Seiichi Suzuki 
The Metre of Old Saxon Poetry [PDF ebook] 
The Remaking of Alliterative Tradition

A comprehensive study of Old Saxon metre, based on close analysis of the Heliand.
This is a comprehensive study of Old Saxon metre, with a particular emphasis on the
Heliand, an alliterative epic of the Gospel story and the most extensive work of Old Germanic poetry. Through a detailed description of themetre in its own terms and a systematic comparison with the Old English alliterative tradition, especially
Beowulf, this book shows how the
Heliand poet introduced a wealth of metrical innovations, reorganising thetraditional scheme underneath an overarching principle of artistic design. After setting out the literary, metrical, linguistic, and practical bases, the author moves on to consider the
Heliand metre in depth, looking at its properties; he identifies a set of metrical types, determines their distributional constraints, and establishes their paradigmatic and syntagmatic organisation. He also deals with resolution and alliteration, and the compositionof hypermetric verses and lines.Appendices cover the scansion of foreign names, and the metre of the Old Saxon
Genesis.SEIICHI SUZUKI is Professor of Old Germanic Studies, Kansai Gaidai University, Japan.