A History of English VersificationSchipper, J. (Jakob)
History
A History of English Versification
Schipper, J. (Jakob)
English language -- Versification; English poetry -- History and criticism
second hemistich, on the other hand, in accordance with the structure of
the metre, is in this poem always catalectic.
§ =137.= The irregularity of the structure of the Septenary rhyming line
of the _Moral Ode_ stands in marked contrast with the regularity of the
rhymeless Septenary verse of the _Ormulum_. The first hemistich here is
always acatalectic, the second catalectic, and the whole line has never
more nor less than fifteen syllables.
Hence the only metrical licences that occur here are elision, syncope,
and apocope of the unaccented _e_ of some inflexional endings, and the
very frequent admission of level stress in disyllabic and polysyllabic
words, which are to be found in all places in the line:
_Icc þátt tiss Énnglissh háfe sétt | +E+nnglísshe ménn to láre,
Icc wáss þær þǽr I crísstnedd wáss | +O+rrmín bi náme némmnedd,
Annd ícc +O+rrmín full ínnwarrdlíȝ | wiþþ múð annd éc wiþþ
hérrte._
Dedic. 322-7.
In all such cases, in the versification of Orm, whose practice is to
count the syllables, there can only be a question of level stress, not
of inversion of accent. _Ennglisshe_ at the beginning of the second
hemistich of the above line, 322, is no more an example of inversion of
rhythm than in the hemistich _Icc háfe wénnd inntill +E+nnglíssh_ l. 13.
§ =138.= After the _Moral Ode_ and the _Ormulum_ the Septenary often
occurs in combination with other metres, especially the Alexandrine, of
which we shall speak later on.
In some works of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Septenary
was, however, employed in a fairly unmixed form, as, for instance, in
the _Lives of Saints_, ed. Furnivall, 1862, the _Fragment of Popular
Science_, ed. Wright in _Popular Treatises on Science_, London, 1841,
and several others.
The most important deviation from the Septenary of Orm and of the _Moral
Ode_ is the frequent occurrence of long lines with a masculine instead
of the usual feminine ending. Both forms are to be found in the opening
lines of the _Fragment of Popular Science_:
_The ríȝte pút of hélle ís | amídde the úrþe wiþínne,
Oure Lóverd þát al mákede iwís, | quéinte ís of gýnne,
Héuene and úrþe ymákede iwís, | and síþþe alle þíng þat ís,
Úrpe is a lútel húrfte | aȝén héuene iwís._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account