A History of English Versification

by J. Schipper

CONTENTS

BOOK I. THE LINE
PART I. THE NATIVE METRE
CHAPTER I
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF METRE AND THE STRUCTURE OF VERSE
			PAGE
§	[1.]	Uses of the study of English metre	1
	[2.]	Object of the science of metre	1
	[3.]	Definition of rhythm	2
	[4.]	Distinction between prose and poetry	3
	[5.]	Phonetic qualities of syllables	4
	[6.]	Definition and use of the word accent	4
	[7.]	Classification of accent	5
	[8.]	Marks indicating position of accent	8
	[9.]	Principles of versification and their terms	9
	[10.]	Rhyme; its twofold purpose	11
	[11.]	End-rhyme, or full-rhyme	12
	[12.]	Vocalic assonance	12
	[13.]	Alliteration	13
CHAPTER II
THE ALLITERATIVE VERSE IN OLD ENGLISH
§	[14.]	General remarks	15
	[15.]	Theories on the metrical form of the alliterative line	15
	[16.]	The four-beat theory	16
	[17.]	The two-beat theory	19
	[18.]	Accentuation of Old English	24
	[19.]	The secondary accent	28
	[20.]	Division and metrical value of syllables	29
	[21.]	Structure of the whole alliterative line	30
	[22.]	The structure of the hemistich in the normal alliterative line	31
	[23.]	Number of unaccented syllables of the thesis	33
	[24.]	Order of the verse-members in the hemistich	35
Analysis of the Verse Types.
I. Hemistichs of four members.
	[25.]	Type A, with sub-types A 1–3	36
	[26.]	Type B, with sub-types B 1, 2	41
	[27.]	Type C, with sub-types C 1–3	42
	[28.]	Type D, with sub-types D 1–4	42
	[29.]	Type E, with sub-types E 1, 2	43
II. Hemistichs of five members.
	[30.]	Type A*, with sub-types A* 1, 2; Type B*; Type C*; Type D*, with sub-types D* 1–3	44
	[31.]	Principles adopted in classification	45
	[32.]	Combination of hemistichs by means of alliteration	45
Principles of Alliteration.
	[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	65
	[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.
	[58.]	Growing influence of verse formed on foreign models	97
	[59.]	Lyrical stanzas: four-beat and two-beat lines	97
	[60.]	Forms of structure and versification	99
	[61.]	Narrative verse	101
	[62.]	Relation between rhyme and alliteration	101
	[63.]	Features of alliterative-rhyming lines	105
	[64.]	Structures of the cauda	105
	[65.]	Two-beat lines in tail-rhyme stanzas	106
	[66.]	Rhyming alliterative lines in Mystery Plays	108
	[67.]	Alliteration in Moralities and Interludes	109
	[68.]	Four-beat scansion of Bale’s verses	110
	[69.]	Examples of the presence or absence of anacrusis in the two hemistichs	110
	[70.]	Entire tail-rhyme stanzas	113
	[71.]	Irregular tail-rhyme stanzas: Skeltonic verse	114
		C. Revival of the Four-beat Alliterative Verse in the Modern English Period.
	[72.]	Examples from Gascoigne, Wyatt, Spenser, &c.	117
	[73.]	Attempted modern revival of the old four-beat alliterative line without rhyme	119
	[74.]	Examples of the development of the four-beat alliterative line in reversed chronological order	120
	[75.]	Summing-up of the evidence	124
PART II. FOREIGN METRES
DIVISION I. THE FOREIGN METRES IN GENERAL
CHAPTER V
INTRODUCTION AND THE STRUCTURE OF VERSE
§	[76.]	Influence of French and Low Latin metres	126
	[77.]	The different kinds of line	127
	[78.]	The breaking up of long lines	128
	[79.]	Heroic verse; tail-rhyme staves	131
	[80.]	Different kinds of caesura	131
	[81.]	Causes of variation in the structure of metres of equal measures	133
CHAPTER VI
VERSE-RHYTHM AND THE STRUCTURE OF VERSE
§	[82.]	Lines with and without diaeresis	135
	[83.]	Effect of diaeresis on modulation	136
	[84.]	Suppression of the anacrusis	137
	[85.]	Level stress, or ‘hovering accent’	138
	[86.]	Absence of thesis in the interior of a line	139
