Fréeres, fréeres, wó ȝe bé!Mínistrí malórum,For mány a mánnes sóule bringe ȝéAd póenas ínfernórum.Political 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’sSpec. of Lyr. P., p. 90, the opening verses of the first stanza rhyme in long lines:My déþ y lóue, my lýf ich háte, | fór a léuedy shéne,Héo is bríht so daíes líht, | þat ís on mé wel séne,whereas those of the second rhyme in short lines:Sórewe and sýke and dréri mód | býndeþ mé so fáste,Þát y wéne to wálke wód, | ȝef hít me léngore láste.Instances of this kind are frequent; but the four lines of the single stanzas are never completely rhymed throughout as short-lines, as, for instance, is the case in the opening parts or ‘frontes’ of the stanzas of the poems in Wright’sSpec. of Lyr. P., pp. 27 and 83, the lines of which are far more regularly constructed. The rhymes are in these compositions still generally disyllabic.The metrical structure of the old balladsThe Battle of OtterbornandChevy Chaseis similar to that of the poem just quoted. In those ballads some original long lines are provided with middle rhyme, others not, so that the stanzas partly rhymeaccording to the formulaa b c b, partly according to the formulaa b a b. The versification is, moreover, very uneven, and the endings are, as a rule, if not without exception, masculine:Sir Hárry Pérssy cam to the wálles,The Skóttish óste for to sé;And sáyd, and thou hast brént Northómberlónd,Full sóre it réwyth mé.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 crosswise or only in the three-foot verses. Cf. the ballad,The Lady’s Fall(Ritson, ii. 110), which, however, was probably composed as late as the Modern English period:Mark wéll my héavy dóleful tále,You lóyal lóvers áll,And héedfullý béar in your bréastA gállant lády’s fáll.§140.In Modern English the Septenary has been extensively used, both in long and in short rhyming lines. One special variety of it, consisting of stanzas of four lines, alternately of eight and six syllables (always with masculine ending), is designated in hymn-books by the name of Common Metre.In the long-lined form this metre occurs at the beginning of this period in poems of some length, as, for instance, in William Warner’sAlbion’s England, and in Chapman’s translation of theIliad. 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 masculine 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:Occásioned thús: | Chrýses the príest || cáme to the fléet to búy.i. 11.To plágue the ármy, | ánd to déath || by tróops the sóldiers wént.ib. 10.Secondary caesuras also occur, though less frequently, in other places in the line, particularly in the second hemistich:But íf thou wílt be sáfe begóne. || This sáid, | the séa-beat shóre.ib. 32.All mén in óne aróse and sáid: || Atrídes, | nów I sée.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 enjambement. 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-ordera b c band especially with the more artistic forma b a b, 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’sTo John Taylor(p. 158):With Pégasús upón a dáy,Apóllo wéary flýing,Through frósty hílls the jóurney láy,On fóot the wáy was plýing.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’sRime of the Ancient Mariner:It ís an áncient Márinér, | And he stoppeth óne of thrée:‘By thy lóng grey béard and glíttering éye, | Now whérefore stópp’st thou mé?’Two unaccented opening syllables and two unaccented syllables in the middle of the line are, in particular, often met with.§141. The Septenary in combination with other metres.After its occurrence in theMoral Odeand theOrmulumthe Septenary, as we have seen, appears at first veryseldom by itself, but generally in connexion with other metres, especially the old long line in its freer development, the four-foot metre (though more rarely), and, particularly, the Alexandrine.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 fromOn god Ureison of ure Lefdi[146]may serve to illustrate. We give the corresponding Old French metrical types from theRoman d’Alixandre(Bartsch,Chrestomathie de l’ancien français, p. 175).a.Masculine caesura with masculine line-ending:En icele forest, | dont voz m’oëz conter.24.Nim nu ȝéme to mé, | so me bést a béo ðe béo.129.b.Feminine (epic) caesura with masculine line-ending:nesune male choze | ne puet laianz entrer.25.vor þín is þé wurchípe, | ȝif ich wrécche wel iþéo.130.c.Masculine caesura with feminine line-ending:Moult fut biaus li vregiers | et gente la praële.1.Þine blísse ne méi | nówiht únderstónden.31.d. Feminine (epic) caesura with feminine line-ending:Moult souëf i flairoient | radise et canele.2.Vor ál is gódes ríche | an únder þíne hónden.32.Alexandrines of this sort, particularly of the last type, are found in a group of poems of the close of the twelfth, or beginning of the thirteenth century, intermingled with Septenaries, and also, though more seldom, combined with four-beat alliterative rhyming long lines and with four-foot verses. Such poems areOn god Ureison of ure Lefdi(quoted above),A lutel soth sermon(Old English Miscellany, ed. R. Morris, pp. 186 ff.), andA Bestiary(ib. pp. 1–25).The following lines fromA lutel soth sermonmay serve to illustrate this mixture:Hérknied àlle góde mèn, | and stílle sìtteþ adún,And ích ou wùle téllen | a lútel sòþ sermún.Wél we wìten álle, | þag ìch eou nóȝt ne télle,Hu ádam ùre vórme fàder | adún vel ìnto hélle.Schómeliche hè vorlés | þe blísse þàt he hédde;To ȝívernèsse and prúde | nóne nèode he nédde.He nòm þen áppel òf the tré | þat hìm forbóde wás:So reúþful dède idón | néuer nòn nás.He máde him ìnto hélle fàlle, | and éfter hìm his chíldren àlle;Þér he wàs fort ùre dríhte | hìne bóhte mìd his míhte.He hìne alésede mìd his blóde, | þàt he schédde upòn the róde,To déþe he ȝèf him fòr us álle, | þó we wèren so strònge at-fálle.Álle bácbìteres | wéndet to hélle,Róbberes and réueres, | and þe mónquélle,Léchurs and hórlinges | þíder sculen wénde,And þér heo sculen wúnien | évere buten énde.Here we have Septenaries (ll. 1, 4, 7) and Alexandrines (ll. 2, 3, 5, 6, 8) intermixed in ll. 1–8, eight-foot long lines resolved by means ofsectional rhymeinto four-foot lines in ll. 9–12, and four-beat rhyming alliterative long lines of the freer type in ll. 13–16. The easy intermixture of metres may be explained by the fact that in all these different long-lined metrical forms fourprincipal stressesare prominent amid the rest, as we have indicated by accents (´).§142.In theBestiarythis 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, ll. 384–97:A wìlde dér is, þàt isfúl | offéle wíles,Fóx is hère tó-nàme, | for hìre quéðscípe;Húsebondes hìreháten, | for hèrehárm-dédes:þecóc and tècapún | ge fècheð ófte ìn ðe tún,And tegándre ànd tegós, | bì ðenécke and bì ðenóz,Háleð is tò hirehóle; | forðí man hìrehátieð,Hátien andhúlen | bòðe mén and fúles.Here we have unmistakable long lines of the freer type.In other passages the alliterative long lines pass into Septenaries, as, for instance, ll. 273–98:ðemíremúneð us |méte to tílen,lónglívenoðe, | ðislítle wíleðe we on ðiswérldwúnen: | for ðanne we ófwénden,ðánne is urewínter: | we sulenhúngerháuenandhárde súres, | buten we ben wárhére.Do wé forðí so dóð ðis dér, | ðánne wé be dérueÓn ðat dái ðat dóm sal bén, | ðát ít ne us hárde réwe:. . . . .þe córn ðat gé to cáue béreð, | áll ge it bít otwínne,ðe láge us léreð to dón gód, | ánd forbédeþ us sínne,&c.In a third instance (ll. 628–35) Septenary and four-foot lines run into one another:Hú he résteð him ðis dér,ðánne he wálkeð wíde,hérkne wú it télleð hér,for hé is ál unríde.A tré he sékeð to fúligewísðát is stróng and stédefast ís,and léneð hím trostlíke ðerbí,ðánne he ís of wálke werí.