33. Quality of the alliteration 46 34. Position of the alliterative words 48 35. Alliteration in relation to the parts of speech and to the order of words 50 36. Arrangement and relationship of verse and sentence 54 THE LENGTHENED VERSE. 37. The lengthened line; alliteration 55 38. The origin and structure of the lengthened verse 57 39. Examples of commonly occurring forms of the lengthened hemistich 59 FORMATION OF STANZAS AND RHYME. 40. Classification and examples 62 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 64 42. Combination of alliteration and rhyme 65 B. THE 'PROVERBS OF ALFRED' AND LAYAMON'S 'BRUT'. 43. Development of the progressive form of the alliterative line 67 44. Nature and origin of the four-beat short-lined metre 69 45. Number of stresses 72 46. Analysis of verse-types 74 47. Extended types 75 48. Verse-forms rhythmically equivalent 78 C. THE PROGRESSIVE FORM OF THE ALLITERATIVE LINE, RHYMED THROUGHOUT. 'KING HORN.' 49. Further development of the Layamon-verse 79 50. The metre of _King Horn_ and its affinity to the alliterative line 82 51. Characteristics of _King Horn_ and Layamon compared 84 CHAPTER IV THE ALLITERATIVE LINE IN ITS CONSERVATIVE FORM DURING THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES A. THE ALLITERATIVE VERSE WITHOUT RHYME. § 52. Homilies and lives of the saints in rhythmical prose. Poems in regular alliterative verse 85 53. Use and treatment of words in alliterative verse 87 54. Examples of alliteration 88 55. Comparison of Middle and Old English alliterative verse 90 56. The versification of _Piers Plowman_ 93 57. Modification of forms in the North of England and in the Midlands 95 B. THE ALLITERATIVE LINE COMBINED WITH RHYME.