Similar examples abound. Thus we should fully pronounce length-e, B 8; declar-e, B 1672; loud-e, B 1803; thought-e, B 1852; fynd-e, B 3112; raft-e, B 3288; hadd-e, B 3309; biraft-e, B 3404; son-e, B 3413; son-e, B 3593; shet-te, B 3615; wend-e, B 3637.
Notice some examples where the caesura necessarily preserves a final -e from elision, as in B 3989; where tal-e occurs before al. So also ensamp-le in B 3281. Similar instances are rather numerous.
[§ 109]. The student who has followed the explanation of Chaucer's scansion up to this point is now in a position to understand the whole mystery of additional syllables in other positions. According to the usual method of cutting up lines into 'feet,' such additional syllables make the line seem awkward; whereas, if properly handled, they are very acceptable.
Thus the line B 3385 used to be cut up after the following fashion—Which that | my fa | der in his | prosper | itee; and the third foot was called trisyllabic. Yet the truth is, that the syllable -der in fader really belongs to the former part of the line (for we cannot pause after fa-), and therefore belongs to the 'second foot'; and it would have been better to cut up the line accordingly. But the whole system of chopping up into imaginary equal lengths is inefficient and clumsy; and we have only to adopt a natural accentuation. Thus, in B 3368 (just below), the final -y in many causes no real difficulty, though it adds a syllable to the line:—