
barb(a)rous, mn{p)cent, acquit for acquitted, deject for dejected,
&c.
On the other hand, many lengthenings also occur, as
wrest{e)ler A. Y. L. 11. ii, 13; pilg{e)rim All's Well, iii. v. 43,
&c. (Cf. §§87, 112.)
In some monosyllabic words, ^s/ear, dear, hear, wear, tear,
year, it is not always necessary to assume with Abbott (§§ 480-
6) a disyllabic pronunciation, e. g. dear, ye'ar. On the con-
trary, in many cases it is more probable that the emphasis laid
on the monosyllable takes the place of the missing thesis, e. g. :
The king would speak with Cornwall : \ the d^ar father.
Lear, 11. i v. 102.
Dear my lord, \ if you in your own proof. Ado, iv. i. 46.
Hor. WMre my ISrd? \ Haml. In my mind's eye, Horatio.
Ham. I. ii. 185.
The two last examples also show the absence of the first
thesis, which often occurs in Shakespeare; frequently, as in
these cases, it is compensated by an extra stress laid on the
jfirst accented syllable (cf. § 84) ; e. g. :
Stay! I the king has thrown \ his warder down.
Rich. II, I. iii. 118.
1 Upon your Grace's part ; \ black and fiarful.
I All 's Well, III. i. 4.
i
I For the same reason a thesis is sometimes wanting in the
Interior of a line :
I Of goodly thousands. \ Bill, for all this. Macb. iv. iii. 44 ;
•r for phonetic reasons (cf. § 86) :
A third thinks, \ without expense at all. i Hen. VI, i. i. 76.
With respect to the word-stress and the metrical value of
vllables there are in Shakespeare many archaic peculiarities.
ome of those we have already dealt with ; for the rest the
ader must consult the works in which they are specially
iscussed.
230 THE LINE book i
§ 171. Of great interest are the other metres that occur in '
combination with blank verse in Shakespeare's plays.
Alexandrines are frequently met with, especially where one
line is divided between two speakers :
Macb. Til come to ySu anSn. \ Murd. We are resSlved, my
I6rd. Macb. in. i. 139.
Macb. H6w does your pdtient, dSctor ? \ Doct. N6t so sick,
viy I6rd. ib. v. iii. 37 ;
but also in many other cases :
H6w dares thy harsh rude tongue \ sound this unpleasing
niws ? R. II, III. iv. 74
And th^se does sh/ appljl \/or wdrnings^ and portents.
Caes. II. ii. 80
Frequently, however, such apparent Alexandrines can easil)
be read as regular five-foot lines, for which they were certain!}
intended by the poet, by means of the ordinary metrica
licences, as slurring, double theses, epic caesuras, or feminine
endings ^ ; e. g. :
/ had thSughi, my ISrd, \ to have learn d his hMth of y6u.
R. II, II. iii. 24
/ prSmise you, \ t am afraid \ to hear you te'll it.
R. Ill, I. iv. 65
O'erMars your Sfficers; \ the rabble call him ISrd,
Haml. IV. V. 102
Among the blank verse lines in Shakespeare's plays there an
sometimes interspersed examples of the native four-beat lon^
line. This occurs, apart from lyrical passages, most fre
quently in the early plays, e. g. in Love's Labour 's Lost and ii
The Comedy of Errors, iii. i. 11-84, from which the following
specimen is taken :
Ant. E. / think thou art an ass. \ \
Dro. E. Marry, s6 it doth app(fav
By the wrongs I sUffer \ and the blSws L bear.
1 should kick, being kicked; | and, biing at that pass,
You would k/epfrom my Mels \ and beware of an dsh
Ant. E. You're sad, Signior Bdlthasar : \ pray G6d our chier
May answer my goodwill \ andy our good welcome Uri
» Cf. Metrik, ii, § r6i.
M
CHAP. XII BLANK VERSE 231
Occasionally these verses exhibit a somewhat more extended
structure, so that they might pass for Alexandrines ; mostly,
however, a line of this type is connected by rhyme with an
unmistakable four-beat line ; cf.
If thou hadst been, Dromw, \ to day in my place,
Thou wouldst have changed thy face for a name, \ or thy
name for an ass. Com. of Err. iii. i. 47.
For this reason the second line also is to be scanned some-
how or other in conformity with the general four-beat rhythm
of the passage ; possibly we should assume an initial thesis of
five syllables. In lyrical passages four-beat lines are often com-
bined also with four-foot iambic verse of the freer type (cf.
§ 132); e. g. in the following passage from Midsummer Night's
DreaMj 11. i. 2-7 ;
Over hill, over dale, \ thorough biish, thorough brier.
Over park, over pale, \ thorough fl6od, thorough fire,
I do wander every wh'ere,
Swifter than the moon^s sphere;
And I serve the fairy que'en,
To dew her Srbs upon the green, &c.
The two first lines belong to the first, the following to the
latter species. Sometimes the rhythm of such rhymed four-foot
verses is purely trochaic, e. g. in the witches' song in Macbeth,
IV, sc. i.
1 There are also unrhymed iambic Hnes of four feet, which
usually have a caesura in the middle ; e. g. :
The match is 7?idde, \ and all is done. Shrew, iv. iv. 46.
Bef6re the kings \ and queens of France. Hen. VI, i. vi. 27.
Not unfrequently, however, such verses only apparently have
"our feet, one missing foot or part of it being supplied by a
Dause (cf. Metrik, ii, § 164) :
He's td' en KjS {Shout). \\And hark I \ they sh6ut for j6y.
Caes. V. iii. 32.
1 Mai. As thdu didst leave it.^\\ Serg. DSubtful it stSod,
j Macb. I. ii. 7.
I Think on lord Hastings. -^W Despair and die I
Rich. Ill, V. iii. 134.
232
THE LINE BOOK I
Isolated two- and three-foot lines occur mostly at the begin-
ning or at the end of a speech, or in pathetic passages of
monologues ; this usually causes a somewhat longer pause,
such as is suitable to the state of feeling of the speaker.
Short exclamations as W^, Fie, Alack, Farewell are often
to be regarded as extra-metrical.
Prose also is often used for common speeches not requiring
poetic diction.^
§ 172. One passage from an early play of Shakespeare, and
another, chosen from one of his last plays, will sufficiently
exhibit the metrical differences between these periods of his
work. (For other specimens cf. Melrik, ii, § i66.)
Capulet. Bui MdntagHe \ is bSund as well as /,
In penalty alike ; \ and 'tis not hard, I think.
For men so did as w/\ to keep the piace,
Paris. Of hSnourdble reckoning \ are you hdth ;
And pity 'tis \you lived at odds so long.
But n6w, my lord, \ what say you to my sHit?
Capulet. But saying o'er \ what t have sdid before:
My child is yet \ a stranger in the world;
She hds not se'en \ the change of fourteen years :
Let two more sUmmers \ wither in their pride,
ilre we may think her ripe \ to he a bride.
Paris. Younger than sM \ are happy mothers made.
Capulet. And too soon mdrrd \ are those so early made.
The earth hath swallow d \ all my hopes but she,
She is the hSpeful lady \ 6f my earth :
But woo her, gentle Paris, \ get her hiart.
My will to her consent \ is but a part ; &c.
Romeo and Juliet, i. ii. i-ip-
Miranda, tf by your art, \ my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters \ in this roar, \ allay them.
The sky, it seems, \ would pour down stinking pitch,
Biit that the sea, \ mSunting to the welkin's cheek.
Dashes the fire 6ut. \ 0, I have silffered
With those that I saw stiff er : \ a brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, \ some noble creature in her,
Dash'd all to pieces. \ 0, the erf did knSck
Against my very heart. \ Poor souls, they p&ish'd.
* Cf. N. Delius, Die Prosa in Shahespeares Dramen (Jahrbuch d.
deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft, v. 227-73).
CHAP. XII BLANK VERSE
'33
Had I been any gSd of power ^ \ I w6uld
Have sunk the sia \ within the earth, \ or &e
It should the good ship \ so have swallow' d \ and
The frdughting sSuls ivithin her. \
Prospero. Be' collected:
No more amazement: \ tell your piteous heart
There's no harm dSne. \
Miranda. 0 woe the day I
Prospero. ^ No harm!
I have done nSthing \ bUt in care of thee,
Of th/e, my dear one, \ thee, my daughter, \ who
Art ignorant of what thou art, \ nought knowing
Of whence I dm, \ nor that I dm more be'tter
Than Prospero, \ master of a full poor cell,
And thy no greater fdther, \
Miranda. More to knSw
Did niver fueddle with my thoughts. \ &c.
Tempest, i. ii. 1-22.
§ 173. The further development of blank verse can be dealt
vith here only very briefly.
For the dramatic blank verse of Shakespeare's contemporaries
:nd immediate successors see Metrik, vol. ii, §§ 167-78, and the
vorks there enumerated. The reader may also be referred to
arious special treatises^ of later date, which supply detailed
vidence in the main confirming the correctness of the author's
)rmer observations.
In this place we mention only the characteristic peculiarities
f the most important poets of that group.
Ben Jonson*s blank verse is not so melodious as that of
hakespeare.
There is often a conflict between the logical and the rhyth-
ical stress, as e. g. :
e iver cdlVd \ the fountayne 6f selfe-ldve. Cynthia's Rev.i. ii.
heses of two and even more syllables likewise occur in many
rses, e. g. :
!^ Cf. the Halle dissertations by Hannemann (on Ford, Oxford, 1889);
mner (on Peele, Braunschweig, 1890); Knaut (on Greene, 1890); Schulz
(ji Middleton, 1892); Elsie{on Chapman, 1892); Kupka (on Th. Dekker,
J)3); Meiners (on Webster, 1893); Clages (on Thomson and Young,
^)2) ; and the criticism of some of them by Boyle, Engl. Studien, xix.
h9-
234 THE LINE book i
Sir P^ter TUb was his father, \ a saltpetre man.
Tale of a Tub, i. 22;
frequently also feminine or even disyllabic unaccented endings
are used :
The difference ^twixi \ the covetous and the prSdigal.
Staple of News, i. iii. 39.
These licences often give to his verse an uneven and rugged
rhythm.
There are only slight differences from Shakespeare's usage
with regard to the caesura, inversion of accent, &c. Run-on
lines, as well as rhyme and the use of prose, are common in his
plays ; some of his comedies are almost entirely written in prose.
§ 174. In Pletelier, on the contrary, rUn-on lines, rhymed
verses, and prose are exceedingly rare.
Feminine and gliding endings, however (sometimes of three,
and even of four supernumerary syllables), are often used ; in
some plays even more often than masculine ones. (For speci-
mens cf. § 91.)
Feminine endings, combined with disyllabic or polysyllabic
first thesis, are common ; now and then we find epic caesuras
or other theses in the interior of the line :
They are too high a m/at that way, \ they run to jelly.
Loyal Subj. i. i. 371.
A c6ach and four hSrses j cannot draw me frdtn it.
ib. III. ii. 361.
This was hard fortune ; \ hut if alive and taken.
Hum. Lieut, i. i. 7.
You may surprise them easily ; \ they w^ar no pistols.
Loyal Subj. i. ii. 314-
It deserves particular notice that in such feminine endings
or epic caesuras, where the superfluous thesis consists of one
monosyllabic word, this very often has something of a subor-
dinate accent :
And Ut s6me Utters \ t6 that hd be feigned too.
Mad Lov. III. 268
That spirits have no s/xes, \ I believe not. ib. 272.
Vou miist look wondrous sdd too. — | / n^ed not look so.
ib. v. iii. 105
d
CHAP. XII BLANK VERSE 235
The following passage from The Maid's Tragedy ^ shows the
character of Fletcher's rhythms :
Mel. FSrce my swoU'n Mart no further; \ t would save thee.
Your gr^at maintdiners are not here, \ they dare not:
' WSuld they were all, and drnCd I \ I w6uld speak ISud ;
Here ^s 6ne should thiinder to them I \ will you tell me i>
Thou hast no hope to ^ scape ; \ H^ that dares most,
And damns away his s6ul \ to d6 thee service,
Will sooner fetch m/at \from a hUngry lion,
Than c6me to rescue the'e ; \ thou'st d/ath abSut thee.
Who has undSne thine hSnour, \ p6isond thy virtue.
And, of a lovely rSse, \ Uft thee a canker ?
Evadne. Z// me consider, \
Mel. Do, whose child thou w^rt.
Whose honour thou hast miirder'd, \ whose grave opened
And so pulVd 6n the gods, \ that in their justice
They miist restore him \ flish again, \ and life,
And raise his dry bones \ t6 revenge his scandal.
§ 175. There are no plays extant written by Beaumont
alone; plays, however, from Fletcher's pen alone do exist,
and we can thus gain a clear insight into the distinctive
features of his rhythm and style, and are so enabled to deter-
mine with some prospect of certainty the share which Beaumont
had in the plays due to their joint-authorship. This has been
attempted with some success by Fleay, and especially by
Boyle.2
The characteristics of Beaumont's style and versification may
I be summed up as follows :
He often uses prose and verse, rhymed and unrhymed verses
! in the same speech ; feminine endings occur rarely, but there
j are many run-on lines ; occasionally we find ' light ' and
I ' weak ' endings ; double theses at the beginning and in the
I interior of the line are met with only very seldom. His verse,
therefore, is widely different from Fletcher's ; cf. the following
I passage from The Maids Tragedy (11. i, pp. 24-5) :
Evadne. / thank thee, DUla ; \ 'wduld, thou cSuld'st instil
j Sdme of thy mirth [ intS Aspdtid!
NSthing but sad thoughts \ in her br/ast do dwill :
Methinks, a ?n^an betwixt you \ would do w^ll.
^ IV. i, p. 66, cf. Engl. Studien, v, p. 76.
'^ Engl, Studien, iv-vii.
236 THE LINE BOOK i
Dula. She is in I6ve : \ Hang me, if t were sS,
But 1 could riin my cSuntry. \ t love, too,
To do those things \ that people in love do.
Asp. // w&e a timeless smile \ should prove my cheek :
It we're a fitter hour \ for me' to Idugh,
When at the altar \ the' religious priest
Were pacifying \ the' offe'nded pSwers
With sacrifice, than now. \ This should have be'en
My night ; and all your hands \ have be'en employ d
In giving m^ \ a spotless offering
To young Amiriior^s be'd, \ as we' are now
For y6u. \ Pardon, Evddne ; ^ would, my worth
Were gr^at as yours, \ 6r that the king, or he'.
Or both thought s6 ! \ Perhaps, he found me wSrthles^
But, till he did so, \ in these e'ars of mine.
These credulous e'ars, \ he pSur^d the sweetest wSrds
That art or love could frame. \ tf he were false.
Pardon it He'aven ! \ and if t did want
Virtue, \you safely may \ for give that too ;
For t have lost \ none that I had from you.
§ 176. Fewer peculiarities appear in the verse of Massinger,
who (according to Fleay and Boyle) wrote many plays in
partnership with Beaumont and Fletcher; for this reason his
verse has been examined by those scholars in connexion with
that of Beaumont and Fletcher. Like Fletcher, Massinger uses
a great many feminine endings ; but he has many run-on lines
as well as ' Hght ' and ' weak ' endings. In contradistinction
to Beaumont's practice, he seldom uses prose and rhyme, but
he has a great many double endings. His verse is very melodious,
similar on the whole to that of Shakespeare's middle period.
The following passage may serve as an example :
Tib. // is the duchess' birthday, | once a ye'ar
SoUmnized with all pSmp \ and ce'remSny ; •
In which the dUke is not his 6wn, \ but he'rs : I
Nay, every day, inde'ed, \ he is her cre'ature,
For never man so d6ated ; — | bUt to till
The te'nth part of his fSndness \ to a stranger.
Would argue me' of fiction. \ Steph. She"s, inde'ed,
A lady 6f most Exquisite form. \ Tib. She knSws it, ■
And how to prize it. \ Steph. / ne'ver Mard her tainted
In dfiy point of honour. \ Tib. 6n my life,
M
"chap, xii blank VERSK 237
She's constant to his bed, \ and well deserves
His largest favours. \ But, when beauty is
Stamp' d on great women, \ great in birth and fortune.
And blSwn by flatterers \ greater than it is,
^Tis se'ldom unaccompanied \ with pride ;
Nor is she that way fr/e : \ prestiming 6n
The dukes affe'ction, \ and her own desert,
She b^ars herself \ with siich a majesty,
Looking with scorn on all \ as things beneath her,
That Sforzds mother, \ that would lose no part
Of what was once her 6wn, \ nor his fair sister,
A lady too \ acquainted with her wSrth,
Will brook it well ; \ and howsoever thdr hate
Is smSther'd for a time, \ His mSre than fiard
It will at length break out. \ Steph. He' in whose pSiver it is,
Turn all to the best. \ Tib. Come, let us to the court ;
We th&e shall s^e all bravery and cost.
That art can boast of. \ Steph. Til bear you cSmpan^.
Massinger, Duke of Milan, i. i. end.
The versification of the other dramatists of this time cannot
be discussed in this place. It must suffice to say that the more
defined and artistic blank verse, introduced by Marlowe and
Shakespeare, was cultivated by Beaumont, Massinger, Chap-
man, Dekker, Ford, &c. ; a less artistic verse, on the other
hand, so irregular as sometimes to approximate to prose, is
found in Ben Jonson and Fletcher, and to a less degree in
Middleton, Marston, and Shirley. (Cf. Metrik, ii. §§.171-8.)
§177. The blank verse of Milton, who was the first since
Surrey to use it for epic poetry, is of greater importance than
that of the minor dramatists, and is itself of particular in-
terest. Milton's verse, it is true, cannot be said to be always
very melodious. On the contrary, it sometimes can be brought
into conformity with the regular scheme of the five-foot verse
only by level stress and by assigning full value to syllables
that in ordinary pronunciation are slurred or elided (see § 83).
Generally, however, Milton's blank verse has a stately rhyth-
nical structure all its own, due to his masterly employment
f the whole range of metrical artifices. In the first place, he
1 equently employs inversion of accent, both at the beginning of
I line and after a caesura; sometimes together with double
hesis in the interior of the line, as e.g. :
Back to the gdtes of Heaven ; \ the sulphurous hail.
Par. Lost, i. 171.
238 THE LINE BOOK I
Quite peculiar, however, to Milton's blank verse is the extensive
use he makes of run-on lines, and in connexion with the great
variety in his treatment of the caesura.
Milton has more than 50 per cent, run-on lines ; sometimes
we have from three to six lines in succession that are not stopt.
As to the caesura, we mostly have masculine and lyric
caesura (more seldom epic caesuras) after the second or third
foot; besides, we have frequent double caesuras (generally
caused by run-on lines), about 1 2 per cent.^
Finally, as the third peculiarity of Milton's epic blank verse,
the almost exclusive use of masculine endings deserves mention.
The number of feminine endings in the various books of
Paradise Lost and of Paradise Regained is only from i to 5 per
cent. ; in Samson Agonisks, on the other hand, we have about
16 per cent., nearly as many as in the plays of Shakespeare's
second period.^
The following example {Paradise Lost, v. 1-25) may illus-
trate Milton's blank verse :
Now Morn, \ her rosy ste'ps \ in the eastern clime
Advancing, | sSwed the earth with Srient pearl, •
When Adam waked, so cUstomed ; \/dr his sUep \
Was aery light, \from piire digestion bre'd, '
And temperate vapours bland, \ which the only sound
Of Waves and fuming rills, \ Aurora^ s fan.
Lightly dispersed, \ and the shrill matin song
Of birds on every bough. \ So much the more
His wonder was \ to find unwdkened Eve,
With tresses discomposed, | and glowing cheek,
As thr6ugh unquiet rest. \ He', on his side
Leaning half raised, \ with looks of cdrdial love
Hung 6ver hir enamoured, \ and behild
Beauty I which, whe'ther waking \ 6r asleep.
Shot forth peculiar graces ; \ then, with vSice
Mild as when Z/phyriis
Her hand soft tSuching,
My fairest, mf espoused, \ my latest found,
Heaven's last best gift, \ my ever-new delight 1
on FlSra briathes,
whispered thUs : — | ^ Awake,
Awake/ I the morning shines,
Calls us ; \ we lose the prime
and the fresh field
to mark how spring
^ On the many combinations of the three kinds of caesura in the differen^
places of the verse, cf. Metrik, ii, pp. 28-31.
2 Cf. Metrik, ii, §§ 179-185.
CHAP. XII BLANK VfiRSE 239
Our tended plants, \ how blows the citron grove,
What drops the myrrh, \ and what the balmy re'ed.
How Nature paints her colours, \ how the b/e
Sits on the bloom \ extracting liquid sweet.'
§178. The dramatic blank verse of the Restoration is
strongly influenced by the heroic verse of the same period, and
is on this account very different from the blank verse of Shake-
speare and his contemporaries.
For this period the blank verse of Dryden is most interesting ;
he uses it with great skill, but also with great restriction of its
former licences.
Even the number of the inversions of accent decreases con-
siderably and is only about 1 2 per cent. We find scarcely any
examples of double thesis, slurring of syllables, missing theses
in the beginning or in the interior of the line, &c.
The caesura, which is the chief means by which variety is
imparted to the metre, is generally masculine or lyric, and as
a rule occurs after the second or third foot; occasionally we
have double caesuras. Epic caesuras are rare, if they occur
at all. Feminine endings are frequent, their proportion being
about 25 to 28 per cent. Light and weak endings are rarely to
be found amongst the masculine endings, nor are run-on lines
(about 20 per cent.) frequently used by Dryden.
Most of the characteristic features of his blank verse will be
found exemplified in the following extract :
Emperor. Marry d! \ Pit not believe it; || Uis imposture ;
Improbable \ they shSiHd presUme fatte'mpt,
Impossible \ they shoud effe'ct their wish.
Benducar. Have patience till I clear it. \
Emperor. / have none:
i Go bid our moving Plains of Sand \ lie still,
i And stir not, \ when the stormy SSuth blows high:
I From top to bottom \ thSu hast toss'd 77iy S6ul^
And nSw His in the madness \ of the Whirl.
I Requir'st a sudden stop? \ unsay thy l^e,
That may in tyme do somewhat. \
Benducar. / have done.
j For, since it pleases you \ it shSu'd be forg'd
I ^Tis fit it sMu^d: \ Far be it from your Slave,
I To raise disturbance \ in your Sacred Breast.
[Emperor. Sebastian is my Slave \ as well as thou;
Nor dUrst offend my L6ve, \ but that Presumption . . .
240 THE LINE book i
Benducar. Most sure he dught not. \
Emperor. Then all means were wanting ;
No Priest, no Ceremonies \ 6f their Sect:
Or, grant we the'se defe'ds \ cou^d be' supply'' d,
H6w cou^d our Prophet do \ an act so base,
So to resume his Gifts, \ and curse my Conquests,
By making me^ unhappy I \ No, the Slave
That told thee so absUrd a story, \ ly'd.
Dryden, Sebastian, iii.,
The blank verse of Lee, Otway, N. Rowe, and Addison * is-
of similar structure.
§ 179. Blank verse was treated even more strictly by Thom-
son in The Seasons. Thomson followed Dryden with regard tc,
his treatment of the caesura and the inversion of accent, bui'
made no use at all of feminine endings. Cf. the following
passage from Summer :
From brightening fields of ^ther \ fair disclosed.
Child of the sun, \ refUlgent Simmer cSmes,
In pride of ySuth, \ and felt through nature's depth:
He comes attended \ by the sultry hours,
And ever-fanning breezes, \ on his way ;
While, from his drdent look, \ the tHrning Spring
Av&ts her blushful face ; \ and iartk, and skies
All smiling, \ to his hot dominion Waves.
Hence let me haste \ into the mid-wood shade.
Where scarce a sUn-beam \ wanders through the gloom;
And 6n the dark-green grass, \ beside the brink
Of haunted stream, \ that bj! the roots of dak
R6lls o'er the rScky channel, \ lie at large.
And sing the glories \ of the circling year.
mi ;
\
The blank verse of Young {Night Thoughts), Cowper {
Task), and other less important poets of the eighteenth centur
is of a similar uniform structure; cf. Metrik, ii, § 193.
§ 180. In the blank verse of the nineteenth centur;
we find both tendencies, the strict and the free treatment of thi
verse-form ; according to their predominant employment in epi
and dramatic poetry respectively, we may call them the epi
and the dramatic form of the verse. They may be chief!
distinguished by the peculiarities to be observed in the blan
^ See Englische Metrik, ii, §§ 188-90.
\
■
CHAP. XII BLANK VERSE 241
verse of Milton and Thomson on the one hand, and of Dryden
on the other ; i. e. by the admission or exclusion of feminine
endings.
The strict form of the epic blank verse, with masculine
endings, is preferred in the narrative or reflective poems of
Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, Shelley, Keats, W. S. Landor,
Longfellow, D. G. Rossetti, Mrs. Browning, Robert Browning,
Matthew Arnold, Tennyson, Swinburne, and Edwin Arnold.^
The free form is represented, mainly, in the dramatic verse
Df the same and other poets, being used by Coleridge (in his
translation of The Ptccolomini)^ Wordsworth, Southey, Lamb,
jByron, Shelley, W. S. Landor, Tennyson, Matthew Arnold,
imd others.*
^ Cf. Metrik, ii, §§ 195-201.
2 Cf. Metrik, ii, §§ 202-6.
CHAPTER XIII
TROCHAIC METRES
§ 181. Trochaic metres, which, generally speaking, are less
common in English poetry than iambics, were not used at all till
the Modern English Period. The old metrical writers (Gascoigne,
James VI, W. Webbe) only know rising metres.
Puttenham (1589) is the first metrician who quotes four-foot
trochaic lines ; similar verses also occur during the same period
in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, A Midsummer Nighfi
Dream, and other plays.
Whether they were introduced directly on foreign models, 01
originated indirectly from the influence of the study of the
ancients by means of a regular omission of the first thesis of the
iambic metres, we do not know. It is likewise uncertain whc
was the first to use strict trochaic verses deliberately in English.
or in what chronological order the various trochaic metres
formed in analogy with the iambic ones entered into English,
poetry.
The longest trochaic lines, to which we first turn our attention,
seem to be of comparatively late date.
The eight-foot troch.aic line, more exactly definable as the
acatalectic trochaic tetrameter (cf § 77), is the longest trochaic
metre we find in English poetry. As a specimen of this metre
the first stanza of a short poem by Thackeray written in thij
form has been quoted already on page 127. As a rule, however
this acatalectic feminine line is mingled with catalectic versef
with masculine endings, as e. g. in the following burlesque b)
Thackeray, Damages Two Hundred Pounds :
S6, God hliss the Special Jury / | pride and j6y of ^nglisf
grSund,^
And the happy land of England, \ where true jiHstice dSe.
abSund /
British Jurymen and hUsbands, \ let us hail this verdic.
prSper : „
Jtf a British wife offends you, \ Britons, ySu've a right k\
whop her.
'd
CHAP. XIII TROCHAIC METRES 243
While the catalectic iambic tetrameter is a line of seven feet
(the last arsis being omitted), the catalectic trochaic tetrameter
loses only the last thesis, but keeps the preceding arsis ; and on
this account it remains a metre of eight feet.
Rhyming couplets of this kind of verse, when broken up
into short lines, give rise to stanzas with the formulas
a'-'dc'^d^, d-^e ~y~ e ~^\ or, if inserted rhymes are used, we have
the form a~ha^h^ (alternating masculine and feminine endings),
oxa~b~a^b'^^ (if there are feminine endings only). In both
these cases the eight-foot rhythm is distinctly preserved to the
ear. But this is no longer the case in another trochaic metre
of eight feet, where the theses of both the fourth and the eighth
foot are wanting, as may be noticed in Swinburne, A Midsummer
Holiday^ p. 132: .
Scarce two Mndred years are gone, \ and the world is past
aivdy
As a noise of brawling wind, \ as a flash of breaking foam^
That beheld the singer born \ whS raised Up the dead of
Rome ;
And a mightier now than he' \ bids him too rise Up to-day ;
jstill less when such lines are broken up by inserted rhyme in
'stanzas of the form abab^. In cases, too, where the eight-foot
trochaic verse is broken up by leonine rhyme, the rhythm has
a decided four-foot cadence on account of the rapid recurrence
of the rhyme.
§ 182. The seven-foot trochaic line is theoretically either
a brachycatalectic tetrameter with a feminine or a hypercatalectic
trimeter with a masculine ending. An example of the first kind
we had on p. 128. A more correct specimen is the following
iline from the same poem :
Hasten, L6rd, who drt my Helper; \ le't thine did be spiedy.
The verses quoted on p. 128 are incorrect in so far as the
caesura occurs at an unusual place, viz. in the middle of the
fourth foot, instead of after it, as in the example just quoted.
They show, however, the origin of a pretty frequently occur-
ring anisorhythmical stanza, which is derived from this metre
by means of the use of inserted rhyme; lines i and 3
having a trochaic, lines 2 and 4, on the other hand, an iambic
R 2
244 THE LINE book
rhythm ; cf. e. g. the following stanza from a poem by Suckling
{Poets, Hi. 741):
Say, but did you Uve so I6ng?
In irHth I n^eds must bldme you:
Passion did your judgement wrSng,
Or want of riason shame you.
When there are masculine rhymes throughout, the stanza i
felt distinctly as consisting of alternate lines of four and thre*
feet (^4 ^3 «4 ^3).
The seven-foot rhythm, however, remains, if the three-foo
half-lines only have masculine endings, and the four-foot half
Imes remain feminine ; as is the case in Swinburne's poem Clea>
the Way {Mids. Hoi., p. 143) :
CUar the wdy, my ISrds and lackey Sy \ y6u have had you;
day.
Here you have your dnswer, l&nglands \ yia against you,
ndy;
L6ng enSugh your hSuse has h^ld you : \ tip, and cUar ih
wdy /
This, of course, is likewise the case, if the verses are broke)
up into stanzas by inserted rhyme {a^ b.^ a^ b^.
More frequently than this correct seven-foot verse, with eithe
a feminine or masculine ending, we find the incorrect type, con
sisting of a catalectic and a brachycatalectic dimeter, accordin;
to the model of the well-known Low Latin verse :
Mihi est propositum \ in taberna mori,
which is often confounded with the former (cf. § 135). Th
following first stanza of a poem by Suckling (Poets, iii. 471) i
written in exact imitation of this metre :
6ut upSn it, t have ISved \ thr/e whole days together ;
And am like to Uve three m6re, \ if it prove fair w/ather.
Although only the long lines rhyme, the stanza is commonl;
printed in short lines (a^ b^ ~ Cj^ b^ ~). Still more frequently w<
find short-lined stanzas of the kind (aj^ b^ ~ a^ b^ ~) as well a
the other sub-species with masculine rhymes only : ^^ b^ a^ by
§ 183. The six-foot trochaic line occurs chiefly ii
Modern English, and appears both in acatalectic (feminine
"^apTxh
I
AP. XIII TROCHAIC METRES 245
land catalectic (masculine) form; e.g. in Swinburne The Last
Oracle {Poems and Ballads, ii. i) :
Day by day thy shadow \ shines in heaven beholden,
Even the sUn, the shining | shadow 6f thy face :
King, the ways of he'aven \ bef6re thy feet grow gSlden ;
I God, the soul of iarth \ is kindled with thy grace.
Strictly the caesura ought to occur after the third foot, as it
does in the first line ; generally, however, it is within the third
foot, and so this metre as well as the stanza formed by insertion
bf rhyme acquires an anisorhythmical character, as e. g. in the
IfoUowing quatrain by Moore :
All that's bright must fade, —
The brightest still the fle'etest ;
All' that ^s sweet was made
Bat to be lost when swietest.
When masculine rhymes are used throughout, the six-foot
hythm is preserved in anisorhythmical stanzas of this kind just
IS well as when lines like the first of those in the example
juoted above. Day by day, &c., are broken up by inserted rhymes
<5 ~ « ~ ^3 ~) ; or again when they have masculine endings in
he second half-lines \a~ba~ b^). If the first half is masculine
lowever, and the second feminine (or if both have masculine
ndings on account of a pause caused by the missing thesis), the
erses have a three-foot character, e. g. in Moore :
While I tSuch the string,
Wreathe my brows with laurel,
For the tale I sing
Has for Snce a mSral.
§184. The five-foot trochaic line also occurs both in
catalectic (feminine) and catalectic (masculine) form, and each
f them is found in stanzas rhyming alternately, as e.g. in
Irs. Hemans's 0 ye voices (vii. 57) :
0 ye vSices round \ my 6wn hearth singing !
As the winds of Mdy \ to memory sweet.
Might I yit return, \ a worn heart bringing,
Would those v&nal tSnes \ the wdnderer griet ?
Such verses, of course, can be used also in stanzas with
fther masculine or feminine endings only.
246 THE LINE
BOOK
As in the five-foot iambic verse, the caesura generally occu]
either after the second or third foot (in which case it i
feminine), or usually within the second or third foot (masculin
caesura).
In a few cases this metre is also used without rhyme ; e. j
in Robert Browning's One Word More (v. 313-21); feminir
endings are used here throughout; run-on lines occasionar
occur, and the caesura shows still greater variety in cons(
quence, A specimen is given in Metrik, ii, § 217.
§ 186. The four-foot trochaic line (discussed above in i
relationship to the eight- and seven-foot verse) is the mo
frequent of all trochaic metres. It likewise occurs either wi'
alternate feminine and masculine rhymes or with rhymes of or
kind only. We find it both in stanzas and in continuous vers
The latter form, with feminine rhymes only, we have in Shak
speare's Tempest, iv. i. 106-9 '
HSnour, 7'khes, marriage-blessing,
L6ng continuance, and increasing,
Hourly j6ys be still upon you I
JUino sings her bUs sings on you, &c.
With masculine endings only it is found in Lovers Labour 's Lo,
IV. iii. loi :
On a day — alack the day! —
Love, whose month is Sver May,
Spied a blossom passing fair
Playing in the wanton air.
As in the five-foot verse, here also the caesura if used at ;
may fall at different places ; mostly its place is after or with
the second foot.
Generally speaking this metre is used in continuous verse
such a way that masculine and feminine couplets are intermix
without regular order ;^ when it is used in stanzas the fori;
previously mentioned in § 181 are usually adopted. ;
This metre is used also, in an unrhymed form and wi
feminine endings throughout, in Longfellow's Song of Hiawail
in which there are noticeably more run-on lines than in rhym
four-foot trochaics.
§186. The three-foot trochaic line, both with femini
' For examples see Metrik, ii, § 218.
CHAP. XIII TROCHAIC MCTRES HI
and with masculine endings, has been discussed in previous
sections (§§ 182-3) so far as it is derived from seven- and six*
foot verse. It may also be derived from the six-foot metre
through the breaking up of the line by means of leonine
i rhyme, as in the following rhyming couplets :
Age, I d6 abhSr thee,
Vduth, I dS adore thee ;
Youth is full of sport,
Age's breath is shSrt,
Passionate Pilgrim, No. 12.
§187. Two-foot trochaic lines generally occur among
longer lines of anisometrical stanzas ; but we also find them now
and then without longer lines in stanzas and poems. Feminine
erses of this kind, which may be regarded as four-foot lines
broken up by leonine rhyme, we have in Dodsley {Poets^
d 112):
Love commencing,
foys dispensing ;
Beauty smiling.
Wit beguiling ;
ind masculine ones in a short poem, possibly by Pope, To Quinbus
Flestrin, the Man-Mountain (p. 481) :
In a maze.
Lost, I gaze,
Can our ^yes
R^ach thy size?
May my lays
Swell with praise, &c.
j §188. One-foot trochaic lines seem only to occur among
|:)nger verses in regular stanzas, as e. g. in a stanza of Addi-
on's opera Rosamund (i. ii. 38) :
Turning,
Burning,
Chdnging,
Ranging.
We even find sometimes a line consisting of a single (of
ourse accented) syllable in Swinburne, as e. g. in his poem
248 THE LINE book;
in trochaic verse, A Dead Friend (^ Century of Roundels
pp. 12-19):
GSne^ O gentle Mart and triie^
Friend of h6pes forgSne^
HSpes and hSpeful days with ySu^
G6ne?
It is common to all these trochaic metres that their structure
especially that of the longer ones, is (except for the varying
caesura) very regular, and that they have only very few rhyth
mical licences, chiefly slight slurring.
CHAPTER XIV
MBIC-ANAPAESTIC AND TROCHAIC-DACTYLIC
METRES
§189. The iambio-auapaestic rhythm has been touched
on before in connexion with the four-stressed verse (cf. § 72)
which was developed from the alHterative long line, and which
at the end of the Middle English and in the beginning of the
Modern English period, under the growing influence of the
even-beat metres, had assumed more or less regular iambic-
anapaestic character.
When during the same period a definitive separation of
jthe rising and falling rhythms took place, the even-measured
Irhythm of this four-stressed modern metre became more con-
spicuous and was made up frequently, although not always,
of a regular series of iambic-anapaestic measures. It was
ihus differentiated still more distinctly from the uneven-beat
Old and Middle English long line, the character of which
nainly rested on the four well-marked beats only. It deserves
lotice further that it was not until the Modern English period
hat the rest of the iambic-anapaestic and trochaic-dactylic
netres (the eight-, seven-, six-, five-, four-, three-, and two-foot
arses) were imitated from the then common corresponding
imbic rhythms.
, In the sixteenth century Puttenham quotes four-foot dac-
{ylics, and in his time the dactylic hexameter had already been
mitated in English. But most of the other trisyllabic rising
nd falling metres, except the Septenary, occur first in English
oetry at the end of the eighteenth and during the course of
le nineteenth century.
It must also be noted that in many cases, especially in
ie eight-, four-, and two-foot verses of this kind (i. e. in those
letres that are connected with the old four-stressed verse), the
sing and falling rhythms are not strictly separated, but fre-
Jently intermingle and even supplement one another.
250 THE LINE book
I. Iambic-anapaestic Metres. J
§190. Eight-foot iambic-anapaestic verses rhyming ii
long lines are very rare, but appear in the following four-lincf'
stanza of four-foot verses by Burns, The Chevalier's Lamen
(p. 343):
The smill birds rejSice in the gr^tn /e2Lves returning.
The miirmuring streamlet winds clear thro the vale ;
The hawthorn trees blow in the dews of the morning,
And wild scatter d cSwslips bedeck the grtQn dile.
In this metre each of the two periods begins with an iamb
measure and then passes into anapaests, the feminine endin
of the first (or third) line and the iambic beginning of th
second (or fourth) forming together an anapaest.
In a poem by Swinburne {Poems, ii. 1 44) four-foot anapaest
and dactylic lines alternate so as to form anapaestic periods :
For a day and a night Love sdtig' to us, pldyed with us,
FSlded us rSund from the dark] and the light, &c.
For other less correct specimens of such combinations >
verse cf. Metrik, ii, § 225.
§191. The seven-foot iambic-anapaestic verse wou
seem to be of rare occurrence except in the most recent perio(
in long lines and masculine rhymes it has been used by Swi:
burne, as e.g. in The Death of Richard Wagner ; "^ we quo
the middle stanza :
As a Vision of Maven from the hSllows of Scean, \ that no
but a gSd might see,
Rose 6ut of the silence of things unknown \ of a presence,
fSrm, a might,
And we heard as a prophet that hi2,rs God's message \ agdii
him, and may 7iot fle'e.
The occurrence of an iambus or a spondee at the end a-
sometimes in the middle of the verse is remarkable, as well ;
the arbitrary treatment of the caesura, which does not, as in tj
iambic Septenary verse, always come after the fourth foot ijj
in the second line), but sometimes in other places ; in the fifj
and third lines, for instance, there is a feminine caesura in li
fifth foot.
^ A Century of Roundels, p. 30.
ILp. XIV IAMBIC-ANAPAESTIC METRES 251
[More often this Septenary metre occurs in short lines (and
erefore with fixed masculine caesura). In this form it appears
as early as the seventeenth century in a poem by the Earl of
Dorset, To Chloris :
Ah ! Chloris, 'tis time to disarm your bright eyes^
And lay by those terrible glances ;
We live in an age that's more civil and wise.
Than to follow the rides of romances.
Poets, vii. 513.
Another specimen of the same rhythm, very artistically
handled (cf. Metrik, i, § 226) is Charles Wolfe's well-known
poem The Burial of Sir fohn Moore. The same metre also
occurs with masculine rhymes. "^""^ c**^ f>t ^0 t Ley^w ,
§ 192. The six-foot ^iambic-anapaestic verse sometimes
occurs in Modern English poets, as Tennyson, The Grandmother,
Maud, &c., Robert Browning, Abt Vogler, Mrs. Browning, Con-
fessions, Swinburne, Hymn to Proserpine, «fec.
