With regard to the rhythmical treatment of trisyllables two classes of such words are to be distinguished, namely, (1) those in which the syllable bearing the primary accent is followed or (rarely) preceded by a syllable bearing a secondary accent, as e.g. gódspèlles, énglìshe, and (2) those in which the syllable bearing the primary accent is preceded or followed by a syllable wholly unaccented, as e.g. bigínnen, òvercóme, crístendòm, wéathercòck. In the latter case level stress is hardly ever met with, as the natural word-accent would be interfered with to an intolerable extent by accentuations like cristéndom, weathércock, ovércome, bíginnén, fórgottén, béhavióur, &c.

Words like these therefore can in regular iambic or trochaic verse be used only with their natural accentuation, and hence those syllables which either have the primary or the secondary accent are always placed in the arsis, and the unaccented ones in the thesis, e.g.: To wínnenn únnder Crísstenndóm Orm. Ded. 137; off þátt itt wáss bigúnnenn ib. 88; Though the séas thréaten, théy are mércifúl Shakesp. Temp. V. 178; Ónly compóund me wíth forgótten dúst id. 2 Hen. IV, IV. v. 116, &c. On the other hand, when primary and secondary accent occur in two adjacent syllables level stress is very common, in Middle English, especially between the first and the second syllable, as godspélles hállȝhe láre Orm. 14, more rarely between the second and the third syllable, as þa Góddspelléss neh álle ib. 30; it also occurs in Chaucer’s poems, as For thóusandés his hóndes máden dýe Troil. v. 1816; in the same way Modern English words are treated to fit the rhythm, as e.g. mídsùmmer, faíntheàrted, in Farewéll, fáint-héarted ánd degénerate kíng Shak. 3 Hen. VI. I. i. 138; And górgeous ás the sún at mídsummér 1 Hen. IV, IV. i. 102. With the more recent poets this latter kind of rhythmical accentuation becomes the more usual of the two, although the nature and the meaning of the compound word always play an important part in such cases.

With regard to their accentuation and metrical employment words of four syllables also fall into three classes: 1. Inflected forms of words belonging to the first group of trisyllables, like crístendómes, which can be used in the rhythm of the verse only with their natural accentuation; 2. words like fordémde (first and last syllable unaccented, the second syllable having the chief accent) with a determinative prefix, as e.g. únfordémde; these likewise are used in the rhythm of the verse according to their natural accentuation; 3. words of the third group with a prefix which either has the secondary accent, or is unaccented, as ùnwíslìce or iwítnèsse; the metrical usage of these is regulated according to the rules for the trisyllabic words. The same is to be observed with regard to words of five and six syllables like únderstándìnge, únimételiche, which, however, are only of rare occurrence.

§ 118. B. Romanic words. It was not till the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that Romanic words passed in considerable numbers into the English language; and they were then accommodated to the general laws of accentuation of English. The transition, however, from Romanic to Germanic accentuation certainly did not take place at once, but gradually, and earlier in some districts and in some classes of society than in others; in educated circles undoubtedly later than amongst the common people. The accentuation of the newly introduced Romanic words thus being in a vacillating state, we easily see how the poets writing at that period in foreign even-beat rhythms, of whom Chaucer may serve as a representative, could use those words with whichever accentuation best suited their need at the moment, admitting the Romanic accentuation chiefly in rhymes, where it afforded them great facilities, and the usual Germanic accentuation mostly in the interior of the line. A few examples will suffice to illustrate this well-known fact. We arrange them in five classes according to the number of syllables in the words; the principles of metrical accentuation not being precisely identical in the several classes.

II. Words having in French the accent on the first syllable, the last syllable being unaccented. These words, partly substantives or adjectives, as people, nombre, propre, partly verbs, as praye, suffre, crie (in which case the accentuation of the sing. of the present tense prevails), are always used in verse with the original accentuation, the second unaccented syllable either (1) forming a full thesis of the verse, as in the péple préseth thíderward Kn. T. 1672; bý his própre gód Prol. 581, or (2) being elided or slurred and forming only part of the thesis, as in the nómbre and éek the cáuse ib. 716; and crýe as hé were wóod ib. 636.

As a rule also the original and usual accent is retained by disyllabic words containing an unaccented prefix, as in accord, abet, desyr, defence, &c. Only words composed with the prefix dis- occur with either accentuation, as díscreet and discréet.

§ 119. Trisyllabic words. I. Words, the last syllable of which in French has the chief accent, the first having a secondary accent. In these words the two accents are transposed in English, so that the first syllable bears the chief accent, the last the secondary accent, and both of them as a rule receive the rhythmical accent: émperóur, árgumént. But if two syllables of such a word form a disyllabic thesis, generally the last syllable which has the secondary accent is lowered to the unaccented grade: árgument, émperour.

