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Early English Metre.
By Thomas A. Bredehoft. Toronto Old English Series. Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 2005. Pp. viii + 183. $67.95.
The opening chapter of Thomas A. Bredehoft's Early English Metre
is a lament with resonance. Old English meter has become too difficult.
It is too difficult for students, for professors of medieval literature
whose interests are not obsessively metrical, and for the metrists themselves.
Occasional technical studies are still being published, which few read,
while in the classroom meter is increasingly avoided. the sentiment behind
the solution that bredehoft proposes has much to recommend it. Instead
of dumbing down the subject, begin with a respected technical theory,
describe it as clearly as possible, and drive it through to its logical
conclusion. by not flinching or fudging at the beginning, simplicity and
elegance have a chance of emerging at the end.
Thomas Cable
University of Texas at Austin |
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