In Modern English stanzas of this kind, consisting of Septenary verses, are of rare occurrence. We have an example in Leigh Hunt’s The jovial Priest’s Confession (p. 338), a translation of the well-known poem ascribed to Walter Map, Mihi est propositum in taberna mori (cf. §§ 135, 182).
Shorter verses, e.g. iambic lines of three measures, are also very rarely used for such stanzas; e.g. in Donne and Denham (Poets, iv. 48 and v. 611)
§ 253. A small group of other stanzas connected with the above may be called indivisible stanzas. They consist of a one-rhymed main part mostly of three, more rarely of two or four lines, followed by a shorter refrain-verse, a cauda, as it were, but in itself too unimportant to lend a bipartite character to the stanza. Otherwise, stanzas like these might be looked upon as bipartite unequal-membered stanzas, with which, indeed, they stand in close relationship. Three-lined stanzas of this kind occur in Modern English only; as e.g. a stanza consisting of an heroic couplet and a two-foot refrain verse of different rhythm: a a5 B2 in Moore’s Song:
Other stanzas show the formulas a a5 b3 and a a4 b3. Their structure evidently is analogous to that of a four-lined Middle English stanza a a a4 B3, the model of which we find in Low Latin and Provençal poetry (cf. Metrik, i. 373) and in Furnivall’s Political, Religious, and Love Poems, p. 4:
Similar stanzas occur also in Modern English poets: a a a4 B2 in Wyatt, p. 99, a a a5 B3 in G. Herbert, p. 18, &c. We find others with the formula a a a4 b2 a a a4 b2 in Dunbar’s Inconstancy of Love, and with the formula a a a4 b3 c c c4 b3 d d d4 b3, in Dorset (Poets, vi. 512); there are also stanzas of five lines, e.g. a a a a4 B2 (Wyatt, p. 80).
An older poem in Ritson’s Anc. Songs, i. 140 (Welcom Yol), has the same metre and form of stanza, but with a refrain verse of two measures and a two-lined refrain prefixed to the first stanza: A B4 a a a4 B2 c c c4 B2. A similar extended stanza is found in Wyatt (p. 108) A3 b b b3 A3 B2; A3 c c c3 A3 B2. There are also in modern poetry similar isometrical stanzas, as in Swinburne (Poems, ii. 108) on the scheme a a a b5, c c c b5, d d d b5, e e e f5, g g g f5, h h h f5; in Campbell (p. 73) a a a b4, c c c b4, d d d b4; and in M. Arnold, The Second Best (p. 49), with feminine endings in the main part of the stanza, a ~ a ~ a ~ b4, c ~ c ~ c ~ b4, d ~ d ~ d ~ b4, &c.
§ 254. These are of greater number and variety. The shortest of them, however, viz. stanzas of four lines, are found only in Modern English; first of all, stanzas arranged according to the formula a a b a; in this case b can be used as refrain also, as in Sidney, Astrophel and Stella, Song I (Grosart, i. 75):
Similar stanzas of four-foot iambic and of two-foot iambic-anapaestic lines occur in Tennyson, The Daisy (p. 270), and in Longfellow, King Olaf and Earl Sigwald (p. 573).
Stanzas with the scheme a b b a also belong to this group, the two halves not being exactly equal, but only similar to each other on account of the unequal arrangement of rhymes.
