Part 2 — CHAPTER VI VERSE-RHYTHM

§ 82. As in Greek and Latin metre, so also in the equal-measured rhythms of Middle and Modern English, it is a general law that the beginning or end of a metrical foot should, so far as possible, not coincide with the beginning or end of a word, but should occur in the middle, so that the individual feet may be more closely connected with each other. When this law is not observed, there arises what is technically called diaeresis, that is to say, the breaking up of the line into separate portions, which as a rule renders the verse inharmonious. On this account lines composed entirely of monosyllables are to be avoided. This law is more frequently neglected in Modern English poetry than in that of earlier times, because the rarity of inflexional endings makes its constant observance difficult.

Even in Middle English poems, however, we often find lines, especially if they are short, which are composed of monosyllabic words only.

These observations may be illustrated by the following examples:

(a) Lines with diaeresis:

Ne ís no quéne so stárk ne stóur.

Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 87, l. 4.

And hé was clád in cóote and hóod of gréne.

Chaucer, Prol. line 103.

Had cást him óut from Héaven with áll his hóst.

Milton, Parad. L. i. 37.

Had shóok his thróne. What thóugh the fíeld be lóst?

ib. 105.

(b) Lines without diaeresis:

Nou shrínkeþ róse and lýlie flour.

Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 87, line 1.

And smále fówles máken mélodíe.

Chaucer, Prol. line 9.

And réassémbling óur afflícted pówers.

Milton, Parad. L. i. 186

§ 83. With regard to modulation, too, the lines with diaeresis differ from those without it. In lines with diaeresis all syllables or words with a rhythmic accent upon them are pronounced with nearly the same stress, while in lines without diaeresis the difference between the accented syllables is more noticeable. The two following examples taken from Milton’s Paradise Lost will serve to illustrate this, the difference of stress being indicated by different numbers under the accented syllables:

Had cást him óut from Héaven with áll his hóst

0 1 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 2

And réassémbling óur afflícted pówers.

0 1 0 2 0 1 0 3 0 2

As a general rule, the syllables which stand in an arsis are, just because they bear the metrical stress, of course more strongly accented than those which stand in a thesis.

Occasionally, however, a thesis-syllable may be more strongly accented than an arsis-syllable in the same line which only carries the rhythmical accent, but neither the word-accent nor the logical accent of the sentence.

Thus in the following line from Paradise Lost—

Irreconcileable to our grand Foe,

the word grand, although it stands in a thesis, is certainly, because of the rhetorical stress which it has, more strongly accented than the preceding word our or the syllable -ble, both of which have the rhythmical accent. Milton’s blank verse abounds in such resolved discords, as they might be called. In not a few cases, however, they remain unresolved. This occurs chiefly in lines where the short unaccented syllables or unimportant monosyllabic words must be lengthened beyond their natural quantity in order to fit in with the rhythm of the verse, as in the following lines:

Of Thámuz yéarly wóunded: thé love-tále. Par. L. i. 452.

Únivérsal repróach far wórse to béar. Par. L. vi. 34.

On the other hand long syllables standing in a thesis may be shortened without harshness, e.g. the words brought and our in the following line:

Brought déath intó the wórld and áll our wóe.

§ 84. With regard to the treatment of the rhythm the Middle English even-beat metres in some respects are considerably different from the Modern English metres, the reason being that the earlier poets, as yet inexperienced in the art of composing in even-beat measures, found it more difficult than Modern English poets to make the rhythmic accent coincide with the word-accent and the syntactic-accent (cf. pp. 126–7, 134).

Certain deviations from the ordinary iambic rhythm which partly disturb the agreement of the number of accented and unaccented syllables in a line are more frequent in Middle English than in Modern English poetry. One of these licences is the suppression of the anacrusis or the absence of the first unaccented syllable of the line, or of the second rhythmical section, e.g.

Þán sche séyd: ȝe trówe on hím | þát is lórd of swíche pousté.

Horstmann’s Altengl. Legend. N. F., p. 250, ll. 333–4.

Gíf we léornið gódes láre,

Þénne ofþúncheþ hít him sáre. Pater Noster, 15–16.

Únnet líf ic hábbe iléd, | and ȝíet, me þíncð, ic léde.

Moral Ode, l. 5.

