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Bob and wheel is the term for a pairing of two metrical schemes. The wheel is a type of rhythm used in hymns or narrative songs sung in European churches or gatherings from the 12th to the 16th Centuries. A wheel occurs when at the end of each stanza, the song and the lyric return to some peculiar rhythm. In some instances the wheel is a return to something that resembles no definable poetic rhythm. A bob is a very short line, often two assertive syllables that announces the start of the wheel.
As an interruption of the usual rhythm, the bob and wheel has been compared to a cadenza in music. It is a way of adding recurring, abrupt and forceful variety to a song or verse for a short passage.
It is notably used by the poet known as the Pearl Poet in the ballad Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The feature is found mainly in Middle English and Middle Scots. There are at least forty known examples of the bob and wheel. The origin of the form is not known; it predates Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
The term, bob and wheel, was first used by Edwin Guest in The History of English Rhythms.