Traditions and Continuities – Alliteration in Old and Modern Icelandic Verse, is a lucid and authorative treatment of Old Icelandic alliterative metre, and of the subtle changes it underwent as the language evolved into later and modern Icelandic. It falls into four sections, beginning with an exhaustive account of the mechanics of alliteration and their development up until the present; a review of the development of research into the subject; the author’s own research into the nature of alliterative verse, with special attention to complex phenomena such as vowel alliteration, s-clusters an hv-alliteration; and final section summarizing the main conclusions.

Written by a scholar and poet, this is an essential handbook for the English-speaking research student in the subject.

Dr. Ragnar Ingi Aðalsteinsson is the author of a number of volumes of poetry, textbooks on Icelandic metre for schools and universities, and academic articles. He is editor of Stuðlaberg, a twice-yerlay journal of Icelandic traditional poetry