Just as only the relation to one another in the sentence. accented syllable of a single word can take part in the alliteration, so only can those words take part in it which are marked out in the sentence as important and therefore strongly accented. The relative degree of stress is influenced at times by the rhetorical accent, but generally speaking we find a certain gradation of accent among the accented words depending on their intrinsic and not on their rhetorical importance in building up the sentence. Two general principles may be laid down: (1) If the syntactical value of the two accented syllables of the hemistich is not equal, then the word which has the stronger accent of the two is chosen to alliterate. In the second hemistich it is always the first accented word (the 'head stave'), in the first hemistich it is generally the first accented word, though the second accented word may alliterate as well. (2) If the two accented syllables of the section are equal in syntactical value, then the first alliterates, and when double alliteration is allowed the second may also alliterate. The various grammatical classes of words are treated in regard to the alliteration in the following way: Nouns, including adjectives and the infinitives and participles of verbs, have the strongest accent of all words in the sentence. A noun therefore takes precedence over the other parts of speech among which it occurs and has the alliteration, as né in þá céastre becúman méahte. An. 931. If two nouns occur in the same hemistich it is always the first which alliterates, húsa sélest. Was seo hwil micel. Beow. 146. lánge hwile. Him was liffréa. Beow. 16. géongum ond éaldum, swylc him gód séalde. Beow. 72. The only exceptions are when a special rhetorical emphasis is given to the second word. When a noun and two adjectives or two nouns and an adjective occur in the same hemistich, one of these is always subordinated to the other, and the two together are treated as a combination. In such cases, where there is double alliteration • heavy ry? in the hemistich, the position of the alliterating words may be either a a x, or a xa, the subordinate element (x) standing either in the last or the second place in the hemistich, béorht béacen Gódes brímu swáðredon. Beow. 570. twélf wintra tid tórn geþólode. Beow. 147. In the case of single alliteration, it is always the first of the nouns or adjectives which alliterates. The verb (excluding the infinitive and participles) is usually less strongly accented than the noun. It may therefore precede or follow the noun or adjective without alliteration, either in the arsis or thesis, as let se héarda Hígeläces pégn. Beow. 2977. him pa Scyld gewắt to gescap-hwile. Beow. 26. gewät þã twélfa súm tórne gebólhen. Beow. 2401. On the other hand, when a hemistich consists only of one noun and one verb, the verb may alliterate, as gódne gegýrwan cwæð he gúð-cýning. Beow. 199. When a substantive and an adjective are closely combined, a verb in the same hemistich may alliterate, as býred blodig wæl, býrgean þénceð. Beow. 448. séofon niht swúncon; he be æt súnde oferflát. Beow. 517. In formulas consisting of noun + verb the noun predominates over the verb and takes the alliteration, as wérodes wisa wórdhord onléac, Beow. 259. But if the verb is emphatic it may alliterate though there is a noun in the same hemistich; this occurs chiefly in the second hemistich, as ond be healse genám; þrúron him tearas. Beow. 1872. grýrelicne gist. Gýrede hine Beowulf. ib. 1441, but a few instances are found in the first hemistich, as gemúnde þã se góda még Hígelàces. Beow. 758. When one of two verbs in the hemistich is subordinate to the other the verb in the subordinate clause alliterates, having a stronger accent than the verb in the main clause, mýnte þæt he geɖælde ær þon dæg cwome. Beow. 731. If the two verbs are co-ordinate the first alliterates, wórolde lifes: wýrce se pe mote. Beow. 1387; in the first hemistich both verbs commonly alliterate, séomade ond sýrede sínnihte héold. Beow. 161. The adverb. Adverbs of degree like micle, swide, ful, &c., are commonly found in the thesis, and even if they stand in the arsis they usually do not alliterate, as óflor mícle ponne on enne sið. Beow. 1580. When adverbs of this kind have a special rhetorical emphasis they may of course alliterate, as éfne swa micle swã bið mægða craft. Beow. 1284. ac he is snél and swift and swide leoht. Phoen. 