Alliterative verse¶
alliterative_verse · form · validated
Lines split by a caesura in which the stressed syllables of both halves alliterate, rather than rhyming at the end. The checker compares bare first letters: it locates no caesura, reads no stress, and counts "knight" and "king" as alliterating where the Old English metre does not.
Provenance¶
- Source: Traditional; the metre of Beowulf and the Old Norse Eddas
- Attribution:
traditional— classical or folk; no single origin to name - Checkability:
self— decidable from the text and its parameters alone - Attested:
codified— formulated as a rule by a tradition rather than declared by an author
Details¶
- Kind: restrictive
- Languages: en, de
- Requires:
tokens,fold_diacritics - Deterministic: yes
- Also known as: stabreim
- In other languages: Stabreimvers (de), Vers allitératif (fr)
Notes¶
The checker compares bare first letters (see the module docstring's own admission that this reads "knight" and "king" as alliterating, which Old English metre would not). German is the sharper case: the tradition this row is named for treats st, sp and sch as staves distinct from a bare s, so a line built on that distinction can pass this checker while failing the tradition, or the reverse. The shipped German fixture is written to hold under both readings rather than relying on the gap.
Prompt hint¶
Break each line at a caesura and alliterate the stressed syllables across the break.
Parameters¶
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
fold_diacritics |
boolean | True |
Treat accented letters as their base letter, and ß as ss. |
minimum |
integer | 3 |
How many words in a line must share an initial. |
Examples¶
four-lines-of-three¶
en — this text satisfies the procedure.
in a summer season when soft was the sun
i shaped me in shrouds as a shepherd were
bright was the bank where the birds were bold
in a wide wild wood i wandered west
Parameters: minimum=3
Source: constructed example, echoing the alliterative long line of Piers Plowman
one-line-breaks-the-chain¶
en — this text does not satisfy the procedure.
in a summer season when soft was the sun
i shaped me in shrouds as a shepherd were
bright was the bank where the birds were bold
the quiet evening came down slowly
Parameters: minimum=3
Source: constructed counterexample
vier-zeilen-mit-drei-stabreimen¶
de — this text satisfies the procedure.
wind und wellen wehten wild
berge brachen brausend breit
kalte klare quellen kamen
sturm stand stark am strand
Parameters: minimum=3
Source: constructed example; German Stabreim is the tradition this row's name already names
eine-zeile-bricht-die-kette¶
de — this text does not satisfy the procedure.
wind und wellen wehten wild
berge brachen brausend breit
kalte klare quellen kamen
der abend kam still herein
Parameters: minimum=3
Source: constructed counterexample
alliterative-verse-wagner-rheingold¶
de — this text satisfies the procedure.
Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle!
walle zur Wiege! Wagalaweia!
Wallala weiala weia!
Source: Richard Wagner, Das Rheingold, Erste Szene (Der Ring des Nibelungen; Textbuch 1853, Uraufführung 1869); zitiert nach Projekt Gutenberg-DE und Bayern-online (Bayreuth Wagnerportal)