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Forgotten Ground Regained

Scholars

Introduction
Alliterative verse would never have become as widely known as it is today if it were not for the work of scholars --medievalists, philologiss, and linguistics -- who painstakingly recovered, transcribed, analyzed, and translated the srviving corpus of medieval alliterative poems. J.R.R. Tolkien was one of the greatest of them, and (almost by accident) his hobby of inventing languages and stories to go with them turned into The Lord of the Rings. His work has done much to popularize alliterative verse, though it is important to realize that J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and others of his generation were the inheritors of an earlier generation of 19th-Century scholars who discovered alliterative poetry and made the first steps toward popularizing it.
Of course, scholars of the Middle Ages -- philogogers, linguists, and others of that ilk -- are the obvious suspects where writing original alliterative poetry is concerned. And yes, many of them have indulged in precisely that guilty pleasure.
And speaking of guilty pleasures ... how about Songs for the Philologists?
Medievalists and Other Scholars Mentioned on the Author Page
  • Jane Beal
  • Judd Bemmels
  • Marie Borroff
  • Beverliy Braune
  • Steven Breneman
  • Anne Carson
  • Fred Chappell
  • Joe R. Christopher
  • Matthew Clegg
  • Pam Clements
  • Frank Coffman
  • Michael R. Collings
  • Paul D. Deane
  • Matthew Dickerson
  • Geoffrey B. Eliott
  • Steve Ely
  • Tom Emanuel
  • Jere Fleck
  • A.Z. Foreman
  • David D. Friedman
  • Andrew Frisardi
  • Malcolm Guite
  • Rahul Gupta
  • Oz Hardwick
  • M.Wendy Hennequin
  • John Houghton
  • David Jalajel
  • George Johnston
  • C.S. Lewis
  • Roy Liuzza
  • Robert MacFarlane
  • Colin Mackenzie
  • Eric F. J. Martin
  • Daniel D. McCollum
  • Chris McCully
  • David Russell Mosley
  • John D. Niles
  • Rose Novick
  • Emilyl Osborne
  • Benjamin John Peters
  • Aaron Poochigian
  • John Quinn
  • Carter Revard
  • Jacob Riyeff
  • Charles R. Sleeth
  • Michael Smith
  • Sandra B. Straubhaar
  • Luke Stromberg
  • Jeff Sypeck
  • J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Rachel Trousdale
  • Richard Vallance
  • Laura Varnam
  • Charles Harrison Wallace
  • Donald T. Williams
  • Ryan Wilson
Others
Note: The poetry linked here ranges in quality from novice work to brilliant. It is probably just the tenth of the iceberg that shows above the ocean. There is almost certainly much more out there. Send me links if you find them ... use the following email, making the standard substiution: pdeane[at]alliteration.net
Poems
  • HRÆDWALDESHRIM [The Reckoning of Rædwald] by Sam Newton
  • Cromwell: A Fragment of an Epic by Thomas Tyrell
  • Frithugairns at Adrianople by EM Aidan
  • "Now we must hail..." by Jack Laurel
  • The Lay of the Lore-Maiden by McMaster Archives & Research Collections
  • The Knight and the Demon by N. Praml
  • Old English Riddle 1, Old English Riddle 2, and Old English Riddle 3 by leionai
Translations
  • Noah’s Flood (from “Purity”), translated by Marie Borroff
  • Translations from the Poetic Edda by Rosalind Kerven in Viking Myths and Sagas
  • Translation of ‘Song of the Rood’ by Brendan King in the St. Austin Review, March/April, 2021
Audio/Video
  • Krákumál (discussed/read in her translation by Judith Jesch)
  • Old English Alliterative Verse (Medievalist Mutterings)
  • An alliterative summary of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Annalee Newitz
  • The Fortunes of Men: An alliterative translation from the Old English by B.F.Randall
Other
  • James Paz, 'Storm-Thoughts and Ice-Songs: A Creative-Critical Response to Old English Eco-Poetry', forthcoming in Postmedieval. Includes an alliterative verse “eco-poem”.
Blogs and Websites
Dennis W. Wise Medieval Studies Research Blog (Notre Dame) Tolkien Society Mythlore Tolkien and Alliterative Verse (Anna Smol) Tea With Tolkien The Engliscan Gesithas (The English Companions) The Endless Knot Mythical Britain
Companion to Middle English Alliterative Poetry (Weiskott) Alaric Hall's Alliterative verse in medieval English A Minstrel's Songbook Cynberht alliterative translation
From Josh Gillingham & Emily Osborne's "Norsevember" competition
  • Winner: “When winning in contests …” by K.R.R. Lockhaven
  • “Fierce sea-steeds …” by Alex
  • “Hrafn Ytra, Feeder of Ravens”
Copyright © Paul D Deane, 2023
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