Editing Alliterative verse (section)

{{short description|Form of verse}}
{{for|Alliteration in Latin verse|Alliteration (Latin)}}
[[File:Beowulf_Cotton_MS_Vitellius_A_XV_f._132r.jpg|thumb|right|The Old English epic poem ''[[Beowulf]]'' is written in alliterative verse.]]
In [[meter (poetry)|prosody]], '''alliterative verse''' is a form of [[poetry|verse]] that uses [[alliteration]] as the principal device to indicate the underlying [[Metre (poetry)|metrical structure]], as opposed to other devices such as [[rhyme]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hogan |first=Patrick Colm |date=1997 |title=Literary Universals |journal=Poetics Today |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=223–249 |doi=10.2307/1773433 |jstor=1773433 }}</ref> The most commonly studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of the [[Germanic language]]s, where scholars use the term 'alliterative poetry' rather broadly to indicate a tradition which not only shares alliteration as its primary ornament but also certain metrical characteristics.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Goering |first1=N. |title=The linguistic elements of Old Germanic metre: phonology, metrical theory, and the development of alliterative verse |date=2016 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d49ea9d5-da3f-4796-8af8-a08a1716d191 |oclc=1063660140 }}{{page needed|date=December 2023}}</ref> The [[Old English language|Old English]] [[Epic poetry|epic]] ''[[Beowulf]]'', as well as most other [[Old English poetry]], the [[Old High German]] ''[[Muspilli]]'', the [[Old Saxon]] ''[[Heliand]]'', the [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] ''[[Poetic Edda]]'', and many [[Middle English]] poems such as ''[[Piers Plowman]]'', ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'', [[Layamon's Brut]] and the ''[[Alliterative Morte Arthur]]'' all use alliterative verse.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.7560/764996 |title=The Poetic Edda |date=1962 |isbn=978-0-292-74791-3 }}{{page needed|date=December 2023}}</ref><ref name="Russom 1998 Old Saxon alliterative verse">{{cite book |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511582981.011 |chapter=Old Saxon alliterative verse |title=Beowulf and Old Germanic Metre |date=1998 |pages=136–170 |isbn=978-0-521-59340-3 |first1=Geoffrey |last1=Russom }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sommer |first=Herbert W. |date=October 1960 |title=The Muspilli-Apocalypse |journal=The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=157–163 |doi=10.1080/19306962.1960.11787011 }}</ref><ref name="Cable">{{cite book |doi=10.9783/9781512803853 |title=The English Alliterative Tradition |date=1991 |last1=Cable |first1=Thomas |isbn=978-1-5128-0385-3 }}</ref>

While alliteration is common in many poetic traditions, it is 'relatively infrequent' as a structured characteristic of poetic form.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Frog |first1=Mr. |title=The Finnic Tetrameter – A Creolization of Poetic Form? |journal=Studia Metrica et Poetica |date=2019 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=20–78 |doi=10.12697/smp.2019.6.1.02 |s2cid=198517325 |doi-access=free }}</ref>{{rp|41}} However, structural alliteration appears in a variety of poetic traditions, including [[Irish bardic poetry|Old Irish]], [[Medieval Welsh literature|Welsh]], [[Somali literature|Somali]] and [[Mongol epic poetry|Mongol]] poetry.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Travis |first=James |date=April 1942 |title=The Relations between Early Celtic and Early Germanic Alliteration |journal=The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=99–105 |doi=10.1080/19306962.1942.11786083 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1002/9781118396957.wbemlb495 |chapter=Cynghanedd |title=The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain |date=2017 |last1=Salisbury |first1=Eurig |pages=1–2 |isbn=978-1-118-39698-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1057/9780230305878_11 |chapter=Alliteration in Mongol Poetry |title=Alliteration in Culture |date=2011 |last1=Kara |first1=György |pages=156–179 |isbn=978-1-349-31301-3 }}</ref><ref name="Alliteration in Somali Poetry">{{cite book |doi=10.1057/9780230305878_14 |chapter=Alliteration in Somali Poetry |title=Alliteration in Culture |date=2011 |last1=Orwin |first1=Martin |pages=219–230 |isbn=978-1-349-31301-3 }}</ref> The extensive use of alliteration in the so-called [[Kalevala meter|''Kalevala'' meter]], or [[runic song]], of the Finnic languages provides a close comparison, and may derive directly from Germanic-language alliterative verse.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Frog |title=The Finnic Tetrameter – A Creolization of Poetic Form? |journal=Studia Metrica et Poetica |date=29 August 2019 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=20–78 |doi=10.12697/smp.2019.6.1.02 |s2cid=198517325 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Unlike in other Germanic languages, where alliterative verse has largely fallen out of use (except for deliberate revivals, like [[Richard Wagner]]'s 19th-century German ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen|Ring]]'' Cycle<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Gupta |first1=Rahul |title='The Tale of the Tribe': The Twentieth-Century Alliterative Revival |date=September 2014 |url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/8521/ |pages=7–8 }}</ref>), alliteration has remained a vital feature of [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] poetry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adalsteinsson |first=Ragnar Ingi |title=Traditions and Continuities: Alliteration in Old and Modern Icelandic Verse |publisher=University of Iceland Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-9935-23-036-2}}</ref> After the 14th Century, Icelandic alliterative poetry mostly consisted of [[rímur]],<ref name="auto2">{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Margaret Clunies |title=A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics |date=2005 |publisher=DS Brewer |isbn=978-1-84384-279-8 }}{{page needed|date=December 2023}}</ref> a verse form which combines alliteration with rhyme. The most common alliterative ''ríma'' form is ''[[ferskeytt]]'', a kind of quatrain.<ref>Vésteinn Ólason, 'Old Icelandic Poetry', in ''A History of Icelandic Literature'', ed. by Daisy Nejmann, Histories of Scandinavian Literature, 5 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006), pp. 1-63 (pp. 55-59).</ref> Examples of rimur include Disneyrímur<ref>''[https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/disneyrimur-1978/ Disneyrímur]''</ref> by [[Þórarinn Eldjárn]], <nowiki>''Unndórs rímur''</nowiki> by an anonymous author, and the rimur transformed to post-rock anthems by [[Sigur Rós|Sigur Ros]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rímur EP (2001) - Sigur Rós with Steindór Andersen - YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLze65Ckn-WXYYCcibRmTKs4Tey7f_4wbq |access-date=2023-11-26 |website=www.youtube.com}}</ref> From 19th century poets like [[Jónas Hallgrímsson|Jonas Halgrimsson]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jónas Hallgrímsson: Selected Poetry and Prose |url=https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/Jonas/ |access-date=2023-11-26 |website=digicoll.library.wisc.edu}}</ref> to 21st-century poets like [[Valdimar Tómasson]], alliteration has remained a prominent feature of modern [[Icelandic literature]],  though contemporary Icelandic poets vary in their adherence to traditional forms.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1057/9780230305878_9 |chapter=Alliteration in Iceland: From the Edda to Modern Verse and Pop Lyrics |title=Alliteration in Culture |date=2011 |last1=Árnason |first1=Kristján |pages=123–140 |isbn=978-1-349-31301-3 }}</ref>