Verbs ending in -ice (-isse), -ishe, -ie, as e.g. chérisse, púnishe, stúdie, cárrie, tárrie, nearly always have the accent on the first syllable, the last syllable being elided or apocopated, except where it is strengthened by a final consonant, as e.g. chérishëd, tárriëd. If the first syllable of a trisyllabic word be formed by an unaccented particle, the root-syllable of the word, in this case the middle one, likewise retains the accent, as e.g. in despíse, remaíne.

§ 120. Four-syllable words of French origin when they are substantives or adjectives frequently have disyllabic or trisyllabic suffixes such as: -age, -iage, -ian, -iant, -aunce, -iance, -iaunce, -ence, -ience, -ient, -ier, -ioun, -ious, -eous, -uous, -ial, -ual, -iat, -iour, -ure, -ie (-ye). As most of these words already have a trochaic or iambic rhythm, they are used without difficulty in even-beat disyllabic verses, chiefly in rhymes, and then always with their full syllabic value, as e.g.: pílgrimáge: coráge Prol. 11–12; hóstelrýe: cómpanýe ib. 23–4; resóun: condícióun ib. 37–8; chývalrýe: cúrtesýe ib. 45–6; chívachíe: Pícardíe ib. 185–6; cónsciénce: réverénce ib. 141–2; tóun: conféssióun ib. 217–18; curát: licénciát 219–20; góvernáunce : chévysáunce ib. 291–2, &c. In the interior of a verse also the words not ending in an unaccented e are always metrically treated according to their full syllabic value, e.g.: That héeld opínyóun that pléyn delýt Prol. 337; Of hís compléxióun he wás sangwýn ib. 333. In those words, on the other hand, which end in an unaccented e, this vowel is in the interior of the verse generally elided or apocopated: no vílanýe is ít ib. 740; ín that óstelríe alíght ib. 720; So móche of dáliáunce and fáir langáge ib. 211; And ál was cónsciénce and téndre hérte ib. 150.

The rhythmic accentuation of foreign proper names both in disyllables and in polysyllables varies. Thus we may notice the accentuations Junó, Plató, Venús, and, on the other hand, Júno, Pláto, Vénus; Arcíte, Athénes, and Árcíte, Áthenes; Antónie and Ántoníe. Wherever in such cases level stress may help to smooth the rhythm it certainly is to be assumed in reading.

II. Word-accent in Modern English

§ 121. Modern English accentuation deviates little from that of the Old English and Middle English; the inflexional endings, however, play a much less important part; further, in many cases the Romanic accentuation of Middle English is still in existence, or at least has influence, in words of French or Latin origin. This is evident from many deviations in the rhythmic accentuation of such words from the modern accentuation which we here regard as normal, though it is to be noted that in the beginning of the Modern English epoch, i.e. in the sixteenth century, the actual accentuation in many cases was still in conformity with the earlier conditions.

§ 122. It is the same with many other disyllabic words, especially those both syllables of which are almost of equal sound-value and degree of stress, as in cases in which two different meanings of one and the same word are indicated by different accentuation, a distinction not unfrequently neglected in the metrical treatment of these words.

§ 123. Trisyllabic and polysyllabic words, too, of French or Latin origin are still used frequently in the beginning of the Modern English period with an accentuation contrary to present usage. Words e.g. which now have the chief accent on the second syllable, the first and third syllable being unaccented, are often used with the rhythmical accents on these two syllables, e.g.: cónfessór Meas. IV. iii. 133, cóntinúe Wyatt 189; départúre ib. 129; répentánce ib. 205, éndeavóur ib. 232; détestáble John III. iv. 29, rhéumatíc Ven. 135, &c. Likewise in words the first and third syllables of which are now accented and the second unaccented, the rhythmical accent is placed on this very syllable, e.g. charácter Lucr. 807, confíscate Cymb. V. v. 323, contráry Wyatt 8, impórtune Ant. IV. xv. 19, oppórtune Temp. IV. i. 26, perséver All’s Well IV. ii. 37, prescíence Troil. I. iii. 199, siníster Troil. IV. v. 128. Certain verbs also in -ise, -ize are used with fluctuating accentuation; Shakespeare e.g. always has advértise Meas. i. 142, authórise Sonn. 35, canónize Troil. II. ii. 202; sometimes also solémnize Temp. v. 309 (cf. Metrik, ii. §§ 64, 65).

