a new approach to old english meter based upon an analysis of formulaic language

A NEW APPROACH TO OLD ENGLISH METER BASED UPON AN ANALYSIS OF FORMULAIC LANGUAGE

There are many different approaches to Old English meter, and no one theory has gained scholarly consensus. The oldest and most widely accepted theory, that of Eduard Sievers, is accentual-syllabic; Sievers divides the verses or half-lines into five basic types, and a number of subtypes, according to the arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables. Another well-known theory, that of John Collins Pope, is temporal; Pope's theory rests on the assumption that the meter of Old English verse, like that of music, is based upon the repetition of isochronous units, that is, that each half-line in the poem was performed in the same amount of time. The latest theory of Old English meter, that proposed by Robert P. Creed in his book Reconstructing the Rhythm of Beowulf (1990), is a refinement of Pope's theory. Other major theories of Old English meter include those of Halle and Keyser (1971) and Russom (1987), which attempt to analyze the alliterative line in terms of modem linguistic theory. But though it has often been claimed by scholars that the Old English meter is strictly accentual, and that unaccented syllables are therefore irrelevant to the meter, no theorist of meter that I know of has attempted systematically to defend this claim. I intend in this essay to do just that.

My approach to Old English meter, unlike many of those mentioned above, is practical rather than theoretical: in attempting to imitate the rhythm of Beowulf in translation, I invented a meter in modern English which it seemed to me was perfectly suited for oral performance, and which was able to sustain a long narrative without becoming monotonous. During the process of translating the poem, I tested this meter several times in recita- tion, and found that the secret of its success is syncopation, the imposition of one rhythm upon another. It was only after I had completed my translation of Beowulf, however, that I had the leisure to look into the principles upon which this meter is based, and curiously enough, I discovered these not by an analysis of the meter of my translation, but by an analysis of the Old English alliterative line - and this by the rather roundabout route of studying formula systems in Beowulf. How this came about will become clearer in the course of this essay. Before proceeding further, however, I would like to make explicit the fundamental assumptions about the nature of the Old English verse line upon which my conclusions are based.

I assume that the Old English meter is essentially accentual rather than temporal or accentual-syllabic. Only accented syllables are metrically significant, and each half-line contains two accented syllables. The number of unaccented syllables in the half-line is immaterial - although each half- line normally contains a minimum of four syllables. This idea is by no means original with me; it has been expressed by many scholars before. In the introduction to his book Old English Meter and Linguistic Theory,

Neophilologus 79: 653-669, 1995. © 1995 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

654 David Gould

Geoffrey Russom refers to "the familiar claim that Old English half-lines consist of two main stresses and an indeterminate number of weaker stresses" (5). He goes on to note, however, that "the metrists most closely concerned with Beowulf have usually rejected this approach, because it fails to provide for constraints on the positioning of unstressed syllables" (5). But this is certainly no good reason to reject an assumption, which, if it is true, greatly simplifies the analysis of Old English verse; instead of Sievers's five types and two dozen subtypes, or Pope's 279 subtypes, we need postulate only one type of half-line. Other things being equal, the principle of parsimony, Occam's razor, ought to incline us toward the simpler solution.

The structure of the Old English line, assuming this is true, is extremely simple: each line consists of two half-lines, each of which contains two stressed syllables, at least one of which alliterates with a stressed syllable in the other half-line. There are some minor differences in the structure of the first and second half-lines; the most notable difference being the possibility of double alliteration in the A-verse: as the second stressed syllable in the B-verse generally does not alliterate, formulas with double alliteration can be used only in the A-verse. The fact that the second stressed syllable in the B-verse does not normally alliterate, however, means that the first stressed syllable in the B-verse always alliterates; for this reason it has traditionally been known as the "head-stave," because it is the key to the alliteration of the line. Generally speaking, the first stressed syllable in either half-line is likely to be stressed more heavily than the second, as is apparent from the alliterative scheme: according to my analysis, about 50 percent of A-verses contain double alliteration; of the remaining 50 percent, about 40 percent alliterate on the first stressed syllable only, and about 10 percent on the second stressed syllable only. Virtually all B-verses, as noted above, alliterate on the first stressed syllable only.

