Proclitics serve two special and possibly unexpected functions in the metrical grammar of Beowulf. They help determine the position of the half-line in the verse clause, and they impose an alliterative requirement on the forms to which they are attached. The purpose of this and the following two chapters is to describe in analytic terms the way proclitics affect the alliterative patterns of the poem.

Proclitics include all those words and prefixes which in ordinary circumstances are not independently stressed within the structure of the clause. Instead they attach themselves to other single words or phrases which do carry independent stress. There are five types of proclitics in the metrical grammar – (1) unstressed prefixes; (2) copulative conjunctions; (3) prepositions; (4) proclitic adverbs and instrumentals; and (5) proclitic adjectives and pronouns. The alliterative requirement of the prefixes and conjunctions will be considered first.

THE UNSTRESSED PREFIXES

The unstressed prefixes which occur in Beowulf are a-, æt-, be (bi)-, for-, ful(l)-, ge-, geond (giond)-, of-, ofer-, on (an)-, oð-, to-, purh-, wið- and ymb(e)-. Ten of them are never stressed in the poem. Of these ten, a-, geond-, of-, oð-, purh- and wið- are joined only to verbs, for- and to- appear also before adverbs, conjunctions and prepositions and be- and ge- are found even with nouns and adjectives.