We quote the following verses from Tennyson's Maud to
illustrate this metre, which, however, in consequence of the
fluctuating proportion of iambic and anapaestic measures occur-
ring in it is handled very differently by different poets (cf. Metrik,
ii, § 227):
Did he fling hifuself down ? who knows P \ for a vast specu-
lation had fail' d.
And ^ver he mUtterd and madden d, \ and ever wdnn'd with
despair.
And out he wdWd when the wind \ like a brSken worldling
wditd,
j And the flying gold of the rHind woodlands \^dr6ve thro the
I air.
I The caesura is sometimes masculine after the third foot (as in
fines I and 3), sometimes feminine in the fourth (line 2)
pr the fifth (line 4) ; so that its position is quite indeterminate.
The rhymes are mostly masculine, but feminine rhymes are also
net with, as e. g. in Mrs. Browning's Confessions. Swinburne's
/erses are printed 4n long lines, it is true, but they are broken
nto short lines by inserted masculine and feminine rhymes.
§ 193. The five-foot iambic-anapaestic verse likewise
loes not occur till recent times, and is chiefly used by the poets
list mentioned. Rhymed in couplets it occurs in Mrs. Brown-
ig's The Daughters of Pandarus, Version II (vol. iv, p. 200) :
252 THE LINE book i
So the stSrms lore the daughters of Pdndarus \ 6ut into
thrall—
The gSds slew their parents ; \ the drphans were l^t in the
hall
And there came, to fied their young lives ^ Aphrodite divine^
With the incense^ the swe'et-tasting hSney^ the sweet-smelling^
wine. \
The rhythm is here almost entirely anapaestic ; the caesura !
occurs in the most diverse places and may be either masculine
or feminine. The ending of the line is masculine throughout,
as well as in Robert Browning's Saul (iii. 146-96), but with many
run-on lines.
In Swinburne's A Word from the Psalmist {A Mids, Holiday,
p. 176) we have another treatment of this metre. As a rule
the line begins with an anapaest, and continues in pure iambic
rhythm :
But a louder \ than the Church's echo \ thicnders
In the e'ars of men \ who may not choose but hear ;
And the heart in him \ that hears it leaps and wdnders,
With triiimphant hope \ astonished, or with f ear.
In other examples it has an iambic or spondaic rhythm at the
beginning and end, with an anapaestic part in the middle, as in
The Seaboard (ib., p. 3) by the same poet:
The sea is at ebb, \ and the s6und of her Utmost word,
Is soft as the li2,st W2a)es lapse \ in a still smz-ll rid^ch.
From bay into bay, \ on quist of a goal deferred.
From headland ever to headland \ and breach to breach,
Where earth gives ear \ to the message that all days preach.
In A Century of Roundels, p. i, &c., Swinburne uses thi;
metre, which also occurs in Tennyson's Maud, with feminine
and masculine endings alternately.
§ 194. The four-foot iambic-anapaestic verse is essen
tially identical with the four-stressed verse treated of abov(
(§ 72), except that it has assumed a still more regular, even-bea
rhythm in modern times; generally it begins with an iambui
and anapaests follow, as in the stanza quoted from Burn:
(§ 190). Occasionally this metre has an almost entirely ana
paestic structure; as e.g. in Moore, In the Morning of Life:
CHAP. XIV lAMBIC-ANAPAEStiC METRES 353
In the m6rning of life, \ when its cares are unknSwn,
And its pleasures in dll \ their new lUstre begin,
^hen we live in a bright-beaming \ w6rld of our 6wn,
And the light that surrounds us \ is dll from within.
In other examples the rhythm is chiefly iambic, intermingled
with occasional anapaests; as e.g. in Moore's You Remember
Ellen :
Fbu rem/mber ^llen, \ our hdmlefs pride
How meekly she ble'ssed \ her hUmble I6t,
When the strdnger William, \ had mdde her his bride,
And love was the light \ of her Idwly cot.
Verses like these, which in their structure recall the earlier
four-stressed verses, frequently occur (see §§ 72, 132) mixed with
four-foot verses of a somewhat freer build in the narrative poems
of Coleridge, Scott, and Byron.
§ 195. The three-foot iambic-anapaestic verse took its
origin by analogy to the corresponding four-foot line, or
perhaps to the two-foot line derived from it by inserted
rhymes ; it occurs as early as Tusser, Five Hundred Points of
Good Husbandry (cf. Guest, ii, p. 251):
What Idokest thou herein to hdve ?
Fine verses thy fdncy to pUase ?
Of mdny my bitters that crdve ;
Look nSthing but rudeness in th/se.
We have the same metre (two anapaests following the first
iambic measure) in Rowe, Shenstone, Moore, and others, some-
times with alternate masculine and feminine rhymes.
§196. The two-foot iambic-anapaestic verse sprang
from the breaking-up of the corresponding four-foot (or four-
stressed) line by inserted or leonine rhyme, as we find it even
in the Middle English bob-wheel stanzas ; in Modern English
we have it in Tusser for the first time :
/// husbandry brdggeth
To gd with the bist,
Good husbandry bdggeth
Up gSld in his chist,
III hiisbandry ISseth
For Idcke of good fine e.
Good husbandry cldseth
And gaineth the p/nce.
254 THE LINE book i
This metre is used by Gay, Goldsmith, Scott, Moore, Long-
fellow, Robert Browning, and others ; it is also found with an
anapaest following the first iambic measure, and either with
masculine and feminine rhymes alternately, as in the example
quoted above, or (as is most usual) with these rhymes in
indiscriminate succession.
§ 197. The one-foot iambic-anapaestic verse occasion-
ally occurs in the Middle English bob-wheel stanzas. In Modern
English we find it only as an element in anisometrical stanzas, i
as e.g. in the following half-stanza of Shelley's Autumn
(iii. (i^S) '
^yv-.., i-ir-^^i - yr^^ cfiiil r2S.n is fallings the nipt worm is crawling^
The rivers are swelling, the thunder is knilling
For the y/ar ;
The blithe swallows are flown, and the lizards each gone
To his dwelling.
In Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. ii. 448-63
(apart from the four-foot trochaic end-lines of the half-stanzas)
we also have such verses apparently; the iambic-anapaestic
character being clearly shown by a couplet like the following :
When thou wakes t.
Thou tdkest}
II. Trochaic-dactylic Metres.
§198. These are much rarer than the iambic-anapaesti^
metres. Specimens of all of them are quoted, but som<'
are only theoretical examples invented by, and repeated from
English or American metrists.
Theoretically the acatalectic dactylic verse in its rhymed fern
ought always to have trisyllabic or at least feminine caesur:
and ending. As a fact, however, these metres have just a,
frequently or perhaps more frequently masculine caesuras an(,
rhymes.
The eight-foot trochaic-dactylic verse, alternating occa
sionally with iambic-anapaestic lines, occurs in Longfellow's Th\^
Golden Legend, iv : ^
^ Cf. Metrik, ii, § 232.
^ Prince Henry and Elsie, pp. 249-51.
CHAP. XIV TROCHAIC-DACTYtiC METRES 255
i
i Elsie.
Onward and onward the highway runs \\ to the distant city, \
impatiently bearing
Tidings of hilman j6y and disaster, || of love and of hate, \
of doing and daring I
Prince Henry.
This life of 6urs \ is a wild aeSlian harp \ of many a joyous
strain,
Bui Under them all there riins \ a loud perpetual wail, \ as
of sSuls in pain.
Elsie.
Faith alone can interpret life, || and the Mart that aches and
hUeds with the stigma
Of pain, I alone hears the likeness of Christy || and can com-
preMnd its dark enigma.
There are, as appears from this specimen, a great many
licences in these verses ; the caesura, mostly in the fourth foot,
s masculine in lines i, 5, 6, feminine in 2 ; so that the second
lalfofthe line^has an iambic-anapaestic rhythm. Besides this
Host of the lines have secondary caesuras in different places of
he verse ; iambic-anapaestic verses (like 3, 4, 6) are decidedly
n the minority. The rhymes are both feminine and masculine,
)ut there is no regular alternation between them, as might be
upposed from the above short specimen.
§ 189. The form of the seven-foot trochaic-dactylic verse
nay be illustrated by the following theoretical specimen, quoted
rem The Grammar of English Grammars (p. 880), by Goold
prown :
Out of the kingdom of Christ shall be gathered, \ by angels
\ o'er Satan victSrious,
All that offendeth, that lieih, that fdileth \ to honour his name
ever glSrious.
Verses of this form with masculine endings printed in short
nes occur in a song by Burns (p. 217);
Whire are the joys 1 have met in the mdrning, \ that ddnc'd
to the lark's early sang .^
Where is the peace that awaited my wand ring \ at ivening
\ the wild woods amdng ?
§ 200. The six-foot trochaic-dactylic verse may be illus-
256 THE LINE book
trated by a theoretical specimen from Goold Brown (p. 880)
which is strictly dactylic, with inserted rhymes :
Time, thou art ^ver in m6tion, \ on wMels of the days ^ year,
and ages ;
Restless as waves of the 6cean^ \ when Eurus or Borea
rages.
Generally this metre is combined with iambic-anapaestii
verses, as e. g. in Mrs. Browning's Confessions (iii. 60) mentione(
above, § 192, which is, for the greatest part, written in thi
form :
Face to face in my chamber, \ my silent chamber, I saw her
God and she' and I 6nly, \ there t sate down to draw her
S6ul through the clefts of confusion, — | spe'ak, 1 am hSldin^^
thee fast ]
As the angel of resurrection \ shall do it at the last!
§ 201. The five-foot trochaic-dactylic verse occurs nov
and then in Swinburne's A Century of Roundels, as e.g. on p. 5^
Sorely the thought \ in a maris heart hSpes or fears
N6w that for gitfulness \ needs must here have stricken
Anguish, \ and sweetened the se'aled-up springs \ of tiars, &(
The verses are trochaic with two dactyls at the beginning
The caesura is variable ; masculine in line i ; trisyllabic aftf
the second arsis in line 2 ; a double caesura occurs in line ■
viz. a feminine one in the first foot, a masculine one in th
fourth. The rhymes are both masculine and feminine.
§202. The four-foot trochaic-dactylic verse is mer
tioned first by Puttenham (p. 140), and occurs pretty often
seldom unrhymed as in Southey, The Soldier's Wife\^ most)
rhymed, as e.g. in Thackeray, The Willow Tree (p. 261):
L6ng by the willow-trees \ vdinly they sSught her,
Wild rang the mother's screams \ d'er the grey wdter :
Wh&e is my I6vely one? \ whire is my daughter ?
For other specimens with occasional masculine rhymes se
Metrik, ii, § 238; amongst them is one from Swinburne
A Century of Roundels ^ of principally trochaic rhythm.
1 Cf. Metrik, ii, § 238.
CHAP. XIV TROCHAIC-DACTYLIC METRES 257
§ 203. The three-foot trochaic-dactylic verse with femi-
nine rhymes occurs in R. Browning, The Glove (iv. 171) :
Hetgho, yawned one day King Francis^
Distance all value enhances I
Whin a viands biisy, why^ le'isure
Strikes him as wonderful pleasure.
Masculine rhymes occur in a song by Moore :
j Wh&e shall we bury our Shame?
Where, in what disolate place,
Hide the last wreck of a name,
Broken and stain' d by disgrace ?
I We have a strict dactylic rhythm, extending to the end of the
ine, in a short poem, To the Katydid, quoted by Goold Brown.^
§ 204. Two-foot dactylic or trochaic-dactylic verses
derived from the corresponding four-foot verses by means of in-
erted or leonine rhyme) are fairly common ; generally, it is true,
hey have intermittent rhyme {abc b), so that they are in reality
3ur-foot rhyming couplets, merely printed in a two-foot arrange-
ment, as in Tennyson, The Charge of the Light Brigade (p. 260).
'here are, however, also some poems consisting of real short
ines of this metre, i. e. of two-foot lines with alternately tumbling
nd feminine or tumbling and masculine rhymes ; as, e. g., in
urns's Jamie, come try me (p. 258), and in Hood. The Bridge
' Sighs (i>. i):
Burns. Hood.
Jff thou should ask my love, 6ne more unfSrtunate,
CSiild I deny thee ? We'ary of briath,
if thou would win my love, Rashly impSrtunate,
Jdmie, come try ?ne. Gone to her diath !
Masculine rhymes throughout occur in Thackeray, The
tahogany Tree (p. 51), and in an imitation of the old four-
iessed alliterative long line in Longfellow, The Saga of King
ty/(p. 546):
1
! 1 Cf. Metrik, ii, § 239.
\ SCHIPPER S
258
THE LINE
BOOK
Thackeray.
Christmas is h/re:
Winds whistle shrill,
icy and chill,
Little care we':
Little we fear
Weather without,
Sheltered about
The Mahogany Tree.
Longfellow.
/ am the God Thar,
t am the War God,
I am the Thunderer I
Here in my Northland,
My fastness and fSrtress,
Re'ign I for her !
H&e amid icebergs
Rule / the nations.
§ 205. One-foot dactylic verses are not likely to occi
except in anisometrical stanzas. We are unable to quote an
proper example of them, but the following two four-line
half-stanzas from Scott's Pibroch of Donald Dhu (p. 488), i
which some of the two-foot lines admit of being resolved inl
verses of one foot, may serve to illustrate this metre :
CSine away,
CSme away.
Hark to the summons I
Come in your
War-array,
Gintles and commons.
Faster come,
Faster come^
Faster and faster^
Chief, vassal,
Page and groom,
Te'nant and Master.
I
CHAPTER XV
^ON-STROPHIC, ANISOMETRICAL COMBINATIONS
OF RHYMED VERSE
§ 206. NoN-STROPHic anisometrical combinations of rhymed
erse consist of lines of different metres, rhyming in pairs, and
scarring in a definite order of succession. One of these com-
jinations, known as the Poulter's Measure (Alexandrine +
eptenary), already occurs in the Middle English Period (cf.
146) and has remained in use down to the present day. It
as at one time extremely popular, and has in the Modern
nglish Period been imitated in other metres.
The most common variety of this metre is that in which the
;rses have an iambic-anapaestic rhythm; they are usually
inted in short lines, as e. g. in a poem by Charles Kingsley :
When I was a greenhorn and youngs
And wanted to he and to dS^
I pUzzled my brains about choosing my line,
Till I found out the wdy that things g6.
! Before his time Burns had composed a poem in the same
iitre, Here 's a Health to them that 's awa (p. 245) ; and at the
^d of the seventeenth century Philips {Poets, vi. 560) wrote
^Bacchanalian Song in similar verses.
!ln the same metre are the Nonsense Rhymes by Edward Lear,*
£jwell as many other quatrains of a similar kind, the humour of
ych is often somewhat coarse.
An unusual sub-species of this metre, consisting of trochaic
^,ses, occurs only very rarely in Leigh Hunt, e. g. in Wealth
"'^ Womanhood (p. 277) :
Udve you se'en an hiiress in her jewels mSunted^
^ill her we'alth and she seem'd 6ne, ditd she might he cSunted?
^^dve you seen a hSsom with one rose betwixt it?
hid did you mdrk the grateful hMsh, whin the bridegroom
fix'd it?
^ Book of Nonsense, London, Routledge, 1843.
S 2
26o THE LINE booe
§ 207. Other anisometrical combinations consist of a five-fo
line followed by one consisting of four, three, or two feet. Tl-
form we find pretty often ; Ben Jonson, e. g., uses it (five + fo
feet) in his translation of Horace, Odes v. ii {Poets ^ iv. 596):
Happy is he', that from all btisiness clear,
As the old race of mankind we're,
With his own oxen tills his sire's left lands,
And is not in the iisurers bands ;
Nor soldier-like, started with rough alarms,
Nor dre'ads the se'a's enraged harms, &c.
He used the reverse order in Odes iv. i . In Wordsworth's po( 1
The Gipsies (iv. 68) we have the couplets : aa^bb^c c^ddj^, Sa,
but not divided into stanzas.
Five- and three-foot lines a^ a^ b^ b^ c^ c^ d^ do, &c., occur in E 1
Jonson, The Forest, XL Epode (Poets, vi, pp. 555-6); and wi
reverse order {a^ a^ b^ b^ c.^ c^, &c.) in his Epigrams {Po ,
iv. 546).
The combination of five- and two-foot lines seems to occur 1
modern poets only ; e. g. in W. S. Landor, Miscellanies, cIj /
(ii. 649):
Never may storm thy piaceful bosom ve'x,
Thou lovely J&xe !
O'er whSse pure stream that miisic y/sternight
Pour'd fr/sh delight.
And Uft a vision for the ^ye of M6rn
To Idugh to scSrn, &c.
With crossed rhymes (feminine and masculine rhymes, all
nately) this combination occurs in Mrs. Browning, A Dram(\
Exile (i. 12), where the scheme is «~5^2^~5^2^"5^2^~J
and in R. Browning, A Grammarian's Funeral (iv. 270),
formula being a^ b^^a^b ~2 ^5 ^ ~2 '^s ^ ~2 » ^^'
§ 208. Combinations of four- and two-foot lines (mascui
and feminine endings) occur in Ben Jonson, Epigrams, \
{Poets, iv. 545); iambic and anapaestic verses similarly cj
bined in R. Browning, Prospice, vi. 152. i
In the same poet we have three- and two-foot iairjc
anapaestic lines with the formula a<^^b^c ^g b<^ d~^ ^if'^z h
The Englishman in Italy (iv. 186) :
Fortu, Fortu, my beloved one,
Sit he're by my side.
On my kn^es put up bSth little fiet I
/ was sHre, if I tried, &c,
IHAF
HAP. XV NON-STROPHIC COMBINATIONS
261
In Mrs. Browning we find this metre, which might be taken
I Iso as five-foot iambic-anapaestic couplets, broken up by internal
-ih
ih
"^d^c
'3 4'
hyme (according to the formula a
:c.) in A Drama of Exile (i. 3). For other specimens see
Meirik, ii, §§244-8.
A number of other anisometrical combinations of verses will
e mentioned in Book II, in the chapter on the non-strophic
des.
CHAPTER XVI
IMITATIONS OF CLASSICAL FORMS OF VERSE
AND STANZA
§ 209. The English hexameter. Of all imitations
classical metres in English the best known and most popul
is the hexameter. In the history of its development we ha
to distinguish two epochs — that of the first and somewb
grotesque attempts to introduce it into English poetry in t)
second half of the sixteenth century, and that of its reviv
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The hexameter was introduced into English poetry l!
Gabriel Harvey (i 545-1 630), who, in his Encoinium Lati.
attempted to imitate the quantitative classic verse in the accenti'
Enghsh language, paying attention as much as possible to t^
quantity of the English words.
Sir Philip Sidney followed with some poetical portions of I.
Arcadia written in this metre; Stanyhurst (1545-16 18) trai;
lated the first four books of Virgil in quantitative hexameters;
1591 Abraham Fraunce translated Virgil's Alexis, and Willie
Webbe, the metrist, turned into English the Georgics and t
eclogues of the same poet, also in quantitative hexameterj
but all these efforts had little success on account of the i
fitness of English for quantitative treatment. Robert Greene al
employed this metre in some of his minor poems, but follow
the accentual system ; on this account he was more successfjj
but he found no imitators, and during the latter part of I
seventeenth century the metre fell altogether into disuse.
In one isolated case about the middle of the eighteei
century it was revived by an anonymous translator of Virg
first and fourth eclogues. But English hexameters did 1
begin to come into favour again before the close of the ei^
teenth century, when the influence of the study of Gerir
poetry began to make itself felt. Parts of Klopstock's Mess
were translated by William Taylor (i 765-1836) in the me
of the original. He also turned several passages of Oss,
into hexameters (published in June, 1796, in the Mont\
CHAP. XVI IMITATIONS OF CLASSICAL FORMS 263
Magazine), and maintained that the hexameter, modified after
the German fashion by the substitution of the accentual for
the quantitative principle and the use of trochees instead of
spondees, could be used with as good effect in English as in
German. About the same time, Coleridge used the hexameter
in some of his minor poems. Hymn to the Earth, Mahomet, &c.,
and Southey chose this form for his longer poem, A Vision of
Judgement,
But it was not till the middle of the nineteenth century
that the English hexameter came into somewhat more ex-
tensive use. It was at first chiefly employed in translations
from the German. Goethe's Hermann und Dorothea has been
translated five times at least (for the first time by Cochrane,
Oxford, 1850). The metre has also been employed in trans-
lations of classical poetry, especially Homer and Virgil, and in
original poems, none of which, however, have attained general
popularity except those by Longfellow, especially his Evangeline
and The Courtship of Miles Standish.
I §210. The hexameter is a six-foot catalectic verse theo-
retically consisting of five successive dactyls and a trochee.
JBut the greatest rhythmical variety is given to this verse by
the rule which allows a spondee to be used instead of any of
he dactyls ; in the fifth foot, however, this rarely occurs. In the
sixth foot, moreover, the spondee is admissible instead of the
rochee. The structure of the verse may thus be expressed
)y the following formula :
1 The main difficulty in imitating this metre in English is
pused by the large number of monosyllabic words in the
English language, and especially by its lack of words with a
pondaic measurement.
Some recent attempts to imitate the hexameter in English
ccording to the principles of quantity have been altogether
[nsuccessful, as e.g. Cd^yXeys {Transactioris of the Philological
\^ocieiy, 1862-3, Part i, pp. 67-85). Matthew Arnold's method
)o proved impracticable {On Translating Homer ^ London,
'862) ; he attempted and recommended the regulation of the
lythm of the verse by the accent and at the same time sought
ot to neglect the quantity altogether. But the only successful
ethod of adapting the hexameter to English use is that
lopted by William Taylor, who followed the example of the
264 THE LINE book i
Germans in observing only the accentual system and substitut-
ing 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 par-
ticularly in English, where many lines occur consisting nearly
throughout of monosyllables only, as e. g. the following lines
from Longfellow's Evangeline :
White as the snow were his locks^ and his che'eks as brown
as the Sak-leaves,
And the great seal of the Idw was set like a sun on a
mdrgiti.
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 : ^
This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and tk
Mmlocks,
Bearded with ?7i6ss, and in garments green, indistinct in the
twilight,
Stand like DrUids of e'ld, with voices sad a7id prophitic,
Stand like harpers h6ar, with beards that r/st on thei?
bdsoms.
L6ud from its rScky caver 7is, the d^ep-voiced ne'ighbourin^
Scean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of tin
fSrest.
§211. Besides these repeated attempts to naturalize the hexa
meter in English, many other kinds of classical verses anq
stanzas have been imitated in English literature from the middl(
of the sixteenth and afterwards during the eighteenth and nine
teenth centuries. Among these the Elegiac verse of th(
ancients (hexameter alternating with pentameter) was attempte(
by Sidney in his Arcadia. Of more modern experiments ii
accordance with the accentual principle, Coleridge's translatioi
of Schiller's well-known distich may be quoted :
^ Specimens of earlier hexameter verse with detailed bibliographical
information may be found in our Metrik, ii, §§ 249-50 ; and especially ii
C. Elze's thorough treatise on the subject, Der englische Hexameter.
Programm des Gymnasiums zu Danzig, 1867. (Cf. F. E. Schelling
Mod. Lang. Notes, 1890, vii. 423-7.)
J
p
CHAP. XVI IMITATIONS OF CLASSICAL FORMS 265
In the hexameter rises the fountains silvery column,
In the pentameter dye falling in melody back.
Swinburne, among others, has written his Hesperia {Poems
I and Ballads, \, 1868, p. 200) in rhymed verses of this kind :
Out of the golden remote wild west, where the sea without
shSre is,
I Ftill of the sunset, and sad, if at all, with the fidlness
1 ofjSy,
As a wind sets in with the autumn that blows from the
i region of stories.
Blows from a perfume of songs and of memories beUved
from a boy.
The third line is remarkable for its anacrusis, which occa-
sionally occurs also in other English hexameters.
Sidney in his Arcadia, p. 229 (333, xxxvii), also tried the
minor Asclepiad, which has the following scheme :
0 siveet woods, the delight \ 6f solitariness !
6 how mtich I do like \y6tir solitdrinesse I
\Vh^re man's minde hath a fre'ed \ cSnsiderdtion,
Of goodn/sse to receive \ lovely dire'ction, &c.
As an example of Spenser's six-foot iambic line Guest
ii. 270) quotes the verses :
N6w doe J nightly waste, \ wdnting my kindely r/ste,
Now doe I daily starve, \ ivdnting my lively foode,
N6w doe I dlwayes dye, \ wdnting my timely mirth.
In Mx^^Arcadia,"^, 2 28 (232, xxxvi), Sidney used the Phaleuciac
erse of eleven syllables in stanzas of six lines marked by the
ecurrence of a refrain. The rhythm is the same as in the
3endeeasyllabics of modern poets, in the following lines of
5winburne {Poems, i. 233):
In the mSnth of the long decline of rSses
I / behSlding the sUmmer dead before me,
I S^t my f dee to the sea and Jdurneyed silent ^ &c.
j The same metre was inaccurately imitated by Coleridge
p. 252) who put a dactyl in the first foot :
i Hear, my beloved, an old Milesian story I
1 High and embosom'' d in cSngregdted laiirels,
Glimmer d a temple upon a breezy headland, &c.
266 THE LINE
BOOK
Finally, the rhymed Choriambics may be mentioned, usee
also by Swinburne (Poems ^ ii. 141-3) :
Love, what ailed thee to Uave life that was made lovely, w-
thSught, with love i^
What sweet visions of sleep Hired thee away, dSwn from th
light above?
What strange faces of dreams, voices that called, hands tha
were raised to wave,
LUred or le'd thee, alas, out of the sUn, down to the stinks
grave? &c.
§ 212. Among the classical stanzas, which may appro
priately be discussed in this connexion, the Sapphic metr'
deserves the first place, as it has been imitated pretty often
its scheme is as follows :
— <U — I WW — w— —
/ . . /
WW — w
It is certainly not an easy task to write in this form of stanza
as it is rather difficult in English to imitate feet of three or eve.
two long syllables (Molossus and Spondee). Yet it has bee
used by several poets, as by Sidney and his contemporary, th
metrist William Webbe ; in the eighteenth century by Dr. Wattjj
Cowper, and Southey (cf. Metrik, ii, § 253) ; and in later time
by Swinburne, from whose Poems and Ballads a specimen ma
be quoted :
All the night sleep came not upon my eyelids.
Shed not dew, nor shook nor unclosed a feather,
Yet with tips shut close and with eyes of iron
Stood and beheld me.
Of other kinds of classical verses and stanzas the Alcai
metre has occasionally been imitated, e. g. by Tennyson. Tl[
scheme of the Latin original is as follows :
^-£w I -lwu.-w^
^JL^ I j1ww-w^
w ' /
/
— WW — WW— W — w
CHAP. XVI IMITATIONS OF CLASSICAL FORMS 267
Tennyson's poem is an Ode to Milton (p. 281):
0 mighty mouth' d inventor of harmonies,
0 skilled to sing of Time or Eternity,
Godgifted organ-voice of England,
Milton, a name to resound for ages.
There are besides in Sidney's Arcadia, pp. 227 (232, xxxv)
and 533, Anacreontic stanzas of varying length, consisting
of 3-1 1 verses and constructed in this way :
My Miise, what diles this ardour.^
To blase my onely secrets/^
AldSf it is no glory
To sing mine owne decdid state.
§ 213. In connexion with these imitations of classical verses
and stanzas without rhyme some other forms should be men-
tioned which took their rise from an attempt to get rid of
end-rhyme. Orm was the first to make the experiment in his
rhymeless Septenary, but he found no followers in the Middle
English period; Surrey, several centuries later, on the other
hand, did achieve success with his blank verse. In the beginning
of the seventeenth century Thomas Campion, in his Observations
on the Arte of English Poesy (London, 1602), tried to introduce
certain kinds of rhymeless verses and stanzas, mostly trochaic ;
e. g. trochaic verses of three measures (with masculine endings)
and of five measures (with feminine endings); distichs consisting of
one five-foot iambic and one six-foot trochaic verse (both mascu-
line) ; then a free imitation of the Sapphic metre and other kinds
of rhymeless stanzas, quoted and discussed in Metrik, ii, § 254.
jBut these early and isolated attempts need not engage our
jittention in this place, as they had probably no influence on
similar experiments of later poets.
In Milton, e.g., we find a stanza corresponding to the
iormula ab^cd.^ in his imitation of the fifth Ode of Horace,
3ook I, used also by Collins, Ode to Evening {Poets, ix. 526) :
I If aught of oaten stop or pastoral song
May hope, chast Eve, to soSthe thy mSdest e'ar
Like thy own sSlemn springs
I Thy springs and d^ing gales.
Southey uses the same stanza (ii. 145); to him we owe
veral other rhymeless stanzas of the form ab^cd.^ (ii. 212),
'.bc^d^ (ii. 210) (both of anapaestic verses), abc^d.^^ (ii. 148),
I
268 THE LINE BOOK I
a,^ b c^ d^ (ii. 159), «4 h c^ d^ (ii. 182), a h^ c^ d^ (ii. 187), a^ b.^ c^ d^
(ii. 189); all consisting of iambic verses.
The same poet also uses a stanza of five iambic lines of the
form a^b^Cj^de^ (iii. 255), and another of the form a^b^^c^d^e.^
in his ode The Battle of Algiers (iii. 253) :
Otie day of dreadful occupation more,
Ere England's gallant ships
Shall, of their beauty, pomp, and p6wer disrobed.
Like s^a-birds 6n the sUnny main,
Rock idly in the pSrt.
A stanza of similar construction (formula abc^de^ is used
by Mrs. Browning in The Measure (iii. 1 1 4).
Various isometrical and anisometrical stanzas of this kind
occur in Lord Lytton's Lost Tales of Miletus ; one of these
consists of three of Coleridge's Hendecasyllabics, followed by ont
masculine verse of similar form, and has the formula a'^b^c^d^
it is usedj e. g., in Cydippe :
Fairest and hardiest 6f the youths in C/os
Flourish' d Acontius free fro?n love's sweet trSuble,
Pure as when first a child, in her child-chSncs,
Chanting the goddess of the silver b6w.
In another stanza used in The Wife of Miletus an ordinar;
masculine blank verse alternates with a Hendecasyllabic ; a thin
of the form ab cd^ consists of trochaic verses.
Other stanzas of ordinary five- and three-foot verses used b;
him in the Lost Tales have the formulas ab^c^^d^, abc^d^
a^b'-r.c.^d^.
In another stanza {Cori7ina), constructed after the formul
ab^cd^, a dactylic rhythm prevails :
Glducon of Le'sbos, the s6n of EuphSrion,
Biirned for Corinna, the blue-eyed Mile'sian.
Nor mSther nor father had she;
Beauty and wealth had the Srphan.
Stanzas of a similar kind consisting of trochaic verses are use
by Longfellow ; one of the form tZo bc^d^^. ^^ ^^ '^^ ^^^ Danis's
Song Book, and another which corresponds to the formul |
ab^c^d^ in The Golden Mile-Stone,
Iambic-anapaestic verses of two stresses and feminine endin!
are found in Longfellow's poem The Men of Nidaros (p. 579)
the arrangement into stanzas of six lines being marked only t
CHAP. XVI IMITATIONS OF CLASSICAL FORMS 269
the syntactical order, in the same way as in Southey's poem The
Soldier s Wife (ii. 140), in which, too, four-foot dactylic verses
are combined in stanzas of three lines. Two-foot dactylic and
dactylic-trochaic verses of a similar structure to those mentioned
in Book I, § 73, are joined torhymeless stanzas of five lines (the
first four have feminine endings, the last a masculine one) by
Matthew Arnold in his poem Consolation (p. 50). Stanzas of five
iambic verses of three and five measures, corresponding to the
formula a.^b^c.^d^e^, occur in his poem Growing Old (p. 527).
In Charles Lamb's well-known poem, The Old Familiar Faces,
written in stanzas of three lines, consisting of five-foot verses
with feminine endings, the division into stanzas is marked by
a refrain at the end of each stanza. For examples of these
different kinds of verses the reader is referred to the author's
Metrik, ii, §§ 255-8.
In conclusion it may be mentioned that many of the irregular,
so-called Pindaric Odes (cf. Book II, chap, viii) are likewise
written in rhymeless anisometrical stanzas.
BOOK II. THE STRUCTURE OF
STANZAS
PART I
CHAPTER I. DEFINITIONS
STANZA, RHYME, VARIETIES OF RHYME
§ 214. The strophe in ancient poetry, and the stanza in
mediaeval and modern analogues and derivatives of that poetic
form, are combinations of single lines into a unity of which the
lines are the parts. The word strophe'^ in its literal sense
means a turning, and originally denoted the return of the song
to the melody with which it began. The melody, which is
a series of musical sounds arranged in accordance with the
laws of rhythm and modulation, has in poetry its counterpart in
a parallel series of significant sounds or words arranged according
to the laws of rhythm ; and the melodic termination of the musical
series has its analogue in the logical completion of the thought.
But within the stanza itself again there are well-marked resting
places, divisions closely connected with the periods or sentences
of which the stanza is made up. The periods are built up of
rhythmical sequences which are combinations of single feet,
dominated by a rhythmical main accent. In shorter lines the^
end of the rhythmical sequence as a rule coincides with the em
of the verse ; but if the line is of some length it generally con-
tains two or even more rhythmical sequences.^ The essentia "
constituents of the stanza are the lines ; and the structure of the
stanzas connected together to make up a poem is in classical
well as in mediaeval and modern poetry subject to the rule that
* The word stanza is explained by Skeat, Cone, Etytn. Did., as follows !
'Stanza. Ital. stanza, O.Ital. stantia, '*a lodging, chamber, dwelling|
also stance or staffe of verses ; " Florio. So called from the stop or pause aC
the end of it. — Low Lat. stantia, an abode. — Lat. stant-, stem of pres. pt^
of stare.'*
2 Cf. §§ 8, 223-7.
w
I CHAP.
STANZA, RHYME, VARIETIES OF RHYME 271
the lines of each stanza of the poem must resemble those of the
other stanzas in number, length (i.e. the number of feet or
measures), rhythmical structure, and arrangement. (This rule,
however, is not without exceptions in modern poetry.) In the
versification of the ancients it was sufficient for the construction
of a strophic poem that its verses should be combined in a certain
number of groups which resembled each other in these respects.
In modern poetry, also, such an arrangement of the verses may
be sufficient for the construction of stanzas; but this is only
exceptionally the case, and, as a rule, only in imitation of the
classic metrical forms (cf. §§ 212-13). The stanza, as it is
found in the mediaeval and modern poetry of the nations of
western Europe, exhibits an additional structural element of the
s^reatest importance, viz. the connexion of the single lines of
he stanza by end-rhyme ; and with regard to this a rule
inalogous to the previously mentioned law regarding the
quality in number and nature of verses forming a stanza
lolds good, viz. that the arrangement of the rhymes which
ink the verses together to form stanzas, must be the same
n all the stanzas of a poem.
§ 215. Of the three chief kinds of rhyme, in its widest sense
mentioned § 10), i.p. alliteration, assonance, and end-rhyme,
inly the last need be taken into consideration here. There are,
ideed, some poems in Old English in which end-rhyme is used
onsciously and intentionally (see §§ 40-1), but it was never used
1 that period for the construction of stanzas. This took place
rst in Middle English under the influence and after the model
f the Low Latin and the Romanic lyrics.
The influence of the Low Latin lyrical and hymnodic poetry
n the Old English stanzas is easily explicable from the position
! the Latin language as the international tongue of the church
icl of learning during the Middle Ages. The influence of the
:rical forms of Provence and of Northern France on Middle
jnglish poetry was rendered possible by various circumstances.
t» the first place, during the crusades the nations of Western
urope frequently came into close contact with each other.
more important factor, however, was the Norman Conquest,
consequence of which the Norman-French language during
considerable time predominated in the British Isles and acted
a channel of communication of literature with the continent.
le historical event deserves in this connexion special mention —
marriage in the year 1152 of Henry, Duke of Normandy
<ho came to the throne of England in 1154), and Eleonore of
272 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
Poitou, widow of Louis VII of France ; in her train Bernard'
de Ventadorn, the troubadour, came to England, whither many
other poets and minstrels soon followed him, both in the reign
of Henry and of his successor Richard Coeur de Lion, who
himself composed songs in the Proven9al arid in the French
language. The effect of the spread of songs like these in
Proven9al and French in England was to give a stimulus and
add new forms to the native lyrical poetry which was gradually
reviving. At first indeed the somewhat complicated strophic
forms of the Proven9al and Northern French lyrics did not
greatly appeal to English tastes, and were little adapted to the
less flexible character of the English tongue. Hence many of
the more elaborate rhyme-systems of Proven9al and Northern
French lyrical versification were not imitated at all in English ;
others were reproduced only in a modified and often very
original form; and only the simpler forms, which occurred
mostly in Low Latin poetry as well, were imitated somewhat,
early and with little or no modification.
§ 216. The end-rhyme, which is so important a factor in the
formation of stanzas, has many varieties, which may be classified
in three ways :
A. According to the number of the rhyming syllables.
B. According to the quality of these syllables.
C. According to the position of the rhyme in relation to
the line and the stanza.
Intimately connected with this last point is the use of rhyme
as an element in the structure of the stanza.
A. With regard to the number of the syllables, rhymes are
divided into three classes, viz. :
1. The monosyllabic or single rhyme (also called mascu-
line), e. g. hand : land, face : grace.
2. The disyllabic or double rhyme (also called feminine),
ag ever : never, brother : mother, treasure : measure, suppression ;■
transgression; or owe me ; know me Shakesp. Ven. and Ad.
523-5, bereft me : left me ib. 439-41. The terms masculine and
feminine originated with the Proven9al poets and metrists, who
were the first among the people of Western Europe to theorize
on the structure of the verses which they employed, and intro-
duced these terms in reference to the forms of the Proven9al
adjective, which were monosyllabic or accented on the last
syllable in the masculine, and disyllabic or accented on the last;
syllable but one in the feminine : bos-bona, amatz-amada.
3. The trisyllabic, triple, or tumbling rhyme, called
CHAP. I STANZA, RHYME, VARIETIES OF RHYME 273
gleitender (i.e. gliding) Reim in German. Of this variety of
rhyme, which is less common than the two others, examples are
gymnastical : ecclesiastical Byron, Beppo, 3 ; quality : liberality
ib. 30 ; Idtigh of them : half of them ib. 98. Rhymes like this
last, which are made up of more words than two, might, like
I those given above under the disyllables, such as owe me : know
I me, also form a separate sub-species as compound rhymes, as
I they resemble the broken rhymes (of. § 217, B. 3) and have, like
I these, mostly a burlesque effect.
§ 217. B. According to the second principle of classification,
by the quality of the rhyming syllables, the species of rhyme
are as follows :
1. The rich rhyme (in French rime riche), i.e. two words
completely alike in sound but unlike in meaning rhyming with
each other. Of this three special cases are possible ;
a. Two simple words rhyming with each other, as londe
{^Yi{.) : londe (noun) K. Horn, 753-4; armes {zxvns) : armes
(weapons) Chaucer, Compleynt of Mars, 11. 76-7; steepe
(adj.) .• steepe (inf.) Sggnser, F. Q. i. i. 39 ; sent (perf.) .• sent
{=:scent, noun) ib. 43; can {noun) : can (verb) ib. i. iv. 22,
&c. In the earlier Modern English poetry we find many
I rhymes of this class between words that are alike or similar in
I sound, but of different spelling, as night: knight, foul: fowl,
\gilt : guilt, hart : heart, &c. (cf. Ellis, * Shakespere's Puns ' in
Early Engl. Pron. iii. 920, iv. 1018).
b. A simple and a compound word rhyming together, as
\leue : bileue K. Horn, 741-2; like : sellike Sir Tristr. 1222-4;
'ymake : make Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. 27, 11. 16-18;
apart :part Spenser, F. Q. i. ii. 21, hold : behold ib. i. iii. 40 ; here
also identity of sound and difference of spelling is possible,
as renew : knew ib. i. iii. 25.
c. Two compound words rhjmiing together, as recorde : accorde
Chaucer, C. T. Prol. 828-9 ; affirmed: confirmed Wyatt, p. 98 ;
LXpeld : compeld Spenser, F. Q. i. i. 5. .
