Chapter III

THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE FREER
FORM OF THE ALLITERATIVE LINE IN LATE
OLD ENGLISH AND EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH

A. Transitional Forms.

=§ 41. Increasing frequency of Rhyme.= The alliterative line was, as we have seen, the only kind of verse known in English poetry down to the end of the Old English period. In the eleventh century, however, the strict conventions which governed the use of alliteration began to be relaxed and, at the same time, end-rhyme began to invade the alliterative line, and by this means it was resolved in the course of time into two separate lines. The process by which this came about is of great importance in enabling us to follow the further development of English versification. It has two varieties:--

1. Systematic combination of end-rhyme and alliteration.

2. Unintentional or accidental combination of rhyme and alliteration.

The former--the intentional combination of rhyme with alliteration--never became popular in Old English; indeed, the few examples previously quoted are all that have been preserved. In these examples the hemistichs of each line conform to the ancient rules with regard to their rhythmic and alliterative structure, but are more uniform in type than was usual in the older poetry, and are more closely paired together by the use of final rhyme, which occurs in all its three varieties, monosyllabic, disyllabic, and trisyllabic.

_=w=úniende =w=ǣ́r =w=ílbec biscǣ́r.
=s=céalcas wǣron =sc=éarpe, =sc=ýl wæs héarpe,
=hl=ū̀de =hl=ýnede; =hl=éoðor dýnede._ Rhyming Poem 26-28.

The rhythm of the verse is mostly descending, Type A being the prevalent form, while Types D and E occur more rarely. The Types B and C, however, are also found. Possibly this kind of verse was formed on the model of certain Mediaeval Latin rhymed verses, or, somewhat more probably, on that of the Old Norse 'runhenda', as this poetic form may have been made known in England by the Old Norse poet, Egil Skallagrimsson, who in the tenth century had lived in England and twice stayed at the court of King Æõelstan.

§ =42.= Of greater interest than this systematic combination of alliteration and rhyme is the irregular and more or less unintentional occurrence of rhyme which in the eleventh century is found frequently in the native metre.

Isolated instances of rhyme or assonance may be met with even in the oldest Old English poems. For certain standing expressions linked by such a similarity of sound, mostly causing interior rhyme (i.e. rhyme within a hemistich), were admitted now and then in alliterative poetry, e.g.

_siþþan ic =h=ónd and rónd | =h=ébban míhte._ Beow. 656.

_=s=ǣ́la and mǣ́la; | þat is =s=ṓd métod._ ib. 1611.

In other cases such rhymes are to be found at the end of two hemistichs,

_Hrṓðgār máðelode, | =h=ílt scḗawode._ Beow. 1687.

_=W=ýrmum bewúnden, | =w=ítum gebúnden._ Judith 115.

Examples of this kind occur not unfrequently in several early OE. poems, but their number increases decidedly in the course of time from _Beowulf_, _Andreas_, _Judith_, up to _Byrhtnoth_ and _Be Dōmes dæge_.

From the two last-mentioned poems, still written in pure alliterative verse, a few examples of rhyming-alliterative verses, or of simply rhymed verses occurring accidentally among the normal alliterative lines, may also be quoted here:

_=B=ýrhtnōð máðelode, | =b=órd háfenode._ Byrhtn. 42.

_ǣ́fre embe =st=únde | he =s=éalde sume wúnde._ ib. 271.

_þǣr þā wǽterbúrnan | swḗgdon and úrnon._ Dom. 3.

_=i=nnon þam gemónge | on =ǣ́=nlicum wónge._ ib. 6.

_nū̀ þū scealt =g=rḗotan, | tḗaras =g=ḗotan._
ib. 82.

Thus it may be taken for granted that end-rhyme would have come into use in England, even if Norman-French poetry had never been introduced, although it is certainly not to be denied that it only became popular in England owing to French influence.

But can this influence explain the gradually increasing use of end-rhyme in some OE. poems written shortly before the Norman Conquest (as e.g. _Byrhtnoth_, _Be Dōmes dæge_, the poetical passage in the _Saxon Chronicle_ of the year 1036), or are we to attribute it to the influence of mediaeval hymn poetry, or, lastly, to the lingering influence of the above-mentioned Old Norse 'runhenda'? It is not easy to give a decided answer to these questions.

In any case it would appear that towards the end of the Old English period combined Mediaeval Latin and French influence on English metre became of considerable importance on account of the constantly growing intercourse between the British isles and the continent. This may be seen in the more frequent use of rhyme, as indeed was only to be expected in consequence of the increasing popularity of Norman-French and Mediaeval-Latin poetry in England and the reception of Norman-French words into the language.

This combination of alliteration and rhyme, however, only becomes conspicuous to a considerable extent for the first time in the above-mentioned passage of the _Saxon Chronicle_, and in another passage of the year 1087.[96]

The chief difference between these verses and those of the _Rhyming Poem_ is this, that the former have not such a symmetrical structure as the latter, and that rhyme and alliteration are not combined in all of them, but that regular alliterative lines, rhyming-alliterative lines, and lines with rhyme only occur promiscuously, as e.g. in the following lines (4-7) of the above-mentioned passage of the _Chronicle_ of the year 1036:

_=s=úme hī man =b=énde, | =s=úme hī man =b=lénde,
=s=úme man =h=ámelode | and =s=úme =h=ḗanlīce =h=ǽttode;
ne wearþ =d=rḗorlīcre =d=ǣ́d | ge_=d=ṓn on þisan éarde,
siððan Déne cṓmon | and hēr frýð nā́mon.

The verses of the year 1087 of the _Saxon Chronicle_ have a similar but on the whole less rhythmical structure. In some of the lines the hemistichs are neither joined by alliteration, nor by end-rhyme, but merely by the two-beat rhythm of each of them; cf. 11. 1-5:

_Castelas he let wyrcean | and earme men swiðe swencean.
Se cyng wes swa swiðe stearc | and benam of his under-þeoddan
manig marc goldes | and ma hundred punda seolfres;
þat he nam be wihte | and mid mycelan unrihte
of his =l=and=l=eode | for =l=itelre neode._[97]

On the other hand, the poetical piece of the _Saxon Chronicle_ on Eadweard of the year 1065 is written in perfectly regular alliterative lines.

These two ways of treating the old alliterative line which occur in the latter part of the _Saxon Chronicle_, and which we will call the progressive and the conservative treatment, indicate the course which this metre was to take in its further development. Out of the long alliterative line, separated by the caesura into two hemistichs, again connected by rhyme, there sprang into existence a short rhyming couplet. This was by no means identical with the three-beat couplet evolved from two rhyming hemistichs of a line on the model of the French Alexandrine, nor with the short four-beat couplets modelled on the French _vers octosyllabe_, but had points of similarity enough to both, especially to the former one, to be easily used in conjunction with them, as several Early English poems show.

The conservative treatment of the old alliterative line, which probably at no time was altogether discontinued, was revived in the thirteenth and especially in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when it degenerated again in the same way as the progressive line had done several centuries before.

=B. The 'Proverbs of Alfred' and Layamon's 'Brut'.=

§ =43.= The first subject which we have to consider here is the further development of the progressive form of the alliterative line, the representatives of which[98] are closely connected in their rhythmic form with the two specimens of the poetical parts of the _Saxon Chronicle_ quoted above. From _Alfred's Proverbs_ we take No. xv (ll. 247-66):

_Þus queþ Alured:
Ne schal-tu néuere þi =w=íf | by hire =w=lýte chéose,_ 247-8
_for néuer none þínge | þat heo tó þe brýngeþ;
ac leorne hire =c=úste, | heo =c=úþeþ hi wel sóne;
for móny mon for =á=yhte | =ú=vele i=á=uhteþ,
and ófte mon of =f=áyre | =f=rákele ichéoseþ._ 255-6
_Wó is him þat =ú=vel wìf | brýngeþ to his cótlýf;
só is him alýve | þat úvele ywýueþ.
For hé schal uppen éorþe | dréori i-wúrþe.
Mónymon síngeþ | þat wíf hom brýngeþ
Wíste he hwat he bróuhte | wépen he mýhte._ 265-6

The metre of Layamon's _Brut_ may be illustrated by the following passage (ll. 13841-13882):

_Þa =á=nswerede þe =ó=ðer | þat was þe =á=ldeste bróðer
'Lust me nú, lauerd =k=íng | and ích þe wullen =c=úðen
what =c=níhtes we béoð, | and whanene we i=c=úmen séoð.
Ich hátte =H=éngest, | =H=órs is mi bróðer;
we beoð of =Á=lemáinne, | =á=ðelest alre lónde;_ 13849-50
_of þat =í=lken =ǽ=nde | þe =Á=ngles is iháten.
Béoð in ure lónde | sélcùðe tíðènde:
vmbe =f=íftène ȝér | þat =f=ólc is isómned,
al ure =l=édene fólc, | and heore =l=óten wérpeð;
uppen þán þe hit =f=áleð, | he scal =u=áren of lónde;_ 13859-60
_bilǽuen scullen þa =f=íue, | þa séxte scal =f=órð-lìðe
=ú=t of þan =l=éode | to =ú=ncùðe =l=ónde;
ne beo he ná swa =l=eof mon | vorð he scal =l=íðen.
For þer is fólc swiðe =m=úchel, | =m=ǽre þene heo wálden;
ba =w=íf fareð mid chílde | swa þe déor =w=ílde;_ 13869-70
_ǽueralche ȝére | heo béreð chíld þère.
þat beoð an us =f=éole | þat we =f=ǽren scólden;
ne míhte we bi=l=ǽue | for =l=íue ne for dǽðe,
ne for náuer nane þínge, | for þan fólc-kìnge.
=þ=ús we uerden =þ=ére | and for =þ=í beoð nu hére,_ 13879-80
_to séchen vnder =l=úfte | =l=ónd and godne =l=áuerd._

These extracts illustrate only the general metrical character of the two literary monuments, the versification of which in many passages considerably deviates from the type here exhibited. It frequently shows a still more arbitrary mixture of the different kinds of verse, or a decided preference for some of them over the others. But the examples given will suffice to show that here, as in the two passages from the _Saxon Chronicle_ quoted above, we have four different kinds of verse distinguished by the different use of rhyme and alliteration, viz.:

1. Regular alliterative lines, which are very numerous, and at least in the first half of Layamon's _Brut_, possibly throughout the poem, form the bulk, e.g. _Prov._ xv. 247-8, Layamon, 13847-8, 13851-2, 13855-6, 13859-60, 13867-8, 13881-2, or

_=B=úte if he =b=éo | in =b=óke iléred._ Prov. iii. 65-6.

_þat his =b=lód and his =b=rain | =b=á weoren todáscte._
Lay. 1468-9.

2. Rhyme (or assonance) and alliteration combined; equally numerous, e.g. _Prov._ xv. 253-4, Lay. 13841-2, 13845-6, 13869-70, &c., or

_Þat þe =ch=íriche habbe grýþ | and the =ch=éorl beo in frýþ._
Prov. v. 93.

_his =s=édes to =s=ówen, | his =m=édes to mówen._ ib. 95.

_biuóren wende =H=éngest, | and =H=órs him alre =h=ǽndest._
Lay. 13973-4.

_Heo cómen into =h=álle | =h=ǽndeliche álle._ ib. 13981-2.

3. Verses with rhyme (or assonance) only, without alliteration, also not unfrequent, e.g. _Prov._ xv. 249-50 ff., or Lay. 13853-4, &c.

_And his plóuh beo idrýue | to ure álre bihóue._ Prov. v. 97-8.

_þe póure and þe ríche | démen ilýche._ ib. iv. 80-1.

_On Itálȝe heo comen to lónde, | þer Róme nou on stóndeþ._
Lay. 106-7.

_fele ȝér under súnnan | nas ȝet Róme biwónnen._ ib. 108-9.

4. Four-beat verses without either rhyme or alliteration, occurring comparatively rarely, and in most cases probably to be attributed to corruption of the text. Examples:

_he may béon on élde | wénliche lórþeu._ Prov. vi. 101-2.

