A theory of Middle English alliterative meter: with critical applications gm80hv81h

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SPECULUM ANNIVERSARY MONOGRAPHS ONE

A THEORY OF MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

Ns

SRV] SPECULUM ANNIVERSARY MONOGRAPHS

Sip, ONE

BOARD OF EDITORS

Robert Brentano Charles T. Davis

Jobn Leyerle Luke Wenger

| Siegfried Wenzel

A. THEORY OF MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER with Critical Applications

ROBERT WILLIAM SAPORA, JR.

The publication of this book was made possible by funds contributed to the Mediaeval Academy during the Semi-Centennial Fund Drive.

Copyright © 1977 By The Mediaeval Academy of America LCC 77-89927 ISBN 910956-61-8 Printed in the United States of America

For Carol, Jennifer, and Andrew

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Contents

Preface ix Chapter I APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF MIDDLE

ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE VERSE 1 Il A THEORY OF MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER 17

Iil PROBLEMS OF SCANSION 31 IV THE THEORY APPLIED TO VARIOUS

POEMS IN THE TRADITION 47 V__ LITERARY STYLE, STYLISTICS, AND

METRICAL THEORY 63 Appendix I: List of Metrical Forms 81 Appendix II: List of Problematic Lines 115

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Preface

Generations of students have read the works of the English alliterative tradition with delight. Virtually all have agreed that the tradition contains many fine poems and that a few poems, like Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, are clearly great ones. As one might expect, among the virtues attributed to the finer poems in the tradition, technical brilliance

has been mentioned as often as any other, and the critical literature surrounding them includes much commentary on the prosodic structure of individual poems and on the nature of English alliterative prosody in general.

Though this corpus of prosodic commentary often reflects painstaking empirical analysis and forceful theorizing, the critical tradition is not without its problems. Over the course of decades new linguistic knowledge of Old and Middle English has become available, making some of the older commentary outdated, particularly in the case of Middle English alliterative verse. Furthermore, some writers have been less acute than others in seeing and stating major prosodic problems; for example, not all have specified a clear, workable relation between the notions of rby-

thm and meter, which, however they may be defined, ought to be defined with the utmost rigor. Finally, and perhaps most sadly, certain disagreements seem needlessly to have arisen between writers primarily concerned with the rhythm of poetic performances and writers primarily concerned with theories of meter. My own work is an attempt to remedy some of these difficulties in the study of Middle English alliterative poetry. I will present a theory of

alliterative meter that brings recent linguistic advances to bear on the subject and embodies in its form and applications a clear and critically useful relation between the notions of rhythm and meter. Since this relation is so important, I will anticipate the discussions to come by saying that I characterize rhythm as a function of poetic performance consisting of elements which are measurable, physical things, and meter as a function of an individual’s understanding of the nature of poetry,

as something which is not measurable but is quite real nonetheless. I will attempt to show that the two notions must be seen as related ones, 1X

PREFACE

but that the relation that obtains between them is much more complex than has been thought. Having presented the theory, I will take the first steps toward applying it to a study of the styles of the long-line poems of the Gawain group, The Destruction of Troy, Morte Arthure, and the A-text of Piers Plowman.

These particular works were chosen because they are varied enough in subject, genre, and style to provide a representative sampling of metrical patterns for testing the explanatory power and critical usefulness of the theory; and since the poems of the Gawain group have often been attributed to a common author on the basis of metrical and stylistic similarities and the other poems have not, a comparison of the metrical variety of these two subgroups is of special interest. My findings in this regard

suggest that the claims for the metrical similarity of the poems of the Gawain group have been slightly overstated. The study as a whole demonstrates that the methods of comparative metrics can be applied with considerable benefit to the development of a

theory of Middle English alliterative meter, and that the seven poems incorporated in the study can be scanned in a way that honors what we know of the sounds and rhythms of Middle English, at the same time offering a significant degree of confirmation for the theory.

*** I would like to express my thanks to the many people who have helped me in one way or another with this work. I am grateful to Professor Charles A. Owen, Jr., and Dr. William R. McMunn for invaluable guidance; over a period of several years they have generously helped me to solve difficult critical and linguistic problems. I am grateful to Mr. Luke Wenger and Professor John Leyerle for the many helpful suggestions they made as the manuscript was being prepared for publication; one could not hope for more constructive or more congenial critics. And I am grateful to the

teachers and students at the University of Connecticut and at Western Maryland College who have shared my excitement and provided stimulating and valuable criticism.

To the Research Foundation of the University of Connecticut and to the Research and Creativity Committee and the offices of the President and Academic Dean of Western Maryland College go my thanks for grants of money that expedited my progress. To Rhonda Kiler, Elizabeth Creagh, Christian Landskroener, Crystal

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PREFACE

Bellinger, Virginia Colyer, Carol Baker Sapora, and others who helped prepare the manuscript go my thanks for much tedious service cheerfully rendered.

And finally, I can only begin here to express my gratitude to Carol Baker Sapora, who carried with magnanimity and grace the burdens that my writing very often forced me to shift to her shoulders, and to Jennifer and Andrew Sapora for having shared their father with a daimon whose beneficence must at times have seemed to them quite doubtful.

Xi

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I

APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE VERSE

Ongeatba se goda_ _— grundwyrgenne,

merewif mihtig; megenres forgeaf

hildebille, | hond sweng ne oftéah, 1520

pet hire onhafelan _hringmel agol gredig gidléod. Da se gist onfand, pzt se beadoleoma ___bitan nolde, aldre scebdan, ac s€o ecg geswac

Seodneetpearfe; dolode &r fela 1525 hondgemota, helm oft gescer, feges fyrdhregl; da wes forma sid déorum madme, _ pat his dom 4leg. (Beowulf, 1518-28)'

After pe sesoun of somer wythhbe soft wyndez 516 Quen Zeferus syflez hymself on sedez and erbez, Wela wynne is be wort bat waxes beroute, When be donkande dewe dropez of be leuez,

To bide a blysful blusch ofpbe bry3t sunne. 520 Bot ben hy3es heruest, and hardenes hym sone, Warnez hym for be wynter to wax ful rype; He dryues wyth dro3t be dust for to ryse, Fro be face of be folde to fly3e ful hy3e;

Wrobe wynde of be welkyn wrastelez withbe sunne, 525 pe leuez lancen frobe lynde and ly3ten onpe grounde, And al grayes he grespat grene watz ere; penne al rypez and rotez bat ros vpon fyrst, And bus 3irnez be 3ere in 3isterdayez mony,

And wynter wyndez asayn, as pe worlde askez, 530 no fage, Til Me3elmas mone Watz cumen wyth wynter wage;

1. Frederick Klaeber, ed., Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, 3rd ed. (Boston, 1950), p. 57. 1

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

Pen pbenkkez Gawan ful sone Of his anious uyage. (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 516-35)?

Readers have often pointed to these two passages as examples of the poetic excellence of the English alliterative tradition. Such excellence consists of the confluence of many artistic virtues, not the least of which is the poets’ masterful use of metrical conventions. Poetry, after all, lifts us clear of mundane experience by teaching us a language which is grander, subtler, and more musical than prose. What, then, are the metrical conventions of the English alliterative tradition which enabled the poets of

the tradition to generate poetic effects? Common sense and a careful reading of just these passages will suggest a number of interesting answers.

First, most readers would agree that syllables which receive major linguistic stress seem normally to receive rhythmic emphasis in the verses. Thus the following lines would have rhythmic emphases as marked.

xX X X

X X X Xx

Ongeatba se goda _—s grundwyrgenne,

XXXX

merewif mihtig; megenras forgeaf hildebille, | hond sweng ne oftéah, (Beowulf, 1518-1520)

X X XxX X

XXXX

Afterpbe sesoun of somer wythbe soft wyndez Quen Zeferus syflez hymself on sedez and erbez, (Gawain, 516-517)

Further, the rhythmic emphases determined in this way can be placed in two groups—syllables that alliterate and syllables that do not. Major syllables (i.e., those having a major stress) that begin with identical consonants or with vowels are thus distinguished from major syllables

that do not. Both kinds of syllables, alliterating and non-alliterating (marked A and non-A here) have rhythmic emphasis.

2.J. R. R. Tolkien and Eric V. Gordon, eds., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 2nd rev. ed. by Norman Davis (London, 1967), p. 15. Hereafter cited as Gawain, All poems are cited by line number rather than the page number of the edition. 2

APPROACHES

A non-A A non-A deorum madme, pet his dom 4leg. (Beowulf, 1528)

A A A A non-A

Pe leuez lancen fro pe lynde and ly3ten on be grounde, (Gawain, 526)

Considerable variation seems to have been allowed within the tradition for the ordering of major syllables in successive verses. In fact, no structural connection appears to exist between pairs of verses. The rules that determine the ordering of A’s and non-A’s seem to apply independently to one verse at a time, irrespective of the ordering of A’s and nonA’s in surrounding verses. There seem to be a “normal” number of emphases per line, in Beowulf three or four, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight four or five.

Among these emphases an indeterminate number of unstressed and lesser-stressed syllables would seem to have been allowed. There is rio apparent pattern in the unstressed and lesser-stressed syllables; in these examples they occur in groups ranging from zero to three syllables: Ongeatba se goda _~—s grundwyrgenne,

merewif mihtig; maegenres forgeaf hildebille, | hond sweng ne ofteah, pet hire on hafelan _hringmel agol gredig gudléod. Da se gist onfand, pet se beadoleoma ___bitan nolde, (Beowulf, 1518-23) After be sesoun of somer wyth be soft wyndez Quen Zeferus syflez hymself on sedez and erbez, (Gawain, 516-17)

These common-sense generalizations are confirmed by many writers on the subject. Norman Davis, for example, in his revision of Tolkien and Gordon’s edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,’ articulates the consensus of these writers and confirms each of the generalizations I have thus far made. In addition, Davis’s broad reading in the English alliterative tradition leads him to certain other generalizations not readily apparent from a reading of the two passages I have considered here. For instance, he claims that verses in the tradition have a metrical pause somewhere

3. Gawain, pp. 147-52. 3

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

between the antepenultimate and penultimate stress and that this often corresponds to some major syntactic boundary. Davis claims further that

... though the general structure of [Middle English alliterative long

lines} is similar to that of O[Id] E[nglish] verse, from which the principles must have descended through an unbroken oral tradition, there are numerous important differences. In M[iddle] E[nglish] the rhythm is purely accentual, and lifts need not fall on syllables that are long as well as stressed; stress is much less regularly associated with grammatical function;... alliteration is richer, and this allows freer use of unstressed syllables without weakening the cohesion of the line—half-lines of only four syllables, frequent in Beowulf, are rare in Gawain.*

These and the earlier generalizations are quite plausible; they contain clear, descriptive statements of the relation between the English language

and a particular literary form (with its own complex, extra-colloquial rules) which has arisen out of English as a specialized mode of communication. The relation is stated in terms of ‘‘normal”’ poetic practices, which

a reader can expect to be predominant in the verses, and in terms of the limits of deviation from the norm, at the extremes of which he or she can expect to find a certain number of relatively rare but allowable forms. These generalizations are useful; they go far toward answering the question: What are the prosodic givens of the tradition? There is one important thing that they do not do, though, and that

they ought to do. To put the matter in the simplest terms, the hypotheses thus far considered, though very useful in their descriptive clarity, are only descriptions; they make no real progress toward an explanation of the nature of English alliterative poetry. I use the terms description and explanation here as they have been used commonly during the last two decades of literary-linguistic discussion. A description is an answer

to the question: What are the observable traits of this thing? And an explanation 1s an answer to the question: How can I account for the observable traits of this thing? Description, in this sense, is an essential part of any disciplined inquiry since it guarantees the surest possible contact between the mind of the inquirer and the matter under study. But it 1s limited in that it can only produce statements which arise directly and mechanically from details of observation. Explanation, on the other hand, though it must always be grounded in good description, can lead, 4. Gawain, pp. 151-2. 4

. APPROACHES by means of hypothetical analysis, to statements which point with insight to real and significant though non-material qualities of things. No commentary on Middle English alliterative verse written since Davis’s edition of Gawain attempts a comprehensive explanatory analysis

of the subject. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Stylistic and Metrical Study,’ Marie Borroff presents a highly useful, systematic method of reading which I will comment on in some detail in Chapter V, but

her study is primarily descriptive with regard to the nature of Middle English alliterative meter. George Kane and E. Talbot Donaldson, in their introduction to Piers Plowman: The B Version,®° note that they were required to develop their own inductive analysis of Langland’s verse technique specifically for the purpose of their edition because they received “‘little help from earlier studies of the Middle English alliterative long line.”’’ (In Chapters II and III, I will be referring to each of the major details of Kane and Donaldson’s analysis as they become pertinent to my discussion; while I see the aptness of their system of scansion for Piers Plowman, 1 will have reason to choose a slightly different one for the purposes of this study.) One’s interest in discovering a comprehensive

explanatory statement about the nature of Middle English alliterative meter will not be fully answered by earlier studies of the Middle English part of the corpus alone.

Several works on Old English alliterative verse are more helpful. Even though their factual findings and theorizings are only indirectly related to Middle English alliterative verse, their suggestivity as a whole provides more consequential aid than the extant commentaries on Middle English alliterative verse proper. In turn, and with remarkable thoroughness, Eduard Sievers, Andreas Heusler, Alan J. Bliss, John C. Pope, and Robert P. Creed have characterized the linguistic elements of Old English alliterative verse on extensive empirical bases and developed plausible generalizations about its metrical structure.® By no means in agreement 5. Marie Borroff, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Stylistic and Metrical Study (New Haven, 1962). 6. George Kane and E. Talbot Donaldson, Piers Plowman: The B Verston (London, 1975). Hereafter cited as Piers: B Version, 7. Piers: B Version, p. 131. 8. Eduard Sievers, Altgermanische Metrik (Halle, 1893). Andreas Heusler, Die altgermanische Dichtung (Berlin, 1923). Alan J. Bliss, The Metre of Beowulf (Oxford, 1967). John C. Pope, The Rhythm of Beowulf: An Interpretation of the Normal and Hypermetric Verse-Forms in Old English Poetry (New Haven, 1966). Robert P. Creed, ‘““A New Approach to the Rhythm of Beowulf,” Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 81 (1966), 23-33. 5

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

on all substantive matters, these writers have enabled interested students to see crucial issues in a most constructive, pluralistic manner. Further,

. they have pointed clearly to the need for, while at the same time making possible, the primarily theoretical studies of Morris Halle and Samuel J.

Keyser,’ and the admirable synthesis of descriptive and explanatory analysis accomplished by Thomas Cable in The Meter and Melody of Beowulf.'°

The work of these authors on Old English alliterative verse shows the value of co-ordinated descriptive and explanatory efforts; it points to the potential usefulness of, and gives crucial methodological aid for, the present study. Accordingly, while the theory presented in Chapter II uses the descriptive basis provided by such writers as James P. Oakden, Fernand Mosse, Marie Borroff, Norman Davis, and George Kane and E.

Talbot Donaldson,’ its explanatory point of departure is the methodology of those who have written on Old English alliterative verse. It is necessary to begin, then, with a preliminary discussion of those

elements of the work of Halle and Keyser and of Cable that were most helpful in developing a theory of Middle English alliterative meter. Halle and Keyser’s first published collaboration is their article, ‘“Chaucer and the Study of Prosody.’’!* This article contains the first statement of a set of theoretical principles that Halle and Keyser have used throughout their collaboration with little substantive change and with considerable

explanatory success. I will not be concerned with the details of their analysis of English iambic pentameter, but only with their statement of principles, since it is the basis of their later work on a theory of English alliterative meter.

In “Chaucer and the Study of Prosody,” Halle and Keyser depart drastically from established scholarly conventions. They begin conven-

as BS.

9. Samuel Jay Keyser, “Old English Prosody,” College English 30 (1969), 331-56. Hereafter cited as OEP. Morris Halle and Samuel Jay Keyser, English Stress: Its Form, Its Growth, and Its Role in Verse (New York, 1971). Hereafter cited 10. Thomas Cable, The Meter and Melody of Beowulf (Urbana, 1974). 11. James P. Oakden, Alliterative Poetry in Middle English: The Dialectal and Metrical Survey, 1 (Manchester, 1930). Fernand Mossé, A Handbook of Middle Englisb, trans, James A, Walker (Baltimore, 1952). Borroff, Sir Gawain (see above, n. 5). Davis, Gawain (see above, n. 2). Kane and Donaldson, Piers: B Version (see above, n. 6).

12. Morris Halle and Samuel Jay Keyser, ‘Chaucer and the Study of Prosody,”’ College English 28 (1966), 187-219. Hereafter cited as CSP. 6

APPROACHES

tionally enough, along lines suggested much earlier by Otto Jespersen,*” by observing ‘‘that a poet (like his audience) has at his disposal certain linguistic givens’’ and that the question of the prosodist is “chow these

linguistic givens are utilized for the purposes of prosody.”’* But they reject the conventional answers for a novel one:

Rather. than look upon [variations from a metrical norm] as somehow deviant—though perhaps less deviant than some other lines—we propose below a set of principles or rules which by their nature yield a large variety of metrical patterns. ... With respect to these rules, there will be one of two possible judgments. Either a line is metrical by virtue of conformity to the rules, or else a line is unmetrical by virtue of nonconformity to the rules. As we have said, it is precisely this distinction which a theory of prosody of a given poet or poetic tradition must make.*®

Here, and later in their work on Old English,’© Halle and Keyser have aimed at producing a theory which conforms to high standards of explanation—standards honored currently by scholars in virtually all disciplines. The following brief characterization of these standards, stated in terms suggested by Ernest Nagel in The Structure of Science,'’ is intended as a frame of reference for the explication and evaluation of Halle and Keyser’s theory and for the theory presented in Chapter II.

A statement of theory should assert, without full demonstration, both the aptness of a particular notion of theory and the aptness of a set of standards according to which theories may be judged good or bad. A theory normally consists of two components, an abstract formal component and an interpretive one. The first has the function of embodying

in the most abstract terms possible all the notions that fall within the range of the theory. The second has the function of providing means by which the abstract notions embodied in the theory may be related systematically to notions which arise from observation. As commonly conceived, the two components of an effective theory work in conjunction

13. Otto Jespersen, ‘‘Notes on Meter,’ Linguistica: Selected Papers in English, French and German (Copenhagen, 1933), pp. 250-54. 14. CSP, p. 188. 15. CSP, pp. 190-91. 16. Keyser, “‘Old English Prosody,”’ and Halle and Keyser, English Stress (see above,

n.9). |

17. Ernest Nagel, ‘Experimental Laws and Theories,” The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation (New York, 1961), pp. 79-105. 7

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

to explain the nature of phenomena which have occurred and predict the nature of phenomena which may occur in the future. '®

In addition, a theory should have rigor, empirical adequacy, explanatory range, naturalness, and explanatory power. A theory has rigor when its terms are used consistently in one sense only and are related by a minimally complicated and unambiguous logic. A theory has empirical adequacy when its interpretive component shows clear and systematic

relations between notions embodied in the abstract component and notions arising from observations of fact. A theory has explanatory range when it has empirical adequacy over a wide range of related phenom-

ena. A theory has naturalness when its explanation of phenomena fits the intuitive response of knowledgeable observers to explanation-seeking questions, that is, to questions of the form: How can I account for the observed traits of this thing? And a theory has explanatory power when, while meeting all of the above standards, it offers generalizations that illuminate the essential nature of the phenomena which it covers.

In ‘Old English Prosody,’’ Keyser studied the meter of Beowulf with the same ambitious explanatory goals that he and Halle chose in “Chaucer and the Study of Prosody.” Then, in English Stress: Its Form, Its Growth, and Its Use in English Verse, Halle and Keyser improved Keyser’s explanation of Old English alliterative meter. They begin, as they have throughout their collaboration, by assuming that the poet does not violate the linguistic givens of his language to meet the demands of meter but manipulates these givens so that his verse is both metrical

and “grammatical.” Then they propose two theories for the meter of Beowulf. They make the first theory data-oriented and lacking in explanatory power. They note that this first theory “‘is empirically adequate in that it makes no false predictions [but] fails to provide true insights into the nature of the verse line in Beowulf.”!? In effect, they have contrived

a hypothesis that has empirical adequacy, in that it specifies those and only those verses which occur in Beowulf, but little explanatory power or naturalness. In rejecting their first theory and moving to one with as much empirical adequacy and much more naturalness and explanatory power, they are attempting to show the lhabilities of theories that make 18.1 have not included a third component, one which might be called the model component, in this treatment of the notion of theory. Though models are often found associated with theories, they are not essential components but simply devices to aid in the exposition of the nature of theories. 19. ES, p. 151, 8

APPROACHES

data-oriented generalizations and the virtues of theories that make wellmotivated hypothetical leaps. In their second, improved theory, Halle and Keyser invoke the idea of the half-line as a ‘“‘metrical construct, not a syntactic or phonetic

entity” (they neglect this in their first version), and advance their improved account of Old English meter in this way:

(1) (a) ABSTRACT METRICAL PATTERN RULES (1) A verse line is composed of a first and second half-line (ii) The first half-line is composed of (X)*X (iii) The second half-line is composed of X(W)* (b) CORRESPONDENCE RULES (i) Each X corresponds to a single S OR

One X in a half-line may correspond to an S and a W in either order

DEFINITION: If in two or more stressed syllables the zero or more consonants that precede the vowel are identical or begin with an identical consonant or s-cluster, the syllables alliterate (ii) Syllables in S positions alliterate; syllables in W positions do not alliterate (c) CONDITIONS (1) No half-line is shorter than two syllables

(ii) If a line contains a line-internal clause or sentence boundary, the boundary must coincide with that of the half-line

The Abstract Metrical Pattern Rules advanced here exemplify what I referred to above as the abstract formal component of a theory. These rules embody in abstract terms many, if not all, of the important notions that fall within the range of the theory, and they have rigor. They denote clearly the distinction between first and second half-lines and state in univocal terms an abstract pattern which underlies and works effectively

to explain the various metrical forms that a reader encounters in the text of Beowulf, The explicit claim of these rules is that there are four metrically significant entities in the Old English line, that the first three entities, represented by X’s, differ in some essential way from the fourth, which is represented as a W. In fact, the significance of this distinction between the two abstract symbols is that X allows for a greater variety of realizations than W does; X in the abstract metrical pattern can be 20. ES, p. 152. 9

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

realized as S, the symbol for an alliterating syllable with major linguistic

stress, or as W, the symbol for a non-alliterating syllable with major linguistic stress, or as the combination SW or WS. W in the abstract metrical pattern may only be realized as W, the symbol for a non-alliterating syllable with major linguistic stress. (Halle and Keyser may have come to regret their use of a single symbol, W, to represent two kinds of entities at two different levels of abstractness, 1.e., both the notion of a position

in their abstract metrical pattern and a less abstract notion involving phonetic traits. I have attempted to avoid such a notational ambiguity in my application of their methods to Middle English alliterative verse.)

Finally, the parenthesis-asterisk notation ( )* that surrounds the first entity of the first half-line and the second entity of the second half-line indicates that these entities are not manifest (concretely realized)

corpus. ,

in each and every line in the poem, but are manifest in more than half the lines. A parenthesis without an asterisk will denote that its associated entity is manifest in some, but fewer than half, of the lines of a particular

Of course an abstract theoretical statement has little explanatory value unless it is coupled with interpretive statements that establish the applicability of the theory to the details of observation. Halle and Keyser’s Correspondence Rules are statements that act in this way, exemplifying

what I referred to above as the interpretive component of a theory. In effect, Halle and Keyser’s Correspondence Rules (coupled with the assumption that such linguistic notions as “‘consonant,”’ “‘vowel,”’ “syllable,”’

‘“‘boundary,”’ etc., are well-defined) act as an interpretive component by adding empirical adequacy, explanatory range and power, and naturalness to a theory whose abstract formal component, in and of itself, though it is rigorous, is only vaguely suggestive of its connection to empirical detail.

Halle and Keyser demonstrate that the Abstract Metrical Pattern and Correspondence Rules of their theory, working in conjunction, serve both to explain the metrical nature of the lines in Beowulf and to verify the aptness of the abstract metrical pattern itself as a generalization about Old English meter.

For their own part, Halle and Keyser’s Correspondence Rules are rigorous. In them, a clear relation is drawn between elements in the abstract metrical pattern and metrical elements found in the various kinds of lines. As I have mentioned, each X corresponds to either S or W or SW

or WS, and each W corresponds to W. In the interest of further clarity, Halle and Keyser could have made explicit 1) that, in contrast to X, W 10

APPROACHES

in the abstract metrical pattern corresponds only to W in the metrical structures of individual lines when in fact it is realized, 2) that an s-cluster

is one of the three phoneme clusters sp, st, and sk, and 3) that Correspondence Rule b.u. stated more fully would read ‘‘Syllables in S positions receive major stress and alliterate; syllables in W positions receive major stress but do not alliterate; unstressed syllables are ignored by the theory as having no metrical significance,”’*" (Italics indicate my additions.) In this way, the distinction between the three kinds of metrical status would be made clearer: S would be shown more clearly to denote a “‘strong’’ metrical position, W to denote a “‘weak”’ metrical position, and unstressed

syllables would be explicitly rather than tacitly ignored as metrically insignificant.*?

In addition to rigor, Halle and Keyser’s Correspondence Rules have a

good measure of empirical adequacy and explanatory range. The two components, functioning together as formal and interpretive components of the theory, specify 35 line types as metrical in Beowulf. When Halle and Keyser test this list of specified line types against all the lines in the text,’> they find that six of the 35 types specified by the theory are not attested in the text of the poem. These six types are relatively complex realizations of the abstract metrical pattern, and are therefore expected to occur only rarely. Indeed, frequency of occurrence is generally in inverse

proportion to the degree of complexity predicted by the theory. It is plausible, then, that in the single poem, Beowulf, six of the 35 Old English

metrical types, and the most complicated at that, might not occur even though they are allowable.

On the face of it, the Halle and Keyser theory has considerable empirical adequacy. And because it specifies accurately a sizable portion of the line types in many poems other than Beowulf, it has considerable

explanatory range. But it should be clear that a theory with empirical 21.ES, pp. 153-4. 22.In ignoring unstressed syllables in their metrical theory, Halle and Keyser are following all other extant theories of Old English meter. This is not to say that Halle and Keyser and other theorists ignore the linguistic significance of nonstressed, non-alliterating syllables, but that they concur that such syllables are not metrically significant. Theorists such as John C, Pope and Robert P. Creed (see above, n. 8) have given unstressed syllables theoretical significance in their theories of “‘rhythm,” as opposed to meter. 23. Halle and Keyser use Ann Reed’s scansion of Beowulf as the basis for their work on Old English meter in English Stress; Reed’s system of scansion, derived largely from that of Sievers in Altgermanische Metrik, is outlined briefly in ES, p. 155, n. 7. 11

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

adequacy and explanatory range alone is not necessarily adequate, in a more colloquial sense, to the illumination of the nature of the phenomena that it subsumes. Important questions about the meter of Beowulf remain unanswered even after the empirical adequacy and explanatory range of the Halle and Keyser theory have been confirmed. One must still show that the theory has explanatory power.

The aspect of the Halle and Keyser theory that shows most clearly its explanatory power is an aspect which Halle and Keyser call a “‘principle

of complexity’? and which they contrive to embody in the structure of their rules:

Recall that in our account of the metrical theory of Beowulf. ..we have stated the abstract metrical pattern and correspondence rules in such a fashion that later alternatives subsume earlier alternatives, and we have adopted the convention that lines which are scanned by later alternatives of the metrical rules are to be considered more complex than lines scanned by earlier alternatives. We have also noted that the metrical complexity of a line type and its frequency of occurrence ought to be inversely related, that is:

The more complex the line in terms of [the ordering of the rules of our theory], the less frequently it occurs. This inverse relationship is quite plausible on the common sense

grounds that, in general, people avail themselves of more complex means of expression less frequently than they utilize more simple means.”*

This notion of complexity finds considerable corroboration in the relative frequency of occurrence of the various metrical types in Beowulf and in the awareness of the experienced reader that the rarest line types are relatively complicated variations of the basic metrical pattern. In developing a theory of this kind, Halle and Keyser have provided a clear inter-

pretation of the relation obtaining among a large number of observed details. It can be argued plausibly, if not conclusively, that the theory’s abstract formal component is an uncomplicated and apt expression of a metrical reality which underlies all verses in the Old English alliterative tradition and that its interpretive component is an uncomplicated and apt expression of the relation which obtains between this underlying metrical reality and the particular manifestations of it found in the various lines of the text.

To be sure, Halle and Keyser’s theory has not been received with 24. ES, p. 157. 12

APPROACHES

universal acclaim. Writing immediately upon the publication of Keyser’s preliminary version, James Sledd opened his ‘‘Old English Prosody: A Demurrer”” by claiming that Keyser’s theory is “an unrelieved disaster.””’® Sledd then proceeds to indict Keyser for a number of theoretical and factual errors, ending with the claim that Keyser’s theory

could accommodate as perfectly metrical such nonsense-lines as these: bat bat _— bates

bat bates bat bat bat bates bat earfodhwile earfodhwile = earfodhwile earfodhwile caldum clommum caldum clommum — caldum clommum caldum clommum That is precisely what is wrong with Keyser’s prosody: it is altogether

too accommodating. Keyser provides no evidence that all of the many different patterns which his rules set up as equally metrical can actually be exemplifed in Germanic verse.*’

Keyser’s response to this objection, in his ‘‘Reply,’*® is not only an adequate rebuttal—it is also suggestive of the value of hypothetical analysis in general.

The non-occurence of these two possible types of lines [those in which Sledd uses bat and earfodhwile] inno way constitutes a counter-

argument to the theory of prosody given in OEP. If some alternate theory can be devised which not only accounts for the lines dealt with by OEP, but also excludes these line types in some interesting fashion, then clearly that theory is preferable to the one devised in OEP. But barring such a theory, Sledd’s theoretical objection reduces to an empirical observation which may or may not be of interest.””

