The phrase “alliterative poetry” immediately connotes archaism, and a literary tradition almost moribund since the mid-fifteenth century. University of Arizona academic Dennis Wilson Wise suggests that the form has been revived almost unnoticed over the last hundred years, and subtly shapes some modern literature, despite the indifference or even opposition of arbiters of taste... Wise's dogged truffle-hunting across this redolent if sometimes rubbish-strewn terrain has uncovered some real prizes, at least some of which are almost certain to be new to even the most widely read. Hopefully, this welcome academic interest can help bring a degree of coherence to this sadly scattered field, and dedicated new adherents to this ancient art.

Quadrant

… a massive academic anthology … six assorted academic pieces (one of themwritten in verse), and 152 poems…. The book is dedicated to the concept that there has been a major literary movement that no one noticed. After establishing the academic argument that there was an alliterative revival in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the editor, Dennis Wilson Wise, a professor at the University of Arizona whose PhD was on Tolkien, recounts his journey of discovery of the modern revival … expounded on at length. Alliterative verse is not for everyone … some readers will find this rich and engaging. Others may find it wearying. To find out which reader you are, you may want to ask your library to buy a copy.

Starline

Since Ða Engliscan Gesithas run the Cædmon Prize for poetry in the Englisc style, the appearance of the first anthology of modern English alliterative verse is obviously of great interest. It may be an even bigger deal than the title alone would suggest. It contains one hundred and fifty poems by fifty-five poets, which easily qualifies it as containing more original alliterative verse by more poets than anything since before Gutenberg invented the printing press. At four hundred and five pages, it dwarfs medieval manuscript collections like the Exeter book, which means it may qualify as the largest published anthology of English alliterative verse, bar none. It provides an in depth view of how alliterative verse has experienced a series of mini revivals in unexpected and obscure places – in the pages of fanzines, embedded in the text of science fiction and fantasy novels, in public performances at events of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and among neopagans intent on worshipping Odin, Thor, and the rest of the Germanic pantheon. [If] you get a copy of Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival, you are in for a treat: a chance to read more alliterative verse than you have probably encountered in your lifetime.

Wiðowinde Bindweed

Wise's Speculative Poetry and the Modern Revival of Alliterative Verse is the definitive collection of modern alliterative verse, presenting outstanding examples of the genre along with extensive technical descriptions of the prosody of both medieval alliterative verse and its progeny in the twentieth century. At the same time, there is an informative historical outline for the modern writers of this genre, with indications of source and influence relationships. The readings are entertaining for an evening's transport into another poetic realm, and there are indications of further exploration in this revival's development. The work is highly recommended.

Ancillary Review of Books