Table of contents : Preface Acknowledgments 1 Introduction Overview 1.1 Alliteration 1.2 How Alliteration Affects Grammar and Word-choice 1.3 Rhythm 1.4 How Rhythm Affects Grammar and Word-choice 1.5 Textual Criticism References and Suggestions for Further Reading 2 Alliteration Overview 2.1 Consonantal and Vocalic Alliteration 2.2 Alliterative Patterns in the Line and Half-line 2.2.1 Anomalous Alliteration 2.2.2 Crossed and Transverse Alliteration 2.2.3 Explaining Alliterative Patterns 2.3 The Alliterative Rule of Precedence 2.4 Rhyme References and Suggestions for Further Reading 3 Rhythm: The Basics Overview 3.1 Stress-words, Particles, and Proclitics 3.2 Syllable and Foot 3.2.1 Syllable Length 3.2.2 Foot 3.3 Five Rhythmic Types 3.4 Anacrusis 45 3.5 Hypermetric Verses References and Suggestions for Further Reading 4 Rhythm: Advanced Topics Overview 4.1 The Four-syllable Principle 4.2 Accommodation of Apparently Ill-formed Half-lines 4.2.1 Contraction 4.2.2 Parasiting 4.2.3 Syncopation 4.2.4 Resolution and Kaluza’s Law 4.3 Types B and c Reconsidered 4.4 Interaction between Rhythm and Alliteration References and Suggestions for Further Reading 5 Metre and Word Overview 5.1 Preference for Shorter Words or Phrases 5.2 Choice between Morphological Variants 5.2.1 Adverbs of Time 5.2.2 Agent-nouns in '-end' and '-ende' 5.2.3 The Relative Infrequency of Agent-nouns in '-ere' in Old English Poetry 5.3 Constraints on Compound Formation 5.3.1 'Prosaic' 'Here-toga' and 'Poetic' 'Folc-toga' 5.3.2 'Hilde-' and 'Hild'-compounds 5.3.3 Absence of Some Possible Compounds 5.3.4 Compounds and Syntactic Phrases References and Suggestions for Further Reading 6 Metre and Grammar Overview 6.1 Nouns and Adjectives 6.1.1 Concord between Subject and Adjective/Participle 6.1.2 Weak Adjectives without a Demonstrative 6.1.3 weak 'Man' 6.2 Negation 6.3 Inflectional Forms and Prepositional Phrases 6.4 Principal and Subordinate Clauses 6.5 Word Order 6.5.1 How Alliteration Affects Word Order 6.5.2 How Rhythm Affects Word Order: Kuhn’s Laws 6.5.3 Syntactic Classification of Half-lines References and Suggestions for Further Reading 7 Other Problems Related to Old English Metre Overview 7.1 Metre and the Dating of Texts 7.2 Metre and Authorship 7.3 Verse and Prose References and Suggestions for Further Reading Appendices A Suggested Answers to the Exercises B Some Tips for Scanning Half-lines, with Sample Scansions C Glossary of Metrical Terms Bibliography Index of Verses General Index