Three-position Verses and the Metrical Practice of the Beowulf Poet

Abstract

This article reassesses the authenticity of the three-position SxS verse type in Beowulf through probabilistic and corpus-based analysis. Responding to recent claims that SxS constitutes a legitimate metrical pattern, it re-examines the thirteen verses adduced in support of that view and demonstrates that nearly all either exhibit regular four-position structures when properly analysed or reflect corrupt manuscript readings. The study then situates the question within the broader Old English poetic corpus, showing that unambiguous instances of trisyllabic SxS verses are virtually non-existent across more than 28,000 surviving lines. By contrast, genuinely problematic types such as D* and A3 are accepted in Sieversian metrics precisely because their statistically significant incidence confirms authorial practice. The negligible frequency of SxS, both in Beowulf and in externally datable Old English poems, indicates that it was not a metrical option available to Anglo-Saxon poets. The article thus reaffirms the empirical validity of the four-position principle and argues that apparent SxS verses are best explained as products of scribal transmission rather than as reflections of the Beowulf poet’s metrical practice.