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Alliterative Narrative Poetry: The Control of the Medium.

Alliterative Narrative Poetry: The Control of the Medium.

Esp. 441-45: WL’s employment of the alliterative tradition is not as far removed from “classical” alliterative practices as has often been assumed. PPl features numerous alliterative pleonasms and repetitious doublets many of which are not echoed in the romances -which are used without irony and whose function is clearly poetic. WL works through rhythmic repetition, cumulative variation, and parallel accretion. The C text appears no less pared down than B with respect to alliterative decoration.