And that | restrains | which I | desire | so sore.So doth | this cor|net gov|ern me, | alack!
In sum|mer sun, | in win|ter's breath, | a frost
Whereby | the lights | of her | fair looks | I lost.
(Observe how much more surely and lightly the younger poet treads in the uncertain pioneer footsteps of the elder.)
(d) Surrey ("poulter's measure"):
Good la|dies, ye | that have || your pleas|ures in | exile,
Step in | your foot, | come take | a place | and mourn | with me | a while;
And such | as by, | their lords || do set | but lit|tle price,
Let them | sit still, | it skills | them not | what chance | come on | the dice.
But ye | whom love | hath bound || by or|der of | desire
To love | your lords, | whose good | deserts | none oth|er would | require,
Come ye | yet once | again || and set |your foot | by mine,
Whose wo|ful plight | and sor|rows great | no tongue | can even | define.
(Very little to be said for it, except as a school of regular rhythm. Broken up into "short measure" (6, 6, 8, 6) it has been not ineffective in hymns.)
(e) Gascoigne (lyric stanza):
Sing lull|aby, | as wom|en do,
Wherewith | they bring | their babes | to rest,
And lull|aby | can I | sing too,
As wom|anly | as can | the best.
With lull|aby | they still | the child;
And if | I be | not much | beguiled,
Full ma|ny wan|ton babes | have I
Which must | be stilled | with lull|aby.
(f) Turberville (lyric stanza):
As I | in this | have done | your will,
And mind | to do,
So I | request | you to | fulfil
My fan|cy too,
A green | and lov|ing heart | to have,
And this | is all | that I | do crave.
(Observe in both of these the absolute syllabic regularity, and observance of foot-rhythm.)
XXI. Spenser[37] at Different Periods
(a) Shep. Kal. (strict stanza):
Thou bar|ren ground, | whom win|ter's wrath | has wasted,
Art made | a mir|ror to | behold | my plight:
Whilome | thy fresh | spring flower'd, | and af|ter hasted
Thy sum|mer proud, | with daf|fodil|lies dight;
And now | is come | thy win|ter's storm|y state,
Thy man|tle marr'd | wherein | thou mask|edst late.
(Regular iambs throughout. One double rhyme.)
(b) Shep. Kal. (equivalenced octosyllable—Christabel or Genesis and Exodus metre):
His harm|ful hat|chĕt hĕ hēnt | in hand,
(Alas! | that it | so read|y̆ shŏuld stānd!)
And to | the field | alone | he speedeth,
(Aye lit|tle help | to harm | there needeth!)
Anger | nould let | him speak |tŏ thĕ trēe,
Enaun|tĕr hĭs rāge | mought cool|ed bee;
But to | thĕ rŏot bēnt | his sturd|y stroke,
And made | măny̆ wōunds | in the | waste oak.
The ax|e's edge | did oft turne | again,
As half | unwill|ĭng tŏ cūt | the grain.
Seemed | the sense|less ir|on did fear,
Or to | wrong ho|ly eld | dĭd fŏrbēar— For it | had been | an an|cient tree, Sacred | with ma|ny̆ ă mȳs|tery, And of|ten crossèd | with the pries|tès cruise And of|ten hal|lowed with ho|ly wa|ter dews.
(Observe that this last is the only distinct, if not the only possible, decasyllabic couplet, while it can become an Alexandrine by valuing "hal|lowèd" |; and that "priestès" is the only attempt at valued Chaucerian e.)
(c) Shep. Kal. (equivalenced stanza):
Bring hi|thĕr thĕ pīnk and pur|ple col|umbine,
With gil|lyflowers;
Bring cor|ona|tions | and sops | in wine,
Worn of | părămōurs:
Strow me | the ground | with daf|fadown | dillies,[38] And cow|slips and | kingcups | and lov|ed lil|liès: The pret|ty paunce, And the chev|isaunce, Shall match | with the fair | flow'r delice.
It may be just desirable to remind the student that a final "-ion" is commonly dissyllabic in the sixteenth and earlier seventeenth centuries. "Worn of par|amours" is possible.
(d) "Spenserian" stanza (occasional, but mostly slight, equivalence. Pause in ll. 1–8 at discretion; in 9 usually at middle, but, as in the following, not always):
So pass|eth, in | the pass|ing of | a day
Of mor|tal life, | the leaf, | the bud, | the flower;
No more | doth flour|ish af|ter first | decay
That erst | was sought | to deck | both bed | and bower
Of ma|ny̆ ă lā|dy̆ ănd mā|ny̆ ă pār|amour!
Gather, | therefore, | the rose | while yet | is prime, For soon | comes age | that will | her pride | deflower: Gather | the rose | of love | whilst yet | is time, Whilst lov|ing thou | mayst lov|èd be | with e|qual crime.
(e) Mother Hubberd's Tale (antithetic and stopped heroic couplet):
Full litt|le know|est thou | that hast | not tried,
What hell | it is, | in su|ing long | to bide:
