This sort of doubling, however, occurs in Modern English poetry more rarely than that which is produced by adding a second long-lined couplet, but with a new rhyme, so that when the stanza is arranged in short lines we have the scheme a b c b d e f e.
A stanza like this of trochaic lines we find in Hymns Ancient and Modern, No. 419:
Still more frequent are stanzas of this kind consisting of four-foot and three-foot iambic lines, or of two-foot iambic-anapaestic and trochaic-dactylic lines (cf. Metrik, ii, § 265)
§ 235. More popular than the stanza just noticed is that developed from the long-lined couplets by inserted rhyme. A very instructive example of this development is given in the later version of the Legend of St. Katherine (ed. by Horstmann) which is a paraphrase of the older.
The first half-stanza is as follows:
Stanzas like this, which are frequent in Low Latin, Provençal, and Old French poetry, are very common in Middle and Modern English poetry. Examples may be found in Ritson’s Ancient Songs, i, p. 40, Surrey, pp. 37, 56, &c., Burns, p.97, &c., M. Arnold, Saint Brandan, p. 165, &c. Masculine and feminine rhymes do not alternate very often (cf. Percy’s Reliques, I. iii. 13). More frequently we find stanzas with refrain verses, e.g. Wyatt, p. 70.
Stanzas of this kind consisting of four- or three-foot iambic, trochaic, iambic-anapaestic, trochaic-dactylic lines, of three-foot iambic lines, or of two-foot dactylic or other lines are also very common, e.g. in M. Arnold’s A Modern Sappho (with alternating masculine and feminine verse-endings), Pis Aller (p. 230), Requiescat (p. 21).
Another stanza of great importance is what is called the elegiac stanza, which consists of four five-foot verses with crossed rhymes. In Middle English literature it was only used as a part of the Rhyme-Royal and of the eight-lined stanza. In Modern English, however, it has been used from the beginning more frequently; it occurs already in Wyatt (p. 58):
Other examples are found in M. Arnold’s poems Palladium (p. 251), Revolutions (p. 254), Self Deception (p. 225, with alternate masculine and feminine rhymes). This stanza is very popular throughout the Modern English period (cf. Metrik, ii, § 267).
Stanzas of this kind, however, consisting of trochaic verses, of six-foot (as in Tennyson’s Maud), seven- and eight-foot metres are not very frequently met with (cf. Metrik, ii, § 269)
§ 236. The four-lined, cross-rhyming stanza gives rise by doubling to the eight-lined (a b a b a b a b), which occurs very often in Middle English, as in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 99, or in the Luve-Rone by Thomas de Hales, ed. Morris (Old Eng. Misc., p. 93), where both masculine and feminine rhymes are used:
Stanzas of this kind are met with also in Modern English, as in Burns (p. 262); stanzas of four-stressed lines are found in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 110, and others of three-foot verses in Polit. Poems, i. 270.
There is still another mode of doubling, by which the four originally long-lined verses are broken up by the use of two different inserted rhymes; the scheme is then: a b a b c b c b. This is the stanza to which the second version of the Legend of St. Katherine has been adapted in paraphrasing it from the first (cf. §§ 77, 78, 235):
This stanza occurs, e.g., in Burns (p. 201). Less common is the form of stanza a b a b a c a c (e.g. in Wyatt, p. 48) resulting from the breaking up two rhyming couplets of long lines by inserted rhyme (not from four long lines with one rhyme).
The common mode of doubling is by adding to a four-lined stanza a second of exactly the same structure, but with new rhymes. Some few examples occur in Middle English in the Surtees Psalter, Ps. xliv, ll. 11, 12. Very frequently, however, we find it in Modern English constructed of the most varying metres, as, e.g., of five-foot iambic verses in Milton, Psalm VIII (vol. iii, p. 29):
More popular are stanzas of this kind consisting of three- or four-foot iambic, trochaic, and iambic-anapaestic verses, sometimes with alternate masculine and feminine rhymes. (For specimens see Metrik, ii, § 271.)