_we habbeð séoue þúsund | of góde cníhten._ Lay. 365-6.

It is certain that these four different forms of verse cannot have been felt by the poets themselves as rhythmically unlike; their rhythmic movement must have been apprehended as essentially one and the same.

§ =44. Nature and origin of this metre. Theories of Trautmann and Luick.= We need not here discuss the theory of Prof. Trautmann, who endeavours to show that the hemistichs of Layamon's verse were composed in imitation of the four-beat short-lined metre in which the Old High German poet Otfrid had written his religious poem _Krist_, a form which, according to Trautmann and his followers, had been frequently employed in late Old English and early Middle English poetry. References to the criticisms of this hypothesis, by the present writer and others, are given by G. Körting in his _Encyklopädie der Englischen Philologie_, p. 388, and by K. Luick in Paul's _Grundriss der Germanischen Philologie_, ed. 2, II. ii. 152. The author of this book, in his larger work on the subject (_Englische Metrik_, i. §§ 67-73), has shown, as English and German scholars had done before him, that Layamon's verse has its roots in the Old English alliterative line. Twelve years after the publication of that work this theory received further confirmation at the hands of Prof. Luick, who has shown in Paul's _Grundriss_ (l.c.) that the five types of the Old English alliterative line, discovered by Prof. Sievers, reappear (although in a modified form) in the lines of Layamon's _Brut_. But we are unable wholly to agree with Prof. Luick's view on the origin and nature of this metre.

In order to explain the origin of Layamon's verse he starts from the hypothesis of Prof. Sievers[99] that the Old Germanic alliterative verse, as historically known, which was intended to be _recited_, and therefore not restricted to uniformity of rhythm, originated from a primitive Old Germanic verse meant to be sung, and therefore characterized by rhythmic regularity. According to Prof. Luick this primitive metre, although not represented by any extant example in Old English, had never quite died out, and forms the basis of the metre of Layamon and his predecessors in early Middle English. For this ingenious hypothesis, however, no real evidence exists. On the contrary, the fact that the beginnings of the peculiar kind of metre used by Layamon can be traced back to purely alliterative Old English poems, where they occur amongst regular alliterative lines, and therefore undoubtedly must be of the same rhythmical structure, seems to be decisive against Prof. Luick's theory.

For the same reason it is impossible to follow Prof. Luick in regarding Layamon's line as having an even-beat rhythm, and containing not only two primary accents, but two secondary accents as well. A further strong objection to this view is to be found in the circumstance, that in the early part of Layamon's _Brut_, although rhyme already occurs not unfrequently, alliterative lines decidedly predominate; in the passage consisting of forty long lines (ll. 106-185, quoted in our _Altenglische Metrik_, pp. 152-3), we have thirty-three regular alliterative lines and only five rhymed lines, two of which are alliterative at the same time. Even in the middle portion of Layamon's _Chronicle_, where the poet, as Prof. Luick thinks, must have attained to a certain skill in handling his metre, alliterative lines are in some passages quite as numerous as rhymed ones. In the passage quoted above (p. 68), for example, which consists of twenty-one long lines, eleven of them are alliterative and ten are rhymed. On the other hand, in the continuation of this passage (quoted _Altengl. Metrik_, p. 156), containing twenty-nine long lines, the reverse is the case, the number of alliterative lines being only seven, and that of rhymed and assonant lines twenty-two in all; of the latter, however, eleven are alliterative at the same time.

While then it might be admissible to speak of progressive neglect of alliteration and of increasing predilection for end-rhyme on the part of the poet, as he advances with his work, it is not in accordance with the facts to assert that 'alliteration had ceased to play its former part, and had been reduced to the level of a mere ornament of the verse'. On the contrary, in the first part of the _Chronicle_ alliteration is the predominant form, and, as the work advances, it is still used to a considerable extent as a means to connect the two hemistichs or short lines so as to form one long line. The strict laws formerly observed in the use of alliteration, it is true, are not unfrequently disregarded, chiefly with respect to the head-stave, which often falls on the fourth accented syllable of the long line; and other licences (first occurring in Ælfric's _Metrical Homilies_) may be met with. Nevertheless both _Alfred's Proverbs_ and Layamon's _Brut_ (as is sufficiently shown by the many specimens quoted in our _Altenglische Metrik_, pp. 150 ff.), contain a great number of perfectly regular alliterative lines. The fact that, in the second half of Layamon's _Chronicle_, end-rhyme is used more and more frequently as a means to connect the two hemistichs, is with much more probability to be explained by the continual occupation of the poet with the Norman-French original poem, and by the increasing influence which its short octosyllabic couplets must naturally have exercised upon his own rhythms, than by a supposed intention of the poet to write in 'primitive Germanic four-beat song-metre', the very existence of which is hypothetical. Furthermore, the fact that in some (not all or even most) of the passages, where end-rhyme is used almost exclusively, e.g. in the passage quoted above (ll. 13883-940), an even-beat rhythm is distinctly noticeable, can be explained quite naturally by the influence of the Norman-French original, the even-measured verses of which the poet was translating.

But even supposing that Layamon _intended_ to use the primitive Germanic four-beat song-metre in his translation of Wace's _Chronicle_, although it certainly was not intended for singing, what can have been his reason for composing the first half of his work, and a very considerable portion of the rest, in a rhythmical form which only to a small extent shows the peculiarities of a rhyming even-beat metre, whereas the main part of it consists of the native unevenly stressed alliterative verse? It is quite incorrect to say that the author in the course of his work not unfrequently fell back into the alliterative verse. The fact is just the opposite: the author started by using the native alliterative verse to which he was accustomed, and gradually came to adopt the rhymed verse of the Norman-French chronicle which he was translating, without, however, entirely giving up the former metre. Alliteration and end-rhyme, which he used sometimes separately and sometimes in combination, were evidently looked upon by Layamon as equally legitimate means for connecting his hemistichs or short lines.

