Poetic Style

Reading poetry is always more challenging than reading prose. Poets employ figurative language more intensively than most prose writers do, they leave much for readers to infer, and in many poetic traditions (including those of England and America in the relatively recent past) their language is deliberately archaic. Here, for example, are the first two stanzas of Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
   The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
   And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
   And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
   And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds.

Gray’s eighteenth-century masterpiece has stylistic features rarely found in prose of that time. The contraction o’er ‘over’, dialectal in origin, is rare outside of poetry, and lea, from Old English lēah‘pasture, meadow’, had been an almost exclusively poetic word for centuries.

Further, the word-order of this passage makes it look strange to the modern eye. In line 3 an adverbial element (homeward) comes where it does not normally occur, line 5 has the word-order Verb-Subject, and line 6 has Subject . . . Verb. These three divergences from Modern English word-order would make good Old English, as you remember from Chapter 12. Gray’s use of such archaisms is typical of the poetic idiom of his time, and although that idiom is now out of favor, we still recognize it with no difficulty.

Old English poetry employs a number of words that are rarely or never found in prose, and its syntax differs from that of prose in several respects. The result of these differences is that there is a distinctively poetic Old English idiom, which probably was as easily recognizable to Englishmen of that time as Gray’s poetic idiom is to us.

Rhythm

Rhythm

13.2.1. Lifts, half-lifts and drops

We mentioned at the head of this chapter that a verse generally has two lifts, or stressed syllables. A lift will normally be a long syllable. The italicized syllables in these words are long:

hlēoðrode	healle
frēolic	weġ

But the italicized syllables in these words are short and so will not normally be lifts, even though they are the stressed syllables of their words:

wera	duru
dagas	ābrocen

Two short syllables can, however, add up to what is called a resolved lift, which we mark with a tie between a stroke and a backward stroke. For example, in this line,

m/͜×oneg×um m/ǣġþ×um    m/͜×eodos\etl×a ×oftē/ah

(Beowulf, l. 5)

the first two syllables of monegum and meodosetla make resolved lifts. In addition, a lift may consist of a single short syllable when it immediately follows another lift.

There is a strong tendency in Old English poetry to group weakly stressed words that are not proclitic[2]at the beginning of a clause or immediately after the first lift in a clause. These weakly stressed words include conjunctions, finite verbs, adverbs and pronouns; you will often find them clustered right at the beginning of a verse, before the first lift, as here,

s×yðþ×an h×ē h×ir×e    f/olm×um ×æthr/ān

(Beowulf, l. 722b)

where a conjunction and two pronouns (five syllables in all) constitute the drop that comes before the first lift. When a word that normally is weakly stressed occurs somewhere other than its accustomed position, it acquires stress. Thus a finite verb, adverb or pronoun will be stressed if it does not come before or immediately after the first lift, and a proclitic, such as a preposition, will be stressed if it follows the word it normally precedes:

/͜×Hete w×æs ×onhr/ēr×ed

ð×ā h×ē ġ×eb/olg×en w/æs

f×or ð×on ×iċ m×ē o/n h/af×u

gr/undw\ong þ/on×e

(Beowulf, ll. 2556a, 723b, 2523b, 2588a)

In the first of these examples, the finite verb wæs, coming right after the first lift (hete), remains unstressed, but in the second example wæs at the end of the clause is stressed. In the third example, a preposition (on) comes after its object (mē), and in the fourth example, a pronoun used as an adjectival “article” follows the noun it modifies. Both the preposition and the pronoun are lifts. The preposition even participates in the alliterative pattern of the line.

The second element of a compound noun normally has a half-stressed syllable (this is still true: say “the flashlight” aloud to yourself and listen to the relative stress levels of the, flash and light). In Old English meter, a half-stress may sometimes be treated as part of the drop and sometimes as the lift:

m×͜/edudrē\am m/ār×an

bē/odġ×enē\at×as

(Beowulf, ll, 2016a, 1713b)

In the first example, the half-stress -drēam comes where you expect a drop, while in the second the half-stress -nēa- comes where you expect a lift.

