METRE
Sir Gawain is composed in stanzas consisting of unrhymed alliterative lines followed by five short rhymed lines. The number of unrhymed lines varies from 12 to 38. There is no trace of the quatrain arrangement of the unrhymed lines which is found in Purity, Patience, St. Erkenwald, The Siege of Jerusalem, and The Wars of Alexander.
The Long Alliterative Lines.
The structure of these lines is similar to that of the OE. alliterative verse, from which it has descended through an unbroken oral tradition.[1] During the centuries which separate Sir Gawain from OE. verse the character of the alliterative line underwent some changes. The main differences are these:[2]
(1) The rhythm is purely accentual in ME. The lift is not required to fall on a syllable that is long as well as accented. This disregard of length probably arose when vowels were lengthened in open syllables in ME.
(2) The ME. verse is richer in alliteration; see below p. 120.
(3) The richer alliteration allows more freedom in the treatment of unstressed elements without weakening the line unduly. The number of unstressed syllables is considerably greater in ME. lines. The minimum half-line of four syllables, frequent in Beowulf, is rare in Sir Gawain.
(4) In OE. verse the falling rhythm (types A and D) predominates, whereas in ME. more lines begin with weak syllables and end with weak syllables as well, a rising-falling rhythm (types C and AB).
(5) In ME. the first half-line may have three lifts instead of two: usually all three then take the alliteration. The origin of the three-lift type is uncertain. Since it is found only in the first half-line, its evolution was evidently to some extent dependent on OE. precedent, for OE. verse also used heavier types in the first half-line than in the second.
- ↑ Cf. l. 33 and note.
- ↑ Some knowledge of OE. metre is necessary in order to the follow this account. The terminology here used is that of Sievers in the form adopted by Sweet in his account of OE. verse (A.-S. Reader, pp. lxxv ff.).
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