SLIDE 1
Poetic Diction
P . S. Langeslag
SLIDE 2 The Dictionary of Old English Corpus
3060 “Texts”
Table 1: DOEC statistics for the 2009 release
A Poetry 177,480 words 6% B Prose 2,128,781 words 70% C Glosses 699,606 words 23% D Glossaries 26,598 words .88% E Runes 346 words .01% F Inscriptions 331 words .01% Total 3,033,142 words
3,791,645 words
SLIDE 3
Hapax legomena
Figure 1: Dictionary of Old English hapax search
SLIDE 4
Comparative Analysis
SLIDE 5
Compounds
Hæfde wederwolcen widum fæðmum 75 eorðan and uprodor efne gedæled, lædde leodwerod, ligfyr adranc, hate heofontorht. Hæleð wafedon, drihta gedrymost. Dægsceades hleo wand ofer wolcnum; hæfde witig god 80 sunnan siðfæt segle ofertolden, swa þa mæstrapas men ne cuðon, ne ða seglrode geseon meahton, eorðbuende ealle cræfue, hu afæstnod wæs feldhusa mæst, 85 siððan he mid wuldre geweorðode þeodenholde.
(Exodus)
SLIDE 6 Alliterative Rank 1/2
- 1. Given a set of synonyms occurring in the poetry, some will more consistently alliterate
than others.
- 2. If we consider their position within the verse line, we can distinguish three categories:
- a. Words that always alliterate, and thus do not occur as the fourth stress;
- b. Words that alliterate whenever they occur in a position where alliteration is possible;
- c. Words with non-alliterating occurrences in both the second and fourth positions of stress.
→ A hierarchy of “poetic worth” (Cronan).
SLIDE 7 Alliterative Rank 1/2
- 1. Given a set of synonyms occurring in the poetry, some will more consistently alliterate
than others.
- 2. If we consider their position within the verse line, we can distinguish three categories:
- a. Words that always alliterate, and thus do not occur as the fourth stress;
- b. Words that alliterate whenever they occur in a position where alliteration is possible;
- c. Words with non-alliterating occurrences in both the second and fourth positions of stress.
→ A hierarchy of “poetic worth” (Cronan).
SLIDE 8
Alliterative Rank 2/2
Table 2: Alliterative rank of three nouns (including compound elements) for “people” in Beowulf
Word Occ. 1 Allit. 2 Allit. 3 Allit. 1 Non-Allit. 2 Non-Allit. 4 Non-Allit. % Allit. þēod 20 11 4 2 3 75% folc 40 17 9 12 1 1 95% mǣgþ 7 2 5 100%
(ECHOE has 741 occurrences of folc, 78 of mǣgþ.)
SLIDE 9 Heroic Vocabulary
Þa se halga heht his heorðwerod wæpna onfon. He þær wigena fand, 2040 æscberendra, eahtatyne and þreo hund eac þeodenholdra, þara þe he wiste þæt meahte wel æghwylc 2043
- n fzrd wegan fealwe linde.
(Genesis A)
SLIDE 10
Metonymic and Metaphorical Uses
Table 3: Selection of terms with metonymic or fjgurative senses
Term Literal Sense Figurative Senses æsc ash-tree spear; ship lind lime-tree shield bord board ship; shield ecg edge sword īren iron sword swāt sweat blood wudu wood ship; spear “[A]s a group the fjgurative meanings alliterate 28% more fsequently than do the literal.”
(Cronan 150)
SLIDE 11
Tools for the Study of Poetic Diction
▶ Dictionary of Old English ▶ Dictionary of Old English Corpus
SLIDE 12
Bibliography I
Chapman, Don. “Poetic Compounding in the Vercelli, Blickling and Wulfstan Homilies.” Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 103, no. 4 (2002): 409–21. Cronan, Dennis. “Alliterative Rank in Old English Poetry.” Studia Neophilologica 58, no. 2 (1986): 145–58. ———. “Poetic Meanings in the Old English Poetic Vocabulary.” English Studies 84, no. 5 (August 2003): 397–425. ———. “The Poetics of Poetic Words in Old English.” In Old English Philology: Studies in Honour of R. D. Fulk, edited by Leonard Neidorf, Rafael J. Pascual, and Thomas A. Shippey, 256–75. Anglo-Saxon Studies 31. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2016. Griffjth, Mark. “Poetic Language and the Paris Psalter: The Decay of the Old English Poetic Tradition.” Anglo-Saxon England 20 (1991): 167–86.
SLIDE 13
Bibliography II
Lapidge, Michael. “Old English Poetic Compounds: A Latin Perspective.” In Intertexts: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Culture Presented to Paul E. Szarmach, edited by Virginia Blanton and Helene Scheck, 17–32. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 334. Tempe, AZ: ACMRS, 2008. Stanley, Eric. “Old English Poetic Diction and the Interpretation of the Wanderer, the Seafarer and The Penitent’s Prayer.” Anglia, N.F., 61 (1956): 413–66. Stanley, Eric G. “Old English Poetic Vocabulary: The Formal Word Precise but Not Pedantic.” In Essays on Old, Middle, Modern English and Old Icelandic: In Honor of Raymond P. Tripp, Jr, edited by Loren C. Gruber, 177–200. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000. Wright, Charles D. “Insula Gentium: Biblical Infmuence on Old English Poetic Vocabulary.” In Magister Regis: Studies in Honor of Robert Earl Kaske, edited by Arthur Gross, 9–21. New York: Fordham University Press, 1986.