In spite of a number of attempts over the years to develop a compre- hensive theory of Old English meter, none of the theories that have so far been proposed has been universally accepted - nor is any of them likely to be, as they all have the same drawback: they cannot be tested objectively. A theory may be consistent within itself, and work quite well as long as the fundamental assumptions on which it is based are not called into question; but insofar as these fundamental assumptions cannot be proven, it must necessarily rely upon circular reasoning. Pope's theory, for example, rests upon the assumption that the meter of Old English verse, like that of music, is based upon the repetition of isochronous units, that is, that each half-line was performed in the same amount of time - an assumption that can never be proven. If this assumption is false, however, Pope's entire system fails. Similar results might be obtained if the fundamental assumptions of other theorists were proven false. So far no theorist has been able to prove his theory true by reference to objective data outside his theoretical model. What I would like to suggest, however, is that the study of

Old English Meter 655

formulaic language in Old English poetry can provide just the sort of "objective correlative" needed to test the truth or falsity of Old English metrical theories, and that such a study in fact confirms the idea that Old English meter is accentual.

Let me begin with a simple example of how the study of formulaic language can act as a check upon metrical theory. At one point in his book Reconstructing the Rhythm of Beowulf, Robert P. Creed argues on metrical grounds that lines 36-37 have been incorrectly divided in most editions of the poem (197-8). The traditional lineation, arrived at by John Mitchell Kemble, one of the early editors, is as follows:

m~erne by m~este; l~er w~es madma fela of feor-wegum, fr~etwa ge-l~eded.

Creed argues that the lines should rather be divided in this way, which gives a double alliteration in line 37A:

m~erne be mzeste; ]~er w~es madma fela of feor-wegum, fr~etwa ge-l~eded.

A study of formulaic language, however, reveals that the phrase bwr wees madmafela is part of a half-line substitution system in Old English poetry, [gcer wces Xfela, where X is a two-syllable noun in the genitive plural which supplies the alliteration for the half-line; another member of this system is line 2231B of Beowulf ]~cer wces swylcrafela. Moreover, it appears that the combination of a two-syllable noun in the genitive plural with the word fela is itself a substitution system in Old English which is used in combination with a number of unstressed syllables to form complete half- lines; the substitution system is used to supply the alliteration and the stressed syllables necessary for the half-line. Members of this system are listed below; alliterating syllables are underlined, with the formulaic portion of the line inclosed in parentheses:

wiste him (spr~ece fela), Genesis 445B se b~er (bitres fela), Genesis 479A Hie l~a (wintra fela), Genesis 1724A se l~e for (__wintra fela), Genesis 2201B and him (wundra fela), Exodus 10B geond (!anda fela), Daniel 302B and (~olca fela), Daniel 328A l~er (wisna fela), Christ 43A [~er him ~acna fela), Christ 462A ond mid (wita fela), Christ 1547B geond (!onda fela), Azarias 23B pus ic (_w_ralxa fela), Juliana 311B geond (londa fela), Widsib 99B geond (grunda fela), Widsi~ 136B bringe (wundra fela), Order of the World 7A

656 David Gould

h~ebbe (w__undra fela), Riddle 21 8B secgab laonne (_ryhta fela), Judgment Day I 105B l~eah be is (mana fela), Resignation 51B H~ebbe ic (_w_undra fela), Riddle 83 10B ofer (_landa fela), Beowulf 311B h~ebbe ic (__mjerb a fela), Beowulf 408B la~er he (__w_orna fela), Beowulf 2003B se b e (.w.orna fela), Beowulf 2542B and us (bealuwa fela), Psalm 65 10A Hw~et, ic (!io3a fela), Meters of Boethius 2 1A geond (~urga fela), Meters of Boethius 4 42A and ~wylcra fela), Meters of Boethius 19 25A brengb (_W.aestma fela), Meters of Boethius 20 101A cube (galdra fela), Meters of Boethius 26 53B Hw~et, nu (_h_aeleba fela), Meters of Boethius 28 49B beah lae (labra fela), Waldere I 16B lae iu (_beorna fela), Menologium 213B l~eah we (sinna fela), Lord's Prayer II 106B

An appeal to formulaic language, then, shows that Creed's analysis in this case is probably mistaken, although it might be difficult to disprove on metrical grounds alone.