In this way, while admitting that theories must always be submitted to stringent tests for verification and that the theory in “Old English Prosody” is not the best conceivable one, Keyser reminds us implicitly that the only defense against a good theory is a better one, and that his theory does offer hypotheses about the nature of Old English alliterative verse that clearly deserve consideration. 25. James Sledd, “Old English Prosody: A Demurrer,” College English 31 (1969), 71-74. Hereafter cited as Sledd, ‘‘A Demurrer.”’ 26. Sledd, ‘‘A Demurrer,” p. 71. 27. Sledd, “A Demurrer,” pp. 73-4. 28. Samuel Jay Keyser, ‘“‘Reply,” College English 31 (1969), 74-80. 29. Keyser, “Reply,” p. 76. 13

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

Keyser does fail to overcome one of Sledd’s most important objections, though; he argues unsuccessfully against Sledd’s claim that he “‘has not paid enough attention to editors or to other prosodists.’”°? This gets indirectly at what I take to be Halle and Keyser’s greatest weakness. Their theory of Old English meter could be accepted more confidently if more were known about their system of scansion. At times, as they attempt to corroborate their theory, they seem not to be in intimate touch with the text of Beowulf, and since they do not provide a record of their scansions of individual lines, one cannot be sure. I hope to avoid the corresponding weakness in the theory presented in this study by providing a detailed statement of my method of scansion in Chapter III and a seriatim list of scansions in Appendix I for all the lines of Middle English alliterative verse on which my conclusions are based. In The Meter and Melody of Beowulf, Thomas Cable joins with Key-

ser in calling for a metrical theory “that reveal[s] what the metrical patterns [in Beowulf] have in common” and that provides a “logical basis

for excluding [unmetrical lines] 3 Then, however, he goes on to cite Sledd’s nonsense lines and to agree with Sledd that because Keyser’s theory fails to exclude them, it 1s too flexible. Cable is not inconvenienced

by Keyser’s rebuttal to Sledd on this point because his intention in The Meter and Melody of Beowulf is to develop the better theory that Keyser seems to call for, and his attempt to do so is worthy of careful study. Cable proposes a system where each verse in Beowulf is seen as the manifestation of one of five basic stress contours, and where just these five, no more or no fewer, are seen as the logical consequences of Cable’s carefully

reasoned modifications of the traditional scanning rules for Old English verse.

On the whole, then, Halle and Keyser’s approach to Old English alliterative meter, with its admirable explanatory aims and its promising method, deserves a thoroughgoing test as the basis for a theory of Middle English alliterative meter, and Cable’s approach, though it differs greatly from Halle and Keyser’s in method and in the results it produces, should

serve well as a reminder that the theory must be brought back to the texts under study for the fullest possible verification. Middle English alliterative verse is similar to Old English alliterative

verse in many ways; this is likely enough, since the two kinds of verse 30. Sledd, ‘‘A Demurrer,” p. 72. 31. Cable, Beowulf (see above, n. 10), p. 11. 14

APPROACHES

arise at different times from a single continuous tradition. But it is also to be expected that over a period of several centuries significant changes in English alliterative verse will have occurred because of the force exerted by external and internal changes in the language proper; this, most would

agree, is in fact the case. A theory of Middle English alliterative verse should reflect this situation, comprehending both the continuity from Old English to Middle English and the changes that took place. The best theory of Middle English alliterative verse, then, will be developed in conjunction with a theory of Old English verse. As I have suggested, the Halle and Keyser theory of Old English prosody, though it is not the definitive theory, has much to recommend it. Therefore, I use the work of Halle and Keyser as a basis for the development of the theory of Middle English alliterative verse presented in Chapter II.

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A THEORY OF MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

Keyser devotes several pages in his “‘Old English Prosody”’ to the affinities

between Old English poetry and the unrhymed verses of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. One brief comment from his discussion can serve as the

Starting point for the exposition of the new metrical theory presented here. Keyser suggests that the abstract metrical pattern of Gawain might best be represented as Verse > X (Sg) S; S_ S3 Sa [Note: The parentheses here indicate that So is realized in some _ but fewer than half of all alliterative verses. The symbol X denotes

one or more unstressed syllables in anacrusis. Since the theory developed below does not give metrical significance to unstressed syllables, I will delete X in subsequent uses of Keyser’s abstract metrical pattern. The reader may judge, after testing the theory as a whole, if such a decision is justified.]

This [pattern] follows naturally from a metrical system which can realize three S_ positions before S3, as opposed to just two S positions in Beowulf and with the obvious adjustments to the rules of alliteration; namely, all S’s may alliterate.’

On the face of it, this abstract metrical pattern is plausible for Gawain, and not for Gawain alone. The 20,000 or so Middle English alliterative verses that I scanned in a preliminary study have four metrical emphases about eighty percent of the time and five metrical emphases about twenty percent of the time. Therefore the element (So) is apt, indicating as it does that a fifth metrical emphasis is realized in some but fewer than half of the verses in question.

Because it has no rules which explicitly distinguish individual halflines, the pattern implies that the half-line construct has less metrical significance in Middle English alliterative verse than in Old English verse:

1. Keyser, OEP (see Chap. I, n. 9), pp. 353-4. 17

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

Abstract Metrical

Pattern Rules 0 Mels V——— HL + HL V

\\

OE HL, -—— (X)*X ae \ HL

HL, —~> X(W)* (X)* XK / JL (Ww) *

ME V ——> (Sg )S1$2S83S4 JAN. (So) Si S2 S3 Sg This theoretical contrast is corroborated by my impression that the major syntactic boundary corresponds with the metrical caesura in Old English

texts much oftener than it corresponds with the boundary between antepenultimate and penultimate metrical positions in Middle English texts. Keyser’s abstract metrical pattern for Middle English also implies, as Keyser himself notes, that even though the English alliterative tradition is continuous, the final metrical position in Middle English is realized as S significantly more often than in Old English. This implied contrast has

considerable naturalness. Since Middle English verses tend to be endstopped while Old English verses, as in Beowulf, tend to be run-on, it is natural for the reader to expect to find contrasting alliterative patterns in the final metrical positions of the two kinds of verse. And this in fact is what the reader finds. The Old English poet insists on W in final positions, seemingly to emphasize by the contrast with earlier S’s that the end of his verse does not coincide with the syntactic climax of his sentence;

the Middle English poet, on the other hand, feels free to use S in final positions as enhancement, to make metrical and syntactic climaxes coincide at the end of selected verses.

The implications listed here seem real enough, but since they arise from the two Abstract Metrical Pattern Rules alone, without regard to interpretive statements, they cannot be regarded as complete explanatory

specifications for the metrical structure of individual lines or for the changes that occur in the verse tradition over the course of its development. I have tested (see Chapter I) the interpretive component of the Halle and Keyser theory of Old English prosody, and found that it has 18

A THEORY

explanatory adequacy and power, and further that it confirms the aptness of the abstract metrical pattern itself as an insight-yielding generalization. But Keyser offers no correspondence rules for his Middle English theory

(in fact, he seems to underestimate the difficulty of developing such rules when he asserts that they will consist of “‘obvious adjustments to the rules of alliteration”? for Old English). It is therefore necessary to test

Keyser’s abstract metrical pattern by determining how well it supports the development of effective realization rules, that is, rules which specify the various verse types accurately, and which taken along with the abstract

metrical pattern provide a clear and realistic account of the nature of Middle English alliterative verse. As a beginning, I have developed the following rules. Perhaps because Keyser did not begin to work out a consistent set of correspondence rules,

he did not foresee the terminological confusion that would arise with the use of an abstract metrical pattern consisting of S’s and a group of correspondence rules consisting of S’s and W’s. For the sake of clarity, and on the assumption that it reflects Keyser’s intention, I have altered his abstract metrical pattern stylistically.

(2) Abstract Metrical Pattern Rule V > (Xo) X1 Xo X3 Xy Resulting

Realization Rules Line Types 1. Xo is unrealized; X;, X2, and X3 are

realized as S; and Xzq Is realized as W. SSSW 2a. Asin 1, except that Xo 1s realized as S. SSSSW b. As in 2a, except that one position from SSWSW among Xo, X;, and X, is realized as W SWSSW

rather than as S. WSSSW

3. Asin 1, except that either X, or Xz is SWSW

realized as W rather than as S. WSSW

rather than as W. SSSS rather than as S. SSWW

4a. Asin 1, except that X4 is realized as S

b. Asin 1, except that X3 is realized as W

c. Asin 1, except that either X, or X2

as W. WSSS is realized as W rather than as S,

and X,q 1s realized as S rather than SWSS

d. Asin 1, except that X3 is realized as

W rather than as S, and Xzq 1s realized

as S rather than as W. SSWS 19

S. SSSSS S. SSSWW

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

5a. As in 4a, except that Xo 1s realized as

S. SWSSS S. SSSWS

b. Asin 4b, except that Xo is realized as

c. Asin 4c, except that Xo is realized as SSWSS d. As in 4d, except that Xo is realized as

Definitions: X denotes an abstract metrical position. S denotes a stressed, alliterating metrically significant syllable. W denotes a stressed, non-alliterating metrically significant syllable. Non-stressed, non-alliterating syllables are not metrically significant.

This set of realization rules specifies the metrical forms of all but about 45 (some 0.7%) of the 7,800 long lines I deal with in detail in this study and these rare anomalies are highly suspect of scribal corruption. (See Appendix II, on problematic lines.) Thus the rules in (2) have considerable empirical adequacy and explanatory range. These rules have virtually no explanatory power, though; they specify an ordered list of line types which corresponds almost precisely to the list

of line frequencies in the poems, but they do not embody in clear and simple terms the “principle of complexity’? which a theory of meter ought to express. In effect, they ‘“‘describe’ what the texts record as metrical, but fall far short of “‘explaining’”’ what experienced readers “know” to be metrical.’ What follows, then, is a revision, a fairly drastic one, which will allow the theory to retain its empirical adequacy and greatly increase its elegance

and explanatory power. I will proceed by describing the steps in the revision one by one, offering the motivation for each step as it is described.

The first step involves changing the Abstract Metrical Pattern Rule from 2. Joseph C. Beaver uses this same description-explanation distinction in summarizing and evaluating the running College English debate on iambic pentameter prosody: he states that the difference between Halle and Keyser’s theory and that of Karl Magnuson and Frank G. Ryder is ‘“‘the difference between accounting for what we ‘know’ is metrical, and accounting for what is in print (as metrical).’’ “Current Metrical Issues,” College English 33 (1971-72), 179. Beaver provides a full bibliography for the College English iambic pentameter debate in this article. 20

to |

A THEORY

V > (Xo) Xy Xz X3 X4

V> xX, Xo RV

Definitions: X indicates an abstract metrical position.

R and V indicate abstract metrical positions which are characteristically realized in the metrical surface of verses as S and W respectively (1.e., R > S, V > W), and which are reversed in their characteristic tendency (1.e., R > W, V > S) only by correspondence rules which occur relatively late in the ordering of such rules and which aim to specify relatively complex metrical types.

This new abstract metrical pattern is different from Keyser’s in two major

respects; it is shorter by one element, and it distinguishes between two kinds of elements, X on the one hand and R and V on the other. The abstract metrical pattern is shortened to four positions so that it can more clearly reflect the notion that the basic Middle English alliterative line, like the basic Old English one that it evolves from, has four metrical positions. Rather than adopt the parenthesis notation, which is in effect to smuggle an interpretive rule into the abstract formal component of the theory, and vaguely at that, I prefer to explain the five-position line in Middle English later in my exposition in terms of interpretive rules with clearly specified degrees of complexity. I have adopted two kinds of abstract element rather than one so that the Abstract Metrical Pattern Rule can reflect the notion that greater variability is to be expected in positions

one and two than in positions three and four; by definition, there are fewer constraints on the realization of X than on the realizations of R and V, and this will be reflected in the Correspondence Rules developed below. Some might object to such a formulation on the grounds that it has produced an unacceptably broad range of abstractness of representation, with R and V more specific in their denotations than X. But this is not the case. If the abstract formal component of a theory must embody in rigorous and uncomplicated terms all the significant notions that fall within the range of the theory, and if the notion of a contrast in metrical variability between leftward and rightward parts of the Middle English alliterative verse is realistic, as I think it is, then a theory of Middle English alliterative verse not only may but must embody that notion in the structure of its abstract formal component. Hence, the abstract metrical pattern X, X2 R V with its two contrastive kinds of elements is called for. The aptness of this abstract metrical pattern will become even clearer as it is confirmed by the aptness of the full statement of the theory that follows. 21

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

(3) FULL STATEMENT OF THE THEORY Abstract Metrical Pattern Rule

V>xX, X, RV Correspondence Rules

Principle of Complexity: When more than one metrical pattern involving W is realized from X,; Xz by a single ordered rule (e.g., Cr.i.b.,

CR.i.c., etc.), the pattern containing the rightmost realization of W is least complex and increasingly leftward realizations are increasingly complex. Thus SSWRV-SWSRV-WSSRV and SWRV-WSRV

are listed in increasing order of complexity. | CR.1.a. Both X’s are realized asS,............. a8 OR

X, is realized as S and [SS X, 1s realized asf OR

SW, WS R—=>6s

b. { OR ,as ¢ AND

vV—-wW

X, 1s realized as W and X, 1s realized as SS OR

c. One X is realized as S and

one aSW,...................4. 48

22

A THEORY

CR.ii.a. Both X’s are realized asS,.............aS )

I Vv-sS

OR

X, is realized as S and 5S

X, is realized asf OR

OR

b.-% OR ,as ’ RW SW, WS

X, is realized as W and OR X, 1s realized as SS both OR

c. One X is realized as S and oneasW,...........0022020200- aS Condition of Metricality No verse may contain more than two W’s. Definitions

aOR OR l

The notation’ b Sas Jm \ denotes that rule a applies to

OR OR

cn

all the ordered alternatives /, m, and n, then rule b in the same way, then rule c; in effect, the notation is a generalization of the list a+1, a+m, atn, b+l, btm, b+n, ctl, ct+m, ctn; the generalization is structured to show more about the nature of the subject than the list can by itself. The notation SW, WS, as in CR.i.b. and CR.11.b., denotes redundantly,

for expository clarity, the ordering of SW and WS which has been imposed by the Principle of Complexity; thus, SW, WS reiterates that SW is less complex than WS by the Principle. This theory is an a priori characterization of the metrical nature of Middle English alliterative verse; it is consonant with what we know in general

23

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

about Old English alliterative verse and about the general trend of changes

in the tradition from the time of Beowulf to the time of Gawain, We know that the single most prevalent form in both Old English and Middle English is SSSW; this form is specified by the first ordered alternative of CR.i., and is thus designated as the least complex form which occurs in the poems. We know that the two most notable changes in the tradition were toward a greater number of metrical positions in a line and toward

richer alliteration; these changes are specified by the second ordered alternative of CR.i., which adds one position to the basic form by having X, realized as two emphases, not just one, and by having S as a less complex realization than W for X,. Also, because of these trends, a form with fewer than three S’s would be expected to be more complex than one with three or four S’s; thus, the third and last alternative in CR.i., which specifies only two S’s, is appropriately ordered. The Abstract Metrical Pattern Rule and the ordered alternatives of CR.i. are parts of a synchronic explanation, one which aims to illuminate the nature of a phenomenon at a given instant in its history, but like some other synchronic explanations (for instance, the Diphthongization and

Vowel Shift Rules of Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle’s The Sound Pattern of English),*> they appear to embody, in their form, vestiges of their diachronic or historical genesis which argue for their synchronic aptness; that is, the revised Abstract Metrical Pattern Rule and the correspondence rules in CR.1., by presenting a likely statement of the nature of English alliterative verse in the Middle English era, may be suggestive as well of the historical process by which the Middle English form evolved out of the Old English one.

In saying this, I certainly do not mean to imply that the nature of English alliterative verse has been captured optimally and for all time by the formulations presented here, but merely that the synchronic rules for Middle English receive a significant degree of confirmation from their consonance with commonly accepted historical notions. Specifically, the abstract metrical pattern advanced here for Middle English, as compared to that which Halle and Keyser advance for Old English, suggests that

while the abstract metrical pattern of the verse form has not changed drastically, it has been restructured to the extent that the half-line boun3. Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle, The Sound Pattern of English (New York, 1968). See ‘Subject Index,” pp. 465, 469, for specific page references. Hereafter cited as SPE.

24

A THEORY

dary has fallen out of metrical significance by the time of the Middle English era.

Old English Middle English V > HL + HL > (X)*X/xX(W)* V>X, X, RV (I am inclined to speculate that the Abstract Metrical Pattern Rule for Old English might be plausibly stated as X; X2/RV, thereby further clarifying

the diachronic significance of the deletion of the slash notation, but | have not studied the matter fully enough to make a claim.) The ordering of the three alternatives in CR.i., in contrast with the ordering of their counterparts in Old English, shows the following change:

(4) Old English Middle English

OR OR a ; OR OR OR

All X’s are realized as S —~————> All X’s are realized as S

X; 1s realized as S SS and X, as{OR

One X in the first half- SW, WS line is realized as S

and the other as W X, 1s realized as W and X, as SS

One X is realized as SW One X is realized as S

or WS and one as W

This signifies a plausible reordering of rules by way of diachronic explanation. The second alternative in Old English loses its place to the third and

thereby reflects a change in English alliterative meter which is wholly consonant with internal linguistic changes occurring over the same period.

The trend away from synthetic syntactic organization toward analytic organization, with its concomitant increase in words per syntactic unit, makes it natural to expect that verses will lengthen in total word count and will allow for an increased number of metrical emphases and more alliteration.* 4.Kane and Donaldson’s approach to this matter differs considerably from mine. In their comments on the meter of Piers Plowman: The B Version (see Chap. I, n. 6), they are not concerned with both alliterating and non-alliterating stressed syllables, as I am, but exclusively with alliterating stressed syllables, or “‘staves”’ (pp. 135-6). The textual facts suggest to them, as they do to me, that the normal number of staves per line is three, and that the range of staves per line is from two to five. But they leave the matter there for the purposes of their edition and 25

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

Further, we know that the positions in alliterative verse that have behaved most conservatively over its history are those designated as RV in the revised Abstract Metrical Pattern Rule. The ordering of CR.i. and _ CR.il. expresses this notion very concisely by carrying out the contrast among elements in the abstract metrical pattern and specifying that forms with RV realized as SS, WW, or WS are generally more complex than forms

with RV realized as SW, regardless of the degree of complexity that has occurred in the realization of X,; X,.° Also, the theory unambiguously specifies what would seem to be all

the various line types that readers are accustomed to find in Middle English alliterative poetry.

Correspondence Rules Specified line types

CR.1.a. SSSW 1.b. SSSSW SSWSW SWSSW WSSSW

1.C. SWSW

ia.(+m) (+1)SSWW SSSS (+n) SSWS u.b. (+1) SSSSS WSSW

SSWSS SWSSS WSSSS

(+m) SSSWW

SSWWwW SWSWWw

do not go on to consider non-alliterating stressed syllables, those that I have called weak metrical emphases, nor do they concern themselves, as I do in this study, with an explanatory account of the various orderings of metrical emphases which are to be found in Langland’s verse. 5. Kane and Donaldson consider “‘the position of the stave in the second half-line”’

in their comments on the meter of Piers: The B Version (pp. 138-9), and conclude that Langland always has the stave “early rather than late.’”’ They attribute

the occurrence of staves in the penultimate and ultimate syllables of lines to “‘scribal agency.’’ Given their considerable experience in editing Piers, they are certainly in a much better position than I am to know. Given the general design of my study, I am constrained to develop rules whereby RV is realized as SS and

WS because such rules are required to explain certain aspects of my texts as their editors have presented them to me. 26

A THEORY

(+n) SSSWS

WSSWW SSWWS SWSWS WSSWS

lic, (+1) SWSS WSSS

(+m) SWWwWw WSWW

(+n) SWWs WSWS

(Line types prohibited by the Condition of Metricality have been scored out.)

The metrical forms in this list have been mapped into ranked degrees of complexity by the disjunctive ordering of individual Correspondence Rules in the theory, and when a single rule has produced more than one metrical form, the forms produced by that rule have been ordered by the Principle of Complexity; in this way, each distinct metrical form has been given a unique degree of complexity and an unambiguous metrical derivation. Here, as in the analysis of the synchronic and diachronic significance of rules above, I must not fail to express as precisely as possible just how much weight is claimed for this Principle of Complexity. By making it part of the Correspondence Rules for the revised theory, I mean to advance an a priori statement about the knowledge that the Middle English alliterative poet and his audience had of distinguishable levels of metrical complexity within relatively small sub-ranges of the entire range of metrical complexity possible in the verse tradition. Thus, when a single correspondence rule specifies two or more metrical forms, thereby implying that those forms are ambiguous with regard to complexity, the Principle takes away the ambiguity by specifying an ordering of the two or more types within the narrow range of the single correspondence rule. Because the Principle of Complexity is part of an a priori claim about the nature of certain phenomena, it will be tested on the basis of observations of those phenomena in what follows. Indeed, the Principle may seem to some readers to specify distinctions that don’t exist. At this stage, how-

ever, the stage of a priori formulation, I would submit that the theory should be given the greatest degree of specificity and discriminatory power possible. The Principle of Complexity itself is natural in view of the following speculations about how readers perceive the metrical structure of Middle 27

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

English alliterative verses. Since Middle English alliterative verses conventionally consist of four or five metrical emphases, of which all but one or

two alliterate, it is likely that a reader seeks to identify the alliterating element, in effect the “key” to the alliteration of the rest of the verse, as early as possible in the scansion of the verse. In the case of a line with the form SSWSW, the reader will identify the alliterative element of the line upon scanning the second metrically significant element. In the case of a

line with the form SWSSW, the reader will not identify the alliterative element of the line until the third metrically significant element is scanned. Thus, the metrical structure of a line with the form SWSSW will be more difficult to perceive than that of a line with the form SSWSW, and should be designated by an account of Middle English alliterative meter as comparatively complex. The Principle of Complexity makes such designations for all Correspondence Rules where a W is realized from X in the abstract metrical pattern of the theory.

Like the Principle of Complexity, the contrastive treatment of X, and Xj in CR.i.b. and CR.i1.b., with X, realized as one emphasis and X2 as one or two, is a natural formulation in view of speculations about how readers perceive meter. If it is likely that readers seek to identify the metrical structure of verses as early as possible in the scansion of those verses, it is also likely that readers will conceive of the first metrical emphasis in each verse as one which has a unique metrical function. It is, after all, the emphasis whose first phonetic element must be kept in mind until later in the scansion of the line, when by seeing either the second or the second and third elements, the reader will be able to identify the first element as either an S or a W. Hence, it is natural to conceive of the first element of five-stress lines as the element which is first registered and held

up for comparison, and of the next two elements as a pair of elements at least one of which will enable the reader to perceive the alliterative pattern of the verse. The rules in CR.i.b. and CR.1.b. specify just this kind of distinction. In all, this new version of the theory expresses concisely a number of

commonly held general notions about English alliterative poetry and makes no ostensibly false predictions about the individual line types that are to be found in the corpus. But to test the theory fully and discover all its implications for literary criticism, it must be applied as an explanation to the details of a number of poems. This will involve the compilation of a catalogue of pertinent metrical facts according to a set of explicit principles of scansion. Such a task is crucial, since a theory can only be as 28

A THEORY

reliable as the methods used to gather subsidiary facts. With regard to already published catalogues, J. P. Oakden’s Alliterative Poetry in Middle English: The Dialectical and Metrical Survey (1930)° contains the most

recent comprehensive survey of metrical types in the Middle English alliterative corpus. Since Oakden does not describe all of his methods, and

since many linguistic and textual facts have come to light since 1930, it will be prudent to undertake an altogether fresh survey. 6. Oakden, Alliterative Poetry (see Chap. I, n. 11).

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Il

The aim of this chapter is to develop a system of scansion which 1s based as firmly as possible on linguistic fact and which can be used systematically and uniformly to scan and categorize the various metrical types in Middle English alliterative poems. In general, the procedure followed here

is an adaptation of the system that Ann Reed developed for Beowulf, following the Altgermanische Metrik of Eduard Sievers.’ Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and non-clitic adverbs, the so-called “‘content

words,” are the kinds of words which normally receive major stress in Middle English; “function words” do not. Thus, the following set of rules may be obtained.

(5) a) Syllables with major word stress will be considered metrical syllables and will receive the feature +X; lesser stressed syllables will be considered metrically insignificant and given the feature —X. For simplicity’s sake, the feature -X will be deleted from metrical descriptions except where required for clarification.

b) Metrical syllables which alliterate will be considered “strong” emphases and will receive the feature S. Metrical syllables which do not alliterate will be considered “‘weak’’ emphases (as opposed to non-emphases with the feature —X) and will receive W.

Definition:

If in two or more stressed syllables the zero or more consonants that precede the vowel are identical or begin with an identical consonant or s-cluster, the syllables alliterate. (The orthographic groups sp, st, and sk are thus considered distinct alliterative elements; they do not alliterate with each other or with s alone.)* 1. Reed’s system of scansion is outlined briefly in Halle and Keyser, ES, p. 155,n. 7.

2. This definition, which I intend to apply uniformly to all seven poems under consideration, differs in only one way from the definition that Kane and Donaldson put forth in Piers: B Version (pp. 132-33) for the purposes of their edition.

They see phonetic [f] as an allowable alliteration with phonetic [v], [@], and |3] in the B Version. While this may be appropriate for the B version, I do

not think it is required for Kane’s edition of the A version of Piers or for the editions of the other poems that I have chosen for texts (see below, Chap. IV,

n.1). 31

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

Most lines in the Middle English alliterative corpus can be scanned and classified according to these rules. Tirius to Tuskan and teldes bigynnes, (Gawain, 11) Syllable string:

Ti - ri - us to Tus - kan and tel - des bi - gyn - nes, Rules (5a) and (5b) apply and produce:

Ti - | - us to Tus - kan and tel - des bi - gyn - nes

(5a) +X -X -KX -K +X -K -X +X -K -X +X -~X

(5b) S S S Ww Thay stoden and stemed and stylly speken (Gawain, 1117)

Syllable string: | Thay sto - den and stem - ed and styl - ly spe - ken (5a) -X +X -K -X +X -X -X +X -X +X -X

(5b) S S S W

The scansion of the above lines and others like them according to (5) presents no difficulty. There are lines, though, which can not be scanned in this way, necessitating changes in (5) so that it can be applied uniformly and systematically to all lines. Instances of all such kinds of lines and

changes they cause will be treated here briefly under these heads: a) metrical stress in compounds, b) the relation of metrical stress rules and rules of the grammar of English, c) metrical stress in noun phrases, d) metrical stress elevation in polysyllabic words, e) metrical stress in adverbs, f) metrical stress elevation in particles, g) stress alternation and stress reduction in six-stress lines.

32

— PROBLEMS OF SCANSION Metrical Stress in Compounds

There is presently no consensus among scholars on stress assignment for compound nouns in Middle English. Some would argue that only the

first element may receive major stress, others that both elements may receive it.’ The problem that this creates for the student of prosody is reflected in these lines:

And more he is then any mon vpon myddelerde (Gawain, 2100) Ne the nyght ne the day ne the Newe3eres (Purity, 526)

The rules in (5) cannot be applied to these lines until we have a satisfac-

tory scheme for assigning major stress in the compounds myddelerde and newezeres. The crucial question in this regard is not which elements of the phonological surface of a line will receive major stress but at what

point or points in the phonological derivation of a line, from lexical stress assignment onward, rules of metrical scansion will be applicable. It is here that I begin to develop in detail the distinction between the notions of rhythm, a patterning of the elements of a line’s phonological surface, and meter, a patterning of elements which are systematically related to, but not identical with, elements of the phonological surface. The first step is to trace the derivations of the words myddelerde and newe3eres according to the rules for stress assignment developed by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle in The Sound Pattern of English,*

as updated by certain pertinent additions to the rules in The Sound Pattern of English which have been suggested by Joseph C. Beaver and Paul Kiparsky. According to The Sound Pattern of English, the assignment

of lexical stress gives primary stress to the appropriate syllable of each

content word forming part of a compound. At the beginning of their phonological derivations, middelerde and newe3eres begin as noun-plusnoun and adjective-plus-noun pairs and undergo these changes:

(6) a) middel + erde newe + 3eres

become become

3. Kane and Donaldson find for their purposes, as I do here, that one word may contain two Staves. 4, Chomsky and Halle, SPE (see Chap. II, n. 3). 33

1111 1become 1 become 11 1111

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

b) middel + erde newe +3eres

and then and then

b) middel + erde newe + 3eres Cc) middelerde NEWESELES

[Note: I am not using the full formal notation that Chomsky and Halle use because it does nothing to further the exposition of scansion rules for Middle English alliterative verse. Those interested in such notation should consult appropriate sections of The Sound Pattern of English.|

The next step in the derivation of these compounds, according to | The Sound Pattern of English, is the application of the Compound Rule.

(7) Assign primary stress to a primary-stressed vowel in the context 1

tee 12. Va.. NAV [where:

the dash (_____) denotes the position of the primary-stressed vowel which is to receive primary stress redundantly by the rule, 1

V denotes a primary-stressed vowel somewhere to the right, and NAV specifies that the vowel receiving primary stress in the dash position may only be the major syllable of either a noun, an adjective, ora

verb. (R.W.S.)]

Convention: When primary stress is placed in a certain position, then all other stresses in the string under consideration are automatically weakened by one.°

11

When this rule is applied to the forms in (6c), primary stress is redundantly

assigned to the syllables mid and newe, since these elements fit the condi5. SPE, pp. 16-17.

34

PROBLEMS OF SCANSION

tions of the dash (______) part of the Compound Rule, and the ele-

1 oil

ments erde and 3eres have their primary stresses weakened automatically

22

1212 22 1313

to secondary stresses (erde, 3eres) by the convention that Chomsky and Halle attach to the Rule:

(7') middelerde nNe€WEZCLES By a later rule, and under the same convention for automatic stress reduc-

tion cited in (7), the elements erde and 3eres will have their secondary stresses weakened to tertiary stresses and will thereby attain the normal stress patterns for compounds in Modern English:

(7"') middelerde NEWEZETES The stress pattern for compounds in Middle English may have been 1-3, as in Modern English, or possibly 1-2, but deciding between the two possibilities is not crucial to solving the prosodic problem at hand. What is of interest is the general structure of the derivation of compounds. If primary stress must be present in the phonological surface structure of a syllable in order for it to become a metrical syllable, this proposed derivation will rule out the possibility of two metrical syllables in both middelerde and newe3eres, and we will still be left with the possibility of a three-position line in Middle English alliterative verse. If, on the other hand, the phonological surface structure of a syllable need not contain primary stress to be scanned as a metrical syllable, then we must provide

some other principled and systematic method for assigning metrical significance.

The former alternative should be avoided in any event because it works counter to the impressions of many experienced readers about the structure of the Middle English alliterative line (that 1s, a three-position

line seems non-metrical to such readers) and thereby fails to meet the “naturalness” criterion for theories. The latter alternative, however, can be pursued with good effect—there are metrical rules which are not part of the grammar of English but which use certain aspects of the grammar

of English in order to provide metrical interpretations for compounds and for other problematic elements of Middle English alliterative verse.

35

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

This does not imply that the authority of experienced readers establishes beforehand that Middle English alliterative verses have four or five but never three metrical positions; I simply believe that the notion of a minimum of four stresses per line has been so commonly thought reasonable that it deserves to be tested by thorough-going, hypothetical analysis. The Relation of Metrical Stress Rules and Rules of the Grammar of English

First, the need for joining metrical rules to the rules in The Sound Pattern of English has been noted by a number of writers. The two whose commentaries bear most directly on the matter at hand are Joseph C. Beaver and Paul Kiparsky.

