[Rose Kelleher]

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.

[Lightning Bug]

What's kennings?

[Rose Kelleher]

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

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

[Michael Cantor]

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).]

[Jim Hayes]

What are old biddies?

[Quincy Lehr]

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).]

[Rose Kelleher]

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.

[Quincy Lehr]

Rose,

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

Quincy

[Rose Kelleher]

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).]

[Quincy Lehr]

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