Beowulf and Old Germanic Metre

ISBN-13: 9780521593403 / Angielski / Twarda / 1998 / 248 str.

Geoffrey Russom

Opis

This is a clear and accessible account of early Germanic alliterative verse that explains how such verse was treated by the Beowulf poet. There are differences of poetic style between Beowulf and the otherwise similar verse of ancient Scandinavia and continental Europe. Such distinctions have intrigued scholars for over a century, but Russom is the first to provide a systematic explanation of Old English, Old Norse, Old Saxon and Old High German alliterative meters. Russom's results should interest scholars of Old English and related Germanic languages, as well as linguists and those concerned with poetic meter.

Recenzje

"Russom's book is a splendid contribution to our understanding of early Germanic metrical systems and the linguistic rationale for them. That he leaves some questions unanswered, and that he raises a wide range of new ones, is not the least of its virtues." Speculum

Spis treści

1. Introduction; 2. The foot; 3. The verse; 4. Light feet and extra-metrical words; 5. Metrical archaisms; 6. Alliteration; 7. Metrical subordination within the foot; 8. Resolution; 9. Word order and stress within the clause; 10. Old Saxon alliterative verse; 11. Hildebrandslied; 12. Conclusions.