béalde býrnwiggènde. Jud. 17,

Júdas hire ongến þíngòde. El. 609.

Type AE, × . . -× × . -, somewhat more common than the last, and in both hemistichs, as

swéord and swátigne helm. Jud. 338,

sagde him únlỳtel spell. Gen. 2405.

Type BA, X.-x... - x. x, about 120 instances, has as its simplest form, xxxx, as

alaton liges gánga. Dan. 263;

with disyllabic thesis after the first arsis, ×××××, as awýrged to widan áldre. Gen. 1015;

with trisyllabic thesis, xx x x-x-x, as

hy twegen sceolon tafle ymbsíttan. Gnom. Ex. 182;

the initial thesis or anacrusis is rarely disyllabic.

Type BB, X.-x...x., about nine times and mostly in the first hemistichs, as

gebidan þæs hē gebédan ne még. Gnom. Ex. 105; with resolution of two of the accented syllables,

ofercúmen bið hē ar he acwele. Gnom. Ex. 114.

Type B C, X.. LX.

and nearly always in the first hemistich, as

and náhte éaldféondum. Dan. 454,

begóten of þæs gúman sidan. Cross 49.

Type BD, X.-X.. --xx, about sixteen times, and in either hemistich, as

on éorðan únsweslicne. Jud. 65,

alédon hie þær límwérigne. Cross 63.

Type CA, xx.x, with some fifteen examples, of which eight are in the first hemistich, as

gestod sorga maste. Crist 1209,

to cwále cnihta feorum. Dan. 226.

Type CC, x....x, occurs only nine times, of which six are in the second hemistich, as

bat was god almíhtig. Cross 396;

with resolution of the first accented syllable,

ne se brýne béotmecgum. Dan. 265,

pe pet wéorc stáðoláde. And. 800.

Other combinations are given by Sievers, Altgermanische Metrik, § 95, but these occur so rarely or are so doubtful that they need not be mentioned here. A few lengthened hemistichs have four beats, as

engel in pone ofn ínnan becwóm. Dan. 238,

and others in Sievers's Altgermanische Metrik, § 96.

Formation of Stanzas and Rhyme.

§ 40. OE. poetry is mainly narrative, and does not run into any kind of recurring stanza or strophe, but is entirely stichic. Traces of an arrangement of lines so as to form a stanza are found in Deor, the Runic Poem, the Psalms and Hymns, the so-called First Riddle, and in the Gnomic verses of the Exeter Book, which may be compared to the Old French 'tirades '.1

On the other hand, end-rhyme of the two hemistichs, combined with alliteration, is not very uncommon, though in most cases it seems only an incidental ornament, as

fýlle gefægon; fægere gepágon. Beow. 1014.

wórd-gyd wrécan ond ymb wér sprécan. Beow. 3172. In the Rhyming Poem of the Exeter Book we have eightyseven lines in which the first and second hemistichs rhyme throughout, and in some passages of other poems, noticeably in the Elene, vv. 114-115, and vv. 1237-1251, in which Cynewulf speaks in his own person, or Crist 591-595, And. 869– 871, 890, Güthl. 801, Phoen. 15-16, 54-55; assonance is found not unfrequently alongside of perfect rhyme, as in Güthl. 802, Phoen. 53. These places are sufficient to prove a systematic and deliberate use of rhyme, which serves to accentuate the lyrical tone of the passages.

Monosyllabic rhymes such as nān: tān (Rhym. Poem 78), rād:gebád (ib. 16), onláh: onwráh (ib. 1) are called masculine, and disyllabic rhymes like wóngum: góngum (ib. 7), géngdon: méngdon (ib. 11), or trisyllabic hlýnede: dýnede (ib. 28), swínsade: mínsade (ib. 29), bífade: hlífade (ib. 30), are called feminine. According to their position in the hemistich, rhymes fall into

1 See Sievers, Altgerm. Metrik, § 97.

two classes (a) interior rhymes like hond rónd gefèng Beow. 2609, stiomod gestód Beow. 2567, in compounds word-hòrd ontéac Beow. 259, in co-ordinate formulae like pa wæs sæl and mál Beow. 1008, wórdum and bórdum El. 24, grund ond sund And. 747, and as so-called grammatical rhymes lað við läðum Beow. 440, béarn æfter béarne, Gen. 1070; (b) sectional rhymes joining the two halves of one line, as

sécgas mec segon sýmbel ne algon. Rhym. P. 5;

not unfrequently, very often in the Rhyming Poem, two, three, four or more alliterative lines are connected in this fashion.

