Chapter 7

(a)That everstéede bestróde10,Hee brought his ménne to þebórowe259.(b)Andchéued fòrthe with þechílde78,Þecómpanìe wascárefull359.(c)α.Glísiande asgóldwìre180,Þeicraked þecournales295.β. Huelóued solécherìe35,AndPhílip þeférse kìng276.γ.Stónesstírred þei þò293,Þefólke toofáre with hìm158.

(a)That everstéede bestróde10,

Hee brought his ménne to þebórowe259.

(b)Andchéued fòrthe with þechílde78,

Þecómpanìe wascárefull359.

(c)α.Glísiande asgóldwìre180,

Þeicraked þecournales295.

β. Huelóued solécherìe35,

AndPhílip þeférse kìng276.

γ.Stónesstírred þei þò293,

Þefólke toofáre with hìm158.

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 theAlisaunderfragments, chiefly in the following points:

The end of the hemistich sometimes consists of an accented syllable instead of an unaccented one; the thesis is sometimes 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 theses, the rhythm of the verse sometimes becomes very heavy.

Belonging to this group areWilliam of Palerne,Joseph of Arimathie, both belonging to the middle of the fourteenth century, the three editions of William Langland’sVision concerning Piers Plowman, of somewhat later date, and a few minor poems. TheRomance of the Chevelere Assigne, written in the East Midland district, at the end of the fourteenth century,and the works of the Gawain-poet, viz.Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,Cleanness,Patience, and theLegend of St. Erkenwald(Horstmann,Altengl. Legenden, 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 versification. 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):

Tobóres and tobróckes | þatbréketh adòwn myne hégges.vi. 31.And so Itrówetréwly | by þat mentélleth of chárite.xv. 158.Ac ȝut inmány mománeres |mén offènden þe hóligòste.xvii. 280.

Tobóres and tobróckes | þatbréketh adòwn myne hégges.vi. 31.

And so Itrówetréwly | by þat mentélleth of chárite.xv. 158.

Ac ȝut inmány mománeres |mén offènden þe hóligòste.xvii. 280.

Extended first hemistich (Type A):

Léue him nòuȝt, for he islécherous | andlíkerous of tónge.vi. 268.Láboreres þat haue nolánde | tolýue on but her hándes.ib. 309.‘Now, by þepéril of my soúle!’ quod Pieres, | ‘I shal apéyre ȝou álle!’vi. 173.

Léue him nòuȝt, for he islécherous | andlíkerous of tónge.vi. 268.

Láboreres þat haue nolánde | tolýue on but her hándes.ib. 309.

‘Now, by þepéril of my soúle!’ quod Pieres, | ‘I shal apéyre ȝou álle!’

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 line (A + A) following immediately upon the last-mentioned example:

Andhóuped afterhúnger | þathérd hym atte fírste.vi. 174.

Type A is inPiers Plowmanthe usual one, but the types C and BC frequently occur. In the following examples we have type C in the second hemistich:

And haddenléue tolye | al herelýf áfter.Prol. 49.I seighsómme thatséiden | þei had ysóuȝtséyntes.ib. 50;

And haddenléue tolye | al herelýf áfter.Prol. 49.

I seighsómme thatséiden | þei had ysóuȝtséyntes.ib. 50;

in the first hemistich it occurs rarely:

Ac on aMáymórnynge | onMáluerne húlles.ib. 5.

Type B C is frequently to be met with in both hemistichs; e.g. in the first:

In asómerséson, | whansóft was thesónne.ib. 1.And as Iláy andléned | andlóked in þe wáteres.ib. 9;

In asómerséson, | whansóft was thesónne.ib. 1.

And as Iláy andléned | andlóked in þe wáteres.ib. 9;

in the second:

Bídders andbéggeres | fast abóute ȝéde.ib. 40.Wénten toWálsyngham, | and herewénches áfter.ib. 54.

Bídders andbéggeres | fast abóute ȝéde.ib. 40.

Wénten toWálsyngham, | and herewénches áfter.ib. 54.