2. The identical rhyme. This is, properly speaking, no
hyme at all, but only a repetition of the same word intended as
I substitute for rhyme; and therefore was and is avoided by
:areful and skilful poets; sette : sette K. Horn, 757-8; other:
ither Wyatt, p. 45 ; down : down ib. p. 194 ; sight: sight Spenser,
F. Q. I. i. 45, (fee.
3. The broken rhyme has two sub-species :
a. In the first of these one part of the rhyme is composed of
wo or three words (unlike the rhymes spoken of under A. 3,
li
2 74 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
consisting of two words each), e. g. time : hi me K. Horn, 533-4 :
scolis :fole is, Chaucer, Troil. i. 634-5 ; tyrant : high rent
Moore, Fudge Fam., Letter iv; wide as : Midas ib. ; well
a day : melody ib. x ; Verona : known a Byron, Beppo, 1 7 ; sad
knee : Ariadne ib. 28; endure a : seccatura ib. 31 ; estrangement :
change meant ib. 53 ; quote is : notice ib. 48 ; exhibit 'em : libitum
ib. 70 ; Julia : truly a : newly a Byron, Don Juan, ii. 208.
b. In the second sub-species the rhyme to a common word is
formed by the first part only of a longer word, the remainder
standing at the beginning of the following line. This sort of
rhyme seems to be unknown in Middle English literature;
modern poets, however, use it not unfrequently in burlesque, as
well as the previously mentioned sub-species, e. g. kind : blind-
(ness) Pope, Satire iii. 6 7 ; forget\fut) : debt ib. iv. 1 3 ; beg : egge-
(shells) ib. iv. 104; nice hence\ forward) : licence Byron, Don Juan,
i. 120; Thackeray, Ballads, p. 133 :
Winter and summer, night and morn,
I languish at this table dark ;
My office window has a corn-
er looks into St. James's Park.
4. The double rhyme. This is always trisyllabic like tha
mentioned under A. 3 ; but there is a difference between them, ir
that the two closing syllables of the gliding rhyme stand outsidf^
the regular rhythm of the verse ; while the first and the thirc
syllable of the double rhyme bear the second last and last arsii
of the verse. .
For dduteth no thing e, myn int/nciSn ■
Nis not to y6w of repreh^ncion. I
Chaucer, Troil. i. 683-4!
This sort of rhyme does on the whole not very often occu,
in Modern English poetry, and even in Middle Englisl,
literature we ought to regard it as accidental. The same ij
the case with another (more frequent) species, namely,
5. The extended rhyme, in which an unaccented syllabhj
preceding the rhyme proper, or an unaccented word in thesis
forms part of the rhyme, e. g. hiforne : iborne Chaucer, Troil. ii
296-8 ; injoye: in Troye ib. i. 1 18-19 > ^^ quyken : to stiken ib*
295-7 J the past: me last Byron, Ch. Harold, ii. 96 ; the limb:th
brim ib. iii. 8, &c.
6. The unaccented rhyme, an imperfect kind of rhymcj
because only the unaccented syllables of disyllabic or poly
»
CHAP. I STANZA, RHYME, VARIETIES OF RHYME 275
syllabic words, mostly of Germanic origin and accentuation, rhyme
together, and not their accented syllables as the ordinary rule
would demand, e.g. Idweles, ISreless, nameless) ivre'c/ul, wrongful,
sinful Song of the Magna Charta, 11. 30-2. 66-8; many rhymes of
this kind occur in the alliterative-rhyming long line combined
into stanzas.* In Modern English we find this kind of rhyme
pretty often in Wyatt ^ ; e. g. :
Consider well thy ground and thy beginning ;
And gives the moon her horns, and her eclipsing, p. 56.
With horrible fear, as one that greatly dreadeth
A wrongful death, and justice alway seeketh. p. 149.
Such rhymes in dactylic feet, as in the following verses by
Moore {Beauty and Song, 11. 1-4),
D6wn in yon summer vale,
Whire the rill flows,
Thiis said the Nightingale
T6 his loved Rose,
are not harsh, because in this case the unaccented syllable
which bears the rhyme is separated from the accented syllable
by a thesis. A variety of the unaccented rhyme is called the
accented-unaccented ; examples have been quoted before in
the chapter treating of the alliterative-rhyming long line (§§ 61,
62). In the same place some other verses of the above-quoted
song of Moore are given, showing the admissibility of rhymes
between gliding or trisyllabic and masculine rhyming-syllables
or -words {melody : thee, R6se be : the'e). In these cases the
subordinate accent of the third syllable in melody or the word be
in the equally long Rose be is strong enough to make a rhyme
with thee possible, although this last word has a strong syntac-
tical and rhythmical accent. As a rule such accented-unaccented
rhymes, in which masculine endings rhyme with feminine
endings, are very harsh, as is often the case in Wyatt's poems
(cf. Alscher, pp. 123-6), e.g.
So chanced me' that /very pdssidn
Whereby if thdt I laugh at any se'ason. p. 7.
^ Cf. §§ 60-2 and the author's * Metrische Randglossen, II.', Engl, Stud..
>^,pp. 196-200.
* Cf. Sir Thomas Wyatt, von R. Alscher, Wien, 1886 pp. 119-23.
T 2
2 76 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
§ 218. C. According to the third principle of classification,
by the position of the rhyming syllable, the varieties of rhyme
are as follows :
1. The sectional rhyme, so called because it consists of
two rhyming words within one section or hemistich.' This
kind of rhyme occm-s now and then even in Old English poetry
but it is usually unintentional (cf. §§ 40-2), e. g. sdela and nmla
pdet is sod meiod Beow. 1 6 1 1 ; in Middle English literature it it
frequent, as in Barbour's Bruce: and till Ingland agayne u
gayne i. 144, iii. 185; That efiyr him dar na man ga iii. 166
In Modern English poetry this kind of rhyme is more frequent
and often intentionally used for artistic effect :
Then up with your cup, \ till you stagger in speech.
And match me this catch, \ though you swagger and screech
Ah, drink till you wink, \ my merry men, each.
Walter Scott, Song from Kenilworth
2. Very closely related to this is the inverse rhyme (a
Guest called it), which occurs when the last accented syllable 0
the first hemistich of a verse rhymes with the first accente*
syllable of the second hemistich :
These steps both reach \ and teach thee shall
To come by thrift | to shift withall. Tusser.
This kind of rhyme is generally met with in the popul
national long line of four stresses. Guest gives a much wid^
range to it. But when it occurs in other kinds of verse, as "
the iambic verse of four or five feet, it is not to be looked upc
as an intentional rhyme, but only as a consonance caused
rhetorical repetition (the examples are quoted by Guest) :
And art thou gone and gone for ever ? Burns.
I followed fast, but faster did he fly. Shak. Mids.iii. ii.4ij
3. The Leonine "^ rhyme or middle rhyme, which r
throughout the Old English Rhyming Poem, and is occ:
sionally used in other Old English poems. This rhyme connec
the two hemistichs of an alliterative line with each other by en
rhyme and, at the same time, causes the gradual breaking up
^ By the German metrists it is called Binnenreim, or Innenreinu
^ So called from a poet Leo of the Middle Ages (c. 11 50) who wrote
hexameters rhyming in the middle and at the end. Similar verses, howev
had been used occasionally in classic Latin poetry, as e. g. Quot caelt
Stellas, tot habct tua Roma puellas, Ovid, Ars Amat. i. 59.
* CHAP. I STANZA, RHYME, VARIETIES OF RHYME 277
it into two short lines ; we find it in certain parts of the Aitglo-
Saxon Chronicle, in Layamon, in the Proverbs 0/ Alfred, and
other poems, e. g. : his sedes to sowen, his medes to mowen
i Prov. 93-4; pus we uerden f)ere, and for pi heop nu here Lay.
I 1879-80. See §§ 49, 57-58, 78 for examples from Middle and
j Modern English literature of this kind of rhyme (called by the
I French rimes plates) 2i?, well as of the following kind, when
used in even-beat metres.
4. The interlaced rhyme {rime entrelacee), by means of
which two long-lined rhyming couplets are connected a second
time in corresponding places (before the caesura) by another
rhyme, so that they seem to be broken up into four short verses
of alternate or cross-rhyme {aba b), e. g. in the latter part of
Robert Mannyng's Rhyming Chronicle (from p. 69 of Hearne's
edition), or in the second version of Saynt Katerine (cf. the
quotations, §§ 77, 78, 150). When, however, long verses without
interlaced rhyme are broken up only by the arrangement of the
writer or printer into short lines, we have
5. The intermittent rhyme, whose formula is abcb (cf.
3. 196). Both sorts of rhyme may also be used, of course, in
)ther kinds of verse, shorter or longer; as a rule, however, the
ntermittent rhyme is employed for shorter, the alternate or
:ross-rhyme for longer verses, as, for example, those of five
ieet.
6. The enclosing rhyme, corresponding to the formula
hha, e. g. in spray, still, fill. May, as in the quartets of the
onnet formed after the Italian model (cf. below. Book II,
hap. ix). This sort of rhyme does not often occur in Middle
Inglish poetry ; but we find it later, e. g. in the tail or veer of
variety of stanza used by Dunbar and Kennedy in their
^lyting Poem.
\ 7. The tail-rhyme (in French called rime couee, in German
\chweifreim\ the formula of which vs> aabccb, (For a specimen
! This arrangement of rhymes originated from two long lines
the same structure, formed into a couplet by end-rhyme, each
the lines being divided into three sections (whence the name
rsus tripertiti caudati). This couplet, the formula of which was
{i- a- b ^^ c - c - b,\s,in the form in which it actually appears,
oken up into a stanza of six short lines, viz. two longer
uplets a a, cc, and a pair of shorter lines rhyming together
i bb, the order of rhymes being aabccb. (For remarks on
t,* origin of this stanza see § 240.)
278 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
§ 219. As to the quality of the rhyme, purity or exactnes
of course, is and always has been a chief requirement. It i
however, well known that the need for this exactness is frequent
disregarded not only in Old and Middle English poetry (cf. e. j
the Old English assonances meant for rhymes, § 40, or the ofte
very defective rhymes of Layamon, § 45) but even in Model
English poetry. Many instructive examples of defective rhym(
from Spenser, Sidney, Shakespeare, and Dryden are given b
A. J. Ellis, On Early Engl. Pronunciation, iii. 858-74, 953-61
iv. 1033-9.
From these collections of instances we see how a class (
imperfect rhymes came into existence in consequence of tl
change in the pronunciation of certain vowels, from which;
resulted that many pairs of words that originally rhyme
together, more or less perfectly, ceased to be rhymes at all I
the ear, although, as the spelling remained unaltered, the
retained in their written form a delusive appearance of corn
spondence. These 'eye-rhymes', as they are called, play a
important part in English poetry, being frequently admitted bP
later poets, who continue to rhyme together words such a?
eye '.majesty Pope, Temple of Fame, 202-3; crowns : owns il'
242-3; own' d: found id. Wife of Bath, 32-3, notwithstandin'
the fact that the vowel of the two words, which at first forme-
perfect rhymes, had long before been diphthongized or otherwij
changed while the other word still kept its original vowel-sounc
CHAPTER II
THE RHYME AS A STRUCTURAL ELEMENT
OF THE STANZA
§ 220. On the model of the Proven9al and Northern French
j lyrics, where the rhyme was indispensable in the construction of
Istanzas, rhyme found a similar employment in Middle English
Ipoetry. Certain simple kinds of stanzas, however, were in their
jformation just as much influenced by the Low Latin hymn
jforms, in which at that time rhyme had long been in vogue.
But the rules prescribed for the formation of stanzas by the
Proven9al poets in theory and practice were observed neither
by the Northern French, nor by the Middle English poets with
jqual rigour, although later on, it is true, in the court-poetry
greater strictness prevailed than in popular lyrical poetry.
One of the chief general laws relating to the use of rhyme in
he formation of stanzas has already been mentioned in § 214
at the end). A few other points of special importance require
0 be noticed here.
Both in Middle English and in Romanic poetry we find stanzas
vith a single rhyme only and stanzas with varied rhymes. But
he use of the same rhymes throughout all the stanzas of one
jioem (in German called Durchreimung)^ so frequent in
Romanic literature, occurs in Middle English poetry only in
ome later poems imitated directly from Romanic models. As
rule, both where the rhyme in the same stanza is single and
fhere it is varied, all the stanzas have different rhymes, and
inly the rhyme-system, the arrangement of rhymes, is the same
proughout the poem. It is, however, very rarely and only in
lodern English literary poetry that the several stanzas are
rictly uniform with regard to the use of masculine and feminine
lyme; as a rule the two kinds are employed. Sometimes, it is
^ue, in the anisometrical Mays', as they are called, as well as in
|ie later popular ballads (e. g. in Chevy Chace and The Battle of
Hterhourne\ we find single stanzas deviating from the rest in
lyme-arrangement as well as in number of lines, the stanzas
)nsisting of Septenary lines with cross-rhymes and inter-
28o THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book)
mittent rhymes {ah ah, and ahcb) being combined now ai
then with tail-rhyme. This is found to a still greater extc
in lyrical poetry of the seventeenth century (e. g. CowU
G. Herbert, &c.) as well as in odic stanzas of the same
a somewhat later period.
§ 221. It does not often happen in Middle English poet
that a line is not connected by rhyme with a corresponding lii
in the same stanza to which it belongs, but only with one
the next stanza. In Modern English poetry this peculiarit
corresponding to what are called Kdrner in German metre
may not unfrequently be observed in certain poetic forms
Italian origin, as the terza rima or the sestain. Of equally ra
occurrence in English strophic poetry are lines without ai
rhyme (analogous to the Waisen — literally ' orphans ' — of Midd
High German poetry), which were strictly prohibited in Proven9
poetry. In Middle English literature they hardly ever occur, b
are somewhat more frequent in Modern English poetry, whe
they generally come at the end of the stanza. On the oth
hand the mode of connecting successive stanzas, technical
called Concatenatio (rhyme-linking), so frequently used by tl
Provencal and Northern French poets, is very common
Middle English verse. Three different varieties of this devi(
are to be distinguished, viz. :
1. The repetition of the rhyme- word (or of a word standir
close by it) of the last line of a stanza, at the beginning of tl
first line of the following stanza.
2. The repetition of the whole last line of a stanza, includii
the rhyme-word, as the initial line of the following stanza (n^
very common) ; and
3. The repetition of the last rhyme of a stanza as the fir
rhyme of the following one; so that the last rhyme-word of or
stanza and the first rhyme-word of the next not only rhytf
with the corresponding rhyme-words of their own stanzas, bj
also with one another. Such * concatenations ' frequently conne
the first and the last part (i. e. the frons and the caudd)
a stanza with each other. They even connect the single liri'
of the same stanza and sometimes of a whole poem, with ea(i
other, as e. g. in the ' Rhyme-beginning Fragment ' in Furnivali
Early English Poe??is and Lives of Saints, p. 2 1 (cf. Metrik,
p. 317). . ,
§ 222. Another and more usual means of connectmg tl
single stanzas of a poem with each other is the refrain (call<
by the Proven9al poets refrim, i. e. ' echo ' ; by German metris
i
.II RHYME AS A STRUCTURAL ELEMENT 281
sometimes called Kehrreim, i. e. recurrent rhyme). The refrain
is of popular origin, arising from the part taken by the people
in popular songs or ecclesiastical hymns by repeating certain
exclamations, words, or sentences at the end of single lines or
stanzas. The refrain generally occurs at the end of a stanza,
irarely in the interior of a stanza or in both places, as in a late
ballad quoted by Ritson, Ancient Songs and Ballads, ii. 75.
In Old English poetry the refrain is used in one poem only,
/iz. in Deor's Complaint, as the repetition of a whole line. In
Middle and Modern English poetry the refrain is much more
ixtensively employed. Its simplest form, consisting of the
epetition of certain exclamations or single words after each
tanza, occurs pretty often in Middle English. Frequent use is
ilso made of the other form, in which one line is partially or
ntirely repeated. Sometimes, indeed, two or even more lines
re repeated, or a whole stanza is added as refrain to each of
tie main stanzas, and is then placed at the beginning of the
[oem (cf. Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. 51).
In English the refrain is also called burthen, and consists
iccording to Guest) of the entire or at least partial repetition
f the same words. Distinct from the burthen or refrain is the
"iheel, which is only the repetition of the same rhythm as an
idition to a stanza. In Middle English poetry especially a
vourite form was that in which a stanza consisting mostly of
literative-rhyming verses or half- verses (cf. §§ 60, 61, d^^ is
llowed by an addition (the cauda), differing very much from
e rhythmical structure of the main part (the frons) of the
inza, and connected with it by means of a very short verse
, nsisting of only one arsis and the syllable or syllables forming
ie thesis. This short verse is called by Guest bob-verse, and
le cauda, connected with the chief stanza by means of such
verse, he calls bob-wheel, so that the whole stanza, which is of
very remarkable form, might be called the bob-wheel stanza.
lie similar form of stanza, also very common, where the chief
|it of the stanza is connected with the ' cauda ', not by a * bob-
"se' but by an ordinary long line, might be called the wheel-
-nza. These remarks now bring us to other considerations of
i portance with regard to the formation of the stanza, which
vl be treated of in the next section.
^ 223. The structure and arrangement of the different
lirts of the stanza in Middle English poetry were also
"jdelled on Low Latin and especially on Romanic forms,
irhe theory of the structure of stanzas in Proven9al and Italian
282 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
is given along with much interesting matter in Dante's treatise
De vulgari eloqueniia^ where the original Romanic technical
terms are found. Several terms used in this book have also
been taken from German metrics.
In the history of Middle English poetry two groups of stanzas
must be distinguished : divisible and indivisible stanzas (the one-
rhymed stanzas being included in the latter class). The divisible
stanzas consist either of two equal parts {bipartite equal-member ed
stanzas) or of two unequal parts (bipartite unequal-member ed
stanzas) or thirdly of two equal parts and an unequal one
{tripartite stanzas). Now and then (especially in Modern
English poetry) they consist of three equal parts. These three
types are common to Middle and Modern English poetry.
A fourth class is met with in Modern English poetry only,
viz. stanzas generally consisting of three, sometimes oi four or
more unequal parts.
All the kinds of verse that have been previously described in
this work can be used in these different classes of stanzas,
both separately and conjointly. In each group, accordingly,
isometrical and anisometi'ical stanzas must be distinguished. Very
rarely, and only in Modern English, we find that even the rhythm,
of the separate verses of a stanza is not uniform ; iambic and'
trochaic, anapaestic and dactylic, or iambic and anapaestic verses v
interchanging with each other, so that a further distinction'
between isorhythmical and anisorhythmical stanzas is possible. '
§ 224. The bipartite equal-membered stanzas, in their
simplest form, consist of two equal periods, each composed of
a prior and a succeeding member. They are to be regarded as
the primary forms of all strophic poetry.
The two periods may be composed either of two rhyming,
couplets or of four verses rhyming alternately with each other,j
Specimens of both classes have been quoted above (§ 78). Sucl^
equal-membered stanzas can be extended, of course, in each partj
uniformly without changing the isometrical character of the
stanza.
§ 225. The bipartite unequal-membered stanzas belong
to a more advanced stage in the formation of the stanza. They
are, however, found already in Proven9al poetry, and consist oi
the 'forehead' {/rons) and the 'tail' or veer (cauda). The
frons and the cauda differ sometimes only in the number ol
* See The Oxford Dante, pp. 379-400, or Opere minori di Dant^
Alighieri,tA. Pietro Fraticelli, vol. ii, p. 146, Florence, 1858, and Bohmer'!!
essay, Ober Dante s Schrift de vulgari eloqtmitia, Halle, 1868.
J
CHAP. II RHYME AS A STRUCTURAL ELEMENT 283
verses, and consequently, in the order ' of the rhymes, and
sometimes also in the nature of the verse. The two parts may
either have quite different rhymes or be connected together by
one or several common rhymes. As a simple specimen of this
sort of stanza the first stanza of Dunbar's None may assure in
this warld may be quoted here ;
r , / Quhome to sail I complene my wo,
{And kyth my kairis on or mo?
i 1 knaw nocht, amang riche nor pure,
Cauda : < Quha is my freynd, quha is my fo ;
( For in this warld may non assure.
In literary poetry, however, the tripartite stanzas are com-
moner than the bipartite unequal-membered stanzas just
noticed; they are as much in favour as the bipartite, equal-
membered stanzas are in popular poetry. In Provengal and
Northern French poetry the principle of a triple partition in
the structure of stanzas was developed very early. Stanzas
on these models were very soon imported into Middle English
poetry.
§ 226. The tripartite stanzas generally (apart from Modern
English forms) consist of two equal parts and one unequal part,
which admit of being arranged in different ways. They have
accordingly different names. If the two equal parts precede they
are called/^^^j, both together the opening (in German Aufgesang
='upsong ') ; the unequal part that concludes the stanza is called
the conclusion or the veer, tail, or cauda {in German Abgesang
='downsong'). If the unequal part precedes it is caWtd/rofis
{ = ' forehead'); the two equal parts that form the end of the
stanza are called versus (' turns,' in German Wenden). The
former arrangement, however, is by far the more frequent.
There are various ways of separating the first from the last
part of the stanza : (a) by a pause, which, as a rule, in Romanic
jas well as in Middle English poetry occurs between the two
[chief parts ; (b) by a difference in their structure (whether in
rhyme-arrangement only, or both in regard to the kinds and the
number of verses). But even then the two chief parts are
generally separated by a pause. We thus obtain three kinds of
ripartite stanzas :
I. Stanzas in which the first and the last part differ in
"ersification ; the lines of the last part may either be longer or
shorter than those of the 'pedes'. Difference in rhythmical
itructure as well as in length of line is in Middle English
284
THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS
BOOK I
poetry confined to the bob-wheel stanzas, and is not otherwif
common except in Modern English poetry.
2. Stanzas in which the parts differ in number of verses. Th
number may be either greater or smaller in the last part than i
the two ' pedes \ which, of course, involves at the same tiir
a difference in the order of the rhymes. Change of lengt)
however, and change of versification in the last part in con
parison with the half of the first part are generally combined.
3. Stanzas in which the parts agree in versification but diffi
in the arrangement of the rhymes', the number of verses in tl^
Cauda being either the same as that of one of the pedes, or (:
commonly the case) different from it.
In all these cases the first and the last part of the stanza m^
have quite different rhymes, or they may, in stanzas of mo
artistic construction, have one or several rhymes in common.
If the frons precedes the versus, the same distinctions,
course, are possible between the two chief parts.
§ 227. The following specimens illustrate first of all tl
two chief kinds of arrangement ; i. e. the pedes preceding tli
Cauda, and \\iq frons preceding the versus :
I. pes
II. pes:
Cauda :
frons
I. versus
II. versus
With longyng y am lad.
On molde y waxe mad,
A maide marrep me ;
V grede, y grone, vnglad,
For selden y am sad
pat semly for te se.
Leuedy, J>ou rewe me !
To roupe pou hauest me rad,
Be bote of pat y bad,
My lyf is long on pe.
Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. 29.
fesu, for pi muchele miht,
pou ^ef vs of pi grace J
pat we mowe dai and nyht
penken 0 pi face.
In myn herte hit dop me god.
When y penke on iesu Mod,
pat ran doun bi ys syde,
From is herte doun to is fot ;
For ous he spradde is herte blod,
His woundes were so wyde. ib. p. 83.
Ill RHYME AS A STRUCTURAL ELEMENT 285
leoretically, the second stanza might also be regarded as
nza consisting of two pedes and two versus, or, in other
vords, as a four-part stanza of two equal parts in each half,
stanzas of this kind occur pretty often in Middle and Modern
English poetry. They mostly, however, convey the effect of
, tripartite stanza on account of the greater extent of the one
)air of equal parts of the stanza.
The tripartition effected only by a difference in the arrange-
lentof rhymes either in ih^ pedes and the cauda, or in ihQ/rons
nd the versus^ will be illustrated by the following specimens :
y , ( Take^ oh take those lips away,
* P * I That so sweetly were for sworne ;
yj . {And those eyes, the breake of day,
* P ' I Lights that doe mislead the morne,
J , [But my kisses bring againe,
\ Seales of love, but seaVd in vaine.
Shak., Meas. iv. i. 4.
r . { As by the shore, at break of day,
\ A vanquished Chief expiring lay,
T f Upon the sands, with broken sword,
1. versus: | ^^ ^^^^^^ his farewell to the Free;
II versus • i ^^^' there, the last unfinished word
\ He dying wrote was ^ Liberty \
Moore, Song.
A very rare variety of tripartition that, as far as we know,
)es not occui- till Modern English times, is that by which the
uda is placed between the two pedes. This arrangement,
course, may occur in each of the three kinds of tripartition.
j specimen of the last kind (viz. that in which the cauda is
stinguished from the pedes by a different arrangement of
jymes) may suffice to explain it :
J . r Nine years old I The first of any
. pes . «^ ^^^^^ ^j^ happiest years that come :
, . ( Yet when I was nine, I said
cau a . -j ^^ ^^^^ word I 1 thought instead
Tj f That the Greeks had used as many
• pes . "^ j^ besieging Ilium.
Mrs. Browning, ii. 215.
286 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
I
I
Lastly, it is to be remarked that the inequality of Moden
English stanzas, which may be composed of two or three o
several parts, admits, of course, of many varieties. Generally
however, their structure is somewhat analogous to that of th.
regular tripartite stanzas (cf. below. Book II, chap. vi).
In Romanic poetry the tripartite structure sometimes wa.
carried on also through the whole song, it being composec
either of three or six stanzas (that is to say, of three equa
groups of stanzas), or, what is more usual, of seven or fiv<
stanzas (i.e. of two equal parts and an unequal part). Iij*
Middle English literary poetry, too, this practice is fairljiip
common;^ in Modern English poetry, on the other hand, i
occurs only in the most recent times, being chiefly adoptee
in imitations of Romanic forms of stanza, especially the ballade..
§ 228. The envoi. Closely connected with the last-mentionec
point, viz. the partition of the whole poem, is the structural
element in German called Geleit^ in Proven9al poetry tornado
(i. e. * turning ', ' apostrophe ', or ' address '), in Northern Frencl!
poetry envois a term which was retained sometimes by Middl
English poets as the title for this kind of stanza (occasionally
even for a whole poem). The tornada used chiefly in th(
ballade is a sort of epilogue to the poem proper. It was a
in Provengal poetry (observed often in Old French also) that ij
must agree in form with the concluding part of the preceding
stanza. It was also necessary that with regard to its tenor it
should have some sort of connexion with the poem ; although,:
as a rule, its purpose was to give expression to personal feelings.
The tornada is either a sort of farewell which the poet addresses
to the poem itself, or it contains the order to a messenger toi
deliver the poem to the poet's mistress or to one of his patrons;
sometimes these persons are directly praised or complimented.!
In Middle English poetry the envoi mostly serves the same
purposes. But there are some variations from the Proven9at
custom both as to contents and especially as to form.
§ 229. We may distinguish ihree kinds of so-called envois
in Middle English poetry: (i) Real envois. (2) Concluding'
stanzas resembling envois as to their form. (3) Concluding
stanzas resembling envois as to their contents.
The most important are the real envois. Of these, two
subordinate species can be distinguished : {a) when the form of
^ See B. ten Brink, The Language and Metre oj Chaucer^ translated by
M. Bentinck Smith. London, Macmillan & Co., 1901, 8% § 350.
CHAP. II RHYME AS A STRUCTURAL ELEMENT 287
ithe envoi differs from the form of the stanza, as in Wright's
Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. 92, and even more markedly in Chaucer's
Compleynt to his Purse, a poem of stanzas of seven lines, the
envoi of which addressed to the king consists of five verses
only ; (3) when the form of the envoi is the same as that of the
other stanzas of the poem, as e. g. in Wright's Spec, of Lyr.
Poetry, p. 1 11 (a greeting to a mistress), in Dunbar's Goldin
Targe (address to the poem itself).
When the poem is of some length the envoi may consist of
several stanzas ; thus in Chaucer's Clerkes Tale (stanzas of seven
lines) the envoi has six stanzas of six lines each.
Concluding stanzas resembling envois in their form are
generally shorter than the chief stanzas, but of similar struc-
ture. Generally speaking they are not very common. Speci-
mens may be found in Wright's Spec, of Lyr, Poetry ^ pp. 38,
47, &c.
Concluding stanzas resembling envois in their contents. An
example occurs in Wright's Spec, of Lyr, Poetry, p. 31, where the
iconcluding stanza contains an address to another poet. Religious
:poems end with addresses to God, Christ, the Virgin, invitations
to prayer, &c. ; for examples see Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry,
p. Ill, and Hymns to the Virgin (ed. Furnivall, E. E. T. S. 24),
p. 39, &c. All these may possibly fall under this category.
Even in Modern English poetry the envoi has not quite gone
out of use. Short envois occur in Spenser, Epithalamium ;
S. Daniel, To the Angel Spirit of Sir Philip Sidney (Poets,
iv. 228); W. Scott, Marmion (Envoy, consisting of four-foot
;verses rhyming in couplets), Harold, Lord of the Isles, Lady of
^ihe Lake (Spenserian stanzas); Southey, Lay of the Laureate
(x. 139-74), &c. ; Swinburne, Poems and Ballads, i, pp. i, 5,
J141, &c.
I Concluding stanzas resembling envois occur pretty often in
Ipoets of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as Carew,
bonne, Cowley, Waller, Dodsley, «fec. (cf. Metrik, ii, p. 794 note).
PART II
STANZAS COMMON TO MIDDLE AND MODER
ENGLISH, AND OTHERS FORMED ON TH
ANALOGY OF THESE
CHAPTER III
BIPARTITE EQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS
I. Isometrical stanzas.
§ 230. Two-line stanzas. The simplest bipartite equa
membered stanza is that of two isometrical verses only. In tl
Northern English translation of the Psalms {Surtees Sociei
vols, xvi and xix) we find, for the most part, two-line stanz;
of four-foot verses rhyming in couplets, occasionally alternatir
with stanzas of four, six, eight, or more lines.
In Middle English poetry, however, this form was general
used for longer poems that were not arranged in stanza
Although it would be possible to divide some of these (e.g. tl
Moral Ode), either throughout or in certain parts, into biparti
stanzas, there is no reason to suppose that any strophic arrang
ment was intended.
In Modern English, on the other hand, such an arrangeme
is often intentional, as in R. Browning, The Boy and the Ani
(iv. 158), a poem of four-foot trochaic verses :
Morning, evening, noon and night
^Praise God!' sang Theocrite.
Then to his poor trade he turned,
Whereby the daily meal was earned. \
Similar stanzas in other metres occur in Longfellow, Tennysc
Thackeray, Rossetti, &c. ; among them we find e. g. eight-fc|
trochaic and iambic-anapaestic verses (cf. Metrik, ii, § 3).
§ 231. More frequently we find four-line stanzas, consisti|
of couplets. In Middle English lyric poetry such stanzas
two short couplets are occasionally met with as early as in t]
s
CHAP. Ill BIPARTITE EQUAL-MI!MBERED STANZAS 289
Surtees Psalms^ but they occur more frequently in Modern
English, e.g. in M. Arnold, Urania (p. 217), and in Carew, e.g.
The Inquiry (Poets, iii) :
Amongst the myrtles as I waWdy
Love and my sighs thus inter talk' d:
' Tell me,* said /, in deep distress,
j * Where I may find my shepherdess.*
I Regular alternation of masculine and feminine rhymes is
ji^ery rarely found in this simple stanza (or indeed in any
[Middle English stanzas); it is, properly speaking, only a
i5eries of rhyming couplets with a stop after every fourth line.
j This stanza is very popular, as are also various analogous
four-line stanzas in other metres. One of these is the quatrain
|)f four-foot trochaic verses, as used by M. Arnold in The Last
Word, and by Milton, e. g. in Psalm CXXX VI, where the two
ast lines form the refrain, so that the strophic arrangement is
nore distinctly marked. Stanzas of four-foot iambic-anapaestic
nes we find e. g. in Moore, ' Tis the last Pose of Suinmer^ and
imilar stanzas of five-foot iambic verses in Cowper, pp. 359,
10; M. Arnold, Self-Dependence (last stanza).
Less common are the quatrains of four-foot dactylic lines, of
iree-foot iambic-anapaestic lines, of six-foot iambic and trochaic
|nes, of seven-foot iambic lines, and of eight-foot trochaic lines.
jut specimens of each of these varieties are occasionally met
jith (cf. Metrik, ii, § 261).
I § 232. The double stanza, i. e. that of eight lines of the same
ructure {aabbccdd), occurs in different kinds of verse. With
les of four measures it is found, e.g. in Suckling's poem,
'he Expostulation (Poets, iii. 749) :
Tell me, ye juster deities,
That pity lover s miseries,
Why should my own unworthiness
■ Light me to seek my happiness?
It is as natural, as just,
Him for to love whom needs I must :
All men confess that love *s a fire,
Then who denies it to aspire?
jThis stanza comes to a better conclusion when it winds up
jth a refrain, as in Percy's Reliques, II. ii. 13. One very
rpular form of it consists of four-foot trochaic lines, e. g. in
tgo THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
Burns, p. 197, M. Arnold, A Memory Picture, p. 23 (the two
last lines of each stanza forming a refrain), or of four-foot
iambic-anapaestic lines (Burns, My heart 's in the Highlands).
Somewhat rarely it is made up of five-foot iambic or septenaric
lines (cf. Metrik, ii, § 262).^
§ 233. We have next to consider the stanzas of four iso.
metrical lines with intermittent rhyme (abc b). As a rule they
consist of three- or four-foot verses, which are really Alexandrines
or acatalectic tetrameters rhyming in long couplets, and only in
their written or printed arrangement broken up into short lines ;
as, e. g., in the following half-stanza from the older version of
the Legend of St. Kathertne, really written in eight-lined stanzas
(ed. Horstmann, Altengltsche Legenden^ Neue Folge^ Heilbronn,
1881, p. 242):
He that made heven and erthe
and Sonne and mone for to schine^
Bring ous into his riche
and scheld ous /ram helle pine !
Examples of such stanzas of four-foot trochaic and three-foot
iambic verses that occur chiefly in Percy's Reliques (cf. Metrik, ii,
§ 264), but also in M. Arnold, Calais Sands (p. 219), The Church
of Brouj I., The Castle (p. 13, feminine and masculine verse-
endings alternating), New Rome, p. 229, Parting, p. 191 (iambic-
anapaestic three-beat and two-beat verses), Iseult of Ireland,
p. 150 (iambic verses of five measures); cf. Metrik, ii, § 264.
§ 234. Stanzas of eight lines result from this stanza by
doubling, i. e. by adding a second couplet of the same structure
and rhyme to the original long-line couplet. Such a form with
the scheme abcbdbebvje meet in the complete stanza of the
older Legend of St. Katherine just referred to :
He that made heven and erthe
and Sonne and mone for to schine,
Bring ous into his riche
and scheld ous fram helle pine /
Her ken, and y you wile telle
the liif of an holy virgine,
That treuli trowed in fhesu Crist:
hir name was hoten Katerine,
* Stanzas of six and twelve lines formed dn the same prinw|^i*i
{aaabbb and aabbccdde ejf) are very rare. For specimens see Metrik \
ii, § 363. ' n
Ii
cHAP.iii BIPARTITE EQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS 291
This sort of doubling, however, occurs in Modern English
poetry more rarely than that which is produced by adding
a second long-lined couplet, but with a new rhyme, so that
when the stanza is arranged in short lines we have the scheme
abcbde/e.
A stanza like this of trochaic lines we find in Hymns Ancient
and Modern, No. 419 :
King of Saints, to whom the number
Of Thy starry host is known,
Many a name, by man forgotten,
Lives for ever round Thy Throne;
Lights, which earth-born mists have darkened^
There are shinitig full and clear,
Princes in the court of heaven.
Nameless, unremembered here.
Still more frequent are stanzas of this kind consisting ot
four-foot and three-foot iambic lines, or of two-foot iambic-
I anapaestic and trochaic-dactylic lines (of. Metrik, ii, § 265).
* § 235. More popular than the stanza just noticed is that
developed from the long-lined couplets by inserted rhyme. A very
instructive example of this development is given in the later
version of the Legend of St. Katherine (ed. by Horstmann) which
is a paraphrase of the older.
The first half-stanza is as follows :
He that made bothe sunne and mone
In heuene and er the for to schyne,
Bringe vs to heuene, with him to wone,
j And schylde vs from helle pyne !
\ Stanzas like this, which are frequent in Low Latin, Proven9al,
land Old French poetry, are very common in Middle and Modern
jEnglish poetry. Examples may be found in Ritson's Ancient
\Songs, i, p. 40, Surrey, pp. 37, 56, &c., Burns, p.97,&c., M. Arnold,
Saint JBrandan, p. 165, &c. Masculine and feminine rhymes
do not alternate very often (cf. Percy's Reliques, I. iii. 13).
More frequently we find stanzas with refrain verses, e. g. Wyatt,
3. 70.
Stanzas of this kind consisting of four- or three-foot iambic,
rochaic, iambic-anapaestic, trochaic-dactylic lines, of three-foot
ambic lines, or of two-foot dactylic or other lines are also
'Cry common, e.g. in M. Arnold's A Modern Sappho (with
u 2
292 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
alternating masculine and feminine verse-endings), Pis Aller
(p. 230), Requiescat (p. 21).
Another stanza of great importance is what is called the
elegiac stanza, which consists of four five-foot verses with crossed
rhymes. In Middle English literature it was only used as a
part of the Rhyme-Royal and of the eight-lined stanza. In
Modern English, however, it has been used from the beginning
more frequently ; it occurs already in Wyatt (p. 58) :
Heaven and earth and all that hear me plain
Do well perceive what care doth make me €ry
Save you alone, to whom I cry in vain;
Mercy ^ Madam, alas ! I die, I die I
Other examples are found in M. Arnold's poems Palladium
(p. 251), Revolutions (p. 254), Self Deception (p. 225, with
alternate masculine and feminine rhymes). This stanza is very
popular throughout the Modern English period (cf Metrik, ii,
§ 267).
Stanzas of this kind, however, consisting of trochaic verses, oi
six-foot (as in Tennyson's Maud), seven- and eight-foot metres
are not very frequently met with (cf. Metrik, ii, § 269).
§ 236. The four-lined, cross-rhyming stanza gives rise by
doubling to the eight-lined {abababab), which occurs very
often in Middle English, as in Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry,
p. 99, or in the Luve-Rone by Thomas de Hales, ed. Morris
{Old Eng. Misc., p. 93), where both masculine and feminine
rhymes are used :
A Mayde cristes me hit yorne,
pat ich hire wurche a luue ran:
For hwan heo myhte best ileorne
to taken on oper sop lefmon,
pat treowest were of alle berne
and beste wyte cupe a freo wymmon ;
Ich hire nule nowiht werne,
ich hire wule teche as ic con.
Stanzas of this kind are met with also in Modern English.i
as in Burns (p. 262) ; stanzas of four-stressed lines are found in
Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. no, and others of three-foot
verses in Polit. Poems, i. 270.
There is still another mode of doubling, by which the four
originally long-lined verses are broken up by the use of two
CHAP. Ill BIPARTITE EQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS 293
different inserted rhymes ; the scheme is then : ababchcb.
This is the stanza to which the second version of the Legend of
St. Katherine has been adapted in paraphrasing it from the first
(cf.§§77, 78, 235):
He that made bothe sunne and mone
In heuene and er the for to schyne,
Bringe vs to heuene, with him to wone.
And schylde vs from helle pyne !
Lystnys, and I schal you telle
The lyff off an holy virgyne,
That trewely fhesu louede wel :
Here name was callyd Kateryne.
This stanza occurs, e.g., in Burns (p. 201). Less common is
the form of stanza ababacac (q,^. in Wyatt, p. 48) resulting
from the breaking up two rhyming couplets of long lines by
inserted rhyme (not from four long lines with one rhyme).
The common mode of doubling is by adding to a four-lined
stanza a second of exacdy the same structure, but with new
rhymes. Some few examples occur in Middle English in the
Surtees Psalter, Ps. xliv, 11. 11, 12. Very frequently, however,
we find it in Modern English constructed of the most varying
metres, as, e. g., of five-foot iambic verses in Milton, Psalm VIII
(vol. iii, p. 29):
0 fehovah our Lord, how wondrous great
And glorious is thy name through all the earth,
So as above the heavens thy praise to set /
Out of the tender mouths of latest birth,
j Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou
I Hast founded strength, because of all thy foes,
i To stint the enemy, and slack the avenger s brow,
I That bends his rage thy providence to oppose.
More popular are stanzas of this kind consisting of three- or
IfouT-foot iambic, trochaic, and iambic-anapaestic verses, some-
jtimes with alternate masculine and feminine rhymes. (For
specimens see Metrik, ii, § 271.)
