A Study of the Alfredian Verse Prefaces and Epilogues

Abstract

This study takes into account the verse prefaces and epilogues associated with the translations of the Alfredian age, approaching them from a metrical standpoint. As I hope to demonstrate, both the Metrical Preface and the Metrical Epilogue to Alfred’s translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care fit the style of classical Old English poetry. Their author – be it Alfred or one of the scholars that convened at his court – was well-acquainted with the rules governing the traditional alliterative verse. The same applies to the brief Metrical Preface to the Old English Boethius. On the other hand, the Metrical Preface to Wærferth’s translation of Gregory’s Dialogues displays features (such as lack of enjambement and anaphora) that are typical of late Old English poetry. These and other features suggest that this preface might be a late forgery, which was possibly inspired by similar Alfredian examples. This interpretation would fit with the date of the only manuscript where Wærferth’s translation of Gregory’s Dialogues is accompanied by a preface (the eleventh century). The Metrical Epilogue to the translation of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, which is also preserved in a single, eleventh-century copy, is characterised by the presence of similar features. According to this understanding, the Alfredian prologues and epilogues can be read as examples of the development of Old English poetry from early to late versification.