§ 237. Only very few examples occur of the sixteen-lined doubling of this stanza, according to the scheme a b a b c d c d e f e f g h g h2; it occurs, e.g., in Moore, When Night brings the Hour. Another form of eight lines (a b c d . a b c d3) is met with in Rossetti, The Shadows (ii. 249); it seems to be constructed on the analogy of a six-lined stanza (a b c . a b c), which is used pretty often. This stanza, which is closely allied to the tail-rhyme stanza described in § 238, consists most commonly of four-foot iambic verses; it occurs, e.g., in Campbell, Ode to the Memory of Burns (p. 19):
Specimens of forms of stanzas like this, consisting of other kinds of verse, e.g. of three-foot trochaic-dactylic verse, as in M. Arnold’s The Lord’s Messenger (p. 231), are given in Metrik, ii, § 272
§ 238. From the four- and eight-lined bipartite equal-membered isometrical stanzas, dealt with in the preceding paragraphs, it will be convenient to proceed to the six-lined stanzas of similar structure. To these belongs a certain form of the tail-rhyme stanza, the nature and origin of which will be discussed when we treat of the chief form, which consists of unequal verses. The isometrical six-lined stanzas to be discussed here show the same structure as the common tail-rhyme stanza, viz. a a b c c b. An example is afforded in a song, Ritson, i. 10:
In Modern English this stanza occurs very often, e.g. in Drayton, To the New Year (Poets, iii. 579); as a rule, however, it consists of four-foot iambic verses; e.g. in Suckling in a song (Poets, iii. 748):
In this poem all the tail-verses are feminine throughout; in other cases there are masculine and feminine verses, more often we find masculine or feminine exclusively; but usually they interchange without any rule. Examples of these varieties, and also of similar stanzas consisting of three-foot trochaic verses, of two- and three-foot iambic-anapaestic, and of five-foot iambic lines are given in Metrik, ii, § 273.
Stanzas of this form consisting of two-stressed verses occurring in Middle English poems have been quoted in § 65
§ 239. A variety that belongs to Modern English only is that in which the tail-verses are placed at the head of the half-stanzas, according to the formula a b b a c c. It occurs in Ben Jonson’s Hymn to God (Poets, iv. 561), consisting of two-foot iambic verses; another example, with four-foot trochaic verses, occurs in Mrs. Browning, A Portrait (iii. 57); cf. Metrik, ii, § 274.
A twelve-lined stanza, resulting from the doubling of the six-line stanza, is found only in Middle English poetry, its arrangement of rhymes being a a b c c b d d b e e b; or with a more elaborate rhyme-order, a a b a a b c c b c c b, as in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 41.
Still another modification of the simple six-lined stanza consists in the addition of a third rhyme-verse to the two rhyming couplets of each half-stanza; so that an eight-lined stanza results with the scheme a a a b c c c b. Two specimens of this kind of stanza, consisting of two-stressed lines and occurring in Early English dramatic poetry, have been quoted above, § 70.
The same stanza of two-foot verses occurs in the Coventry Mysteries, p. 342. In Modern English, too, we find it sometimes, consisting of three-foot iambic verses, as in Longfellow, King Olaf’s Death Drink (p. 577). Stanzas of five-, four-, and two-foot iambic verses and other metres are likewise in use. (For examples see Metrik, ii, § 275.) Some rarely occurring extended forms of this stanza are exemplified in Metrik, ii, § 277, their schemes being a ~ a ~ b ~ c d ~ d ~ b ~ c4, a ~ b ~ c ~ d e ~ f ~ g ~ d3, a b b c a d d c4, a a a a b c c c c b4.
Sixteen-lined stanzas of this kind of two-stressed verses (rhyming a a a b c c c b d d d b e e e b) that were frequently used in Middle English Romances have been quoted and discussed above, § 65.
