The Rhythmic Structure of b-verses in Gawain

The Rhythmic Structure of b-verses in Gawain

The aim of this paper is to study the rhythmic structure of b-verses referring to the meter in the long lines of Gawain through metrical analysis, and propose the consistent metrical patterns of the last words in the second half-lines (b-verses) of the poem The research results which confirm my hypothesis may be summarized as follows: (i) the distribution of metrical patterns has shown that rhythmical patterns of two half-lines are mutually exclusive at rate of 91.1% in this text, (ii) although the end of last words in the a-verse presents an unstressed syllable as being optional, the end of the b-verse has single unstressed syllables in 97.3% of the b-verses. The syllabic value of the final unstressed -e brings us to the conclusion that there is a clear metrical pattern in the b-verse: a b-verse must end on an unstressed syllable in the text Gawain.