Chapter VI

STANZAS OF THREE AND MORE PARTS
CONSISTING OF UNEQUAL PARTS ONLY

§ =287. Introductory remark.= At the very beginning of the Modern English period the poetry of England was strongly influenced by that of Italy. Among the strophic forms used by the Italian poets, two especially have had an important share in the development of English metre: the sonnet and the canzone. Apart from those direct imitations which we shall have to notice later, the sonnet form tended to make more popular the use of enclosing rhymes, which had until then been only sparingly employed in English poetry; while the canzone with its varied combinations of anisometrical verses, mostly of eleven and seven syllables, gave rise to a variety of similar loosely constructed stanzas, as a rule, of three- and five-foot verses.

At the same time, however, these Modern English stanzas of a somewhat loose structure were also affected by the stricter rules for the formation of stanzas which had come down from the Middle English period. Hence their structure frequently reminds us of the older forms, two adjoining parts being often closely related, either by order of rhymes, or by the structure of the verse, or by both together, though the old law of the equality of the two _pedes_ or of the two _versus_ is not quite strictly observed.

This explains the fact that some stanzas (especially the shorter ones) have a structure similar to that of the old tripartite stanzas; while others (chiefly the longer ones) not unfrequently consist of four or even more parts.

In the first group the chief interest centres round those which have enclosing rhymes in their first or last part. Although the transposition of the order of rhymes thus effected in the _pedes_ or in the _versus_ was common both in Northern French and Provençal poets,[196] the teachers of the Middle English poets, we find scarcely a single example of it in Middle English, and it seems to have become popular in Modern English only through the influence of the Italian sonnet.

In accordance with the analogy of the isometrical stanzas or parts of stanzas this arrangement of rhymes is found also in the anisometrical ones; so that we have first parts (_pedes_) both on the scheme _a b b a₄_, _a b b a₅_ or _a₄ b b₃ a₄_, _a₅ b₄ b₄ a₅_. From the arrangement of rhymes this order was transferred to the lines themselves; thus a stanza with enclosing rhymes consisting of two longer lines with a couplet of short lines between them, as in the last example, is transformed into a similar stanza with crossed rhymes according to the formula _a₅ b₄ a₄ b₅_, the shorter lines being, as before, placed between the longer ones (or vice versa _a₄ b₅ a₅ b₄_). It is evident that here too in spite of the regular arrangement of rhymes the two _pedes_ are not alike, but only similar to each other.

§ =288. Six-lined stanzas= of this kind, with an isometrical first part or isometrical throughout, occur pretty often; one e.g. on the scheme _a b b a c c₄_ is met with in John Scott, _Ode_ XIX (_Poets_, xi. 757):

_Pastoral, and elegy, and ode!
Who hopes, by these, applause to gain,
Believe me, friend, may hope in vain--
These classic things are not the mode;
Our taste polite, so much refin'd,
Demands a strain of different kind._

For similar stanzas according to the formulas _a b b a a b₄_, _a b b a c c₅_, _a b b a c₃ c₅_ (Milton, _Psalm_ IV), _a b b a₅ c₄ c₅_, and _a b b a c₅ c₃_, see _Metrik_, ii, § 456.

Other stanzas have anisometrical first and last parts; as e.g. one on the model _a₅ b b₄ a₅ c₄ c₃_ which was used by Cowley, _Upon the shortness of Man's Life_ (Poets, v. 227):

_Mark that swift arrow, how it cuts the air,
How it outruns thy following eye!
Use all persuasions now, and try
If thou canst call it back, or stay it there.
That way it went, but thou shalt find
No track is left behind._

Similar stanzas are found in later poets, as e.g. Mrs. Hemans, D. G. Rossetti, Mrs. Browning, corresponding to _a₅ b b₄ a₅ c₄ c₅_, _a₃ b b₅ a₃ c c₅_, _a₅ b b₃ a₄ c₅ c₃_, _a₃ b₄ b₅ a₄ b₅ a₃_, _a b₃ b₄ a₃ c c₄_, &c. (For specimen see _Metrik_, ii, § 458.)

