Historical Manual of English Prosody. Saintsbury George

which was shortly to come in necessarily makes such lines, though they may not have been intended as such; for instance—

      Take we | her words | at worth, | for her | witness | be true;

      (B. xii. 125.)

      and even octosyllables will appear—

      Ne no say robe in rich[e] pelure;

      (A. iii. 277.)

       partly explaining to us the chaos of lines in fifteenth-century poetry.

XIV. Later Middle English Period

       Scansions from Chaucer.

       Table of Contents

      Octosyllable:

      Hit was | of Ve|nus re|dely,

       This tem|ple; for | in por|treyture,

       I saw | anoon | right hir | figure

       Na|ked fle|tynge in | a see. And al|so on hir heed, | parde, Hir ro|se gar|lond white | and reed, And | hir comb | to kemb|e hir heed, Hir dow|ves, and | daun Cu|pido, Hir blin|de son|e, and Vul|cano, That in | his fa|ce was | ful broun.

      (House of Fame, i. 130–139.)

      (Two "acephalous" lines, initial monosyllabic feet, or trochaic admixtures; some unimportant elisions before vowels and h; middle pause not kept in lines 1, 4, 6, and 10.)

      Rhyme-royal:

      And down | from then|nès faste | he gan | avise This li|tel spot | of erthe | that with | the see Embra|cèd is, | and ful|ly gan | despise This wrec|ched world, | and held | al vanite, To re|spect of | the pleyne | feli|cite That is | in heven|e above. And at | the laste Ther he | was slayn | his lo|king down | he caste.

      (Troilus and Criseyde, v. 1814–20.)

      (Metre quite regular, but pause much varied—practically none in line 5. Elisions as above, but e's not valued, or elided, in erthe, pleyne. Final couplet hendecasyllabic, as indeed most are.)

      (a) Riding rhyme or heroic couplet:

      Whan that April|le with | his shou|res soote

       The droght|e of March | hath per|ced to | the roote,

       And bath|ed ev|ery veyn|e in swich | licour

       Of which | vertu | engen|dred is |the fleur;

       Whan Ze|phirus | eek with | his swe|te breeth Inspi|red hath | in ev|ery holt | and heeth The ten|dre crop|pes, and | the yon|ge sonne Hath in | the Ram | his half|e cours | y-ronne, And smal|e fowel|es ma|ken me|lodye, That sle|pen al | the nyght | with o|pen eye— So pri|keth hem | Nature | in hir | corages— Thanne long|en folk | to goon | on pil|grimages, And pal|meres for | to se|ken straun|ge strondes, To fer|ne hal|wes, kowth|e in son|dry londes; And spec|ially, | from ev|ery shi|res ende Of En|gelond, | to Caun|terbury | they wende, The hoo|ly blis|ful mar|tir for | to seke That hem | hath hol|pen whan | that they | were seeke.

      (Opening paragraph of Canterbury Tales.)

      (Very regular; but possible trisyllabic feet wherever "every" occurs, and a certain one in "Caunt|erbury|." Pause almost indifferently at 4th and 5th syllables. French-Latin accent in "Natùre." Many hendecasyllables or redundances; but all made by the e in one form or another.)

      (b) "Acephalous" or nine-syllable lines:

      Twen|ty bo|kes clad | in blak | or reed. (Prol. 274.)

      (c) Alexandrines:

      Westward, | right swich | ano|ther in | the op|posite.

      (K. T. 1036.)

      So sor|weful|ly eek | that I | wende ver|raily.

      (Sq. T. 585.)

XV. Later Middle English Period

       Variations from Strict Iambic Norm in Gower.

       Table of Contents

      (a) Trochaic substitution:

      Ūndĕr | the gren|e thei | begrave.

      (Conf. Am. i. 2348.)

      (b) Anapæstic substitution:

      Sometime | in cham|bre sometime | in halle.

      (iv. 1331.)

      Of Je|lousi|e, but what | it is

      (v. 447.)

      (if the dissyllabic "ie" is insisted on).

      

      And thus | ful oft|e about|e the hals.

      (v. 2514.)

      It was | fantosm|e but yet | he heard.

      (v. 5011.)

      (It will be observed that in these four instances, all acknowledged by Professor Macaulay, the final e is required to make the trisyllabic foot, though the first instance differs slightly from the others. I should myself add a large number where Mr. Macaulay sees only "slur," but in which occur words like "ever" (i. 3), "many a" (i. 316, 317), or syllables like "eth," which must be valued in one case at least here—

      To breaketh and renneth al aboute,

      (Prol. 505.)

      where Mr. Macaulay reads "tobrekth," and where the copyists very likely made it so.)

      (c) Acephalous lines:

      Very rare if the e be always allowed. Perhaps non-existent.

XVI. Transition Period

       Examples of Break-down in Literary Verse.

       Table of Contents

      (a) Lydgate's decasyllabic couplet:

      Ther he | lay to | the lar|kè song [ ̆ ̄ ]

       With no|tès herd|è high | up in | the ayr.

       The glad|è mor|owe ro|dy and | right fayr,

       Phe|bus al|so cast|ing up | his bemes

       The high|e hyl|les ʌ | gilt with | his stremes.

      (Story of Thebes, 1250 sqq.)

      (3, tolerable; 2, ditto, with hiatus at cæsura; 1, last foot missing; 4, "acephalous"; 5, syllable missing at cæsura.)

      (b) His rhyme-royal:

      This is | to sein |—douteth | never | a dele—

       That ye | shall have | ʌ ful posses|sion

       Of him | that ye | ʌ cher|rish now | so wel,

       In hon|est man|er, without|e offen|cioun,

       Because | I know|e your | enten|cion

       Is tru|li set | in par|ti and | in al

       To loue | him best | and most | in spe|cial.

      (Temple of Glass, st. 16.)

      

      (Two examples (2 and 3) of the so-called "Lydgatian" missing syllable at cæsura.)

      (c) A typical minor, John Metham, in Amoryus and Cleopes, stanza 1:

      The charms | of love | and eke | the peyn | of Amo|ryus | the knyght