A History of English Versification

by J. Schipper

Moreover, many mediaeval Latin verses also have a wavering rhythm resulting in a form at times characterized by level stress, e.g.

Fortunae rota volvitur; | descendo minoratus,

Alter in altum tollitur | nimis exaltatus.

Rex sedet in vertice, | caveat ruinam,

Nam sub axe legimus | ‘Hecubam’ reginam.

Carmina Burana, lxxvii.

§ 136. These verses correspond pretty exactly, in their metrical structure, to the opening lines of the Moral Ode, which, as far as is known, is the earliest Middle English poem in septenary lines, and dates from the twelfth century:

Íc am élder þánne ic wés, | a wíntre and éc a lóre;

ic éaldi móre þánne ic déde: | mi wít oȝhte tó bi móre.