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 ll. 1–39 alliterative rhymeless verse, occasionally of marked archaic construction, concluding with a hemistich (39) which rhymes with the preceding hemistich so as to form a transition to the following section (ll. 40–52), which again consists of four-foot and Septenary verses. These are followed by a section (ll. 53–87) in which four-foot and three-foot lines (that is to say, Alexandrines) rhyming in couplets are blended; and this is succeeded by a further section (ll. 88–119) mostly consisting of Septenaries 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 purposely made use of these different metrical forms, and that the assertion made by Trautmann and others,[147]that the Septenary of theOrmulumand theMoral Ode, which is contemporary with Layamon, represents the final result of the development ofLayamon’s verse (the freer alliterative long line), must be erroneous.§143.InOn 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 interchangead libitum.The following short passage (ll. 23–34) will suffice to illustrate these combinations of metres:Nís no wúmmen ibóren | þét þe béo ilíche,Ne nón þer nís þin éfning | wiðínne héoueríche.Héih is þi kínestól | onúppe chérubíne,Biuóren ðíne léoue súne | wiðínnen séraphíne.Múrie dréameð éngles | biuóren þín onséne,Pléieð and swéieð | and síngeð bitwéonen.Swúðe wél ham líkeð | biuóren þe to béonne,Vor heo néuer né beoð séad | þi uéir to iséonne.Þíne blísse ne méi | nówiht únderstónden,Vor ál is gódes ríche | anúnder þíne hónden.Álle þíne uréondes | þu mákest ríche kínges;Þú ham ȝíuest kínescrúd, | béies and góldrínges.Lines 26 and 34, perhaps also 25 and 30, are Septenaries, l. 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 ll. 3, 12, 44, 72, 77, and in the second of ll. 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 LordandThe Woman of Samaria(Morris,Old English Miscellany), were composed so early as the beginning of the thirteenth century. From the first we quote ll. 21–4:Léuedi þu bére þat béste chíld, | þat éuer wés ibóre;Of þe he mákede his móder, | vor hé þe hédde ycóre.Ádam ánd his ófsprung | ál hit wére furlóre,Ýf þi súne nére, | ibléssed þu béo þervóre.Many lines of these poems may be scanned in both ways; in the third line of the preceding extract, for instance, we mayeither take the second syllable of the wordofsprung, in 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. Harleian2277) and other poems in the same MS., as theFragment on Popular Science(fourteenth century), are written. The same holds good for Robert of Gloucester’s Rhyming Chronicle (cf.Metrik, i, §§ 113, 114). Mätzner (in hisAltengl. Sprachproben, p. 155), and Ten Brink (Literaturgeschichte, i, pp. 334, 345) concur in this opinion, while Trautmann (inAnglia, v, Anz., pp. 123–5), on a theory of metrical accentuation which we hold to be untenable, pronounces the verses to be Septenaries.The following passage (Mätzner,Altengl. Sprachproben, i, p. 155) may serve to illustrate the versification of Robert of Gloucester:Áftur kýng Báthulf | Léir ys sóne was kýng,And régned síxti ȝér | wél þoru álle þýng.Up þe wáter of Sóure | a cíty óf gret fámeHe éndede, and clépede yt Léicestre, | áftur is ówne náme.Þre dóȝtren þis kýng hádde, | þe éldeste Górnorílle,Þe mýdmost hátte Régan, | þe ȝóngost Córdeílle.Þe fáder hem lóuede álle ynóȝ, | ác þe ȝóngost mést:For héo was bést an fáirest, | and to háutenésse drow lést.Þó þe kýng to élde cóm, | álle þré he bróȝteHys dóȝtren tofóre hým, | to wýte of hére þóuȝte.§145.At the end of the thirteenth century the Septenary and Alexandrine were, however, relegated to a subordinate position 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 theTowneley Collection, like theConspiratio 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 Septenary. A passage from the Towneley Mysteries may make this clear:Now háve ye hárt what Í have sáyde, | I gó and cóm agáyn,Therfór looke yé be páyde | and álso glád and fáyn,For tó my fáder I wéynd, | for móre then Í is hé,I lét you wýtt, as fáythfulle fréynd, | or thát it dóne bé.That yé may trów when ít is dóne, | for cértes, I máy noght nówMany thýnges so sóyn | at thís tyme spéak with yóu.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’sMarriage 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):O lét me bréathe a whíle, | and hóld thy héavy hánd,My gríevous fáults with sháme | enóugh I únderstánd.Take rúth and píty ón my pláint, | or élse I ám forlórn;Let nót the wórld contínue thús | in láughing mé to scórn.Mádam, if Í be hé, | to whóm you ónce were bént,With whóm to spénd your tíme | sometíme you wére content:If ány hópe be léft, | if ány récompénseBe áble tó recóver thís | forpássed négligénce,O, hélp me nów poor wrétch | in thís most héavy plíght,And fúrnish mé yet ónce agáin | with Tédiousnéss to fíght.§146.In other passages in this drama, e.g. in the speech ofWit, 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 ofThe Poulter’s Measure.[148]The opening lines of Surrey’sComplaint of a dying Lover(p. 24) present an example of its cadence:In wínter’s just retúrn, | when Bóreas gán his réign,And évery trée unclóthed fást, | as Náture táught them pláin:In místy mórning dárk, | as shéep are thén in hóld,I híed me fást, it sát me ón, | my shéep for tó unfóld.Brooke’s narrative poemRomeus and Juliet, utilized by Shakespeare for his drama of the same name, is in this metre. Probably the strict iambic cadence and the fixed position of the caesuracaused this metre to appear especially adapted for cultured poetry, at a time when rising and falling rhythms were first sharply distinguished. It was, however, not long popular, though isolated examples are found in modern poets, as, for instance, Cowper and Watts. Thackeray uses it for comic poems, for which it appears especially suitable, sometimes using the two kinds of verse promiscuously, as Dean Swift had done before him, and sometimes employing the Alexandrine and Septenary in regular alternation.§147. The Alexandrineruns more smoothly than the Septenary. The Middle English Alexandrine is a six-foot 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 in 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. Méssengérs he sent | þórghout Ínglóndb. Untó the Ínglis kýnges | þat hád it ín þer hónd.p. 2, ll. 3–4.c. Áfter Éthelbért | com Élfríth his bróther,d. Þát was Égbrihtes sónne, | and ȝít þer wás an óþer;p. 21, ll. 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 suppression 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 purvéie þám a skúlking, | on the Énglish éft to ríde;p. 3, l. 8.Bot soiórned þám a whíle | in rést a Bángóre;p. 3, l. 16.In Wéstsex was þán a kýng, | his náme wás Sir Íne;p. 2, l. 1.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-mentionedPoulter’s Measure, and occasionally in uninterrupted sequence in speeches of considerable length. We cannot therefore always say with certainty whether we have in many passages ofJacob and Esau(Dodsley’sOld Plays, ed. Hazlitt, vol. ii, pp. 185 ff.) to deal with four-beat lines or with unpolished Alexandrines (cf. ActII, 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 Redford’sMarriage of Wit and Science(Dodsley, ii, pp. 325 ff.), e.g. in ActII.Sc. ii (pp. 340–1):How mány séek, that cóme | too shórt of théir desíre:How mány dó attémpt, | that daíly dó retíre.How mány róve abóut | the márk on évery síde:How mány think to hít, | when théy are much too wíde:How mány rún too fár, | how mány light too lów:How féw to góod efféct| their trávail dó bestów!&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’sPolyolbion.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 always so; further by the very scanty employment of the Teutonic rhythmical licences; cf. the opening lines of thePolyolbion(Poets, iii. pp. 239 ff.):Of Álbion’s glórious ísle | the wónders whílst I wríte,The súndry várying sóils, | the pléasures ínfiníte,Where héat kills nót the cóld, | nor cóld expéls the héat,The cálms too míldly smáll, | nor wínds too róughly gréat,&c.Minor caesuras seldom occur, and generally in the second hemistich, as, e.g., minor lyric caesuras after the first foot:Wise génius, | bý thy hélp || that só I máy descrý.240 a;or masculine caesura after the second foot:Ye sácred bárds | that to || your hárps’ melódious stríngs.