=1. Poetry.= (_a_) _Meter_. The most interesting feature of this period is the development of the modern system of rhymed meters, which displaced the Old English alliterative measures. Between the Old English poems of Cynewulf (about 950) and the Middle English _Brut_ (about 1205) there is a considerable gap both in time and in development. This gap is only slightly bridged by the few pieces which we proceed to quote. A quatrain dated at about 1100 is as follows: Merrie sungen the muneches binnen Ely, Tha Cnut chining[3] reu[4] ther by; “Roweth, cnichtes, noer the land, And here we thes muneches sang.” In this example we have two rough couplets. The first pair rhyme, and in the second pair there is a fair example of assonance. The meter, as far as it exists at all, is a cross between octosyllables and decasyllables. A few brief fragments by Godric, who died in 1170, carry the process still further. The following lines may be taken as typical: Sainte Nicholaes, Godes druth, Tymbre[5] us faire scone[6] hus, At thy burth,[7] at thy bare,[7] Sainte Nicholaes, bring us wel thare. These lines are almost regular, and the rhyme in the second couplet is perfect. The _Brut_, with its ragged four-accented and nearly rhymeless lines, shows no further advance; but the _Ormulum_, though it does without rhyme, is remarkable for the regularity of its meter. Then during the thirteenth century there comes a large number of poems, chiefly romances and homilies. Much of the verse, such as in _Horn_, _Havelock the Dane_, and the works of Manning, is in couplet form. It is nearly doggerel very often, and hesitates between four and five feet. This is the rough work that Chaucer is to make perfect. The following example of this traditional verse should be carefully scanned: For Engelond ys ful ynow of fruyt and of tren, Of wodes and of parkes, that joye yt ys to sen. Of foules and of bestes of wylde and tame also. Of salt fysch and eche fresch, and fayr ryueres ther to. Of welles swete and colde ynow, of lesen and of mede. Of seluer or and of gold, of tyn and of lede. ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER During the fourteenth century, with the increase of dexterity, came the desire for experiment. Stanzas in the manner of the French were developed, and the short or _bobbed_ line was introduced. The expansion of the lyric helped the development of the stanza. Thus we pass through the fairly elaborate meters of Minot, the _Proverbs of Hendyng_, and the romances (like _The King of Tars_) in the Romance sestette, to the extremely complicated verses of _Sir Tristrem_, _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_, and _Pearl_. We add a specimen of the popular Romance sestette, and a verse from a popular song of the period.