Anglo-Saxon Accentual Verse
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Structure, Other Requirement
Based on alliteration and stress, this is a style left over
from the English languages Anglo-Saxon forbears. It was usually done with four-stress lines with a cæsura (or pause in the middle). The stressed
words were alliterated in a pattern such that the third stress always alliterated with either the first stress, the second stress, or both. The fourth stress
did not alliterate internally, but might cross-alliterate with other lines. Alliteration was what held the lines of the poem together, rather than the rhyme
more commonly used in non-Germanic European cultures. All vowels were considered to alliterate with each other, but compound consonants such as "sk" or "sp"
would alliterate only with themselves, not each other. The Anglo-Saxons were more likely to use enjambment and not as likely to end-stop their lines compared
with the Icelandic poets.
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|See Also: || |
Accentual Verse, Alliteration, Enjambment, Epic, Old Story Measure, Song Measure, Speech Measure, Tetrastich