No More Learning

The number of exceptions is negligible:
X X Jú X X,
ắc Gódwině hřně på gěléttă (two syllables)
ne wearð dréorlicre daed (one syllable)
The first foot was composed of the sinking, called the anacrusis or
auftakt, and the first stress. In the earliest form of the strophe it would
seem to have been the rule that the anacrusis of the first line of the couplet
should be one syllable longer than that of the second and should never exceed
two syllables; the dissyllabio anacrusis was, apparently, used to mark the
beginning of a new passage.
1 For a further discussion of this subject, the reader may be referred to a paper
by the present writer, read before the London Philological Society, 7 June 1907.


## p. 416 (#436) ############################################

416
Appendix to
In the poem of 959, out of some 24 couplets, 13 have the anacrusis of the
first line longer than that of the second; in 8 the anacruses are equal (or
both lacking), in only three cases is there a monosyllabio anacrusis in the
second line and none in the first, e. g.
x x Tv x x x x , ,
Jon his dagum hỉt godode georne
(Aňa Gód him geuče,
Sberet hos wúnode iň sibbe
X X X Úvi
pa hwile pe | he leofode.
The fourth, or final, foot differs from the others in the following
characteristic:
No final sinking (**) was allowed, i. e. feminine rime did not exist in our
sense, both such syllables being stressed.
Hence the line could only end in a stress whether full or half in strength.
In the falling types A, AC, C, D, the last foot usually consists of a single
stressed syllable:
She saette mycel déorfrio
land hp laegal lagi Perwiờ.
A. and etód him geudě.
C. sy Dân Dénở sớmon.
AC. gie hi wólaốn lábban.
D. hiš máegểs Éadwardès.
Cf. the modern English nursery rimes:
The maid was in the garden
Took him by the left leg
as chanted by mothers to their children with the heavy final half-stress.
With the ending juu.
(It must be noted that in Old English ballad verse a single long syllable
is fairly often divided into ú - or j: as well as into úų. This may be due to
*. *ÚV
the artificial stress on the second member, e. g. A, swidost para cyninga. )
A. på hvílo pě, bě leófódo
AC. Her com Éadwård sépěling
C. and bě pár wúnódě.
Much less frequently the ending + x + is found in A, AC, C, e. g.
A. Aélfere caldărman


## p. 417 (#437) ############################################

Chapter VII
417
AC. wală, þaét waềs hréowtło sit
0. pået aélpéodivě.
From this last two are derived the final feet of such nursery rime rhythms as
wasn't that a dainty dish. ”
In the rising types B and E the usual form is one unstressed syllable and
a final full-stress, which may be divided into two syllables. The ending with
a dissyllabic sinking before the final stress is rarely met with in B and E.
B. Bắa hìa gorerần hề tồarat
E. sẽ cyng waes swă swidă stearo.
With anapaestic ending
E. Zo be úplica wrèceñd håfað hảs žemynd.
We have several examples of the verse form + x tubu:
on paere earmăn býring
to săn láoan Góiề.
We have, further, a number of clear instances of three-beat short verses,
perhaps originally meant for strophic use, in conjunction with four-beat
Terses, e. g.
i X to
cinges geseon
þaet gedon wearð.
It is a question whether every one of those so-called four-beat verses
without any sinkings (even between half-stress and subsequent full-stress)
is not to be reckoned here as three-beat.
Side by side with the introduction of this metre into literary use, there
are also to be found instances of rime and assonance.
The use of rime and assonance tends to destroy the old system of linked
half-lines, but in two different directions. First, in proportion as rime and
assonance grow in power, alliteration, which had originally been the con-
necting link between the two half-lines, diminished in importance, until
eventually it was used mainly within each half-line as an adornment.
Different alliterating letters occurred in each half-line, and rime or assonance
suoceeded as a bond.
Hence, the half-lines became independent and the four-beat couplet
resulted. Secondly, rime or assonance was further used to link the full long
lines into couplets. These long lines were then felt to be too long, and a
simple means of avoiding such undue length was to use either a weak four-
beat half-line or, more usually, a three-beat half-line together with a full
four-beat half-line (of six to eight syllables) to make up the whole. A new
line with a variable caesura, either after the 3rd or the 4th beat, was thus
constructed. Examples are found in the poem in the Chronicle under 1057, e. g.
Her com Eádward Aépeling | to Englalóndo
E. L. Lo


## p. 418 (#438) ############################################

418
Appendix to Chapter VII
and
Eadmund cing | Trensid waes geclypod.
But it must not be forgotten that both strophic forms are usually found in
these Old English poems without the need of either rime, assonance or
alliteration. The strophio system seems to have been originally, perhaps,
purely rhythmic, and rime, assonance and alliteration merely its adornments.
Lastly, this sung verse is found in other Germanic languages as well as in
Old English. The most notable instance of its employment elsewhere is in
the famous paraphrase poem of Otfried, who expressly repudiates the solemn
rhetorical metre, which must have smacked to him of the worship of the
heathen gods. This metre could not have been of Otfried's own composition,
since it was not only the metre of the Nibelungenlied but the basic metre of
other German ballad poems, and is identical with the poems in the Chronicle.
The following examples of Frisian metric forms seem to show that these also
were based on the same old Germanio metrical scheme, originally the common
property of all the Teutonic peoples. It is remarkable that the Old Frisian
forms (which do not, of course, correspond to the Old English, but to the
Middle English stage of the development of this metre) show all the specific
Middle English developments. These are:-(1) in consequence of the
lengthening of short vowels in open syllables expansions like ý x, originally
the equivalent of b, become equal to 1x; (2) the use of alliteration as an
adornment within the half-line and rime to link the two half-lines together;
(3) the apparent loss of the final half-stress in Old Frisian is only found in
lines not of Frisian popular origin:
A. mith hórne ånd mith hlúdè.
B. wel was hím ande sine héi.
AC. Hi welde tha stérka Fresan
(riming with « undær sínně tègetha tián”).
C. dà dat breef réed was
(riming with “hoe tróc dất manẪch Freel waa”.
D. Tha thi Kening Kết thit understad
riming with
E. Tórnig was him hir imbe sin mód.
It is probable that all D forms - x*xxd had at this epoch become
txt x text as most likely in the example above. The same tendency is
found in Otfried, in Middle High German and Middle English.
The Frisian and the English were the nearest akin, and we have in both
languages a common ballad metre. Perhaps the clearly popular character
of this metre explains the absence of erotic songs and popular ballads from
Old English literature. Vulgar ballads of all description were in this metre
originally, and what epio classical matter was drawn from them was trans
formed (not always without leaving traces) into the rhetorical courtly metre.
In England, the popular metre remained deposed in favour of its younger
sister, the rhetorical metre, longer than elsewhere, and its sphere must
have been exclusively the vulgar.
J. 8. W.


## p. 419 (#439) ############################################

BIBLIOGRAPHIES
In the bibliographies that follow, references to other histories of English
literature are only given in special cases. Similarly, The Dictionary of
National Biography is mentioned only exceptionally. Readers may be
assumed to have access to it, or, at any rate, to its valuable Index and Epitome.
And it has further been assumed that the student can refer to Körting's
Grundriss der Geschichte der englischen Litteratur, and, if he be interested
in Old English literature, to Wülker's Grundriss zur Geschichte der angel-
sächsischen Litteratur. Both books are indispensable. W. P. Courtney's
Register of National Bibliography, 2 vols. , 1905, will also be found very useful.
When no other place of publication is mentioned, it may usually be taken
to be London.
Abbreviations: Arch. = Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen
und Litteraturen (Brunswick); Ath. = Athenaeum; BBA. = Bonner Beiträge
zur Anglistik; H Beitr. = Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache
und Literatur (Halle); JGPh. = Journal of Germanic Philology (Blooming-
ton, Indiana); MLA. = Publications of Modern Language Association of
America; MLN. = Modern Language Notes (Baltimore); MLR. = Modern
Language Review; NQ. = Notes and Queries; QF. = Quellen und For-
schungen zur Sprach- und Kulturgeschichte der germanischen Völker
(Strassburg); ZDA. =Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum (Leipzig); ZDPh.
=Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie (Halle).
CHAPTERS I AND III
THE BEGINNINGS AND EARLY NATIONAL POETRY
GENERAL AUTHORITIES.
Bode, W. Die Kenningar in der angelsächsischen Dichtung. Darmstadt,
1886. (Kenningar = descriptive appellatives, frequent in Old English
and Old Norse poetry. ]
Bradley, H. The Goths. 1888.
Brooke, Stopford A. History of Early English Literature to the accession
of King Aelfred. 1892.
- English Literature from the beginning to the Norman Conquest. 1898.
[Both works contain excellent verse translations. ]
Chadwick, H. M. Origin of the English Nation. Cambridge, 1907.
Conybeare, J. J. Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry. 1826.
Cook, A. 8. and Tinker, C. B. Select translations from Old English poetry,
1902.
Courthope, W. J. History of English Poetry. Vol. I. 1895.
Dale, E. National Life and Character in the Mirror of Early English
Literature. Cambridge, 1907.
Earle, J. Anglo-Saxon Literature. 1884.
Ebert, A. Allg. Gesch. der Literat. des Mittelalters im Abendlande. 3 vols.
1874-87. New ed. Vol. 1. 1889. [The standard work on its subject. ]
Elton, C. Origins of English History. 1890.
Ettmüller, L. Engla and Seaxna Scopas and Boceras. Leipzig, 1850.
27-2


