Bothe be king and be quene,
And al þe doughti bydene;
Sir Gawayne gayest one grene
Dame Gaynour he ledes.

§ 176. The Tail-rime Stanza.
$

This stanza, which had various forms, was much used both in religious poems and in romances. The foundation is the tail-rime stanza a abccb, which is found also in Latin hymns, e.g. Lauda Sion salvatorem,

Lauda ducem et pastorem

In hymnis et canticis.

Quantum potes, tantum aude,
Quia maior omni laude

Nec laudare sufficis.

NOTE, On the origin of the tail-rime stanza see Ferd. Wolf, Über die Lais, Sequenzen und Leiche and Bartsch, Die lateinischen Sequenzen und Prosen des Mittelalters in musikalischer und rhythmischer Beziehung dargestellt. Baumbach's Lindenwirtin is a modern German example of the tail-rime stanza.

§ 177. The Six-line Tail-rime Stanza.

The earliest form of this stanza in English is anisometrical, a a, b, c c, bg; e.g. in Böddeker (no. 17) Lustnep alle a lutel prowe (v. § 154), or in a part (11. 237-284 and 379-396) of Dame Siriz, Schipper's Übungsbuch, 8th ed., p. 131 ff., or in the proverbs of Hendyng, Böddeker, p. 287 ff.: Mon þat wol of wysdam heren,

At wyse Hendyng he may leren
þat wes Marcolues sone,

Gode ponkes ond monie bewes
Forte teche fele shrewes,

For bat wes euer is wone.

We can derive this stanza from the septenary couplet (a a), or from common metre (a bg c1 bз), by a doubling of the a and c verses to form couplets: a a, b c c4 bg. In some parts of Coleridge's Ancient Mariner the common metre (a, b a bg) becomes a tail-rime stanza of six lines (a a bg) by the addition of extra rime, e.g.

bg 7 72

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;

We were the first that ever burst

Upon that silent sea.

In the same way we can derive a six-line tailrime stanza, in which the couplets have the same rime (a a, b, a a, b), from the four-line anisometrical stanza with alternate rime (a, b, a, b, § 170), cp. Chaucer's Sir Thopas, 11. 1—6:

Listeth, lordes, in good entent,
And I wol telle you verrayment
Of mirthe and of solas,

Al of a knight was fair and gent
In bataile and in tourneyment,

His name was sir Thopas.

It

A six-line anisometrical tail-rime stanza in which the couplets have four beats and the tail-rime verses only two beats, a a, b, c c, b, is rarer. is found in Beves of Hamtoun (§ 154) and in some parts of Dame Siriz (1. 25-132. 397-408); cp, 1. 85 ff:

"Dame, if hit is þi wille
Bope dernelike and stille
Ich wille be love."

"pat woldi don for non þing

Bi houre Louerd, hevene king

þat ous is bove!",

also in a part of Chaucer's Sir Thopas (§ 184).

An isometrical six-line tail-rime stanza with three beats, a a b c c bg, however, is found very early; e.g. in a poem of 1308 (§ 154) and at the beginning and end of Dame Siriz, cp. 1. 427 ff.:

"Wilekin þe swete,
Mi love I be bihete,

To don al pine wille.
Turnd ich have mi bout,

For I ne wolde nout

þat þu þe schuldest spille."

The couplets have the same rime (a a ba a bg) in Sinners Beware (OE. Misc. p. 72 f.) and in a prayer at the beginning of Ancren Riwle (cp. Child, Mod. Lang. Notes 14, 63):

Mayde and moder milde

Vor loue of pine childe

þat is god and man

Me þat am zuo wylde

Vram zenne bou me ssylde

Ase ich be bydde can.

The form of Stabat mater (a abccb,) is imitated in the English translation (Böddeker, GL. 9):

"Stond wel, moder, vnder rode,
Byholt by sone wip glade mode;
Blybe, moder, myht pou be!" -

"Sone, hou shulde y blyþe stonde?

Y se bin fet, y se pin honde

Nayled to be harde tre."

The tenth hymn in Böddeker combines a fourline anisometrical stanza with alternate rime and a six-line anisometrical tail-rime stanza (a, bз a bз c c1 dз c c d1):

Jesu, for þi muchele miht,

þu gef vs of þi grace,
bat we mowe dai and night
þenken o pi face.

In myn herte hit dop me god
When y þenke on Jesu blod
þat ran doun bi ys syde,
From is herte doun to is fot;

For ous he spradde is herte blod,
His wondes were so wyde.

$178. The Twelve-line Tail-rime Stanza. By doubling a six-line tail-rime stanza, one with twelve lines is formed. The four tail-rime lines must have the same rime, if the stanza is to form a unity, whilst each couplet may have its own rime. The anisometrical form is the commonest a a b c c b d d be e̟ b, e.g. in Lenten ys come wip loue to toune (Schipper's Übungsbuch, 8th ed. p. 154), and in many other lyrics and romances; cp. Sir Triamour, st. 2:

4

He was the king of Arragoun,
A noble man of grete renoun,
Sir Arradus was his name.
He hadde a quene, hight Margarete,
Trewe as stele, I yow behete,

And falsely brought in blame.

The kinges steward Marrock hight;
Fals and fikel was that wight,

That lady for to fame.

He loved well that lady gent;

For scho wolde not to him assente,

He dide her mikel schame.

In some poems, e.g. Amis and Amiloun, the first two couplets have the same rime (a a b ̧ a â bз c c1 bз d d b3⁄4), e.g.

For goddis loue in trinite

Alle that bene hende herkneth to me,

Y pray you par amour,

What whilom fill beyonde the see
Of two barouns of gret bountee.
And men of greete honour.
Here faders were barouns hende,
Lordynges ycome of greete kende,
Prince in town and tour.

To here of these childerin twoo,
How they were in wele and woo,
Ywis it is grete dolour.

The same rime in the third and fourth couplets is rare. It is found in the romance Duke Rowland and Sir Othuell (EETS. ES. 35), and the isometrical form aabaabccbccb, is found in Quinque Gaudia Mariae (Mätzner's Altengl. Sprachproben 1, 51 ff.).

In two ME. romances only we find an isometrical twelve-line tail-rime stanza with three beats, viz. in the second half of Rowland and Vernagu (425-880) and in Libeaus Desconus. In the former the first two couplets have different rimes (a a b