The Composition of Old English PoetryCambridge University Press, 1997 M03 28 - 205 pages This book offers an imaginative new way of understanding the relationship between syntax and metre in Old English verse. It challenges the view that Old English poetry is composed in loose syntax to compensate for the strict requirements of prosody, such as metre and alliteration. The author proposes a 'prosodical' syntax to replace the famous syntactic laws of Hans Kuhn through its greater accuracy and wider range of application. She formulates three concise rules which apply to the entire Old English poetic corpus. |
Contents
Hierarchy of verselikeness | 7 |
Word classification | 28 |
Kuhns Laws and prosodical syntax | 55 |
Attached unstressed elements 76 སྒྲ | 94 |
Stressed elements | 160 |
Conclusion | 181 |
| 195 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
adjectival adverbs Ælfric's ænig alliteration Anglo-Saxon ASPR attached auxiliary verbs Beowulf bið Bliss carry prosodical stress ChristC clause clause-initial position clitics co-ordinating conjunctions cuman dative demonstrative detached unstressed elements detached unstressed pronouns Dróttkvætt eall efne enclitic example extant Old English fela follows pronouns GenA GenB Germanic GuthA half-line immediately following infinitives JDay Kuhn Kuhn's First Law Kuhn's Laws Kuhn's Second Law Kuhn's word classification mæg Mald MCharm McIntosh metre MSol nominal constituents nouns occur as stressed ofer Old English poems Old English poetry Paris Psalter peah personal pronouns poetic ponne precede detached unstressed precedes pronouns prepositions proclitic pronouns and finite prose prosodical syntax prosodically stressed words Satzpartikeln Satzteilpartikeln sceal second stressed elements stressed prosodically subordinating conjunctions take the clause-initial unstressed finite forms unstressed finite verbs verbal lexemes verse witan word order word-classes Wortstellung þæs þæt þam