English Literature / Unit 19 ENL 1815 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Signature of Old English
Captions available
The idea
Old English verse, the course taught, uses lines of two alliterating half-lines split by a caesura, heavy stress rather than rhyme, and kennings such as whale-road for the sea. Its subjects are heroic: lords, warriors, exile and fate, with Christian and pagan mixed.
In practice
Alliteration, caesura, kenning.
Where people slip
Exam passages are in translation.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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