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, entitledThe 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 occasionally composed in similarly constructed rhymeless Alexandrines (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 súch a cúrsed créature || líves so lóng a spáce.F. Q.I.i. 31;as well as in connexion with minor caesuras:Upón his fóe, | a Drágon, || hórriblé and stéarne.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. inThe 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 frequently admitted, while on the other hand the caesura and close of the verse are always monosyllabic.§150. The three-foot linehas 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, frequentlyresolved in this metrical type into four three-foot short lines with crossed rhymes, as, e.g., in Robert Mannyng’sChronicle, 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, ll. 1, 2:Wílliam the CónqueróurChángis his wícked wíll;Óut of his fírst erróurrepéntis óf his ílle.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 lines, as in the following examples:Wright’s Spec. of L. P., 97:Máyden móder mílde,oiéz cel óreysóun;from sháme þóu me shílde,e dé ly málfelóun.Minot, ed. Hall, 17:Tówrenay, ȝów has tíghtTo tímber tréy and téneA bóre, with brénis bríghtEs bróght opón ȝowre gréne.With another order of rhymes these verses are also met with in tail-rhyme stanzas of different kinds, as, for instance, in Wright’sSpec. of L. P., p. 41:Of a món mátheu þóhte,þo hé þe wýnȝord wróhte;and wrót hit ón ys bóc,In márewe mén he sóhte,at únder mó he bróhte,and nóm, ant nón forsóc.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.In Modern English the three-foot verse has remained a favourite, chiefly in lyrical poetry, and occurs there as well with monosyllabic as with disyllabic rhymes, which may either follow one another or be crossed, e.g.:Surrey, p. 128:Me líst no móre to síngOf lóve, nor óf such thing,How sóre that ít me wríng;For whát I súng or spáke,Mén did my sóngs mistáke.Surrey, p. 39:Though Í regárded nótThe prómise máde by mé;Or pássed nót to spótMy fáith and hónestý:Yét were my fáncy stránge,&c.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 mórning’s gáy and shíning,The dáys our jóys decláre;At évening nó repíning,And níght’s all vóid of cáre.A fónd transpórted mótherWas óften héard to crý,Oh, whére is súch anótherSo bléss’d by Héaven as Í?&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 XITHE RHYMED FIVE-FOOT VERSE§151.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 asblank verse), which are of equal importance, though not of equal antiquity.The rhymed five-foot verse was known in English poetry as far back as the second half of the thirteenth century, and has been a favourite metre from Chaucer’s first poetic attempts onward to the present, whilst the blank verse was first introduced into English literature about the year 1540 by the Earl of Surrey (1518–47), and has been frequently employed ever since that time. The rhymed five-foot verse was, and has continued to be, mainly preferred for lyrical and epic, the blank verse for dramatic poetry. The latter, however, has been employed e.g. by Milton, and after him by Thomson and many others for the epic and allied species of poetry; while rhymed five-foot verse was used during a certain period for dramatic poetry, e.g. by Davenant and Dryden, but by the latter only for a short time.Rhymed five-accent verseoccurs in Middle English both in poems composed in stanza form and (since Chaucer’sLegend of Good Women, c. 1386) in couplets.This metre, apart from differences in the length of the line and in number of accents, is by no means to be looked upon as different from the remaining even-stressed metres of that time. For, like the Middle English four-foot verse and the Alexandrine, it derives its origin from a French source, its prototype being the French decasyllabic verse. This is a metre with rising rhythm, in which the caesura generally comes after the fourth syllable, as e.g. in the line:Ja mais n’iert tels | com fut as anceisors.Saint Alexis, l. 5.To this verse the following line of Chaucer’s corresponds exactly in point of structure:A kníght ther wás, | and thát a wórthy mán.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.II. With Initial Truncation(omission of the first thesis).1.⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–10 syll.5.–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–9 syll.2.⏑–⏑–⏑⏑–⏑–⏑–11 ”6.–⏑–⏑⏑–⏑–⏑–10 ”3.⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑11 ”7.–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑10 ”4.⏑–⏑–⏑⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑12 ”8.–⏑–⏑⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑11 ”III. With Internal Truncation(omission of the thesis after the caesura).IV. With both Initial and Internal Truncation.9.⏑–⏑––⏑–⏑–9 syll.13.–⏑––⏑–⏑–8 syll.10.⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–10 ”14.–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–9 ”11.⏑–⏑––⏑–⏑–⏑10 ”15.–⏑––⏑–⏑–⏑9 ”12.⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑11 ”16.–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑–⏑10 ”This table at the same time also contains the formal exposition, and indeed possibly the actual explanation (by suppression 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.
Fréeres, fréeres, wó ȝe bé!Mínistrí malórum,For mány a mánnes sóule bringe ȝéAd póenas ínfernórum.
Fréeres, fréeres, wó ȝe bé!
Mínistrí malórum,
For mány a mánnes sóule bringe ȝé
Ad póenas ínfernórum.
Political 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’sSpec. of Lyr. P., p. 90, the opening verses of the first stanza rhyme in long lines:
My déþ y lóue, my lýf ich háte, | fór a léuedy shéne,Héo is bríht so daíes líht, | þat ís on mé wel séne,
My déþ y lóue, my lýf ich háte, | fór a léuedy shéne,Héo is bríht so daíes líht, | þat ís on mé wel séne,
My déþ y lóue, my lýf ich háte, | fór a léuedy shéne,
Héo is bríht so daíes líht, | þat ís on mé wel séne,
whereas those of the second rhyme in short lines:
Sórewe and sýke and dréri mód | býndeþ mé so fáste,Þát y wéne to wálke wód, | ȝef hít me léngore láste.
Sórewe and sýke and dréri mód | býndeþ mé so fáste,Þát y wéne to wálke wód, | ȝef hít me léngore láste.
Sórewe and sýke and dréri mód | býndeþ mé so fáste,
Þát y wéne to wálke wód, | ȝef hít me léngore láste.
Instances of this kind are frequent; but the four lines of the single stanzas are never completely rhymed throughout as short-lines, as, for instance, is the case in the opening parts or ‘frontes’ of the stanzas of the poems in Wright’sSpec. of Lyr. P., pp. 27 and 83, the lines of which are far more regularly constructed. The rhymes are in these compositions still generally disyllabic.
The metrical structure of the old balladsThe Battle of OtterbornandChevy Chaseis similar to that of the poem just quoted. In those ballads some original long lines are provided with middle rhyme, others not, so that the stanzas partly rhymeaccording to the formulaa b c b, partly according to the formulaa b a b. The versification is, moreover, very uneven, and the endings are, as a rule, if not without exception, masculine:
Sir Hárry Pérssy cam to the wálles,The Skóttish óste for to sé;And sáyd, and thou hast brént Northómberlónd,Full sóre it réwyth mé.
Sir Hárry Pérssy cam to the wálles,The Skóttish óste for to sé;And sáyd, and thou hast brént Northómberlónd,Full sóre it réwyth mé.
Sir Hárry Pérssy cam to the wálles,
The Skóttish óste for to sé;
And sáyd, and thou hast brént Northómberlónd,
Full sóre it réwyth mé.
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 crosswise or only in the three-foot verses. Cf. the ballad,The Lady’s Fall(Ritson, ii. 110), which, however, was probably composed as late as the Modern English period:
Mark wéll my héavy dóleful tále,You lóyal lóvers áll,And héedfullý béar in your bréastA gállant lády’s fáll.
Mark wéll my héavy dóleful tále,You lóyal lóvers áll,And héedfullý béar in your bréastA gállant lády’s fáll.