Masculine endings, however (originating from the dropping of the final-ein the last words of the types A and C, as e.g. inanddrédful of síghtProl. 16,cristened þekýngexv. 437,as þe kýng híghtiii. 9), occur very rarely here. They are, on the other hand, characteristic forms in another group of alliterative poems.

§57.These belong to theNorth of Englandand the adjacent parts of the Midlands.

In these districts the finalehad by this time become silent, or was in the course of becoming so. Thus many verses of West-Midland poems were shortened in the North by omitting the final-e, and then these forms were imitated there. Hence the 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 more rarely, with accented ones, viz. corresponding to the schemes:

A1,(×)–́××–́, C1,(×)××–́–́, BC1,(×)××–́×–́.

These forms of the hemistich first occur in theDestruction of Troy, a poem written in a West-Midland dialect very like to the Northern dialect, and in the North-English poems,Morte ArthureandThe Wars of Alexander(E. E. T. S., Extra-Ser. 47). Examples of these types (taken from the first-mentioned poem) are: of type A1in the second hemistich,forlérning of ús32,þatónest wereáy48; with a polysyllabic thesis,andlympit of the sóthe36; with a secondary accent,withcléne mèn of wít790; without anacrusis,[112]lémond as góld459,bléssid were Í473; in the first hemistich, with disyllabic anacrusis,þat bendrépit withdéth9,þat with theGrékys wasgrét40; without anacrusis,Býg y-noghe vntobéd397,Trýed men þat weretáken258, &c.; examples for C1(only occurring in the second hemistich),þat hefóre with44,into yourlond hóme611,ye havesáid well1122,þat hobórne wás1388,of mycórs hás1865; examples for B C1, in the second hemistich (of rare occurrence),when it destróyet wás28,and tosórow bróght1497,þere þecítie wás1534.

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 FieldandDeath 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 twa mariit wemen and the wedo, has, apart from the normal types occurring in the North-English poems, many variants, chiefly in the first hemistich, which are characterized 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:

Ȝaip andȝíng, in theȝók | aneȝéir for to dráw.79.Isbàir ofblís andbáilfull, | and greitbárrat wírkis.51.

Ȝaip andȝíng, in theȝók | aneȝéir for to dráw.79.

Isbàir ofblís andbáilfull, | and greitbárrat wírkis.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:

Hegráythit me ingáy silk | andgúdlie arráyis,Ingównis of ingránit clayth | andgreitgóldin chénȝeis.365–6.

Hegráythit me ingáy silk | andgúdlie arráyis,

Ingównis of ingránit clayth | andgreitgóldin chénȝeis.365–6.

This explains how King James VI came to formulate the metrical rule mentioned above (p. 89) from the misuse of alliteration by the last poets who used the alliterative line, or the alliterative rhyming line to be discussed in the next paragraph, which shares the same peculiarity.

§58.In spite of the great popularity which the regular alliterative 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 formed on foreign models; and these soon began to influence the alliterative line. The first mark of this influence was that end-rhyme and strophic formation was forced upon many alliterative 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 forms 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 of the two forms of verse the blending of the four-beat alliterative line with that of four equal measures and the ultimate predominance of the even-beat metres was brought about more easily and naturally.

Alliterative-rhymed lines, the connexion of which into stanzas or staves will be treated of in the second part of this work under the 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 alliterative rhyming lines were lyrical.

We must distinguish between isometric and anisometric stanza forms. In the former the whole stanza consists of four-beat alliterative lines, commonly rhyming according to a very simple scheme (eithera a a aora b a b). In the latter four-beat long lines as a rule are combined with isolated lines of one measure only and with several of two measures to form the stanza. The two-beat verses frequently have a somewhat lengthened structure (to be discussed further on sections on the epic stanzas), in consequence of which many of them having theses with secondary accents can be read either as even-beat verses of three measures or as three-beat verses on the model of those inKing Horn. The four-beat alliterative lines, on the other hand, are mostly of more regular structure, the distances between the first and second arsis not beingso unequal and the theses as a rule being disyllabic. The anacrusis too in these verses admits of a somewhat free treatment. 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 A1. The types B C, B C1, C, C1, 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’sPolitical Songs, p. 149) may serve as a specimen:

Ich herdemén vpomóld |máke muchemón,Hou hé beþ iténed | of heretílýnge:Góde ȝeres and córn | bóþe beþ agón,Ne képeþ here nosáwe | ne nosóngsýnge.

