The Metrical Grammar of Beowulf

by Calvin B. Kendall

Book Overview

This book argues that the formal art of the Old English epic Beowulf is shaped and determined by the poetic language which the poet inherited from the traditional, oral culture of Anglo-Saxon England. The patterns of metre and alliteration exhibited in the poem were not imposed by the poet on his language, but were part of the language which he spoke, the rules of which constituted his metrical grammar. Professor Kendall investigates the constraints...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521031214
• ISBN13: 9780521031219
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.09 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"