Mark wéll my héavy dóleful tále,
You lóyal lóvers áll,
And héedfullý béar in your bréast
A gállant lády’s fáll.
§140.In Modern English the Septenary has been extensively used, both in long and in short rhyming lines. One special variety of it, consisting of stanzas of four lines, alternately of eight and six syllables (always with masculine ending), is designated in hymn-books by the name of Common Metre.
In the long-lined form this metre occurs at the beginning of this period in poems of some length, as, for instance, in William Warner’sAlbion’s England, and in Chapman’s translation of theIliad. 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 masculine 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:
Occásioned thús: | Chrýses the príest || cáme to the fléet to búy.i. 11.To plágue the ármy, | ánd to déath || by tróops the sóldiers wént.ib. 10.
Occásioned thús: | Chrýses the príest || cáme to the fléet to búy.i. 11.To plágue the ármy, | ánd to déath || by tróops the sóldiers wént.ib. 10.
Occásioned thús: | Chrýses the príest || cáme to the fléet to búy.i. 11.
To plágue the ármy, | ánd to déath || by tróops the sóldiers wént.ib. 10.
Secondary caesuras also occur, though less frequently, in other places in the line, particularly in the second hemistich:
But íf thou wílt be sáfe begóne. || This sáid, | the séa-beat shóre.ib. 32.All mén in óne aróse and sáid: || Atrídes, | nów I sée.ib. 54.
But íf thou wílt be sáfe begóne. || This sáid, | the séa-beat shóre.ib. 32.All mén in óne aróse and sáid: || Atrídes, | nów I sée.ib. 54.
But íf thou wílt be sáfe begóne. || This sáid, | the séa-beat shóre.ib. 32.
All mén in óne aróse and sáid: || Atrídes, | nów I sée.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 enjambement. 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-ordera b c band especially with the more artistic forma b a b, 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’sTo John Taylor(p. 158):
With Pégasús upón a dáy,Apóllo wéary flýing,Through frósty hílls the jóurney láy,On fóot the wáy was plýing.
With Pégasús upón a dáy,Apóllo wéary flýing,Through frósty hílls the jóurney láy,On fóot the wáy was plýing.
With Pégasús upón a dáy,
Apóllo wéary flýing,
Through frósty hílls the jóurney láy,
On fóot the wáy was plýing.
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’sRime of the Ancient Mariner:
It ís an áncient Márinér, | And he stoppeth óne of thrée:‘By thy lóng grey béard and glíttering éye, | Now whérefore stópp’st thou mé?’
It ís an áncient Márinér, | And he stoppeth óne of thrée:‘By thy lóng grey béard and glíttering éye, | Now whérefore stópp’st thou mé?’
It ís an áncient Márinér, | And he stoppeth óne of thrée:
‘By thy lóng grey béard and glíttering éye, | Now whérefore stópp’st thou mé?’
Two unaccented opening syllables and two unaccented syllables in the middle of the line are, in particular, often met with.
§141. The Septenary in combination with other metres.After its occurrence in theMoral Odeand theOrmulumthe Septenary, as we have seen, appears at first veryseldom by itself, but generally in connexion with other metres, especially the old long line in its freer development, the four-foot metre (though more rarely), and, particularly, the Alexandrine.
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 fromOn god Ureison of ure Lefdi[146]may serve to illustrate. We give the corresponding Old French metrical types from theRoman d’Alixandre(Bartsch,Chrestomathie de l’ancien français, p. 175).
a.Masculine caesura with masculine line-ending:
En icele forest, | dont voz m’oëz conter.24.Nim nu ȝéme to mé, | so me bést a béo ðe béo.129.
En icele forest, | dont voz m’oëz conter.24.Nim nu ȝéme to mé, | so me bést a béo ðe béo.129.
En icele forest, | dont voz m’oëz conter.24.
Nim nu ȝéme to mé, | so me bést a béo ðe béo.129.
b.Feminine (epic) caesura with masculine line-ending:
nesune male choze | ne puet laianz entrer.25.vor þín is þé wurchípe, | ȝif ich wrécche wel iþéo.130.
nesune male choze | ne puet laianz entrer.25.vor þín is þé wurchípe, | ȝif ich wrécche wel iþéo.130.
nesune male choze | ne puet laianz entrer.25.
vor þín is þé wurchípe, | ȝif ich wrécche wel iþéo.130.
c.Masculine caesura with feminine line-ending:
Moult fut biaus li vregiers | et gente la praële.1.Þine blísse ne méi | nówiht únderstónden.31.
Moult fut biaus li vregiers | et gente la praële.1.Þine blísse ne méi | nówiht únderstónden.31.
Moult fut biaus li vregiers | et gente la praële.1.
Þine blísse ne méi | nówiht únderstónden.31.
d. Feminine (epic) caesura with feminine line-ending:
Moult souëf i flairoient | radise et canele.2.Vor ál is gódes ríche | an únder þíne hónden.32.
Moult souëf i flairoient | radise et canele.2.Vor ál is gódes ríche | an únder þíne hónden.32.
Moult souëf i flairoient | radise et canele.2.
Vor ál is gódes ríche | an únder þíne hónden.32.
Alexandrines of this sort, particularly of the last type, are found in a group of poems of the close of the twelfth, or beginning of the thirteenth century, intermingled with Septenaries, and also, though more seldom, combined with four-beat alliterative rhyming long lines and with four-foot verses. Such poems areOn god Ureison of ure Lefdi(quoted above),A lutel soth sermon(Old English Miscellany, ed. R. Morris, pp. 186 ff.), andA Bestiary(ib. pp. 1–25).
The following lines fromA lutel soth sermonmay serve to illustrate this mixture:
Hérknied àlle góde mèn, | and stílle sìtteþ adún,And ích ou wùle téllen | a lútel sòþ sermún.Wél we wìten álle, | þag ìch eou nóȝt ne télle,Hu ádam ùre vórme fàder | adún vel ìnto hélle.Schómeliche hè vorlés | þe blísse þàt he hédde;To ȝívernèsse and prúde | nóne nèode he nédde.He nòm þen áppel òf the tré | þat hìm forbóde wás:So reúþful dède idón | néuer nòn nás.He máde him ìnto hélle fàlle, | and éfter hìm his chíldren àlle;Þér he wàs fort ùre dríhte | hìne bóhte mìd his míhte.He hìne alésede mìd his blóde, | þàt he schédde upòn the róde,To déþe he ȝèf him fòr us álle, | þó we wèren so strònge at-fálle.Álle bácbìteres | wéndet to hélle,Róbberes and réueres, | and þe mónquélle,Léchurs and hórlinges | þíder sculen wénde,And þér heo sculen wúnien | évere buten énde.
Hérknied àlle góde mèn, | and stílle sìtteþ adún,And ích ou wùle téllen | a lútel sòþ sermún.Wél we wìten álle, | þag ìch eou nóȝt ne télle,Hu ádam ùre vórme fàder | adún vel ìnto hélle.Schómeliche hè vorlés | þe blísse þàt he hédde;To ȝívernèsse and prúde | nóne nèode he nédde.He nòm þen áppel òf the tré | þat hìm forbóde wás:So reúþful dède idón | néuer nòn nás.He máde him ìnto hélle fàlle, | and éfter hìm his chíldren àlle;Þér he wàs fort ùre dríhte | hìne bóhte mìd his míhte.He hìne alésede mìd his blóde, | þàt he schédde upòn the róde,To déþe he ȝèf him fòr us álle, | þó we wèren so strònge at-fálle.Álle bácbìteres | wéndet to hélle,Róbberes and réueres, | and þe mónquélle,Léchurs and hórlinges | þíder sculen wénde,And þér heo sculen wúnien | évere buten énde.
Hérknied àlle góde mèn, | and stílle sìtteþ adún,
And ích ou wùle téllen | a lútel sòþ sermún.
Wél we wìten álle, | þag ìch eou nóȝt ne télle,
Hu ádam ùre vórme fàder | adún vel ìnto hélle.