Twénty bóokes, | clád in blák and réde. Chaucer, Prol. 294.[129]

Sóme, that wátched | wíth the múrd’rer’s knífe. Surrey, p. 59.

Góod my Lórd, | give mé thy fávour stíll.

Shakesp. Temp. iv. i. 204.

Nórfolk sprúng thee, | Lámbeth hólds thee déad. Surrey, p. 62.

Vor mánies mánnes sóre iswínch | hábbeð ófte unhólde.

Moral Ode, Ms. D. l. 34.

Enhástyng hím, | tíl he wás at lárge.

Lydgate, Story of Thebes, 1075.

The tíme doth páss, | yét shall nót my lóve! Wyatt, p. 130.

While this metrical licence may mostly be attributed to want of technical skill in Middle English poets, it is frequently employed in the Modern English period, as the last example shows, with distinct artistic intention of giving a special emphasis to a particular word. Several Middle English poets, however, make but scant use of this licence, e.g. the author of The Owl and the Nightingale and Gower, while some of them, as Orm, never use it at all.

§ 85. These latter poets, on the other hand, make very frequent use of another kind of rhythmical licence, viz. level stress or hovering accent, as Dr. Gummere calls it; i.e. they subordinate the word-accent or the syntactic accent to the rhythmic accent, and so far violate the principal law of all accentual metre, which demands that those three accents should fall on one and the same syllable.

This licence is found chiefly in metres of a certain length, e.g. in the Septenary or in the iambic five-foot line, but not so frequently in shorter metres, as the resulting interruption of the flow of the rhythm is not so perceptible in long as in short lines.

The least sensible irregularity of this kind occurs when the (syntactically) less emphatic of two consecutive monosyllabic words is placed in the arsis, as in the following lines:

For whý this ís more thén that cáuse is. Chaucer, H. of Fame, 20.

There ís a róck in thé salt flóod. Wyatt, p. 144.

Now seemeth féarful nó more thé dark cáve.ib. p. 210.

If the accented syllable of a word consisting of two or more syllables is placed in the thesis, and the unaccented one in the arsis, the licence is greater. This is a licence often met with in Middle English poetry, as e.g.:

I wílle not léyf you álle helpléss | as mén withóuten fréynd.

Towneley Myst. p. 182.

Of clóth-makýng | she hádde súch an háunt.Chaucer, Prol. 447.

With blóod likewíse | ye múst seek yóur retúrn.Surrey, p. 117.

The effect is still more harsh, if inflexional endings are used in this way, though this does not often occur. The following are examples:

Þa béodes hé beodéþ therínne. Pater Noster, 23.

Annd áȝȝ afftérr þe Góddspell stánnt.Orm. 33.

All þúss iss þátt hallghé goddspéll.ib. 73.

In most cases dissonant rhythmical accentuations of this sort are caused by the rhyme, especially in Middle English poetry, e.g.:

Cf. also: thing: writýng ib. 325–6; bremstóon: non ib. 629–30; ale-stáke: cake ib. 667–8; goddésse: gesse Chaucer, Knightes Tale, 243–4; herde: answérde ib. 265–6; assemblýnge : thynge Barclay, Ship of Fools, p. 20; similar examples are even to be met with in early Modern English poetry, e.g.: nothíng: bring Sur. 15; bemoaníng: king Wyatt, 206; welfáre: snare ib. 92; goodnéss: accéss ib. 209; manére: chere Surrey, 124, &c.

Sometimes it may be doubtful how a line should be scanned. In some cases of this kind the usage of the poet will decide the question; we know, for instance, that Orm never allows the omission of the first unaccented syllable. Where decisive evidence of this kind is wanting, the verse must be scanned in such a manner as to cause the least rhythmical difficulty. If a compound, or a word containing a syllable with secondary accent, does not fit in with the rhythmical accent, it is to be read, as a rule, with level stress when it occurs in the middle of a line (and, of course, always when it is the rhyme-word). On the other hand, if according to the rhythmical scheme of the line an unaccented syllable would be the bearer of the rhythmical stress, we must in most cases assume suppression of the anacrusis.

It would not be admissible therefore to scan:

Love, thát livéth | and réigneth ín my thóught, Surrey, p. 12.

but:

Lóve that líveth | and réigneth ín my thóught.

