Title: The style of Anglo-Saxon poetry, with particular reference to the poetic vocabulary.
Abstract: The Anglo-Saxon poetic style is very different from the style
of the normal prose writing. It is distinguished from the prose
style by its use of a formal alliterative metre, by its
repetitive and circumlocutory narrative methods and by a heavy
concentration on the nominal rather than on the verbal element.
Principally the poetic style is reflected in the vocabulary. In
the first place the poet makes use of a special poetic diction not
used in prose. In the second place he makes heavy use of a
poetic technique of freely forming compound nouns and adjectives.
As the vocabulary is such an important factor in the style,
and as comparatively little material on this subject is to be
found, I have devoted my attention in this thesis almost entirely
to a thorough analysis of the peculiarities of the Anglo-Saxon
poetic vocabulary. Section I deals mainly with the Anglo-Saxon
poetic diction and its use, and with the poetic technique of word
compounding. In this section many stylistic features are
discussed, but they are treated from the point of view of their
effect on the poetic vocabulary.
Section II, which is much shorter and stands somewhat in the
nature of an appendix to Section I, deals firstly with the effect
of the mental outlook of the Anglo-Saxon poet on his style, and
secondly with main differences in narrative method between the
prose and poetry.
The treatment is thus somewhat uneven, but it seemed to me
better to analyse thoroughly the relatively undiscussed subject of
the vocabulary, while giving a brief general outline of other
features which have been treated frequently.
Publication Year: 1954
Publication Date: 1954-01-01
Language: en
Type: dissertation
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