§ 237. Only very few examples occur of the sixteen-
ined doubling of this stanza, according to the scheme
jbab c dc d efefg hgh^\ it occurs, e. g., in Moore, Wheii
"Night brings the Hour. Another form of eight lines
'dbcd.abcd.^ is met with in Rossetti, The Shadows (ii. 249);
294
THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS
BOOK
it seems to be constructed on the analogy of a six-lined stanza
[adcabc), which is used pretty often. This stanza, which is
closely allied to the tail-rhyme stanza described in § 238, consists
most commonly of four-foot iambic verses; it occurs, e.g.,
Campbell, Ode to the Memory 0/ Burns (p. 19) :
Soul of the Poet! whereso'er
Reclaini d from earth, thy genius plume
Her wings of immortality :
Suspend thy harp in happier sphere,
And with thine influence illume
The gladness of our jubilee.
Specimens of forms of stanzas like this, consisting of othei
kinds of verse, e.g. of three-foot trochaic-dactylic verse, as ii
M. Arnold's The Lords Messenger (p. 231), are given in Metrik;
ii, §272.
§ 238. From the four- and eight-lined bipartite equal-
membered isometrical stanzas, dealt with in the preceding
paragraphs, it will be convenient to proceed to the six-linec
stanzas of similar structure. To these belongs a certain form of
the tail-rhyme stanza, the nature and origin of which will be
discussed when we treat of the chief form, which consists o{
unequal verses. The isometrical six-lined stanzas to be dis-
cussed here show the same structure as the common tail-rhyme
stanza, viz. aabccb. An example is afforded in a song^
Ritson, i. 10 :
Sith Gabriel gan grete
Ure ledi Mari swete,
That godde wold in hir lighte,
A thousand yer hit isse,
Thre hundred ful iwisse,
Ant over yer is eighte.
In Modern English this stanza occurs very often, e.g. in^
Drayton, To the New Fear (Poets, iii. 579); as a rule, however,
it consists of four-foot iambic verses ; e. g. in Suckling in a sonj
(Poets, iii. 748) :
When, dearest, I but think of thee,
Methinks all things that lovely be
Are present, and my soul delighted:
For beauties that from worth arise,
Are like the grace of deities,
Still tresent with us though unsighted.
I
CHAP.iii BIPARTITE EQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS 295
In this poem all the tail-verses are feminine throughout ;
in other cases there are masculine and feminine verses, more
often we find masculine or feminine exclusively ; but usually
they interchange without any rule. Examples of these varieties,
and also of similar stanzas consisting of three-foot trochaic
verses, of two- and three-foot iambic-anapaestic, and of five-foot
iambic lines are given in Metrik^ ii, § 273.
Stanzas of this form consisting of two-stressed verses occurring
in Middle English poems have been quoted in § 65.
§ 239. A variety that belongs to Modern English only is that
in which the tail-verses are placed at the head of the half-stanzas,
according to the formula abb ace. It occurs in Ben Jonson's
Hyvin to God (Poets, iv. 561), consisting of two-foot iambic
verses ; another example, with four-foot trochaic verses, occurs
in Mrs. Browning, A Portrait (iii. 57); cf. Metrtk, ii, § 274.
A twelve-lined stanza, resulting from the doubling of the six-
line stanza, is found only in Middle English poetry, its arrange-
ment of rhymes being aabc cbddheeb\ or with a more
elaborate rhyme-order, aabaabccbc cb, as in Wright's Spec,
of Lyr. Poetry, p* 4i'
Still another modification of the simple six-lined stanza
consists in the addition of a third rhyme-verse to the two
rhyming couplets of each half-stanza; so that an eight-lined
stanza results with the scheme aaabcccb. Two specimens
of this kind of stanza, consisting of two-stressed lines and
occurring in Early English dramatic poetry, have been quoted
above, § 70.
The same stanza of two-foot verses occurs in the Coventry
Mysteries, p. 342. In Modern English, too, we find it sometimes,
consisting of three-foot iambic verses, as in Longfellow, King
Olaf's Death Drink (p. 577). Stanzas of five-, four-, and two-
foot iambic verses and other metres are likewise in use. (For
examples see Metrik, ii, § 275.)
Some rarely occurring extended forms of this stanza
are exemplified in Metrik, ii, § 277, their schemes being
a'^a'^b^cd^d'^b^c^, a'^b'^C'-'de^/^g'^d^, abbcaddc^^,
aaaabccccbj^.
Sixteen-lined stanzas of this kind of two-stressed verses
(rhyming aaabcccbdddbeeeb) that were frequently used in
Middle English Romances have been quoted and discussed
above, § 65.
296 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
• II. Anisometrical Stanzas.
§ 240. In connexion with the last section, the chief species ol
the tail-rhyme stanza may be discussed here first of all. This
stanza, as a rule, consists of four four-foot and two three-foot
verses, rhyming according to the scheme aa^b^c c^ b^ ; cf. the
following specimen (Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. 10 1) :
Lustnep alle a lutel prowe,
^e pat wollep ou selue yhnowe^
Unwys pah y be :
Ichutle telle ou ase y con,
Hon holy wryt spekep of mon ;
Herknep nou to me.
•
The last line of each half-stanza, the tail-verse proper, was
originally simply a refrain. The tripartite character of the half-
stanza and the popular origin of the stanza was shown long ago
by Wolf, Tiber die Lais, Sequenzen und Leiche, p. 27 (cf. Engl.
Metrik, i, pp. 353-7). According to him this stanza was
developed first of all from choruses sung in turn by the people
and from the ecclesiastical responses which also had a popular
origin, and lastly from the sequences and ' proses ' of thi
middle ages.
A sequence-verse such as :
Egidio psallat coetus \ iste laetus \ Alleluia,
in its tripartition corresponds to the first half of the above-
quoted Middle English tail-rhyme stanza :
Lustnep alle a lutel prowe \ ^e pat wollep ou selue yknowe
Unwys pah y be.
When two long lines like this, connected with each other by
the rhyme of the last section, the two first sections of each line
being also combined by leonine rhyme, are broken up into six
short verses, we have the tail-rhyme stanza in the form above
described. This form was frequently used in Low Latin poetry,
and thence passed into Romanic and Teutonic literature.
A form even more extensively used in Middle and Modern
Enghsh poetry is that in which the tail-verse has feminine i
instead of masculine endings. A Modern English specimen!
from Drayton's poem To Sir Henry Goodere (Poets, iii. 576)!
may be quoted ; it begins :
cHAP.iii BIPARTITE EQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS 297
These lyric pieces, short and few.
Most worthy Sir^ I send to you,
To read them be not iveary:
They may become John Hewes his lyre.
Which oft at Powlsworth by the fire
Hath made us gravely merry.
This, the chief form of the tail-rhyme stanza, has been in use
throughout the whole Modern English period. There has, how-
ever, never been any fixed rule as to the employment of feminine
Or masculine rhymes. Sometimes feminine tail-rhymes with
masculine couplets are used (as in the example above), some-
I times masculine rhymes only, while in other instances masculine
and feminine rhymes are employed indiscriminately.
Iambic-anapaestic verses of four or three measures were also
iiometimes used in this form of stanza, as in Moore, Hero and
Leander.
There are a great many varieties of this main form; the
stanza may consist, for instance, of four- and two-foot iambic
or trochaic lines, or of iambic lines of three and two, five and
three, five and two measures, according to the schemes
aCj^b^^c c^b^, aa.^b^c c^b<2^, a a^b^c c^b.^, a a^b2C c^b2, and
a^bb^a.^cc^ (the tail-verses in front). For examples see
Metrik, ii, § 279.
§ 241. The next step in the development of this stanza was
xis enlargement to twelve lines {a a^^b^c Cj^b^d d^bo^e e^b^ by
jdoubling. This form occurs in Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry,
P- 43 :
Lenten is come wip loue to toune,
1 WiJ> blosmen and wip briddes roune,
i pat all pis blisse bryngep :
\ Dayes ejes in pis dales,
i Notes suete of nyhtegales,
\ Vchfoule song singep,
pe prestlecoc him pretep 00 ;
Away is huere wynter woo,
When woderoue springep.
pis foules singep ferli fele^
Ant wlytep on huere wynter wele,
pat al pe wode ryngep.
We are not in a position to quote a Modern English specimen
'f this stanza, but it was very popular in Middle English poetry.
298 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
both in lyrics and in legends or romances, and in later dramatic
poetry.*
§ 242. As to the further development of the tail-rhyme
stanza, the enlarged forms must first be mentioned. They are
produced by adding a third line to the principal lines of each
half-stanza ; the result being an eight-lined stanza of the formula
aaa^b^ccCi^by Stanzas of this form occur in Early Middle
English lyrics, e. g. in Wright's Spec, of Lyr, Poetry, p. 51 (with
a refrain-stanza) and Polit. Songs, p. 187 (four-stressed main
verses and two- stressed tail-verses, the latter having occasionally
the appearance of being in three-beat rhythm).
A later example is found in Dunbar's poem Of the Fenjeii
Freir of Tungland) in the Miracle Plays the form was also in
favour. Isometrical stanzas of this kind have been mentioned
above (§§ 238, 239).
In Modern English poetry this stanza is extensively used,
We find it in Drayton, Nymphidia (Poets, iii. 177), with feminine
tail-verses :
Oid Chaucer doth of Topas tetl,
Mad Rahlais of Pantagruel,
A later third of Dowsahel,
With such poor trifles playing :
Others the like have laboured at,
Some of this thing and some of that,
And many of tJiey know not what,
But that they must be saying.
Other examples of this stanza, as of similar ones, consisting
of four- and three-foot trochaic and iambic-anapaestic verses,
are given in Metrik, ii, § 280.
There are some subdivisions of this stanza consisting of verses
of three and two measures, of four and two measures, four and
one measure, five and two, and five and one measure, according
to the ioxxuxAd^t a a a^b<2^c c c^b,2^, aaa^b^c cc^b^, aaa^b-^ccc^bi
aaa^b^^ccc^b^^, aaa^b^cc c^b^. For specimens see Metrik^ ii^
§281.
The ten-lined tail-rhyme stanza occurs very rarely; we have
an example in Longfellow's The Goblet of Life (p. 114), it^
formula being aaaa^b^c cc c^br^.
§ 243. We find, however, pretty often — though only in Modern
English — certain variant forms of the enlarged eight- and ten-l
^ Cf. O. Wilda, Ober die ortliche Verbreitung der zwolfzeiligen Schweif^
reimstrophe in England, Breslau Dissertation, Breslau, 188 Jr.
CHAP. Ill BIPARTITE EQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS 299
lined tail-rhyme stanzas, the chief verses of which are of unequal
length in each half-stanza ; as in Congreve's poem, OnMiss Temple
(Poets, vii. 568). In this poem the first verse of each half- stanza
is shortened by one foot, in accordance with the formula
a<^ a a^ b^ c^ c c^ b.^ :
Leave, leave the drawing-room,
Where flowers of beauty iisd to bloom ;
The nymph that's /ated to overcome,
Now triumphs at the wells.
Her shape, and air, and eyes,
Her face, the gay, the grave, the wise,
The beau, in spite of box and dice,
Acknowledge, all excels.
Stanzas of cognate form are quoted in Metrik, \\, §§ 283-5,
constructed according to the schemes : a a.2,^^^z^ ^2 ^4 <^3>
a.^bb^c ~2 a^dd^c ~2 (with a varying first rhyme in the chief
verses), aabb^c^ddee^c^ (ten lines, with a new rhyming couplet
1 in the half-stanza), aabbc^C^aabbc^C^ (an analogous twelve-
llined stanza, extended by refrain in each half-stanza),
abab^c^dede^c^ (crossed rhymes in the principal verses).
Two uncommon variations that do not, strictly speaking,
I belong to the isocolic stanzas, correspond to the formulas
\abb^c^c dd^^a^, aba^^c -^^babi^c '^^.
§ 244. Another step in the development of the tail-rhyme
stanza consisted in making the principal verses of the half-
stanza shorter than the tail-verse. Models for this form existed
in Low Latin, Proven9al, and Old French poetry (cf. Metrik,
i, § 366). In Middle English, however, there are not many
jstanzas of this form. We have an example in Dunbar's poem
\Ofthe Lady is Solistaris at Court {a a<^ b^ c c^ b^ dd<^ Hffi ^3) •
Thir Ladyis fair.
That makis repair,
And in the Court ar kend,
Thre dayis thair
Thay will do mair,
Ane mater for till end,
Than thair gud men
Will do in ten,
For ony craft thay can;
So Weill thay ken
Quhat tyme and quhen
Thair menes thay sowld mak than.
300 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
The same rhythmical structure is found in the old ballad,
The Noibrowne Maid, in Percy's Reltques, vol. ii. In this
collection the poem is printed in twelve-lined stanzas of four-
and three-foot verses. Skeat, however, in his Specimens of
English Literature, printed it in stanzas of six long lines.
In either arrangement the relationship of the metre to the
Septenary verse comes clearly out.
In Modern English this stanza is also very popular. It
occurs in Scott (p. 460, aa2^b^cc^b^, Burns (doubled, p. 61,
aa^b^cc^b^dd^e^/f^e^, p. 211, aa^b^cc^b^dd^b^ee^b.^.
Often there are also two- and three-foot iambic-anapaestic
verses combined in stanzas of this kind, as in Cowper (p. 427),
Burns (p. 244), &c.
Subordinate varieties of this stanza consisting of other verses
are quoted, with specimens, in Metrik, ii, §§ 286-8, after th^
formulas: aaj^b^cc^b^, aa^b^cc^b^, aa^b^cc^b^y aa^b^cc^b^,
aa^bj^c c^b^, d: ~ <z ~ ^ ~ ^ ~2 ^3 ^ '*' ^ ~ ^ '*' ^ "2 ^3 •
§ 245. A small group of tail-rhyme stanzas consists of those
in which the second chief verses are shorter than the first.
Such a variety occurs in a tail-rhyme stanza of four-foot
trochaic verses, the second verse of each half-stanza being
shortened by two measures. It was used by Donne in his
translation of Psalm 137 {Poets, iv. 43) :
By Euphrates' flow'ry side
We did 'bide.
From dear Juda far absented.
Tearing the air with our cries,
And our eyes
With their streams his stream augmented.
The same stanza we find in Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside
Inn, V (p. 552). Similar stanzas are quoted in Metrik, ii, § 289,
their schemes being a^ a^ b^ c^ c^ b^, a^ a<^ b^ c^ c^ b^, a^ b^ b^ a,
(the tail-rhyme verse put in front).
§ 246. There are also some stanzas (a b^ ^3 a b^ c^ which may;
be looked upon as modelled on the tail-rhyme stanza; such
a stanza we find in Mrs. Browning's poem, A Sabbath morning.
at Sea (iii. 74) ; its formula being abj^c^a b^ ^3 :
The ship went on with solemn face :
To meet the darkness on the deep,
The solemn ship went onward:
I bowed down weary in the place,
For parting tears and present sleep
Had iveighed mine eyelids downward.
CHAP. Ill BIPARTITE EQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS 301
Other stanzas of this kind show the scheme : a^ b^ c^ a^ b^ rg,
ah^c^ab^c^, a^bo^c^a^b^c^, a^b a^b^^c ^^d^ ed^e^c '^^\ cf.
Metrik^ ii, § 290.
A stanza belonging to this group, and consisting of ten lines
rhyming according to the formula abab^c^dede^c^, occurs in
M. Arnold's Evipedocles on Etna^ p. 446 (printed in stanzas of
five lines).
§ 247. Another metre, which was equally popular with the
tail-rhyme stanza with its many varieties, is the stanza formed
of two Septenary verses (catalectic tetrameters). In the Middle
English period we find it used with feminine rhymes only;
afterwards, however, there are both feminine and masculine
rhymes, and in modern times the feminine ending is quite
exceptional. This metre, broken up into four lines, is one of
the oldest and most popular of equal-membered stanzas. One
of its forms ^ has in hymn-books the designation of Common
Metre.
Middle and Modern English specimens of this simple form
have been given above (§§ 77, 78, 136, 138-40); in some of
them the verses rhyme and are printed as long lines ; in others
the verses rhyme in long lines but are printed as short ones
(abcb), and in others, again, the verses both rhyme and are
printed as short lines (aba b).
On the analogy of this stanza, especially of the short-lined
rhyming form, and of the doubled form with intermittent rhyme
(which is, properly speaking, a stanza rhyming in long lines),
there have been developed many new strophic forms. One
of the most popular of these is the stanza consisting alternately
of four- and three-foot iambic-anapaestic verses. In this
form is written, e. g. the celebrated poem of Charles Wolfe,
The Burial 0/ Sir John Moore (cf. § 191) :
Not a drum was heard^ not a funeral note,
As his corpse to the rampart we hurried ;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
O'er the grave where our hero we buried.
In other poems there are masculine rhymes only, as in
Cowper (p. 429).
Stanzas of this structure, composed of trochaic verses or of
Tochaic mixed with iambic or of dactylic mixed with iambic-
* This is a stanza of four iambic lines alternately of four and three feet
vlth masculine endings, usually rhyming ahab.
302 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
anapaestic verses, are not frequent. (For examples see
Meirik, ii, § 292.)
§ 248. Some other analogical developments from this type,
however, occur pretty often; a stanza of alternate four- and
two-foot verses (<Z4 ^ ~2 ^4 ^ ~2) ^^ used, for example, by Ben
Jonson {Poets, iv. 545) :
Weep with me all you that read
This little story ;
And know, for whom a tear you shed.
Death's self is sorry.
Another of five- and four-foot verses (^5 b^ a^b^ occurs in Cowley,
The long Life (Poets, v. 264) :
Love from Timers wings hath stoVn the feathers sure.
He has, and put them to his own,
For hours, of late, as long as days endure^
And very minutes hours are grown.
Other less common analogous forms are given in Metrik, ii,
§ 298, the formulas being a^b^a^b^, «3^5^3^5» ^^h^bh,
H h ^2 h'
There are also stanzas of anisometrical verses rhyming in
couplets, but they occur very rarely. An example is Donne's
The Paradox (Poets, iv. 397), after the scheme a- a^b^ b^ :
No lover saith I love, nor any other
Can judge a perfect lover :
He thinks that else none can or will agree
Thai any loves but he.
§ 249. Pretty often we find — not indeed in middle English,
but in Modern English poetry — eight-lined (doubled) forms of
the difterent four-lined stanzas. Only doubled forms, however,
of the formula a^ b^ a^ b^ c^ d^ q d^ are employed with any fre-
quency; they have either only masculine rhymes or rhymes which
vary between masculine and feminine. An example of the latter ^
kind we have in Drayton's To his coy Love (Poets, iii. 585) ;
I pray thee, love, love me no more,
Call home the heart you gave me,
I but ill vain that saint adore,
That ca7i, but will not save me:
These poor half kisses kill me quite ; J
Was ever man thus served ?
Amidst an ocean of delight,
For pleasure to be starved.
I
CHAP. Ill BIPARTITE EQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS 303
Eight-lined stanzas with the following schemes are not com-
mon :— ^4<^3^4^3^4^3^4^3> ^4 h '^4 ^3^4^3^4^3' ^4 ^3 ^4 h ^4 h ^4 ^3>
a ^g ^4 d! '-'^ b^ c^^dj^c ~3 ^4 , a^ b^ c^ b^ d^ e^f^^ e^. Only in the last
stanza and in the usual form ab abcdc d we find trochaic and
iambic-anapaestic verses. An example of the latter sort which is
1 pretty often met with we have in Cunningham's The Sycamore
Shade (Poets, x. 717):
T'other day as I sat in the sycamore shade^
Young Damon came whistling alongy
I trembled — / blush' d — a poor innocent maid/
And my heart caper' d up to my tongue:
Silly hearty I cry'd, fie I What a flutter is here /
Young Damon designs you no ill.
The shepherd 's so civil, you've nothing to fear.
Then prythee, fond urchin^ lie still.
For specimens of the other subordinate varieties and of
the rare twelve-lined stanza (a^b^cj^b^d^b^e^f^dj^f.^g^f^ and
«4^~3^4^*'3«4^~3Q^~3<^4^~3^4'^~3) sce Mctrik, ii, §§ 295,-
296.
§ 250. There are also doubled forms of the before-
mentioned analogical development of the Septenary, the
schemes of which are as follows:
^4 '^ ~2 ^4 ^ ~2 ^4 ^ ~2 ^4 <^ *2> H^ ~2 H ^ *2 ^3 ^~2^3 ^~2>
^~2^3^^2^3^*'2 4^~2 4» ^~4^o^~4^5^~44^*'4^5' ^nd
,75 a^ b^ b^ f 5 c^ d^ d^.
We must here refer to some eight-lined stanzas which have
his common feature that the two half-stanzas are exactly alike,
ibut the half-stanzas themselves consist of unequal members.
JThese, however, will be treated in the next chapter.
In this connexion may be also mentioned the doubled Poulter's
Measure, which occurs somewhat frequently, as in Hymns
indent and Modern, No. 149 :
Thou art gone up on high,
To mansions in the skies ;
And round Thy Throne unceasingly
The songs of praise arise.
But we are lingering here.
With sin and care oppressed;
Lord, send Thy promised Comforter^
And lead us to Thy rest.
304 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
The same form of stanza was used in Hood's well-knowr
Song of the Shirt (p. 183).
Other stanzas of similar structure are given with specimen?
in Meirik, ii, §§ 300, 301 ; their formulas are a^ a^ ^g ^5 ^4 ^4 ^2 ^5
aba^b^c dc^d^ (Moore, Dreaming for ever), a^ b b^ a^ c^ dd^ c^
aba^b2cdc^d^, a^ b^ c^ a^ d^ b^ c^ d^ ; in the same place we have
mentioned some ten-lined stanzas of the forms a a J) b^^a/^cc^^dd^c,
(Moore, The Young May Moon) and a^, a^ b^ b^ Cj^ d^ d^ e^ e<^ c^, &c
CHAPTER IV
ONE-RHYMED INDIVISIBLE AND BIPARTITE
IUNEQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS
§ 261. These different kinds of stanzas may be conveniently
treated together, since they are closely allied with each other, in
ithat both of them — the indivisible stanzas usually, and the
{bipartite unequal-membered stanzas frequently — exhibit a one-
jrhymed principal part.
I. One-rhymed and indivisible stanzas.
The one-rhymed stanzas, taken as a whole, cannot without
iqualification be ranged under any of the other kinds of stanza.
JThe four-lined and eight-lined stanzas of this form, it is true, do
jfor the most part seem to belong so far as their syntactical
structure is concerned to the" bipartite, equal-membered class
la a, a a; aaaa,aaaa). But those of six lines may belong
leither to the bipartite {a a a, a a a) or to the tripartite class
^a a, a a, a a). It is even more difficult to draw a sharp line
'^f distinction when the strophes have an odd number of lines.
In no case is there such a definite demarcation between the
chief parts in these one-rhymed stanzas as exists in stanzas
jArith varied rhymes, whether based upon crossed rhymes or on
jhyming couplets.
I Three-lined stanzas of the same structure as the four-lined
litanzas to be described in the next section were not used before
|he Modern period. They occur pretty often, and are con-
structed of widely different kinds of verse; in Drayton's T/ie
^eari (Poets, iii. 580) three-foot lines are used :
1/ thus we needs must go,
What shall our one heart do,
This one made of our two ?
Stanzas of this kind, consisting of three-foot trochaic and
actylic verses, as well as stanzas of four-foot iambic, iambic-
3o6 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
anapaestic, trochaic, and dactylic verses, are also met with in th
Modern period. Even more popular, however, are those o
five-foot iambic verses, as e.g. in Dryden, pp. 393, 400, &c
Stanzas of longer verses, on the other hand, e.g. six-foot dactylic
seven-foot trochaic, iambic, or iambic-anapaestic and eight-foo
trochaic verses, occur only occasionally in the more recen
poets, e. g. Tennyson, Swinburne, R. Browning, D. G. Rossetti
&c. (cf. Metrik, ii, §§ 303-4).
Some other Modern English anisometrical stanzas may als«.
be mentioned, as one in Cowley with the formula ^5 ^4^5 ii
Loves Visibility (Poets, v. 273) :
With much of pain ^ and all the art I knew
Have I endeavour* d hitherto
To hide my love, and yet all will not do.
For other forms see Metrik, ii, § 305.
§ 252. Four-lined, one-rhymed stanzas of four-foot verse*
(used in Low Latin, Proven9al and Old French poetry, cl
Metrik, i, p. 369) are early met with in Middle English poei
as in Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, pp. 57 and 68.
The first begins with these verses, which happen to sho\
a prevailing trochaic rhythm.
Suete iesu, king of blysse, ^j
Myn huerte hue, viin huerte lisse, ^
Pou art suete myd ywisse.
Wo is him pat J?e shall misse.
Suete iesu, myn huerte lyht,
pou art day withoute nyht ;
pou ^eue me streinpe ant eke myht.
Forte louien pe aryht.
This simple form of stanza is also found in Modern Englis
poetry ; apparently, however, only in one of the earliest poei
viz. Wyatt (p. 36).
It occurs also in Middle English, consisting of four-stressed
rhyming-alliterative long-lines, as e. g. in Wright's Spec, of Lyr
Poetry, p. 237 ; and of simple four-stressed long lines in Wyat
(p. 147), and Burns (pp. 253, 265, &c.).
In Middle English poetry Septenary verses are often used ii
this way on the Low Latin model (cf. Metrik, i, pp. 90, 91, 370)
as well as Septenary- Alexandrine verses, e.g. Wright's Spec. ^
Lyr. Poetry, p. 93 : 1
I
cHAP.iv ONE-RHYMED AND INDIVISIBLE STANZAS 307
Blessed be J>ou, leuedy, ful of heouene bltsse,
Suete fiur of parays^ moder of mildenessey
Prey^e tesu, J?y sone, pat he me rede and wysse
So my wey forte gon, pat he me neuer misse.
In Modern English stanzas of this kind, consisting of Sep-
tenary verses, are of rare occurrence. We have an example in
Leigh Hunt's The jovial Pries f s Confession (p. 338), a translation
of the well-known poem ascribed to Walter Map, Mihi est
propositum in taberna 77iori {ct §§ 135, 182).
Shorter verses, e. g. iambic lines of three measures, are also
very rarely used for such stanzas ; e. g. in Donne and Denham
[Poets, iv. 48 and v. 611).
§ 253. A small group of other stanzas connected with the
above may be called indivisible stanzas. They consist of a
one-rhymed main part mostly of three, more rarely of two or four
lines, followed by a shorter refrain-verse, a cauda, as it were,
but in itself too unimportant to lend a bipartite character to the
|stanza. Otherwise, stanzas like these might be looked upon as
bipartite unequal-membered stanzas, with which, indeed, they
stand in close relationship. Three-lined stanzas of this kind
occur in Modern English only ; as e. g. a stanza consisting of an
jheroic couplet and a two-foot refrain verse of different rhythm :
ifz a^ B^ in Moore's Song :
Oh! where are they, who heard in former hours,
The voice of song in these neglected bowers?
They are gone — all gone I
Other stanzas show the formulas a a^ b.^ and a a^ b^. Their
structure evidently is analogous to that of a four-lined Middle
English stanza aaa^B^, the model of which we find in Low
Latin and Proven9al poetry (cf. Metrik, i. 373) and in Furnivall's
Political, Religious, and Love Poems, p. 4 :
Sithe god hathe chose pe to be his knyp,
And posseside pe in pi right,
Thou hime honour with al thi myght,
Edwardus Dei gracia.
Similar stanzas occur also in Modern English poets : aaa^B^
n Wyatt, p. 99, a « (25 ^3 in G. Herbert, p. 1 8, «fec. We find others
vith the formula aaa^b^ aaaj),^ in Dunbar's Inconstancy of Love,
ind with the formula aaa^^b^ ccc^b^ ddd^ b^, in Dorset {Poets,
X 2
308 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
vi. 512); there are also stanzas of five lines, e.g. aaaa^B^
(Wyatt, p. 80).
An older poem in Ritson's Anc. Songs, i. 140 {Welcom Vol),
has the same metre and form of stanza, but with a refrain verse
of two measures and a two-lined refrain prefixed to the first
stanza : AB^ aaa^B^ cc c^ B^. A similar extended stanza
is found in Wyatt (p. 108) A^ bbb^ A^B^; A^ ccc^ A^B^.
There are also in modern poetry similar isometrical stanzas,
as in Swinburne (Poems, ii. 108) on the scheme aaad^,
cccb^, dddb^, eeef^, gggf^, hhhf^', in Campbell (p. 73)
aaab^, cccb^, dddb^; and in M. Arnold, T/ie Second Best
(p. 49), with feminine endings in the main part of the stanza,
a^a^a^b^y c^c^c^bj^, d^d^d^b^^ &c.
II. Bipartite unequal-member ed isometrical stanzas.
§ 254. These are of greater number and variety. The
shortest of them, however, viz. stanzas of four lines, are found
only in Modern English ; first of all, stanzas arranged according
to the formula a aba) in this case b can be used as refrain also,
as in Sidney, Astrophel and Stella, Song I (Grosart, i. 75) :
Doubt you to whom my Muse these notes entendeth,
Which now my breast, surcharged to musick lendeth!
To you, to you, all song of praise is due,
Only in you my song begins and endeth.
Similar stanzas of four-foot iambic and of two-foot iambic-
anapaestic lines occur in Tennyson, The Daisy (p. 270), and in|
Longfellow, King Olaf and Earl Sigwald {^, 573).
Stanzas with the scheme abba also belong to this group,!
the two halves not being exactly equal, but only similar to each!
other on account of the unequal arrangement of rhymes.
Such a stanza of four-foot iambic verses occurs in an elegy off
Ben Jonson's {Poets, iv. 571) :
Though beauty be the mark 0/ praise,
And yours of whom 1 sing be such,
As not the world can praise too much.
Yet is' t your virtue now I raise.
and notably in Tennyson's In Memoriam. Both this stanza
and the similar stanza of trochaic verses are found pretty often
(qH. Metrik,\\, § 311).
§ 255. More frequently five-lined stanzas occur. One on
the scheme abbaa^, similar to that just mentioned, is used
CHAP. IV BIPARTITE ISOMETRICAL STANZAS 309
in Sidney, Psahn, XXVIII) others, composed in various
metres, have a one-rhymed frons or cauda, e. g. aaahh^ in
Wyatt, p. 128, aabbb^ in Moore (-5"//// when Daylight) and
other poets. Of greater importance are some stanzas on the
formula aabab\ they may be looked upon as isometrical tail-
rhyme-stanzas, shortened by one chief verse ; 2i's>aabaB^^ often
occurring in Dunbar, e. g. in The DeviTs Inquest, and in Wyatt,
p. 29 :
My lute awake, perform the last
Labour, that thou and I shall waste,
And end that I have now begun ;
And when this song is sung and past ^
My lute / be still, for I have done.
Another form of this stanza, consisting of five-foot lines with
refrain, occurs in Swinburne, hi an Orchard {Poems ^ i. 116),
and a variety consisting of three-foot verses is found in Drayton's
Ode to Himself {VoQis, iii, p. 587). More frequently this stanza
is found with the two parts in inverted order {a baa ^4), as in
Moore :
I Take back the sigh, thy lips of art
In passions moment breath' d to me :
! Vet, no — it must not, will not part,
'Tis now the life-breath of my heart,
And has become too pure for thee.
There are also five-foot iambic and three-foot iambic-
I anapaestic and other lines connected in this way, as in
G. Herbert (p. 82); in Longfellow, Enceladus (p. 595); on the
[scheme abccb^ in Wordsworth, i, 248; and in R. Browning
[according to the formula ab ccb^ (vi. 77). The allied form of
istanza, a abb a, probably originating by inversion of the two
ilast verses of the former stanza {a aba b), occurs in Middle
{English in the poem Of the Cuckoo and the Nightingale}
The god of love, — a I benedicite.
How mighty and how greet a lord is he!
For he can make of lowe hertes hye,
And of hye lowe, and lyke for to dye,
And harde hertes he can maken free.
* Chaucerian and other Pieces, &c., ed. Skeat, Oxford, 1897, p. 347.
310 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS
The same stanza, both of four- and five-foot lines, is M
quently employed by Dunbar; e.g. On his Heid-Ake, Thi\
Visitation of St. Francis, &c. We find it also in modern poetsj
composed of the same, or of other verses ; Moore, e.g., has usee
it with five-foot iambic-anapaestic lines, in At the mid hour aj^
Night.
A stanza on the model abahb is a favourite in Moderr
English ; it is formed from the four-lined stanza {abab) b}
repeating the last rhyme. It consists of the most different kinds,
of verse; an example is Carew's To my inconstant Mistress
(Poets, iii. 678):
When thou, poor excommunicate
From all the joys of love, shalt see
The full reward, and glorious fate,
Which my strong faith shall purchase me,
Then curse thine own inconstancy.
For other specimens in lines of five, three, and four feet see
Metrik, ii. 307.
Much less common is the form abbab, which occurs e. g. in
Coleridge's Recollections of Love (abba ^4).
Five-lined stanzas of crossed rhymes are not very rare ; an
example of the foim abab a^ is found in R. Browning's Tht
Patriot (iv. 149) :
// was roses, roses, all the way,
; , : With myrtle 7?iixed in my path like mad :
The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway,
The church-spires flamed, such flags they had,
A year ago on this very day.
. For specimens of other forms see Metrik, ii, § 318.
§ 256. The simplest kind of isometrical stanzas of this group
is that in which the four-lined one-rhymed stanza is extended by:
the addition of a couplet with a new rhyme, so that it forms
a six-lined stanza. A Latin stanza of this kind consisting of
Septenary verses is given in Wright's Pol. Poems, i. 253, and
a Middle English imitation of it, ib. p. 268, in the poem On the
Minorite Friars. The same stanza composed of four-stressed
verses is used by Minot in his poem Of the batayl of Banochurn
(ib.i.6i):
5'ij|(JHAP.iv BIPARTITE ISOMETRICAL STANZAS 311
Skol/es out of Berwik and 0/ Abi'rdene,
At the Bannok burn war ^e to kene ;
Thare slogh ^e many sakles, ah it was sene ;
;|j And now has king Edward wroken it, I wene.
It es wrokin, I wefie, wele wurth the while ;
War pt with the Skottes, for thai er ful of gile.
Here the frons is connected with the cauda, which recurs in
■j each stanza as a kind of refrain, by means of concatenatio.
Ij,^ Two other poems of Minot's (v, ix) are written in similar
istanzas of six and eight lines. In the ten-lined stanza of the
poem in Wright's Spec. ofZyr. Poetry, p. 25, which is of similar
structure, we find the doubling of the frons.
A six-lined stanza of this kind, which has the formula
\aaah B B {BB being refrain-verses), is used by Dunbar in
Ibis Gray-Horse poem and in Luve Erdly and Divine. The
latter begins :
Now culit is Dame Venus brand;
Trew Luvis fyre is ay kindilland,
And I begyn to undir stand,
In feynit luve quhat foly bene ;
Now cumis Aige quhair Yowth hes bene,
j And true Luve ry sis fro the splene.
The same kind of stanza occurs in Wyatt, p. 137. Other
orms are: aababb^, in Wyatt, p. 71; abccba^m John
jScott, Conclusion (Poets, ix. 773); abcbca^ in Tennyson,
4 Character (p. 12) :
With a half glance upon the sky
j At night he said, ' The wanderings
! Of this most intricate Universe
I Teach me the nothingness of things.^
Yet could not all creation pierce
Beyond the bottom of his eye.
Longer isometrical stanzas are unfrequent, and need hardly
3e mentioned here (cf. Metrik, ii, p. 556).
III. Bipartite unequal-member ed anisometrical stanzas.
§ 257. Two-lined and four-lined stanzas. The shortest
tanzas of this kind consist of two anisometrical lines, rhyming
n couplets, e. g. four- and five-foot, five- and three-foot lines, &c.
312 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
These have been mentioned before (§ 207) ; but as a rule the^
are used, like the heroic couplet, in continuous systems only
without strophic arrangement.
The PouUers Measure (§§ 146, 206) must be mentioned ir
this place. This metre, also, is in narrative poetry employee
without strophic arrangement ; but in lyrical poetry it is some-
times written in stanzas. In this case it is mostly printed as i
stanza of four lines, even when rhyming in long lines, i. e. witfc
intermittent rhyme {ah^c^b^\ e.g. in Tennyson, Marriagt
Morning (p. 285):
Lights so low upon earth,
You send a flash to the suti,
Here is the golden close of love,
All my wooing is done.
The division into stanzas is . still more distinctly recognizable
when there are crossed rhymes {a h^ a^ ^3), as e. g. in a song in
Percy's Reliques, I. ii. 2, The Aged Lover renounceth Love (quoted
by the grave-digger in Shakespeare's Hamlet') :
/ lothe that I did love, 1
In youth that I thought swete, i
As time requires : for my behove 1
Me thinkes they are not mete. f
This stanza occurs very frequently (cf. Metrik, ii, § 321), but
is rarely formed of trochaic verses.
Another rare variety on the scheme a-^'b^c^b^ is found in
Mrs. Hemans, The Stream is free (vii. 42), and in M. Arnold's
The Neckan (p. 167).
Similar to the common Poulter's Measure stanza is another
stanza of iambic-anapaestic verses on the formula a a^ b^ a^ (in h
middle-rhyme is used, so that the scheme may also be given as
aa^bb^ a^). We find it in Burns, the <7-rhymes being masculine
(p. 245) and feminine (p. 218).
Four-lined stanzas of two rhyming couplets of unequal length
are fairly common ; as e. g. on the model aa^bb^ in Dryden,
Hymn for St. fohn's Eve :
Oy sylvan prophet / whos^ eternal fame
Echoes from fudah' s hills and for dan's stream,
The music of our numbers raise,
And tune our voices to thy praise.
CHAP. IV BIPARTITE ANISOMETRICAL STANZAS 313
Other schemes that occur are aa^bb^, aab^b^, aab^b^,
\aa^b^b<^, a^a^bb^^ a^a^bb^; there are even forms with lines
of unequal length in each part, as e.g.: a^a^b^b^, ^7«4^2<^6»
a^a^b^b^, a^a^b^b^. For examples see Metrik, ii (§§ 322-4).
Enclosing rhymes are also found ; and in this case the lines
of the same length usually rhyme together, as in the formula
^3 b b^ a.^ in Mrs. Hemans, The Song 0/ Night (vi. 94) :
/ come to theCy 0 Earth !
With all my gifts !—for every flower sweet dew
In bell, and urn, and chalice, to renetv
The glory of its birth.
Sometimes verses are used partly of unequal length : a^, b^ b^ a^
in M. Arnold, A Nameless Epitaph (p. 232), or ^5 ^2 ^4 ^5 5
ibb^a^, &c. (cf. Metrik, ii, § 325).
\ 258. Stanzas of this kind frequently occur with crossed
•hymes. Most commonly Iwo longer verses are placed between
wo shorter ones, or vice versa; thus we have the formula
hbar^b^ in Southey's The Ebb-Tide (ii. 193):
Slowly thy flowing tide
Came in, old Avon I scarcely did mine eyes,
1 As watchfully I roanid thy green-wood side,
\ Perceive its gentle rise.
Other forms are a^ba^b,^, a^^ba^^b^, a-^ba^b^ (cf. Metrik, ii,
326).
Three isometrical verses and one shorter or longer end-verse
jan also be so connected, as e.g. on the scheme aba^b,^ in
*^ope, Ode on Solitude (p. 45) :
Happy the man whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound.
Content to breathe his native air,
In his own ground ;
X in Cowper on the model aba^b^ in Divine Love endures no
t?jW/(p. 418):
Love is the Lord whom I obey,
Whose will transported I perform ;
The centre of my rest, my stay.
Love 's all i7i all to me^ myself a worm.
Similar stanzas both with this and other arrangements of
lymes (as e.g. aba^b^, aba^b.^, aba^b^ are very popular.
314 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book d
A specimen of the first of these formulas is found in M. Arnold'.'
Progress (p. 252), and one of the second in his A Southern
Night (p. 294). For other examples see Metrik, ii, §§ 326-7.
More rarely a short verse begins the stanza (e. g. a^ba b^ in
Mrs. Hemans, The Wish, vi. 249), or is placed in the middle on
the scheme a^ b^ a b^ (as in G. Herbert, Church Lock and Key.
p. 61). For specimens see Metrik, ii, §§ 328, 329.
Stanzas of one isometrical and another anisometrical half are
not frequently met with ; a specimen of the form a b^ a- b^ is
found in G. Herbert's Employment (p. 51).
More common are stanzas of two anisometrical halves; ir,
this case either the two middle or the isolated verses are
generally isometrical ; e. g. on the scheme ^5 b a^ b^ in G. Herbert
The Temper (p. 49) :
How should I praise thee, Lord! how should my rymes
Gladly engrave thy love in steel,
If what my soul doth feel sometimes.
My soul might ever feel !
or on a^ b^ a^ br, in Milton, Psalm V (vol. iii, p. 24) :
Jehovah, to my words give ear,
My meditation weigh;
The voice of my complaining hear,
. My king and God, for unto thee I pray.
Stanzas like these are very much in vogue, and may be coi
posed of the most varied forms of verse (cf. Metrik, ii, § 330).
§ 259. Among the five-lined stanzas the first place must I
given to those in which the arrangement of rhymes is parallel
as these are found in Middle English as well as in Moden
English poetry. A stanza of form aaa^b^ b^ occurs in Wright*!
Spec, of Lyr, Poetry, p. 60 :
Wynter wakenep al my care,
nou pis hues waxep bare;
oftey sike ant mourne sare,
when hit comep in my pSht,
of this wSrldes ioie, hou hit gep dl to nSht.
A similar structure (a a a^ b^ b^) is shown in a stanza of i
poem quoted by Ritson, Ancient Songs, i. 129; the poem
belongs to the fifteenth century.
Still more numerous are these stanzas in Modern English ^
CHAP. IV BIPARTITE ANISOMETRICAL STANZAS 315
Cr^. the form aaa^bb^ occurs in Herbert, Sz'nne (p. 58),
aaa^b^b^ in Shelley (iii. 244), aaab^b^ in Suckling (Poets;
iii. 734); a still more irregular structure (<^j^a^bb^b^ is in
Cowley, All for love (Poets, v. 263):
'Ti's well, 'tis well with them, say I.
Whose short liv'd passions with themselves can die ;
For none can be unhappy who,
^ Midst all his ills, a time does know
(Though ne'er so long) when he shall not be so.
Here again we meet with the stanzas mentioned above, which
Ure partially characterized by enclosing rhymes, e.g. corre-
■^ponding to the formula abba, z^ in M. Arnold, On the Rhine
p. 223), or on the scheme aabbj^a^, as in Byron, Ohf
tch'd awaj', 8cc. (p. 12^):
Oh! snatch' d away in beauty's bloom,
On thee shall press no ponderous tomb ;
But on thy turf shall roses rear
Their leaves, the earliest of the year ;
And the wild cypress wave in tender gloom.
For other stanzas on the formulas aa^^bb^A^, a^bb^a^aj^,
i^bbr^aa^, &c., see Metrik (ii, §§ 332, 333).
In others the chief part of the stanza shows crossed rhyme,
IS e. g. on the scheme a bab^b^ in Poe, To Helen (p. 205) :
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea.
The weary way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.
\ Other stanzas take the forms a^^b^ar^b^br,, ar^b.^a/^b^br^,
l'4 K ^A ^3 ^2 > ^^- More uncommon are such forms as
\^bb^<i^br^, abr^b^ab^, &c. (For specimens see Metrik, ii,
I 334-)
Stanzas with crossed rhymes throughout, on the other hand,
re very frequent, as e. g. type abab^a^ in R. Browning's By
he Fireside {\\\, I'jd)'.
How well I know what I mean to do
When the long dark autumn evenings come ;
And where, my soul, is thy pleasant hue?
With the music of all thy voices, dumb
In lifers November too!
3i6 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
There are many other forms, sometimes very complicated, ai
e.g. abab^Uo, ab^a2^baQ, a^ba^b^^a^, &c. (For example;
see Metrik, ii, § 335.)
§ 260. The tail-rhyme stanzas shortened by one verse occupj
an important position among the five-lined stanzas.
These curtailed forms occur as early as the Middle English
period, e. g. in an envoi on the model a a^ b^ a^ b^ , forming th(
conclusion of a poem in six-lined stanzas (a a a^ b^ a^ b^), printec
in Wright's Spec. o/Lyr. Poetry, p. 38.
Ich wolde ich were a prestelcok,
A bountyng oper a lauerok,
Swete brydf
Bituene hire curtel ant hire smok
Y wolde ben hyd.
In Modern English the common form of stanza is mud
employed, consisting of four- and three-foot verses, aa^br^a^b^,
there are many varieties of this scheme, z.'S, aaba^b^^ a^abj^ a^ b^.
aa^baj^b^y &c. (cf. Metrik^ ii, § 336).
A similar form, with shortening in the first half-stanza, alsc
occurs in Middle English poetry, though only as an envo
of another form of stanza, viz, in the lowneley Mysteries
(pp. 34-323):
Vnwunne hauep myn wonges wet^
pat makep me roupes rede ;
Ne sem i nout per y am set,
per me callep me fule flet
And way noun/ wayteglede.
This stanza is also frequently used in Modern English, e. g.
by Thomas Moore, Nay, do not weep,
A similar stanza on the model ^4 b^ a a^ b^ is used by Moore
in Echo (ii. 211):
How sweet the answer Echo makes
To 7nusic at flight,
When, roused by lute or horn, she wakes,
And far away, o'er lawns and lakes,
Goes a?tswering light.
We find specimens of this stanza consisting of other metres
and of different structure (isometrical in the first half-stanza),
CHAP. IV BIPARTITE ANISOMETRICAL STANZAS 317
e.g. on the schemes a^b^aa^b^, abaa^^b.^, &c. (For speci-
,mens see Metrik, ii, § 337.)
Stanzas of this kind are also formed with three rhymes, e. g.
ah^cc^b^i ab^cc^bo,, a'-bj^c ^c-'^bj^, &c. (For specimens
of. Me/nk, ii, § 338.)
Another class of shortened tail-rhyme stanzas, which is
deficient not in one of the rhyming couplets, but in one of
the tail-verses, comes in here. Omission of the first tail-verse,
producing a stanza on the scheme a abbe, occurs in Words-
worth, The Blind Highland Boy (ii. 368) :
Now we are tired of boisterous joy,
Have romped enough, my little Boy /
Jane hangs her head upon my breast,
And you shall bring your stool and rest ;
This corner is your own.
Another stanza, which is used in Carew's Love's Courtship
(Poets, iii. 707), is formed on the scheme aa^b^cc^, where the
:ail-verse of the second half-stanza is wanting. As to the other
varieties, arising from the use of other metres, cf. Metrik, ii,
1338.
Sometimes stanzas of three rhymes occur, rhyming crosswise
f-hroughout, and of various forms, e. g. abac^ b-^ in Longfellow,
The Saga 0/ King Olaf {^. 565); ab^c^a^c<^ in Coleridge;
hbab^ C3 in Mrs. Hemans (iv. 119); abab^C^ in Moore,
Weep, Children 0/ Israel :
Weep, weep for him, the Man of God —
In yonder vale he sunk to rest ;
But none of earth can point the sod
That floivers above his sacred breast.
Weep, children of Israel, weep I
:*'or other varieties see Metrik, ii, § 339.
§ 261. Unequal-membered anisometrical stanzas of six
ines are only rarely met with in Middle English, as e.g.
la^bbba^ in Dunbar's poem, Aganis Treason.
They occur, on the other hand, very frequently in Modern
English, especially with parallel rhymes on the scheme
laaa^^B C2, in The Old and Young Courtier (Percy's ReL
I. iii. 8) :
3i8
THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS
BOOK
An old song made by an aged old pate,
0/ an old worshipful gentleman^ who had a greate estate.
That kept a brave old house at a bountiful rate,
And an old porter to relieve the poor at his gate ;
Like an old courtier of the queens,
And the queens old courtier.
For specimens of other stanzas, the rhymes of which
arranged in a similar way (according to a^aabb^b^,
with partly enclosing rhymes, as a^bbbb^a^, aabbb^a^
aa^bbba^, &c.), see Mefrik, ii, § 340.
Forms based upon the tail-rhyme stanza are very popular|
of great importance is the entwined form on a Provengal mo(
(of. Bartsch, Provenzalisches Lesebuch, p. 46) which was imitate
in Middle English poetry. It corresponds to the schei
aaa^b^aj^b'^ and gives the impression, according to Wolf
his book, tfber die Lais, &c., p. 230, note 67, that the secoi
part of a common tail-rhyme stanza is inserted into the fii
though it is also possible that it may have been formed from tl
extended tail-rhyme stanza aaa^b^aaa^b^ by shortening tl
second part by two chief verses. The first stanza of a poem
Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. 94, may serve as a specimen;
Ase y me rod pis ender day.
By grene wode to seche play,
Mid herte y pohte al on a may,
Suetest of alle pinge ;
Lype, and ich ou telle may
Al of pat suete pinge.
This stanza occurs frequently in the Towneley Mysteri
pp. 120-34, 254-69, &c. In Modern English, however,
find it very seldom; as an example (iambic-anapaestic vers
of four and three measures) we may refer to Campbell's Stam
on the battle of Navarino (p. 176).
More frequent in Modern English, on the other hand, is
variety of this stanza with two -foot tail- verses on the schei
aaa^^b2 a^ ^g ; it is especially common in Ramsay and Fergussoi
and occurs in several poems of Burns, e.g. in his Scotch Drit
(p. 6):
Let other Poets raise a fracas
'Bout vines, an wines, an drunken Bacchus,
An' crabbit navies an stories wrack us,
An grate our lug,
I sing the juice Scotch bear can mak us.
In glass or jug.
i CHAP. IV BIPARTITE ANISOMETRICAL STANZAS 319
The same form of stanza is used by Wordsworth and by
]\I. Arnold in his poem Kaiser Deadi^. 495).
The same stanza sometimes occurs with the order of the
parts inverted hke a^h^aaa^b^^ e.g. in Longfellow's Voices of
\the Night (p. 40).
I Other unequal-membered varieties of the anisometrical tail-
Irhyme stanza correspond to aa^b^a a^ bg (cf. the chapter on the
jSpenserian stanza and its imitations), aabcc^b.^ (M. Arnold,
Horatian Echo, p. 4^\ aabcc^b^, a^a^b^ccb^, a^a^ b^ c^ c^ b^ ,
aj^b^ac c^ b^ (entwined frons), a a^ bo c^ b^ c^ (entwined cauda).
For examples see Metrik, ii, § 343.
Here again we must mention stanzas which in their structure
are influenced by the tail-rhyme stanza and are formed on
|the scheme abcabc; of these we have several examples in
G. Herbert, on the scheme abc^ab^c^^ e.g. in Magdalena
;p. 183):
When blessed Marie wip'd her Saviour s feet,
(Whose precepts she had trampled on before)
And wore them for a Jewell on her head.
Shewing his steps should be the street,
Wherein she thenceforth evermore
With pensive humblenesse would live and tread*
Other stanzas of his correspond to a^bj^^c^c^b^a^,
hh^'i^i^5^S} &c. In Moore we have a similar stanza:
ib^C2ba^C2 which is unequal-membered on account of the
irrangement of rhyme (cf. Metrik, ii, § 344). An unusual form
|)f stanza, which may also be classed under this head, occurs in
^.Arnold's Human Life (p. 40), its formula being a^bj^cacb^,
§ 262. A stanza of seven lines is used in Dunbar's poem
^he Merchantis of Edinborough, formed on the scheme
"^aab^B^a^B^-, it is very interesting on account of the
duplication of the refrain-verses (-ffg, B^. Apart from the
bst short refrain-verse the arrangement of rhymes is the same
s it is in the entwined tail-rhyme stanza :
Quhy will }e, merchantis of renoun,
Lat Edinburgh, pur nobill toun.
For laik of reformatioun
The commone proffeitt iyne and fame?
Think p nohi schame,
That onie other regioun
Sail with dishonour hurt jour name f
320 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ij
The Modern English stanzas also mostly bear a greater o
less resemblance to the tail-rhyme stanza. This relationship i
evident in a stanza like aajjh.^c c c^h^^ used in Wordsworth
To the Daisy (iii. 42) :
Sweet flower ! belike one day to have
A place upon thy Poefs grave,
I welcome thee once more:
But He, who was on land, at sea,
My Brother, too, in loving thee.
Although he loved more silently,
Sleeps by his native shore,
A peculiar form of stanza occurring in M. Arnold's /
Utrumque Paratus (p. 45) with the formula a^b^ac b c^b^
likewise belongs to this group.
In other instances the longer part comes first on the mode
aaa^^b^c c^b^, e.g. in Mrs. Hemans, The Sun (iv. 251).
Other stanzas correspond io a a^b^c c c^ B^ and aaab c c.^ b-
In other cases the equal-membered tail-rhyme stanza become
unequal-membered by adding to the second tail-verse anothe,
verse rhyming with it, the formula being then aaj^B^aa^b B
(e.g. in Longfellow, Victor Galbraith, p. 503) or aa^b^c c^ b^B
(in Moore, Little man), or aa^b^c^c-'b b^ (id., The Pilgrim).
Less closely allied to the tail-rhyme stanza are the forms whici
are similar to it only in one half-strophe, e.g. those on th
model a^b^abc Cj^ b^ (Shelley, To Night, iii. 62), ab^cc^aa^h
(id. Lines, iii. ^6), ab b^ r^a R^^ r^ (Tennyson, A Dirge, p. 16]
For other examples see Metrik, ii, § 347.
§ 263. There are also some eight-, nine-, and ten-line<
stanzas similar to the tail-rhyme stanza. An eight-lined stanzj
of the form a^ b a^ c^, bj^ d d^ c.^ occurs in Herbert, The Glanc
(p. 1 8), and one of the form a^a'^^B c^dc^ d^B^'m. Moore'
Thee, thee, only thee :
The dawning of morn, the daylighfs sinking,
The night's long hours still find me thinking
Of thee, thee, only thee.
When friends are met, and goblets crown' d,
And smiles are near, that once enchanted.
Unreached by all that sunshine round,
My soul, like some dark spot, is haunted
By thee, thee, only thee.
pHAP.iv BIPARTITE ANISOMETRICAL STANZAS 321
! A stanza used by Wordsworth in Stray Pleasures (iv. 12)
|:onesponds io aa^b^c c dd^ b^.
\ Two stanzas used by M. Arnold correspond to the formulas
% a^ b.2 c^ d^ ^3 d^ b^ {a a printed as one line) in A Question (p. 44),
md aa^b^cc^db d^ in The World and the Quieiist (p. 46).
A stanza of nine lines is found in Tennyson's Lady of
Shalott (p. 28); it is on the scheme aaaabcc c^b; one of
en lines in his Greeting to the Duchess of Edinburgh (p. 261)
)n the model ab b a^C^d e e d^ C^ (cf. Metrik, ii, § 349).
Other stanzas of this kind are related to the Septenary or
he Poulter's Measure^ e. g. those on the schemes a,^b^abc dcj^ d^,
I 5 a^b^c d^ c^ d^, and a b^ ^4 b^ c^ d<2 c^ d^^ examples of which,
rom MoorC; are given in Metrik, ii, § 348.
Stanzas of eleven and twelve lines are rare. For ex-
;imples see Metrik, ii, § 350.
i § 264. The bob-wlieel stanzas. This important class of
ipartite unequal-membered anisometrical stanzas was very
nuch in vogue in the Middle English period. They consist (see
222) of z. frons (longer verses of four stresses, or Septenary
nd Alexandrine verses) and a cauda^ which is formed of
horter verses and is joined to the frons by one or several
bob-verses ', belonging generally to the first part or * upsong '
in German Aufgesang).
Sometimes it is doubtful whether these stanzas belong to the
ipartite or to the tripartite class, on account of the variety of
ihymes in the frons. But as they mostly consist of two quite
inequal parts, they certainly stand in a closer relationship to
pe bipartite stanzas.
i A simple stanza of this kind on the scheme A A^C^B^
jccurs in William of Shoreham (printed in short lines on the
iodel A^ ^3 Q B^ d^ E^ D^ :
Nou here we mote in this sermon of ordre maky sa^e.
Then was bytokned suithe wel wylom by the ealde lawe
To aginne,
Tho me made Godes hous and ministres therinne.
A six-lined stanza of Alexandrines and Septenaries on the
:heme A A B BqC ^Cq is found in the poem On the evil Times
^Edward //(Wright's Polit. Songs, p. 323). Another variety
jriginated by the breaking up of the longer verses into short
jaes by inserted rhyme, as in the closing stanzas of a poem
\f Minot (ed. Hall, p. 17) according to the formula
BABABAB^Cy^AC^) cf. the last stanza ;
5CHIPPER Y
322 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
King Edward, /rely fode,
In Fraunce he will noghi hlin
To make his f amen wode
That er wonand tharein.
God, thai rest on rode,
For sake of Adams syn^
Strenkith him maine and mode,
His reght in France to win,
And have.
God grante him graces gode.
And fro all sins us save.
A similar form of stanza {A B A B A B A B^c^B C^) is usee
in the Romance of Sir Tristrem; that of the Scottish poen
Christ's Kirk on the Green, however, is formed on the mode
A^B^A^B^A^B^b^B,.
§ 265. Still more common than stanzas of this kind com
posed of even-beat verses, are those of four-stressed rhymint
verses with or without alliteration.
Under this head comes a poem in Wright's Polit. Songs
p. 69 (cf. § 60), on the scheme AAAA^B^c^ C^B^, or rathe
A A A A^^d^c^c^B^^ the bob- verse being thus inserted in th(
Cauda. The common form comes out more clearly in anothe;
poem, ibid., p. 212 (st. i, quoted pp. loo-i), corresponding tc
AAAA^biCc.^h^, where A A A A^^ a-re verses of four stresses
d a one-stressed bob-verse or the half-verse of a long line, c c^ h.
half- verses of two stresses.
The Tournament of Tottenham (Ritson's Anc. Songs, i. 85-9
is written in a similar form of stanza with the formuk
A A A A^b c c c bc^] the cauda consisting of five verses with twc
stresses only.
This form of stanza is further developed by connecting th(
halves of the long lines with each other by the insertion 0
rhymes in the same way as in the stanzas of isometrical verses
An example may be seen in Wright's Polit. Songs, p. 153, tli(
scheme being AAAAj^bb-^b^ or A A AA^b^bc^b^ (or, with)
the longer lines broken up, A B A B A B A B^cc-^c^y 01'
A B A B A B A B^c^c^C^, Sec).
Similar stanzas, especially those on the model
AAAA^b-^ccc^b^ {ABABA BAB^c^ddd^c^)
were much used in the mystery plays, as e. g. in the Townelej
Mysteries (pp. 20-34), even when in the dialogue the single line;
are divided between different speakers (cf Metrik, i, pp. 390-O
CHAP. IV BIPARTITE ANISOMETRICAL STANZAS 323
The four-stressed long lines sometimes alternate with Alexan-
drine and Septenary verses. In these plays stanzas of an eight-
lined/rons consisting of long verses, rhyming crosswise and corre-
sponding io A B AB ABAB^c-^ddd^c^diXe also common :
Peasse at my bydyng, ye wyghiys in wold!
Looke none be so hardy to speke a word hot I,
Or by Mahwne most myghty, maker on mold^
With this brande that I here ye shalle bytterly aby ;
Say, wote ye not that I am Pylate, perles to behold?
Most doughty in dedes of dukys of the fury,
In bradyng of batels I am the most bold.
Therefor my name to you wille I descry,
No mys.
I am fulle of sotelty,
Falshod, gylt, and trechery ;
Therefor am I namyd by clergy
As mali actoris.
Other stanzas, the first cauda-vQr?>e of which has four beats
pn the scheme A B A B A B A B C^dddc^^ were also very
nuch in vogue. Stanzas of this kind occur in the poems
j-olagros and Gawane, The Buke of the Howlat, Rauf Coil^ear,
ind The Awntyrs of Arthur e at the Terne Wathelyne (S. T. S.
/ol. 28; cf. § 61). An interesting variety of the common
brm (with a five-lined cauda) we have in the poem Of sayne
fohn the Euangelist (E. E. T. S., 26, p. 87). The stanza
|:onsists of an eight-lined frons of crossed rhymes and a cauda
[ormed by a six-lined tail-rhyme stanza* of two-beat verses,
i)n the scheme ABABABABj^ccdccd^.
As to the rhythmical structure of the half-verses used in the
auda of the stanza cf. the explanations given in § 64.
i §266. The bob-wheel stanzas ^ were preserved in the North
|n Scottish poetry (e.g. Alex. Montgomerie) up to the Modern
English period.^ It is not unlikely that they found their way
|rom this source into Modern English poetry, where they are
Iso met with, though they have not attained any marked
>opularity.
^ This form of stanza is of great itoportance in the anisometrical * lays *,
/hich cannot be discussed in this place (cf. Metrik, i, § 168). In these
joems the strophic arrangement is not strictly followed throughout, but
>nly in certain parts ; a general conformity only is observed in these cases.
I ' As to this form cf. Huchowtis Pistel of Swete Susan, herausgeg. von
!)r. H. Koster, Strassburg, 1895 {Q^ellen und Forschungen, 76), pp. 15-36.
' Cf. R. Brotanek, Alexander Montgomerie, Vienna, 1896.
Y 2
324 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book
It must, however, be kept in mind that the Modern Englis
bob-wheel stanzas are not a direct imitation of the Middl
English. Sometimes they were influenced probably by the odef
as there is a marked likeness between these two forms, e. g. i
two stanzas of Donne (Poets^ iv. 24 and 39) on the scheme
ABAB CC^dd^D^2ind Ar^A^B^C C^B^d^D E Er,', ori:
a stanza of Ben Jonson in an ode to Wm. Sidney (Poe/s, iv
558) on the model A^B^c c^B^adde^ -£'5, and in another in Th
Dream (iv. 566), AA^B^C C^ A^A^B^b^D D^ EE^ B^.
In this and other cases they consist of even-measured, seldoti
of four-stressed verses, as e.g. in Suckling, who seems to hav
been very fond of these forms of stanza; cf. the followinj!
stanza on the model A A^B^cc-^b^ {Poets, iii. 736) :
Thai none beguiled be by time's quick flowing,
Lovers have in their hearts a clock still going ;
For though time be nimble, his motions
Are quicker
And thicker
Where love hath its notions.
Other bob-wheel stanzas in Suckling show the sche:
A A^a.^b b^ (ib. iii. 740), A A A^B B^c^c-^^C D^ d^ (ib. iii. 72
AABB^c^cd^Dr^{:ih.^^ci).
More similar to the older forms is a stanza of a song ii
Dryden formed after A A B B C C^dde e^e^ (p. 339).
In Modern poetry such stanzas are used especially by Bums
Scott, and sometimes by Moore. So we have in Burns a fini
simple stanza on the model Ai^B.^Aj^B<^c-^B^, similar to tJH
Shoreham stanza (cf. § 264) :
// was a' for our rightfu king
We left fair Scotland's strand, §:,
It was a* for our rightfu king
We e'er saw Irish land.
My dear ;
We e'er saw Irish land.
Similar stanzas occur in Mooreon the formula Aj^B^A^B^a-^B
in Then fare thee well, on A^B'^^A^^B ^^c^B ^^in Dear Fanny
Other stanzas by the same poet have a somewhat longer cauda
2LsA^B^^A^B'^^c^c^d'^d'-'-^A4^C-^Q
or A B'^ A B-'C'-C -^dd^EF'-EF-i
A stanza used by Sir Walter Scott in To the Sub-Prim
(p. 461) is formed on the model A A B B^c^c^ C^, the frofi'
consisting of four-stressed verses :
M
HAP.iv BIPARTITE ANISOMETRICAL STAN^AS 325
Good evening. Sir Priest, and so late as you ride.
With your mule so fair, and your mantle so wide ;
But ride you through valley, or ride you der hill,
There is one that has warrant to wait on you still.
Back, back.
The volume black!
I have a warrant to carry it back.
Most of these stanzas admit of being looked upon as tri-
artite on account of the bipartite structure of \kitfrons.
Other stanzas may be viewed as consisting of three unequal
larts (if not regarded as bipartite); such, for instance, is the
i.anza on the scheme (a) ~ ^ ~{b)~ B -^ c-^ (d) D^ b-^i eeecc2C^
jccurring in Shelley's Autumn, A Dirge (iii. 65), where the
ymbols (a) and {b) denote middle rhymes.
Stanzas of this kind are met with also in modern poetry, as
g. in Thackeray, Mrs. Browning, and Rossetti (cf. Metrik, ii,
S353, 354).
I
CHAPTER V
TRIPARTITE STANZAS
I. Isometrical stanzas.
§ 267. In the anisometrical stanzas (which might, as being
the older species, have been treated of first) the distinction
between the first and the last part of the stanza {frons and
Cauda) is marked as a rule by a difference of metre in them;
in isometrical stanzas, on the other hand, the distinction
between the two parts depends solely on the arrangement of the
rhyme. For this reason certain six-lined stanzas consisting
of two equal parts and a third of the same structure (the
formula being a ab b c Cj^ox iht like), which now and then occur
in the Surtees Psalter (e. g. Ps. xliv, st. 5), cannot strictly be
called tripartite.
Stanzas like these are, however, not unfrequent in Modern
English poetry, as e.g. in a song of Carew's {Poets, iii. 292):
Cease, thou afflicted soul, to mourn,
Whose love and faith are paid with scorn;
For I am starv'd that feel the blisses
Of dear embraces^ smiles and kisses,
From my souTs idol, yet complain
Of equal love more than disdain.
For an account of many other stanzas of the same or
similar structure (consisting of trochaic four-foot lines, iambic-
anapaestic lines of four stresses, or lines of five, six, and
seven measures), see Metrik, ii, §§ 355, 356.
It is only rarely that we find stanzas formed on the schemci
aaaabb {Q.%.\xi the Surtees Psalter, xlix. 21 ; in Ben Jonson,|
Poets, iv. 574) ; or on the formula a abb abj^, as in SwinbumCiJ
Poems, i. 248.
One form, analogous to the stanza first mentioned in this|
section and used pretty often in Modern English, has crossed"
rhymes ab ab ab. It occurs with four-foot verses in Byron,
She walks in Beauty :
;hap.v tripartite ISOMETRICAL stanzas 327
She walks in beauty^ like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies :
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes ;
Thus mellow' d to that tender light
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.
The same stanza of trochaic or iambic-anapaestic metres of
;hree or five measures is also frequently met with (cf. Metrik^
i, § 358).
The tripartite character of a strophe appears somewhat more
distinctly in stanzas formed on the scheme ababbb, or
habbx {(::{, Metrik, ii, § 359).
The only stanzas, however, that are in the strictest sense to be
egarded as tripartite are those in which the first and the last
art are clearly distinguished by the arrangement of rhymes, as
. g. in the type ab abc c. This stanza is very popular in
[Modern English poetry ; in the Middle English period, however,
!\ve find it very rarely used, as e. g. in the Coventry Mysteries,
'^- 315.
In Modern English it occurs e.g. in Surrey, A Prayse of his
Love{^.^i)'.
I Give place, ye lovers, here before
I That spend your boasts and brags in vain ;
My Lady's beauty passeth more
The best of yours, I dare well sqyen.
Than doth the sun the candle light,
Or brightest day the darkest night.
This form of stanza is used with lines of the same metres by
jmany other poets, e.g. by M. Arnold, pp. 195, 197, 256, 318.
jSimilar stanzas of four-foot trochaic (cf. p. 285), or of four-
stressed verses, and especially of five-foot verses, are very
^popular. They are found e.g. in Shakespeare's Venus and
Adonis, M. Arnold's Mycerinus (first part, p. 8), &c. (cf. Metrik,
»;§§ 360, 361).
: Similar stanzas, however, in which the frons precedes the
\versus, according to the formula aabcbc (cf. p. 285), do not
joccur frequently; a rare form, also, is that in which the cauda is
iplaced between the two pedes (cf. p. 285 and Metrik, ii, § 362).
i § 268. Still more popular than the six-lined stanzas, both in
ithe Middle and in the Modern English periods, are those of
seven lines, which are modelled on Old French lyric poetry, the
^28 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i:
prevailing type being that of an Old French ballade-stanza, vi
abahbc c. But it is not before the middle of the fifteenth centui
that we meet with an example of this stanza consisting of foui
foot verses, viz. in Lydgate's Minor Poems {Percy Society, 1840]
p. 129; a specimen of four-stressed verses occurs in tl
Chester Plays, pp. 1-7 and pp. 156-8. We may, however, tal
it for granted that this form of stanza was known long befoi
that time, since four-foot verses were used much earlier thj
77 those of five feet, and a .«ix-lined stanza of five-foot vei
occurs (for the first time, so far as we know) as early as
Chaucer's Compleynte of the Dethe of Pile, and subsequently
many other of his poems (e.g. Troylus and Cryseyde, Th
Assembly of Fowles, The Clerkes Tale) and in numerous othe
poems of his successors, e. g. in The Kingis Quair by Kinj
James I of Scotland. It has been sometimes maintained ths
this stanza was called rhyme royal stanza because that roya
poet wrote his well-known poem in it; this, however, is no
so. Guest long ago pointed out (ii. 359) that this name is
be derived from the French term chant-royal, applied to certaii
poems of similar stanzas which were composed in praise of Go<
. or the Virgin, and used to be recited in the poetical contests
Rouen on the occasion of the election of a ' king '. Chaucer'i
verses to Adam Scrivener are of this form and may be quoU
as a specimen here (after Skeat's text, p. 118):
Adam scriveyn, if euer it thee bifalle
Boece or Troylus to writen newe.
Under thy lokkes thou most haue the scalle,
But after my making thou write trewe.
So oft a day I mot thy werk renewe
Hit to correcte and eek to rubbe and scrape^
And al is through thy negligence and rape.
In Modern English this beautiful stanza was very popular up
to the end of the sixteenth century ; Shakespeare, e. g., wrote his
Lucrece in it ; afterwards, however, it unfortunately fell almos
entirely out of use (cf. Metrik, ii, § 364).
The same form of stanza, composed of two-, three-, or four-
foot verses also occurs almost exclusively in the Early Modern
English period (cf. ib., § 363).
Some varieties of this stanza, mostly formed of three-, four-j
and five-foot verses, correspond to the schemes ababcch^
(e.g. in Akenside, Book I, Ode iii), ababcbc^ (Spenser,
Daphnaida, p. 542), ababcbc^ (R. Browning, vi. 41). Other
cHAP.v TRIPARTITE iSOMETRtCAL STANZAS 329
stanzas of seven lines are ababcca^, aabbccuj^, aabbacc^^
ababCdC^, aabbccc^, ababccc^, ababc c c^^ abaccdd^
(for specimens see Metrik, ii, §§ 365, 366).
§ 269. Eight-lined isometrical stanzas are also frequently
used in the Middle and Modern English period, though not so
often as those of six and seven lines.
The scheme ababbaba, formed from the simple equal-
membered stanza of eight lines ab ababab, it would seem,
by inversion of the last two couplets, is rare in Middle English.
|We find it in the Digby PlaySy consisting of four-foot verses.
In Modern English, too, it is not very common ; we have an
example in Wyatt, e. g. pp. 118, 135, and another in the same
poet, formed of five-foot verses {ababb ab a^, p. 135.
Much more in favour in the Middle as well as in the Modern
jEnglish period is the typical form of the eight-lined stanza,
borresponding to the scheme ababbcbc. It is formed from
he preceding stanza by the introduction of a new rhyme in the
jixth and eighth verses, and it had its model likewise in a popular
Dallade-stanza of Old French lyrical poetry.
In Middle English poetry this stanza is very common, consist-
ng either of four-stressed verses (e. g. in The Lyfe of Joseph of
irimaihta, E. E. T. S., vol. 44, and On the death of the Duke of
Suffolk, Wright's Poltt. Poems ^ ii. 232) or of four-foot or five-
oot verses. As an example of the form consisting of four-foot
lerses we may quote a stanza from Wright's Polit, Songs,
). 246 :
A tie pat beop of huerte trewe,
A stounde herknep to my song
I Of duelj pat dep hap diht us newe
pat makep me syke ant sorewe among I
I Of a knyht, pat wes so strong
1 Cf wham god hap don ys wille ;
Me pmichep pat dep hap don vs ivrong,
pat he so sone shal It'gge stille.
Many other examples occur in later poetry, e.g. in Minot,
ydgate, Dunbar, Lyndesay, in Wyatt, p. 119, Burns, p. 59,
/alter Scott, p. 160, &c.
Similar stanzas of two-stressed and three-foot verses are only
" rare occurrence ; we find them e. g. in Percy's Rel, II. ii. 3 ;
yatt, p. 41.
The same stanza, consisting of five-foot verses, was used by
330 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
Chaucer in his AB d the first stanza of which may be quoted
here:
Almyghty and al merciahle Queue,
To whom that al this world fleeth for socour
To have relees of siftne, sorwe, and teenel
Glorious Virgyne, of alle floures flour,
To thee I flee, confounded in errour 1
Help, and releve, thou mighty debonaire,
Have mercy of my perilous langour I
Venquysshed m* hath my cruel adversaire.
Chaucer uses the same stanza in some other minor poems,
and also in The Monkes Tale', besides this we find it often
in Lydgate, Dunbar, Kennedy ; more rarely in Modern English
poetry; e.g. in Spenser's Shepheard's Cal., Eel. XI, S. Daniel's
Cleopatra, &c.
Now and then some other eight-lined stanzas occur, e.g.
one with the foiinula ahahhccb in Chaucer's Complaynt oj
Venus, and in the Flyting by Dunbar and Kennedy. The
scheme aahb c dc d is used in a love-song {Rel. Ant. i. 70-4).
In the Modern English period we have stanzas on the schemes
a'-'ba^bccd^d^^ (in Sidney, Psalm XLIIl), ab ab c ccb^
(Scott, Helvellyn, p. 472), a^ba'^bc^c^d^d^^ (Moore) ; cf
Metrik, ii, §§369-71.
There are also eight-lined stanzas formed by combination with
tail-rhyme stanzas, as aabaabc c^, aabc c ddb^, but they are
not frequent; a stanza corresponding to the formula aabaabcc^
we have in Spenser, Epigram III (p. 586) ; and the variety
aabc cddb^ (the cauda being enclosed by the pedes) occurs in
Moore.
The same peculiarity we find in stanzas formed on the
scheme AAbcbc A A^ (Moore), or aabcbcdd^ (Words-
worth, ii. 267); cf. Metrik, ii, §§ 372, 373.
§270. Stanzas of a still larger compass are of rare occur-
rence in Middle English poetry. A nine-lined stanza corre-
sponding to the formula aabaabb c c^we have in Chaucer's
Complaynt of Mars] it seems to be formed from the rhyme
royal stanza, by adding one verse to each pes-, but it might
also be looked upon as a combination with the tail-rhyme
stanza. Another stanza of this kind, with the formula
aabaabbab^, is used in Chaucer's Complaynt of Faire
Anelyda and in Dunbar's Goldin Targe.
A similar stanza, corresponding to the formula aabccbdbd^y,
I
CHAP.v TRIPARTITE ISOMETRlCAL STANZAS 331
occurs in Modern English poetry in John Scott, Ode XII,
Other stanzas used in the Modern English period are formed
with parallel rhymes, as e. g. on the scheme aaahbb c c c^
(Walter Scott, Lady of the Lake^ p. 187); forms with crossed
rhymes throughout or partly are also used, as e. g. by Wyatt,
p. 121, according to the formula ab abcc c dd^\
My love is like unto tJi eternal fire,
And I as those which therein do remain ;
Whose grievous pains is but their great desire
To see the sight which they may not attain:
So in hell's heat myself I feel to be,
That am restrained by great extremity ^
The sight of her which is so dear to me.
01 puissant Love! and power of great avail!
By whom hell may be felt ere death assail!
Asto other schQmes (ababbcdcdQ,ababbcbcc^, ababcdcdl?^,
babcdcdd^, &c.) cf. Metrik, ii, §§ 374-6.
§ 271. A Middle English stanza often lines, similar to those
f nine lines, is used by Chaucer in the Envoy to his Complaynt
Mars and Venus {a ab aab b a ab^; another on the model
h abb c cbbb^ is found in a poem Long Life (E. E. T. S., 49,
p. 156, quoted in Metrik, i. p. 421).
Some of the Modern English stanzas again are formed by
:ombination with different varieties of the tail-rhyme stanza, as
i. g. one according to the formula a a b'^ c c b^ dd e e^m Prior,
The Parallel (Poets, vii. 507) : '
Prometheus^ forming Mr. Day,
Carv'd something like a man in clay.
The mortal's work might well miscarry ;
He, that does heaven and earth control,
Alone has power to form a soul,
His hand is evident in Harry.
' Since one is but a moving clod,
i T'other the lively form of God;
^Squire Walk's, you will scarce be able
To prove all poetry but fable.
A stanza of trochaic verses corresponding to a similar
|)Cheme, viz. aabccbdddb^, is used by Tennyson in The
Window (p. 284).
Sometimes the scheme is ababccdeed^ (where there are
wo pedes forming 'A.frons, and a tail-rhyme stanza equivalent to
wo versus)^ as in Akenside, Book I, Ode II {Poets, ix. 773).
5^2 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book it
Some stanzas, on the other hand, have a parallel arrange-
ment of rhymes, aabbccddeE{eE being the cauda) as in
Walter Scott, Soldier^ Wake (p. 465) ; or more frequently!
crossed rhymes, ababcdcdee^, ababcdcdee^, the first*
eight verses forming the upsong {pedes); or with a iowxr
MiitdiViliSOVig a a b b c d c d e e^, a a b b cddede^^ababbc cdc D^.
The last-mentioned form has been used several times by Swin-
burne, e.g. Poems, ii, pp. 126, 215, 219, &c., in his ballads.
For specimens see Meirik, ii, §§ 379-81.
§ 272. Stanzas of eleven lines are very scarce in Middl<
English poetry, if used there at all, and even in Modern Eng-
lish very few examples occur. A stanza of Swinburne's ma]
be mentioned here, imitated from an Old French ballade- (o^
rather chant-royal) stanza, corresponding to the formula
ab ab c c ddedE^ and used in a Ballad against the Enemies 0}
France (Poems, ii. 212). Cf. Metrik^ ii, §382.
Twelve-lined stanzas are much more frequently used, even
in Middle English poetry ; one of four-foot verses according to
the scheme ab ab ab abb cb C (the stanzas being connected
into groups by concatenatio) occurs in the fine fourteenth-cen-
tury poem, The Pearl. Another of four-stressed verses corre-
sponding to the formula ababababcdcd^ft have in Wright's
Polit. Songs, p. 149; one of four-foot verses together with other*
forms of stanzas (abababababab, ababc dc defef) we'
have in the poem on the Childhood of Christ (ed. Horstmann,;
Heilbronn, 1878).
But it is chiefly in Modern English poetry that stanzas of!
twelve lines are very common, especially stanzas consisting off
three equal parts, with crossed rhymes. In some of these i
there is no difference at all in the structure of the three parts, j
as e.g. in a stanza by Prior {Poets, vii. 402) on the model*
ababcdc defef ^\ while in others the refrain (consisting ofl
the four last verses) forms the cauda, as e.g. in Moore'j
Song on the Birthday of Mrs. :
Of all my happiest hours of joy, %
And even I have had my measure, |
When hearts were full, and evry eye '•$
Hath kindled with the light of pleasure.
An hour like this I neer was given.
So full of friendship' s purest blisses;
Young Love himself looks down from heaven,
To smile on such a day as this is. /
cHAP.v TRIPARTITE ISOMETRICAL STANZAS 333
Then come, my friends, this hour improve^
Let *s feel as if we neer could sever;
And may the birth of her we love
Be thus with joy remembered ever !
Now and then certain modifications of this form of stanza
are met with, "especially stanzas the four-lined refrain of which
forms not only the end, but also the beginning, of the stanza
(but as a rule only in the first stanza, the others having the
refrain only at the end) ; e.g. ABABcdcdABAB.^ (st. i),
dedefgfgABAB.^ (st. 2), hihiklkl A B A B^ (st. 3), in
Moore, Drink to her.
In other poems Moore uses this type of stanza with lines
of four stresses, as in Drink of this cup, and with lines of two
stresses, as in When the Balaika. For some rarely occurring
stanzas of this kind see Metrik, ii, §§ 385, 386.
A stanza of thirteen lines corresponding to the formula
\ababbcbc deeed^ occurs in the Middle English poem The
[Eleven Pains of Hell {E. E. T. S., 49, p. 210). Another one on
jthe scheme a^a^Bc^c^Bd^d-^d^be^e'^Br^we have in Moore,
Go where glory waits thee.
As to stanzas of fifteen and eighteen Hues see Metrik, ii, § 387.
i
II. Anisometrical stanzas.
§273. As mentioned before (§ 267) the anisometrical stanzas
of the tripartite class, being older, might have been dealt with
before the isometrical stanzas. This chronological order of
treatment, however, would have been somewhat inconvenient in
practice, as it would have involved the necessity of discussing
many of the more complicated stanzas before the shorter and
[Simpler ones, most of which do not occur in Middle English,
jbut in Modern poetry only. Moreover, the absence of certain
Isimple and short forms of stanza constructed in accordance
with the principles which were generally adopted in the Middle
lEnglish period is a purely accidental circumstance, which
'is liable at any moment to be altered by the discovery of
aew texts.
