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George Puttenham - The Arte of English Poesie

G >> George Puttenham >> The Arte of English Poesie




Your ordinarie rimers vse very much their measures in the odde as nine and
eleuen, and the sharpe accent vpon the last sillable, which therefore
makes him go ill fauouredly and like a minstrels musicke. Thus sayd one in
a meeter of eleven very harshly in mine eare, whether it be for lacke of
good rime or of good reason, or of both I wot not.
_Now sucke childe and sleepe childe, thy mothers owne ioy
Her only sweete comfort, to drowne all annoy
For beauty surpassing the azured skie
I loue thee my darling, as ball of mine eye._

This sort of compotition in the odde I like not, vnlesse it be holpen by
the _Cesure_ or by the accent as I sayd before.

The meeter of eight is no lesse pleasant then that of sixe, and the
_Cesure_ fals iust in the middle, as this of the Earle of Surreyes.
_When raging loue, with extreme payne._

The meeter of ten sillables is very stately and Heroicall, and must haue
his _Cesure_ fall vpon the fourth sillable, and leaue sixe behind him
thus.
_I serue at ease, and gouerne all with woe._

This meeter of twelue sillables the French man calleth a verse
_Alexandrine_, and is with our moderne rimers most usuall: with the
auncient makers it was not so. For before Sir _Thomas Wiats_ time they
were not vsed in our vulgar, they be for graue and stately matters fitter
than for any other ditty of pleasure. Some makers write in verses of
foureteene sillables giuing the _Cesure_ at the first eight, which
proportion is tedious, for the length of the verse kepeth the eare too
long from his delight, which is to heare the cadence or the tuneable
accent in the ende of the verse. Neuerthelesse that of twelue if his
_Cesure_ be iust in the middle, and that ye suffer him to runne at full
length, and do not as the common rimers do; or their Printer for sparing
of paper, cut them of in the middest, wherin they make in two verses but
halfe rime. They do very wel as wrote the Earle of Surrey translating the
booke of the preacher.
_Salomon Davids sonne, king of Ierusalem._

This verse is a very good _Alexandrine_, but perchaunce woulde haue
sounded more musically, if the first word had bene a dissillable, or two
monosillables and not a trissillable: hauing his sharpe accent vppon the
_Antepenultima_ as it hath, by which occasion it runnes like a _Dactill_,
and carries the two later sillables away so speedily as it seemes but one
foote in our vulgar measure, and by that meanes makes the verse seeme but
of eleuen sillables, which odnesse is nothing pleasant to the eare. Iudge
some body whether it would haue done better (if it might) haue bene fayd
thus,
_Roboham Dauids sonne, king of Ierusalem._
Letting the sharpe accent fall vpon _bo_, or thus
_Restore king Dauids sonne vnto Ierusalem_.
For now the sharpe accent falles vpon _bo_, and so doth it vpon the last
in _restore_, which was not in th'other verse. But because we haue seemed
to make mention of _Cesure_, and to appoint his place in euery measure, it
shall not be amisse to say somewhat more of it, & also of such pauses as
are vsed in vtterance, & what commoditie or delectation they bring either
to the speakers or to the hearers.