Ich herdemén vpomóld |máke muchemón,

Hou hé beþ iténed | of heretílýnge:

Góde ȝeres and córn | bóþe beþ agón,

Ne képeþ here nosáwe | ne nosóngsýnge.

The second hemistichs in ll. 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. in a poem published in Wright’sSpecimens of Lyric Poetry, p. 25, especially in the second hemistich, e.g.haueþ þismáimére, line 9,and þegýlófre, line 40,þat þebórbéde, line 44.

It is not difficult to distinguish such rhymed four-beat alliterative lines from those of four measures which have fairly regular alliteration, for the long line of the native metre always 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 by comparing the following four-beat verses of the last stanza of a poem in Wright’sSpec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 31:

Ríchard |róte ofrésounrýght,rýkeníng ofrým antrón,Ofmáidnesméke þóu hastmýht,onmólde y hólde þemúrgestmón;

Ríchard |róte ofrésounrýght,

rýkeníng ofrým antrón,

Ofmáidnesméke þóu hastmýht,

onmólde y hólde þemúrgestmón;

with the following first four-beat alliterative lines of another poem (ibid. p. 25):

Ichot abúrde in abóure, | asebéryl sobrýght,Asesáphir insélver |sémly onsýht,Aseiáspe þegéntil, | þatlémeþ wiþlýht,Asegérnet ingólde, | andrúby welrýht.

Ichot abúrde in abóure, | asebéryl sobrýght,

Asesáphir insélver |sémly onsýht,

Aseiáspe þegéntil, | þatlémeþ wiþlýht,

Asegérnet ingólde, | andrúby welrýht.

In similar lines are written several other poems, asMon in þemone(ibid. p. 110);Ofribaudz yryme(Wright’sPol. Songs, 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’sReliques, ii, p. 1.[113]The first stanza may be quoted here:

Sitteþ alle stílle | and hérkneþ to mé:Þe kýng of Alemáigne, | bi mi léauté,Þrítti þousent pound | áskede héForte máke þe pées | in þé countré,Ant só he dùde móre.Ríchard,þah þou be éuer tríchard,Trícchen shàlt þou néuer mòre.

Sitteþ alle stílle | and hérkneþ to mé:

Þe kýng of Alemáigne, | bi mi léauté,

Þrítti þousent pound | áskede hé

Forte máke þe pées | in þé countré,

Ant só he dùde móre.

Ríchard,

þah þou be éuer tríchard,

Trícchen shàlt þou néuer mòre.

In the following stanzas of this poem the four-beat rhythm, although 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 C1are not infrequent, e.g.opon swývýng9,sire Édwárd46,o þy lýárd47. Lines 5 and 7 are of a two-beat rhythm, l. 8 probably as well (cf. our scansion).

There is a decided similarity in regard to structure and versification between this stanza and that of a poem in Wright’sPol. Songs, p. 153, although the long lines are divided in the middle by interlaced rhyme. This may be illustrated by its second stanza:

Nou haþprúde þeprís| in éuervchepláwe,

By monywýmmon owís | ysúgge misáwe.

For ȝef aládylýue ìs |léid afterláwe,

Vch a strúmpet þat þer ís | suchdráhtes wol dráwe.

In prúde

Vch ascréwe wol hireshrúde,

Þoh he nábbe nout a smók | hire fóule ers to húde.

There is no line here corresponding to l. 5 of the preceding poem. Otherwise, however, thecaudaof 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 thecaudaof the first stanza of this poem belongs to type C. Another poem (Wright’sPolit. Songs, p. 155; Böddeker,P.L.no. iv) shows a very artificial form of stanza, either corresponding to the formulaa a4b2c c4b2d d4b2e e4b2f f g g g f2(if we look upon the verses as four-beat and two-beat lines, which the poet probably intended), or corresponding to the formulaa a4b3c c4b3d d4b3e e4b3f f g g g f2(if we look upon thefronsas 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’sPol. Songs, p. 187; Ritson,Anc. Songs, i. 51; Böddeker,P.L.no. v), the rhymes of which follow the schemea a a4b2c c c4b2(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 béo huere chéuentéyn20,and móni anóþer swéyn24, but the true scansion in all probability isand béo huere chéuenteȳ̀n(orchèuentéyn):ant móni anòþer swéyn, in conformity with the scansion of the following linesto cóme to parís: þourh þe flóur de lís52–6, orwiþ éorl and wiþ knýht: with húem forte fýht124–8.