In the following paragraphs, therefore, the stanzas belonging
to this chapter are discussed according to their arrangement
of rhymes and to the length of the lines of which they are
(composed.
We begin with certain stanzas of six lines, the first part (the
334 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ir
frons or ' upsong ') of which is isometrical, the arrangement of
rhymes being parallel.
A pretty stanza with the scheme aabh oC c^ presents itself
in the song The Fairy Queen (Percy's Rel. III. ii. 26) :
Comey follow, follow me,
You, fairy elves that be :
Which circle on the greene,
Come, follow Mab, your queene.
Hand in hand let's dance around,
For this place is fairye ground.
For similar stanzas conforming to the schemes aabb^c c ^,,
aabb c^c^, aabbc^c-^^, aabb^c^ c^^, aabbc^c^ (in Moore,
The Wandering Bard), &c., see Meirik, ii, § 389.
Another group is represented by stanzas of six rhyming couplets
of unequal length, as ^5 ^4 b^ b^ c^ c^ (Sidney, Psalm XXXIX),
Uq a^ 3g ^3 Cq c^ (id. Psalm II) ; or ^5 a^ b^ b^ c ^5, a^ a^ b^ b^ c c^,
frequently used by Herbert and Cowley, or a^ a^ b b^ c^ c^,
aabj^b^c c^ (in Moore, St. Senanus and the Lady), the twoi
pedes enclosing the cauda (of. Metrik, ii, §§ 390-2).
Similar stanzas with crossed rhymes occur pretty often,
especially stanzas of three Septenary verses broken up by
inserted rhyme, according to the formula a^ b "^^a^b ~3 a^ b --3,
as in Moore, The Gazelle :
Dost thou not hear the silver bell,
Thro* yonder lime-trees ringing ?
'Tis my lady's light gazelle,
To me her love-thoughts bringing, —
All the while that silver bell
Around his dark neck ringing.
For other specimens see Metrik, ii, § 393.
§ 274. More popular are stanzas of a more distinctly tripar-
tite character, formed on the scheme ab abc c (which occurs
also in the isometrical group). These stanzas are used in
many various forms, as e.g. one in Cowper, Olney Hymns
(p. 25), like ab ab^c c^:
By whom was David taught j1
To aim the deadly blow, ?V
When he Goliath fought.
And laid the Gittite low?
Nor sword nor spear the stripling took^
But chose a pebble from the brook.
CHAP.v TRIPARTITE ANISOMETRICAL STANZAS 335
Numerous other examples are quoted in Metrik, ii, § 394,
together with similar stanzas formed according to the schemes
ab'-'ab'^^c Ci^, ahab^C C4, a~b U'^b^cc^, abab^c Cr^,
a^ba^bj^cc^, &c.
The reverse order with regard to the length of the verses in
^1^ pedes and the cauda is also not uncommon, as e. g. in stanzas
on the schemes ababc^c^^ abab c^c.^, ab ab^c^ c^, &c.
_ Stanzas of this kind are met with chiefly in the earlier
Modern EngHsh poets, e.g. in Cowley and Herbert. Shorter
lines also are used, e.g. in stanzas corresponding to the
formulas abab^cc^, abab^c c^', stanzas like these also occur
later, e.g. in Moore. In Cowley, now and then, a stanza is
found with a preceding frons (on the scheme aa^b c b c^). In
Moore we find yet another variety (in Poor broken flower), the
Cauda of which is enclosed by the pedes (according to the formula
"b^cc^a^b^).
Another group of stanzas is to be mentioned here, the verses
of which are of different length in the first part, admitting of
many various combinations. Especially stanzas of Septenary
hythm in the first part are very popular, as e. g. in Cowper's
fine poem The Castaway (p. 400), on the scheme ^4 b^ a^ bo^ c c^ :
Obscurest night involved the sky,
The Atlantic billows roared,
When such a destined wretch as /,
Washed headlong from on boards
Of friends, of hope, of all bereft.
His floating home for ever left.
There are many varieties of this form of stanza, as e.g.
k ^3 ^4*^3 ^^5 J ^4<^3^4^3<^4^5> ^3 ^2 ^3 ^^2 ^4 ^5 > «4 ^2 ^4.^2 ^ ^4»
bg b^ «5 b^cc^', «3 b^ «3 b^c c^, a^ b^ a^ b^ c c^. All these different
Schemes were chiefly used by the earlier Modern English poets,
as Browne, Carew, Cowley, Waller, and Herbert. (See Metrik,
ii. § 397-)
There are some other stanzas of allied structure which may
be regarded as extensions of the Poulter's Measure by the
addition of a second Alexandrine or Septenary verse, their
formulas being abcb^d^d.^ or ab^c^b^dj^d^. For examples
see Metrik, ii, § 398.
§ 275. Stanzas of seven lines are very common, and have
many diverse forms. In the first place may be mentioned those
which have parallel arrangement of rhymes, and in which the
^rons is isometrical. Some of these forms, used chiefly by the
336 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
earlier poets, as Cowley, Sheffield, and others, have the schem(
aabbc^c^c^ox aabbc^ca^. Another variety, with alternate four
and two-foot iambic-anapaestic lines according to the formuh
aabbj^rr^R^, occurs in Moore, The Legend of Puck the Fairy
Would^st know what tricks, by the pale moonlight ^
Are playd by me, the merry little Sprite,
Who wing through air from the camp to the courts
From king to clown, and of all make sport ;
Singing, 1 am the Sprite
Of the merry midnight ^
Who laugh at weak mortals, and love the moonlight.
Stanzas with an anisometrical first part, e.g. on the mode
a^ a^ b^ br, c c^ c^ in Donne, Loves Exchange (Poets, iv. 30), ar<
of rare occurrence.
Numerous stanzas of this kind have in part crossed rhymes
we find, e. g., stanzas with the same order of rhymes as in thi
rhyme royal, on the model ababbc^c^y as in S. Daniel
A Description of Beauty:
0 Beauty (beams, nay, flame
Of that great lamp of light),
That shines a while with fame,
But presently makes night I
Like winter's shortlived bright.
Or summer s sudden gleams ;
How much more dear^ so much less lasting beams.
Similar stanzas have the schemes ababb^cc^, ababcb^c^
ababcc^R^, ababcc^C^, ababcc^b^, abab^cc^a^, &c
For examples see Metrik, ii, §§ 401-3.
In many stanzas the first and the last part {frons am
Cauda) are anisometrical. Thus Donne, Cowley, and Con
greve furnish many examples of the formulas a^ b^ a^ b^ c c^ b^
a^^b^a ~4 b^ cc^c^, a^ b^ a^ b^ c c^b^, and later poets mab
frequent use of similar stanzas composed of shorter lines afte
the model of the following by Congreve, Poets, vii. 54*
(«4 b-^a^b'-^ccj^b -3) :
Tell me no more I am deceived,
That Cloe 's false and common ;
1 always knew {at least believed)
She was a very woman;
As such L lik*d, as such caress' d,
She still was constant when possess d,
She could do more for no man.
I
:hap.v tripartite ANISOMETRICAL STANZAS 337
For examples of other similar stanzas {a^h^ai^h.^c c b.^^
'\i^ ^3 ^4 <5;{ C C3 Cg, ^3 h^ a.^b^ccc^, a^^b '^^a^h '^^c c a^^ &c.) see
Metrik, ii, §§ 404-6.
§ 276. Eight-lined stanzas of various kinds are also
ery popular. They rarely occur, however, with an iso-
netrical yr<?«5', composed of rhyming couplets {aabbc c d^d.^^
'-d:~3~<5~4C~C~2^~^~4> aabbc c d^d^\ cf. Metrik^ ii,
§ 408, 410) ; or with enclosing rhymes in the cauda
aabbc dd^c^, aabb^c d^d^c^, ib. § 409); or of an aniso-
aetrical structure with parallel rhymes in both parts (ib. § 411).
The usual forms show crossed rhymes ; either throughout the
vhole stanza (in which case the first part is isometrical), or
1 the first part only. The first form is represented by the
allowing elegant stanza {ab ab^c^d^.^c^d'-'.^ in the second of
)rayton's -£V/^^«^^j (Poets, iii. 590) :
Upon a bank with roses set about,
Where turtles oft sit joining bill to bill,
And gentle springs steal softly murmuring out,
Washing the foot of pleasures sacred hill;
There little Love sore wounded lies,
His bow and arrows broken^
Bedewed with tears from Venus* eyes ;
Oh! grievous to be spoken.
Other schemes that occur are : a b a b c^d-^c^d^^ a b a b c d c^d.^,
b ab c c d^d^i ababj^cc^ddj^, aba^b^ccdd^, a'^ba'^b^c^^d^c /^d^^
b '-' ab '^^Cj^d^^Cj^d'-'^^ a'^bc'^hd'^-e^fe^^ a'^ba'^b.^cdcj^dr^^
^ba'^bc^dc^^d^ (M. Arnold, p. 2), &c. ; for numerous
■samples see Metrik, ii, §§ 412, 414, 415.
Sometimes stanzas occur, the isometrical part of which forms
le Cauda, as on the scheme a^ b.^a^b^c cd d^ in Moore, Sovereign
'^oman :
The dance was der, yet still in dreams^
That fairy scene went on;
Like clouds still flushed with daylight gleams,
Though day itself is gone.
And gracefully to music's sound,
The same bright nymphs went gliding round ;
While thou, the Queen of all, wert there —
The fairest still, where all were fair.
For examples of other forms (d!<5 ^4 <52<r<fCZ^4, a^.^bj^a^r^^^cbcb^,
h^Cj^b-^dede.^, &c.) see Metrik, ii, §§ 413, 416
338 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
§ 277. Very frequently stanzas occur \vhich are of an entirely
anisometrical structure in both parts. To this group belong the
first tripartite anisometrical stanzas of the Middle English period,
contained in Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry y p. 1 1 1 (two songs).
Their stanzaic form {a^ d^ a^ b^ b b^ c^ c^) is also of great impor-
tance, on account of the fact that the first five-foot verses as yet
known in English poetry occur in the cauda of these stanzas.
The first strophe may serve as an example :
Lu/el wot hit anymon^
Hou hue hym hauep ybounde,
pat for us ope rode ron,
Ant bohte vs wip is wounde.
pe hue of hym vs hauep ymaked sounde,
Ant yeast pe grimly gost to grounde.
Euer ant oo, nyht ant day, he hauep vs in is pohte,
He nul nout leose pat he so deore bohte.
This stanza is also interesting on account of its regular use o
masculine rhymes in the first and in the third line, and o
feminine rhymes in the others. The structure of the five
measured verses employed in this stanza has been referred t(
before (§ 153).
Very often both main parts, the upsong and the downsong
have crossed rhymes in Modern English, e.g. in a form 0
stanza with the scheme a^h^a^b^c d^c^d^ in Southey, To <
Spider (ii. 1 80) :
Spider I thou need'st not run in fear about
To shun my curious eyes ;
I wont humanely crush thy bowels ouf,
Lest thou should' st eat the flies ;
Nor will I roast thee with a damtid delight
Thy strange instinctive fortitude to see,
For there is One who might
One day roast me.
A structure analogous to that of the two last-quoted specimen;
is exhibited in many stanzas occurring in earlier Modern Englis
poetry, as in Cowley, Herbert, Browne, Carew {ar^b^a^b^c^Cr,d^d,
H ^2 ^5 ^2 ^4 ^Z ^6 ^2> H ^1 H ^2 ^ <^4 <^^5» ^4 ^2 ^4*^2 ^2, ^2<^4) 5 °^^^
forms, corresponding only in the upsong or downsong to th
Middle English stanza quoted above, are a^^b^a'-'^b^c^j^d^c^^d,
^4^*'3^4^~3^~2^~3Q'^~3' ^4 '^S ^4 ^3 ^ 4 <^4 4» *^C., UScd t
Burns, Moore, and Mrs. Hemans. For examples see Metrik,
§§417,418.
I
HAP. V TRIPARTITE ANISOMETRICAT STANZAS 339
§ 278. The next group consists of stanzas, one main part of
rvhich consists of a half or of a whole tail-rhyme stanza. The
irst of these two forms is used e. g. by Burns in the song She 's
fair and Fause (p. 204), where the stanza consists of four- and
'hree-foot verses on the model a^ 5.^ a^d^cc c^ d^ :
She'' s fair and fause that causes my smarts
I Ided her meikte and lang :
She's broken her vow^ she's broken my hearty
And I may e'en gae hang,
1A coof cam in wV rowth 0' gear,
And I hae tint my dearest dear^
But woman is but warld^s gear,
' Sae let the bonie lass gang.
., Other stanzas of this class correspond to the formulas
i^b^aj^b^aaa^b^, a-^^b^a'^^b.^c ^c-c^^b^, a^b^a^b^cc c^b^.
^or examples see Metrik, ii, § 419.
. There is another form of stanza the first part of which
,ccording to the Middle English usage consists of a complete
ail-rhyme stanza (cf. the ten-lined stanzas of this group), while
pe Cauda is formed by a rhyming couplet, so that its structure
prresponds to the scheme aaj^b^a a^ b^cc^; it occurs in Spenser,
Epigrams, ii (p. 586) :
■ As Diane hunted on a day,
She chaunst to come where Cupid lay.
His quiver by his head:
One of his shafts she stole away,
And one of hers did close convoy
Into the other's stead:
j With that Love wounded my Love's hart
But Diane beasts with Cupid's dart.
Similar stanzas of other metres are very frequently met with,
jS e.g. stanzas corresponding to the formulas aa^b.^cc^b.^dd^^
I flg b^c c^b^ddQ, a a^ b^ c Tg ^3 b b^ , and a'^ a-^j^b^c '^ c '^^b^dd^,.
^he reverse order (i. e. frons -i- two versus) we have in
ci^b b^^c^b b^c^ and aa^bb^c^dd^e^. For examples see
Hetrik, ii, § 420.
' A stanza corresponding to the formula ab^^c.^abj^c^a^D^
ccurs in M. Arnold's The Church of Brou (p. 17).
§ 279. Among stanzas of nine lines, those with parallel
|tiymes must again be mentioned first ; as e. g. a strophe on the
!:heme aabbcc dd^^d^, in Akenside, Book I, Ode X, To the
luse (Poets, ix. 780). Other stanzas occurring also in more
z 2
340 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i:
recent poetry (Wordsworth, W. Scott) are on the schemes
aabbj^cc^c dd^, aabbc^^d^cc^d^, a^b^aa^b^ccdD^. Foi
examples see Metrik, ii, § 421.
Similar stanzas, also with an isometrical first part, but witl
crossed rhymes, are not very often met with. The schemes arc
ababj^cc^cddj^, ababc cdd^d^, ababbcbb^c^^ ababcdcdj^e^
a^b^aa^b^c^dc'^d^, &c. Specimens of them are also founc
in modern poets, as in Moore, Burns, Walter Scott, &c. Fo:
examples see Meirtk, ii, § 422.
More frequently stanzas occur with an anisometrical first anc
last part and crossed rhymes in each of them ; the schemes an
■a^b^a^b^c^d^c^dd^, a^b^a^b^cc^dd^c^, a^b^a^b^^c^dd^cc^
The most popular, however, are those stanzas in which on*
or other of the two main parts consists of Septenary verses
they are of frequent occurrence in Burns and other moderi
poets ; a stanza on the scheme a^ b^ a^ b^ <^4 ^~3 ^4 ^~3 ^2' ^' Z-y J'
found in Burns, The Holy Fair (p. 14): <
Upon a simmer Sunday morn,
When Nature's face is fair,
I walked forth to view the corn,
An' snuff the caller air.
The risin' sun, owre Galston muirs,
Wi glorious light was glintin ;
The hares were hirplin down the furrs,
The lav' rocks they were chantin
Fu' sweet that day.
For similar examples see Metrik, ii, § 424.
Other stanzas are formed by combination with a complete 0
a shortened tail-rhyme stanza; so that we have schemes lik(^
aa^b^cc^b^dddj^, a-^a'^bc^c^b/^d'^d'^'^b^, aa2b^cc2b^dd2b^M
They occur in Carew (Poets, iii. 709), Dryden (p. 368), am
Thackeray (p. 237). The formula a^b^a^b^cdcc^d^ we fini
in Campbell (p. 82), a^b^a^b^cc^b^dd^ in Byron's Ode i
Napoleon (p. 273):
'Tis done — but yesterday a King! .1,
And arm'd with Kings to strive — 1
And now thou art a nameless thing ; f
So abject— yet alive I
Is this the man of thousand thrones.
Who strewed our earth with hostile bones,
And can he thus survive? ^
Since he, miscall' d the Morning Star, i.
Nor man nor fiend hath fallen so far, ^
:hap.v tripartite ANISOMETRICAL STANZAS 341
I For other specimens see Metrik, ii, §§ 424, 425.
§ 280. Among the stanzas of ten lines, those with an iso-
netrical first part and parallel rhymes may first be mentioned ;
hey correspond to the schemes aahhc dde e^c^, aabbcdc d^f^f^ ,
lahbc^d^cccj^d^^ aabb^c dc d^ee^, and are found in Akenside,
kVordsworth, and Moore. Next come stanzas with an aniso-
netrical first part according to the formulas a^ a^ b^ b^ccr^dde^e^^
i^a^b^b^cdc^d^ecr,, a^a^^bb^c ^ c •^^dd^e'^e'^^i occurring
n Cowley and Campbell (cf Metrik, ii, §§ 427, 428).
In other stanzas, crossed rhymes are used in the isometrical
list part j they correspond to the formulas ababr^c^d^ c^ d^ e^ e>^ ,
ih abc c dedr^E^^ ab abc de^^c^de^, ababc^c^d^d^e^^ej^, and.
ire found in Browne, G. Herbert, and Ben Jonson (ib. § 429).
In modern poetry simpler stanzas of this kind are used ; one
p. g. on the scheme a^b^a'^b'^^cc^d~e~d'^e^^ (the cauda
peing thus enclosed by the two pedes) in Moore's song Bring the
right Garlands hither :
Bring the bright garlands hither.
Ere yet a leaf is dying ;
If so soon they must wither,
Ours be their last sweet sighing.
j Hark, that low dismal chime/
I 'Tis the dreary voice of Time.
Oh, bring beauty, bring roses.
Bring all that yet is ours ;
Let life's day, as it closes.
Shine to the last through flowers.
Similar stanzas corresponding to the formulas a'^ba^b^
(\d^ed~e,^, a'^b^a-^bc '^ dc '^d^ee^, ababcdc d^e^e^, and
-'ha^b^c^^d^C'^^d^C'^^d^, are used by the same poet in With
loonlight Beaming, The Young Indian Maid, Guess, guess, and
rom this Hour.
Many stanzas of this group with an isometrical first part are
)rmed by combination with a tail-rhyme stanza, which then
enerally forms the cauda, as in one of Cunningham's stanzas,
iz. in Newcastle Bier (Poets, x. 729), the stanza 'consisting of
)ur- and two-stressed verses on the scheme abab^cc^d^ee^d^-.
.- When fame brought the news of Great-Britain's success,
I And told at Olympus each Gallic defeat ;
f Glad Mars sent by Mercury orders express,
M To summon the deities all to a treat:
Blithe Comus was plac'd
% . To guide the gay feast,
t
342 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS booki
And freely declard there was choice of good cheer ;
Yet vovdd to his thinking,
For exquisite drinking^
Their nectar was nothing to Newcastle beer.
For examples of many similar forms, e.g. ahahc c dee^d^
a^bb^a^cc de ed^, ababj^c C2dj^e'^e~^d^, abab^c c^^d^ee^d^^
a b ab^c ~ c ~id^e -^ e ^-^d^y see Metrik, ii, § 431.
§ 281. Stanzas of this kind with an anisometrical first pan
occur in the Middle English period : e. g. in Wright's Spec. 0,
Lyr. Poetry, p. 83, on the scheme a^ b^^a^b'^^c c^^d^^e e^ dr^.
i
fesu, for pi muchele miht >*?
pou ^ef vs of pi grace,
,pat we mowe dai and nyht k
penken 0 pi face. %.
In myn herte hit dop vie god, |
When y penke on iesu blod, i
pat ran doun bi ys syde, >:
From is herte doun to is fot, .^
For ous he spradde is herte blod, |
His woundes were so wyde.
The shorter, Septenary part of the stanza represents th«
frons, the tail-rhyme stanza, the versus. Of a similar forii
(«4 b^ a^ b^ aa^b^a b^ a^) is the stanza of the poem An Orison 0
our Lady (E. E. T. S., vol. xlix, p. 158). In Modern Englih
also allied forms occur; one especially with the schem
a^b^a^b^cc dee^d^ in Gray, Ode on the Spring (Poets, x. 215)
other forms are a/^b^a^^b^c c^d^^ee^dj^, a^b^a^b.c c dee^d-^
a b^ a^ b.^ dd^ ^a/Zi ^3- (Fo^* examples see Metrik, ii, § 432.)
The reverse combination, viz. tail-rhyme stanza and Septenar
(on the scheme aa^b.^c c^ b^ d^ b^ d^ b^), also occurs in Middl
English times ^), e.g. in Wright's Spec, of Lyr. Poetry, p. 87:
^ It is worth noticing that there are also tripartite stanzas in Middl
English, either allied to the bob-wheel stanza or belonging to it, both in lyri
and dramatic poetry ; e.g. the ten-lined stanza of a poem in Wright's Soiii^
and Carols (Percy Soc, 1847), p. 15, on the scheme AB A B C CC^d^DL
(quoted in Metrik, i, p. 406) ; one of eleven lines according to the formul
AAA^B^CCC^B^d^B A in the Towneley Mysteries, p. 224 (quoted i
Metrik, \, p. 407), and one of thirteen lines, used in a dialogue, correspondin
to the scheme A B A B A A B A A B^c^B^C^, ibid., pp. 135-9 (q"ote^
in Metrik, i, p. 408).
CHAP. V TRIPARTITE ANISOMETRICAL STANZAS 343
Nou sknnkep rose and lylie floury
pat whilen her pat suete sauour,
in somer,pat suete tyde ;
ne is no quene so stark ne stour,
ne no leuedy so bryht in hour,
pat ded ne shal by glyde.
Whose wot fleyshlust forgon,
and heuene Mis ahyde,
on iesu be is poht anon,
pat perled was ys syde.
Similar stanzas occur also in Modern English ; e. g. one on
|the formula aa^b^c c^b^d^e^d^e^ in Burns (p. 255), another
on the scheme aa^b.^c c^ b^ de^^ d^ e^ {—Poutters Measure in the
Cauda), ib. p. 189.
Other ten-line stanzas consisting chiefly of Septenary
verses or of Poulters Measure correspond to the fonnulas
^4 ^3 ^4 ^3 ^4 ^3 ^4 ^3 "^ ^4» ^ ^3^4<^3^^3^4^3^<^4) aba^b'^cdc^d-^ee^.
For examples, partly taken from Moore, see Metrik, ii, § 435.
Stanzas of this kind consisting of five-foot verses are
rarely met with, e. g. a^ b^ a^ b^ c^d^c^d^ee^, ab^a^b^c c ddee^,
jZg ^3 «5 ^3 c c^ d^ d^ ^2 ^5 j ^s in Spenser and Browne (cf. Metrik,
ii, § 434)-
§ 282. Stanzas of eleven lines are also rare. There
is one with an isometrical first part (on the scheme
ab ab^cc2C2,d^ d^ x,^ d^ in Ben Jonson, Cynthia's Revels (Poets,
iv. 610); another in Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming {st. xxxv-
xxxix), corresponding to the scheme abab^c^ddd^c^e e^.
Other stanzas of an almost entirely anisometrical structure
consist of a combination with a tail-rhyme stanza, as e. g. a
Middle English stanza on the scheme aa^b^a a^ b<^ a^ ^3 aa^b^,
jvvith a regular tail-rhyme stanza representing the pedes, and
a shortened tail-rhyme stanza representing the cauda ; it occurs
jin the Towneky Mysteries, pp. 221-3. ^ similar one we have
in Phineas Fletcher {Poets, iv. 460) on the formula
and another one in Leigh Hunt, Coronation Soliloquy (p. 225)
Iwhich corresponds to the formula a a^b '^^c c^b ~^d d^e -3/4 ^ ^g.
I In other stanzas parts only of tail-rhyme stanzas occur, as in
la strophe of the form a^b^^c^b '^^de dd^e^r P^^ used by
[Wordsworth in The Seven Sisters (iii. 15):
344 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book h
Seven Daughters had Lord Archibald^
All children of one mother:
You could not say in one short day
What love they bore each other.
A garland of seven lilies wrought I
Seven Sisters that together dwell ;
But he, bold Knight as ever fought,
Their Father, took of them no thought,
He loved the wars so well.
Sing mournfully, oh t mournfully.
The solitude of Binnorie I
Other stanzas of this kind are formed on the schemes!
aj^b^a^b^c c^d^e^d^ej^d^ (Moore, Love's Young Dream)j
abbac c deed^e^ (Swinburne, Ave atque Vale, Poems, ii. 71).^
Cf. Metrik, ii, §§ 436, 437.
§ 283. Stanzas of twelve lines are very numerous. Onei
of the Middle English period we have in Wright's Spec, of Lyr,
Poetry,"^. 27; it is formed on the scheme aJ)^aJ)^bbbc^DI)D^C^,
and is similar to those ten-lined stanzas mentioned above,
which consist of two Septenary verses and a tail-rhyme stanza ;i
the second part of which, being the refrain, thus becomes the
Cauda of the stanza. In the Modern English period some
simple stanzas with an isometrical first part and parallel rhymes
may be mentioned in the first place. These are constructed on;
the schemes aabbc cd d^e^f^e^f,^, aabbcc ddeeff^ andi
occur in Mrs. Hemans (iv. 171; vii. 155); stanzas of this 1
kind with crossed rhymes are likewise met with, e.g.
a~b a-^b^cc^d^e eff^ d^ in Burns, p. 188.
Pretty often we find stanzas for singing, the cauda of which
is enclosed by \}i\Q pedes \ in the first stanza the two pedes together!
form the refrain, in the others, however, only the last one, e.g. in
stanzas on the schemes A •^ B A ■^ B^c^d.^Cj^d^A >-' B A ~ B^,
e '^fe ^fg^ h^g^h.^A'-B A-^Bi^ in Hymns Ancient and Mod.,
No. 138, consisting of trochaic verses ;
Christ is risen I Christ is risen ! \
He hath burst His bonds in twain ;
Christ is risen I Christ is risen!
Alleluia/ swell the strain!
For our gain He suffered loss
By Divine decree;
He hath died upon the Cross,
But our God is He.
cHAP.v TRIPARTITE ANISOMjETRICAL STANZAS 345
Christ is risen I Christ is risen I
He hath burst His bonds in twain ;
Christ is risen! Christ is risen/
Alleluia! swell the strain.
See the chains of death are broken ;
Earth below and heaven above^ &c. &c.
Similar stanzas frequently occur in Moore, e.g. stanzas
on the models A '^ B A ^Bj^ccd^d.^E'^BE^B^y and
f-^gf^g^hhi^i^E^BE^B^ (in Love's light summer -cloud\
AB^AB'-^cd^.^c^d'-^AB'^AB^.^,
^/'^ ^/""^.S^ ~3^4 ^ ~3 -^ -^ ~ "^ -^ ~3 (^^^ ^^^ l^^^ '-f bright must
fade). For other examples see Metrik, ii, § 441.
Similar stanzas of Septenary metres, also common in
Moore, have the formulas a^ b^ a^ b^ c^ d^ c^ d^ E^ E^ E^ E^
(ill When Time), A^B^A^B^c^d^c^d^A^^B^A^B^ (st. i),
,d^ ^3 d^ e^f^ ^3/4^3 -^4 ^3 -^4 ^3 (st. ii) ; only in St. i the cauda is
jin the middle; in the others it closes the stanza {JNets and
Cages).
Other stanzas have the reverse order of verses, as e. g. stanzas
on the schemes a^^b^a ~3 ^^ c --^d^c -3 d^ E^^F^E -3 E^ {To
Ladies^ Eyes), A^^B^A ^^B^cdcd^A ^^B^^A ^3^^ {Oh ! Doubt me
not). This sort of stanza also occurs in Moore with other metres,
?.g. according to the formulas A^B^Aj^Bc^c^d^c^dc^A^^B^^A^B,^,
^b^e^b^^f^g^^f^g^e^b^e^b^ {Not from thee)) and there are still
5ther varieties in Moore and in some of the more recent poets.
Cf. Metrik, ii, §§ 443-5-
§ 284. Among the stanzas of thirteen lines, one belonging
0 the Middle English period has been mentioned above
p. 342, note), which is formed by combination with a tail-rhyme
tanza.
In the few Modern English stanzas of this length we
i^enerally find also a part of a tail-rhyme stanza, as e. g. in the
auda of a stanza constructed on the formula
ib^ab '^cd'^c d^^ E E^^gg^ i^~4 (Moore, Lesbia hath^ &c.);
)r in a stanza like a'^b a~bi^c c^b/^d dc^ ^/^/^ > deficient in
)ne four-stressed tail-verse as in Moore, The Prince's Day :
Thd dark are our sorrows to-day we'll forget them,
And smile through our tears, like a sunbeam in showers ;
There never were hearts, if our rulers would let them.
More formed to be grateful and blest thafi ours.
But just when the chain
Has ceas'd to pain^
346 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ij
And hope has eftwreath^d it round with flowers ^
There comes a new link
Our spirits to sink-^
Oh ! the joy that we taste, like the light of the poles,
Is a flash amid darkness, too brilliant to stay ;
But, though V were the last little spark in our souls,
We must light it up now, on our Prince's Day.
For other forms of stanzas belonging to this group see
Metrik, ii, § 447.
§ 285. More numerous are stanzas of fourteen lines
Judging by the examples which have come to our knowledge
they are also, as a rule, formed by combination with a tail-
rhyme stanza ; as e.g. in a stanza by Browne {Poets, iv. 276) or
the scheme a b a b c a c a^a a^^b^c c^b^', another stanza, frequentl}
used by Burns, corresponds to the formula
a a^ ^3 <r c^ b^ d^ e^ d^ ^3/^2 ^3 ^ ~2 ^3
and occurs, e. g., in his Epistle to Davie (p. 57) :
While winds frae aff Ben-Lomond blaw.
And bar the doors wi driving snaw.
And hing us owre the ifigle,
1 set me down, to pass the time.
And spin a verse or twa 0^ rhyme,
In hamely, zvestlin jingle.
While frosty winds blaw ifi the drift,
Ben to the chimla lug,
I grudge a wee the Great folk's gift,
That live sae bien an^ snug:
I tent less, and want less
Their roomy fire-side ;
But hanker and canker,
To see their cursed pride,
A similar stanza is found in Moore, The Sale of Loves
H b-^a^b ~3 c^ ^~3 c^d-^EE^F-^G G^ F ~^. In othei
stanzas used by this poet, the tail-rhyme stanza forms the caudi
enclosed by two pedes (see § 283); e. g. in Nay, tell me not
dear, on the scheme a b abj^^c c^d^ee^d^F G F G^. Anothe^
stanza of the form A B -^ A B ~ ^c c^d^e e^d^A B •-' A B '^i_
fg^fg'-zhh^i^kk^i^AB^A B ~^, is used in Q/?, in the stitti
night.
As to other forms cf. Metrik, ii, § 448. Stanzas, the enclosing
pedes of which are formed by two tail-rhyme stanzas, are discusseo
cHAP.v TRIPARTITE ANISOMETRICAL STANZAS 347
ib. § 449 (schemes : a a.^b '-'^C C^b ^^d ^ d '^^e e^/~^ C C2/-3,
gg2^^^ th^-z^^ ^'-zlk'n^-z C C^m -3).
§ 286. Some stanzas of still greater extent (not very common)
are also formed by combination with tail-rhyme stanzas.
There are a few stanzas of fifteen lines, e. g. one on the
model aa^b^c c^ b^ d d^ e^//^ e^g G^ G^ in Moore, Song and
Trio ; one on
a-'tt'-b'^b-^c^d^d'^e^e'-^c^f'-f'-g^g^^c^
in Shelley, The Fugitives (iii. 55); and one on
a~a^a'^bc'-'C~c~bd~d-'d^ e/'^/~2 ^4
in Swinburne, Four Songs in Four Seasons (Poems, ii. 163-76).
Two stanzas of sixteen lines occur in Moore on the
schemes aa^b^^c c^b ^^dede^f/^g ^^hh^g--^ {The Indian
Boat), and a a^^b ^^c c^b^^dd^e^^/f^e^^G'^^H H^G'^^
{Oh, the Shamrock).
A stanza of seventeen lines
{a a^ ^3 a a^b^c c^ b^ c c^ b^ d^ e^ d d^ e^
is found in a Middle English poem in Wright's Spec. 0/ Lyr,
Poetry, p. 47 ; it consists of two six-lined, common tail-rhyme
stanzas (the pedes), and a shortened one (forming the cauda).
A stanza of eighteen lines on the formula
a a^ ^3 c c^ ^3 dd^ b^ e e^ b^ffgggf^
occurs in Wright's Pol. Songs, p. 155 (cf. Metrik, i, p. 411);
Ithe scheme might also be given as a a^ b^, &c., if the tail-rhyme
verses be looked upon as two-stressed lines. A simpler stanza
according to the scheme a a^b^cc^b^dd^b^ee^b^f/^g-^hh^g^
is used in The Nut-Brown Mayd (Percy's Rel. 11. i. 6). Cf.
§ 244, also Metrik, i, p. 367, and ii, p. 715.
Similar stanzas are used by Shelley (in Arethusa, i. 374) and
by Moore (in Wreath the Bowl), Cf. Metrik, ii, § 453.
Lastly, a stanza of twenty lines with the scheme
ab~ac db -^ dee ^■^fi^ggzf^ hh^i^k-^k -3 z'^, occurs in The
King of France's Daughter (Percy's Rel. iii. ii. 17); cf.
Metrik, ii, § 454.
PART III
MODERN STANZAS AND METRES OF FIXED FORM!
ORIGINATING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THEH
RENASCENCE, OR INTRODUCED LATER
CHAPTER VI
STANZAS OF THREE AND MORE PARTS
CONSISTING OF UNEQUAL PARTS ONLY
§ 287. Introductory remark. At the very beginning of
the Modern English period the poetry of England was strongly;
influenced by that of Italy. Among the strophic forms used hy\
the Italian poets, two especially have had an important share in:
the development of English metre : the sonnet and the canzone. I
Apart from those direct imitations which we shall have to
notice later, the sonnet form tended to make more popular thei
use of enclosing rhymes, which had until then been only]
sparingly employed in English poetry ; while the canzone m^i
its varied combinations of anisometrical verses, mostly of elevens
and seven syllables, gave rise to a variety of similar looselyi
constructed stanzas, as a rule, of three- and five-foot verses.
At the same time, however, these Modern English stanzas of
a somewhat loose structure were also affected by the stricter!
rules for the formation of stanzas which had come down fromi
the Middle English period. Hence their structure frequently!
reminds us of the older forms, two adjoining parts being often|
closely related, either by order of rhymes, or by the structurei
of the verse, or by both together, though the old law of thei
equality of the two pedes or of the two versus is not quite strictly
observed.
This explains the fact that some stanzas (especially the;
shorter ones) have a structure similar to that of the old tripartite!
stanzas ; while others (chiefly the longer ones) not unfrequently ;
consist of four or even more parts.
In the first group the chief interest centres round those which
have enclosing rhymes in their first or last part. Although the
transposition of the order of rhymes thus effected in the pedes
CHAP. VI STANZAS OF THREE AND MORE PARTS 349
or in the versus was common both in Northern French and
Proven9al poets/ the teachers of the Middle English poets, we
find scarcely a single example of it in Middle English, and it
seems to have become popular in Modern English only through
the influence of the Italian sonnet.
In accordance with the analogy of the isometrical stanzas or
.parts of stanzas this arrangement of rhymes is found also in the
Sanisometrical ones; so that we have first parts [pedes) both
on the scheme abba^, abbur^ or a^b b^a^, ar,b^b^a^. From
the arrangement of rhymes this order was transferred to the
[lines themselves ; thus a stanza with enclosing rhymes consist-
iing of two longer lines with a couplet of short lines between
Ithem, as in the last example, is transformed into a similar stanza
with crossed rhymes according to the formula a^b^aj^b^^ the
shorter lines being, as before, placed between the longer ones
(or vice versa a^ br, a^ b^). It is evident that here too in spite
of the regular arrangement of rhymes the two pedes are not
alike, but only similar to each other.
§ 288. Six-lined stanzas of this kind, with an isometrical
jiirst part or isometrical throughout, occur pretty often; one
p. g. on the scheme a b b a c c^ is met with in John Scott, Ode
XIX (Foe/s, xi. 757) :
Pastoral, and elegy, and ode!
Who hopes, by these, applause to gain,
Believe me, friend, may hope in vain —
These classic things are not the mode;
Our taste polite, so much refind.
Demands a strain of different kind.
p'or similar stanzas according to the formulas abbaab^,
ribbacc^, abbac.^c^ (Milton, Psalm IV), abba^c^c^, and
ihhac-^c^, see Metrik, ii, § 456.
i Other stanzas have anisometrical first and last parts ; as e. g.
j)ne on the model ^5 b b^ a^ c^ c^ which was used by Cowley,
Upon the shortness of Man's Life (Poets, v. 227) :
Mark that swift arrow, how it cuts the air,
How it outruns thy following eye!
Use all persuasions now, and try
If thou canst call it back, or stay it there.
That way it went, but thou shall find
No track is left behind.
^ Cf. Karl Bartsch, 'Der Strophenbau in der deutschen Lyrik ' {Germania^
I, p. 390).
350 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
Similar stanzas are found in later poets, as e. g. Mrs. Hemans
D. G. Rossetti, Mrs. Browning, corresponding to a^ b b/^ a^ c^ ^g
<?3 b b^a^ccg, a^b b^ a^ c^^ c^, a^ b^ br^ a^ b^a., a b^ b^ a.^cc^, &c
(For specimen see Metrik, ii, § 458.)
Even more frequently we have stanzas of three quite hetero^^
geneous parts ; the lines rhyming crosswise, parallel, or crosfi
wise and parallel. They occur both in the earlier poet
(Cowley, Herbert, &c.) and in those of recent times (Southe)
Wordsworth, Shelley, the Brownings, Swinburne, &c.). A sonj
by Suckling (Poets ^ iii. 730) on the scheme a^abb^ccj^ may'
serve as an example :
If when Don Cupid's dart
Doth wound a heart,
We hide our grief
And shun relief;
The smart increaseth on that score ;
For wouftds unsearcht but rankle more.
For an account of other stanzas of a similar structure (e. \
aa^bbj^cc^, aa^bbc^c^, a^a^bbc^c^, a^abbc^^c^, &c.]
Metrik, ii, § 459.
Very often we find stanzas of combined crossed and parallel
rhymes ; one e. g. on the model ab a^b^c c^ in Shelley,?
A Summer -Evening Churchyard {^. 160):
The wind has swept from the wide atmosphere
Each vapour that obscured the sunsefs ray ;
And pallid Evening twines its beaming hair
In duskier braids around the languid eyes of day :
Silence and Twilight, unbeloved of men.
Creep hand in hand from yon obscurest glen.
Many stanzas of a similar kind correspond to the schemes)
aa^bc^b^c^, a^b^abcc^, a^b^abj^c^c^, aba^bcc^, a^abc cb^c^y
a^b '-'^a a^b '^ a^, ar^b^abc^c^, and abc c a^b^\ for specimens!
see Metrik, ii, §§ 460-3.
Stanzas consisting of shorter lines are not so often met with
we have an example (on the model aba^bc^ c^ consisting ofc
iambic-anapaestic verses in R. Browning, On the Cliff {\\. 48):
/ leaned on the turf,
I looked at a rock
Left dry by the surf; * -
For the turf to call it grass were to mock ; |,. ^
Dead to the roots, so deep was done \ _
The work of the summer sun. %
:hap.vi stanzas OF THREE AND MORE PARTS 351
For stanzas on the schemes a^ b^a^bt^C D^, ab a^ c.^ c b^ see
bid. § 464.
§ 289. Among seven-line stanzas, both in earlier (Ph.
Fletcher, S. Daniel, &c.) and more recent poets (Mrs. Browning,
Swinburne, R. Browning, D. G. Rossetti), those which are
mtirely isometrical occur often. One on the model abbabba^,
s met with in S. Daniel's Epistle to the Angel Spirit of the most
wcellent Sir Philip Sidney (Poets, iii. 228) :
To thee, pure spir't, to thee alone addrest
Is this joint work, by double infrest thine :
Thine by thine own, and what is done of mine
Inspired by thee, thy secret powr imprest :
My muse with thine itself dar'd to combine,
As mortal stuff with that which is divine :
Let thy fair beams give lustre to the rest.