Schómeliche hè vorlés | þe blísse þàt he hédde;
To ȝívernèsse and prúde | nóne nèode he nédde.
He nòm þen áppel òf the tré | þat hìm forbóde wás:
So reúþful dède idón | néuer nòn nás.
He máde him ìnto hélle fàlle, | and éfter hìm his chíldren àlle;
Þér he wàs fort ùre dríhte | hìne bóhte mìd his míhte.
He hìne alésede mìd his blóde, | þàt he schédde upòn the róde,
To déþe he ȝèf him fòr us álle, | þó we wèren so strònge at-fálle.
Álle bácbìteres | wéndet to hélle,
Róbberes and réueres, | and þe mónquélle,
Léchurs and hórlinges | þíder sculen wénde,
And þér heo sculen wúnien | évere buten énde.
Here we have Septenaries (ll. 1, 4, 7) and Alexandrines (ll. 2, 3, 5, 6, 8) intermixed in ll. 1–8, eight-foot long lines resolved by means ofsectional rhymeinto four-foot lines in ll. 9–12, and four-beat rhyming alliterative long lines of the freer type in ll. 13–16. The easy intermixture of metres may be explained by the fact that in all these different long-lined metrical forms fourprincipal stressesare prominent amid the rest, as we have indicated by accents (´).
§142.In theBestiarythis 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, ll. 384–97:
A wìlde dér is, þàt isfúl | offéle wíles,Fóx is hère tó-nàme, | for hìre quéðscípe;Húsebondes hìreháten, | for hèrehárm-dédes:þecóc and tècapún | ge fècheð ófte ìn ðe tún,And tegándre ànd tegós, | bì ðenécke and bì ðenóz,Háleð is tò hirehóle; | forðí man hìrehátieð,Hátien andhúlen | bòðe mén and fúles.
A wìlde dér is, þàt isfúl | offéle wíles,Fóx is hère tó-nàme, | for hìre quéðscípe;Húsebondes hìreháten, | for hèrehárm-dédes:þecóc and tècapún | ge fècheð ófte ìn ðe tún,And tegándre ànd tegós, | bì ðenécke and bì ðenóz,Háleð is tò hirehóle; | forðí man hìrehátieð,Hátien andhúlen | bòðe mén and fúles.
A wìlde dér is, þàt isfúl | offéle wíles,
Fóx is hère tó-nàme, | for hìre quéðscípe;
Húsebondes hìreháten, | for hèrehárm-dédes:
þecóc and tècapún | ge fècheð ófte ìn ðe tún,
And tegándre ànd tegós, | bì ðenécke and bì ðenóz,
Háleð is tò hirehóle; | forðí man hìrehátieð,
Hátien andhúlen | bòðe mén and fúles.
Here we have unmistakable long lines of the freer type.
In other passages the alliterative long lines pass into Septenaries, as, for instance, ll. 273–98:
ðemíremúneð us |méte to tílen,lónglívenoðe, | ðislítle wíleðe we on ðiswérldwúnen: | for ðanne we ófwénden,ðánne is urewínter: | we sulenhúngerháuenandhárde súres, | buten we ben wárhére.Do wé forðí so dóð ðis dér, | ðánne wé be dérueÓn ðat dái ðat dóm sal bén, | ðát ít ne us hárde réwe:. . . . .þe córn ðat gé to cáue béreð, | áll ge it bít otwínne,ðe láge us léreð to dón gód, | ánd forbédeþ us sínne,&c.
ðemíremúneð us |méte to tílen,lónglívenoðe, | ðislítle wíleðe we on ðiswérldwúnen: | for ðanne we ófwénden,ðánne is urewínter: | we sulenhúngerháuenandhárde súres, | buten we ben wárhére.Do wé forðí so dóð ðis dér, | ðánne wé be dérueÓn ðat dái ðat dóm sal bén, | ðát ít ne us hárde réwe:. . . . .þe córn ðat gé to cáue béreð, | áll ge it bít otwínne,ðe láge us léreð to dón gód, | ánd forbédeþ us sínne,&c.
ðemíremúneð us |méte to tílen,
lónglívenoðe, | ðislítle wíle
ðe we on ðiswérldwúnen: | for ðanne we ófwénden,
ðánne is urewínter: | we sulenhúngerháuen
andhárde súres, | buten we ben wárhére.
Do wé forðí so dóð ðis dér, | ðánne wé be dérue
Ón ðat dái ðat dóm sal bén, | ðát ít ne us hárde réwe:
. . . . .
þe córn ðat gé to cáue béreð, | áll ge it bít otwínne,
ðe láge us léreð to dón gód, | ánd forbédeþ us sínne,&c.
In a third instance (ll. 628–35) Septenary and four-foot lines run into one another:
Hú he résteð him ðis dér,ðánne he wálkeð wíde,hérkne wú it télleð hér,for hé is ál unríde.A tré he sékeð to fúligewísðát is stróng and stédefast ís,and léneð hím trostlíke ðerbí,ðánne he ís of wálke werí.
Hú he résteð him ðis dér,ðánne he wálkeð wíde,hérkne wú it télleð hér,for hé is ál unríde.A tré he sékeð to fúligewísðát is stróng and stédefast ís,and léneð hím trostlíke ðerbí,ðánne he ís of wálke werí.
Hú he résteð him ðis dér,
ðánne he wálkeð wíde,
hérkne wú it télleð hér,
for hé is ál unríde.
A tré he sékeð to fúligewís
ðát is stróng and stédefast ís,
and léneð hím trostlíke ðerbí,
ðánne he ís of wálke werí.
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 ll. 1–39 alliterative rhymeless verse, occasionally of marked archaic construction, concluding with a hemistich (39) which rhymes with the preceding hemistich so as to form a transition to the following section (ll. 40–52), which again consists of four-foot and Septenary verses. These are followed by a section (ll. 53–87) in which four-foot and three-foot lines (that is to say, Alexandrines) rhyming in couplets are blended; and this is succeeded by a further section (ll. 88–119) mostly consisting of Septenaries 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 purposely made use of these different metrical forms, and that the assertion made by Trautmann and others,[147]that the Septenary of theOrmulumand theMoral Ode, which is contemporary with Layamon, represents the final result of the development ofLayamon’s verse (the freer alliterative long line), must be erroneous.
§143.InOn 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 interchangead libitum.
The following short passage (ll. 23–34) will suffice to illustrate these combinations of metres:
Nís no wúmmen ibóren | þét þe béo ilíche,Ne nón þer nís þin éfning | wiðínne héoueríche.Héih is þi kínestól | onúppe chérubíne,Biuóren ðíne léoue súne | wiðínnen séraphíne.Múrie dréameð éngles | biuóren þín onséne,Pléieð and swéieð | and síngeð bitwéonen.Swúðe wél ham líkeð | biuóren þe to béonne,Vor heo néuer né beoð séad | þi uéir to iséonne.Þíne blísse ne méi | nówiht únderstónden,Vor ál is gódes ríche | anúnder þíne hónden.Álle þíne uréondes | þu mákest ríche kínges;Þú ham ȝíuest kínescrúd, | béies and góldrínges.
Nís no wúmmen ibóren | þét þe béo ilíche,Ne nón þer nís þin éfning | wiðínne héoueríche.Héih is þi kínestól | onúppe chérubíne,Biuóren ðíne léoue súne | wiðínnen séraphíne.Múrie dréameð éngles | biuóren þín onséne,Pléieð and swéieð | and síngeð bitwéonen.Swúðe wél ham líkeð | biuóren þe to béonne,Vor heo néuer né beoð séad | þi uéir to iséonne.Þíne blísse ne méi | nówiht únderstónden,Vor ál is gódes ríche | anúnder þíne hónden.Álle þíne uréondes | þu mákest ríche kínges;Þú ham ȝíuest kínescrúd, | béies and góldrínges.
