Remembering, now, that either half-line (especially the second) may begin with several unaccented syllables (these syllables being known in types A, D, and E as the _anacrusis_), but that neither half-line can end with more than one unaccented syllable, the student may begin at once to read and properly accentuate Old English poetry. It will be found that the alliterative principle does not operate mechanically, but that the poet employs it for the purpose of emphasizing the words that are really most important. Sound is made subservient to sense.
When, from the lack of alliteration, the student is in doubt as to what word to stress, let him first get the exact meaning of the line, and then put the emphasis on the word or words that seem to bear the chief burden of the poet’s thought.
NOTE 1.--A few lines, rare or abnormal in their alliteration or lack of alliteration, may here be noted. In the texts to be read, there is one line with no alliteration: _Wanderer_ 58; three of the type _a ··· b_ | _a ··· b_: _Beowulf_ 654, 830, 2746; one of the type _a ··· a_ | _b ··· a_: _Beowulf_ 2744; one of the type _a ··· a_ | _b ··· c_: _Beowulf_ 2718; and one of the type _a ··· b_ | _c ··· a_: _Beowulf_ 2738.
By an exhaustive comparative study of the metrical unit in Old English verse, the half-line, Professor Eduard Sievers,[4] of the University of Leipzig, has shown that there are only five types, or varieties, employed. These he classifies as follows, the perpendicular line serving to separate the so-called feet, or measures:
4. D { D^1 –́ | –́ –̀ × { D^2 –́ | –́ × –̀
5. E { E^1 –́ –̀ × | –́ { E^2 –́ × –̀ | –́
It will be seen (1) that each half-line contains two, and only two, feet; (2) that each foot contains one, and only one, primary stress; (3) that A is trochaic, B iambic; (4) that C is iambic-trochaic; (5) that D and E consist of the same feet but in inverse order.
[Footnote 4: Sievers’ two articles appeared in the _Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur_, Vols. X (1885) and XII (1887). A brief summary, with slight modifications, is found in the same author’s _Altgermanische Metrik_, pp. 120-144 (1893).
Before attempting to employ Sievers’ types, the student would do well to read several pages of Old English poetry, taking care to accentuate according to the principles already laid down. In this way his ear will become accustomed to the rhythm of the line, and he will see more clearly that Sievers’ work was one primarily of systematization. Sievers himself says: “I had read Old English poetry for years exactly as I now scan it, and long before I had the slightest idea that what I did instinctively could be formulated into a system of set rules.” (_Altgermanische Metrik_, _Vorwort_, p. 10.)]