Introduction to Old English Poetry

Its Prosody and Literary Style

• Overview
• Alliteration
• Rhythm and Meter
• Kennings and Allusions
• The Scop's Verbal-Musical Craft and Purposes
• Other Old English Poems

When you read Old English Poetry, you will encounter poetry with themes and prosody that are new to you, written in a language foreign to you, which is described on the language page of this site. Old English Poetry did not rhyme, but unlike free verse or even blank verse, it did have a different kind of formal structure based on alliteration, the repetition of save initial consonant sounds. (All words beginning with a vowel sound were also considered to have alliteration.).

Old English poetry was highly metrical, but it did not have repeated patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables like the metrical poems you have probably studied. Rather, a line of Old English Poetry contained two pairs of strongly stessed sylables set among any number of unstressed syllables occurring in any order. Within the line of poetry, a caesura, or strong pause, divided the first pair of strong syllables from the second one, enhancing the rhythmic effect.

Old English poets frequent use of Kennings or special epithets referring to an object in relation to another or to the audience's experience. These kennings were conventional and easily understood by the audience. Examples include wave traveler for "boat" or whale's road for "sea." You should also (as always) be prepared for allusions, references by the poet to other writings or cultural works. In Beowulf, there are allusions to the book of Genesis. In calling Grendel "kin of Cain," the Beowulf poet is using both allusion and kenning, as well as alliteration.

The Scop's Verbal-Musical Craft and Purposes

Modern readers often think of poetry as literary, something closely bound to the written page, different from legend and from song. Howevever, Old English poetry was usually performed orally, and an accompaniment on the harp was exptected. This strumming would strngthen the rhythm, dignity, and heroic tone of the presentation. The Old English or scop performed memorized poems from a body of known works and also works he himself had composed. He performed his craft in order to honor his patron, instruct his audiences in history and values, and entertain his audiences.

All of these purposes were served by a tale of heroism and adventure like Beowulf. In not far distant times, kings and their warriors, called "thanes," had been members of the same extended family, and Germanic society still relied upon close bonds based on interdependence among them. The king-chieftain was to be a strong and loyal leader, providing a sure defense for his people. He honored and enriched them with gifts such as jewelery and, with his queen, received them with warm hospitality at his hall.

Thanes in turn owed him their loyalty and strength, defending his honor and positions in battle to the death and even, if necessary, after his death. Thus, in celebrating the deeds of great kings and thanes, the scop set forth an example of the value of loyalty and also preserved their memory, which in recent pre-Christian times had been the sole source of afterlife and which was still valued highly in newly converted England.

Other Old English Poems

Besides Beowulf, other major Old English poems include C�dmon's Hymn, The Dream of the Rood, The Wanderer, and The Battle of Maldon. There were also less well known religious allegories, secular lyrical poems, and poetic riddles.

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