CHAPTER X

OTHER ITALIAN AND FRENCH POETICAL FORMS OF A FIXED CHARACTER

§ =316.= The =madrigal=, an Italian form (It. _mandriale_, _madrigale_, from _mandra_ flock), is a pastoral song, a rural idyl. The Italian madrigals of Petrarch, &c., are short, isometrical poems of eleven-syllable verses, consisting of two or three terzetti with different rhymes and two or four other rhyming verses, mostly couplets: _a b c a b c d d, a b a b c b c c, a b b a c c d d, a b b c d d e e, a b b a c c c d d, a b a c b c d e [] d e, a b b c d d e e f f, a b b c d d e f f g g._

The English madrigals found in Sidney and especially in Drummond resemble the Italian madrigals only in subject; in their form they differ widely from their models, as they consist of from fifteen to five lines and have the structure of canzone-stanzas of three- and five-foot verses. The stanzas run on an average from eight to twelve lines. As a specimen the twelfth madrigal of Drummond (_Poets_, iv. 644), according to the formula _a₃ a₅ b₃ a₅ b₃ b₅ c₅ c₃ d d₅_, may be quoted here:

_Trees happier far than I, Which have the grace to heave your heads so high, And overlook those plains: Grow till your branches kiss that lofty sky, Which her sweet self contains. There make her know mine endless love and pains, And how these tears which from mine eyes do fall, Help you to rise so tall: Tell her, as once I for her sake lov'd breath, So for her sake I now court lingering death._

Other madrigals have the following schemes (the first occurring twice in Sidney and once in Drummond, while the rest are found in Drummond only):

fifteen lines, _a₃ a₅ b₃ c₅ c₃ b₅ b₃ d₅ d₃ e e₅ d₃ e f f₅_; fourteen lines, _a a₃ a₅ b₃ c₅ b₃ c d₅ e e₃ d f₅ d₃ f₅_; thirteen lines, _a a₃ b₅ c c₃ b₅ c₃ d d₅ e₃ f e f₅_; twelve lines, _a₂ b₅ b₃ a₅ c d₃ d c₅ c e₃ f f₅_; eleven lines, _a₃ b c a₅ b d₃ d e e f f₅_; ten lines, _a b₃ b a₅ a c b₃ c d d₅_; nine lines, _a₃ a₅ b c b₃ c c d d₅_; eight lines, _a₃ a₅ b b c₃ c d d₅_; seven lines, _a b a₃ c c₅ a₃ b₅_; six lines, _a b b a c₃ c₅_; five lines, _a b b₃ a b₅_. For specimens of these and other madrigals in Drummond cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 508.

§ =317.= Some poems in Drummond's and Sidney's works entitled epigrams consist, as a rule, of two or more five-foot verses, rhyming in couplets. In Sidney there are also short poems resembling these in subject, but consisting of one-rhymed Alexandrines. We have also one in R. Browning (iii. 146) of seven one-rhymed Septenary verses; several others occur in D. G. Rossetti (ii. 137-40) of eight lines on the schemes _a a₄ b b₄ a a₄ b b₄_ styled Chimes (cf. _Metrik_, ii, §§ 570, 571.)

§ =318.= The =terza-rima=. Of much greater importance is another Italian form, viz. a continuous stanza of eleven-syllable verses, the terza-rima, the metre in which Dante wrote his Divina Commedia. It first appears in English poetry in Chaucer's Complaint to his Lady, second and third part,[204] but may be said to have been introduced into English literature by Wyatt, who wrote satires and penitential psalms in this form (Ald. ed. pp. 186-7, 209-34), and by Surrey in his _Description of the restless state of a Lover_ (Ald. ed. p. 1). The rhyme-system of the terza-rima is _a b a b c b c d c_, &c. That is to say, the first and third lines of the first triplet rhyme together, while the middle line has a different rhyme which recurs in the first and third line of the second triplet; and in the same manner the first and third lines of each successive triplet rhyme with the middle line of the preceding one, so as to form a continuous chain of three-line stanzas of iambic five-foot verses till the end of the poem, which is formed by a single line added to the last stanza and rhyming with its second line.

The first stanzas of Surrey's poem may be quoted here:

_The sun hath twice brought forth his tender green, Twice clad the earth in lively lustiness; Once have the winds the trees despoiled clean, And once again begins their cruelness; Since I have hid under my breast the harm That never shall recover healthfulness._

_The winter's hurt recovers with the warm; The parched green restored is with shade; What warmth, alas! may serve for to disarm The frozen heart, that mine in flame hath made? What cold again is able to restore My fresh green years_, &c., &c.

The terza-rima has not the compact structure of the sonnet, as in each of its stanzas a rhyme is wanting which is only supplied in the following stanza. For this reason it seems to be especially adapted for epic or reflective poetry.

Comparatively few examples of this form are met with in English poetry, as e.g. in Sidney, S. Daniel, Drummond, Milton, and Shelley (cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 572).

In Sidney and R. Browning (iii. 102) we also find a variety of the terza-rima consisting of four-foot verses, and in Browning some others formed of four-stressed verses (iv. 288).

Some similar rhyme-systems of three lines, occurring in Sidney and Drummond, are of less importance (cf. ib., § 573).

§ =319.= Certain other varieties of the terza-rima, although found in recent poets, need only be briefly noticed here.

One of four lines on the model _a a b a₅ b b c b₅ c c d c₅_, &c., occurs in Swinburne, _Poems_, ii. 32, 34, 239; another on the scheme _a a b a₅, c c b c₅, d d e d₅_, &c., ib. i. 13; a third one, following the formula _a b c₃ b₂, a b c₃ b₂, a b c₃ b₂_, called _Triads_, ib. ii. 159 (cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 564).

