Alliteration in BeowulfThe diction of the Old English poem Beowulf is distinguished primarily by its extensive use of alliteration, or the repetition of the initial sounds of words. In the original manuscript version of In the Poem, alliteration is used in almost every line (or two half-lines); in modern translations of the poem this is not the case. Beowulf uses alliteration [my italics] and stress to achieve the poetic effect that modern English poetry achieves through the use of poetic feet, each having the same number of syllables and the same stress pattern (Wilkie 1271). In lines 4 and 5 of the poem we find: Oft Scyld Scefing sceapena preatummonegum maegpum meodo-setla ofteah The repetition of the “s” sound in line 4 and the “m” sound in line 5 illustrate alliteration, and this occurs throughout the poem. , providing the listener with an aesthetic feeling of rightness or pleasure. In 1958, two language scholars, Lehmann and Tabusa, produced an alphabetical list of all alliterated words in Beowulf. One translator, Kevin Crossley-Holland, in his interpretation of the poem in Literature of the Western World, actually includes a lot of alliteration, but less than the original version of the poem (Wilkie 1271). The Old English poet “tied” the two half-lines together through their emphasized alliteration (Chickering 4). The first half-line is called the vers-en-vers, which is followed by the vers-vers. Each line of poetry ideally contains four main accents, two on either side of a strong medial caesura, or pause, and a varying number of less strongly accented or non-emphasized accents. "At least one of the two accentuates ...... middle of paper ......lishing, 2000.Magoun, Frances P. "Oral-formular character of Anglo-Saxon narrative poetry. » In TheBeowulf Poet, edited by Donald K. Fry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.Renoir, Alain. “Point of view and conception of terror in Beowulf.” In TheBeowulf Poet, edited by Donald K. Fry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Stockwell, Robert. P. and Donka Minkova. “Prosody” in A Beowulf Handbook, edited by Robert Bjork and John D. Niles. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. Tharaud, Barry. “Anglo-Saxon Language and Traditions in Beowulf.” In Readings on Beowulf, edited by Stephen P. Thompson. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998. Wilkie, Brian. “Beowulf.” Literature of the Western World, edited by Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co..., 1984.