Beaver builds a good case for the development of metrical rules in his essay, ‘The Rules of Stress in English Verse.”® His claim is that English iambic pentameter causes certain systematic alterations in the normal stress patterns of sentences, and that these alterations can be accounted for by invoking optional metrical rules at certain points in the grammar.

Beaver strengthens his position by showing that certain of the optional metrical rules required for an account of English iambic pentameter are similar to rules already established in The Sound Pattern of English for the derivation of normal stress patterns. And Paul Kiparsky also suggests, in ‘Metrics and Morphophonemics in the Rigveda,’’’ that metrical rules may be invoked at a number of points in the grammar after the application of lexical stress. I would claim, similarly, that metrical stress rules can be written in

such a way as to resolve quite simply the problem of the scansion of compounds in Middle English alliterative verse. After the application of lexical stress yields the stress patterns in (6b) above, the following rule in effect provides for the application of metrical emphasis before certain other rules of the grammar have been applied.

(8) | When a compound occurs in a verse that contains two primary lexical stresses outside the compound itself, both primary-stressed syllables within the compound receive metrical emphasis.

By this rule, the elements of compounds like middelerde (Gawain, 2100) 6. Joseph C. Beaver, “The Rules of Stress in English Verse,’’ Language 47 (1971), 586-614. 7. Paul Kiparsky, ‘“‘Metrics and Morphophonemics in the Rigveda,” Contributions to Generative Phonology, ed. Michael K. Brame (Austin, 1972), pp. 171-200. 36

PROBLEMS OF SCANSION

and newe3eres (Purity, 526) would be treated immediately after the assignment of lexical stress, and each of their primary-stressed syllables would gain metrical significance:

(8') mid ———del erde becomes mid ——— del erde, and

[1-stress | [ 1-stress | 1-stress 1-stress

+X +X

(8’) new ——e 3er ———— es becomes new ————e er —— és

(1-stress | [1-stress | 1-stress 1-stress

+X +X

Thus compounds are seen as metrically ambiguous: they receive either one or two metrical emphases depending on their metrical contexts. All compound nouns in the context specified by (8) will receive two metrical emphases and will have only one step remaining in their metrical derivation, namely, the application of correspondence rules which specify that each metrical emphasis be realized as either S or W, according to the definition for alliteration. I must make clear at this point that, as I intend it, the application of (8) as a metrical rule to the results of the lexical stress rule of the grammar does not deny that subsequent phonological rules apply, but simply that they do not alter the metrical features assigned by (8). In effect, I am claiming, along with Beaver and Kiparsky, that the metrical nature of poetry derives not only from the sound patterns of poetic lines but also

from the morphology and syntax that underlie those sound patterns. Further, on a matter that Beaver and Kiparsky deal with only indirectly, I am claiming that metrical rules are not rules of the grammar proper and cannot be ordered as such among rules of the grammar. Rather, as suggested by the following model, metrical rules work in conjunction with rules of the grammar as a means of explicating how poets and their audiences interpret the metrical structure of poetic lines.

37

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

(9)

a Lexical Stress Rules

b ee ee ee Metrical Rules c Compound Rule

d ee et ee ee oe Metrical Rules e Nuclear Stress Rule (tight) |

f ee Metrical Rules g Nuclear Stress Rule (loose) According to the model, certain syllables will receive metrical emphasis

from metrical rules that scan the word stress patterns of lines at level (9d). Certain other syllables will receive metrical emphasis from metrical rules that “‘see past’? the word stress patterns of lines to scan their morphology and syntax at level (9b). And still other syllables will receive metrical emphasis from rules that scan the stress patterns of lines at level 38

PROBLEMS OF SCANSION

(9f), after the Nuclear Stress Rule has applied to ‘“‘tight structures” like adjective-noun phrases, but before it has applied to “loose structures”’ like predicates and sentences. Traditional systems of scanning Middle English alliterative verse involve applying the rules in (5), above, to the word stress patterns of lines at level (9d). In this way, most lines can be scanned without difficulty as I scan lines 11 and 1117 of Gawain at the beginning of this chapter: each syllable with primary word stress at level

1111 1111

(9d) receives metrical emphasis.

(9d') Tirius to Tuskan and teldes bigynnes, (Gawain, 11)

Thay stoden and stemed and stylly speken (Gawain, 1117)

But many of the problems of scansion that traditional systems do not solve satisfactorily (including the problem of scanning compounds in certain metrical contexts) can be solved, as I am suggesting here, by having individual metrical scanning rules apply to poetic lines at one of three levels in the phonological derivations of the lines.

Thus, the scanning strategy for Middle English alliterative verse 1s ordered as follows:

(10) The rules in (5) will be applied to a line at level (9d) of the derivation of the line. If the result is a string of four or five metrical emphases, the line will have been scanned. If the result from (9d) is a string of three metrical emphases, a set of rules like (8) will be applied at level (9b) and the line will have been scanned. If the result from (9d) is a string of six metrical emphases, another set of rules will apply at level (9f) and the line will have been scanned.

When a line is scanned completely at (9d), its scansion will be minimally complex, since its metrical emphases will conform to normal word stress

patterns, patterns traditionally considered to be the basis of metrical form. If a line requires the application of rules at (9b) or (9f), its scansion

will be relatively more complex, since its metrical emphases will not conform to normal word stress. By the way, this analysis provides the basis for an explicit account of the notion of metrical tension, a notion which, characterized in less precise terms, has served many students of language and literature very well. In general, minimally complex scansions

will exhibit no metrical tension and other scansions will exhibit more or 39

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

less metrical tension, depending on the degrees to which their metrical stress patterns diverge from their word stress patterns. (The ramifications of this for stylistics are considered in Chapter V.)

The rest of this chapter will consist of the exposition of the sets of scanning rules required by the strategy in (10). Metrical Stress Elevation in Polysyllabic Words

A problem similar to the problem of compounds is reflected in these lines.

(11) And ther are tres by that terne of traytores, (Purity, 1041) He used abominaciones of idolatrye, (Purity, 1173) So watz noted the note of Nabugodenozar, (Purity, 1651) Each invokes either the introduction of a three-position line or the assignment of two metrical emphases to single words which are not compounds

and which thus give less morphological justification for applying two major stresses than compounds do; this is to say that these non-compounds do not begin their phonological derivations with two primary stresses assigned by a lexical stress rule, and so are not affected by (8). Since lines like those in (11) occur rarely in the poems under discussion (less than one percent of the time), and since there are no other indications that three-position lines are intended by the poet, it seems preferable to avoid the three-position line and to seek a rule of scansion which is linguistically justifiable and which can be used invariably to resolve problems like the present one. And indeed, a rule similar to (8) can be written that does just this.

At level (9d), the word stress patterns of the words traytores, idolatrye, and Nabugodenozar will have been derived.

(12) tray tor es 13434 i dol a try e

- : 1Na4bu3go 4de no 3 zar 4

It is likely that the word stress patterns shown here were determined 40

PROBLEMS OF SCANSION

in large part by a rule which gave successive syllables alternately greater and lesser stress. (For particulars, see the Alternating Stress Rule in The Sound Pattern of English.) It is this kind of rule which Halle and Keyser use to give credence to their notion of stress maximum (a syllable in the

iambic pentameter line which is distinguished by being greater in stress : than the syllables immediately before and after it)® and which Beaver uses in his revision of Halle and Keyser’s theory to justify certain adjustments to normal stress patterns that Halle and Keyser do not allow.” Since the Alternating Stress Rule can be used to explain the elevation of syllables with non-primary word stress to metrical significance in the case of Chaucer’s iambic line, there is no reason why a similar process

cannot be used in the case of the alliterative line of Chaucer’s contemporary, the Gawain poet. The rule for stress elevation of this sort will be placed at level (9b) and will apply to lines which have been read as threeposition lines according to the rules in (5).

(13) A polysyllabic noun, having received one metrical emphasis by the application of (5), receives one additional metrical emphasis on a syllable with 2- or 3-stress within it.

This rule results in the elevation of a second syllable in all of the instances in (12) to metrical significance and provides for the scansion of each of the lines in (11) as four-stress lines. And since English alliterative verse allows for ‘‘clashing’”’ rhythms, where two contiguous syllables may re-

134

ceive metrical emphasis, the rule assigns two emphases to traytores even though the word as thus stressed could not acquire two metrical emphases in Chaucer’s iambic couplets. Metrical Stress in Adverbs

Yet another problem is posed by those adverbs in the Middle English lexicon whose clitic status is difficult to determine. Since metrical stress is assigned to syllables with primary lexical stress, and since, in general, non-clitic adverbs receive primary lexical stress and enclitic adverbs do

not, a means of clarifying the distinction between these two kinds of adverbs on linguistic bases would be a convenience. Since no such means is forthcoming, the best metrical theory will be the best guide for stress

8. Halle and Keyser, ES, pp. 169-71. 9. Beaver, “‘Rules of Stress.”’ 41

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

assignment in adverbs of questionable clitic status. The rule for scanning such adverbs will be among those rules that apply at (9b).

(14) When an adverb of questionable clitic status occurs in a line containing three metrical emphases outside that adverb, the syllable with greatest stress within the adverb receives metrical emphasis.

After the entire Middle English alliterative corpus is scanned using this rule, those ambivalent adverbs which are elevated in a large proportion of their occurrences may be classified with a fair degree of certainty as non-clitic. Highly, for example, occurs in so many verses of this sort Heyred hem as hyzly as heven werbayrez (Purity, 1527)

As I am hy3ly bihalden, and euermore wylle. (Gawain, 1547)

that it seems clearly to be non-clitic. Up, on the other hand, occurs in so many verses of this sort

And he luflyly hit hym laft, and lyfte vp his honde, (Gawain, 369) Andbay busken vp bilyue blonkkez to sadel, (Gawain, 1128)

that it seems clearly to be enclitic. (It may be, in fact, that most adverbs of one syllable, like up, are enclitic, and that most adverbs of more than one syllable, like highly, are non-clitic.) A casual reading of one or two of the longer poems suggests clearly that personal and demonstrative pronouns also fall within the range of this rule.’® Metrical Stress Elevation in Particles

There are a few cases where a particle is elevated to metrical emphasis at (9b) when it occurs immediately before a verb.

Alle the burnez so bolde that hym by stoden (Gawain, 1574) For hit watz ne3 at the terme that he to schulde. (Gawain, 1671) 10. Halle and Keyser note in ES, p. 155, n. 7, that the same is true of personal and demonstrative pronouns in Beowulf, 42

PROBLEMS OF SCANSION

Ofte he watz runnen at, when he out rayked, (Gawain, 1727)

This reflects an established rule for Old English’! and can be expected as acceptable practice in a verse tradition that kept many of its Old English elements throughout its history. Stress Alternations and Stress Reduction in Six-Stress Lines

Finally, about one percent of the lines in the tradition contain six lexically stressed words, words which must receive stress in their occurrences in some other lines in order to avoid three-stress lines. The kyng and the gode knyght, and kene men hem served (Gawain, 482)

That other stif mon in study stod a gret whyle, (Gawain, 2369)

Two alternatives are available; either all words with lexical stress will be given metrical stress, yielding lines with six metrical positions, or stress reduction will be applied at (9f) so as to yield lines with no more than five

stresses. It should be noted that in almost all the lines in question, the fourth, fifth, and sixth positions are realized as SWW or WSW and that one of the two final W’s is almost always filled by a noun or adjective which is a metrical stress alternation (e.g., God, man, great, bright, clere, each of

which seems to appear sometimes with metrical emphasis, sometimes without). Thus, on the face of it, there are grounds for the reduction of metrical stress in such W’s in order to avoid a six-stressed line and to retain

the metrical configuration SW for the final two positions of most of the lines. And in fact, a rule can be written to accomplish this in a natural way. The following rule applies to all six-position lines at (9f).

(15) When a non-alliterating stress alternation occurs as a metrical emphasis to the right of the third metrical emphasis in a six-position line, it loses its metrical emphasis.

For example, the lines I cite at the beginning of this section are derived in this way:

11. Alistair Campbell, Old English Grammar (Oxford, 1959), in the section on “Accent,” p. 32. 43

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

The kyng and the gode knyght, and kene men hem served RULES

(5a) +X +K +X +X +X +X

(5b) S W S S W That other stif mon in study stod a gret whyle, RULES

(5a) +X +X +X +X +X +X

(5b) S W S Ss W Kene men has thus undergone a metrical derivation at (9f) very similar to the grammatical derivation of a compound noun at the level of the Com-

pound Rule (9c), and gret whyle has undergone a metrical derivation very similar to the grammatical derivation of a noun phrase at the level of the Nuclear Stress Rule (9e). So, in effect, Rule (15) is an application of either a Compound Rule or a Nuclear Stress Rule to the metrical configuration of an adjective-noun combination after the Compound Rule and the “‘tight’”? Nuclear Stress Rule have been applied in the proper order to the phonological configuration of it. An obvious question arising at this point is: Why not apply (15) to leftward parts of the line as well? This would have the effect of reducing certain lines with five and even six metrical emphases to lines with four, usually of the form SSSW. Such an effect in itself would be tolerable,

since it would produce no unmetrical lines. But applying the rule to leftward elements would also have the effect of reducing a number of lines

with four metrical emphases to lines with only three. So rather than invoke a rule whose effects would have to be partially rescinded by further rules, I prefer Rule (15): it is quite consonant with the notion that the trend in English alliterative verse from Old English to Middle English is toward a greater number of metrical emphases per line. Also, a stress adjustment rule like (15), where only rightward parts of lines are affected, is in keeping with the notion of metrical perception developed in Chapter II: since lines are perceived in left-to-right order, a line with six potential 44

PROBLEMS OF SCANSION

metrical emphases will not be perceived as a scanning problem until after the mid-point of the line is passed, and therefore it will be most conveniently scanned by some systematic stress reduction to its rightward elements. (The only cases where metrical stress will be reduced in positions arising from X, X2, or in those arising from RV in five-position lines, are

cases 1) where an editor has typographically separated the elements of a common adjective-noun compound, e.g., bright gold, good Rnight, and the like, when the single major stress of such a compound can be scanned as one of four or five metrical emphases in the line in question, and 2) where no rhetorical emphasis seems to be intended for particular occurrences of common stress alternations like do, loke, ilk, summe, fele, wel, say, and alle, or for auxiliary verbs or words denoting cardinal and ordinal numbers.) Some stress alternations occur in lines where both stressed and nonstressed readings would result in metrical lines. The method I have adopted in such cases is to assign or not assign metrical emphasis so as to produce

the least complex reading, the only exceptions being those cases where the more complex reading seems to reflect the sense of the line better than the less complex one. Though I expect that some readers will differ with me on the metrical interpretation of certain such lines, the matter of stress reduction in six-stress lines and varying interpretations of stress alternations is only a minor issue for the purposes of this study, since the lines affected constitute no more than four or five percent of the lines in the poems; choosing one or the other alternative may determine an individual reader’s notion of how certain lines should be performed, but this should have no major bearing on judgments about the validity of the theory set forth in Chapter II. I have used the scanning rules developed in this chapter to categorize the almost 8000 alliterative long lines under consideration. The scansions of all lines are recorded seriatim in Appendix I, and Appendix II provides an annotated list of the lines that appear to be problematic. The relative frequencies of occurrence of the various metrical types in each of the seven poems will be discussed throughout Chapter IV.

45

BLANK PAGE

IV

THE THEORY APPLIED TO VARIOUS

POEMS IN THE TRADITION

My plan here is to illustrate the theory of meter presented in Chapter II by applying it first to the long-line poems of the Gawain group, then to 1,000-line portions of Morte Arthure, The Destruction of Troy, and the A-text of Piers Plowman.’ 1 will show that the theory is verified to a great degree by these poems, and I will prepare a basis for the discussion of style and stylistics which follows in Chapter V. As noted above, this sampling of poems was chosen to insure that the theory will be tested on

a broad and varied base before it is used in the stylistic analysis of any one poem. The poems are treated in this order because it allows for the greatest clarity of exposition. The theory will be tested in two ways, first by seeing how accurately

it predicts the various metrical line types in the individual poems, and second by seeing how well the degrees of complexity specified for various

line types by the theory correlate with the frequencies of occurrence of these line types in the individual poems. Recall that this second test is one that I discuss at some length in Chapters I and II as a likely means for judging the explanatory power of theories of meter. When Purity is scanned using the rules in Chapter II] and when the relative frequency of occurrence of each extant line type in the poem is placed alongside its corresponding type in the list of line types specified by the theory developed in Chapter II, a chart like this is produced. 1. The editions selected as texts for this study are as follows:

J. R. R. Tolkien and Eric V. Gordon, eds., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 2nd ed. rev. by Norman Davis (London, 1967). Robert Menner, ed., Purity (New Haven, 1920). Henry L. Savage, ed., St. Erkenwald (New Haven, 1926). Harley Bateson, ed., Patience, 2nd ed. (Manchester, 1918).

John Findlayson, ed., Morte Arthure (London, 1967), lines 1-25, 693-1221, 1279-1565, 2006-2229, George A. Panton and David Donaldson, eds., The Gest Hystoriale of the Destruction of Troy (London, 1869), lines 1-1008. George Kane, ed., Piers Plowman: The A-Text (London, 1960), Prologue, Passuses I-IV, Passus V.1-83. 47

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

PURITY Occurrences

Correspondence (total lines: Frequency of ; Rules Line Types 1812) Occurrence (%)

CR. 1.a. SSSW 1298 71.6

i.b. SSSSW 2178011.9 SSWSW 4.4

SWSSW 30 56 1.7 3.0 WSSSW 1.c. SWSW WSSW34 24 || 1.9 1.3

li.a. (+1) SSSS 14 28 0.8 1.5 (+m) SSWW (+n) SSWS 2 0.1 lib. (+1)SSWSS SSSSS4.3 0.22 0.16 SWSSS 200.1 WSSSS _ , (+m) SSSWW 5 0.27 SSWWW-

SWSYWAW

(+n) SSWWS SSSWS 00 — — WSSWWw

SWSWS 0 — WSSWS 0 — li.c. (+1) SWSS 6 0.32

WSSS 6 0.32 (+m) SWWW (+n)WSWS SWWS00—_ Problematic lines 3 0.16

The table shows clearly that the theory predicts all the line types which occur in Purity, and only seven line types which do not. Since all seven unattested line types are ones of relatively high degrees of complexity, they can be seen naturally as metrical types available to the Purity poet but not used. In the same way, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton each wrote poems in iambic pentameter, but no one would expect each of them to have used every one of the total number of line types extant in the entire iambic pentameter tradition in any single 1000-line passage.

48 ,

THE THEORY APPLIED

Judged according to the first standard, the theory is plausible in the case of Purity, When the ordering of line types predicted by the theory is compared to the ordering of categories in the list from Purity, a number of interest-

ing things come to light. First, the theory’s ordering of degrees of complexity for the first ten line types is a nearly optimal specification for the ordering of the first ten categories in the Purity frequency list. The number of individual lines that fill these categories in Purity is 1792, or 98.7 percent of the total number of lines in the poem. The frequency of occurrence of all but 1.3 percent of the lines in Purity is predicted quite accurately by the complexity theory. When the remaining six categories in the Purity list are considered, it becomes clear that the membership of the largest categories, those containing lines of the form SWSS and WSSS, totals twelve, or 0.64 percent of the 1812 lines in Purity, and that the membership of all six of the rarest categories totals only 26, or 1.45 percent; hence, it will be wise to refrain from attempting any conclusive statement about the aptness of the theory as it specifies these rare types until the theory has been applied to at least a few more poems. At this point I should note only that, though lines of the form SWSS and WSSS in Purity seem to be less rare than the theory predicts, it is unreasonable to expect that lines of such a high degree of complexity will be preferred by one particular poet in just the order specified by the theory. On the whole the theory is verified to a great extent by the metrical facts of Purity. Patience and St. Erkenwald are shorter poems than Purity, consisting of 531 and 352 lines, respectively, so I cannot use them as surely as I have used Purity for verification. But to the extent that they can be used, they verify the theory very neatly. PATIENCE and ST. ERKENWALD

ons 3& a »SEaS

Correspondence 5 5 s o 5 5 = o 5 CR. i.a. SSSW 407 77.0 215 61.0 1.b. SSSSW 4917 9.23.2362110.0 SSWSW SWSSW 15 2.8 16 6.1 5.0

WSSSW 11 2.0 10 3.0 49

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

nS>> iS 3v n Oo © >i vS y8 Correspondence 5 a 05 5Og 5 Si,o 6 5 Rules a 5 & y| fx,

CR. L.c.WSSW SWSW11 7 1.3 10 3.0 2.0 5 1.2 li.a. (+1) SSSS 9 1.6 7 2.0 (+m) SSWW 300.56 4— 1.2 (+n) SSWS — 0 i.b. (+1) SSSSS 20 0.37 0.3 SSWSS — 11 0.3

SWSSS O — 11 0.3 0.3 WSSSS 0 — (+m) SSSWW 0 — 4 1.2 SSWwww

SWSWWw

(+n)SSWWS SSSWS O — 10 0.3 O — — SWSWS O O — WSSWS O — 0 — li.c. (+1) SWSS0 0— —00 — — WSSS WSSWW

(+m) SWWw

(+n)WSWS SWWS 00 — — 10 0.3 — WSww-

Problematic lines 0 — O — All of the line types attested in the poems are predicted by the theory. And, as in Purity, those not attested in the poems are types with relatively high degrees of complexity which might naturally not occur in poems as short as Patience and St. Erkenwald. The ordering of the line-type cate-

gories that do appear in the two lists is almost precisely that predicted by the ordering of the rules of the theory. Although they offer a rather small sample, the two poems verify the theory to a considerable extent. It would be misleading and impractical if I should fail at this point

to preview the analysis of the remaining four poems, to give suitable warning that the application of the theory to these poems will not be as trouble-free as it has been in the cases of Purity, Patience, and St. Erkenwald, Certain modifications of the theory will be tested—modifications 50

THE THEORY APPLIED

in the form of rule revisions—but in general the remaining poems will be found to attest the original theory’s predictions to a significant degree. In the case of Gawain, which contains 2025 long lines, the theory is verified, provided that a few stylistic rules can be invoked in addition to the metrical rules. GAWAIN Occurrences

Correspondence (total lines: Frequency of Rules Line Types 2025) Occurrence (%)

CR. 1.a. SSSW 1236 61.0 i.b. SSSSW 221 11.0 SSWSW 126 6.0 SWSSW 83 4.1 WSSSW 45 2.2

1.C. SWSW 78 3.8 WSSW 79 3.8 li.a. (+1) SSSS 17 61 0.8 3.0 (+m) SSWW (+n) SSWS 22 1.0 i.b. (+1)SSWSS SSSSS 20 1.0 7 0.31 SWSSS 2 0.1 WSSSS 1 0.05

(+m) SSSWW 4 0.19 SSWWWw SWSWWw

“WSSWWw

CR.i.b. (+n) SSSWS 26 0.1 0.29 SSWWS

SWSWS 1O0.05 WSSWS — li.c. (+I)WSSS SWSS450.19 0.24 (+m) SWWWw

(+n)WSWS SWWSO0— ~ “WSWW

Problematic lines 5 0.24 All of the line types attested in Gawain are predicted by the theory and those not attested are of relatively high complexity; the difficulty does not lie here. It is in the ordering of one of the line-type categories accordD1

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

ing to frequency of occurrence that a problem arises. The theory specifies WSSSW as one of the realizations of Rule CR.1i., thus predicting that it

will occur significantly more frequently than it does in Gawain. This anomaly cannot be explained as a minor stylistic idiosyncrasy, even though it would have to occur only twice as often as it does (about 4.0% rather than 2.2%) to be placed in the predicted position. There are two alternatives for solving this problem. First, the metrical theory could be adjusted so that a rule would specify WSSSW unambig-

uously at the level required by its relative frequency of occurrence in Gawain, But this would be an ad hoc adjustment and would greatly reduce

the explanatory capacity of the theory in general; I can conceive of no adjustment to the rules of the theory that would thus specify WSSSW without a regrettable loss of naturalness, elegance, and explanatory power.

I prefer a second alternative in which this displacement of WSSSW from its predicted position is construed as an alteration of the theory’s ordered list of specified forms by a stylistic rule; such a rule would apply only after all metrical rules have been invoked. Thus, the stylistic rule would be seen as the formal representation of a stylistic choice and the resultant reordering of line-type frequencies would then manifest the poet’s single major stylistic idiosyncrasy with respect to metrical complexity. This second alternative, the development of a stylistic rule, is preferable to an ad boc revision of the metrical rules on two counts: it allows the theory to retain its explanatory power, and it provides a clear formulation, in the form of stylistic rules, for the explanation of stylistic differences among the various poets in the verse tradition. (This will be demonstrated in detail in Chapter V.)

The anomalies that occur in the 1062 lines of Morte Arthure considered here require adjustments to the theory of another kind. MORTE ARTHURE Occurrences

Correspondence (total lines: Frequency(%) of Rules Line Types 1065) Occurrence

CR. 1a. SSSW 633 59.0 i.b. SSSSW 52 5.0 SSWSW 72 7.0 SWSSW 21 1.9 WSSSW 19 1.8

lc. SWSW 78 7.3

52

THE THEORY APPLIED

Occurrences

Correspondence (total lines: Frequency of Rules Line Types 1065) Occurrence (%)

WSSW 80 7.5 lia. (+1)SSWW SSSS 31 2.9 (+m) 23 1.9 (+n) SSWS 25 2.3

u.b. (+1) SSSSS 21 0.19 SSWSS 0.1

SWSSS 1 0.1 (+m) WSSSS SSSWW100.1 — , SWSww WSSWw (+n) SSSWS 200.19 SSWWS — SWSWS O — WSSWS 1 0.1 li.c. (+1) SWSS440.37 0.37 WSSS (+m) SW. (+n) SWWS 23 0.19 WSWS 0.28 Problematic lines 10 1.1 SSWWw

Wsww

The first standard is met without exception: the theory makes no false predictions with regard to Morte Arthure, But the ordering of categories in this list is not at all like the ordering specified by the theory. In this case, the adjustments suggested are of two distinct kinds: in addition to stylistic rules very similar to those required for the poems of Gawain, substantive changes in the rules of the metrical theory should be proposed

and tested. I will present the adjustments to the theory first, since they

precede stylistic rules in the analysis of verse forms.

| 53

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

ORIGINAL STATEMENT OF THE THEORY (Cf. p. 22, above)

Abstract Metrical Pattern Rule_

V— Xj X> RV Correspondence Rules Principle of Complexity: When more than one metrical pattern involving W is realized from X, Xz by a single ordered rule (e.g. CR.i.b., CR.1.c., etc.),

, the pattern containing the rightmost realization of W is least complex and increasingly leftward realizations

are increasingly complex. | CR.i.a. Both X’s are realized asS,............. a8 OR

X, 1s realized as S and 55 X, 1s realized as OR

SW, WS R—=s

b. 2 OR ,as ¢ AND

V—-wW

X, 1s realized as W and X, 1s realized as SS OR

c. One X is realized as S and one aSW,..... eee ee eee ee ee AS

C. OR

| CR.11.a. OR

V->S

b. Just asin CR... 2... ............, a8 R—wW both

ADJUSTED STATEMENT OF THE THEORY FOR MORTE ARTHURE

Abstract Metrical Pattern Rule

vV——X,X,RV 54

THE THEORY APPLIED

Correspondence Rules Principle of Complexity is deleted.

CR.1.a. Both X’s are realized asS,........., as OR

X, 1s realized as S and 38

X, 1s realized as sS

b. Just as in CR.1. of Adjusted Statement, as R—wW OR

both [The Condition of Metricality and the Definitions remain unchanged.]

Briefly, the adjustments indicated here are a) the Principle of Complexity has been deleted, and b) the formulations Cr.i.b. OR CR.1.c.

and CR.11.b.

OR CR. 11.c.

have been completely delinearized by the deletion of all the OR’s that provided for linear ordering in the original statement of the theory, with the effect that all the line types specified by the individual alternatives within the adjusted CR.i.b. and CR.ii.b. will have a single degree of complexity. a5

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

The partially linearized list of specified forms that arises from the adjusted theory is shown below alongside the completely linearized list specified by the original theory. ORDERING OF LINE TYPES IN MORTE ARTHURE

Original Statement Adjusted Statement Adjusted Line Types Correspondence Correspondence (occurrences in

Rules Line Types Rules parentheses) CR. 1.a. SSSW CR. 1.a. SSSW (633) 1.b. SSSSW i.b. SSSSW (52), SSWSW (72), SSWSW SWSSW (21), WSSSW

SWSSW (19), SWSW (78),

WSSSW WSSW (80)

1.c. SWSW WSSW

lia. (+1) SSSS lia. (+1) SSSS (31) (+m) SSWW (+m) SSWW (23)

(+n) SSWS (+n) SSWS (25) ii.b. (+1) SSSSS li.b. (+1) SSSSS (2), SSWSS (1), SSWSS SWSSS (1), WSSS (4), SWSSS WSSSS (1), SWSS (4),

WSSSS WSSS (4) SSW SWS, WSSWW, SWSWw “SWAAW, WSWAW

(+m) SSSWW (+m) SSSWW (0), SSWAAW,

WSSWWw (+n) SSSWS (2), SSWWS (0),

(+n) SSSWS SWSWS (0), WSSWS (1), SSWWS SWWS (2), WSWS (3) SWSWS WSSWS [Note: A list of line types li.c. (+1) SWSS separated by commas deWSSS notes that all types in the (+m) SWWw list are of a single degree

WSwWw of complexity. ]

(+n) SWWS

WSWS

The theory, as adjusted by these formal changes, specifies all the forms attested in Morte Arthure, and specifies their degrees of complexity, though not very precisely, in such a way that the many anomalies that I

noted at the outset have been reduced to two, namely, SWSSW and WSSSW, which occur in the sample much less frequently than the ad56

THE THEORY APPLIED

justed theory would predict. This remaining anomaly can now be explained, as the displacement of WSSSW was in Gawain, as the result of a stylistic rule. But the price for this reduction of anomalies seems to have

been unfortunately high: the theory, in the process of adjustment, has lost the quite natural and seemingly insight-yielding Principle of Complexity of the original, and has lost much of the original’s capacity to specify degrees of complexity by means of the complete linear ordering of individual rules. (The stylistic implications of this, too, will be discussed in Chapter V.)