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’sPol. Songs, p. 212; Ritson,Anc. Songs, p. 28; Böddeker,P.L.no. vi) may be quoted:

Lýstne,Lórdinges, | a newe sóng ichulle bigýnneOf þetráytours of Scótland, | þattáke beþ wyþ gýnne.Món þat loveþ fálsnesse, | and nule néuer blýnne,Sóre may him dréde | þe lýf þat he is ýnne,Ich vnderstónde:Sélde wes he glád,Þat néuer nes asádOf nýþe ant of ónde.

Lýstne,Lórdinges, | a newe sóng ichulle bigýnne

Of þetráytours of Scótland, | þattáke beþ wyþ gýnne.

Món þat loveþ fálsnesse, | and nule néuer blýnne,

Sóre may him dréde | þe lýf þat he is ýnne,

Ich vnderstónde:

Sélde wes he glád,

Þat néuer nes asád

Of nýþe ant of ónde.

The fifth line has one arsis only (as appears more clearly from that in the second stanza:wiþ Lóue), thus corresponding to the above-mentioned poems (pp. 99, 100); the other lines of thecaudahave two stresses.

Prof. Luick[114]looks upon the long lines of this poem and of several others (e.g. Wright’sPol. 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 collective edition by the Scottish Text Society in vol. 27 under the titleScottish Alliterative Poems(ed. by F.J. Amours, Edinburgh, 1892). The poems contained in this collection areGolagras and Gawane(also inAnglia, ii. 395),The Book of the Howlatby Holland,Rauf Coilȝear(also in E. E. T. S., Extr.-Ser. vol. xxxix),The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne,The Pistill of Susan(also inAnglia, i. 93). Douglas’sPrologueto the Eighth Book of his translation of theAeneid(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 poemOf Sayne John 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, thefronswritten in alliterative lines, rhyming according to the formulaa b a b a b a b, and thecaudawhich contains five or six lines, the first of which may either be a long line as in thefrons, or, as inThe Pistill of Susan, a short one-beat one, with four two-beat sectional verses following. Only in the last-mentioned poem does thecaudaconsist of six two-beat sectional verses.

The rhythm of this alliterative-rhyming metre may first be illustrated by the opening lines ofGolagras and Gawane:

In thetýme of Árthur, | astréw men metáld,The kingtúrnit on anetýde |tówartTúskane,Hym toséik our theséy, | thatsáiklese wessáld,Thesýre thatsèndis allséill, |súthly tosáne;Withbánrentes,bárounis, | andbérnis fullbáld,Bìggast ofbáne andblúde |bréd inBrítàne.Theiwálit outwérryouris | withwápinnis towáld,Thegàyestgrúmys ongrúnd, | withgéir that myghtgáne;Dúkis anddígne lòrdis, |dóuchty anddéir,Sémbillit to hissúmmòvne,Rénkis of greterénòvne,Cùmlykíngis withcróvneOf góld that wes cléir.

In thetýme of Árthur, | astréw men metáld,

The kingtúrnit on anetýde |tówartTúskane,

Hym toséik our theséy, | thatsáiklese wessáld,

Thesýre thatsèndis allséill, |súthly tosáne;

Withbánrentes,bárounis, | andbérnis fullbáld,

Bìggast ofbáne andblúde |bréd inBrítàne.

Theiwálit outwérryouris | withwápinnis towáld,

Thegàyestgrúmys ongrúnd, | withgéir that myghtgáne;

Dúkis anddígne lòrdis, |dóuchty anddéir,

Sémbillit to hissúmmòvne,

Rénkis of greterénòvne,

Cùmlykíngis withcróvne

Of góld that wes cléir.