§ =45. Number of stresses.= Quite as unfounded as the assertion that Layamon's verse is of an even-beat nature is the other assertion that it contains two primary and two secondary accents, and that the second of these secondary accents in verses with disyllabic endings may fall on a syllable which by its etymology ought to have no accent.

This statement is refuted by the treatment of rhyme in Layamon's _Brut_ and in some earlier poems of a similar form or containing the same kind of verse.

Not only in the _Brut_, but also in several Old English and earlier Middle English poems, we meet both with regular rhymes and with simple assonances and other still more imperfect correspondences in sound intended to serve as rhymes.

Examples of actual rhyme in the _Brut_ are the monosyllabic pairs: _seon: beon_ 13837-8, _king: þing_ 13883-4, _cniht: riht_ 13887-8; besides inexact rhymes like _mon: anān_ 13605-6, 13615-16, _mon: dōn_ 13665-6, 13677-8, _wīn: in_ 14349-50, 14998-9, _chin: wīn_ 14994-5; disyllabic rhymes: _icúmen: gúmen_ 13787-8, _gṓde: flṓde_ 13791-2, _sṓhten: rṓhten_ 13803-4, _ṓðer: brṓðer_ 13841-2, _chī̀lde: wī́lde_ 13870-1, _pḗre: hḗre_ 13871-2, _hálle: álle_ 13981-2. We see no reason to accent these last-mentioned rhymes differently from similar rhymes occurring in Old English poems, as e.g. _wédde: aspḗdde_ Andr. 1633, _wúnne: blúnne_ ib. 1382, _bewúnden: gebúnden_ Jud. 115, _stúnde: wúnde_ Byrhtn. 271, &c.

Examples of the more numerous group formed by assonances are _tō: idōn_ 13801-2, _lond: gold_ 13959-60, _strong: lond_ 13969-70, and disyllabic assonances like _cníhten: kínges_ 13793-4, _wólden: londe_ 13821-2, &c.

These are strictly parallel with instances like _wæf: læs_ El. 1238, _onlā́g: hād_ ib. 1246, or like _wrā́ðum: ā́rum_ Crist 595, _lýre: cýme_ Phoen. 53, _rǣ́dde: tǣ́hte_ By. 18, _flā́nes: genāme_ ib. 71, _hlḗorum: tḗarum_ Be Dōmes dæge 28, &c., and must, in our opinion, be metrically interpreted in exactly the same way. That is to say, the root-syllable must, not only in real assonances like _cníhten: kínges_, _lónde:strónge_, but also in consonances like _Péohtes: cníhtes_, _mónnen:ínnen_, be looked upon as the chief part of the rhyme, and the flexional endings, whether rhyming correctly or incorrectly, must be regarded as forming only an unessential, unaccented, indistinctly heard part of the rhyme, just as they admittedly do in the similar Old English assonances quoted above.

Now, as it is inconsistent with the two-beat rhythm of the hemistich in Old English verse, to attribute a secondary accent to those endings, although they were in some cases more distinctly pronounced than the Middle English endings, it is impossible to suppose that the Middle English endings bore a secondary accent. A further objection is that although the syllables which, according to Luick's theory, are supposed to bear a secondary accent are of course usually preceded by a long root-syllable, it not unfrequently happens that a disyllabic word with long root-syllable rhymes with one having a short root-syllable, in which case the ending is not suited to bear a secondary accent at all, e.g. _flúȝen: únnifṓge_ 14043-4, _to-fóren: grḗten_ 14071-2, _sǣ́res: wólde_ 14215-16, _fáreð: iuḗren_ 14335-6, _icúmen: Þréoien_ 14337-8, _lágen_ (=_laws_)_: lónde_ 14339-40, _húnden: lúuien_ 14480-1, _scóme: sṓne_ 14604-5, _cúmen: hálden_ 14612-13, _scípe: brṓhte_ 14862-3, _fáder: unrǣ́des_ 14832-3, _fáder: rǣ́des_ 14910-11, _fṓten: biscópen_ 14821-2, _iwī́ten: scipen_ 14251-2, _wī́ten: wenden_ 15060-1, _gúme: bisī́den_ 15224-5, _fréondscìpe: séoluen_ 15226-7, _wúde: wéien-lǣ́len_ 15508-9, _ibóren: béarne_ 15670-1, _biȝáte: wéorlde-rī́che_ 15732-3, _scáðe: fólke_ 15784-5, _biswíken_ (pret. pl.): _cráften_ 29016-17, _aȝíuen: ȝélden_ 29052-3, _biuóren: fū̀sen_ 29114-15, _súne: pḗode_ 29175-6, _idríuen: kínerī́chen_ 29177-18, _grúpen_ (pret. pl.): _mū̀ȝen_ 29279-80, _stúden_ (=_places_)_: bérnen_ 29285-6, &c.

The only cases in which a secondary accent seems to be required for an unaccented final syllable are such rhymes as the following:--_hálì: forþí_ 13915-16 (cf. _Altengl. Metrik_, p. 160); _men: cómèn_ 13997-8 (MS. B: _men: here_), _men: dédèn_ 13975-6, _isómned wés: lóndès_ 25390-1, and so forth.[100] But rhymes of this kind are in comparison to the ordinary disyllabic or feminine endings so very rare (occurring, for the most part, in lines which admit of a purely alliterative scansion, or which have come down to us in an incorrect state), that they have no bearing on the general rhythmic accentuation of those final syllables, or on the rhythmic character of Layamon's verses in general (cf. p. 78, end of § 47).

§ =46. Analysis of verse-types.= In turning now to a closer examination of the rhythmic structure of the metre in Layamon's _Brut_ and in the somewhat earlier _Proverbs of Alfred_, we are glad to find ourselves more nearly than hitherto (though still not altogether) in agreement with the views of Prof. Luick.

It is no small merit of his to have shown for the first time that the five types of rhythmic forms pointed out by Sievers as existing in the alliterative line are met with also in each of the four forms of verse of Layamon's _Brut_ and of the _Proverbs_. And here it is of interest to note that not only are the normal types of frequent occurrence (chiefly in the _Proverbs_), but the extended types also, especially in Layamon's _Brut_, are met with even more frequently.