317. Adverbs which modify the meaning of the word which they precede alliterate, as scholt úfan græg: wæs sẽ źrenpréat. Beow. 330. Adverbial prepositions preceding the verb also alliterate, hēt þã úp béran æðelinga gestréon. Beow. 1920, but not when they follow the verb, Géat was gladmod, géong sona to. Beow. 1785. Adverbs derived from nouns are more strongly accented than the verb which they modify and therefore alliterate, älégdon þā tōmíddes márne péoden. Beow. 3141. Pronouns (and pronominal adjectives like monig, eall, fela) are usually enclitic, and precede or follow the noun without alliterating, as manigu óðru gesćeaft éfnswìðe hím. ealne míddangéard ōð mérestréamas. Metr. xi. 44. Dan. 503. fela ic mónna gefrégn mægðum wealdan. Wid. 10. With a special rhetorical accent they may alliterate even if they precede the noun, on pæm dæge pýsses lifes. Beow. 197. The pronoun self and the pronouns compounded with the prefix (ghwa, ghwylc, &c.) are usually accented, and alliterate if they form the first arsis of the hemistich, as sélran gesóhte poem be him selfa deah. Beow. 1840. hæfde ghwæðer énde gefered. Beow. 2845. Prepositions, conjunctions, and particles are not as a rule accented, but prepositions if followed by an enclitic pronoun take the accent and alliterate, as éaldum éarne and æfter þón. Phoen. 238. nis únder mé énig óðer. Riddle xli. 86. Whether words of these classes, standing in the first arsis of the first hemistich along with another alliterating word, were intended also to alliterate is somewhat uncertain, but it is probable that they were so, as in mid by mastan magenprymme cýmed. Crist 1009. These laws of accentuation are strictly observed only in the older poetry; by the end of the tenth century, in Byrhtnoth, the Metres of Boethius and the Psalms, they are frequently neglected. § 36. Arrangement and relationship of verse and sentence. The following rules hold good in general for the distribution of the sentence or parts of the sentence between the hemistichs of the verse. Two distinct pauses occur in every alliterative line, one (commonly called the caesura) between the first and second hemistichs, the other at the end of the line, and these pauses are determined by the syntactical construction; that is to say, they coincide with the end of a clause or lesser member of the sentence. The hemistich must contain such parts of the sentence as belong closely together; and such coherent parts, as, for example, a pronoun and noun to which it refers or adverb with adjective, must not be separated from one another by the caesura, unless the pronoun or adverb is placed in the second arsis of the hemistich, as wýrd after pissum wórdgeméarcum. Gen. 2355. gif ge willað mínre mihte geléfan. Sat. 251. In Beowulf this separation of closely connected words is permitted only if the word standing in the arsis alliterates at the same time. Longer parts of a sentence may be separated both by the caesura and the pause at the end of the line. The syntactical connexion between the parts of a sentence thus broken up makes the unity of the parts clear, and when the division occurs in the caesura between the two halves of the verse, the alliteration common to both hemistichs serves further to emphasize this unity. The single alliterative lines are connected with one another by the prevailing usage of ending the sentence not at the end of the completed line, but at the end of the first hemistich or in the middle of the line, and of beginning a new sentence with the second hemistich. The great variety of expression, and the predilection for paraphrase by means of synonyms which is so characteristic of OE. poetry, contribute to make such breaks in the line easy. Whatever may be the explanation, it is certainly the fact that in the OE. poetry the metrical and syntactical members do sometimes coincide, but at other times overlap in a way which does not admit of being reduced to rule.1 The Lengthened Verse. § 37. Besides the normal four-beat line (with two beats to each hemistich) there is in OE. and Old Saxon another variety, the lengthened line (Schwellvers) with three beats in each hemistich.2 These verses occur in almost all OE. poems, either isolated or more commonly in groups, and occasionally we find lines with one hemistich of two beats and the second hemistich of three, like. gástes dúgeðum þæra þe mid gáres órde. Gen. 1522, and Jud. 96, Crist 1461, &c., or with a lengthened hemistich of three beats and a normal hemistich of two beats, like beron brándas on brýne blácan fýres. Dan. 246, and Sat. 605, Gnom. Ex. 200, &c. In the Psalms and in Cynewulf's Juliana they are wanting. entirely, in Cynewulf's Elene out of 1321 verses there are only fourteen lengthened whole lines, and three lengthened hemistichs. 1 The subject of the preceding paragraphs was first investigated by M. Rieger in his essay Alt- und Angelsächsische Verskunst, p. 18, where many details will be found. 2 Cf. Sievers in Paul-Braune's Beiträge, xii. 455; K. Luick, ib., xiii. 389, xv. 441; F. Kaufmann, ib., xv. 360; Sievers, in Paul's Grundriss, pp. 891 ff., and in Altgermanische Metrik, §§ 88-96. |