Such a stanza of four-foot iambic verses occurs in an elegy of Ben Jonson’s (Poets, iv. 571):
and notably in Tennyson’s In Memoriam. Both this stanza and the similar stanza of trochaic verses are found pretty often (cf. Metrik, ii, § 311)
§ 255. More frequently five-lined stanzas occur. One on the scheme a b b a a4, similar to that just mentioned, is used in Sidney, Psalm XXVIII; others, composed in various metres, have a one-rhymed frons or cauda, e.g. a a a b b3 in Wyatt, p. 128, a a b b b4 in Moore (Still when Daylight) and other poets. Of greater importance are some stanzas on the formula a a b a b; they may be looked upon as isometrical tail-rhyme-stanzas, shortened by one chief verse; as a a b a B4, often occurring in Dunbar, e.g. in The Devil’s Inquest, and in Wyatt, p. 29:
Another form of this stanza, consisting of five-foot lines with refrain, occurs in Swinburne, In an Orchard (Poems, i. 116), and a variety consisting of three-foot verses is found in Drayton’s Ode to Himself (Poets, iii, p. 587). More frequently this stanza is found with the two parts in inverted order (a b a a b4), as in Moore:
There are also five-foot iambic and three-foot iambic-anapaestic and other lines connected in this way, as in G. Herbert (p. 82); in Longfellow, Enceladus (p. 595); on the scheme a b c c b3 in Wordsworth, i. 248; and in R. Browning according to the formula a b c c b4 (vi. 77). The allied form of stanza, a a b b a, probably originating by inversion of the two last verses of the former stanza (a a b a b), occurs in Middle English in the poem Of the Cuckoo and the Nightingale.[191]
The same stanza, both of four- and five-foot lines, is frequently employed by Dunbar; e.g. On his Heid-Ake, The Visitation of St. Francis, &c. We find it also in modern poets, composed of the same, or of other verses; Moore, e.g., has used it with five-foot iambic-anapaestic lines, in At the mid hour of Night.
A stanza on the model a b a b b is a favourite in Modern English; it is formed from the four-lined stanza (a b a b) by repeating the last rhyme. It consists of the most different kinds of verse; an example is Carew’s To my inconstant Mistress (Poets, iii. 678):
For other specimens in lines of five, three, and four feet see Metrik, ii. 307.
Much less common is the form a b b a b, which occurs e.g. in Coleridge’s Recollections of Love (a b b a b4).
Five-lined stanzas of crossed rhymes are not very rare; an example of the form a b a b a4 is found in R. Browning’s The Patriot (iv. 149):
For specimens of other forms see Metrik, ii, § 318
§ 256. The simplest kind of isometrical stanzas of this group is that in which the four-lined one-rhymed stanza is extended by the addition of a couplet with a new rhyme, so that it forms a six-lined stanza. A Latin stanza of this kind consisting of Septenary verses is given in Wright’s Pol. Poems, i. 253, and a Middle English imitation of it, ib. p. 268, in the poem On the Minorite Friars. The same stanza composed of four-stressed verses is used by Minot in his poem Of the batayl of Banocburn (ib. i. 61):
Here the frons is connected with the cauda, which recurs in each stanza as a kind of refrain, by means of concatenatio. Two other poems of Minot’s (v, ix) are written in similar stanzas of six and eight lines. In the ten-lined stanza of the poem in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 25, which is of similar structure, we find the doubling of the frons.
A six-lined stanza of this kind, which has the formula a a a b B B (B B being refrain-verses), is used by Dunbar in his Gray-Horse poem and in Luve Erdly and Divine. The latter begins:
The same kind of stanza occurs in Wyatt, p. 137. Other forms are: a a b a b b5, in Wyatt, p. 71; a b c c b a4 in John Scott, Conclusion (Poets, ix. 773); a b c b c a4 in Tennyson, A Character (p. 12):
Longer isometrical stanzas are unfrequent, and need hardly be mentioned here (cf. Metrik, ii, p. 556).
§ 257. Two-lined and four-lined stanzas. The shortest stanzas of this kind consist of two anisometrical lines, rhyming in couplets, e.g. four- and five-foot, five- and three-foot lines, &c.
These have been mentioned before (§ 207); but as a rule they are used, like the heroic couplet, in continuous systems only, without strophic arrangement.