By the early 19th century, alliterative verse in Finnish was largely restricted to traditional, largely rural folksongs, until [[Elias Lönnrot]] and his compatriots collected them and published them as the [[Kalevala]], which rapidly became the national epic of Finland and contributed to the Finnish independence movement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=William A. |date=1975 |title=The 'Kalevala' and Finnish Politics |journal=Journal of the Folklore Institute |volume=12 |issue=2/3 |pages=131–155 |doi=10.2307/3813922 |jstor=3813922 }}</ref> This led to poems in Kalevala meter becoming a significant element in [[Finnish literature]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Simonsuuri |first1=Kirsti |title=From Orality to Modernity: Aspects of Finnish Poetry in the Twentieth Century |journal=World Literature Today |date=1989 |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=52–54 |doi=10.2307/40145048 |jstor=40145048 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alhoniemi |first1=Pirkko |last2=Binham |first2=Philip |title=Modern Finnish Literature from Kalevala and Kanteletar Sources |journal=World Literature Today |date=1985 |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=229 |doi=10.2307/40141460 |jstor=40141460 }}</ref> and popular culture.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Doesburg |first1=Charlotte |title=Of heroes, maidens and squirrels: Reimagining traditional Finnish folk poetry in metal lyrics |journal=Metal Music Studies |date=June 2021 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=317–333 |doi=10.1386/mms_00051_1 |s2cid=237812043 |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10131268/ }}</ref>

Alliterative verse has also been revived in [[Modern English]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wise |first1=Dennis Wilson |title=Poul Anderson and the American Alliterative Revival |journal=Extrapolation |date=June 2021 |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=157–180 |doi=10.3828/extr.2021.9 |s2cid=242510584 }}</ref><ref name="Wilson Wise 2021 22–54">{{cite journal |last1=Wilson Wise |first1=Dennis |title=Antiquarianism Underground: The Twentieth-century Alliterative Revival in American Genre Poetry |journal=Studies in the Fantastic |date=2021 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=22–54 |doi=10.1353/sif.2021.0001 |s2cid=238935463 }}</ref> Many modern authors include alliterative verse among their compositions, including [[Poul Anderson]], [[W. H. Auden|W.H. Auden]], [[Fred Chappell]], [[Richard Eberhart]], [[John Heath-Stubbs]], [[Cecil Day-Lewis|C. Day-Lewis]], [[C. S. Lewis]], [[Ezra Pound]], [[John Myers Myers]], [[Patrick Rothfuss]], [[L. Sprague de Camp]],  [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] and [[Richard Wilbur]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Published Authors of Alliterative Verse |url=https://alliteration.net/authors |access-date=2023-11-21 |website=Forgotten Ground Regained |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Wilson Wise 2021 22–54"/> Modern English alliterative verse covers a wide range of styles and forms, ranging from poems in strict Old English or Old Norse meters, to highly alliterative free verse that uses strong-stress alliteration to connect adjacent phrases without strictly linking alliteration to line structure.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Styles and Themes: Trends in Modern Alliterative Verse |url=https://alliteration.net/sampler/styles-and-themes |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=Forgotten Ground Regained |language=en}}</ref> While alliterative verse is relatively popular in the [[speculative fiction]] (specifically, the [[speculative poetry]]) community,<ref name="amazon.com">{{Cite book |title=Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival: A Critical Anthology |date=2023-12-15 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn=978-1-68393-329-8 |editor-last=Wise |editor-first=Dennis |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Speculative Fiction Community |url=https://alliteration.net/community/speculative-fiction |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Forgotten Ground Regained |language=en}}</ref> and is regularly featured at events sponsored by the [[Society for Creative Anachronism]],<ref name="amazon.com" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Society for Creative Anachronism: Sponsors of Alliterative Verse |url=https://alliteration.net/community/society-for-creative-anachronism |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Forgotten Ground Regained |language=en}}</ref> it also appears in poetry collections published by a wide range of practicing poets.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collections: Anthologies that Contain Alliterative Verse |url=https://alliteration.net/books/collections/ |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Forgotten Ground Regained |language=en}}</ref>