Larger patterns of syntax in Middle English unrhymed alliterative verse

Neophilologus ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 604-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Lawton
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Alliterative Verse

XIX.—Rhythm and Rime Before the Norman Conquest

PMLA ◽  
1921 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Rankin
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Norman Conquest ◽  
Alliterative Verse ◽  
English Verse ◽  
Foreign Influence ◽  
Latin Verse ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Orthodox View

The orthodox view regarding the introduction of end rime into English verse is succinctly set forth in the following quotations : “ Endrime, being a stranger to the early Germanic languages, its appearance in any of them may commonly be taken as a sign of foreign influence. In general, of course, rime and the stanza were introduced together into English verse, under the influence of Latin hymns and French lyrics.” “ Die alliterierende Langzeile war die einzige in der ags. Poesie bekannte Versart und blieb in derselben bis zu ende der ersten ags. oder altenglischen Sprachperiode in Gebrauch.” “ The transformation of the O. E. alliterative line into rhyme verse did not take place before the Middle English period. It was due to the influence of the rhymed French and Latin verse.” “ Alliterative verse was remodelled on Latin and French verse—or foreign verses were directly imitated.” The implication is that there never existed in Anglo-Saxon any verse of a form different from that of the five-type alliterative verse which prevails in the corpus of extant Anglo-Saxon poetry.

Adverbial Distribution in Middle English Alliterative Verse

1992 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl T. Hagen
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Alliterative Verse

scholarly journals Alliteration in Modern and Middle English: “Piers Plowman”

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2 (12)) ◽  
pp. 54-62
Author(s):  
Peter Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
English Language ◽  
Piers Plowman ◽  
Alliterative Verse ◽  
Vernacular English ◽  
Rhyme Scheme

William Langland’s 8000-line fourteenth-century poem Piers Plowman uses an alliterative rhyme scheme inherited from Old English in which, instead of a rhyme at the end of a line, at least three out of the four stressed syllables in each line begin with the same sound, and this is combined with a caesura at the mid-point of the line. Examples show that Langland does not obey the rules exactly, but he is nevertheless thought to be at the forefront of a revival of alliterative verse. Further examples demonstrate that alliteration was never entirely replaced by end-rhyme and remains a feature of presentday vernacular English and poetry, even though the rhyme scheme is obsolete. It is deeply embedded in the structure and psyche of the English language.

Grass-Bed: A Poetic Compound in the Alliterative Tradition

2016 ◽  
Vol 134 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Weiskott
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Compound Word ◽  
Uneven Distribution ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Alliterative Verse ◽  
Historical Resources ◽  
Alliterative Tradition ◽  
A Site

AbstractThe compound word grass-bed occurs four times in Old and Middle English texts. In each case, grass-bed occurs in an alliterative poem; in each case, the word is used as a kenning for a site of bodily death (a battlefield or a grave). The chronologically and metrically uneven distribution of poetic words like grass-bed in the corpus of medieval English texts raises questions about the reliability of the extant written record, the historical resources of individual writers, and the cultural meanings of poetic traditions. Meanwhile, research in alliterative metrics has begun to suggest that the division of medieval English literary history into Old and Middle subperiods masks fundamental continuities between pre- and post-Conquest alliterative verse. Progress in alliterative metrics refocuses the historical problems attendant upon rare poetic words like grass-bed. Conversely, against the backdrop of technical argumentation in the field of metrics, the study of words offers a second way of understanding the continuity of the alliterative tradition. This article explores connections between metrical history and lexical history via a case study of one especially long-lived and metrically marked poetic word.

Lyric, Romance, and Alliterative Verse in Fourteenth-Century England

2019 ◽  
pp. 206-227
Author(s):  
Derek Attridge
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Lyric Poetry ◽  
Piers Plowman ◽  
Oral Performance ◽  
Middle English Romance ◽  
Alliterative Verse ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Large Household ◽  
Large Audience

Fourteenth-century Europe saw the spread of literacy and increasing numbers of educated laity, creating a large audience for poetry on the page. Dante in the Commedia, Petrarch, Machaut, and others testify to great sophistication in written poetry—though oral performance remained important. This chapter and those that follow concentrate on poetry in English, which eventually displaced French and Latin as the language of the court. Attention is given to the question whether Middle English romance was an oral or written form, and evidence for the widespread enjoyment of lyric poetry is assessed. The chapter considers the increasing importance of the large household as a venue for both performances of poetry and for private reading, and the alliterative poems that may have been produced in this context are discussed. Also in alliterative verse, but from a London base, was Langland’s poem Piers Plowman, which circulated widely in manuscript.

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