is | to lufe | contrair, Thairin, | Makyne, | bath ye | and I Unseen | we ma | repair.
Those who deny the valued e in "grenè," as not Scots, may refuse the second instance of trisyllabic feet, but the first will remain.
(f) Dunbar (alliterative):
I saw thre gay ladeis sit in ane grein arbeir,
All grathit into garlandis of fresche gudelie flouris;
So glitterit as the gold wer thair glorius gilt tressis,
Quhill all the gressis did gleme of the glaid hewis;
Kemmit was thair cleir hair, and curiouslie sched
Attour thair schulderis doun schyre, schyning full bricht.
Dunbar (dimeter iambic quatrains with refrain, and much anapæstic substitution):
Come ne|vir yet May | so fresch|e and grene,
Bot Jan|uar come | als wud and kene—
Wes nev|ir sic drowth | bot anis | come raine,
All erd|ly joy | returnis | in pane.
(g) Alexander Scott (stanzas):
It cumis | yow luv|aris to | be laill,
Of bo|dy, hairt | and mynd | al haill,
And though | ye with | year la|dyis daill—
Ressoun;
Bot and | your faith | and law|ty faill—
Tressoun!
… . …
Be land | or se,
Quhaur ev|ir I be,
As ye | fynd me,
So tak | me;
And gif | I le,
And from | yow fle,
Ay quhill | I de
Forsaik | me!
(h) Montgomerie (Cherry and Slae stanza):
About | ane bank | quhair birdis | on bewis
Ten thou|sand tymis | thair notis | renewis
Ilke houre | into | the day,
The merle | and ma|ueis micht | be sene,
The Prog|ne and | the Phel|omene,
Quhilk caus|sit me | to stay.
I lay | and leynit | me to | ane bus
To heir | the bir|dis beir;
Thair mirth | was sa | melo|dious
Throw na|ture of | the yeir;
Sum sing|ing, || some spring|ing
With wingis | into | the sky,
So trim|lie, || and nim|lie,
Thir birdis | they flew | me by.
XX. Early Elizabethan Period
Examples of Reformed Metre from Wyatt, Surrey, and other Poets before Spenser.
(a) Wyatt (sonnet)
The long[e] | love that | in my | thought I | harbèr
And in | my heart | doth keep | his re|sidence,
Into | my face | presseth | with bold | pretence, And there | campèth | display|ing his | bannèr: She that | me learns | to love | and to | suffèr, And wills | that my | trust and | lust[e]s neg|ligence Be rein|ed by rea|son, shame, | and rev|erence, With his | hardì|ness tak|ès dis|pleasùre, Wherewith | love to | the hart[e]s | forest | he fleèth, Leaving | his en|terprise | with pain | and cry, And there | him hi|deth and | not àp|pearèth. | What may | I do? | when my | master | feareth, But in | the field | with him | to live | and die, For good | is thè | life end|ing faith|fully.
(I formerly scanned line 9:
Wherewith | love to |the hart's fo|rest he | fleèth.
But "forèst" is so frequent and makes such a much better rhythm that perhaps it should be preferred. It will, however, emphasise still further the poet's curious uncertainty about the "-eth" rhymes—whether he shall arrange them on that syllable only, or take in the penultimate. Besides this point, the student should specially notice the pains taken to get, not merely the feet, but the syllables right at the cost sometimes of pretty strongly "wrenched" accent. On all this see Book II. The final è's are rather a curiosity than important: longè may have been sounded, "luste" and "harte" (so printed in Tottel) improbably.)
(b) Wyatt (lyric stanza):
Forget | not yet | the tried | intent
Of such | a truth | as I | have meant,
My great | travàil, | so glad|ly spent,
Forget | not yet!
Forget | not yet | when first | began
The wea|ry life | ye know, | since whan
The suit, | the ser|vice, none | tell can—
Forget | not yet!
(It will be observed that this rondeau-like motion, with its short lines and frequent repetition, is brought off better than the sonnet, though the French accent sticks in travàil.)
(c) Surrey (sonnet):
I nev|er saw | my la|dy lay | apart
Her cor|net black, | in cold | nor yet | in heat,
Sith first | she knew | my grief | was grown | so great;
Which o|ther fan|cies dri|veth from | my heart,
That to | myself | I do | the thought | reserve,
The which | unwares | did wound | my woe|ful breast.
But on | her face | mine eyes | mought ne|ver rest
Yet, since | she knew | I did | her love, | and serve
Her gold|en tress|es clad | alway | with black,
Her smil|ing looks