The Poulter’s Measure (§§ 146, 206) must be mentioned in this place. This metre, also, is in narrative poetry employed without strophic arrangement; but in lyrical poetry it is sometimes written in stanzas. In this case it is mostly printed as a stanza of four lines, even when rhyming in long lines, i.e. with intermittent rhyme (a b3 c4 b3); e.g. in Tennyson, Marriage Morning (p. 285):
The division into stanzas is still more distinctly recognizable when there are crossed rhymes (a b3 a4 b3), as e.g. in a song in Percy’s Reliques, I. ii. 2, The Aged Lover renounceth Love (quoted by the grave-digger in Shakespeare’s Hamlet):
This stanza occurs very frequently (cf. Metrik, ii, § 321), but is rarely formed of trochaic verses.
Another rare variety on the scheme a ~ b3 c4 b3 is found in Mrs. Hemans, The Stream is free (vii. 42), and in M. Arnold’s The Neckan (p. 167).
Similar to the common Poulter’s Measure stanza is another stanza of iambic-anapaestic verses on the formula a a3 b4 a3 (in b middle-rhyme is used, so that the scheme may also be given as a a3 b b2 a3.)We find it in Burns, the a-rhymes being masculine (p. 245) and feminine (p. 218).
Four-lined stanzas of two rhyming couplets of unequal length are fairly common; as e.g. on the model a a5 b b4 in Dryden, Hymn for St. John’s Eve:
Other schemes that occur are a a4 b b5, a a b4 b5, a a b4 b2, a a4 b3 b2, a4 a2 b b4, a5 a3 b b5; there are even forms with lines of unequal length in each part, as e.g.: a4 a5 b7 b5, a7 a4 b2 b6, a5 a3 b5 b4, a5 a4 b4 b6. For examples see Metrik, ii (§§ 322–4).
Enclosing rhymes are also found; and in this case the lines of the same length usually rhyme together, as in the formula a3 b b5 a3 in Mrs. Hemans, The Song of Night (vi. 94):
Sometimes verses are used partly of unequal length: a3 b5 b3 a4 in M. Arnold, A Nameless Epitaph (p. 232), or a5 b2 b4 a5, a b b4 a3, &c. (cf. Metrik, ii, § 325)
§ 258. Stanzas of this kind frequently occur with crossed rhymes. Most commonly two longer verses are placed between two shorter ones, or vice versa; thus we have the formula a3 b a5 b3 in Southey’s The Ebb-Tide (ii. 193):
Other forms are a2 b a3 b2, a4 b a5 b4, a5 b a4 b5 (cf. Metrik, ii, § 326).
Three isometrical verses and one shorter or longer end-verse can also be so connected, as e.g. on the scheme a b a4 b2 in Pope, Ode on Solitude (p. 45):
or in Cowper on the model a b a4 b5 in Divine Love endures no Rival (p. 418):
Similar stanzas both with this and other arrangements of rhymes (as e. g. a b a5 b3, a b a4 b2, a b a3 b5) are very popular. A specimen of the first of these formulas is found in M. Arnold’s Progress (p. 252), and one of the second in his A Southern Night (p. 294). For other examples see Metrik, ii, §§ 326–7.
More rarely a short verse begins the stanza (e.g. a3 b a b5 in Mrs. Hemans, The Wish, vi. 249), or is placed in the middle on the scheme a5 b2 a b5 (as in G. Herbert, Church Lock and Key, p. 61). For specimens see Metrik, ii, §§ 328, 329.
Stanzas of one isometrical and another anisometrical half are not frequently met with; a specimen of the form a b4 a5 b2 is found in G. Herbert’s Employment (p. 51).