Specimens of stanzas on the schemes abbaccc^, abbabb a^,
ihbaacc^^ abb aa cc^, a b b a c c a^, and abcc d dd^, are given
in Metrik, ii, § 456.
Anisometrical stanzas on the model abb a in the first part
occur only in single examples, one corresponding to the scheme
7 b b a^b^c c^ is found in Milton, Arcades, Song I ; and another
of the form a^ bbr^a^c c a^ in Mrs. Hemans, The Festal Hour
!(iii. 247) ; cf. Metrik, ii, § 466.
Sometimes quite anisometrical stanzas with parallel rhymes
Dccur, especially in the earlier poets, as e. g. in Wyatt, Suckling,
iCowley; a stanza of Cowley's poem, The Thief {?OQis, v. 263),
'has the formula a^abbc Cj^c^:
What do I seek, alas I or why do I
Attempt in vain from thee to fly ?
For, making thee my deity,
I give thee then ubiquity^
My pains resemble hell in this.
The Divine Presence there, too, is,
But to torment men, not to give the??i bliss.
Other forms of a similar structure are aa^bb^^^aa^ B^,
li^abb-^c Cj^ x^, a^ab^bcc^ c^, a^a ab b^cc^; for examples see
Metrik, ii, § 467.
Stanzas which have crossed rhymes either in part or through-
Dut are still commoner. Thus a stanza on the model of the
352 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
rhyme royal stanza {a^ b abr^h^c Cq) which occurs in Mrs
Hemans, Elysium (iii. 236) :
Fair wert thou in the dreams
Of elder time, thou land 0/ glorious flowers
And summer winds and low-toned silvery streams,
Dim with the shadows of thy laurel bowers,
Where, as they passed, bright hours
Left no faint sense of parting, such as clings
To earthly love, and joy in loveliest things /
Other similar stanzas correspond to a^ b a^ b^^ c^ c^ Cr^,
a.^ba^b^cc c^, a^ b a^ b^ ^4 ^ ^5» a^bccb a^ a^, aba^^b^ b^ a^ b.^, and
aba-^b^Co^c^c^', for examples taken from older poets (Donne,
Carew, Cowley) and from later literature (Longfellow, D. G.
Rossetti) cf. Metrik, \\, § 468.
Several other stanza-forms remind us by their structure and
arrangement of rhymes of certain- shortened forms of the tail-
rhyme stanza, e. g. one in A Parting Song by Mrs. Hemans
(vi. 189), on the scheme A^B.^c c ddj^B^\
When will ye think of me, my friends ?
When will ye think of me ?
When the last red light, the farewell of day.
From the rock and the river is passing away —
When the air with a deepening hush is fraught
And the heart grows burdened with tender thought —
Then let it be.
Similar stanzas corresponding to the formulas ab^aa.^ba^a^^
a^b^aa^b^c c^, aaba^baa^ are quoted in Metrik, ii, § 469.
§ 290. Most of the eight-lined stanzas, which on the whole
are rare, are similar to the tail-rhyme stanza, the scheme of
which is carried out in both parts, to which a third part is then
added as the cauda (last part).
Stanzas of this kind, used especially by Cowley, correspond
to aa^b^cc^b^dd^, a^a^b^Cr^c^b^d^d^, a^a b ccb^^dd^, and
aa^^b^ccb^ d^ d^ (cf. Metrik, ii, § 470).
The half-stanzas {pedes) are separated by the cauda in a stanza
on the scheme aa^b^c cd dj^b.^, which occurs in Wordsworth,
The Pilgrim's Dream (vi. 153) :^
HAP. VI STANZAS OF THREE AND MORE PARTS 353
A Pilgrim^ when the summer day
Had closed upon his weary way,
A lodging begged beneath a castle's roof;
But him the haughty Warder spurned ;
And from the gate the Pilgrim turned,
To seek such covert as the field
Or heath-besprinkled copse might yield.
Or lofty wood, shower-proof.
In other stanzas on the models
fb.2abcc c^b^, a'-ba-^^b-^c ^c^ c ^^ b^, a^ b^ a^cc^d d^ b^, and
i^^^aa^C^^^D.^D^, only a half-stanza of the tail-rhyme form
an be recognized (cf. Metrik, ii, § 475).
Sometimes an unequal part is inserted between two parts of
somewhat similar structure, as in a stanza with the formula
abcbc d^dr, in Byron, Translation from Horace (p. 89) :
The man of firm and noble soul
No factious clamours can control;
No threatening tyrant's darkling brow
Can swerve him from his just intent;
Gales the warring waves which plough,
By Auster on the billows spent,
To curb the Adriatic main,
Would awe his fix'd. determined mind in vain.
Other stanzas correspond to the schemes aa^.bbcc^.d^d^^,
a^a^.bb^.cc^c^^, ab^^b^, a^a ,c c c^, a^a ,bcbc .dd-^,
i^.b^C'^C'^<2^.dd^b/^, and a-^a^.bb^.c c c- c^. All these forms
; met with in earlier poets, as e.g. Donne, Drayton, and
)wley; for specimen see Metrik, ii, §471.
§ 291. A quadripartite structure is sometimes observable in
inzas with four rhymes, especially with a parallel or crossed
der, or both combined, as e. g. in a poem by Donne, The
imp (Poets, iv. 37), the scheme being a^ a^bb^cc^dd^:
When I am dead, and doctors know not why,
And my friends curiosity
Will have me cut up, to survey each part.
And they shall find your picture in mine heart;
Vou think a sudden Damp of love
Will through all their senses move,
And work on them as me, and so prefer
Your murder to the name of massacre,
HIPPER A a,
354 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
For stanzas of different structure on similar models cf. Metrik
ii, § 472 (^5 a (5., h Cr^ d^ c^ d^, a.-, ah^^b Cr^ c^ d^ dr„ a^^ a.,^ b <^- cc^^d d~^
abaj)r^cc^ d ^5, aur^bbcdc^ d^, and ^4 br^ a^ b.^ c d^ c^ d^.
There are other stanzas of this kind which occur in earlier poets,
as e. g. Donne, Cowley, and Dryden, or in some of those of latei
date, as Southey, R. Browning, and Rossetti, one half-stanza
having enclosing rhymes and the whole stanza partaking ol
a tripartite structure. We find, e. g. the form Abb ac dc^^d.^'w
D. G. Rossetti, A Little While (i. 245) :
A little while a little love
The hour yet bears for thee and me
Who have not drawn the veil to see^
If still our heaven be lit above.
Thou merely, at the day's last sigh,
Hast felt thy soul prolong the tone ;
And I have heard the night-wind cry
And deemed its speech mine own.
Other similar stanzas correspond to the formulas
aabr^b^c^d d^ r^, ^5 bb^a^cc^d d^, aj^b b^acj^d d^ c^, anc
ar^boab^Cr^dd^c^; for examples see Metrik, ii, § 474. Stanzas
on the model a^-bca^c^^B^d^D^, or on abc'^^ddabc'-'^
are found only in single examples (cf. Metrik, ii, § 476).
§ 292. The most important of the Modern English eight-
lined stanzas, however, is an isometrical one on a foreigr
model, viz. a stanza of hendecasyllabic or rather five-foot verses
corresponding to the Italian ottava rima, on the schema
abababcc. This stanza, which has always been very populai
in Italian poetry, was introduced into English by Wyatt anc
Surrey; in Surrey we have only an isolated specimen, in Tl
his Mistress {p. 32):
If he that erst the form so lively drew
Of Venus' face, triumph' d in painter's art ;
Thy Father then what glory did ensue.
By whose pencil a Goddess made thou art,
Touched with flame that figure made some rue.
And with her love surprised many a heart.
There lackt yet that should cure their hot desire:
Thou canst inflame and quench the kindled flre.
The stanza was often used by Wyatt, Sidney, and Spensei
for reflective poems, and by Drayton and Daniel for epic poem.'
J
jpHAP.vi STANZAS OF THREE AND MORE PARTS 355
of some length. In modern literature it has been used by
[Frere, Byron {Beppo, Don Juan), Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth,
Longfellow, and others (cf. Metrik, ii, § 579).
§ 293. Stanzas of nine lines either show a combination
Df parallel with crossed or enclosing rhymes, as in the
brms aabcbc ddd^^ a^ba^b^b^c^Cr^dd^ (Rhyme-Royal +
hyming couplet), ab^b a^c^c cd d^, a^abb^ c^ c^^ d^ d ^5,
h ba.^c^b^db c^ Dy &c. (for specimens see Metrik, ii, §§477 and
^79), or, in some of the later poets, they consist of parts of
nodified tail-rhyme stanzas combined with other forms, as in
he following stanza {a^ .^bj^a^b.^c c^d^a^ d^) of a song by
Moore :
Love /kee, dearest? love thee?
Yes, by yonder star I swear.
Which thro tears above thee
Shines so sadly fair ;
Though often dim,
With tears, like him,
Like him my truth will shine,
And — love thee, dearest? love thee?
Yes, till death I'm thine.
Other stanzas of Moore and others have the formulas
' a b a b c c Cj^d>^ (Burns, p. 216), a b -^ a aj^b '^^c d d^ c^,
ab^c^b^c^dd^c^, a^^b^aa^C'^^c^d'^ d'^^b^y &c. (cf. Metrik,
,§478).
§ 294. The ten-line stanzas are also based mostly on
, combination of earlier strophic systems. Thus in Camp-
lell's well-known poem. Ye Mariners of England (p. 71), the
'^Gutter's Measure rhythm is observable, the scheme being
- b^ C^ ^3 . ^4/3 . ^2 ^3 ^4 ^3-
Ye Mariners of England!
That guard our native seas ;
Whose flag has braved, a thousand years,
The battle and the breeze!
Your glorious standard launch again
To match another foe !
And sweep through the deep,
While the stormy winds do blow ;
While the battle rages loud and long,
And the stormy winds do blow.
A a 2
356 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
Similar stanzas occurring in the works of earlier poets, at
Sidney and Spenser, correspond to the schemes
aQhabbr^cc^d^b^d^, a^a^^b'^cb'^c D'--D'^ E E^, &c.
But generally speaking most of the earlier poets, as e.gj
Donne, Cowley, and Suckling, prefer a simpler order of rhymesi
the schemes being aa^bb .c^c c^.ddd^^ a^^ab b^c c^ddee^
a^aa^^bb c dd^ee^^ &c. ; the more modern poets (Moore-
Wordsworth, Swinburne), on the other hand, are fond of some-
what more complicated forms, as a^b~b~^aa^c '-'C ^^dad^
ab tt/^b^c Cr^ de^^ dj^e^^ abbj^a.^c dde d^ d^, &c. (For specimens
cf. Metrikj ii, §§ 480, 481.) A fine form of stanza correspond*
ing to the formula abcb c^a^deedr, is used by M. Arnold ir
his poem The Scholar Gipsy, and another on the scheme;
aa^bc cb^d^ede^ in Westminster Abbey, p. 479.
§ 295. Stanzas of eleven lines do not frequently occui
in earlier poetry, and for the most part simple forms ar«
employed, e.g. ab^abcd^cd^ee^e^, a^ab^b^Cj^d^Cj^d^eej^e^'
aabb^c^d^d^c ee e^, &c. ; the more recent poets, however
as Moore, Wordsworth, and R, Browning, have usually preferrec
a more intricate arrangement, as a ^ b c '^ d d a '^ b c ^^ e e e^
abcj^b^d eff^ e^ g g^, a^b^ab c^ d^ ^^^3^2 ^3 ^4 • ^^^ ^^^^ schem(
occurs in a song by Moore :
How happy once^ tho winged with sighs,
My moments flew along.
While looking on those smiling eyes,
And lisfning to thy magic song!
But vanish' d now, like summer dreams,
Those moments smile no more;
For me that eye no longer beams,
That song /or me is o'er.
Mine the cold brow,
That speaks thy alter d vow,
While others /eel thy sunshine now.
§ 296. Stanzas of twelve lines are more frequent, possibl);
on account of the symmetrical arrangement of the stanza ir
equal parts, twelve being divisible by three. They are con-
structed on different models, e.g. aa^br^ba^c^d^dc^c^ee^.
aa^b'-b'^c^c^d^d^e/Ze^, a^b^b^a^C'^^d'^od'-^c~c^e^e'^/'-/m
{bob-verse stanzas), ab^c '-'C~^aj^b^dde^/^/e^, &c., occurring"
in earlier poets, such as Donne, Browne, Dryden, &c. Similai
stanzas, partly of a simpler structure (abba^aQCCj^b^dde^e^
HAP. VI STANZAS OF THREE AND MORE PARTS 357
ba^b.^cc^dd^e'^/^e'^/^, and aa^b^cc^b-^b^a^DE^FEj^-'^^
lire found in modern poetry ; the last scheme, resembling the
ijiil-rhyme stanza, occurring in Tennyson (p. 1 2) :
A spirit haunts the year* s last hours
Dwelling amid these yellowing bowers:
To himself he talks ;
For at eventide^ listening earnestly,
At his work you may hear him sob and sigh
In the walks ;
Earthward he boweth the heavy stalks
Of the mouldering flowers :
Heavily hangs the broad sunflower
Over its grave { the earth so chilly ;
Heavily hangs the hollyhock,
Heavily hangs the tiger-lily.
Many other examples are quoted in Metrik, ii, §§ 484-6.
[or several stanzas of a still greater extent, but of rare occur-
mce, which need not be mentioned in this handbook, see ibid.,
487-90.
CHAPTER VII
THE SPENSERIAN STANZA AND FORMS DERIVEI
FROM IT
§ 297. One of the most important Modern English stanza;
is the Spenserian, so called after its inventor. This stanza, lib
the forms discussed in the last, chapter, but in a still greate:
degree, is based on an older type. For it is not, as is some
times said, derived from the Italian ottava rima (cf. § 292), buti
as was pointed out by Guest (ii. 389), from a Middle EngiisI
eight-lined popular stanza of five-foot verses with rhymes on th(
formula ababbc be, which was modelled in its turn on a well
known Old French ballade-stanza (cf. § 269). To this stanzs
Spenser added a ninth verse of six feet rhyming with the eightl
line, an addition which was evidently meant to give a van
distinct and impressive conclusion to the stanza.
As a specimen the first stanza of the first book of the Faeri
Queene, where it was used for the first time, may be quotec
here :
A gentle Knight was prieking on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe woundes did remaine,
The cruell markes of many a bloody fielde ;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield.
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full Jolly knight he seemd, and f aire did silt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.
This euphonious stanza became very popular and has beer
used by many of the chief Modern English poets, as e.g. b}
Thomson, The Castle of Indolence ; Shenstone, The School
Mistress', Burns, 7%^ Cotter s Saturday Night; Byron, Childt
Harold's Pilgrimage; Shelley, The Revolt of Islam.
The great influence it had on the development of the dif
ferent forms of stanza, especially in the earlier Modern English
period, is proved by the numerous imitations and analogous
formations which arose from it.
HAP. VII THE SPENSERIAN STANZA 359
§ 298. All the imitations have this in common that they
:onsist of a series of two to ten five-foot lines followed by
I concluding line of six (or rarely seven) feet.
John Donne, Phineas Fletcher, and Giles Fletcher were, it
^eems, the inventors of those varieties of stanza, the shortest of
,vhich consist of three or four lines on the schemes aa^a^^
I b ^5 <5g, and were used by Rochester, Upon Nothing (Poets, iv.
113), and Cowper (p. 406). A stanza of five lines, however,
)n the model abab^bQ occurs in Phineas Fletcher's Eclogue II.
The favourite six-lined stanza with the formula ababcc-
cf. § 267, p. 327) was often transformed into a quasi-Spenserian
;tanza ababc^c^ by adding one foot to the last line, as e. g. by
Dodsley in O71 the Death of Mr. Pope (Poets, xi. 103), Southey,
"^he Chapel Bell (ii. 143), and others ; cf. Metrik, ii, § 493.
It was changed into a stanza of seven lines on the scheme
ibabcc-^c^ by Donne, The Good Morrow (Poets, iv. 24) by
jhe addition of a seventh line rhyming with the two pre-
ceding lines.
IMuch more artistic taste is shown by the transformation of
ic
seven-lined rhyme royal stanza ababbccr, (cf, § 268) into ,.^
L quasi- Spenserian stanza ababbcr^c^ in Milton's On the
Death of a Fair Infant.
By the addition of a new line rhyming with the last couplet
this form was developed into the eight-lined stanza ababbcc-^c^
imployed in Giles Fletcher's Christ's Victory and Triumph.
' Omitting some rarer forms (cf. Metrik, ii, § 495) we may
nention that Phineas Fletcher transformed the ottava rima
' bababc c-^ into a quasi-Spenserian stanza of the form
'bababcr^CQ, and that he also extended the same stanza to one
j»f nine lines {ababab c Cr^c^ by adding one verse more.
bther nine-line quasi- Spenserian stanzas occurring occasionally
a modern poets, e. g. Mrs. Hemans, Shelley, and Wordsworth,
orrespond to abaabbccr^c^, ab abcdc d^d^, ababc cbdr^d^,
abbccdd^d^. (For specimens see Metrik, ii, § 496.)
A stanza of ten lines on the scheme ababcdc de-^e^ was
avented by Prior for his Ode to the Queen (Poets, vii. 440) ;
lut it is not, as he thought, an improved, but only a simplified
Dim of the old Spenserian scheme :
When great Augustus governed ancient Rome^
And sent his conquering bands to foreign wars ;
Abroad when dreaded^ and belov'd at home,
He saw his fame increasing with his years ;
36o THE STRUCTURE OF STA.NZAS book u
Horace^ great bard! (so fate ordain d) arose ^
And, bold as were his countrymen in fight ^
Snatched their fair actions from degrading prose.
And set their battles in eternal light :
High as their trumpets' tune his lyre he strung,
And with his princes arms he moralized his song.
This stanza has been used by some subsequent poets, e. g,
by Chatterton, who himself invented a similar imitation of the
old Spenserian form, viz. ababbabac^c^. Other stanzas of
ten lines are ab abb c dc d^d^, abba c ddc e^e^, ababccdee^d^.
(For specimens see Metrik, ii, § 497.)
A stanza of eleven lines on the %z\i^xi\t abab c dc d c d-^d^
occurs in Wordsworth in the Cuckoo-clock (viii. 161).
§ 299. Amongst the stanzaic formations analogous to the
Spenserian stanza, which for the most part were invented by
the poets just mentioned, two different groups are to be dis-
tinguished ; firstly, stanzas the body of which consists of four-
foot (seldom three-foot) verses, a six-foot final verse being added
to them either immediately or preceded by a five-foot verse;
secondly, stanzas of anisometrical structure in the principal part,
the end- verse being of six or sometimes of seven feet.
The stanzas of the first group consist of four to ten lines,
and have the following formulas : four-lined stanzas, ab c^h^
(Wordsworth) ; five lines, abab-^b^ (Shelley) ; six lines,
abaab-^b^ (Ben Jonson), abab^c^c^ (Wordsworth, Cole-
ridge), <z ^3 <55 ^ <r3 ^c (R. Browning); seven lines, a^bba^cc^Cj
(Mrs. Browning); eight lines, ababcc d^d^ (Gray, Words-
worth), aabbc cd^dQ (John Scott), aabb cc^d^d^ (Coleridge); ,
nine lines, ababcdc^d^c^ and ababcc dd^d^ (Akenside),
ababbc bcj^CQ (Shelley, Stanzas written in Dejection, i. 370);
ten lines, ababcdcd^e^^e^ (Whitehead).
As an example we quote a stanza of nine lines from Shelley's
poem mentioned above :
/ see the Deep's untrajiipled floor
With green and purple seaweeds strown ;
I see the waves upon the shore.
Like light dissolved in star-showers, thrown :
1 sit upon the sands alone,
The lightning of the noon-tide ocean
, Is flashing round me, and a tone
Arises from its measured motion,
How sweet ! did any heart now share i7t my emotion.
For other examples see Metrik, ii, §§ 499-503.
CHAP. VII THE SPENSERIAN STANZA 361
§ 300. Greater variety is found in the second group ; they have
an extent of four up to sixteen lines and mostly occur in poets
of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries (Donne, Ben Jonson,
Cowley, Rowe, Akenside, &c.), rarely in the nineteenth century.
Stanzas of four lines are, a^ab^b^ (Poets, v. 236), aa^b^bQ (ib.
xi. 1207); of five lines, a^^ab^b^a^ (ib. v. 281), aba^b^b^
(ib. ix. 312), &c. ; of six lines, a^b^a^^bc^Cg (ib. xi. 130),
(i^b^a^b^c^CQ (ib. x. 722), aa^b^cc^bf. (ib. xi. 1070; tail-
rhyme stanza), ab^a^bc^CQ (Tennyson, 7%^ Third of February)-,
of seven lines, % b^ b^ a^ c c^ Cq (Foet^T^. 413), abab^b^ c^ Cq
(Mrs. Hemans, Easter Day, vii. 165, with rhymes in the rhyme
royal order ; of eight lines, a a.^ b^ c c^ b^ d^ d^ (Milton, Hymn
on the Nativity, ii, 400 ; tail-rhyme + d^ d^, a^ b^ a b^ c^ d^ c^ d^
(Poets, iv. 36), a^a^bb^c d c^ d^ (ib. v. 432), ab^b ca^d d^ Cq
|(ib. ix. 794), ababc^c^d^dQ, and ab^a^b^c^d^d^c^ (Words-
jworth, Artegal and Elidure, vi. 47, and 'Tis said that some have
died /or love, ii. 184, beginning with the second stanza).
The following stanza from the last-mentioned poem may
>erve as a specimen :
Oh move, thou Cottage, from behind that oak I
Or let the aged tree uprooted lie,
That in some other way yon smoke
May mount into the sky:
The clouds pass on ; they from the heavens depart.
1 look — the sky is e?npty space ;
I know not what I trace ;
But when I cease to look, my hand is on my heart.
Stanzas of nine lines, especially occurring in Donne, have
he formulas abb^a^ccc^d^ d^ (Poets, iv. 29), aabbc^c d^d^ d^
[ib. 36), a^bba^ccc^dd^d^j (ib. 31), aabbb^cdd^c^ (ib. vii.
H'i), &c. ; of ten lines, aa^^bbc c^d^dd^^d^ (ib. iv. 28),
\iabcc^b^ded^e^ (ib. ix. 788), ababr^c cdd^Cr^e^ (Shelley,
^''Phantasm of fupiter in Prometheus Unbound)', of twelve lines,
ihabr^ccddee^fr^f^ (Poets, xi. 588); of thirteen lines,
^b^^a-^b'^^c^Cr^dd^e^p^f^e^f^ (Ben Jonson, Ode to fames,
Earl of Desniond, ib. iv. 572) ; of fifteen lines,
xbabc^dd^d^ceced/fQ (Shelley, Ode to Liberty, i. 360-9);
)f sixteen lines, abab ababr,c c^b^^dd^br^e^e^ (Swinburne,
New-Fear Ode to Victor Hugo {Midsummer Holiday, pp. 39-63).
This last stanza has an exceedingly fine structure, consisting
)f an isometrical first part and an anisometrical tail-rhyme
\y
362 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
stanza + an anisometrical rhyming couplet, forming the Ii
part :
Twice twelve times have the springs of years refilled
Their fountains from the river -head of time^
Since by the green seds marge^ ere autumn chilled
Waters and woods with sense of changing clime,
A great light rose upon my soul, and thrilled
My spirit of sense with sense of spheres in chime,
Sound as of song wherewith a God would build
Towers that no force of cotiquering war might climb.
Wind shook the glimmering sea
Even as my soul in me
Was stirred with breath of mastery more sublime.
Uplift and borne along
More thunderous tides of song,
Where wave rang back to wave more rapturous rhyme
And world ott world flashed lordlier light
Than ever lit the wandering ways of ships by night.
The three stanzas last quoted, as well as some of the shorter
ones occurring in Akenside, Rowe, «&c., were also used for odes,
and in this way the affinity of formations like these with the
odic stanzas to be discussed in the next chapter becomes
apparent.
t
CHAPTER VIII
THE EPITHALAMIUM STANZA AND OTHER ODIC
STANZAS
§ 301. The Spenserian stanza stands in unmistakable con-
"Inexion with Spenser's highly artistic and elaborate Epithala-
jmium stanza (Globe Ed. 587-91) inasmuch as the last line,
That all the woods may answer and their echo ring, repeated in
each stanza as a burden together with the word sing which ends
the preceding verse, has six measures, the rest of the stanza
consisting of three- and five-foot lines.
Like the Spenserian stanza, the Epithalamium stanza has given
rise to numerous imitations.
It cannot be said that one fixed form of stanza is employed
throughout the whole extent of Spenser's Epithalamium. It rather
consists of two main forms of stanza, viz. one of eighteen lines
(st. i, ii, iv, V, vi, x, xvi, xxi, xxiii), and one of nineteen lines
(st. iii, vii, viii, ix, xi, xii, xiii, xiv, xvii, xviii, xix, xx, xxii),
(whereas one stanza, the fifteenth, has only seventeen lines. In
'the arrangement of rhymes there are also sporadic varieties :
cf. e.g. iv and ix.
The arrangement of verse, however, is always similar in both
Groups. The main part of the stanza consists of five-foot
verses, the succession of which is interrupted three times by
three-foot ones, the final verse of the stanza having six measures,
iln the stanza of eighteen lines the usual arrangement is
\ababc^c^dc de-^ ^z/gg/5 gz ^5 -^6- ^^ those of nineteen lines
\i\s ababc^c^dc de^ Hfggf^b K ^5 ^6- ^^^ scheme of the
stanza of seventeen lines is ababc^c^ dcdeffg h^ h^ r^ Rq.
The two following stanzas (ii, iii) may be quoted as
specimens of the two chief forms:
Early J before the worlds light-giving lampe
His golden beame upon the hits doth spred,
Having disperst the nights imchearefull dampe,
Doe ye awake ; and, with fresh lusty hed^
364 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
Go to the bowre of my beloved love.
My trues i turtle dove ;
Bid her awake ; for Hymen is awake ^
And long since ready forth his maske to move,
With his bright Tead that flames with many a flake.
And many a bachelor to waite on him.
In theyr fresh garments trim.
Bid her awake therefore, afid soone her dight,
For lot the wished day is come at last,
That shall, for all the paynes and sorrowes past,
Pay to her usury of long delight :
And, why lest she doth her dight.
Doe ye to her of joy and solace sing,
That all the woods may answer, and your eccho ring.
Bring with you all the Nymphes that you can heare
Both of the rivers and the for rests greene.
And of the sea that neighbours to her neare ;
A I with gay gir lands goodly 7vel beseene.
And let them also with them bring in hand
Another gay gir land.
For my fayre love, of lillyes and of roses,
Bound truelove wize, with a blue silke riband.
And let them make great store of bridal poses.
And let them eeke bring store of other flowers
To deck the bridale bowers.
And let the ground whereas her foot shall tread,
For fear e the stones her tender foot should wrong,
Be strewed with fragrant flowers all along.
And diapred lyke the discoloured mead.
Which done, doe at her chamber dore awayt,
For she will waken strayt ;
The whiles doe ye this song unto her sing,
The woods shall to you answer, and your Eccho ring.
These stanzas evidently consist of three or four unequal parts,
the two first parts (11. 1-6, 7-1 1) being connected by rhyme.
There is a certain similarity between them, the chief difference
being that the second pes, as we may call it, is shortened by one
verse. With the third part, a nfew system of verses rhyming
together commences, forming a kind of last part {downsong or
Cauda) ; and as the final couplet of the stanza is generally
closely connected in sense with this, the assumption of a tri-
CHAP. VIII THE EPITHALAMIUM STANZA 365
partite division of the stanza is preferable to that of a quadri-
partite division.
§ 302. Stanzas of this kind have also been used by later poets
in similar poems. But all these imitations of the Epithalamium
stanza are shorter than their model. As to their structure, some
of them might also be ranked among the irregular Spenserian
stanzas, as they agree with those in having a longer final verse of
jsix or seven measures. But as a rule, they have — not to speak
of the similarity of theme — the combination of three- and five-foot
verses in the principal part, on the model, it seems, of Spenser's
Epithalamium stanza.
Stanzas of this kind (eight lines up to fourteen) occur in
Donne and Ben Jonson ; the schemes being —
of eight lines : abab-^c^ c^ d^ d^ (Poets, iv. 588) ;
of eleven lines : a^ab^b^c^c dd ee^E,^ (ib. iv. 19) ;
of twelve lines.: a^abc cbde^e^ d/^ Fq (ib. 1 6) ;
of fourteen lines : ar^ab^b^c^dd c^ e^ ^ffg^ Gq (ib. 1 5).
For specimens see Metrik, ii, § 512.
Stanzas similar in subject and structure, but without the longer
end-verse, may be treated here, as well as some odic stanzas
similar in structure (9-18 lines) and in theme, occurring in
earlier poets, as e.g. Sidney, Spenser, John Donne, Samuel Daniel,
Ben Jonson, Drummond, and Milton. In Modern English poetry
there are only some few examples of such stanzas to be met with
in translations of Italian canzones ; e. g. in Leigh Hunt. The
(Schemes are as follows. Stanzas of nine lines, abab^bc^c^do. D^
(Sidney, Arcadia, p. 388); of ten lines, aa^b^b^Cr^cdd^ee^
(Ben Jonson, Ode to hiviself^ Poets, iv. 607); of eleven
lines, a a^b^b^c^c^D^D<^E^E:^dr^ (ib. 611); of twelve lines,
f^brJ^^cc^dd^e^/^/r^e^ (ib. 572), a^ab^b^cc^d^de^e^//^
(Drummond, ib. 664); of thirteen lines,
a b^ a^ cb^Cr^c dee^ d^f^ f^ (Sidney, Arcadia, p. 394),
a br^c^ab^c^c d e e^d^f^/^ (S. Daniel, The Pastoral^ Poets, iv.
225), agreeing in form with the eleventh of Petrarch's canzones,
Chiare.fresche e dolci acque, translated by Leigh Hunt (p. 394)
on the scheme, a a^br^c c^br^b d d^€^e^/^/^\ of fourteen lines,
abcbaccr^dd^ce^f^f^e^ (Milton, Upon the Circuvicision, ii.
408) ; of eighteen lines, abba^a^c dcd^d^e e/e^//^ G G^
(Spenser, Prothalammvi, p. 605). For examples of these
stanzas, partly formed on the model of the Italian canzones,
see Melriky ii, §§ 512-15.
J
366 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book h
§ 303. The English odic stanzas have been influenced too,
although only in a general way, by the anisometrical structure
of the Greek odes. This, however, was only to a slight extent
the case in the so-called Pindaric Odes, as the metres usually
employed in them were essentially the same, and retained in
their composition the same anisometrical character exhibited by
the odic stanzas considered in the preceding paragraphs.
There are, however, two groups of Pindaric Odes, viz. Regular
and Irregular, and it is chiefly the latter group to which the
preceding remark refers.
The irregular odes were possibly modelled on certain non-
strophical poems or hymns, consisting of anisometrical verses
throughout, with an entirely irregular system of rhymes. We
have an example of them already in the poems of Donne, the
inventor or imitator of some odic stanzas mentioned in the
previous paragraph ; it is in his poem The Dissolution (Poets,
iv. 38) consisting of twenty-two rhyming verses of two to seven
measures on the model
a^b^c^d^^b^ac^d'^^e^e^f^/^er^g^g^h^h^ii^k^l^lk^krj.
A similar form is found in Milton's poems On Time (ii. 411)
and At a Solemn Music (ii. 412). Other examples taken from
later poets are quoted in Metrik, ii, § 523. M. Arnold's poems
The Voice (second half) (p. 36) and Stagirius (p. 38) likewise
fall under this head.
To the combined influence of the earlier somewhat lengthy
unstrophical odes on the one hand, and of the shorter, strophical
ones also composed of anisometrical verses on the other, we
have possibly to trace the particular odic form which was used
by Cowley when he translated, or rather paraphrased, the
Odes of Pindar. Owing to Cowley's popularity, this form came
much into fashion afterwards through his numerous imitators,
and it is much in vogue even at the present day.
The characteristic features of Cowley's free renderings and
imitations of Pindar's odes are, in the first place, that he dealt
very freely with the matter of his Greek original, giving only the
general sense with arbitrary omissions and additions ; and, in
the second place, he paid no attention to the characteristic
strophic structure of the original, which is a system of stanzas
recurring in the same order till the end of the poem, and
consisting of two stanzas of identical form, the strophe and
antistrophe, followed by a third, the epode, entirely differing
from the two others in structure. In this respect Cowley did
not even attempt to imitate the original poems, the metres
I
pHAP. VIII THE EPITHALAMIUM STANZA 367
iof which were very imperfectly understood till long after his
time.
Hence there is a very great difference between the originals
and the English translations of Cowley, a difference which is
clear even to the eye from the inequality of the number of
stanzas and the number of verses in them.
§ 304. The first Nemean ode, e. g. consists of four equal
parts, each one being formed of a strophe and antistrophe of
seven lines, and of a four-lined epode; twelve stanzas in all.
Cowley's translation, on the other hand, has only nine stanzas,
3ach of an entirely different structure, their schemes being as
follows :
I. aa^bb^c^cd^d^ee^e/^/^g^g^, 15 1.
II. aa^b^b^b^c^c^c^d^^dr^ee^/^/^e^, 15 1.
III. ^5<^3^4««5^3^4^^^3^/~4/~6^4^5^7> ^^ 1.
IV. a^abbj^bccc^d^d^ee^e^, 13 1.
^^ aabbcr^c^c^d^ed^eff^gr^g^y 15 1.
VI. a a^ b^ b^ Cq d^ d^ c ef^f^f^g^ge hr,h^, 1 7 1.
VII. a^ «3 b^ ^4 br^ c^ Cq d^ e^ e^ dr^ffg^ gi, 1 5 1-
VIII. «2 « ^5 h ^4 ^Q ^5 ^^4 HfAS^S hK^ 1 6 1.
IX. a^a^b^bcgcd^d^de^eQ, ill.
Cowley's own original stanzas and those of his numerous
imitators are of a similar irregular and arbitrary structure;
cf. Cowley's ode Brutus (Poets, v. 303), which has the following
stanzaic forms :
I. a^ab^b^cc^c^c^d^dd^d^dr^dQ, 14 1.
II. abaabr^b^ccdd^d^e^e^f^g^g^f^, 17 1.
III. a^a^b^bQCr^cd^ddee^f/^g'-r^g^Q, 15 1.
IV. aaa^b^b^ar^aa^b^c^cdr^d^e^e^/^/Q, 17 1.
V. ab^b^aQC^c^c^ac^c^dde^e^/^/gg^khJiJ^, 23 1.
Waller's ode Upon modern Critics (Poets, v. 650) has the
following stanzaic forms :
I. abb^acr^cd^ d^ d^ e/^/A ^^Ag§ h H ^K h^Qy 23 1.
II. aa^b^bccd^dr,e//g^g^e^ht\i^hkk^ll^, 23 1.
III. aabbc^Cr, ddee//^ hf^S'^ K ^g h h^ 21 1.
IV. abba^c c^ d^ d^ ^5 d^ dAf^gg^ h^ hr, i^ t^, 19 1.
V. aabbc^d^c^derjj'^f^gr.ghhj^i^, 18].
VI. a^^h^abaccd^d^ee^ffgr^g^gh^hij^, 20 1.
All the stanzas are of unequal length and consist of the most
368 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i:
various verses (of three, four, mostly five, even six and seven
measures) and arrangements of rhymes. Parallel rhymes are
very common ; but sometimes we have crossed, enclosing, and
other kinds of rhyme, as e. g. the system of the Italian terzina.
A characteristic feature is that at the end of the stanza very
often three parallel rhymes occur, and that, as a rule, the stanza
winds up with a somewhat longer line of six or seven measures,
as in the Spenserian and the Epithalamium stanza ; but some-
times we also find a short final verse.
To these Irregular Pindaric Odes, besides, belong Dryden's
celebrated odes Threnodia Augustalis and Alexander s Feast, the
latter having a more lyrical form, with a short choral strophe
after each main stanza ; and Pope's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day,
A long list of references to similar poems from Cowley to
Tennyson is given in Metrik^ ii, §§ 516-22 ; amongst these
different forms the rhymeless odic stanzas occurring in Dr. Sayers
(Dramatic Sketches), Southey (e.g. Thalaba) and Shelley {Queen
Mab) are noticeable,
§ 305. To these Irregular Pindaric Odes strong opposition
was raised by the dramatist Congreve, who in a special Discourse
on the Pindaric Ode (Poets, vii. 509) proved that Pindar's odes
were by no means formed on the model of such an arbitrary
strophic structure as that of the so-called Pindaric Odes which «
had hitherto been popular in English poetry. To refute this!
false view he explained and emphasized their actual structure (
(see § 303), which he imitated himself in his Pindaric Ode<
addressed to the Queen, written soon after May 20, 1706, and
composed in anisometrical rhyming verses. He was mistaken,
however, in thinking that he was the first to make this attempt ;
in English. Nearly a hundred years before him, Ben Jonson ;
had imitated Pindar's odic form on exactly the same principles;
in his Ode Pindaric to the memory of Sir Lucius Carey audi
Sir H. Morison {Poets, iv. 585) we have the strophe {turn), 1
antistrophe {counter-turn), and the epode {stand), recurring four
times (cf. Metrik, ii, § 525). Ben Jonson, however, found noi
followers ; so that his attempt had remained unknown even to
Congreve. The regular Pindaric Odes by this poet, on the
other hand, called forth a great many imitations of a similar
kind and structure. For this reason the first three stanzas of
Congreve's Pindaric Ode (Poets, vii. 570) may be quoted here
as an example, the scheme of the strophe and antistrophe being
aa^b^c c^ b^ b^, that of the epode abab^c^d^ c^ d^ e^^ efg.^g^fr, :
HAP. VIII THE EPITHALAMIUM STANZA 369
The Strophe.
Daughter of rnemory, immortal muse,
Calliope ; what poet wilt thou choose.
Of Anna's name to sing?
To whom wilt thou thy fire impart,
Thy lyre, thy voice, and tuneful art;
Whom raise sublime on thy aethereal wing,
And consecrate with dews of thy Castalian spring?
The Antistrophe.
Without thy aid, the most aspiring mind
Must flag beneath, to narrow flights confin'd,
Striving to rise in vain :
Nor eer can hope with equal lays
To celebrate bright virtue's praise.
Thy aid obtain d, ev'n I, the humblest swain,
May climb Pierian heights, and quit the lowly plain.
The Epode.
High in the starry orb is hung,
And next Alcides' guardian arm,
That harp to ivhich thy Orpheus sung
Who woods, and rocks, and winds could charm;
That harp which on Cyllene's shady hill,
When first the vocal shell was found,
With more than mortal skill
Inventor Hermes taught to sound:
Hermes on bright Latonds son,
By sweet persuasion won.
The wondrous work bestowed ;
LatoncLs son, to thine
Indulgent, gave the gift divine ;
A god the gift, a god th'invention show'd.
The most celebrated among the later Pindaric Odes formed
1 similar principles are Gray's odes The Progress of Poesy
'oets, X. 218) and The Bard (ib. 220). References to other
les are given in Metrik, ii, § 527.
In dramatic poetry M. Arnold attempted to imitate the struc-
re of the different parts of the Chorus of Greek tragedy in his
igment Antigone (p. 211), and more strictly in his tragedy
•^CHIPPER B b
370 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS bookj
Merope (p. 350). It would lead us too far, however, to giv
a detailed description of the strophic forms occurring there.
With regard to other lyrical pieces in masques and opera;
(also of an unequal-membered strophic structure) and wit
regard to cantata-stanzas and other stanzas differing amon
themselves, in other poems which cannot be further disi
cussed here, we must refer the reader to §§ 528-31 of ou
larger work.
CHAPTER IX
THE SONNET
§ 306. Origin of the English Sonnet. In early Proven9al
and French poetry certain lyric poems are found which were
called Son, sometimes Sonet, although they had neither a fixed
extent, nor a regulated form. But the Sonnet^ in its exact
structure was introduced into French, Spanish, and English
poetry from Italian, and as a rule on the model, or at
least under the influence, of Petrarch's sonnets. In English
literature, however, the sonnet in part had a more independent
development than it had in other countries, and followed its
Italian model at first only in the number and nature of the
verses used in it. Generally speaking, the Italian and the
Knglish sonnet can be defined as a short poem, complete in
tself, consisting of fourteen five-foot (or eleven-syllabled)
ambic lines, in which a single theme, a thought or series of
houghts, is treated and brought to a conclusion. In the
hyme-arrangement and the structure of the poem, however,
he English sonnet, as a rule, deviates greatly from its Italian
nodel, and the examples in which its strict form is followed
ire comparatively rare.