The licence of displacement of accent is an offence against the fundamental law of accentual verse, and therefore becomes more and more rare as the technique of verse becomes more perfect.

§ 86. Another metrical licence, which is not inadmissible, is the absence of a thesis in the interior of a line. This licence is not of the same origin in Middle English as in Modern English poetry.

In Middle English it generally appears to be a relic of the ancient alliterative verse (Types C and D) and to be analogous to the similar usage of the contemporary Middle English alliterative line, as e.g.:

Ne léve nó mán to múchel | to chílde ne to wíue.

Moral Ode, line 24.

Þet ís al sóth fúl iwís. Pater Noster, 2.

hálde wé gódes láȝe. ib. 21.

Óf the próphéte | that hátte Séynt Iohán. Passion, 26.

Not unfrequently, also, this licence is caused by the rhyme, as in the following examples:

Myd Hárald Árfáger, | kýng of Nórthwéy: eye.

Rob. of Glouc. 22.

As wás king Róbert of Scótlánd: hand. Barbour, Bruce, 27.

And gúd Schyr Iámes of Dóuglás: was. ib. 29.

Súmwhat óf his clóþíng: king.

Rob. Mannyng, Handlyng Sinne, l. 5703.

The same manner of treatment may be found applied to words which end in -lyng, -esse, -nesse, and similar syllables, and which have a secondary accent on the last syllable and the chief accent on the preceding root-syllable.

In Modern English verse the absence of a thesis between two accented syllables sometimes arises from phonetic conditions, i.e. from the pause which naturally takes place between two words which it is difficult to pronounce successively. This pause supplies the place of the missing thesis, as e.g. in the following lines:

And fírst cléns us fróm the fíend. Townl. Myst. p. 9.

An óld témple there stánds, | whereás some tíme.

Surrey, p. 142.

And scórn the Stóry | thát the Kníght tóld. Wyatt, p. 192.

In other instances the emphasis laid upon a particular word compensates for the absence of the unaccented syllable, especially, if the accented syllable is long: e.g.

And thóu, Fáther, | recéive intó thy hánds. Surrey, p. 142.

Júst as you léft them | áll prísoners, sír. Shak. Temp. V. i. 8.

My ówn lóve, | my ónly déar. Moore.

Mórning, évening, | nóon and night

Práise Gód, | sang Théocríte. R. Browning, ii. 158.

This licence is of frequent occurrence in even-beat measures.

§ 87. Another metrical peculiarity caused by the influence of the rhythm is the lengthening of a word by the introduction of an unaccented extra syllable, commonly an e, to supply a thesis lacking between two accented syllables.

This occurs in Middle English and in Modern English poetry also. (i) In disyllabic words, commonly those with a first syllable ending with a mute, the second beginning with a liquid, e.g.:

Of Éng(e)lónd | to Cáunterbúry they wénde. Chauc. Prol. 16.

If yóu will tárry, | hóly píl(e)grím.

Shakesp. All’s Well, III. v. 43.

(ii) In Modern English poetry only in certain monosyllabic words ending in r or re, preceded by a diphthong, as e.g. in our, hour, fire, &c., e.g.:

So dóth he féel | his fíre mánifóld. Wyatt, 205.

This peculiarity will be mentioned again in the next chapter.

§ 88. Another deviation from the regular iambic line is the inversion of the rhythm; i.e. the substitution of a trochee for an iambus at the beginning of a line or after the caesura. The rhythmical effect of this licence has some resemblance to that of the suppression of anacrusis. In both cases the rhythmic accent has to yield to the word-accent. But while in the latter case the whole verse becomes trochaic in consequence of the omission of the first syllable, in the former the trochaic cadence affects one foot only (generally the first), the rest of the verse being of a regular iambic rhythm. Hence the number of syllables in each line is the same as that in all the other regular lines (including those with level stress), whereas verses with suppressed anacrusis may easily be distinguished from the former by their smaller number of syllables. On the other hand, the number of syllables (being the same in both cases) affords no help in distinguishing between change of word-accent and inversion of rhythm. Which of these two kinds of licence is to be recognized in any particular case can be determined only by the position which the abnormal foot occupies in the line. Inversion of rhythm (i.e. the substitution of a trochee for an iambus) occurs, as a rule, only at the beginning of a line or hemistich, where the flow of the rhythm has not begun, so that the introduction of a trochee does not disturb it. If, therefore, the discord between normal word-stress and iambic rhythm occurs in any other position in the line, it must be regarded as a case of level stress.