II.

Thus theróyale can remóve, | with hisRóund Tábill,Of allríches maistríke, | inríall arráy.Wes neuerfúndun onfóld, | butfénȝeing orfábill,Anefàyrarflóure on aneféild | offrésche men, in fáy; &c.

Thus theróyale can remóve, | with hisRóund Tábill,

Of allríches maistríke, | inríall arráy.

Wes neuerfúndun onfóld, | butfénȝeing orfábill,

Anefàyrarflóure on aneféild | offrésche men, in fáy; &c.

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 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 Arthure.

§62.The relation, however, between rhyme and alliteration and consequently the relation of the rhythmic accentuation of the words to their natural accentuation is less clear in the first stanza quoted above. The following verses rhyming together may serve to elucidate this:

Than schirGáwyne thegáy, |gúde andgráciùs....Jóly andgéntill, | and fullchéuailrús.

Than schirGáwyne thegáy, |gúde andgráciùs....

Jóly andgéntill, | and fullchéuailrús.

Gol. 389, 391.

Ouer heorhédes gonhýngÞewínce and þewéderlȳ̀ng.

Ouer heorhédes gonhýng

Þewínce and þewéderlȳ̀ng.

Susan, 101–2;

or the versesGol.648, 650, 654:

Thuséndit theáuynantis | with mékil hónòur;Thairbódeis wesbéryit |báith in ane hòur,Aneúthir heghtÉdmond, | thatpróuitpáramòur.

Thuséndit theáuynantis | with mékil hónòur;

Thairbódeis wesbéryit |báith in ane hòur,

Aneúthir heghtÉdmond, | thatpróuitpáramòur.

In the first couplet the last syllable of the wordgráciùs, although bearing only a secondary accent and forming the last thesis of the verse, rhymes with the last syllable of the wordchéuailrús, 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 syllablelyngof the wordwéderlỳng, which has a secondary accent and forms part of the thesis, rhymes with the wordhyngwhich has the rhythmical accent. In the last group of verses the last syllable of the wordsparamour,honourhaving secondary accents rhymes with the wordhour, the bearer of the last rhythmical accent. Similar rhymes occur even in Modern English poetry, e.g. in the works of Thomas Moore:Váin were its mélodỳ, Róse, without théeorWhát would the Róse bè Únsung by thée?[115]

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.:

Þou brak gódes Comáundement,To slé such an ÍnnocentWith ény fals júggement.Susan, 321–3.

Þou brak gódes Comáundement,

To slé such an Ínnocent

With ény fals júggement.Susan, 321–3.

Similar unaccented rhymes are also met with in disyllabic words:

‘In fáith,’ said Schir Rólland,‘That is fúll euill wýn landTo háue quhill thow ar léuand.’Rauf Coilȝear, 917–19.

‘In fáith,’ said Schir Rólland,

‘That is fúll euill wýn land

To háue quhill thow ar léuand.’Rauf Coilȝear, 917–19.

Other rhymes of the same kind aresémbland: léuand,conséntand : endúrand, Gol. 428 ff., &c.

In all such cases the natural accentuation of the words is not interfered with by the rhythm of the verse.

The kind of irregular rhyme most frequently occurring, however, is that which is formed by the unaccented syllable of a disyllabic 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 rhymesTúskane: sane:Brítane: ganeandsúmmovne:rénovne:crovneof the above-mentioned stanza of the poemGolagras 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 alliteration, and in the case of the wordsTuskane,Britane,summovne,renovnetheir 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 ll. 870–2:

For he wesbýrsit andbéft,ỳ | ỳandbráithlyblédand ...And wáld that he nanehárm hyntỳ | ỳwithhárt and withhánd.

For he wesbýrsit andbéft,ỳ | ỳandbráithlyblédand ...

And wáld that he nanehárm hyntỳ | ỳwithhárt and withhánd.

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 thái of Lórne has séne the kíngSet ín hymsélff sa grét helpíng.Barbour, Bruce, iii. 147–8.

Quhen thái of Lórne has séne the kíng

Set ín hymsélff sa grét helpíng.Barbour, Bruce, iii. 147–8.