Even more frequently we have stanzas of three quite heterogeneous parts; the lines rhyming crosswise, parallel, or crosswise and parallel. They occur both in the earlier poets (Cowley, Herbert, &c.) and in those of recent times (Southey, Wordsworth, Shelley, the Brownings, Swinburne, &c.). A song by Suckling (_Poets_, iii. 730) on the scheme _a₃ a b b₂ c c₄_ may serve as an example:

_If when Don Cupid's dart
Doth wound a heart,
We hide our grief
And shun relief;
The smart increaseth on that score;
For wounds unsearcht but rankle more._

For an account of other stanzas of a similar structure (e.g. _a a₅ b b₄ c c₃_, _a a₄ b b c₃ c₅_, _a₅ a₃ b b c₄ c₅_, _a₂ a b b c₄ c₁_, &c.) see _Metrik_, ii, §459.

Very often we find stanzas of combined crossed and parallel rhymes; one e.g. on the model _a b a₅ b₆ c c₅_ in Shelley, _A Summer-Evening Churchyard_ (i. 160):

_The wind has swept from the wide atmosphere
Each vapour that obscured the sunset's ray;
And pallid Evening twines its beaming hair
In duskier braids around the languid eyes of day:
Silence and Twilight, unbeloved of men,
Creep hand in hand from yon obscurest glen._

Many stanzas of a similar kind correspond to the schemes _a a₄ b c₂ b₄ c₃_, _a₄ b₃ a b c c₄_, _a₃ b₅ a b₄ c₅ c₄_, _a b a₅ b c c₄_, _a₅ a b c c b₄ c₅_, _a₄ b ~₂ a a₄ b ~a₄_, _a₅ b₃ a b c₅ c₃_, and _a b c c a₄ b₃_; for specimens see _Metrik_, ii, §§ 460-3.

Stanzas consisting of shorter lines are not so often met with; we have an example (on the model _a b a₂ b c₄ c₃_) consisting of iambic-anapaestic verses in R. Browning, _On the Cliff_ (vi. 48):

_I leaned on the turf,
I looked at a rock
Left dry by the surf;
For the turf, to call it grass were to mock;
Dead to the roots, so deep was done
The work of the summer sun._

For stanzas on the schemes _a₄ b₁ a₄ b₂ C D₂_, _a b a₄ c₃ c b₂_ see ibid. § 464.

§ =289.= Among =seven-line= stanzas, both in earlier (Ph. Fletcher, S. Daniel, &c.) and more recent poets (Mrs. Browning, Swinburne, R. Browning, D.G. Rossetti), those which are entirely isometrical occur often. One on the model _a b b a b b a₅_ is met with in S. Daniel's _Epistle to the Angel Spirit of the most excellent Sir Philip Sidney_ (Poets, iii. 228):

_To thee, pure spir't, to thee alone addrest
Is this joint work, by double int'rest thine:
Thine by thine own, and what is done of mine
Inspir'd by thee, thy secret pow'r imprest:
My muse with thine itself dar'd to combine,
As mortal stuff with that which is divine:
Let thy fair beams give lustre to the rest._

Specimens of stanzas on the schemes _a b b a c c c₄_, _a b b a b b a₄_, _a b b a a c c₃_, _a b b a a c c₅_, _a b b a c c a₅_, and _a b c c d d d₄_, are given in _Metrik_, ii, §456.

Anisometrical stanzas on the model _a b b a_ in the first part occur only in single examples, one corresponding to the scheme _a b b a₄ b₂ c c₄_ found in Milton, _Arcades_, Song I; and another of the form _a₃ b b₅ a₃ c c a₅_ in Mrs. Hemans, _The Festal Hour_ (ii. 247); cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 466.

Sometimes quite anisometrical stanzas with parallel rhymes occur, especially in the earlier poets, as e.g. in Wyatt, Suckling, Cowley; a stanza of Cowley's poem, _The Thief_ (Poets, v. 263), has the formula _a₅ a b b c c₄ c₅_:

_What do I seek, alas! or why do I
Attempt in vain from thee to fly?
For, making thee my deity,
I give thee then ubiquity,
My pains resemble hell in this,
The Divine Presence there, too, is,
But to torment men, not to give them bliss._

Other forms of a similar structure are _a a₃ b b₂ a a₃ B₄_, _a₄ a b b₃ c c₄ x₃_, _a₄ a b₅ b c c₄ c₅_, _a₅ a a b b₄ c c₃_; for examples see _Metrik_, ii, §467.

