Chapter 13

O crux, frutex salvificus, | vivo fonte rigatus,Quem flos exornat fulgidus, | fructus fecundat gratus,

O crux, frutex salvificus, | vivo fonte rigatus,

Quem flos exornat fulgidus, | fructus 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.

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 justquoted.[145]

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 minoratus,Alter in altum tollitur | nimis exaltatus.Rex sedet in vertice, | caveat ruinam,Nam sub axe legimus | ‘Hecubam’ reginam.Carmina Burana, lxxvii.

Fortunae rota volvitur; | descendo minoratus,

Alter in altum tollitur | nimis exaltatus.

Rex sedet in vertice, | caveat ruinam,

Nam sub axe legimus | ‘Hecubam’ reginam.

Carmina Burana, lxxvii.

§136.These verses correspond pretty exactly, in their metrical structure, to the opening lines of theMoral Ode, which, as far as is known, is the earliest Middle English poem in septenary lines, and dates from the twelfth century:

Íc am élder þánne ic wés, | a wíntre and éc a lóre;ic éaldi móre þánne ic déde: | mi wít oȝhte tó bi móre.Wel lónge ic hábbe chíld ibíen | on wórde ánd on déde;þéȝh ic bí on wíntren éald, | to ȝíung ic ám on réde.

Íc am élder þánne ic wés, | a wíntre and éc a lóre;

ic éaldi móre þánne ic déde: | mi wít oȝhte tó bi móre.

Wel lónge ic hábbe chíld ibíen | on wórde ánd on déde;

þéȝh ic bí on wíntren éald, | to ȝíung ic ám on réde.

The other common licences of even-beat metre which affect the rhythm of the line, the metrical value of syllables, and the word-accent, also occur in theMoral Ode. Suppression of the anacrusis is very often met with; it occurs, for instance, in the first hemistich, in lines 1 and 4 above; in the second hemistich,ér ic hít iwístel. 17, in both,þó þet hábbeð wél idón | éfter híre míhte, l. 175; so that a pure iambic couplet seldom occurs, although the iambic rhythm is, on the whole, predominant. The omission of unaccented syllables in the middle of the line is also often found (although many verses of this kind probably require emendation), asNe léve nó mán to múchel24; also in the second hemistich, asand wól éche dede88. Transpositions of the accent are quite usual at the beginning of the first as well as of the second hemistich:Elde me ís bestólen ón17;síððen ic spéke cúðe9. Level stress is also not absent:For bétere is án elmésse bifóre28. We often meet with elision, apocope, syncope, slurring of syllables, and the use of a disyllabic thesis both at the beginning of the line and in other positions:þo þet wél ne dóeþ þe wíle he múȝe19;nís hit búte gámen and glíe188. A noteworthy indication of want of skill in the handling of the Septenary in this first attempt is the frequent occurrence of a superfluous syllable at the close of the first hemistich, which should only admit of an acatalectic ending, e.g.:Hé scal cúme on úuele stéde | búte him Gód beo mílde26;Eíðer to lútel ánd to múchel | scal þúnchen éft hem báthe62, &c. The end of the second hemistich, on the other hand, in accordance with the structure of the metre, is in this poem always catalectic.

§137.The irregularity of the structure of the Septenary rhyming line of theMoral Odestands in marked contrast with the regularity of the rhymeless Septenary verse of theOrmulum. The first hemistich here is always acatalectic, the second catalectic, and the whole line has never more nor less than fifteen syllables.

Hence the only metrical licences that occur here are elision, syncope, and apocope of the unaccentedeof 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:

Icc þátt tiss Énnglissh háfe sétt |Ennglísshe ménn to láre,Icc wáss þær þǽr I crísstnedd wáss |Orrmín bi náme némmnedd,Annd íccOrrmín full ínnwarrdlíȝ | wiþþ múð annd éc wiþþ hérrte.Dedic. 322–7.

Icc þátt tiss Énnglissh háfe sétt |Ennglísshe ménn to láre,

Icc wáss þær þǽr I crísstnedd wáss |Orrmín bi náme némmnedd,

Annd íccOrrmín full ínnwarrdlíȝ | wiþþ múð annd éc wiþþ hérrte.

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.Ennglissheat the beginning of the second hemistich of the above line, 322, is no more an example of inversion of rhythm than in the hemistichIcc háfe wénnd inntillEnnglísshl. 13

§138.After theMoral Odeand theOrmulumthe 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 theLives of Saints, ed. Furnivall, 1862, theFragment of Popular Science, ed. Wright inPopular Treatises on Science, London, 1841, and several others.

The most important deviation from the Septenary of Orm and of theMoral Odeis 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 theFragment of Popular Science:

The ríȝte pút of hélle ís | amídde the úrþe wiþínne,Oure Lóverd þát al mákede iwís, | quéinte ís of gýnne,Héuene and úrþe ymákede iwís, | and síþþe alle þíng þat ís,Úrpe is a lútel húrfte | aȝén héuene iwís.

The ríȝte pút of hélle ís | amídde the úrþe wiþínne,

Oure Lóverd þát al mákede iwís, | quéinte ís of gýnne,

Héuene and úrþe ymákede iwís, | and síþþe alle þíng þat ís,

Úrpe is a lútel húrfte | aȝén héuene iwís.

It may fairly be assumed that the structure of the Alexandrine (which, according to French models, might have either a masculine or a feminine ending) may have greatly furthered the intrusion of monosyllabic feet into the Septenary verse, although the gradual decay of the final inflexions may likewise have contributed to this end. For the rest, all the rhythmic licences of the Septenary occurring in theMoral Odeare also to be met with here; as, for instance, the suppression of the anacrusis in the first hemistich of l. 4 of the passage quoted, and in the secondof l. 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.Metrik, 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 consisting of pairs of Septenaries with middle rhyme inserted (interlaced 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:

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