The regular verse-form was the alliterative, four-accent line, broken by a strongly marked caesura into two half-lines, which were in early editions printed as short lines.  The verse was occasionally extended to six accents.  In the normal verse there were two alliterated words in the first half of the line, each of which received a strong accent; in the second half there was one accented word in alliteration with the alliterated words in the first half, and one other accented word not in alliteration.  A great license was allowed as to the number of unaccented syllables, and as to their position in regard to the accented ones; and this lent great freedom and vigor to the verse.  When well constructed and well read, it must have been very effective.  There were of course many variations from the normal number, three, of alliterated words, as it would be impossible to find so many for every line.

Something of the quality of this verse-form may be felt in translations which aim at the same effect.  Notice the result in the following from Professor Gummere’s version of as election from ’Beowulf’:—­

     “Then the warriors went, as the way was showed to them,
          Under Heorot’s roof; the hero stepped,
          Hardy ’neath helm, till the hearth he neared.”

In these verses it will be noted that the alliteration is complete in the first and third, and that in the second it is incomplete.

A marked feature of the Anglo-Saxon poetry is parallelism, or the repetition of an idea by means of new phrases or epithets, most frequently within the limits of a single sentence.  This proceeds from the desire to emphasize attributes ascribed to the deity, or to some person or object prominent in the sentence.  But while the added epithets have often a cumulative force, and are picturesque, yet it must be admitted that they sometimes do not justify their introduction.  This may be best illustrated by an example.  The following, in the translation of Earle, is Caedmon’s first hymn, composed between 658 and 680, and the earliest piece of Anglo-Saxon poetry that we know to have had its origin in England:—­

     “Now shall we glorify the guardian of heaven’s realm,
     The Maker’s might and the thought of his mind;
     The work of the Glory-Father, how He of every wonder,
          He, the Lord eternal, laid the foundation. 
          He shaped erst for the sons of men
          Heaven, their roof, Holy Creator;
          The middle world, He, mankind’s sovereign,
          Eternal captain, afterwards created,
          The land for men, Lord Almighty.”

Many of the figurative expressions are exceedingly vigorous and poetic; some to our taste not so much so.  Note the epithets in “the lank wolf,” “the wan raven,” “bird greedy for slaughter,” “the dewy-winged eagle,” “dusky-coated,” “crooked-beaked,” “horny-beaked,” “the maid, fair-cheeked,” “curly-locked,” “elf-bright.”