Imagens da página
PDF
ePub
[merged small][ocr errors]

The commonest verse of the second part of the ME. period was the regular verse of four bars (§ 121 ff.), which was generally written in riming couplets. These couplets are generally used in the stanza with tail-rime (§ 176). Many romances (Havelok § 122, Arthur and Merlin, King Alisaunder, Richard Cœur-de-Lion, Ywain and Gawain etc.) and religious poems (Handlyng Synne, Cursor Mundi, Pricke of Conscience, the Northern English and Scotch collections of legends etc.) are written in short rimed couplets.

The verse of four bars approaches the French model more and more, so that anacrusis and thesis are rarely absent and generally monosyllabic. The number of syllables, therefore, becomes more regular (7-9 according to presence or absence of the anacrusis and extra final thesis). The regular structure becomes easier owing to the gradual loss of final -e, which in the North of England was probably silent as early as 1330; cp. Cursor Mundi: bis ilk bok it es translate

Into Inglis tong to rede
For be loue of Inglis lede,
235 Inglis lede of Ingeland,
For pe comun at understand.
Frankis rimes here i redd
Comunlik in ilk a stedd;

Mast es it wroght for frankis man:
240 Quat is for him na frankis can?

Of Ingeland þe nacion

Es Inglis man þar in commun;

be speche þat man wit mast may spede,
Mast þar-wit to speke war nede.

245 Selden was for ani chance

Praised Inglis tong in France.
Giue we ilkan bare langage,
Me think we do þam nan outrage.
To laud and Inglis man i spell
250 þat understandes þat i tell . . .
265

...

Now o pis proloug wil we blin,
In cristes nam our bok begin.
Cursur o werld man agh it call
268 For almast it ouer-rennes al.

§ 153. Septenaries in Rimed Couplets. We find these in the great Southern English collection of legends and in the rimed chronicle of Robert of Gloucester; cp. 680 ff.

After king Baþulf. Leir is sone was king.
And regnede britti ger. wel þoru alle binge.
Vpon be water of Stoure. an cite of gret fame.
He rerede and cluped it Leicestre. after is owe name.
pre dogtren bis king adde. be eldost Gornorille.
þe midmeste het Regan. þe 30ngeste Cordeille.
be fader hem louede alle inou. and þe zongost mest.
Vor heo was best and veirest. and to hautesse drou
lest.

bo be king to elde com.
be dostren bivore him. to
Vor he pogte his kinedom.
And lete hom þer mid spousi
To be eldeste he sede verst.
Seie me clene of pin herte.
Min heie godes quap pis maide. to wittnesse ich drawe

alle pre he brozte.
witen of hor poste.
dele among hom pre.
wel. 3war he migte bise.
dogter bidde ich pe.
hou muche pu louest me.

echone,

vor þou ast in loue ido. and biuore pi soule also. mid þe priddedel of mi londe.

þat ich louie more in min herte. þi leue bodi one bane my soule oper mi lif. þat in mi bouke is. be fader was po glad inou. po he hurde pis. Mi leue dogter he sede po. Min olde lif biuore pin. Ich be wole marie wel. To be nobloste bacheler þat þin herte wile to stonde. Robert of Gloucester's septenary is, as we see from the example above, at the same stage of development as that of the Josephslied and Passion (§ 132 f.), i.e. the second half-verse clearly has three beats (or members) when the ending is masculine, e.g Léir is sóne was king, and pe Jongost mést, déle amóng hom pré, or feminine, e.g. on cite óf gret fáme, áfter is ówe náme, álle pré he brózte. (Since verses with masculine endings clearly have three beats, the feminine endings must be counted as one member only).

The first half-verse clearly has four beats when the ending is masculine, e.g. pe fáder hem lóuede álle inóu 686, þó þe king to élde cóm 688, þe fáder wás po glád inóu 697, Mi léue dóster he séde pó 698; so too generally when the ending is feminine, if the last syllable contains an unstressed e, e.g. Min héie gódes quáp pis máide 694, pet ich louie móre in min hérte 695. A compound or a word with a heavy derivative syllable, however, at the end of the verse can have a haupthebung and nebenhebung, i.e. can be a foot of two members, e.g. Vór he pózte his kinedòm 690, He rérede and clúpede it Léicèstre 683, To þe

nóblòste báchelèr 701, Vor héo was bést and véirèst 687, After king Bápùlf 680; sometimes within the verse, when another thesis follows, e.g. To pe éldèste he séde vérst 692, pe mídmèste het Régàn 685, And régnède prítti sér 681, Vpón þe wátèr of Stóure 682, pe dóstrèn bivore hím 689.

Thesis and anacrusis are sometimes disyllabic and can also be omitted. The first half-verse certainly contains four members, although it is not composed of equal bars like the regular short rimed couplet and the first half-line of the Poema Morale. It is of course impossible to assume a mixture of alexandrines and septenaries here.

§ 154. Verses with one, two and three Bars. Out of the second half-line of the septenary there arose a verse with three bars, which generally follows a riming couplet of verses with four bars in a stanza with tail-rime (§ 176), e.g.

Lustneb alle a lutel þrowe,

3e bat wollep ou selue yknowe,

vnwys þah y | be:

Ichulle telle ou ase y con,

hou holy wryt spekep of mon;

herkneb nou to me (Böddeker, G. L. 17).

But it is also used throughout such stanzas, e.g.

Sith | Gabriel gan | grete

Ure | ledi | Mari | swete

That godde wold | in hir | ligte

Abousand | 3er hit | isse,

pre hundred | ful wisse

And ouer geris | eizte. (Bonner Beitr. 14, 161,)

A tail-rime verse with two bars occurs occasionally, e.g. beginning of Beves of Hamptoun:

Ich wile gou tellen al to-gadre

Of þat knigt and of is fadre

Sire | Gii.

Of Hamtoun he was sire

And of al bat ilche schire

To war di.

Finally a verse with one bar is found, e.g. the ninth verse of the Tristremstanza (§ 174), where it serves to connect two parts of a stanza.

Bigere 9

burch | bine 31 In lede 64 In tour 75

[ocr errors]

§ 155. The Alexandrine.

In this period the alexandrine appears for the first time. It is used in one poem only, viz. the rimed chronicle of Robert Mannyng of Brunne (beginning of fourteenth century). This is a translation of a French poem in alexandrines by Pierre Langtoft.

The Old French alexandrine was a verse of twelve syllables with a fixed caesura after the sixth syllable. The sixth and twelfth syllables had to be stressed, and an unstressed syllable could follow them. The ME. alexandrine differs from the French in that it is not the number of syllables which is fixed, but the number of beats, or, since there is a fairly regular interchange of arses and theses, the number of bars. The ME. alexandrine, therefore, consists of six bars, each of which has an arsis and a thesis (xx). The verses are divided

« AnteriorContinuar »