Page images
PDF
EPUB

last three poems the ME. alliterative verse has four beats in the first half-line, but only three in the second. The second half-line ends generally with a long root-syllable and a short inflexional syllable (), i.e. it has a 'feminine' ending. This is to be counted as one beat only (~). In the first half-line there may be either masculine or feminine ending (or). The anacrusis and some theses may be omitted, so that two beats may come together, e.g. per wóned a wél old chérl pat wás a cóu-hérde (Will. of Pal 4). If two beats fall on different syllables of one word, they are united to form a foot of two members, e.g. Nýnyuè, vilanỳe, wýþerly etc. If in this case there is no thesis between the two beats, an unstressed syllable must within the verse follow the weak beat, e.g. hit bitýddè sum | time in pe | térmès of | Jude, Patience 61, but not at the end of the verse, e.g. now sweze me þider | swýftlỳ | 72, pynez me in a | prísoùn | 79.

The ME. alliterative verse may be scanned much like the verse of Passion, Josephslied and the rimed chronicle of Robert of Gloucester. The long line is not only a metrical, but also a linguistic unit (Zeilenstil). There is no longer, as in OE., a strong pause in the caesura, and one long-line no longer runs on into the next (Hakenstil). Cp. Patience 61-84:

Hit bitýddè sum | tyme in be | térmès of | Jude Jonas | ioyned | watz þer | inne iéntỳle prophete:

goddes glam | to hym glod bat | hym vn|glad | made,

with a róghlyche | rurd

|

rowned | in his | ere.

Rys | rádly', he says, 'and | rayke | forth | euen: nym be way to | Nýnyuè wyth outen oper | speche and | in þat | cétè my | sages sogh | alle a boute bat in þat place | at þe | poynt i put in þi | herte. For i wysse hit | arn so wykke bat in þat | won | dwellez and her malys | is so much, i| may | not abide, bot | venge me | on her | vílanỳe and | vénỳm billyue. Now sweze me | þider | swýftly| and | say | me pis | arende.' When pat | stéuèn watz | stynt þat | stównèd his | mynde. al he wrathed | in his | wyt and wýperly he | pozte: if i bowe to his | bode and | bryng | hem þis | tale and i be nummen in | Núniuè He telles | me, pose | tráytòures| if i com | wyth pose | týbỳnges, pynez me in a | prýsòun, wrybe me in a | wárlòk, bis is a meruay] | méssàge a monge en myes so | mony bot if my gáynlỳche | god for desert of sum | sake

my | nýès be gynes.

|arn | typped | schrewes: bay | ta | me by lyue, put me in | stokkes, wrast | out myn | ygen.

a man | for to | preche and | mánsède | fendes, such gref | to me | wolde þat i | slayn | were.'

The parts of speech are of speech are used somewhat as follows:

Monosyllabic nouns, adjectives and verbs in all positions in the verse have a beat, e.g. glám, glód, glád, rúrd, rýs, sáys etc. Within the verse an unstressed syllable may follow: ným pe, wáy to etc.

Monosyllabic pronouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions are sometimes used alone as a beat at the end of the verse, but within the verse they compose a foot of one member only

together with a following unstressed syllable, e.g. hit bi-, in þe, wátz per, tó hym, hým vn-, with a, in his etc.

Disyllabic words with a short unstressed final syllable may also be used alone as a beat (a foot of one member), e.g. týme, ióyned, góddes, równed, rayke, óper etc. At the end of the second halfline such words are almost exclusively found, e.g. Júde, (pro)phéte, máde, ére, éuen, spéche etc. Within the verse another unstressed syllable may follow, e.g. vénge me, númmen in; but generally such words within the verse compose a foot of two members together with an unstressed syllable, e.g. (bi)týddè sum, térmès of, stéuèn watz, stównèd his etc.

Trisyllabic words with short middle and final syllables also compose feet of two members, e.g. swéuenès, hérkenès; with following unstressed syllable brýttened and.

Disyllabic or polysyllabic Germanic words with a heavy derivative syllable (-y, -ing, -and, -ere, -resse, -schipe) compose a foot of two members, at the end of the verse alone, within the verse generally with a following unstressed syllable, e.g. swýftlỳ, rádlỳ he, róghlỳche, týþỳnges tréwelỳ, richely, wýperly he, bisinèsse, félawschipe etc., so too compounds like wómmàn, krýstmàsse.

[ocr errors]

All disyllabic and polysyllabic romance words, the chief stress of which (formerly on the second or third syllable) has become weaker, whilst the

first syllable as in Germanic words has received the chief stress and can alliterate, can be used as a foot of two members in all positions in the verse, e.g. prísòun, vénỳm, vértù, chápèl, cóunsèyl, méschèef, Gáwàyn — jéntỳle, méssàge, séruỳse, nátùre, mánère, tráytòures Nýnyuè, páradỳs, déstinèe vílanỳe, áuentùre, cómpayne etc. Within the verse an unstressed syllable may follow disyllabic romance words, e.g. cétè my, vénỳm bi-, or they may be used as a foot of one member, e.g. málys, cósyn, hónour, mérvayl, Gáwayn etc.

For further details concerning the structure of the ME. alliterative verse see Kuhnke, Mennicken, Steffens, J. Fischer; for Gawayn-stanza see § 166, for rimed alliterative verse § 175.

§ 160. Alliteration in Middle English.

The distribution of the alliterating sounds is much the same in ME. alliterative verse as in OE. The second half-line has generally one alliterating sound only, which is as far as possible at the beginning of the verse, e.g. rowned in his ere, in þe termes of Jude, pat hym vnglad made. On the other hand single alliteration, which is found in about half the first half-lines in OE. (§ 92 f.), is very rare, and double alliteration is the rule, e.g. Hit bitydde sum tyme, with a roghliche rurd, rys radly, he says etc. Some poets prefer even three alliterating sounds in the first half-line, e.g. goddes glam to hym glod; cp. § 157. Sometimes four

alliterating sounds are found, e.g. A fair feld ful of folk P. Pl. 1, pe herd had with him an hound Will. of Pal. 10.

Now and again double alliteration is found in the second half-line also, so that the long-line has then four alliterating sounds, e.g. In a somer sesoun whan softe was pe sonne P. Pl. 1. This is especially common in rimed alliterative poems, since at the end of the long line there are strongly stressed words owing to the rime; cp. § 175.

As in the OE. period only the root-syllables of the most strongly stressed words alliterate. Romance words must also obey the Germanic laws of stress and therefore the first syllables of the words alliterate, e.g. he telles me pose traytoures, pynez me in a prysoun, pis is a meruayl message, but also: amonge enmyes so mony, for desert of sum sake.

All vowels may still alliterate with one another, e.g. Ewrus and Aquiloun pat on est sittes Pat. 133; but vowel alliteration is much rarer than in

the OE. period. Where it is common, e.g. in Morte Arthure (7%) and The Wars of Alexander (10%) the same vowel is frequently repeated twice or three times, e.g. Then pe emperour was egre and enkerly fraines, pe answere of Arthure he askes hym sone, M. A. 507 f.; see § 97 note and Lawrence, Chapters on Alliterative Verse, p. 54-113: Vowel Alliteration in the Fourteenth Century compared with that of Beowulf.

Consonant alliteration, too, is often different

« PreviousContinue »