_CHAP. IIII._

_Of Cesure._


There is no greater difference betwixt a ciuill and brutish vtteraunce
then cleare distinction of voices: and the most laudable languages are
alwaies most plaine and distinct, and the barbarous most confuse and
indistinct: it is therefore requisit that leasure be taken in
pronuntiation, such as may make our wordes plaine & most audible and
agreable to the eare: also the breath asketh to be now and then releeued
with some pause or stay more or lesse: besides that the very nature of
speach (because it goeth by clauses of seuerall construction & sence)
requireth some space betwixt them with intermission of sound, to th'end
they may not huddle one vpon another so rudly & so fast that th'eare may
not perceiue their difference. For these respectes the auncient reformers
of language, inuented, three maner of pauses, one of lesse leasure then
another, and such seuerall intermissions of sound to serue( besides
easment to the breath) for a treble distinction of sentences or parts of
speach, as they happened to be more or lesse perfect in sence. The
shortest pause or intermission they called _comma_ as who would say a
peece of a speach cut of. The second they called _colon_, not a peece but
as it were a member for his larger length, because it occupied twice as
much time as the _comma_. The third they called _periodus_, for a
complement or full pause, and as a resting place and perfection of so much
former speach as had bene vttered, and from whence they needed not to
passe any further vnles it were to renew more matter to enlarge the tale.
This cannot be better represented then by example of these common
trauailers by the hie ways, where they seeme to allow themselues three
maner of staies or easements: one a horsebacke calling perchaunce for a
cup of beere or wine, and hauing dronken it vp rides away and neuer
lights: about noone he commeth to his Inne, & there baites him selfe and
his horse an houre or more: at night when he can conueniently trauaile no
further, he taketh vp his lodging, and rests him selfe till the morrow:
from whence he followeth the course of a further voyage, if his business
be such. Euen so our Poet when he hath made one verse, hath as it were
finished one dayes iourney, & the while easeth him selfe with one baite at
the least, which is a _Comma_ or _Cesure_ in the mid way, if the verse be
euen and not odde, otherwise in some other place, and not iust in the
middle. If there be no _Cesure_ at all, and the verse long, the lesse is
the makers skill and hearers delight. Therefore in a verse of twelue
sillables the _Cesure_ ought to fall right vpon the sixt sillable: in a
verse of eleuen vpon the sixt also leauing fiue to follow. In a verse of
ten vpon the fourth, leaving sixe to follow. In a verse of nine vpon the
fourth, leauing fiue to follow. In a verse of eight iust in the middest,
that is, vpon the fourth. In a verse of seauen, either vpon the fourth or
none at all, the meeter very ill brooking any pause. In a verse of sixe
sillables and vnder is needefull no _Cesure_ at all, because the breath
asketh no reliefe: yet if ye giue any _Comma_, it is to make distinction
of sense more then for any thing else: and such _Cesure_ must neuer be
made in the middest of any word, if it be well appointed. So may you see
that the vse of these pawses or distinctions is not generally with the
vulgar Poet as it is with the Prose writer because the Poetes cheife
Musicke lying in his rime or concorde to heare the Simphonie, he maketh
all the hast he can to be at an end of his verse, and delights not in many
stayes by the way, and therefore giueth but one _Cesure_ to any verse: and
thus much for the sounding of a meetre. Neuerthelesse he may vse in any
verse both his _comma, colon_, and _interrogatiue_ point, as well as in
prose. But our auncient rymers, as _Chaucer, Lydgate_ & others, vsed these
_Cesures_ either very seldome, or not at all, or else very licentiously,
and many times made their meetres (they called them riding ryme) of such
vnshapely wordes as would allow no conuenient _Cesure_, and therefore did
let their rymes runne out at length, and neuer stayd till they came to the
end: which maner though it were not to be misliked in some sort of meetre,
yet in euery long verse the _Cesure_ ought to be kept precisely, if it
were but to serue as a law to correct the licentiousnesse of rymers,
besides that it pleaseth the eare better, & sheweth more cunning in the
maker by following the rule of his restraint. For a rymer that will be
tyed to no rules at all, but range as he list, may easily vtter what he
will: but such maner of Poesie is called in our vulgar, ryme dogrell, with
which rebuke we will in no case our maker should be touched. Therfore
before all other things let his ryme and concordes be true, cleare, and
audible with no lesse delight, then almost the strayned note of a
Musicians mouth, & not darke or wrenched by wrong writing as many doe to
patch vp their meetres, and so follow in their arte neither rule, reason,
nor ryme. Much more might be sayd for the vse of your three pauses,
_comma_, _colon_, & _periode_, for perchance it be not all a matter to vse
many _commas_, and few, nor _colons_ likewise, or long or short
_periodes_, for it is diuersly vsed, by diuers good writers. But because
it apperteineth more to the oratour or writer in prose then in verse, I
will say no more in it, then thus, that they be vsed for a commodious and
sensible distinction of clauses in prose, since euery verse is as it were
a clause of it selfe and limited with a _Cesure_ howsoeuer the sence
beare, perfect or imperfect, which difference is obseruable betwixt the
prose and the meeter.




