E-Book Overview
This volume develops Geoffrey Richard Russom's contributions to early English meter and style, including his fundamental reworkings and rethinkings of accepted and oft-repeated mantras, including his word-foot theory, concern for the late medieval context for alliterative meter, and the linguistics of punctuation and translation as applied to Old English texts. Ten eminent scholars from across the field take up Russom's ideas to lead readers in new and exciting directions.
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Early English Poetic Culture and Meter
FESTSCHRIFTEN, OCCASIONAL PAPERS, AND LECTURES
Volume XXV
Medieval Institute Publications is a program of The Medieval Institute, College of Arts and Sciences
Early English Poetic Culture and Meter The Influence of G. R. Russom
Edited by
M. J. Toswell and Lindy Brady
Festschriften, Occasional Papers, and Lectures M E D I EVA L I N S T I T U T E P U B L I C AT I O N S Western Michigan University Kalamazoo
Copyright © 2016 by the Board of Trustees of Western Michigan University
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Toswell, M. J., editor. | Brady, Lindy, editor. Title: Early English poetic culture and meter : the influence of G. R. Russom / Edited By M. J. Toswell and Lindy Brady. Description: Kalamazoo : Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 2016. | Series: Studies in medieval and early modern culture | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016032463| ISBN 9781580442428 (paperbound : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781580442435 (eISBN) Subjects: LCSH: English poetry--Old English, ca. 450-1100--History and criticism. | English poetry--Old English, ca. 450-1100--Versification. | Russom, Geoffrey. Classification: LCC PR203 .E37 2016 | DDC 829/.1009--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016032463
ISBN: 9781580442428 eISBN: 9781580442435 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher.
Geoffrey Richard Russom
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Contents
Foreword Thomas Cable
ix
Introduction Lindy Brady and M. J. Toswell
1
Secg betsta and ðegn betstan: A Reconsideration of the Short Verses in Beowulf Jun Terasawa
9
Particle Verses in Old English and Eddic Poetry R. D. Fulk
21
Old English Verse Punctuation and Linguistic Theory Daniel Donoghue
39
Boars and the Geats in Beowulf Lindy Brady
61
New Applications for Word-Foot Theory Megan E. Hartman
73
The Old English Metrical Psalms: Practice and Theory of Translation Haruko Momma
93
viii Contents
Polyptoton in Old English Texts M. J. Toswell Confessio et Oratio: An Unrecognized Old English Confessional Poem Thomas A. Bredehoft
111
131
Alliterative Meter after 1450: The Vision of William Banastre 149 Eric Weiskott Publications of Geoffrey Richard Russom
181
Foreword Thomas Cable
University of Texas at Austin
T
HE TITLE OF GEOFFREY RUSSOM’S first book, Old English Meter and Linguistic Theory (Cambridge University Press, 1987), stated the double goal that has guided his scholarly career. There was a time in medieval studies when the