Five-lined forms, similar to the terza-rima, occur in Sidney, e.g. _abcdd, efghh, iklmm_, the rhymeless lines being connected by sectional rhyme, the stanzas themselves likewise by sectional rhyme; another on the model _a₅ b₃ c₅ c₃ B₅, B₅ d₃ e₅ e₃ D₅, D₅ f₃ g₅ g₃ F₅_; and a third on the scheme _a₃ a₅ b c₃ b₅, c₃ c₅ d e₃ d₅, e₃ e₅ f g₃ f₅_, &c. A related form, _a b a b c₄, c d c d e₄, ... y z y z z₄_, is found in Mrs. Browning (iv. 44). For specimen cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 575.

A terza-rima system of six lines may be better mentioned in this section than together with the sub-varieties of the sextain, as was done in _Metrik_, ii, §578; they pretty often occur in Sidney, e.g. _Pansies_, ix (Grosart, i. 202), on the schemes _a b a b c b, c d c d e d, e f e f g f, v w v w x w, ... x y x y z y y_.

In Spenser's _Pastoral Aeglogue_ on Sidney (pp. 506-7) a rhyme-system according to _a b c a b c₅, d b e d f e₅, g f h g i h₅, k i l k m l₅_, &c. is met with; in Mrs. Browning (iii. 236) a much simpler system, constructed of five-foot lines on the formula _a b a b a b c d c d c d e f e f e f_, &c., is used.

A system of ten lines, consisting of five-foot verses (_a b a b b c a e d D, D e d e e f d f g G, G h g h h i g i k K_, &c., ending in a stanza of four lines, _X y x y_) occurs in Sidney, pp. 218-20 (221-4, xxxi); cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 580.

§ =320.= Still less popular was another Italian poetical form, the =sextain=, originally invented by the Provençal poet, Arnaut Daniel, and for the first time reproduced in English poetry by Sidney in his _Arcadia_.

The sextain consists of eleven-syllabled or rather five-foot verses and has six stanzas of six lines each, and an envoy of three lines in addition. Each of the six stanzas, considered individually, is rhymeless, and so is the envoy. But the end-words of the lines of each stanza from the second to the sixth are identical with those of the lines in the preceding stanza, but in a different order, viz. six, one, five, two, four, three. In the envoy, the six end-words of the first stanza recur, in the same order, alternately in the middle and at the end of the line. Hence the whole system of rhymes (or rather of recurrence of end-words) is as follows: _a b c d e f . f a e b d c . c f d a b e . e c b f a d . d e a c f b . b d f e c a + (a) b (c) d (e) f_.

The first two stanzas of Sidney's _Agelastus Sestine_, pp. 438-9 (426-7, lxxiv), together with the envoy and with the end-words of the other stanzas, may serve to make this clear:

_Since wayling is a bud of causefull sorrow, Since sorrow is the follower of evill fortune, Since no evill fortune equals publike damage; Now Prince's losse hath made our damage publike Sorrow, pay we to thee the rights of Nature, And inward griefe seale up with outward wayling._

_Why should we spare our voice from endlesse wayling Who iustly make our hearts the seate of sorrow, In such a case, where it appears that Nature Doth adde her force unto the sting of Fortune! Choosing, alas, this our theatre publike, Where they would leave trophees of cruell damage._

The other stanzas have the corresponding rhyme-words in this order:

III IV V VI _damage Nature publike fortune wayling damage nature publike publike Fortune sorrow wayling sorrowe wayling damage nature fortune sorrowe wayling damage Nature publike fortune sorrow_

The envoy is:

_Since sorrow, then, concludeth all our fortune, With all our deaths shew we this damage publique: His nature feares to dye, who lives still wayling._

This strict form of the sextain, which in Sidney, pp. 216-17 (219-21, xxx), occurs even with a twofold rhyming system, but, of course, with only one envoy, has, as far as we know, only once been imitated in modern poetry, viz. by E. W. Gosse (_New Poems_). Cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 576.

§ =321.= Besides this original form of the sextain several other varieties are met with in English poetry. Thus Spenser, in the eighth eclogue of his _Shepherd's Calendar_ (pp. 471-2), has a sextain of a somewhat different structure, the rhymeless end-words being arranged in this order: _a b c d e f. f a b c d e. e f a b c d. d e f a b c. c d e f a b. b c d e f a + (a) b (c) d (e) f_. Here the final word of the last verse of the first stanza, it is true, is also used as final word in the first verse of the second stanza, but the order of the final words of the other verses of the first stanza remains unchanged in the second. The same relation of the end-words exists between st. ii to st. iii, between st. iii to st. iv, &c., and lastly between st. vi and the envoy; the envoy, again, has the end-words of the first stanza; those which have their place in the interior of the verse occur at the end of the third measure.

Some other sub-varieties of the sextain have rhyming final words in each stanza.

In Sidney's _Arcadia_, p. 443 (430-1, lxxvi), e.g. one sextain has the following end-words: _light_, _treasure_, _might_, _pleasure_, _direction_, _affection_. These end-words recur in the following stanzas in the order of the regular sextain; hence st. ii has _affection_, _light_, _direction_, _treasure_, _pleasure_, _might_, &c. In this variety, also, the rhyme-words of the envoy occur at a fixed place, viz. at the end of the second measure. Drummond wrote two sextains of the same elegant form.

In Swinburne also (_Poems_, ii. 46) we have a sextain of rhymed stanzas, the first stanza rhyming _day_, _night_, _way_, _light_, _may_, _delight_. All these recur in the following stanzas in a similar order, though not so strictly observed as in the sextain by Spenser, mentioned above (cf. _Metrik_, ii, § 577).

One example (probably unique in English poetry) of what is known as the _Double Sextain_ is found in Swinburne's _The Complaint of Lisa_ (Poems,