Foreign proper names especially in many cases are subject, as in earlier times, to variable accentuation, as e.g.: Ajáx Sur.129, Cæsár Wyatt 191, Cató ib. 191, the more usual accentuation also occurring in the writings of the same poets; similarly Átridés Sur. 129 and Atríde ib. 116, Cárthages ib. 149 and Cartháge 175. Shakespeare has always the unclassical Andrónicus, Hypérion, Cleopátra, but for rhythmical reasons Nórthamptón Rich. III, II. iv. 1 instead of Northámpton, and so in several other cases (cf. Metrik, ii. § 67)

§ 124. Amongst the Germanic vocables the parathetic compounds chiefly call for notice, as their accentuation in common speech also approaches level stress, and for this reason they may be used with either accentuation. This group includes compounds like moonlight, welfare, farewell, and some conjunctions, prepositions, and pronouns, as therefore, wherefore, something, nothing, sometimes, into, unto, towards, without, as e.g.: thérefore Wyatt 24, &c., therefóre ib. 42, nóthing Rich. II, II. ii. 12, nothíng Rich. III, I. i. 236, únto Sur. 125, untó Sur. 117 (cf. Metrik, ii. § 58).

DIVISION II
Verse-forms Common to the Middle and
Modern English Periods
CHAPTER IX
LINES OF EIGHT FEET, FOUR FEET, TWO FEET,
AND ONE FOOT

§ 125. Among the metres introduced into Middle English poetry in imitation of foreign models, perhaps the oldest is the four-foot verse, rhyming in couplets. This metre may be regarded as having originally arisen by halving the eight-foot line, although only an isolated example of this, dating from about the middle of the thirteenth century, quoted above (p. 127), is known in Middle English poetry. This, however, serves with special clearness to illustrate the resolution, by means of inserted rhyme, of the eight-foot long-line couplet into four-foot lines rhyming alternately (cf. § 78).

In the manuscript the verses, though rhyming in long lines, are written as short lines, with intermittent rhyme a b c b d b e b, just as the example of Modern English eight-foot iambic verse, quoted before (p. 127), is found printed with this arrangement, as is indeed generally the case with most long-line forms of that type. This metre calls for no other remarks on its rhythmical structure than will have to be made with regard to the four-foot verse.

§ 126. The four-foot line, rhyming in couplets, first appears in a paraphrase of the Pater Noster of the end of the twelfth century,[142] doubtless in imitation of the Old French vers octosyllabe made known in England by Anglo-Norman poets, such as Gaimar, Wace, Benoit, &c.

This French metre consists of eight syllables when the ending is monosyllabic, and nine when it is disyllabic.

The lines are always connected in couplets by rhyme, but masculine and feminine rhymes need not alternate with one another.

It is exactly the same with the Middle English four-foot line, except that the rising iambic rhythm comes out more clearly in it, and that, instead of the Romanic principle of counting the syllables, that of the equality of beats is perceptible, so that the equality of the number of syllables in the verses is not so strictly observed. Hence, all the deviations before mentioned from the strict formal structure of even-beat verses occur even in this early poem, and quite regularly constructed couplets are indeed but rare in it. Examples of this type are the following:

The first ten lines of the poem give a sufficient idea of the structure of the verse, and its characteristics:

Here we find almost all the rhythmical licences to be found in even-beat metres. Thus we have suppression of the anacrusis in line 8 and again in two consecutive lines, such as 15, 16:

and very often in the course of the poem, e.g. ll. 22, 29, 30, 37, &c., so that it acquires a loose, iambic-trochaic cadence; further, the absence of an unaccented syllable in the middle of the line (line 2); inversion of accent in line 9, and again in line 81, Láverd he ís of álle scáfte; two unaccented syllables at the beginning and in the interior of the verse in 4; light slurrings ll. 1, 3, 5; only ll. 7 and 10 are regularly constructed throughout. The same proportion of regular to irregular verses runs through the whole poem, in which, besides the licences mentioned, that of level stress is also often to be met with, especially in rhymes like wurþíng: héovenkíng 99–100; hatíng: king 193–4, 219–20; fóndúnge: swínkúnge 242–3.

§ 127. The treatment of the caesura in this metre also deserves, special mention, for this, as has already been stated, is one of the chief points in which the four-foot even-beat metre differs from the four-stress metre, as represented either by the old alliterative long line or by the later non-alliterating line. For there must be a caesura in every four-beat verse, and it must always be found in one definite place, viz. after the second beat next to any unaccented syllable or syllables that follow the beat, the line being thus divided into two rhythmically fairly equal halves. On the other hand, for the four-foot verse, not only in this, its earliest appearance, but in the rest of Middle and Modern English literature, the caesura is not obligatory, and when it does occur it may, theoretically speaking, stand in any place in the line, although it most frequently appears after the second foot, particularly in the oldest period.

