This book expounds a new theory of Old English metric, with special reference to "Beowulf." Like the pronunciation of the final 'e' in Chaucer, the use of 'initial rests' before certain types of lines brings out the order essential to competent verse. Specifically, these rests make it possible to adjust the varied syllabic patterns of Old English poetry as defined by Sievers to a basic rhythmic pattern consisting of two measures of 4/8 time for each normal half-line and two measures of 4/4 time for each hypermetric half line. the rests point to the accompaniment of the harp as the necessary condition of their development and preservation.
The book presents a critique of the theories of Sievers, Leonard, and Heusler, sets forth the new theory, and finally illustrates it by recording the resultant rhythm of extended passages. An appendix contains notes on the text of Beowulf and a catalogue of all the rhythmic variations in the normal half-lines of the poem. Musical notation is employed throughout as the most accurate of the familiar methods of indicating rhythm.
For the 1966 printing, a complete line index has been compiled, and a new "Preface" brings certain details in the application of the theory up to the present.