Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

14 and singen | de | lófsòng mid | swude | muchele |

|

19 pu ert briht and blisfùl ouer | alle | wúmmèn, 20 and god du ert and | gode | leof

glédschipe |...

ouer alle wépmèn|...

119 auouh | mine | sóulè, hwon | ich of | pisse | liue | uare, 120 and schild | me urom | séoruwè

and from | eche | deades kare.

gif þu wult det | ich ideo, gode | 3eme | nim to me, 122 vor wel ne | wurd me | néuèr, bute | hit beo | buruh |

đe . . .

...

157 mi | lif is | þin, mi | luue is | pin, mine | heorte | blod is | þin,

158 and gif | ich der | séggèn, mi | leoue | leafdi | þu ert | min.

Schipper (EM I, 162 ff.; Grdr. 195 ff.) looks on only the longer verses with masculine caesura (e.g. 5, 20, 157) as septenaries, but the shorter verses with feminine caesura (e.g. 1-3, 10—12) partly as free alliterative long lines, partly as alexandrines. Thus he assumes an interchange of septenary and alexandrine, of six (3+3) and seven (4+3) beats, and that this interchange is quite free.

Such a planless mixture of two different measures in a long poem is, in itself, improbable. On closer examination (cp. Pilch) we find that there are no alexandrines in the poem. Those verses, which Schipper scans as alexandrines, are septenaries, which are different from the septenaries with masculine caesura only in that the last two members of the first half-line are united to form a

foot of two members, in accordance with the practice in OE. and early ME. verse (Brut, King Horn). We must, therefore, read: Crístes milde | módèr | 1, mínes líues | léomè | 2 and schild mé urom | séoruwè | 120 and singe pé | lófsong | 8. 14, þú ert bríht and | blísfùl | 19 etc. It is rarer to find a foot of two members within the verse, e.g. th ouh | wúrine | đẻ 7, ích hit | pónkie | đẻ 11, álle | crístène | mén 13. Sometimes feet of three members occur at the end of the first half-line, e.g. mid brihte || 3ímstonès || 55. All these first halflines with feminine ending must be looked on as having four members like those with (monosyllabic or disyllabic) masculine ending, in which the four beats are clearly seen and generally separated by unstressed syllables e.g. and ál min héorte blód 4, þú ert mire soule liht 5, and gód đu ért and gode léof 20, gíf þu wúlt det ích iđéo 121, mi líf is þín, mi lúue is þín 157 mí líf and mí tohópe 6, wel ówen wé uor pine lúue 18, biuóren díne léoue súne 26 etc. Heuser (Bonner Beitr. 17, 119) comes to the same result: "The so-called early ME. alexandrine is only a variety of the septenary. If, as in MHG., we look on the form with feminine ending and three beats as having four bars, then the alexandrine becomes the septenary."

[ocr errors]

In the poem On God Ureisun of vre Lefdi, however, we see that the second half-verse of the early ME. septenary is also to be looked on as

having 'four members'. For not only do feminine endings occur, as in Poema Morale, in which the fourth member is composed of an inflexional syllable, e.g. and mine knéon ich | béiè | 3, and mine héorte | blíssè | 5, mid álle mine | míhtè, bi dáie and bi nihtè | 8 etc., or verse-endings of three members as séynte || Márìè || 1, mi léoue || léfdiè || 2. 11, but verses occur, in which the fourth member is the second part of a compound or even an independent strongly stressed word, so that there can here be no doubt that the second half-verse has four members, e.g. óuer | álle | wúmmèn | 19, óuer álle | wépmèn | 20, ówen dón pe wúrshipe | 13, mid swúde múchele | glédshipe | 14

[ocr errors]

góde

Jéme ním to mé 121, búte hit beo púruh dé 122, mine héorte blód is þín 157, mi léoue léafdi, þú ert min 158 -hwon ích of pisse liue uáre 119, ánd from éche déades káre 120. The verse of this poem could be derived directly from the alliterative long-line. This is Heuser's view (Bonner Beitr. 17, 120 f.). But it seems to be influenced by the septenary of the Poema Morale, which must be explained as an imitation of the Latin septenary because of the absence of alliteration.

§ 131. De Muliere Samaritana.

The verse of this poem is like that of On God Ureisun, cf. Pilch pp. 35-38. A short extract is sufficient, H. 13-20:

Ase he per réstè, ase | wei weri | wérè,

bar com gon o | wýmmòn

alone | buten ivérè:

ase heo wes | er i wuned, heo | com myd | hire | sténè and Jesus to pare wýmmòn

bigon his burst to |

ménè:

yef me drynke, | wýmmòn', he seyde myd | mylde

[ocr errors]

beo | wymmon | him on swéredè, al | so to | mon vnľkúþè hwat ar tu pat | drynke me | byst? þu | pinchest of | Judelónde:

ne | mostu | drynke | vnderfo none of | myne | hóndè'.

§ 132. The Passion of Our Lord.

In The Passion and Josephslied the case is different. As Pilch (pp. 38-50) has shown, the first half-lines with masculine endings have clearly four beats, e.g. po séide úre lóuerd crist 101, pat blód órn adún of him 162, he wés ofdréd óf þe dép 152 hi séïden hé is a smipes súne 59, þét ich wrót, béo iwrite 476 etc.; we must, therefore, scan the first half-lines with feminine ending with four beats, i.e. take the feminine ending as having two members, e.g. pe children óf þe | túnè | 40, míd his fálse | wórdès | 32 héyl, he séyde, | máystèr | 191, mid his swéte | módèr | 644- Adam ánd his | ófsprùng | 23, and álle mén and | wimmèn | 679 etc.

[ocr errors]

The second half-lines with masculine ending, however, have clearly only three beats, e.g. bóþe gód and món 36, ne béo we nóht his frend 59, as ích eu ségge máy 68 — pat éuer wés ibóre 21, pét is gódes súne 37 etc. We can, therefore, assume

only three beats for the half-lines with feminine ending. This is rendered easier by the fact that the extra syllable always consists of an unstressed e, e.g. þat ích eu wile télle 1, in pe godspelle 2, tó his fáder blisse 14 etc., for where a stronger subsidiary stress is found at the end, which must form the last member of the verse, only three beats can be clearly recognized, e.g. a pálme sunedày 65, he wrót his godspèl 501, sái me wimmòn 568 etc.

An example is given:

331 Pilates quep to | ihesu | crist! seye bu me sop. yf þu ert | gýwène | kyng! oper hi | habbeb | woh.

bu hit seyst quep | ure | lord: þat | ich am | godes |

I not for hwiche | gúltè

335 Pilates him | vt i wéndè

sune.

hi me | habbep inume. per | after | ful | sone.

He | seyde hwat | haueb pes | mon ildo: þat | is i brouht

be | Gywes him on swéredèn 338 Nere he | nouht for | us inume:

tó me.

if he | nedde mys do. ne i|brouht be | to...

389 Pilates | eft vt | éodè and | to be | gywes | sede. Lo her ich | brynge | þisne | mon and to- | vore eu |

lede.

Ich nenne gult ne | vynde on | him

392 Hewuste | bet he | wes inume:

i do eu | to vnder stonde.

vor | heore | muchel| onde.

133. The Josephslied.

Heuser (Bonner Beitr. 17, 113 ff.) arrived at the same results for the Josephslied as Pilch for the Passion. An example is sufficient:

« AnteriorContinua »