The caesura may (§ 80) be of three kinds:

(1) Monosyllabic or masculine caesura:

(2) Disyllabic or feminine caesura, two kinds of which are to be distinguished, viz.

(a) Lyric caesura, within a foot:

(b) Epic caesura caused by a supernumerary unaccented syllable before the pause:

These three kinds of caesura, the last of which, it is true, we meet here only sporadically, may thus in four-foot verse also occur after, as well as in the other feet. Thus we find in the very first line, a lyrical caesura after the first foot:

This, however, seldom happens in the oldest examples, in which caesuras sharply dividing the line are rare, enjambement being only seldom admitted. Examples of verses without caesuras are to be found, among others, in the following: Þúrh béelzebúbes swíkedóm 10, Intó þe þósternésse héllen 104. As a rule, in the four-foot verse as well as in French octosyllabics, a pause does not occur until the end, on account of the shortness of this metre, which generally only suffices for one rhythmic section, while in four-beat verse a regular division into two rhythmic sections, and consequently the constant occurrence of a caesura, is rendered possible by the greater number of unaccented syllables.

The end of the line may, in any order, have either a masculine rhyme, as in ll. 1–4, 9, 10, or a feminine rhyme, as in ll. 7 and 8. There occur besides, but seldom, trisyllabic rhymes, such as those in ll. 5–6, or súnegen: múnegen 141–2

§ 128. This metre continued to be very popular in Middle and Modern English poetry, and is still extensively used. As a rule its structure constantly remained the same; nevertheless we may, in both periods, distinguish between two well-marked ways of treating it. It was, for instance, at the end of the thirteenth and in the first half of the fourteenth century, very freely handled in the North of England in the Surtees Psalter, further by Robert Mannyng in his Handlyng Sinne, and by Richard Rolle de Hampole in his Pricke of Conscience. Their treatment of this verse is characterized, for instance, by the remarkably frequent occurrence of two and even three unaccented syllables at the beginning and in the middle of the line, e.g.:

The other extreme of strict regularity in the number of syllables is exhibited in another group of North English and Scottish compositions of the fourteenth century, such as the Metrical Homilies, the Cursor Mundi, Barbour’s Bruce, Wyntoun’s Chronykyl. The metrical licences most frequent here are level stress, suppression of the anacrusis, and the omission of unaccented syllables in the middle of the line, in the Metrical Homilies. The rhythm is, however, as a rule, strictly iambic, and the number of syllables eight or nine, according as the rhymes are masculine or feminine.

§ 129. The contemporaneous literary productions of the Midlands and South written in this metre generally observe a mean between the free and the strict versification of the two northern groups.

These are inter alia The Story of Genesis and Exodus, The Owl and Nightingale, The Lay of Havelok, Sir Orfeo, King Alisander, several compositions of Chaucer’s,[143] as, for instance, The Book of the Duchesse, The House of Fame, Gower’s Confessio Amantis, and others. The last work, as well as The Owl and Nightingale, is written in almost perfectly regular iambic verses, in which the syllables are strictly counted. The other compositions more frequently admit the familiar rhythmical licences and have a freer movement, but none to the same extent as the Pater Noster. In artistic perfection this metre presents itself to us in Chaucer, who was particularly skilful in employing and varying the enjambement. A short specimen from his House of Fame (ll. 151–74) will illustrate this:

§ 130. Four-foot verses often occur also in Middle English in connexion with other metrical forms, especially with three-foot verses, e.g. in the Septenary, which is resolved by the rhyme into two short lines, and in the tail-rhyme stanza, or rime couée (cf. §§ 78, 79).

In these combinations the structure of the metre remains essentially the same, only there are in many poems more frequent instances of suppression of the anacrusis, so that the metre assumes a variable cadence, partly trochaic, partly iambic. At the end of the Middle English period the four-foot verse was, along with other metrical forms, employed by preference in the earlier dramatic productions, and was skilfully used by Heywood, among others, in his interlude, The Four P.’s.[144].

§ 131. In he Modern English period this metre has also found great favour, and we may, as in the case of other metres, distinguish between a strict and a freer variety of it. The strict form was, and is, mostly represented in lyric poetry, in verses rhyming in couplets or in cross rhyme. The rhythm is generally in this case (since the separation between iambic and trochaic verse-forms became definitely established) strictly iambic, generally with monosyllabic rhymes.

