Bob and Wheel

[Tinker]

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English Verse

Bob and Wheel are often found at the end of and an exit from an Anglo Saxon or Middle Scot strophe. They can occur separately or together and are not stand alone stanzas but an appendage to a body of verse. The Bob and Wheel were popular during the middle ages. The Bob is a single short line, while the Wheel which normally follows the Bob is four longer lines.

• The elements of the Bob are:
  1. accentual, usually only 2 to 3 syllables with one stressed syllable.
  2. a single line that runs on or is enjambed from an Anglo Saxon stanza.
  3. if followed by a "wheel" the bob carries the "a" rhyme.
      
• The elements of the Wheel are:
  1. a quatrain added to the end of a strophe most often following a bob.
  2. accentual, usually 6 syllables with 2 to 3 stressed syllables, always equal length.
  3. is usually written following the bob as an appendage to a longer Anglo Saxon strophe. The wheel can occur without a bob but that is rare.
  4. rhymed baba.
      
• Together the elements of the Bob and Wheel are:
  1. a quintain.
  2. accentual, L1 with only 1 stressed syllable, L2-L5 with 2 to 3 stressed syllables.
  3. rhyme ababa.

     I Will Not Dwell by John Litzenberg
     From Sir Gowain and the Green Knight by the Pearl Poet (Lines 146-150) 14th century England

     full clean.
     Great wonder of the knight
     Folk had in hall, I ween,
     Full fierce he was to sight,
     and over all bright green.

     The original Sir Gwain and the Green Knight manuscript. found at Wikipedia