§ 240. In connexion with the last section, the chief species of the tail-rhyme stanza may be discussed here first of all. This stanza, as a rule, consists of four four-foot and two three-foot verses, rhyming according to the scheme a a4 b3 c c4 b3; cf. the following specimen (Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 101):
The last line of each half-stanza, the tail-verse proper, was originally simply a refrain. The tripartite character of the half-stanza and the popular origin of the stanza was shown long ago by Wolf, Über die Lais, Sequenzen und Leiche, p. 27 (cf. Engl. Metrik, i, pp. 353–7). According to him this stanza was developed first of all from choruses sung in turn by the people and from the ecclesiastical responses which also had a popular origin, and lastly from the sequences and ‘proses’ of the middle ages.
A sequence-verse such as:
in its tripartition corresponds to the first half of the above-quoted Middle English tail-rhyme stanza:
When two long lines like this, connected with each other by the rhyme of the last section, the two first sections of each line being also combined by leonine rhyme, are broken up into six short verses, we have the tail-rhyme stanza in the form above described. This form was frequently used in Low Latin poetry, and thence passed into Romanic and Teutonic literature.
A form even more extensively used in Middle and Modern English poetry is that in which the tail-verse has feminine instead of masculine endings. A Modern English specimen from Drayton’s poem To Sir Henry Goodere (Poets, iii. 576) may be quoted; it begins:
This, the chief form of the tail-rhyme stanza, has been in use throughout the whole Modern English period. There has, however, never been any fixed rule as to the employment of feminine or masculine rhymes. Sometimes feminine tail-rhymes with masculine couplets are used (as in the example above), sometimes masculine rhymes only, while in other instances masculine and feminine rhymes are employed indiscriminately.
Iambic-anapaestic verses of four or three measures were also sometimes used in this form of stanza, as in Moore, Hero and Leander.
There are a great many varieties of this main form; the stanza may consist, for instance, of four- and two-foot iambic or trochaic lines, or of iambic lines of three and two, five and three, five and two measures, according to the schemes a a b c c4 b2, a a3 b2 c c3 b2, a a5 b3 c c5 b3, a a5 b2 c c5 b2, and a3 b b5 a3 c c5 (the tail-verses in front). For examples see Metrik, ii, § 279
§ 241. The next step in the development of this stanza was its enlargement to twelve lines (a a4 b3 c c4 b3 d d4 b3 e e4 b3) by doubling. This form occurs in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 43:
We are not in a position to quote a Modern English specimen of this stanza, but it was very popular in Middle English poetry, both in lyrics and in legends or romances, and in later dramatic poetry.[189].
§ 242. As to the further development of the tail-rhyme stanza, the enlarged forms must first be mentioned. They are produced by adding a third line to the principal lines of each half-stanza; the result being an eight-lined stanza of the formula a a a4 b3 c c c4 b3. Stanzas of this form occur in Early Middle English lyrics, e.g. in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 51 (with a refrain-stanza) and Polit. Songs, p. 187 (four-stressed main verses and two-stressed tail-verses, the latter having occasionally the appearance of being in three-beat rhythm).
A later example is found in Dunbar’s poem Off the Fenȝeit Freir of Tungland; in the Miracle Plays the form was also in favour. Isometrical stanzas of this kind have been mentioned above (§§ 238, 239).
In Modern English poetry this stanza is extensively used. We find it in Drayton, Nymphidia (Poets, iii. 177), with feminine tail-verses:
Other examples of this stanza, as of similar ones, consisting of four- and three-foot trochaic and iambic-anapaestic verses, are given in Metrik, ii, § 280.
There are some subdivisions of this stanza consisting of verses of three and two measures, of four and two measures, four and one measure, five and two, and five and one measure, according to the formulae a a a3 b2 c c c3 b2, a a a4 b2 c c c4 b2, a a a4 b1 c c c4 b1, a a a5 b2 c c c5 b2, a a a5 b1 c c c5 b1. For specimens see Metrik, ii, § 281.
