2. Variations in Trochaic Stanza

2. Variations in Trochaic Stanza

Rime no longer incidental, but integral and composing, opened to medieval poetic wide artistic possibilities of stanza. The austere requiem sequence of Thomas of Celano, _Dies iræ_, is cast in three-line trochaic stanzas of a single rime.

Dies iræ, dies illa, Solvet sæclum in favilla, Teste David cum Sibylla.

Quantus tremor est futurus Quando Judex est venturus, Cuncta stricte discussurus!...

Britt, 87.

That forty of the forty-five hymns assigned by Misset-Aubry to Adam of St. Victor are trochaic shows the strong preference of the time. The commonest of these trochaic stanzas, the favorite hymn measure of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, expands _Corde natus_ into a six-line stanza by doubling the first stave in a riming couplet twice and using the second stave between the two couplets and at the riming end.

In natale Salvatoris angelorum nostra choris succinat conditio. Armonia diversorum sed in unum redactorum dulcis est connexio.

Felix dies hodiernus, in quo Patri coeternus nascitur ex virgine; felix dies et iocundus! illustrari gaudet mundus veri solis lumine....

Adam of St. Victor, _In die Natali Domini_.

Using this scheme oftener than any other, Adam rarely holds to it throughout a hymn. His way is rather to vary it in one or two stanzas; and in some of his hymns he even interpolates a stanza of a different measure. For example, the ninth stanza of this Christmas hymn departs entirely from the pattern except in the middle and end lines.

Quam subtile Dei consilium, quam sublime rei misterium! virga florem, vellus rorem, virgo profert filium. Nec pudorem lesit conceptio, nec virorem floris emissio: concipiens et pariens comparatur lilio.

This is the only variation; all the other stanzas are regular. The _Lauda Sion_ sequence of St. Thomas Aquinas varies the measure but slightly; and the _Stabat Mater_ keeps it strictly—even reinforces it with additional rimes.

Adam’s harmonizing of rimed rhythmic, conspicuous above, has great range and variety. The range appears in the following contrast:

Suggestor sceleris pulsus a superis per huius aeris oberrat spacia, dolis invigilat, virus insibilat; sed hunc adnichilat presens custodia.

_St Michael_, v (Misset-Aubry 214)

Salve dies dierum gloria, dies felix Christi victoria, dies digna iugi leticia, dies prima! Lux divina cecis irradiat in qua Christus infernum spoliat, mortem vincit et reconciliat summis ima.

Feria IV [_Pasche_], i (Misset-Aubry 185)

Within a hymn the variations are delicate adjustments. The hymn on the Cross strikes the familiar measure, swerves from it, returns to it, varies it.

Laudes crucis attollamus, nos qui crucis exultamus speciali gloria.

Dulce melos tangat celos, dulce lignum dulci dignum credimus melodia. Voce vita non discordet; cum vox vitam non remordet, dulcis est simphonia.

Servi crucis crucem laudent qui per crucem sibi gaudent vite dari munera. Dicant omnes et dicant singuli: Ave, salus totius seculi, arbor salutifera.

O quam felix, quam preclara hec salutis fuit ara, rubens agni sanguine, agni sine macula qui mundavit secula ab antiquo crimine!

_De cruce_, i-iv (Misset-Aubry 189)