We find a consistent use of rime (often impure) in addition to alliteration in a section of Cynewulfs Elene, vv. 1237-1251 and in the tenth century 'Reimlied' (Kluge, Ags. Lesebuch p. 147 ff.). In Elene the two half-lines of each long-line are connected by rime, e.g. 1237 ff.: bus ic frōd ond füs burh þæt fæcne hus In the Reimlied, however, four consecutive halfverses rime, so that stanzas of four half-verses or two long lines arise. The text, however, is not correct, so that the stanza division is often disturbed. Of course only verses with the same kind of ending (or with similar ending) can rime together, thus feminine with feminine or gliding (A-C, D1) and masculine with masculine (B, D2, E); cp. v. 5 ff. Secgas mec segon symbel ne ālēgon wicg ofer wongum wrænan gongum lisse mid longum leoma gehongum. - ba was wæstmum aweaht worold onspreht In one part, v. 61 ff., the rime is increased by a rime of successive words: wer-cyn gewited. wæl-gar slīted. flah mah flited. flan man hwited. In the earlier period also we find rime formulae used, e.g. siddan ic hond and rond hebban mihte Beow. 656. hū he frōd and gōd feond oferswÿded Beow. 279. The sections at the end of Elene and the Reimlied are isolated attempts to introduce rime. They have had no influence on the further development of English verse. The transformation of the OE. alliterative into rimed verse did not take place before the ME. period. It was due to the influence of the rimed French and Latin verse. Section II. The Middle English Period (1100-1500). § 101. Development of English Prosody in the Middle English Period. The development of English prosody during the ME. period is especially important, since we can here see the gradual transition from the freer rhythm of the alliterative verse to the more regular structure of modern English verse, which is composed of equal bars and is more uniform in the number of syllables used. After a short struggle between alliterative verse and rimed verse, the latter conquered. Rime was not banished by the rise of alliterative verse in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. At first ME. rimed verse retained much of the freedom of alliterative verse in the use of arses and theses. At the end of the fourteenth century Chaucer appeared as a reformer of English verse. He introduced the most important, of English metres, the verse of five bars, a greater regularity in verse structure, and, at the same time, a greater variety as compared with the inflexible form of French verse. In the ME. period, also, the stanza was developed, partly under foreign influence, but also independently. $ 102. a) The early ME. Period (1100-1250). Development of English Verse in the early ME. Period. The early ME. period was a time of transition for prosody, just as it was for the development of the language and literature. Gradually the alliterative long-line decayed. The strict laws, which had regulated its structure in the OE. period, were no longer observed with the same care. The use of alliteration became dependent on the poet's whim, and it gave way entirely to rime. On the other hand attempts were made to make the rhythm more regular, like that of French verse and Latin religious verse. Alliterative verse was remodelled on Latin and French verse (short rimed couplet), or foreign verses were directly imitated (septenary). § 103. The Influence of the Linguistic Alterations on the Development of English Prosody. The further development of the structure of English verse was in a great measure dependent on the development of the English language, which had experienced many alterations before, and still more after, the Norman Conquest. All vocalic inflexional endings had become a colourless e, which soon began to show signs of disappearing. Final m had become n, and final n had often vanished. The inflexional endings had thus become so weak that they could no longer, as in the former period, alone make up a member of the verse. They sank to unstressed syllables. Thus the poets had a larger number of unstressed syllables at their disposal than was earlier the case. They could, therefore, let theses succeed arses with greater regularity than was possible at an earlier period. The quantity of the syllables, too, did not remain unaltered. Short vowels in open syllables were gradually lengthened, so that what was for OE. verse of great importance, viz. the difference between disyllabic words with a long root-syllable and those with a short root-syllable (-x, ux, uu) ceased to exist, and the quantity of the rootsyllable gradually became of no importance for the verse. § 104. Influence of Foreign Models on the Structure of English Verse. The development of English verse was further influenced by foreign models. French verse and Latin religious verse were written in England and were used as models by English poets both for matter and for form. English poets tried to copy the regular rhythm of Latin and French verse, its |