Oral Tradition and the History of English Alliterative Verse

Abstract

This article re-examines the relationship between Old English poetry, early Middle English verse, and the fourteenth-century Alliterative Revival in light of competing theories about oral tradition. Challenging Eric Weiskott’s claim that alliteration is merely ornamental and that early Middle English poetry constitutes a transitional “inductive” stage in the evolution of the alliterative meter, the essay argues that alliteration is in fact the structural principle that generates the English alliterative long line. Through close analysis of the interaction between alliteration, stress, protracted drops, and finite verbs, it demonstrates that Old and late Middle English verse share a coherent metrical system designed to facilitate real-time oral scansion. By contrast, the rhythmical heterogeneity and inconsistent alliterative practice of early Middle English poetry reflect literate experimentation rather than participation in a continuous metrical tradition. The article concludes that the Alliterative Revival is best explained not as a formal tightening of early Middle English practice, but as the natural outgrowth of a living oral tradition that survived the Anglo-Saxon period without extensive written documentation. Alliteration thus emerges as the defining and most stable feature of the English alliterative tradition.