More common are stanzas of two anisometrical halves; in this case either the two middle or the isolated verses are generally isometrical; e.g. on the scheme a5 b a4 b3 in G. Herbert, The Temper (p. 49):
or on a4 b3 a4 b5 in Milton, Psalm V (vol. iii, p. 24):
Stanzas like these are very much in vogue, and may be composed of the most varied forms of verse (cf. Metrik, ii; § 330)
§ 259. Among the five-lined stanzas the first place must be given to those in which the arrangement of rhymes is parallel, as these are found in Middle English as well as in Modern English poetry. A stanza of form a a a4 b3 b6 occurs in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 60:
A similar structure (a a a4 b3 b5) is shown in a stanza of a poem quoted by Ritson, Ancient Songs, i. 129; the poem belongs to the fifteenth century.
Still more numerous are these stanzas in Modern English; e.g. the form a a a3 b b5 occurs in Herbert, Sinne (p. 58), a a a3 b4 b3 in Shelley (iii. 244), a a a b4 b5 in Suckling (Poets, iii. 734); a still more irregular structure (a4 a5 b b4 b5) in Cowley, All for love (Poets, v. 263):
Here again we meet with the stanzas mentioned above, which are partially characterized by enclosing rhymes, e.g. corresponding to the formula a b b a, as in M. Arnold, On the Rhine (p. 223), or on the scheme a a b b4 a5, as in Byron, Oh! snatch’d away, &c. (p. 123):
For other stanzas on the formulas a a5 b b4 A3, a5 b b4 a5 a4, a3 b b2 a a3, &c., see Metrik (ii, §§ 332, 333).
In others the chief part of the stanza shows crossed rhyme, as e.g. on the scheme a b a b4 b3 in Poe, To Helen (p. 205):
Other stanzas take the forms a5 b4 a5 b4 b5, a5 b2 a4 b3 b5, a4 b3 a4 b3 b2, &c. More uncommon are such forms as a3 b b5 a4 b5, a b5 b3 a b5, &c. (For specimens see Metrik, ii, § 334.)
Stanzas with crossed rhymes throughout, on the other hand, are very frequent, as e.g. type a b a b4 a3 in R. Browning’s By the Fireside (iii. 170):
There are many other forms, sometimes very complicated, as e.g. a b a b5 a3, a b5 a2 b a6, a3 b a4 b3 a5, &c. (For examples see Metrik, ii, § 335.)
§ 260. The tail-rhyme stanzas shortened by one verse occupy an important position among the five-lined stanzas.
These curtailed forms occur as early as the Middle English period, e.g. in an envoi on the model a a4 b2 a4 b2, forming the conclusion of a poem in six-lined stanzas (a a a4 b2 a4 b2), printed in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 38.
In Modern English the common form of stanza is much employed, consisting of four- and three-foot verses, a a4 b3 a4 b3; there are many varieties of this scheme, as a a b a4 b3, a5 a b4 a5 b3, a a2 b a4 b3, &c. (cf. Metrik, ii, § 336).
A similar form, with shortening in the first half-stanza, also occurs in Middle English poetry, though only as an envoi of another form of stanza, viz, in the Towneley Mysteries (pp. 34–323):
This stanza is also frequently used in Modern English, e.g. by Thomas Moore, Nay, do not weep.
A similar stanza on the model a4 b2 a a4 b2 is used by Moore in Echo (ii. 211):
We find specimens of this stanza consisting of other metres and of different structure (isometrical in the first half-stanza), e.g. on the schemes a5 b3 a a5 b3, a b a a4 b3, &c. (For specimens see Metrik, ii, § 337.)
Stanzas of this kind are also formed with three rhymes, e.g. a b3 c c2 b4, a b3 c c2 b3, a ~ b4 c ~ c ~2 b4, &c. (For specimens cf. Metrik, ii, § 338.)
Another class of shortened tail-rhyme stanzas, which is deficient not in one of the rhyming couplets, but in one of the tail-verses, comes in here. Omission of the first tail-verse, producing a stanza on the scheme a a b b c, occurs in Wordsworth, The Blind Highland Boy (ii. 368):
Another stanza, which is used in Carew’s Love’s Courtship (Poets, iii. 707), is formed on the scheme a a4 b2 c c4, where the tail-verse of the second half-stanza is wanting. As to the other varieties, arising from the use of other metres, cf. Metrik, ii, § 338.
