Metrics, Scribes, and Beowulf: A Response to Neidorf (2017), The Transmission of Beowulf

Goering, Nelson

doi:10.1007/s11061-018-9583-7

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

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“…Beowulf shows an unusual and archaic variant genitive plural of wine in (3) in order to avoid the linguistically more normal, but unmetrical pattern of example (5) (Fulk 1992: 243–5; Goering 2019: 124–5). In example (3) the two light syllables, wi‐ni‐ , resolve together, creating a metrical prominence equivalent to the single heavy syllable lan‐ in example (1).…”

Section: Resolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kaluza's Law and Secondary Stress

Goering

2021

Trans of the Philol Soc

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Kaluza's law is a proposed restriction in the metre of Beowulf against the resolution of lightheavy sequences: words like cyning 'king' can only resolve and count as the equivalent of a single heavy syllable under more restricted circumstances than can words such as wudu 'wood'. There has been debate about how to define these 'restricted circumstances', with many investigators claiming that this limitation holds only under 'secondary stress' (sometimes broadened to include subordinated stress in general). This article reviews the operation of Kaluza's law in Beowulf, arguing that the correct conditioning is the position immediately following a heavy syllable. The level of stress carried by the (non-)resolving sequence is irrelevant. A phonological explanation for this restriction may be that the resolution ideally produces bimoraic (light-light) units; accordingly, resolution of light-heavy sequences, which is anomalous from a typological and phonological perspective, is only permitted in word-initial position, or in metrical equivalents.

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Section: Resolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kaluza's Law and Secondary Stress

Goering

2021

Trans of the Philol Soc

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Hear No Sievers, See No Sievers: Metrics and the Eddic Commentary Tradition

Males

2022

Neophilologus

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This article explores a gradual shift towards metrical and linguistic imprecision in the four major commentaries on the Old Norse Eddic poems produced from the 1930s to today. This trend both affects and reflects the state of Eddic scholarship at large. Many scholars today do not avail themselves of metrical and linguistic criteria in the dating and textual restitution of Eddic poems but approach these issues either with agnosticism or by presenting vague arguments in favour of particular dates or variants. During the last three decades, however, testing along many parameters has placed the essentials of Eduard Sievers’ metrical analysis (1893) beyond reasonable doubt, which means that the gradual abandonment of precise description has taken place in a context where the preconditions for such description were improving. These analytical advances and mainstream Eddic scholarship have yet to meet, and the present article aims to facilitate such a convergence. Furthermore, since the Eddic commentaries will remain indispensable heuristic tools for the foreseeable future, the field of Old Norse philology stands to gain from a concise description of the implicit metrical and linguistic assumptions guiding their analysis.

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A close fitt: reading Beowulf fitt II with the Andreas-poet

Thomas

2019

Anglo-Saxon England

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Connections between Andreas and Beowulf have been the subject of much scholarly discussion. This article contributes to this discussion by arguing that the account of the Mermedonians’ discovery of and response to the loss of their prisoners in Andreas fitt X, which corresponds to chapters 22–3 of the poet’s putative Latin source, has been deliberately recast in ways intended to recall the account in fitt II of Beowulf of Grendel’s first attack on Heorot and the reactions of the Danish community. The connection argued for here is based not on verbal correspondences, but on embedded structural and thematic parallels. The Andreas-poet emerges as a careful and sophisticated reader, notable for their specifically literate and textual engagement with Beowulf. This observation has implications not only for our appreciation of the Andreas-poet’s art, but also for the transmission of Beowulf and for our understanding of Old English poetic practices more generally.

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Metrics, Scribes, and Beowulf: A Response to Neidorf (2017), The Transmission of Beowulf

Cited by 3 publications

References 13 publications

Kaluza's Law and Secondary Stress

Kaluza's Law and Secondary Stress

Hear No Sievers, See No Sievers: Metrics and the Eddic Commentary Tradition

A close fitt: reading Beowulf fitt II with the Andreas-poet

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