Stanzas which have crossed rhymes either in part or throughout are still commoner. Thus a stanza on the model of the _rhyme royal_ stanza (_a₃ b a b₅ b₃ c c₅_) which occurs in Mrs. Hemans, _Elysium_ (iii. 236):

_Fair wert thou in the dreams
Of elder time, thou land of glorious flowers
And summer winds and low-toned silvery streams,
Dim with the shadows of thy laurel bowers,
Where, as they pass'd, bright hours
Left no faint sense of parting, such as clings
To earthly love, and joy in loveliest things!_

Other similar stanzas correspond to _a₄ b a₅ b₄ c₃ c₄ c₅_, _a₃ b a₄ b₂ c c c₅_, _a₅ b a₄ b₅ c₄ c c₅_, _a₅ b c c b a₄ a₅_, _a b a₄ b₃ b₅ a₄ b₃_, and _a b a₃ b₄ c₃ c₂ c₄_; for examples taken from older poets (Donne, Carew, Cowley) and from later literature (Longfellow, D. G. Rossetti) cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 468.

Several other stanza-forms remind us by their structure and arrangement of rhymes of certain shortened forms of the tail-rhyme stanza, e.g. one in _A Parting Song_ by Mrs. Hemans (vi. 189), on the scheme _A₄ B₃ c c d d₄ B₂_:

_When will ye think of me, my friends?
When will ye think of me?
When the last red light, the farewell of day,
From the rock and the river is passing away--
When the air with a deep'ning hush is fraught
And the heart grows burden'd with tender thought--
Then let it be._

Similar stanzas corresponding to the formulas _a b₄ a a₃ b a₄ a₃_, _a₄ b₃ a a₄ b₃ c c₄_, _a a b a₅ b a a₂_ are quoted in _Metrik_, ii, § 469.

§ =290.= Most of the =eight-lined stanzas=, which on the whole are rare, are similar to the tail-rhyme stanza, the scheme of which is carried out in both parts, to which a third part is then added as the _cauda_ (last part).

Stanzas of this kind, used especially by Cowley, correspond to _a a₅ b₃ c c₄ b₃ d d₄_, _a₅ a₄ b₄ c₅ c₅ b₄ d₄ d₅_, _a₅ a b c c b₄ d d₅_, and _a a₅ b₄ c c b₅ d₄ d₅_ (cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 470).

The half-stanzas (_pedes_) are separated by the _cauda_ in a stanza on the scheme _a a₄ b₅ c c d d₄ b₃_, which occurs in Wordsworth, _The Pilgrim's Dream_ (vi. 153):

_A Pilgrim, when the summer day
Had closed upon his weary way,
A lodging begged beneath a castle's roof;
But him the haughty Warder spurned;
And from the gate the Pilgrim turned,
To seek such covert as the field
Or heath-besprinkled copse might yield,
Or lofty wood, shower-proof._

In other stanzas on the models _a₄ b₂ a b c c c₄ b₂_, _a ~ b a ~₄ b₃ c ~ c ~ c ~₄ b₂_, _a₄ b₂ a₄ c c₂ d d₄ b₂_, and _a₄ B ~₂ a a₄ C ~₂ D₃ D₄_, only a half-stanza of the tail-rhyme form can be recognized (cf. _Metrik_, ii, §475).

Sometimes an unequal part is inserted between two parts of a somewhat similar structure, as in a stanza with the formula _a a b c b c d₄ d₅_ in Byron, _Translation from Horace_ (p. 89):

_The man of firm and noble soul
No factious clamours can control;
No threat'ning tyrant's darkling brow
Can swerve him from his just intent;
Gales the warring waves which plough,
By Auster on the billows spent,
To curb the Adriatic main,
Would awe his fix'd, determined mind in vain._

Other stanzas correspond to the schemes _a a₅ . b b c c₃ . d ~ d ~₄_, _a₅ a₃ a₄ . b b₄ . c c₄ c₅_, _a b₅ b₃ . a₄ a . c c c₅_, _a₃ a . b c b c . d d₅_, _a a₄ . b₄ c ~ c ~₂ . d d₂ b₄_, and _a₅ a₂ . b b₅ . c c c₅ c₂_. All these forms are met with in earlier poets, as e.g. Donne, Drayton, and Cowley; for specimen see _Metrik_, ii, § 471.

§ =291.= A quadripartite structure is sometimes observable in stanzas with four rhymes, especially with a parallel or crossed order, or both combined, as e.g. in a poem by Donne, _The Damp_ (Poets, iv. 37), the scheme being _a₅ a₄ b b₅ c c₄ d d₅_:

_When I am dead, and doctors know not why,
And my friends' curiosity
Will have me cut up, to survey each part,
And they shall find your picture in mine heart;
You think a sudden Damp of love
Will through all their senses move,
And work on them as me, and so prefer
Your murder to the name of massacre._

For stanzas of different structure on similar models cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 472 (_a₅ a b₃ b c₅ d₃ c₂ d₄_, _a₅ a b₂ b c₅ c₂ d₄ d₅_, _a₅ a₃ b b₅ c c₄ d d₅_, _a b a₄ b₅ c c₄ d d₅_, _a a₅ b b c d c₄ d₅_, and _a₄ b₅ a₄ b₃ c d₄ c₂ d₄_).