Although I have chosen an example from Creed's book to demonstrate how formulaic language can be used as a check upon the claims of metrical theorists, I do not mean to imply by this that I reject his conclusions entirely; indeed, I am very much indebted to him for his analysis of the way in which the lines and half-lines of Beowulf were derived from the manuscript, which is written as prose. In the first part of his book, Creed reconstructs the method by which John Mitchell Kemble elicited the lines and half-lines of the poem, as they are generally printed today. Briefly summarized, Creed's reconstruction of Kemble 's method of lineation is as follows. The first step is to locate the alliterating syllables, which are the key to the whole process. Once these syllables have been located, the boundaries of the line and of the half-lines are located by working from the first and last alliterating syllable in the series. In many cases these alliterating syllables begin their respective half-lines; sometimes, however, a syllable or group of syllables which is syntactically linked to one of these alliterating syllables immediately precedes it; in this case the beginning of the half- line is the boundary of the phrase or clause to which this proclitic passage belongs. For example, Creed uses line 257 of the poem, as it is now always printed:

to gecybanne hwanan eowre cyme syndon

The passage in the manuscript in which this line appears reads as follows:

[la]oht ofost is selest to gecybanne [h]wanan eowre cyme syndon


The first step Kemble used in extracting the verse line, according to Creed, was to locate the alliterating syllables, of which there are only two in this passage, the second syllable of gecyOanne and the first syllable of cyme. Since the prefix ge- and the preposition to are both proclitic to the syllable containing the first alliteration, the nearest phrase boundary occurs between the last syllable of selest and to; this is the beginning of the verse line. The boundary between the two half-lines is found by working from the last alliterating syllable; if that syllable begins its clause, it will also begin the half-line; if it does not, the clause boundary immediately preceding it will be the boundary between the two half-lines. In this case, the nearest clause boundary is between the last syllable of gecy8anne and the first syllable of hwanan; this is the boundary between the half-lines. The end of the line is determined by working from the first alliteration in the next line in the same manner (13-18). It should be noted that according to Creed's analysis there are two kinds of verses or half-lines in Beowulf. (1) those that begin with an alliterating syllable, for example, both verses of line 256,

_anfealdne gelmht _ofost is selest,

and (2) those that begin at a clause boundary preceding the first alliterating syllable, for example, both verses of line 257, which we have just discussed:

[to ge]_cy8 anne [hwanan eowre] cyme syndon

(I have underlined the alliterating letters in the above examples). According to Creed's estimate, about 40 percent of the half-lines in the poem are thus synthesized from two segments, one which begins with an alliterating syllable, and the other a non-alliterating segment which precedes it. As Creed points out, this is an important key to the prosody of the poem (22).

So far, I must go along with Creed, and indeed am indebted to him. However, after demonstrating that about 40 percent of the half-lines in Beowulf have been synthesized out of two parts, he jumps to the conclu- sion that every half-line must have been synthesized out of two parts (115). This is a leap of faith which I do not wish to take. Instead, I would tike to borrow his argument up to this point, and develop it in a different direc- tion - one that has been suggested by a study of formulaic language in the poem.

My assumptions about the structure of the Old English line, given at the beginning of this essay, do not differ radically from what many scholars have already observed, and they ought not to be considered controversial except insofar as every assumption about Old English meter is controversial. My assumption about the nature of stress in Old English verse, however, differs radically from the assumption that most metrical theorists seem to

658 David Gould

make, that stress can be determined by linguistic considerations alone; it therefore may require some demonstration. I assume that the Old English meter is based upon a system of relative stress; that is, that syllables which are stressed in one context may not be stressed in another; I believe that the poet has some flexibility in how he assigns stress to various syllables.

Syllables which are normally unstressed can sometimes receive a rhetor- ical stress if the poet wishes to emphasize them or is in need of a stressed syllable; for example, in line 53A, 4Da wars on burgum, the w o r d / ) a is stressed, but in line 642A, Pa wars eft swa cer, it is not:

X X X

~)a w~es on burgum Key: _ = alliteration x x ' x ' ' = stressed syllable

I'a w~es eft swa ~er x = unstressed syllable

This rule is often applied to adverbs such as/ha and ~barr, personal pronouns, and finite verbs - all of which are sometimes treated as stressed and sometimes as unstressed.