Nís no wúmmen ibóren | þét þe béo ilíche,
Ne nón þer nís þin éfning | wiðínne héoueríche.
Héih is þi kínestól | onúppe chérubíne,
Biuóren ðíne léoue súne | wiðínnen séraphíne.
Múrie dréameð éngles | biuóren þín onséne,
Pléieð and swéieð | and síngeð bitwéonen.
Swúðe wél ham líkeð | biuóren þe to béonne,
Vor heo néuer né beoð séad | þi uéir to iséonne.
Þíne blísse ne méi | nówiht únderstónden,
Vor ál is gódes ríche | anúnder þíne hónden.
Álle þíne uréondes | þu mákest ríche kínges;
Þú ham ȝíuest kínescrúd, | béies and góldrínges.
Lines 26 and 34, perhaps also 25 and 30, are Septenaries, l. 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 ll. 3, 12, 44, 72, 77, and in the second of ll. 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 LordandThe Woman of Samaria(Morris,Old English Miscellany), were composed so early as the beginning of the thirteenth century. From the first we quote ll. 21–4:
Léuedi þu bére þat béste chíld, | þat éuer wés ibóre;Of þe he mákede his móder, | vor hé þe hédde ycóre.Ádam ánd his ófsprung | ál hit wére furlóre,Ýf þi súne nére, | ibléssed þu béo þervóre.
Léuedi þu bére þat béste chíld, | þat éuer wés ibóre;Of þe he mákede his móder, | vor hé þe hédde ycóre.Ádam ánd his ófsprung | ál hit wére furlóre,Ýf þi súne nére, | ibléssed þu béo þervóre.
Léuedi þu bére þat béste chíld, | þat éuer wés ibóre;
Of þe he mákede his móder, | vor hé þe hédde ycóre.
Ádam ánd his ófsprung | ál hit wére furlóre,
Ýf þi súne nére, | ibléssed þu béo þervóre.
Many lines of these poems may be scanned in both ways; in the third line of the preceding extract, for instance, we mayeither take the second syllable of the wordofsprung, in 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. Harleian2277) and other poems in the same MS., as theFragment on Popular Science(fourteenth century), are written. The same holds good for Robert of Gloucester’s Rhyming Chronicle (cf.Metrik, i, §§ 113, 114). Mätzner (in hisAltengl. Sprachproben, p. 155), and Ten Brink (Literaturgeschichte, i, pp. 334, 345) concur in this opinion, while Trautmann (inAnglia, v, Anz., pp. 123–5), on a theory of metrical accentuation which we hold to be untenable, pronounces the verses to be Septenaries.
The following passage (Mätzner,Altengl. Sprachproben, i, p. 155) may serve to illustrate the versification of Robert of Gloucester:
Áftur kýng Báthulf | Léir ys sóne was kýng,And régned síxti ȝér | wél þoru álle þýng.Up þe wáter of Sóure | a cíty óf gret fámeHe éndede, and clépede yt Léicestre, | áftur is ówne náme.Þre dóȝtren þis kýng hádde, | þe éldeste Górnorílle,Þe mýdmost hátte Régan, | þe ȝóngost Córdeílle.Þe fáder hem lóuede álle ynóȝ, | ác þe ȝóngost mést:For héo was bést an fáirest, | and to háutenésse drow lést.Þó þe kýng to élde cóm, | álle þré he bróȝteHys dóȝtren tofóre hým, | to wýte of hére þóuȝte.
Áftur kýng Báthulf | Léir ys sóne was kýng,And régned síxti ȝér | wél þoru álle þýng.Up þe wáter of Sóure | a cíty óf gret fámeHe éndede, and clépede yt Léicestre, | áftur is ówne náme.Þre dóȝtren þis kýng hádde, | þe éldeste Górnorílle,Þe mýdmost hátte Régan, | þe ȝóngost Córdeílle.Þe fáder hem lóuede álle ynóȝ, | ác þe ȝóngost mést:For héo was bést an fáirest, | and to háutenésse drow lést.Þó þe kýng to élde cóm, | álle þré he bróȝteHys dóȝtren tofóre hým, | to wýte of hére þóuȝte.
Áftur kýng Báthulf | Léir ys sóne was kýng,
And régned síxti ȝér | wél þoru álle þýng.
Up þe wáter of Sóure | a cíty óf gret fáme
He éndede, and clépede yt Léicestre, | áftur is ówne náme.
Þre dóȝtren þis kýng hádde, | þe éldeste Górnorílle,
Þe mýdmost hátte Régan, | þe ȝóngost Córdeílle.
Þe fáder hem lóuede álle ynóȝ, | ác þe ȝóngost mést:
For héo was bést an fáirest, | and to háutenésse drow lést.
Þó þe kýng to élde cóm, | álle þré he bróȝte
Hys dóȝtren tofóre hým, | to wýte of hére þóuȝte.
§145.At the end of the thirteenth century the Septenary and Alexandrine were, however, relegated to a subordinate position 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 theTowneley Collection, like theConspiratio 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 Septenary. A passage from the Towneley Mysteries may make this clear:
Now háve ye hárt what Í have sáyde, | I gó and cóm agáyn,Therfór looke yé be páyde | and álso glád and fáyn,For tó my fáder I wéynd, | for móre then Í is hé,I lét you wýtt, as fáythfulle fréynd, | or thát it dóne bé.That yé may trów when ít is dóne, | for cértes, I máy noght nówMany thýnges so sóyn | at thís tyme spéak with yóu.
Now háve ye hárt what Í have sáyde, | I gó and cóm agáyn,Therfór looke yé be páyde | and álso glád and fáyn,For tó my fáder I wéynd, | for móre then Í is hé,I lét you wýtt, as fáythfulle fréynd, | or thát it dóne bé.That yé may trów when ít is dóne, | for cértes, I máy noght nówMany thýnges so sóyn | at thís tyme spéak with yóu.
Now háve ye hárt what Í have sáyde, | I gó and cóm agáyn,
Therfór looke yé be páyde | and álso glád and fáyn,
For tó my fáder I wéynd, | for móre then Í is hé,
I lét you wýtt, as fáythfulle fréynd, | or thát it dóne bé.
That yé may trów when ít is dóne, | for cértes, I máy noght nów
Many thýnges so sóyn | at thís tyme spéak with yóu.
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’sMarriage 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):
O lét me bréathe a whíle, | and hóld thy héavy hánd,My gríevous fáults with sháme | enóugh I únderstánd.Take rúth and píty ón my pláint, | or élse I ám forlórn;Let nót the wórld contínue thús | in láughing mé to scórn.Mádam, if Í be hé, | to whóm you ónce were bént,With whóm to spénd your tíme | sometíme you wére content:If ány hópe be léft, | if ány récompénseBe áble tó recóver thís | forpássed négligénce,O, hélp me nów poor wrétch | in thís most héavy plíght,And fúrnish mé yet ónce agáin | with Tédiousnéss to fíght.
O lét me bréathe a whíle, | and hóld thy héavy hánd,My gríevous fáults with sháme | enóugh I únderstánd.Take rúth and píty ón my pláint, | or élse I ám forlórn;Let nót the wórld contínue thús | in láughing mé to scórn.Mádam, if Í be hé, | to whóm you ónce were bént,With whóm to spénd your tíme | sometíme you wére content:If ány hópe be léft, | if ány récompénseBe áble tó recóver thís | forpássed négligénce,O, hélp me nów poor wrétch | in thís most héavy plíght,And fúrnish mé yet ónce agáin | with Tédiousnéss to fíght.
O lét me bréathe a whíle, | and hóld thy héavy hánd,
My gríevous fáults with sháme | enóugh I únderstánd.
Take rúth and píty ón my pláint, | or élse I ám forlórn;
Let nót the wórld contínue thús | in láughing mé to scórn.
