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deed is

chestainis: fain is theevis: greef is

at ones: noon is

me Rome: to me etc.

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preye: sey ye tyme: by

In NE. broken rime is especially used in humourous and satirical poems, e.g. Butler's Hudibras, ecclesiastic: a stick prophet: of it - promise: from us what else: battles rare is: Paris etc., in Byron's Beppo and Don Juan, Don Juan: a new one: the true one Agamemnon: I condemn none mathematical: was attic all: what I call Roman: no man pardon: hard on: garden Great Britain: hit on etc. It also occurs with enjambement, so that the article, for example, is separated from its noun, e.g. Desdemona: Verona: was known a || (Husband) idea: Medea: could be a (Thing) etc. Browning uses broken rime, e.g. silence: a mile hence kitchen: rich in jasmine: alas mine Vichy: who is she etc.; sometimes the rime is very impure: require it: spirit council: gown sell etc. Sometimes both rimes are 'broken', so that the same word follows the stressed riming syllable in both verses. Thus in the earlier period, e.g. Towneley Plays (Noah), what alis you: asalis you: avalis you get me: set me: let me, later especially in Scotch poetry, e.g. Burns gie us: see us; free us: lea'e us tended: kenn'd it: send it: mend it etc. again especially in comic poems, e.g. in Hudibras, shake 'em: mistake 'em, in between 'em: who've seen 'em: lean 'em

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atIn NE.

Butler's

Byron:

over

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truth is: tooth is

not: could not, in Browning no more, Love: before,

Love words are: birds are

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hold me: fold me before me: bore me: O'er me, in Swinburne stream of it: scream of it: dream of it fare for them: prayer for them:

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The riming syllable, as stated, must be the last stressed syllable of the word; but it is not only a syllable with chief stress which can rime, but in ME. in certain cases a syllable with subsidiary stress can also rime. This is especially the case with the heavy Germanic derivative syllables -y, -ing, -ere, -esse or the second part of compounds, e.g. ME. I: lady by: worthy: redy - openly: sikerly ýe (eye): melodie - king: hunting here: answere lesse: gladnesse man: woman kene: fiftene shipe: felawshipe etc. In Lagamon suffix rime is enough men: comèn Hengèst: fairèst.

In ME. the derivative syllables of romance words often rime, these had then as in French the chief stress on the last syllable at the end of the verse, e.g. table: honorable rage: langage smal: imperial daunce: countenance

vaile: bataile fain: certain

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faile: tra

she: beautee:

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religioun flour: colour-us: hous: glorious cure: aventure etc.

-

wor

The possibility of a rime by means of a syllable with subsidiary stress in words of Germanic origin is very limited in NE. The derivative syllable -ing can no longer rime with a root-syllable in -ing, but only as the unstressed syllable of a feminine rime, e.g. dying: flying shining: repining etc. The derivative syllable -er only rarely rimes with a stress syllable, e.g. Byron wanderer: air shippér: err; once witnessés: these. In Shakespeare and other earlier poets we occasionally find rimes such as head: banished, also in Butler dress: languagés head: furnished - her: interpretér. But the rime of the adverbial ending -ly with a stressed root-syllable is still permitted, e.g. eternally: sea immortally: be. The -y of romance words, too, rimes with root-syllables to [i] or [ai], e.g. company: sea victory: dye

lie etc.

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enmity:

Many other syllables with secondary stress in romance words rime with root-syllables, e.g. battlement: sent attitude: mood solitude: wood: understood origin: sin - carnival: wall parallel: hell: well, even impregnable: well, or two syllables with secondary stress, e.g. confessional: festival.

In most polysyllabic romance words the last syllable, which in ME. could rime, has become so weak owing to the shifting of the chief stress to

wards the beginning of the word that it can be used only as the unstressed syllable in feminine rime. The above quoted rimes, correct in ME., would be impossible in NE. (table: honourable rage: language small: imperial dance: countenaunce

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fail: travel: battle - fain: certain she: beauty: city bless: riches town: prison down: religion flower: colour-us: house: glorious). Only occasionally we find archaic rimes such as countree: we.

NOTE. Thus many romance words have no rime at all, e.g. solace, countess, forest, tempest, silence, patience, patient, judgment, sudden, govern, conquer, perfect, poet, envy, country, justice, publish, visit, music, virgin, common, person, custom, comfort, conscious, autumn, Jesus, virtue, scripture etc., also Germanic words such as meadow, window, besom, open, woman, women, thousand, husband, hatred, goddess, gossip, friendship, wisdom etc., whilst a syllable with a strong subsidiary stress can still rime with a root-syllable e.g. sixteen: mean everything: king moonlight: bright

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sea-mew: blue etc.

141. Impure Rime.

When the requirements necessary for rime are not carried out fully, we have impure rime, assonance or inexact rime.

Impure rime occurs when the riming vowels are different in quantity or quality; thus when, for instance, short vowels rime with long vowels, e.g. ME. had: maad - falle: smale (adj. pl.) sette: ete is: paradys etc., or when e rimes

with i, ou with o or u [ül, ey with oy, e.g. ME.

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In general ME. poets take great care that the riming vowels shall be quite alike, and it is by the rimes that we can often recognize the original dialect of ME. poets in spite of the arbitrary orthography of the scribes.

With the development of the English vowels and their changes during centuries the rimes had to keep pace. Thus rimes formerly correct had to vanish (cp. § 140), and new rimes formerly impossible took their place. But in the NE. period, especially since the eighteenth century, departures have been made from the strict rule that rime must be correct for the ear. Thus we find in modern poetry rimes, which were formerly pure but are now impure, e.g. love: prove love: grove come: home one: alone blood: stood burn: mourn

done: gone

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profound: wound are: faire etc.

Many poets allow themselves too much license, e.g. Byron (Don Juan) man: sun chaste: best

Roman: woman

thirty etc.

women: seamen virtue:

$142. Assonance.

Assonance occurs when the vowels of the final stressed syllables (and those of the following unstressed syllables) are alike, but the consonants

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