The importance of metrical analysis to the broad work of textual criticism and literary analysis cannot be overstated. In the thirty years since the publication of R. D. Fulk's 'A History of Old English Meter', metrical theory has been brought to bear on questions of poetic style, dating and literary history, linguistics and language history, editing practice, manuscript analysis and scribal practice. The essays in this collection include contributions from both new scholars and established metrists. They focus on the application of metrical study to literary criticism and manuscript studies, engaging with current debate and offering new perspectives on the crucial role of metre to Old English scholarship.
Author(s): Rachel A. Burns, Rafael J. Pascual (eds.)
Series: Medieval Media and Culture
Publisher: Arc Humanities Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 294
City: Leeds
Preface vii
A Note on the CLASP Project viii
Abbreviations ix
Tables and Figures xi
List of Appendices to Individual Contributions xi
Introduction / RAFAEL J. PASCUAL 1
Chapter 1. Metre as an Editorial Concern in 'The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records', with Particular Reference to the Old English 'Soul and Body' Poems / R. D. FULK 11
Chapter 2. 'The Dream of the Rood': “not on the whole metrically deficient”? / JANE ROBERTS 19
Chapter 3. On the Metre of 'Exodus' / PETER J. LUCAS 43
Chapter 4. 'The Battle of Maldon' and the Vengeance of Offa / MARK GRIFFITH 79
Chapter 5. Rhyme and Reason in 'The Battle of Maldon' / MARK ATHERTON 103
Chapter 6. Hypermetric Narrative in the Old English 'Daniel' / MEGAN E. HARTMAN 121
Chapter 7. 'Elene' 582–89: Hypermetrics, Revelation, and Judgment / MATTHEW D. COKER 139
Chapter 8. Single Half-Lines and Heavy Hypermetric Verses in 'Maxims I' Reconsidered / KAZUTOMO KARASAWA 155
Chapter 9. Anaphora and Stylistic Flexibility in the Metrical Charms / CAROLINE R. BATTEN 171
Chapter 10. Struggling to Find the Point: The Scratched Metrical Pointing of 'Guthlac A' in the Exeter Book / S. C. THOMSON 189
Chapter 11. Mind the Gap: Inter-Word Spacing and Metrical Organization in Old English Verse / RACHEL A. BURNS 207
Chapter 12. Metre vs Rhythm: John C. Pope Reads Sievers / HARUKO MOMMA 219
Chapter 13. The Mystery of Old English Type A2k / GEOFFREY RUSSOM 233
Appendix 1. Alan Bliss: 1921–1985 / PETER J. LUCAS 249
Appendix 2. Some Corrections to Alan Bliss’s Indices to 'The Metre of Beowulf', Together with His Last Known Views on the Metre of the Poem / MARK GRIFFITH 251
Appendix 3. A Glossary of Metrical Terms / RAFAEL J. PASCUAL 257
Select Bibliography and Further Reading 263
Index 267