Syllables which are normally stressed can be treated as unstressed if necessary; for example, in line 264A, gebad wintra worn, the word wintra is stressed on the first syllable, as is obvious f rom the alliteration; in line 147A, twelfwintra tid, neither syllable of wintra is stressed, as the alliteration again makes clear:

t X X X

gebad wintra worn r t

X X

twelf wintra rid

The key to discovering which syllables are stressed is alliteration; as only syllables with pr imary stress alliterate, all syllables which alliterate are stressed. This enables us to locate at least one stressed syllable in each half-line, since each half-line contains at least one syllable that alliterates. The only problem remaining is to locate the other stressed syllable in the half-line. I f the half-line is a B-verse, the second stressed syllable will generally follow the alliterating syllable, as the last stressed syllable in the line does not alliterate, as a general rule. I f the half-line is an A-verse with double alliteration, the two alliterating syllables are stressed. The only half-lines which are apt to give us trouble are A-verses which contain only one alliterating syllable; it is sometimes hard to decide in a particular case which of the other syllables in the half-line ought to be stressed. For example, in line 45A, ~be hine art frumsceafte, it is obvious from the alliteration that the first syllable of frumsceafte is stressed; however, it is not so easy to decide in the absence of other evidence which of the remaining syllables in the half-line ought to be stressed. A plausible case might be made for either of the following analyses:


l ¢ X X X X X

]~e hine ~et frumsceafte t r

X X X X X

19e hine ~et _frumsceafte

I regard the latter analysis as more likely, for reasons which will become clear later in this essay. Most of the verses in the poem, however, are fairly easy to analyze; in those few which present difficulty, the difficulty usually arises because it is necessary to choose between two possible analyses of the verse, rather than because the verse defies analysis.

This principle of relative stress can be demonstrated more clearly by the way the Beowulf" poet uses compound words. It has often been noted that Beowulf contains a large proportion of compound words; what has not always been realized is that the reason for this is at least partly metrical. Morris Halle and Samuel Keyser claim in their book English Stress that, just as in modern English, "Old English compound nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs - in effect, any compound word whose elements are themselves words - had primary stress on the first element and lesser stress on the remaining elements" (95). Compound words are thus ideally suited to the Old English meter, for the first element of the compound, which takes the primary word stress, can provide the alliteration for the half-line, while the reduced stress on the secondary element of the compound can provide the second stressed syllable necessary for the half-line. Compound words often constitute complete half-lines; many form part of a half-line substitution system, like the one listed below, consisting of compound words built upon various forms of the present participle of the verb buan, "to dwell":

_ceasterbuendum (1. 786A) _foldbuende (1. 1355A) _foldbuendum (1. 309B) g.g_rundbuendra (1. I006A) landbuendum (1. 95B)

Here the variable element in the substitution system in each case provides the alliteration for the half-line, while the constant element, the present participle, provides the other stressed syllable necessary.

But it is compound words of less than a half-line in length which are of most interest metrically, because the way in which they are fitted into the half-line reveals important information about its structure. Compound words of three syllables or less provide the poet with a great deal of flexibility: the secondary stress on the second element of the compound can either be taken as a stressed syllable or as an unstressed syllable as necessary. Thus in line 413B of Beowulf, siOOan cefenleoht, for example, both elements of the compound must receive stress; there is no other way to analyze the line if we adhere to the rule that the last stressed syllable of the B-verse does not alliterate; in line 2074A, eatol cefengrom, however,

660 David Gould

only the first element of the compound receives stress, and the second element is treated as unstressed:

1 r X X X

si b~ an ~fenleoht r x r X X

eatol ~efengrom

In line 392A, aldor Eastdena, only the first syllable of Eastdena is stressed; in 828B, hcefde Eastdenum, however, both the first and second syllables must be stressed; again, no other analysis is possible unless we violate the constraint against alliteration on the last stressed syllable of a line:

! t X X X

aldor Eastdena X X r t X

h~efde Eastdenum

Many of the compound words in Beowulf are of less than four syllables; such compounds often form substitution systems which if they do not form complete half-lines, nevertheless form the nuclei of half-lines. Here are three compound words built upon the present participle of buan, which were not included in the half-line substitution system described above, because they do not fill up a complete half-line:

Nu ge feorbuend (1. 254B) hyne foldbuend (1. 2274B) ic l~et londbuend (1. 1345A)

The compound words in these half-lines are obviously related to those previously listed; the only difference between these compounds and those listed earlier are that these lack an inflected ending, and consequently are only three syllables long - less than the usual minimum requirement of four syllables for a half-line. In each case a number of unstressed syllables has been added to fill out the half-line; nevertheless, the compound word still provides both the required alliteration and the two stressed syllables necessary for the half-line.