	[87.]	Lengthening of a word by introduction of unaccented extra syllable	141
	[88.]	Inversion of rhythm	141
	[89.]	Disyllabic or polysyllabic thesis	143
	[90.]	Epic caesura	145
	[91.]	Double or feminine endings	146
	[92.]	Enjambement, or run-on line	147
	[93.]	Rhyme-breaking	148
	[94.]	Alliteration	149
CHAPTER VII
THE METRICAL TREATMENT OF SYLLABLES
§	[95.]	General remarks on formative and inflexional syllables	151
	[96.]	Treatment of the unaccented e of words of three and four syllables in Middle English	152
	[97.]	Special remarks on individual inflexional endings	154
	[98.]	Treatment of -en in Middle and Modern English	155
	[99.]	The comparative and superlative endings -er, -est	156
	[100.]	The ending -est	157
	[101.]	The endings -eth, -es (’s)	158
	[102.]	The ending -ed (’d, t)	158
	[103.]	The ending -ed (-od, -ud) of the 1st and 3rd pers. sing. pret. and plur. pret. of weak verbs	159
	[104.]	The final -e in Middle English poetry	160
	[105.]	Examples of the arbitrary use of final -e	161
	[106.]	The final -e in later poetry of the North	162
	[107.]	Formative endings of Romanic origin	163
	[108.]	Contraction of words ordinarily pronounced in full	165
	[109.]	Amalgamation of two syllables for metrical purposes	166
	[110.]	Examples of slurring or contraction	167
	[111.]	Other examples of contraction; apocopation	168
	[112.]	Lengthening of words for metrical purposes	169
CHAPTER VIII
WORD-ACCENT
§	[113.]	General remarks	171
I. Word-accent in Middle English.
A. Germanic words.
	[114.]	Alleged difference in degree of stress among inflexional endings containing e	172
	[115.]	Accent in trisyllables and compounds	174
	[116.]	Pronunciation of parathetic compounds	175
	[117.]	Rhythmical treatment of trisyllables and words of four syllables	175
B. Romanic words.
	[118.]	Disyllabic words	177
	[119.]	Trisyllabic words	178
	[120.]	Words of four and five syllables	179
II. Word-accent in Modern English.
	[121.]	Romanic accentuation still continued	180
	[122.]	Disyllabic words	181
	[123.]	Trisyllabic and polysyllabic words	181
	[124.]	Parathetic compounds	182
DIVISION II. VERSE-FORMS COMMON TO THE MIDDLE AND MODERN ENGLISH PERIODS
CHAPTER IX
LINES OF EIGHT FEET, FOUR FEET, TWO FEET, AND ONE FOOT
§	[125.]	The eight-foot line and its resolution into four-foot lines	183
	[126.]	Examples of the four-foot line	183
	[127.]	Treatment of the caesura in four-foot verse	185
	[128.]	Treatment of four-foot verse in North English and Scottish writings	186
	[129.]	Its treatment in the Midlands and the South	187
	[130.]	Combinations of four-foot and three-foot verse in Middle English	188
	[131–2.]	Freer variety of this metre in Modern English	188
	[133.]	Two-foot verse	190
	[134.]	One-foot verse	191
CHAPTER X
THE SEPTENARY, THE ALEXANDRINE, AND THE THREE-FOOT LINE
§	[135.]	The septenary	192
	[136.]	Irregularity of structure of the septenary rhyming line as shown in the Moral Ode	193
	[137.]	Regularity of the rhymeless septenary verse of the Ormulum	193
	[138.]	The septenary with a masculine ending	194
	[139.]	The septenary as employed in early lyrical poems and ballads	195
	[140.]	Use of the septenary in Modern English	196
	[141–4.]	Intermixture of septenaries, alexandrines, and four-beat lines	197
	[145], [146].	Origin of the ‘Poulter’s Measure’	202
	[147.]	The alexandrine: its first use	204
	[148.]	Structure of the alexandrine in Mysteries and Moral Plays	205
	[149.]	The alexandrine in Modern English	205
	[150.]	The three-foot line	206
CHAPTER XI
THE RHYMED FIVE-FOOT VERSE
§	[151.]	Rhymed five-foot verse in Middle English	209
	[152.]	Sixteen types of five-foot verse	210
	[153.]	Earliest specimens of this metre	212