The following examples will serve to illustrate the difference between these three species of metrical licence:

Omission of anacrusis:

Herknet tó me góde men. Hav. 1. 7 syll.

Nórfolk sprúng thee, Lámbeth hólds thee déad.

Surrey, p. 62. 9 ”

Level stress:

A stálworþí man ín a flok.Hav. 24. 8 ”

And Rýpheús that mét thee bý moonlíght.

Surrey, p. 126.10 ”

Inversion of rhythm:

Míchel was súch a kíng to préyse. Hav. 60. 8 ”

Míldly doth flów alóng the frúitful fíelds.

Surrey, p. 145.10 ”

Shróuding themsélves únder the désert shóre.

Surrey, p. 113.10 ”

Inversion of rhythm may be caused in the interior of a rhythmical series only when a particularly strong emphasis is laid upon a word, e.g. to express an antithesis or for similar reasons:

That íf góld ruste | whát shal ýren dó?

Chaucer, Prol. 500.

And wé’ll nót fail | When Dúncan ís asléep.

Shakesp. Macb. I. vii. 61.

We may distinguish between two kinds of inversion of rhythm, viz. (i) natural inversion, and (2) rhetorical inversion. The former is caused by word-accent, the latter by the rhetorical accent, as illustrated by the last examples. The second kind differs very clearly from level stress, as the word in question or the first syllable of it (see the second line of the following quotation) is to be uttered with an unusually strong emphasis, e.g.:

Síck, or in héalth, | in évil fáme or góod. Surrey, p. 17.

Lústy of scháip, lýght of delíveránce.

Dunbar, Thriss. and Rois 95.

In the second example inversion of rhythm occurs (as it often does) twice over, viz. at the beginning of the verse and after the caesura.

Not unfrequently also two inversions of rhythm follow immediately upon one another, e.g.:

Wórldly gládnes | is mélled wíth affráy.

Lydgate, Min. Poems, xxii, line 11.

Réigned óver | so mány péoples and réalms. Surrey, p. 135.

Such verses, however, may also be looked upon as instances of the omission of anacrusis combined with epic caesura.

This would be the only admissible explanation in verses the first accented word of which is a word which usually does not bear an accent or is not accented rhetorically, e.g.:

Óf the wórdes | that Týdeús had sáid.

Lydgate, St. of Thebes, line 1082.

Tó have líved | áfter the cíty táken. Surrey, p. 139.

But in a line with an emphasized first word inversion of rhythm is the more probable explanation: e.g.

Nát astónned, | nor ín his hérte afférde.

Lydgate, St. of Thebes, line 1069.

Gód, that séndeth, | withdráweth wínter shárp. Surrey, p. 58..

§ 89. Disyllabic or polysyllabic thesis. Another important deviation from the regular iambic rhythm, which is clearly to be distinguished from the double thesis caused by inversion of rhythm, consists in the use of two or sometimes even more unaccented syllables instead of one to form a regular thesis of a verse. This irregularity, which is almost as common in Modern English as it is in Early English poetry, may occur in any part of the verse. If it occurs in the first foot, it may be called disyllabic or polysyllabic anacrusis, as in the following examples:

Gif we clépieþ híne féder þénne.

Pater Noster, 19.

Se þe múchel vólȝeð hís iwíl, | him sélue hé biswíkeð.

Moral Ode, 15.

To purvéie þám a skúlkyng, | on þe Énglish éft to ríde.

Rob. Mannyng, Chron. p. 3, l. 8.

With a thrédbare cópe, | as ís a póure scolér.

Chaucer, Prol. 260.

And why thís is a revelációun. Chaucer, H. of Fame, l. 8.

My comáundemént that kéeps trulý, | and áfter ít will dó.

Towneley Myst. p. 182.

There was néver nóthing | móre me páin’d. Wyatt, p. 57.

I beséech your Gráces | bóth to párdon mé.