Many readers of Beowulf have noticed that the Danes in Heorot are called at various points in the poem by different names; sometimes they are called Ring-Danes, and sometimes Spear-Danes; at one time or another they are called North-Danes, South-Danes, East-Danes, and West-Danes. This could be because Danes came from east and west, and from north and south to take their places in Heorot; it could also be that the Danes are called by one or another of these epithets mostly because of the demands of alliteration, for the variable element in the compound always alliterates. Shown below is the compound-word substitution system in Beowulf which is based upon various compounds of the word Dene:


Hw~et we Gar-Dena (1. 1A) to Gar-Denum (1. 601A) ond Gar-Denum (1. 1856B) o56e to G__ar-Denum (1. 2494B) hu hit Hring-Dene (1. 116B) ~zer Hring-Dene (1. 1279B) Swa ic H ring-Dena (1. 1769A) _aldor E_ast-Dena (1. 392A) _~rest _E_ast-Dena (1. 616A) h~efde _East-Denum (1. 828B) NorS-Denum stod (1. 783B) _Su~-Dena folc (1. 463B) lete S_u~-Dene (1. 1996A) to West-Denum (1. 383A) to West-Denum (1. 1578B) brego Beorht-Dena (1. 427A) _brego Beorht-Dena (1. 609A) h~ele~ HHealfdene (1. 1069.~) heah Healfdene (1. 57A) fore Healfdenes (I. 1064A)

Note that the various compounds with Dene, because they are only three syllables long, do not form complete half-lines; in some cases they are combined with a number of unstressed syllables, and provide both the alliteration and the two stressed syllables necessary for the half-line (1A, 601A, 1856B, 2494B, l16B, 1279B, 1764A, 828B, 1996A, 383A, 1578B, 1064A). In other cases, when they are combined with words which contain a stressed syllable, the secondary stress in the compound is reduced to an unstressed syllable (392A, 616A, 783B, 463B, 427A, 609A, 1069A, 57A). In every case, the variable element in the compound alliterates.

Below is a substitution system employing the compound words eatobenc (ale-bench) and medobenc (mead-bench); the former is employed in situations calling for vowel alliteration, and the latter in situations calling for alliteration on M:

p r X X X

[in] (_ealobence) (1. 1029A) X X XX r X r X

[~)onne he on] (_calubence) (l. 2876A) X ~ X P X

[on] (_mcodubcncc) (l. 1902A) t

X X X X X X

[ne hync on] (medobence) (l. 2185A) r

X XX X X

[on ~ere] (m__edubcncc) (l. I052A) X X r X r X

[~efter] (medubence) (1. 1067A)

The formulaic element in these half-lines provides the linguistic material essential to the meter - both the necessary two stressed syllables and the

662 David Gould

necessary alliteration. This material I have enclosed within parentheses. In this system it consists of what could be described in traditional poetic parlance as two trochaic feet - the commonest rhythm in Old English poetry. However, all of these half-lines contain material which is essential neither to the formula nor to the meter, although it is important syntactically. This material I have enclosed within square brackets. In this particular system the bracketed material varies in length from one to four syllables. Note that the compound word substitution system consistently forms one of the two parts out of which according to Creed's analysis the half-line is synthesized.

Below is a formula system which is one of a number that the Beowulf poet uses to express possession; it is based upon the nounfc@m, "embrace," from which we get our modem English word "fathom."

