Representing recurring rimes by the same letters, we may
indicate the scheme of rimes as a b a b b b b c d d d c.
Lines 1, 3, 6, 9, 10, and 11 have four stresses, or accents;
lines 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 12, three stresses. Simple as is this
stanza, it so links its three quatrains by the rimes that it
is held together as a single whole; and it calls for some facility
by riming five times on one sound. What is more vital,
it has the true lyric quality of smoothness. It sings itself.
As early as 1300, or soon after, Englishmen could write
singing stanzas. Further testimony of their skill is a Spring
Song of three twelve-line stanzas. The first stanza runs:

Lenten ys come wib loue to toune
Wiþ blosmen & wiþ briddes roune,
Þat al þis blisse bryngeþ.
Dayes-eӠes in þis dales,

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