The poetry we call 'alliterative' is recorded in English from the seventh century until the sixteenth, and includes Caedmon's 'Hymn', Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Piers Plowman. These are some of the most admired works of medieval English literature, and also among the most enigmatic. The formal practice of alliterative poets exceeded the conceptual grasp of medieval literary theory; theorists are still playing catch-up today. This book explains the distinctive nature of alliterative meter, explores its differences from subsequent accentual-syllabic forms, and advances a reformed understanding of medieval English literary history. The startling formal variety of Piers Plowman and other Middle English alliterative poems comes into sharper focus when viewed in diachronic perspective: the meter was in transition; to understand it, we need to know where it came from and where it was headed at the moment it died out.

This book explores the history and development of English alliterative meter, and considers why the form has remained so enigmatic.

About the Author
Ian Cornelius is Edward Surtz, S.J., Professor in the Department of English at Loyola University, Chicago. His work also includes essays on Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, the medieval disciplines of grammar and rhetoric, the English Rising of 1381, and Piers Plowman. He previously taught at Yale University, Connecticut.

Reviews
'Reconstructing Alliterative Verse: The Pursuit of a Medieval Meter advances our understanding ... as well as advanced students will find his discussion helpful. Academic libraries supporting English and Germanic studies programs should obtain a copy.' William F. Hodapp, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching (SMART)



Book Information
ISBN 9781107154100
Author Ian Cornelius
Format Hardback
Page Count 234
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 480g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 158mm * 18mm