Sometimes stanzas of three rhymes occur, rhyming crosswise throughout, and of various forms, e.g. a b a c4 b3 in Longfellow, The Saga of King Olaf (p. 565); a b4 c3 a4 c2 in Coleridge; a b a b5 C3 in Mrs. Hemans (iv. 119); a b a b4 C3 in Moore, Weep, Children of Israel:
For other varieties see Metrik, ii, § 339
§ 261. Unequal-membered anisometrical stanzas of six lines are only rarely met with in Middle English, as e.g. a a4 b b b a2 in Dunbar’s poem, Aganis Treason.
They occur, on the other hand, very frequently in Modern English, especially with parallel rhymes on the scheme a a a a4 B C2 in The Old and Young Courtier (Percy’s Rel. II. iii. 8):
For specimens of other stanzas, the rhymes of which are arranged in a similar way (according to a5 a a b b4 b5, or with partly enclosing rhymes, as a5 b b b b3 a5, a a b b b4 a2, a a4 b b b a2, &c.), see Metrik, ii, § 340.
Forms based upon the tail-rhyme stanza are very popular; of great importance is the entwined form on a Provençal model (cf. Bartsch, Provenzalisches Lesebuch, p. 46) which was imitated in Middle English poetry. It corresponds to the scheme a a a4 b3 a4 b3 and gives the impression, according to Wolf in his book, Über die Lais, &c., p. 230, note 67, that the second part of a common tail-rhyme stanza is inserted into the first, though it is also possible that it may have been formed from the extended tail-rhyme stanza a a a4 b3 a a a4 b3 by shortening the second part by two chief verses. The first stanza of a poem in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 94, may serve as a specimen:
This stanza occurs frequently in the Towneley Mysteries, pp. 120–34, 254–69, &c. In Modern English, however, we find it very seldom; as an example (iambic-anapaestic verses of four and three measures) we may refer to Campbell’s Stanzas on the battle of Navarino (p. 176).
More frequent in Modern English, on the other hand, is a variety of this stanza with two-foot tail-verses on the scheme a a a4 b2 a4 b2; it is especially common in Ramsay and Fergusson, and occurs in several poems of Burns, e.g. in his Scotch Drink (p. 6):
The same form of stanza is used by Wordsworth and by M. Arnold in his poem Kaiser Dead (p. 495).
The same stanza sometimes occurs with the order of the parts inverted like a4 b3 a a a4 b3, e.g. in Longfellow’s Voices of the Night (p. 40).
Other unequal-membered varieties of the anisometrical tail-rhyme stanza correspond to a a3 b5 a a5 b6 (cf. the chapter on the Spenserian stanza and its imitations), a a b c c4 b3 (M. Arnold, Horatian Echo, p. 47), a a b c c3 b5, a5 a3 b5 c c b5, a4 a2 b4 c2 c5 b4, a4 b3 a c c4 b3 (entwined frons), a a4 b3 c3 b4 c5 (entwined cauda).
For examples see Metrik, ii, § 343.
Here again we must mention stanzas which in their structure are influenced by the tail-rhyme stanza and are formed on the scheme a b c a b c; of these we have several examples in G. Herbert, on the scheme a b c5 a b4 c5, e.g. in Magdalena (p. 183):
Other stanzas of his correspond to a5 b4 c3 c4 b3 a5, a3 b5 c4 c4 b5 a3, &c. In Moore we have a similar stanza: a b4 c2 b a4 c2 which is unequal-membered on account of the arrangement of rhyme (cf. Metrik, ii, § 344). An unusual form of stanza, which may also be classed under this head, occurs in M. Arnold’s Human Life (p. 40), its formula being a3 b4 c a c b5.
