Ix. Early Middle English Period

Miscellaneous Stanzas.

(a) A very considerable number of these were introduced, sometimes no doubt by direct imitation of French or (as in the case of the "Burns-metre,") Provençal originals, sometimes by the ingenuity of the individual poet, working on the plastic material of the blended language, according to the new metrical foot-system. They all scan easily by this, as may be seen in a stanza of Tristrem, one of the Harleian Lyrics, and a "Burns stanza" from the York Plays; while anapæstic substitution, amounting to something like "triple time" as a whole, appears in the Hampolian extract.

The king | had a douh|ter dere, That mai|den Y|sonde hight, That gle | was lef | to here And romaun|ce to rede | aright. Sir Tram|tris hir | gan lere, Tho, | with al | his might, What al|le poin|tès were To se | the sothe |in sight, To say, In Yr|lond nas | no knight, With Y|sonde | durst play.

(Sir Tristrem, 1255-63.)

(Three-foot iambic with single-foot "bob." All final e's sounded or elided. One monosyllabic, and two or three trisyllabic, substitutions.)

Bytuen|e Mershe | ant A|veril when spray bigin|neth to springe, The lut|el foul | hath hi|re wyl on hy|re lud | to synge; Ich lib|be in ^|^ love-|longinge For sem | lokest | of al|le thynge, He may | me ^|^ blis|se bringe, icham | in hire | baundoun. An hen|dy hap | ichab|be y-hent, Ichot | from hevene | it is | me sent, From alle | wymmen | mi love | is lent ant lyht | on A|lysoun.

(Alison, Harleian MS. p. 27, ed. Wright.)

(From the other stanzas it appears that the middle quatrain should consist of three eights and a six, and that something has dropped--supplied now by carets. Otherwise the scheme is clear.)

Fro thaym | is lost[e] | both[e] game | and glee. He bad|de that they | schuld mais|ters be Over all[e] kenn[e] thing, | outy-taen | a tree He taught | them to be And ther-|to went[e] | both she | and he Agagne | his wille.

("York" Plays, vi. § 2.)

(The final e's are beginning to be neglected, and the whole is probably in strict iambics here, though vacillation between four- and five-foot lines is not absolutely impossible. But there is trisyllabic substitution elsewhere, though not very much. It may be remembered that there is little of it in Burns's own examples of this metre. Closer still to his is the following):

Eve. Sethyn it | was so | me knyth | it sore, Bot syth|en that wo|man witte|lles ware, Mans mais|t[i]rie | should have | been more Agayns | the gilte.

Adam. Nay at | my speech|e would thou ne|ver spare That has | us spilte.

(Ibid. § 24.)

(b)

My tru|est trea|sure so trai|torly ta|ken, So bit|terly bound|en with by|tand band|es, How soon | of thy ser|vants wast thou | forsa|ken And loathe|ly for my | life hurled | with hand|es

(Horstmann's Hampole, i. 72.)

(Probably, when first written, the ultimate e's of the even lines were sounded; but even this is not certain, and the superiority of the shortening would soon have struck the ear.)

(c) More elaborate stanza from the Drama:

Myght|ful God | veray, || Ma|ker of all | that is Thre per|sons without|en nay, || oone God | in end|les blis, Thou maid|è both night | and day, || beest, fowle | and fish, All crea|tures that | lif may || wrought | thou at | thy wish, As thou | wel myght: The sun, | the moyn|è, ve|rament Thou maid|è: [and] | the fir|mament, The star|rès al|so full | fervent To shyn|e thou maid|e ful bright.

("Townley" Plays, iii. p. 23, E.E.T.S.)