There are other stanzas of this kind which occur in earlier poets, as e. g. Donne, Cowley, and Dryden, or in some of those of later date, as Southey, R. Browning, and Rossetti, one half-stanza having enclosing rhymes and the whole stanza partaking of a tripartite structure. We find, e.g. the form _A b b a c d c₄ d₃_ in D. G. Rossetti, _A Little While_ (i. 245):

_A little while a little love
The hour yet bears for thee and me
Who have not drawn the veil to see,
If still our heaven be lit above.
Thou merely, at the day's last sigh,
Hast felt thy soul prolong the tone;
And I have heard the night-wind cry
And deemed its speech mine own._

Other similar stanzas correspond to the formulas _a a b₅ b₄ c₅ d d₄ c₅_, _a₅ b b₄ a₅ c c₄ d d₅_, _a₄ b b₂ a c₄ d d₂ c₃_, and _a₅ b₃ a b₅ c₃ d d₅ c₃_; for examples see _Metrik_, ii, § 474. Stanzas on the model _a ~ b c a ~ c₄ B₂ d₄ D₂_, or on _a b c ~₂ d d a b c ~₄_, are found only in single examples (cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 476).

§ =292.= The most important of the Modern English eight-lined stanzas, however, is an isometrical one on a foreign model, viz. a stanza of hendecasyllabic or rather five-foot verses corresponding to the Italian _ottava rima_, on the scheme _a b a b a b c c_. This stanza, which has always been very popular in Italian poetry, was introduced into English by Wyatt and Surrey; in Surrey we have only an isolated specimen, in _To his Mistress_ (p. 32):

_If he that erst the form so lively drew
Of Venus' face, triumph'd in painter's art;
Thy Father then what glory did ensue,
By whose pencil a Goddess made thou art,
Touched with flame that figure made some rue,
And with her love surprised many a heart.
There lackt yet that should cure their hot desire:
Thou canst inflame and quench the kindled fire._

The stanza was often used by Wyatt, Sidney, and Spenser for reflective poems, and by Drayton and Daniel for epic poems of some length. In modern literature it has been used by Frere, Byron (_Beppo, Don Juan_), Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth, Longfellow, and others (cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 579).

§ =293. Stanzas of nine lines= either show a combination of parallel with crossed or enclosing rhymes, as in the forms _a a b c b c d d d₄_, _a₅ b a₄ b₅ b₅ c₄ c₅ d d₅_ (Rhyme-Royal + rhyming couplet), _a b₅ b a₄ c₃ c c d d₅_, _a₄ a b b₅ c₄ c₅ d₄ d d₅_, _a₄ b a₃ c₄ b₃ d b c₄ D₁_ &c. (for specimens see _Metrik_, ii, §§ 477 and 479), or, in some of the later poets, they consist of parts of modified tail-rhyme stanzas combined with other forms, as in the following stanza (_a ~₃ b₄ a ~ b₃ c c₂ d₃ a ~ d₃_) of a song by Moore:

_Love thee, dearest? love thee?
Yes, by yonder star I swear,
Which thro' tears above thee
Shines so sadly fair;
Though often dim,
With tears, like him,
Like him my truth will shine,
And--love thee, dearest? love thee?
Yes, till death I'm thine._

Other stanzas of Moore and others have the formulas _a a b a b c c c₄ d₃_ (Burns, p. 216), _a b ~ a a₄ b ~₃ c d d₄ c₃_, _a a b₄ c₂ b₄ c₂ d d₄ c₂_, _a₄ b₃ a a₄ c ~₃ c ~ d ~ d ~₂ b₃_ &c. (cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 478).

