A History of English Versification

by J. Schipper

Hátien and húlen | bòðe mén and fúles.

Here we have unmistakable long lines of the freer type.

In other passages the alliterative long lines pass into Septenaries, as, for instance, ll. 273–98:

ðe míre múneð us | méte to tílen,

lóng lívenoðe, | ðis lítle wíle

ðe we on ðis wérld wúnen: | for ðanne we óf wénden,

ðánne is ure wínter: | we sulen húnger háuen

and hárde súres, | buten we ben wár hére.

Do wé forðí so dóð ðis dér, | ðánne wé be dérue