§ 49. The further development of the Layamon-verse is very simple and such as might naturally be expected from its previous history.
The use of final rhyme becomes constant, and consequently alliteration, although remnants of it still are noticeable even in short lines connected together, becomes more and more scarce.[103]
The unaccented syllables are interposed between the accented ones with greater regularity; and among the unaccented syllables the one (or, in some sub-species of the verse, more than one) which is relatively stronger than the rest receives full metrical stress, or at least nearly approaches the fully-stressed syllables in rhythmical value.
This form of the metre is represented by a short poem[104] consisting of only twelve lines, belonging to the first half of the thirteenth century, and by the well-known poem King Horn[105] (1530 lines) which belongs to the middle of the same century.
The prevailing rhythmical form of this poem is exemplified by the following verses, which for the sake of convenience we print here, not in the form of couplets (as the editors, quite justifiably, have done), but in that of long lines as they are written in the Harleian MS.:
Hórn þu àrt wel kéne | and þat is wèl iséne. 91–2.
Þe sé bigàn to flówe | and Hórn chìld to rówe. 117–18.
This form occurs in more than 1300 out of the 1530 short lines of which the poem consists. It is evident that the rhythm of these lines is nearly the same as in the following taken from earlier poems:
ǣ́fre embe stúnde | he séalde sume wúnde. Byrhtn. 271.
ínnon þām gemónge | on ǣ́nlicum wónge. Dom. 6.