On account of our limited space only a few examples of each of the five types can be given in this handbook.

Instead of quoting hemistichs or isolated short lines as examples of each of the single types A, B, C, D, E, we prefer always to cite two connected short lines, and to designate the rhythmic character of the long line thus originating by the types of the two hemistichs, as follows: A + A, A* + B, B* + C, C* + E, &c., where A*, B*, C* signify the extended types, to be discussed more fully below, and A, B, C, &c., the normal types. This mode of treatment is necessary in order that our examples may adequately represent the structure of the verse. The short lines are always connected--either by alliteration, by rhyme (or assonance), or by both combined, or sometimes merely by identity of rhythm--into pairs. These pairs of short lines are regarded by Luick as even-measured couplets, while we regard them as alliterative long lines; but on either view each of them forms a coherent unity. We believe that an examination of the couplet or long line as an undivided whole will show unmistakably that the assumption of the even-measured character of Layamon's verse is erroneous, or at least that it applies only in certain cases, when the metre is strongly influenced by Romanic principles of versification. The examples are for the most part the same as those which Prof. Luick has quoted,[101] but we have in all cases added the complementary hemistichs, which are generally of somewhat greater length:

A + A: _Ich =h=átte =H=éngest, | =H=órs is my bróðer._
Lay. 13847-8.

A*+ A: _and ích be wulle =r=ǽchen | déorne =r=únen._
ib. 14079-80.

B + A: _þær þa sǽxisce mén | þæ sǽ isóhten._ ib. 14738-9.

B(E?) + A: _hw hi héore =l=íf | =l=éde schólde._ Prov. i. 15-16.

A + B: _=l=ónges =l=ýves, | ac him =l=ýeþ þe wrénch._ ib. x. 161-2.

B*+ A: _vmbe =f=íftene ȝér | þat =f=ólc is isómned._
Lay. 13855-6.

B + C: _and eoure =l=éofue gódd | be ȝe tó =l=úteð._
ib. 13891-2.

B + C: _ne wurð þu néver so =w=ód, | ne so =w=ýn-drúnke._
Prov. xi. 269-70.

A + C: _mi gást hine i=w=dárðeð | and =w=írð stílle._ Lay. 17136-7.

C + C: _for þat wéorc stóndeð | inne Írlónde._ ib. 17176-7.

A*+ D: _=k=ómen to þan =k=ínge | wíl-tíþende._ ib. 17089-90.

D + A*: _vólc únimete | of móni ane lónde._ ib. 16188-9.

E + E: _fíf þusend mén | wúrcheð þer ón._ ib. 15816-17.

B*+ E: _þæt he héfde to iwíten | séouen hundred scíþen._ ib. 15102-3.

D + *A: _for nys no =w=rt =u=éxynde | a =w=úde ne a =w=élde._
Prov. x. 168-9.

A*+ D: _þat =é=uer mvwe þas =f=éye | =f=úrþ =ý=p-holde._ ib. 170-1.

It is easy to observe that it is only when two identical types, like A + A, C + C, E + E, are combined, that an even-beat rhythm (to some extent at least) can be recognized; in all the other combinations this character is entirely absent.

§ =47. Extended types.= We now turn to the more numerous class of such couplets or long lines which in both their component hemistichs exhibit extended variations of the five types, resulting from anacrusis or from the insertion of unstressed syllables in the interior of the line. These verses, it is true, are somewhat more homogeneous, and have a certain resemblance to an even-beat rhythm in consequence of the greater number of unaccented syllables, one of which (rarely two or more) may, under the influence of the even-beat metre of the Norman-French original, have been meant by the poet to be read with a somewhat stronger accentuation. We are convinced, however, that in feminine endings, in so far as these are formed, which is usually the case, by the unaccented endings _-e_, _-en_, _-es_, _-eþ_, &c., these final syllables never, or at most only in isolated cases, which do not affect the general character of the rhythm, have a stronger accent or, as Prof. Luick thinks, form a secondary arsis. As little do we admit the likelihood of such a rhythmic accentuation of these syllables when they occur in the middle of the line, generally of such lines as belong to the normal types mentioned above.

It is convenient, however, to adopt Luick's formulas for these common forms of Layamon's verse, with this necessary modification, that we discard the secondary accent attributed by him to the last syllable of the types A, C, D, accepting only his types B and E without any change. We therefore regard the normally constructed short lines of Layamon's metre--so far as they are not purely alliterative lines of two accents, but coupled together by rhyme or assonance, or by alliteration and rhyme combined--as belonging to one or other of the following two classes: (1) lines with four accents and masculine or monosyllabic endings (types B and E); and (2) lines of three accents and feminine or disyllabic endings (types A, C, D). In this classification those unaccented syllables which receive a secondary stress are, for the sake of brevity, treated as full stresses--which, indeed, they actually came to be in the later development of the metre, and possibly to some extent even in Layamon's own verse.

Assuming the correctness of this view, the chief types of Layamon's verse may be expressed by the following formulas, in which the bracketed theses are to be considered optional:

Type A: (×) –́ (×) ×̀ × –́ ×.
Type B: (×) ×̀ × –́ (×) ×̀ × –́.
Type C: (×) ×̀ × –́ –́ ×.
Type D: (×) –́ × –́ ×̀ ×.
Type E: × –́ (×) ×̀ × ×̀ × –́.

As these types may be varied by resolutions in the same way as the primary types, there arise various additional formulas such as the following:

A: (×) ⏑́ × (×) × –́ ×.
B: (×) ×̀ × –́ (×) ×̀ × ⏑́ ×.
C: (×) ×̀ × ⏑́ × –́ ×, &c.

Other variations may be effected by disyllabic or even polysyllabic theses in the beginning ('anacruses') or in the middle of the verse instead of monosyllabic theses.

Apart from these another frequently occurring variation of type C must be mentioned which corresponds to the formula (×) ×̀ × –́ × –́ ×, and may be designated (with Professors Paul and Luick) as type Cª, because the position of its accented syllables points to type C, while on the other hand it bears a certain resemblance to type A.

