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§ 170. Four-line Stanza a bab. Another four-line stanza, clearly marked by the position of the rimes, is formed from the septenary rimed couplet, when the first half-lines are connected with one another by rime. Out of the septenary rimed couplet a a, there arises a fourline anisometric stanza with alternate rime a b abg, as in a part of the Bestiary (§ 134):

Al is man so is tis ern,

Wulde ge nu listen,

Old in hise sinnes dern,

Or he bicumeđ christen,

later, too, in a part of the romance of Sir Ferumbras (Schipper's Übungsbuch, 8th ed., p. 166 f.) be Sarazyns prykyab faste away,

As harde as pay may hye,

And ledep wip hymen at riche pray,

be flour of chyualarye.

NOTE 1. A four-line anisometrical stanza, in which only the second and fourth lines rime: a b c bg arose from a septenary rimed couplet, in which the first half-lines did not rime. This stanza was con mon in popular ballads in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and was called common metre (§ 229).

An isometrical four-line stanza with alternate rime results from rimed couplets of alexandrines, with rime of the caesurae (a ba b). It is found, for instance, in a part of the rimed chronicle of Robert Mannyng of Brunne (§ 155):

At Westmynstere euen

Es Jon laid solempnely;

be Ersbisshop Steuen

Corouned his sonne Henry etc.;

yet here, as in the case of the resolved septenaries above, the long-line is really the metrical unit, so that one can scarcely speak of four-line stanzas. However we find real four-line isometrical stanzas with alternate rimes (a ba b) as early as the thirteenth century, e.g. in a hymn (Old Engl. Misc.):

Jesu, lord, þat madist me

And wip þi blessid blod hast bougt,
Forgeue þat y haue greuid be

Wip worde, wip wil, and ek wib bougt,

also often later in religious poems, e.g. in the Boten des Todes (Engl. Stud. 14, 184 ff.):

be mon bat is of wommon ibore

His lif nis here but a prowe,

So seip Jop vs her bifore

Al in a bok þat I wel knowe.

NOTE 2. We find the same rime order in NE. in the elegiac stanza (§ 230) a b a bá, e.g. in Gray's Elegy (§ 150,4). In fact alternate rime (a ba b) is much used in English poetry, e.g. in the Chaucerian stanza (a b a bbcbc § 195), the Spenserian stanza, (derived from the Chaucerian) abab b c b c C § 239, the six-line stanza of Venus and Adonis (ab a b c c § 236) and in the Shakespearean sonnet (abab cdcd efef gg § 248).

§ 171. Eight-line Stanza a bababab. An eight-line anisometrical stanza with alternate rime a b a bз a bз a bз is derived from a fourline isometrical septenary stanza (a a a a) by adding rime in the first half-lines, or it arises by doubling the stanza a b a bg (§ 170.); cf. The Duty of Christians (OE. Misc. p. 141):

Crist us hauep of eorpe iwrouht,
To eorpe he wule vs sende.
Mid his debe we weren ibouht
From e fendes bende.

He hit hauep al bipouht

be frumpe to pon ende Hou we bep hider ibrouht

and hwider we schal wende.

Far commoner is the corresponding isometric stanza: a b a babab, e.g. in the Luue Ron of Thomas of Hales (OE. Misc. p. 95 ff.):

Yf mon is riche of worldes weole,

Hit makep his heorte smerte and ake,

If he dret þat me him stele,

þenne dop him pyne nyhtes wake.
Him waxel pouhtes monye and fele
Hw he hit may witen wip-vten sake.
An ende hwat helpep hit to hele

Al dep hit wile from him take.

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This stanza was common in the religious poems of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, e.g., in the legend of Gregory (Schipper, Übungsbuch p. 118 f.) and in the paraphrase of the Psalms (Engl. Stud. 10, 232 ff.) etc.

A stanza with three beats is rarer, e.g. Vernon MS. (EETS. 117) Nr. 43:

To loue Ichulle beginne

Jhesu bobe day and niht;
Of ffleschlich loue to blynne
Ichul don al my miht.
Jhesu wibouten synne
In a mayden he liht;
Mi loue al for to wynne

Jhesu bicom my kniht.

§ 172. Eight-line Stanza ababbcbc. The stanza abababab, in which two rimes occur four times, was difficult for English poets, who could not use the convenient suffix rimes of French (§ 145). On the other hand the introduction of two new rimes in the second half (a babcded) would have disturbed the unity of the stanza and made it difficult to distinguish from two four-line stanzas. Thus a rime of the first half was retained in the second half, the second rime taking the position of the first, whilst a new rime was introduced in the place of the second. Thus we get the scheme ababbcbc, where the rime is easier than in abababab and the monotony of the two rimes is avoided. The unity of the stanza is assured by the rime of the fourth and fifth verses.

The earliest example we find in the form a babbcbc in a lament on the death of Edward I (died 1307); cp. Schipper Übungsbuch 8th ed. p. 152:

Alle þat beop of huerte treowe

A stounde herknep to my song
Of duel þat dep hap diht vs newe,

þat makep me syke ant sorewe among;

Of a knyht þat wes so strong,

Of wham god hap don ys wille;

Me punchep pat dep hap don vs wrong, þat he so sone shal ligge stille.

In the fourteenth century this stanza was often used for lyrical and didactic poems. The last line

is used as a refrain and gives the thought underlying the poem, cp. Twenty-six Political and other Poems ed. by Kail, EETS. 124, p. 17:

Thoug men in erpe troupe hyde,

On halle roof he wole be sayn;
In botme of see he nyl not byde,
But shewe in market on the playn.
And boug troupe a while be slayn
And doluen depe vnder clay,

git he wole ryse to lyue agayn

And al the sope he wole say.

NOTE. Chaucer uses this stanza with heroic verse (a babbcbc, § 195), and it is the foundation of the Spenserian stanza (ababbcbcg cg § 239).

§ 173. Twelve-line Stanzas ababababbcbc, ababababcdcd.

In the fourteenth century a similarly constructed twelve-line stanza was common, in which an eightline opening abababab was followed by a four-line conclusion bcbc. It had four beats: a babababbcbc. Many poems in the Vernon MS. (EETS. 117) are composed in this stanza, of which the twelfth line is the refrain (§ 164. 172): Whon men beob muriest at heor mele

Wip mete and drink to maken hem glade,
Wip worschip and wip worldlich wele

bei ben so set þey conne not sade.

bei haue no deynte for to dele

Wip pinges pat ben deuoutli made,
bei weene heor honour and heore hele
Schal euer laste and neuer diffade.
But in heor hertes I wolde bei hade,

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