Editing Alliterative verse (section)

==== J. R. R. Tolkien ====
{{further|List of Tolkien's alliterative verse|Poetry in The Lord of the Rings}}

[[J. R. R. Tolkien]] (1892–1973) was a scholar of [[Old English|Old]] and [[Middle English]] as well as a fantasy author<ref>{{cite book |last=Carpenter |first=Humphrey |author-link=Humphrey Carpenter |title=Tolkien: A Biography |title-link=J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography |publisher=[[Ballantine Books]] |location=New York |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-04928-037-3 |pages=111, 200, 266 and throughout}}</ref> and [[List of Tolkien's alliterative verse|used alliterative verse extensively]] in both translations and original poetry; some of his [[Poetry in The Lord of the Rings|poems are embedded in the text]] of his fantasy novel ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Most of his alliterative verse is in modern English, in a variety of styles. Tolkien's longest modern English works in Old English alliterative meter are an alliterative verse play,  ''[[The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son]]'' describing the aftermath of the [[Battle of Maldon]], published in 1953, his 2276-line ''[[The Lay of the Children of Húrin]]'' (c. 1918–1925), published in 1985, and his thousand-line fragment on the [[Matter of Britain]], [[The Fall of Arthur]],<ref>Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. ''The Fall of Arthur''. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.{{page needed|date=December 2023}}</ref> published in 2013.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smol |first1=Anna |last2=Foster |first2=Rebecca |year=2021 |title=J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Homecoming' and Modern Alliterative Metre |journal=[[Journal of Tolkien Research]] |volume=12 |issue=1 |at=Article 3 |url=https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol12/iss1/3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Clark |first=George |title=J. R. R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances: Views of Middle-earth |date=2000 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |pages=39–51 |editor=George Clark and Daniel Timmons}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom A. |title=Roots and Branches: Selected Papers on Tolkien |date=2007 |publisher=[[Walking Tree Publishers]] |location=Zurich and Berne |pages=323–339 |author-link=Tom Shippey}}</ref> He also experimented with alliterative verse based on the [[Poetic Edda]] (e.g., the ''[[Völsungasaga]]'' and ''[[Atlakviða]])'' in ''[[The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun]]'' (2009).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tolkien |first1=J. R. R. |last2=Tolkien |first2=Christopher |title=The legend of Sigurd and Gudrún |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |publication-place=Boston |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-547-27342-6 |oclc=310224953}}</ref> His [[Gothic language|Gothic]] ''poem [[Bagme Bloma]]'' ("Flower of the Trees") uses a trochaic metre, with irregular end-rhymes and irregular alliteration in each line; it was published in the 1936 ''[[Songs for the Philologists]]''.<ref>Tolkien, J. R. R. ''[[Songs for the Philologists]]''. Privately printed in the Department of English, [[University College London]], 1936.{{page needed|date=December 2023}}</ref> He also wrote a variety of alliterative poems in Old English. A version of these appears in "[[The Notion Club Papers]]".<ref name="NCP">{{ME-ref|SD}}, "[[The Notion Club Papers]]"</ref> His alliterative verse translations of Old English and Middle English alliterative poems include some 600 lines of ''[[Beowulf]]'',<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Acocella |first=Joan |date=2 June 2014 |title=Slaying Monsters: Tolkien's 'Beowulf' |url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2014/06/02/140602crbo_books_acocella?currentPage=all |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=2 June 2014}}</ref> portions of [[The Seafarer (poem)|''The Seafarer'']],<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1002/9781119691457.ch3 |chapter=Tolkien as Editor |title=A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien |date=2022 |last1=Shippey |first1=Tom |pages=34–47 |isbn=978-1-119-69140-2 }}</ref> and a complete translation of ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]''.<ref>{{cite report |last1=Volkonskaya |first1=M. A. |title=Translator and Language Change: On J.R.R. Tolkien's Translation of ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' |date=2015 |url=https://publications.hse.ru/en/preprints/163150386 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2674100 |ssrn=2674100 |s2cid=54805306 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Tolkien's original alliterative verse follows the rules for Old English alliterative verse, as can be seen in the following lines from ''[[The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son]]'':<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smol |first1=Anna |last2=Foster |first2=Rebecca |title=J.R.R. Tolkien's "Homecoming" and Modern Alliterative Metre |journal=Journal of Tolkien Research |date=21 May 2021 |volume=12 |issue=1 |id={{Gale|A666511744}} |url=https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol12/iss1/3/ }}</ref>

<poem style="margin-left: 2em">
{{pad|1em}}{{pad|1em}}{{pad|1em}}{{pad|1em}}{{pad|1em}}{{pad|1em}}{{pad|1em}}{{pad|1em}}{{pad|1em}}{{pad|1em}} To the left yonder
There's a <u>'''sh'''</u>ade creeping, {{pad|1em}} a <u>'''sh'''</u>adow darker
than the <u>'''w'''</u>estern sky, {{pad|1em}} there <u>'''w'''</u>alking crouched!
<u>'''T'''</u>wo now together! {{pad|1em}} <u>'''T'''</u>roll-shapes, I guess
or <u>'''h'''</u>ell-walkers. {{pad|1em}} They've a <u>'''h'''</u>alting gait,
<u>'''g'''</u>roping <u>'''g'''</u>roundwards {{pad|1em}} with <u>'''g'''</u>risly arms.
</poem>