And bád thame wénd intó ScotlándAnd sét a sége with stálward hánd.ib. iv. 79–80.

And bád thame wénd intó Scotlánd

And sét a sége with stálward hánd.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 theword-accent by the rhythmic accent in non-alliterative words may in these cases have been somewhat more extensive; cf. e.g. rhymes likerage: curáge: suágeGol. 826–8;day : gay: journáyib. 787–9;assáill: mettáill: battáilR. Coilȝear, 826–8, &c. (butȝonebérne in thebáttaleGol. 806).

As a rule, however, for these too the same level-stress accentuation must be assumed as for the rhyme-words of the first stanza ofGolagrasquoted above (p. 102)

§63.This is all the more probable because, in these alliterative-rhyming poems, there are many sectional verses corresponding to the old types C and C1, 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 þi góod réde: for hiskníȝthéde: (bycrósse and bycréde)Awnt. of Arth. 93–7; (andbláke to þebóne): as awómáneib. 105–7;enclósed with acrowne: of thetrésóneib. 287–91;of ane fáirwéll:téirfull totéll: with anecástéll :kéne andcrúèll, or, as Prof. Luick scans,kéne and cruéll(but l. 92crúel andkéne) Gol. 40–6;at the mýddáy: (wént thai thar wáy)Howl. 665–7. &c.

Also in the even-beat metres the influence of this type is still perceptible; cf. rhymes like

Súmwhat óf his clóþíngFór þe lóue of héuene kýng.Rob. Mannyng, Handl. Sinne, 5703–4.

Súmwhat óf his clóþíng

Fór þe lóue of héuene kýng.Rob. Mannyng, Handl. Sinne, 5703–4.

which are of frequent occurrence.

For the rest both in these alliterative-rhyming poems and in the poems with alliteration only the types A and A1, B C and B C1are frequent. These alliterative-rhyming lines have this feature in common with the pure alliterative lines, that the first hemistich differs materially from the second in having often an anacrusis of several syllables (initial theses) and somewhat lengthened theses in the middle of the line, and in permitting such theses with only a secondary accent to take part in the alliteration. All this tends to give a somewhat heavy rhythmic cadence to the whole line.

§64.The same difference is perceptible, as Prof. Luick was the first to show (Anglia, xii, pp. 438 ff.), in the single two-beat lines of thecauda, the three first (ll. 10–12 of the whole stanza) having the looser structure of the extended first hemistichs of the long lines, while the last two-beat line (line 13 of the wholestanza) has the normal structure (commonly type A, A1, as e.g.Birnandthrétty andthréGol. 247;Of góld that wes cléirib. 1) of second sections of the long line, as is evident from the first stanza ofGolagras and Gawanequoted 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, C1,BC,BC1, e.g.:For thi mánhédeAwnt. of Arth. 350;Withoutin dístánceGol. 1362;As I am tréw kníghtGol. 169;Couth na léid sáyib. 920;In ony ríche réimeib. 1258,Quhen he wes líghtit dóunib. 130.

In other poems the group of short lines rhyming according to the schemea a a band forming part of thecaudais preceded neither by a long alliterative line nor by a one-beat half section of it (as inSusan), 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. inThe Tournament of Tottenham(Ritson’sAncient Songs, i. 85–94), rhyming on the schemeA A A A b c c c b(the capitals signifying the long lines), and inThe Ballad of Kynd Kittok, possibly by W. Dunbar (Laing, ii. 35, 36; Small, i. 52, 53; Schipper, 70).

InSayne John the Euaungelistthe ‘cauda’ has the structure of a complete tail-rhyme-stanza, the order of rhymes of the whole stanza beingA B A B A B A B c c d c c d

§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 theDisticha Catonis(E.E.T.S. 68), the two first stanzas of which may be quoted here:

If þóu be made wíttenèsse,For tosáy þatsóþ ìs,Sáue þine honóur,Als míkil, as þou may fra bláme,Lame þi fréndis sháme,And sáue fra dishonóur.For-sóþflípers,And allefálsflátersI réde, sone, þouflé;For þen sálle na gode mán,Þat any góde lare cán,Þár-fore blame þé.

