XIV. Later Middle English Period
Scansions from Chaucer.
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: