Write something in the style of Beowulf.

Here's something silly to get the ball rolling. Don't quite know what I'm doing, but I think I've got two half-lines of two stresses each, and three stressed alliterations per line. ("spears" alliterates with "swords," right?) I'm sure you'll let me know if I'm doing it wrong.

Middle-earth men,...mail-shirted males
in horned helmets...and heavy breastplates,
sporting spears...and brandishing swords,
take a break...from bragging and brawling,
and let us ladies...loot your booty.

Extra points for kennings.

What's kennings?

Short answer: cool, descriptive compounds, like "whale-road" for "sea" or "slaughter-dew" for "blood."

Long answer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennings

Blue-tressed old biddies...bawling and calling
stamping their sneakers...snivel and wail
spit-spattered kvetchings...for death to the thread
rage that it's praised yet it's...sexist and ageist.


[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited July 11, 2006).]

What are old biddies?

Having worked a fair bit in the Anglo-Saxon measure, I believe I have the right to be a pedantic dipshit here.

In the first place, if you're going to do it strictly, alliterations with "S" alliterate according to consonant combinations--that is "st" with "st," but not "st" with "sk," for example.

One should also take care to alliterate on the STRESS, which doesn't always fall at the beginning of a word.

Quincy

Alliterative lines, lurching forward
In clanged kennings, can be hard
To render rightly, but reap a reward
In their wild weirdness... "wyrd bið ful araed!"

[This message has been edited by Quincy Lehr (edited July 11, 2006).]

Thanks, Quincy. I'd wondered about "sword" and "spear." I take it if "st" can't go with "sk," then just plain "s" can only go with "s" and not with "sp", right? Rats. I think I've stuck to stressed syllables, though.

I'm working on another one, and it's got a "b/br/bl" line. I may have to invoke the Drunken Scop's Rule, a little-known rule (since I just made it up) which allows for minor cheating. :)

Rose,

"S" can only alliterate with "s," more or less.

Quincy

Okay, here's the cheating one. From here on in I'll try to do it without cheating. Hopefully others will post better examples.

Was this easier to do in Anglo-Saxon, or am I just being whiny?


[deleted poem because I like it and think I might be able to do something with it]


[This message has been edited by Rose Kelleher (edited July 16, 2006).]

Rose,

It probably easier in Anglo-Saxon, but it also gets easier in modern English the more you do it. It's a radically different way of thinking about a line. That's all.

Quincy