The ten-lined tail-rhyme stanza occurs very rarely; we have an example in Longfellow’s The Goblet of Life (p. 114), its formula being a a a a4 b3 c c c c4 b3
§ 243. We find, however, pretty often—though only in Modern English—certain variant forms of the enlarged eight- and ten-lined tail-rhyme stanzas, the chief verses of which are of unequal length in each half-stanza; as in Congreve’s poem, On Miss Temple (Poets, vii. 568). In this poem the first verse of each half-stanza is shortened by one foot, in accordance with the formula a3 a a4 b3 c3 c c4 b3:
Stanzas of cognate form are quoted in Metrik, ii, §§ 283–5, constructed according to the schemes: a a2 a4 b3 c c2 c4 b3, a3 b b4 c ~2 a3 d d4 c ~2 (with a varying first rhyme in the chief verses), a a b b4 c2 d d e e4 c2 (ten lines, with a new rhyming couplet in the half-stanza), a a b b c3 C2 a a b b c3 C2 (an analogous twelve-lined stanza, extended by refrain in each half-stanza), a b a b5 c3 d e d e5 c3 (crossed rhymes in the principal verses).
Two uncommon variations that do not, strictly speaking, belong to the isocolic stanzas, correspond to the formulas a b b5 c2 c d d5 a2, a b a4 c ~2 b a b4 c ~2
§ 244. Another step in the development of the tail-rhyme stanza consisted in making the principal verses of the half-stanza shorter than the tail-verse. Models for this form existed in Low Latin, Provençal, and Old French poetry (cf. Metrik, i, § 366). In Middle English, however, there are not many stanzas of this form. We have an example in Dunbar’s poem Of the Ladyis Solistaris at Court (a a2 b3 c c2 b3 d d2 e3 f f2 e3):
The same rhythmical structure is found in the old ballad, The Notbrowne Maid, in Percy’s Reliques, vol. ii. In this collection the poem is printed in twelve-lined stanzas of four- and three-foot verses. Skeat, however, in his Specimens of English Literature, printed it in stanzas of six long lines.
In either arrangement the relationship of the metre to the Septenary verse comes clearly out.
In Modern English this stanza is also very popular. It occurs in Scott (p. 460, a a2 b3 c c2 b3), Burns (doubled, p. 61, a a2 b3 c c2 b3 d d2 e3 f f2 e3, p. 211, a a2 b3 c c2 b3 d d2 b3 e e2 b3).
Often there are also two- and three-foot iambic-anapaestic verses combined in stanzas of this kind, as in Cowper (p. 427), Burns (p. 244), &c.
Subordinate varieties of this stanza consisting of other verses are quoted, with specimens, in Metrik, ii, §§ 286–8, after the formulas: a a4 b5 c c4 b5, a a4 b6 c c4 b6, a a3 b5 c c3 b5, a a3 b c c b4, a a2 b4 c c2 b4, a ~ a ~ b ~ b ~ c d ~ d ~ e ~ e ~2 c3
§ 245. A small group of tail-rhyme stanzas consists of those in which the second chief verses are shorter than the first.
Such a variety occurs in a tail-rhyme stanza of four-foot trochaic verses, the second verse of each half-stanza being shortened by two measures. It was used by Donne in his translation of Psalm 137 (Poets, iv, 43):
The same stanza we find in Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn, v (p. 552). Similar stanzas are quoted in Metrik, ii, § 289, their schemes being a3 a2 b3 c3 c2 b3, a3 a2 b5 c3 c2 b5, a4 b3 b2 a4 c3 c2 (the tail-rhyme verse put in front)
§ 246. There are also some stanzas (a b4 c3 a b4 c3) which may be looked upon as modelled on the tail-rhyme stanza; such a stanza we find in Mrs. Browning’s poem, A Sabbath morning at Sea (iii. 74); its formula being a b4 c3 a b4 c3:
Other stanzas of this kind show the scheme: a4 b5 c3 a4 b5 c3, a b2 c4 a b2 c4, a2 b3 c1 a2 b3 c1, a ~ b a ~ b4 c ~6 d ~ e d ~ e4 c ~6; cf. Metrik, ii, § 290.
