English Verse Part 27

"Ici comencent les unze peynes De enfern, les queus seynt pool v[ist]."

Ure feder et in heovene is, et is al so ful iwis!

Weo moten to theor weordes iseon, et to live and to saule G.o.de beon, et weo beon swa his sunes iborene, et he beo feder and we him icorene, et we don alle his ibeden And his wille for to reden.

(_The Pater Noster_, ab. 1175. In Morris's _Old English Homilies_, p.

55.)

This poem is sometimes said to show the first appearance of the octosyllabic couplet in English. It suggests the struggle between native indifference to syllable-counting and imitation of the greater regularity of its models. As Dr. Morris says of the next specimen: "The essence of the system of versification which the poet has adopted is, briefly, that every line shall have four accented syllables in it, the unaccented syllables being left in some measure, as it were, to take care of themselves." But this does not altogether do justice to the new regularity. Schipper says that of the first 100 lines of the poem 20 are perfectly regular. (See his notes in vol. i. p. 109.) In the following specimens we may trace the gradual growth of skill and accuracy.

o herde Abraham stevene fro G.o.de, newe tiding and selku bode: 'tac in sune Ysaac in hond and far wi him to sihinges lond.

and or a salt him offren me, on an hil, or ic sal taunen e.

(_Genesis and Exodus_, ll. 1285-1290. ab. 1250-1300.)

"Abid! abid!" the ule seide.

"Thu gest al to mid swikelede; All thine wordes thu bi-leist, That hit thincth soth al that thu seist; Alle thine wordes both i-sliked, An so bi-semed and bi-liked, That alle tho that hi avoth, Hi weneth that thu segge soth."

(_The Owl and the Nightingale_, ll. 835-842. Thirteenth century.)

Quhen is wes said, ai went are way, and till e toun soyn c.u.min ar thai sa prevely bot noys making, at nane persavit air c.u.mmyng.

ai scalit throu e toune in hy and brak up dures st.u.r.dely and slew all, at ai mycht ourtak; and ai, at na defens mycht mak, fall pitwisly couth rair and cry, and ai slew ame dispitwisly.

(BARBOUR: _Bruce_, v. 89-98. ab. 1375.)

?yf ou ever urghe folye Dydyst ou?t do nygromauncye.

Or to the devyl dedyst sacryfyse urghe wychcraftys asyse, Or any man ?af e mede For to reyse e devyl yn dede, For to telle, or for to wrey, ynge at was don awey; ?yf ou have do any of ys, ou hast synnede and do a mys, And ou art wury to be shent urghe ys yche commaundement.[18]

(ROBERT MANNING of Brunne: _Handlyng Synne_, ll. 339-350. ab. 1300.)

Herknet to me, G.o.de men, Wives, maydnes, and alle men, Of a tale at ich you wile telle, Wo so it wile here, and er-to duelle.

e tale is of Havelok i-maked; Wil he was litel he yede ful naked: Havelok was a ful G.o.d gome, He was ful G.o.d in everi trome, He was e wicteste man at nede, at urte riden on ani stede.

at ye mowen nou y-here, And e tale ye mowen y-lere.

At the beginning of ure tale, Fil me a cuppe of ful G.o.d ale; And y wile drinken her y spelle, at Crist us shilde alle fro h.e.l.le!

(_Lay of Havelok the Dane._ ll. 1-16. ab. 1300.)

For lays and romances, both French and English, the four-stress couplet was an easy and favorite form. Compare the remarks of ten Brink: "We see how the short couplet, which is the standing form of the court-romance, was not only transmitted to it from the legendary, didactic, and historical poems, but was also suggested to it by those songs to which it was indebted for its own subject-matter. Other tokens indicate that a short strophe composed of eight-syllabled lines, with single or alternating rhymes, was a favorite form for many subjects in this _jongleur_ poetry.... The simple form of the short couplet offered to the romance-poet no scope to compete in metrical technique with the skilled court-lyrists. He could prove his art only within a limited portion of this field: in the treatment of the _enjambement_ and particularly of rhyme. The poet strove not only to form pure rhymes, but often to carry them forward with more syllables than were essential, and he was fond of all sorts of grammatical devices in rhyme." (_English Literature_, Kennedy trans., vol. i. pp. 174, 175.)

The world stant ever upon debate, So may be siker none estate; Now here, now there, now to, now fro, Now up, now down, the world goth so, And ever hath done and ever shal; Wherof I finde in special A tale writen in the bible, Which must nedes be credible, And that as in conclusion Saith, that upon division Stant, why no worldes thing may laste, Til it be drive to the laste, And fro the firste regne of all Unto this day how so befall Of that the regnes be mevable, The man him self hath be coupable, Whiche of his propre governaunce Fortuneth al the worldes chaunce.

(JOHN GOWER: Prologue to _Confessio Amantis_. Ed. PAULI, vol. i. pp. 22, 23. ab. 1390.)

O G.o.d of science and of light, Apollo, through thy grete might, This litel laste bok thou gye!

Nat that I wilne, for maistrye, Here art poetical be shewed; But, for the rym is light and lewed, Yit make hit sumwhat agreable, Though som vers faile in a sillable; And that I do no diligence To shewe craft, but o sentence.

And if, divyne vertu, thou Wilt helpe me to shewe now That in myn hede y-marked is-- Lo, that is for to menen this, The Hous of Fame to descryve-- Thou shalt see me go, as blyve, Unto the nexte laure I see, And kisse hit, for hit is thy tree.