The following question now arises: Are the formal adjustments that have just been made to accommodate the theory to Morte Arthure principled and well-motivated or merely ad hoc tinkerings? The question can be answered by reviewing the relations between Halle and Keyser’s theory for Old English meter and the original Middle English theory as the two are discussed in Chapter II. Recall that the explanation for the changes that occurred in the evolution of English alliterative verse from Old English to Middle English offered in Chapter II is in the form of a metathesis of the second and third alternatives in the Old English theory.

Old English Middle English

OR OR

All X’s are realized as S ——————+-All X’s are realized as S

One X in the

and X, as¢ OR X, 1s realized § fe | first half- SW,asWS

line isasrealized and the other W X, 1s realized asas W S : | and X, asSS

One X 1s realized as SW One X is realized as S

or WS and one as W

This explanation offers considerable support for the adjustments made above to CR.i. of the original Middle English theory to adapt it to the meter of Morte Arthure; it is-highly likely that a poet who, by virtue of his concept of meter, is “‘caught in the middle” of this presumably continuous historical change, seeing and hearing verse of both the Old English and Middle English patterns, might come up with the notion of metricality embodied in the de-linearized section of CR.1. of the theory as adjusted for Morte Arthure. The poet would naturally show no prefer57

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

ence for either the four- or five-stressed line types specified by this section

of CR.i., but would use both kinds with roughly the same frequency. This is what the poet of Morte Arithure seems to have done. Accordingly,

if the trend toward richer alliteration can be construed as continuous, _ then it is also likely that certain poets, perhaps not as metrically innovative and sophisticated as the Gawain poet, might show no preference for four S’s over three S’s in five-stressed lines. Thus, it is natural to accept

a change in the original theory in the form of the deletion of ordering OR’s presented above; such a change reflects the notion of complexity that the poet of Morte Arthbure seems to have used with respect to richness of alliteration and number of emphases per line.

I will not advance any final adjustments to the theory until after The Destruction of Troy and Piers Plowman have been discussed.

TROY

Original Theory: Occurrences Correspondence (total lines: Frequency of Rules Line Types 1008 ) Occurrence (%)

CR. 1.a. SSSW 887 88.4 1.b. SSSSW 10 1.0 SSWSW 37 2.1 3.7 SWSSW 21 WSSSW 24 2.4

1.C. SWSW 4 0.4 WSSW 12 1.2 li.a. (+1) SSSS 39 0.3 0.9 (+m) SSWW (+n) SSWS @) _ u.b. (+1) SSSSS O — SSWSS O _ SWSSS O — (+m) WSSSS SSSWWO0 — — SSWWwWw

SWSWW WSSWw

(+n) SSWWS SSSWS00—_ SWSWS O — WSSWS 0—

58

THE THEORY APPLIED

Original Theory: Occurrences Correspondence (total lines:Occurrence Frequency(%) of Rules Line Types 1008)

1c. (+1)WSSS SWSS1O0.1 — (+m) SWWu “WSWA

(+n) WSWS SWWS 00 — —

Problematic lines 0 — The original theory specifies all the line types attested in the analyzed sample of Troy and accurately predicts the order of those attested with two minor exceptions. A stylistic rule is needed to shift SSSSW to the

bottom of the group of line types specified by CR.i.b., and another stylistic rule is needed to metathesize the forms SWSW and WSSW and to shift SSSS to a position between them: WSSW SSSS SWSW

This stylistic alteration of the conventional ordering of line types is quite

natural. The poet may well have had an ordered preference for the alliterative rhythms of these types, not a conscious preference, but one which nonetheless affected his using twelve lines of the form WSSW, nine lines of the form SSSS, and four lines of the form SWSW in the scanned sample. As noted above in a similar circumstance, the lines in question here form such a small portion of the total sample that these considerations of stylistic alteration in the case of relatively complex lines are speculative at best. The most striking aspect of the list for Troy is an aspect of style, not

meter, which has not been encountered in any of the poems thus far discussed. The preference of the poet with regard to the relative proportions of categories seems to be atypically weighted toward the less complex forms: almost 90 percent of the lines of the poem are realized as SSSW and 93 percent are realized as either SSSW, SSWSW, or SWSSW. I will discuss the stylistic implications of this seeming idiosyncrasy in detail in Chapter V.

The theory makes no false predictions with regard to the line types which occur in the scanned sample of Piers Plowman.

59

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

PIERS PLOWMAN Occurrences

Correspondence (total lines: Frequency(%) of Rules Line Types 1007) Occurrence

CR. 1.a. SSSW 719 71.3 1.b. SSSSW 35 3.5 SSWSW 47 4.7 SWSSW 12 WSSSW 27 1.2 2.7

1.C. SWSW WSSW33 23 3.3 2.3 lia. (+1) SSSS 26 2.6 (+m) SSWWw 47 4.7 (+n) SSWS 8 0.8 ib. (+1)SSWSS SSSSS 20 0.2 — SWSSS 0 — WSSSS 1 0.1 (+m) SSSWW 14 1.4 (+n) SSSWS SSWWS 11 0.1 0.1 SSWWWw.

SWSWW

“WSSWW

SWSWS 00 — WSSWW —

CR.1i.c. (41) SWSS3 20.3 0.2 WSSS (+m) SWwWw

(+n) WSWS SWWS 20 0.2 — “WSWAY

Problematic lines 4 0.4 But the ordering of categories in the Piers list is clearly not that specified

by the theory. The adjustments required in the theory are identical to those required for Morte Arthure,

a) The Principle of Complexity is deleted. b) All ordering OR’s are deleted from CR.1.b., CR.1.c., CR.u.b., and CR.il.c. c) The Condition of Metricality is retained. d) The Definitions are retained. 60

THE THEORY APPLIED

The partially ordered list of specified forms that these adjustments give rise to is shown below alongside the linearized list of the original theory. ORDERING OF LINE TYPES IN PIERS PLOWMAN

Original Statement Adjusted Statement Adjusted Line Types Correspondence Correspondence (occurrences in

Rules Line Types Rules parentheses) CR. 1.a. SSSW CR. 1.a. SSSW (719) i.b. SSSSW 1.b. SSSSW (35), SSWSW (47), SSWSW SWSSW (12), WSSSW

SWSSW (27), SWSW (33), WSSSW WSSW (23)

1.C. SWSW WSSW

ii.a. (+1) SSSS li.a. (+1) SSSS (26) (+m) SSWW (+m) SSWW (47) (+n) SSWS — (+n) SSWS (8) li.b. (41) SSSSS ii.b. (41) SSSSS (2), SSWSS (0),

SSWSS SWSSS (0), WSSSS (1),

SWSSS SWSS (2), WSSS (3)

WSSSS (+m) SSSWW (14), SSVWAWW,

(+m) SSSWW SWSWW, WSSWW, SSWWWw SWWW., WSWWw

SWSWWw (+n) SSSWS (1), SSWWS (1),

“WSSVWAW SWSWS (0), SWWS (2),

(+n) SSSWS WSWS (0) SSWWS SWSWS WSSWS

li.c. (+1) SWSS

WSSS [Note: A list of line types

(+m) “SWWww separated by commas deWSWWw notes that all types in the

(+n) SWWS list are of a single degree

| 61 WSWS of complexity. |

This new partial ordering of specified forms in Piers comes much nearer to the ordering of categories suggested by the relative frequency list, but, as in the case of Morte Arthure, the theory has lost a good deal of specificity. The anomalies that remain after this reordering are SSSS, SWSSW, SSWW, and SSSWVW;; these seem to be the results of stylistic rules.

SWSSW was used less often than expected, not unlike the way other

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

forms of its degree of complexity were used by other poets. But the unexpectedly frequent use of SSWW and SSSWW seems to be a special case. This is the only instance in the seven poems where particular line types with an unconventional realization of RV have been used so much more frequently than the theory predicts. A review of the 47 lines I have scanned as SSWW and the 14 I have scanned as SSSWW reveals nothing unique in the way that Langland handles these forms; the most natural surmise is that such a line type, being as it were metrically anti-climactic, might be used to enhance narrative anti-climax in the lines where it occurs, but this does not appear to be the case. I will offer several rationales for these anomalies in Chapter V. Now that the original theory from Chapter II has been applied to the seven poems and adjusted for each as required, I will claim that the orig-

inal theory should stand as the theory of Middle English alliterative verse, and that the adjusted theories outlined here should be seen as apt for their respective poems, but only as statements of limited explanatory power. I will leave the theory as originally stated and treat all the adjustments required for particular poems as reflections of the vestiges of more or less conservative notions of metricality in the minds of particular poets. This is, in effect, to claim that the original theory reflects all the potential of the English alliterative tradition to change and remain vital in response to changes occurring contemporaneously in the English language, and that the author (or authors)* of the Gawain group, whose poems attest the original theory without the need for major changes,

were notably more successful than the author of The Destruction of Troy and a bit more successful than the author of Morte Arthure in realizing this potential in their poetry. Such a claim will seem natural to

the many readers who feel that the poems of the Gawain group, and particularly Gawain, itself, are finer examples of versifying skill than any of the other poems in the tradition. In Chapter V, I will demonstrate how the theory aids in illuminating the ‘‘style’’ of various passages in the seven poems. 2. The matter of authorship of the Gawain-group will be discussed briefly in Chapter V (p. 76, n. 6).

62

V

LITERARY STYLE, ST YLISTICS,

AND METRICAL THEORY

The term literary style seems to have two main denotations in common usage. It is used in one sense to refer to a characteristic which inheres in literary works themselves. Such-and-such an ordering of such-and-such

a variety of linguistic elements in a work can be seen as a unified and unique literary structure. And, though a work is unique, it may be seen as similar to other works by the same author and not so similar to works by other authors. In this sense, literary style refers either to the distinguishing structural uniqueness of a single work or to the distinguishing structural similarities of various works by a single author or circle of authors. The term is used in a second sense to refer to a characteristic of certain affects which arise in the minds of experienced readers. Most often, these readers perceive that the structural uniqueness of a particular work leads, in certain sure if not direct ways, to its unique semantic effect on them. This second, broader sense of the term literary style is a . common model for stylistic analysis and is by and large preferable, especially as it is articulated by Marie Borroff in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Stylistic and Metrical Study.

Style properly belongs to language in use. It need not be used correctly or coherently—‘“‘Is’t possible? Confess! Handkerchief! O devil!” is as likely a subject for stylistic analysis as ‘Put up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them’’—but it must be used intelligibly in the sense that it must belong, or seem to belong, to a speaker and an occasion. Understood in terms of speaker and occasion, language produces in its audience the impression of style. ... Identifications [of style] must somehow be based on perceptible aspects or features of language. An important part of the stylistic study of literary texts, therefore, is the description and classification of such features, If they are literally present in the language, it ought to be possible, at least to some extent, to handle them as quantities, to point them out and determine their frequency of occurrence. No one imagines that style can be reduced to lists and tables, but the impression of what is characteristic often has factual implications—as 63

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

when we speak of ‘“‘simple language’”’ or “‘heavy use of adjectives” —and it is reasonable to ask that such implications be explored and the impression corroborated or corrected.’

This is a sane and potentially productive notion. But there are direct implications of it which show the study of style to be an ambitious under-

taking, indeed. To treat the relation between structural facts and the ‘literary’? reactions of a reading audience, stylistics must draw from both linguistics and literary criticism and must integrate many various materials. Unfortunately, because the two disciplines are diverse in aim, structure, and terminology, a holistic, interdisciplinary stylistics is probably

not forthcoming. Nonetheless, the study of style must go on, albeit tentatively, to establish what it can. The advantages of my theory of Middle English alliterative meter, with regard to stylistic analysis, are:

1) that it specifies precisely which patterns may be expected and which may not. 1. Marie Borroff, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Stylistic and Metrical Study

(New Haven, 1962), p. 4. At this point, I should mention that Marie Borroff develops a system of scansion in her study of Gawain which would give results notably different from the ones I get here. The major contrasts between Borroff’s view and mine arise in particular from our contrastive treatment of so-called extended long lines, those lines which have five apparent metrical emphases rather

than four, and in general from the contrastive aims of our inquiries. Borroff brings her considerable scholarship to bear in proposing likely colloquial readings of the verses of Gawain and concludes “‘that there are in fact no extended lines in Gawain, if by an extended line is meant one containing five chief syllables of equal rank. In all the first half-lines, however heavy, it is possible to subordinate one out of three stressed syllables—or in certain cases two out of four—so that two syllables will receive major emphasis. The four-part structure in this sense is applicable to all the long lines uniformly. There is, of course, no way of proving that where subordination is possible, it is also mandatory”’ (p. 198), I agree with this statement as it pertains to colloquial emphasis; there is at present no way to infer from established linguistic knowledge precisely which phonetic stress pattern is called for in the performance of a given extended half-line of Gawain. This has not, however, been by aim. My aim has been to discover an a priori statement according to which the metrical emphases of ME alliterative verses can be distinguished from colloquial emphases and according to which metrical emphases can be assigned systematically to appropriate syllables in each verse. Thus, while I come no closer than Borroff does to discovering a law-like statement from which phonetic stress patterns can be inferred deductively, I do provide a hypothetical statement that specifies patterns of metrical emphasis with a considerable degree

of likelihood and naturalness. |

The reader whose particular interest is the performance of verses from the ME alliterative tradition will surely want to consult Borroff’s study for the details of her method.

64

STYLE, STYLISTICS, AND METRICAL THEORY

2) that it makes a simple and unambiguous statement of the relative

metrical complexity of each kind of pattern that does occur, hence providing a realistic basis for judging the likely stylistic function of the various patterns. 3) that it shows, by clearly distinguishing metrical and stylistic rules, how poets use verse forms either conventionally or idiosyncratically, while always using them metrically, and

4) that it clarifies the notion of “metrical tension” and provides helpful, explicit terms for the discussion of metrical tension in specific cases.

Especially since some aspects of the nature of Middle English cannot be

reconstructed with complete confidence, a theory with this kind of explanatory power will be helpful in determining just what stylistic effects are being tried for in particular passages of the poems. I will now analyze certain aspects of the seven poems, exemplifying

the various advantages of the theory as I go. Throughout the analysis, I will attempt to show how the metrical nature of successive lines unfolds and becomes clear to the reader as the sequential process of reading goes on, and how a number of stylistic effects are thus created. Since the beginning of a poem is often crucial in setting up the reader’s expectations about the style of the poem as a whole, it should be interesting to analyze the beginning passages of some of the seven poems. Here are the first 26 lines of the Prologue of The Destruction of Troy. Maistur in mageste, maker of Alle, Endles and on, euer to last! Now, god, of bi grace graunt me pi helpe, And wysshe me with wyt pis werke for to end!

Off aunters ben olde of aunsetris nobill, 5

And slydyn vppon shlepe by slomeryng of Age: Of stithe men in stoure strongest in armes, And wisest in wer to wale in hor tyme, Pat ben drepit with deth & pere day paste,

And most out of mynd forbere mecull age, 10 Sothe stories ben stoken vp, & straught out of mind, And swolowet into swym by swiftenes of yeres, Ffor new bat ben now, next at our hond, Breuyt into bokes for boldyng of hertes;

On lusti to loke with lightnes of wille, 15

Cheuyt throughe chaunce & chaungyng of peopull; Sum tru for to traist, triet in be ende, Sum feynit o fere & ay false vnder. 65

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

Yche wegh as he will warys his tyme,

And has lykyng to lerne pat hym list after. 20 But olde stories of stithe pat astate helde, May be solas to sum pat it segh neuer, Be writyng of wees bat wist it in dede, With sight for to serche, of hom bat suet after,

To ken all the crafte how se case felle, 25 By lokyng of letturs pat lefte were of olde.

The reader beginning this passage will be concerned with perceiving two

kinds of development: the development of the narrative line, with its concomitant descriptive elements, and the development of a verse rhythm from which metrical patterns may be inferred. If the passage is stylistically fine, the reader will of course perceive that these two kinds of development are mutually enhancing: the narrative line will be unified but varied

enough to be engaging, the rhythm will be consistently metrical, but varied enough to avoid doggerel, and from time to time, a relatively complex line form will be used to underscore a narrative emphasis by giving its key words relatively rare metrical treatment.

The narrative development of this opening passage from Troy is conventional enough to be perceived clearly and readily, but it is not as well unified as some of the finer pseudo-epic beginnings in the tradition. The narrator asks God for the understanding and cleverness required to write the poem (1-4), elaborates on the general subject (5-12), alludes

to the value of ancient lore for his contemporaries (13, 14), enlarges on the general subject (15-18), digresses to psychologize about the whims

of readers (19, 20), then finally reiterates and expands his earlier point about the value of ancient learning (21-26). The narrative development of this passage is halting and slightly convoluted, and its lack of narrative excellence is matched by its lack of metrical variety. The reader scanning these lines looks for the first metrical emphasis

and finds it in Maistur, clearly a noun. The reader’s knowledge of the meter leads instantaneously to the expectation that the next content word in the line will alliterate on the M of Maistur. (In fact, the experienced reader ‘“‘knows,”’ consciously or not, that the probability of its occurrence is roughly seventy-five percent: he or she expects this predominance of relatively uncomplex lines and SS 1s the least complex beginning a line can have.) And the likelier of possibilities in fact occurs: magesté, the next metrical emphasis, does alliterate with Maistur. Next, the reader anticipates another alliteration as most probable for like reasons 66

STYLE, STYLISTICS, AND METRICAL THEORY

and finds it in maker, the next metrical emphasis. Finally, the more probable non-alliterating Ad/e occurs. In sum, the line has manifested the reader’s notion of “‘least complex line,” since its metrical form 1s SSSW.

Now what can be said of the reader’s expectations about the metrical forms of subsequent lines? Nothing in the first line makes any particular

kind of line any more or less likely to occur than before, because the meter has no interlinear constraints. The only expectation the reader can realistically entertain is that all the possible metrical forms have constant and ordered probabilities of occurrence in every “‘next”’ line. Thus SSSW is considerably more probable than SSSSW, SSWSW, WSSSVW;; these are slightly more probable than SWSW, WSSW; and so forth. The meter that the poet has at his disposal will make successive metrical emphases more

or less striking by virtue of their contributing more or less complexity to the lines which form their metrical contexts.

The most notable characteristic of this opening passage of Troy is the relative rarity of metrical forms other than SSSW. Lines 7, 11, and 21 are the only cases. Of stithe men in stoure strongest in armes, (7—SWSSW)

Sothe stories ben stoKen vp, & straught out of mind, (11—WSSSW)

But olde stories of stithe bat estate helde, (21—WSSSW)

Each of these lines is only one degree more complex than SSSW; each has a W among the two S’s in the first three of five positions. Men in line 7 1s the first metrical emphasis in 25 successive emphases to fail to conform to the SSSW pattern. But the impact of this tactic seems to be lost on men, a common word with minimal capacity to advance the narrative line in any striking way. It might even have been intended by the poet as

the second element in a compound, in which case it would not even receive metrical significance. Sothe, in line 11, is the next sign of greater than minimal complexity,

and seems to be used by the poet with considerable rhetorical effect; the truthfulness of an ancient story is a crucial determiner of its rhetorical

applicability in a poem of this sort, so the added emphasis that Sothe receives by being a relatively rare W is effective. Olde, in line 21, gains added effect by being a rare W and is ostensibly used to add ancient 67

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

W S WwW S

gravity to truthfulness as an enobling attribute of stories. And since Sothe stories and olde stories are both noun phrases, they receive uneven colloquial stress by the Nuclear Stress Rule. RULES

sothe stories ! olde stories (8a) [1-stress ] [1-stress] | [1-stress | [1-stress |

(5a) 1-stress I-stress} | |1-stress 1-stress

+X +X | +X +X

(8e) non-1- 1-stress | non-1- 1-stress

stress +X +X| stress | +X +X (5b) non-1- 1-stress|_ | [non-1- 1-stress stress+X | | stress +X | Jax +X

Ww S | Ww S

The rhetorical tension produced when non-primary stressed sothe and olde retain metrical stress further enhances the narrative emphasis given to the words.” effects, I am inclined to conclude that the passage, as a whole, and many

others like it in Troy, are the Middle English alliterative equivalents of iambic pentameter doggerel: the extreme rarity of variations on the metrical form SSSW makes Troy metrically dull and undermines rather than enhances whatever narrative excellence is developed. The opening of Gawain is stylistically superior on a number of counts. Sipen be sege and be assaut watz sesed at Troye, pe bor3 brittened and brent to brondez and askez, Pe tulk bat be trammes of tresounber wro3t Watz tried for his tricherie, be trewest on erthe:

Hit watz Enniaspe athel, and his highe kynde, 5 Pat sipen depreced prouinces, and patrounes bicome Welne3e of al be wele in be west iles. Fro riche Romulus to Rome ricchis hym swypbe, With gret bobbaunce bat bur3e he biges vpon fyrst,

And neuenes hit his aune nome, as hit now hat; 10 2.Cf. Joseph C, Beaver’s discussion of the ramifications of this kind of derivation for iambic pentameter in ‘“The Rules of Stress in English Verse,’ Language 47 (1971), 586-614. 68

STYLE, STYLISTICS, AND METRICAL THEORY

Tirius to Tuskan and teldes bigynnes, Langaberde in Lumbardie lyftes vp homes, And fer ouerbe French flod Felix Brutus On mony bonkkes ful brode Bretayn he settez

wyth wynne, 15

Where werre and wrake and wonder Bi sypez hatz wont berinne, And oft bobe blysse and blunder Ful skete hatz skyfted synne.

Ande quen pis Bretayn watz bigged bibis burn rych, 20 Bolde bredden pberinne, baret bat lofden,

In mony turned tyme tene bat wro3ten. Mo ferlyes onbis folde han fallen here oft Pen in any oper bat I wot, syn pat ilk tyme.

Bot of alle bat here bult, of Bretaygne kynges, 25 Ay watz Arthur be hendest, as I haf herde telle. For pi an aunter in erde I attle to schawe, Pat a selly in si3t summe men hit holden, And an outtrage awenture of Arthurez wonderez.

If 3e wyl lysten pis laye bot on littel quile, 30

I schal telle hit as-tit, as I in toun herde,

First, the narrative development of this passage is a good bit more engaging than the opening passage of Troy. Though its eponymic character makes it every bit as conventional as the invocation at the beginning of Troy, its stylistic appropriateness gives it a far greater poetic effect. The poet doesn’t merely list notable names and intersperse them with cliched alliterative tags; he takes the list-like eponymic form that he finds in the tradition and transforms it from a catalogue of the names of epic figures into a miniature epic narrative, replete with quickly sketched episodes in which the important epic figures enact those of their adventures which are mOSt pertinent as epic antecedents to the main action of the poem at hand. Rather than drone didactically in dull, general terms about the value of ancient lore for his audience, as the Troy poet seems to do, the Gawain poet engages his audience with the dramatic details of pertinent ancient tales and relies on their dramatic appeal to imply their ‘‘sentence.’’ The Gawain poet gets off to a much better start than the Troy poet because, as the critical truism goes, he decides to show rather than to tell. The metrical structure of this passage enhances its narrative fineness. As the form of the first line unfolds, the S of sege, foreshadowed in the metrically insignificant sipen, sets the alliteration that is realized in assaut and sesed. Thus, though the poet begins with the minimally complex and 69

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

normative SSSW form, he hints, by using the non-méetrical, ornamental alliteration of siben, that he will be keen to realize all the various possibilities of his verse form. And, unlike the Troy poet, who goes on repeating

the SSSW form for six lines, the Gawain poet promptly follows this auspicious opening line with “Pe bor3 brittened and brent to brondez and askez,”’ in the metrical form of SSSSW, which has a relative probability of occurrence of roughly ten percent. Within the first two lines, then, the poet has given notice that the reader should not expect large, doggerel-

like blocks of verses, all in the form of SSSW, but should look forward

to a relatively high proportion of metrical surprises, as it were. This metrical tactic seems to me to enhance the capacity of the narrative structure of the passage to engage and inform the reader’s esthetic consciousness. Thus, the next five lines, all SSSW, are not read as proof that the meter of the poem will be repetitive and doggerel-like, but as a way of heightening incrementally the suspense about when a non-SSSW line will occur, and what its form will be. When the next non-SSSW is encountered in line 8, ‘‘Fro riche Romulus to Rome ricchis hym swybe,”’ the SSSSW form has the effect of slowing

the pace of the narrative, enhancing the force of riche as an attribute of Romulus and helping to insure that the journey of Romulus to Rome will be seen in the appropriate epic focus; at the same time, the line resolves the suspense that has been set up. Then, when line 9 turns out to be a non-SSSW form, there is yet another metrical novelty: one non-SSSW form has been followed immediately by another. Within the first nine lines of the poem the poet has given notice very clearly that he will be using forms in a wholly metrical way while arranging these forms serially throughout the poem so that their various occurrences will be minimally predictable, satisfying the sense of esthetic adventure which a sensitive and knowledgeable reader brings to the reading of a poem. Many students of the Middle English alliterative tradition have had the impression that Gawain is stylistically one of the finest works within it; by using the notion of complexity embodied in my theory as a representation of a reader’s knowledge of the probability of occurrence of all metrical line types, I have pointed out the stylistic significance of the metrical choices available to the poets of the tradition, and have provided at least one set of means by which impressions of stylistic excellence can be corroborated in the textual facts of poems.

Metrical tension is another notion embodied by the theory and capable of being put to considerable use in stylistic analysis. Metrical 70

STYLE, STYLISTICS, AND METRICAL THEORY

tension, particularly where a noun phrase gets uneven colloquial stress and even paired metrical stress, has the effect of “‘slowing’’ the pace of the line in which it occurs, providing for super-colloquial narrative emphasis on the element with lesser colloquial stress, and providing a dignity

of pace not possible in the colloquial counterpart of the line, that is, not possible if the line were scanned as a stretch of prose. This potential of the verse form grew naturally out of the austerity and epic dignity of the Old English verse form, and is put to use in a broadened context by the better Middle English poets to give austerity by the epic passages of their poems and erotic enhancement to the “‘romance’’ passages. The temptation scenes in Gawain, in particular, show how metrical tension, with its capacity to complicate a reader’s expectations about the allowable patterns of emphasis in a poem, can be used by a skillful poet to enhance the appeal of romance narration. It hardly needs to be noted

that the three temptation scenes in Gawain are narrative sequences of extreme subtlety and complexity. The brilliance of the Lady’s seductive wiles coupled with her physical beauty and her avowed sexual generosity are obvious enough causes for the daemonic demands that Gawain feels

chipping away at the soundness of his perfect courtesy. The narrative movement of the passages, fueled by this erotic confrontation of the two characters, is as engaging and suspenseful as any other literary love match

that comes to mind. And although I risk slipping into the fatuous and anti-erotic tone of the standard twentieth-century sexual recipe book to say it, the metrical form of the seduction passages plays a notable part in enhancing their erotic appeal for the reader.

At the beginning of Gawain’s first temptation, just after the earlymorning departure of the Lord of the Castle for his first day of hunting, the sequence of metrical line types is still as varied and as relatively unpredictable as it was at the opening of the poem. Dus laykez bis lorde by lynde-wodez euez, And Gawaynbe god mon in gay bed lygez,

Lurkkez quyl be dayly3t lemed on be wowes, 1180 Vnder couertour ful clere, cortyned aboute; And as in slomeryng he slode, sle3ly he herde A littel dyn at his dor, and dernly vpon; And he heuez vp his hed out of be clopes, A corner of be cortyn he cast vp a lyttel,

And waytez warly piderwarde quat hit be my3t. 1186 The first three lines here seem to be deliberately packed with complexity. 71

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

Lynde-wodez has the potential for becoming a double metrical emphasis, though it is not realized in this context because of the presence of three metrical emphases in laykez, lorde, and euez, Line 1179 has six potential metrical emphases, and though bed has its emphasis supressed by a rule of scansion, metrical tension is still felt between the five actual metrical emphases and the six potential metrical emphases that constitute the line.” The element -/y3t of the compound dayly3t does not have to be elevated to metrical emphasis, since there are three metrical emphases other than day- in the form of Lurkkez, lemed, and wowes: yet the line seems uncommonly full of emphasis because -/y3t, not metrically significant itself, picks up the 7 of Lurkkez and lemed and becomes an enriching ornamental alliteration. Thus, these three lines have a metrical opulence which foreshadows the emotional opulence that is to follow.

The next two lines are a brief retreat to metrical simplicity, since they are both in the form SSSW, and the main purpose of their relative simplicity seems to be the enhancement of the force of the rare enjambment of lines 1182-83. Their metrical regularity seems ever so slightly to increase the pace of the passage so that the reader is led directly through

the syntactic continuity that bridges lines 1182-83 and directly into the

brilliant metrical irony of A littel dyn at bis dor. The metrical form WSSSW, as I mention above, has the capacity to slow the pace of a passage

and focus special emphasis on a word with non-primary phrase stress somewhere in the line. Here dyn is not just a noise, but a merrymaking noise, and its attribute /itte], whose non-primary colloquial stress is raised indirectly by metrical emphasis, denotes anything but slightness because this /ittel dyn is being made just outside Gawain’s chamber by the dainty hand of the most forceful figure in Gawain’s present emotional life.

Then, after two more lines in the form SSSW, in which Gawain’s tactical reaction to the dyn he has heard seems sheepish at best, he ‘‘way-

tez warly piderwarde quat hit be my3t.’” And it is, in fact, the Lady of the Castle, as the next line tells. 3. See “Stress Alternation and Stress Reduction in Six-Stress Lines,” in Chapter III, above, pp. 43-44. 4, The scansion of this line is a puzzle. After waytez and warly, the metrical em-

phases intended by the poet are by no means clear. The syntactic boundary between piderwarde and quat, along with the alliteration on the [w] of quat, suggests that guat is an S realized from R of the abstract metrical pattern, This leaves the problem of how to scan be, my3t, and biderwarde, My inclination is to think that the Nuclear Stress Rule or some rule like it for Middle English raises my3t to a higher level of stress than be even though be would receive promi72

STYLE, STYLISTICS, AND METRICAL THEORY

Hit watz be ladi, loflyest to beholde, (1187)

Since most occurrences of forms of the verb to be are not elevated to metrical significance, watz in this line, as the W of a WSSW form, has a relatively slight probability of occurrence. Its general rarity seems to be

used here as a means of underlining the overwhelming claim that the Lady’s presence makes on Gawain’s mind as she enters his chamber: her presence, in effect, fills his universe at this moment. What a fine beginning for an episode that involves intense, erotic engagement and that bears the possibility of shared sexual ecstasy. The next five lines are all SSSW in form:

pat dro3 pe dor after hir ful dernly and stylle, And bo3ed towarde pe bed; and pe burne schamed, And layde hym doun lystyly, and let as he slepte; And ho stepped stilly and stel to his bedde, Kest vp be cortyn and creped withinne, (1188-1192) The regularity of this series of SSSW’s seems to fit the apparent quickness of the actions narrated and lead with considerable momentum to: And set hir ful softly on.be bed-syde, (1193)

Here the second element of bed-syde receives metrical emphasis to fill out the third S of an SSWS line. The content words—verb, adverb, and noun—seem chosen particularly to keep this line denotatively uncluttered

and to abet the relatively rare SSWS form in focusing on the Lady’s movement to a sitting position on the bed. Then immediately following this line is a line of the form SWSSW whose metrical length seems to underline the expansion of psychological time that the Lady’s action effects in Gawain’s mind.