A stanza belonging to this group, and consisting of ten lines rhyming according to the formula a b a b3 c6 d e d e3 c6, occurs in M. Arnold’s Empedocles on Etna, p. 446 (printed in stanzas of five lines)
§ 247. Another metre, which was equally popular with the tail-rhyme stanza with its many varieties, is the stanza formed of two Septenary verses (catalectic tetrameters). In the Middle English period we find it used with feminine rhymes only; afterwards, however, there are both feminine and masculine rhymes, and in modern times the feminine ending is quite exceptional. This metre, broken up into four lines, is one of the oldest and most popular of equal-membered stanzas. One of its forms[190] has in hymn-books the designation of Common Metre.
Middle and Modern English specimens of this simple form have been given above (§§ 77, 78, 136, 138–40); in some of them the verses rhyme and are printed as long lines; in others the verses rhyme in long lines but are printed as short ones (a b c b), and in others, again, the verses both rhyme and are printed as short lines (a b a b).
On the analogy of this stanza, especially of the short-lined rhyming form, and of the doubled form with intermittent rhyme (which is, properly speaking, a stanza rhyming in long lines), there have been developed many new strophic forms. One of the most popular of these is the stanza consisting alternately of four- and three-foot iambic-anapaestic verses. In this form is written, e.g. the celebrated poem of Charles Wolfe, The Burial of Sir John Moore (cf. § 191):
In other poems there are masculine rhymes only, as in Cowper (p. 429).
Stanzas of this structure, composed of trochaic verses or of trochaic mixed with iambic or of dactylic mixed with iambic-anapaestic verses, are not frequent. (For examples see Metrik, ii, § 292.)
§ 248. Some other analogical developments from this type, however, occur pretty often; a stanza of alternate four- and two-foot verses (a4 b ~2 a4 b ~2) is used, for example, by Ben Jonson (Poets, iv. 545):
Another of five- and four-foot verses (a5 b4 a5 b4) occurs in Cowley, The long Life (Poets, v. 264):
Other less common analogous forms are given in Metrik, ii, § 298, the formulas being a5 b3 a5 b3, a3 b5 a3 b5, a5 b2 a5 b2, a2 b5 a2 b5.
There are also stanzas of anisometrical verses rhyming in couplets, but they occur very rarely. An example is Donne’s The Paradox (Poets, iv. 397), after the scheme a5 a3 b5 b3:
§ 249. Pretty often we find—not indeed in middle English, but in Modern English poetry—eight-lined (doubled) forms of the different four-lined stanzas. Only doubled forms, however, of the formula a4 b3 a4 b3 c4 d3 c4 d3 are employed with any frequency; they have either only masculine rhymes or rhymes which vary between masculine and feminine. An example of the latter kind we have in Drayton’s To his coy Love (Poets, iii. 585):
Eight-lined stanzas with the following schemes are not common:—a4 b3 c4 b3 a4 b3 c4 b3, a4 b3 a4 b3 c4 b3 c4 b3, a4 b3 a4 b3 a4 b3 a4 b3, a ~3 b4 a ~3 b4 c ~3 d4 c ~3 d4, a4 b3 c4 b3 d4 e3 f4 e3. Only in the last stanza and in the usual form a b a b c d c d we find trochaic and iambic-anapaestic verses. An example of the latter sort which is pretty often met with we have in Cunningham’s The Sycamore Shade (Poets, x. 717):
For specimens of the other subordinate varieties and of the rare twelve-lined stanza (a4 b3 c4 b3 d4 b3 e4 f3 d4 f3 g4 f3 and a4 b ~3 a4 b ~3 a4 b ~3 c4 d ~3 c4 d ~3 c4 d ~3) see Metrik, ii, §§ 295, 296
§ 250. There are also doubled forms of the before-mentioned analogical development of the Septenary, the schemes of which are as follows:
a4 b ~2 a4 b ~2 a4 b ~2 a4 b ~2, a3 b ~2 a3 b ~2 c3 d ~2 c3 d ~2, a ~2 b3 a ~2 b3 c ~2 d3 c ~2 d3, a ~4 b5 a ~4 b5 c ~4 d5 c ~4 d5, and a5 a4 b5 b4 c5 c4 d5 d4.