	[154.]	Chaucer’s five-foot verse; treatment of the caesura	213
	[155.]	Masculine and feminine endings; rhythmic licences	214
	[156.]	Gower’s five-foot verse; its decline	215
	[157.]	Rhymed five-foot verse in Modern English	216
	[158.]	Its use in narrative poetry and by Shakespeare	217
	[159.]	The heroic verse of Dryden, Pope, and later writers	218
DIVISION III. VERSE-FORMS OCCURRING IN MODERN ENGLISH POETRY ONLY
CHAPTER XII
BLANK VERSE
§	[160.]	The beginnings of Modern English poetry	219
	[161.]	Blank verse first adopted by the Earl of Surrey	219
	[162.]	Characteristics of Surrey’s blank verse	221
	[163.]	Further development of this metre in the drama	222
	[164.]	The blank verse of Shakespeare	223
	[165.]	Rhymed and unrhymed lines in Shakespeare’s plays	224
	[166.]	Numerical proportion of masculine and feminine endings	225
	[167.]	Numerical proportion of ‘weak’ and ‘light’ endings	225
	[168.]	Proportion of unstopt or ‘run-on’ and ‘end-stopt’ lines	226
	[169.]	Shakespeare’s use of the full syllabic forms of -est, -es, -eth, -ed	227
	[170.]	Other rhythmical characteristics of Shakespeare’s plays	228
	[171.]	Alexandrines and other metres occurring in combination with blank verse in Shakespeare	230
	[172.]	Example of the metrical differences between the earlier and later periods of Shakespeare’s work	232
	[173.]	The blank verse of Ben Jonson	233
	[174.]	The blank verse of Fletcher	234
	[175.]	Characteristics of Beaumont’s style and versification	235
	[176.]	The blank verse of Massinger	236
	[177.]	The blank verse of Milton	237
	[178.]	The dramatic blank verse of the Restoration	239
	[179.]	Blank verse of the eighteenth century	240
	[180.]	Blank verse of the nineteenth century	240
CHAPTER XIII
TROCHAIC METRES
§	[181.]	General remarks; the eight-foot trochaic line	242
	[182.]	The seven-foot trochaic line	243
	[183.]	The six-foot trochaic line	244
	[184.]	The five-foot trochaic line	245
	[185.]	The four-foot trochaic line	246
	[186.]	The three-foot trochaic line	246
	[187.]	The two-foot trochaic line	247
	[188.]	The one-foot trochaic line	247
CHAPTER XIV
IAMBIC-ANAPAESTIC AND TROCHAIC-DACTYLIC METRES
§	[189.]	General remarks	249
	I. Iambic-anapaestic Metres.
	[190.]	Eight-foot iambic-anapaestic verse	250
	[191.]	Seven-foot iambic-anapaestic verse	250
	[192.]	Six-foot iambic-anapaestic verse	251
	[193.]	Five-foot iambic-anapaestic verse	251
	[194.]	Four-foot iambic-anapaestic verse	252
	[195.]	Three-foot iambic-anapaestic verse	253
	[196.]	Two-foot iambic-anapaestic verse	253
	[197.]	One-foot iambic-anapaestic verse	254
	II. Trochaic-dactylic Metres.
	[198.]	Eight-foot trochaic-dactylic verse	254
	[199.]	Seven-foot trochaic-dactylic verse	255
	[200.]	Six-foot trochaic-dactylic verse	255
	[201.]	Five-foot trochaic-dactylic verse	256
	[202.]	Four-foot trochaic-dactylic verse	256
	[203.]	Three-foot trochaic-dactylic verse	257
	[204.]	Two-foot dactylic or trochaic-dactylic verse	257
	[205.]	One-foot dactylic verse	258
CHAPTER XV
NON-STROPHIC, ANISOMETRICAL COMBINATIONS OF RHYMED VERSE
§	[206.]	Varieties of this metre; Poulter’s measure	259
	[207–8.]	Other anisometrical combinations	260
CHAPTER XVI
IMITATIONS OF CLASSICAL FORMS OF VERSE AND STANZA
§	[209.]	The English hexameter	262
	[210.]	Structure of the hexameter	263
	[211.]	Elegiac verse; the minor Asclepiad; the six-foot iambic line; Phaleuciac verse; Hendecasyllabics; rhymed Choriambics	264
	[212.]	Classical stanzas:—the Sapphic metre; the Alcaic metre; Anacreontic stanzas	266
	[213.]	Other imitations of classical verses and stanzas without rhyme	267
BOOK II THE STRUCTURE OF STANZAS
PART I
CHAPTER I. DEFINITIONS
STANZA, RHYME, VARIETIES OF RHYME
§	[214.]	Structure of the stanza	270