The OE. end rhymes are either (a) complete rhymes as hond: rond, gefagon: geþágon, or (6) assonances, in which only the vowels correspond, as wæf: læs El. 1238; wráðum: árum Crist. 595; lúfodon: wúnedon And. 870; that the assonances are not accidental is clear from the fact that they occur alongside of perfect rhymes.1

1 For other subdivisions of rhyme see Sievers, Altgerm. Metrik, §§ 99–102, with the treatises on the subject, and Bk. II, sect. ii, ch. 1 of this work.

CHAPTER III

THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE FREER FORM OF THE ALLITERATIVE LINE IN LATE OLD ENGLISH AND EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH

A. Transitional Forms.

§ 41. Increasing frequency of Rhyme. The alliterative line was, as we have seen, the only kind of verse known in English poetry down to the end of the Old English period. In the eleventh century, however, the strict conventions which governed the use of alliteration began to be relaxed and, at the same time, end-rhyme began to invade the alliterative line, and by this means it was resolved in the course of time into two separate lines. The process by which this came about is of great importance in enabling us to follow the further development of English versification. It has two varieties :

1. Systematic combination of end-rhyme and alliteration. 2. Unintentional or accidental combination of rhyme and alliteration.

The former-the intentional combination of rhyme with alliteration-never became popular in Old English; indeed, the few examples previously quoted are all that have been preserved. In these examples the hemistichs of each line conform to the ancient rules with regard to their rhythmic and alliterative structure, but are more uniform in type than was usual in the older poetry, and are more closely paired together by the use of final rhyme, which occurs in all its three varieties, monosyllabic, disyllabic, and trisyllabic.

wúniende weer wilbec biscær.

scéalcas waron scéarpe, scyl was héarpe,

hlúde hlýnede; hléodor dýnede. Rhyming Poem 26-28. The rhythm of the verse is mostly descending, Type A being the prevalent form, while Types D and E occur more rarely. The Types B and C, however, are also found. Possibly this kind of verse was formed on the model of certain Mediaeval Latin rhymed verses, or, somewhat more probably, on that of the Old Norse 'runhenda', as this poetic form may have been

made known in England by the Old Norse poet, Egil Skallagrimsson, who in the tenth century had lived in England and twice stayed at the court of King Æðelstan.

§ 42. Of greater interest than this systematic combination of alliteration and rhyme is the irregular and more or less unintentional occurrence of rhyme which in the eleventh century is found frequently in the native metre.

Isolated instances of rhyme or assonance may be met with even in the oldest Old English poems. For certain standing expressions linked by such a similarity of sound, mostly causing interior rhyme (i. e. rhyme within a hemistich), were admitted now and then in alliterative poetry, e. g.

sippan ic hond and rónd | hébban mihte. Beow. 656.

sæla and mæla ; | þat is sốð métod. ib. 1611.

In other cases such rhymes are to be found at the end of two hemistichs,

Hródgar máðelode, | hilt scéawode. Beow. 1687.

Wýrmum bewunden, | witum gebunden. Judith 115. Examples of this kind occur not unfrequently in several early OE. poems, but their number increases decidedly in the course of time from Beowulf, Andreas, Judith, up to Byrhtnoth and Be Dōmes dæge.

From the two last-mentioned poems, still written in pure alliterative verse, a few examples of rhyming-alliterative verses, or of simply rhymed verses occurring accidentally among the normal alliterative lines, may also be quoted here:

Býrhtnōð máðelode, | bórd háfenode. Byrhtn. 42.

fre embe stunde | he séalde sume wúnde. ib. 271. þær þā wæterbúrnan | swégdon and úrnon. Dom. 3. innon þam gemónge | on enlicum wónge. ib. 6.

nú þù scealt gréotan, | téaras géotan. ib. 82.

Thus it may be taken for granted that end-rhyme would have come into use in England, even if Norman-French poetry had never been introduced, although it is certainly not to be denied that it only became popular in England owing to French influence.

But can this influence explain the gradually increasing use