Old English Poetic Form

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Robert Fulk (Indiana University)
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I. Alliteration and rhyme.

A poetic line comprises two verses linked by alliteration, i.e. by repetition of initial sounds. Normally a single consonant alliterates with a single consonant, but the sounds represented by sp, st, and sc alliterate only with identical sounds. Any vowel or diphthong alliterates with any other vowel or diphthong, and in fact the poets generally seem to have avoided alliterating identical vowel sounds, an avoidance that Snorri Sturlusson (d. 1241) tells us Old Icelandic poets practised. The first fully stressed syllable in the on-verse (or a-verse, the first half of the line) should alliterate with the first fully stressed syllable in the off-verse (or b-verse)…

1586 words

Citation: Fulk, Robert. "Old English Poetic Form". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 March 2003 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1268, accessed 28 March 2024.]

1268 Old English Poetic Form 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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