_CHAP. V._

_Of Proportion in Concord, called Symphonie or rime._


Because we vse the word rime (though by maner of abusion) yet to helpe
that fault againe we apply it in our vulgar Poesie another way very
commendably & curiously. For wanting the currantnesse of the Greeke and
Latine feete, in stead thereof we make in th'ends of our verses a certaine
tunable sound: which anon after with another verse reasonably distant we
accord together in the last fall or cadence: the eare taking pleasure to
heare the like tune reported, and to feele hie returne. And for this
purpose serue the _monosillables_ of our English Saxons excellently well,
because they do naturally and indifferently receiue any accent, & in them
if they finish the verse, resteth the shrill accent of necessitie, and so
doth it not in the last of euery _bissillable_, nor of euery
_polisillable_ word: but to the purpose, _ryme_ is a borrowed word from
the Greeks by the Latines and French, from them by vs Saxon angles and by
abusion as hath bene sayd, and therefore it shall not do amisse to tell
what this _rithmos_ was with the Greekes, for what is it with vs hath bene
already sayd. There is an accomptable number which we call _arithmeticall
(arithmos)_ as one, two, three. There is also a musicall or audible
number, fashioned by stirring of tunes & their sundry times in the
vtterance of our wordes, as when the voice goeth high or low, or sharpe or
flat, or swift or slow: & this is called _rithmos_ or numerositie, that is
to say, a certaine flowing vtteraunce by slipper words and sillables, such
as the toung easily vtters, and the eare with pleasure receiueth, and
which flowing of wordes with much volubilitie smoothly proceeding from the
mouth is in some sort _harmonicall_ and breedeth to th'eare a great
compasiion. This point grew by the smooth and delicate running of their
feete, which we haue not in our vulgare, though we use as much as may be
the most flowing words & slippery sillables, that we can picke out: yet do
not we call that by the name of ryme, as the Greekes did: but do give the
name of ryme onely to our concordes, or tunable consentes in the latter
end of our verses, and which concords the Greekes nor Latines neuer vsed
in their Poesie till by the barbarous souldiers out of the campe, it was
brought into the Court and thence to the schoole, as hath bene before
remembred: and yet the Greekes and Latines both vsed a maner of speach, by
clauses of like termination, which they called [Greek: illegible] and
was the nearest that they approched to our ryme: but is not our right
concord: so as we in abusing this terme (_ryme_) be neuertheless excusable
applying it to another point in Poesie no lesse curious then their
_rithme_ or numerositie which in deede passed the whole verse throughout,
whereas our concordes keepe but the latter end of euery verse, or
perchaunce the middle and the end in metres that be long.




_CHAP. VI._

_Of accent, time and stir perceiued euidently in the distinction of mans
voice, and which makes the flowing of a meeter._


Nowe because we haue spoken of accent, time and stirre or motion in
wordes, we will set you downe more at large what they be. The auncient
Greekes and Latines by reason their speech fell out originally to be
fashioned with words of many syllables for the most part, it was of
necessity that they could not vtter euery sillable with one like and egall
sounde, nor in like space of time, nor with like motion or agility: but
that one must be more suddenly and quickely forsaken, or longer pawsed
vpon then another: or sounded with a higher note & clearer voyce then
another, and of necessitie this diuersitie of sound, must fall either vpon
the last sillable, or vpon the last saue one, or vpon the third and could
not reach higher to make any notable difference; it caused them to giue
vunto three different sounds three seuerall names: to that which was
highest lift vp and most eleuate or shrillest in the eare, they gaue the
name of the sharpe accent, to the lowest and most base because it seemed
to fall downe rather then to rise vp, they gaue the name of the heauy
accent, and that other which seemed in part to lift vp and in part to fall
downe, they called the circumflex, or compast accent: and if new termes
were not odious, we might very properly call him the (windabout) for so is
the Greek word. Then bycause euery thing that by nature fals down is said
heauy, & whatsoever naturally mounts upward is said light, it gaue
occasion to say that there were diuersities in the motion of the voice, as
swift & slow, which motion also presupposes time, by cause time is
_mensura motus_, by the Philosopher: so haue you the causes of their
primitiue inuention and vse in our arte of Poesie, all this by good
obseruation we may perceiue in our vulgar wordes if they be of mo
sillables then one, but specially if they be _trissillables_, as for
example in these wordes [_altitude_] and [_heauinesse_] the sharpe accent
falles vpon [_al_] & [_he_] which be the _antepenultimaes:_ the other two
fall away speedily as if they were scarse founded in this _trissilable
[forsaken]_ the sharp accent fals vpon [_sa_] which is the _penultima_,
and in the other two is heauie and obscure. Againe in these _bisillables,
endure, unsure, demure, aspire, desire, retire_, your sharpe accent falles
vpon the last sillable: but in words _monosillable_ which be for the more
part our naturall Saxon English, the accent is indifferent, and may be
vsed for sharp or flat and heauy at our pleasure. I say Saxon English, for
our Normane English alloweth vs very many _bissillables_, and also
_triffilables_ as, _reuerence, diligence, amorous, desirous_, and such
like.




