Leonine verse is a type of versification based on

internal rhyme In poetry, internal rhyme, or middle rhyme, is rhyme that occurs within a single line of verse, or between internal phrases across multiple lines. By contrast, rhyme between line endings is known as end rhyme. Internal rhyme schemes can be denoted ...

, and commonly used in Latin verse of the European Middle Ages. The invention of such conscious rhymes, foreign to Classical Latin poetry, is traditionally attributed to a probably apocryphal monk Leonius, who is supposed to be the author of a history of the Old Testament (''Historia Sacra'') preserved in the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. This "history" is composed in Latin verses which rhyme in the center. It is possible that this Leonius is the same person as Leoninus, a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

musician of the twelfth century, in which case he would not have been the original inventor of the form. It is sometimes referred to disparagingly as "jangling verse" by classical purists, for example 19th century

antiquaries An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic sit ...

, who consider it absurd and coarse and a corruption of and offensive to the high ideals of classical literature. In English, the rhyme may be between a word within the line (often before a

caesura image:Music-caesura.svg, 300px, An example of a caesura in modern western music notation A caesura (, . caesuras or caesurae; Latin for "cutting"), also written cæsura and cesura, is a Metre (poetry), metrical pause or break in a Verse (poetry), ...

) and the word at the end. Shakespeare used it to denote absurd characters, as in the speech of

Caliban Caliban ( ), son of the witch Sycorax, is an important character in William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''. His character is one of the few Shakespearean figures to take on a life of its own "outside" Shakespeare's own work: as Russell H ...

in The Tempest.

Examples

Leonine Verse on Bede's Tomb, painted by Augustus Hare

Latin

Leonine verses from the tomb of the

Venerable Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

in the Gallee Chapel of

Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...

, possibly from the 8th century :''HAC SUNT IN FOSSA – BEDAE VENERABILIS OSSA'' Leonine verses in the

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

on top of the marble ''ciborio'' in the Chiesa di Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli :''Hic est illa PIAE – Genitricis Imago MarIAE
Quae discumbENTI – Gallae patuit metuENTI'' Leonine verses in the

Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its nam ...

Torcello Torcello ( la, Torcellum; vec, Torceło) is a sparsely populated island at the northern end of the Venetian Lagoon, in north-eastern Italy. It was first settled in 452 CE and has been referred to as the parent island from which Venice was p ...

, around 1100 :''Formula virtutis – Maris astrum, Porta salutis
Prole Maria levat – quos conjuge subdidit Eva
Sum deus atq(ue) caro – patris et sum matris imago
non piger ad lapsum – set flentis p(ro)ximus adsum'' Leonine verses in

in the apse of the

Cathedral of Cefalù A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

, around 1150 :''Factus homo Factor – hominis factique Redemptor
Iudico corporeus – corpora corda Deus'' Leonine verses in the Portale dell'abbazia di Leno dell'abate Gunterio, in the year 1200 :''HAEC NON LENENSIS – TELLUS FERTUR LEONENSIS
CUI NON LENONES – NOMEN POSUERE LEONES
FORMA LEONINA – SIGNANS BIS MARMORA BINA
DICITUR OFFERRE – LOCA VOCE NON AUTEM RE
FELIX EST NOMEN – FELIX EST NOMINIS OMEN
QUOD NON LENONES – POSUERUNT IMMO LEONES'' Another very famous poem in a tripart Leonine rhyme is the ''De Contemptu Mundi'' of

Bernard of Cluny Bernard of Cluny (or, of Morlaix or Morlay) was a twelfth-century French Benedictine monk, best known as the author of ''De contemptu mundi'' (''On Contempt for the World''), a long verse satire in Latin. Life Bernard's family of origin and place ...

, whose first book begins: :''Hora novissima, tempora pessima sunt, vigilemus:
Ecce minaciter, imminet arbiter, ille supremus.
Imminet imminet, ut mala terminet, æqua coronet,
Recta remuneret, anxia liberet, æthera donet.'' ::(These current days are the worst of times: let us keep watch.
Behold the menacing arrival of the Supreme Judge.
He is coming, He is coming to end evil, crown the just,
reward the right, set the worried free and grant eternal life.) As this example of ''tripartiti dactylici caudati'' (

dactylic hexameter Dactylic hexameter (also known as heroic hexameter and the meter of epic) is a form of meter or rhythmic scheme frequently used in Ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The scheme of the hexameter is usually as follows (writing – for a long syllable, ...

rhyming

couplet A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...

s divided into three) shows, the internal rhymes of leonine verse may be based on tripartition of the line (as opposed to a

in the center of the verse) and do not necessarily involve the end of the line at all. In 1893, the American composer

Horatio Parker Horatio William Parker (September 15, 1863 – December 18, 1919) was an American composer, organist and teacher. He was a central figure in musical life in New Haven, Connecticut in the late 19th century, and is best remembered as the undergradu ...

set the ''Hora novissima'' to music in his cantata of the same name. The epitaph of Count

Alan Rufus Alan Rufus, alternatively Alanus Rufus (Latin), Alan ar Rouz ( Breton), Alain le Roux ( French) or Alan the Red (c. 1040 – 1093), 1st Lord of Richmond, was a Breton nobleman, kinsman and companion of William the Conqueror (Duke William II o ...

, dated by Richard Sharpe and others to 1093, is described by

André Wilmart Dom André Wilmart O.S.B. (1876 – 21 April 1941 Paris) was a French Benedictine medievalist and liturgist, who spent most of his career at St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough. He was a leading expert on medieval spirituality in the decades be ...

as being in Leonine hexameter: :''Stella nuit regni : comitis caro marcet Alani :'' :''Anglia turbatur : satraparum flos cineratur :'' :''Iam Brito flos regum, modo marcor in ordine rerum'' :''Praecepto legum, nitet ortus sanguine regum.'' :''Dux uiguit summus, rutilans a rege secundus.'' :''Hunc cernens plora : ‘requies sibi sit, Deus’ ora.'' :''Vixit nobilium : praefulgens stirpe Brittonum.''Epitaph of

as recorded in the Chronicle of Bury St. Edmunds, Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 297, published in Thomas Arnold, 1890, ''Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey,'' London: Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Eyre and Spottiswoode
p. 350

English

A leonine rhyme is used by

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

in his humorous poem "

The Owl and the Pussy Cat "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1870 in the American magazine '' Our Young Folks: an Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls'' and again the following year in Lear's own book ''Nonsense Songs, ...

": : ''They took some honey, and plenty of money''

References

*{{EB1911 , wstitle=Rhyme , volume=23 , page=279 , first=Edmund , last=Gosse , authorlink=Edmund Gosse Rhyme Medieval Latin poetry Genres of poetry Types of verses