And lenged bere selly longe to loke quen he wakened. (1194) Again, in this case, selly is given metrical emphasis despite its non-primary

colloquial stress and is used to underline the achingly long wait that nence in the normal ordering of the two words, my3t be, Thus, my3t would be scanned as W, the fairly clearly non-clitic adverb biderwarde would be scanned as W, and the line in its entirety would read SSWSW. 73

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

Gawain must suffer through. It is a “‘wonderously”’ long wait for Gawain, and an exquisite heightening of the suspense of the episode for the reader.

The next line re-narrates the very active non-action of the wait, but this time with an emphasis on Gawain’s stillness and the lurking quality that it takes on from his viewpoint. pe lede lay lurked a ful longe quyle, (1195)

And the form of the line, SSSSW, like the form of the preceding line, accordingly slows the narrative pace.”

The poet uses a pair of SSSW lines next to bind together an enjambment whose potentially distracting atypicality is well worth the gamble, since the two lines together have considerable rhetorical force. Compast in his concience to quat bat cace my3t Meue ober amount—to meruayle hym po3t, (1196)

The syntax of the complex sentence carries across the line boundary particularly forcefully because the poet has picked up the m of the non-. alliterating mi3t of line 1196 in the alliteration of Meue and amount in line 1197; hence the pause at the dash and the elliptical to meruayle hym bo3t has a whip-cracking comic effect. Few other poets in any tradition have been so well able to invoke simultaneously two such diverse reactions to a dramatic situation as erotic engagement and gentle, humorous, ironic detachment. The rest of this verse section in Gawain moves rather briskly through

the process of Gawain’s mock-awakening to the climactic portrait of beauty and gentle dissembling in the bob and wheel. Bot 3et he sayde in hymself, ‘More semly hit were To aspye wyth my spelle in space quat ho wolde.’

pen he wakenede, and wroth, and to hir warde torned, 1200 And vnlouked his y3e-lyddez, and let as hym wondered, And sayned hym, as bi his sa3e be sauer to worthe, with hande. Wyth chynne and cheke ful swete,

Bobe quit and red in blande, 1205

Ful lufly con ho lete Wyth lyppez smal lagande.

>. Because I have found that ful, used as an intensifier, rarely seems to call for metrical emphasis in its occurrences in Middle English alliterative verse, I have chosen to count it as -X in this line. 74

STYLE, STYLISTICS, AND METRICAL THEORY

As the analysis in Chapter IV suggests, the meter of Morte Arthure is similar to that of Gawain, But there 1s a metrical difference between the two poems which has important consequences for a comparison of their

styles. CR.i.b. and CR.1i.b. of the metrical theory for Morte Arthure suggest that, with the exception of SSSW, the poet considers four-stress lines to be, in general, just about as complex as five-stress lines, while the comparable rules in the metrical theory for Gawain suggest that, with the exception of SSSW, the poet considers five-stress lines to be clearly less complex than four-stress lines. This is borne out by the frequency lists in Chapter IV, where, outside the category SSSW, Morte Arthure has five- and four-stress lines in a ratio of 3 to 4 and Gawain has these two kinds of lines in a ratio of 15 to 7. In fact, the frequency lists for Gawain

and Morte Arthure suggest a further revision of the theory for Morte Arthure which involves a drastic simplification of its Correspondence Rules and which has noteworthy implications for the stylistic analysis of the poems. Abstract Metrical Pattern Rule

vV—— X, X RV Correspondence Rules

X, X, is realized as ¢ SS RV — SW OR

positions Econtaining or three zero or one

| as

W RV — any other combination of § and W

The contrast between this further revision of the theory for Morte Arthure and the theory for Gawain corroborates what many readers have sensed

as a real stylistic contrast; this further revision of the theory for Morte Arthure shows, in effect, that the poet does not realize the highest poetic possibilities of the verse tradition he is using. Unlike the Gawain poet, who seems to conceive of all or nearly all of the metrical forms available to him as unique in their degrees of complexity, the Morte Arthure poet seems to see only a few degrees of complexity, accordingly lumping most of the line types available into one or two categories with many uniformly 75

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

complex members. This corroborates very powerfully the sense that many readers have had about the styles of the two poems, namely, that the Gawain poet has a subtler, more capacious poetic imagination than

the poet of Morte Arthure, and that the verse of the Gawain poet is consequently richer in texture and more flexible and varied in its effects.

Thus, impressions of style may be corroborated in a reasonable way, and without a harmful reliance on any one reader’s subjective responses,

by the metrical facts of the poems as those facts are construed by the metrical theory and by likely linguistic assumptions.

When the metrical theories for Gawain, Patience, Purity, and St. Erkenwald are compared to those for the other poems, the claims that many readers have made about the metrical uniformity of the Gawain group receives considerable corroboration. There is much less metrical contrast between any two poems of the Gawain group than between any one poem of the group and Morte Arthure, Troy, or Piers,° In the case of the A-text of Piers, the drastic stylistic rules for SSWW and SSSWW suggest that the poet did not fully adopt the conservative notion that RV 1s characteristically realized as SW; this has important

implications for a reader’s strategy. If a reader wants the fullest and most intimate sense of the stylistic function of meter in Piers, he or she must adopt an attitude about the use of SSWW and SSSWW in Piers that is significantly different from the appropriate attitude about these types in, say, Gawain, As soon as a particular line is perceived to be not of the minimally complex form SSSW, the reader should anticipate RV > nonSW as a much less complex and more likely class of realizations in Piers than in Gawain, The data certainly suggest that this is so: discounting instances of SSSW in each poem, the ratio of SW to non-SW forms as 6. To attribute the poems of the Gawain group to a single author on the basis of similarities in meter, as a number of writers on the subject have done, is to my mind insupportable. As John Williams Clark writes, the “prosodical evidence for common authorship . .. may be better explained by the hypothesis of a school than by the hypothesis of an individual” (‘‘The Authorship of Sir Gawain, Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, and Erkenwald in Light of the Vocabulary,” University of Minnesota dissertation, 1941, p. 95). In any event, the authorship debate is nonessential, in all but the antiquarian’s view, since the poems exist for the delight of readers whether their authorship is known or not. The theory of meter in Chapter II does not aid the resolution of

the authorship debate, but it does illuminate some aspects of the meter of the poems which must be seen clearly if readers are to make realistic judgments about their styles: the poet (or poets) of the Gawain group developed metrical styles

which effectively adapted their verse tradition to the thematic and linguistic demands on poets of their day. 76

STYLE, STYLISTICS, AND METRICAL THEORY

realizations of RV in Piers is 3 to 2;in Gawain it is 4 to 1. Hence, it would be wrong to conceive of the poets’ ways of treating RV in the two poems as having identical stylistic functions. In fact this clear contrast suggests the possibility of a further revision of the metrical theory for Piers Plowman (see the original statement and its adjustment on pp. 54, 55, and 60), as follows: TENTATIVE SECOND REVISION OF THE METRICAL THEORY FOR PIERS PLOWMAN Correspondence Rules

, RV— SW

CR.i. Both X’s are realized asS,.............a82% (k) X, 1s realized as S and SS X, is realized as SW

WS (1)

OR RV — WW CR.ii, ¢ X41 1s realized as W and

| X, 1s realized as SS ae (m) RV—SS OR

One X 1s realized as S and (n)

one as W RV — WS

This revision produces the following table of line types: Lines Types

Correspondence (occurrences in

Rules parentheses)

CR.i. = (+k) SSSW (719) (+1) SSWW (47) (+m) SSSS (26)

(+n) SSWS (8)

li, (+k) SSSSW (35), SSWSW (47), SWSSW (12), WSSSW (27), SWSW (33), WSSW (23) (+1) SSSWW (14), SSWAMW, SWSWAW, WSSYW, SWYW, WSWw

(+m) SSSSS (2), SSWSS (0), SWSSS (0), WSSSS (1), SWSS (2), WSSS (3)

(+n) SSSWS (1), SSWWS (1), SWSWS (0), WSSWS (0), SWWS (2), WSWS (0)

77

MIDDLE ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE METER

The most notable aspects of this tentative and experimental adjustment in the theory for Piers are the placement of RV > SW as the first among four linearized rules for the realization of RV and the extension of the range of applicability of the rules for RV to CR.1. as well as CR.il. The adjustment has the effect of denoting that RV > SWis still the least complex rule governing RV but that Langland is much less conservative in adhering to it as a convention than was the Gawain poet.

This may not ultimately be the most plausible explanation of the meter of the A-text of Piers, but its degree of plausibility for this poem is much greater than its degree of plausibility for the other poems considered here. Hence it will be interesting to speculate briefly on why it might be more natural for Piers than for the other poems.

First, it is unlikely that Langland had trouble finding alliterating sounds for the ultimate and penultimate positions of lines; he found enough to make about eighty-five percent of his lines end with SW: finding a few more should have presented no problem. If he had wanted in general to play down the heavy use of alliteration in his verse, he could have reduced the proportion of S’s in his realizations of X, X, with relatively less atypicality.

I surmise that the naturalness of this adjustment lies in speculations about how Langland acquired knowledge of the verse tradition. It is at least likely that he learned his craft from poets who, by chance or design, favored non-conservative realizations of RV.

In any event, the further revision of the metrical theory for Piers that I have advanced here has important ramifications for the study of Middle English alliterative style: first, a careful reader ought to refrain from seeing the poet of the A-text as simply a clumsy versifier with respect to realizations of RV, and second, a reader’s efforts to gain an intimate sense of the stylistic function of meter in Middle English alliterative verse should be informed by a more or less pluralistic, though by no means vague, notion of metrical style. The readings and analyses in this final chapter show that the theory of meter articulated in Chapters II and IV is a useful tool for the stylistic analysis of Middle English alliterative verse. Though the stylistic charac-

terizations that have been arrived at are by no means definitive, they exemplify the joining of linguistic analysis and literary discernment that must occur if stylistics is to thrive and grow to maturity.

78

STYLE, STYLISTICS, AND METRICAL THEORY

This volume is intended as an aid to the study of English alliterative verse, not as a final statement on a topic that has already inspired a great deal of varied and constructive debate. The debate itself is a pleasurable object of study, and I will be gratified if I have been able to make some small contribution to its vigor.

79

BLANK PAGE

APPENDIX I

A Seriatim List of the Metrical Forms of the Verses of the Seven Poems

The. poems are arranged here in alphabetical order of their common abbreviations: Erk (St. Erkenwald), Gaw (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), MA (Morte Arthure), Pat (Patience), Piers (Piers Plowman), Pur (Purity), and Troy (Destruction of Troy). The symbol b denotes the line type SSSW. A question mark indicates a problematic line, on which see the annotated list in Appendix II. ST. ERKENWALD

(352 long lines)

| 1:2:SWSW 26: b 51:b 76: b 101: b SWSSW 27: SSSWW 52:b 77:b 102:b

3:b 28: b 53:b 78:b 103: b 5:b 30: b 55:b 80: b 105: b 6:b 31: WSSW 56:b 81: SSWSW 106: b 4: SSSS 29: SSWW 54:b 79: b 104: b

7: SWSW 32: b 57: SSSSW 82: SSSSW 107: b

8: b 33:b 58: SSWSW 83:b 108: b

9:b 34: SSWSW 59: b 84: b 109: SSSSW 10: b 35: b 60:b 85:b 110: b 11:b 36:b 61: SSWSW 86: b 111: SWSSW 12: WSSW 37:b 62: SSSSW 87:b 112: SWSW

13: SSWSW 38: SSSSW 63:b 88:b 113:b 14: b 39: b 64: b 89: b 114: b 15: SSSSW 40: SWSSW 65:b 90: b 115:b 16: SSWSS 41:b 66:b 91: SSSSW 116: SSSSW 17:b 42:b 67: WSSSW 92: SSSS 117: SWSSW

18: SSWSW 43:b 68: b 93:b 118: b 19: WSWS 44:b 69: b 94: b 119: b 20: b 45:b 70: b 95:b 120: b 21:b 46: SSSSW 71:b 96: b 121:b

22: SSSS 47: SSWSW 72:b 97: SWSSW 122: WSSW

23:b 48:b 73:b 98: b 123:b 24: b 49:b 74: b 99: WSSSW 124: SWSSW 25: WSSW 50: SSSSW 75:b 100: b 125:b

81

APPENDIX I

ST. ERKENWALD—Continued

126: WSSSW s:172:b 218:b 263:b 308: WSSSW 127: SSWSW ss 173: b 219:b 264: SWSSS 309: SSWSW

128: b 174: b 220: b 265: b 310: b 129: WSSSWs 175: b 221: SSSSW 266: b 311:b 130: b 176: SWSSW -s- 222: b 267: SWSSW ~s_- 312: b

131:b 177:b 223:b 268: SSSSW 313:b 132: SSWW 178: SWSW 224: SSSSW 269: SSSSW 314: b

133: SSSSW 179: SSSS 225: SSWSW ~—s- 270: SSSSW 315: SSSSW

134:SSWSW 180:SSWSW ~~ 226: SSSS 271:b 316: WSSSW

135:b 181:b 227:b 272: SSSWW = 317: SWSSW 136: SSWW 182:b 228:b 273:b 318: SSWSW 137:b 183:b 229: SSWSW -s.274: b 319: SWSSW 138: SSSSW 184: b 230: SWSSW-—s.275: b 320: b

139: b 185: SWSW 231: SSSSW 276: WSSSW Ss: 321: b

140: WSSSS 186: b 232: SSSSW 277:b 322:b

141: SWSSW 187:b 233:b 278: b 323:b

142:b 188: b 234: b 279: b 324: b 143: SSSSW 189: b 235:b 280: b 325: SSWSW

144: SSWSW ~—s. 190: SSSSW 236: SWSSW = 281: SWSW 326: SSWSW

145: b 191:b 237: b 282: SSSSW 327:b

146: SSSSW 192: SWSW 238:b 283: SSSSW 328: SSSWS

147: SSSSW 193: SWSSW 239: b 284: b 329: b

148: b 194:b 240: b 285: b 330: SSWSW 149: b 195: b 241: SWSSW 286: b 331: WSSSW 150: b 196: SSSSW 242:b 287:b 332:b

151:b 197:b 243: SWSW 288: SSSWW Ss 3333: b

152:b 198: b 244: SSSSW 289: b 334: SSSSW

153:b 199: b 245:b 290: b 335: SSSSW 154: b 200: b 246: b 291:b 336:b 155:b 201: b 247: SWSW 292: b 337:b 156: b 202: SSWSW 248: b 293:b 338: b 157:b 203: b 249: b 294: SSSSW 339:b

158: b 204: SSSWW 250: b 295: SSSS 340: SSSSW

159: b 205:b 251:b 296:b 341: b 161:b 207:b 253:b 298: b 343:b 162: b 208: SWSW 254: SSSSW 299: b 344: b

160: b 206: b 252:b 297:b 342: SSWSW 163: SSSSW 209: SSSS 255:b 300: b 345: b

164: b 210: SWSSW ~—s_.256: b 301: b 346: b

165: b 211: SSWW 257:b 302: b 347: b 166: b 212:b 258: b 303: b 348: b 167:b 213: SSSSS 259: b 304: b 349: b 168: SSWSW = 214: WSSW 260: WSSSW ~—s_ 305: SSSSW 350: b 169: b 215:b 261: b 306: SSSSW 351:b 170: b 216: b 262: b 307: b 352:b 171:b 217:b

82

APPENDIX I

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT

(2025 long lines)

1: b 114: b 168: b 222: SWSSW

2: SSSSW 60: SWSW 415: SSSS 169: b 223: b

3:b 61: SSSSW 416: WSSSW- 1170: b 224: WSSSW 4:b 62: b 117:b 171:b 225:b 5:b 63:b 118:SSSSW —s-:172:b 226: SSSSW 6:b 64: WSSSW) 449: SSSSW-Ss:173: b

7:b 65: SSSSW) 120: b 232:b

8: SSSSW 66: b 121:b 179: SSSS 233: SSSS

9: WSSSW 67: SSWSW 192: b 180: b 234: b

10: SWSSW 68: b 123: SWSSW =: 181: SSSSW 235: SSSSW 11: b 69: SSSSW 124: SSSSW-Ss«182: WSSSW S236: SWSSW

12:b 70: b 183:b 237:b 13: SSSSW 71:b 130: WSSW 184: SSWS 238:b 14: b 72:b 131: SSSS 185:b 239: b

73: SSSSW 132: b 186: b 240: b

20: b 74: WSSSW 133: b 187:SSWSW 241: b 21: b 75: SSSSW 134: SSWW Ss 188: b 242: b 22:b 76: SSSSW 135: WSSSW 189: b 243:b

23:b 77: SSSSW 436: SSWSW Ss :190: b 244: b 24: SWSW 78: b 137:b 191:b 25: WSSW 79: b 138: b 192: SSSSW 250: SSWSS

26: b 85: b 139: b 193: SSWSW 251: b 28: b 87. SSSSS 141: b 195:b 253: SSSS 29: b 88. b 142: b 196: b 254: SSWSW 30: b 89: SWSSW 143: b 197: b 255: b 27:b 86. SSWW 140: SSSSW 194: b 252:b

31:b 90.91:b WSSW 256:bb 145: b144: 203:b b- 257:

37:b 92: b 204: b 258:b 38: b 93: SWSW 151: b 205: b 259: b 39: SSWSW 94. b 152: SWSSW _—- 206: SSSSW 260: b

40: SSSSW a 153: SSWSW -—s.207:b 261: b

41:b 96:b 154: SSSSW 208: b 262: b

42: b 97. b 155: SSSWS —-. 209: SSSSW 263: SSWS

43:b 98. ssssw. «1:56: b 210: SWSW 264: SWSW 44: SWSW 99: b 157:b 211:SSWSW = 265: WSSW 45:b 100: b 158: SSWSW _—-.212: SSSSW 266: b

47: SSSSW 160: b 214: SSSSW 268: SSSSW

48: b 107: b 161: SSWS 215: SWSW 269: SSWSW 49: b 108: SWSSW 162: b 216: b 270: b 50: b 109: SSSSW 163: b 217: SSWSW 271: b 51: WSSSW 110: P 164: b 218: SSSS 272: b 52:b 111: WSSW 165: b 219: SSSSW —s-273:b 53:b 112: SSSSW 166: b 220: SSWSW 54: WSSSW 113: SSWSW 167:SSSSW -——- 221: SSSS 279:b

83

APPENDIX I

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT—Continued

280: b 336:b 396: b 452:b 508: b 281: b 337:b 397: b 453:b 509: SSSSW

282: b 398: SSWSW 454: SWSW 510: SSSSW

283: b 343: SWSW 399: SSWS 455:b

284: SWSW 344: SSSWW 400: b 456:b 516: b 285: b 345: WSSW 401: SSSSW 457:b 517:b

286: b 346: b 402: b 458: SSWSS 518: b 287: WSSSW ss 347: b 403: b 459: SSSSW 519: b

288: b 348: WSSW 404: b 460: b 520: SSSSW 289: SSWSW ss 3349: b 405: b 461: WSSS 521:b 290: SWSSW ss 350: WSSW 406: b 522:b

291: b 351:b 407: b 467: SSWSW 523:b 292: b 352:b 408: b 468: WSSSW 524: b

293: SWSW 353: SSSSW 409: b 469: b 525: SSSSW

294: b 354:b 410: b 470: SSSSW 526: SSSSW

295: b 355: SSSSW 411:b 471:b 527:b

356: WSSW 472:b 528: b

301: SWSW 357:b 417: SWSSW ss 473: b 529: b

302: b 358:b 418: SSWSW = 474: WSSW 530: SSWSW

303: b 359:b 419: SSSSW 475: SSWS

304: SSWSW ss 360: b 420: WSSSW ~—s 476: b 536:b

305: SSSSW 421: SSWSW 477: SSWS 537: WSSSW 306: SWSW 366:b 422: WSSSW ss 478: b 538: b

307: b 367:b 423: b 479:b 539: b 308: b 368: b 424: b 480: b 540: b

309: WSSSW s- 369: b 425: SSWSW ~=s 481: b 541: SWSW

310: b 370: SSWSW 426: SSWSW = 482: SWSSW 542:b 312:b 372: SSSSW 428: SSSSW 484: b 544: WSSW 313:b 373:b 429: SSSSW 485: SSWSW 545: SSSSW

311:? 371:b 427: WSSSW ss 4483: b 543: b

314: b 374: b 430: b 546: SSSSW

315:b 375: SSSSW 431:b 491:b 547: SSWS 316: b 376: b 432: b 492: SSSSW 548: b

317: WSSSW=—s- 3377: SWSW 433: SSWSW 493: SSWS 549: WSSSW

378: b 434: b 494: SSWSW 550: b 323:b 379: SSSS 435: b 495: SSSSW 551:b

324: b 380: b 436: SSSS 496: b 552: SWSW 325: WSSSW = 381: SWSSW 437: SSSS 497: SSSSW 553:b 326: b 382: b 438: b 498: SSSSW 554: SSSWS 328:b 384: b 444: SSSS 500: b 556: SSSSW

327:b 383:b 499: b 555:b 329: b 445:b 501: b 557: b 330: b 390: SSWSW ss 446: SWSW 502: b 558: b

331: SSWSW 3391: b 447: SSSSW 503: SSSSW 559: b

332: SWSW 392:b 448: WSSSW 504: b 560: SSSSW

333: SSSSW 393:b 449: b 505: SSWSW 334: SWSSW 394: b 450: b 506: SSWSW 566: b

335: WSSW 395:b 451: WSSSW 507: SSSSW 567: SSSSW 84

APPENDIX I

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT—Continued

568: b 624: b 680: b 740: b 796: SSSSW 569: WSSSW 625: SSSS 681: SSWSW 741: SWSW 797:b

570: SWSSW 626: b 682: b 742: SSSSS 798: b 571:b 627: SWSW 683:b 743: SSSSW 799: SWSW

572:b ' 628:b 684: WSSSW 744: b 800: b 573:b 629: b 685: b 745: SSWSW 801: b

574: b 630: b 746: b 802: b 575: SSWSW ss 631: b 691: b 747:b 803: SSSSW 576: b 632: SSWSW = 692: SSWSW 748: b 804: b

577: b 633: SSWSW Ss 693: b 749: b 805: b

578: SSSS 634:b 694: b 750: b 579: SSSSW 695: b 751: SSSSW 811: b

580: b 640: b 696: b 752:b 812: SWSSW

581: b 641: b 697: b 753:b 813:b

582: b 642: b 698: SSWSS 754: b 814: b

583: SWSSW ses 643: SSSSW 699: b 755:b 815: SWSSW

584: b 644: WSSW 700: b 756: b 816: SSWSW 645: SSSWS 701: b 757: b 817: SWSSW

590: b 646: b 702: b 818: b 591: SSSSW 647: b 703: b 763:b 819: SWSSW

592: SWSW 648: b 704: WSSW 764: b 820: SWSSW 593: SSSS 649: SSWSW 705: SWSW 765:b 821: b

594: b 650: SWSW 706: b 766: b 822: SSSSW 595: SSSSS 651: SSSSW 707:b 767:b 823:b

596: SSSS 652: b 768: b 824: SWSW

597:b 653:b 713:b 769: b 825: b

598: b 654: SSSSW 714: b 770: b 826: b

599: b 655: SSSS 715:b 771: SSWSW 827: b

600: SSSSS 656: SWSW 716: SSSSW 772:b 828: b

601: b 657: SSSSS 717: b 773:b 829: b 603: b 659: b 719: b 775: b 831: SSWSW 604: b 660: SWSW 720: SSSSW 776: b 832: SSSSW 605: b 661: b 721: SSSS 777:b 833:b 602: b 658: SSWSW 718: b 774: b 830: SWSSW

606: b 662: b 722:b 778: b 834: b 607: SSSS 663: SSWSW 723:b 779: SSSSW 835: WSSW 608: 724: b 836: b 609: WSSS b 725:b664: 785:b SSSSW

610: SWSSW 670: SWSSW 726: SSWSS 786: SSSSW 842: SSSSS

611: b 671: b 727: SSWSW ss 787: SSSSW 843: WSSSW

612:b 672: b 728: b 788: SSSSW 844: SSWSS

613:b 673: SSSSW 729: b 789: SSWSW 845: SSSS

674: b 730: b 790: b 846: SSSSW

619: b 675:b 731:b 791:b 847: SSSSW 620: b 676: SSSSW 732: SSSSS 792:b 848: b

621: SSWW 677: b 733:b 793: SSSSW 849: SSSSW 622: b 678: b 734: SSSSW 794: SSSS 850: WSSSW

623: b 679: SSSSW 795: SSSSW 851: b

85

APPENDIX I

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT—Continued

852:b 909: SSWSW 962: WSSW 1023: b 1080: SSSS

853: SSSSW 910: b 963: b 1024: b 1081: b

854: SSWSW 911: b 964: SWSSW 1025: b 1082: SWSS

855: b 912: b 1026: b 1083: SSSS

856: SSSSW 913:b 970: SSSSW 1027: SSSS 1084: SWSW

857: SSSSS 914: SSSS 971: SSSSW 1028: b 1085: b 858: SSWSS 915: b 972: b 1029: SSWSW 1086: SSSSW

859: b 916: b 973:b 1030: WSSW 1087: SSSSW

860: WSSW 917:b 974: b 1031: b 1088: b

861: b 918: b 975:b 1032: b 1089: b

862: SSSSW 919: b 976: b 1033: b 1090: SSSS 863: b 920: SSSSW 977: b 1034: b 1091: b 864: SSSS 921:b 978: b 1035: SWSW 1092: b 865: b 922:b 979: SSWSW -s- 1036: b 1093: b

866: b 980: b 1037: b 1094: SSSS 867: WSSS 928: b 981: SSSSW 1038: b 1095: b

868: b 929: b 982: SSSSW 1039: b 1096: b 869: b 930: b 983: SSSWS 1040: SWSW 1097: b

931: b 984: b 1098: b

875:b 932:b 985: SSSWW ss 1046: b 1099: b

876: b 933: SSWSW 986: b 1047: SSSSW

877: b 934: b 987: SSWW =: 1048: SSSSW_ Ss: 11105: b

878: b 935: SSSSW 988: b 1049: b 1106: b 879: b 936: SSSSW 989: b 1050: b 1107: b 880: SSWSW 937:b 1051: SSSSW 1108: b

881:b 938: SSSS 995: b 1052: b 1109: b

882: b 939: ? 996: b 1053: SSSSW ~—s«: 1110: SSSSW 883: b 940: SSSSW 997: SSSSW ss: 1054: b 1111:b

884: b 941: b 998: b 1055: b 1112: b 885: SSSSW 942: b 999: b 1056: WSSW 1113: b

886: b 943:b 1000: SWSSW-s 1057: b 1114: b

887: SSSSW 944: b 1001: SSWSW 1058: SWSW 1115: SSWS

888: b 945:b 1002: b 1059: b 1116: b

889: SSSSW 946: b 1003: SSWSW_ ss 1060: b 1117: b

890: SSSS 947: b 1004: b 1061: b 1118: b

891: b 948: b 1005: SSWS 1062: WSSW 1119: b

892: b 949: b 1006: b 1063: SSWSW 1120: b

893: b 950: b 1007: b 1064: b

894: SWSSW 951:b 1008: SWSW 1065: b 1126: P

895: SSSS 952: SSWSW 1009: b 1066: WSSW 1127: b 953: SSWS 1010: b 1067: SSSSW 1128: b

901: b 954: SWSW 1011: b 1068: b 1129: b

902: SSSSW 955: SSWSW 1012: b 1069: b 1130: SSSS | 903: b 956: SSWSW 1013: SSSSW 1070: SWSSW 1131:b

904: SSSSS 957: WSSW 1014: b 1071: b 1132:b

905: SSWSW 958: SWSSW 1072: SWSSW 1133: SSSS 906: SWSW 959: SSWSW 1020: b 1073: WSSSW 1134: b

907: b 960: b 1021: b 1135: SWSSW

908: b 961: b 1022: SSWSW 1079: b 1136: b 86

APPENDIX I

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT—Continued 1137: WSSW = 1194: SWSSW)s- 1251: SWSW 1308: SWSSW-s 1365: b

1138:b 1195: SSSSW =: 1252: SSSSS 1309: b 1366: b

1139: b 1196: b 1253:b 1310: WSSW

1140: SSWSW 1197: b 1254: SSSS 1311: SWSSW 1372: ?