## p. 420 (#440) ############################################

420
Bibliography to
Green, J. R. The Making of England. 1882.
- The Conquest of England. 1883.
Grein, C. W. M. Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie. Vols. I and II
(Text). Göttingen, 1857, 1858. Vols. III and rv (Glossary). Cassel and
Göttingen, 1861-4. 2nd ed. by Wälker, R. P. Vol. 1. Cassel, 1881-3.
[This work contains the text of all the poems treated in these chapters
and is indispensable to the student of Old English poetry. ]
Griffin, W. Hall.
A Handbook of English Literature. 1897. [See esp.
pp. 5-15. ]
Grimm, J. Dentsche Mythologie. 1835. Trang. Stallybrass, J. 8. 1883.
Gummere, F. B. Germanio Origins: A Study in Primitive Culture. New
York, 1892. [A useful work on social and national life. ]
Jiriczek, 0. L. Northern Hero Legends. Trans. Smith, M. Bentinck. 1902.
Jónsson, F. Den oldnorske og oldislandske Litteraturs Historie. 1894.
Jusserand, J. J. Hist. Litt. du Peuple Anglais. Vol. 1. Des Origines à la
Renaissance. 2° éd. Paris, 1896.
Kauffmann, F. Northern Mythology. Trans. Smith, M. Steele. 1903.
Keary, C. F. The Vikings in Western Christendom. 1891.
Kemble, J. M. The Saxons in England. 2nd ed. by de G. Birch, W. 1876.
Ker, W. P. The Dark Ages. (Periods of European Literature. ) 1904.
- Epic and Romance. 1897.
Kögel, R. Geschichte der deutschen Literatur. Vol. 1, Pt. 1. Strassburg,
1894.
Körting, G. Grundriss der Geschichte der englischen Literatur. Münster,
1887, 4th ed. 1905.
Laing, s. (ed. ). Heimskringla Saga. (R. B. Anderson's ed. ) 4 vols.
1889.
Longfellow, H. W. Poets and Poetry of Europe. 1838.
Merbach, H. Das Meer in der Dichtung der Ags. Breslau, 1884.
Merbod, R. Ästhetische Studien zur ags. Poesie. Breslau, 1883.
Mone, F. J. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der teutschen Heldensage.
Leipzig, 1836.
Morley, H. English Writers. Vols. I and 1. 1887, 1888. (Contains many
translations. ]
Morris, W. and Magnússon, E. (ed. ). Saga Library. 1890 ff.
Poole, R. L. Illustrations of the History of Medieval Thought. 1884.
Rask, E. A Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Tongue. Trans. Thorpe, B.
Copenhagen, 1830. [Of historical interest. ]
Rydberg, V. Teutonio Mythology. Trans. Anderson, R. B. 1889.
Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum. Ed. Holder, A. Strassburg, 1886.
Trans. Elton, 0. London, 1894.
Simrock, K. Deutsche Mythologie. Bonn, 1853 ff.
Sweet, H. in Warton, T. History of English Poetry. Vol. II. 1871.
Ten Brink, B. Geschichte der englischen Literatur. Vol. 1. Berlin, 1877.
2nd ed. by Brandi, A. Strassburg, 1899. Trans. Kennedy, H, M.
1883.
Tolman, A. H. The Style of Anglo-Saxon Poetry. MLA. III.
Traill, H. D. Social England. Vol. 1. 1898. [Contains useful lists of
authorities. ]
Turner, Sharon. History of the Anglo-Saxong. 1799–1805. [Durch dieses
Werk wurde das Interesse und die Liebe für die ältere Zeit in England
wieder mächtig angeregt' (Wülker). ]
Vigfusson, G. Icelandic Sagas. 2 vols. 1887.
Vigfusson, G. and Powell, F. York. Corpus Poeticum Boreale. Oxford, 1883.
1890 witht. 1884ppe, B.


## p. 421 (#441) ############################################

Chapters I and III
421
Wright, T. Biographia Britannica Literaria. 1842.
Wüleker, R. P. Kleinere angelsächsische Dichtungen. Halle, 1882.
Wälker, R. Grundriss zur Geschichte der angelsächsischen Literatur.
Leipzig, 1885.
- Geschichte der englischen Literatur von den Anfängen bis zur Gegen-
wart. Leipzig, 1896, 1907.
Zeuss, J. C. Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstämme. Munich, 1837.
BEOWULF.
[The unique MS is in the Cottonian collection, British Museum (Codex
Vitellius, A. XV). It was first noticed by Humfrey Wanley (1672–1726) in
the catalogue of Old English MSS which he contributed to George Hickes's
Linguarum veterum septentrionalium thesaurus grammatico-criticus et
archaeologicus, Oxford, 1703–5. The MS was injured by fire in 1731 before
any transcript of it was in existence. The Icelandic scholar, G. J.