The following examples, many of which have been quoted before by Luick, may serve to illustrate these types of short lines or rather hemistichs and their combination in couplets or long lines, in which a normal hemistich is often followed by a lengthened one and vice versa:

A* + A*: _Stróng hit ìs to rówe | ayèyn þe sée þat flóweþ._
Prov. x. 145-6.

A* + A*: _And swá heo gùnnen wénden | fórð tò þan kínge._
Lay. 13811-12.

A*+ A*: _ne míhte wè bilǽue | for líue nè for dǽþe._
ib. 13875-6.

B + A*: _ùmbe =f=íftène ȝer | þat =f=ólc is isómned._
ib. 13855-6.

A* + C*: _ǽveràlche ȝére | heo bèreð chíld þére._ ib. 13871-2.

B* + B*: _þèr com =H=éngest, þèr com =H=órs, | þèr com míni mòn
ful óht._
ib. 14009-10.

B* + B*: _ànd þe clérek ànd þe knýht, | he schùlle démen èuelyche
ríht._
Prov. iv. 78-9.

Cª+ C*: _þèr þes =c=níhtes =c=ómen | bifòren þan fólc-=k=ínge._
Lay. 13817-18.

C* + A*: _ȝìf heo gríð sóhten, | and of his fréondscipe róhten?_
ib. 13803-4.

C* + Cª: _hìt beoð tíðénde | ìnne Sǽxe lónde._ ib. 14325-6.

A* + C*: _for he wólde wìð þan kínge | hòlden rúnínge._ ib. 14069-70.

A* + D*: _heo sǽden tò þan kínge | néowe tíðènden._ ib. 13996-7.

A* + D*: _and míd him bròuhte hére | an húndred rídǣ̀ren._
ib. 15088-9.

E* + B*: _Hǽngest wès þan kìnge léof | ànd him Líndesàȝe géf._
ib. 14049-50.

Types with resolutions:

A* + A*: _and þ=ú=s þìne =d=úȝeþe | stílle hè for=d=émeð._
ib. 14123-4.

A* + B*: _Wóden hèhde þa hǽhste làȝe | an ùre ǽldèrne
dǽȝen._
ib. 13921-2.

The first hemistich of the last line offers a specimen of a variation of the ordinary types with feminine endings (chiefly of A, C, and Cª), designated by Prof. Luick as A1, C1, Cª₁, and showing the peculiarity that instead of the ending –́ × somewhat fuller forms occur, consisting either of two separate words or of a compound word, and thus corresponding either to the formula –́ ×̀, or, if there are three syllables, to the formula –́ × ×̀, or in case of a resolution (as in the above example) to the formula –́ × ⏑́ ×. We differ from Prof. Luick, however, in admitting also endings corresponding to the formula ⏑́ ×̀ ×.

As a rule, if not always, such forms of verse are occasioned by the requirements of rhyme. This is not the case, it is true, in the following purely alliterative line:

A1* + A*: _þe kíng sòne úp stòd | and sétte hine bì him séoluen_.
Lay. 14073-4.

but in other verses it is so, e.g.:

B* + A1*: _Ah of éou ich wùlle iwíten | þurh sóðen èouwer wúrðscìpen._
ib. 13835-6.

and similarly (not corresponding to –́ × ×̀, as Prof. Luick thinks):

A1* + B*: _bìdden us to fúltúme | þàt is Críst gòdes súne._
ib. 14618-19.

but the formula –́ × ×̀ is represented by the following verses:

A1* + A1*: _þe =þ=únre heo ȝìven =þ=únresdǽi | for=þ=í þat
hèo heom helpen mæ̀i._
ib. 13929-30.

A1* + A1*: _þe =éo=rl ànd þe =é=þel[`y]ng | ib=ú=reþ ùnder gódne
kìng_.
Prov. iv. 74-5.

C1* + Cª₁*: _nès þer nán crístindòm, | þèr þe kíng þat máide nòm._
Lay. 14387-8.

In the last but one of these examples this accentuation is corroborated in the Jesus College MS. by the written accent on the word _gódne_, whereby not only the rhyme _-lyng: king_ is shown to be an unaccented one, but at the same time the two-beat rhythm of the hemistich is proved as well as that of the preceding hemistich. Moreover, the alliteration in all these examples is a further proof of the two-beat character of their rhythm.

§ =48.= It was owing to the use of these two more strongly accented syllables in each verse which predominate over the other syllables, whether with secondary accents or unaccented, that the poets, who wrote in this metre, found it possible to regard the different kinds of verse they employed as rhythmically equivalent. These were as follows: (1) purely alliterative lines with hemistichs of two stresses, (2) extended lines of this kind with secondary accents in the middle of the hemistich, (3) rhyming-alliterative or merely rhyming lines with a feminine ending and a secondary accent in the middle of the verse, or with a masculine ending and two secondary accents, one on the last syllable, as is also the case with the corresponding verses mentioned under the second heading. These two last-mentioned verse-forms are very similar to two popular metres formed on the model of Romanic metres. The former of them--the hemistich with three stresses (one of which is secondary) and feminine ending, together with the much rarer variety that has a masculine ending--resembles the sections of the Alexandrine; and the hemistich with a masculine ending (more rarely a feminine) and four stresses (two of which have secondary accents only) is similar to the short four-beat couplet, and also to the first section of the Septenary line (the second section being similar to the former three-beat group). It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that this metre of Layamon in its different forms (that of the purely alliterative line included) is in several Middle English poems, chiefly in _The Bestiary_, employed concurrently (both in separate passages and in the same passage) with the above-mentioned foreign metres formed on Romanic or mediaeval-Latin models. By this fact the influence of the Romanic versification on the origin and development of this form of the native verse gains increased probability.[102]

The limits of our space do not permit of further discussion of this peculiar metre, which, as presented in the extant examples, appears rather as in process of development than as a finished product, and of which a complete understanding can be attained only by elaborate statistical investigation.

C. The progressive form of the alliterative line,
rhymed throughout. 'King Horn.'

§ =49.= The further development of the Layamon-verse is very simple and such as might naturally be expected from its previous history.