1141: SSSSWs: 1198: b 1255: WSSW 1312:b 1373:b

1142: b 1199: b 1256: SWSSW 1313: SSWSW_s 1374: b

1143:b 1200: b 1257:b 1375: SSWW 1144: b 1201: SWSW 1319: b 1376: b 1202: b 1263: SSSSW = 1320: SSSSW-—Ss- 1377: b

1150: WSSSW 1264: SWSSW ss 1321: b 1378: SSWSW

1151: SSSSS_ =: 1208: b 1265: b 1322:b 1379: b

1152:b 1209: b 1266: b 1323: b 1380: SSWW 1153:b 1210: b 1267: SWSW 1324: SSWSW- ss 1381: b 1154: SWSS 1211:b 1268: b 1325: SSWSW =e: 1382: SWSW

1155: SSwsw 1212: b 1269: b 1326: b 1383:b 1156: SWSSW)s 1213: b 1270: b 1327: SSSSW ~—s_: 1384: b

1157:b 1214: b 1271:b 1328: b 1385: b 1158: b 1215:b 1272: b 1329: b 1386: b

1159: SSSSwss-. 1216: SWSW- 4973: b 1330: b 1387: SWSSW 1160: WSSSW) 1217: SWSW 4274: b 1331: SSWSW =: 1388: SWSSS

1161: b 1218: b 1275: b 1332: SWSW 1389: b

1162:SSSSw=s-:1219:b 1276: SSSSW ss 1333: b 1390: WSSW

1163: WSSSW 1220: b 1277:b 1334: b 1391: WSSW 1164: b 1221:b 1278: b 1335: b 1392: b 1165: SSSSS 1222: SSSS 1279: b 1336:b 1393:b 1166: b 1223: SWSW 4280: b 1337: b 1394: SWSSW 1167: b 1224: SSSSS_ 4281: SSSSW. Ss: 1338: SWSSW-s:.1395: SWSW

1168: WSSW ss: 11225: b 1282: SSSSS_-—s- 1339: b 1396: b

1169: SWSW 1226: b 1283: b 1340: WSSW 1170: b 1227: b 1284: SSSSW = 11341: b 1402: WSSW

1171:b 1228: b 1342: b 1403: SSSSW

1172:b 1229: b 1290: b 1343: b 1404: WSSW 1230: WSSW 1291: b 1344: b 1405: SWSSW 1178: b 1231: b 1292: b 1345:b 1406: SWSS

1179: SSWSW ss: 11232: b 1293: WSSW 1346: b 1407: b 1180: SWSW = 1233: SSSSW)ss- 1294: b 1347: b 1408: b

1181: b 1234: b 1295: b 1409: b 1182: b 1235: b 1296: b 1353:b 1410: SSSS 1183: WSSSW 1297: b 1354: b 1411: b 1184: b 1241: SWSSWs 11298: b 1355: SWSW 1412: b

1185: b 1242: WSSW 1299: SSSS 1356: SSWSW ss 1413: SSWSW

1186: SSWSW 1243: b 1300: b 1357: b 1414: b

1187: WSSW ss: 11244: b 1301: b 1358: b 1415: SSWSW 1188: SSWSW 1245: b 1302: b 1359: SSWSW

1189: b 1246: b 1303: b 1360: b 1421:b

1190: b 1247:b 1304: WSSW=—s-:- 1361: SSSSWss- 11422: SSSWW 1191:b 1248: SWSSW 1305:SWSW 1362: SSWSW_s_: 1423: SSSSW

1192: b 1249: b 1306: SSWSWs 11363: b 1424: b

1193: SSWS 1250: SWSSW ss 1307: b 1364: b 1425: SSSSW 87

APPENDIX I

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT—Continued

1426: b 1483: b 1540: b 1601: SWSW ~—s:11658: b 1427: b 1484: WSSSW) 1541: SSSSW-—s_-: 1602: SSSSW_ Ss 11659: SSWSW

1428: b 1485: b 1542: WSSW 1603: SSSSW ~—s_ 1660: b 1429: WSSW =: 11486: WSSW_ Ss -1543: b 1604: b 1661:b

1430: b 1487: SSSSW ss: 1544: b 1605: b 1662: b 1431: b 1488: WSSW ss 11545: b 1606: SWSW

1432: b 1489: b 1546: b 1607: b 1668: b

1433:b 1490: SSSS 1547: b 1608: b 1669: SWSSW

1434: b 1491: b 1548: b 1609: b 1670: SSWSW 1435: SSSS 1492: SSWSW 1549: b 1610: b 1671: WSSW

1436: b 1493:b 1550: b 1611: SSSSW =: 11672: b

1437: b 1494: b 1551:b 1612: b 1673: WSSW 1438: b 1495: SSWSW 11552: WSSW 1613: b 1674: SWSSW

1439: b 1496: b 1614: b 1675: SWSSW 1440: WSSSW-s 1497: WSSW 1558: b 1615: WSSW 1676: b

1441: WSSW =: 1498: b 1559:b 1616: SWSSW ss 1677:b

1442: b 1499: b 1560: b 1617: b 1678: b

1443: SWSSW 1500: b 1561: b 1679: SWSS 1444: SWSSW 1501: WSSW- ss 1562: SSSSW_—s:1623: SSSSW_ 11680: SSWSW

1445: SSSSS_——- 1502: b 1563: SSSSW =: 1624: SWSW_ 1681: SSSSW

1446: SWSW 1564: SSSS 1625: SWSSW ss 11682: SWSWS 1447: b 1508: SSSSWs-: 11565: SSwSW_s: 11626: b 1683: b

1448: b 1509: b 1566: SSSSw 1627: b 1684: SSWSW 1510: b 1567: b 1628: SSWSW

1454: b 1511: b 1568: WSSW 1629: b 1690: b

1455: SSSS 1512:b 1569: SWSW..—s-: 1620: SWSSW_ 11691: b

1456: SSSSW ss. 1513: SSSSW 1570: b 1631: SSSSW 1692: b

1457: b 1514: b 1571: WSSSW se: 11632: b 1693: SSSWW 1458: b 1515:b 1572: SSWSW 1633: SSSSW_~—s: 1694: SSSSW 1459: SSWSS 1516: SSSSW 1573: SSWSW=s: 11634: SSWSW_s_: 11695:: SSSSW

1460: b 1517: b 1574:b 1635: b 1696: b 1461: b 1518: b 1575: SWSW —-: 11636: SSSSW_—Ss- 11697: b

1462: SSWS 1519: SSSSW 1637: b 1698: SSSSW

1463: SSWW Ss 1520: b 1581: SSWSW 1638: b 1699: b 1464: SSWSWs 1521: b 1582: WSSSW 1639: SSSSW_——s1700: b

1465: SSSSS_ 1522: b 1583: SSWSW 11640: b 1701: SSWWS

1466: b 1523: b 1584: SSSSW ss: 11641: b 1702: b

1467: SWSSW)s1524:b 1585: SSSSW ss 11642: b 1703: SWSSW

1468: SWSSW 11525: WSSW_ 1586: SSSSW 1704: b

1469: b 1526: SWSW =: 11587: SSSSW Ss 11648: b 1705: b 1470: SSWSW ss 11527:b 1588: SSSSW =: 11649: b 1706: b

1528: WSSW =: 1589: SSWSW_- 1650: b 1707: b

1476: b 1529: b 1590: b 1651: SSSSW =: 1708: b

1477: b 1591: b 1652: b 1709: SSWSW

1478: b 1535: SWSSW 1592: SSWSW_ 11653: b 1710: b

1479: SSSSW ss: 11536: SSSSW Ss: 1593: SSWSW_ss- 11654: SWSW_ _~ss:171.1: SSSSW

1480: b 1537: SWSW =: 11594:: b 1655:b 1712: b

1481: WSSW 1538: SSWSW 1595: b 1656: b 1713: b

1482: b 1539: b 1657: SWSW 88

APPENDIX I

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT—Continued

1719:b 1776: b 1833: b 1894: b 1720: b 1777: b 1834: b 1895: b 1952: b 1721: b 1778: b 1835: SSWS 1896: b 1953: SSSS 1722: b 1779: b 1836: b 1897: b 1954: b 1723:b 1780: b 1837: SSSSW 1898: b 1955: b 1724: WSSW 1781: b 1838: b 1899: b 1956: b 1725: b 1782: b 1839: WSSW 1900: SSSSW ss: 1957: b

1726: b 1783: SSSSW 1840: b 1901: SSSSW 1958: b

1727: SWSW 1784: b 1902: b 1959: b

1728: SWSW 1785: SWSW 1846: b 1903: b 1960: b 1729: b 1786: b 1847: SSSS 1904: SWSSW 1961: SSWSW

1730: b 1848: b 1905: b 1962: SSWW

1731: SWSSWs-1792:b 1849: b 1906: SSSSW =e: 1963: SSWSW

1732: b 1793: b 1850: b 1907: b 1964: b

1733: b 1794: b 1851: b 1908: SSSSW 1965: SWSS

1734: b 1795: b 1852: b 1909: SWSW 1966: b

1735: b 1796: b 1853: b 1910: SSWSW 1967: SSWSW

1736: b 1797: SWSW 1854: WSSW 1911: b 1968: SWSSW

1737: b 1798: b 1855: b 1912: WSSW 1969: SWSSW 1738: SWSSWs 1799: b 1856: b 1913: b 1970: b 1739: b 1800: b 1857:b 1914: SSSS 1971: b 1740: SWSSW 1801: b 1858: b 1915: b 1972: b

1741: SSSSW 1802: b 1859: b 1916: SSSSW 1973: b 1742: SWSW 1803: b 1860: b

1743: b 1804: b 1861: b 1922: SSWW 1979: b 1744: b 1805: b 1862: SSWW 1923: b 1980: b 1806: b 1863: SSSSW 1924: SSSSW 1981: b 1750: SSSSW 1807: SSSS 1864: b 1925: SSSSW 1982: b

1751: SSWW 1808: b 1926: b 1983: WSSW 1752: b 1809: b 1870: b 1927: b 1984: b

1753: SWSW 1810: b 1871: b 1928: b 1985:b 1754: SSSSW 1811:b 1872: b 1929: b 1986: b

1755:b 1873: b 1930: b 1987:b 1756: b 1817: SSSSW 1874: b 1931: SSSS 1988: b

1757: SSWSW~ 1818: b 1875:b 1932: SWSW 1989: b 1758: SSSSW 1819: SSSSW 1876: b 1933: b 1990: SSSSW

1759: b 1820: b 1877: SSSSW ss: 11934: b 1991: b

1760: WSSW 1821: b 1878: b 1935: b 1992:b 1761: b 1822: b 1879: b 1936: b 1762: SSWSW 1823: b 1880: b 1937: b 1998: b

1763: SSSSW 1824: b 1881: b 1938: b 1999: SSSSW 1764: b 1825: SSSSW 1882: SSWW 1939: SSWS 2000: SSSSW

1826: b 1883: b 1940: b 2001: SSSSW

1770: b 1827: b 1884: b 1941: SSWW 2002: SSSSW

1771: SSWSW 1828: WSSW 1885: SSWW 1942: b 2003: SSSSW

1772: b 1829: b 1886: b 1943: SWSW 2004: b 1773:b 1830: SSSSW 1887: b 1944: SSSSW 2005: b .

1774: b 1831:b 1945: b 2006: SSWSW

1775: b 1832: SSWSW ss 1893: b 1946: b 2007: b

89

APPENDIX I

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT—Continued

2008: b 2069: SSWSW_s_ 2126: b 2183: SWSSW=s- 2244: WSSW

2009: b 2070: SSWSW ss. 2127:b 2245: WSSW 2010: b 2071: SSSSW 2128: b 2189: b 2246: b 2011: SWSW —s_-2072: b 2129: b 2190: b 2247: b

2012: SSSSW ss: 2073: SSSSW_—Ss- 2130: SSSSW =. 2191: WSSW 2248: b

2013: SWSW ~=s- 2074: b 2131: SSWS 2192: b 2249: SWSW

2014: b 2075: b 2132: WSSW ~—s_-. 2193: b 2250: b 2015: b 2076: SSWS 2133: SWSSW ss. 2194: b 2251: b 2016: b 2077: SSSS 2134: SSSSW =. 2195: b 2252: SSSS

2017: b 2078: SSSS 2196: b 2253:b 2018: SSSSW ss. 2079: SSSS 2140: b 2197: SSSWS

2019: b 2080: SSSSS_—s- 2141: WSSW 2198: b 2259: b 2081: SSWS 2142: SSSSW =. 2199: SSSSW_ ss 2260: SSWSW

2025: b 2082: SSSSS_ = 2143: SSWS 2200: SSWSW ss. 2261: b 2026: b 2083: SSSWS 2144: SWSSW 2201: WSSSW = 2262:b

2027: WSSW s_-:299 84: b 2145: b 2202: WSSW 2263: b

2028: SSSSWs-:2085: b 2146: SSSSW = 2203: SSSSW =. 2264: b

2029: SSWSW 2147: b 2204: WSSSW ss. 2265: b 2030: b 2091: SWSW ss: 2148: b 2205: b 2266: SWSW

2031:b 2092: SWSW =s- 2149: WSSW 2206: b 2267: SWSSW

2032: b 2093: b 2150: b 2268: b 2033: b 2094: b 2151: WSSSS 2212:b 2269: b 2034: SSSSW = 2095: SSWS 2152: b 2213: b 2270: b

2035: SSWSW 2096: b 2153: b 2214: b 2271: b 2037: SWSSW = 2098: SSSSW 2216: b 2273: b 2038: b 2099: b 2160: b 2217: SWSSW 2274: b 2036: SSWSW- s_- 2097: b 2154: b 2215: b 2272: b

2039: b 2100: b 2161: b 2218: b 2275: b

2040: b 2101: b 2162: SSWSWs- 2219: b 2276: WSSSW 2041: SSSSW = 2102: SSSS 2163: SWSW 2220: b 2277: SSSS

2103: b 2164: SSSSW -s- 2221: b 2278: b

2047: b 2104: b 2165: WSSSW =. 2222: SSWS

2048: b 2105: b 2166: WSSSW ss 2223: SWSSW 2284: SSWSW

2049: b 2106: b 2167: b 2224:b 2285: b 2050: b 2107: b 2168: b 2225:b 2286: b 2051: SSSS 2108: b 2169: b 2226:b 2287: b

2052:b 2109: WSSSW 2170: SSSSW-s- 22277: b 2288: b 2053: SSWW_~—s- 2110: SSSS 2171: b 2228: b 2289: SSSS 2054: SSSSWs- 2111: b 2172: SSSSW —s- 2229: b 2290: b 2055: WSSW_~ 2112: b 2173:b 2230: WSSSW = 2291: SSSSW

2056: SSSSW 2174: b 2231:b 2292: SSWSW 2057: SSSSS_—s_- 2118: b 2175: SSSSW -s- 2232: b 2293: SSSSW

2058: b 2119: b 2176: b 2233: SSSSS 2294: SSWSW

2059: b 2120: b 2177: b 2295: SWSSW 2060: b 2121:b 2178: b 2239: SSSSW ss. 2296: SSSS

2061: SSSSW 2122: WSSW 2179: SWSW 2240: b 2297: SSSSW

2062: b 2123: SWSSW = 2180: b 2241:b 2298: SSSSW

2063: b 2124: b 2181: b 2242: b 2299: b

2125: b 2182:b 2243: b 2300: SSWSW

90

APPENDIX I

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT-—Continued

2301: SSSSWs- 2347: b 2393: WSSSW 2439: WSSW 2485: b 2302: WSSW -—s_- 2348: b 2394: WSSW ~—s- 2440: SWSSW_Ss- 2486: b

2303:b 2349: b 2395:b 2441:b 2487: SSWSW 2350: b 2396: b 2442: b 2488: b 2309: SSSSW 2351: SSWSW_s- 2397: b 2443: SWSSW ss 2489: b_

2310: b 2352:b 2398: b 2444: SSWW ~—s-2490: SSSSW 2311: b 2399: SWSSW 2445: WSSW Ss 24911: SSWSW 2312:b 2358:b 2400: WSSW = 2446: SSWW_—Ss 22492: SSSSW

2313: SSWSW 2359: WSSSW_ 2401: b 2447:b 2493: SWSW

2314: SWSSW ss 2360: b 2448: b 2494: b 2315: SWSSW ss 2361: b 2407: b 2449: b 2495: b 2316: b 2362: b 2408: b 2450: SSSS 2496: b

2317: SSSSW—s- 2363: b 2409: b 2497: SSSS

2318: SSWSW 2364: SWSSW_- 2410: b 2456: b 2498: b 2319: SSWSW 2365: SSWSW_ 2411: b 2457:b 2499: b 2320: WSSWs- 2366: b 2412:b 2458: SWSSW

2321: WSSW —s_- 2367: b 2413:b 2459: b 2505: b 2322: SSSSW—- 2368: b 2414: WSSW~—s_- 2460: b 2506: b

2323:b 2369: SWSSW 2415: b 2461: SWSSW 2507: b

2324: SWSW =. 2370: b 2416:b 2462: b 2508: b

2325:b 2371:b 2417: SWSSS 2463: b 2509: b

2372:b 2418: SSWSW 2464: b 2510: SWSW

2331: b 2373: SWSSW ss 2419: b 2465: SSWSW ss. 2511: WSSSW

2332: WSSSW 49374: b 2420: b 2466: b 2512: WSSW

2333: b 2375: b 2421:b 2467: SSWS 2513: SSSSW 2334: b 2376: b 2422:b 2468: SSWSW ss 2514: b 2335: b 2377: SSSSW ss. 2423: b 2469: b 2515: b

2336: b 2378: WSSS 2470: b 2516: b

2337: b 2379: b 2429: b 2471:b 2517: SSSSW 2338:b 2380: b 2430: SWSSW_ 2472: b 2518: b 2339: b 2381:b 2431:b 2473:b 2519: WSSW

2340: b 2382:b 2432: SSSS 2520: SSSS 2341: SWSSW 2383: b 2433:b 2479: SSSSW —s- 2521: b

2342: b 2434: b 2480: b 2522: SWSW

2343: WSSW 2389: b 2435: b 2481: SSSS 2523: b 2344: b 2390: SSSSS_ 2436: b 2482: b 2524: SSSSW

2345: b 2391:b 2437:b 2483: b 2525: b 2346: b 2392: b 2438: b 2484: b MORTE ARTHURE (1065 long lines)

1: SSSSW 6:b 11:b 16: b 21: SWSSW 2:b 7: SWSW 12: b 17: b 22:b 3:b 8: b 13: SSWSW 18:b 23: WSSSW 4: b 19:b b25: 24:b 5: SSSSW b 10: b 9:b 15:14: b 20: b 91

APPENDIX I

MORTE ARTHURE—Continued

741: b 790: b 839: b 888: SSWSW

693: WSSS 742: b 791: b 840: SWSW 889: SSWSW 694: b 743: b 792: SWSW 841: WSSSW 890: b 695: WSSSW 744: SWSSW 793: b 842: SWSW 891: b 696: b 745: b 794: SSWS 843: WSSSW 892: b

697: b 746: SWSSW 795: SSWSW 844: b 893: SSSSW

698: b 747: SSWSW 796: b 845: b 894: WSSW

699: b 748: b 797: SSWSW 846: WSSW 895: b

700: b 749: b 798: b 847: SSWW 896: b

701: b 750: SSSSW 799: SWSSW 848: b 897: WSWS

702: b 751: b 800: b 849: b 898: b

703: SWSW 752: SSSSW 801: b 850: SWSW 899: b

704: b 753: SWSW 802: b 851: b 900: b

705: b 754: SSWSW 803: b 852: SWSW 901: SSSS 706: b 755: b 804: WSSW 853: b 902: b 707: b 756: SWSSW 805: b 854: SWSS 903: SWSS 708: b 757: b 806: SSWSW 855: SSSS 904: WSSW

709: WSSW 758: SWSW 807: WSSW 856: b 905: b

710: b 759: b 808: b 857: b 906: b 711: WSSW 760: b 809: SSSS 858: b 907: b 712:b 761:b 810: b 859: b 908: b

713: WSSW 762: WSSW 811: b 860: b 909: SSWSW

714:b 763: b 812: ? 861: WSSW 910: WSSW 715:b 764: SSSS 813: SWSW 862: b 911: b 716: WSSW 765: b 814: b 863: b 912: SSSSW 717: b 766: SSWW 815: b 864: WSSW 913: b

718: b 767: b 816: WSSSW 865: WSSW 914: SSWSW

719: b 768: b 817: b 866: SWSW 915: SSWSW

720: b 769: b 818: b 867: ? 916: b 721: SWSSW 770: WSSW 819: b 868: SWSS 917:b

722: SSWSW 771: b 820: WSSW 869: SWSW 918: SSWSW

723:b 772: WSSW 821: b 870: b 919: b

724: b 773: b 822: WSSSW 871: SWSW 920: b 725: b 774: WSSW 823: b 872: WSSW 921: b 726: b 775: SSSSW 824: b 873: b 922: SSSS 727: SWSW 776: b 825: WSSW 874: b 923:b 728: b 777: b 826: SWSW 875: SSWS 924: b

729: b 778: b 827: SWSW 876: b 925: b 730: SSSSW 779: b 828: ? 877: b 926: b

731:b 780: b 829: b 878: b 927: b

732:b 781: b 830: b 879: SSSSW 928: WSSW

733:b 782: b 831: b 880: SWSW 929: b

734: b 783: b 832: b 881: b 930: b

735: b 784: b 833: SSWSW 882: b 931: SSWSW

736: b 785: b 834: SSWSW 883: b 932: b

737:b 786: b 835: b 884: b 933:b 739: b 788: b 837: SSSSW 886: b 935: SSSS 740: b 789: b 838: b 887: b 936:b

738: b 787: b 836: b 885: b 934: SSWSW

92

APPENDIX I

MORTE ARTHURE-—Continued

937:b 986: b 1035: SSSS 1084: SSWSW 1133: b

938: b 987: b 1036: b 1085: SSSS 1134: b

939: WSSS 988: b 1037: SSSSW 1086: b 1135: SSSSW

940: b 989: b 1038: b 1087: b 1136: b 941: SSSSW 990: b 1039: b 1088: SWSSW-s 1137: b

942: b 991: b 1040: b 1089: b 1138: SSSSW 943: SWSW 992: SSSWS = 1041: SWSW 1090: SSSSW 1139: WSSW

944: SSWSW 993: b 1042: b 1091: ? 1140: b

945:b 994: b 1043: b 1092: b 1141: b 946: SSWW 995: SSWSW_s 11044: SSSSW 1093: SSWSW ss 1142: b

947: b 996: SSWW 1045: SSSSW 1094: b 1143: SSWSW

948:b 997: b 1046: ? 1095: SSSSW 1144: b

949: SSSWS 998: WSSW 1047: b 1096: SWSW 1145: SSSS 950: SSSSW 999: b 1048: SSWSW ss: 10977: SSSSW 1146: b

951:b 1000: b 1049: b 1098: SWSSWs 1147: b

952:b 1001: SSSS 1050: b 1099: b 1148: b

953:b 1002: b 1051: b 1100: b 1149: SSSS 955: b 1004: b 1053: b 1102: b 1151: SWSW 954: b 1003: SSSS 1052: b 1101: SSSSW 1150: SWSSS

956:b 1005: b 1054: WSSSW_s 1103: b 1152: b

957: b 1006: b 1055: WSSW 1104: b 1153: b

958: b 1007: b 1056: SSWSW-~ 1105: WSSSW 1154: b

959: SSSSW 1008: b 1057: SSSSW 1106: b 1155: b 960: WSSW 1009: b 1058: SSSSW 1107: b 1156: SSSS

961: b 1010: b 1059: SWSW 1108: b 1157: b 962: b 1011: SWSW 1060: WSSSW-_ 1109: b 1158: b

963: WSSW 1012: WSSSS 1061: b 1110: SSWSW 1159: b

964: SSSSW 1013: b 1062: b 1111: b 1160: b

965: b 1014: b 1063: b 1112: b 1161: b

966: b 1015: WSSW ss 11064: b 1113:b 1162: SWSW

967: b 1016: SSSS 1065: b 1114: b 1163: SSSSW 968: b 1017: SSSS 1066: SSWW ~s:'1115: SSSSW s.11164: SSWS 969: b 1018: WSSW 1067:b 1116: ? 1165: b 970: SSSS 1019: WSSW 1068: b 1117: b 1166: b 971:b 1020: SWSW 1069: b 1118: b 1167: SWSW 972: b 1021: WSSSW 1070: SWSW 1119: b 1168: b 973:b 1022: WSSW 1071: b 1120: SWSW 1169: SSWS

974: WSSSW 1023: WSSW 1072: SSWSW 1121: SWSSW 1170: SSWSW

975: SSSSW 1024: b 1073: b 1122: SSWS 1171: SSWW

976: b 1025: b 1074: b 1123: b 1172: b 977: SSWS 1026: b 1075: b 1124: b 1173: b

978: b 1027: b 1076: SSWSW_- 1125: SSSS 1174: b

979: b 1028: b 1077: SSWSS 1126: b 1175: SWSW 980: WSSW 1029: b 1078: b 1127: SWSW 1176: SSWS

981: b 1030: b 1079: b 1128: WSSS 1177: b

982: SWSW 1031:b 1080: SSWW 1129: b 1178: SWSW

983: SWSW 1032: b 1081: b 1130: b 1179: WSSW

984: b 1033: b 1082: SWSSW-s 1131: b 1180: WSSW 985: b 1034: WSSW 1083: SSSSW 1132: b 1181: SWSW

93

APPENDIX I

MORTE ARTHURE—Continued

1182: b 1287: SSSSW ss: 1336: b 1385: b 1434: SSWSW

1183: WSSW ss: 1288: b 1337: b 1386: b 1435: b 1184: SSWSW 1289: SSWSW_s 1338: b 1387: SSWSW ss 1436: b 1185: SSWS 1290: SSWSWs- 11339: SWSW_~s 11388: b 1437: b

1186: SWSW ss: 1291: b 1340: WSSW ss 1389: b 1438: SWSSW

1187: b 1292: b 1341: b 1390: b 1439: WSSW

1188: b 1293: b 1342: WSSW = 11391: SWSSW_s- 11440: SWSW

1189: b 1294: b 1343: ? 1392: SWSW 1441: SSSSW 1190: WSSW ss: 1295: b 1344: SWSW 1393:b 1442: SSSS

1191:b 1296: b 1345: b 1394: b 1443: WSSW 1192: SSSS 1297: SSSS 1346: WSSW 1395:b 1444: SWSW 1193: SSWSW 1298: b 1347: b 1396: b 1445: b |

1194: b 1299: b 1348: WSSW Ss 1397: b 1446: b

1195: b 1300: b 1349: WSSW 1398: SSWS 1447: SSWS 1196: b 1301: WSSW 1350: SWSW 1399: SWSW 1448: SWWS

1197: SWSSW 1302: b 1351: b 1400: b 1449: b

1198: b 1303: b 1352: b 1401: b 1450: b

1199: b 1304: b 1353: b 1402: SSWSW 1451: SWSSW 1200: WSSSW 1305: WSSSW_s- 1354: SWSW 1403: b 1452: b

1201: b 1306: b 1355:b 1404: SSWS 1453:b

1202: b 1307: WSSW 1356: b 1405: SWSW 1454: SSWSW

1203: b 1308: b 1357: SSWW 1406: SSWS 1455: b 1204: WSSW ss 4309: b 1358: b 1407: b 1456: SWSW 1205: b 1310: SSSS 1359: WSSSW_ 1408: b 1457:b

1206: b 1311: b 1360: SSSSW =: 11409: SSWS 1458: SSWSW

1207: b 1312: b 1361: b 1410: b 1459: SSSSW

1208: b 1313:b 1362: b 1411: b 1460: b

1209: b 1314: WSSSWs 1363: SWSW 1412: b 1461: b 1210: SWSW 4315: b 1364: SSWSW 1413: SSWSW_s- 11462: b

1211: b 1316: b 1365: b 1414: b 1463: SWSSW

1212: b 1317: SWSW 1366: SSWSWs 1415: b 1464: b

1213:b 1318:b 1367: SSSSW ss: 1416: b 1465: b 1214: WSSW ss 4319: b 1368: b 1417:b 1466: SSWS 1215:b 1320: WSSW 1369: SSWSW ss 11418: b 1467: b 1216: WSSSW 4321: ssws 1370: b 1419: SWSW 1468: b

1217: b 1322: SWSW 1371: SWSW 1420: b 1469: b

1218: b 1323: WSSW 1372: SSWSW- ss 1421: ? 1470: b

1219: b 1324: SWSW 1373: b 1422: SSSSW=—s-: 1471: SSWSW

1220: SWSW 4325: b 1374: b 1423: SSWW 1472:b

1221:b 1326: b 1375: WSSW 1424: b 1473:b

1327: b 1376: SSWW 1425: b 1474: SSWSW

1279: b 1328: SWSW 1377: SSWS 1426: SSWSW_s- 1475: SSWSW

1280: b 1329: SWSW 1378:b 1427: b 1476: SWSW 1281: SWSW ~s: 1330: b 1379: SWSW 1428: SWSW ss 11477: b 1282: SWSSW) 1331: WSSW 1380: SSWSW ss 1429: b 1478:b

1283: SSSSS_ =: 1332: b 1381:b 1430: b 1479: b 1284: SSSSW ss: 1333: SWSW 1382: WSSW 1431: b 1480: SSWSW

1285:b 1334: b 1383:b 1432: b 1481:b 1286: b 1335: P 1384: b 1433: b 1482: b 94

APPENDIX I

MORTE ARTHURE—Continued

1483: SSSS 1532: WSSS 2020: b 2069: b 2118: b

1484: b 1533: SWSS 2021: b 2070: SSWS 2119: SSSS 1485: SSSS 1534: b 2022: SWSSWs-- 2071: b 2120: b

1486: b 1535:b 2023: b 2072: SSSS 2121: WSSW 1487: SSWSW ss 1536: b 2024: WSSW 2073: SWSW 2122: b 1488: SSSSW 1537: b 2025: b 2074: b 2123:b 1489: b 1538: SWSW 2026: b 2075: b 2124: b

1490: b 1539: b 2027: b 2076: b 2125: b 1491: b 1540: SWSW 2028: SSWSW 2077: SSWSW_ ss. 22126: b

1492: SWSW 1541: SSWSW =. 2029: b 2078: b 2127: b

1493: b 1542: ? 2030: b 2079: SSWSW 2128: b

1494: SSSSW 1543: WSSW 2031: b 2080: b 2129: SWSW 1495: SSSSW 1544: SSWSWs_- 2032: b 2081: SSSS 2130: b 1496: SSSSW 1545: WSSSW =. 2033: WSSW 2082: SSSS 2131:b

1497: SSSSW 1546: b 2034: b 2083: WSSW 2132: b

1498: b 1547:b 2035: b 2084: b 2133: WSSW

1499: b 1548:b 2036: b 2085: b 2134:b 1500: b 1549: WSSW 2037: WSSW 2086: b 2135: b 1501: b 1550: b 2038: b 2087: b 2136: b

1502: SSWS 1551:b 2039: SSWSW ss. 2088: b 2137: SSSSW

1503: SSWW 1552:b 2040: b 2089: SSSSW 2138: SSWSW

1504: b 1553:b 2041: b 2090: b 2139: b

1505: b 1554:b 2042: SSWW 2091: b 2140: b 1506: SSWW 1555:b 2043: b 2092: SSSSW 2141: b

1507: SWWS 1556: SSWS 2044: SWSW 2093: b 2142: b 1508: SSWS 1557: SWSSW = 2045: b 2094: b 2143: SSSSW

1509: b 1558: SSWW 2046: WSSW 2095: b 2144: SSWW 1510: b 1559: SWSSW ss 2047: SSWW 2096: SSWW 2145: b

1511: WSSW 1560: SWSW 2048: SSWS 2097: SSSSS 2146: SSWSW

1512:b 1561: b 2049: SWSW 2098: b 2147: WSSSW

1513:b 1562: b 2050: b 2099: b 2148: SSWSW 1514: b 1563: b 2051: b 2100: b 2149: SSSSW 1515: SWSW 1564: b 2052: SSWSW ss 2101: b 2150: WSSW

1516: b 1565: SWSSWs_- 2053: SWSW 2102: SSSSW ss. 2151: b

1517:b 2054: b 2103: b 2152: SSWW 1518: b 2006: b 2055: b 2104: WSSW 2153: WSSW 1519: WSSW 2007: SSWSWs 2056: b 2105:b 2154: b 1520: SSWSW = 2008: WSSW 2057: WSSW 2106: b 2155: b

(1521: SWSW 2009: b 2058: b 2107: SWSSW ss. 2156: b 1522: b 2010: SSWSW 2059: SWSW 2108: SSSSW 2157: SSWW

1523: WSSW 2011: b 2060: SSWW 2109: SSSS 2158: b

1524: b 2012: b 2061: b _ 2110: b 2159: SSSSW 1525: SWSW 2013: b 2062: WSSWS)_ 2111: SWSW 2160: SSWSW

1526: SSWSW ss _- 2014: b 2063: b 2112: b 2161: b 1527:b 2015: WSSSWs- 22064: WSWS 2113: SSWSW ss. 2162: b

1528: b 2016: WSSW 2065: b 2114:b 2163:b

1529: b 2017: b 2066: b 2115:b 2164: b 1531: b 2019: b 2068: b 2117: b 2166: b

1530: SSWSW 2018: b 2067: b 2116: b 2165: b

95

APPENDIX I

MORTE ARTHURE—Continued

2167: SSWW 2180: WSWS 2193: SSSSW 2206: b 2218: SSWW

2168: SSSS 2181: b 2194: b 2207: b 2219: SWSW

2169: SSSSW 2182: SSWSW 2195: SSSSW 2208: b 2220: WSSW

2170: WSSW 2183: WSSW 2196: b 2209: b 2221: SSWS 2171: SWSW 2184: ? 2197: SSWSW ss 2210: b 2222: b 2172:b 2185: SSWSW 2198: SSWS 2211: b 2223: SSSS

2173:b 2186: b 2199: b 2212: b 2224: b

2174: WSSW 2187:b 2200: b 2213: SSWSW = 2225: SSWS

2175: SWSW 2188: b 2201: b 2214: b 2226: SSWSW

3176: b 2189: SWSW 2202: SSWS_—s-2215:b 2227: b

2177: b 2190: b 2203: b 2216: b 2228: b

2178:b 2191:b 2204: b 2217: SSSSW 2229: SSWSW

2179: SSSS 2192: WSSW 2205: b

PATIENCE

(531 long lines)

1: SWSSW 31:b 61:b 91:b 121:b 2:b 32:b 62:b 92:b 122: b 3:b 33:b 63:64: SSSSW 93:b124: 123: b b 4:b 34:b b 94:b 5:b 35:b 65:b 95:b 125: b 6:b 36: b 66: SWSW 96: SSSSW 126: b 7:b 37:b 67: b 97:b 127:b 8:b 38: b 68: b 98: SSWSW 128: b 9:b 39: b 69:b 99:b 129: b 10: SSSSW 40: b 70: b 100: b 130: b

11:b 41:b 71:b 101:b 131: SWSSW 12:b 42: SSWW 102:b 132:b 13:b 43:b 73:b72:b 103: b 133:b 14: SSSS 44:b 74: b 104: SSSSW 134: SSSSW

15:bb 45:b 75:b 105: bb 136: 135:bb 16: 46:b 76:b 106: 17:b 47:b 77-b 107: SSSSW 137:b

18:b 48:b 78: WSSW 108: SSSSW 138:b

19:bb 49: bb 79:b 109: bb 139: SSSSW 20: 50: 80: b 110: 140: SSSSW 21: SSSSW 51: SSSSW 81:b 111: b 141: SSSSW 22:b 52:b 82: WSSW 112:b 142: b 23:b 53:b 83:b 113:b 24:b 54: b 84: b 114: b 144:143:b WSSW

25:b 55:b 85:b 115:b 145:b 26: b 56: b 86: b 116: SSWSW 146: b

27:b 57: b 87:b 117: WSSSW 147:b

28: b 58:b 88:b 118:b 148: SSSSW

29:b 59: SWSSW 89:b 119: SSSSW 149: b 30: b 60: SSWSW 90: SWSSW 120: b 150: b

96

APPENDIX I

PATIENCE—Continued

151: SSSSW 199: b 247: SSSSW 295: b 343:b

152: SSWSW 200: b 248: b 296: b 344: b 154: b 202: b 250: SSSSW 298: b 346: b

153:b 201: b 249: b 297:b 345: SWSSW

155: SSWSW 203: b 251: SWSSW 299: b 347:b 156: WSSSW 204: SSSSW 252: b 300: WSSW 348: b

157:b 205: b 253:b 301: b 349: WSSSW

158: SWSW 206: SSSSW 254: b 302: SSSSW 350: SSSSW 159:b 207: b 255:b 303: b 351:b 160: b 208: b 256: WSSSW 304: b 352:b

161:b 209: b 257: b 305: WSSW 353:b 162: b 210: b 258: SSWSW 306: b 354:b

163:b 211:b 259:b 307: b 355:b 164: b 212: WSSW 260: b 308: SSWSW 356:b

165: b 213:b 261: b 309: WSSSW 357:b

166:b 214:b 262: b 310: b 358: SSSSW 167:b 215:b 263:b 311:b 359: SWSSW 168: b 216:b 264: WSSSW 312:b 360: b

169: b 217: SSSSW 265: b 313: b 361: SWSSW

170: b 218: b 266: b 314: b 362: b 171:b 219: SSSSW 267:b 315:b 363:b

172:b 220: b 268: SSWSW 316: b 364: SWSW

173: SSSSW 221: SSWSW 269: SSSS 317:b 365: SSSSW

174: b 222:b 270: b 318: SSSS 366: b 175:b 223:b 271:b 319: SSWSW 367: b 176: b 224:b 272:b 320: WSSSW 368: b 177: b 225:b 273:b 321:b 369: SSWSW 178:b 226: b 274:b 322:b 370: SSWSW

179: b 227:b 275:b 323:b 371:b 180: b 228:b 276: b 324:b 372:b 181:b 229: SSSSW 277:b 325: b 373: SSSSW 182: b 230: b 278: b 326: b 374: b

183: b 231:b 279: b 327:b 375: SSWSW 184: b 232:b 280: b 328: SSSS 376: b

185: b 233:b 281: b 329: b 377:b 186: b 234: SSSSW 282:b 330: b 378: b

187: SSSS 235: SSSSW 283: b 331:b 379: SSSSW

188: b 236:b 284: b 332: WSSW 380: b 189: b 237:b 285: b 333:b 381: SSSSS 190: b 238: b 286: b 334: b 382: SSWSW

191:b 239:b 287: b 335: b 383: b 193: SSSSW 241: b 289: SSSS 337:b 385: b 194:b 242:b 290: b 338: b 386: b 195: SSWW 243: b 291:b 339: SSSSW 387: b 196: b 244: SSWSW 292: b 340: b 388: b 197:b 245: b 293:b 341:b 389: b 198: b 246: SSSS 294: b 342: b 390: b 192: b 240: b 288: WSSSW 336: SWSSW 384: b

97

APPENDIX I

PATIENCE—Continued

391: SWSSW 420: b 448: b 476: SSSSW 504: b

392: SSSSW 421:b 449: b 477:b 505: b

393: b 422: SSSSW 450: SSSSW 478: SSSSW 506: b

394: b 423:b 451: SSWSW 479:b 507: SSWSW 395: b 424:b 452:b 480: b 508: b

396: b 425: SSSSS 453: SSSSW 481: SSSSW 509: b

397: b 426: SSSSW 454: b 482:b 510: b 398: b 427:b 455: SWSSW 483: b 511:b

399: WSSW 428: SSSSW 456: SWSSW 484: b 512:b

400: b 429: b 457:b 485:b 513: SSWW 401: b 430: b 458: b 486: b 514: SSSSW 402: SSSSW 431: WSSSW 459: SWSW 487: b 515:b 403: b 432:b 460: b 488:b 516: WSSW

404: b 433:b 461: b 489: b 517:b 405: b 434: SSSSW 462: SWSW 490: b 518:b

406: b 435:b 463: SSSS 491:b 519: SSSSW 407: b 436:b 464: SSSSW 492: b 520: b

408: bb 437:b 465: b494:b 493:b522: 521:bb 409: 438:b 466:b 410:b 439:b 467: WSSSW ss 495: SWSW 523:b

411:b 440: b 468: SSSS 496:b 524: b 413: b 442:b 470: b 498:b 526: WSSW 414: WSSW 443:b 471:b 499:b 527:b 412: SWSSW 441: SWSSW 469: b 497:b 525: b

415:b 444: WSSSW 472: b 900: b 528: b 416:b 445: b 473:b 501: b 529: b 417:b 446: b 474: SWSW 502: b 530:b

418: b 447: SSSSW 475:b 503: b 531: SWSSW 419: SWSSW

PIERS PLOWMAN

(1007 long lines) Prologue

: 1: SSSS 14: WSSSW 27: b 40: b 53:b 2:b 15: SSWSW 28: b 41:b 54: WSSS

3:b 16: SSSSW 29:b 42:b 55: b .

4: SSSSW 17: SSSSW 30: b 43: SSWSW 56: b

5:b 18: b 32:b 31:b 44: b 58:b 57:b 6:b 19:b 45:b 7:b 20: b 33:b 46:b 59: SSWW

8:b 21:b 34: SSSSW 47: SWSW 60: b

9:b 22: SSWW 35:b 48: b 61: SSSWW 10: b 23:b -~ 36:b 49:b 62:b 11: WSSW 24:b 37:b 50: b 63: SWSSW

12: SSSS 25:b 38: b 51:b 64: SSSSW 13:b 26:b 39: b 52:b 65:b 98

APPENDIX I

PIERS PLOWMAN—Continued

66: b 2:b 50: WSSW 98:b 146: b 67:b 3: SSSSW 51:b 99:b 147:b 68: SSWW 4:b 52:b 100: SSSSW 148: b

69: b 5: b 53: WSSSW 101: b 149: b 70: b 6:b 54:b 102: b 150: b 71:b 7:b 55:b 103: SSSSW 151: WSSSW 72:b 8: SSWW 56: SSWW 104: WSSW 152:b 73:b 9:b 57: b 105: b 153:b 74:b 10: b 58:b 106: WSSW 154: b

75: SSWW 11: SSWS 59:b 107: b 155: b

76:b 12:b 60: b 108: b 156: SSWSW

77:b 13:b 61:b 109: b 157:b 78: SSSSW 14:b 62:b 110: SWWS 158:b 79: SSSWW 15: SSWSW 63: SSSS 111:b 159: b

80: SSSSW 16: b 64: b 112:b 160: b

81:b 17:b 65: b 113:b 161:b 82: WSSSW 18: WSSW 66: b 114: b 162: b 83: SSSS 19: b 67:b 115:b 163:b

84: b 20: b 68: b 116:b 164: b 85:b 21: SSWSW 69: SSSS 117:b 165:b

86: b 22:b 70: SSWSW 118:b 166: SSWS 87: SSSSW 23: ? 71: SSWSW 119: SSWSW 167: b

88: b 24:b 72:b 120: SSWW 168: b

89:b 25:b 73: SWSW 121: SSWW 169: b

90: WSSSW 26: b 74:b 122:b 170: SSSS

91:b 27: SSWSW 75:b 123:b 171:b

92:b 28:b 76:b 124: b 172:b 93:b 29: b 77:b 125: SSWSW 173: SSWSW 94:b 30: b 78: b 126: b 174: WSSW

95: SSWSW 31:b 79:b 127: WSSSW 175: SSWSW |

96: b 32: SSSSW 80: b 128: b 176: b

97:b 33:b82:b 81:b 129: b 177:b 98:b 34:b 130: b 178: SSWSW 99:b 35:b 83:b 131:b 179: b 100: b 36: b 84: SSWSW 132: SWSSW 180: b 101: b 37: b 85: b 133:b 181: b 102:b 38:b 86: b 134: SSWW 182:b

103: SWSSW 39: b 87:b 135:b 183: SSSS 104: SSWW 40: WSSW 88: b 136: SSWSW 105: SSSSS 41: SSWW 89: b 137:b 7

106: b 42:b 90:b 138: b To 107: SSWSW 43: SWSW 91:b 139: SSWSW 1:b 108: b 44:b 92:b 140: b 2: SSSWW 109: b 45:b 93:b 141: SSWW 3: SSSSW

46: SSWW 94:b 142:b 4:b ' 47: SSWW48: 95:b 143:96:b b 5: SSWSW ——__—__— SWSW 144: b 6:b 1:b 49:b 97: WSSSW 145: b 7: SSWSW

99

APPENDIX I

PIERS PLOWMAN—Continued

8:b 57:b 106: b 155: SSWS 3: SSSSW

9:b 58:b 107: WSSS 156: b5:b 4:b 10: b 59: b 108: b 157:b 11:b 60: b 109: WSSSW 158: b 6:b

12:b 61: b 110: b 159: SSWW 7:b

13: SWSSW 62:b 111: SSWSW 160:b 8:b

14: b 63:b 112:b 161: b 9:b

15:b 64: SSWSW 113:b 162: SSSWW 10: SSWW 16: SSWW 65: SWSW 114:b 163: SSWSW 11:b

17:b 66:b 115:b 164: WSSW 12: b 18:b 67: SSSS 116: b 165: b 13:b 19: SWWS 68: b 117: WSSSW 166: b 14:b 20:b 69: SWSW 118: b 167:b 15:b 21: SSWW 70: b 119:b 168:b 16: b

22: SSSSW 71: SSWW 120: b 169: SSWSW 17: SWSW

23: SSWSW 72: SWSW 121:b 170: b 18: b

24:b 73:b 122:b 171: WSSSW 19:b

25:b 74:b 123:b 172: SSSS 20: b 27:b 76:b 125:b 174: b 22:b 28:b 77:b 126: b 175:b 23: WSSSW 29:b 78:b 127:b 176: b 24:b 26:b 75:b 124: WSSW 173:b 21: SSWW 30: SSWW 79: SWSW 128: WSSW 177:b 25:b

31:b 80: b 129: WSSSW ss 178: b 26: b

32: SWSW 81:b 130: SSWSW 179: SSWW 27: SSWW

33:b 82:b 131:b 180: b 28: b

34: b 83:b 132: SSWW 181:b 29: b 35:b 84: SSSWW 133:b 182:b 30: b

36: b 85: SSSSW 134:b 183:b 31: SSSS

37:b 86: SSSWW 135:b 184: b ‘32: WSSW

38:b 87: SSWW 136: b 185: b 33:b 39: b 88: b 137: SWSS 186: b 34: b

40: b 90: 89: bb 139:b 138: b188: 187:b 35: bb 41:b b 36: 42:b 91: WSSW 140: b 189: b 37:b

43:b 92: SSWW 141: b 190: b 38:b 44:b 93:b 142:b 191: SSWSW 39:b 45:b 94: b 143: WSSSW 192:b 40: b 46: SSSS 95:b 144:b 193: SSWS 41:b

47:b 96:b 145:b 194: b 42:b 48: b 97:b 146: b 195:b 43:b 49: SSSW 98:b 147: b 196: b 44:b

50: b 99: b 148: b 197: b 45:b 51:b 100: b 149: b 198: SSWW 46: SSSS

52:b 101:b 150: b 47: SSWW 53:b 102: b 151:b 48:b 54:SSWW 103: b 152:ssssw- HEL 49: SSWW 55:b 104: b 153: b 1.b 50:b 56:b 105: b 154: SSWS 2:b 51: SSWW 100

APPENDIX I

PIERS PLOWMAN—Continued

52:b 101:b 150:b 199: SSWSW 248:b 53: SSWSW 102: b 151:b 200: b 249: b 54:b 103: b 152:b 201: b 250: b 55:b 104: b 153:b 202: b 251: SSSWW 56: SWSW 105:b 154:b 203: SSWSW 252:b 57:b 106: b 155:SWSSW 204: SSSS 253:b

58:SSWSW 107: b 156:b 205: WSSSW 254: WSSW

59:b 108: b 157:b 206: SSSWW 255: b 60: b 109: b 158:b 207: b 256: b 61:b 110:b 159: WSSSW =. 208: WSSSW 257: WSSSS

62: SSWSW 111:b 160: b 209: WSSSW 258:b 63: SSSS 112: SSSSW 161:b 210: b 259: SWSW

64: b 113:b 162:b 211: SSWSW 260: b

65: SSWS 114:b 163:b 212:? 261: b 66:b 115:b 164: SWSW 213:b 262:b 67:b 116:b 165:b 214: SSWW 263:b

68: b 117:b 166: b 215:b 264: b 69: SSSWW 118: b 167: SWSW 216: SWSW 265: b 70: b 119:b 168: b 217:b 266: b 71:b 120: SSSS 169: b 218: SSWW 267: b 72:b 122:b 121:b 171:b 170: b220: 219:b 268: bb 73:b b 269: 74: b 123: SSWW 172:b 221:b 270: b

75:b 124: b 173:b 222: SWSW 271:b 76: b 125:b 174: b 223: SSSSW 272:b 77: WSSW 126: WSSSW 175:b 224: WSSSW 273: SSWSW 78:b 127: SSSSW 176:b 325-b 274:b 79: b 128: b 177: b 226:b 275: SWSSW

80: b 129: SSSSW 178:b 227: b 276: WSSSW 81:b 130: b 179: SSWW 228: b 83: SSSWW 132: SSSS 181:b 230:b 1: SWSW

82:b 131:b 180: b 229: b IV 84: b 133:b 182:b 231: b 2:b 85:b 134: b 183: SSSWW 232: b 3:b 86: b 135:b 184: b 233: b 4:b 87:b 136:b 185:b 234: SSWW 5:b 88: bb 137:b 186: b 235: bb 6:b 89: 138: b 187:b 236: 7:b 90: SSSSW 139: b 188: b 237:b 8:b

91:b 140: WSSSW 189:b 238:b 9:b 92:b 141:b 190: b 239: SSWW 10: b 93:b 142: SWSW 191:b 240: b 11:b

94:b 143: b 192: WSSSW 241: SSWS 12: SWSS 96: SSWW 145:b 194:b 243: SSWW 14: SSSSW 97: SSSS 146: b 195: b 244: SSWSW 15: SWSSW

95:b 144:b 193:b 242:b 13:b

98: WSSSW 147:b 196: b 245: b 16: SSSSW 99: SSWW 148: SSSSW 197: WSSSW —s- 246: SWSW 17: SSSSW

100: b 149: SSSSW 198: SSWSW _- 247: b 18: SSSSW

101

APPENDIX I

PIERS PLOWMAN-—Continued

19: b 65:SSWSW s: 110: WSSSW_Ss 1155: b 39: b ,

20: SSSSW 66:b 111:b 156:b 40: SWSW 21: WSSW 67:b 112: SSSWS 157:? 41: SWSW 22:b 68:b 113: SSSWW 158: b 42: WSSS

23:b 69:b 114:115: b 43:b 24: b 70: SWSSW b 44:b 25: SSWW 71:b 116:b VO 45: SSWSW 26: b 72:b 117:b 1: b 46: SSSSW — 27: SWSSW 73:b 118: b 2: WSSSW 47:b 28: b 74:WSSSW- ss 119: b 3:b 48:b

29: 75:b b121:b 120:5:b b 4:b 49:b 30: bb76: 50: SSSSW

31:b 77d 122:b 6:b 51: b 32:b 78: SWSW 123:b 7:b 52: WSSW 33: SWSSW 79: SSSS 124: SSSSW 8:b 53: SSSS

34:b 80: SSSS 125: SSSS 9: WSSW 54:b 35: b 81:b 126: b 10: WSSSW 55: SSSWW

36:b 82: SSSSW 127:b 11:b 56: b 37:b 83: WSSW 128:b 12:b 57:b

38: b 84: b 129:b 13:b 58: SSSSW

39: WSSW 85:b 130: b 14: SWSW 59: b

40: b 86: b 131: SSSSS 15:b 60: b 41: SSWW 87:b 132:b 16: b 61: b 42:b 88: b 133:b 17:b 62:b 43:b 89:b 134:b 18: SSWSW 63:b

44: SSWSW 90: SSSSW 135:b 19:b 64:b 45:b 91:? 136: WSSW 20: SWSSW 65: SSWSW 46: SWSW 92: SSSW 137:b 21:b 66: SSWSW

47:b 93: SSWSW 138: SWSW 22:b 67: SSWSW

48: SSWSW 94:b 139:b 23:b 68: SSWW 49: SWSW 95:b 140:b 24: SSWW 69:b 50: b 96:b 141:b 25: SSWW 70: SSSS 51: SSWSW 97:b 142:b 26:b 71: WSSW

52: b 98:b 143:b 27:b 72:b

53:b 99: SSWW 144: SSSWW 28:b 73:b

54: b 100: b 145: b 29: SSWW 74: b 55:b 101: b 146: b 30: b 75:b 56: b 102: b 147:b 31: SWSW 76: b

57:b 103: b 148:b 32: SSSS 77:b 58:b 104: SSSS 149: SSSS 33:b 78: SSWSW 59:b 105: b 150: b 34: b 79: WSSW 60: b 106: b 151: SWSW 35:b 80: b 61: SSWWS 107: b 152:b 36:b 81:b 62: b 108: b 153:b 37:b 82: SSWW 63: WSSW 109: SSSS 154:b 38:b 83: SSWS 64: SSWSW

102

APPENDIX I

PURITY

(1812 long lines)

1:b 47:b 46:b 92:b 91:b 137: 136: bb 182: 181: bb 2:b 3: SSSSW 48:b 93:b 138: SSWSW 183: b

4: b 49: b 94: SSSSW 139: b 184: b 5: SSSSW 50: SWSS 95: b 140: b 185: b 6: b 51: SSSSW 96: b 141: b 186: b 7:b 52: SSSSW 97:b 142: b 187: b 8: b 53: SSSSW 98: b 143: b 188: b

9:b 54: b 99: WSSSW 144: b 189: SSSSW 10: b 55:b 100: b 145: b 190: b 11: SSWSW 56: b 101: b 146: b 191: b

12: b 57: b 102: SSSS 147: b 192: b 13:b 58: SWSSW 103: b 148: b 193: b

14: b 59:b 104: b 149: b 194: b

15: b 60: SSSSW 105: WSSW 150: SWSSW 195: b

16: WSSSW 61: b 106: b 151:b 196: b ’ 17: b 62: b 107: b 152: b 197: WSSW 18: b 63: SSWW 108: SSSSW 153: SWSSW 198: b

19: b 64: b 109: b 154: b 199: b

20: b 65: b 110: SSSSW 155: SWSSW 200: b

21:b 66: b 111: b 156: SSSSW 201:b 22:b 67: WSSW 112: SWSW 157: SSSSW 202:b 23: SSWSW 68: WSSSW 113: b 158: SSSS 203: b

24: b 69: b 114: b 159: b 204: SSSSW

25:b 70: b 115: SWSSW 160: SSWSW 205: SSSSW

26: b 71: b 116: b 161: b 206: b 27: SWSSW 72:b 117:b 162: b 207: b

28: SSWW 73:b 118: b 163:b 208: b

29: b 74:b 119: SWSSW 164: b 209: b 30: b 75: WSSW 120: b 165: SSSSW 210: b

31:b 76: b 121: b 166: b 211: SSSS

32:b 77:bb 122: b 168: 167:bb213: 212:b 33:b 78: 123:b b 34: b 79: WSSW 124: b 169: b 214: SSSSW

35: SSSSS 80: b 125: b 170: b 215:b 36: b 81: b 126: b 171:b 216: SSWSW

37: b 82: SSSSW 127: b 172: b 217: b

38: b 83: b 128: b 173:b 218: b 40: WSSSW 85: b 130: b 175: WSSW 220: SSSSW 41:b 86: b 131: b 176: b 221:b 42: SWSS 87:b 132: SSSSW 177: SSSSW 222: SWSSW 43:b 88: b 133:b 178: b 223:b 44: b 89: b 134: WSSW 179: b 224: SSSSW

39: b 84: SSSS 129: b 174: SSSSW 219: b :

45:b 90: b 135: SSSSW 180: SWSSW 225: b

103

APPENDIX I

PURIT Y—Continued

226: SSSSW 275: SSSWW 324: b 373: b 422: b 227: SSSWW 276: b 325: SSSWW 374: b 423:b 228: WSSW 277: b 326: b 375: SSSSW 424: b

229:b 278: b 327: SWSW 376: b 425: SWSSW

230: b 279: b 328: b 377: SSSSW 426: b 231:b 280: b 329: b 378: b 427: SWSW 232: b 281: b 330: b 379: SWSSW 428: b

233:b 282: SSWW 331: SSWSW 380: SSSSW 429: b

234: b 283: WSSSW 332: SWSSW 381: b 430: b 235: b 284: b 333: SSWSW 382: SSSSW 431:b

236: b 285: WSSS 334: SSSSW 383:b 432:b

237: SWSW 286: b 335: b 384: b 433:b 238: b 287: b 336: b 385: SSSSW 434: b

239: 240: bb 288: 289: b b 337: 338: bb 386: 387: bb 435:b 436:b

241: SSSS 290: b 339:b 388: SWSW 437:b

242: b 291: SWSW 340: b 389: b 438: b

243: b 292: b 341: SSWSW 390: SWSSW 439:b 244: b 293:b 342: SSSSW 391: SSSSW 440: SSWSW

245: b 294: b 343: b 392: SSSSW 441:b 246: b 295: b 344: b 393: b 442: SWSSW

247: b 296: b 345: ? 394: b 443: b

248: b 297:b 346: b 395: b 444: SSSS

249: b 298: SSWSW 347: b 396: b 445: SSWSW

250: b 299: b 348: b 397:b 446:b

251:b 300: b 349: SSWW 398: b 447-b 252:b 301: WSSW 350: WSSW 399: SSSSW 448: b

253:b 302: SSSSW 351: b 400: SSSSW 449: b 254: b 303: SSWSW 352:b 401: SSSSW 450: b 255:b 304: SSSSW 353: SWSSW 402: b 451:b

256: SSSSW 305: b 354: b 403: SSSSW 452: SSSSW 257:b 306: b 355: b 404: b 453:b 258: SSWSW 307: b 356: b 405: b 454: b 259: b 308: b 357:b 406: SSSS 455:b 260: b 309: b 358:b 407: b , 456: b 261: b 310: SSWSW 359: SWSW 408: b 457:b

262:b 311: SSWSW 360: b 409: b 458: SSSSW

263: b 312: b 361: SSWSW 410: b 459:b

264: b 313:b 362: b 411:b 460: b

265: b 314: b 363: b 412: b 461: SSSS

266: b 315: SWSW 364: b 413: SSSSW 462: SSSSW

267: SWSS 316: SWSW 365: b 414: SSSSW 463: WSSSW 268: WSSS 317: WSSSW 366: WSSSW 415: SSWSW 464: b

269: SSSSW 318: b 367: SSSS 416: SSSSW 465: SSWSW

270: b 319: b 368: b 417: b 466: b 272: b 321: b 370: b 419: b 468: b 273:b 322: b 371: b 420: b 469: b

271: b 320: b 369: SSWSW 418: b 467: SSSSW

274: b 323: SSSS 372:b 421:b 470: SSSSW 104

APPENDIX I

PURIT Y—Continued

471: SSSSW 520: SWSSW 569: b 618: b 667: b 472: SSWSW 521:b 570: b 619: b 668: b 473: SSSSW 522:b 571: b 620: SWSSW 669: b 474:b 523: b 572:b 621: b 670: b 475:b 524: SSWSW 573:b 622: SSWSW 671: b 476:b 525:b 574: b 623: b 672:b 477:b 526: SWSW 575: SWSSW 624: b 673: b

478:b 527: b 576: b 625: SSSSW 674: b 479: b 528: b 577: b 626: b 675: b 480: SSSSW 529: b 578: b 627: b 676: b 481: SSWSW 530:b 579: b 628: SWSSW 677: b 482: SSSSW 531:b 580: b 629: b 678:b 483:b 532:b 581: b 630: b 679: b 484:b 533: SSSSW 582: b 631:b 680: b 485:b 534: b 583: b 632:b 681: b 486: b 535: SSSSW 584: b 633:b 682: b 487: WSSSW 536: b 585: b 634: SSSSW 683: b

488: b 537: b 586: b 635: b 684: b

489: b 538: WSSW 587: b 636: b 685: SSSSW

490: b 539: b 588: b 637: SSSSW 686: b 491: b 540: SSSSW 589: b 638: b 687: b

492: b 541: WSSSW 590: b 639: SWSSW 688: b 493: SWSSW 542: SWSSW 591:b 640: SSSSW 689: WSSSW 494: SSWSW 543: b 592:b 641: SSSSW 690: b

495: SSSSW 544: b 593:b 642:b 691:b 496: b 545: b 594: SSSSS 643:b 692:b 497: b 546: b 595: SSSSW 644: SSSSW 693:b 498:b 547: b 596: SSSSW 645:b 694: b 499: SSSSW 548: b 597: b 646: b 695:b

500: WSSSW 549: b 598: b 647:b 696: SSSSW 501: b 550: b 599: SSWSW 648: b 697: SSSSW 502: b 551:b 600: b 649: b 698: b 503: SSSSW 552:b 601: SSSSW 650: b 699: b 504: SSSSS 553: b 602: b 651:b 700: b 505: ? 554: b 603: SSSSW 652: SSWW 701: b 506: b 555:b 604: b 653: SWSW 702: SSWSW

507: b 556: b 605: b 654: b 703: b 508: b 557:b 606: SSSSW 655:b 704: b 509: SSSSW 558:b 607: b 656: b 705: b

510: b 559: b 608: WSSW 657: SWSW 706: SSSSW

511:b 560: b 609: b 658: b 707: SWSW

512: SSSSW 561: b 610: SWSW 659: SWSS 708: b

513:b 562:b 611: SSWSS 660: SSSSW 709: b 514: SSSSW 563: b 612: b 661: SSSSW 710: b 515: SSWW 564: SSSSW 613:b 662: b 711: b 516: b 565: b 614: SSSSW 663: SSSSW 712:b 517: WSSS 566: WSSW 615: b 664: b 713: SSWW

518: b 567: b 616: b 665: b 714: SSSSW 519: b 568: b 617: b 666: SSSSW

105

APPENDIX I

PURIT Y—Continued

715:b 763:b 811:b 859: b 907: b 716: b 764:b 812:b 860: b 908: b 717:b 765: SSSSW 813:b 861:b 909: b

718:b 766:b 814: b 862: SSSSW 910: b 719:b 767: SSSSW 815: b 863: b 911:b 720:b 768: b 816: b 864: b 912:b 721: SSSSW 769: b 817:b 865:b 913:b 722:b 770: SWSW 818:b 866: b 914:b 723:b 771: SSSSW 819: b 867: b 915: b 724:b 772: SSSSW 820: b 868: b 916: b

725:bb 773:b 917:bb 726: 774: b 821:b 822: b 869: 870: bb 918: 727:b 775:b 823: WSSW 871:b 919: b 728: b 776:b 824: b 872: b 920: b 729: b 777:b 825: b 873:b 921:b