§ =294.= The =ten-line stanzas= are also based mostly on a combination of earlier strophic systems. Thus in Campbell's well-known poem, _Ye Mariners of England_ (p. 71), the _Poulter's Measure_ rhythm is observable, the scheme being _a ~ b₃ c₄ d₃ . e₄ f₃ . e₂ F₃ G₄ F₃_:

_Ye Mariners of England!
That guard our native seas;
Whose flag has braved, a thousand years,
The battle and the breeze!
Your glorious standard launch again
To match another foe!
And sweep through the deep,
While the stormy winds do blow;
While the battle rages loud and long,
And the stormy winds do blow._

Similar stanzas occurring in the works of earlier poets, as Sidney and Spenser, correspond to the schemes _a₆ b a b b₅ c c₄ d₂ b₅ d₂_, _a₅ a₂ b ~ c b ~ c D ~ D ~ E E₃_, &c. But generally speaking most of the earlier poets, as e.g. Donne, Cowley, and Suckling, prefer a simpler order of rhymes, the schemes being _a a₃ b b . c₅ c c₄ . d d d₅_, _a₄ a b b₅ c c₄ d d e e₅_, _a₅ a a₂ b b c d d₃ e e₅_, &c.; the more modern poets (Moore, Wordsworth, Swinburne), on the other hand, are fond of somewhat more complicated forms, as _a₄ b ~ b ~₂ a a₄ c ~ c ~₂ d a d₄_, _a b a₄ b₃ c c₅ d e₃ d₄ e₃_, _a b b₄ a₃ c d d e d₄ d₃_, &c. (For specimens cf. _Metrik_, ii, §§ 480, 481.) A fine form of stanza corresponding to the formula _a b c b c₅ a₃ d e e d₅_ is used by M. Arnold in his poem _The Scholar Gipsy_, and another on the scheme _a a₃ b c c b₅ d₃ e d e₅_ in _Westminster Abbey_, p. 479.

=§ 295. Stanzas of eleven lines= do not frequently occur in earlier poetry, and for the most part simple forms are employed, e.g. _a b₄ a b c d₅ c d₄ e e₅ e₄_, _a₅ a b₄ b₅ c₄ d₃ c₄ d₃ e e₄ e₅_, _a a b b₄ c₃ d₅ d₃ c e e e₅_, &c.; the more recent poets, however, as Moore, Wordsworth, and R. Browning, have usually preferred a more intricate arrangement, as _a ~ b c ~ d d a ~ b c ~₂ e e e₄_, _a b c₄ b₃ d e f f₄ e₃ g g₄_, _a₄ b₃ a b c₄ d₃ c₄ d₃ e₂ e₃ e₄_. The last scheme occurs in a song by Moore:

_How happy once, tho' wing'd with sighs,
My moments flew along,
While looking on those smiling eyes,
And list'ning to thy magic song!
But vanish'd now, like summer dreams,
Those moments smile no more;
For me that eye no longer beams,
That song for me is o'er.
Mine the cold brow,
That speaks thy alter'd vow,
While others feel thy sunshine now._

§ =296. Stanzas of twelve lines= are more frequent, possibly on account of the symmetrical arrangement of the stanza in equal parts, twelve being divisible by three. They are constructed on different models, e.g. _a a₅ b₃ b a₅ c₃ d₅ d c₄ c₅ e e₅_, _a a₄ b ~ b ~ c₃ c₂ d₃ d₂ e f₃ f₁ e₃_, _a₄ b₂ b₁ a₃ c ~₄ d ~₄ c ~₂ e ~ e ~ f ~ f ~₃_ (_bob-verse_ stanzas), _a b₄ c ~ c ~₂ a₄ b₃ d d e₄ f₂ f₄ e₅_, &c., occurring in earlier poets, such as Donne, Browne, Dryden, &c. Similar stanzas, partly of a simpler structure (_a b b a₅ a₆ c c₄ b₅ d d e₄ e₅_, _a ~ b a ~ b₃ c c₄ d d₃ e ~ f₃ e ~ f₂_, and _a a₄ b₂ c c₄ b₁ b₄ a₂ D E ~ F E₄ ~_), are found in modern poetry; the last scheme, resembling the tail-rhyme stanza, occurring in Tennyson (p. 12):

_A spirit haunts the year's last hours
Dwelling amid these yellowing bowers:
To himself he talks;
For at eventide, listening earnestly,
At his work you may hear him sob and sigh
In the walks;
Earthward he boweth the heavy stalks
Of the mouldering flowers:
Heavily hangs the broad sunflower
Over its grave i' the earth so chilly;
Heavily hangs the hollyhock,
Heavily hangs the tiger-lily._

Many other examples are quoted in _Metrik_, ii, §§ 484-6. For several stanzas of a still greater extent, but of rare occurrence, which need not be mentioned in this handbook, see ibid., §§ 487-90.