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Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON WC1 R 4EJ, ENGLAND 7 9 2 2 5 4 1 QUINN. WILLIAM ANTHONY THE ORAL PERFORMANCE OF MEDIEVAL POETRY AND REGULAR END-RHYME. THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, P H .D ., 1979 COPR. 1979 QUINN, WILLIAM ANTHONY University Micnjifilrns International 300 n zeeh hoao. ann ahboh.48 iogMr @ 1979 WILLIAM ANTHONY QUINN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE ORAL PERFORMANCE OF MEDIEVAL POETRY AND REGULAR END-RHYME DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By William A. Quinn, B.A., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1979 Reading Committee: Approved By Professor Christian K. Zacher, Chairman Professor Stanley J. Kahrl Professor Alan K. Brown (.0 : 1 1 f : Advis^i Department of English To Tricia, Who drove me home. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although much has been written about the conventional phrasing of oral poetry, the thanks that I now need to convey seem equally formulaic. It is, however, the first time I perform this task. And all these cliches seem suddenly new, significant and alive. Therefore, I wish to thank, as so many have thanked before, the members of my reading committee--Professors Alan K. Brown, Stanley J. Kahrl and especially my main adviser, Christian K. Zacher. I thank them for both their patience in receiving and their promptness in returning my efforts. I thank them for forcing me to think more and to think again. I also wish to thank all my friends and colleagues at Ohio State University, but especially Miss Jane Wemhoener who more than merely typed the final copy of this text; though I authored this dissertation, she was its jongleur. Also, all my former teachers deserve some mention, but I will confine my ebullience at the completion of this project to acknowledging the late Fr. Thomas G. Savage, S.J. Professor Karl Wentersdorf and the entire faculty of the Honors Program at Xavier University in Cincinnati. My parents, my first teachers and my best, have long ago grown accustomed to being thanked last--and most; I shall never thank them sufficiently. But now I know one who deserves to be thanked as much and more, and for her is reserved the dubious honor of being thanked last. My wife, Tricia, did not vow to endure the manic anxiety of this project, but she did, and I will thank her the rest of our lives. VITA May 30, 1951 . Born - Newark, New Jersey 1973 ................. B.A., Xavier University Cincinnati, Ohio 1973-197 4 ............ Graduate Fellow, English Department, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1974-1976, 1978-1979 Graduate Teaching Associate, English Department, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1975 . M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1976-1977 Graduate Fellow, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1977-1978 Graduate Teaching Associate, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Medieval English Literature Minor Fields: Renaissance, Modern and Drama v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION......................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................. iii VITA................................................ v INTRODUCTION....................................... 1 Chapter I. RHYME AND R E A S O N ........................ 12 Rhyme in Theory ...................... 12 Rhyme in P r a c t i c e ................... 46 II. THE MEDIEVAL WELSH TRADITION .......... 86 Historical Contexts ................. 86 The Question of Origins and Primacy 98 The Bardic Rhyme Patterns .......... 108 The Formal Functions of Medieval Welsh Rhyme Patterns................. 126 The Welsh Tradition in English Verse 139 Critical Principles for Assessing Primary Rhyme Patterns.............. 158 III. THE ART OF END-RHYME IN TWO MIDDLE ENGLISH ROMANCES.......................... 172 King Horn and Havelok the Dane. 172 The Oral Theory and Middle English Romances............................... 179 The Jongleur's System of Improvised End-Rhymes in King Ho r n ............. 189 IV. CONCLUSION................................. 224 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................... 238 Page APPENDIXES I. Examples of the Traditional Welsh M e a s u r e s ................................. 257 II. The -YN Rhymes of the Armes Prydein. 260 III. The End-Rhymes of King Horn............ 262 A. End-Rhymes that occur in only One or Two Couplets of the C- Manuscript of King Horn .... 268 B. End-Rhymes that occur m Three to Nine Couplets of the C- Manuscript of King Horn .... 272 C. End-Rhymes that occur in Ten or More Couplets of the C- Manuscript of King Horn .... 334 INTRODUCTION The exact origin of rhyme is another of those points which Fate, or Logic, or, if anybody pleases, Pusillanimity, dispenses us from attacking. George Saintsbury, A History of English Prosody, vol. I (1923), p. 19. It seems quite difficult to prolong a discussion of rhyme and, at the same time, to maintain any semblance of "high seriousness." In general, most studies of rhyme may be classified as either observational or historical— though quite a few histories of English prosody combine both approaches. Observational studies simply attempt to label the plethora of patterns for rhyme-arrangement in 1 poetry. Historical studies record when each pattern was first practiced, when it was most popular and, finally, 2 when it fell from fashion. This study shall attempt, however, to suggest why regular end-rhyme may have been dismissed from serious English poetry by analyzing first why it was introduced. Any observational study of rhyme will offer a lexicon of the standard patterns in English poetry. Observational studies provide the necessary vocabulary for any further discussion of rhyme and should be judged, like any glossary, according to their encyclopedic inclusiveness. It is assumed that certain patterns of regular end-rhyme in English poetry may be considered more or less "standard" (i.e., available for future imitation) based on their more or less successful and recurrent use in previous English poems. The scholar who, however, confines himself to such a study usually ostracizes himself from all future company. He becomes, at best, a crashing bore with an etymologically chaotic vocabulary. Such terms as rime royale, Alexandrine, ballad and ballade, sonnet (with its multitude of modifiers), villanelle, terza and ottava rima, and on and on, wind their way into his cocktail chit-chat. At worst, such a savante can simply mumble: abac; aabb; abba, and on and on. But the most terrifying phenomenon— the fact that haunts the encyclopedist of rhyme patterns— the threat that makes him somnambulate— is his realization that anyone at any time can Invent an entirely new rhyme scheme; and it may be a pattern, as in Dylan Thomas' "Prologue," which requires that he finally learn not one, but two complete alphabets. Though the history of rhyme per se must begin with a question mark and can conclude only with a full colon, the historian's sanity is saved by the outline of time. He can organize the introduction of rhyme patterns into English poetry from fixed date to fixed date, and then can blithely allow his heirs to record any future developments. Nevertheless, the task of the historian of English rhyme remains difficult in the extreme. As the cataloguer could have warned on the brink of his breakdown, English poetry is constipated with a diet of imported forms. The Late Latins, Welsh, Vikings, French and Italians have all pro­ vided prosodic entrees for native English poets to digest. It is now universally acknowledged that regular end- rhyme may not be considered part of the native Anglo-Saxon 3 tradition for English poetry. That "Anglo-Saxon" itself means "native" to English poetry may be argued. But it is clear that the scops made no more of regular end-rhyme than many of our contemporary poets do; the rhyming tradition conquered a successful non-rhyming one only after 4 1066. Despite this late start and despite the Alliterative Revival, regular end-rhyme endured as both native and natural to English poetry through the nineteenth century.