_CHAP. VII._

_Of your Cadences by which your meeter is made Symphonicall
when they be sweetest and most solemne in a verse._


As the smoothenesse of your words and sillables running vpon feete of
sundrie qualities, make with the Greekes and Latines the body of their
verses numerous or Rithmicall, so in our vulgar Poesie, and of all other
nations at this day, your verses answering eche other by couples, or at
larger distances in good [_cadence_] is it that maketh your meeter
symphonicall. This cadence is the fal of a verse in euery last word with a
certaine tunable sound which being matched with another of like sound, do
make a [_concord_.] And the whole cadence is contained sometime in one
sillable, sometime in two, or in three at the most: for aboue the
_antepenultima_ there reacheth no accent (which is chiefe cause of the
cadence) vnlesse it be vsurpation in some English words, to which we giue
a sharpe accent vpon the fourth as, _Honorable, matrimonie, patrimonie,
miserable_, and such other as would neither make a sweete cadence, nor
easily find any word of like quantitie to match them. And the accented
sillable with all the rest vnder him make the cadence, and no sillable
aboue, as in these words, _Agillitie, facillitie, subiection, direction_,
and these bissilables, _Tender, slender, trustie, lustie, but alwayes the
cadence which falleth vpon the last sillable of a verse is sweetest and
most commendable: that vpon the _penultima_ more light, and not so
pleasant: but falling vpon the _antepenultima_ is most vnpleasant of all,
because they make your meeter too light and triuiall, and are fitter for
the Epigrammatist or Comicall Poet then for the Lyrick and Elegiack, which
are accompted the sweeter Musickes. But though we haue sayd that (to make
good concored) your seuerall verses should haue their cadences like, yet
must there be some difference in their orthographie, though not in their
sound, as if one cadence be [_constraine_] the next [_restraine_] or one
[_aspire_] another [_respire_] this maketh no good concord, because they
are all one, but if ye will exchange both these consonants of the accented
sillable, or voyde but one of them away, then will your cadences be good
and your concord to, as to say, _restraine, refraine, remaine: aspire,
desire, retire_: which rule neuerthelesse is not well obserued by many
makers for lacke of good iudgement and a delicate eare. And this may
suffise to shew the vse and nature of your cadences, which are in effect
all the sweetnesse and cunning in our vulgar Poesie.




_CHAP. VIII_

_How the good maker will not wrench his word to helpe his rime, either by
falsifying his accent, or by untrue orthographie._


Now there can not be in a maker a fowler fault then to falsifie his accent
to serue his cadence, or by vntrue orthographie to wrench his words to
helpe his rime, for it is a signe that such a maker is not copious in his
owne language, or (as they are wont to say) not halfe his crafts maister:
as for example, if one should rime to this word [_Restore_] he may not
match him with [_Doore_] or [_Poore_] for neither of both are of like
terminant, either by good orthography or in naturall sound, therfore such
rime is strained, so is it to this word [_Ram_] to say [_came_] or to
[_Beane [_Den_] for they sound not nor be written alike, & many other like
cadences which were superfluous to recite, and are vsuall with rude rimers
who obserue not precisely the rules of [_prosodie_] neuerthelesse in all
such cases (if necessitie constrained) it is somewhat more tolerable to
help the rime by false orthographie, than to leaue an unpleasant
dissonance to the eare, by keeping trewe orthographie and loosing the
rime, as for example it is better to rime [_Dore_] with [_Restore_] then
in his truer orthographie, which is [_Doore_] and to this word [_Desire_]
to say [_Fier_] then fyre though it be otherwise better written _fire_.
For since the cheife grace of our vulgar Poesie consisteth in the
Symphonie, as hath bene already sayd, our maker must not be too licentious
in his concords, but see that they go euen, iust and melodious in the
eare, and right so in the numerositie or currantnesse of the whole body of
his verse, and in euery other of his proportions. For a licentious maker
is in truth but a bungler and not a Poet. Such men were in effect the most
part of all your old rimers and specially _Gower_, who to make vp his rime
would for the most part write his terminant sillable with false
orthographie, and many times not sticke to put in a plaine French word for
an English, & so by your leaue do many of our common rimers at this day:
as he that by all likelyhood, hauing no word at hand to rime to this word
[_ioy_] he made his other verse ende in [_Roy_] saying very impudently
thus,
_O mightie Lord of loue, dame Venus onely ioy
Who art the highest God of any heauenly Roy._
Which word was neuer yet receiued in our language for an English word.
Such extreme licentiousnesse is vtterly to be banished from our schoole,
and better it might haue bene borne with in old riming writers, bycause
they liued in a barbarous age, & were graue morall men but very homely
Poets, such also as made most of their workes by translation out of the
Latine and French toung, & few or none of their owne engine as may easely
be knowen to them that list to looke vpon the Poemes of both languages.