730: b 778: D 826: b 874: SSSSW 922:b

731:b 779: SWSW 827:b 875: SSSSW 923:b

732:b 780: b 828: b 876: b 924: SSWS 733:b 781: b 829: b 877: b 925: SSWSW 734: SSSS 782: b 830: SSSSW 878: WSSSW s-926: b

735: WSSW 783: SSWSW 831: b 879: b 927: SWSSS 736: SWSSW 784: SSSS 832: SSWSW 880: SWSSW 928: SSSSW

737:b 785: b 833:b 881: SWSSW —s_-929:: b

738:b 786: b 834: b 882: b 930: SWSW 739: SSWSW 787:b 835: b 883: b 931:b

740: b 788: SSSSW 836: SSWSW 884: SWSSW =: 932: SSSWW

741:b 789: SSSSW 837: WSSSW 885: SSSSW 933: SSSSW

742:b 790: SSWSW ~s 838: b 886: b 934:b 743:b 791:b 839: SSSSW 887: SSSSW 935:b 744:b 792:b 840: SSSSW 888: b 936: WSSSW 745: SWSW 793: SSSSW 841:b 889: b 937: SSSSW

746: b 794: b 842: SSWSW 890: b 938:b

747:b 795:b 843: bb 891:b 939: bb 748: b 796:b 844: 892:b 940: 749: b 797:b 845: WSSSW —s 893: SWSW 941:b 750:b 798:b 846: WSSSW ss 894: b 942: SSWSW 751: b 799: b 847:b 895: b 943:b 752: b 800: b 848: b 896: SSWSW 944: b

, 753:b 801: SSSSW 849: SSSSW 897: SSSSW 945: b

754: b 802: b 850: SSSSW 898: b 946: b 755: SSSSW 803: b 851:b 899: b 947: SSSSW 756:b 804: SSWW 852:b 900: b 948: SSSSW 757:b 805: b 853:b 901: SWSSW 949: b

758: b 806: b 854: b 902: b 950: SWSSW 759:b 807: SSWSW 855: SSSSW 903: SSSSW 951: SSWSW 760: b 808: SWSW 856: b 904: b 952:b

761: SWSSW 809: SSSSW 857:b 905: WSSSW 953: SSWSW

762: SWSW 810: b 858:b 906: b 954: SSSSW 106

APPENDIX I

PURIT Y—Continued

955: b 1003: b 1051: b 1099: b 1147: b 956: b 1004: b 1052: b 1100: b 1148: b 957: b 1005: b 1053: SWSSW ss 1101: WSSW 1149: b

958: WSSW 1006: b 1054: b 1102: b 1150: SSSSW

959: b 1007: b 1055: SSSSW 1103: b 1151: b 960: SSSSW 1008: b 1056: SSWSW 1104: b 1152: b

961: SSSS 1009: b 1057: b 1105: b 1153: b

962: b 1010: b 1058: b 1106: SSSSW 1154: b 963: WSSSW_ 1011: b 1059: b 1107: b 1155: b 964: b 1012: SSSSW 1060: b 1108: b 1156: b 965: SWSSW__ 1013: b 1061: WSSW 1109: b 1157:b

966: SSWSW 1014: SSSSW. 11062: SSSSW__ 1110: b 1158: WSSS

967: b 1015: b 1063: SSSS 1111: b 1159: b

968: b 1016: b 1064: b 1112: b 1160: b 969: SWSSW_ 1017: SSSSW 1065: b 1113: b 1161: b

970:b 1018: b 1066: SSSSW 1114: b 1162: SSWSS 971: b 1019: b 1067: b 1115: b 1163: b 972:b 1020: SSWSW 1068: b 1116: b 1164: SSSSW 973: SWSSW_ 1021: b 1069: SWSSW~ 1117: SSSSW 1165: b

974: b 1022: b 1070: b 1118: b 1166: b

975: SSSSW «1023: b 1071:b 1119: b 1167: b

976: SWSSW_) 1024: b 1072: b 1120: b 1168: b 977:b 1025: SSSSW 1073: WSSW 1121: b 1169: b 978: b 1026: SWSSW-s 1074: b 1122: b 1170: b

979: b 1027: b 1075: b 1123:b T1171: SSSSW

980: b 1028: b 1076: b 1124: b 1172: b

981: SSWSW- 1029: b 1077: b 1125: b 1173: b 982:b 1030: b 1078: b 1126: b 1174: SSSSW 983: SSSSW 1031: hb 1079: b 1127: b 1175: b

984: b 1032: b 1080: b 1128: b 1176: b 985: b 1033: b 1081: b 1129: b 1177: b 986: b 1034: SSWSW 1082: SSSSW 1130: SSSS 1178: b

987: SSSSW ss 1035: b 1083: b 1131:b 1179: b 988: b 1036: SSSSW 1084: b 1132: b 1180: b 989: b 1037: b 1085: b 1133: SSSSW 1181: b

990: SSWSW_ 1038: b 1086: SSSS 1134: b 1182: SSSSW

991:b 1039: b 1087: b 1135: b 1183: b

992:b 1040: SSSSW 1088: b 1136: b 1184: SSWSW 993: SWSW 1041: SSSS 1089: b 1137: b 1185: b

994: b 1042: b 1090: b 1138: b 1186: SSSSW 995: SSWW 1043: b 1091: b 1139: b 1187: b

996: b 1044: SWSW 1092: SWSW 1140: SSSSW 1188: SSWSW 997: WSSSW- 1045: WSSSW 1093: WSSSW 1141: b 1189: SSSSW

998: b 1046: b 1094: b 1142: b 1190: SSSSW 999: SSWW 11047: b 1095: b 1143: b 1191:b

1000: b 1048: SWSSW 1096: SWSSW 1144: b 1192: SWSSW

1001: b 1049: b 1097: b 1145: b 1193: b

1002: b 1050: SSSSW 1098: SSWSS 1146: b 1194: SSSSW 107

APPENDIX I

PURITY—Continued

1195: b 1243: b- 1291: b 1339: SSSSW 1387:b 1196: b 1244: b 1292: b 1340: b 1388: b 1197: b 1245: b 1293: b 1341: SSSSW 1389: b 1198: b 1246: b 1294: b 1342: SWSSW ss 11390: b

1199: b 1247: b 1295: b 1343: b 1391:b 1200: b 1248: SSSSW 1296: SSSSW 1344: b 1392: SSSSW 1201: b 1249: b 1297: b 1345: b 1393: b 1202: b 1250: b 1298: b 1346: b 1394: b

1203: SSWSW) 1251: b 1299: SSSWW ss .1134:7: b 1395: b 1204: SSSSW 1252: b 1300: b 1348: SWSSW es: 11396: SSSSW

1205: SWSW 1253:b 1301: b 1349: WSSS 1397: WSSW 1206: WSSSW 1254: b 1302: SSWSW 1350: b 1398: SWSW 1207: SSSSW 1255: SSSSW 1303: SSWW 1351: b 1399: b

1208: SSSSW 1256: SSSSW 1304: b 1352: b 1400: b 1209: SSSSW 1257: SSSSW 1305: b 1353:b 1401: b

1210: SSSSW 1258: b 1306: b 1354: SSWSW 1402: SWSSW

1211:b 1259: b 1307: b 1355: b 1403: b

1212: b. 1260: SSSSW 1308: b 1356: b 1404: SSSSW

1213:b 1261: WSSS 1309: b 1357: b 1405: SSSSW

1214: b 1262: b 1310: b 1358: b 1406: b

1215: b 1263: b 1311: b 1359: b 1407: SSWSW 1216: b 1264: b 1312:b 1360: b 1408: SSSSW

1217:b 1265: SSSSW 1313: b 1361: b 1409: SSSSW 1218: b 1266: SSSSW 1314: b 1362: b 1410: b 1219: b 1267: b 1315: b 1363: b 1411:b 1220: b 1268: b 1316:b 1364: SSWSW 1412:b 1221: WSSSW 1269: b 1317: b 1365: b 1413:b

1222: b 1270: b 1318: b 1366: b 1414: b 1223: SSSSW 1271: SSWSW-s:11319: b 1367: b 1415:b 1224: b 1272: b 1320: b 1368: b 1416: b 1225:b 1273: WSSSW ss: 1321: SWSSW_s 1369: b 1417: b

1226: SSSS 1274: b 1322: b 1370: b 1418: SSWSW

1227: b 1275: b 1323:b 1371: b 1419: b 1228: b 1276: b 1324: b 1372:b 1420: WSSSW 1229: b 1277: b 1325: b 1373:b 1421:b 1230: b 1278: SSWSW ss 11326: SWSSW_s- 11374: SSSSW 1422: b

1231:b 1279: SSWSW ss 11327: b 1375:b 1423:b

1232:b 1280: b 1328: b 1376: b 1424: b 1233: b 1281: b 1329: b 1377:b 1425: b 1234: b 1282: SSSSW 1330: b 1378: SWSSW 1426: b

1235: b 1283: b 1331: b 1379: SSSSW 1427:b

1236: b 1284: b 1332:b 1380: b 1428: b

1237: b 1285: b 1333:b 1381: SSSSW 1429: SWSW 1238: b 1286: SSWSW-s 11334: b 1382: SSWSS 1430: b 1239: SSSSW ss. 1287: b 1335: b 1383: SSSSW 1431:b

1240: SSSS 1288: b 1336: b 1384: SSSSW 1432: b

1241: WSSSW 1289:b 1337:b 1385: b 1433:b 1242: SSSSW ss. 1290: b 1338:b 1386: b 1434: b

108

APPENDIX I

PURIT Y—Continued

1435: b 1483: b 1531:b 1579: SWSW 1627: SSSSW

1436: b : 1484: b 1532: b 1580: b 1628: b 1437: b 1485: b 1533: b 1581:b 1629:b 1438: b 1486: b 1534: b 1582:b 1630: SSSSW 1439: b 1487: SWSW 1535: b 1583: b 1631:b 1440: b 1488: b 1536: b 1584: b 1632: b 1441:b 1489: b 1537: b 1585: b 1633: b 1442: b 1490: b 1538: b 1586: WSSSW 1634: b 1443: SSSSW 1491: b 1539:b 1587: b 1635: b

1444: SWSSW ss 11492: SSSSW 1540: SSSSW 1588: b 1636: SSSS

1445: b 1493: b 1541: SSSSW 1589: SSSSW 1637: SSWSW

1446: b 1494: b 1542: b 1590: b 1638: SSWSW

1447:b 1495: b 1543: SSSSW 1591: SSWSW 1639: b

1448: b 1496: b 1544: b 1592: b 1640: b 1449: b 1497: b 1545: SSWSW es 11593: SSSSW 1641: b

1450: b 1498: b 1546: b 1594: b 1642: SWSSW

1451:b 1499: b 1547:b 1595: b 1643: b 1452: b 1500: b 1548: b 1596: b 1644: b 1453: SSSSW 1501: b 1549: b 1597: SSSS 1645: b 1454: b 1502: b 1550: b 1598: b 1646: b

1455:b 1503: SWSS 1551: SSSS 1599: b 1647: SWSW

1456: b 1504: b 1552: SSSSW 1600: SSWSW ss 1648: b

1457: b 1505: b 1553: b 1601: b 1649: b

1458: SSSSW 1506: SWSSW_s 1554: b 1602: b 1650: b 1459: b 1507: SSSSW 1555: WSSW 1603: b 1651: SSSS

1460: b 1508: SSSSW 1556: b 1604: b 1652: SSWSW 1461: b 1509: SSSSW 1557: b 1605: b 1653: SSSS 1462: b 1510: SSWSW)s 1558: b 1606: b 1654: b 1463: SSSSW 1511: SSSSW 1559: WSSSW_ 1607: b 1655: WSSW

1464: b 1512:b 1560: b 1608: b 1656: b 1465: b 1513:b 1561: b 1609: b 1657: b 1466: b 1514: SSSSW 1562: SSSS 1610: SWSSW 1658: b 1467: b 1515:b 1563: b 1611: b 1659: b 1468: b 1516: b 1564: SWSSW_s 1612: b 1660: SWSSW 1469: b 1517: b 1565: b 1613: b 1661: b 1470:b 1518: b 1566: SSSSW 1614: b 1662: SSWSW 1471:b 1519: b 1567: b 1615: b 1663: b 1472:b 1520: b 1568: b 1616: b 1664: b

1473:b 1521: SSSSW 1569: SSWSW-s 11617: b 1665: b 1474:b 1522: SWSSW_s 1570: b 1618: SWSW 1666: b 1475:b 1523:b 1571: SWSW 1619: WSSSW ss 1667: b

1476: SSSSW 1524: b 1572:b 1620: b 1668: b 1477: SSWW 1525: SSSSW 1573: SWSW 1621: b 1669: b 1478: b 1526: b 1574: b 1622: SSWW 1670: b

1479: b 1527:b 1575: SSSS 1623: b 1671: b 1480: b 1528: b 1576: b 1624: b 1672: WSSW

1481: SSSSW 1529: SSSSW 1577:b 1625:b 1673: SSWSW

1482: b 1530: b 1578: b 1626: b 1674: b

109

APPENDIX I

PURIT Y—Continued

1675: SSSSW 1703: b 1731:b 1759:b 1786: b 1676: SSSSW 1704: SSSS 1732: b 1760: SSWSW_s 11787: b

1677: b 1705: SSWSW ss 11733: b 1761: b 1788: b

1678: b 1706: b 1734: SWSSWs1762: b 1789: b 1679: SSSS 1707: b 1735: b 1763: b 1790: b 1680: b 1708: b 1736: SSSSW 1764: b 1791: b

1681: SSSSW 1709: b 1737: SSWSW-s 11765: b 1792: b 1682: b 1710: SSSSW 1738: b 1766: SSWSW-s11793:b

1683: b 1711:b 1739: b 1767: b 1794: SSSSW

1684: b 1712: b 1740: b 1768: SSSSW 1795: SSSSW 1685: b 1713:b 1741: b 1769: b 1796: b 1686: b 1714: b 1742: SSWSW_s 1770: b 1797: b 1687: b 1715: SWSSW 1743: WSSSW 1771: b 1798: b

1688: b 1716: SSSSW 1744: SSWSW-s:11772: SSSSW 1799: SWSSW

1689: SSSSW 1717: b 1745:b 1773:b 1800: b

1690: b 1718: SWSSW ss 1746: SSSSW 1774: b 1801: b 1691: b 1719: SSWSW-s 1747: b 1775: SSSSW 1802: b

1692: b 1720: b 1748: b 1776: SSWSW 11803: b

1693: SSSSWs-:11721:b 1749:b 1777: SSSSW 1804: SSSSW 1694: SSSSWs- 11722: b 1750: b 1778: SSWSW ss. 1805: SWSW

1695: SSWS 1723:b 1751:b 1779: SWSS 1806: b

1696: b 1724: SSWSW- ss 1752: b 1780: b 1807: SWSW

1697: b 1725: b 1753:b 1781: b 1808: b

1698: SWSW 1726: b 1754: SSWSW ss 1782: b 1809: b

1699:b 1727: ? 1755: b 1783: SSSSW 1810: b 1701: b 1729: b 1757:b 1785: SSSSW 1812:b

1700: SSSSWs:1728: b 1756: SWSSS 1784: SSSSW 1811: SSSSW

1702: b 1730: SSSSW 1758:b

DESTRUCTION OF TROY (1008 long lines)

1: b 16: b 31: SWSSW 46: b 61: b 2:b 17:b 32:b 47:b 62: bb 3:b 18: b 33:b 48: SSSS 63: 4:b 19: b 34: b 49:b 64: b 5: b 20: b 35: SSSSW 50: b 65: b 6: b 21: WSSSW 36: b 51: b 66: b 7: SWSSW 22:b 37: b 52: b 67: b 8: b24: 23:b 38: bb 54: 53:bb 68: bb 9:b b 39: 69: 10: b 25:b 40: b 55:b 70: b 11: WSSSW 26: b 41:b 56: b 71: b 12: b28: 27:b 42:b58: 57:b 72:bb 13:b b 43:b b 73:

14:b 29: SWSSW 44: b 59: b 74:b 15:b 30: b 45: WSSSW 60: b 75:b 110

APPENDIX I

DESTRUCTION OF TROY—Continued

76: bb 125: 124: bb 173: 172:bb220: b 269: 268: bb 77: 221:b 78: b 126: SSWSW 174: b 222:b 270: b 79: b 128: 127: bb 176: 175: bb 224: 223:bb 271: b 80: b 272: b 81:b 129: SWSSW 177: SSWSW 225: b 273: b 82: b 130: b 178: b 226: b 274: b 83: b 131: b 179: b 227:b 275: SSWSW

84: b 132: b 180: b 228: b 276: SWSW 85: b 133: b 181: SWSW 229: b 277: b 86: b 134: b 182: b 230: b 278: b 87: b 135:b 183: SWSSW 231:b 279: b

88: b 136: b 184: b 232: b 280: b

89: b 137:b 185:b 233:b 281: b 90: b 138: b 186: SSWW 234:b 282: b 91:b 139:b 187: b 235: SSSS 283: b 92: b 140: b 188: b 236: b 284: b

93:b 141: SSWSW 189: SSWSW 237:b 285: SWSSW

94: b 142: b 190: SSSSW 238: b 286: b

95: b 144: 143: bb 192:b 191: b 240: 239: bb 288: 287: b b 96:b 97: b 145: SSWSW 193: b 241: b 289: b 98: bb 147: 146: bb 195: 194: bb 243: 242: bb 291: 290: bb 99: 100: b 148: b 196: b 244: b 292: b 101: WSSW 149: b 197: WSSSW 245: b 293:b 102: b 150: b 198: b 246: b 294: b

103: b 151: SSSS 199: b 247: b 295:b

104: SWSSW 152:b 200: b 248: b 296: WSSW

105: b 153: WSSW 201: b 249: b 297: b 106: b 154: b 202: WSSSW 250: b 298: b 107: b 155: b 203: b 251: b 299: b 108: WSSW 156: b 204: b 252:b 300: b 109: b 157:b 205: b 253: b 301: b 110: WSSW 158: b 206: b 254: b 302: b 111:b 159: b 207: b 255: SSWSW 303: b

112: b 160: b 208: b 256: b 304: b 113: b 161: b 209: b 257: b 305: b

114: b 162: b 210: WSSSW 258: b 306: b

115: SSSS 163: b 211: b 259: b 307: b

116: 164: bb 213: 212:bb 260: 117: bb 165: 261: bb 308: 309: bb 118: 119: bb 166: 167: bb 214: 215: bb 262: 263: bb 310: 311: bb 120: b 168: b 216: b 264: b 312: b 121: b 169: b 217:b 265:b 313: SSWSW 122: b 170: WSSSW 218: b 266: b 314: b 123: b 171:b 219:b 267:b 315: b 111

APPENDIX I

DESTRUCTION OF TROY—Continued

316: b 364: b 412: b 460: b 508: b

317:b 365:b 413:b 461: b 509: b

318: b 366: b 414: SWSSW 462:b 510: b 319: b 367: SSWSW 415:b 463:b 511:b

320: WSSSW ~—s_- 368: b 416: b 464: b 512:b

321:b 369: b 417: b 465: b 513:b 322: SSSSW 370: b 418:b 466: b 514: b 323: bb 372:b 371: b420: 419:bb468: 467:bb516: 515:b 324: b 325: b 373:b 421: b 469: b 517: b

326: b 374: SSWSW 422:b 470: b 518: b 327: SWSSW 375: b 423:b 471:b 519: b 328: b 376: b 424: SSWSW ss 4472: b 520: b

329: b 377: b 425: b 473:b 521:b

330: SSWSW 378: b 426: SWSSW 474:b 522:b

331: SSSSW 379: b 427:b 475:b 523: b 332: SWSSW 380: b 428: b 476: b 524: b 333:b 381: b 429: WSSSW 477:b 525: b 334: b 382:b 430: WSSSW 478: b 526: b

335:b 383:b 431:b 479: b 527: b 336: b 384: b 432:b 480: b 528: b 337: b 385: b 433:b 481:b 529: b 338:b 386: SSSSW 434: SSWSW 482: b 530: b 339: b 387: SSSSW 435:b 483: b 531: SSWSW 340: b 388: b 436:b 484: b 532:b 341:b 389: WSSSW 437:b 485: b 533: SSWSW 342:b 390: bb 438: bb 486: bb 534: bb 343:b 391: 439: 487: 535: 344: b 392:b 440: b 488: b 536: b

345: WSSSW 393:b 441: b 489: b 537: b

346: b 394: b 442:b 490: b 538: SWSSW

347:b 348: b 395:b 396: b 443:b 444: b491:b 492:b 539: 540: b b

349: SSWW 397:b 445:b 493: WSSSW 541:b

350: b 398: b 446: b 494: b 542: b | 351:b 399: b 447:b 352: b 400: b 448: b495:b 496: b 543:b 544: b

353:b 401: b 449: b 497: b 545:b

354: b 402: b 450: b 498: b 546: SSWSW 355:b 403: b 451: SWSSW 499: b 547:b 356: SSSSW 404: b 452: b 500: b 548: b

357: b 405: WSSSW 453: WSSW 501: b 549: b

358: b 406: b 454: b 502: b 550: b

359: b 407: SWSSW 455:b 503: b 551:b 360: b 408: b 456: WSSSW ~—s- 504: WSSSW 552:b

361: b 409: SWSSW 457:b 505: b 553: SSSS 362: SSWSW 410: b 458: b 506: b 554: b

363: b 411:b 459: b 507: b 555: SSWSW 112

APPENDIX I

DESTRUCTION OF TROY—Continued

556: b 601: b 646: b 691:b 736:b 557: b 602: b 647: b 692: b 737: b 558: b 603: b 648: b 693:b 738:b 559: b 604: b 649: b 694: b 739: b 560: b 605: b 650: b 695: SWSSW 740: b 561: b 606: b 651:b 696: b 741:b 562: b 607: b 652: b 697: SSWSW 742: b 563: b 608: b 653:b 698: b 743: b 564: b 609: b 654: b 699: b 744: b 565: b 611:b 610: b656: 655:b 700: bb 746: 745:b 566: b b 701: b 567: b 612: b 657:b 702: SSSS 747:b 568: b 613:b 658: b 703: b 748: b 569: b 614: b 659: b 704: b 749: b 570: b 615: b 660: b 705: b 750: b 571:b 616: b 661: b 706: b 751:b

572:b 617:b 662: b 707: b 752:b

573: b 618:b 663: SSWSW 708: b 753: WSSW

574: b 619:b 664: null* 709: b 754: SSWSW 575: b 620: b 665: b 710: WSSSW 755:b 976: SSWSW 621: b 666: b 711:b 756:b 577: b 622: b 667: SSWSW 712: b 757:b

578: b 623:b 668: b 713:b 758: b 579: b 624: b 669: b 714: b 759: b 580: b 625: b 670: b 715: b 760: b 581: b 626: b 671:b 716: b 761: b 582: WSSSW ss 627: b 672:b 717:b 762:b 583: b 629: 628: bb 674: 673:b 718:bb 763: b 584: b b 719: 764: b 585: bb 631:b 630: b676: 675:b 720: bb 766: 765: bb 586: b 721: 587:b 632: b 677:b 722:b 767: b 588: b 633: WSSW 678: b 723:b 768: b 589: b 634:b 679: b 724: b 769:b 590: b 635: b 680: b 725: b 770: b 591: SWSSW ss - 636: b 681:b 726:b 771:b 592:b 637:b 682: b 727:b 772:b 593: b 638: b 683: b 728: b 773: b 594: b 639: b 684: b 729: b 774:b

595:b 640: b 685: b 730: b 775: SSSSW 596: b 641: b 686: b 731: b 776: WSSW 597: b 642: b 687: b 732: b 777: SSWW 598: b 643: b 688: WSSSW 733:b 778: b

599: b 644: b 689: b 734:b 779: b 600: b 645: b 690: b 735:b 780: b *No line of verse is associated with this number in the edition by Panton and Donaldson.

113

APPENDIX I

DESTRUCTION OF TROY—Continued

781: WSSSW 827: SSWSW 873: SWSSW ss: 9:19: SWSW 964: b

782: WSSW 828: SSSSW 874: b 920: b 965:b

783:b 829: b 875: b 921:b 966: b 784: b 830: b 876: b 922:b 967: b 785:b 831: b 877: b 923: SWSW 968: b 786: bb 832: b 879: 878: bb 924: b 970: 969: bb 787: 833:b 925:b 788: b 834: b 880: b 926: b 971:b 789:b 927:bb 972:b 790: b 835: 836: bb 881: 882: bb 928: 973:b 791:b 837: b 883: b 929: b 974: b 792:b 838: WSSSW 884: b 930: WSSSW 975: b 793:b 839: b 885: SWSSW ss: 9331: b 976:b 794: bb 840: bb 886: bb 932: b978: 977:bb 795: 841: 887: 933:b 796: b 842: b 888: b 934:b 979: b 797:b 843: b 889: SSWSW ss: 935: b 980: b 798: b 844: b 890: b 936: b 981:b 799: b 845: SSWSW 891: b 937: b 982: b

800: b 846: b 892: b 938: SSWSW 983: SSWSW

801: b 847: WSSW 893: SSWSW-—s-9339:: b 984: b

802: b 848: SWSSW 894: b_ 940: SSWSW 985: b

803: b 849: b 895: SSWSW ss: 941: b 986: b 804: b 850: b 896: b 942: SWSSW 987: b 805: b 851: b 897: b 943: SWSW 988: SSWSW 806: WSSW 852: b 898: b 944: SSSSW 989: b

807: b 853: SSWSW 899: b 945: b 990: b 808: b 854: b 900: b 946: b 991:b 809: b 855: b 901: b 947:b 992:b 810: b 856: b 902: SSWSW ss: 948: b 993: b 811:b 857: b 903: b 949: WSSS 994: SSWSW 812:b 858: b 904: b 950: b 995:b 813: b 859: b 905: b 951: b 996: b 814: b 860: b 906: b 952: b 997: b 815: b 861: b 907: b 953:b 998: SSSS 816: b 862: b 908: b 954:b 999: b 817: WSSSW 863: b 909: b 955: WSSSW -s-: 1000: b

818: b 864: b 910: b 956: b 1001: b 819: b 865: SSWSW 911:b 957:b 1002: SSSS 820: 866: bb 913:b 912: b 959: 958: bb 1004: 1003: bb 821:bb 867: 822: b 868: b 914:b 960: b 1005: b 823: b 869: b 915:b 961:b 1006: b 824: b 870: b 916: b 962: b 1007: SSSS

825: b 871:b 917:b 963:b 1008: b 826: b 872:b 918:b

114

APPENDIX II

An Annotated List of Problematic Lines

The lines listed here are those marked with a question mark in the lists in Appendix I. Gawain

And Agrauayn a la dure mayn on bat ober syde sittes, (110)

The context of this line suggests that oper might be a more prominent colloquial emphasis than syde because it emphasizes a comparison like ‘The one side and the other side.’ If ober and sittes can be given metrical emphasis to the exclusion of syde, and if the phrase a la dure mayn can be given just one emphasis on mayn, on the grounds that its French pronunclation presents such a possibility, then the line can be scanned as SWSW. If syde receives no emphasis and a la dure mayn receives just one emphasis on a, on the grounds that this might represent an Anglicizing of the stress pattern of the French phrase, then the line can be scanned as SSSW. Where is now your sourquydrye and your conquestes, (311)

Either this line is an instance of scribal corruption or it is an anomaly in terms of what the theory would specify as metrical. And he hym pbonkked broly, and ayber halched ober, (939)

Even though there are three alliterative elements in aber halched ober in this line they would make for the unlikely pattern WWSSS if realized as S’s; I am inclined to assume that the poet heard the stress on halched reduced in its context in the line and, thus, would read the line as SSWW. Ful erly bifore pe day be folk vprysen, (1126)

This line might contain a very rare case in which Ful receives metrical emphasis and gives the line an SWSW pattern on Ful, day, folk, and 115

APPENDIX II

-rysen, or the possible alliteration on erly and vp- might make SWWS the proper scansion. I find neither very satisfactory but can see no other alternatives.

Thenne comaunded be lorde in pat sale to samen alle pe meny, (1372)

This line is unmetrical by the Condition of Metricality of the theory. It is the only such line that I find in Gawain.

Morte Arthure

Will aske the chartyre of pesse for charitee hym selfen; (1542) Aske in this line may be a lesser-stressed instance of a stress alternation and may allow for a scansion of SWSW.

And fande for to venge them, that thus are rebuykyde! (867) Perhaps the poet of Morte Arthure considered [f] and [v] as an alliterative

pair. If so, this 1s the only instance of such an alliteration that I find in the poem.

The kyng chaungez his fote, eschewes a lyttill, (1116)

This line is unmetrical by the Condition of Metricality of the theory. It is the only such instance I find in Morte Arthure.

Has mad me full wery; _ ye tell me my swefen, (812) As thow in thy visione — was opynly schewede. (828) Grassede as amereswyne — with corkes full huge, (1091) Here willl suggourne, — whills me lefe thynkes, (1335) That syche an alfyn asthow _ dare speke syche wordez! (1343)

Than ten thowsande men he semblede at ones (1421) I had forgeffen the my dede, be Criste now of hewyn! (2184) I know of no sound basis for claiming that these lines are instances of scribal corruption. If they are genuinely anomalous, they give rise to no damaging counterarguments to the theory since they amount to just less than 0.7% of the sample of lines that I have considered. Piers

Alle kyn crafty men craue mede for here prentis; (III.212)

116

APPENDIX II

Since this line seems to have either the form SWSWW or the form WSWSVW,

it is excluded by the Condition of Metricality. ‘I graunte,’ quab be king, ‘godis forbode he faille! (1V.157)

If forbode in this line receives metrical emphasis, which it does in many other cases, the line has the form SWSWW and is excluded by the Condition of Metricality. If forbode can be treated as an unstressed occurrence of a stress alternation, the line is scanned as SWSW.

| Pat on is vesture fro chele be to saue; (1.23) ‘Nay,’ quap’pe king, “so god 3iue me blisse, (IV.91)

These lines are most probably anomalous. They constitute 0.2% of the sample that I have considered.

Purity ‘Now, Noe,’ quod oure Lorde, ‘art pou al redy?’ (345)

In this line, the demands of the dramatic progression of the passage seem to have countermanded the necessities of alliteration in the judgment of the poet. It is difficult to construe the line as an instance of scribal corruption since the line, as it stands, fits its context well and since a properly alliterating original is difficult to reconstruct. But Noe of uche honest kynde nem out an odde, (505)

This line seems to require that honest kynde be read as a compound with one metrical emphasis so that the form SWSW can thus be realized. Mane, Techal, Phares, merked in rynne; (1727)

This line is an alliterative poet’s nightmare, since its most important element—Mane, Techal, Phares—is irreducibly non-metrical; perhaps the poet counted on his audience to withhold metrical emphasis in the case of Techal and scan the line as SWSW.

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