13.2.2. Rhythmic types

Every correctly constructed verse belongs to one of the five rhythmic types. The rhythmic patterns of these types are not fixed, but rather flexible. Each type has a basic form and a range of variations on that form. The rhythmic patterns of modern verse also have variations. In this line, for example,

The whiskey on your breath

which we perceive as having three iambs (× / | × / | × /), we in fact pronounce the second iamb as two unstressed syllables (× / | × × | × /). The phonetic realization of a poetic line can differ quite a bit from its basic form; in fact, any poem in which the two do not differ is certain to strike us as monotonous. The differences between basic form and phonetic realization are themselves governed by rules that ensure that the verse retains its integrity so that we can still recognize it as poetry.

A. Basic form: lift, drop, lift, drop.

This is the most common type of verse. Examples:

ē/ow×er lē/od×e

s/org×e ġ×efre×͜/med×e

(Beowulf, ll. 596b, 2004b)

Notice that the drop may consist of more than one unstressed syllable. Either or both of the drops may also be replaced by a half-lift. The second lift may also be replaced by a half-lift, but half-lifts cannot replace both drops and lifts in the same verse.

• Many metrists believe that verses were subdivided into feet. If so, the first line above would be divided / × | / × and the second would be divided  / × | × /͜× ×. Not all scholars agree that verses were so divided. This book takes no position on that question, but omits the division into feet as unlikely to be of much use to students beginning to read poetry.

An extra syllable may precede the first lift in an A-type verse; this phenomenon, called anacrusis, occurs only in on-verses. This line exhibits anacrusis:

×in m/ǣġþ×a ġ×ehw/ǣr×e

(Beowulf, l. 25a)

You will frequently encounter A-type verses in which the first lift is so weak that you may have difficulty locating it at all. These “light” A-type verses typically occur at the beginnings of clauses. They are always on-verses. Examples:

(/)hī h×in×e þ×ā ×ætb/ǣr×on

(/)Ðā c×ōm ×of m/ōr×e

(Beowulf, ll. 28, 118a)

B. Basic form: drop, lift, drop, lift.

B-type verses are especially common as off-verses, though they also occur as on-verses:

N×e sc×el /ān×es hw/æt

þ×æt s×e s/īð n×e ð/āh

(Beowulf, ll. 3010b, 3058b)

The first drop may have as many as five syllables, but the second can have no more than two.

C. Basic form: drop, lift, lift, drop.

Verses of this type, in which the clashing stresses are rather startling to the modern ear, are more often than not off-verses. Examples:

×Oft Sc/yld Sc/ēf×ing

þē×ah h×e h×im lē/of w/ǣr×e

(Beowulf, ll. 4a, 203b)

Though the first drop may have as many as five syllables, the second drop may have only one. The second lift is often a short syllable, since it immediately follows the first:

þ×æt h×īe /ǣr dr/ug×on

(Beowulf, l. 15a)

D. Basic forms: lift, lift, half-lift, drop; lift, lift, drop, half-lift.

D-type verses often consist of a word of one long or two short syllables followed by a word of three syllables; alternatively, a D-type verse may be a compound whose second element has three syllables. The drop at or near the end of the verse never has more than one syllable. Examples:

s/͜×unu /Ecgl\āf×es

fl/ets/itt\end×um

h/ār h/ild×er\inc

(Beowulf, ll. 590b, 1788a, 1307a)

Some D-type verses are “extended,” with a one- or two-syllable drop after the first lift:

wē/old×on w/ælst\ōw×e

hw/īl×um h/ild×edē\or

(Beowulf, ll. 2051a, 2107a)

E. Basic form: lift, half-lift, drop, lift.

The E-type verse is the inverse of the D-type, frequently consisting of a three-syllable word followed by a word of one long syllable or two short ones:

/edw\end×en cw/ōm

st/efn \in b×ec/ōm

(Beowulf, ll. 1774b, 2552b)

The drop may consist of two short syllables (never more):

fe/orhsw\enġ n×e ×oftē/ah

(Beowulf, l. 2489b)