	[215.]	Influence of lyrical forms of Provence and of Northern France on Middle English poetry	271
	[216.]	Classification of rhyme according to the number of the rhyming syllables: (1) the monosyllabic or masculine rhyme; (2) the disyllabic or feminine rhyme; (3) the trisyllabic, triple, or tumbling rhyme	272
	[217.]	Classification according to the quality of the rhyming syllables: (1) the rich rhyme; (2) the identical rhyme; (3) the broken rhyme; (4) the double rhyme; (5) the extended rhyme; (6) the unaccented rhyme	273
	[218.]	Classification according to the position of the rhyming syllables: (1) the sectional rhyme; (2) the inverse rhyme; (3) the Leonine rhyme or middle rhyme; (4) the interlaced rhyme; (5) the intermittent rhyme; (6) the enclosing rhyme; (7) the tail-rhyme	276
	[219.]	Imperfect or ‘eye-rhymes’	278
CHAPTER II
THE RHYME AS A STRUCTURAL ELEMENT OF THE STANZA
§	[220.]	Formation of the stanza in Middle English and Romanic poetry	279
	[221.]	Rhyme-linking or ‘concatenation’ in Middle English	280
	[222.]	The refrain or burthen; the wheel and the bob-wheel	280
	[223.]	Divisible and indivisible stanzas	281
	[224.]	Bipartite equal-membered stanzas	282
	[225.]	Bipartite unequal-membered stanzas	282
	[226.]	Tripartite stanzas	283
	[227.]	Specimens illustrating tripartition	284
	[228.]	The envoi	286
	[229.]	Real envois and concluding stanzas	286
PART II. STANZAS COMMON TO MIDDLE AND MODERN ENGLISH, AND OTHERS FORMED ON THE ANALOGY OF THESE
CHAPTER III
BIPARTITE EQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS
	I. Isometrical Stanzas.
§	[230.]	Two-line stanzas	288
	[231.]	Four-line stanzas, consisting of couplets	288
	[232.]	The double stanza (eight lines of the same structure)	289
	[233.]	Stanzas of four isometrical lines with intermittent rhyme	290
	[234.]	Stanzas of eight lines resulting from this stanza by doubling	290
	[235.]	Stanzas developed from long-lined couplets by inserted rhyme	291
	[236.]	Stanzas of eight lines resulting from the four-lined, cross-rhyming stanza and by other modes of doubling	292
	[237.]	Other examples of doubling four-lined stanzas	293
	[238.]	Six-lined isometrical stanzas	294
	[239.]	Modifications of the six-lined stanza; twelve-lined and sixteen-lined stanzas	295
	II. Anisometrical Stanzas.
	[240.]	Chief species of the tail-rhyme stanza	296
	[241.]	Enlargement of this stanza to twelve lines	297
	[242.]	Further development of the tail-rhyme stanza	298
	[243.]	Variant forms of enlarged eight and ten-lined tail-rhyme stanzas	298
	[244.]	Tail-rhyme stanzas with principal verses shorter than tail-verses	299
	[245.]	Other varieties of the tail-rhyme stanza	300
	[246.]	Stanzas modelled on the tail-rhyme stanza	300
	[247.]	Stanzas formed of two septenary verses	301
	[248.]	Analogical developments from this type	302
	[249.]	Eight-lined (doubled) forms of the different four-lined stanzas	302
	[250.]	Other stanzas of similar structure	303
CHAPTER IV
ONE-RHYMED INDIVISIBLE AND BIPARTITE UNEQUAL-MEMBERED STANZAS
	I. One-rhymed and Indivisible Stanzas.
§	[251.]	Three-lined stanzas of one rhyme	305
	[252.]	Four-lined stanzas of one rhyme	306
	[253.]	Other stanzas connected with the above	307
	II. Bipartite Unequal-membered Isometrical Stanzas.
	[254.]	Four-lined stanzas	308
	[255.]	Five-lined stanzas	308
	[256.]	Four-lined stanzas of one rhyme extended by the addition of a couplet	310
	III. Bipartite Unequal-membered Anisometrical Stanzas.
§	[257–8.]	Four-lined stanzas; Poulter’s measure and other stanzas	311
	[259.]	Five-lined stanzas	314
	[260.]	Shortened tail-rhyme stanzas	316
	[261.]	Six-lined stanzas	317
	[262.]	Seven-lined stanzas	319
