Page images
PDF
EPUB

nouns, adjectives, numerals and verbs are always stressed, whilst pronouns, auxiliary verbs, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions are generally unstressed. The latter can, however, as we see from § 186 be stressed (that, with, to, swich, is, and, in, hir, for, hem, they, was, is, etc.). Even the article a is sometimes stressed, e.g. as á forpyned gost, C. T. A. 205, and á countour 359, In á tabard 541, but not the, as it seems. Monosyllabic nouns can be in the unstressed position only when they are closely connected with a preceding adjective or numeral, and thus to some extent form a compound, e.g. A good man 477, A fát swan 206, A whýt cote and a blew hood 564, But gréet harm 185, most cure 303, Noght ó word 304, for nó cost 192 etc.

Disyllabic words with a weak final syllable (-e, -es, -en, -ed) always compose an arsis and a thesis, e.g. swóte, yónge, sónne, téndre, stráunge, shóures, fóules, máken, slépen, báthed, sádel, fáder etc., but at the beginning of a line and after the caesura disyllables ending -er, -y, -ing may compose a thesis and an arsis, e.g. After 125, undér 195, 392, Redý 21, Hardý 405, Souning 307 etc. This conflict between word-accent and verse-accent is balanced in this case by hovering accent. The extra syllable at the end of the verse is always a weak final syllable (-e, -es, -en, -ed, -el, -er) and never -y or ing; but in broken rime (§ 139) it may be an independent unstressed word (is, me, ye).

Trisyllables with a weak middle syllable are slurred to form arsis and thesis, e.g. every, overest, fithele.

Disyllabic or trisyllabic Germanic compounds, with a strong subsidiary stress on the second syllable, can within the verse have the chief stress. either on the first or second syllable, e.g. wisdom, frédom, blísful, félawe, thrédbare, fréendshipe or fredóm, feláwe, freendshipe, fifténe, stiwárdes, housbóndes etc., but at the end of the verse the stress is on the second syllable. Romance words are treated in the same way. The chief stress, which was originally on the second syllable was gradually moved to the first syllable in English. In rime these words are always stressed on the second syllable, e.g. licóur, resóun, pitóus, beautée, vertú office, servise, coráge, preyére, manére, nature; within the verse either the first or the second syllable may have the stress, e.g. sésoun, témpest, mártir, lógik, móral, vértu, pítee — mánere, náture etc. In the latter case the final -e of the third syllable is used in the stressed position, e.g. Ful wel she song the servicé divyne A. 122.

In three-syllable and four-syllable Germanic compounds or romance words, in which there is an unstressed syllable between the chief stress and the subsidiary stress, both these stresses are used. as beats in the verse, e.g. tréwelý, cérteynlý, cristendóm, héthenésse, félawshipe, nightingale báchelér, cárpentér, Zéphirús, páciént, mélodýe, bénefice, áven

túre, phílosóphre, pilgrimáge, réverénce, conscience, condícióun, opinióun, philosophie etc.

Foreign names sometimes vary in form and stress according to the requirements of the verse, e.g. Macróbeús and Mácrobés, Pándarús and Pandáre, Grisélidís and Grisilde.

§ 191. The Caesura in the Heroic Verse. The OF. epic ten-syllable line had a regular caesura after the fourth stressed syllable, e.g.

Karles li reis nostre emperere magnes

Set anz tuz pleins ad estet en Espaigne,

and in the caesura an extra unstressed syllable could be used as at the end of the verse (epic caesura), e.g.

Dont li remémbret de son seignor celéste;

this was no longer allowed in lyrics of the fourteenth century.

In the Italian verse the caesura is not fixed; it can be after the third, fourth, fifth or sixth syllable. The same is true of Chaucer's verse, and this continual change in the position of the caesura, as noted in § 187, helps much to enliven the verse.

In Chaucer, when the caesura is masculine, it is generally after the fourth syllable, e.g.

Than longen fólk to goon on pilgrimages,
And speciallý, from every shires ende
Of Engelónd to Caunterbury they wende,
when feminine, after the fifth syllable:

Whan that Aprille with his shoures swote,
The tendre cróppes, and the yonge sonne,

To ferne hálwes couthe in sondry londes etc.

It is rare to find masculine caesura after the sixth syllable and feminine caesura after the seventh. With this a second caesura after the third syllable generally occurs, e.g.

And bathed every véyne in swich licour,
That slepen al the night

with open ye.

straunge strondes,
he it spente.

And palmers for to séken On bokes and on lérning The more closely the divided words are connected grammatically, the weaker is the caesura; in fact, in many of Chaucer's verses one can scarcely speak of a caesura, i.e. of a sentence pause within the verse, e.g.:

The hooly, blisful martir for to seke A 17
Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage 21
That toward Caunterbury wolden ride 27
And wel we weren esed atte beste 29

So hadde I spoken with hem everychoon 31
Er that I ferther in this tale pace 36 etc.

In the case of feminine caesura after the fifth or seventh syllable the second part of the verse begins with a stressed syllable in accordance with. the rhythmical scheme of the verse. It is questionable whether Chaucer also uses the above mentioned epic caesura of the OF. ten-syllable line, i.e. admits an extra syllable in the caesura: xxxx(x)| ××××××(x) or ××××××(×)|××××(x). Skeat (Chaucer's Works VI, LXXXVI f.) and Schipper (EM. I, 449 ff.;

Grdr. 121ff.) admit epic caesura and assume an independent extra syllable in such verses as:

The droughte of Márche | hath pérced to the rote A 2,
As was his wóne | by léve of his gayler A 1064,
It were al týme | thy tále to bigynne A 3908,
Of aventures | that whilom han bifalle A 795,
So wel they loved | as ólde bokes seyn A 1498,

And kiste his fáder and déyde the same day B 3632,

To Caunterbúry | with fúl devout corage A 22,

What sholde he stúdie | and máke himselven wood A 184,
And bathed every véyne | in swích licour A 3,
Entuned in hir nóse | ful sémely A 123,

And herde oon cryen wáter | as hé were wood A 3817 etc., Ten Brink, however (Chaucer's Sprache und Verskunst § 307 note) does not admit the epic caesura, and O. Bischoff (Engl. Stud. 25, 239 ff.) has collected and examined all such verses, and shown that the extra syllable in the caesura may be in every case elided or slurred etc. just as in other positions in the verse.

§ 192. Enjambement and Rime-breaking in the Heroic Verse.

Chaucer has restrained an undue prominence of the rhythmical scheme in his heroic verse, as in his verse of four beats, by a frequent use of enjambement. As ten Brink (Chaucer's Spr. § 317) says, "no narrative poet has used enjambement with greater skill than Chaucer, and no poet has better than he been able to unite movement and calm, change and rest by a frequent yet restrained

« PreviousContinue »