We must here refer to some eight-lined stanzas which have this common feature that the two half-stanzas are exactly alike, but the half-stanzas themselves consist of unequal members. These, however, will be treated in the next chapter.
In this connexion may be also mentioned the doubled Poulter’s Measure, which occurs somewhat frequently, as in Hymns Ancient and Modern, No. 149:
The same form of stanza was used in Hood’s well-known Song of the Shirt (p. 183).
Other stanzas of similar structure are given with specimens in Metrik, ii, §§ 300, 301; their formulas are a4 a4 b2 b5 c4 c4 d2 d5, a b a4 b3 c d c4 d3 (Moore, Dreaming for ever), a3 b b4 a3 c3 d d4 c3, a b a3 b2 c d c3 d2, a3 b2 c4 a2 d3 b2 c4 d2; in the same place we have mentioned some ten-lined stanzas of the forms a a4 b b2 a4 c c4 d d2 c4 (Moore, The Young May Moon) and a3 a2 b5 b2 c4 d3 d2 e5 e2 c4, &c.
§ 251. These different kinds of stanzas may be conveniently treated together, since they are closely allied with each other, in that both of them—the indivisible stanzas usually, and the bipartite unequal-membered stanzas frequently—exhibit a one-rhymed principal part.
The one-rhymed stanzas, taken as a whole, cannot without qualification be ranged under any of the other kinds of stanza. The four-lined and eight-lined stanzas of this form, it is true, do for the most part seem to belong so far as their syntactical structure is concerned to the bipartite, equal-membered class (a a, a a; a a a a, a a a a). But those of six lines may belong either to the bipartite (a a a, a a a) or to the tripartite class (a a, a a, a a). It is even more difficult to draw a sharp line of distinction when the strophes have an odd number of lines.
In no case is there such a definite demarcation between the chief parts in these one-rhymed stanzas as exists in stanzas with varied rhymes, whether based upon crossed rhymes or on rhyming couplets. Three-lined stanzas of the same structure as the four-lined stanzas to be described in the next section were not used before the Modern period. They occur pretty often, and are constructed of widely different kinds of verse; in Drayton’s The Heart (Poets, iii. 580) three-foot lines are used:
Stanzas of this kind, consisting of three-foot trochaic and dactylic verses, as well as stanzas of four-foot iambic, iambic-anapaestic, trochaic, and dactylic verses, are also met with in the Modern period. Even more popular, however, are those of five-foot iambic verses, as e. g. in Dryden, pp. 393, 400, &c. Stanzas of longer verses, on the other hand, e.g. six-foot dactylic, seven-foot trochaic, iambic, or iambic-anapaestic and eight-foot trochaic verses, occur only occasionally in the more recent poets, e.g. Tennyson, Swinburne, R. Browning, D.G. Rossetti, &c. (cf. Metrik, ii, §§ 303–4).
Some other Modern English anisometrical stanzas may also be mentioned, as one in Cowley with the formula a5 a4 a5 in Love’s Visibility (Poets, v. 273):
For other forms see Metrik, ii, § 305.
§ 252. Four-lined, one-rhymed stanzas of four-foot verses (used in Low Latin, Provençal and Old French poetry, cf. Metrik, i, p. 369) are early met with in Middle English poems, as in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, pp. 57 and 68.
The first begins with these verses, which happen to show a prevailing trochaic rhythm.
This simple form of stanza is also found in Modern English poetry; apparently, however, only in one of the earliest poets, viz. Wyatt (p. 36).
It occurs also in Middle English, consisting of four-stressed, rhyming-alliterative long-lines, as e.g. in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 237; and of simple four-stressed long lines in Wyatt (p. 147), and Burns (pp. 253, 265, &c.).
In Middle English poetry Septenary verses are often used in this way on the Low Latin model (cf. Metrik, i, pp. 90, 91, 370), as well as Septenary-Alexandrine verses, e.g. Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 93: