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The Alliterative Measure
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The Alliterative Measure |
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Local Parasite
since 2001-11-05
Posts 2527Transylconia, Winnipeg 
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Okay, I have been wanting to do this for ages, so I think I'll just go ahead and do it already! Long, long before the English language ever used the French verse forms that we use today (the accentual-syllabic system of iambs, trochees, spondees, anapests, and dactyls), there was the alliterative verse form. All poetry of the Old English corpus conforms to this style of verse, as well as much of the later Middle English poems such as Piers Plowman and the wonderful romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This form consists of a measure structured not around rhyme, but around alliteration---not around meter feet, but simply syllable stresses. It works like this: each line has a certain organization of alliterating stressed syllables, while the number of unstressed syllables between each stress is up to the whim of the poet (it will tend to be either one or two short syllables, just for the sake of clarity). The alliteration follows this pattern, where A represents an alliterating syllable and X a stress that does not alliterate: A A A X. For example, I came to the castle to call for a knightYou can see, for example, that some words (like "descend") alliterate not according to the letter they begin with, but the sound that begins the stress of the word. To put that line under a stress-based microscope: He descended the steps to my steed, where I waited.There are also places in this example passage that I just wrote off the top of my head in which another feature of the alliterative measure is exemplified, namely, where a half-stress or even full stress interrupts the flow of the line. One of the most gorgeous aspects of the alliterative measure is its ability to subdue non-alliterating syllables. Read: Burned down our barns, and our bridges destroyedSee how the slightly more stressed "burned" (a longer-sounding word than the one to follow it) naturally steps down a half-stress on the word "down"? This is even more nicely done later in the line. The point is not to worry all that much whether or not, once a strong first alliterating sound has made its entrance, later non-alliterating syllables stress or do not. In this measure, the stress is controlled by the alliteration. One last thing: all vowels alliterate with one another, which makes for an easy-going alliteration. Try this: Eating your olives is always bestIt takes a bit more of a careful listen, but the pattern survives the use of vowel. Real purists might even want to match up vowel sounds just for the heck of it. I hope someone is willing to give this a go! No rhymes necessary (though they can certainly be fun, and some of our greatest poetry of the medieval Alliterative tradition uses rhyme and alliteration), no counting da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM... just three alliterating stresses and a strong non-alliterating stress per line, and after that, good times all around! Ready... go! |
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timothysangel1973
since 2001-12-03
Posts 1725Never close enough |
Thanks for the challenge m'friend. However, I will be honest when I say... this confuses me lol... I will give it a try though.. but you have to promise NOT to laugh. I love trying new styles tho I have to admit...I kinna seem to get stuck with the way I do it, and then just leave it that way. Not much growth I admit, but it seems as tho that is the way my muse seems to free itself onto paper. Give me a few days to do some 'proper' research so that I dont look totally stupid when I give this a spin haha Will be back however, bringing alliterative verse with me !! Tima |
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Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
Well, I'm not too certain I can put a link to it here, but there is one I did for a Poetry Workshop fable challenge back in January of last year. Luckily, I guess, Insights in Mature Content doesn't move all that fast. If you go with 25 posts per page, it'll be on the bottom of page 3.  Whale of a Tail, January Fable Challenge. Not much attention was paid to meter or foot, but to the interaction and interrelation of the varied sounds. |
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Dr.Moose1 Member Elite
since 1999-09-05
Posts 3448Bewilderment , USA |
local, Very interesting, or should I say "Hmmm". Glad you stepped in. Your knowledge is exemplary. It will be a delight to attempt such a feat, cloaked in history as it is, though I'm likely to fall on my rather large, but, one never knows. Doc |
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El_Campeador Senior Member
since 2003-01-29
Posts 761Ohio, USA |
/pip/Forum92/HTML/002661.html “We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best that we can find in our travels is an honest friend.” –Robert Louis Stevenson |
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