§ 28. Outline of Sievers' System. The normal half-line has four members (Glieder), two strongly stressed (arses or hebungen) and two more weakly stressed or unstressed (theses or senkungen). These can be in any order. NOTE. For expanded D-verses (“erweiterte", see below § 33) Sievers assumes five members, for the "Schwellverse” (§ 86 ff.) six. The arses (syllables with chief stress, root-syllables of the second part of compounds or middlesyllables of three-syllable words with a strong subsidiary stress) are generally long syllables:, but instead of a long syllable two short ones may be used: ('Auflösung', resolution of the arsis). If two arses come directly together, the second can be filled only by one short syllable: , e.g. in shortened type C. But, as the alliteration shows, the two beats are not always equally strong; e.g. in type As the second beat is stronger than the first. The 'senkungen' are sometimes heavy, i.e. they have a subsidiary stress ['sind sprachlich nebentonig'] (root-syllables of the second part of compounds, long middle-syllables of words of three syllables), and in this case, like hebungen, are represented by one long or by two short syllables: A heavy senkung is counted as a 'nebentonige Senkung' ('senkung with slight stress') in a foot of two members (see below), but as a 'Nebenhebung' in a foot of three members. The theses are generally light, i.e. unstressed. In this case they are formed by an unstressed syllable of any quantity: x. The final thesis of a verse is always of one syllable: x, the middle thesis can be monosyllabic or disyllabic: × or xx, it rarely contains more than two syllables. The initial thesis, on the other hand, is seldom monosyllabic: x, it generally contains two or more syllables: xx, ××× etc. The anacrusis, which must not be confused with the initial thesis ('Eingangs-senkung'), is outside the real rhythmical scheme. It occurs before the types A, D, E, which begin with an arsis. It is comparatively rare and consists of quite unstressed syllables or words. § 29. The Five Types. The four members of a normal verse can be combined in any order, 2+2, 1+3, 3+1, to form two feet. A foot of one member (eingliedriger Fuss') consists of an arsis: ; a foot of two members of an arsis and a thesis, either falling (trochaic): × or rising (iambic): x; a foot of three members either of arsis, minor arsis and thesis: x, or of arsis, thesis and minor arsis: 2×1. By a combination of two such feet five main types are formed. a) Types of equal feet (2+2): A: 2×2× (both falling): lánge | huile D2: 212×1 blæd | wide spràng E1: 2×12 múrnènde | mód Of these five types A ×× occurs most frequently in both half-lines, a little more frequently in the first half than in the second. In Beowulf about 45% of the verses are A verses. The arses can be filled by one long or two short syllables: lange hwile, sceađena preatum, Scyldes eaferan, bealuwa bisigu. The final thesis is always monosyllabic, and the thesis of the first foot generally so, e.g. lange hwīle, land gesāwon, geong in geardum; yet a first thesis of two syllables is not rare, e.g. folcum gefrage, folce to frofre, wēox under wolcnum, sōd is gecided, flota was on ýðum. Theses of more than two syllables are very rare and occur especially in Type A3 (see below); anacrusis before the first arsis is also very rare, e.g. ge wat him pā tō warođe. In the second half-verse, of course, only the first arsis alliterates: hyran scolde; in the first half-verse there is either double alliteration: beaga bryttan or simple alliteration on the first hebung: lange hwile; but, if a more weakly stressed word is in the first arsis, the second arsis alone can alliterate. We have then the so-called Type A3: pā was on burgum, hæfde pā gefälsod, nữ gē moton gangan, which occurs in the first half-verse only. Another variety of the normal Type A, which occurs generally only in the first half-verse, is the "gesteigerter Typus A2" [strengthened type], where a thesis with "tiefton" [subsidiary stress] takes the place of a thesis without stress. According to the position of the subsidiary stress [Nebenton] Sievers distinguishes between A2a: × wis-fæst wórdum, or with resolved stress of the nebenhebung: × fólc-stède frætwan, A2b: 2×12 Gréndles gúd-craft, or with simple alliteration of the second arsis (see above) A3b: no he pone gif-stol, and, with two subsidiary stresses, A2ab: gúd-rìnc góld-wlànc, ___ nýd-wràcu níđ-grìm. Yet another variety of A2 is the shortened type A2k, in which the syllable of the arsis of the second foot is short after the nebenhebung of the first foot: A2k: 11ú× gúđ-rìnc | mónig. § 31. Type B. About 16% of the verses in Beowulf belong to type B x This type is used in the second half-verse about twice as often as in the first half. Here, too, the arses can be filled either by one long or two short syllables: him on béarme læg, under Héorotes hróf, on Gréndles grýre. The inner thesis is, as in type A, monosyllabic or disyllabic, it rarely contains more than two syllables. On the other hand the 'Eingangssenkung' (initial thesis) is comparatively rarely monosyllabic; it contains generally two, three or more syllables, e.g. on flōdes aht, hẻ þæs frōfre gebād, þā him wæs manna þearf, gif hē ūs geunnan wile, þæs pe hire sẽ willa gelamp etc. In the second half-verse and generally in the first also the alliteration is on the first arsis: him on bearme læg · þær æt hide stōd; in the first half-verse the second arsis also can alliterate: under Heorotes hrōf. § 32. Type C. Type C is a little commoner than type B. In Beowulf some 18% of the verses are C verses. C is about equally common in each half-verse. The second beat falls on an independent word or on the second part of a compound or, also, on the heavy middle syllable of a three-syllable word with a long first syllable: pone gód sende, ofer hrón-ráde, him sẽ ýldésta, sua code. The first arsis can be represented by two short syllables |