§ 307. The Italian Sonnet consists of two parts distinguished
rom each other by difference of rhymes, each of the parts
laving its own continuous system of rhymes. The first part
5 formed of two quatrains {bast), i. e. stanzas of four lines ; the
econd of two terzetti i^volte), stanzas of three lines. The two
luatrains have only two, the terzetti two or three rhymes.
The usual rhyme-arrangement in the quatrains \% abba abba,
aore rarely abba baab (rima chiusa). There are, however,
Iso sonnets with alternate rhymes, abab ababoxabab baba
rima aliernaia)', but the combination of the two kinds of
hyme, abab baab ox abba abab (t'tma mista), was unusual.
n the second part, consisting of six lines, the order of rhymes
> not so definitely fixed. When only two rhymes are used,
hich the old metrists, as Quadrio (1695-1756), the Italian
^ For titles of books and essays on the sonnet see Englische Metrik, ii,
p. 836-7 note; cf. also L. Bladene, 'Morfologia del Sonetto nei secoli
-III e XIV ' {Siudi di Filologia Komanza, fasc. 10).
B b 2
372 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
critic and historian of literature, regarded as the only legitima^
method, the usual sequence is cdc dcd (crossed rhymes, rin
alternatd). This form occurs 112 times in those of Petrarch*i
sonnets which have only two rhymes in the last part, the
number being 124 ; in the remaining twelve sonnets the rhyme
system is either cdd cdc or cdd dec. In the second part 0;
Petrarch's sonnets three rhymes are commoner than two. Ir,
most cases we have the formula cde cde, which occurs in i2[
sonnets, while the scheme cdedce\?> met with only in 78 sonnets^
The three chief forms, then, of Petrarch's sonnet may be giver
with Tomlinson ^ as built on the following models :
abba abba cde cde, abba abba cdc dcd,
abba abba cde dee.
In the seventy-second and seventy-fourth sonnet we have
the unusual schemes cde edc and cde dec. The worst forroi
according to the Italian critics, was that which ended in i
rhyming couplet. This kind of ending, as we shall see latei
on, is one of the chief characteristics of the specifically English
form- of the sonnet.
The original and oldest form of the sonnet, however, as
recent inquiries seem to show, was that with crossed rhymee
both in the quatrains and in the terzetti, on the scheme
abab abab cdc dcd. But this variety had no direct influence
on the true English form, in which a system of crossed rhymes
took a different arrangement.
An essential point, then, in the Italian sonnet is the bipartition,
the division of it into two chief parts ; and this rule is so strictly^
observed that a carrying on of the sense, or the admission of'
enjambemeni between the two main parts, connecting the eighth'
and ninth verse of the poem by a run-on line, would be looked^
upon as a gross offence against the true structure and meaning;
of this poetic form. Nor would a run-on line be allowed between!
the first and the second stanza ; indeed some poets, who follow'
the strict form of the sonnet, do not even admit enjambemenl\
between the first and the second terzetto, although for the second
main part of the poem this has never become a fixed rule.
The logical import of the structure of the sonnet, as under--
stood by the earlier theorists, especially Quadrio, is this: The]
^ Cf. Rtude sur Joachim du Bellay et son rdle dans la rdforme de Ronsard^ '
par G. Plotz. Berlin, Herbig, 1874, p. 24.
2 The Sonnet: Its Origin, Structure and Place in Poetry, London,
1874, 8", p. 4.
HAP. IX THE SONNET
373
rsi quatrain makes a statement ; the second proves it ; the
ist terzetto has to confirm it, and the second draws the con-
lusion of the whole.
§ 308. The structure of this originally Italian poetic form
lay be illustrated by the following sonnet, equally correct in
)i m and poetical in substance, in which Theodore Watts-Dunton
2ts forth the essence of this form of poetry itself:
The Sonnet's Voice.
A metrical lesson by the sea-shore.
Von silvery billows breaking on the beach
Fall back in foam beneath the star-shine clear,
The while my rhymes are murmuring in your ear
A restless lore like that the billows teach;
For on these sonnet-waves my soul would reach
From its own depths, and rest within you, dear,
As, through the billowy voices yearning here,
Great riature strives to find a human speech.
A sonnet is a wave of melody :
From heaving waters of the impassioned soul
A billow of tidal music one and whole
I Flows in the ^octave'; then, returning free ^
Its ebbing surges in the ^sestet' roll
Back to the deeps of Lifes tumultuous sea.
Although the run-on line between the terzetti is perhaps open
j a slight objection, the rhyme-arrangement is absolutely
)rrect, the inadmissible rhyming couplet at the end of the
)em being of course avoided. Other sonnets on the sonnet
ritten in English, German, or French, are quoted in Metrik, ii,
534.
§ 309. The first English sonnet-writers, Wyatt and Surrey,
j-'parted considerably from this strict Italian form, although
jey both translated sonnets written by Petrarch into English.
heir chief deviation from this model is that, while retaining the
0 quatrains, they break up the second chief part of the sonnet,
'L. the terzetti, into a third quatrain (with separate rhymes)
; d a rhyming couplet. Surrey went still further in the altera-
i)n of the original sonnet by changing the arrangement and
ie number of rhymes in the quatrains also, whereas Wyatt,
i a rule, in this respect only exceptionally deviated from the
sucture of the Italian sonnet. The greater part of Wyatt's
Snnets (as well as Donne's, cf. Metrik^ ii, § 541) have therefore
374 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
the scheme abba abba cddc ee, whereas other forms, as e.g
abba abba c d cd ee, occur only occasionally (cf. Metrtk, ii
§ 535).
This order of rhymes, on the other hand, was frequently usee
by Sir Philip Sidney, who on the whole followed the Italiari
model, and sometimes employed even more accurate Italiari
forms, avoiding the final rhyming couplet (cf. ib. § 538). H<!
also invented certain extended and curtailed sonnets which art
discussed in Metrik, ii, §§ 539, 540.
§ 310. Of greater importance is Surrey's transformation of the
Italian sonnet, according to the formula abab cdcd e/e/gg
This variety of the sonnet — which, we may note in passing
Surrey also extended into a special poetic form consisting o
several such quatrains together with a final rhyming couple*
(cf. Metriky ii, § 537) — was very much in favour in the sixteentl:
and at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Samue
Daniel, and above all Shakespeare, wrote their sonnets mainly'
in this form, sometimes combining a series of them in a closelj
connected cycle. As a specimen of this most important forir
we quote the eighteenth of Shakespeare's sonnets :
Shall I compare thee to a summer s day ?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines^
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd ;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm*d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst ;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander st in his shade,
When ift eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Commonly the concluding couplet contains an independent
thought which gives a conclusion to the poem. In certair
cases, however, the thought of the previous stanza is carried or
in the closing couplet by means of a run-on line, as is the casf
in Nos. 71, 72, 108, 154, «fec. Sometimes, of course, a run-
* For certain other varieties occasionally used by these poets se<
Metrik, §§536 and 544-6-
:hap.ix the sonnet 375
on line connects different portions of the sonnet also, as e. g.
Nos. 114, 129, 154, &c. The rhymes, as a rule, are masculine,
but not exclusively so.
§ 311. Meanwhile, another interesting form had been intro-
duced, perhaps by the Scottish poet, Alex. Montgomerie,^
which was subsequently chiefly used by Spenser. When about
seventeen Spenser had translated the sonnets of the French
poet, Du Bellay, in blank verse, and thereby created the rhyme-
less form of the sonnet, which, however, although not unknown
in French poetry, was not further cultivated. About twenty
years later he re-wrote the same sonnets in the form intro-
duced by Surrey. Some years after he wrote a series of
sonnets, called Amoretti, in that peculiar and very fine form
which, although perhaps invented by Montgomerie, now bears
;Spenser's name. The three quatrains in this form of the son-
bet are connected by concatenation the final verse of each
jquatrain rhyming with the first line of the next, while the
closing couplet stands separate. The scheme of this form, then,
is ahab hcbc cdcd ee\ it found, however, but few imitators
(cf. Metrik, ii, §§542, 543. 559, note i).
The various forms of Drummond of Hawthomden's sonnets
had also no influence on the further development of this kind
of poetry and therefore need not be discussed here. It may
jsuffice to say that he partly imitated the strict Italian form,
partly modified it ; and that he also used earlier English trans-
formations and invented some new forms (cf. Metrik, ii, §§547,
'548).
§ 312. A new and important period in the history of sonnet
writing, although it was only of short duration, began with
jMilton. Not a single one of his eighteen English and five
Italian sonnets is composed on the model of those by Surrey
and Shakespeare or in any other genuine English form. He
invariably used the Italian rhyme-arrangement abb a abba in
jthe quatrains, combined with the strict Italian order in the
terzetti : cdcdcd, cddcdc, cdecde, cdceed, cdedce; only
|in one English and in three Italian sonnets we find the less
correct Italian form with the final rhyming couplet on the
'schemes cddcee, cdcdee.
One chief rule, however, of the Italian sonnet, viz. the logical
1 Cf. Stndien iiber A. M., von Oscar Hoffmann (Breslau Dissertation),
Altenburg, 1894, p. 32; Engl. Stttdien, xx. 49 ff. ; and Rud. Brotanek,
Wiener Beitrdge, vol. iii, pp. 122-3.
h
376 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book i
separation of the two main parts by a break in the sense, i
observed by Milton only in about half the number of hi;
sonnets ; and the above-mentioned relationship of the singl(
parts of the sonnet to each other according to the strict Italiar
rule (cf. pp. 372-3 and Metnk, "j § 533» PP- 839-40) is hardly
ever met with in Milton. He therefore imitated the Italian sonnei
only in its form, and paid no regard to the relationship 0
its single parts or to the distribution of the contents througl
the quatrains and terzets. In this respect he kept to the mono
strophic structure of the specifically English form of the sonnet
consisting, as a rule, of one continuous train of thought.
Milton also introduced into English poetry the playful variet}
of the so-called tail-sonnet on the Italian model [Sonettt codati)
a sonnet, extended by six anisometrical verses, with the scheme
abb a abba c dedecr^ <^zffrif'?,SS:> (^f- ^^trik^ ii, § 549), which
however, did not attract many imitators (Milton, ii. 481-2).
After Milton sonnet-writing was discontinued for about s
century. The poets of the Restoration period and of the firsi
half of the eighteenth century (Cowley, Waller, Dryden, Pope
Gay, Akenside, Young, Thomson, Goldsmith, Johnson, anc
others) did not write a single sonnet, and seem to have
despised this form of poetry (cf. Metrik, ii, § 550).
§ 313. When sonnet-writing was revived in the second hall
of the eighteenth century by T. Edwards, who composed some
fifty sonnets, by Gray, by Benjamin Stillingfleet, T. Warton,
and others of less importance, as well as by Charlotte Smith,
Helen M. Williams, Anna Seward, the male poets preferred the
strict Italian form, while the poetesses, with the exception of
Miss Seward, adopted that of Surrey and Shakespeare (cf. Metrik,
ii;§55i)-
Not long afterwards another very popular and prolific sonnet-
writer, William Lisle Bowles, followed in some of his sonnets the
strict ItaHan model (cf. Metrik^ ii, § 552), but also wrote sonnets
(towards the end of the eighteenth century) on a scheme that had
previously been used by Drummond, viz. abba c ddc ef/egg,
this formula representing a transition form from the Italian to
Surrey's sonnet, with enclosing rhymes in the quatrains instead
of crossed rhymes (cf. Metrik, ii, § 546, p. 860).
Bowles's example induced S. T. Coleridge to write his sonnets,
which in part combined in the quatrains enclosing and crossed
rhyme {abba cdcd efefgg or abah cddc effefe\ cf.
Metrik, ii, § 553).
Similar, even more arbitrary forms and rhyme-arrangements,
CHAP. IX THE SONNET 377
the terzetti being sometimes placed at the beginning (e.g.
No. 13, aahc chdedefefe) of the poem, occur in Southey's
sonnets, which, fine as they sometimes are in thought, have in
their form hardly any resemblance to the original Italian
model except that they contain fourteen lines. They had,
however, like those of Drummond, no further influence, and
therefore need not be discussed here (cf. Metrik, ii, § 554).
§ 314. A powerful impulse was given to sonnet- writing by
Wordsworth, who wrote about 500 sonnets, and who, not least on
account of his copiousness, has been called the English Petrarch.
He, indeed^ followed his Italian model more closely than his
predecessors with regard to the form and the relationship of
the different parts to each other.
The usual scheme of his quatrains \^ abba, abba, but there
is also a form with a third rhyme abba, ace a, which frequently
occurs. The rhyme-arrangement of the terzetti is exceedingly
various, and there are also a great many sub-species with
regard to the structure of the first part. Very often the first
quatrain has enclosing rhymes and the second crossed rhymes,
or vice versa ; these being either formed by two or three rhymes.
As the main types of the Wordsworth sonnet the following, which,
however, admit of many variations in the terzetti, may be men-
tioned: abba baba cde c e d{\\.^o^),ab b a abab cde edc
viii. ^l),abab baab cde ded{y\.ii'^), abab abba e dd e de
viii. 29), abba acac deeded {v\\. 82), abba caca dedeed
(viii. io())oY abba caca d e d e//{y\\\.^'j),&.c., abab bceb de/e/d
(vii. 29). There are of this type also forms in which the terzetti
have the structure dd/ee/{y\\. 334), or de/de/{yi\\, 68), &c.,
and abab acac dedede (viii. 28). Cf. Metrik, ii, § 555.
Very often Wordsworth's sonnets differ from those of the
Italian poets and agree with the Miltonic type in that the two
chief parts are not separated from each other by a pause ^ ; and
even if there is no run-on line the train of thought is con-
tinuous. For this reason his sonnets give us rather the
impression of a picture or of a description than of a reflective
poem following the Italian requirements, according to which
the sonnet should consist of: assertion (quatrain i), proof
(quatrain ii), confirmation (terzet i), conclusion (terzet ii)
(cf. p. 373). The following sonnet by Wordsworth, strictly
1 Cf. Wordsworth, Prose Works, ed. Grosart, 1876, vol. iii, p. 323,
where he praises Milton for this peculiarity, showing thereby that he was
influenced in his sonnet-writing by Milton.
378 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii^
on the Italian model in its rhyme-arrangement, may serve
an example :
WM Ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh^
Like stars in heaven ^ and joyously it showed;
Some lying fast at anchor in the road.
Some veering up and down^ one knew not why.
A goodly Vessel did I then espy
Come like a giant from a haven broad ;
And lustily along the hay she strode,
Her tackling rich, and of apparel high.
This Ship was nought to me, nor I to her.
Yet I pursued her with a Lover s look ;
This ship to all the rest did / prefer :
When will she turn, and whither? She will brook
No tarrying; where She comes the winds must stir:
On went She, and due north her journey took.
Sonnets, however, like the following, entitled A Parsonage in
Oxfordshire (vi. 292), give to a still greater extent the im-
pression of monostrophic poems on account of the want of
distinct separation between the component parts :
Where holy ground begins, unhallowed ends,
Is marked by no distinguishable line ;
The turf unites, the pathways intertwine;
And, wheresoever the stealing footstep tends.
Garden, and that Domain where kindreds, friends,
And neighbours rest together, here confound
Their several features, mingled like the sound
Of many waters, or as evening blends
With shady night. Soft airs, from shrub and jlower.
Waft fragrant greetings to each silent grave ;
And while those lofty poplars gently wave
Their tops, between them comes and goes a sky
Bright as the glimpses of eteriiity.
To saints accorded in their mortal hour.
The strophic character of many sonnets is still more visible!
both in Wordsworth and some earlier poets (as e.g. Sidney
or Shakespeare) when several consecutive sonnets on the same
subject are so closely connected as to begin with the word&
But or Nor, as e.g. in Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Sonnets
(XI, XV, XVIII, XXIII) ; or when sonnets (cf. the same collec-
CHAP. IX THE SONNET 379
tion, No. XXXII) end like the Spenserian stanza in an
Alexandrine. This peculiarity, which, of course, does not con-
form to the strict and harmonious structure of the sonnet, and
is found as early as in a sonnet by Burns (p. 119), sometimes
occurs in later poets also.^
Wordsworth has had an undoubtedly great influence on the
further development of sonnet-writing, which is still extensively
practised both in England and America.
. § 315. None of the numerous sonnet- writers of the nineteenth
century, however, brought about a new epoch in this kind of
poetry. They, as a rule, confined themselves to either one or
other of the four chief forms noted above, viz. :
1. The specifically English form of Surrey and Shakespeare,
used e. g. by Keats, S. T. Coleridge, Mrs. Hemans, C. Tennyson
Turner, Mrs. Browning, M. Arnold (pp. 37, 38) (cf. Meirik, ii,
§566).
2. The Wordsworth sonnet, approaching to the Italian son-
net in its form or rather variety of forms; it occurs in S. T.
Coleridge, Hartley Coleridge, Sara Coleridge, Byron, Mrs.
Hemans, Lamb, Tennyson, D. G. Rossetti, M. Arnold (pp. 1-8)
(cf.ib.§§ 561-2).
3. The Miltonic form, correct in its rhymes but not in the
relationship of its different parts to one another, used by Keats,
Byron, Aubrey de Vere, Lord Houghton, Mrs. Browning,
Rossetti, Swinburne, and others (cf. ib. § 563).
4. The strict Italian form, as we find it in Keats, Byron,
Leigh Hunt, Aubrey de Vere, Tennyson, Browning, Mrs.
Browning, Austin Dobson, Rossetti, Swinburne, M. Arnold
(pp. 179-85), and most poets of the modern school (cf. ib.
§§564-5).
1 On Wordsworth's Sonnets see the Note on the Wordsworthian Sonnet
by Mr. T. Hutchinson, in his edition of Poems in two volumes by William
Words^vorth (1807), London, 1897, vol. i, p. 208.
CHAPTER X
OTHER ITALIAN AND FRENCH POETICAL FORMS
OF A FIXED CHARACTER
§ 316. The madrigal, an Italian form (It. mmidriale, madri-
gale, from mandra flock), is a pastoral song, a rural idyl. The
Italian madrigals of Petrarch, &c., are short, isometrical poems
of eleven-syllable verses, consisting of two or three terzetti with
different rhymes and two or four other rhyming verses, mostly
couplets : ahc abc dd, aba bcb c c.abb ace d d.abb cdd ee,
abb ace cdd, aba cbe de de,abbe dd eeff^abb cdd ef/gg.
The English madrigals found in Sidney and especially in
Drummond resemble the Italian madrigals only in subject ; in
their form they differ widely from their models, as they consist
of from fifteen to five lines and have the structure of canzone-
stanzas of three- and five-foot verses. The stanzas run on an
average from eight to twelve lines. As a specimen the twelfth
madrigal of Drummond {Poets, iv. 644), according to the
formula a^ a^ b.^ a- b^ b- c^ c^dd^, may be quoted here :
Trees happier far than 7,
Which have the grace to heave your heads so high,
And overlook those plains :
Grow till your branches kiss that lofty sky,
Which her sweet self contains.
There make her know mine endless love and pains,
And how these tears which from mine eyes do fall,
Help you to rise so tall :
Tell her, as once I for her sake lov'd breath,
So for her sake I now court lingering death.
Other madrigals have the following schemes (the first
occurring twice in Sidney and once in Drummond, while the
rest are found in Drummond only) :
fifteen lines, a.^ a^ b^ c^ c^ b^ b^ d^ d^ e e^ d^ ^ff ; fourteen lines,
a «3 a^ b^ c^ b-i^cdr^e e^ df d^fr, ; thirteen lines,
aa^b^c c^ b^ c^ dd^ hf^/b 'y twelve lines,
CHAP.x OTHER ITALIAN AND FRENCH FORMS 3S1
^2 ^5 ^3 ^5 <^ ^3 ^^5 ^ ^2,ffb '■) eleven lines, a^hca^bd^ de eff^ ;
ten lines, ab^har^ach^c dd^ ; nine lines, a^^a^bcb^ccdd^]
eight lines, a^a^bbc^cdd^-, seven lines, (iba^c c^a^b^] six
lines, abbac^Cr^] five lines, abb^a br,> For specimens of these
and other madrigals in Drummond cf. Metrik, ii, § 508.
§ 317. Some poems in Drummond's and Sidney's works
entitled epigrams consist, as a rule, of two or more five-foot
verses, rhyming in couplets. In Sidney there are also short
poems resembling these in subject, but consisting of one-
rhymed Alexandrines. We have also one in R. Browning (iii.
146) of seven one- rhymed Septenary verses; several others
occur in D. G. Rossetti (ii. 137-40) of eight lines on the
schemes aa^ b bj^ aa^ bb^ styled Chimes (cf. Melrik, ii, §§ 570,
571)-
§ 318. The terza-rima. Of much greater importance is
another Italian form, viz. a continuous stanza of eleven-syllable
verses, the terza-rima, the metre in which Dante wrote his
Divina Commedia. It first appears in English poetry in Chaucer's
Complaint to his Lady^ second and third part,^ but may be said
to have been introduced into English literature by Wyatt, who
wrote satires and penitential psalms in this form (Aid. ed.
pp. 186-7, 209-34), and by Surrey in his Description of the
restless state of a Lover (Aid. ed. p. i). The rhyme-system of
the terza-rima is aba bcb cdc, &c. That is to say, the first
and third lines of the first triplet rhyme together, while the
middle line has a different rhyme which recurs in the first and
third line of the second triplet ; and in the same manner the
first and third lines of each successive triplet rhyme with the
middle line of the preceding one, so as to form a continuous
chain of three-line stanzas of iambic five-foot verses till the end
of the poem, which is formed by a single line added to the last
stanza and rhyming with its second line.
The first stanzas of Surrey's poem may be quoted here :
The sun hath twice brought forth his tender green,
Twice clad the earth in lively lustiness ;
Once have the winds the trees despoiled clean,
And once again begins their cruelness;
Since I have hid under my breast the harm
That never shall recover healthfulness.
1 See Chaucer's Works, edited by W. W. Skeat, Minor Poems, pp. 75-6,
310-11.
382 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
The wmter's hurt recovers with the warm;
The parched green restored is with shade ;
What warmth, alas! may serve for to disarm
The frozen heart, that mine in flame hath made ?
What cold again is able to restore
My fresh green years, &c., &c.
The terza-rima has not the compact structure of the sonnet,
as in each of its stanzas a rhyme is wanting which is only
supplied in the following stanza. For this reason it seems to
be especially adapted for epic or reflective poetry.
Comparatively few examples of this form are met with in
English poetry, as e.g. in Sidney, S. Daniel, Drummond,
Milton, and Shelley (d.Metrik, ii, §572).
In Sidney and R. Browning (iii. 102) we also find a variety
of the terza-rima consisting of four-foot verses, and in Brown-
ing some others formed of four-stressed verses (iv. 288).
Some similar rhyme-systems of three lines, occurring in
Sidney and Drummond, are of less importance (cf. ib., § 573).
§ 319. Certain other varieties of the terza-rima, although
found in recent poets, need only be briefly noticed here.
One of four lines on the model aaba^ bbcb^ ccdc^, &c.,
occurs in Swinburne, Poems, ii. 32, 34, 239; another on the
scheme aaba^, ccbc^, dded^, &c., ib. i. 13; a third one,
following the formula abc^b<^, ab c^ b^, abc^ b^, called Triads,
ib. ii. 159 (cf. Metrik, ii, § 564).
Five-lined forms, similar to the terza-rima, occur in Sidney,
e.g. abcdd, efghh, iklmm, the rhymeless lines being con-
nected by sectional rhyme, the stanzas themselves likewise by sec-
tional rhyme ; another on the model a^, b^ c^ c^ B^, Br, d^ e^ e.^ D-^,
A/3^5^3 ^5 'y ^^^ a third on the scheme a^ a^ b c^ b^, c.^ c^ de^ d^,
H ^b/Sz/^y *^c. A related form, ababc^, cdcde^, ..,yzyzz^,
is found in Mrs. Browning (iv. 44). For specimen cf. Metrik,
A terza-rima system of six lines may be better mentioned in •
this section than together with the sub- varieties of the sextain,
as was done in Metrik, ii, §578; they pretty often occur in
Sidney, e.g. Pansies, ix (Grosart, i. 202), on the schemes
ababcb, cdcded, efefgf, vwvwxw,... xy xy zyy.
In Spenser's Pastoral Aeglogue on Sidney (pp. 506-7) a
rhyme-system according to abcabc^, dbedfe^,, gfhgih^,
kilkmlr^, &c. is met with; in Mrs. Browning (iii. 236) a much
CHAP. X OTHER ITALIAN AND FRENCH FORMS 383
simpler system, constructed of five-foot lines on the formula
ababab cdcdcd e/e/e/, &c., is used.
A system of ten lines, consisting of five-foot verses
I {ababbcaedD,Dede efdfg G,Ghghh ig ik K, &c., ending
in a stanza of four lines, Xyxy) occurs in Sidney, pp. 218-
20 (221-4, xxxi) ; cf. Metrik, ii, § 580.
§ 320. Still less popular was another Italian poetical form,
the sextain, originally invented by the Proven9al poet, Arnaut
Daniel, and for the first time reproduced in English poetry by
Sidney in his Arcadia.
The sextain consists of eleven- syllabled or rather five-foot
verses and has six stanzas of six lines each, and an envoy of
three lines in addition. Each of the six stanzas, considered
individually, is rhymeless, and so is the envoy. But the end-
words of the lines of each stanza from the second to the sixth
are identical with those of the lines in the preceding stanza,
but in a different order, viz. six, one, five, two, four, three. In
the envoy, the six end-words of the first stanza recur, in the same
order, alternately in the middle and at the end of the line.
Hence the whole system of rhymes (or rather of recurrence of end-
words) is as follows : abed ef.fa ebdc.c/dabe.ec bfa d .
deacfb.bdfeca + {a) b {c) d {e)f.
The first two stanzas of Sidney's Agelastus Sesttne, pp. 438-9
(426-7, Ixxiv), together with the envoy and with the end-words
of the other stanzas, may serve to make this clear ;
Since wayling is a bud of causefull sorrow,
Since sorrow is the follower of evill fortune.
Since no evill fortune equals publike damage ;
Now Princes losse hath made our damage publike
Sorrow, pay we to thee the rights of Nature,
And inward grief e seale up with outward wayling.
Why should we spare our voice from endlesse wayling
Who iustly make our hearts the seate of sorrow,
In such a case, where it appears that Nature
Doth adde her force unto the sting of Fortune I
Choosing, alas, this our theatre publike,
Where they would leave trophees of cruell damage.
The other stanzas have the corresponding rhyme-words in
this order :
3^4
THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS
BOOK Ij
IV
V
VI
Nature
puhlike
fortune
damage
nature
publike
Fortune
sorrow
wayling
wayling
damage
nature
sorrowe
wayling
damage
publike
fortune
sorrow
III
damage
wayling
publike
sorrowe
fortune
Nature
The envoy is:
Since sorrow^ then, concludeth all our fortune,
With all our deaths shew we this damage publique :
His nature feares to dye, who lives still wayling.
This strict form of the sextain, which in Sidney, pp. 216-17
(219-21, xxx), occurs even with a twofold rhyming system, but;
of course, with only one envoy, has, as far as we know, only
once been imitated in modern poetry, viz. by E. W. Gosse
(New Poems). Cf. Metrik, ii, § 576.
§ 321. Besides this original form of the sextain several other
varieties are met with in English poetry. Thus Spenser, in the
eighth eclogue of his Shepherd! s Calendar (pp. 471-2), has a
sextain of a somewhat different structure, the rhymeless end-
words being arranged in this order: ab c def.fab c de .
efa bed. defa be ,c defa b .be defa + (a) b (c) d {e)f Here
the final word of the last verse of the first stanza, it is true, is
also used as final word in the first verse of the second stanza,
but the order of the final words of the other verses of the first
stanza remains unchanged in the second. The same relation ofj
the end- words exists between st. ii to st. iii, between st. iii to st. iv,
&c., and lastly between st. vi and the envoy ; the envoy, again,
has the end-words of the first stanza ; those which have their place
in the interior of the verse occur at the end of the third measure.
Some other sub-varieties of the sextain have rhyming final
words in each stanza.
In Sidney's Arcadia, p. 443 (430-1, Ixxvi), e.g. one sextaini
has the following end- words : light, treasure, might, pleasure^
direction, affection. These end-words recur in the following
stanzas in the order of the regular sextain; hence st. ii has
affection, light, direction, treasure, pleasure, might, &c. In
this variety, also, the rhyme-words of the envoy occur at a
fixed place, viz. at the end of the second measure. Drummond
wrote two sextains of the same elegant form.
In Swinburne also {Poems, ii. 46) we have a sextain of
rhymed stanzas, the first stanza rhyming day, night, way, light,
CHAP.x OTHER ITALIAN AND FRENCH FORMS 385
may, delight. All these recur in the following stanzas in a
similar order, though not so strictly observed as in the sextain
by Spenser, mentioned above (cf. Metrik^ ii, § 577).
One example (probably unique in English poetry) of what
is known as the Double Sextain is found in Swinburne's The
Complaint of Lisa (Poems, ii. 60-8), a poem in which he has
given one of the most brilliant specimens of his skill in rhym-
ing. It consists of twelve twelve-lined stanzas and a six-lined
envoy. The first two stanzas rhyme abc A B dC e/E DF,
Fa/D A CbecEdB] the envoy on the scheme
{F)E{e)f{C)A{c)d{f,)a{^D)B',
where the corresponding capital and small letters denote dif-
ferent words rhyming with each other. Cf. Metrik^ ii, § 581.
§ 322. Side by side with these well-known poems of fixed
form, mostly constructed on Italian models, there are some
others influenced by French poetry which have been introduced
into English for the most part by contemporary modern poets,
as e. g. Swinburne, Austin Dobson, Robert Bridges, D. G.
Rossetti, A. Lang, and E. W. Gosse \ These are the virelay,
roundel, rondeau, triolet, villanelle, ballade, and chant royal.
The virelay seems to have been in vogue in earlier English
poetry. Chaucer, e.g. in his Legende of good Women, v. 423,
says of himself that he had written balades^ roundels, and vire-
layes. But only isolated specimens of it have been preserved ;
in more recent times it has not been imitated at all.
According to Lubarsch'^ the virelay consists of verses of
nequal length, joined by concatenatio so as to form stanzas
of nine lines on the scheme : aabaabaab, bbcbbcbbc,
cdccdccd, &c.
Apart from this, however, there were undoubtedly other
forms in existence (cf. Bartsch, Chrestomathie de fancienfrangats,
p. 413). Morris, in the Aldine edition of Chaucer's Works,
rol. vi, p. 305, gives a virelay of two-foot iambic verses in
lix-lined stanzas on the model
aaab a aab, bbb cbbbc cc c dc c c d, &c.
quoted Metrik, i, § 155).
§ 323. The roundel, used by Eustache Deschamps, Charles
i'Orldans, and others, was introduced into English poetry, it
jcems, by Chaucer. But there are only a few roundels of his
n existence ; one of these occurs in The Assembly of Fowles
^ Cf. the essay by Gosse in The Comhill Magazine, No. 211, July, 1877,
P; 53-71-
* Franzosische Verslehre, Berlin, 1879, p. 388.
SCHIPPER C C
386 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book it
(11. 681-8); if the verses of the burden are repeated, as
printed in the Globe Edition, pp. 638-9, it has thirteen lines
(B,hhada,hadda,h'b, the thick types showing the refrain-
verses) :
Now welcom, so?ner, with thy sonne sqfie,
That hast this wintres weders overshake
And driven awey the longe nyghtes Make ;
Seynt Valentyn, that art ful hy on lo/fe,
Thus syngen smale foules for thy sake:
Now welcom^ somer, with thy sonne so/te,
That hast this wintres weders overshake.
Wei han they cause for to gladen ofte^
Sith ech 0/ hem recovered hath his make;
Ful blisful mowe they ben when they awake.
Now welcom, somer, with thy sonne softe^
That hast this wintres weders overshake
And driven awey the longe nyghtes blake.
Three other roundels of Chaucer on the scheme last men-
tioned have been published lately by Skeat in Chaucer s Minor
Poems, pp. 386-7 ; some other Middle English roundels were
written by Hoccleve and Lydgate.
In French the roundel was not always confined to one par-
ticular metre, nor did it always consist of a fixed number ofi
verses ; the same may be said of the English roundels.
The essential condition of this form, as used by the French
poets, was that two, three, or four verses forming a refrain
must recur three times at fixed positions in a tripartite iso-i
metrical poem consisting mostly of thirteen or fourteen four-
or five-foot verses. A common form of the French roundel*
consisted of fourteen octosyllabic verses on the model
Conforming to this scheme is a roundel by Lydgate * :
Rejoice ye reames of England and of Fraunce I
A braunche that sprange oute of the floure de lys,
Blode of seint Edward and \of\ seint Lowys,
God hath this day sent in governaunce.
* Ritson*s Ancient Songs, i. 128, written, it is true, in five-foot verses;;
the repetition of the two refrain- verses in the proper place, however, is noti
indicated in the edition, and a slight emendation of the text is also required
by the sense, viz. hath si>rung instead of that sprang in the last line.
CHAP. X OTHER ITALIAN AND FRENCH FORMS 387
God of nature hath yoven him suffisaunce
Likly to atteyne to grete honure and pris.
Rejoice ye reames of England and of Fraunce !
A braiinche hath sprung oute of the floure de lys,
O hevenly blossome^ 0 budde of all plesaunce,
God graunt the grace for to ben ah wise
As was t hi fader, by circumspect advise,
Stable in vertue withoute variaunce.
Rejoice ye reames of England and of Fraunce^
A braunche hath sprung oute of the floure de lys.
Another roundel of four-foot verses, by Lydgale (Ritson, i.
129), corresponds to o^hababoihababskh (cf. Metrik, i,
§ 180); some other roundels, of a looser structure, consisting,
seemingly, of ten lines, are quoted in the same place (cf. Metrik,
",§583).
A Modern English roundel of fourteen lines, constructed
of three-foot verses, by Austin Dobson, has the scheme
9i,yiabb a^yiabab2^\i (quoted ib. § 583). The French roun-
del of thirteen lines may be looked upon as a preliminary
form to the rondeau, which was developed from the roundel
at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth
century.
§ 324. The rondeau is a poem consisting of thirteen lines
of eight or ten syllables, or four or five measures. It has three
stanzas of five, three, and five lines, rhyming on the scheme
a abb a aab a abb a. It has, moreover, a refrain which is
formed by the first words of the first line, and recurs twice,
viz. after the eighth and thirteenth verses, with which it is syntac-
tically connected. Strictly speaking it therefore has fifteen lines,
corresponding to the scheme a abb a aab + r aa bba + r.
The rondeau was much cultivated by the French poet, Clement
Marot. It was introduced into English by Wyatt, from whom
the rondeau Complaint for True Love unrequited (p. 23) may be
quoted here :
What 'vaileth truths or by it to take pain /
To strive by steadfastness for to attain
How to be just, and flee from doubleness ?
Since all alike, where ruleth craftiness,
Rewarded is both crafty, false, and plain.
c c 2
388 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
Soonest he speeds thai most can lie and feign :
True meaning heart is had in high disdain,
Against deceit and cloaked doubleness,
What 'vaileth truth?
Deceived is he by false and crafty train,
That means no guile, and faithful doth remain
Within the trap, without help or redress:
But for to love, lo, such a stern mistress,
Where cruelty dwells, alas, it were in vain.
What ^vaileth truth?
This is the proper form of the rondeau. Other forms
deviating from it are modelled on the schemes :
a abb a bba -\- r bbaab ■\- r (Wyatt, p. 24),
aabb a -\- r c c b ■{• r aabba -\- r (ib. p. 26),
abbaab-\-rabba-\-r (D. G. Rossetti, i. 1 79).
Austin Dobson, Robert Bridges, and Theo. Marzials strictly
follow the form quoted above.
Another form of the rondeau entirely deviating from the
above is found in Swinburne, A Century of Roundels,^ where
he combines verses of the most varied length and rhythm on
the scheme ABA-\-bBABABA^b, where b denotes
part of a verse, rhyming with the second, but repeated from the
beginning of the first verse and consisting of one or several
words (cf. Metrik, ii, §§ 584, 585).
§ 326. The triolet and the villanelle are unusual forms
occurring only in modern poets, e. g. Dobson and Gosse.
The triolet, found as early as in Adenet-le-Roi at the
beginning of the thirteenth century, is a short poem of eight
mostly octosyllabic verses, rhyming according to the formula
a b ^ a <2 <^ a b, the first verse recurring as a refrain in the fourth,
the first and second together in the seventh and eighth place.
Two specimens have been quoted, Metrik, ii, § 586.
§ 326. The villanelle (a peasant song, rustic ditty, from
villanus) was cultivated by Jean Passerat (i 534-1 602); in
modern poetry by Th. de Banville, L. Baulmier, &c. It mostly
consists of octosyllabic verses divided into five stanzas (some-
times a larger or smaller number) of three lines plus a final
stanza of four lines, the whole corresponding to the scheme
1 London, Chatto & Windus, 1833.
CHAP. X OTHER ITALIAN AND FRENCH FORMS 389
BMfB.^ + ado.^ + ada.^ + adsL'^+adB.^+ada.^ei^. Hence the
first and the third verses of the first stanza are used alternately
as a refrain to form the last verse of the following stanzas,while
in the last stanza both verses are used in this way. A villanelle
by Gosse on this model consisting of eight stanzas, perhaps the
only specimen in English literature, has been quoted, Metrik^
ii, § 587.
§ 327. The ballade is a poetical form consisting of somewhat
longer stanzas all having the same rhymes. Several varieties of
it existed in Old French poetry. The two most usual forms are
that with octosyllabic and that with decasyllabic lines. The
first form is composed of three stanzas of eight lines on the
model ababbcbC {d.^ 269). The rhymes in each stanza agree
with those of the corresponding lines in the two others, the last
line, which is identical in all the three, forming the refrain;
this refrain-verse recurs also at the end of the envoi\ which
corresponds in its structure to the second half of the main
stanza, according to the formula b cb C. The decasyllabic
form has three stanzas of ten verses on the scheme
ababbcc dc D {cL^ 271), and an envoi of five verses on the
scheme ccdcD] the same rules holding good in all other
respects as in the eight-lined form. It is further to be observed
that the envoi began, as a rule, with one of the words Prince,
Princesse, Peine, Roi, Sire, either because the poem was ad-
dressed to some personage of royal or princely rank, or because,
originally, this address referred to the poet who had been
crowned as ' king ' in the last poetical contest.
In England also the ballade had become known as early as
in the fourteenth century. We have a collection of ballades com-
posed in the French language by Gower,^ consisting of stanzas
of either eight or seven (rhyme royal) decasyllabic verses with
the same rhyme throughout the poem. Similar to the French
are Chaucer's English ballades in his Minor Poems, which,
however, in so far differ from the regular form, that the envoi
consists of five, six, or seven lines ; in some of the poems even
there is no envoi at all. Accurate reproductions of the Old
French ballade are not found again until recent times. There
are examples by Austin Dobson and especially by Swinburne
(A Midsummer Holiday, London, 1884). They occur in both
forms, constructed as well of four- and five-foot iambic, as of
1 The Works of John Goxver, ed. G. C. Macaulay, Oxford, 1899, vol. i,
PP- 335 ff-
L
390 THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS book ii
six-, seven-, or eight-foot trochaic or of five- and seven-foot
iambic-anapaestic verses. (For specimens cf. Metrik, ii, § 588.)
§ 328. The Chant Royal is an extended ballade of five
ten-lined ballade-stanzas (of the second form mentioned above),
instead of three, together with an envoi. In Clement Marot we
meet with another form of five eleven-line stanzas of deca-
syllabic verses also with the same rhymes throughout; the
^«w/ having five Hnes. The scheme is abah cc ddedE in
the stanzas and ddedE in the envoi.
A Chant Royal by Gosse, composed on this difficult model
(perhaps the only specimen to be found in English poetry), is
quoted Meirik, ii, § 589.
A more detailed discussion of these French poetical forms
of a fixed character and of others not imitated in English
poetry may be found in Kastner's History 0/ French Versifica-
tion (Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1903), chapter x. Cf.
also Edmund Stengel, Romanische Verslehre, in Grober's Grund-
riss der Rovianischen Philologie (Strassburg, 1893), vol. ii,
pp. 87 ff.
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