Alliterative verseForm of verseThe Old English epic poem Beowulf is written in alliterative verse.In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal device to indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme.
Old Norse poetryOld Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in the Old Norse language, during the period from the 8th century to as late as the far end of the 13th century. Old Norse poetry is associated with the area now referred to as Scandinavia.
Ancient GreekAncient forms of the Greek languageBeginning of Homer's OdysseyMap of Homeric GreeceLinguistic map of the Roman Empire c. 400Ancient Greek (Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC.
LatinIndo-European language of the Italic branchFor other uses, see Latin (other).Latin (lingua Latina or Latinum) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire.
CaesuraA caesura (, pl. caesuras or caesurae; Latin for "cutting"), also written cæsura and cesura, is a metrical pause or break in a verse where one phrase ends and another phrase begins. It may be expressed by a comma (,), a tick (✓), or two lines, either slashed (//) or upright (||). In time value, this break may vary between the slightest perception of silence all the way up to a full pause.Latin poetryThe history of Latin poetry can be understood as the adaptation of Greek models. The verse comedies of Plautus, the earliest surviving examples of Latin literature, are estimated to have been composed around 205–184 BC. HistoryScholars conventionally date the start of Latin literature to the first performance of a play in verse by a Greek slave, Livius Andronicus, at Rome in 240 BC.
Old English literatureLiterature of Anglo-Saxon EnglandOld English literature refers to poetry (alliterative verse) and prose written in Old English in early medieval England, from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066, a period often termed Anglo-Saxon England. The 7th-century work Cædmon's Hymn is often considered as the oldest surviving poem in English, as it appears in an 8th-century copy of Bede's text, the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
TragedyReliefs from Tarentum (Modern Day Taranto) believed to depict scenes from Greek tragedy: at left Electra and Orestes, who murder their mother Clytemnestra in order to avenge their father, Agamemnon; Clytemnestra was motivated by Agamemnon taking the princess Cassandra as concubine, and by Agamemnon sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia.At right is Oedipus and Antigone; Oedipus was abandoned as an infant and adopted by a shepherd; he then unknowingly murdered his father and married his mother, siring children including Antigone.
AeneidLatin epic poem by VirgilAeneas Flees Burning Troy, by Federico Barocci (1598). Galleria Borghese, Rome, ItalyMap of Aeneas' legendary journeyThe Aeneid ( ; Latin: Aeneis) is a Latin epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. Written by the Roman poet Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, the Aeneid comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter.
VirgilPublius Vergilius Maro (Classical Latin: [ˈpuːbliʊs wɛrˈɡɪliʊs ˈmaroː]; 15 October 70 BC – 21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( VUR-jil) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid.
John DrydenJohn Dryden (; 19 August [O.S.9 August] 1631 – 12 May [O.S.1 May] 1700) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Romantic writer Sir Walter Scott called him "Glorious John".*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.