Shakesp. Rich. III, I. i. 84.

By thy lóng grey béard and glíttering éye.

Coleridge, Anc. Mar. l. 3.

This metrical licence may occur also immediately after the caesura, e.g.:

Wel láte he léteþ úfel wéorc | þe hit né may dón na máre.

Moral Ode, 128.

And thríes hádde sche bén | at Ierúsalém. Chauc. Prol. 463.

My wíll confírm | with the spírit of stéadfastnéss.

Wyatt, p. 220.

But thén we’ll trý | what these dástard Frénchmen dáre.

Shakesp. 1 Hen. VI, I. iv. 111.

It most frequently occurs, however, in the interior of the rhythmical sections, and there it is found in any of the feet, except the last, as will be seen by the following examples:

Intó þis ðhísternesse hér benéðen.

Gen. and Exod. 66.

For þér we hit míhte fínden éft | and hábben búten énde.

Moral Ode, 52.

In Wéssex was thán a kíng, | his náme wás Sir Íne.

Rob. Mannyng, Chron. p. 2, l. 1.

Of Éngelónd | to Cáunterbúry they wénde. Chauc., Prol. 16.

So fervent hót, | thy díssolute lífe.Surrey, p. 68.

And Windsor, alás! | doth cháse me fróm her síght.ib. p. 14.

Succéeding his fáther Bólingbróke, | did réign.

Shakesp. 1 Hen. VI, II. v. 83.

§ 90. Unaccented extra syllables are found also before a caesura or at the end of the line. In the former case they constitute what is known as epic caesura, in the latter they form feminine or double endings (if there is only one extra syllable) or tumbling endings (if there are two extra syllables). In both cases this irregularity is softened or excused, so to say, by the pause, except where the accented or masculine ending of the hemistich is required by the very nature of the metre, viz. in the first acatalectic half of the Septenary line. It does, however, not unfrequently occur in some Early Middle English poems written in Septenary metre, e.g. in the Moral Ode and several others, but this may be only owing to want of skill or carelessness on the part of the authors of these poems. The following example taken from the Moral Ode may serve to illustrate this:

Nis nán wítnesse éal se múchel, | se mánnes ágen héorte. 114.

In the Ormulum irregularities of this kind never occur, a certain proof that Orm thought them metrically inadmissible, and felt that an extra syllable at the end of the first hemistich would disturb the flow of the rhythm.

Epic caesura certainly is more in place, or at any rate more common, in other kinds of verse, especially in the Middle English Alexandrine formed after the Old French model, e.g.:

Untó the Ínglis kínges, | þat hád it ín þer hónd.

Robert Mannyng, Chron. p. 2, l. 4.

In the four-foot and five-foot rhymed verse, and especially in blank verse, it is of frequent occurrence:

Why thís a fántom, | why thése orácles. Chauc. H. of F. 11.

To Cáunterbúry, | with fúl devóut coráge. id. Prol. 22.

What shólde he stúdie | and máke hym séluen wóod?

ib. 184.[130]

So crúel príson | how cóuld betíde, alás. Surrey, p. 19.

O míseráble sórrow! | withóuten cúre. Wyatt, p. 124.

With hídden hélp or vántage, | or thát with bóth.

Shakesp. Macb. I. iv. 113.

But hów of Cáwdor? | The tháne of Cáwdor líves.

ib. I. iii. 72.

But thís delíver’d, | he sáw the ármies jóin.

Fletcher, Loyal Subj. II. i. 333.

For íf my húsband táke you, | and táke you thús.

id. Rule a Wife, v. 495.

By vísion fóund thee ín the Témple, | and spáke.

Milton, Par. Reg. i. 256.

Creáted húgest | that swím the Ócean-stréam.

id. Par. L. i. 202.

And chíefly thóu, O Spírit! | that dóst prefér.

ib. i. 17.

Have fílled their víals | with sálutáry wráth.

Coleridge, Relig. Musings, 84

§ 91. Double or feminine endings are more frequent than epic caesuras, especially in Middle English poetry. They become rarer, however, in the course of time in Modern English in consequence of the gradual disappearance of the inflexional endings, e.g.:

Þet wé don álle hís ibéden,

Ánd his wílle fór to réden. Pater Noster, 7–8.

