This is a clear and accessible account of early Germanic alliterative verse that explains how such verse was treated by the Beowulf poet.  There are differences of poetic style between Beowulf and the otherwise similar verse of ancient Scandinavia and continental Europe.  Such distinctions have intrigued scholars for over a century, but Russom is the first to provide a systematic explanation of Old English, Old Norse, Old Saxon and Old High German alliterative meters.  Russom's results should interest scholars of Old English and related Germanic languages, as well as linguists and those concerned with poetic meter.

Beowulf and Old Germanic Metre (Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England)

Literature & Fiction

Russom, Geoffrey

British & Irish

Cambridge University Press

<p>This is a clear and accessible account of early Germanic alliterative verse that explains how such verse was treated by the Beowulf poet. There are differences of poetic style between Beowulf and the otherwise similar verse of ancient Scandinavia and continental Europe. Such distinctions have intrigued scholars for over a century, but Russom is the first to provide a systematic explanation of Old English, Old Norse, Old Saxon and Old High German alliterative meters. Russom's results should interest scholars of Old English and related Germanic languages, as well as linguists and those concerned with poetic meter.</p>

Beowulf and Old Germanic Metre (Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England, Series Number 23)

Prior to the publication of this volume in 1987, scholars interested in Old English alliterative meter discovered a number of intriguing restrictions on verse form, and their discoveries proved useful in the editing of texts and in research on the early history of the English language. It had proved impossible up to this point however, to capture these restrictions in a plausible system of rules. In this book Professor Russom obtained a coherent and comprehensive rule system using the insights of linguistic theory. The rules of this system apply not just to stress and syllable count but to other features of word structure as well. Russom claims, in particular, that the concept of 'metrical foot' appropriate for analysis of Old English poetry corresponds to the concept of 'word pattern' used in linguistic analysis. In Old English Meter and Linguistic Theory the author explains these rules carefully, justifies then from a linguistic point of view and goes on to apply them to a wide variety of problems. The results should interest not only those who deal with Old English texts, but also metrists and linguistics generally.

Old English Meter and Linguistic Theory

History

Europe

History & Criticism

<p>In this fascinating study, Geoffrey Russom traces the evolution of the major English poetic traditions by reference to the evolution of the English language, and considers how verse forms are born, how they evolve, and why they die. Using a general theory of poetic form employing universal principles rooted in the human language faculty, Russom argues that certain kinds of poetry tend to arise spontaneously in languages with identifiable characteristics. Language changes may require modification of metrical rules and may eventually lead to extinction of a meter. Russom's theory is applied to explain the development of English meters from the earliest alliterative poems in Old and Middle English and the transition to iambic meter in the Modern English period. This thorough yet accessible study provides detailed analyses of form in key poems, including Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and a glossary of technical terms.</p>

The Evolution of Verse Structure in Old and Middle English Poetry: From the Earliest Alliterative Poems to Iambic Pentameter (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature)

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Books by Russom, Geoffrey

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Russom, Geoffrey. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Beowulf and Old Germanic Metre (Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England)

Beowulf and Old Germanic Metre (Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England, Series Number 23)

Old English Meter and Linguistic Theory

Old English Meter and Linguistic Theory

Beowulf and Old Germanic Metre (Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England, Series Number 23)

The Evolution of Verse Structure in Old and Middle English Poetry: From the Earliest Alliterative Poems to Iambic Pentameter (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature)