The Christianisation of Latin Metre: A Study of Bede's "De arte metrica"

Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki. The Venerable Bede's eighth-century 'De arte metrica' was the most important treatise on Latin metrics to emerge in the early Middle Ages. It played a central role in the transmission of the classical literary tradition to the medieval audience, but, at the same time, constitutes one of the first efforts at creating a textbook on metrics that was primarily intended for the monastic curriculum. This historical background, together with the author s Christian agenda, is present in virtually every aspect of the way the work discusses the Latin poetic heritage. The main focus of 'De arte metrica' is on hexameter verse and the problems inherent in its composition at a time when syllable quantity had disappeared from spoken Latin. The work departs from previous grammatical tradition by incorporating syllable lengths into its discussion of poetic metres, a didactic solution necessitated by the linguistic conditions of Anglo-Saxon England. Even here, Bede consciously strives to create a consistently Christian literary norm. Instead of relying on the example of Vergil and other classics, he seeks to base his presentation of metrical rules, from syllable lengths to larger structures, on the example of Christian poets, most notably Sedulius, implying that pagan authors were even prosodically less advanced than Christian ones. Bede's views have been influenced by his belief in the biblical origins of metre, an idea expounded by several Christian apologists. Bede's discussion of other poetic metres is mainly restricted to those employed in Christian hymnody, and their simplified analyses correspond with Christian usage. Bede is also the first author to give an appropriate presentation of rhythmic or non-quantitative verse, anticipating later medieval poetic practices. The aim of this thesis is to examine the ways in which Bede sought to recast the classical poetic heritage in a form more appropriate for Christian scholars. This usually manifests itself in minute alterations of wording, but sometimes Bede takes a definite stand for the virtues of Christian verse as opposed to the pre-Christian classics. As many of Bede's definitions influenced numerous generations of medieval grammarians and poets, and the work itself became a model for the genre of 'Artes metricae', the strong role of its Christianising tendency must not be underestimated.