Type E inverts the rhythm of D, as in the half-line "gylp-wordum spræc."[16]
In all the types many variations are found. The beginning of the line may show anacrusis, and two short syllables may take the place of a long syllable; while an indeterminate number of light syllables may often be introduced before or after the principal accents.
Hafað ūs ālȳfed lucis auctor,
þæt wē mōtun hēr merueri
gōddǣdum begietan gaudia in celo,
þǣr wē mōtun maxima regna
sēcan and gesittan sedibus altis,
lifgan in lisse lucis et pacis,
āgan eardinga almæ letitæ,
brūcan blǣddaga blandem et mitem
gesēon sigora Frēan sine fine,
and him lof singan laude perenne
ēadge mid englum Alleluia.
(From the Anglo-Saxon Phœnix. ab. 700 A.D.)
These closing lines of the poem furnish an important opportunity to compare the Latin half-lines with those in Anglo-Saxon. Each half seems to be influenced by the metrical nature of the other; the Anglo-Saxon being a little more regular in the number of syllables than usual, the Latin less regular. Since, to the ear of the writer, the two halves of each verse were doubtless fairly equivalent, metrically, and since each of the Latin half-lines appears to have two accents, these combination verses have been thought to be an argument for the "two-accent" theory of Anglo-Saxon verse. On the other hand, the advocates of the four-accent theory would read the Latin half-lines with four stresses each, on the ground that nearly every syllable was stressed in the chanting of such religious verse (lú-cís aúc-tór, etc.).
See also the specimens on pp. [13] and [14], above.
Alle beon he bliþe Þat to my song lyþe:
A song ihc schal ȝou singe Of Mury þe kinge.
King he was bi weste So longe so hit laste.
Godhild het his quen, Fairer ne miȝte non ben.
He hadde a sone þat het Horn, Fairer ne miȝte non beo born,
Ne no rein upon birine, Ne sunne upon bischine.
(King Horn, ll. 1-12. ab. 1200-1250.)
The metre of King Horn is very irregular, and has proved somewhat puzzling to scholars. It seems to be the direct result of the primitive "long line" broken into two halves by internal rime. The number of accents varies greatly: we may have verses which are easily read with two, such as—
"Into schupes borde
At the furst worde."