	[263.]	Eight-, nine-, and ten-lined stanzas	320
	[264.]	The bob-wheel stanzas in the Middle English period	321
	[265.]	Bob-wheel stanzas of four-stressed rhyming verses	322
	[266.]	Modern English bob-wheel stanzas	323
CHAPTER V
TRIPARTITE STANZAS
	I. Isometrical Stanzas.
§	[267.]	Six-lined stanzas	326
	[268.]	Seven-lined stanzas; the Rhyme Royal stanza	327
	[269.]	Eight-lined stanzas	329
	[270.]	Nine-lined stanzas	330
	[271.]	Ten-lined stanzas	331
	[272.]	Eleven-, twelve-, and thirteen-lined stanzas	332
	II. Anisometrical Stanzas.
	[273–4.]	Six-lined stanzas	333
	[275.]	Seven-lined stanzas	335
	[276–8.]	Eight-lined stanzas	337
	[279.]	Nine-lined stanzas	339
	[280–1.]	Ten-lined stanzas	341
	[282.]	Eleven-lined stanzas	343
	[283.]	Twelve-lined stanzas	344
	[284.]	Thirteen-lined stanzas	345
	[285.]	Fourteen-lined stanzas	346
	[286.]	Stanzas of fifteen to twenty lines	347
PART III. MODERN STANZAS AND METRES OF FIXED FORM ORIGINATING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE RENASCENCE, OR INTRODUCED LATER
CHAPTER VI
STANZAS OF THREE AND MORE PARTS CONSISTING OF UNEQUAL PARTS ONLY
§	[287.]	Introductory remark	348
	[288.]	Six-lined stanzas	349
	[289.]	Seven-lined stanzas	351
	[290–2.]	Eight-lined stanzas; the Italian ottava rima	352
	[293.]	Nine-lined stanzas	355
	[294.]	Ten-lined stanzas	355
	[295.]	Eleven-lined stanzas	356
	[296.]	Twelve-lined stanzas	356
CHAPTER VII
THE SPENSERIAN STANZA AND THE FORMS DERIVED FROM IT
§	[297.]	First used in the Faerie Queene	358
	[298–300.]	Imitations and analogous forms	359
CHAPTER VIII
THE EPITHALAMIUM STANZA AND OTHER ODIC STANZAS
§	[301.]	The Epithalamium stanza	363
	[302.]	Imitations of the Epithalamium stanza	365
	[303–5.]	Pindaric Odes, regular and irregular	366
CHAPTER IX
THE SONNET
§	[306.]	Origin of the English sonnet	371
	[307.]	The Italian sonnet	371
	[308.]	Structure of the Italian form illustrated by Watts-Dunton	373
	[309.]	The first English sonnet-writers, Surrey and Wyatt	373
	[310.]	Surrey’s transformation of the Italian sonnet, and the form adopted by Shakespeare	374
	[311.]	Another form used by Spenser in Amoretti	375
	[312.]	The form adopted by Milton	375
	[313.]	Revival of sonnet writing in the latter half of the eighteenth century	376
	[314.]	The sonnets of Wordsworth	377
	[315.]	The sonnet in the nineteenth century	379
CHAPTER X
OTHER ITALIAN AND FRENCH POETICAL FORMS OF A FIXED CHARACTER
	[316–7.]	The madrigal	380
	[318–9.]	The terza-rima	381
	[320–1.]	The sextain	383
	[322.]	The virelay	385
	[323.]	The roundel	385
	[324.]	The rondeau	387
	[325.]	The triolet	388
	[326.]	The villanelle	388
	[327.]	The ballade	389
	[328.]	The Chant Royal	390

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LIST OF EDITIONS REFERRED TO

The quotations of Old English poetry are taken from Grein-Wülker, Bibliothek der Angelsächsischen Poesie, Strassburg, 1883–94. For the Middle English poets the editions used have been specified in the text. Most of the poets of the Modern English period down to the eighteenth century are quoted from the collection of R. Anderson, The Works of the British Poets, Edinburgh, 1795 (15 vols.), which is cited (under the title Poets) by volume and page. The remaining Modern English poets are quoted (except when some other edition is specified) from the editions mentioned in the following list.

Arnold, Matthew. Poetical Works, London, Macmillan & Co., 1890. 8vo.

Beaumont, Francis, and Fletcher, John. Dramatick Works, London, 1778. 10 vols. 8vo.

Bowles, W. L. Sonnets and other Poems. London, 1802–3. 2 vols. 8vo.

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Poetical Works. London, Chapman & Hall, 1866. 5 vols. 8vo.