13.3.3. Hypermetric verses

Occasionally you will encounter clusters of lines in which the verses appear to be exceptionally long. These extended verses, which we call hypermetric, occur rarely in Beowulf, but frequently in The Dream of the Rood and Judith. Here is a sample:

Þurhdrifan hī mē mid deorcum næġlum.   On mē syndon þā dolg ġesīene,
opene inwidhlemmas.   Ne dorste iċ hira nǣnigum sceððan.
Bysmeredon hīe unc būtū ætgædere.   Eall iċ wæs mid blōde bestēmed,
begoten of þæs guman sīdan,   siððan hē hæfde his gāst onsended.

[They drove dark nails through me. The wounds, open wicked wounds,
are visible on me. I did not dare to harm any of them.
They reviled both of us together. I was entirely drenched with blood,
poured from the man’s side after he had sent forth his spirit.]

(The Dream of the Rood, ll. 46-49)

Exactly what is going on in this kind of verse is a matter of some disagreement. The traditional view is that hypermetric on-verses are normal verses with a prefix that usually takes the form /× × or / × (but is sometimes longer), while hypermetric off-verses have an extra-long drop before the first lift, thus:

o/͜×pen×e /inw\idhl/emm×as

E×all ×iċ w×æs m×id bl/ōd×e b×est/ēm×ed

We may interpret the first of these verses as an A-type with /͜× × prefixed and the second as another A-type with × × × × prefixed.

Some scholars have argued that this traditional view provides an inadequate explanation of the hypermetric verses. It is beyond the scope of a grammar book to discuss in detail the competing theories regarding these verses. You may take the traditional view as a starting point, read further, and decide for yourself what stylistic effect these verses may have had.

Alliteration

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of a syllable. In addition, any syllable that begins with a vowel alliterates with any other syllable that begins with a vowel. In Old English poetry, only the alliteration of lifts is significant. The combinations sc, sp and st may alliterate only with themselves. In most poems, however, ġ can alliterate with g and ċ with c. The italic letters in this list alliterate:

clyppe	cysse
ġeþōht	þenċan
ēadiġ	ġeendod
foremihtiġ	fēond
ġecunnod	ċēole
gōd	ġeogoð

These words, on the other hand, contain sounds that you might expect to alliterate, but do not:

ġehāten	ġēar
foremihtig	mǣre
forweorðan	fēond
stān	sāriġ
scōp	sǣ

In each poetic line, one or two lifts in the on-verse must alliterate with the first lift in the off-verse. The second lift in the off-verse normally does not alliterate with any of the three other stressed syllables in the line. These lines illustrate the three patterns:[1]

xa|ay: þ×æt (/)biþ ×in e/orl×e    /indr\yht×en þē/aw

ax|ay: þ×æt h×ē h×is f/erðl\oc×an    f/æst×e b/ind×e

aa|ax: n×e s×e hrē/o h/yġ×e    h/elp×e ġ×efr/emm×an

• It is customary to mark a lift with a stroke. A backward stroke (\) marks a half-lift, and × marks an unstressed syllable, part of a drop. In this book, a stroke in parentheses marks a syllable that one would expect to receive metrical stress even though the rules of Old English accentuation indicate that it should not be stressed (seebelow).

The pattern xa|ay occurs mostly when the first lift in a verse is weak (as when it is a syllable of a finite verb). When the first lift is strong (as when it is a syllable of a noun, adjective or verbal), it normallymust alliterate, so the pattern will be ax|ay or aa|ax. A competent poet would not write a line like this one:

n×e s×e w/ō h/iġ×e    h/elp×e ġ×efr/emm×an

Occasionally you will meet with transverse alliteration (the pattern ab|ab) and crossed alliteration(ab|ba). These probably were regarded as especially ornate:

Þǣr æt hȳðe stōd   hringedstefna

brūnfāgne helm,   hringde byrnan

(Beowulf, ll. 32, 2615)

Other unusual kinds of alliteration (such as syllables in the drop alliterating with a lift) are probably incidental and without metrical significance.