The Form and Style of Gnomic Hypermetrics

Authors

  • Megan E. Hartman University of Nebraska at Kearney

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12697/smp.2013.1.1.05

Keywords:

hypermetrics, Maxims I, Maxims II, Old English meter, oral formulaic theory, Solomon and Saturn, wisdom poetry

Abstract

Gnomic poems have often been noted for their unusual metrical style. One aspect of their style that stands out is the hypermetric usage, both because these poems contain a notably high incidence of hypermetric verses and because the verses are frequently categorized as irregular. This paper analyses hypermetric composition in Maxims I, Maxims II, and Solomon and Saturn in detail to illustrate the major stylistic features of gnomic composition. It demonstrates that, contrary to the conclusions of some previous scholars, the hypermetric verses basically follow the form for hypermetric composition that can be found in most conservative poems, but with the inherent flexibility of hypermetric metre pushed to a greater extent than in most narrative poems, making for lines that are longer, heavier, and more complex. This alternate style highlights the importance of each individual aphorism and characterizes the solemnity of the poems as a whole. By composing their poems in accordance with the trends of this specialized style, poets may have been marking their composition as separate from narrative poems and encouraging their audience to consider each individual poem in the larger context of Old English wisdom poetry.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

<div class="WordSection1"><p>Bliss, Alan 1967. <em>Th</em><em>e Meter of Beowulf</em>, revised edn. Oxford: Blackwell.</p><p>Bliss, Alan 1971. Single half lines in Old English poetry. In: <em>Notes and Queries </em>18, 442–449.</p><p>Bredehoft, Thomas A. 2003. The three varieties of Old English hypermetric versification. In: <em>Notes</em><em> </em><em>and</em><em> Queries</em><em> </em>50.2, 153–56.  <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nq/50.2.153" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nq/50.2.153</a></p><p>Bredehoft, Thomas A. 2004. Ælfric and late Old English verse. In: <em>Anglo-</em><em>Saxon</em><em> </em><em>England </em>33, 77–107.  <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0263675104000043" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0263675104000043</a></p><p>Bredehoft, Thomas A. 2005. <em>Early</em><em> </em><em>English</em><em> </em><em>Metre</em>. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.</p><p>Cable, Thomas 1991. <em>The English Alliterative Tradition</em>. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.</p><p>Campbell, Alistair 1983. <em>Old English Grammar</em>. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</p><p>Fisher, Rebecca 2011. <em>Writing charms: The transmission and performance of charms in </em><em>Anglo-Saxon</em><em> </em><em>England</em>. Sheffield: University of Sheffield dissertation.</p><p>Foley, John Miles 1995. <em>The Singer of Tales in Performance</em>. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.</p><p>Frog 2012. On the case of <em>Vambarljóð </em>II: Register and mode from skaldic verse to <em>sagnakvæði</em>. In: <em>RMN Newsletter </em>5, 49–61.</p><p>Fry, Donald K. 1967. Old English formulas and systems. In: <em>English</em><em> </em><em>Studies</em><em> </em>48, 193–204.  <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00138386708597274" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00138386708597274</a></p><p>Fulk, Robert Dennis 1992. <em>A History of Old English Metre</em>. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.</p></div><div class="WordSection2"><p>Fulk, Robert Dennis; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles John D. (eds.) 2008. <em>Klaeber’s</em><em> </em><em>Beowulf</em><em> </em><em>and</em><em> </em><em>the</em><em> </em><em>Fight</em><em> </em><em>at</em><em> </em><em>Finnsburg</em>. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.</p><p>Hartman, Megan E. 2010. The syntax of Old English hypermetrics. In: <em>English Studies </em>91, 477–91.  <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2010.488838" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2010.488838</a></p><p>Hartman, Megan E. 2014. Poetic attitudes and adaptations in late Old English Verse. In: <em>Leeds</em><em> </em><em>Studies</em><em> </em><em>in</em><em> </em><em>English</em>.</p><p>Hutcheson, Rand 1995. <em>Old English Poetic Metre</em>. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.</p><p>Krapp, George P.; Dobbie, Elliott Van Kirk (eds.) 1931–53. <em>The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records</em>, 6 vols. New York: Columbia University Press.</p><p>Kuhn, Hans 1969. Zur Wortstellung und -betonung im Altgermanischen. In: <em>Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur </em>57 (1933). Repr. In <em>Kleine Schrigten 1</em>. Berlin: Gruyter. 18–103.</p><p>Momma, Haruko 1989. The ‘gnomic formula’ and some additions to Bliss’s Old English metrical system. In: <em>Notes and Queries </em>4, 423–426.  <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nq/36.4.423-b" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nq/36.4.423-b</a></p><p>Momma, Haruko 1997. <em>Th</em><em>e</em><em> </em><em>Composition</em><em> </em><em>of</em><em> </em><em>Old</em><em> </em><em>English</em><em> </em><em>Poetry</em>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</p><p>Pope, John C. 1966. <em>The Rhythm of Beowulf</em>. New Haven: Yale University Press.</p><p>Pope, John C.; Fulk, Robert Dennis 2001. <em>Eight Old English Poems</em>, 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.</p><p>Roper, Jonathan 2000. Metre in the Old English ‘Metrical’ Charms. In: Mikhailova, T., J. Roper, A. Toporkov, and D. Nikolayev (eds), <em>Oral Charms in Structural and Comparative Light. </em>Moscow: PROBEL-2000, 116–121.</p><p>Russom, Geoffrey 1987. <em>Old</em><em> </em><em>English</em><em> </em><em>Metre</em><em> </em><em>and</em><em> </em><em>Linguistic</em><em> </em><em>Theory.</em><em> </em>Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</p><p>Shippey, Thomas A. 1976. <em>Poems of Wisdom and Learning in Old English</em>. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.</p><p>Shippey, Thomas A. 1994. <em>The</em><em> </em><em>Wanderer</em><em> </em>and <em>The</em><em> </em><em>Seafarer</em><em> </em>as wisdom poetry. In: Aertsen, Henk; Rulf H Bremmer, Jr. (eds.), <em>Companion</em><em> to Old English Poetry</em>. Amsterdam: VU University Press, 145–158.</p><p>Sievers, Eduard 1887. Der angelsachsische schwellvers. In: <em>Beitrage zur Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur </em>12, 454–82.</p><p>Sievers, Eduard 1893. <em>Altgermanische Metric</em>. Halle: Max Niemeyer.</p></div><div class="WordSection3"><p>Simms, Douglas 2003. <em>Reconstructing an oral tradition: Problems in the comparative metrical analysis of Old English, Old Saxon, and Old Norse alliterative verse</em>. Austin: University of Texas at Austin dissertation.</p><p>Stanley, Eric Gerald 1984. Alliterative ornament and alliterative rhythmical discourse in Old High German and Old Frisian compared with similar manifestations in Old English. In: <em>Beiträge</em><em> zur Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur </em>106, 184–217.</p><p>Suzuki, Seiichi 1996. <em>The Metrical Organization of </em>Beowulf. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.  <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110810493" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110810493</a></p><p>Suzuki, Seiichi 2004. <em>The Metre of Old Saxon poetry: The Remaking of Alliterative Tradition</em>. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer.</p></div>

Downloads

Published

2014-04-22

Issue

Section

Articles