If þóu be made wíttenèsse,For tosáy þatsóþ ìs,Sáue þine honóur,Als míkil, as þou may fra bláme,Lame þi fréndis sháme,And sáue fra dishonóur.

If þóu be made wíttenèsse,

For tosáy þatsóþ ìs,

Sáue þine honóur,

Als míkil, as þou may fra bláme,

Lame þi fréndis sháme,

And sáue fra dishonóur.

For-sóþflípers,And allefálsflátersI réde, sone, þouflé;For þen sálle na gode mán,Þat any góde lare cán,Þár-fore blame þé.

For-sóþflípers,

And allefálsfláters

I réde, sone, þouflé;

For þen sálle na gode mán,

Þat any góde lare cán,

Þár-fore blame þé.

In the same stanzaThe Feest(Hazlitt,Remains, iii. 93) is written.

Still more frequently such lines were used for extended tail-rhyme-stanzas rhyming on the schemea a a b c c c b d d d b e e e b, as e.g. in a poem,The Enemies of Mankind, of the beginning of the fourteenth century, published by Kölbing (Engl. Studien, ix. 440 ff.).

The first stanza runs as follows:

Þesìkersóþe who soséys,Wiþdìoldréye we ourdáysAndwàlk mániwilwáysAswándrandwíȝtes.Al ourgámes ous agás,So maniténes ontásÞurchfónding offelefás,Þatfást wiþ ousfíȝtes.Ourflèsche isfóuled wiþ þefénd;Þer wefínde afalsfrénde:Þei þaihéuen vp herhénde,Þai nohóld nouȝt herhíȝtes.Þis erþré, þat erþrá,Ȝete þeférþ is ourfá,Dèþ, þatdérieþ ous swáAnddíolely ousdíȝtes.

Þesìkersóþe who soséys,

Wiþdìoldréye we ourdáys

Andwàlk mániwilwáys

Aswándrandwíȝtes.

Al ourgámes ous agás,

So maniténes ontás

Þurchfónding offelefás,

Þatfást wiþ ousfíȝtes.

Ourflèsche isfóuled wiþ þefénd;

Þer wefínde afalsfrénde:

Þei þaihéuen vp herhénde,

Þai nohóld nouȝt herhíȝtes.

Þis erþré, þat erþrá,

Ȝete þeférþ is ourfá,

Dèþ, þatdérieþ ous swá

Anddíolely ousdíȝtes.

Here, again, the difference between the lines on the pattern of the first hemistich of the long line, which form the body of the stanza (a a a, b b b, c c c, d d d), and those on the pattern of the second hemistich used as tail-rhyme lines (b, b, b, b) is plainly recognizable.

The same is the case in other poems written in this form of stanza, as e.g. in the Metrical Romances,Sir Perceval,Sir Degrevant(Halliwell,Thornton Romances, Camden Society, 1844, pp. 1, 177) and others; cf. Luick,Anglia, xii, pp. 440ff., and Paul’sGrundriss, ii a, p. 1016. But in these later works, one of the latest of which probably is the poemThe Droichis Part of the Play, possibly by Dunbar (Laing, ii. 37; Small, ii. 314; Schipper, 190), the two-beat lines are frequently intermingled and blended with even-beat lines, which from the beginning of the fifth stanza onward completely take the place of the two-beat lines in the last-mentioned poem. Likewise in the ‘Bob-wheel-staves’, i.e. stanzas of the structure of those sixteenth-century stanzas quoted above (§§60,61), thecauda,as is expressly stated by King James VI in hisRevlis and Cavtelis, is written in even-beat lines of four and three measures, though the main part of the stanza (thefrons) is composed in four-beat rhyming-alliterative lines (cf. Luick,Anglia, xii, P. 444)

§66.In the contemporaryDramatic Poetrythis mixture of four-beat (or two-beat) alliterative lines with lines of even measures is still more frequent, and may be used either strophically or otherwise.

In the first place, we must note that in the earlier collections of Mystery Plays (Towneley Mysteries,York Plays, andLudus Coventriae) 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 theTowneley Mysteries(p. 140):

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