§ 283. Stanzas of twelve lines are very numerous. One of the Middle English period we have in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 27; it is formed on the scheme a4 b3 a4 b3 b b b c3 D D D4 C3 and is similar to those ten-lined stanzas mentioned above, which consist of two Septenary verses and a tail-rhyme stanza; the second part of which, being the refrain, thus becomes the cauda of the stanza. In the Modern English period some simple stanzas with an isometrical first part and parallel rhymes may be mentioned in the first place. These are constructed on the schemes a a b b c c d d4 e4 f2 e4 f2, a a b b c c d d e e f4 f3 and occur in Mrs. Hemans (iv. 171; vii. 155); stanzas of this kind with crossed rhymes are likewise met with, e.g. a ~ b a ~ b4 c c3 d5 e e f f3 d5 in Burns, p. 188.
Pretty often we find stanzas for singing, the cauda of which is enclosed by the pedes; in the first stanza the two pedes together form the refrain, in the others, however, only the last one, e.g. in stanzas on the schemes A ~ B A ~ B4 c4 d3 c4 d3 A ~ B A ~ B4, e ~ f e ~ f4 g4 h3 g4 h3 A ~ B A ~ B4 in Hymns Ancient and Mod., No. 138, consisting of trochaic verses:
Christ is risen! Christ is risen!
He hath burst His bonds in twain;
Christ is risen! Christ is risen!
Alleluia! swell the strain!
For our gain He suffered loss
By Divine decree;
He hath died upon the Cross,