§ 262. A stanza of seven lines is used in Dunbar’s poem The Merchants of Edinborough, formed on the scheme a a a b4 B2 a4 B4; it is very interesting on account of the duplication of the refrain-verses (B2, B4). Apart from the first short refrain-verse the arrangement of rhymes is the same as it is in the entwined tail-rhyme stanza:
The Modern English stanzas also mostly bear a greater or less resemblance to the tail-rhyme stanza. This relationship is evident in a stanza like a a4 b3 c c c4 b3, used in Wordsworth, To the Daisy (iii. 42):
A peculiar form of stanza occurring in M. Arnold’s In Utrumque Paratus (p. 45) with the formula a5 b3 a c b c5 b3 likewise belongs to this group.
In other instances the longer part comes first on the model a a a4 b3 c c4 b3, e.g. in Mrs. Hemans, The Sun (iv. 251).
Other stanzas correspond to a a3 b2 c c c3 B2 and a a a b c c2 b3.
In other cases the equal-membered tail-rhyme stanza becomes unequal-membered by adding to the second tail-verse another verse rhyming with it, the formula being then a a4 B2 a a4 b B2 (e.g. in Longfellow, Victor Galbraith, p. 503) or a a2 b4 c c2 b4 B3 (in Moore, Little man), or a a3 b2 c ~ c ~ b b3 (id., The Pilgrim).
Less closely allied to the tail-rhyme stanza are the forms which are similar to it only in one half-strophe, e.g. those on the model a4 b2 a b c c4 b2 (Shelley, To Night, iii. 62), a b3 c c2 a a4 b3 (id. Lines, iii. 86), a b b4 r2 a R4 r2 (Tennyson, A Dirge, p. 16). For other examples see Metrik, ii, § 347
§ 263. There are also some eight-, nine-, and ten-lined stanzas similar to the tail-rhyme stanza. An eight-lined stanza of the form a4 b a5 c2, b4 d d5 c2 occurs in Herbert, The Glance (p. 18), and one of the form a ~ a ~4 B c ~ d c ~ d4 B3 in Moore’s Thee, thee, only thee:
A stanza used by Wordsworth in Stray Pleasures (iv. 12) corresponds to a a2 b3 c c d d2 b3.
Two stanzas used by M. Arnold correspond to the formulas a a2 b2 c5 d4 c3 d4 b2 (a a printed as one line) in A Question (p. 44), and a a3 b5 c c3 d b d3 in The World and the Quietist (p. 46).
A stanza of nine lines is found in Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott (p. 28); it is on the scheme a a a a b c c c4 b; one of ten lines in his Greeting to the Duchess of Edinburgh (p. 261) on the model a b b a5 C2 d e e d5 C3 (cf. Metrik, ii, § 349).
Other stanzas of this kind are related to the Septenary or the Poulter’s Measure, e.g. those on the schemes a4 b3 a b c d c4 d3, a b a4 b3 c d3 c4 d3, and a b2 a4 b2 c3 d2 c4 d2, examples of which, from Moore, are given in Metrik, ii, § 348.
Stanzas of eleven and twelve lines are rare. For examples see Metrik, ii, § 350.
§ 264. The bob-wheel stanzas. This important class of bipartite unequal-membered anisometrical stanzas was very much in vogue in the Middle English period. They consist (see § 222) of a frons (longer verses of four stresses, or Septenary and Alexandrine verses) and a cauda, which is formed of shorter verses and is joined to the frons by one or several ‘bob-verses’, belonging generally to the first part or ‘upsong’ (in German Aufgesang).
Sometimes it is doubtful whether these stanzas belong to the bipartite or to the tripartite class, on account of the variety of rhymes in the frons. But as they mostly consist of two quite unequal parts, they certainly stand in a closer relationship to the bipartite stanzas.
A simple stanza of this kind on the scheme A A7 C1 B7 occurs in William of Shoreham (printed in short lines on the model A4 B3 C4 B3 d1 E4 D3):