The use of final rhyme becomes constant, and consequently alliteration, although remnants of it still are noticeable even in short lines connected together, becomes more and more scarce.[103]

The unaccented syllables are interposed between the accented ones with greater regularity; and among the unaccented syllables the one (or, in some sub-species of the verse, more than one) which is relatively stronger than the rest receives full metrical stress, or at least nearly approaches the fully-stressed syllables in rhythmical value.

This form of the metre is represented by a short poem[104] consisting of only twelve lines, belonging to the first half of the thirteenth century, and by the well-known poem _King Horn_[105] (1530 lines) which belongs to the middle of the same century.

The prevailing rhythmical form of this poem is exemplified by the following verses, which for the sake of convenience we print here, not in the form of couplets (as the editors, quite justifiably, have done), but in that of long lines as they are written in the Harleian MS.:

_Hórn þu àrt wel kéne | and þat is wèl iséne._ 91-2.
_Þe sé bigàn to flówe | and Hórn chìld to rówe._ 117-18.

This form occurs in more than 1300 out of the 1530 short lines of which the poem consists. It is evident that the rhythm of these lines is nearly the same as in the following taken from earlier poems:

_ǣ́fre embe stúnde | he séalde sume wúnde._ Byrhtn. 271.

_ínnon þām gemónge | on ǣ́nlicum wónge._ Dom. 6.

_súme hi man bénde | súme hi man blénde._ Chron. 1036. 4.

_þát he nam be wíhte | and mid mýcelan unríhte._ ib. 1087. 4.

_wiþ póuere and wiþ ríche | wiþ álle monne ilýche._ Prov. 375-6.

_ne míhte we bilǽve | for líve ne for dǽþe._ Lay. 13875-6.

If those syllables which have the strongest accent in the unaccented parts of these verses are uttered a little more loudly than was usual in the alliterative line the rhythm becomes exactly the same as in the corresponding verses of King Horn, where the three-beat rhythm already has become the rule.

This rule, however, is by no means without exceptions, and even the old two-beat rhythm (which may have been the original rhythm) is, in the oldest form of the poem, sometimes clearly perceptible, rarely, it is true, in both hemistichs, as e.g. in the following line:

_Hi slóȝen and fúȝten | þe níȝt and þe úȝten._ 1375-6,

but somewhat oftener in one of them, as in the following:

_Hi wénden to wísse | of hère líf to mísse._ 121-2.

_So schál þi náme sprínge | from kínge to kínge._ 211-12.

_In Hórnes ilíke | þú schalt hùre beswíke._ 289-90.

_Hi rúnge þe bélle | þe wédlak fòr to felle._ 1253-4.

Of this type of verse a great many examples are of course to be met with in the earlier alliterative poems:

_wúldres wédde | wī́tum āspḗdde._ An. 1633.

_wýrmum bewúnden, | wī́tum gebúnden._ Jud. 115.

_rā́d and rǣ́dde | ríncum tǣ́hte._ Byrhtn. 18.

_on míddan gehǣ́ge | éal swā ic sécge._ Dom. 4.

_þat lónd to léden | mid láweliche déden._ Prov. 75-6.

_þe póure and þe ríche | démen ilíche._ ib. 80-1.

_bivóren þan kínge | fáirest àlre þínge._ Lay. 14303-4.

The third type (three beats with masculine ending), which is of rarer occurrence, is represented by the following lines:

_Þú art grèt and stróng, | fáir and èuene lóng._ 93-4.

_Þu schàlt be dúbbed kníght | are còme séue níȝt._ 447-8.

_Léue at hìre he nám | and into hálle cám._ 585-6.

As corresponding lines of earlier poems may be quoted:

_éarn ǣ́ses gèorn, | wæs on éorþan cýrm._ Byrhtn. 107.

_þat þe chírche hàbbe grýð | and þe chéorl bèo in frýð._ Prov. 93-4.

_lóuerd kìng wæs hæil! | for þine kíme ìch æm vǽin._
Lay. 14309-10.

The fourth type (four beats with masculine ending), which occurs somewhat oftener, has the following form:

_Ófte hàdde Hòrn beo wó, | ac nèure wúrs þan hìm was þó._ 115-16.

_Þe stúard wàs in hèrte wó, | fòr he núste whàt to dó._ 275-6.

The corresponding rhythm of the earlier poems occurs in verses like:

_and his gefḗran he fordrā́f, | and sume míslice of slṓh._
Chr. 1036. 2.

_þe éorl ànd þe éþelìng | ibúreþ ùnder gódne kìng._ Prov. 74-5.

_and sélde wùrþ he blýþe and glèd | þe món þat ìs his wíves quèd._
ib. 304-5.

_þe þúnre heo ȝìven þúnres dæ̀i, | forþí þat hèo heom hélpen mæ̀i._
Lay. 13931-2.

The fifth type (four beats with feminine endings) is represented by the following verses:

_To déþe hè hem álle bròȝte, | his fáder dèþ wel dére hi bòȝte._
883-4.

_Tomóreȝe bè þe fíȝtinge, | whàne þe líȝt of dáye sprìnge._ 817-18.

As corresponding verses of earlier poems we quote:

_=s=úme hi man wiþ fḗo =s=éalde, | =s=úme hrēowlice ācwéalde._
Chron. 1036. 3.

_and sóttes bòlt is sóne iscòte, | forþí ich hòlde híne for dòte._
Prov. 421-2.

_in þæ̀re sǽ heo fùnden utláwen, | þa kénneste þa wèoren ò þon
dáwen._ Lay. 1283-4.

The circumstance that these different types of verse occur in different poems promiscuously makes it evident that they must all have been developed from one original rhythmical form. It is clear that this fundamental type can only be found in the old two-beat alliterative hemistich, the more so as this kind of verse is the very metre in which the earlier poems _Byrhtnoth_ and _Be Dōmes Dæge_ for the greatest part are written, and which is exemplified in about a third part of the poetical piece of the _Saxon Chronicle_ of 1036 and a fifth part of the later-piece of 1087, and again very frequently in _Alfred's Proverbs_ and in Layamon's _Brut_, and which still can be traced as the original rhythm of _King Horn_.

§ =50.= The evidence of the metre of this poem, showing its affinity to the alliterative line and its historical origin from it, is so cogent that it is unnecessary to discuss the theories of Prof. Trautmann and the late Dr. Wissmann, both of whom, although from different points of view, agree in ascribing a four-beat rhythm to this metre.[106]

The frequent use again in this poem of the types of line occurring in Layamon's _Brut_, as pointed out by Prof. Luick (l. c.), puts the close connexion of the metre of _King Horn_ with that form of the alliterative line beyond doubt. We cannot, however, in conformity with the view we have taken of Layamon's verse, agree with Prof. Luick in assigning a secondary accent to the last syllable of the feminine ending of the ordinary three-beat verse, in which the greater part of _King Horn_ is written. Prof. Luick himself does not insist upon that particular point so strongly for this poem as he did for the earlier poems written in a similar metre.

The following examples serve to show that the same extended types of line which were found to be the commonest in Layamon's _Brut_ (cp. p. 77) recur as the most usual types also in this poem:

A + C: _Álle bèon he blíþe | þat tò my sóng lýþe!_ 1-2.

A + A: _A sáng ihc schàl ȝou sínge | of Múrrȳ̀ þè kínge._ 2-3.

A + A: _He fónd bì þe strónde, | aríued òn his lónde_, 35-6.

B + C: _Àll þe dáy and àl þe nī́ȝt, | tìl hit spráng dái lìȝt._ 123-4.

B + B: _Fàirer nis nón þàne he wás, | hè was bríȝt sò þe
glás._ 13-14.

C + C: _Bì þe sé síde, | ase hè was, wóned ( ⏑́ ×) ríde._ 33-4.

C + A: _Of þìne méstére, | of wúde and òf rivére._ 229-30.

D + A: _Schípes fíftène | with sárazìn[e]s kéne._ 37-8.

C + A: _Þe chìld him ánswérde, | sóne so hè hit hérde._ 199-200.

B + E: _Hè was whít sò þe flúr, | róse-rèd was hìs colúr._ 15-16.

In most cases we see that identical or similar types of verse are connected here so as to form a couplet (printed by us as one long line). Even where this is not so, however, the two chief accents in each short line serve to make all the different forms and types of verse occurring in this poem sound homogeneous. This admits of a ready explanation, as the poem, in which no stanzaic arrangement can be detected, although styled a 'song' (line 2), was certainly never meant to be sung to a regular tune. On the contrary, it was undoubtedly recited like the 'Song' of Beowulf--probably not without a proper musical accompaniment--by the minstrels.

At all events the treatment of the words with regard to their rhythmic use in this poem does not deviate from that of Layamon.

§ =51.= The two poems are of the same period, and in both the etymological and syntactical accentuation of natural speech forms the basis of the rhythmic accentuation. Monosyllabic words and the accented syllables of polysyllabic words having a strong syntactical accent are placed in the arsis; unaccented inflectional syllables as a rule form the theses of a verse; second parts of compounds and fully sounding derivative syllables are commonly used for theses with a somewhat stronger accent, and may, if placed in the arsis, even bear the alliteration, or, if they are less strongly accented, the rhyme:

_Þèr þas =c=níhtes =c=ómen | bi=f=òren þan =f=ólc-=k=ínge._
Lay. 13818-19.

_Ah of éou ich wùlle i=w=íten | þurh =s=óðen èouwer =w=úrðscìpen._
ib. 13835-6.

_A móreȝe bò þe dáy gan sprìnge, | þe kíng him ròd an húntìnge._
Horn 645-6.

_He wàs þe faíréste, | ànd of wít þe béste._ ib. 173-4.

Unaccented inflexional syllables as a rule stand in the thesis of a verse. Only in exceptional cases, which admit of a different explanation (see above, pp. 74 and 76), they may bear the rhythmical accent if the rhyme demands it.

That a thesis in Layamon's _Brut_ and in _Alfred's Proverbs_ may be disyllabic or even trisyllabic both in the beginning and the middle of a line is evident from the many examples quoted above.

In _King Horn_, where the division of the original long lines into two short ones has been carried out completely, and where the rhythm of the verse has consequently become more regular, the thesis, if not wanting entirely, as usually the case, in the types C, D, E, is generally monosyllabic. But, as the following examples, _faírer ne mìȝte_ 8, _þe paíns còme to lónde_ 58, _þanne schólde withùten óþe_ 347, will show, disyllabic theses do also occur, both after the first and second arsis, and in the beginning of the line.

NOTES:

[96] Some less important examples, of which the metrical character is
not quite clear, are mentioned by Luick, Paul's _Grundriss_, ed.
2, II. ii. p. 144.

[97] In this passage and for the future we refrain from indicating the
quantity of the vowels. The rhythmic accentuation is omitted, as
being very uncertain in this passage.

[98] Viz. the so-called _Proverbs of King Alfred_ (ed. by R. Morris,
E.E.T.S., vol. XLIX), and Layamon's _Brut_, ed. by Sir Frederic
Madden, London, 1847, 2 vols.

[99] Paul's _Grundriss_, ed. 2, II. ii. p. 10, and _Altgermanische
Metrik_, p. 139.

[100] On the nature of these rhymes, cf. § 53 and the author's paper,
'Metrische Randglossen,' in _Englische Studien_, x. 192 ff.,
chiefly pp. 199-200.

[101] In Paul's _Grundriss_, ed. 2, II. ii. pp. 145-7.

[102] Cf. our remarks in Book I, Part II, on the Septenary Verse in
combination with other metres.

[103] Cf. Wissmann, _King Horn_, pp. 59-62, and _Metrik_, i, pp.
189-90.

[104] _Signs of Death_ in _Old Engl. Misc._ (E. E. T. S.), p. 101.

[105] Cf. Hall's edition (Clar. Press, 1901), pp. xlv-l, where our
views on the origin and structure of the metre are adopted.

[106] See Paul's _Grundriss_, ed. 2, II. ii. p. 156.