X X X X

[ond to] (f~eder _faelamum) (1. 188A) ¢ I

X X

(feondes _fa~mum) (1. 2128A) r r

X X X X

[ne on] (_foldan _f~elam) (1. 1393A) t r

X X X

[in] (_fyres _f~el~m) (1. 185A) t p

X X X X

[nym~e] (_liges fae~m) (1. 781B) r t

X X X X X

[swa he wib] (gor~an f~elam) (1. 3049B) X X X X X X

[Gehwearf laa in] (F_rancna _f~eiam ) (1. 1210A)

This is a typical substitution system, with a fixed element, the word fc@m, and a variable element (fceder, feondes, foldan, lyres, liges, eorOan, Francna), which provides the primary alliteration - the fixed element provides a secondary alliteration when the formula is used in the A-verse. I have enclosed this part of the half-line within parentheses. All but one of these half-lines contain material which falls outside the boundaries defined by alliteration, and which is essential neither to the formula nor to the meter; once again, I have enclosed this material within square brackets. The one half-line (2128A) in which the formulaic element is not preceded by any unstressed syllables suggests that this material is not an essential part of either the formula or the meter - in other words, it is optional, or extrametrical.

Below are a number of synthetic half-lines employing a substitution system built upon various forms of the verb cuman, "come," analyzed in the same way as the half-lines above. Note that in every case the substitution system provides the alliteration and the two stressed syllables for the half-line, while the other part of the half-line contains only unstressed syllables:


i t X X X X

[ n u i c b u s ] ( . [ e o r r a n c o m ) (1. 4 3 0 B ) t

X X X X

[ s e l:)e ~er] ( f e o r r a n c o r n ) (1. 8 2 5 B ) t ¢

X X X

[obb~etl (~fen cwom) (1. 2303B) X X P X i

[syDban] (~fen cwom) (1. 1235B) t

X X X

[syl~San] (n.iht becom) (1. 115B) ¢

X X X

[obb~et] ~iht becwom) (1. 2116B) p

X X X X

[o~l~et] (ende becwom) (I. 1254B) t t

X X X X

[ n u i s s e ] ~ e g c u m e n ) (1. 2646B) p ¢

x x x

[~er l~on] (d_~eg c w o m e ) (1. 7 3 1 B ) t t

x x x

[ol~6~et ] (o~er com) (1. 1133B) t i

X X X

[ond nul (olger cwom) (1. 1338B) r t

X x X

[sy~ban] (mergen corn) (1. 2103B) 1 p

X X X

[ s y l g b a n I (m__orgen c o r n ) (1. 1 0 7 7 B ) t

x x x

[sy~banl (mergen cwom) (1. 2124B) X X rXX r

[sybfian] (H_igelac cwom) (1. 2914B) r r

X X X

[l~onanl (Biowulf corn) (1. 2359B) X X t X t

[l)a se] (goda com) (1. 2944B) XX X X

[ha ic of] (searwum cwom) (l. 419B) t

X X X X

[IJa heo to] (botme corn) (1. 1506B) t t

X X X X

[l~a he to] (_h.am becom) (1. 2992B) t t

X X X X

[19onne we] (ut cymen) (l. 3106B) t

X XX X

[gyf l~u on] (w_eg cymest) (L 1382B) e i

X X X X X

[l~a hyne sio] (~rag becworn) (1. 2883B) t t

X X X X X X

[~y he l~one] (feond ofercwom) (1. 1273B) r i

X X X

[o~et ] (_s~el cymeb) (1. 2058B) r

x x X

[ l ~ o n n e ] (_~_ig c l i m e ) (1. 2 3 B ) r i

x x x

[Ic b~er] (_furfium cwom) (t. 2009B)

664 David Gould

r ! X X X

[him to] (bearme cwom) (1. 2404B) X X X t X X r

[l~e on ~a] (leode becom) (1. 192B)

A study of formulaic language in Beowulf thus confirms Creed's con- clusion that many half-lines in the poem are synthesized out of two parts: in each half-line above, the segment which begins with the first alliterating syllable in the half-line coincides with a substitution system which can be isolated from the rest of the half-line because of formulaic as well as metrical considerations. A closer look at the first parts of these lines suggests that this portion of the line may be "formulaic" in some sense as well; the first elements of 419B, 1506B, 2992B, and 1382B, for instance, are obviously closely related, each consisting of a conjunction, a personal pronoun, and a preposition, in that order:

[ba ic of] [pa heo to] [~a he to] [gyf l~u on]

This suggests that there are two kinds of "formulas" in Old English verse: (1) those that are designed to meet the metrical and alliterative needs of the half-line, which contain two stressed syllables, at least one of which receives primary word stress, and thus is capable of alliteration, and (2) those which are designed primarily to meet syntactical needs. Although this bracketed portion of the line may be classed as "formulaic" in the sense that repeated patterns are sometimes evident, these formulas are evidently much more flexible than those which provide the alliteration and stressed syllables for the half-line. This part of the line would also appear to be optional, as it is found in only about 40 percent of the half-lines in the poem. It consists mainly of monosyllables and two-syllable words singly or in clusters, and always of words which may be considered relatively unstressed. The kinds of words which appear in this part of the half-line include unstressed prefixes such as ge-, a-, and for-, prepositions such as in, on, and ofer, articles, adverbs, and conjunctions such as l~a, 1ha gyt, and oOOcet, linking verbs such as wces and wearO, and sometimes finite verbs, such as hwearf, scop, cwteO - but never nouns. This portion of the line may be as many as five syllables long, as in line 1461B or 2995B:

r r X X X X X X X

[~ara ~e hit mid] (m_undum bewand) p t

X X X X X X X

[ne ~offte him ~a] (lean obwitan)

It consists mainly of function words, and its purpose seems to be to link together the formulas which provide the alliteration and stressed syllables


necessary to the meter. As this portion of the half-line seems to be optional, I believe it may also be extrametrical.

I have scanned below a small portion of Beowulf according to the principles outlined above; to this I have appended supporting evidence from an analysis of formulaic systems in the poem, and in some cases, in other Old English poems:

X X X X X X X X

[~et] (la m~eg secgan) [se be wyle] (sob specan) t t r

X X X X X X X

[l~et se] (m__ondryhten) [se eow b a] (mab mas geaf) 2865 X r X X X X t r X

e(go.redgeatwa) [19e ge I~erl (_Qn standeb ) X X X X ~ X r X r X t X

[l~onne he on] (ealubence) ~ f t gesealde) X X X X

(.h.ealsittendum) (helm ond byrnan) r X X ' X X X X r t x

(_~eoden his l~egnum) [swylce he] (~_rydlicost) X X X X X X

[ower] (_feor obbe neah) (findan meahte) 2870 X X X X X

[lb~et] (he genunga) (_gubgew~edu) i X X ' X X X X r X ~

(_wrabe for wwurpe) [ha hyne] (wig beget) r t r r

X X X X X

[Nealles] (folc-cyning) (fyrd-gesteallum) X X X X X X

(gylpan l~orfte) [hw~ebre him] (_G_od ube) t X X ' X X X X X ' X X P

(fiigora Waldend) [l~et he hyne] (fiylfne gewr~ec) 2875 P X X ' X X X X P X t

~na mid e cge) [19a him w~es] (elnes 19earf) (1L 2864-2876)

Supporting Evidence:

2864A l~et la meg secgan 1700A ~et la m~eg secgan

2864A se ;5 e wyle sob specan 1476B hw~et wit g_eo spr~econ 2069B Ic secal _forb spraecan 3172B ond ymb wer sprecan

2865A p~et se m__ondryhten 2647A ~et ure mandryhten 2849A on hyra m__andryhtnes 1249B swylce hira rnandryhtne 2604B geseah his m__ondryhten 1978B sybban m__andrythen 796A wolde _freodryhtne

6 6 6 David Gould

2627A mid his freodryhtne 360B to his winedrihtne 862A ne hie huru winedrihten 1604B l~et mon his winedryhten

2865B se eow ba ma0mas geaf 2146B ac he me maSmas geaf 2640B ond me l~as ma0mas geaf 1719B Nallas _beagas geaf 2635B 0e us has beagas geaf 2919B nalles _fr~etwa geaf 3009B l~e us beagas geaf 3034B bone l~e him hringas geaf 2173B gone ~ him WealhSeo geaf

2866A eored-geatwa 324A in hyra gryregeatwum 2362A _hildegeatwa 674B hildegeatwa also 368A hy on wigetawum

2636A l~et we him 5a guSgetawa 395B in eowrum guSgetawum

2866B l~e ge l~er on stande0 2796B l~e ic her on starie

2687A l~onne he on ealubence 1029A in e__aalobence 1902A on meodubence 2185A ne hyne on medobence 1052A on l~ere medubence 1067A ~efter medubence

2867B oft ~. esealde 165B oft g(: fremede 1428B oft bewitiga5 1885A oft ge~ehted 2478A oft gefremedon 2500B oft gel~este also 22B eft gewunigen

