however, the most plausible, as it accounts for the importance of
the caesura, which generally marks a pause in the sense, as well
as in the verse, and also for its masculine ending. The
"Nibelungen" strophe consists of four long lines separated by a
caesura into two distinct halves. The first half of each line
contains four accents, the fourth falling upon the last syllable.
This last stress, however, is not, as a rule as strong as the
others, the effect being somewhat like that of a feminine ending.
On this account some speak of three accents in the first half
line, with a feminine ending. The fourth stress is, however, too
strong to be thus disregarded, but because of its lighter
character is best marked with a grave accent. The second half of
each line ends in a masculine rhyme. The first three lines have
each three stresses in the second half, while the second half of
the fourth line has four accents to mark the end of the strophe.
This longer fourth line is one of the most marked characteristics
of the "Nibelungen" strophe. The rhymes are arranged in the
order of "a", "a", "b", "b", though in a few isolated cases near
the
end of the poem but one rhyme is used throughout the strophe.

The opening lines of the poem may serve to illustrate the
strophic form and scansion, and at the same time will give the
reader an idea of the Middle High German language in which the
poem is written:

Uns ist in alten maeren wunders vil geseit
von heleden lobebaeron, von grozer arebeit,
von froude und hochgeziten, von weinen und von klagen,
von kuener recken striten muget ir nu wunder hoeren sagen.