Tó my wýtte | that cáuseth swévenes

Éyther on mórwes | ór on évenes.

Chauc. H. of Fame, 3–4.

Áfter Éthelbért | com Élfríth his bróther,

Þat was Égbrihtes sónne, | and ȝit ther wás an óþer.

Robert Mannyng, Chron. p. 21, ll. 7–8.

Withóuten óther cómpainýe | in yóuthe,

But therof néedeth nóught | to spéke as nóuthe.

Chauc. Prol. 461–2.

And ín her síght | the séas with dín confóunded?

Sur. p. 164.

Or whó can téll thy lóss, | if thóu mayst ónce recóver.

Wyatt, p. 154.

Lie there, my árt. | Wípe thou thine eyes; have cómfort.

Shakesp. Temp. 1. ii. 25.

The dífference ’twíxt the covetous | ánd the pródigall.

Ben Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 12.

Nothing at áll! | I’ll téach you tó be treacherous.

Fletcher, Mad Lover, iii. 255.

Nó, Sir, | I dáre not leave her | tó that sólitariness.

id. Rule a Wife, iv. 479.

What yóung thing’s thís?— | Good mórrow, béauteous géntlewoman.

id. Loy. Subj. v. ii. 402.

The two last quotations are noteworthy because the number of extra syllables after the last accented one is two, three, or even four, a peculiarity which is one of the characteristics of Fletcher’s versification. Other poets, e.g. Shakespeare, preferred feminine endings in some periods of their literary career, so that it is possible to use the proportion of masculine and feminine endings occurring in a play, compared with others of the same poet, as a means of ascertaining the date of its origin.

It is also to be observed that in certain epochs or kinds of poetry feminine endings are more in favour than in others. In the eighteenth century they are very scarce, whereas they become more frequent again in the nineteenth century. Byron and Moore especially use them copiously in their satirical and humorous poems to produce burlesque effects.

§ 92. Another metrical licence also connected with the end of the line is what is known as the enjambement or run-on line—that is to say, the carrying over of the end of a sentence into the following line.

The rule that the end of a line must coincide with the end of a sentence, is, from the nature of the case, more difficult to observe strictly—and, consequently, the run-on line is more readily admitted—in verse composed of short lines (which often do not afford room for a complete sentence) than where the lines are longer. In blank verse, also, the run-on line is more freely allowed than in rhymed verse, where the pause at the end of the line is more strongly marked.

Generally speaking, enjambement is not allowed to separate two short words that stand in close syntactical connexion and isolated from the rest of the sentence, though examples of this do occur (especially in the older poets) in which an adjective is separated from its substantive:

I wíll yive hím the álderbéste

Yífte, that éver he abóod his líve.

Chauc. Blaunche, 246.

My lúte awáke, perfórm the lást

Lábour, that thóu and Í shall wáste.

Wyatt, p. 29,

or a verb from its subject or object, formed by a monosyllabic word:

To téllen shórtly, whán that hé

Was ín the sée, thús in this wíse.

Chauc. Blaunche, 68.

Me néed not lóng for tó beséech

Hér, that hath pówer me tó commánd.

Wyatt, p. 31.

But if, on the other hand, two closely connected parts of a sentence are each of them long enough to fill up two measures, they may be separated by enjambement:

Whan Zéphirús eek wíth his swéte bréethe

Enspíred háth in évery hólte and héethe

The téndre cróppes, ánd the yónge sónne

Háth in the Rám his hálfe cóurs irónne, &c.

Chauc. Prol. 5–8.

There áre a sórt of mén, whose vísagés

Do créam and mántle líke a stánding pónd.

Shakesp. Merch. I. i. 88–9.

The admissibility or inadmissibility, however, of run-on lines depends on many different and complicated considerations, for which the reader may be referred to ten Brink, Chaucer’s Sprache und Verskunst, §§ 317–20, and to our own larger work, vol. ii, pp. 59–62.

In Shakespeare’s versification, and probably also in that of other poets, the more or less frequent use of run-on lines is characteristic of certain periods of their literary career, and is therefore looked upon as a valuable help in determining the date of the different plays (cf. § 91). The largest percentage of run-on lines probably occurs in Milton’s epics.

§ 93. The judicious use of run-on lines is often resorted to for the purpose of avoiding monotony. Another metrical licence connected with the line-end, which is adopted for the same purpose, is rhyme-breaking. This occurs chiefly in rhyming couplets, and consists in ending the sentence with the first line of the couplet, instead of continuing it (as is usually done) till the end of the second line. Thus the close connexion of the two lines of the couplet effected by the rhyme is broken up by the logical or syntactic pause occurring at the end of the first line. This is used rarely, and so to say unconsciously, by the earlier Middle English poets, but is frequently applied, and undoubtedly with artistic intention, by Chaucer and his successors. The following passage contains examples both of rhyme-breaking and of the more normal usage:

Rhyme-breaking may, of course, also take place in other metres, as e.g. in four-foot iambic verses:

Chapman, in his translation of Homer, often uses it in Septenary verses as well as in five-foot iambic verses. In certain stanzas rhyme-breaking at particular places is a strict rule, as e.g. in the Rhyme-Royal stanza (a b a b . b c c), in the ballade-stanza of eight lines (a b a b . b c b c), and also between the two quatrains of the regular Italian sonnet.

On the other hand this licence is rare in the works of the poets of the eighteenth century who wrote under French influence, and in modern times (especially at the present day) it seems to be rather avoided than intentionally admitted.

§ 94. Another peculiarity of frequent but irregular occurrence in even-beat verse is alliteration, a feature which is derived from the old native metre, and is still (consciously or unconsciously) employed by many poets as an ornament of their verse.

The arbitrary use of alliteration in the freer form of the long line has been already discussed.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries it is mostly used merely to give a stronger emphasis to those words of the verse which bear the logical and rhythmical accent,[131] but even as early as this we can observe a decided predilection for accumulated alliteration. Sometimes the same alliterative sound is retained through several successive lines. In other instances a fourth alliterating word is admitted in the line (as in the example referred to above). In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries this striving after accumulation of alliteration was carried to such a length that it became a rule that as many words in the line as possible, whether accented or not, should begin with the same letter. This accounts for King James VI’s metrical rule quoted above (p. 89), that in ‘Tumbling verse’ the line is to be ‘literal’. Even Chaucer, in spite of his well-known hostile attitude to regular alliterative poetry,[132] allowed his diction to be influenced strongly by it, e.g.:

I wréche, whích that wépe and wáylle thús,

Was whílom wýf to kýng Capáneús.

Kn. Tale, ll. 73–4.

And hé him húrtleth wíth his hórs adóun.

ib. line 1758.

This accumulation of alliterative sounds occurs in the works of many Modern English poets, some of whom, as Peele and Shakespeare, have themselves ridiculed it, but were unable, or were not careful, to avoid it altogether in their own practice.

And wíth sharp shrílling shríekes | doe bóotlesse crý.

Spens. F. Q. I. iii. 127.

Which wíth a rúshy wéapon | Í will wóund.

Peele, Old Wifes Tale, p. 467.

Théy love léast that lét men know their lóve.

Shak. Rom. i. 3.

For particulars see Neuengl. Metrik, pp. 68–76, and the following treatises:

Die Alliteration im Layamon, by K. Regel; Germanistische Studien, ed. K. Bartsch, Vienna, 1874, i. 172 ff.

Die Alliteration bei Chaucer, by Dr. F. Lindner, Jahrbuch f. rom. und engl. Literatur, N. Ser. ii, p. 311 ff.

Die Alliteration in den Werken Chaucers mit Ausschluss der Canterbury Tales, by E. Petzold. Dissertation, Marburg, 1889.

Die alliterierenden Sprachformeln in Morris’s Early English Alliterative Poems und im Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight, by Joh. Fuhrmann. Dissertation, Kiel, 1886.

Prof. Dr. K. Seitz, Die Alliteration im Englischen vor und bei Shakspere, and Zur Alliteration im Neuenglischen. Realschulprogramme i-iii, Marne, 1875, Itzehoe, 1883, 1884.

M. Zeuner, Die Alliteration bei neuenglischen Dichtern. Dissertation, Halle, 1880.

Die stabreimenden Wortverbindungen in den Dichtungen Walter Scott’s, by Georg Apitz. Dissertation, Breslau, 1893.