Part 1 — CHAPTER II THE ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN OLD ENGLISH (continued 2)

éorðan ȳ́ðum þéaht. Riddle xvii. 3,

wǽsceð his wā́rig hrǽgl.Gnom. Ex. 99.

Type A C, –́×...–́–́×, about twenty-nine instances, of which more than the half occur in the first hemistich, as

hríncg þæs hḗan lándes.Gen. 2854,

wlítige tō wóruldnýtte.Gen. 1016.

saType A D, –́×..–́–́××̀, is rarer, occurring about twelve times, apparently only in the first hemistich, as

béalde býrnwíggènde. Jud. 17,

Jū̀das hire ongḗn þíngòde. El. 609.

Type A E, –́×..–́×̀×.–́, somewhat more common than the last, and in both hemistichs, as

swéord and swā́tigne hélm. Jud. 338,

sǽgde him únlȳ̀tel spéll. Gen. 2405.

Type B A, ×.–́×...–́×.–́×, about 120 instances, has as its simplest form, ×–́×–́×–́×, as

ālǣ́ton lī́ges gánga. Dan. 263;

with disyllabic thesis after the first arsis, ×–́××–́×–́×, as

āwýrged tō wī́dan áldre. Gen. 1015;

with trisyllabic thesis, ×–́×××–́×–́×, as

hȳ twḗgen sceolon tǣ́fle ymbsíttan. Gnom. Ex. 182;

the initial thesis or anacrusis is rarely disyllabic.

Type B B, ×.–́×...–́×.–́, about nine times and mostly in the first hemistichs, as

gebī́dan þæs hē gebǣ́dan ne mǣ́g. Gnom. Ex. 105;

with resolution of two of the accented syllables,

ofercúmen bið hē ǣ́r hē ācwéle. Gnom. Ex. 114.

Type B C, × . . –́× . . . –́–́ ×, nearly as common as the last and nearly always in the first hemistich, as

and nā́hte éaldfḗondum.Dan. 454,

begóten of þæs gúman sī́dan.Cross 49.

Type B D, ×.–́×..–́–́×̀×, about sixteen times, and in either hemistich, as

on éorðan únswǣ́slī̀cne.Jud. 65,

alḗdon hīe þǣr límwḗrìgne.Cross 63.

Type C A, ×–́–́×.–́×, with some fifteen examples, of which eight are in the first hemistich, as

gesḗoð sórga mǣ́ste.Crist 1209,

tō cwále cníhta fḗorum.Dan. 226.

Type C C, ×....–́–́–̆́×, occurs only nine times, of which six are in the second hemistich, as

þæt wæs gód ǽlmíhtig. Cross 396;

with resolution of the first accented syllable,

ne sē brýne bḗtmǽcgum.Dan. 265,

þē þæt wéorc stáðoláde.And. 800.

Other combinations are given by Sievers, Altgermanische Metrik, § 95, but these occur so rarely or are so doubtful that they need not be mentioned here. A few lengthened hemistichs have four beats, as

engel in þone ófn ínnan becwṓm.Dan. 238,

and others in Sievers’s Altgermanische Metrik, § 96.

Formation of Stanzas and Rhyme.

§ 40. OE. poetry is mainly narrative, and does not run into any kind of recurring stanza or strophe, but is entirely stichic. Traces of an arrangement of lines so as to form a stanza are found in Dēor, the Runic Poem, the Psalms and Hymns, the so-called First Riddle, and in the Gnomic verses of the Exeter Book, which may be compared to the Old French ‘tirades’.[94]

On the other hand, end-rhyme of the two hemistichs, combined with alliteration, is not very uncommon, though in most cases it seems only an incidental ornament, as

fýlle gefǣ́gon; fǽgere geþǣ́gon.Beow. 1014.

wórd-gyd wrécan ond ymb wér sprécan.Beow. 3172.

In the Rhyming Poem of the Exeter Book we have eighty-seven lines in which the first and second hemistichs rhyme throughout, and in some passages of other poems, noticeably in the Elene, vv. 114–115, and vv. 1237–1251, in which Cynewulf speaks in his own person, or Crist 591–595, And. 869–871, 890, Gūthl. 801, Phoen. 15–16, 54–55; assonance is found not unfrequently alongside of perfect rhyme, as in Gūthl. 802, Phoen. 53. These places are sufficient to prove a systematic and deliberate use of rhyme, which serves to accentuate the lyrical tone of the passages.

Monosyllabic rhymes such as nān: tān (Rhym. Poem 78), rād: gebā́d (ib. 16), onlā́h: onwrā́h (ib. 1) are called masculine, and disyllabic rhymes like wóngum: góngum (ib. 7), géngdon: méngdon (ib. 11), or trisyllabic hlýnede: dýnede (ib. 28), swínsade: mínsade (ib. 29), bífade: hlífade (ib. 30), are called feminine.

According to their position in the hemistich, rhymes fall into two classes (a) interior rhymes like hónd rónd gefḕng Beow. 2609, stī́ðmṑd gestṓd Beow. 2567, in compounds wórd-hòrd ontḗac Beow. 259, in co-ordinate formulae like þā wæs sǣ́l and mǣ́l Beow. 1008, wórdum and bórdum El. 24, grund ond sund And. 747, and as so-called grammatical rhymes lāð wið lāðum Beow. 440, béarn æfter béarne, Gen. 1070; (b) sectional rhymes joining the two halves of one line, as

sécgas mec sǣ́gon sýmbel ne ālǣ́gon. Rhym. P. 5;

not unfrequently, very often in the Rhyming Poem, two, three, four or more alliterative lines are connected in this fashion.

The OE. end rhymes are either (a) complete rhymes as hond: rond, gefǣ́gon: geþǣ́gon, or (b) assonances, in which only the vowels correspond, as wæf: læs El. 1238; wrā́ðum: ā́rum Crist. 595; lúfodon: wúnedon And. 870; that the assonances are not accidental is clear from the fact that they occur alongside of perfect rhymes.[95]