The evolution of verse structure in Old and Middle English poetry from the earliest alliterative poems to Iambic pentameter PDF
Preview The evolution of verse structure in Old and Middle English poetry from the earliest alliterative poems to Iambic pentameter
THE EVOLUTION OF VERSE STRUCTURE IN OLD AND MIDDLE ENGLISH POETRY Inthisfascinatingstudy,GeoffreyRussomtracestheevolutionofthe major English poetic traditions by reference to the evolution of the English language, and considers how verse forms are born, how theyevolve,andwhytheydie.Usingageneraltheoryofpoeticform employinguniversalprinciplesrootedinthehumanlanguagefaculty, Russomarguesthatcertainkindsofpoetrytendtoarisespontaneously in languages with identifiable characteristics. Language changes may require modification of metrical rules and may eventually lead to extinctionofameter.Russom’stheoryisappliedtoexplainthedevel- opment ofEnglishmeters fromthe earliest alliterativepoems in Old andMiddleEnglishandthetransitiontoiambicmeterintheModern English period. This thorough yet accessible study provides detailed analysesofforminkeypoems,includingBeowulfandSirGawainand theGreenKnight,andaglossaryoftechnicalterms. geoffrey russom is Emeritus Professor of English and Medieval StudiesatBrownUniversityandNicholasBrownProfessorofOratory andBellesLettres,Emeritus.HeistheauthorofOldEnglishMeterand LinguisticTheory(Cambridge,1987)andofBeowulfandOldGermanic Metre(Cambridge,1998),andhaspublishednumerousjournalarticles and book chapters on the theory of poetic form, the history of the Englishlanguage,andtheartisticexcellenceofpreliterateverse. cambridge studies in medieval literature GeneralEditor AlastairMinnis,YaleUniversity EditorialBoard ZygmuntG.Barański,UniversityofCambridge ChristopherC.Baswell,BarnardCollegeandColumbiaUniversity JohnBurrow,UniversityofBristol MaryCarruthers,NewYorkUniversity RitaCopeland,UniversityofPennsylvania RobertaFrank,YaleUniversity SimonGaunt,King’sCollege,London StevenKruger,CityUniversityofNewYork NigelPalmer,UniversityofOxford WinthropWetherbee,CornellUniversity JocelynWogan-Browne,FordhamUniversity Thisseriesofcriticalbooksseekstocoverthewholeareaofliteraturewrittenin the major medieval languages – the main European vernaculars, and medieval LatinandGreek–duringtheperiodc.1100–1500.Itschiefaimistopublishand stimulatefreshscholarshipandcriticismonmedievalliterature,specialemphasis being placed on understanding major works of poetry, prose, and drama in relationtothecontemporarycultureandlearningwhichfosteredthem. Recenttitlesintheseries EmilyV.ThornburyBecomingaPoetinAnglo-SaxonEngland LawrenceWarnerTheMythof“PiersPlowman” LeeManionNarratingtheCrusades:LossandRecoveryinMedievalandEarly ModernEnglishLiterature DanielWakelinScribalCorrectionandLiteraryCraft:EnglishManuscripts1375–1510 JonWhitman(ed.)RomanceandHistory:ImaginingTimefromtheMedievaltothe EarlyModernPeriod VirginieGreeneLogicalFictionsinMedievalLiteratureandPhilosophy MichaelJohnstonandMichaelVanDussen(eds.)TheMedievalManuscriptBook: CulturalApproaches TimWilliamMachan(ed.)ImaginingMedievalEnglish:LanguageStructuresand Theories,500–1500 EricWeiskottEnglishAlliterativeVerse:PoeticTraditionandLiteraryHistory SarahElliottNovacichShapingtheArchiveinLateMedievalEngland:History, Poetry,andPerformance Acompletelistoftitlesintheseriescanbefoundattheendofthevolume. THE EVOLUTION OF VERSE STRUCTURE IN OLD AND MIDDLE ENGLISH POETRY From the Earliest Alliterative Poems to Iambic Pentameter GEOFFREY RUSSOM BrownUniversity UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,ny10006,USA 477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,vic3207,Australia 4843/24,2ndFloor,AnsariRoad,Daryaganj,Delhi–110002,India 79AnsonRoad,#06–04/06,Singapore079906 CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107148338 doi:10.1017/9781316562925 ©GeoffreyRussom2017 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2017 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. isbn978-1-107-14833-8Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. For Mike and Sue Contents ListofTables pageviii Acknowledgments x 1 GeneralPrinciplesofPoeticForm 1 2 Indo-EuropeanandGermanicMeters 35 3 OldEnglishMeterintheEraofBeowulf 54 4 FromLateOldEnglishMetertoMiddleEnglishMeter 89 5 MiddleEnglishTypeA1andtheHypermetricalB-Verse 134 6 TypeA1intheA-Verse 176 7 TypesBandC 190 8 SurvivalandExtinctioninTypesA2,Da,andE 208 9 TypeDbandtheHypermetricalA-Verse 233 10 TheBirthofEnglishIambicMeter 259 11 GeneralSummary 272 Notes 278 Glossary 304 Bibliography 310 Index 317 vii Tables 3.1 VerseTypesReliablyAttestedinBeowulf page61 4.1 MedialDipsinTypesA,D,andE 101 4.2 MedialDipsinHypermetricalA-Verses 103 4.3 MedialDipsinHypermetricalB-Verses 106 4.4 MedialDipsinVariantswiththeFirstFootOccupiedbyaWord 107 Group 4.5 DipsintheSxsFootofTypeB 111 4.6 FrequenciesforA-VerseDipsintheSxsFootofTypeB 111 4.7 DipsintheSxxsFootofLongTypeB 113 4.8 FrequenciesforA-VerseDipsintheSxxsFootofLongTypeB 113 4.9 DipsintheSxsFootofTypeDb 114 4.10 DipsintheSxxsFootofLongTypeDb 115 4.11 LongInitialDipsthatIncludeLightFeet 117 4.12 PlacementofFiniteWesan 118 4.13 PlacementofFiniteAuxiliaries 120 4.14 PlacementofLightMainVerbsandQuasi-Auxiliaries 121 4.15 PlacementoftheRemainingFiniteVerbs 123 5.1 InterpretationofHigh-FrequencyWordswithWeakFinal-e 139 5.2 InterpretationofHigh-FrequencyWordsEndinginWeakePlus 141 Consonant 5.3 DipStructuresintheCorpusofLimitedAmbiguity 151 5.4 DipStructuresintheLargerCorpus 153 5.5 WordPlacementintheDipsofTypeA1B-Verses 157 5.6 WordPlacementintheDipsofHypermetricalB-Verses 158 6.1 DipStructuresforTypeA1A-VersesintheSmallerCorpus 177 6.2 DipStructuresforTypeA1A-VersesintheLargerCorpus 177 7.1 DistributionofTypeCAccordingtotheLengthoftheInitialDip 191 7.2 DistributionofBVariantsintheSmallerCorpus 200 7.3 DistributionofBVariantsintheLargerCorpus 201 8.1 DistributionofA2VariantsintheSmallerCorpus 216 8.2 DistributionofA2VariantsintheLargerCorpus 216 viii
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