A Field Guide to Alliterative Verse

The Meter of Beowulf: Variants of the Five Types

While there are five basic types in Sievers' description of Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse, that is not the end of the story. There are quite a few variations allowed. We will talk about the principles which allow (or disallow) the variation later; first we need to know what patterns are possible. I will provide both modern English and Old English examples (using bolding to represent lifts and acute accents to represent syllable length, since HTML does not yet support the normal representation of long vowels.)
Sievers numbers the types, as follows:
Type A (lift-dip-lift-dip)
A1 (PROUD and PASSIONate, SUDDENly SINGing, PROUDer than a PEAcock etc.)
This is the standard A type of half-line. The lifts can be single long stressed syllables, or they can be resolved, as in most of the half-line types listed here. The first dip can be strong; the second dip must be a single unaccented syllable.
Old English examples:
gomban gylden wéox under wolcnum wonsceaft wera sceaþena þréatum fréowine folca
A2 (neither AGE nor WISdom, if HEARTS are HARDened, nor SEEK after FORtune, etc.)
This is an extended type. The presence of an extra one or two syllables before the first lift is termed anacrusis, so this is "type A with anacrusis". In Anglo-Saxon, type A2 is very limited -- most of the extra syllables are grammatically required prefixes like ge- or be- or enclitics like negative ne. In a modern imitation of Anglo-Saxon verse, type A2 should (in my opinion) be avoided like the plague, as too many A2 lines fundamentally change the meter, and make it sound like iambic verse. In general, anacrusis works best in the first half line, where the extra syllables start the line.
Old English examples:
gehéde under heofenum gewát þá ofer wæ'gholm ongeat þá se góda ne gewéox hé him tó willan
A3 ( SO that he will SEE us, BUT not in WINTer, etc.)
This variant is a source of controversy. The modern consensus is that type A3 only has one lift, preceded by a long string of weak syllables, typically grammatical function words. Sievers treated the initial word as stressed: SO that he will SEE us, BUT not in WINTer. But alliteration falls on the strong stress; the initial weak syllable need not alliterate.
Old English examples:
þæt hé þone bréostwylm ðá wæs on burgum nó ðý æ'r hé þone healsbéah
Type B (dip-lift-dip-lift)
(brought PAIN and LOSS, was GIVEN much GRACE, neither TIME nor TIDE etc.)
Standard type B, with or without resolution (markd with underlinging). The first dip can be strong; the second must be a single unaccented syllable.
Old English examples:
on sídne sæ' thurh sídne sefan siþðan grimne gripe þenden wordum wéold
Type C (dip-lift-lift-dip)
C1 (they were FAINT-HEARTed, were MADE CAPTive, this SUDDEN IMpulse, after HARD LABOR, etc.)
Standard type C, with or without resolution. The first dip can be strong; the second must be a single unaccented syllable.l
Old English examples:
þá wiþ Gode wunnon mid scip-herge over hron-ráde gyf him ed-wenden
C2 (a little problem, a sudden rupture)
This variant involves resolution on the first lift. I.e., a short stressed syllable plus an unstressed syllable (little, sudden) counts as the first lift. If the first lift involves reslution, the second can also.
Old English examples:
on fæder bearme hū ðā æðelingas swā fela fyrena
C3 (a DARK PREsence, his HEART BItter, what they SEEK EVer, etc.)
This variant involves what is technically called suspension of resolution on the final list. Normally, a word like presence or bitter would be resolved and treated as a lift. But in this case, the short stressed syllable counts as the lift, the syllable after it, as the final dip. As before, the first dip may be either weak or strong.
Old English examples:
in gear-dagum druncon wín weras þæt wæs gód cyning
Type D (lift-lift-dip-dip)
D1 ( SAD SONGwriters, HALF-SKILLfully etc.)
This is standard type D. The dip must contain a secondary stress; in this variant, it is the first element in the dip.
Old English examples:
wís wélþungen heall heorudréore betst beadorinca lindhæbbende gúðfremmendra andswarode
D2 ( BOLD BREADwinners, etc.)
The secondary stress in the dip is a single short accented syllable, with suspension of resolution, allowing the final unstressed syllable to count as the second dip.
Old English examples:
stéap stánhliðo léof landfruma
D3 ( HALF-WILLingly, etc.)
As in C2, the second lift is a single short accented syllable, with suspension of resolution.
Old English examples:
þéodcyninga eorðcyninges
D4 ( DARK DREARiness, SAVAGE SENTiments, FAINTHEARTedness, etc.)
This is the second common variant of type D, along with D1. The dip must contain a secondary stress; in this variant, it is the last element in the dip.
Old English examples:
bád bolgenmód eal inneweard micel morgenswég hár hilderinc bát bánlocan
D5 ( EVil ELements, SOOTHing CERTainties, ANGry ATtitudes etc.)
Like types D1 or D4, with the addition of an extra syllable between the two lifts.
Old English Examples:
réþe renweardas burston bánlocan síde sæ'næssas
Type E (lift-dip-dip-lift)
E1 ( SONGwriters SING, HARD-hearted MEN, etc.)
This is standard type E, with a secondary stress in the dip.
Old English Examples:
féascaftum men folcwaldan sunu wlitebeorhtne wang mancynne fram heteníðas wæg
E2 ( LEARN ever LESS, THOUGHTfully SANG, etc.)
The secondary stress is a single short accented syllable, with suspension of resolution.
Old English examples:
Súð-Dena folcláðlicu lác
As this list illustrates, Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse allows a very wide range of rhythms indeed. But not just any rhythm. To write a modern analog of Anglo-Saxon verse, it's important to understand the principles that govern it. And so that is what we will look at next.
Copyright ©2000, Paul Deane
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