Description

Book Synopsis
Drawing on recent insights in linguistics, this study formulates a theory of rhythm in English poetry. The author maintains that the meter of Middle English alliterative poetry holds the key to a reinterpretation of both Old English meter and iambic pentameter.

Trade Review
"This is a fine piece of work that contains very clear technical writing on problems of meter previously accessible only to specialists, and should interest anyone concerned with English verse form. Cable's debunking of the 'accentual' theory of alliterative verse, in particular, makes the book important for students of modern meters. . . . After Cable's book is published, no one will be able to say that Chaucer introduced syllable-counting to English poetry or that experimental verse with a rough equivalence in number of stresses per line draws on a long native tradition. Cable convinces me that there never was any such tradition. Accessible. . . . Sophisticated. . . . Striking. . . . Original." * Geoffrey Russom *

The English Alliterative Tradition Anniversary Collection

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    A Hardback by Thomas Cable

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      View other formats and editions of The English Alliterative Tradition Anniversary Collection by Thomas Cable

      Publisher: MT - University of Pennsylvania Press
      Publication Date: 7/29/1991 12:00:00 AM
      ISBN13: 9780812230635, 978-0812230635
      ISBN10: 0812230639
      Also in:
      Literary studies: poetry and poets

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Drawing on recent insights in linguistics, this study formulates a theory of rhythm in English poetry. The author maintains that the meter of Middle English alliterative poetry holds the key to a reinterpretation of both Old English meter and iambic pentameter.

      Trade Review
      "This is a fine piece of work that contains very clear technical writing on problems of meter previously accessible only to specialists, and should interest anyone concerned with English verse form. Cable's debunking of the 'accentual' theory of alliterative verse, in particular, makes the book important for students of modern meters. . . . After Cable's book is published, no one will be able to say that Chaucer introduced syllable-counting to English poetry or that experimental verse with a rough equivalence in number of stresses per line draws on a long native tradition. Cable convinces me that there never was any such tradition. Accessible. . . . Sophisticated. . . . Striking. . . . Original." * Geoffrey Russom *

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