(Song from Harleian MS. 2253; in Böddeker's Altenglische Dichtungen, p. 208.)
aabccbddbeeb
Lenten ys come wiþ love to toune,
wiþ blosmen & wiþ briddes roune,
þat al þis blisse bryngeþ;
dayes eȝes in þis dales,
notes suete of nyhtegales,
uch foul song singeþ.
þe þrestelcoc him þreteþ oo;
away is huere wynter woo,
when woderove springeþ.
þis foules singeþ ferly fele,
ant wlyteþ on huere wynter wele,
þat al þe wode ryngeþ.
(Song from Harleian MS. 2253; Böddeker's Altenglische Dichtungen, p. 164.)
abcbdcdceccce
Trowe ȝe, sores, and God sent an angell
And commawndyd ȝow ȝowr chyld to slayn,
Be ȝowr trowthe ys ther ony of ȝow
That eyther wold groche or stryve ther-ageyn?
How thyngke ȝe now, sorys, ther-by?
I trow ther be iii or iiii or moo.
And thys women that wepe so sorowfully
Whan that hyr chyldryn dey them froo,
As nater woll and kynd,—
Yt ys but folly, I may well awooe,
To groche a-ȝens God or to greve ȝow,
For ȝe schall never se hym myschevyd, wyll I know,
Be lond nor watyr, have thys in mynd.
(Epilogue of Brome Play of Abraham and Isaac. In Manly's Specimens of the Pre-Shaksperean Drama, vol. i. p. 56.)
This verse of the early Mystery Plays and connected forms of the drama shows an extraordinary variety of measures. In general, the effort of the writers seems to have been to show some artistic ingenuity of structure, and at the same time keep to the free popular dialogue verse which was associated with the plays. We find, therefore, tumbling verse, alexandrines, septenaries, and intricate strophic forms, all commonly written with slight regard for syllable-counting principles.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] There is a single well-known exception: the Anglo-Saxon poem known as Deor's Lament, which is divided into irregularly varying strophes, all ending with the same refrain. (See ten Brink's English Literature, Kennedy translation, vol. i, p. 60.) See also on the strophic formation of the First Riddle of Cynewulf, an article by W. W. Lawrence, in Publications of the Mod. Lang. Assoc., N.S. vol. x. p. 247.