A greater interest attaches to the freer variety of the metre, which is to be regarded as a direct continuation of the Middle English four-foot verse, inasmuch as it was practised by the poets of the first Modern English period in imitation of earlier models, and has been further cultivated by their successors down to the most recent times. The characteristic feature in this treatment of the four-foot verse is the frequent suppression of the anacrusis, by which it comes to resemble the four-beat verse, along with which it is often used. But whilst the latter generally has an iambic-anapaestic or trochaic-dactylic structure, and is constantly divided by the caesura into two halves, the Modern English four-foot verse of the freer type has, as a rule, an alternately iambic and trochaic rhythm, with a rare occurrence of caesuras. Shakespeare and other dramatists often employ this metre for lyrical passages in their dramas. Of longer poems in the earlier period Milton’s L’Allegro and Il Penseroso are conspicuous examples.

The following passage from L’Allegro (ll. 11–16) may serve as a specimen:

The structure of the verse is essentially iambic, though the iambic metre frequently, by suppression of the initial theses, as in the thirteenth and fifteenth lines of this passage, falls into a trochaic cadence. Pure trochaic verses, i.e. those that begin with an accented syllable and end with an unaccented one, occur in these two poems, in couplets, only once, L’Allegro (ll. 69–70):

With masculine endings such couplets are frequent, e.g. Il Penseroso, 67–8:

further, ll. 75–6, 81–2, 141–2, &c.

As a rule, pure iambic lines rhyme together, or an iambic with a line that has a trochaic cadence, as, for instance, in the above specimen, L’Allegro, 13–14 and 15–16.

Besides initial truncation there also occur here the other metrical licences observed in iambic rhythm.

§ 132. Many sections of the narrative poems of Coleridge, Scott, and Byron, e.g. the latter’s Siege of Corinth, are written in this form, with which, in especially animated passages, four-beat verses often alternate. Cf., for instance, the following passage, xvi, from the last-named poem:

Lines 5–7 can be at once recognized as four-stress verses by the iambic-anapaestic rhythm, as well as by the strongly-marked caesura, which, in the four-foot verses 4, and especially 8 and 10, is entirely or almost entirely absent (cf. pp. 98–9); and both metrical forms, the calmer four-foot verse and the more animated four-stress metre, are in harmonious agreement with the tone of this passage.

Four-foot lines, forming component parts of metrically heterogeneous types of stanzas, such, for instance, as the tail-rhyme stave, are generally more regularly constructed than in the Middle English period.

§ 133. Among the metrical forms which took their rise from the four-foot line, the most noteworthy are the two-foot and the one-foot verse, the former the result of halving the four-foot verse, the latter of dividing the two-foot verse, as a rule, by means of the rhyme. These verse-forms only seldom occur in the Middle English period, as a rule in anisometrical stanzas in connexion with verses of greater length. Thus, in the poem in Wright’s Specimens of Lyric Poetry, p. 38, composed in the entwined tail-rhyme stanza, the short lines have two accents: wiþóute stríf: y wýte, a wýf 10–12; in tóune tréwe: while ý may gléwe 4–6. The eighteen-lined enlarged tail-rhyme stave of the ballad, The Nut-brown Maid (Percy’s Reliques, iii. 6), also consists of two- and three-foot lines; in this case the two-foot lines may be conceived as the result of halving the first hemistich of the septenary line.

The commonest rhythmical licences are inversion of accent and initial truncation. In stanzas verses of this sort occur, for the most part it seems, with the rhyme-order a b c b, for instance in Burns, The Cats like Kitchen, and Moore, When Love is Kind, so that these verses might be regarded as four-foot lines rhyming in couplets.

§ 134. One-foot lines, both with single and with double ending, likewise occur in Middle English only as component parts of anisometrical stanzas, as a rule as bob-verses in what are called bob-wheel staves; as, for instance, in a poem in Wright’s Songs and Carols (Percy Society, 1847), the line With áye rhyming with the three-foot line Aye, áye, I dár well sáy; in the Towneley Mysteries, the verse Alás rhyming with A góod máster he wás; in an Easter Carol (Morris, An Old Engl. Miscellany, pp. 197–9), the line So strónge rhyming with Jóye hím wit sónge, or In lónde and of hónde rhyming with Al with jóye þat is fúnde.

CHAPTER X
THE SEPTENARY, THE ALEXANDRINE, AND THE THREE-FOOT LINE

§ 135. The Septenary is a favourite Middle English metre, going back to a Mediaeval Latin model. It cannot, however, be definitely determined whether this is to be found in the (accentual) catalectic iambic tetrameter, an example of which is preserved, among other instances, in the Planctus Bonaventurae (1221–74) printed by Mone in his Latin Hymns of the Middle Ages, which begins as follows: