"The Craft so Long to Lerne": Chaucer's Invention of the Iambic Pentameter
Author(s): Martin J. Duffell
Source: The Chaucer Review, Vol. 34, No. 3 (2000), pp. 269-288
Published by: Penn State University Press
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"THE CRAFT SO LONG TO LERNE":
INVENTION OF THE
CHAUCER'S
IAMBICPENTAMETER
byMartin J. Duffell
In recent
years
two
area
of Chaucer's
of mathematics,
branches
and
computation
settle some bitter and long-running
analysis, have helped
metrics.
First
Gasparov
statistical
a statistical
developed
in the
disputes
technique,
in verse with
probability modelling, that compared accentual configurations
those found in prose, and thereby established
that the Italian endecasill
abo should be classified as intermediate
between syllabic and stress-syllabic.1
so much from Boccaccio,
Since Chaucer borrowed
this clearly has impli
cations on the typology of the English poet's long-line metre. Then the
analysis of Barber and Barber established beyond doubt
computer-based
that Chaucer's
and that some word-final
schwas
long-line is decasyllabic
count as syllables (however archaic that may have sounded at the end of
to this statistical work was
the fourteenth
century) .2My own contribution
to apply the principle
to Chaucer's
of probability modelling
long-line
this
verse;
of Barber
produced
and Barber
a conclusion
on
on
syllable
that was
accentuation
count:
unlike
Chaucer,
as clear
any
as
that
poet
previous
before him, in any language, avoided placing prominent
syllables in odd
in the line (except the first). In other words, he
numbered
positions
the metre
invented
The
of
we
call
the
the
of Hanson
parameters
iambic
pentameter.5
can be defined
iambic pentameter
and
in terms
simply and economically
Kiparsky.4
Its
ten
has
template
positions
is right-strong;
ifwe denote weak and strong positions by the binary
0
and
is: 0 1 01 01 01 01.
7, respectively, the iambic pentameter
digits
and
Its
tain
other
extrametrical
than
the
either
of
tions
are
initial
is defined
its
are
as follows:
the final
syllable,5 although
an
this metre
THE
rules
correspondence
one
strong position
unprominent
one,
may
the maximum
contain
no
syllable;6
a
prominent
weak
neighbours";
from
constrained
or,
in the
containing
terms
the
of Hanson
strong
of
a
syllable.7
also con
syllables
University
Kiparsky,
of
the
line,
Prominence
greater
and
is
position
in
position
as "having a lexically determined
CHAUCER
REVIEW, Vol. 34, No. 3, 2000.
? 2000 The Pennsylvania
State University,
Copyright
size
in the line may
polysyllabic
in
stress than
"weak
posi
words."8
Park, PA
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THE CHAUCERREVIEW
270
It should,
his mature
of
in
no
be
course,
works
that
surprise
decasyllables;
Chaucer
content
the
to compose
decided
verse
of his
makes
it clear
that Chaucer knew well both French and Italian decasyllabic poems. The
remarkable fact is that Chaucer composed
such as no one
decasyllables
written
and
it
is
had
(iambic pentameters),
previously
important to trace
source
the
of his
The
innovation.
article
present
to do
aims
this
a
by
qual
itative analysis of decasyllable
types, as defined by the interaction of met
structures within the line: caesurae (the traditional
rical and grammatical
term) or the boundaries of cola (the term now used by Unguis ticians) .9But,
before
my
conducting
to
I wish
analysis,
some
recapitulate
important
in the history of both the decasyllable
and Chaucer's
points
poetic
so
to
lerne"
of
"craft
(the
my title).
long
apprenticeship
in a modern
The earliest surviving decasyllables
Romance
language
are found in the French Vie de Saint Alexis and the Occitan
Boecis, and
both date from the first quarter of the eleventh
century.10 The corre
vers
to two inde
de
dix
made
it
rules
of
this
early
equivalent
spondence
same
the
shorter
word
from
lines:
supplying the
pendent
they prohibited
in
4
both
and
and
that
5,
positions 4 and 10
stipulated
syllables
positions
must
a stressed
contain
(and
syllable
may
also
an
contain
extrametrical
to describe
this line is
syllable). The shorthand used by French metrists
4M/F + 6M/F.11 Other variants of the vers de dix have survived from only
no French
slightly later that were 5M/F + 5M/F or 6M/F + 4M/F, but
the
mixes
poem
variants.
ble at the caesura
stress
in the
to music.
tant
to
Because
syllabic
not
eleven,
line)
music
be
noted
having
than
an
that
the actual number
ten.
The
a
number
regular
lexical
writers
stress,
extrametrical
of syllables
of
transformation
line (of 10) was achieved
+ 6) line into a unified
set
It should
(4F) made
the
of
syllables
French
two-part
(4
of lyrics to be
by writers
of
sylla
(to the last
is more
lyrics
impor
avoided
and instead
lines with a word break after 4F (termed
epic caesura),
so that the
of words with feminine
the accentuation
wrenched
endings
first hemistich was 3F (lyric caesura). At the end of the twelfth century
the vers de
the primitive alexandrine
(6M/F + 6M/F syllables) replaced
dix
as
the metre
of major
epic
and
narrative
poems
in French12
and,
when
to favor in the fourteenth,
it was the unified
the decasyllable
returned
caesura after the fourth sylla
line of 10M/F syllables with a mandatory
ble (4M or 3F). This was the only type of decasyllable
by
composed
Chaucer's
French
contemporaries.
vers de dix as a
the Occitan
Provencal
troubadours
clearly perceived
as
as
the mid-twelfth
line of 10M/F syllables
unified
century. While
early
+
were
4
of their lines
the overwhelming
6, they occasionally
majority
the lyric
included a line of 6 + 4; and, while
they normally
employed
4F sylla
caesura (3F + 6M/F),
first
hemistich
the
gave
they occasionally
verse
of
the
for
the second to 5M/F
bles and reduced
(see,
example,
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MARTINJ. DUFFELL 271
Peire Vidal).13 The last practice
is so alien to French poets that French
call this a coupe italienne. The earliest surviving Italian endecasill
metrists
in the middle
abi were composed
of the thirteenth
century at the court
II (1197-1250)
of the heretic emperor Frederick
in Palermo and were
influenced by Provencal poets seeking refuge there from the Albigensian
crusades.14
some
Although
Italian
early
poets
a
with
poems
composed
fixed caesura, the most influential ones cultivated the variety allowed in
the Provencal unified line of 10M/F. The caesura might fall after 4M, 4F,
lines have no caesura at all (that
6M, or 6F syllables; indeed, occasional
a
4-8 may be occupied
is, positions
by word of five syllables). This ende
casillabo with no fixed caesura was employed by three poets whose work
Chaucer
knew well: Dante Alighieri
Francesco
Petrarca
(1265-1321),
and Giovanni Boccaccio
(1304-74),
(1317-75).
Chaucer was highly unusual for a fourteenth-century
in
Englishman
a
and
Italian.
As
his
father
in
worked
the
London
speaking
reading
boy
in the middle
wine trade, which
of the fourteenth
century employed
his life. We also
many Italians, and he had Italian friends throughout
know
he was
that
translation
of
long
in the
fluent
sufficiently
sections
of
Boccaccio's
language
to make
a
when
he
Filostrato,
close
very
came
to
Troilus and Criseyde in the early 1380s.15 His Italian is likely to
compose
have been revived and improved when he travelled to Italy, perhaps as
in 1378. From
early as 1368, certainly in 1372-73, but most significandy
this last journey he brought
back copies of Boccaccio's
Filostrato and
the inspiration for
Teseida, and Pearsall argues that Boccaccio
provided
the flowering of Chaucer's
art
in
the
latter's
middle
poetic
age.16 Only
one
of Chaucer's
the ABC,
poems,
long-line
imitated
a French
from
poem
de Deguileville,
to ante
has been proposed
(dated 1331) by Guillaume
date Chaucer's
1372 Italian visit. But Pearsall points out that this early
dating depends
entirely on Thomas Speght, who edited the 1602 edition
of
Chaucer's
between
a date
poses
structural
and
works,
Chaucer
and
who
to
emphasize
of Lancaster.17
Pearsall,
wished
the House
in the late 1370s for the ABC, and
analysis
(see
the
connection
himself,
this is supported
pro
by my
below).
The other model
that has been proposed
for Chaucer's
longer line is
French: the vers de dix, from which the Italian endecasillabowas derived.18
The
tial,
evidence
and
not
in favor
structural,
of
this model
as
I shall
is, however,
demonstrate
almost
in this
article.
all
circumstan
Chaucer
was
a courtier with royal patrons and the
language of the royal court was
French (it had been the official language of the country for two-and-half
centuries after the Norman
conquest). As long as the kings of England
had realistic hopes of uniting France and England under their rule, it
was a political
to be bilingual,
for courtiers
and Geoffrey
necessity
Chaucer
to this rule.19 The French
{Geoffroi Chausseur) was no exception
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THE CHAUCERREVIEW
272
court was graced by two of the most famous French
speaking English
and Oton de Granson
(1337-1410)
poets of the age: Jean Froissart
(P-1397), but the most brilliant French poet of the fourteenth
century
was Guillaume
de Machaut
whose work was admired
(c. 1300-1370),
widely in Europe. We know that Chaucer was familiar with a great deal
of French poetry (indeed, his early works are translations or imitations
of French ones). We also know that young members
of the English court,
often
themselves,
that
Pennsylvania
composed
contains
French
verse,
a number
of
and
such
is a
there
poems,
in
manuscript
perhaps,
including,
some composed
is
by Chaucer.20 The evidence of Chaucer's
authorship
have
the
"Ch"
written
their
and
fifteen
letters
titles,
poems
slight:
against
no other candidate for these initials has been proposed. The "Ch" poems,
of two lines, are structurally identical to French vers
with the exception
or Granson
de dix of Machaut
(see the analysis which follows). Chaucer
in both Italian and French when
thus had possible decasyllabic models
to forsake the octosyllable
and compose
he decided
iambic pentameters
in the late 1370s.21
COMPARATIVESTRUCTURALANALYSISOF FRENCH,
ITALIAN,AND CHAUCER'S DECASYLLABLES
as defined
analysis that follows presents eight types of decasyllable,
and
boundaries
interaction
between
the
(caesurae)
major
syntactic
by
metrical positions. Each is illustrated by French, Italian, and Chaucerian
The
examples,
all of
them
earlier
than
the
Canterbury
Tales.
The
French
exam
ples are from the poems of "Ch," the Vie de Saint Alexis (hereafter VSA),
and the Cinkante Balades of John Gower
(hereafter
CB) .22The Italian
are
Boccaccio's
Filostrato
from
(hereafter Fil) and from the son
examples
nets of Giacomo Lentini
,23
The English examples are from
(fl. 1230-40)
works composed before 1387: the Complaint unto Pity (here
Chaucerian
after CP), the ABC, Anelida and Arcite (hereafter AA), the Parliament of
Fowles (hereafter PF), and Troilus and Criseyde (hereafter TQ .24
instances quoted below I have adopted a number
In the (numbered)
for scansional purposes:
of typographic conventions
(1) lines are divided
are separated by
in
different
into hemistichs;
(2) syllables
positions
are
bold
indicated
stressed
(3)
by
typeface; (4) in those
syllables
hyphens;
parts
of
the
line
where
prominence
constraints
operate,
the
syllables
in
are underlined;
lines a void initial posi
(5) in headless
strong positions
are
two hemistichs
tion is indicated by the symbol [V\\ (6) whenever
this ismarked by the symbol A
fused by elision, apocope, or synaloepha,
linking the two affected vowels.
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MARTINJ. DUFFELL 273
A. LINESWITH FRENCHMASCULINE CAESURA [4M+ 6M/F]
in
(in Italian, forte) caesura are the most common
a
the French
of
has
stock
oxytonic
language
large
a 4 +
Since the vers de dix had become
words and lexical monosyllables.
6 metre by the fourteenth
of
in
lines
the
almost
five
four
century,
every
are
of
"Ch"
for
lines:
Variant
the
A;
poems
example,
following
Lines with masculine
vers de dix, because
(1)
Car c'est de voir
(2)
Et
se
(3)
Et
as-sez
sa-voir
son corps gent et
par-fait
vou-lez
par
sa doul-ceur
puet
that the only positions
last ones in each hemistich,
occur anywhere: for example,
Note
au-cuns
("Ch," xv. 27)
tours
("Ch,"
("Ch,"
gra-ci-eu^
xm.
27)
n.
21)
in which prominence
is regulated are the
4 and 10. Other prominent
syllables may
positions 2 , 6, and 7 in (1), 7 and 9 in (2),
3
in
and 7
and
out, "has no
(3). French verse, as C. S. Lewis pointed
or
to
hemistich.25
say within the line
rhythm in the English sense", which is
The rhythm of French verse lies between lines. A regular succession
of
three undifferentiated
syllables followed by a phrasal stress, then five
undifferentiated
argues that
syllables plus a phrasal stress. Cornulier
in the syllable-timed
deliv
French syllabic meters are temporal because,
as occupying
the same
each syllable is perceived
ery of that language,
length of time.26 The phrasal stresses thus fall at regular time intervals.
Such
metres
are
clearly
a
good
fit
for modern
French,
where
word
stress
stress remains, but not so for Old
and only phrasal
has disappeared
French poets and audi
French, which had word stress.27 Either medieval
ences had developed
the modern
and
Italian double audition
Spanish
or else word stress
stresses
not
mid-line
but
them),28
hearing
(hearing
was
already
perceptibly
weaker
than
phrasal
stress.29
in Italian, where it is called the ende
This type of line is not uncommon
Italian has relatively few oxy
casillabo a minore con forte cesura. Although
total.
tonic words, this type of line provides fifteen per cent of Boccaccio's
line with its caesura
But, whereas Peire Vidal had included an occasional
in a place other than after position 4, this variant is only one of four that
Italian poets mixed with great freedom.30 The regularity of phrasal stress
Italian is a lan
of the French metre was thus lost. In its place, because
create
were
to
word
able
with
stress,
guage
strong
poets
regularity within
the
of
other
accented
the line and hemistich
syllables. From
by
position
lines with accentual regularity, in
the first, Italian poets clearly preferred
no prominent
positions,
syllables in odd-numbered
particular those with
at least in the second half of the line, like instances (4) and (5) from the
Filostrato:51
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THE CHAUCERREVIEW
274
se'
don-na,
Tu,
(4)
la lu-ce
'1mio
(5) Cio che di-ra
bella
(FiL,
I. 9)
la-gri-moso
(FiL,
I. 42)
chia-raAe
ver-so
verse design: they have no
lines could be generated
by Chaucer's
in
the
first of (5), But, although
weak
except
strong syllables
positions,
two
such duple time was the favorite Italian rhythm (the major rhythm),
These
are
common
also
other
(minor)
occurs
in lines with a French masculine
rhythms
caesura,
One
of
them
such as (6), below:
la cui al-ta sci-enza
Cal-cas,
(6) Quan-do
in Boccaccio.
I. 57)
(FiL,
1,
syllables in positions
regularity of this line arises from prominent
are
rare
lines
Such
4, 7, and 10, giving it a triple-time
very
rhythm.32
indeed in Chaucer, and it could be argued that Italian poets and audi
The
ences
more
demand
variety
than
ones.
English
There
are,
other
however,
sources of variety that Italian poets did not employ; for example,
the void
or
an
at
line
ends.
The
of
extrametrical
1,
syllable
optionality
position
in endecasillabi and the second was abandoned
first of these is unknown
by Italian poetic fashion very early in the history of the line.33 Virtually
all Italian lines are piano (that is, with an extrametrical
syllable in posi
at
used
that they
tion 10) and the oxytonic words
forte (masculine)
caesurae
were
the word
vo-i,
at
voi,
the
end
either
a
avoided
monosyllable
of the line).
at
line
mid-line,
end,
or
was
(for
resyllabified
as
pronounced
two
example,
syllables,
Variant A is Chaucer's favorite structure, perhaps influenced by French
verse he knew, but much more probably because English,
like French,
and oxytonic disyllables
has a large stock of both lexical monosyllables
to
before
place
the
caesura.
to Pi-te to com-pleyn^
(CP,
(7) My pur-pos was
the sorw-ful in-stru-ment
(8) Help me that am
the craft so long to lerratf
(9) The lyf so short,
5)
(PF
(TC, I. 10)
1)
line is fully stress-syllabic and there is only one accentual vari
Chaucer's
ant: the duple-time
(iambic) one with no prominent
syllables in weak
two
The
positions.
twenty-seven
per
Italian
cent
of
minor
Boccaccio's
barely three per cent of Chaucer's.
rhythms
lines,
that
account
between
His decasyllable
for more
them,
has become
than
appear
in
an iambic
pentameter.
B. LINESWITH FRENCH EPIC CAESURA [4F + 6M/F]
from French
century the epic caesura had disappeared
By the fourteenth
de geste of
and
chansons
vers de dix, but in the long hagiographic
poems
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MARTINJ. DUFFELL 275
it was
centuries
earlier
much
needed
because
one,
nouns
inine
and
almost
only
has
French
it also
adjectives,
as in the followiing
the
lines from
has
to Variant
alternative
not
only
forms
verb
a
large
that
of
number
are
we
again,
can
note
how
in French
VSA:
the eleventh-century
the
unregulated
fem
paroxytonic,
an-sam-ble
(10) Puis con-verserent
lon-ga-ment
a-rivet
sai-ne-ment
la na-cefe
I-loec
(11)
(VSA,
Once
a
and
A;
(VSA, 21)
82)
stress
of word
position
is
accent.
In (10)
lines, except
phrase
1
and
in (11)
and
6,
prominent
syllables occupy positions
unregulated
not
and
and
7.
rules
within
French
2
they occupy
Variety,
regularity,
when
it coincides
with
hemistichs.34
It is perhaps not so surprising, given the mature
Italian predilection
no
for absolute
of
that
(lines
10F),
isosyllabism
epic caesurae are found
in endecasillabi.
But
are
there
a number
of
lines
in all Chaucer's
long-line
have what he may have intended as epic caesura, and it is
to
be sure. First of all there are lines in which the syllable in
impossible
schwa and then a major syntactic
position 4 is followed by (unelidable)
break. We can not be certain whether
such schwas should be syllabified
works which
(thus
line-final
that
producing
schwa
can
be
epic
should
or not,
caesura)
be
pronounced.
as
interpreted
having
epic
as we
can not be
just
There
is also another
caesura;
for
sure
whether
type
of
line
example:
thee loveth,
he shal not lo-veAin veyn
(12) Who-so
e-ver
And
setteth
De-sir
(13)
myn hert on fire
hir god-des ful de-voute
(14) As for to honour
(ABC, 71)
(CP, 101)
(TC, I. 151)
It is possible,
that the intended
of the word
however,
pronunciation
before the caesura in these lines ismonosyllabic,
with the final unstressed
syllables
are
good
slurred
to
arguments
something
for and
like
"lov'th",
against
epic
"sett'th",
caesura
and
being
"hon'r".
There
intended.
For
epic caesura are the facts that this device seems to fit well the rhythmic
structure of the English
and that Lydgate
almost certainly
language
employs
it.35
are
Against
the
facts
that
epic
caesura
was
already
obsolete
in French and that every other type of line employed by Chaucer can be
found in Boccaccio
In my sta
(except for "headless" lines, see below).
tistics in the table at the end of this article, I quantify all possible
epic
caesurae
as
Type
B.
C. LINESWITH FRENCH LYRICCAESURA [3F+ 6M/F]
By the fourteenth
century this had replaced epic caesura in French vers
de dix as the principal method
a feminine word at the
of incorporating
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276
caesura.
It is very
French
are
poets,
THE CHAUCERREVIEW
common
in Machaut,
and
the "Ch" poet,
including
other
fourteenth-century
from whom
the following
lines
taken.
(15) Tou-te bel-le
Et les heu-r.es
(16)
(17)
de gra-ce droi-te plains
("Ch,"
fai-re leur com-mun cours
d'ex-cel-len-te
Asim-ples-ce
va-lour
I. 45)
("Ch," n. 3)
("Ch,"
iv. 23)
line has no one rhythm: other
again we can see that the French
occur
in
and 8 in (15), thus making
it
1,
6,
prominent
syllables
positions
a chance match for an iambic pentameter.
But in (16) the other promi
nences are at 5 and 9, while in (17) there is only one in 7.1 have marked
Once
the syllables at the caesura in these lines that would be prominent
in nor
mal speech, those in position 3. But in each case a schwa (in French, an
in delivery so
into prominence
e-muet) in position 4 must be wrenched
a line of 4 + 6. This
as to produce
is
called
recession by
phenomenon
metrists.
English
Recession
is found occasionally
in English
in
(but quite commonly
verse.
It
is
also
found
in
French
because
French)
sung
poetry, probably
word stress is either weak (Old French) or non-existent
(in the modern
Because
like
has
word
stress, Italian
Italian,
strong
language).
English,
can
A
this
few
of
variant.
be found
poets rapidly rejected
type
examples
in the earliest sonnets of the Sicilians, who were imitating Occitan mod
was
els of this type of line; but by Dante's
time such ugly wrenching
are therefore
avoided. The following
Italian examples
from Lentini's
sonnets:
non
Se
(18)
ma-don-na
quan-to
Probably
Chaucer
correct
probably
Consider
*(20)
*(21)
Both
7)
6)
stress is even stronger
than Italian,
the lyric caesura. All the examples
that
since
have alternative explanations,
the number
and
is very few (compared with the many in vers de dix), it
to
the following
that
say
there
are
no
lyric
caesurae
"beute"/
should,
"beauty" in (20) and
oxytonic
pronunciations
I believe,
in Chaucer.
instances:
I saw beu-te
wi-thou-ten
(PF,
a-nyAa-tyr
On this lady,
and now on that, lo-kyng?
(Frenchified)
words
(iv.
(xn.
because
English word
seems to have eschewed
might be proposed
of lines concerned
is
vor-rm
mia
de lo so re-gi-mento
(19) EAa bon fi-ne
be
scanned:
225)
(TC, 1.269)
"lady" in (21) had alternative
in Chaucer's
time, and these
"beu-te"
and
"la-dy",
and
not
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as
MARTINJ. DUFFELL 277
above. This
to
involve
like
words
unambiguous
reasonable
to conclude
and
"beauty"
like
words
accentually
recessive
also has the merit of producing
duple
lines. All the possible
in
lyric caesurae
both
throughout
seem
Chaucer
scansion
alternative
time rhythm
or
"setteth"'
shared
that Chaucer
than
rather
"lady",
"loved".
It is therefore
for the
the Italian distaste
caesura.
lyric
D. LINESWITH ELIDED/FUSED CAESURA [4'+ 6M/F]
of the vers de dix as a line of 10M/F gave fourteenth-cen
in emuet at
poets another way of including a word ending
this was to elide the -ebefore an initial vowel in the second
This produces a type of line that is relatively common
in four
The unification
tury French
the caesura:
hemistich.
vers
teenth-century
(22)
Pour
(23)
Se puet
nuit
de dix,
son
obs-cu-reAa
en
the
including
droit
gra-ceAa-mou-reu-se
(24) Mo-rir m'est
joi-eAet brief
of
poems
"Ch".
a-me-ner
("Ch,"
III. 4)
ve-oir
("Ch,"
I. 10)
("Ch," II. 4)
fi-ner doul-cour
between
the positions of prominent
again, note the difference
syl
to achieve
lables within second hemistichs; French poets were concerned
variety of word stress, and regularity only of phrasal stress in positions 4
and 10. Variant D could be argued to be a more satisfactory way of incor
Once
words
paroxytonic
porating
no
norms,
linguistic
unlike
at
the
the
caesura,
because,
recessive
lyric
it involves
violating
caesura.
Poets composing
in Italian deal with unwanted word-final vowels rather
from
French
ones, although
they use the same word, elisione,
differently
to describe
to
the process
It is
confuse
order
(in
comparative metrists).
who
called more
sinalefe (synaloepha)
by Spanish metrists,
correctly
as in
of two vowels to form a sort of diphthong,
define this as a mixing
same
to
I
the
indicate
Italian
below.36
"tuttoAin",
symbol (A)
employ
as I have used for French
in these lines from
elision
synaloepha
Boccaccio,
(25)
which
IImio
have
a caesura
cos-tu-meAan-ti-coAe
(26) Con-cor-di
(27) Cas-tel-laAe
after
4'
syllables.
u-si-ta.to
(FiL,
I. 7)
tut-toAin un pa-ri vo-\ere
(FiL,
vil-leAar-den-doAe
di-bru-ciando
I. 54)
I.
(FiL,
128)
It should be noted that instances
(25) and (27) have Boccaccio's major
are also in duple time. Individually,
rhythm, and their first hemistichs
except that they are set among lines that
they are iambic pentameters,
are far from being so. Chaucer appreciated
the accentual
regularity of
such lines and modelled
his upon them. Instance (26) on the other hand
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278
THE CHAUCERREVIEW
is the minor variant with triple time (prominent
syllables in positions 4,
7, and 10) which Chaucer rejected. In (27) we observe three synaloephae
in a line; they glue the whole line together and defy any attempt to make
a caesura into a pause in
is not uncommon
delivery. Multiple
synaloepha
even more frequently by Petrarch.37
in Boccaccio,
but is employed
to apocope/elision;
we turn
English speech often prefers synaloepha
"the air" into one syllable by saying something
in
like "thyair";
contrast,
as artificial and poetic. Chaucer's
"th'air" gives itself away immediately
of eliminating
unwanted final vowels was the elision of
principal method
word-final
schwa (whenever it suited his metre). There are, however, still
in his verse (see that of "many a" in n5, below).
examples of synaloepha
caesura frequently.
Chaucer employs the elided/fused
(28) Thou art lar-ges-seAof pleyn fe-li-ci-tee
(ABC,
(29) With fyn-nes re-deAand ska-les syi-ver bryghte
it hadde been his wilk
(30) And of-ter wol-de,Aand
13)
(PF, 189)
(TC, I. 125)
to query whether
It is reasonable
it is likely that Chaucer syllabified word
final schwas and then elided most of them, when there is no sign that his
did so. But his contemporaries
did not know Petrarch
contemporaries
as he did, and so could not admire the way those two
and Boccaccio,
poets used final vowels, both to give their lines a duple-time
rhythm, and
to
them
glue
Windeatt
Boccaccio's
together
with
points
out,
major
rhythm
in one
synaloepha
Chaucer
not
only
frequently
word
structure.
harmonious
translates
for word,
but
the
also
As
lines with
stress
for
stress.38
E. LINESWITH ENJAMBEDCAESURA [4M> 6M/F]
In vers
de dix,
endecasillabo,
and
alike,
pentameter,
there
may
occur
a word
break after position 4 while the caesura in my definition
(the most impor
occurs
tant syntactic boundary)
later in the line. This is called cesure
it is the equivalent of enjambment
enjambante in French metrics, because
at the line end. It clearly helps provide variety in a poem where all lines
have a word break after position
4. In Italian the caesura is held to be
in such lines: they are endecasillabi a
after the main syntactic boundary
maiore (meaning
that their first hemistich
and may be fused by synaloepha. Examples
three
languages
is longer than their second)
caesura in the
of enjambed
are:
Sou-ve-nir qui ne cesse
(31) La est aus-si
sa gra-ce, Dieu limire
(32) N'ains y per-coy
se d'a-mor per-fetfo
Che
che
t'a-ma piu
(33)
(34)
A-vea
Cal-cas
las-cia-toAin
tan-to
mate
("Ch,"
(FiL,
I. 29)
n.
("Ch,"
18)
(FiL, I. 30)
I. 81)
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MARTINJ. DUFFELL 279
(35) And cer-tes yf ye wan-ten
(36) ffor I, that god of lo-ves
in these tweyne
ser-vantz sert;^
(CP,
76)
(TC, I. 15)
Note that in the layout of these lines I have shown the caesura as falling
after the mandatory
but after posi
position 4 in the French examples,
tion 6 or 7 in the Italian and English ones.
F. LINES WITH
ITALIAN A MINORE,
DEBOLE CAESURA
[4F+ 5M/F]
This caesura is not permitted
in French vers de dix, and in traditional
French metrics
it is termed coupe italienne. It is the most important result
of Provencal/Italian
unification
of the line: the unprominent
syllable
that follows the final stress in the first hemistich
is not extrametrical,
but
count
and
5
the
continues
instead
1-10,
(from
occupies position
syllable
of from 1-4, followed by 1-6). Because
the Italian lexicon contains a
of
majority
poets,
and
words,
paroxytonic
it is termed
an
(37) Io de Par-na-so
(38) E voi, a-man-ti,
Ch'e-ra
(39)
piu
bel-la
this
le Mu-se
prie-go
common
is very
con debole
variant
a minore
endecasillabo
pre-gare
ch/as-col-tiate
Italian
I. 3)
I. 41)
(FiL,
(FiL,
cre-a-tura
ch'al-tra
in all
cesura.
I. 99)
(FiL,
that (37) has a minor
Italian rhythm (prominence
in positions
1,
and
two
and
that
other
the
lines
have
the
4, 7,
10)
major
rhythm (no
Note
in weak
strong
syllables
In all his
pentameters,
positions
even
in
the
the
second
earliest,
hemistich).
uses
Chaucer
F very
Variant
frequently.
Lust, and Jo-ly-te
(40) And fres-she Beau-te,
at the sta-ves ende
(41) Up by the bri-dil,
(42) That I were wur-thi
my damp-na-ci-oun
(CP,
(AA,
39)
184)
(ABC, 23)
no French poet
Although
employs this type of caesura in vers de dix, itwas
used extensively
in CB. We have no way of knowing
Gower
at what
by
in
his
these
life
thinks late, but
poems were composed: Macaulay
point
the content suggests early (they seem to be the conventionally
immoral
lyrics
of
a
young
man,
certainly
not
the
mature
voice
of
the
"moral
is so similar to that of Chaucer's
iambic
Gower"). Their line structure
that
it
is
that Gower was experimenting
with this
pentameter
probable
line in French at the same time as his friend Chaucer was
doing so in
in
the
late
1370s.
English,
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THE CHAUCERREVIEW
280
da-me tre-shal-teim
(43) A vous ma doul-ce
Ma
doul-ce
da-me
(44)
qui m'a-vetz ou-bli
sa
Ma
ba-ne-re
(45)
quant mer-ci dis-plaire
These
not
lines
an
have
only
Italian
caesura,
(CB, xxxm.
(CB, xxviii.
22)
22)
(CB, xxvil.
allow
they
no
prominent
4)
syl
in Anglo
lables in weak positions;
they are endecasillabi/pentameters
It is, however, possible that Gower composed CB over a number
Norman.
of years, or even towards the end of his life, because, although almost all
his English verse is in octosyllables, his poem In Praise ofPeace,39 dedicated
to Henry IV on his accession
for exam
in 1399, is in iambic pentameters;
lines 106-08:
ple,
alle
of the wron-ges
(46) The wer-re ismo-dir
in ho-li chir-cheAat masse
(47) It sleth the prest
and doth hire flour to falle
(48) For-lith the maid
lines is one of many with
first of these
The
an Italian caesura
in Gower's
poem.
Even more
is a
in
line
the
of
poems
Se-cours
(49)
than Gower's
surprising
"Ch"
con-for-te
an
with
French
endecasillabi/pentameters
a minore,
Italian
debole
I. 16)
("Ch,"
pres-te-ment
Dan-gier
caesura.
Itmight, of course, be argued that "Dang-i-er" is three syllables, but that
not found in either the
would give this line an epic caesura, something
of
poems
Moreover,
"Ch",
nor
the word
(for example,
in any
vers
fourteenth-century
is
"Dan-gier"
always
in IX. 13), as it normally
two
de
syllables
is in French
dixhy
in the
a French
poet.
of
poems
"Ch"
verse.
G. LINESWITH ITALIANAMAIORE, FORTECAESURA
[6M+ 4M/F]
rules of the vers
by the fourteenth-century
CB.
it
throughout
employs
caesura is not
permitted
de dix, but once again Gower
This
(50) O gen-ti-leAEn-gle-ter-re,Aa
in position
The prominent
syllable
an
in French
endecasillabo
of Gower's
Balades
do
seem
toi j'es-crits
3 proves
not
a Chaucerian
to have
a constraint
and
(Traite, 25)
that Gower
is here
pentameter.
against
prominent
imitating
But
some
sylla
in weak positions
that runs through all their lines; for
bles appearing
xxxv.
line
Another
of
with Italian caesura employed
by
type
example,
to
it has word
be
Gower might
be Variant F enjambed; because
argued
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MARTINJ. DUFFELL 281
breaks at two points mid-line;
but
a caesura
(51)
Sur-pris
4F,
This
The
de
et
vos-treAa-mour
evidence
in French.
Italian
break at
at 6M.
is further
endecasillabi
a word
this line with
for example,
a maiore
endecasillabo
its a minore equivalent,
followed by synaloepha.
an experiment
that CB represents
con
cesura
forte
the first hemistich
xxxvin.
(CB,
sus-pi-rant
is very
10)
in composing
as with
common;
end after 6M, or after 6'
may
(52) Gui-da la nos-tra man
reg-gi lo'n-gegno
ve-roAu-dir?
(53) Vo-len-do del fu-tu-roAil
(FiL, I. 31)
I. 60)
(FiL,
Instance
found in ende
(52) has the second minor
rhythm commonly
occur
in
casillabi', it occurs when prominent
6, 7, and
syllables
positions
at
caesura.
and
line
the
from
into
time
the
breaks
10,
duple
triple
met
in
Because
the second hemistich's
is
called
adonic
Classical
rhythm
on
this
of
line
is
termed
Instance
the
adonico.40
rics,
(53),
type
afragmento
hand, has the major rhythm with no prominent
syllables in weak
two
in
the
the
contains
second
half
of
and
line,
synaloephae
positions
the words together.
binding
uses Variant G
Even in his earliest work in pentameters
Chaucer
caesura frequendy; it is especially useful for accommodating
Greek names
other
early in the line.
and fals Ar-cite
and Ty-de-us
(54) Of que-neAA-ne-li-da
(55) For when Am-phi-o-rax
(56) Up-on the cru-el-tee
and ti-ran-ny^
(CP,
(AA,
11)
(AA,
57)
6)
H. LINESWITH ITALIANAMAIORE,DEBOLECAESURA
[6F + 3M/F]
Once
no
again,
French
ples of it that I can find
(57)
Qe
nul-le
(58)
A-mour
(59)
En
poet
me-di-ci-ne
est
u-ne
re-sem-blan-ce
this
employs
in French
m'est
voi-e
d'ai-gle
caesura,
and
the
exam
only
are in CB.
ver-rai^
(CB,
dan-ge-rou.S?
qui
(CB,
re-monte
xxvii.
xlviii.
(CB,
xlvi.
4)
15)
1)
examples, taken in conjuction with those of Variant F, make it clear
lines are not vers de dix but Italian endecasillabi imitated in
that Gower's
the French language.
These
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THE CHAUCERREVIEW
282
This type of line, called by Italian metrists
the endecasillabo a maiore con
in the work of all medieval
debole cesura, is common
Italian poets; the fol
lowing
are
examples
Per
(60)
cui
nel
from
again
Boccaccio:
te-ne-bro-so
mon-doAac-corfo
(61) Per che se-gre-ta-men-te
(62) E se-coAa ram-men-tar-si
These
three
Variant
H
lines have Boccaccio's
caesura
except
in all
appear
CP, which
is
too
perhaps
major
thus
all
employs
in the work of French
found
to one
In addition
the
with
Et
l'a-cort
108)
319)
(TC, 1.164)
(AA,
(PF,
caesurae
Italian
that
error:
a scribal
the
line,
of
poems
tra-ic-tier
joi-eu-se-ment
of
piece
the restrictions
has
"pour"
evidence
imposed
been
"Ch"
contain
one
other
that
the
ON
after 3M and
ix. 9)
type; I suspect
before
omitted
If this is not
was
author
by the mandatory
NOTE
never
("Ch",
to any Italian
in "traic-tier" is incorrect.
the dieresis
is another
the word
are
poets.
F
Variant
line does not conform
This
works
pentameter
line with no word break after syllable 4. It has word breaks
7M syllables.
(66)
such a
one.
she chere
ful of grace
the ser-uyce
of
three
iambic
to contain
short
Lines
rhythm.
I. 10)
I. 65)
I.
(FiL, 260)
(FiL,
Chaucer's
(63) Ne to no cre-a-tu-re made
(64) This no-ble em-pe-res-se,
(65) To herk-nen of Pal-la-dion
Chaucer
(FiL,
di par-tirsi
del pia-cere
word
"HEADLESS"
that it contains
"l'accort",
and
the case, then this line
to chafe
beginning
break
at
in the vers de dix.
LINES
lines in Chaucer are relatively rare. In my scansion Imark them
Headless
most famous work opens with
by the symbol [V\. The fact that Chaucer's
one
is
obviously
of
[V\Whan
(67)
note.
with his shou-res
that A-prill
is a Variant F Italian caesura line with
in English
closure rule. It is common
the
by
This
ferent
as
to whether
or
not
there
is an
soote
a void in position
verse for a metre
unprominent
syllable
1, allowed
to be indif
before
the
first stress in the line. Thus we find in Browning's The Lost Leader two types
one
of line: one with an unprominent
syllable before the first stress, and
two
of
the
lines
last
the
without.41 This is exemplified
poem.
by
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MARTINJ. DUFFELL 283
and waitws,
re-ceive the new know-ledge
in hea-ven,
the first by the throne.
(68) Then let him
(69) [V\ Pardoned
The
line clearly has the same
second
one
it is minus
this licence,
on
the
later
at
syllable
its head.
because
probably
but
pentameter,
(triple-time)
some
do
pentameters
Browning's
Milton
rhythm as the first, but
and Pope had
so much
earlier
pentameters
than
not
allow
influence
seem
Milton
to be missing
their opening
unprominent
syllable, like the first line of
the Canterbury Tales. An extra unprominent
syllable at the start of the line
is termed in Classical metrics
anacrusic, a Greek term meaning
"striking
up".
is
Music
as
indifferent
similarly
to whether
or
not
are
there
any
notes before
anacrusic
the first beat in the first bar. When
Chaucer
to impose the yoke of syllable count on English
decided
long-line verse
he seems to have allowed this traditional, musical,
of
the
liberty
omitting
in
first unprominent
the
line.
syllable
THE RELATIVEFREQUENCYWITH WHICH VARIANTSOCCUR
table at the end of this article shows the frequency with which each
in Chaucer's
work up to and including
TC.42
type of line occurs
none
of
the
differences
between
the
individual
poems are
Remarkably
one
with
small
The
of
significant,
exception.
proportion
possibly epic
caesurae
that of the other
(Type B) in the Complaint unto Pity is double
is probably because
itwas his first composition
in
poems. This, I believe,
The
the metre
to
and
survive,
whereby
a following
Chaucer
of word-final
the majority
not
had
schwas
at
yet
the
perfected
caesura
the
are
technique
before
elided
initial vowel.
with a-ny word out-brefo
(70) But er Imyghte
to seyne
ther is no more
(71) The world is lore;
The
implications
conclusions
that
of the other figures
in the table are made
(CP, 12)
(CP, 77)
clear
in the
follow.
CONCLUSIONS: THE DEVELOPMENTOF
CHAUCER'S IAMBICPENTAMETER
1. Chaucer's
model
was
clearly
Boccaccio's
endecasillabo
and
not
the
French vers de dix. He employs all Boccaccio's
variants, while his only pos
sible debt to France is the occasional epic caesura (and even this is doubt
the Italians' favorite rhythm, because French
ful). Chaucer also borrowed
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284
THE CHAUCERREVIEW
lines have no rhythm within the line, and because a duple-time
to underlie
both the Italian
(one of moraic trochees) happens
English
rhythm
and the
languages.
Chaucer had to restrict in
the iambic pentameter
2. In order to produce
his verse the two minor
of
Boccaccio's
(the first in triple time,
rhythms
the second the fragmento adonico). Such rhythms constitute barely three
lines. These rhythms are the chief source of vari
per cent of Chaucer's
in
Italian
endecasillabi, but in English, with its long accentual tradition,
ety
it was
not
a four-beat
to substitute
acceptable
line
a five-beat
for
one.
To
for this loss, Chaucer
introduced
other, more traditionally
compensate
sources
extra unprominent
of
the
the
void
syl
English,
variety:
position,
lable within the hemistich,
and possibly the epic caesura (with its extra
unprominent
syllable).
3. All of the poems by Chaucer
in pentameters
that have survived have
is likely to be
the same mastery of the line and its many variants. None
on
the
the
others
earlier
than
metrical
except
significantly
grounds,
to
Chaucer's
still
that
which
show
evidence
may
Pity,
Complaint
technique
lacked one refinement:
schwas at the
eliding most unwanted word-final
caesura.
But,
however
Chaucer
long
the
studied
have
may
craft
of
com
are almost identical to his last.
position, his first surviving pentameters
a step-by step
in
The iambic pentameter
forth
sprang
panoply; itwas not
or
process
viving
the
poems
4. Chaucer
of
fumbling
concerned.
result
are
be
may
the
author
and
trial
of
the
"Ch"
error,
poems:
at
least
are
there
ous candidates
for the initials "Ch", and these poems
that is an endecasillabo in French, and another that may
with
the
mandatory
caesura
of
the
vers
as far
no
as
other
contain
sur
the
obvi
one
line
show impatience
de dix.
EPILOGUE:
THE IAMBICPENTAMETERAFTER CHAUCER
(both
John Gower (?1330-1408) may have been close enough to Chaucer
to compose
in time and in their common
interest in Italian versification)
a few
iambic
pentameters
making
use
of word-final
schwa,
but
the
new
Italianate verse did not immediately take hold. Because Thomas Hoccleve
in composing
deca
had no Italian, he imitated Chaucer
(? 1369-1426)
syllables, but he tended to let the rhythms within his lines look after them
had
selves, as the French did.43 And because John Lydgate
(P1370-1449)
no Italian, he
verse
of
iambic
had
that
the
with
died
thought
possibility
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MARTINJ. DUFFELL 285
to the older
the pronunciation
of word-final
schwa, and so he returned
verse
on
tradition
of
his
lines as
while
based
beats,
English
making
Chaucerian
as
he could.44 Robert Henryson
(that is, iambic)
(?1424-?1506),
who spoke a Scots dialect in which final schwa had not been pronounced
for
a
century,
convenient
schwas,
how
understood
clearly
and
worked;
he
Chaucer's
first
the
composed
its use
with
metre,
iambic
of
pentame
ters in schwa-deleted
century, Sir Thomas
English.45 In the sixteenth
(1503-42) made one last attempt to develop an English line that
Wyatt
was not based on the
line
foreign practice of syllable count: a balanced
a
with
caesura
central
and
two
either
or
in
beats
three
each
half.46
Earl of Surrey (P1517-1547)
and, a genera
Eventually Henry Howard,
tion later, Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86)
turned again to Italy to reinvent
the iambic pentameter;
that then dominated
and this is the metre
more
for
four
hundred
than
English poetry
years.47 But none of these
can
poets
be
compared
for
the poet who first "lerned
sheer
or metrical
inventiveness
artistry
the craft" of the iambic pentameter,
with
Geoffrey
Chaucer.
Queen Mary
and Westfield College, University
of London
TABLE:PERCENTAGESOF LINE TYPES
WORK/SAMPLE
LINE TYPE
"Ch"
FiL
CP
ABC
AA
15
0
0
23
19
29
9
3
46
10
0
7
19
11
5
0
46
5
0
9
18
14
6
2
39
5
0
11
15
19
5
4
PF
TC
41
4
0
9
21
13
6
5
44
4
0
11
17
15
6
3
Chaucer
(pre-1387)
A
(4M + 6)
B
(4F + 6)
C (3F + 6)
D
(4' + 6)
E
(4M>6)
F
(4F+ 5)
G (6M + 4)
+ 3)0
H(6F
Differences
between
78
0
10
5
6
0
0
the sums of the above
ing and a very small number
of irregular
percentages
and defective
and
100 are
the result
42
5
0
10
18
15
6
3
of round
lines.
vero
ili Sillabotonika?
1. M. L. Gasparov,
Opyt Ispol'zovanija
"Italianskij Stix: Sillabika
An Experiment
Stixovedenii"
["Italian Verse: Syllabic or Syllabo-Tonic:
Modelej
in Metrics"],
in Problemy Structurnoj
Models
V, ed. P.
Linguistiki,
Probability
Model
of Verse
and "A Probability
199-218;
(Moscow,
1980),
(English, Latin,
Grigorjev
trans. Marina Tarlinskaja,
French,
Italian, Spanish,
Style, 21 (1987): 322-58.
Portuguese)",
in stress
is regulated;
In syllabic verse the number
of syllables in each line (or hemistich)
are also
verse the number
Italian ende
of accented
and position
regulated.
syllabic
syllables
jatnostnyx
in Using
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286
THE CHAUCERREVIEW
casillabi are intermediate
between
the two in that certain
are
accentual
configurations
in the second half of the line.
strongly preferred
2. Charles and Nicolas
of the Canterbury Tales: A Computer
Barber, "The Versification
Based Statistical
and 22 (1991): 57-84.
Study," Leeds Studies in English 21 (1990): 81-103,
3. Modern
a specific metre;
the term verse design to denote
linguistic metrics
employs
a verse design consists of a
that the poet carries in his head, and which
template (the pattern
can only be ascertained
from an analysis of actual lines, or verse instances) and a set of cor
the types of linguistic material
in any verse instance
that may
respondence rules (governing
to each position in the template).
correspond
4. Kristin Hanson
and Paul Kiparsky, "A Parametric
of Poetic Meter," Language
Theory
27 (1996): 287-335,
argue that all metres may be defined
by only five parameters.
state that the iambic pentameter
5. Hanson
and Kiparsky
(295-97)
may be syllable
based or foot-based;
in the former
the maximum
size is one syllable,
in the latter it
position
is one moraic foot (that is, either one heavy syllable or two light ones).
Kristin Hanson,
"Prosodic Constituents
of Poetic Meter," Proceedings
of theWest Coast Conference on Formal
13 (1995):
shows
that Milton's
is syllable-based
and
62-77,
Linguistics
pentameter
I believe
foot-based.
that Chaucer's
is syllable-based,
like the
Shakespeare's
pentameter
Romance
versification
of its models;
the expression
although
'many a' (three light sylla
to only two positions
bles if pronounced
in Chaucer's
verse,
slowly) invariably corresponds
this is probably because
of its intended
(two syllables if pronounced
syllabification
rapidly),
and not because Chaucer's
rules are foot-based.
correspondence
6. Unstressed
syllables after the final stress do not affect the rhythm of the line. This
is termed
and is explained
Stress
extrametricality
phenomenon
by Bruce Hayes, Metrical
1995), 56-60.
Theory: Principles and Case Studies (Chicago,
a prominent
7. The first weak position
(or, in Chaucer's
may contain
pen
syllable
the line headless), because metrical
rules are more
lax at
tameter, no syllable at all, making
the beginning
to as
and stricter at the end of units
This
is referred
(lines or hemistichs).
a term derived
the closure principle
and Kiparsky
from Barbara
(293),
by Hanson
Herrnstein
Smith, Poetic Closure: A Study ofHow Poems End (Chicago,
1968).
8. In English words
both syllables have a measure
like reptile or maintain
of stress; see
a syl
Hanson
and Kiparsky, 291. But the only metrically
relevant aspect of stress is whether
In the word reptile the first syllable has
lable is given more or less stress than its neighbours.
more
in maintain
the second has more. Only
in polysyllabic
words and clitic
stress, while
we say "that
is relative stress lexically, rather than semantically,
determined.
When
groups
but when we say "to be" or "question,"
the
is," either word may be made more prominent,
use the term
metrists
the relative stress of the two syllables. Modern
language determines
stress.
this lexically determined
greater
strength to describe
caesura as used throughout
9. The definition
of the word
this article
is grammatical:
see W. Sidney Allen, Accent and Rhythm:
the most
syntactic boundary;
important mid-line
Prosodic Features of Latin and Greek: An Exercise in Reconstruction
1973),
Engl.,
(Cambridge,
of the word,
it no more
than a
113. The
traditional
definition
French
however, makes
mid-line
word boundary.
mandatory
10. La Vie de Saint Alexis, ed. J-M. Meunier
(Paris, 1933). Boecis, ed. and trans. Rene
Lavaud and Georges Michicot
(Toulouse,
1950).
11. The number
of syllables up to, and including,
the last accented
syllable is denoted
if there is no extrametrical
and is followed
by M {masculin),
by an Arabic numeral
syllable,
an oxytonic
or F
if there is one. Because
French
is basically
French
language,
(feminin),
name
of syllables
in M lines, while
metrists
their meters
from the actual number
Italians,
name
in F
theirs from the actual number
is predominantly
whose
language
paroxytonic,
a decasyllabe translates
into an endecasillabo.
lines; hence
12. See L. E. Kastner, A History
(Oxford,
1903), 144-48.
of French Versification
13. Peire Vidal. Poesie, ed. D'Arco
Silvio Avalle,
2 vols. (Milan, I960).
to be earlier than those in the sonnets of the Sicilian
14. The only endecasillabi thought
see D'Arco
as
Silvio Avalle,
have been
School
eighteenth-century
forgeries;
exposed
Preistoria dell 'endecasillabo (Milan, 1963), 13.
corre
15. Troilus and Criseyde, ed. B. A. Windeatt
1984). Windeatt
(London,
places
text of Troilus and Criseyde in
Chaucer's
from the Filostrato alongside
passages
sponding
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MARTINJ. DUFFELL 287
in both meaning
to demonstrate
and meter
order
the close similarities
between
the two
poems.
The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer: A Critical Biography
16. Derek Pearsall,
(Oxford,
1992), 120.
17. Ibid., 83-84.
18. Although
found in Chaucer's
lines also occurs
in vers
every accentual
configuration
de dix, every type of grammatical/
metrical
interaction
does not. The propor
(caesura)
occur in vers de dix are not
tions in which
the different
accentual
configurations
regulated
selected
by the verse design;
they are similar to those found in randomly
samples of French
prose.
19. The French of the royal court was the French
of Paris (Francien),
and not that of
Stratford-atte-Bowe
classes. John Gower's
French
(Anglo-Norman),
spoken by the middle
in the latter dialect.
works are composed
"
MS French 15, ed. James
I.
20. Chaucer and thePoems of "Ch in University of Pennsylvania
Wimsatt
(London,
1982).
verse because
had by far the easiest passage
into English
21. The French octosyllable
the template
of the oldest
traditional
(that of Beowulf) has eight positions.
English metre
were
see George
The
earliest
Chaucer;
English
octosyllables
long before
composed
to the Present Day, 2 vols.
A History
Saintsbury,
of English Prosody from the Twelfth Century
(London,
1906), I: 112-42.
4 vols. (Oxford,
22. The Complete Works ofJohn Gower, ed. G. C. Macaulay,
1899-1902),
1, The French Works
(1899). For the "Ch" poems and the Vie de Saint Alexis I have used the
editions
of Wimsatt
and Meunier
(see above).
vol. 2, Filostrato etc.
23. Giovanni
Boccaccio,
Opere minori in volgare, ed. Mario Marti,
Siciliana, ed. Edoardo
(Milan, 1970); Sonetti dellScuola
(Turin, 1970).
Sanguineti
I have used Windeatt's
edition
for other poems
I
24. For my TC sample
(see above);
et al. (Oxford,
have used the Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry Benson
1988).
Heroic
25. C. S. Lewis, "The Fifteenth-Century
Line," Essays and Studies, 24 (1938): 38.
de Cornulier,
Art poetique: problemes et notions de metrique
26. Benoit
1995),
(Lyon,
111-13.
27. See Alfred
Old
Ewert, The French Language
104-06; E. Einhorn,
(London,
1943),
French: A Concise Handbook
1974), 2-3.
(Cambridge,
Engl.,
audition
in Spanish
and how it developed
28. An analysis of double
is given in Martin
"The Santillana
Factor: The Development
of Double
Audition
in Castilian,"
J. Duffell,
to the Medieval
Research
Seminar, Queen
paper presented
unpubl.
Hispanic
Mary and
Westfield
November
1998.
London,
College,
stress in English
of phrasal
29. The assignment
is analysed
367-99.
by Hayes,
30. Individual
Italian poets had their own preferences
for caesura position;
the per
are: 4M = 38, 4F = 31, 6M = 20,
of Boccaccio's
lines with caesura
in each position
centages
6F = 11; see Martin J. Duffell,
"The Romance
A Study in Comparative
(Hen-)decasyllable:
PhD thesis, Univ. of London,
Metrics,"
1991, 304-5.
unpubl.
31. Duple-time
is strongly preferred
in the second half of the
rhythm
by Italian poets
line: this varies from 70%: in Boccaccio
to 89% in Tasso; see "The Romance
(Hen-)deca
than 60% for the French
compare with figures no higher
syllable," 319. These percentages
vers de dix of six medieval
et
( in Aucassin
poets, and also for medieval
prose, both French
and Italian
for an analysis of individual
French
Nicolette)
(in the Vita nuova);
poets' per
see Martin J. Duffell,
of the Hendecasyllable,"
"Chaucer, Gower, and the History
centages,
in English Historical Metrics, ed. C. B.
and J. J. Anderson
1996),
McCully
(Cambridge,
Engl.,
210-18
(217).
in medieval
32. This type of line is very common
verse where
it is
Galician-Portuguese
called a "bagpipe"
see Martin
"Alfonso's
and the
hendecasyllable;
J. Dufffell,
Cantigas
of Arte mayor,"Journal
Research 2 (1993-94):
183-204.
Origins
ofHispanic
33. Some early Sicilian
sonnets were composed
in bruschi (lines without
extra
entirely
or sdruccioli
metrical
del
(lines with two). See Leandro
Biadene,
syllables)
"Morfologia
Studi di Filologia Romanza,
4 (1899):
1-234.
sonetto,"
34. Auguste
LArt de vers (Paris, 1919), 22-23,
how verse satisfies two
Dorchain,
explains
basic human
needs:
that for securite (by its regularity)
and that for surprise. In Old French
verse securite is
supplied
by syllable count, and surprise by rhythmic variety.
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288
THE CHAUCERREVIEW
the basic rhythm is one of moraic
in which
35. Both English
and Italian are languages
a
or two
see Hayes,
125-82. A foot in such languages
trochees;
heavy syllable
comprises
as I have noted,
some
the iambic pentame
poets have employed
light ones and,
English
two light syllables for one heavy one at various points
ter as a foot-based metre,
substituting
verse does not have to be foot-based
in order to employ epic caesura;
in the line. Chaucer's
suffices. The
of line-end
rules to the caesura
in the earlier French manner
the application
in Martin
in Lydgate were given
for, and numerous
of, epic caesura
arguments
examples
at
to Chaucer,"
and his Debt
Inventiveness
paper presented
J. Duffell,
"Lydgate's Metrical
of the New Chaucer
the 11th International
Society, Paris, July 1998.
Congress
it in the
of French
36. Italian does employ
the equivalent
elision,
apocope, and marks
consonants
in Italian before
is also employed
(where amor is a
orthography.
Apocope
common
towards
of amore) as well as vowels, and is part of a general
tendency
apocopation
in both the medieval
and modern
final-vowel
deletion
languages.
401-03.
37. See "The Romance
(Hen-) decasyllable,"
38. Troilus and Criseyde, 59.
39. The English Works
(1901), vol. 3.
imitativa de Fernando de
La versificacion
40. This term was coined by William
Ferguson,
Herrera
(London,
1970).
41. Robert Browning,
Poetical Works 1833-64,
ed. Ian Jack (Oxford,
1975), 430.
based on samples by calculating
statisticians
42. Applied
judge the reliability of figures
to
those figures are due merely
between
that differences
sampling error, and the chance
one random
in standard errors; see
is measured
rather
than another,
choosing
sample,
on
The
120-40.
Michael
Facts from Figures
1957),
(Harmondsworth,
samples
Moroney,
which my analysis is based vary. In the case of CP (119 lines), ABC (184), and AA (306), the
it is a randomly
is all surviving pentameter
lines; in the case of the "Ch" poems
sample
300 lines; and in the case of FiL, PF, and TC it is the first 300 lines. As a result of
selected
small size of these figures two standard errors in the table are in some cases
the relatively
as 5% of lines.
as
high
43. See "The Romance
483-88.
(Hen-) decasyllable,"
44.
45.
See
Inventiveness,"
passim.
"Lydgate's Metrical
488-93.
See "The Romance
(Hen-) decasyllable,"
of Wyatt's
Intention
46. See Dennis W. Harding,
"The Rhythmical
Poetry," Scrutiny 14
in the
Effects
"A Critical
M. Endicott,
90-102; Annabel
(1946-47):
study of the Metrical
in Elizabethan
to Analogous
Effects
Poetry,"
Poetry of Sir Thomas Wyatt, with Reference
1960.
unpubl. MA diss., Univ. of London,
on the
to Pinsky: A Theoretical
"From Dante
47. See Kristin Hanson,
Perspective
a
to appear
in Rivista di Linguistica,
Iambic Pentameter,"
special issue
History of the English
on
in Language,
guest ed. Irene Vogel.
Rhythm
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