Finally as ye may ryme with wordes of all sortes, be they of many
sillables or few, so neuerthelesse is there a choise by which to make your
cadence (before remembred) most commendable, for some wordes of exceeding
great length, which haue bene fetched from the Latine inkhome or borrowed
of strangers, the vse of them in ryme is nothing pleasant, sauing
perchaunce to the common people, who reioyce much to be at playes and
enterludes, and besides their naturall ignoraunce, haue at all such times
their eares so attentiue to the matter, and their eyes vpon the shewes of
the stage, that they take little heede to the cunning of the rime, and
therefore be as well satisfied with that which is grosse, as with any
other finer and more delicate.




_Chap. IX._

_Of Concorde in long and short measures, and by neare or farre distaunces,
and which of them is most commendable_.


But this ye must obserue withall, that bycause your concords containe the
chief part of Musicke in your meetre, their distaunces may not be too wide
or farre asunder, lest th'eare should loose the tune, and be defrauded of
his delight, and whensoeuer ye see any maker vse large and extraordinary
distaunces, ye must thinke he doth intende to shew himselfe more
artificiall then popular, and yet therein is not to be discommended, for
respects that shalbe remembred in some other place of this booke.

Note also that rime or concorde is not commendably vsed both in the end
and middle of a verse, vnlesse it be in toyes and trifling Poesies, for it
sheweth a certaine lightnesse either of the matter or of the makers head,
albeit these common rimers vse it much, for as I sayd before, like as the
Symphonie in a versse of great length, is (as it were) lost by looking
after him, and yet may the meetre be very graue and stately: so on the
other side doth the ouer busie and too speedy returne of one maner of
tune, too much annoy & as it were glut the eare, vnlesse it be in small &
popular Musickes song by thesse _Cantabanqui_ vpon benches and barrels
heads where they haue none other audience then boys or countrey fellowes
that passse by them in the streete, or else by blind harpers or such like
tauerne minstrels that giue a fit of mirth for a groat, & their matters
being for the most part stories of old time, as the tale of Sir _Topas_,
the reportes of _Beuis_ of _Southampton, Guy_ of _Warwicke, Adam Bell_,
and _Clymme of the Clough_ & such other old Romances or historicall rimes,
made purposely for recreation of the common people at Christmasse diners &
brideales, and in tauernes & alehouses and such other places of base
resort, also they be vsed in Carols and rounds and such light or
lasciuious Poemes, which are commonly more commodiously vttered by these
buffons or vices in playes then by any other person. Such were the rimes
of _Skelton_ (vsurping the name of a Poet Laureat) being in deede but a
rude rayling rimer & all his doings ridiculous, he vsed both short
distaunces and short measures pleasing onely the popular eare: in our
courtly maker we banish them vtterly. Now also haue ye in euery song or
ditty concorde by compasse & concorde entertangled and a mixt of both,
what that is and how they be vsed shalbe declared in the chapter of
proportion by _scituation._




_CHAP. X_

_Of proportion by situation._


This proportion consisteth in placing of euery verse in a staffe or ditty
by such reasonable distaunces, as may best serue the eare for delight, and
also to shew the Poets art and variety of Musick, and the proportion is
double. One by marshalling the meetres, and limiting their distaunces
hauing regard to the rime or concorde how they go and returne: another by
placing euery verse, hauing a regard to his measure and quantitie onely,
and not to his concorde as to set one short meetre to three long, or foure
short and two long, or a short measure and a long, or of diuers lengthes
with relation one to another, which maner of _Situation_, euen without
respect of the rime, doth alter the nature of the Poesie, and make it
either lighter or grauer, or more merry, or mournfull, and many wayes
passionate to the eare and hart of the hearer, seeming for this point that
our maker by his measures and concordes of sundry proprotions doth
counterfait the harmonicall tunes of the vocall and instrumentall
Musickes. As the _Dorian_ because his falls, sallyes and compasse be
diuers from those of the _Phrigien_, the _Phrigien_ likewise from the
_Lydien_, and all three from the _Eolien, Miolidien_, and _Ionien_,
mounting and falling from note to note such as be to them peculiar, and
with more or lesse leasure or precipitation. Euen so by diuersitie of
placing and situation of your measures and concords, a short with a long,
and by narrow or wide distances, or thicker or thinner bestowing of them
your proportions differ, and breedeth a variable and strange harmonie not
onely in the eare, but also in the conceit of them that heare it, whereof
this may be an ocular example.

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