The Evolution of Verse Structure in Old and Middle English Poetry
From the Earliest Alliterative Poems to Iambic Pentameter

This book traces the evolution of traditional English verse structures from their Old and Middle origins to the Modern English period.

Geoffrey Russom (Author)

9781107148338, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 April 2017

332 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.1 cm, 0.6 kg

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.

1. General principles of poetic form
2. Indo-European and Germanic meters
3. Old English meter in the era of Beowulf
4. From late Old English meter to Middle English meter
5. Middle English type A1 and the hypermetrical b-verse
6. Type A1 in the a-verse
7. Types B and C
8. Survival and extinction in types A2, Da, and E
9. Type Db and the hypermetrical a-verse
10. The birth of English iambic meter
11. General summary.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Poetry [DC], Literature & literary studies [D], Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF], Linguistics [CF], Language: reference & general [CB]