(CHAUCER: _House of Fame_, ll. 1091-1108. ab. 1385.)

It was Gower and Chaucer, in the fourteenth century, who brought the use of the eight-syllable couplet to the point of accuracy and perfection.

Gower made it the vehicle of the interminable narrative of the _Confessio Amantis_, using it with regularity but with great monotony.

Chaucer transformed it into a much more flexible form (with freedom of cesura, _enjambement_, and inversions), using it in about 3500 lines of his poetry (excluding the translation of the _Roman de la Rose_), but early leaving it for the decasyllabic verse. In modern English poetry this short couplet has rarely been used for continuous narrative of a serious character, except by Byron and Wordsworth.

But let my due feet never fail To walk the studious cloister's pale, And love the high embowed roof, With antique pillars ma.s.sy proof, And storied windows richly dight, Casting a dim religious light.

There let the pealing organ blow, To the full-voiced choir below, In service high, and anthems clear, As may with sweetness, through mine ear, Dissolve me into ecstasies, And bring all heaven before my eyes.

(MILTON: _Il Penseroso_, ll. 155-166. 1634.)

A sect whose chief devotion lies In odd, perverse antipathies, In falling out with that or this And finding something still amiss; More peevish, cross, and splenetic Than dog distract or monkey sick: That with more care keep holyday The wrong, than others the right way; Compound for sins they are inclined to By d.a.m.ning those they have no mind to....

Rather than fail they will defy That which they love most tenderly; Quarrel with mince-pies, and disparage Their best and dearest friend plum-porridge, Fat pig and goose itself oppose, And blaspheme custard through the nose.

(SAMUEL BUTLER: _Hudibras_, Part I. 1663.)

Butler made the octosyllabic couplet so entirely his own, for the purposes of his jogging satiric verse, that ever since it has frequently been called "Hudibrastic." The ingenuity of his rimes added not a little to its effectiveness. In the _Spectator_ (No. 249) Addison said that burlesque poetry runs best "in doggrel like that of _Hudibras_, ... when a hero is to be pulled down and degraded;" otherwise in the heroic measure. He speaks also of "the generality" of Butler's readers as being "wonderfully pleased with the double rhymes."

How deep yon azure dyes the sky, Where orbs of gold unnumber'd lie, While through their ranks in silver pride The nether crescent seems to glide!

The slumbering breeze forgets to breathe, The lake is smooth and clear beneath, Where once again the spangled show Descends to meet our eyes below.

The grounds which on the right aspire, In dimness from the view retire: The left presents a place of graves, Whose wall the silent water laves.

That steeple guides thy doubtful sight Among the livid gleams of night.

There pa.s.s, with melancholy state, By all the solemn heaps of fate, And think, as softly-sad you tread Above the venerable dead, 'Time was, like thee they life possest, And time shalt be, that thou shalt rest.'

(THOMAS PARNELL: _A Night-Piece on Death_, ab. 1715.)

Mr. Gosse speaks of Parnell's employment of the octosyllabic couplet in this poem as "wonderfully subtle and harmonious." (_Eighteenth Century Literature_, p. 137.)

A Hare who, in a civil way, Complied with everything, like Gay, Was known by all the b.e.s.t.i.a.l train Who haunt the wood, or graze the plain.

Her care was never to offend, And every creature was her friend.

As forth she went at early dawn, To taste the dew-besprinkled lawn, Behind she hears the hunter's cries, And from the deep-mouthed thunder flies: She starts, she stops, she pants for breath; She hears the near advance of death; She doubles, to mislead the hound, And measures back her mazy round: Till, fainting in the public way, Half dead with fear she gasping lay.

(JOHN GAY: _The Hare and Many Friends_, in _Fables_. 1727.)

Gay's use of the short couplet in his _Fables_ sometimes shows it at its best for narrative purposes.

My female friends, whose tender hearts Have better learned to act their parts, Receive the news in doleful dumps: 'The Dean is dead: (Pray what is trumps?) Then, Lord have mercy on his soul!

(Ladies, I'll venture for the vole.) Six Deans, they say, must bear the pall: (I wish I knew what king to call).

Madam, your husband will attend The funeral of so good a friend?

No, madam, 'tis a shocking sight: And he's engaged to-morrow night: My Lady Club will take it ill, If he should fail her at quadrille.

He loved the Dean--(I lead a heart) But dearest friends, they say, must part.

His time was come: he ran his race; We hope he's in a better place.'

(SWIFT: _On the Death of Dr. Swift._ 1731.)

Swift made use of the octosyllabic couplet in nearly all his verse, and with no little vigor and originality. Mr. Gosse remarks: "His lines fall like well-directed blows of the flail, and he gives the octosyllabic measure, which he is accustomed to choose on account of the Hudibrastic opportunities it offers, a character which is entirely his own."

(_Eighteenth Century Literature_, p. 153.)

Ye forms divine, ye laureat band, That near her inmost altar stand!

Now soothe her to her blissful train Blithe concord's social form to gain; Concord, whose myrtle wand can steep Even anger's bloodshot eyes in sleep; Before whose breathing bosom's balm Rage drops his steel, and storms grow calm; Her let our sires and matrons h.o.a.r Welcome to Britain's ravaged sh.o.r.e; Our youths, enamored of the fair, Play with the tangles of her hair, Till, in one loud applauding sound, The nations shout to her around,-- O how supremely thou art blest, Thou, lady, thou shalt rule the West!

(COLLINS: _Ode to Liberty._ 1746.)