út-a-spring (1) on leáfum (2), and on blostmum (3), and on blædum (4)? Hwý ne miht þú on-gitan þætte ælc wuht cwices býd innan-weard hnescost (5), and útan-weard heardost? Hwæt þú miht ge-seón hú þæt treów býð útan ge-scyrped (6), and be-wæfed (7) mid pære rinde wid pone winter, and wid þa stearcan (8) stormas, and eac wid pære sunnan háto on sumera (9). Hwá mæg þæt he ne wundrige swylcra gesceafta úres Sceoppendes (10), and huru (11) þæs Sceoppendes? And peah we his nú wundrien, hwylc úre mæg a-reccan (12) medem-líce (13) úres Sceoppendes willan, and an-weald, hú his ge-sceafta weaxad and eft waniad (14) ponne pas tíma (15) cymd, and of heora sæde weordad eft ge-ed-níwade (16), swylce hí ponne wurdon tó ed-sceafte (17) ?

(1) Ut-a-springan (III. 1.) to spring, shoot out.

(2) Leaf (II. 1.) leaf; G. laub.

(3) Blostm (II. 2.) blossom; D. bloessem.

(*) Blæd (II. 3.) fruit, branch; G. blatt, D. blad leaf, blade.

(5) Hnesc (I.) soft, tender, nesh.

(6) Ge-scyrpan (I. 2.) to scarf, cover; sceorp (II. 1.) scarf.

(7) Be-wæfan (I. 2.) to clothe; wæfels garment.

(8) Stearc (I.) stark, strong, violent; G. stark.

(9) See p. 15.

(10) Sceoppend or Scyppend (p. 5.) Creator; scyppan to create; G.

schaffen, schöpfen, D. scheppen.

(11) At least, at all events.

(13) Fitly, worthily; medeme middling, moderate, meet.

(14) Wanian to wane, from wana want.

(15) The season for that.

(12) Reckon, tell up.

(*) Ed-sceaft (II. 3.) new creation: as if they then became newly created.

CHAPTER IX.

VERSE EXTRACTS.

I.-Narrative Verse.

Anglo-Saxon Poetry is of various kinds, distinguished by rime, by alliteration, or by both; the commonest however only, termed Narrative Verse, will be here described. Its chief characteristic is Alliteration (1), or the correspondence of the first letters of a certain number of the most important words in each line of a couplet, two called sub-letters riming thus together in the first line, and answering to a third called the chief letter in the second. The first line has often but one sub-letter and never more than two; the second never more than one chief letter. The length of the lines varies much, each however must contain at least two emphatic or root syllables, with one or more unemphatic, that is prefixes, terminations, &c.: few lines have less than four syllables, two emphatic, and two unemphatic, and some

(1) Alliteration is found in the Latin poetry of the middle ages, sometimes combined with line and final rime, and syllabic metre; it was used more or less in England along with other kinds of rime till a late period, and is still usual in the Scandinavian tongues. The Vision of Piers Ploubman (1350) is a long and regular specimen of English alliterative poetry, on the above rules. For a full account of the A. S. versification, see Rask's Grammar, pp. 136-68.

have as many as eight or nine, or even more.

ample (1):

Hú lomp (2) eów on lade (3)

leófa Beó-wulf,

þá þú færinga feor ge-hogodest sæcce (*) sécean ofer sealt wæter, hilde (5) tó Heorote (6)? Ac þú Hród-gáre wid cúdne wean (7) wihte ge-béttest (8), mærum þeódne (9)?

For ex

How befell it you on your

voyage

dear Beowulf,

when thou suddenly

far off determinedst
warfare to seek

over the salt water,
battle at Heorot?
Hast thou then Hróthgár
against his known plague
ought booted,

the famous prince?

Here the first couplet has in the first line two subletters, the l in lomp and lade, answering to the chief letter, the in leófa in the second. The third line has but one sub-letter, the ƒ in færinga which rimes with

(') Beowulf, ed. Kemble 1. 3969-79.

(2) Limpan (III. 1.) to happen.

(3) Ládu (III. 3.) líðan to travel, journey, chiefly by sea.

(*) Sæc (II. 3.) hence suck of a town.

(5) Hild (II. 3.) battle, war.

(*) The palace of Hróthgár prince of a Danish tribe.

(7) Wea evil, misfortune.

(8) Bétan to profit, improve, do good to; hót (II. 3.) boot, profit.

(9) Though quantity and number of syllables seem no essential part of A. S. versification, many lines will bear a more or less regular scanning; thus most short lines consist either of two trochees, like the 2nd, 5th, and ilth above, or of a dactyl and spondee like the 10th: the 3rd, and 6th, also might be called imperfect adonics.

that in feor in the fourth. The third and fourth couplets have each two sub-letters like the first; the fourth again but one, wid being here not emphatic. The last line depends for its alliteration on the first of the next period; the couplet joining two lines by alliteration only, is often thus broken by the sense.

When the chief letter is a vowel or diphthong, the sub-letters must likewise be vowels or diphthongs, but need not be the same; as,

U'tan ymbe adelne

englas stódon.
Eordan a'ht-ge-streón,
applede gold.

In the first example the first line answer to the chief

Without round the noble
angels stood.

Earth's possessions,
appled (1) gold.

sub letters ú and a in the
letter e in the second; in

the other eo, a', and a rime together.

When the chief letter is double, the sub letters are

usually double likewise; as,

Frægn from-líce (2)

fruman and ende.

Sceán scír (3) werod,

scyldas lixton.

He asked prudently

the beginning and end.
Shone the bright host,

shields gleamed.

The following prefixes and prepositions in composition are not reckoned as part of the alliteration, which

(1) Hence d-appled, as asphodel (O. affadil) has become d-affodil; dappled-gray is O. apple-gray, G. apfel-grau, D. appel-graauw: comp. F. grispommelé. (2) From brave, pious &c. G. fromm.

(3) Clear, sheer; G. schier.

falls only on the first root-letter of the word before which

they stand: viz. a-, be-(bi-), ge-, to-, for-, æt, ođ, of,

Þá ge-worhte he purh his Then wrought he through

(1) Rún (II. 3.) a secret, mystery, letter, hieroglyph; here the handwriting on the wall: hence to round, whisper; G. raunen.

(2) Wær-loga a breaker of faith; hence war-lock: wær (II. 3.) a promise, compact, loga a lyer, from leógan to lye.

(3) Gár (II. 2.) a (missile) weapon, spear =L. telum), chief; it forms part of many proper names as Gár-mund, Eád-gár Edgar, &c.