Mádam, if Í be hé, | to whóm you ónce were bént,
With whóm to spénd your tíme | sometíme you wére content:
If ány hópe be léft, | if ány récompénse
Be áble tó recóver thís | forpássed négligénce,
O, hélp me nów poor wrétch | in thís most héavy plíght,
And fúrnish mé yet ónce agáin | with Tédiousnéss to fíght.
§146.In other passages in this drama, e.g. in the speech ofWit, 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 ofThe Poulter’s Measure.[148]
The opening lines of Surrey’sComplaint of a dying Lover(p. 24) present an example of its cadence:
In wínter’s just retúrn, | when Bóreas gán his réign,And évery trée unclóthed fást, | as Náture táught them pláin:In místy mórning dárk, | as shéep are thén in hóld,I híed me fást, it sát me ón, | my shéep for tó unfóld.
In wínter’s just retúrn, | when Bóreas gán his réign,And évery trée unclóthed fást, | as Náture táught them pláin:In místy mórning dárk, | as shéep are thén in hóld,I híed me fást, it sát me ón, | my shéep for tó unfóld.
In wínter’s just retúrn, | when Bóreas gán his réign,
And évery trée unclóthed fást, | as Náture táught them pláin:
In místy mórning dárk, | as shéep are thén in hóld,
I híed me fást, it sát me ón, | my shéep for tó unfóld.
Brooke’s narrative poemRomeus and Juliet, utilized by Shakespeare for his drama of the same name, is in this metre. Probably the strict iambic cadence and the fixed position of the caesuracaused this metre to appear especially adapted for cultured poetry, at a time when rising and falling rhythms were first sharply distinguished. It was, however, not long popular, though isolated examples are found in modern poets, as, for instance, Cowper and Watts. Thackeray uses it for comic poems, for which it appears especially suitable, sometimes using the two kinds of verse promiscuously, as Dean Swift had done before him, and sometimes employing the Alexandrine and Septenary in regular alternation.
§147. The Alexandrineruns more smoothly than the Septenary. The Middle English Alexandrine is a six-foot 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 in 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. Méssengérs he sent | þórghout Ínglóndb. Untó the Ínglis kýnges | þat hád it ín þer hónd.p. 2, ll. 3–4.c. Áfter Éthelbért | com Élfríth his bróther,d. Þát was Égbrihtes sónne, | and ȝít þer wás an óþer;p. 21, ll. 7–8.
a. Méssengérs he sent | þórghout Ínglóndb. Untó the Ínglis kýnges | þat hád it ín þer hónd.p. 2, ll. 3–4.c. Áfter Éthelbért | com Élfríth his bróther,d. Þát was Égbrihtes sónne, | and ȝít þer wás an óþer;p. 21, ll. 7–8.
a. Méssengérs he sent | þórghout Ínglónd
b. Untó the Ínglis kýnges | þat hád it ín þer hónd.
p. 2, ll. 3–4.
c. Áfter Éthelbért | com Élfríth his bróther,
d. Þát was Égbrihtes sónne, | and ȝít þer wás an óþer;
p. 21, ll. 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 suppression 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 purvéie þám a skúlking, | on the Énglish éft to ríde;p. 3, l. 8.Bot soiórned þám a whíle | in rést a Bángóre;p. 3, l. 16.In Wéstsex was þán a kýng, | his náme wás Sir Íne;p. 2, l. 1.
To purvéie þám a skúlking, | on the Énglish éft to ríde;p. 3, l. 8.Bot soiórned þám a whíle | in rést a Bángóre;p. 3, l. 16.In Wéstsex was þán a kýng, | his náme wás Sir Íne;p. 2, l. 1.
To purvéie þám a skúlking, | on the Énglish éft to ríde;
p. 3, l. 8.
Bot soiórned þám a whíle | in rést a Bángóre;
p. 3, l. 16.
In Wéstsex was þán a kýng, | his náme wás Sir Íne;
p. 2, l. 1.
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-mentionedPoulter’s Measure, and occasionally in uninterrupted sequence in speeches of considerable length. We cannot therefore always say with certainty whether we have in many passages ofJacob and Esau(Dodsley’sOld Plays, ed. Hazlitt, vol. ii, pp. 185 ff.) to deal with four-beat lines or with unpolished Alexandrines (cf. ActII, 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 Redford’sMarriage of Wit and Science(Dodsley, ii, pp. 325 ff.), e.g. in ActII.Sc. ii (pp. 340–1):
How mány séek, that cóme | too shórt of théir desíre:How mány dó attémpt, | that daíly dó retíre.How mány róve abóut | the márk on évery síde:How mány think to hít, | when théy are much too wíde:How mány rún too fár, | how mány light too lów:How féw to góod efféct| their trávail dó bestów!&c.
How mány séek, that cóme | too shórt of théir desíre:How mány dó attémpt, | that daíly dó retíre.How mány róve abóut | the márk on évery síde:How mány think to hít, | when théy are much too wíde:How mány rún too fár, | how mány light too lów:How féw to góod efféct| their trávail dó bestów!&c.
How mány séek, that cóme | too shórt of théir desíre:
How mány dó attémpt, | that daíly dó retíre.
How mány róve abóut | the márk on évery síde:
How mány think to hít, | when théy are much too wíde:
How mány rún too fár, | how mány light too lów:
How féw to góod efféct| their trávail dó bestów!&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’sPolyolbion.
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 always so; further by the very scanty employment of the Teutonic rhythmical licences; cf. the opening lines of thePolyolbion(Poets, iii. pp. 239 ff.):
Of Álbion’s glórious ísle | the wónders whílst I wríte,The súndry várying sóils, | the pléasures ínfiníte,Where héat kills nót the cóld, | nor cóld expéls the héat,The cálms too míldly smáll, | nor wínds too róughly gréat,&c.
Of Álbion’s glórious ísle | the wónders whílst I wríte,The súndry várying sóils, | the pléasures ínfiníte,Where héat kills nót the cóld, | nor cóld expéls the héat,The cálms too míldly smáll, | nor wínds too róughly gréat,&c.
Of Álbion’s glórious ísle | the wónders whílst I wríte,
The súndry várying sóils, | the pléasures ínfiníte,
Where héat kills nót the cóld, | nor cóld expéls the héat,
The cálms too míldly smáll, | nor wínds too róughly gréat,&c.
Minor caesuras seldom occur, and generally in the second hemistich, as, e.g., minor lyric caesuras after the first foot:
Wise génius, | bý thy hélp || that só I máy descrý.240 a;
Wise génius, | bý thy hélp || that só I máy descrý.240 a;
Wise génius, | bý thy hélp || that só I máy descrý.
240 a;
or masculine caesura after the second foot:
Ye sácred bárds | that to || your hárps’ melódious stríngs.ib.
Ye sácred bárds | that to || your hárps’ melódious stríngs.ib.
Ye sácred bárds | that to || your hárps’ melódious stríngs.
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, entitledThe 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 occasionally composed in similarly constructed rhymeless Alexandrines (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 súch a cúrsed créature || líves so lóng a spáce.F. Q.I.i. 31;
That súch a cúrsed créature || líves so lóng a spáce.F. Q.I.i. 31;
That súch a cúrsed créature || líves so lóng a spáce.
F. Q.I.i. 31;
as well as in connexion with minor caesuras:
Upón his fóe, | a Drágon, || hórriblé and stéarne.ib.I.i. 3.
Upón his fóe, | a Drágon, || hórriblé and stéarne.ib.I.i. 3.
Upón his fóe, | a Drágon, || hórriblé and stéarne.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. inThe 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 frequently admitted, while on the other hand the caesura and close of the verse are always monosyllabic.
§150. The three-foot linehas 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, frequentlyresolved in this metrical type into four three-foot short lines with crossed rhymes, as, e.g., in Robert Mannyng’sChronicle, 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, ll. 1, 2:
Wílliam the CónqueróurChángis his wícked wíll;Óut of his fírst erróurrepéntis óf his ílle.