135B eft gefremede 1596B eft ne wendon 1753B eft gelimpe5 2142B _eft gesealde 2592B eft gemetton

2868A healsittendum 2015A healsittendra 1788A fletsittendum 2022B _fletsittende 2734A ymbsittendra 9B I)ara ymbsittendra 1827A lp~et IJec ymbsittend

2868B helm ond byman 1629B helm ond byrne 1022B helm ond byrnan


2869A ~eoden his l~egnum 521A leof his leodum 881A earn his nefan 3065A re_on mid his m__agum

2869A swylce he _rydlicost 1350A [~es l~e hie gewislicost 3161B swa hyt weor~ licost

2870A ower feor oboe neah t221B l~et 8e _feor ond neah

2870B _findan meahte 207A findan mihte 1156B findan meahton 1378B ~er 19u findan miht 3162B findan mihton 2373B _findan meahton

2871A l~a~t he g_enunga Genesis 683A ~a~t hit gegnunga Genesis 672A gif hit g_egnunga Andreas 1349A l~a~r l~u _gegninga Andreas 1354A aer ~u gegninga Daniel 212A l~aet hie g_egnunga

2871B gu~ gewa~du 227A g_u~ gew~edo 2617B gu6 gew~edu 2730A g_u~ gewzedu 2851A gu ~ gew~edu 2623B gu b gew~edu

2872A wrabe forwurpe 904A snude forsended

2872B ba hyne wig beget

2873A Nealles folccyning 2733B naes se _folccyning 2148A ba ic be, beorncyning 2335B him b~es gu~kyning 2677B l~a gen g_u~ cyning 3036B ~et se gubeyning 199B cw~e6 he gu~cyning 2963A l~et se _[2eodcyning 2970A syfiban 8_eodcyning 2579A l~onne his ~_iodcyning 2144A swa se b_eodcyning 3008A l~et we ~eodcyning 3086A ~ ~one ~_eodcyning

2873B fyrdgesteallum 1326A eaxlgestealla 1714A e aaxlgesteallan

668 David Gould

2874A gylpan l~orfte 1071B herian l~orfte 1026B scamigan fi orfte 2495B secean lmrfe 2006A swa begylpan ne pearf

2874B hwae~re him God ube 72B swylce him God sealde 1271B b e him God sealde 1658B nymbe mec God scylde 1751B l~es be him aer GOd sealde 2182B l~e him GOd sealde

2875A sigora Waldend 3055A sigora So~ cyning 1752A wuldres Waldend 17A wuldres Wealdend 183A wuldres Waldend

2875B l~et he hyne s_ylfne gewr~ec

2876A ana mid ecge 46A ~nne ofer ybe 2268A an ~efter e_.aallum 2461A an ~efter anum 145A ana wib e._aallum 2498A ana on orde

2876B 201B 1835B

l~a him w~es _elnes laearf laa him w~es manna laearf la~er ~ e bib manna laearf

If my analysis of the Old English line is correct - and it seems to be confirmed not only by Creed's analysis of the method by which Kemble isolated the half-lines in Beowulf, but also by an analysis of the use of formulaic language in the poem - then we have discovered an important principle of Old English meter. Many of the half-lines in Old English poetry are synthesized out of two elements, one which fulfils the metrical and alliterative requirements of the half-line, and the other, consisting mostly of unstressed monosyllables, which may be considered extrametrical. The effect of this extrametrical material on the rhythm of the poem can only be syncopation in the musical sense, that is, the imposition of one rhythm upon another: the inclusion of a number of extrametrical syllables at the beginning of many of the half-lines causes tension between the meter of the poem, which is based upon strongly accented syllables, and the tendency in performance to attempt to assign equal duration to all half-lines: this tension prevents the rhythm of the poem from becoming monotonous.

Department of English University of Connecticut Storrs, Connecticut 06269-1025 U.S.A.

D A V I D G O U L D


Works Cited

Creed, Robert Payson. Reconstructing the Rhythm of Beowulf Columbia and London: U. of Missouri Press, 1990.

Halle, Morris and Samuel Jay Keyser. English Stress: Its Form, Its Growth, and Its Role in Verse. New York: Harper and Row, 1971.

Russom, Geoffrey. Old English Meter and Linguistic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 1987.

a new approach to old english meter based upon an analysis of formulaic language

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