J. Schipper

A History of English Versification


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Beow. 205; with resolution of the first arsis, þánon he gesṓhte Beow. 463; with resolution of the second arsis, wéarð him on Héorote Beow. 1331; with strengthened second thesis, éart þū sē Bḗowùlf Beow. 506; with trisyllabic thesis, gíf þē þæt gelímpe El. 441, fúndon þā on sánde Beow. 3034; with resolution of the first arsis, hwǽðere mē gesǣ́lde Beow. 574, of the second arsis, sýððan ic for dúgeðum Beow. 2502; with strengthened second thesis, nṓ hē þone gífstṑl Beow. 168; with thesis of four syllables, swýlce hī mē gebléndon Cri. 1438, hábbað wē tō þǣm mǣ́ran Beow. 270; with resolution of the first arsis, útan ūs tō þǣre hȳ́ðe Cri. 865; with resolution of the first and second arsis, þóne þe him on swéofote Beow. 2296; with strengthened second thesis, nṓ þȳ ǣr þone héaðorìnc Beow. 2466; with thesis of five syllables, sýððan hē hine to gū̀ðe Beow. 1473; with thesis of six syllables, hȳ́rde ic þæt hē þone héalsbḕah Beow. 2173. These forms are also varied by monosyllabic anacrusis combined with monosyllabic thesis, þe ḗow of wérgðe El. 295, þæt híne on ýlde Beow. 22; with strengthened second thesis, þæt híne sēo brímwỳlf Beow. 1600; with disyllabic thesis, ne þéarft þū swā swī́ðe El. 940, gesprǽc þā sē gṓda Beow. 676; the same with resolution of the first arsis, gewítan him þā góngan Cri. 533; disyllabic anacrusis and disyllabic thesis, ne gefrǽgn ic þā mǣ́gðe Beow. 1012; with resolution of the second arsis, geséah hē in récede Beow. 728; with strengthened second thesis, ge swýlce sēo hérepà̄d Beow. 2259; monosyllabic anacrusis with trisyllabic thesis, on hwýlcum þāra bḗama El. 851; with four-syllable thesis, gewī́teð þonne on sealman Beow. 2461; with resolution of the first arsis, ne mā́gon hī þonne gehȳ́nan Cri. 1525; with resolution of the second arsis, gesā́won þā æfter wǽtere Beow. 1426. The last measure may be shortened exceptionally to ⏑́×, as wǽs mīn fǽder Beow. 262.

       § 26. The chief type B, ×–́|×–́, has apart from resolutions only one form. But as the second thesis may consist of either one or two syllables, we may distinguish between two sub-types, B1 (with monosyllabic second thesis) and B2 (with disyllabic second thesis). The commonest variation of the type occurs in the first thesis, which may be polysyllabic.

      (i) The simplest form, sub-type B1, ×–́|×–́, is not very common; according to Sievers there are only 59 instances in the whole of Beowulf, as ond Hā́lga tíl Beow. 61, þām hā́lig gód An. 14; with resolution of the first arsis in séle þām hḗan Beow. 714, and of the second arsis, þurh rū̀mne séfan Beow. 278, and of both, ǣr súmeres cýme El. 1228. Hemistichs of this type, on the other hand, with a disyllabic first thesis are not uncommon, syððan fúrðum wḗox Beow. 914, him pā Scýld gewā́t Beow. 26; with resolution of the first arsis, under Héorotes hrṓf Beow. 403; with resolution of the second, þæt sēo céaster híder An. 207, and of both, æfter hǽleða hrýre Beow. 2053; a trisyllabic first thesis is also common, þēah þe hē ā́tres drýnc An. 53, oð þæt him éft onwṓc Beow. 56, sē þe on hánda bǽr Beow. 495; with resolution of the first arsis, forðan hīe mǽgenes crǽft Beow. 418; of the second arsis, ond hū þȳ þríddan dǽge El. 185; of both, þæt hē þā géoguðe wíle Beow. 1182; with first thesis of four syllables, ne hȳrde ic sī́ð ne ǣ́r El. 240, swylce hīe æt Fínnes hā́m Beow. 1157; with first thesis of five syllables (rare) siððan hē hire fólmum hrā́n Beow. 723, and with resolution of second arsis þonne hȳ him þurh mī́nne nóman Cri. 1351.

      (ii) The sub-type B2, or B with disyllabic second thesis, is rarely found when the first thesis has only one syllable, þe drýhtnes bibṓd Cri. 1159, þū wá̄st gif hit is Beow. 272, þām wī́fe þā wórd Beow. 640; with resolution of the first arsis, þurh dároða gedrép An. 1446, and of the second, þurh níhta genípu Gū. 321; it is commoner with a disyllabic first thesis, þā of wéalle geséah Beow. 229, hē þæs frṓfre gebā́d Beow. 76; with resolution of the first arsis, mid his hǽleða gedríht Beow. 663, ofer wároða gewéorp An. 306; with trisyllabic first thesis, þonne hē ǣ́r oððe sī́ð El. 74, wes þū ūs lā́rena gṓd Beow. 269; with resolution of the first arsis, þēah hē þǣr mónige geséah Beow. 1614, and of the second arsis, þæt nǣfre Gréndel swā féla Beow. 592; with first thesis of four and five syllables, hwæðre hē in brḗostum þā gít An. 51, þæs be hire sē wílla gelámp Beow. 627.

      Verses with trisyllabic second thesis are extremely rare and doubtful.[76] It should be noticed that, in this second type too, the thesis seldom consists of a second part of a compound, as hine fýrwìt brǽc Beow. 232, the exceptions are proper names, as nū ic Bḗowùlf þéc Beow. 947, ne wearð Héremṑd swā́ Beow. 1710.

      Type B, according to Sievers, occurs 1014 times in Beowulf, of which 293 are in the first hemistich and 721 in the second.