Wílliam the CónqueróurChángis his wícked wíll;
Wílliam the CónqueróurChángis his wícked wíll;
Wílliam the CónqueróurChángis his wícked wíll;
Wílliam the Cónqueróur
Chángis his wícked wíll;
Óut of his fírst erróurrepéntis óf his ílle.
Óut of his fírst erróurrepéntis óf his ílle.
Óut of his fírst erróurrepéntis óf his ílle.
Óut of his fírst erróur
repéntis óf his ílle.
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 lines, as in the following examples:
Wright’s Spec. of L. P., 97:Máyden móder mílde,oiéz cel óreysóun;from sháme þóu me shílde,e dé ly málfelóun.Minot, ed. Hall, 17:Tówrenay, ȝów has tíghtTo tímber tréy and téneA bóre, with brénis bríghtEs bróght opón ȝowre gréne.
Wright’s Spec. of L. P., 97:Máyden móder mílde,oiéz cel óreysóun;from sháme þóu me shílde,e dé ly málfelóun.
Wright’s Spec. of L. P., 97:Máyden móder mílde,oiéz cel óreysóun;from sháme þóu me shílde,e dé ly málfelóun.
Wright’s Spec. of L. P., 97:Máyden móder mílde,oiéz cel óreysóun;from sháme þóu me shílde,e dé ly málfelóun.
Wright’s Spec. of L. P., 97:
Máyden móder mílde,
oiéz cel óreysóun;
from sháme þóu me shílde,
e dé ly málfelóun.
Minot, ed. Hall, 17:Tówrenay, ȝów has tíghtTo tímber tréy and téneA bóre, with brénis bríghtEs bróght opón ȝowre gréne.
Minot, ed. Hall, 17:Tówrenay, ȝów has tíghtTo tímber tréy and téneA bóre, with brénis bríghtEs bróght opón ȝowre gréne.
Minot, ed. Hall, 17:Tówrenay, ȝów has tíghtTo tímber tréy and téneA bóre, with brénis bríghtEs bróght opón ȝowre gréne.
Minot, ed. Hall, 17:
Tówrenay, ȝów has tíght
To tímber tréy and téne
A bóre, with brénis bríght
Es bróght opón ȝowre gréne.
With another order of rhymes these verses are also met with in tail-rhyme stanzas of different kinds, as, for instance, in Wright’sSpec. of L. P., p. 41:
Of a món mátheu þóhte,þo hé þe wýnȝord wróhte;and wrót hit ón ys bóc,In márewe mén he sóhte,at únder mó he bróhte,and nóm, ant nón forsóc.
Of a món mátheu þóhte,þo hé þe wýnȝord wróhte;and wrót hit ón ys bóc,
Of a món mátheu þóhte,þo hé þe wýnȝord wróhte;and wrót hit ón ys bóc,
Of a món mátheu þóhte,þo hé þe wýnȝord wróhte;and wrót hit ón ys bóc,
Of a món mátheu þóhte,
þo hé þe wýnȝord wróhte;
and wrót hit ón ys bóc,
In márewe mén he sóhte,at únder mó he bróhte,and nóm, ant nón forsóc.
In márewe mén he sóhte,at únder mó he bróhte,and nóm, ant nón forsóc.
In márewe mén he sóhte,at únder mó he bróhte,and nóm, ant nón forsóc.
In márewe mén he sóhte,
at únder mó he bróhte,
and nóm, ant nón forsóc.
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.
In Modern English the three-foot verse has remained a favourite, chiefly in lyrical poetry, and occurs there as well with monosyllabic as with disyllabic rhymes, which may either follow one another or be crossed, e.g.:
Surrey, p. 128:Me líst no móre to síngOf lóve, nor óf such thing,How sóre that ít me wríng;For whát I súng or spáke,Mén did my sóngs mistáke.Surrey, p. 39:Though Í regárded nótThe prómise máde by mé;Or pássed nót to spótMy fáith and hónestý:Yét were my fáncy stránge,&c.
Surrey, p. 128:Me líst no móre to síngOf lóve, nor óf such thing,How sóre that ít me wríng;For whát I súng or spáke,Mén did my sóngs mistáke.
Surrey, p. 128:Me líst no móre to síngOf lóve, nor óf such thing,How sóre that ít me wríng;For whát I súng or spáke,Mén did my sóngs mistáke.
Surrey, p. 128:Me líst no móre to síngOf lóve, nor óf such thing,How sóre that ít me wríng;For whát I súng or spáke,Mén did my sóngs mistáke.
Surrey, p. 128:
Me líst no móre to síng
Of lóve, nor óf such thing,
How sóre that ít me wríng;
For whát I súng or spáke,
Mén did my sóngs mistáke.
Surrey, p. 39:Though Í regárded nótThe prómise máde by mé;Or pássed nót to spótMy fáith and hónestý:Yét were my fáncy stránge,&c.
Surrey, p. 39:Though Í regárded nótThe prómise máde by mé;Or pássed nót to spótMy fáith and hónestý:Yét were my fáncy stránge,&c.
Surrey, p. 39:Though Í regárded nótThe prómise máde by mé;Or pássed nót to spótMy fáith and hónestý:Yét were my fáncy stránge,&c.
Surrey, p. 39:
Though Í regárded nót
The prómise máde by mé;
Or pássed nót to spót
My fáith and hónestý:
Yét were my fáncy stránge,&c.
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 mórning’s gáy and shíning,The dáys our jóys decláre;At évening nó repíning,And níght’s all vóid of cáre.A fónd transpórted mótherWas óften héard to crý,Oh, whére is súch anótherSo bléss’d by Héaven as Í?&c.
Our mórning’s gáy and shíning,The dáys our jóys decláre;At évening nó repíning,And níght’s all vóid of cáre.A fónd transpórted mótherWas óften héard to crý,Oh, whére is súch anótherSo bléss’d by Héaven as Í?&c.
Our mórning’s gáy and shíning,
The dáys our jóys decláre;
At évening nó repíning,
And níght’s all vóid of cáre.
A fónd transpórted móther
Was óften héard to crý,
Oh, whére is súch anóther
So bléss’d by Héaven as Í?&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.
§151.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 asblank verse), which are of equal importance, though not of equal antiquity.
The rhymed five-foot verse was known in English poetry as far back as the second half of the thirteenth century, and has been a favourite metre from Chaucer’s first poetic attempts onward to the present, whilst the blank verse was first introduced into English literature about the year 1540 by the Earl of Surrey (1518–47), and has been frequently employed ever since that time. The rhymed five-foot verse was, and has continued to be, mainly preferred for lyrical and epic, the blank verse for dramatic poetry. The latter, however, has been employed e.g. by Milton, and after him by Thomson and many others for the epic and allied species of poetry; while rhymed five-foot verse was used during a certain period for dramatic poetry, e.g. by Davenant and Dryden, but by the latter only for a short time.
Rhymed five-accent verseoccurs in Middle English both in poems composed in stanza form and (since Chaucer’sLegend of Good Women, c. 1386) in couplets.
This metre, apart from differences in the length of the line and in number of accents, is by no means to be looked upon as different from the remaining even-stressed metres of that time. For, like the Middle English four-foot verse and the Alexandrine, it derives its origin from a French source, its prototype being the French decasyllabic verse. This is a metre with rising rhythm, in which the caesura generally comes after the fourth syllable, as e.g. in the line:
Ja mais n’iert tels | com fut as anceisors.Saint Alexis, l. 5.
Ja mais n’iert tels | com fut as anceisors.Saint Alexis, l. 5.
Ja mais n’iert tels | com fut as anceisors.Saint Alexis, l. 5.
To this verse the following line of Chaucer’s corresponds exactly in point of structure:
A kníght ther wás, | and thát a wórthy mán.Cant. Tales, Prol. 43
A kníght ther wás, | and thát a wórthy mán.Cant. Tales, Prol. 43
A kníght ther wás, | and thát a wórthy mán.
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.
This table at the same time also contains the formal exposition, and indeed possibly the actual explanation (by suppression 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.