Old English Alliterative Verse

As Minkova (2003: 34) puts it: “Several generations of Anglo-Saxon metrists have not reached an agreement on the principles of Old English meter.” Still, it is possible to summarise some common features, as Abrams & Harpham (201210: 10, s.v. alliteration) do:

“In Old English alliterative meter, alliteration is the principal organizing device of the verse line: the verse is unrhymed; each line is divided into two half-lines of two strong stresses by a decisive pause or caesura; and at least one, and usually both, of the two stressed syllables of the first half-line alliterate with the first stressed syllable of the second half-line. (In this type of versification a vowel was considered to alliterate with any other vowel.)”

Unfortunately any more detailed discussion of the special characteristics of Old English alliterative verse would go far beyond the scope of this glossary. If you are interested in learning more about the topic, have a look at some of these resources:

Chapter 13 in Peter S. Baker’s Introduction to Old English (20123)
Chapter 3 in Martin J. Duffell’s A New History of English Metre (2008: 51-72)
Chapter 5 in Wolfgang Obst & Florian Schleburg’s Lehrbuch des Altenglischen (2004: 123-138)
Chapter 2.3 in Donka Minkova’s Alliteration and Sound Change in Early English (2003: 34-42)
Chapter 1 in Thomas Cable’s The English Alliterative Tradition (1991: 6-40)
Chapter 3.2 in Morris Halle & Samuel Jay Keyser’s English Stress (1971: 147-164)

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