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XXXI. Further Observations on the Poetry of our Anglo-Saxon Ancestors, by the Rev. J.J. Conybeare, M.A. Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford; addressed in a second Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

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Extract

In the last communication, which I had the honor of submitting through your kindness to the Society, I endeavoured to prove that the poetical compositions of the Anglo-Saxons were distinguished from their prose by the continual use of a certain definite rhythm, and to investigate, as far as I was able, the metrical structure of those venerable and interesting remains. I now proceed to add such further remarks on their peculiar characteristics, as have been suggested to me by an attentive though partial examination of the principal works of this description preserved either in print or in manuscript.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1814

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References

page 269 note a Ps. lxviii. v. 9. cv. v. 13. cxiv. v. 1.3. I quote from the literal translation of Berlin. Upsal, 1805.

page 271 note a It is affirmed in the Hodegus Finnicus, a Grammar of that language by Martinius, that the Finlanders have an alliterative metre. They may possibly have adopted it from their Gothic neighbours.

page 273 note * In the printed copy these three lines are thus divided by the usual punctuation. I VOL. XVII.

page 274 note a Noah and his family—the abruptness of the transition here is very striking.