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<P ALIGN=CENTER><B><I><FONT SIZE=+3>Essays and Criticism</FONT></I></B><BR><A HREF="http://www.jps.net/pdeane/fgr/poetry.htm"><IMG SRC="fgt4.gif" ALIGN="TOP" width="200" height="64"></A><BR><FONT SIZE=-2>(Click <A HREF="http://www.jps.net/pdeane/fgr/" TARGET="other">here</A> if the menu is not visible on the left)</FONT></P>
<LI><P><B>On this Site:</B></P>
<UL><LI><A HREF="meter.htm">All in the Timing: a Theory of Alliterative Rhythm</A>
<LI>Other <A HREF="editor.htm">notes</A> from the editor.
</UL></P>
<LI><P><B>Essays from the Web</B></P>
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<LI><A HREF="http://vp.engl.wvu.edu/winter98/levasseur.htm">Sprung Rhythm: Purged of Dross Like Gold</A> by Jeanne Levasseur in <I>Victorian Poetry</I><BR>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.arts.uwo.ca/canpoetry/cpjrn/vol31/keith.htm">
The Later Poetry of George Johnston</A> by W. J. Keith<BR> from <A HREF="outside.htm#Canadian">Canadian Poetry</A>
<UL>An interesting study of the influence of alliterative forms
on one Canadian poet, some of whose poems are featured on this site.</UL></P>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.cas.unt.edu/~hargrove/music.html">
Music in Middle Earth</A> by <A HREF="outside.htm#Hargrove">Gene Hargrove</A><BR>
<UL>Much alliterative poetry was meant to be sung, but the
conventions of modern music do not fit it very well. This
essay on the kinds of music that would fit the songs in
J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings gives a useful picture
of the musical styles that suit alliterative verse.</UL></P>
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<LI><P><B>Poetic Theory</B><BR><BR>It is odd how many people who write about the theory of poetry
agree that the four-stress Anglo-Saxon line is still fundamental
to English prosody. Some who favor metrical verse claim that
the best iambic pentameter has a four-stress feel with the
extra beat subordinated. Some who favor free verse claim (in
effect) that the best free verse reproduces the rhythmic
flexibility of the alliterative line - without the alliteration
to hold it all together.<BR>
These essays show what I mean. Notice how they all admit the
ghost of alliterative meter -- but they keep the corpse safely
buried. Weinberger's assault on a book of Formalist poetry
rather illustrates my point: if those who write formal poetry
really want strict form, he suggests acidly, they ought to
write in the Norse stanza forms.<UL></P>
<LI><A HREF="http://home.earthlink.net/~arthur505/cult0397.html">Poetic Meter in English: Roots and Possibilities</A> by Richard Moore (from <A HREF="outside.htm#Expansive">Expansive Poetry and Music Online</A>)</P>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.libertarian.org/LA/freevers.html">The Price of Free Verse</A> by Thomas Fleming </P>
<LI><A HREF="http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~tpl/texts/lines.html">The End of the Line for Modern Poetry</A> by <A HREF="outside.htm#Love">Tim Love</A></P>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.bath.ac.uk/~exxdgdc/lynx/lynx712.html">Notes and Cogitations on the Line and Foot in Free Verse</A> by Fred Beake (from <A HREF="outside.htm#Bath">Lynx: Poetry from Bath</A>)</P>
<LI><A HREF="http://jacket.zip.com.au/jacket06/weinberger-formalism.html">What was Formalism?</A> by Eliot Weinberger (from <A HREF="outside.htm#Jacket">Red Jacket #6</A>)</P>
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